Monster Cash

Monster Cash is the premiere episode of the second season of Total Drama Island, entitled Total Drama Action.

Recap
The castmates Owen, Gwen, Duncan, Heather, Leshawna, Geoff, Izzy, DJ, Justin, Trent, Bridgette, Lindsay, and Beth are dropped off by a bus to the set of Total Drama Action. Chris picks them up in a cart and gives them a tour of their new temporary home. It is revealed the losing castmates will walk the "Walk of Shame" (a ratty red carpet) into the "Lame-o-sine". As they are driving around the set, Chris begins to talk about how this was once a set for a monster movie, until the star had some "problems". As it turns out, the star is not an actress, as Lindsay imagines, but a mechanical monster resembling a dinosaur. Chef, wearing a motion-sensitive suit, controls the monster. Chris explains how the first challenge is to race to a set of trailers before the monster can catch them. Everyone races off the cart and hurries toward the trailers with the monster in hot pursuit. One by one, each castmate is deposited into a moon bounce when the monster catches them. Soon, only Owen is left. When Chef finally locates him, the monster attempts to pick him up to put him in the moon bounce. However, Owen is too fat, and the monster breaks down, leaving Owen to find the trailers. Ten hours later, Owen finds the other castmates and releases them from the moon bounce by pricking it with a needle. Then they go to the second part of the challenge.

Each castmate enters the new mess hall as Chris explains how the teams will be divided into boys versus girls while the castmates see a delicious-looking feast set upon some tables. Owen erupts into a feeding frenzy and eats everything on the table. Chris, annoyed, explains how the food was plastic and the challenge was to find the key hidden inside the "food". Then Owen burps up the key, and wins the challenge for his team. For winning the reward, Owen gets to choose from two trailers where the boys will bunk and where the girls will bunk. As it turns out, one of the trailers had been crushed under the monster's feet during the first challenge, and the guys assume that Owen will choose the unharmed trailer. Instead, Owen chooses the crushed one. The guys start yelling at him until Chef makes the monster (repaired) crush the other trailer as well. Later, the trailers are fixed and the castmates figure out where they'll be sleeping. The boys decide with relative ease, Duncan sharing a bunk with Justin, Harold calls a bunk and Geoff calls the one under his, while Trent and Owen split one, leaving DJ alone. No one wants to share a bunk bed with Heather, so the girls draw makeup brushes (there wasn't any straws) to see who will bunk where. Lindsay and Beth share a bunk, Gwen and Bridgette share, and Leshawna and Izzy share a bunk, leaving Heather with two bunks of her own, and with Gwen saying " Yeah, we really need to work on our math." Later, early in the morning, Chris yells into a megaphone to wake the campers up, and asks what will happen on the next episode. As the closing line, he says, "McClean out!"

Quotes

 * Heather: I'm not hanging around here. Leshawna: You're going to give up the chance at a million big ones? That's a lot of hair weaves. Heather: (is about to retort when she remembers that she's bald) Guess I can stay for a bit.


 * Trent: Beth, you got your braces off. Nice! Beth: (shyly looks away) Justin: Hot as ever. (is actually looking at his reflection in Beth's teeth)


 * Owen: (notices Izzy is being left behind) Izzy! Run! Izzy: (whistles as if not listening) Owen: I mean "Kaleidoscope". Izzy: No one leaves "E-Scope" behind! (does Tarzan yell and hits her chest    repeatedly then runs and flips into the cart)


 * Chris: Welcome to the set of Total Drama Action! This season's hottest reality show will be shot here on an abandoned film lot. Lindsay: (gasps) Does this mean we're going to be in the movies? Chris: No, it means you're going to be on TV.  And don't interrupt me.  Ever! (flicks finger on Lindsay's nose) Lindsay: Oops!  Sorry.


 * Chris: Now since we don't have the outhouse to dump your deepest, darkest secrets in, you'll dish the dirt in our new makeup confessional. Lindsay: (in the confessional) Oh my gosh! A whole trailer full of makeup?  (makeup lady tries to apply lipstick on Lindsay)  Oh!  Sorry, I don't use that brand.


 * Gwen: (in the confessional, about having to receive the Guilded Chris Award) The Guilded Chris? What a narcissist!  ...  Don't get me wrong, I still want one.


 * DJ: (after having seen the giant animatronic monster) I can almost hear your sweet lullabies, mamma. (starts sucking his thumb) Chris: (pats DJ on the head)


 * Owen: (sees the monster is about to grab Izzy) Izzy, duck! Duck! Izzy: (giggles) Goose! (impact of monster slamming hand causes her to fly) WEEE! (lands in a construction lift)  Do it again!


 * Owen: (in the confessional) Maybe the monster won't look for me in here. I love Izzy.  Not like love love, but I think she's amazing.  I just wish she would notice me and not that dumb monster.  How can I compete with it?  Sure, we're both big and we both eat a lot.  But it's really tall.


 * Duncan: (seeing Geoff and Bridgette make out under an umbrella on the beach set) Um, I don't think this is the kind of action Chris had in mind! Bridgette: (in the confessional) What was I thinking? Duncan is so right.  I like Geoff, but hello!  I also like a million bucks. Geoff: (in the confessional) Duncan's right.  It's time to get our head in the game.  Boo yah! (cut to Geoff and Bridgette making out in the confessional seconds later, knocking over the chair they were sitting on)


 * Gwen: This challenge isn't so bad. What, no explosions?  No burning buildings?  No bears? Trent: Maybe it's not in the budget. (a set building explodes, another burns down to reveal an angry bear that chases after them) Gwen, Trent and Duncan: AAAHHH! Chris: (watching the monitors, chuckling) I thought the bear was tranqualized and returned to its handler. Chef: Had one day left on its contract. Chris: Nice!


 * Harold: If I want it to, I can run as fast as a pronghorn Antelope! It's the fastest land mammal after the Cheetah!


 * Leshawna: (after getting captured by the monster) Easy now! This booty is breakable!


 * Harold: (getting dropped into the jumping castle) I love you! Leshawna: (angrily) Say what now?


 * Justin: (sees everyone in the jumping castle staring) What are you all staring at? Everyone: You! Justin: Oh!  Right.


 * Trent: (to Gwen, DJ and Beth) Everyone, follow me! Gwen: (in the confessional) That's what makes Trent such a great boyfriend. He's always thinking of others.  It's one of the things I love about him. Trent: (to DJ) It's okay, big guy.  I got you.  (leads everyone into a building, only to find that it's a cardboard cutout)  You mean everything around here is fake? Gwen: (in the confessional) That and Trent's exceptional powers of observation.


 * Trent: (to Owen, who finally arrives at the cast trailers) It took you ten and a half hours to walk three city blocks? DJ: That's just sad, man. (Owen pulls a pin out of nowhere and uses it to pop the bounce house) Duncan: How come no one thought of that last night? (Everyone groans) Leshawna: (after getting freed from the jumping castle) Wait! Where's Izzy? (the monster returns and drops off Izzy, stepping on a trailer in the process) Izzy: Thanks for the date, baby!  Don't ever leave me, cause I'd find you! Owen: (glares with jealousy) Duncan: How did you manage to escape? Izzy: Monster and I had a romantic date.  He doesn't take no for an answer.  Mm-hmm.  Pretty crazy, can't even tell you guys.


 * Chris: (to Owen, after watching him eat everything in the craft services tent) Owen, the man of many appetites. How was it? Owen: I think the turkey was a bit-- (burps) --dry. Chris: Not surprising, since the food was fake. Owen: Fake? Chris: Yep!  Just props made from foamcore, silicone, sawdust and wax.  It wasn't a speed eating contest.  It was a contest to find the key. Owen: What key? (burps out a key)  Oh!  You mean this key? Chris: That'd be the one. Owen: Does this mean I win? Chris: Yes.  Yes, it does. Owen: Alright!


 * (in the confessional) Duncan: (laughing) Did you see that? The dude ate foamcore and wax!  Full props for that, man. (continues laughing) Geoff: Way to find the key, dude!  I used to think Owen was just some party dude, but he's really a stand up guy.  Party on! Harold: I could have done that, you know.  I just wasn't hungry. Owen: No, wait, wait, wait, wait!  There's still one more!  (burps loudly) Leshawna: You know what that boy has?  Guts!  Guts full of foamcore and rubber.  But guts still the same.


 * Izzy: (in the confessional, about the monster stepping on the girls trailer) I am so over that monster!

Trivia

 * Goof: Heather's original hair can be seen in many points of the show.
 * Goof: Though Owen wins the challenge because the monster could not pick him, the monster had picked up Beth, DJ, Gwen and Trent together in one hand without a problem. These castmates combined certainly weighed more than Owen's 296 pounds. (Though, it could be possible that Owen had gained more pounds prior to this episode or that lifting so many people had a cumulative effect on the monster's ability to lift.)
 * Courtney, Katie, Sadie, Tyler, Noah, Cody, Eva, and Ezekiel were not mentioned at all in this episode, despite the fact that they were going to be "watching from the sidelines", and are all seen in the theme song at the end with the other contestants.
 * Courtney appears in the theme song (where she is making out with Duncan) but is not mentioned in this episode.
 * There is a belief that this episode is a parody of Godzilla, but it may also be a parody of the movie Cloverfield, as the creature is hardly shown until the the end of the challenge and there are a few scenes during the challenge of slanted cameras similar to the movies camera angles.
 * The eating part is set up similar to the Brunch of Disgustiness (it even features the same eating song).
 * Izzy is never seen with the other campers in the bouncy castle (even when the monster is busy chasing the other cast mates).
 * This episode first premiered on Teletoon's website on January 8, 2009. It was available to everyone, even those in the USA. However, on the next day, Teletoon blocked those in the USA from watching any videos on their website.
 * Goof: Izzy is seen sitting on her luggage when the bus pulls away (along with the other campers), but when Owen tells her to get on the trolley (and she is seen whistling), the luggage is no where to be seen. Though she may have tossed it on and just didn't get on herself.
 * Despite the worries of the other girls, Heather still winds up sleeping in a bunk by herself. Although should another girl join the show, she will most likely be sharing with Heather.
 * Logically, Owen would probably die from eating that much Styrofoam and saw dust.
 * Ironically, LeShawna says they are in Toronto and are not near the ocean, but on the opening song, it actually does show an ocean when the camera is zooming in. Though it may just be a special effects pool or the studio may border Lake Ontario.
 * Lindsay appears to be smarter in this episode, and does not forget anyone's names. Her voice also doesn't sound as ditsy (perhaps Beth had been tutoring her).
 * In this episode, Owen seems to be slowed down by his massive weight (as it takes him ten hours just to walk three blocks), however he seemed to be able to move perfectly fine on the island and his weight was never an issue for him (though he may have been tired due to too much running from the monster).