A sea monster (Frank Welker) that eats crude oil is attacking a KatCo supertanker out at sea. The panicked captain (Michael Rye) orders his crew to abandon ship. Happening along, the SWAT Kats of course intervene. Although Razor uses a Pincer Missile to fry the monster loose from the side of the ship, Buzz-Saw Missiles don't hurt it. Finally, Razor uses a Match-Head Missile, firing it down the monster's throat, igniting the oil in its stomach, causing it to blow up from the inside-out. Since the tanker remains afloat, the captain and crew can safely get back aboard.
Suddenly, a time vortex opens in the sky, and despite their attempts to evade it, the vigilantes are sucked in and it closes after them. They wind up back in the Dark Ages. Landing, they try to figure out what to do. T-Bone notices a sword in a stone and attempts without success to pull it free. Suddenly, they're attacked by a group of armored kat warriors led by the fierce Tabor (Michael Rye). Under the command of Queen Callista (Tress MacNeille), the benevolent ruler of nearby Megalith City who bears more than a striking resemblance to Callie Briggs, the warriors believe the SWAT Kats are agents of the evil Pastmaster.
The duo fend off the medieval kat warriors until Callista uses a magic amulet she wears around her neck to subdue them, commanding Tabor to finish them off.
Act II
Just as Tabor swings with his spiked flail, Razor rolls out of the way, grabbing the sword T-Bone tried unsuccessfully to pull free moments earlier, yanking it loose from the stone and using it to block Tabor's blow. A shocked Tabor identifies the weapon as the Dragon Sword suggests to Callista that Razor might be "the one foretold." Callista elaborates that according to legend, whoever wields the Dragon Sword can defeat the Pastmaster. Suddenly, an enormous, club-wielding cyclops (Frank Welker) appears; Callista and her men flee, and Razor, having let what T-Bone calls "this hero stuff" go to his head, stabs the monster in the toe, but all this does is make it angry.
It turns out the cyclops was sent by the Pastmaster. Controlling its actions with a clay figurine from his far away tower and able to see what it sees in his magic cauldron, he recognizes the SWAT Kats (apparently this is where he wound up after being knocked back through time). He commands the cyclops to kill them, but the two manage to escape in a four-wheeler that detaches from the Turbokat.
Callista and her men come out of hiding and are immediately attacked by the cyclops. Speaking through the monster, the Pastmaster demands that Queen Callista marry him or else he'll destroy Megalith City. When she refuses, the cyclops kills several of her men. She and Tabor flee, but are trapped on the edge of a cliff. The SWAT Kats reappear and use a grappling line to tie the cyclops' legs together, causing him to fall off the cliff. The Pastmaster is horrified when the clay figure he holds shatters, signifying the creature's death. Callista is enamored with the SWAT Kats now, especially Razor, and lets them use her blacksmith's ship to repair the damage to the Turbokat done in their fight with the sea monster.
Continuing to play up the role of a legendary hero, Razor confidently assures Callista over a dinner of spicy pepper stew that he and T-Bone will defeat the Pastmaster and save the city. That night, however, a pair of dragon-like harpies attack the castle, dropping one hapless guard (Charlie Adler) to his death and kidnapping Queen Callista, smashing her amulet in the process. The Pastmaster vows that at sunrise, she'll marry him. Razor, attempting to rescue her, is knocked off the parapet and falls down a deep canyon bordering the city.
Act III
Razor is saved from falling to his death by T-Bone, and the two hurry to finish repairing the Turbokat before sunrise. As dawn comes, the Pastmaster sends two more cyclopes (Frank Welker again) to attack Megalith City. He tells Callista, chained up in his tower, that unless she agrees to marry him, they'll destroy the city and kill everyone in it. She refuses. Using their clubs, the cyclopes begin battering down the city's walls, despite the efforts of Tabor's men to fight them off with spears and arrows. Several warriors are killed. Relenting, Callista finally agrees to marry the villain to save her subjects. An overjoyed Pastmaster moves to put a ghoulish wedding ring on her finger.
But as the cyclopes finish battering down the wall and prepare to enter the city, the repaired Turbokat rises up to meet them. They've augmented the jet with medieval weaponry, including a huge spiked flail that swings down from the Turbokat's undercarriage and clonks the first cyclops in the head, knocking him flat on his back. He doesn't get up. Witnessing then in a magic mirror at the Pastmaster's tower, Callista stops him from putting the ring on, declaring the wedding off. The Pastmaster is enraged. The SWAT Kats kill the second cyclops by splashing a cauldron of pepper stew into his eye. Blinded, he backs up off a cliff and falls to his death.
Now the Pastmaster leaves his tower with himself and Callista riding on the back of a giant red fire-breathing dragon, the two harpies flying as escorts. In his Ejektor seat, Razor swoops in and pulls Callista out of the Pastmaster's grasp. The harpies give chase, but are accidentally killed by the dragon when he breathes fire at Razor and Callista and hits them instead. T-Bone uses a missile with the Dragon Sword tied to it to kill the Pastmaster's dragon; struck, the fire-breathing reptile flashes multiple colors before vanishing in an explosion, taking the Pastmaster with it.
The SWAT Kats and Callista go to the Pastmaster's tower, where, as thanks for saving Megalith City, Queen Callista agrees to send them home. Declaring that the prophecy about the Dragon Sword was wrong, and that there was not one but two legendary heroes, she kisses both T-Bone and Razor before using the Tome of Time and a clay model of the Turbokat to open a time vortex, sending them back to present day Megakat City, where Callie contacts them about another sea monster threatening a KatCo oil tanker.
At first the SWAT Kats think they're unarmed and that there's nothing they can do, having used up all their missiles, but then T-Bone remembers the cauldron of pepper stew and wonders if it'll be spicy enough to drive away the creature. Razor targets the sea monster before it can attack the ship. "Say 'ahhh!'" It opens wide.
Tropes
- And Now You Must Marry Me: While his reason is unknown, the Pastmaster wants to marry Callista and will do whatever it takes for her to say yes. Naturally, she wants nothing to do with him.
- Batman Cold Open: The episode opens with the heroes destroying a giant sea monster that has nothing to do with the main plot or villain. The video game adaptation says it was sent by the Pastmaster, but the actual episode does no such thing (he's surprised to see them in the same time as him in the actual episode).
- Brick Joke: The super spicy pepper stew the SWAT Kats have in the past is used against one of the sea monsters in the present at the end.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: The SWAT Kats are once more sent back to the past.
- Identical Grandson: Queen Callista bares a striking resemblance to Deputy Mayor Callie, and the SWAT Kats are quick to joke about it when they return to the present.T-Bone: Hey, when the "queen" beckons we must obey!
- Only the Chosen May Wield: Razor pulls the sword from the stone, and is believed to be The Chosen One by the kingdom they end up saving. By the end the queen accepts the legend was only partly true: the SWAT Kats are only as effective as they are because they're a team.
