Save the Cave

***Save the Cave*** is an episode of *Midnight Patrol: Adventures in the Dream Zone*, and the twelfth overall. It aired on November 17, 1990.

## Synopsis

As they arrive in the Dream Zone, the Midnight Patrol is immediately requested by The Grand Dozer to The Chief, who gives the Patrol an important assignment: The Greystone Giant is running slow on orders, and the Patrol has to get them fulfilled faster. Though they convince the Giant to take a vacation with them taking the role when he's away, they find out that the task is too hard for them; which is only complicated even more when The Nightmare Prince "cavenaps" their job.

## Plot

One night, Nick is greeting his fellow neighbors Keiko and Carter goodnight, with his father commentating "What an imagination!" on his statement. We are then greeted with shots of what would be members of the Midnight Patrol sleeping bed, as they are then transported to the Dream Zone, where they arrive inside the Grand Dozer's palace. Sebastian and the Dozer then approach the group, saying that the Chief will be giving an important assignment for them. Reporting for duty, the Chief assigns them their assignment: To solve a problem where the Greystone Giant is behind on given orders, as people will not have proper dreams without the Giant being on time.

The Midnight Patrol arrive at the doorway of the cave, and enter inside as they find out that the Giant is indeed inside. While they are at first undiscovered, the Giant finds out about them when Rosie takes a hold of a shoe. Keiko confronts the Giant face-to-face regarding the problem, with the latter saying that the reason for the problem is due to the Snooze Patrol sending out more orders before he is able to fulfill a single order. She suggests he take a vacation so he can feel "so rested" when he comes back, and while he isn't at first convinced to do so, he is talked through it by the rest of the members, who would takeover his job in the meantime. Realizing that he is indeed leaving his cave for a vacation, the Giant gives the Patrol three rules to follow:

* 1. Don't let anyone in.
* 2. Don't lose the key.
* 3. Don't let anyone in.

With the Giant now on a vacation, the Midnight Patrol have separate tasks for the cave: Carter gives Keiko orders from the Snooze Patrol, with her giving out said orders to Rosie, who at times passes on the order to Nick. The Patrol then encounter their first problems in the cave: Carter is not able to respond back to Nick in time regarding a sled for Dream Central, and Rosie is not able to find a beach ball anywhere, forcing Keiko to substitute it for a very heavy wrecking ball instead. Potsworth asks Keiko if things aren't going very well, and while she replies that she has everything under control, she ends up being buried under piles of paper with more orders.

Meanwhile, the oversized Giant is resting at the beach, where he questions where the fun is there. A member of the Snooze Patrol is seen pulling the aforementioned wrecking ball to a boy, leading to him deeming his dream as being "crummy". Thinking that it's better underwater, the Giant attempts to go swimming, only for his size to end up splashing the ocean away.

The show cuts into the castle of the Nightmare Prince, where he is in the phone with his unseen mother. He approaches Irving regarding the TVs, though he replies about the wrong TV (which is showing a soap opera instead of a view of the Dream Zone's locations). He finds out about the Midnight Patrol being at the cave, revealing that the group is now having problems. Back at the cave, Carter is now tangled in telephone wires thanks to the various orders being given out, and the group is now behind in orders like the Giant previously. A mysterious individual pretending to be a member of the Snooze Patrol then approaches the Patrol at the door, with Keiko exclaiming that they are currently busy with their job. The individual claims that they need to retrieve a flying carpet for a dream, with Potsworth attempting to sniff on the individual for any suspicious material. They give the individual permission to get inside the cave to obtain it, only for the door to close. While the key at first is still intact, a crane pulls it away from Rosie's hands.

The individual reveals himself to be the Nightmare Prince, sending fear among the Patrol (except for Potsworth, who knew that the individual would've been the Prince all along). Their first attempt to get back inside is from Carter, who paints a door to try and make them go through the cave's giant door; Instead, a lion is waiting behind the painted door, prompting Carter to immediately erase the door before trouble would happen. Their second attempt is from Keiko, who poses as a "Dream Scout" and tries to sell the Prince cookies. This fails when the Prince uses a roped plunger to get the cookies (Ironically, Keiko could've passed through a hole in the door the plunger passes through, as the Prince eats the cookies for a duration that could be long enough for her to get in easily). Potsworth tries to get in contact with the Giant to tell him about the predicament, but Keiko, still not giving up with their assignment, reminds him that the predicament still isn't bad enough to warrant giving up, saying that the Prince hasn't blown up the place with explosives yet; only for him to literally do it just after she says it.

The Giant, now having had enough of the beach, is now at a ski hill, where he is skiing. He doesn't get problems from it at first, only for him to end up crashing through a hill, destroying some trees in the process. He then begins to go back to his cave; not because of his problems, but because he had forgotten his toothbrush, saying that he can't have fun without it. Meanwhile, the Midnight Patrol attempts to use a tall disguise to trick the Prince, who is still in control of the cave, but it doesn't fool the Prince, who splashes them with water. Potsworth would then do what he'd attempt to do earlier, and while he now succeeds, he ends up unknowingly bumping to his legs. The Giant then finds out that the door to the cave is locked, to which he questions the Patrol about what had happened. Keiko says about the Prince having stolen their job to watch the cave, and while she is worried about it, the Giant does not have much problem regarding it, replying that he could take the backdoor in order to get in.

The Giant and the Patrol finally get inside the cave, discovering the Nightmare Prince inside. Discovered, the Prince dons a helmet in preparation for the Giant's response, as he then gets thrown back into the bed in his castle. He is called by his mother, but he puts down the phone exclaiming that he does not have time to talk about it. With things back into normal with nothing to worry about, As Keiko realizes the time in Earth (being that it's almost time for them to wake up), the Giant gives them one last favor: To not help him again with his orders, with him yelling it so loud it is able to blow Keiko and Nick's clothing out of their bodies, revealing sleepwear similar to the Dozer's inside, which they try to coverup with their limbs.

Back at the Dozer's palace, Keiko is thinking negatively about the assignment, saying to the Chief that they possibly did not do too well solving it. The Chief retracts her sentence, saying that the Giant is now faster than ever in fulfilling orders. Keiko is now positive in response to this knowing that he indeed needed a vacation, but Rosie attempts to retract her sentence once more, claiming that her straightening him up was the reason. Potsworth then commentates on an incoming argument between the two, saying that "even if you treat them, they still act like humans". The Patrol then bid their farewell towards the Chief, Sebastian and the sleeping Dozer, who informs Sebastian to tell them he said "goodbye".

## Appearances

* Nick
* Keiko
* Carter
* Nick's father
* Rosie
* Murphy
* Potsworth
* Sebastian
* The Grand Dozer
* Snooze Patrol
* The Chief
* The Greystone Giant
* Unnamed boy
* The Nightmare Prince
* Irving

## Goofs/Errors

### Animation

* In the scene where Nick is pressing buttons on the telephone Carter had painted for him, Potsworth is seemingly shaking.
* Keiko's shoe is miscolored white in the scene where the Patrol begin to go to the Snooze Patrol headquarters, specifically in one frame where she dashes away from view.
* When Murphy is being blown away by the Chief, his legs are partially cutoff. This is because his cel layer was overlayed on top of the Chief's, with her podium being part of the background painting.
* When Nick gets Murphy from Rosie's head, his legs (Nick) are wider than they are supposed to be.
* When the rest of the Patrol arrive at the cave's doorstep, Keiko gets duplicated for a single frame.
* In the scene where the Patrol peeks in the cave from the outside, Keiko's sclera is missing.
* In the scene where they are walking inside the cave, Keiko's leggings are mistakenly inked with her skin color, thus lacking her leggings.
* When Carter approaches the Giant, the bottom part of Potsworth's muzzle is missing when he finishes his animation. It returns in a later shot.
* In the scene where the Giant leaves the cave for his vacation, Keiko's inner yellow dress is mistakenly inked blue, the same exact color as her outer dress.
* In the scene where Nick informs Carter about the sled, one cel used for the former's animation has his ear mistakenly inked green, the same exact color as Murphy.
* In the scene where Rosie informs Nick regarding the lack of a beach ball, her cel briefly shifts up for a brief moment.
* When Keiko peeks her head out from the pile of paper given out by the Snooze Patrol, her collar is mistakenly inked white instead of yellow.
* In the scene where the Greystone Giant exclaims the lack of fun in the beach, the shading on his nose is not inked for one frame.
* When Keiko, Nick and Rosie go to the door to reply to the Prince in his disguise, Rosie's blouse is mistakenly inked pink, the same exact color as her skirt.
* When the Prince's skunk shrugs off a disgusted Potsworth, his nose is mistakenly inked white for a few frames.
* The next shot directly after the above goof has Rosie's skirt mistakenly inked purple, the same exact color as her blouse.
* When the Patrol disappears from the Dream Zone, Carter's shirt is mistakenly fully inked yellow.

### Continuity

* In the intro, The Wishing Whale and a shot in the episode, the window in Keiko's room was in the side of the wall. In a later shot (alongside in the following episode), the window is now at the back of her bed.
* Two flat pieces of paper suddenly appear in front of a Snooze Patrol member when he gets his assignment from the Chief.
* When the Patrol reports for duty, Murphy is standing on two legs. In the next shot, he stands on all fours.
* Keiko goes missing in the scene where the Giant gets a shoe from Rosie's hands, despite being present in an earlier shot.
* Keiko, Nick and Rosie are the ones that respond to the door at first. The next shot swaps Rosie out for Potsworth instead.

## Trivia

* Clips from this episode were reused in commercials for The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera.
* When the hippo is being pushed by water coming from the cave, he changes his position to a cooling pose.
* A corner of the Nightmare Prince's cel (the drawing) can be seen if one looks closely in the scene where the Prince is asked by Keiko about cookies.

## International titles

* **French:** Pierre qui roule prend des vacances
* **German:** Immer Ärger mit den Träumen
* **Italian:** Vacanza forzata