Mighty Max - Episode 19 - Zygote's Rhythm

ZYGOTE'S RHYTHM

This is the sixth episode of series 2. We see a retired couple enjoying a holiday and taking snaps of the surrounding area. The man gets his wife to sit on a large rock so that he can take a good picture of his wife and the background. As the man looks through the viewfinder of the camera he suddenly sees a huge eye open up in the "rock" next to his wife. The "rock" stands up to reveal a huge Brontosaurus type dinosaur.

Episode Captures (Click to enlarge)

Max is laying on his bed whilst looking through a holiday brochure and tries to decide where he should go. Thor, his pet iguana is walking around on Max's bed and licks Max's face. Max pushes him away in disgust as Thor's fly breath hits him. We see Thor run off and leap into the pocket of Max's coat, unbeknown to him. As Max flicks through the pages of the brochure he suddenly finds a picture of Norman and Virgil surfing on the coast of Hawaii, with a message telling Max to go to the zoo. Excitedly Max puts on his coat and skateboards off to the zoo. Once at the zoo Max's skateboard goes out of control and heads straight for the crocodile/alligator pen. He hits the wall of the pen, sails over it, and falls toward the open jaws of one of the crocs. Fortunately for Max a portal opens up beneath him and he falls into it rather than the open mouth of the hungry crocs.

Max arrives in sunny Hawaii where he meets Norman and Virgil. He tries to talk them into partaking in some fun and surf, but unfortunately there is work to be done and Max is once again needed in his role as the Mighty One. They head of into the forest and start to find live plants and insects that have been extinct for millions of years. Puzzled by this they take a closer look but are terrified when they not only hear a deafening roar behind them, but see a huge Tyranosuarus Rex running toward them. They run off as fast as they can but Virgil stumbles and falls over, telling them not to worry about him but to make their escape, but Max and Norman are not about to forget their friend, and so they go back for him. Too late! The T-Rex is upon them. They cower down and wait for the inevitable, but are surprised when the T-Rex leaps over them and continues running, away from them. Puzzled they stand up and try to work out what just happened. A T-Rex? But they died out 170 million years ago, and anyway, what would scare a T-Rex enough to cause it to run like that?. The soon find out when they are suddenly surrounded by weird disfigured creatures, and in their midst is a man riding on some sort of machine: Egbert Zygote! They are captured and taken prisoner.

We later find the trio tied up against a couple of trees. Also present are the couple we saw at the start of the episode. Zygote is examining them all with a magnifying glass. When he studies Max he concludes that he is inferior (how dare he insult our Max!) In fact, he finds them all inferior. He climbs aboard his machine and describes to them how he had started working on an experiment to improve the human race. He indicates to a group of disfigured creatures and announces them as his earlier failures. He decides that the best thing to do is de-evolve all living creatures back to their prehistoric forms, and start from scratch. He gives a demonstration by aiming his machine at the retired couple and presses the trigger. A flash of red light and the couple are transformed into ape like creatures. He then turns his machine to Max, Norman and Virgil. Luckily Norman manages to escape at the right moment and grabs his sword to free Max and Virgil. The trio run off but Max drops his jacket. Knowing that his mom would not be best pleased if he lost it Max reaches back for it. Zygote aims his machine at Max and fires, missing Max but hitting his jacket. Max is shocked to see that a huge lizard is emerging from his jacket; it's Thor! How did he get in there? The now gigantic Thor spies Max and rushes toward him. Max falls over and hides his face as he waits for Thor to eat him. Thor stops, looks at Max, and licks him. Max leaps up with joy; Thor recognises him! Virgil explains that although Thor is a dinosaur in his physical body, in his mind he is still a pet. They look around for Zygote, but he has disappeared.

They go looking Zygote but he is nowhere to be seen. They stop to rest at a large rock and are amazed when Thor brushes the rock to one side to reveal a large hole in the ground. Maybe Thor could smell food down there suggests Max, and as a way of finding out he leaps into the hole, with Virgil and Norman following. Thor too tries to get into the hole but he is too big. Max tries to help by pulling on his head but it is no good, Thor is just too big. Thor snorts in disappointment almost suffocating Max with his awful fly breath. They decide to leave Thor to stand guard as the trio explore a cave system that they have discovered. As they walk Max comments on how hot it is in the caves, shouldn't it be colder than outside? They soon are horrified to learn that they are actually deep inside a volcano, which, luckily for them, is dormant. The tunnel they are in soon opens out into a vast cavern, and inside they see - Zygote! the have found his lab. Zygote welcomes them with an evil smile, and blasts Virgil with the de-evolving ray. Max and Norman watch helplessly as Virgil is transformed into a creature resembling a pterodactyl. Never having been able to fly before it seems that Virgil enjoys his new form, and flies off leaving the other two behind. "Oh great! exclaims Max. "Now he can fly!" Zygote laughs and announces that he is going to introduce Max and Norman to another dinosaur; the Mutosaurus. "Hey!" shouts Max. "I know all about dinosaurs and there is such thing as a Mutosaurus!" Zygote just laughs at Max. "There is now!" he shouts. he presses a button on his machine and a large door opens up in one of the walls of the lab. Out of the darkness a huge mutated dinosaur stomps out; it appears to be several types of dinosaur in one body. Walking upright like a T-Rex it has huge horns on its head, huge teeth, and a long tail with what appears to be a spiked ball on the tip of it. The Mutosaurus is ordered to attack and it launches itself at Norman. Max tries to help but feels the full force of the spiky-balled tail. Realising that they cannot win on their own Max rushes back to the hole that they jumped into and finds Thor still there with his head peering down. Max grabs hold of Thor's head and tries to pull him in, but it is no good. Then Max has a brilliant idea. Once again he rushes back to the lab where Norman is still fighting with the mutated dinosaur. Max runs to a cage where he had earlier seen a giant fly. He grabs a piece of flexible cable and grabs the fly, tying the cable around it like a leash. At first Max seems to have difficulty in control the fly as it flies around, dragging Max with it. but he soon gains control and runs down to where Thor is waiting. Thor sees the giant fly and feeling hungry he pushes himself further into the cave. Success! Thor is through and Max leads him to the lab.

Once in the lab Thor eats the fly and allows Max to clamber onto his back. Zygote sees the huge Thor and orders his Mutosaurus to attack, which it does immediately. The mutated dinosaur is too powerful for Thor and it soon stands triumphantly over the downed Thor. It is just about to deliver the finishing bite when suddenly the mutated Virgil flies into the lab and attacks the Mutosaurus' head and eyes. Victory! the Mutosaurus collapses and dies on the ground. Angrily Zygote sends the dead dinosaur back to the slime it was created from. He knows that he is defeated and decides to turn the machine on himself. However, rather than choosing the de-evolve button he presses a different button and evolves his body into an advanced creature. At first the new Zygote does not seem to pose any threat as it gurgles like a baby and wanders around erratically. Virgil explains that Zygote's mind has become too advanced for his body, much like a the mind of a baby being in the body of a grown man. Max grabs the opportunity to using the machine on Thor to return him to his usual state, and soon he is back on Max's shoulder. But the new Zygote is learning fast and he begins to destroy his lab using the machine. Max, Norman, Virgil run out of the lab and down a large tunnel as a river of lava from the ruptured ground rushes toward them. They only just manage to escape by leaping from an outside ledge and into a river below. Zygote and his machine also plunge into the water.

As Max, Norman, Virgil, and Thor clamber onto a nearby river bank Zygote levitates out of the water and into the air. he has now gained full control of his new state of being and flies off promising revenge on all