"Drastic Voyage: Part I" is the twelfth episode of Season 6. It is the first half of a two-part season finale and the seventy-fourth episode overall of Archer.
Plot[]
Synopsis[]
Part 1 of 2. Archer and the gang get ready for an incredible adventure.
Summary[]
Agent Hawley gives the group an important mission, including Cheryl, Krieger, and Pam since they manage to stow away on the important missions. Archer makes fun of Ray's robotic hand's pigment color, much to his sadness. Hawley explains of Doctor Kovacs, a former Russian scientist who is in a coma from a high-speed chase that would have led to him being abducted by the Russians. Kovacs has been researching about miniaturization, a way to shrink anything down to microscopic size. Krieger is angry by this since he spent years working on the same thing (actually shrinky dinks). Hawley says they will be shrunk to microscopic size and will blast the blood clot out of Kovac's brain, so he will be out of his coma. If they succeed, each of them will receive 1 million dollars. But Hawley warns them that this is their last chance due to their previous failures; if they fail or turn down the mission, not only will the CIA fire them, but he will blacklist everyone of them so they don't work in espionage ever again.
At the CIA base in New Mexico, Hawley and Slater introduce the group to Dr. Sklodowska, Kovacs's assistant, and lover. Sklodowska shows them the blood clot, and the Nereus, a ship they'll use to travel inside Kovacs. Archer wants to be in charge of the ship, but everybody shoots it down. Continuing on, Dr. Sklodowska explains that the Nereus will travel through Kovak's bloodstream to the brain and remove the clot, but they have only an hour before they grow back to normal size. Suddenly "TV's Michael Gray", in a unitard with the human body sketched on it, appears. Archer is ecstatic seeing him, but Sklodowska is upset that he's here (they were once lovers). After some ranting, they move forward to the ship, since they're running out of time.
In the ship, Slater gives out assignments. Ray and Cyril will be Captain and Co-Captain, Pam and Cheryl will do nothing, and Lana and Archer will be manning the turret. Krieger is placed outside the body with the rest of the medical team. Unfortunately, due to his inability with the human body, Krieger is kicked off the team. In the ship, Lana and Archer talk about whether or not they'll survive this. Archer is confident since he survived worse, but Lana reminds him about Abbiejean. The miniature process starts and the Nereus is shrunk. The medical team aims for the neck area, but Krieger interrupts the process out of anger towards the snobby medical team. His actions, unfortunately, caused the Nereus to inject into the foot. With things now appearing to have gone south, Malory and Hawley can only hope things turn out okay.
Cast[]
- Starring :
- Guest Starring:
- Carrie Brownstein as Dr. Sklowdowska
- Gary Cole as Agent Hawley
- Christian Slater as Slater
- Michael Gray as himself
Cultural References[]
- Fantastic Voyage (1966): The premise of shrinking a manned craft to microscopic size in order to explore a human body is lifted from this classic 60s sci-fi movie.
- Archer practicing on the laser turret makes a comment about "shooting womp rats with his T-16 back home." This is a reference to dialogue from Star Wars: Episode IV- A New Hope, where Luke Skywalker brags about being able to do so when discussing the Rebel Alliance's plans for destroying the Death Star.
- Agent Hawley mocks Cheryl's glue habit, calling her "Julia Gluey-Dreyfus".
- Body Parts: Cyril's description to Ray of a killer hand with a mind of it's own is essentially the plot of the 1991 horror movie. The main character of that movie, who receives an arm transplant from a serial killer, does, in fact, have a scene where he is shaving and the transplanted arm attacks him with a seemingly murderous mind of its own. Coincidentally, there is also a main character named Ray.
- Arthur C. Clarke: The famous science fiction author is referenced at one point. Cheryl, in a quite uncharacteristically well-formulated speech in favor of their impending miniturization endeavor, relays the third of his three laws to Pam. The law in question: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
Running Gags / Callbacks[]
- Archer references the "Vomit Comet" from "Space Race: Part I".
Trivia[]
- Agent Hawley appears in this episode for the first time since the Season 5 finale.
- While Agent Hawley is giving the mission briefing, Archer asks if the mission is a softball game against Gary's Olde Towne Tavern. Gary's was the rival bar in the show Cheers and beat the Cheers gang in a softball tournament in season 4.
- This episode marks Ron Cadillac's first and only appearance in Season 6.
- When Slater asks Archer "Do you know what I don't have time for?" Archer replies, "Mmm, shopping for clothes?" This is referencing the fact that Slater has worn the same clothes since his introduction.
- Krieger's possible identity as a clone of Adolf Hitler is once more mentioned. He angrily asks Malory if he was a clone of the latter wouldn't he look like him only for Malory to reply she never thought of that before.
- Appearance by "TV's Michael Gray" from Shazam! a television show frequently referenced by Archer. It features cartoons and live action making liberal use of the awesomeness of the word "Shazam."
- Dr. Krieger's adopted medicinal practices from alternative medicine such as ear candling to ancient medicinal practices like divining humours or phrenology. All of these methods are woefully outdated and have been proven not only to be ineffective, but harmful.
- The machine that shrinks the team is "The Machine" from the movie Contact.
- Dr. Krieger's reference of that "other med school in Grenada" is a reference to St. George's University, a Caribbean medical school that is well-known for accepting American medical students who could not get into medical school in the U.S.
- Sklodowska was the Polish maiden name of Marie Curie, a two-time Nobel Prize laureate, presumably the figure to whom Dr. Sklodowska's name alludes, but Madame Curie won Nobels in Physics and Chemistry, not Physiology/Medicine.
Locations[]
Quotes[]
- Holly: "Before we begin, I want to make one thing perfectly clear to all of you.
The information you're about to hear is top secret. Unauthorized publication or 'leaking' of this information would be an act of high treason, for which you would be tried and convicted by a secret military tribunal and summarily executed. So no, Miss Poovey, I don't think a selfie would be appropriate." - Pam: (rescinding her selfie pose)"Okay, I'm not. Jesus!"
- Archer: (Playing Operation) "Yeah, why the hell would this guy have an oil can in his--"
- Lana: "Elbow grease."
- Archer: "Wow, it's pun for the whole family!"
- Slater: "After this is over, you and me!"
- Archer: "Boop."
- Slater: "Lana, you think you can help Dr.Sklodowska with the navigation?"
- Lana: "Well, I did get an A in college biology."
- Sklodowska: "Oh wow, great. So when we're traversing the occipital lobe, you'll know what to do if the ship is in imminent danger of phagocytosis by polymorphonuclear leukocytes?"
- Lana: " It actually might've been an A-minus."
- Ray: (sobbing)"Hand, legs, feet...I am a monster!"
- Cyril: "Oh now, come on. You're not a monster, you're just different. Come on, it could be a lot worse."
- Ray: "How?!"
- Cyril: "Well I guess the hand, or the tissue covering the bionic part, it would be, I guess...you know, could've come from a serial killer. And then one day soon, maybe you're shaving, and you find out it has a mind of its own. It's a force of pure evil, and it starts dragging you out into the city at night. Just cats at first. But once the hand gets a taste for killing, it's only a matter of time before you're out there strangling male prostitutes, and then posing them in grotesque and horrific parodies of Mentos ads. You know, The FRESHMAKER! (awkward silence ensues) In which case, I guess try to remember, I was always kind to you."
- Ray: "Not always."
- Lana: "This mission feels fairly dangerous and totally half-cocked."
- Archer: "That's normally cock aplenty."
- Malory: "And as far as I'm concerned, the sooner she learns about cigarettes the better. This little pudge-pop's going to need all the help she can get in the battle of the bulge."
- Slater: "Copy that, navigation. Bridge is online and we are ready for miniaturization process, over."
- Archer: "Said your dick."
- Slater: "That would mean it's too big, dummy, and so it's ready to be made smaller."
- Archer: "Damn it."
- Pam: "So why are you messing around with this crazy shrink ray? It's not like you need a million bucks."
- Cheryl: "Are you kidding? It's not about the money! Pam, we are going on a voyage of medical discovery unparalleled in not only the history of mankind but also perhaps its future. Hippocrates, Galen, Percival, Sharpe. For thousands of years, physicians have dreamed of having the power to see what we've been given the chance to through this truly awe-inspiring process of miniaturization, which I think you'll agree, is the very embodiment of Arthur C. Clarke's third law, which states that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Or, if you like, a miracle."
- Pam: (perplexed) "I..."
- Cheryl: "Plus I'm going to use the money to buy an orphanage, and then bulldoze it."
Gallery of Images[]
There are 3 screenshots and images from "Drastic Voyage: Part I" on this Wiki, visit the category page for a complete gallery.