Calvin, Hobbes, Andy and Socrates are passing time by mocking a cheesy B-Movie on TV. Oddly enough, as they're watching, Socrates' TV starts flipping through channels at random. No matter what they do, they can't get it to stay on their movie. Eventually, they give up and go home, leaving Socrates to deal with it.
The next day, Sherman is trying to conduct experiments in his lab, only for them to keep blowing up in his and Andy's faces. Socrates tries to make a smoothie, but the blender keeps going haywire. Calvin and Hobbes find that even the MTM has gone strange, culminating in him singing "Daisy, Daisy..."
As this has happened in their neighborhood before, the gang recognize that this means a villain is up to something, so they wait in Socrates' mansion for any more signs of strangeness. While they wait, they hear each other talking, but no one is actually saying anything, and then they realize that the TV has turned on again, and it's the movie they were watching before, but now with their previous commentary laid over it.
It is Electro.
Electro has been trapped in the phone wires all this time, rebuilding his strength. Now he's back, and he's ready to cause trouble and destroy them all. He tries to knock the TV over on top of them, but they get out of the way just in time. However, Electro can now transfer himself to the other appliances. He makes it to the fridge, which then unplugs itself and starts to hobble after them. The gang make it to the stairs and split up, but the fridge then plugs itself into a socket and becomes dormant. Then several more appliances suddenly appear, each powered by a section of Electro's life force, and the gang end up getting chased all across the mansion, and no matter what room they're in, Electro just plugs himself into another socket and transfers himself into another set of electrical items.
Finally, the five friends manage to hide out in the elevator. Calvin deduces that Electro can divide himself up and reassemble himself. It's just a matter of making him whole again and then destroying whatever he ends up in. They ride to the roof of the mansion, where they note how high up they are. Then they are attacked by a herd of appliances that took the stairs, and Andy, Sherman and Socrates end up captured. Calvin and Hobbes escape to the elevator and start making plans.
Electro tries to kill Andy, Sherman and Socrates by slowly lowering them over a working blender, but Calvin swings in on a power cord and rescues them. While they escape, Calvin stays behind, threatening the multiple appliances with a baseball bat, explaining he can diminish Electro's power by destroying the appliances he's divided by. Realizing this is true, Electro makes his escape, finding several extension outlets scattered throughout the house - which have all been set up by Hobbes, who unplugs each one as several appliances deplete themselves of Electro's influence. Finally, he is whole again, and he escapes into the power grid where Calvin can't get him.
Calvin, Hobbes, Andy and Sherman regroup, trying to find Electro so they can destroy him, but they are suddenly cornered by a second big screen TV, threatening them with his electrical current. However, Socrates comes up from behind him, with another smoothie. When Electro threatens him, he responds by throwing the smoothie at him, and it spills into his circuitry and wiring, shorting the TV out and effectively trapping him inside.
They take the TV to the top floor of the mansion and push it over the side, just in case. They decide to avoid cleaning up the mess inside and go out for smoothies. But after they leave, a mysterious figure arrives, standing over Electro's remains...
Tropes:
- Big Damn Heroes: Done by Calvin, and sort of lampshaded by Andy shortly beforehand:"CALVIN, YOU'D BETTER BE AROUND HERE WAITING TO GET US OUT OF HERE!!"
- Big "SHUT UP!": Electro says this to Socrates.
- Casual Danger Dialogue: As Electro threatens him with death, Socrates merely talks about his smoothie (which he then splatters him with, saving the day).
- Continuity Nod:Andy: How could we forget? Last time we saw you [Electro], you were in a Death Hug with a certain hardlight hologram.
Socrates:
Oh, those evil electronic life forms grow up so fast. - Deadly Rotary Fan: Utilized to its most absurd potential when Electro captures Andy, Socrates, and Sherman, dangled from the ceiling by power cords, and set to slowly descend into a blender.
- Fainting: Socrates faints as his TV is destroyed.
- Foreshadowing: The mysterious figure appears again.
- Genre Blindness: Mocked In-Universe in the B-movie the boys riff on.
- It's Been Done: See the third entry under Shout-Out below.
- Medium Awareness: When Electro reveals he'd been laying dormant for some time:Hobbes: It took you this long?
Socrates: Yeah, you missed out on last season. - MST: The main characters do this to an old zombie film, and it ends up becoming a plot point.
- Numbered Sequels: Done quite subtly.
- Revenge: Electro's motive.
- Shout-Out: The MTM goes haywire and starts acting like HAL.
- Also:
Socrates: Well, maybe our mortal enemy is taking a holiday, today.
Hobbes: Do villains take holidays?
Socrates: Sure! They do it all the time. Take the villains from Batman, for instance.- When Andy tries to figure out his last words, he comes up with "Either these curtains go, or I do."
Sherman: I think someone already said that. - Take That!: The TV flips over to Cartoon Network, which is displaying "some weird anime cartoon." Calvin complains about how they're missing the idiotic violence of the zombie film:Beat
Hobbes: Not that anime isn't idiotic and violent. - Tempting Fate: Inverted by Andy (keep in mind, Calvin appears right after he says this):"CALVIN, YOU'D BETTER BE AROUND HERE WAITING TO GET US OUT OF HERE!!"
- "You!" Exclamation: Done by the protagonists as Electro reappears.
- Also done by Electro himself as Socrates reappears.
