The teams have been dissolved as the cast faces off in a spy challenge filled with lasers, explosives, bombs, and really bad accents! As one castmate trusts his previously reluctant brain throughout the challenges, another, who still seems to be shunned, successfully makes an alliance with two others. After the blackmail plot of a schemer gets foiled, two winners are declared and this earns them a trip that was not worth the effort.
Plot
The episode opens to Leshawna complaining about the show's disgusting food. She then notices the other six remaining castmates glaring at her, since they are still angry about Leshawna insulting all of them during her spa trip. Leshawna asks for at least her own team to support her, resulting in Harold sarcastically cheering her on by saying her name, with very little emotion. Leshawna sarcastically tells Harold not to strain himself, and that he might get wind burns from moving so fast. Duncan admits that he doesn't trust anybody anyway.
Lindsay's face is scanned when she tries to enter the trailer by force.
Lindsay attempts to get into the girls' trailer, reminding the door that she was there earlier. When she touches the door handle, a camera appears out of nowhere. It scans her face and then says, "Intruder alert! Entry denied!". The stairs flip over and turn into a slide, sending Lindsay falling through a trapdoor into a pit in the ground. Duncan runs over to her, only to be shot in the neck with a tranquilizer dart, and falls into the pit himself. Courtney runs to Duncan's aid (calling him "Duncy" as she does so), and is knocked into the pit by a flying bowler hat that hits her head. Leshawna, Justin, and Beth run into the boys' trailer for safety, locking Harold out. Harold tries to find safety in the confessional, and in the process, talks about being worried that the producers are actually trying to kill the castmates. At that moment, an intern knocks him out with a nightstick. Justin worries about what happened to Harold. Beth becomes worried, but Justin tries to help her by telling her to focus on his beauty. She begins crying, making Justin think he's hideous. A gas bomb is thrown through a window, releasing gas that knocks out Beth, Justin, and Leshawna.
Everyone wakes up into consciousness in a cave. Beth accidentally elbows Justin in the eye while getting up, giving him a black eye. After noticing this, Justin runs off to find ice for it. Justin sees his reflection in a mirror, and once again thinks he's a hideous freak and that his modeling career is over. Courtney loses her personal digital assistant, but Beth finds it and gives it to Courtney, who accuses Beth of stealing it again. Chris appears on a projection and (in a poorly-imitated Jamaican accent) tells the castmates that the challenge is based on the spy movie genre. Chris says that the castmates will need to defuse a bomb, and jump from an exploding building. Courtney asks if anybody has experience with bombs, and Lindsay claims to, saying that she was in a musical in which the director said "bombed."
Justin's face takes damage and he declares himself a "circus freak."
Chris then announces that as of now the teams are merged, and it's every castmate for themselves. They then manage to find a way out of the cave. Then a 6teen theme song parody comes on after Leshawna complains about Chris breaking up the teams after all they've been through together. The castmates try to find an exit, and Justin finds one by accident. It leads to an elevator that leads to a fancy water tower. Justin believes that this is the beginning of a new relationship with him and his brain.
Chris then appears on a hologram screen, and tells them they must get the bag in the glass at the center of the room. While they think it's easy, it then shows that they also have to avoid the laser beams, which can slice them in half if they aren't careful. Leshawna, Harold, and Duncan finally decide to form an alliance during the challenge. Beth and Lindsay fight about how they got stuck between laser beams, and Justin has some issues thinking only about himself. Courtney shows her flexibility by jumping around and sneaking under the lasers, something which earns her an admiring howl from Duncan, who stares at her butt while she slides below the lasers, and gets the bag. Once she gets the bag, she finds out that there are just wire cutters and a grappling hook in it. Leshawna then remembers that Chris mentioned jumping off of an exploding building, and Chris begins the ten second countdown. Everyone begins to panic and hug each other, Courtney hugs Duncan, Beth hugs Lindsay, Leshawna hugs Justin, and Harold is in fetal position, alone. Chris then begins to laugh hysterically telling them it was just a joke. Unfortunately, he then begins the real countdown.
The castmates are forced to maneuver through lasers in order to retrieve a bag in the middle of the room.
Courtney, being the only one with a grappling hook, offers the other players a quick escape, in exchange for half the prize money from whoever won the game. Although hesitant, the other castmates agree, and Courtney gets them all out. The next challenge is disarming bombs (which are explosive timers tied to trash cans). Should anyone fail to deactivate their bomb, it will explode and cover them in smelly garbage. Courtney tries to contact her lawyers to get her the best disarming experts, but is unable to reach them. Lindsay decides to cut the blue wire (as it's the most fashionable one). Courtney is hesitant to trust her, but tosses her the cutters. Lindsay cuts the wire and successfully deactivates her bomb. The other castmates (in various ways) cut their blue wires. Lindsay's bomb is then deactivated after she cuts the wire. The castmates relax, until they realize they can still hear the ticking. The other bombs explode and Chris (from a safe distance) explains that the producers wouldn't program all the bombs the same way, as it would be too easy for the interns.
The cast soaking in a pool of tomato juice due to not defusing the bombs in time.
The castmates then bathe in a tomato juice pool to get the smell out (even though Lindsay defused her bomb, she was still hit by the other active ones). The castmates refuse to let Courtney join unless she calls off their obligation to split the prize money. Courtney weighs the options, and reluctantly agrees. Chris then tells Lindsay and Courtney that they've won a tour of a cheese factory. Courtney is unhappy, stating that she's lactose intolerant. Still unable to reach her lawyers, she sighs and dunks her personal digital assistant as well as herself in the pool of tomato juice.
Exclusive Clip
Courtney is less than thrilled to go on a trip with Lindsay.
Courtney and Lindsay were seen in the Lame-o-sine together, driving to the cheese factory as a reward for winning the challenge. Lindsay asked Courtney to name every cheese she could think of, among several other things, which then annoyed Courtney to the point where she threw herself out of the limousine.
Cast
| Voice actor | Role(s) |
|---|---|
| Christian Potenza | Chris |
| Sarah Gadon | Beth |
| Clé Bennett | Chef Hatchet |
| Emilie-Claire Barlow | Courtney |
| Drew Nelson | Duncan |
| Brian Froud | Harold |
| Adam Reid | Justin |
| Novie Edwards | Leshawna |
| Stephanie Anne Mills | Lindsay |
Trivia
General
- The Killer Grips and Screaming Gaffers are merged in this episode.
- Lindsay, Duncan, and Leshawna are the only contestants to make it past the merge in both Total Drama Island and Total Drama Action, without returning to the game after being eliminated.
- This is the sixteenth episode of the show and the teams merge, whereas in the previous season, they merged in the fifteenth episode after a one-off "halftime show" rejiggering of the teams in the fourteenth episode. The teams merged later in season two, because Izzy and Courtney returned before the merge, whereas Eva and Izzy returned after the merge in Total Drama Island.
- This is the first episode in the entire series in which Heather does not appear in, though she was mentioned by Chris in the recap.
- The accent Chris does appears to be a combination of French and Jamaican, especially since he adds "man" at the end, which is a stereotypical Jamaican phrase.
- Leshawna, Harold, and Duncan form an alliance in this episode. Notably, Leshawna had once tried to form an alliance with the other in One Flu Over the Cuckoos.
- In this episode, Harold is knocked out while in the confession stall, yet earlier episodes suggest that confessions are made after the challenges. This suggests that cast can make their confessions anytime as long as they have access to the confessional.
- This episode reveals that Courtney is lactose intolerant, making her the second known contestant to be so.
- Chris seems to favor Courtney in this episode, despite showing disdain for her in Ocean's Eight - Or Nine and One Million Bucks, B.C.
Continuity
- The music that is played when Courtney is sliding under the lasers is the same music as when Cody arrived on the island in Not So Happy Campers - Part 1.
- The way Justin knocked on his head and talked to his brain in the confessional stall was very similar to the way Izzy knocked on her head and talked to her imaginary friend, Phil, in Masters of Disasters.
- The stink bombs resemble the one Cody had to defuse in Phobia Factor.
References
- This episode's title is a reference to the 1954 film, Dial M for Murder. This is the first episode in which the title and the challenge are drawn from different movie genres - murder mysteries and spy movies, respectively.
- This episode features the second of three references to another series created by the creators of Total Drama Action; 6teen. The other references being in The Sand Witch Project, Slap Slap Revolution and Dude Buggies.
- The 6teen parody is an abbreviated version of that show's opening credits, with the seven remaining castmates standing in for the main 6teen cast.
- Due to there being seven people as opposed to the original six, the 6teen parody features an extra square in the beginning and end.
- The 6teen parody is only a few parts from the real 6teen song. The start, in which the character's shadows appear one at the time in each square, only plays once, instead of twice. Then after "That's when we bend all the rules" it just to "In a place where we belong!" Then after "Got a new job, gonna start at the mall today" the last few tones of the 6teen theme song play and the parody is over.
- Justin, in the 6teen shadow effect, is the odd one out, having a green background, unlike every one else, who has a close match with theirs.
- Harold mentions a spy film called "Ultimate Ultimatum", which may be a reference to The Bourne Ultimatum.
- The scene of Courtney going through the lasers is a reference to the film, Entrapment.
- This episode features many references/parodies of the James Bond/007 franchise:
- While finishing his explanation of the day's movie genre, Chris directly references it saying, "Let the 007-ing begin."
- In the beginning of the episode, when Chris, wearing a tuxedo, appears in front of the camera (which is apparently looking at him through the barrel of a rifle), he throws a tomato at it and makes its view turn red like blood, which is just like the iconic opening of every Bond film to date.
- The way Chris has a white cat on his lap and is petting it casually is a reference to Bond's often unseen archrival Ernest Stavro Blofeld, whose trademark feature was the white cat (due to his face never being seen). However, Chris' eyepatch was closer to that of Emilio Largo from Thunderball.
- The booby-trap that captures Lindsay - a set of stairs turning into a slide and dropping her through a trapdoor - is a reference to a similar booby-trap seen on Max Zorin's airship in A View to a Kill.
- The bowler hat that knocks out Courtney is a reference to Oddjob, the bowler-tossing henchman from Goldfinger.
- Interestingly, the actor who portrayed Oddjob in the aforementioned film had the first name Harold, with the full name Harold Sakata.
- Having to defuse a time bomb within a time limit is a scenario commonly seen in Bond films, with one prominent (and probably the most similar) example being the nuclear time bomb that Bond had to defuse in Goldfinger.
- The base appearing as if inside a mountain is a reference to Blofeld's base inside a hollowed-out volcano in You Only Live Twice.
- The tranquilizer dart being fired into Duncan's neck could be a reference to when Bond was shot in the neck with a tranquilizer dart in GoldenEye.
- The "accents" that Chris is accused of all have been referenced as the accents or nationalities connected to various Bond villains, actors portraying the villains, or nations where Bond films took place, including Jamaican (Dr. No), Japanese (You Only Live Twice), Swedish (Never Say Never Again), French (Moonraker), Italian (Thunderball), and, ultimately, the correct answer of Russian (From Russia With Love).
Goofs
- The countdown in the building is much longer than thirty seconds while the time on the bomb's countdown appears to be shorter than three minutes, though this is a common goof in cartoons.
- Even though the teams had dissolved, when Courtney and Justin are in the confessional, the Killer Grips's symbol is shown.
- This is also the same with Duncan's confessional, when they show the Screaming Gaffers's symbol.
- Assuming that the bomb-defusing challenge takes place on top of the same building that Courtney harpooned to:
- The bombs are not seen when Courtney aims.
- The harpoon is not seen during the challenge.
- Courtney states that she is lactose intolerant, but in One Million Bucks, B.C., she is eating a lobster with Belgian chocolate, which contains milk.
- However, she could've stated this because she didn't want to go to the cheese factory with Lindsay.
- When Justin comforts Beth, his necklace is not seen.
- When the castmates walk into the building, Justin's bruise from his eye disappears and is not seen for the rest of the episode.
- Chris says that he "knew there was a reason we picked Courtney", despite Courtney debuting to the show against the producers' wills and wasn't picked to compete.
- Chris states that each of the seven bombs was wired differently to make it more interesting. However, each bomb had only three wires. Thus, this means that at least one other bomb would've been deactivated, in addition to Lindsay's.
- When Justin is talking to his "brain" in the laser room, one of his eyes turn beige the second he blinks.
Gallery
See also
| Total Drama Action Episodes | |
|---|---|
| Team Phase | "Monster Cash" | "Alien Resurr-eggtion" | "Riot on Set" | "Beach Blanket Bogus" | "3:10 to Crazytown" | "The Aftermath: I" | "The Chefshank Redemption" | "One Flu Over the Cuckoos" | "The Sand Witch Project" | "Masters of Disasters" | "Full Metal Drama" | "The Aftermath: II" | "Ocean's Eight—or Nine" | "One Million Bucks, B.C." | "Million Dollar Babies" |
| Individual Phase | "Dial M for Merger" | "Super Hero-ld" | "The Aftermath: III" | "The Princess Pride" | "Get a Clue" | "Rock n' Rule" | "Crouching Courtney, Hidden Owen" | "2008: A Space Owen" | "Top Dog" | "Mutiny on the Soundstage" | "The Aftermath: IV" |
| Special | "Celebrity Manhunt's Total Drama Action Reunion Special" |