Future Rage

The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest
"Future Rage"
Episode no.	H00616-94019
Airdate	October 29, 1996
Chief locations	Northeastern Siberia 0.00, 90.00N (2,475 miles)
Vehicle(s)	PBY Catalina Questsled
Writer(s)	Glenn Leopold Additional material Michael Ryan Dean Caccomo
Guest roles	Michael Benyaer (Guard #1) Frank Welker (Operations Controller) David Ackroyd (Rage) Dee Bradley Baker (Dr. Vedder) Michael Bell (Dr. Forbes / Additional voices) Darleen Carr (Abby) Haven Hartman (Karla) Michael Horse (Eskimo) Jim Meskimen (Torgeson / Disciple) B.J. Ward (Iris the Computer)
Episode sequence	Ice Will Burn <--> Alligators and Okeechobee Vikings
Other episodes

Ezekiel Rage steals a compact thermonuclear device and plans to melt the polar ice caps. The team set out in the Questsled to foil his plan, unaware that the Aurora Borealis in the sky above shall prove their greatest weapon.

Plot Summary

Teaser

Rage steals the nuke

At Cascade Thermonuclear Facility, two scientists gloat over the successful explosion of their first device, Big Baby One, on Tiki Island. The device was set inside a volcano set to erupt and a probe helicopter was dispatched to monitor conditions while a nearby battleship would view the overall explosion. As the volcano began to blow, the device exploded, incinerating Tiki island and engulfing the probe in fire as it sped over one hundred miles per hour away. The scientists laugh at their success, and one cautions the other that the public must never know that Tiki island was not blown up by a natural event. As they look upon Big Baby Two's being prepared in a chamber, a panel in the ceiling drops down to allow gas canisters to flood the room. Ezekiel Rage's men descend on ropes and quickly secure Big Baby Two, which is lifted to the roof to a waiting helicopter. Rage attacks the scientist with his book before retreating to avoid gunfire by security guards. The scientists are in shock that the most powerful compact nuclear device "the world has ever seen" has been stolen.

Act One

The team watch his message

Jessie Bannon is playing a Virtua Speeder game in Questworld with the aim of beating Jonny Quest's record time. A bogey rides aside her and attempts to subvert her speeder, but she leads him through a narrow slough and fools him into crashing into a fallen tree. As she prepares to cross the finish line, Questworld is disrupted and Jessie asks what happened. Ezekiel Rage then appears on the lighthouse's main screens, forecasting destruction for the world for not reading the Book of Rage. Dr. Quest and Race Bannon analyze the recorded message as Jonny suggests that its global satellite transmission must have broken through Questworld. Dr. Quest activates the Hologlobe in the laboratory and find that the trace lines all point to the North Pole. At the Pentagon, the spy controller orders Torgeson to contain the situation. The team take the PBY Catalina to a landing strip, then continue with the Questsled across the ice. Nearby, a man is watching the Aurora Borealis, at the peak of its seven year cycle, and apparently watching two kids throw a ball back in forth joyfully within it. Hadji witnesses the same event through his meditation. Eventually, Dr. Quest decides that they aren't covering enough ground and should split up; Jessie and Jonny depart in snow machines and are told to report in within an hour to the base camp the others will establish. Hadji stays at the parked Questsled as Race and Benton depart on their own search; they find helicopter landing tracks before being assailed by Rage's men, who take them prisoner. Jonny, Jessie, and Bandit are still riding snow machines when each wrecks on loose ice.

Act Two

The team observe Rage

They've landed in an underground tunnel, part of Rage's base. Contact with Hadji is impossible due to the ice barrier, leading them to explore. They find his main operational room, with Big Baby Two being armed at the center and several armed guards holding Race and Benton. Bandit starts barking, leading the guards to pursue Jessie and Jonny as they escape on snow machines. They flee through a narrow crevice which their pursuers cannot avoid and crash into. Back at the Questsled, the man watching the lights from before enters the vehicle and speaks to Hadji; they adjourn outside while the man expresses wonder at Hadji's ability to see the kids. He notes that lights are a torch lit by those who have gone to the heavens for those who must make the journey, but that they also can forecast great disease or war. As Jonny and Jessie ride up, the Eskimo disappears, leaving Hadji to reunite with his friends alone.

At Rage's base, Race is thrown to the floor as Rage announces that he's built several replicas of Big Baby Two and will blow them in sequence, melting the polar ice caps and taking his revenge on the world despite the death of innocents. He sets the timer for two minutes. The team prepare to enter his lair, and Hadji notes that now is a good time for guidance from the Aurora Borealis. Jessie enters to Race's horror, pretending to be Abby, Rage's lost daughter. The lights form a tornado like structure and beam over Jessie, making her appear as Rage's daughter to him. He recalls his final moments with his family, and believes Jessie's statement that Benton and Race are good and should be freed. As he prepares to free them, Jonny and Hadji burst in, and Jessie frees Race and Dr. Quest with fifty seconds left. The cavalry arrives with Torgeson, though Rage escapes through a bulletproof door. Dr. Quest deactivates the bomb as Rage flees in his helicopter, and the team reunite outside. Hadji mystically reveals the role of the Aurora Borealis in the their fortune.

Notes

Quotes

• Jessie - "You don't know what you're missing, Hadj."
• Jonny - "On the other hand, who knows what we're missing? Who knows what's going on in there when Hadji's meditating?"

~

• Race - "You sure our kids weren't switched at birth?"

~

• Rage - "Behold Big Baby Two, the most powerful thermonuclear device in the world."
• Race - "Nothin' like a hydrogen bomb to ruin your day."

~

• Dr. Quest - "Could you two suspend the formalities while we see if we can neutralize this device and maybe save the world?"

~

• Rage - "The fight is not to the swift. Righteousness shall prevail! I will take my vengeance! So it is written in the Book of Rage."

~

• Hadji - "It was the Aurora Borealis—an unlikely explanation and one which I very much doubt that you literal types will believe; so perhaps I will say that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in your philosophy."

Goofs

• Dr. Quest's hair is all brown and no gray.
• The background of Rage's message is the same one used to illustrate the astral plane in Assault on Questworld.

Trivia

• The Pentagon controller who handles the nuke situation is the same one who turned down Rage's support in Panagua.
• Rage's final comment blunders Ecclesiastes 9:11: "I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all."
• This episode does not feature a Quest Byte.

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