In the Whine of Fire

In The Whine Of Fire is the 49th episode of Action League Now!, which first premiered as a SNICK special in 1998.

Characters Present[]

Bill the Lab Guy
Blandi
Johnny Cool
Meltman
Stinky Diver
The Chief
The Flesh
The Mayor
The Mayor's Killer Robots
Thundergirl
Various Townspeople

Plot[]

Before the following episode begins, the Announcer warns the viewers that it has been rated AMH, ALV, AA, and NKD because of scenes involving Action Mayhem, Action Love, and Action Action, and of course, because The Flesh is naked throughout the entire episode.

The episode begins in the kitchen, where pop star, Johnny Cool, hangs over a pot of scalding hot creamed corn. Who is behind this evil plan? None other than The Mayor, who is sawing the rope with a knife and reveals that once Johnny is out of the way, the world will buy his album, Meet The Eviltones. The Action League, singing "BINGO", is out on a routine patrol when they suddenly see Johnny in peril. The Mayor sees the League and runs away just before he can finish his rope-cutting job. The League must act fast if they want to save Johnny, so Thundergirl flies up to him and tells the rest of the League that she needs a rescue line and another pair of hands. The Flesh then tosses Stinky and Meltman onto the table and Stinky fires his spear gun with a lifesaver towards Thundergirl, who catches the lifesaver. Next, Stinky tells Meltman to go across the line. Meltman is about to, but when he sees the long fall below, he suddenly worries that he might fall trying to get across. Thundergirl tells him to hurry up, as the rope is about to snap, and Meltman assures her that he'll be there soon. He then tries to think of an excuse not to get involved in the rescue, but the rope snaps and Johnny falls into the creamed corn. Meltman is relieved not to have been involved after all.

Later that day at Action Headquarters, The enraged Chief fires Meltman for not helping the rest of the League rescue Johnny. Meltman argues that he likes being a member of the League and The Flesh, Thundergirl, and Stinky try to convince The Chief otherwise. The Chief decides to give Meltman one last chance; to give him an easy job, which even he can't mess up. He asks her if he's heard of pop star, Blandi, and Meltman agrees that he has. The Chief tells Meltman that Blandi needs a bodyguard and asks if he's up to the task. Meltman agrees, then talks to himself that The Chief thinks he's a fraidy-cat and is determined to prove to him otherwise. With that, Meltman calls The Chief a blow hard jerk, but The Chief heard what he has just said and he rushes off to find Blandi, to which Stinky gets worried. Thundergirl agrees with Stinky, as she can't stand anything bad happening to Blandi, because they have tickets for her concert that night. The Flesh and Stinky stare at her as she tells them that they have to help Meltman in case there's trouble. The Chief then says to focus on his orders, crossing out a list of pop stars in the Musicboard's top 20 to reveal that all the ones he has crossed off have been killed. He wants to know who's next on the list and asks Bill for an analysis. However, there's nothing Bill can do except run the names through the computer. The Chief tells him to hurry, as there's no telling where the mysterious assassin will strike next. Sure enough, Blandi is the only surviving pop star on the Musicboard's top 20.

At Blandi's house, she practices her song for her big concert as Meltman arrives, wondering if he's at the right house. He rings the doorbell, and Blandi opens the door, mistaking him for her recycler. Meltman tells her that he's her bodyguard to protect her. Blandi tells him that even with all the protection in the world, you're caught in the crosshairs of loneliness without love. She then sings, but her song is rudely interrupted by a killer robot. She runs back into her house as Meltman tells her not to fear, as he'll take care of the robot, but suddenly has second thoughts when he sees that he's no match for the robot. Now panicking, he decides to make a run for it. Sure enough, the killer robot is being controlled by The Mayor, who is sure that once Blandi is out of the way, he will be the top pop star in the world. The Flesh, Stinky, and Thundergirl arrive to help Meltman battle the robot. Blandi is hiding in her house in fear as the robot gets closer, and Stinky fires his spear gun at it. Since the spear is attached to a rope, Thundergirl wraps it around the robot. The Flesh then grabs a pole and uses it to attack the robot. The Mayor detects his evil plan has been foiled by the League and runs away, leaving his remote control behind. The Flesh finds it, picks it up, and inadvertently uses it to control the robot, causing it to pick up Stinky and toss him out through the window, where he lands in the road and gets run over by a car. He then inadvertently uses it to spin the robot, causing it to spin Thundergirl until it tosses her into a bowling ball, causing it to roll down over a ramp and the stairs. Before The Flesh can inadvertently do any more damage, the batteries in the remote run out. Meltman returns and runs out of the way just before the robot can crush him. Blandi looks out through her door and thinks Meltman has defeated the robot and saved her life on his own. The Flesh walks up to Meltman and asks if he has any batteries for the remote. When Meltman sees him with the remote, he wonders what he's doing with it. An injured Stinky and Thundergirl with her head caught in the ball return, and Meltman starts to suspect that they set up the killer robot to make him look good for The Chief. They disagree, but he doesn't believe them and tells them to go back to Headquarters and tell The Chief that he's nothing but a big chicken loser. After the rest of the League leaves, a sad Meltman is about to accept the fact that he is, was, and always will be a coward, but Blandi opens her door and thanks him for saving her. (Though she calls him Meatman.) He tries to say that he didn't save her from the killer robot, but she silences him and sings that at last she's found a love, in the form of Meltman. A lovestruck Meltman wonders how he can tell her the truth.

Meanwhile, at Bill the Lab Guy's Laboratory, he and The Chief are trying to solve the mystery of who the mysterious assassin's next target is. The Chief asks Bill what the computer came up with and Bill explains that when re-arranged, the letters of the names of the victims spell out, "Dust in the love all we is are monkey tooth quack family hate up shut my armpit", which makes absolutely no sense. The Chief asks Bill what that means, but Bill has no idea and will have to put the message through the computer.

Meanwhile, The Mayor is outside the closet and opens it, revealing many more killer robots, which he plans to use to exterminate Blandi. The Narrator asks the viewers if Blandi's next concert will be her last, or if the cowardly Meltman will be able to save her, then tells them to stay tuned for part two.

In the second act, Blandi's concert begins. She welcomes everyone with Meltman backstage, wanting to tell her the truth that he is a coward, but he is too cowardly to even tell her that. Blandi is about to tell everyone about how brave she thinks Meltman is, but Meltman finally decides not to live his lie any longer and thinks about going out to tell her the truth. Blandi introduces him to her audience and tells him to come on out and sing with her, but he is ready to tell her the truth. In the audience are The Flesh, Thundergirl, and Stinky, who think he's now a pop star, just like Blandi. Meltman and Blandi sing together until the concert is rudely interrupted by another killer robot. Meltman thinks The Flesh, Thundergirl, and Stinky are behind it and decides to battle the robot on his own. Unknown to him, The Mayor is controlling the robot from inside. Meltman tells the robot that he's through with the League trying to make him look good, but the Mayor has no idea what Meltman's talking about, grabs him, and tosses him aside. However, Meltman simply feels that the rest of the League is really starting to get on his nerves, then climbs up a pillar and unplugs a speaker's plug. Just as The Mayor's giant robot is about to attack Blandi, Meltman tosses the wire onto the ceiling fan, using the speaker to swing onto the robot and knock its head off. He has defeated the robot and is sure the League is behind it, but then gets hit by the swinging speaker and lands near The Flesh, Thundergirl, and Stinky, who all cheer for him. Meltman is still cross with them, but The Chief and Bill arrive and tell Meltman that he saved Blandi's life and solved the mystery of who the assassin is. He reveals to him that The Mayor was the assassin the entire time, and Meltman turns around. The Mayor detects that his evil plan has been foiled, and Meltman discovers that he's been a hero all along. Blandi thanks Meltman for saving her life and tells him that together, they'll tour the world, living on love. Meltman then tells her that the only tour he can take right now is a tour on duty with The Flesh, Thundergirl, and Stinky, as a member of the League, but he'll never forget her, for she helped him find his inner courage. The robot then falls over, but Meltman moves out of the way as it flattens Blandi. Meltman is relieved not to have been flattened, but The Flesh asks him what he was saying before. Meltman tells him, "Never mind", and asks him, Thundergirl, Stinky, The Chief, and Bill if they'd like to go bowling. They all agree and leave as the episode ends.

Quotes[]

Announcer: "Warning! The following very special Action League Now! special contains scenes of Action Mayhem, Action Love, and Action Action. It may be too intense for older viewers. Oh, and did we mention, somebody's naked for the whole show?"
Announcer: "What's this? Could it be the final curtain for a super fab songstress? Or will a melted mama's boy finally find his spine? Stay tuned for the Action-dented conclusion of Action League Now!"

Thundergirl: "Thundergirl, wrapping a robot, covering for Meltman, who's a really big wuss!"
Announcer: "Meltman, big chicken. Blandi, love stricken."

Trivia[]

This episode is the first not to air on either KaBlam! or All That. Instead, it aired as a half-hour special on SNICK.
This episode is the second double-length Action League Now! episode, the first being The Wrath of Spotzilla.
This episode marks the final appearances of Bill the Lab Guy and The Mayor.