The Aquabats are sitting in a garbage dump because the Commander spent all their money on Aquabat commemorative plates nobody wants to buy because of the group's obscurity. They hear about aliens attacking nearby and rush to the scene to save the day and gain some notoriety, but a pair of more competent superheroes, Super Magic Power Man and his wife Lanolin Lady, effortlessly defeat the aliens and save a little girl they were menacing.
The girl snatches Super Magic Power Man's magic amulet to try it out, only to suddenly vaporize both heroes and then grow into a giant robot. It's really the vile Space Monster M, who begins destroying the nearby city with no one to stop him. Despite their own desire to flee in the face of such a terrifying enemy, the Commander commits the group by getting Crash angry enough to grow and attack Space Monster M. Surprisingly, the Aquabats rise to the occasion and through teamwork they steal the magic amulet and blow up Space Monster M. With the last of his strength he hurls the Battletram with the unconscious Aquabats into space...
Tropes
- The Ace: Super Magic Power Man and Lanonlin Lady...for about two minutes.
- And This Is for... ...the children!
- Batman Gambit: How Space Monster M gets his forehead on the SuperMagic Power Amulet: he stages an alien invasion (as a means of transporting his mech suit over) so SuperMagic PowerMan will show up to stop it, allowing him to take the amulet in his little girl disguise.
- Bald of Evil: Space Monster M.
- Book Ends: The cartoon in the first episode opened with the Aquabats awakening after the Battletram was thrown into space by Space Monster M, which is how the live-action part of this episode ends. The cartoon segment of this episode ends with the Aquabats being trapped in a time loop by the Time Sprinkler and finding themselves playing the pool party they were at at the beginning of the first episode.
- The Cameo: "Weird Al" Yankovic has his second cameo appearance on the show as Super Magic Power Man. Former Aquabats members Catboy (Terry Boyd) and Chainsaw (Courtney "Corey" Pollock) cameo as superheroes based on their stage-names.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends on the Battletram in space, mirroring the first A Cartoon! segment.
- Darkest Hour: The Commander wastes all the teams money on easily broken merchandise and the group considers splitting up before deciding to try one last mission.
- Determinator: After Space Monster M kills Super Magic Power Man and Lanolin Lady, the other Aquabats want to run away like everyone else. The Commander's the only one who wants to actually stick around and act like a superhero. Badass Normal indeed.
- Did You Actually Believe...?: After Space Monster M grabs the Commander.Space Monster M: Did you fools think you could stop me?!
Commander: No! But... you're ugly! - Fastball Special: At the Commander's request, Crash picks him up and throws him into Space Monster M's eye.
- Humongous Mecha: Space Monster M is a giant floating head that rides in one of these.
- Injured Limb Episode: Downplayed. When the Commander falls from Space Monster M's grip, he injuries his leg and Jimmy has to support him with walking.
- Intimidating Revenue Service: When the Commander blows all the Aquabats money on easily broken collector's edition plates (albeit unknowingly), the bank cancels their credit cards and the IRS is after them. In fact, the episode opens with them in a dump around a fire about to eat used pizza because they can't afford food or a hotel room.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: Despite the silliness of the whole rest of the season, the 'Bats manage to get it together and save the world from a very powerful and dangerous villain when it really counts.
- Mythology Gag: Two of the other second-string heroes we see, Chainsaw and Catboy, were former members of the real-life Aquabats. With the way they act toward each other they might even have been in the show, if it was actually interested in exploring its past anyway.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: After Crash turns giant, he doesn't fight Space Monster M. He clobbers him.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Space Monster M's are so scary he makes Crash shrink back to normal, after Crash had been pummeling him for the whole second half of the episode.
- Rock Bottom: The episode opens with the Aquabats flat broke in a garbage dump, having to eat food others threw away, ducking the IRS, and lamenting being overshadowed by more competent heroes.
- Rousing Speech: As things really go downhill, the rest of the team wants to flee along with all the civilians. The Bat Commander refuses, saying they have to try to save the world no matter the odds for the sake of the children. It rallies the team into action.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
- Played for laughs when SuperMagic PowerMan and Lanolin Lady show up. Chainsaw and Catboy just walk off, seeing there's no way they'll have a chance to shine with major heroes on the scene.
- Played for drama after Space Monster M kills the heroes and announces his intention to wreak havoc. The entire crowd scatters in a panic. The only reason the Aquabats don't join them is because the Commander refused to walk away.
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: Space Monster M disguised himself as a little girl who shows up in several episodes before this one.
- Think of the Children!: The Bat Commander points out to Crash that children across the planet are likely crying about seeing SuperMagic PowerMan and Lanolin Lady die. Crash doesn't take it well.
- Took a Level in Badass: The Aquabats. They make use of skills they've had the whole series, but are up against an opponent they seem to have no chance against. And they manage to defeat it and even hand Space Monster M his neck a few times, too.
- Wham Episode: We go from the mostly comedic villains who don't pose much actual threat of other episodes, to one that flat-out murders other superheroes and then starts laying waste to a major city with ease.
- What You Are in the Dark: The Aquabats just wanted to improve their standing with a new adventure. Upon seeing the threat is way outside their usual scope, most want to flee, but the Commander insists they fight not for fame or glory but because children need heroes now more than ever.
- The Worf Effect: SuperMagic PowerMan and Lanolin Lady are introduced just to show how dangerous Space Monster M is.
