Combaticus (episode)

Combaticus
Season 1, Episode 2
Air date	October 5, 2008
Written by	Christy Karacas, Stephen Warbrick, others (see Production Credits and Trivia below)
Directed by	Christy Karacas
Episode guide
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Combaticus is the second episode of the first season of Superjail!.

Storyline

Pre-Credits Sequence

Jacknife enters a cemetery for a grave-robbing spree, looting jewelry and other items of value off of corpses. But upon prying open his last coffin, he finds a still relatively-intact corpse of an attractive woman. He starts to undo his pants, but a robotic arm launches out of the corpse and grabs his groin. Jailbot bursts out from the coffin, and flies off, dragging Jacknife upside-down and by the testicles.

Main Story

Inmates sit in the prison yard, bored and half-heartedly stabbing each other or going about other tasks with boredom. One leans against a wall, picking petals off of a daisy, but is suddenly yanked underground through a tunnel by a mysterious pair of arms. Nearby, The Warden is spelunking in one of the caverns, with Jailbot, Jared, and Alice assisting. Jared panics due to his fear of caves, while Alice claims that she doesn't have any fears. She shines a light in a hole, but a scorpion emerges, causing the Warden to freak out. He orders Jailbot to kill the scorpion. Jailbot chases it through the caverns, passing through some types of underground civilizations, an abandoned subway train, and one of The Doctor's torture experiments.

Some time later, Warden, Alice, and Jared find a room filled with hieroglyphics and artifacts. Jared attempts to tell Warden of the hieroglyphs' warning, while Warden marvels over a crystal skull and expresses the intent to take it. The room starts to shake and a giant stone fist with a mace shoots up, propelling Jared into the clouds where an angel is playing "Whack-A-Mole". The angel then beats Jared back down to Superjail and he falls through the stone fist, the ball of its mace breaking off in response. The ball rolls and lands on one of the buildings, crushing it.

The Twins watch this from afar through binoculars, as they ride through the ocean on a paddleboat. They realize that the Warden has discovered the undergound city of "Pummelonia". Meanwhile, Jared investigates the hieroglyphics and reads about the history of the city, but is frightened and interrupted by one of the Doctor's human experiments (with a communication screen strapped to them, showing the Doctor's face). The Doctor tells the Warden that he has diagnosed the inmate population with "depression", while the Warden believes that he's found the cure: To turn Pummelonia into a battle arena called "Fight City". Two inmates watch a commercial for Fight City, but remain bored. The Twins then skate by, deciding that they'll create a fighting machine for the arena. They teleport to their laboratory and slit their arms with their pinky fingers, drawing green blood. They let the blood fall to the floor, and it begins to bubble and glow.

The Warden welcomes the inmates to Fight City. He informs them that the first place prize will be a feast of snake hearts and blood sausage, in addition to a session of "flogging, buggering, and leech treatments" by Alice (who demonstrates it on two captives). He then adds that the winner will receive the ultimate prize, which is freedom. A stage rises up in the arena, with the singer Jammin' Jimmy Jazz and his band performing a song about Fight City. But the stage descends into the ground before he can finish, to his annoyance. The first two prisoners are selected for the arena, and are deposited there by the fists of giant stone statues. One is given a mace, while the other is handed a chainsaw. The inmate with the chainsaw quickly scores a victory by decapitating the other. More inmates are selected to the arena, and start slaughtering each other with the various weapons they receive. One falls through a trap door into a pit, and is promptly devoured by crocodiles. While this occurs, Jailbot continues to chase the scorpion, smashing through different walls and dimensions.

The Twins watch the Fight City carnage on their viewing screen, unaware of Jailbot smashing his way through their laboratory. They decide to unleash their "baby" upon Fight City, and a machine behind them opens up, revealing a small silhouetted figure that bears a bit of resemblance to them. Back at Fight City, a meter shows that the inmates' depression has turned into aggression, to the glee of the Warden. Suddenly, all the lights in the arena shut off. A robotic announcer introduces "the ultimate in fighting biotechnology", a warrior named "Combaticus". The Twins walk down a pathway into the coliseum with Combaticus (who seems surprised at the video of him on the screen). The Twins order Combaticus to humiliate the prisoners, and teleport into the audience, bringing food with them along with flags and memorabilia (such as stickers and pamphlets) bearing their fighter's name.

Combaticus teleports into the battlefield, and winds up laughed at by a prisoner who considers him a "pipsqueak". The prisoner goes to punch Combaticus, but winds up with his entire skeleton ripped from his body by the clone. One Twin remarks that four hearts allowed for an unparalleled speed and metabolism. As Combaticus slaughters more men, the second Twin adds that fourteen fingers allowed for a vice grip of 6050 Newtons per square meter. An inmate attempts to crush Combaticus with a rock, but he shoots up into the air and launches back down into the prisoner's body, causing him to explode from the inside out (while the Twins remark that Combaticus is an "individual cool cat", but a "cat" that has taken more than nine lives). The Warden becomes angered at Combaticus ruining his Fight City, and orders the Doctor to release their "secret experiment". The Doctor protests that the experiment isn't ready, but Warden demands that it be released. The Doctor gives his workers the order to release "Specimen 7" (confined in a bolted cell with a danger warning).

Combaticus rips apart two more opponents, but another computer voice interrupts the fight to announce the arrival of Specimen 7, a creature created from the DNA of various Superjail staff members. It states that the creature's sole purpose is to destroy, and its only recognizable emotion is domination. Specimen 7 is unleashed from under the battlefield, and appears as an unusual combination of the human staff members (Warden, Alice, and Jared) with parts of Jailbot, as well as one of the wings to Warden's flying creature. Specimen 7 and Combaticus start to battle, with Combaticus managing to rip off their arms. However, Specimen 7 instantly generates new arms and goes to attack him, missing and electrocuting one of the audience members instead (as well as decapitating another).

The blood from the audience drips down to an underground hallway, where Jailbot continues his chase of the scorpion. The blood lands on the scorpion, causing him to transform into "Gore", the war god of Pummelonia. Gore explains that the bloodshed has finally returned him to his mortal form. He offers to bestow riches upon Jailbot, who interrupts and shoots him. Gore instantly collapses to the ground, swearing and groaning in pain. He bleeds profusely and realizes that he's dying. Jailbot departs as Gore continues to bleed and squirm. Gore's body then disintegrates into a black ash and dissipates into the air.

Back at Fight City, the coliseum begins to crumble to pieces, causing the audience to run in a panic. The stone mace begins to sink further below the jail grounds. The Twins sit watching the destruction, the first commenting that the arena is crumbling like a cookie. The second Twin is about to make some sort of remark on Specimen 7, but a giant piece of debris (a stone head) crushes both and pins them to the ground. With both visibly injured and trapped, they realize that their teleportation ability won't work. Specimen 7 and Combaticus' fight is further interrupted by the Warden's cries for help, as he's left clinging from the broken arena screen and ready to fall. Specimen 7 flies over and pulls the Warden to safety, then grabs Alice and Jared before flying away with the three.

The Twins weakly attempt to call for help, but are ignored by the panicking prisoners. Combaticus then spots the trapped Twins and rushes over. He strains, but manages to lift the debris enough for them to teleport away. But suddenly, a giant stone fist slams down on him, crushing him into the ground as the arena becomes further demolished.

Some time later, both of the Twins stand by a cliff near the ocean. One holds a golden trophy, fashioned into an urn and designed with a Combaticus theme. He remarks that it seems four hearts were one too many, as he passes the urn to his brother. The second Twin adds that Combaticus had only one weakness: compassion. He opens the urn and releases the ashes, which drift off into the sky. Combaticus' face then appears as a constellation, and states: "I am the new god of war. Bow down to Combaticus."

Character Appearances

• The Warden
• Alice
• Jared
• Jailbot
• The Twins
• Jacknife
• The Doctor
• Combaticus
• Specimen 7
• Jammin' Jimmy Jazz and his band
• Various prisoners made to take part in Fight City battles
• Gore, war god of Pummelonia

Production Credits

• Created by: Christy Karacas, Stephen Warbrick, Ben Gruber
• Director: Christy Karacas
• Writers: Christy Karacas, Stephen Warbrick, Aaron Augenblick, Chris Burns, M. Wartella
• Animation Production: Augenblick Studios
• Animation Direction: Aaron Augenblick
• Animation: Chris Burns, Chris Conforti, Chester Knebel, Kristofer Wollinger
• Animation Assistance: Lizzi Akana, Edmond Hawkins III, Gene Lee, Henry Thurlow
• Character Layout: Fran Krause, Hal Lee, Tom Marsan, Neil Swaab, Aaron Augenblick
• Background Layout: Elliot Byrne, George Fort, Jeremy Jusay, Will Krause
• Storyboards: Jesse Schmaal, Christy Karacas
• Editing (FX): Stephen Warbrick
• Additional Editing: John Philpot
• Music: Bradford Reed
• Sound Design: Britt Meyers, Ian Stynes (Great City Productions)
• Sound Effects Editor: Abigail Savage
• Audio Mix: Britt Meyers
• Interns: Jake Armstrong, Fernando Chan, George Conkin, Elyssa DiGiovanni, Jung Hoon Lee, Jennifer Lee, Kat Morris, Iona Alexandra Nistor, Michael Ricca, Kamron Robinson, Aleth Romanillos, Felicia Spano
• Production Coordinator: Vanessa Riegel
• Producer: Ollie Green
• Executive Producers: Christy Karacas, Stephen Warbrick, Ben Gruber, Aaron Augenblick
• Story Consultants: Dave Hughes, Nick Weidenfeld
• Creative Consultants: John Lee, Jon Glaser
• Special Thanks: Chuck Collins, Jon Glaser, Jackie Linge, Ian Stynes, Reggie Watts
• Executive Producers for Williams Street: Keith Crofford, Nick Weidenfeld

• Opening Theme: "Comin' Home", written and performed by Cheeseburger, recorded by Rob Laakso and Max Sternberg (courtesy of Kemando Records)

Voice Cast

• The Warden: David Wain
• Alice, Jacknife: Christy Karacas (uncredited)
• Jared: Teddy Cohn
• The Twins, Combaticus: Richard Mather
• The Doctor, various inmates: Chris McCulloch
• Fatty, others: Stephen Warbrick (uncredited)
• “Fight City” Female Announcer: Sally Donovan (uncredited)
• Jimmy Jazz: Reggie Watts (uncredited)

Trivia

• First episode to feature Sally Donovan and Reggie Watts providing bit roles for the voice cast.
• First episode to feature The Doctor, as well as the Jimmy Jazz band (which return in cameos for Superjail! Grand Prix and Vacation).
• Although Specimen 7's fate is not shown, it can be assumed he died either afterwards or sometime later, as he is mentioned to be deceased in Time-Police Part 1.
• Combaticus' fight music is referenced from "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's theme, while the ending music (where the Twins spread his ashes) was copied from the song "Shenhua" from the video game Shenmue.
• In a blooper, perhaps intentionally, a "clone" of the perverted inmate is shown in stock crowd footage cheering as the same inmate gets decapitated in the arena. This footage is later looped again during Combaticus' fight in the arena.
• Jon Glaser worked on the script for this episode and "Dream Machine", before departing from the series. John Lee would continue to fine-tune the scripts for the episodes up until "Cold-Blooded" (as it was the last one to be written).
• The Twins' tandem bike (from the pilot) can be seen sitting in the grass in the final scene.
• The Twins' lab is shown to have a doorway in this episode, although it may have been drawn in for convenience for Jailbot to escape through.
• A parody of the Smurfs can be seen (with them torturing an inmate), as Jailbot chases the scorpion through the different dimensions.
• In a bit of an oversight, the DVD captions refer to the buried city as "Pamelonia", while Adult Swim's site and other sources have used the corrected spelling of Pummelonia.