In the Wake of the Mary Celeste

The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest
"In the Wake of the Mary Celeste"
Episode no.	H00616-94007
Airdate	September 12, 1996
Chief locations	Sargasso Sea 66.12W, 33.24N (868 miles)
Vehicle(s)	Questor Sea Slug Minichopper Questor's Whaler PBY Catalina QuestTech Jetski
Writer(s)	Chris Trengrove
Guest roles	Robert Foxworth (Max Schumaker / Vladimire Oistrakh / Capt. Briggs) Frank Welker (Police Chief)
Episode sequence	Trouble on the Colorado <--> AMOK
Other episodes

A century ago, the cargo ship Mary Celeste sank under mysterious circumstances. While on an expedition to find the Mary Celeste's remains, Dr Quest discovers what look like crop circles at the bottom of the Sargasso Sea—and a graveyard of ships in an area barren of marine life.

Plot Summary

Act One

The Sea Slug finds the wreck

While guiding the Mary Celeste and her cargo of 1,700 barrels of rum across the seas, Captain Briggs hears a strange, unearthly rumbling sound from the ocean. He leaves his quarters to find the ship's crew spellbound by the sound, and then spots a pool of green light on the surface of the ocean moving near. Some of the crew try to flee, but the light swirls beneath the ship, permeating every room with screeching noise. The Briggs family takes refuge in their quarters, but the light finds them through the window. Captain Briggs's narration is then revealed to be the voice of Max Schumaker, a man who regressed to his former life in the company of the Quests on the Questor. Hadji Singh is coaching Max to remember the events of Captain Briggs's life, as Dr. Quest skeptically watches in hopes of deciphering the mystery of the Mary Celeste. Jonny is meanwhile preparing for a triathlon under Race's tutelage at the Quest Compound.

Back on the Questor, Dr. Quest prepares to run a computer program as Max asks if he's been of any help. Dr. Quest starts the program, which uses various technical and historical data to approximate the ship's final position. The catamaran then sails to the area and deploys the Sea Slug with Dr. Quest and Max inside. As they near the position on the sea floor, they find the wreck and notice that no marine flora or fauna exists around it. Max regresses to Captain Briggs and nearly destroys the submersible by trying to open the hatch; Dr. Quest subdues him and returns to the surface. While Max rests, Dr. Quest deploys the Minichopper and begins surveying the site again. He notices patches of green light that seem to be crop circles; they explode with light when he approaches and cause a total failure of the minichopper's systems. Hadji rides out on the Questor's Whaler to rescue Dr. Quest, then calls Race and Jonny and tells them to fly out. Race picks Jonny up from the bicycle triathlon and the two depart in the PBY Catalina for the Sargasso. The two arrive to find an empty ship.

Act Two

Jonny and Race infiltrate

Race and Jonny solicit help from the coastal settlement of San Esteban, but come up empty handed. As they prepare to depart, a psychic investigator named Vladimir Oistrakh solicits his services and demonstrates his power on Race. Jonny and Race give him a shot, and over the site, the Vladimir speaks in the voices of Briggs and Benton, telling Race and Jonny to stay away and give up the search. Race rejects the advice and considers Vladimir a fraud, locking him up. Vladimir steals the Questor's Whaler, and Jonny and Race pursue in the QuestTech Jetski. Vladimir gets away after Race stops to help the policeman from San Esteban, but Race assures Jonny that a homing beacon was placed on the Whaler. Jonny and Race track it to a yacht, and storm into Vladimir's room at night with spearguns. Vladimir is waiting with a mirror trap, and after capturing Race and Jonny, reveals he's Derek Ironwood, an old agency contact from Race's past.

Derek had been on assignment in Portugal when he heard the real story of the Mary Celeste from an old man: that the ship's real cargo was gold, and the crew mutinied, leaving the Briggs family in a lifeboat before being swallowed up with the ship in inexplicable light. The first mate survived, telling the old man who eventually told Derek. He resolved in that moment to do an "inside job" on the Quests and recover the real cargo by posing as Max Schumaker. He throws Race and Jonny in a room with Dr. Quest and Hadji, who are tied up, and taunts them with explosives that will destroy the ship from the engine room and cause the tragic death of the Quests. Race picks his handcuff lock and leads the others to safety in the water as the yacht explodes. Ironwood speeds away in the whaler, but the craft stops as green light erupts and swallows him.

Notes

Quotes

Ironwood is swallowed up

• Jonny - "Ahoy, lubbers! The A-team's here!"

~

• Race - "Nothin'. No one. Emptier than a skid row trash can."

~

• Race - "Jonny, what we've got here is what you might call a situation."

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• Race - "Not even a double-jointed mosquito could get out of this place."

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• Hadji - "Karma will change life like the swish of a horse's tail!"
• Jonny - "I have no idea what that means!"
• Race - "You have to feed the mule if you want to go to the fair!"

Trivia

• Jessie is completely absent from this episode.
• This episode does not feature a Quest Byte.

From: Episodes