Mighty Max - Episode 26 - Clown Without Pity

CLOWN WITHOUT PITY

This is the 26th episode in the entire series of Mighty Max, being the 13th program of series 2. In the windswept countryside of Russia, just outside Moscow, several children are playing when they hear a musical noise coming from the other side of the hill they are playing. Running to investigate we see them disappear over the brow of the hill. A few seconds later their terrified screams are heard.

Episode Captures (Click to enlarge)

Max is leaping around at home listening to rock music on his personal stereo when there is a knock at the door. His mom is out and Max gingerly opens the door, not knowing who it could be, and certainly not expecting anybody. Standing outside is a man dressed in a large chicken suit who begins to sing and dance to the tune of Camptown Ladies. The lyrics of his song are obviously a message from Virgil. How embarrassing!.

Max follows the instructions in the song and finds himself laying on what appears to be a railroad track - and bearing down on him is a huge grinning face. Just as the face reaches Max an arm grabs hold of him and pulls him to safety. Max is grateful to see his friends Norman and Virgil next to him. The railroad turns about to be a rollercoaster track, and the huge grinning face is a ride truck. Max takes a look around him and sees that they are at a funfair, but what a dull looking funfair it is, and what's more, there appears to be nobody about. Virgil explains that they have called him to investigate the disappearance of local children in this area. The trio take a look around when they suddenly hear a strange noise coming from behind a tent, and as they look they see the shadow of a huge lumbering beast. As the monster emerges into view Norman yells out and runs toward the thing, but it is stronger that it looks and takes Norman by surprise when it simply brushes him aside. Max and Virgil run for their lives but are soon cornered by the snarling beast. It prepares to attack but a new voice is heard and the monster cowers away. Max looks at the newcomer and meets Freako the Clown. Max doesn't like this clown, there is something frightening about him, he doesn't look like the normal, fun clown.

Freako welcomes Max to his funfair. He tells Max that he likes having children like him visiting his fair. He offers the three of them some sickly green candy floss which Norman and Virgil, not wishing to offend, take some. Max is suspicious of Freako and declines his offer, but asks if he can go round and explore the funfair. Freako tells him to go and enjoy himself whilst he speaks to his two companions. Max takes a look around the fair and feels unnerved that there are no other children around. He finds a Fat Lady and asks her if she has seen any. She laughs at him whilst eating some meat-on-the-bone. "Children?" she exclaims. "Yes, and they were delicious!" Max is horrified at her answer and runs in the opposite direction. As he explores further he runs into Yuri again, and the chase is on, but this time Max is on his own. In an attempt to flee from him Max scrambles up the scaffolding of the rollercoaster ride, but Yuri spots him and races up after him. Max, in desperation leaps onto the nearby Ferris Wheel and only just manages to catch a hold of it. It jumps into the swinging seat and as he spots Yuri coming toward him Max starts to make the seat swing and tilt. It has its desired effect and Yuri is knocked off balance and falls to the ground. Max climbs down back to the ground, but Yuri is still up and about. Max is about to runaway again when he notices that Yuri is writing something in the dirt. He slowly approaches and looks at what Yuri has written; "Please Help Me!" Max is astonished. Yuri explains to Max that Freako is an evil clown that has captured all of the local children and has turned them all into freaks. Yuri explains that the same has happened to him and asks Max for his help, which Max promises to do. Yuri turns round to Max and is about to say something else when Freako appears with a gang of mutants. He orders them to attack, and after a brief struggle Max finds himself prisoner in a traveling cage. He is also surprised to find that Virgil and Norman have also been captured, but they have been horribly transformed into freaks. Virgil tells Max that the green candy floss that Freako gave them earlier was drugged. All seems lost, but then who turns up? Yuri! At Max's request Yuri helps the three of them to escape, but Freako's gang see them and attack. Max flees for his life once again, he doesn't fancy becoming one of them. He finds himself cornered and having nowhere else to go he shimmies up a pole, but the monsters see him and try to knock him down by pushing and pulling on the pole. Max puts his negotiating skills to the test and attempts to rally the monsters against Freako. He manages to do this with great success and they finally rampage through the funfair, destroying it as they hunt for Freako.

The funfair is almost destroyed but Freako is nowhere to be found. Max asks Yuri if he knows where he could be, and Freako, with dread, points toward the only building left standing; the Fun House.

Cautiously Max, Norman, Virgil, and Yuri enter the Fun House, and straight away weird things start happening, and the team is picked off one by one. Virgil ends up in the air on top of a giant air current. Max, Norman, and Yuri step onto a large disk which starts spinning rapidly. Yuri is the first to lose his grip and he is sent flying out of sight. Max feels his grip slipping and almost spins off himself, but Norman has plunged his sword into the disk and grabs hold of Max's hand, placing it on the hilt of the sword. Norman then loses his grip and flies away. Eventually the disk stops spinning and a relieved Max slowly steps off from it, feeling dizzy from the motion, dragging Norman's sword with him. He is alone in this creepy place, and all he can hear is the evil laughter of Freako the Clown, who Max knows is watching his every step. He sure does laugh a lot! As Max tries to find his friends, and the evil Freako he explores deeper and deeper into the Fun House. He is expecting anything to happen, and indeed it does; a hole opens up beneath Max's feet and he finds himself sliding down a shiny metallic chute.

Max finds himself in a large room that is lined with hundreds of mirrors. He is now in the heart of the Fun House, this is where he will find Freako, and sure enough Freako appears in a mirror high above the other mirrors. Freako welcomes Max to his Hall of Magic Mirrors, and reveals Norman, Virgil, and Yuri each trapped in a separate mirror. Freako tells Max the secret of the mirrors - they turn ordinary people into freaks, just like all of the children that have at one time visited his funfair, and who were never seen again. "Care too see?" Freako asks Max, and a mirror drops down right in front of him. Max tries to look away but he can't help but look, and as he does so he sees his reflection start to change into a deformed monster. Max looks down at his arms and sees what is being reflected in the mirror is actually happening to him in real life. Max gasps in horror as he sees what he has become, but he then has an idea. He lifts up Norman's sword and launches it at Freako's mirror which shatters into a thousand pieces. Max looks at the other mirrors which begin to reverberate around him. "I don't like the look of this!" he says and he puts his hands over his head to protect himself. Suddenly every mirror in the room explodes into millions of fragments, light sparkling off every one. Max hears Freako scream out in rage, fade out, and then silence. Max looks at himself and sees that he is Max once more. A loud rumbling noise starts and Max knows he has little time to hang around, he needs to get out and quickly. Using Norman's sword he leaps up into the chute by which he entered this hall and begins to climb up, but it seems it is not going to make it. Just as he is about to give up a huge chain and padlock dangles down next to him. It's Normy's belt! He looks up and sees Norman smiling down at him.

Once out of the chute Norman, Max, and now Yuri run toward the exit, stopping off on the way to pick up Virgil who is still trapped on the air funnel. Once out of the Fun House they turn around to watch is collapse around them. Once the dust settles Max turns round to Yuri and sees him as the kid he really is for the first time. Yuri thanks Max and is then reunited with all his friends, once all Freako's monsters, but now all returned back to being kids. Max looks at Norman and Virgil, all are relieved that this is the end of Freako.

Or is it?