Alligators and Okeechobee Vikings

The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest
"Alligators and Okeechobee Vikings"
Episode no.	H00616-94010
Airdate	November 1, 1996
Chief locations	Florida Everglades, Okeechobee 80.71W, 27.34N (N/A miles)
Writer(s)	Peter Lawrence Ben Schwartz (story)
Guest roles	J.D. Roth (Additional Voices) Robert Patrick (Crew #1) Michael Benyaer (Guard #3 / Scout / Voice / Additional Voices) Frank Welker (Alligator) Ed Gilbert (Badur / Guard #2) Nick Jameson (Leif / Sentry) Jan Rabson (Avary / Donaldson) Chick Vennera (Walker / Additional Voices)
Episode sequence	Future Rage <--> To Bardo and Back
Other episodes

Thought to be eco-terrorists, vikings in alligator suits assault a drilling rig and prompt an inquiry from Dr. Quest. After Jonny and Hadji are lost in an air boat incident, he finds that the vikings are the least of his problems...

Plot Summary

Teaser

On an drilling rig in the Florida Everglades, a guard notices gators approaching. He takes several shots at them with his rifle, but is soon thrown over the edge by a man dressed like an alligator and his compatriots. Two other guards rush out to the deck and find the ship is on fire. Chief Walker climbs up to find two strange men dressed in alligator suits; one swings at him with a sword, embedding it in the ladder. The other cuts a pipe to knock the chief off the ship as he draws a submachine gun. The two then flee, and when the chief comes back, he notices that the ship has viking emblems upon it, including a longboat.

Act One

Race holds the sword

Dr. Benton Quest and Race Bannon examine the sword, now in the possession of a man called Avary in charge of the pumping stations. He notices that it depicts a viking funeral pyre, and dates from the tenth century. Avary notes that officials are looking for eco-terrorists dressed like alligators, and the chief tells Race that he needs no help in finding them. Meanwhile, Jonny Quest and Hadji Singh are tearing up the Everglades in a air boat when Bandit flies over the side on a hard turn. He swims ashore only to find an alligator pursuing him; he then paddles back to Jonny, and Hadji tries to seek his forgiveness. After Dr. Quest and Race prepare to depart, Avary tells the chief that having Dr. Quest on the case will make them look like the good guys. The chief asks what will happen if Quest finds their cover-up pumping stations, and Avary tells him to ensure that doesn't happen. Walker, Benton, and Race take off in a motorboat with a air boat tethered to it as Jonny and Hadji catch up. Unfortunately, Jonny hits a sandbar and the two fly into the muck, where an alligator appears.

Jonny and Hadji are captured

It does not attack, and the two are soon captured by the vikings, who tie them to poles and march them back to camp. Race goes in after them but ends up wrestling an alligator before Walker shoots it; he returns to Benton and orders a search party deployed. Jonny and Hadji are taken by a longboat with an alligator figurehead, and notice that vegetation dies near the viking camp, which is an assortment of stilt and tree houses. Race does not want to stop searching, but only Walker's men have lights and must be trusted to do the job. As they return, they find that the water is shallow in certain places and is littered with dead alligators and fish. Race think that Avary doesn't want them to find it, and decides to go ahead with a huge search party which will conveniently expose the environmental issue at the same time. Walker appears saying he's found Jonny and Hadji; Race correctly does not believe him and speeds away with Benton and Bandit on board. Walker raises his gun and fires.

Act Two

Jonny takes to the trees

Walker fires, destroying their air boat engine before he tries to kill Bandit, who bails. Walker notes to his lieutenant that he won't kill Dr. Quest until Jonny is found. Back at the viking village, Hadji postulates that the vikings are leftovers from the first viking party to visit America, who presumably made their way south and interbred with the local Native American population. As a swordsmith clangs away outside, he notices airplane wreckages and suspects that they get their iron from such crashes. Jonny spots their air boat, and has Hadji give him a lift to begin the escape. He easily parts the thatched roof; Hadji throws him his unraveled turban and climbs up as well. Jonny scampers up the swordsmith's hut, but Hadji's leg pokes through the roof. Pieces of straw fall on the sword and burn, but the swordsmith thinks nothing of it. They continue to the dock; as they stand near its edge, several alligators snap at them and they decide to climb trees to get to their air boat. Hadji's boost puts Jonny on a limb and makes the dock give way beneath him; he barely recovers in time to see the vikings rushing towards the two. Jonny goes ahead while Hadji jumps to a marsh tree and hangs from a rope above the green creatures. The vikings begin shooting arrows as Jonny leaps to the air boat and whirls around to pick up Hadji.

Benton and Race are captured

On the way out, a viking sounds his bullhorn and a warrior descend on the boat. He takes two or three swings at the team before Jonny blows a fire extinguisher in his face and he and Hadji escape. At the drilling rig, Avary has tied up Race and Dr. Quest, who object to his plan to drain a "minute" percentage of the Everglades. Jonny is flabbergasted with trying to find the rig, and as Hadji shares wisdom, an arrow hits the air boat, fired from an approaching longboat. That night, the vikings approach the rig, surprisingly with Jonny and Hadji aboard. Avary commands Walker to shoot Dr. Quest and Race and dump the bodies, then hears the vikings approach. His inept guards fail to prevent their boarding, and as Avary radios to the police that Dr. Quest was killed, a warrior enters his quarters and chops him to death. Jonny and Hadji meanwhile sneak up on Walker and toss him overboard before fleeing themselves. As they prepare to get away in the longboats, the warrior Badur triumphantly shouts above the burning rig. Walker emerges from a ladder and fires a machine gun at him before Badur slices it and knocks him overboard, where he's devoured by alligators. Badur is wounded, and the ship explodes, sending his sword flying into the deep; Jonny retrieves it. It is placed on his funeral mound the next day, and Leif brings Bandit by calling an alligator to deliver him on his jaw.

Notes

Quotes

• Race - "Whoever handled this baby must be tougher than a bald owl."

~

• Race - "I don't trust Walker further than I could spit against a willow walk."

~

• Race - "It's a buck to a pinch of stardust that the last thing he wants here is a search party looking for Jonny and Hadji."

~

• Race - "If you believe that, I've got a bridge for sale in Brooklyn."

~

• Race - "Fur on a catfish! I believe this is what's called, dead in the water."

~

• Hadji - "You know, Jonny, there is no guarantee our air boat will still work."
• Jonny - "As you once told me: fate aids the courageous."
• Hadji - "I also said, never estimate the value of tiger skin until you've caught the tiger!"

~

• Hadji - "No! Down! Get back! It is against my religion to be eaten by reptiles."

~

• Jonny - "We're lost."
• Hadji - "One is never lost, Jonny. One is always where one is supposed to be."
• Jonny - "Do you know how smug that sounds?"
• Hadji - "Smugness has nothing to do with it. If you are always wishing to be somewhere else, you will never understand the significance of the moment."
• Jonny - "Say, Hadji, what exactly is the significance of this moment?"

~

• Avary - "Shoot 'em and dump 'em. Such an irony...the green-friendly Dr. Quest murdered by eco-terrorists."

Goofs

• Dr. Quest's hair is all brown and no gray.

Trivia

• The Quest Byte features the query "Cool Stuff", which Iris refuses. It then discusses certain parts of Questworld, including bodies, heads, the Virtua Speeder, and the Sonic Detonator.

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