| Last Of Her Kind |
| Description: The episode opens to show a peaceful day on an African plain not far from Mt. Kilimanjaro. Undisturbed by humans or other predators, various animal herds roam the countryside, most notably a young elephant and her herd. But suddenly the peace is broken by two men, Argos Bleak and Belo, flying air rovers flying directly at the elephants to herd them where they want them to go. When the young elephant is attacked, its mother tries to protect her child, but she is unable to stop the men. All of the adults in the herd are soon led away, leaving the young elephant on her own in the watering hole they had been at previously. It soon becomes apparent that the elephants are being led to a slaughterhouse for their ivory tusks and that the businessman Looten Plunder is behind it all. Back on Hope Island the Planeteers are unaware of what is going on in Africa and are partaking in various recreational activities around the island. While Linka is using a electronic device to call birds to her, Ma-Ti and Wheeler are windsurfing just offshore. As today is Linka's birthday, Wheeler is asking Ma-Ti's advice on what to get her. Before the young Kayapo can give any suggestions, Gaia appears over the water and tells the Planeteers to come to the Crystal Chamber at once. When Wheeler pulls the steering rod of the sail too hard and capsizes the craft, Linka laughs in amusement and call at them to hurry. Ma-Ti returns his soaked hat to his head and remarks that that wasn't the way to impress her. Once everyone has gathered in the Crystal Chamber, Gaia shows the Planeteers via Planet Vision what Plunder is doing and shows them what the area would be like without any elephants. The teens (and pre-teen) quickly take off in the Eco-Copter, and Kwame urges Gi to hurry while Wheeler strikes up a conversation with Ma-Ti on what to get Linka. Ma-Ti chides Wheeler about his lack of focus, and when Wheeler mentions he plans to get Linka an ivory necklace Kwame chides him for daring to think such a thing, as an elephant must give its life for such jewelry. Their talk is interupted as they reach the site where Bleak and Belo are once again herding elephants out on the plains and trying to get them to fall into traps in the ground. One of the elphants has already fallen, and so the Planeteers land to rescue it. Once the animal is freed with the help of Kwame's power, Bleak flies at the Planeteers and clips one of the blades off the Eco-Copter. The Planeteers realize they are no match for the flying machines, and so they call Captain Planet, who saves Kwame from a one-elephant stampede just in time before flying off to catch Belo and Bleak with a tornado. With the two henchmen now out of the way, the grounded Planeteers make their way through the forest to get to the slaughterhouse and find the baby elephant along the way, whom they name Sneezer. Belo, who is watching their progress, hurries back to the slaughterhouse to inform Plunder of their progress. Looten decides the best way to take care of the pesky Planeteers is to drive the Snatcher, a huge, tank-like machine, to catch the teenagers (and the pre-teen). Despite Kwame's attempt to stop the Snatcher with a ravine, Plunder is successful in chasing the group into a nearby cave, which turns out to be all part of Plunder's plan, as bars and a fire-proof door quickly come crashing down. Once the Planeteers are captured, Belo and Bleak come running up, tired out from their encounter with Captain Planet and their rush to get to the slaughterhouse. Plunder threatens to deduct the cost of the destroyed air rovers from their salaries unless they do exactly as he commands. He leaves Bleak to guard the cave in case the Planeteers manage to escape, and Belo he sends to seek out every elephant in Africa and lead them to the slaughterhouse. Following this he giggles like a school girl. The Planeteers quickly manage to free themselves using the powers of Gi, Linka, and Kwame to use a pool of water to break down the door. Bleak comes at them, driving the Snatcher, but the Planeteers once more call Cap, who knocks the Snatcher back into the ravine, this time for good, and flies off to Plunder's slaughterhouse to set all the elephants free and catch Plunder. Now that the excitement is over, the Planeteers go to look for Sneezer's mother; however, Belo approaches them and takes Sneezer. Kwame tries to stop Belo, but the older man hits him with the butt of his gun, sending him sprawling. Back at the slaughterhouse, Cap and Plunder spout threats at each other until one of Plunder's minions sprays acid rain at the super hero, who dodges but loses Plunder in the process. At the same time, Sneezer saves Belo from falling into one of the traps, and this simple act changes Belo's mind about what he's doing. When the pair approach Plunder, the businessman offers Belo anything to stop Captain Planet, but Belo refuses, and Sneezer captures Plunder with her trunk. Now that the excitement is truly over, the Planeteers and Captain Planet are helping Belo and his village to learn better ways to farm. The Planeteers then go and locate Sneezer's mother for her. Upon reunion, Wheeler realizes he never had the chance to get Linka a present, but she says that seeing the two elephants together again was the best present she could have gotten. Wheeler attempts to flirt with the Russian but is shot down. Kwame makes a joke at Wheeler's expense, and they all share a good laugh, even Wheeler. Bloopers and Nitpickings: - The episode must have been rather close to the first for Wheeler not to have been able to get Linka a gift. That or she just didn't tell before. - Though Sneezer does it when her mother is taken away, elephants can't really cry. - Inside the slaughterhouse, a man is grinding a tusk on gears that aren't even turning. - Wheeler pronounces "russky" as "ruhsky," not "roosky," which should be "russkaya," anyway. - "Comrade" is generally a term reserved for fellow Russians, so it is unlikely Linka would use this to address Wheeler and Ma-Ti, especially since they just met. - Wheeler, Kwame, and Ma-Ti are talking about getting Linka a present in rather loud voices inside the Eco-Copter, yet there is no indication that either she or Gi heard at all. - Though the Eco-Copter flies with the same pushing-air-down principle as Plunder's air rovers, it doesn't bother the elephants any or show any signs of this property. - The same sequence that was used in the first episode to call Cap is used again here. - Though Cap says, "The power is yours," their powers can't be seen returning to the rings. - When Ma-Ti stops sensing Sneezer's thoughts the glow from his ring that was elephant shaped disappears like normal, except... no elephant. - The Snatcher's hatch keeps switching between being closed and being wide open. - Plunder is wearing a lavender suit for the first and last time. - Bleak and Belo run up like it's the first time they've gotten back to the slaughterhouse since Cap took their air rovers, but Belo was the one who told Plunder what the Planeteers were doing earlier. - At one point inside the cave the lifht from Wheeler's ring is on Linka's right shoulder instead of on his ring. Guess someone flipped that particular cell, huh? - The water works at crashing the door down, but the bars are now mysteriously missing. - All those elephant bones outside Plunder's facility and no rotting corpses? No elephant dung either? - Why is Gi so lazy that she rides a baby elephant instead of walking? - Word sure gets around fast that Cap is very susceptible to pollution even though the whole Planeteer thing just started and Argos didn't even know who he was. - Sure, the whole "giving back fast nyet" was cute and all, but seriously, if all the Soviet girls had done that, there would never have been any Communists for American to worry about. They would have all died out! Okay, so it's 2:35 in the morning and I'm getting weird. So sue me. Stuff We Find Out: - Kwame highly values elephants. - Linka's birthday must be near January 5th or else Wheeler is one heck of a procrastinator. - Wheeler is rather unknowledgeable on various environmental and ecological topics, a theme that continues for much of the series. - This is the first time the Planeteers face off against Plunder. - Bleak has bagged 13 elephants before the start of the episode. Trivia: - Mt. Kilimanjaro is located in Tanzania, just inside the Tanzanian-Kenyan border, so this episode takes place within a few hundred miles at most from where Kwame lived. - "Kilima Njaro," another name for the volcano, is Swahili for "shining mountain." |
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