Recap / The Aquabats! Super Show! S2 E1 "The Return of the Aquabats!"

Somewhere, in the universe!

After their adventures in space (as chronicled in Season One's animated segments), the Aquabats awaken in a barren wasteland with a case of amnesia, before they are attacked by UFO. Though they hold their own, it turns out they are have actually landed on a desert somewhere on Earth, and are quickly found by the government and brought to a press conference to discuss their heroic defeat of Space Monster M.

Unable to answer the questions, they wing their way through and Eaglebones recounts the true origins of the band when a gruesome, yet somehow familiar monster suddenly crashes through the wall. Eaglebones summons The Dude, who's magical powers fix his memory and allows him to identify the monster as the mutated form of Ronmark.

Chased out of the press conference, the Aquabats find the Battletram missing and engage Ronmark, but get pummeled. Eaglebones tricks Crash into thinking Ronmark has broken Jimmy, making activating his size changing powers, and having him throw the villain into space.

A crowd forms to admire the 'Bats, recognizing their work and begging for their help with various problems, legitimate, mundane, and even selfish. Eaglebones promises to fix every problem given, but the others realize they can't solve every problem, and need to find the Battletram. The crowd quickly turns hostile and starts chasing the band across town, demanding they help them.

After a lengthy chase, the 'Bats manage to lose the mob after discovering the Battletram, which has been rebuilt and upgraded by a Secret Friend, allowing them to fly off to safety...just for the aliens from before to return.

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Tropes

• An Aesop: Sometimes you can't help everyone.
• Body Horror: Ronmark's new form.
• Berserk Button: Eaglebone's invokes Crash's by unscrewing Jimmy's head and telling him Ronmark did it.
  Crash: You better not have hurt my friends!
  Mutated!Ronmark: Or what? You'll cry me to death, you big baby man?!
  (Eaglebones unscrews Jimmy's head.)
  Eaglebones: Crash! Look, Jimmy The Robot! He's broken!!
  Crash: Jimmy! No!!!
  Jimmy: Technically, Crash, I'm-
  Eaglebones: Shut up!
  Crash: GETTING EMOTIONAL!! (Grows to a much taller size than Ronmark and picks him up.)
  Mutated!Ronmark: I'm sorry! I'm sorry!!
  Crash: YOU BROKE MY FRIEND!!! (Throws Ronmark across the city.)
• Call-Back: Ronmark returns from "Night of the Cactus", mutated into a hulkish monster.
• Character Development: Eaglebones, whose first focus episode showed him being selfish and rude, is now determined to help anyone who asks of it.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Inspired by their accomplishments, Eaglebones vows that they will help anyone who asks for it... it doesn't go as well as he planned.
• Cloudcuckoolander: The Commander seems to have contracted some kind of space dementia.
• Create Your Own Villain: Ronmark blames the Aquabats for his mutation, though Night of the Cactus proves otherwise. He's also not particularly upset about it.
• Flying Car: The Battletram gets an upgrade, thanks to a mysterious friend.
• Jerkass: Ronmark's back, and is even more of a clownbag than ever.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: The entire team needs to be reminded that they defeated Space Monster M, and seem to have no memory of their adventures in space.
• Mythology Gag: The title of the episode is taken from the bands' first album (yes, their first album was "The Return of the Aquabats").
  • In Eaglebones' flashback, he meets the rest of the band, who have horns on their helmets, and has them take them off before he joins the band. Ian Fowles joined the band long after their departure from the Ska genre.
• Noodle Incident: We never do find out how the Aquabats escaped the Time Sprinkler's time warp and returned to Earth, or who gave them a new Battletram. Although this batch of episodes makes a point of spitting in the face of a coherent backstory anyway, with all the contradictory origin stories the 'bats tell.
• Origins Episode: Starting from here, each episode has an Aquabat recount their take on the teams origins (all of which contradict each other). Eaglebones recalls joining the band and directing them towards crime fighting after helping them survive a bar fight with mutants and monsters.
• Shout-Out: The aliens the 'Bats fight at the start are ripped straight from the movie Laser Blast.
  • The "Help Me!" song sequence mirrors the opening sequence of A Hard Day's Night, where the Aquabats are chased by a crowd of people to the tune of a Beatles-esque song.
    • See Waxing Lyrical
• Took a Level in Badass: Ronmark, of all people.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Eaglebones wants to help everyone that has a problem, causing the townspeople to depend on them for every minute issue they have.
• Ungrateful Bastard: After seeing the Aquabats' latest victory, the citizens they saved all beg for their help. When it becomes clear they can't fix every miniscule or petty problem they have, they form an angry mob and chase the 'Bats all over town.
• Waxing Lyrical: The MC Bat Commander lets off a few; he shouts "This monkey's going to Heaven!" during the battle with the aliens in the episode's beginning, and quotes the second verse of "Where Is My Mind" by The Pixies when asked about how the band got started during a press conference.