Adventure Episode 14: Departure for a New Continent

In this episode, a hologram of a strange old man convinces the kids to commit suicide rather than stay on the blasted island. Several Digimon make sure they don't die.

Time for a palette cleanser episode, providing a transition from the first arc to the second. This usually involves a quieter, funnier or explanation-driven episode. This one is none of the above. It's not bad though.

We kick things off with a sudden appearance from a holographic Gennai, who manages to be simultaneously mystical, wisecracking and useless. Often in the same sentence. His message is basically, “Come to Server; I have more stuff for you to fight.” He also dangles the carrot of tags and crests that will let their Digimon evolve further if retrieved. So he not only gives them a vague mission, but also a sidequest to make sure their RPG isn't too linear.

He also gives them no way to get to Server, other than a very unhelpful map automatically transmitted to Izzy's computer (you'd think he'd have virus protection preventing such unauthorized transfers). This leads to a very interesting scene where the gang deliberates their next move. Tai wants to go... of course he does. There is question of transportation, however, and the prospect of more battling. Some are comfortable with knowing they beat Devimon; some recognize that he kicked their asses until Angemon stepped up and died for them. Despite some stammering, Joe makes a very compelling argument about how File Island is now secure, how they are now familiar with the territory, how their basic survival needs are covered and how Sora and Mimi would make a perfect Mary Ann and Ginger. Just as he seems to have the group convinced, TK jumps in and pretty much declares that he's going no matter what. He wants those damn tags. So do the Digimon, apparently, and they bring everybody over.

They set out to build a raft, which they are about as effective at as Gilligan's crew until a bunch of Digimon from previous episodes show up and do the work for them. The result is a fine vessel for drifting down the Mississippi, but nowhere near adequate for sailing the deep ocean. Anchors aweigh!

I must give credit to the orchestration for this scene, a really nice combination between a driving march and montage music. It's easy to miss given the quality of the Japanese music and some of the grating songs in the dub, but the background music is usually pretty solid. Had me convinced that they weren't all sailing to their doom.

Doom it is, however, as they are quickly swallowed by a whale and have a fantastic voyage (and future theme park ride) to the stomach, where acid dissolves their boat. Palmon and Tai team up to destroy Whamon's black gear and they are rewarded with a trip through the blowhole. Grateful, Whamon offers to give them a ride to Server, telling them it's a five-day trip. All of their food and supplies were likely lost with the raft, but they're cool with this. They're also down with diving underwater to find their tags, because they haven't risked drowning enough this episode. Long story short, they find an underwater cave of random convenience store, Ikkakumon and Kabuterimon fight off the guardian mole and TK's shiny new Poyomon finds the tags. Hopefully they also picked up enough beef jerky and Slurpees to last them the rest of the trip.

My Grade: B-

Loose Data:

• Izzy's map of Server seems to have a fairly random shoreline, except for the peninsula which looks exactly like Italy.
• When the Digimon show up to help build the raft, the kids call out the names of the arriving monsters. A good half announce Digimon they had never met.
• Couldn't we get at least a little buildup to Poyomon's hatching? They're in the middle of something, then poof- he hatches. No fanfare or anything. Couldn't this have waited an episode?
• After his defeat, Drimogemon has an incredibly polite and gentlemanly voice. He's awfully refined for a mole in an undersea cave.