Speed Racer: TNG S1 E2

## Plot

Speed is in Professor Winn's class. He has to answer a question about how fast a car needs to go to survive a turn. He doesn't know. Before he can give an answer, Headmaster Spritle comes in. He's giving Zile Zazic a tour of the school. We meet Zile's henchman Stan. He's not very smart. After they leave, Winn asks for Speed's answer when the bell rings. Speed hurries out, but Professor Winn will be expecting his answer. The gang is working on the Mach 5. Conor talks about how weird it is that Speed had the key to it, and suggests that he might be related to THE Speed Racer. Zile gives Spritle a statue of himself, which is really a camera he can use to spy on the school. At Professor Aniskov's class, the gang unveil the Mach 5. X won't let Speed get away with driving his Dad's car. The school has a state of the art virtual track. Conor advises Speed to take it slow, but then again, he is a racer. Up in the stands, both Spritle and Zile notice the Mach 5 in action. Zile used to be on a racing team that always lost to Speed Racer. Speed enters the virtual track. Today's track is an area filled with blocks that constantly move in random directions. Speed isn't used to it, and a problem occurs with the Mach 5. Spritle wants to stop the virtual track, as it's getting too dangerous, but Zile tries to convince him to let Speed see what he's made of. Spritle shuts down the track anyway. X wants to see Speed to talk to him about the Mach 5. Luckily, Spritle wants to see Speed in his office. He also wants to talk about the Mach 5. He warns Speed to be careful. There are people like Zile Zazic who will do anything to get to the Mach 5 and its secrets. Spritle wants Speed to promise him that if anything strange happens, he'll tell him. X wants to race Speed. The two have this rivalry thing going on. But there's no access to the track at night. Annalise knows all the activation codes since her father built the track. Spritle, being the headmaster and everything, obviously sees security footage of the teens preparing to race. Why did they think this plan was gonna work again? They'll obviously get caught! They also have to deal with combat cars. Zile contacts Annalise and asks her to destroy the Mach 5. She's the first one eliminated. X's car keeps getting hit with drag weights, so Speed distracts the combat cars. He figured out the answer to Professor Winn's question: 300 mph. He landed on top of one of the combat cars. Upside down. Which means he can't move the car. Since Zile built the track, he can manipulate it without anyone knowing. He causes a pillar to appear, which totally ***obliterates*** the Mach 5. Speed ejected just in time, even though the car was upside down, but they forgot to install a parachute. Luckily, the seat belt gets snagged on a light post. Or maybe a flag pole. X is outraged at Speed for wrecking his Dad's car. The headmaster arrives. He sends Conor, Lucy, Annalise, Jesse, and Jared back to their rooms. Spritle orders both Speed and X to clean up the mess and meet him in his office tomorrow morning. Speed's key starts acting strange again. He discovers a computer chip in the wreckage of the Mach 5. They're blueprints for the engine of the **Mach 6.** Specifically, a *gasless engine*. Zile Zazic thought he destroyed all the designs for the Mach 6. If they build the gasless engine, they'll bankrupt him, since he built his empire on oil. They don't have the money or the parts to build a new car though. Chim-Chim shows them a flyer for a race. The winner gets unlimited car parts. But first year students aren't allowed to enter. Speed has to try and convince Spritle to bend the rules for him and lend him another car. Conor and Lucy eavesdrop using Chim-Chim. Spritle can't bend the rules though. Then we get this fake bombshell: Speed is Spritle's nephew. Speed Sr. hid his second son away before his disappearance. X was already known around the world, so that made him safe. Spritle suspected it for a while, but now he's convinced. Speed Racer is Speed's father.

## Review

Okay, so it was a real bombshell in-universe, not so much out of it. Still a really good episode. Annalise works with her father and Jesse and Jared from now on to get rid of Speed because she doesn't like him. The facial expressions are hilarious at some moments, like when Spritle tells X and Speed that they're brothers. I laughed so hard! Anyways, a solid episode.