Alfred and Professor Paljas travel to the Himalayas in the hope of discovering the terrible snowmen living in there. They learn that the habitat of the snowman is threatened because a group of businessmen, led by Rokodil, wants to build a ski resort in the mountains.
Tropes:
-
Applicability: It's easy to see the yetis as a metaphor for indigenous people whose lands are seized and taken advantage of by europeans. Von Paljas' fear that the yetis would be locked into zoos can also tie to the idea, given that europeans historically did that to other people. - Breather Episode: Comes right after the rather intense Crows' Party arc, and just before the rather heavy arc that opens season 2.
- Call-Back: Alfred references to the fishing arc and their journey to the south pole where he and Henk met Von Paljas.
- Fridge Logic:
- Why does Malahydama have so much apparently bare skin on it's stomach, chest, and face?
- How is the hologram in any way believable? It's accurate in the sense that it resembles a monkey, but it's coloration makes no sense for the environment, especially for an animal that's stayed hidden away and not been spotted for centuries. It's face, ears, hands, and the entire torso from chest to crotch are hairless. The unicorn horn also makes no sense.
- People Zoo: Alfred fears that somebody will put Malahydama in a zoo, despite Malahydama being sapient like them.
- Dub Name Change:
- The finnish dub names Malahydama "Malai-Dama".
- The english dub goes with "Himalayeti".
- Mr. Knox's name is "Taalamaa" in the finnish dub.
- Green Aesop: While lookig at Earth from space, Alfred and Von Paljas briefly talk about how people have polluted it
- Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Von Paljas previously stated that he dedicated his life to translating the whale language, though he had already built a submarine at that point. This episode shows him having chemical experiments, modifying his submarine into a spaceship, and having built a programmable hologram projector.
- Schizo Tech: Von Paljas' submarine/space ship and the hologram projector.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Aside from flinching at the explosion, Von Paljas' receptionist doesn't seem very shaken.
- Plot Hole:
- K. Rokodil and the hippoaknowledge that the cloud fog is going to be a problem, but still want to get mr. Knox's funding by bringing him in when the weather is clear. How do they think they're going to make a profit if the fog would prevent hotel custoners from actually doing anything on their vacations?
- Rokodil brings mr. Knox to the himalayas to convince him to give money to the hotel project. Mr. Knox's secretary questions how are they going to get the building materials up there, and mr. Knox claims that he doesn't care since it's Rokodil's problem. Except that it absolutely is mr. Knox's problem since it's his money which would go into the project.
- How do any of them think anybody could skii down the himalayas safely? Or where, exactly, would they stop?
- Idiot Ball: Henk has only met Von Paljas once and back there his work was in a completely different field, so why does Henk trust Von Paljas' untested spaceship enough to convince his son to get onboard for the first test flight?
- Never Say "Die": The show doesn't usually shy away from name-dropping death, but when Von Paljas explains Alfred what would happen if the ship fell back to Earth at full speed, he says that he and Alfred would be "destroyed".
- Nice Guy: Von Paljas and Malahydama.
