Oscar Bensol brings us "Vassa, Queen of the Mermen".
A group of whale-like ships approach Atlantis, commanded by the titular queen. They attempt to capture Mera, who calls for help, and in come our heroes. Tusky gets in the way, and is hit by a beam. Mera is captured as well. Aquaman tries to hold a whaleships's "mouth" open, and needs help from sharks. He disables one of the ships, and a hammerhead shark breaks it open to release Mera. Meanwhile, the other ships are upon Atlantis. Mera wants to help Aquaman, but she's a girl, so no. Rays start cracking the done. A fish army is called in to repel them. Electric eels shock a ship, and a real whale takes it out. The final ship goes to ram the dome, so Aquaman grabs it with an anchor and chain. The Sea King grabs Vassa, then releases her. Tusky, still ready to fight, grabs a real whale with bad results.
Some things to look for:
- Aquaman's nickname for Aqualad count: Tadpole (20)
- Aqualad catchphrase attempts: Holy Halibut
- Diana Maddox does double duty as Mera and Vassa
- That communicator ring Mera is wearing must be very inconvenient, with little antenna sticking out
- There's a lot of severe closeups in this episode
- Is Vassa German?
- Why does Aquaman let Vassa go? Doesn't Atlantis have some sort of jail?
George Kashdan writes "The Microscopic Monsters".
Aquaman is fooling with a gun that grows microscopic creatures by 10 times. However, Black Manta is in the area, watching the test. The gun does too good a job, and makes plankton grow to huge size. Aquaman goes to stop them, and Manta grabs the gun and Aqualad. Aquaman follows, calling in the fish army, including a giant lobster (?) and a giant fish. Manta tells the Sea King to let him go, or Aqualad is fish food. Electric torpedo rays (yes, that's a real fish) zap Manta's ship and break him out. Manta threatens to grow all the plankton, but Imp knocks the gun out of his hands, setting it off. The battle is on! The manta ray's venom shrinks the plankton back to normal. Tusky berates Imp for jumping in without thinking--that's his job!
Some things to look for:
- Aquaman's nickname for Aqualad count: Tadpole (22)
- Aqualad catchphrase attempts: Pounding Pigfish, Blasting Blowfish. Aquaman counters with "Great Waves!"
- When did Aquaman become an inventor?
- More manta-men, wearing blankets on their heads.
- Were these giant creatures created by the ray, or were they just hanging out?
- Think how hard it must have been for Aquaman writers to come up with real fish species, before the Internet and Wikipedia...
- The manta's "venom" looks a lot like electricity
Remember, you can play along by watching the show on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, or VUDU. You can also buy the DVD on Amazon.