For the villainous half-man, half-ant himself, see ManAnt (character)
| "ManAnt! (episode)" | |
Season 1, Episode 1 | |
| Production Code: | 101 |
|---|---|
| Airdate: | March 3, 2012 |
| Credits | |
| Director: | Jason deVilliers |
| Story: | Dani Michaeli |
| Written by: | Jason deVilliers Christian Jacobs Dani Michaeli |
| Episodes | |
| Previous "Tortilla Troubles" |
Next "Mysterious Egg!" |
"ManAnt!" is the 1st episode of The Aquabats! Super Show! from Season 1.
Synopsis[]
A half-man/half-ant starts blowing up burger restaurants and kidnaps Crash. Can The Aquabats stop him and save their team-mate before it's too late?
Plot[]
(Contains spoilers)
The episode starts with The Aquabats playing at a backyard birthday party. After singing "We Don't Stop!" for 8 hours, they are distracted by an explosion from The Burrito Bros. Burger Hut, where they rush in a hurry.
The Aquabats are called into action when they find out all of the burger places in town are in trouble. Their only clue is a calling card with what they think says "MahnAhnt." Recieving news of a new attack, they rush over to Tiny Burgers, where they battle masked men who also bear the mark of "MahnAhnt." They find a DVD with "MahnAhnt's" logo and rush to The BattleTram to investigate. There they find that their enemy is ManAnt, a part man, part ant villian who kidnapped Crash while they were distracted by the DVD.
ManAnt buries Crash in the ground and steals his powers in order to exact revenge for being abandoned shortly after being created by a genie as young Crash's request. With his newfound ability, ManAnt grows to normal human size and harvests even more "grow juice" from Crash by manipulating his emotions. ManAnt then uses the grow juice to enlarge several other ants and enlists their help to take over the world.
Meanwhile, The Aquabats arrive to rescue Crash, and after a short cartoon interlude, they chase after ManAnt. They find him attacking some helpless picnic-ers, and The Bats rush out to protect the people. The battle doesn't seem to be going well until Ricky retrieves the Giant Ant Forks, which seems to give The Bats enough strength to hold off the giant ants and ManAnt's henchmen. The MCBC takes on ManAnt, and after a short distraction caused by his extreme hunger, he's able to take off one of ManAnt's antennae, severing his control over the Giant Ants. The situation still seems dire for The Bats until Crash saves the day by growing large and kicking the Giant Ants so hard that they explode. He then tries to tear down the giant ant hill and discovers the location of all of the stolen hamburgers.
The episode ends with him showering his band mates with the spoils of victory, causing them to break into a joyous song as they satiate their appetites.
Characters[]
- The MC Bat Commander
- Eaglebones Falconhawk
- Crash McLarson
- Ricky Fitness
- Jimmy the Robot
- ManAnt
- Mooncheese
- The Genie
- Crash's Mother
- Firefighters
Cartoons[]
It's A Cartoon![]
The Aquabats wake up from a deep sleep after being tossed into space courtesy of Space Monster 'M'. They crash land on the moon and the The MC Bat Commander sees a puppy, just like in his deep-space dream. He follows the puppy down a crater and lands in the lair of Mooncheese, who takes him hostage. What does Mooncheese want? What does any cheese want? Tune in to the next episode!
Lil' Bat Cartoon[]
The Lil' Bat wakes up and gets breakfast, but pouring milk can prove difficult when you live on the roof of a cave upside down!
Commercial[]
The commercial for this episode is for "Harry Hider," the pine-scented hair shield. Advertised as a multi-purpose utility mustache, it is apparently designed for use mostly by children, although at the end Gloopy makes the claim that mothers can use it as well.
Uses include:
- Hiding gum usage
- Covering up bad breath
- Improving ventriliquism acts
Available styles include:
- The Pink Lady
- The Cuttlefish
- The Le Bouf
- The Grizz
Music[]
"Burger Rain!"[]
Takes place at the end of the episode as Crash rains burgers down on his friends.
This song was played live at the House of Blues concert during San Diego Comic-Con 2012. During the show cut-out cheeseburgers rained down on the audience courtesy of Toddland and The Hub.
"We Don't Stop!"[]
This is the song the bats sing at the Birthday Party. The apparently sing it for 8 hours, as the title and lyrics of the song don't allow them to stop.
Trivia[]
Cultural References[]
- Man-Ant seems to be a comedic reversal of the famous superhero Ant-Man.
- The dress the little girl wears during the picnic scene bears a striking resemblance to the one worn by the android, V.I.C.I., in the television series Small Wonder.
- The Burrito Bros. Burger Hut seems to contain elements from several restaurant chains and also to be a jab at the combination restaurants that have grown in popularity since 2000, such as KFC/Taco Bell/Pizza Hut
- ManAnt, after being picked up by one of his own minions, yells "Get your hands off me, you dirty ant!" which is an obvious homage to the famous line from Planet of the Apes.
- One version of the Harry Hider is called The Pink Lady, which was the name of a Japanese pop duo.
Aquabats Trivia[]
- In the remastered version, longtime Aquabats producer Cameron Webb says the "Previously... on The Aquabats! Super Show!" catchphrase earlier during the flashback scenes. Also, a scream was added in the "Previously... on The Aquabats! Super Show!" segment, and The Magic Store and FremantleMedia logos were replaced with the Awesome Forces! logo.
- The scene was later animated for the ending of the "A Cartoon!" segment in Showtime! Also, Space Monster 'M' was mentioned.
- The little girl that runs away during the picnic scene also appears in Showtime!
- The Petrozzi family also appears in the Ring in a Can commercial in Laundry Day!
- The Fox Man appears in the background of the picnic scene.
- Crash's mother is also played by Chad Larson.
- ManAnt also appears in the final episode of The Aquabats Super Kickstarter campaign, asking Cobra Man and Silver Skull if they wanted to ruin The Aquabats' benefit concert to raise money for a third season of The Aquabats Super Show.
- The Tiny Burgers building also appears in the commercial of the same name in LadyFingers!
- The episode was watched by Lil Bat at the end of the cartoon interlude in Summer Camp!
- The audio clips were later reused for The Aquabats Super Show Television Soundtrack: Volume One.
- The cartoon interlude was later reused in a side-by-side comparison along with the ending of Showtime! in the behind the scenes special.
- The music for the "Previously... on The Aquabats! Super Show!" segment was later reused for Mysterious Egg! and Überchaun!
- A prototype version of this episode can be found on the Aquabats Super Show DVD and CD press kit to promote the show premiering on March 3.
Production Trivia[]
- The voice for ManAnt was done by Mr. Lawrence, who narrated all of the live-action segments.
- The body acting for ManAnt was done by Art Mitchell, bassist for Supernova, who also played Trusty Dusty in Laundry Day!
- The first firefighter was actually Michael Hobert, the same actor who plays the miner in Cowboy Android!, the policeman in Showtime! and the grocery store manager in Bad Apple!
- The second firefighter was actually Dallas McLaughlin, the same actor who plays the serf in Laundry Day!, Space Monster 'M' in Showtime! and the commercial father in Tortilla Troubles and Christmas With the Aquabats!
- In this episode, there are two types of belts. The ones with blue were filmed on location; the ones with black were filmed in the studio.
- The morning footage at the birthday party was actually shot during the evening.
- EaglesBones' guitar wasn't finished, and looks different from his guitar in the rest of the show.
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