It's not exactly shown, but a boy about Max's age is totally killed at the prologue, sacrificed by the villain of the episode, the evil pharaoh Venom, so that he may continue his eternal life as a decrepit mummy! Quite subtly daring for a show that was aimed at children. Venom was an okay bad guy, but there was even better to come. Frank Welker uses the exact same raspy voice for the wicked mummy that he will later use for Lava Lord. This episode is based on the Doom Zone "Mighty Max Conquers the Palace of Poison", which was one of my favourites of the toy line when I was into them as a kid. It looked like a coiled up cobra, and when I first ever watched this episode I kept wondering if they were gonna include the giant snake in the story. Well they save it till last, and the scale and motion of the serpent as it slithers up the pyramid and impressively explodes for some reason after the Mighty One tosses the Ankh of Power down its gullet is definitely the best animation in the episode! Virgil and Norman weirdly do not appear and weirder still the enjoyment is hardly negatively affected at all by their absence. This one kinda shows that the adventures could be just as fun when they were just focusing on Max. Apparently the chosen one has told his friends and mother about his whole destiny gig some time after the first episode, but they just leave that one out which is a little annoying, but mind you it's better than going the overly-trod route of him constantly having to keep his heroics a secret. It's cute to see Max going all gaga over a girl like a regular kid, and then later how he shows a little more personality than your average wisecracking animated kid when he eventually gets sick of her constant whining and kicks her to the kerb. "Jiffy" was a really funny character to feature in this episode only. I love how totally clueless her voice is, it makes me laugh when she hardly seems alarmed by a bunch of sinister hooded figures creeping up to her house and she tells them to go away so she can study! She also feels sorry for the giant snake that blows up that nearly consumes them all, and then blames Max for stealing the necklace from the 'nice' mummy in the first place. And my favourite funny line is when she gets abducted and as she's whisked away in the sand tornado she yells out:"I'm being kidnapped by snaaakes!!!" That tongue in cheek sentence is so hilariously ridiculous. For an airhead, she sure seemed enthusiastic about education. She was a smart blonde as opposed to the usual stereotype - but she was still so dumb! Good Eygyption peril episode, like it a lot. Like em' all really, wouldn't be reviewing them otherwise! Bye!! 🐍
