Brief Summary: The Joes go buggy

Cover art courtesy of YoJoe.com

Summary: We open in the woods where Cesspool is destroying redwoods (Why? ‘Cause he’s EVIL! And hates pretty things like trees and puppies and your mom!).

Flint tries and fails to stop Cesspool. Cesspool fires some of his toxic sludge and hits a grasshopper, causing it to mutate into a big-ass Grasshopper From Hell! This is, according to the episode, a new form of toxic sludge which is why it has these hyper-mutagenic properties.

I say hyper-mutagenic properties because, as is the wont with cartoon series and most other popular media, mutations occur immediately upon contact with the subject. In reality, mutations are slow to occur and generally useless.

Also, giant insects are a physical impossibility due to the square/cube law. When the size of a creature doubles, the mass cubes, meaning that the animal will quickly find itself crushed under its own weight.

Okay, now that we’ve gotten that nod to realism over and done with, let’s move on with the review. Seeing the hyper-mutated grasshopper gives Cesspool an idea for a new plan to take over the world. This one’s going to stop GI Joe once and for all. Y’know, just like all the other ideas that were going to stop GI Joe once and for all.

We come back from the opening theme song, having been exhorted that we have to get tough, to stand tall when it comes down to the wire, and to have guts when we cross that line of fire.

Back in the episode, we learn that Cesspool’s been quiet for a few months. Ozone has been taking advantage of the free time to work on his bug collection. Which beggars the question: are there no other terrorists in the Joe universe? I mean, can’t we find something for these yabbos to do besides stick bugs in jars? Geeze!

On cue, because that’s how things work in cartoons, Cesspool calls the Joes to tell them that he’s got a new toxic weapon and he’s gonna use it. Neener! Compared to real terrorists, this sort of scenery-chewing posturing is quaint and almost naïve.

Also worth noting: Cesspool and Cobra Commander have managed to work through their personal differences and are now working together again. In fact, Cesspool is downright loyal to Cobra Commander now. Very much different from his appearance in “The Sludge Factor”.

As you’ve probably guessed by now, Cesspool’s new weapon is big mutated bugs. He uses a series of tones to control the insects, causing them to attack San Francisco. We get a series of reaction shots from the crowd of nameless civilians being attacked by ginormous bugs.

One of the Joes mentions that the bugs are the size of helicopters but it’s hard to say since the size references keep changing. If they are the size of ‘copters, they’re not very big copters.

Clean Sweep lassoes one of the bugs and we get a reaction shot of a secretary going back to work, very much relieved that the buggies are being taken care of. Clean Sweep ends up having to ditch and his glider is then attacked by giant grasshoppers. One of the grasshoppers spits at him, knocking him off course and destroying his glider. (The spit is caustic or possibly acidic.)

Sky Mate is sent to save Clean Sweep.

Ozone saves a mother and her children from a toxbug.

The mayor, being a phenomenal puss, surrenders the city to Cesspool. The Joes are forced to pull back.

Cesspool gloats about his victory, the city is now Cobras. The Toxobugs will next take over the world! Bwahahaha!

Unlike his appearance in “The Sludge Factor” Cesspool now seems to be very happy working for Cobra Commander. Must be some of that better living though chemistry, CC mentions in “United We Stand.”

Ozone follows the Cobras back to their base and sneaks along, trying to figure out what the Cobras are up to.

Cobra Commander tells Cesspool he’ll be impressed when Cesspool finally gets him the world.

Ozone watches as Cesspool mutates a cricket. The process involves putting a small insect into an enormous cage (that it ould easily escape from) and then dipping it in the toxic sludge. Wait a couple seconds, lift the cage out and hey presto, instant Toxo-bug. Easy bake ovens are harder to operate than this…

A group of Sludge-Vipers catch Ozone and knock him into the mutating sludge. Ozone radios back to base and gets hold of Flint. Ozone begins to mutate in mid-conversation, though we see nothing of this and only hear the effects.

Flint runs Ozone’s transmission through a voice analyzer and the Joes figure out that something bad is going on Personally, I’d have gotten that idea when Ozone started saying “Something’s happening…” and then suddenly cut off. Then again I’m not a highly trained member of America’s special missions force so what do I know?

The Joes leave Clean Sweep behind to work on an antidote for the big bugs. They go to the most likely location of Cesspool’s base.

Cesspool just loves Ozone’s new look, though we’re not allowed to see it just yet. We’re saving that for when the Joes arrive.

Cesspool releases more bugs, broadcasting his sonic tone. Soon, the whole world will be as mutated and miserable as Cesspool is. This is Cesspool’s raison de etra just as it’s the raison d etra for most psychotic ugly guys in cartoon series like this one.

Skymate and Flint run into bugs and end up ditching their plane. Like earlier in the episode and as we see often in the DIC series, instead o fusing parachutes, they use gliders. They let their plane rash and alert the base to their presence.

The Joes break into the base. Flint tells Cesspool they’re sehutting them down and he wants Ozone back. Cackling, Cesspool introduces the Joes to the new Ozone: behold Toxo-Joe!

Mutated Ozone looks like a pink man/ant/preying mantis mix. His abilities include the power to spit caustic goo like the grasshopper could.

What I wonder is why Ozone’s mutation is insectoid. It make sense for the mutant insects to have insect features, but shouldn’t’ the goo have simply emphasized Ozone’s mammalian features? Or are we to suspect he’s picking up buggy features from the residue of bugs in the goo? Or is it just because mutant bugs are just creepier to humans?

Flint looks with horror on Ozone’s mutated self. We get a bout of the usual “Ozone, don’t you know us?” sort of thing. Ozone pulls on the chain restraining his ankle and manages to escape, leaving on the back of a giant grasshopper.

Cesspool gloats that the bug part of Ozone erases his humanness. Whatever Cess….

The other Joes are set to be dipped into the toxic soup.

Ozone turns his grasshopper around and returns to base. As he’s heading back, Cleanswee shows up with the antidote that he developed. Luckily for him, Cesspool’s stylized insect head/skull shaped island base is pretty frickin’ easy to find. (You have to wonder if it was built or is just a happy coincidence of nature.)

Ozone gets a dose of the antidote and returns to normal.

Inside, Cobra Commander has showed up to see the new Toxo-Joe. Flint is defiant inside his cage and his defiance is rewarded when Ozone manages to save him.

Ozone then picks up CC and Cesspool and turns on the radio, bringing the bugs back to the base. Cesspool freaks, which seems odd since he’s supposed to love his widdle buggy-bugs. Probably he realizes just how dangerous these uncontrollable freaks of nature are.

Cesspool and CC turn away from the influx of bugs, cringing and wetting themselves in terror at what they perceive as their imminent demise. They plead with the bugs not to harm them…at least until a Sludge-Viper points out that they’re begging a normal-sized, unmutated grasshopper, for their lives. The mutated insects had already been returned to normal by Clean Sweep’s antidote.

The Joes take the disk with the formula on it and destroy it, meaning (at least in cartoon-land) that it is gone forever and will never be seen again (unless the writers need it in another episode, in which case it’ll be retconned back into existence).

The Joes then let the Cobras go. That’s right, they have two members of Cobra’s high command in front of them: the supreme leader of Cobra and the leader of one of Cobra’s subfactions. Taking them out could easily hamstring Cobra entirely. But then again, that’s going to blow their job security straight to hell so maybe that’s why they’re allowed to go free.

After his experiences as a bug, Ozone decides that he’s going to free his bug collection, figuring the little critters should be allowed to live free rather than being kept in a jar.

Commentary: In the production/broadcast order that I have, Infested Island was made/aired before “The Sludge Factor”. Meaning we see Cesspool in action before we find out how he came to work for Cobra. Whether this is the actual broadcast order for these episodes, I can’t say. Unfortunately, it’s hard to say with DIC episodes, partly because nobody seems to have a concrete idea of airdates and broadcast order.

Okay, looking closely at the chronological order I have for the episodes, Infested Island came after The Sludge Factor, which would actually make sense. But Now You Know lists Infested Island as having been made first, so now I am horribly confused. I'm going to sit down with my copy of Now You Know and see if I can get to the bottom of this mess. Until then, figure that the episodes aired in correct order. That is: Sludge Factor first and then Infested Island. *grumbles*

The Eco-Warriors are easily among my least favorite Joe subgroups, mainly for reasons listed in the reviews of “The Sludge Factor.” “Infested Island” is actually a pretty good showing for them. The environmental message isn’t being crammed down our throats, the characters are actually going after a somewhat plausible threat (well..no, not really) and at least this time around the Joes’ solution wouldn’t realistically lead to the destruction of all life on the planet. There’s some similarities with “The Sludge Factor”, mainly that Clean Sweep is the one who stays behind and comes up with the antidote and ultimately saves the day. I guess Deus Ex Machina was too long for a code name, huh?

Luckily, you don’t need to see “The Sludge Factor” first in order to understand anything that happens in “Infested Island.’ Cesspool’s origin isn’t essential to understanding his motivations in this episode and really, this is a stronger episode than “The Sludge Factor.’

And both episodes are infinitely more watchable than “Captain Planet” ever was.