Mighty Max - Episode 8 - Norman's Conquest

NORMAN'S CONQUEST

This episode takes place in the Rocky Mountain, USA. The opening scene shows a two British archaeologists who find a large battleaxe buried in the ice. They pack it off, along with other findings, back to the UK. However, somebody else comes looking for it, and not only that, but he wants Norman too! We also learn in this episode that Norman is 10,000 years old.

Episode Captures (Click to enlarge)

Max sits at his desk in school as the teacher hands out a quiz paper, which he tells them all they will have no problem with if they have done their homework. The look on Max's face shows that he obviously has not done his homework. He tries to think of an excuse to get out of the test, but never fear; Virgil provides him with a way out by the means of a message in his text book. "Take 9 steps to the West, and 17 to the North." Max feigns a stomachache and asks to see the school nurse. Once out of the classroom Max follows Virgil's instructions carefully, and finds himself in the girls toilets. Fortunately there is a portal within and Max makes his escape.

Having emerged from the portal Max finds himself sitting in the wreck of a car which is heading toward a car crusher. He manages to escape only to find that somebody, or something seems to be throwing cars at him. He hears Virgil's voice urging him to come to him, Max looks up and see Virgil sitting in a van on top of a pile of wreck cars. Max rushes up there and gets into the van next to Virgil, and asks him what's going on. Virgil points to a second pile of cars where Max sees a huge figure hurling cars at Norman! Suddenly their own vehicle is lifted up in the air and thrown toward Norman.

Seeing that Norman needs his help Max rushes over to a large crane which has a car lifting magnet on it. He uses it to pick up Spike and drops him into the car crusher which promptly closes tightly shut on him. Max rushes over to Norman to see if he is okay, but then an incredible thing happens; Spike emerges from the car crusher unscathed. Seeing that they are in a predicament the trio runaway. Closely followed by Spike. They run down an alleyway which ends in a drop onto some railway lines. "I can't jump down there, " complains Virgil. "If I was meant to fly I would have wings!" But as Spike quickly approaches them, throwing cars out of his way, the team leap onto a passing train. Spike leaps too but it would appear that he misses.

Once the train has carried them some distance away Norman tells the story of who Spike is, and why he is after Norman. The story goes that when Norman was a boy of about Max's age (10,000 years ago!), his father was a village chief who, once having been a mighty warrior, now wanted nothing but peace for his village. That changes however when Spike shows up with a gang of men. He pretends to come in peace but once Norman's father turns his back Spike attacks him with his sword. Norman's father yells for Norman to get his battleaxe. Norman runs back to the hut and after a quick search finds it. But Norman is just a boy and does not have the strength to pick up the battleaxe. He drags it through the snow to give to his father, but it's too late; Spike has killed him. In his anger Norman picks up a stick and attacks Spike with it causing him to fall over a cliff. As Spike falls he calls out that he will come looking for him one day.

Back in the present age, Max, Norman and Virgil are horrified to see Spike clambering up onto the train after them! He had obviously not missed the train as they first thought. As he moves toward them Virgil calls out that there is a portal near them, which turns out to be somewhere between the edge of a bridge and a fast moving river beneath them. They leap into the portal and escape Spike who falls into the river. Virgil tells them that he is not sure where the portal leads to, but Max says that he did not think it could be any worse than where they have just come from. They end up falling into a sewage lake!

Having made their way from the sewage tank to the Rocky Mountains which, so Norman explains, is where it all began. They know that Spike will find them there quick enough and so they go looking for him before he finds them, but a scream from the nearby woods tells them that Spike is already there. They soon find a man, the British archaeologist, hanging from a tree by his feet, with Spike next to him, obviously wanting the know the whereabouts of the battle axe. Norman and Spike square up to do battle once more. Max learns from the Brit. that the battleaxe is now on display at a British museum (probably the NHM in London?).

A short portal ride away and they find themselves outside the British museum at night, having left Norman to fight it out with Spike. The museum is locked but this does not faze the ever resourceful Max who finds a way in via the ventilation shafts. The battleaxe is quickly located behind a glass case which is alarmed up to central security. Virgil announces rather long windedly that he has worked out how to obtain the axe without setting the alarms off, using counterweights, mirrors and skill. Max decides to skip round all that and smashes the glass case with a plank of wood, setting all the alarms off. They are almost captured by the security guards, but a mishap involving Max and the skeleton of a dinosaur soon provides them with a way out. They leave via a portal and make their way back to Norman.

Norman meanwhile is fighting a losing battle with Spike, but the arrival of Max with the battleaxe soon changes all that. Spike's sword is instantly demolished by the huge axe, and with a final strike Norman knocks Spike off a cliff down into the ice far below.

The final scene of this episode shows Norman handing the battleaxe over to the ghost of his father.