Rocket Power: Race Across New Zealand

Rocket Power: Race Across New Zealand was the first of three telefilms made for the Rocket Power cartoon series, first airing on Nickelodeon in the US on February 16, 2002, during the 2002 Winter Olympics. The telefilm closes the second season of Rocket Power.

Plot

The Rocket gang have been working as a delivery team for the Shore Shack to help raise money for the gang to enter "The Junior Waikikamukau Games" competition in New Zealand. The team finally raises enough money and are all set to go. However, the trip brings back painful memories for Ray, who, with Tito, competed in the first race years ago. He lost the race to the local favorite, Chester McGill, and can never let it go for the fact that he still believes Chester cheated in the final leg of the race. As the team heads for New Zealand and prepares for the first race, it starts to become clear that Ray is putting all his attention on Otto to win the race. This becomes certain when the gang finds out they are racing against the son of the man that beat Ray in the first race (Theodore McGill). This only gives Ray more reason to put more pressure on Otto to win. Otto wins the first race and Team Rocket is in the lead, but Ray only focuses on Otto's win which makes Reggie upset. On the second day, Otto is in the lead when his dirtboard falls apart and takes him out of contention for the win. Reggie, reluctant to give Otto her board after he begs, takes the fight to Theodore and they end up tied while Sam fixes Otto's board and keeps the team in the race. But just like the first race, Reggie is mad at Ray because he ignores her performance and focuses on Otto's broken board. During the third race, Otto falls out of the lead when he misjudges the location of a sandbar in the water. After the fall, Reggie catches and passes Theodore and looks to be on her way to the win. But when Ray insists Otto can still win, Reggie purposely falls off her board to catch his attention, and costs Otto a chance to win, handing the race to Theodore. Otto then blames Reggie and Sam for his problems during the race and calls Twister a shoobie in the midst of his frustration. Ray catches up with Reggie and asks why she fell during the race. Sarcastically, Reggie acts out how Ray has been acting throughout the competition and Ray realizes that he's been ignoring Reggie. The next morning, Ray talks to Reggie about why he acted the way he did and apologizes to Reggie. Reggie forgives her dad and successfully talks her teammates back together again. Before the final race, Ray apologizes to Otto for putting the pressure on him to win. Otto and Reggie decide to focus on winning the team competition and let the chips fall where they may for the individual competition. Meanwhile, Chester tells Theodore that he messed up Otto's board during the Dirtboard race and gave Team Rocket a misleading map for the windsurfing race, which led to his falls. Chester then tells Theodore to go left at the rock and shortcut through the woods. Theodore, appalled at his father's actions, reluctantly agrees to takes the shortcut. During the final race, Twister falls and breaks his leg and Otto turns around to go back and help. Otto then urges Reggie to go ahead and race against Theodore while he aids Twister to the finish. After a little hesitation, Reggie takes off and soon catches Theodore. As the two approach the Flat Stick Fork rock, Reggie takes the shorter way around while Theodore takes the long way and makes the shortcut. Behind them, Otto and Twister (who gets confused thinking Sam meant to tell him to go left at the rock) split apart at the rock and Twister almost crashes but Otto reaches him just in time to keep him in the race. Theodore comes out in the lead, but Reggie is not far back and catches up to Theodore. The two come across the finish line in a tie, which means Theodore wins the individual competition while Team Rocket take the team competition. Theodore later admits that he cheated and took a shortcut. Chester then admits he took the same shortcut in the first race. Theodore is disqualified and Otto and Reggie are declared co-champions and named Prince and Princess Waikikamukau. Tatupu, the Maori race director who assists Chester throughout the race, strips Chester of his winning medal and gives it to Ray.

In the movie's side plots, Tito has an obsession over Vegemite, a local delicacy he fell in love with during the first race, and tries constantly to get his hands on a sandwich, but is having a hard time doing so. Meanwhile, back in Ocean Shores, Violet and Merv are watching after the Shore Shack and turn it into a gourmet restaurant.

Sports

Sports featured in this telefilm include zorbing, mountain biking, tubing, dirtboarding, windsurfing, and snowboarding.

Soundtrack

In the same month the telefilm was premiered, a soundtrack album for the series was released, featuring the songs that appeared in the telefilm. Besides the show's theme song, the album featured:

• Individuality by Area-7
• An English language cover of 99 Luftballons (99 Red Balloons) by Goldfinger
• Valentino by Bowling for Soup (who had previously performed the theme song to Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius for the film's soundtrack album)
• I'm Cool by Reel Big Fish

External links

• A transcript of the telefilm, from the Maximum Rocket Power website