Crash

Crash
Episode Number	030
Broadcast Number	030
Season	03
Original Airdate	September 18, 2004
Production Code	257-484
Guest Characters	Gizmo
Written by	Rick Copp
Directed by	Michael Chang
Chronology
Previous	"Betrothed"
Next	"Haunted"

"Crash" is the fourth episode of season three and the overall 30th episode of the Teen Titans series.

Synopsis

When Beast Boy downloads a copy of the newest video game Mega Monkeys 4, he goes to Cyborg's room to use it on his computer, but accidentally tries it out on his system recharger which infects Cyborg with a nasty computer virus. The only person who can possibly fix him is none other than Gizmo. Gizmo claims that the only way to fix him is to go into his body and destroy the virus from the inside, but during the operation Cyborg breaks free and goes on a feeding rampage in the city. Gizmo and Beast Boy find themselves in a race against time trying to repair Cyborg from the inside before the virus spreads throughout the entire city.

Plot

Beast Boy has just hacked into the global network and managed to get an illegal advance copy of a new computer action game called Mega Monkeys 4. But the Titans Tower's main video game and computer systems reject the copy (suspecting a lack of sufficiant horsepower), so Beast Boy sneaks inside Cyborg's room to use his computer. After cramming the disk hard into a data port, he finally has a computer capable of playing it…or so he thought. Right after the device boots up, the computer completely shorts out, and Cyborg arrives just as Beast Boy tries to make his escape. When Beast Boy attempts to come up with a believable alibi, Cyborg inspects his computer - his real computer which pops out of the wall at the push of a button. Beast Boy is surprised and confused at the revelation, considering whatever he just forced a bootleg-copied video game into. Cyborg tells him that the other device is his system recharging station. However, since Beast Boy deactivated all the Titans' "useless" security programs to obtain the game, it has come with a computer virus as a nasty surprise bonus, and it promptly infects Cyborg as he attempts to take a recharge just before he can warn him.

Cyborg's new view of Robin.

With his brain addled by the virus, Cyborg becomes hyperactive and throws himself at anything which appears edible in his mind's eye - including his fellow Titans. Everyone gets him secured onto an operating table and think of ideas to fix him. Beast Boy, feeling guilty, offers to make things right by shrinking down to the size of an amoeba and getting inside of him. But the others, feeling he has caused enough trouble already, do not trust him to succeed in such a delicate operation. Considering the only person qualified to fix Cyborg is Cyborg, Robin thinks of the only other person suited for the job: Gizmo. Gizmo is also rigging up a bootleg copy of Mega Monkeys 4 when the Titans "recruit" him. Gizmo's diagnosis reveals that Beast Boy accidentally infected Cyborg with the Enzo Virus, a very powerful and, by reputation, very dangerous form of malware. In order to eradicate it, Gizmo has to shrink down to microscopic size, get inside of Cyborg, and chop down the virus at its source. When he changes into his shrink suit in mere seconds, Robin suggests maybe that he should go, and Gizmo can direct him from outside, but Gizmo says his suit only works on him and he works alone. Gizmo then shrinks down to microscopic size and prepares to enter Cyborg's brain. But just as the injection is to take place, Cyborg breaks free and breaks out of the tower. While Gizmo has been injected, he was inserted at the lowest possible end (Cyborg's butt) and Cyborg sets his sights on the city.

The Titans search the city for Cyborg while Gizmo has to work himself up all the way to Cyborg's brain, which could take hours. Robin and the girls find Cyborg, who runs through the city center, consuming any and every (in-)edibles that catch his eye. When he devours a stop sign and runs off when he sees the Titans, Raven notices Beast Boy is missing. Inside Cyborg, Gizmo sees and blasts something shadowy on his tail. This shadowy being reveals itself to be Beast Boy, transformed into an amoeba just like he originally planned to. Still determined to correct his blunder, Beast Boy stubbornly joins him on the mission, to which Robin agrees to a partnership being a good idea. However, just because it's Cyborg's wellbeing is on the line, he does feel the need to urge Beast Boy not to touch anything. Then, just as Robin hangs up, Gizmo holds Beast Boy at gunpoint. However, the thing Gizmo was really aiming at was right behind him; a grotesque razor-toothed octopus-like creature. With Beast Boy ensnared by the micro monster, he just barely manages to hold still long enough for Gizmo to get a clear shot. Upon blowing it up, Beast Boy gloats at how they got rid of the virus. However, Gizmo bursts his bubble to inform him that what they just obliterated was merely a viral drone - one of thousands more where that came from. Their mission objective is to delete the viral core which has set up camp in Cyborg's brain, the very place Gizmo was supposed to be injected. With their mission parameters set, Beast Boy and Gizmo set sail. While they weave their way through an army of bloodthirsty viral drones, Robin, Starfire, and Raven try to restrain Cyborg and stop his spree of (edible) destruction. Unfortunately, he somehow manages to escape every time.

Finally, in his agitation, Cyborg begins to infect any other electrical device he touches with the virus. For instance, an ATM machine explodes after Cyborg tries shaking it down for "raspberry filling". Seeing the catastrophic threat the virus poses, Robin and the girls pick up the pace. Meanwhile, Beast Boy and Gizmo make good distance. The only thing in their way is sticky goop left over from the virus feeding on Cyborg's circuits. However, things get more complicated when they are pursued by a colony of red blood cells representing Cyborg’s human immune system, which deem them both as invaders to be eradicated just like the virus. Through Beast Boy's quick thinking, they both manage to escape. However, back in the city, things become dire when Cyborg's virus spreads to more volatile equipment, like a vending machine and streetlights. The Titans keep pursuing him and realize the situation has gone from bad to worse when they see Cyborg has set his sights on the main dish of the city's communication hub. If he infects the transmitter coil, the virus will spread to every machine within a 100-mile radius, thus making its elimination impossible if it doesn’t bring untold destruction. After recovering from their escape from the red blood cells, Gizmo tells Robin that in light of the wreak the virus is spreading, he begins to believe Cyborg is beyond salvation. However, Robin orders him to keep at it because the virus will wreck the whole city if it cannot be stopped, and Beast Boy quietly laments that he is "the idiot who wrecked Cyborg".

The viral core.

With the stakes set so high, Gizmo prepares to use even radical methods to finish the virus including rigging an EMP charge that would shut Cyborg down, possibly for good, as a failsafe. Beast Boy is determined to rescue his friend without harming him any further by refusing to let Gizmo go through with a plan like that, but Gizmo doesn’t hesitate to remind him that he can’t be trusted to protect his friend since it was his blunder that got him into this nightmare in the first place. Acknowledging his harsh words, Beast Boy continues their journey, vowing to find a way to somehow stop the virus in time. However, Gizmo, who is personally determined to eliminate his rival, remotely arms the bomb behind Beast Boy’s back. Back in the city, Cyborg has reached the Communication Compound, and Robin and the girls do what they can to stop him. However, their efforts prove futile at best due to Cyborg's brute strength and sonic cannon.

Beast Boy and Gizmo come to a massive horde of drones created by the virus, which strangely do nothing to stop them or stand in their way. Gizmo explains that the virus knows it cannot be stopped and Gizmo believes the same, so he proceeds to abandon the mission. However, Beast Boy orders him to keep going and the drones clear the path, allowing them to finally enter Cyborg's brain. They move right into the brain cavity, where they behold a giant black pixelated blob of tentacled nastiness: the Viral Core. Gizmo prepares to delete it with his theoretical anti-viral program, but the virus proves stronger than expected. It scans their threat level and intellectual capacity and prepares to delete the two of them when deeming them as not a threat. Gizmo runs for it, and the virus destroys Gizmo's rifle containing the anti-viral program. Beast Boy vows to destroy the virus himself but finds himself on the run from the grasp of its tendrils. On the hub, the Titans fail to stop Cyborg from reaching the communications tower, and Gizmo flees from the viral drones. Outnumbered and outgunned, he decides it's time to detonate the EMP bomb once and for all, but only succeeds in initiating its final arm. Just before he can push the button a third time to confirm the launch command, a drone snags the remote and swallows it. With none of his weapons having any effect, his only option is to get back to the bomb and detonate it manually.

Things appear downright hopeless when the Titans' final assault on Cyborg fails as he approaches the communication dish's main antenna and Beast Boy is defeated and captured by the virus. Just as the monster prepares to "delete" Beast Boy, an idea hits him. Using an inherent ability of single-cell organisms, Beast Boy multiplies himself exponentially until the entire brain cavity fills to the brim with a green cloud of Beast Boy amoebas, overwhelming its processor and neutralizing its threat once and for all. Just as Gizmo arrives at the bomb, he is swarmed by viral drones that rip apart his shrink suit and he too is ensnared in their tentacles. However, he just barely manages to grab onto something and reach the blast button, but before he can detonate the bomb, the Beast Boy colony arrives and totally engulfs Cyborg's circuits, which Gizmo is washed away in. Just as Cyborg is about to heartily bite into the dish's antenna tip, he sneezes out green slime (Beast Boy) and he shuts down, collapsing to the dish below. Just when the Titans think Cyborg is truly beyond salvation, he awakens, good as new with no memory of what happened. Cyborg suspects that something overloaded his systems and forced a reboot that reactivated his viral protection software, confirming that whatever got into him, it’s out now. When Cyborg wipes the snot off his philtrum and Robin immediately realizes that Beast Boy has successfully completed their mission. Cyborg, on the other hand, is only disgusted to realize that what he just wiped off his nose is Beast Boy (in his amoeba colony form).

Back in the tower as Cyborg recovers from his oblivious ordeal, Beast Boy tries to tell him the story of their adventure. But not wanting to hear any more of what was running inside his body, Cyborg decides to interrupt the former. Nonetheless, he is lauded by the Titans for his success, as well as the hat trick he pulled off at the last minute that ultimately saved the day and Cyborg. Beast Boy finishes his tale by explaining the method to his madness: He may not be smart enough to do everything, but he's dumb enough to try anything. However, despite their lousy terms, Starfire cannot help but wonder what happened to Gizmo, and it is revealed that there is still a tiny puddle of Cyborg's snot from where he was expelled, trapped at microscopic size and swimming for his life from five remaining viral drones out for blood.

Gizmo swimming for his life

Characters

Main Characters

• Cyborg
• Beast Boy

Supporting Characters

• Robin
• Starfire
• Raven

Villain

• Gizmo
• Virus

Trivia

• At the end of the chase scene at the junkyard, the virus has Cyborg mistaken Starfire for a pineapple and Raven for a broccoli, and both girls run on foot. This is proven to be a little mistake since the girls can fly naturally.
• Raven would again state her sarcastic liking of waffles in "Cyborg the Barbarian".
• Beast Boy says that he downloaded the game copy from a server in Eastern Zandia. In the DCU, the fictional nation of Zandia was the birthplace of Brother Blood.
• When in the farmer's market, Cyborg throws multiple items into his mouth, one of them being a toy of Mumbo.
• With the exception of scaring Gizmo, Raven does not wear her hood throughout most of the episode.
• Even though Starfire alone is significantly stronger than Cyborg, the combined effort of Starfire, Robin, and Raven could not stop Cyborg.
• This is one of the few times prior to Seasons 4 and 5 that Raven both smiles and shows outright emotion, as she is genuinely happy upon realizing Cyborg is back to normal and lets off a wide open smile upon hearing him speak.
• This episode's title is in Japanese.

Continuity

• Beast Boy's appearance as an amoeba means that:
  • This episode establishes that he can transform into microscopic organisms (However, amoebae are not scientifically classified as animals).
  • This is the only episode in which Beast Boy talks while in animal form, though he is seen communicating telepathically with Aqualad in "Deep Six" as a squid. This is also despite the fact that amoebae do not have vocal cords.
• This is the second time Raven scared her enemy to the point of traumatization since Dr. Light in "Nevermore".
• The blood cells that chase after Beast Boy and Gizmo are 3D animated. This is one of the few episodes to use 3D animation.

Cultural references

• After Raven's sarcastic remark, the Teen Titans discuss ways to fix him. During this scene, Cyborg can be heard in the background quoting a scene from the movie Shrek where Donkey talks about parfaits, except Cyborg replaces "parfait" with "waffles."
• This episode is a spoof of the films Fantastic Voyage and Inner Space and the ending where Cyborg sneezes both Beast Boy and Gizmo out is a spoof of The Magic School Bus.
  • This episode is the reason why Cyborg is the "victim" of so many plots based on Fantastic Voyage in the DCU.
• Cyborg saying the word "Yams" repeatedly is a possible reference to the Spam sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus.
• Cyborg bursting through the wall saying, "oh, yeah" is a reference to the old Kool-Aid commercials where the Kool-Aid Man would do the same. It could also be a reference to the old New Teen Titans anti-drug PSA where Cyborg bursts through a brick wall, fandubs of which have Cyborg say "oh yeah."
• The viral drones have a striking resemblance to Keramon from Digimon. They also have a similar appearance to the Nometian aliens in the Justice League episode "Comfort and Joy".
• Cyborg's "brain" (where the viral core is located) closely resembles the core of the second Death Star from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.
• Cyborg eating the parking meter with the net resembles the Shrek scene where Shrek eats a bunch of spider webs (shaped like a turkey leg) on a stick.
• Beast Boy being able to speak while being an amoeba is a reference to the comics, as Beast Boy was always able to speak in his animal forms in the comics, a trait that the show version of him did not get.
• The scene where Raven scares Gizmo by opening up her hood and having tentacles coming out of her face might be a reference to Beetlejuice where while talking to the couple Beetlejuice opens up his face to reveal a scary face and says you like it?

Goofs

• As Beast Boy tries to find the CD slot on Cyborg's system recharger, the "ZZZ" snores in the monitor appear to float off-screen.
• During the scene where Cyborg eats a payphone booth, a lamppost can be found erected in the middle of the road.
• A red globe on the satellite dish antenna did not appear until the scene when the Teen Titans enter the communication hub.

Gallery

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Transcript

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