Desperate Desert Race

Part 1

At the airport, Speed, Trixie, and Sparky are preparing to depart for Sandal Land to compete in the grueling Desert Race. They are sitting in the Mach Five as it is being towed towards the plane it will be loaded into. They wonder if Spritle and Chim-Chim have stowed away inside and decide to check before the car is loaded; the trunk is empty for a change. As the car is moved onto a platform to be hoisted up, a racing car, #4 with a black design pulls up and purposely hits the Mach Five. Jumping out of his car, the Black Tiger, he says he wanted to see how tough the Mach Five is and is surprised at how easily it can be damaged. It turns out that the driver is Kim Jugger, who, as Trixie says, ``is known as the wildest racer in the world.'' Kim says he's won every race he entered.

Barely avoiding a fight between Kim and Speed, the Black Tiger and the Mach Five are finally loaded into the plane. Via Gate 5, they board Flight 326 bound for Arabia and Sandal Land. After the racers, we see a fat lady with many children board. We can see that a small girl and her doll are actually Spritle and Chim-Chim.

On the plane, the stewardess offers the passengers candy. When Chim-Chim looks up to grab some, his and Spritle's covers are blown. After the stewardess was shocked by seeing a chimp, they make a break for it, and hide out in the cargo area (some plane, eh?) where the cars are stored. While there, they see a man with a patch over one eye plant a bomb in the Black Tiger. When he spots Spritle and Chim-Chim hiding in the Black Tiger, Chim-Chim hits and scratches the face of the man, who we find later is Ali Ben Schemer. He tries to stab them with his knife-cane, but they manage to escape back into the passenger area.

Upon arrival, Speed catches Spritle and Chim-Chim at the airport. Just then, 2pm, the bomb goes off in the Black Tiger. Kim feels sure that Speed had Spritle plant the bomb -- he found Spritle's slingshot in his car -- to get back at him for hitting the Mach Five. Speed and Kim fight. Speed eventually vanquishes Kim. Four men on camels show up, bow down, and escort Kim away. But Speed is still wants to show Kim that they didn't sabotage his car.

Once they reach the Imperial Hotel in Pubah, the capital of Sandal Land, Spritle and Chim-Chim tell Speed about the one-eyed man. Excited to tell Kim the story, Speed rushes out of their hotel room and bowls over a bellboy. When asking him about Kim, the bellboy claims to know him well and says Kim left for his homeland of Flathill Country because the Black Tiger couldn't be repaired in time for the Desert Race.

That night, Speed can't sleep thinking of the incident. he decides to go to Flathill to see Kim. In the Mach Five, Trixie, Spritle and Chim-Chim have seemingly read his mind and are waiting for him. By morning, they're still driving through desert enroute. A sand storm begins and gets worse and worse until they are forced to stop and wait it out with the cockpit cover up. The Mach Five is nearly buried by the time the storm is over. Once over, they realize that many men on camels have guns aimed at the Mach Five. Speed starts the Mach Five going (we see the car has license plate number 2787) but can only just barely keep ahead of the camels! Maybe it's bad traction in the sand... Anyway, more men show up and join in the pursuit.

Spritle and Chim-Chim, hiding in the trunk as always, use the slingshot and whatever they can find as ammo, including apples and pies, to take out a few riders. Soon, though, the Mach Five sails off the edge of an unusually large sand dune and stall when they hit ground. When caught, their pursuer claim to be form the Flathill Army. but when Speed notices they are taking the Go Team towards the north, rather than south, the unsavory looking soldiers admit that they're actually rebels trying to save Flathill from a bad government.

The soldiers bring them to a fortress, the Palace of Doom, in the middle of the desert. Kim is there and standing behind him is the one-eyed man. Speed tells Kim the story about the Black Tiger was really sabotaged and the Spritle and Chim-Chim witnessed it, but Kim doesn't believe him. He orders them to be put in jail. The one-eyed man, Ali Ben Schemer, seems especially annoyed at Speed and further orders that the Mach Five be burned. The rebels turn their flame throwers to the task.

We discover that Kim is the son of the general controlling the rebels. Kim's father had ordered Ali Ben Schemer to blow up the Black Tiger so that Kim would be forced to return and would then join the rebels. to fight against a Flathill government of criminals. Schemer also says that he'll have the Black Tiger fixed right away. Kim claims, however, that while most of the car can be repaired, the special brakes can't be fixed. Schemer then gets the idea that to be fair, the Mach Five's brakes will be removed. That way, the two can race on equal, if dangerous, footing. Trixie feels it's too dangerous, but Speed insists that it will be good practice for the upcoming Desert Race. The race is to begin the next morning at dawn and take place around the Palace of Doom.

The next day, a scruffy looking rebel gives Speed a bag lunch since the race is expected to last till night. Schemer gives the same to Kim. A rebel's rifleshot signals the start of the race. Once gone, Schemer has the remaining Go Team members imprisoned. Kim's father, General Cardonce (? I think I got that right) is killed by being pushed down a well. Spritle and Chim-Chim make an escape on one of those Speedy camels. The rebels let them go saying they won't last long in the desert without food or water.

Meanwhile, Speed and Kim's race has jostled their lunches and loosened the ties on the bags. Their ``lunches'' are really poisonous scorpions intended to kill them. Kim spots the one on Speed and on himself. They decide to slow down & jump. Speed uses his helmet and Kim his foot to kill the scorpions. What do they do next? Well, geez, they continue the race, of course! Worry about death attempts later, they decide.

By now Spritle and Chim-Chim are feeling the effects of the desert heat. The camel stops and lays down. When Chim-Chim hallucinates and sees the camel as fruit, he bites the camel, which takes off running -- without our two little heros. They see a mirage of an oasis and have fun swimming till the mirage disappears. They lay down, and vultures land nearby. But someone fires a gun and scares them away. It turns out to be General Abdur Noble of the Flathill army. And he lives up to his name.

Somehow during the race, Kim has gotten too close to quick sand (in a desert??). Speed gives him his hand and pulls him to relative safety. They both get in the Mach Five as we the Black Tiger disappear under the sand. As they try to pull away, the Mach Five begins getting sucked under. As Speed and Kim lose consciousness, Gen. Noble and his men somehow shoot and attach ropes to the Mach Five and pull it up to safety.

At the general's very nice and well kept castle, Kim awakens. When Noble tells him about the fate of his father and that Schemer lied about the country having a corrupt government, Kim laughs, not believing him. When Speed tells Kim about Noble and the army saving Spritle and Chim-Chim who escaped from Schemer, Kim realizes the truth. He decides to help rescue Trixie with Speed, Spritle and Chim-Chim. I guess Sparky was busy meeting the girls of Sandal Land. We don't see him again after their arrival!

During the night, Trixie cries and is overheard by the prisoner in the next room. He is Prince Omar Flathill. He finds Trixie's voice nice and she seems to feel the same about his. He tells her he will be executed the next morning.

At the fortress gates, Kim, Spritle and Chim-Chim show up posing as a girl (that's Kim!) and a child selling fruit. Chim-Chim is hiding in the fruit cart. At the same time, Speed is in the Mach Five with Gen. Noble and the army on camelback following closely behind. Quick camels. Just as they get to the fortress, though, Schemer has the gates closed and deep pits around the fortress opened. Noble's riders fall into the pit. Inside, though, Kim is pouring gunpowder throughout the weapons room but is confronted by Schemer before he can light the powder. Kim throws a can of gunpowder to known away the gun Schemer is holding. The gun hits the ground and goes off, which ignites the powder. Everyone hops in the Mach Five - how'd it get in anyway? - and race out of the fortress just before it explodes doing in Schemer and the rest of his bad guys.

In Sandal Land it's race day. The announcer tells the crowd that Kim can't make it because the Black Tiger isn't available. Kim tells Speed to win the race for him. nearby, Prince Omar make an appearance saying something to the effect that Trixie is as lovely as her voice. She looks up into his face, and, well, let's just say Speed has nothing to worry about here, royalty or no... Speed will easily win the Desert Race that day.