Mighty Max - Episode 29 - FUATH AND BEGGORA

FUATH AND BEGGORA

This is episode 29 (16th of the 2nd series) and takes place in Ireland. We see two men acting suspiciously in an apparently derelict castle as they break open a wooden shutter to gain access. With torches they find their way through the darkness until the see a huge open room in which stands a status of a large gargoyle, and a sparkling jewel; their intended prize. As they proceed toward the jewel one of the men steps on a loose stone that sinks into the ground and activates the gargoyle statue. The gargoyle’s eyes momentarily glow red and its huge mouth opens, revealing a burning furnace within. A huge stone hand grabs the two men and shoves them into its mouth as a group of hood-robed men enter the room, chanting.

Episode Captures (Click to enlarge)

Max is at home preparing his own meal, something that his mother prefers him not to do. He chuckles as he examines his handiwork; Pepperoni, Cream Cheese, Peanut Butter, Pickles, and leftover lasagne, on rye! And to ensure he gets his C,D,&E vitamins’ a bowl of alphabet soup. He pours out the boiling soup from the saucepan and is about to tuck in when he sees a message spelt out in the alphabet soup; Max. Portal at deli.

Max arrives moments later in Ireland and meets up with Norman and Virgil. Virgil tells Max that an evil greater than the world has ever known is being woken from its long sleep. "Grey Root Beer"? jokes Max.

They approach the castle which Max describes as Ozzy Osbourne’s summer home. As they approach the gateway they are suddenly attacked by three creatures resembling a cross between a winged gargoyle and a horse. Norman tries to fight them off with his sword but the creatures get the better of them all and carry all three off. Norman continues to swipe at his captor with his sword, but it seems that the creatures are made of rock. “Let go of me you overgrown rock!” cries Max, and moments later he regrets his demand as the creature does exactly as he says, and drops him over the edge of a cliff, closely followed by Virgil and Norman. Luckily they land unharmed.

They get up, dust themselves off and decide to explore the area, and soon find themselves in an isolated village where it seems that they are not particularly welcomed, until they met up with a girl of about Max’s age, named Caitlin. Max asks her how he can gain access to the castle on the hill, but she steps back in horror and tells him that it is forbidden. The girl’s father appears and sends her off to continue her chores, and then rounds on Max, Virgil, and Norman and warns them about prying into others affairs. As he disappears they see a procession of hood-robed men chanting and heading toward the castle. Seeing this as an opportunity to get into the castle Norman grabs three of them, ties them up, and steals their robes. Max, Norman, and Virgil, disguised in the robes quickly join the end of the procession and follow them into the castle.

As they split from the main group within the castle, Virgil tells Max that this is the 10,000^th vernal of the druid calendar. They soon enter the large room that the two men had previously stumbled into, and they see the robed men chanting as they gather around the jewel and statue. The statue seems to be holding a huge clock face, and as Max looks up at the ceiling he realises that the room appears to be one huge clock. Suddenly something rumbles behind them causing all three to stagger back and fall over a balcony and into the midst of the robed men. Immediately the statue awakes and its huge hands reach out for them, its jaws opening, revealing the furnace within. All three of them disappear into the statues mouth, which closes behind them. Inside the mouth they find themselves on a ledge overlooking a trench of fire. Using his sword Norman manages to swing all three of them over the trench and safely on the other side, but the floor of the throat opens up and they tumble down a long stone shaft, ending up outside the castle once more. Max looks up and sees one of the hooded men approaching him, but it stops and pulls back its hood, revealing not one of the chanting men, but Caitlin. Another robed person approaches and reveals himself to be Caitlin’s father, and he is not best pleased. He berates Caitlin for betraying the order and calls Max a meddling fool.

An earthquake shakes the ground around them and as they all look round at the castle they see fire shooting out from it and the whole things collapses. Standing in the ruins is a huge green monster, breathing fire out of its mouth. It is the statue now fully alive. Caitlin’s father smiles triumphantly, until he realises that the huge creature does not even seem to notice him but stomps away accompanied by its winged friends. It’s up to Max to stop the creature, and so he begins to formulate a plan.

They run into the village to find the creature smashing it into smithereens. Max realises that the only way to stop it is to get back inside the creature and ‘throw a spanner into the works’. They spy a trapdoor in the base of the creature’s hell, and next to it a lever. Max rushes up to it and pulls on the lever, opening the trapdoor, and steps inside. Norman and Virgil rush forward to join Max inside the creature’s foot. Once inside they quickly clamber their way to the head of the creature via a long spiral stairway. Near the mouth they see a huge glowing quartz crystal – the power source of the creature. A long cable links the quartz to the fire trench in the creature’s mouth. Max grabs the crystal and Norman slices the cable in half with his sword. Max then rushes to the creature’s ear and peers out to see Caitlin and her father on the ground below. Max throws Caitlin the crystal and tells her to dump it in the castle. He sprints off to do as Max has instructed and finds herself being pursued by the creature. She reaches the castle just in time to throw the crystal into it. The creature desperately smashes up the castle to find the crystal but it’s too late. The creature collapses and lies still in the castle grounds. Defeated.

Once again Max has saved the world!