Alien in Washington

The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest
"Alien in Washington"
Episode no.	H00616-94017
Airdate	September 6, 1996
Chief locations	Washington D.C.
Vehicle(s)	Quest Airstream Motor Home
Writer(s)	Peter Lawrence Matthew Malach
Guest roles	Michael Benyaer (Aide) Frank Welker (Officer / Alien) Paul Eiding (Bennett / Technician #1) Ed Gilbert (Tyler / Technician #2) Chuck Howerton (Vice President) B.J. Ward (Iris the Computer)
Episode sequence	Ezekiel Rage <--> Return of the Anasazi
Other episodes

A series of unexplained, indecipherable messages from Gamma Centauri lead the Quests to Washington, where the Vice President clashes with General Tyler over space-based weapon defense.

Plot Summary

Act One

Jonny in QuestWorld

Jonny plays level three of a Virtua Cycle game in Questworld as two AI racers approach. He loses the first by causing it to crash into a wall on a sharp turn. The second crashes after failing to jump a rising bridge in the futuristic city, and Jonny dispatches the level guardian with a shot from a tail-gun. The level blocks further access, and Iris the Computer informs Jonny that an "entity" is approaching. Jonny then sees several images of Washington D.C. and a man being enveloped by light. QuestWorld suffers a system failure, and Jonny alerts Hadji, who's been meditating; they find that the strange transmissions are continuing on a nearby monitor. Hadji decides to reboot QuestWorld and see if the interruption happens again. Meanwhile, Dr. Quest and Race are looking at a series of unexplained signals from Gamma Centauri which NASA had been analyzing for three weeks prior. The Vice President appears on the screen and inquires of their progress, and Dr. Quest postulates that the signals are messages that aren't reaching their intended target.

Jonny restores his game, but after defeating an enemy, he finds QuestWorld malfunctioning again. The system crashes, and Dr. Quest chides Jonny for apparently overloading the system's processors. He then proposes a trip to Washington D.C., and the Quests set out in the Queststream. In Washington, General Tyler rebuffs the Vice President and Commander Bennett's requests to reevaluate a space defense program. On a nearby highway, Jonny notices QuestWorld kick in by itself, and hears a cryptic, broken message about difficulties at the Pentagon with General Tyler. Dr. Quest realizes that the virtual reality program is reconfiguring the sine waves of the transmissions, and asks Hadji to log him into QuestWorld. He manages to decipher the signals, and presents the evidence to General Tyler in a meeting. The messages are warnings to cease deep space defense tests, or military installations and major cities will be destroyed. Tyler ignores the evidence, and Jonny encounters interference that night in QuestWorld again. At the Pentagon's control room, holographic images of tanks, submarines, fighter jets, and nuclear missiles being destroyed by advanced alien powers spill out from the monitors.

Act Two

The alien subdues the MPs

Jonny and Hadji watch the apocalyptic scenarios from the hotel room, and notify Dr. Quest and Race. General Tyler still doesn't believe in the threat at a meeting with the team the next day, but another vision suddenly appears, showing an aircraft carrier's destruction. Tyler considers it a trick, but an aide tells him that the USS Eisenhower was just lost, although miraculously no hands perished. Tyler decides to reconsider, but when the Vice President establishes contact with the aliens, Tyler's men track the signal and lead him to conclude that the threat was a hoax perpetuated by the Vice President himself. The Quests meet with the Vice President, who reveals his status as an alien, and explains that he's having difficulty contacting his race to tell them to cancel the threat. Jonny has an idea, and they all depart in the Queststream as Tyler's men arrive at the Vice President's office. Dr. Quest realizes that QuestWorld started intercepting the Vice President's messages once they downloaded the transmission from NASA, and wants to broadcast messages from QuestWorld. They park the Queststream in a wooded area and the Vice President logs in; however, General Tyler soon arrives with MPs to detain the Quests. The Vice President subdues them by taking on an illuminated form. He reassures the Quests that he got through to his people, and changes to a ball of light to float up to a ride back to his planet. The next day, Bennett announces that the Vice President had a fatal heart attack, and becomes the acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Notes

Quotes

The alien departs

• Jonny - "Slammin'! And I mean SLAMMIN'!!"

~

• Jonny - "This is too strange for school, Hadj."

~

• Dr. Quest - "NASA's been monitoring them for three weeks."
• Race - "It took them three weeks to ask you to figure them out?"

~

• Tyler - "I know who you are, Mr. Bannon—an ex-secret operations cowboy."
• Race - "Well shucks, slick; when you boys in Washington let the cattle out of the corral, it's us cowboys that have to round them up."

~

• Race - "You look like a couple kerosene cats in hell. What's up?"

~

• Tyler - "That's insubordination!!"
• Race - "We're not in your army, hoss."

Goofs

• When Tyler's men approach the broadcasting Queststream, one of the cars is black in motion and suddenly becomes yellow when parked. The car becomes black again in future shots.

Trivia

• Charles Howerton, voice of the Vice President, voiced Dr. Quest in Cover-Up At Roswell.
• The USS Eisenhower is still in service as of 2009.
• Jessie is completely absent from this episode.
• This episode does not feature a Quest Byte.

Media

Images

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  Alien in Washington storyboard

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  Alien in Washington storyboard

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  Alien in Washington storyboard

From: Episodes