Saturday Morning S.T.A.R.S: The Animated Series

Episode 17: Mini-golf Madness

A-plot: Despite warnings of stormy weather, Chris, Barry, Jill and Wesker go minigolfing on their day off to settle a bet between Chris and Wesker.

B-plot: New recruit Rebecca is in the office manning the phone lines, and dealing with increasingly ridiculous antics of the RCPD.

Act one:

• Rebecca comes into the office and reads notes on procedure left by Wesker. Turning on the radio she hears a weather report about a massive thunderstorm warning for Raccoon city later that afternoon.
• Under a grey sky, Chris, Barry, Jill and Wesker show up at the Raccoon City Family Fun Center Mini-golf course.
• Barry insists on bringing his real golf clubs from home and is bragging about his swing.
• Jill is giggling and excited talking about how she hasn’t been to Mini-golf since she was a kid.
• Meanwhile Chris and Wesker are deadly serious about the competition to a ludicrous degree.
• In the background of the course we see another family golfing with their young, disruptive son.
• In the office, Chief Irons tells Rebecca to turn off the damned radio and get serious. Flustered, she turns it off, only to get a call from downstairs, the RCPD officers want her to order them some pizzas.

Act two

• The golf teams are Wesker and Jill vs Chris and Barry.
• Barry is a total show off, talking up how much he knows about the game but comically overshoots every hole, or has his swing disrupted by hazards.
• Jill turns out to be an absolute ace at Mini-golf, promoting Chris to playfully call her a traitor and demand to know her secret. Wesker jokes about having her ‘specially enhanced’ for the mission.
• The kid with the golfing family is messing around, forcing his parents to chase after him.
• At the S.T.A.R.S office Rebecca is juggling calls from RCPD officers hazing and taking advantage of her. We see her grow increasingly frazzles and frustrated, running around the department, cleaning up spills, finding lost keys, accepting pizza deliveries etc. Meanwhile the phone won’t stop ringing.
• At the golf course the teams are neck and neck going into the final hole, which is an enormous, elaborate set piece styled like Castle Dimitrescu.
• Over the last few scenes it’s started to rain, but Chris and Wesker insist to keep playing. Thunder rumbles. They have to use their police clout to be allowed to stay while the Center closes.
• As the center closes, the father of the golfing boy is seen talking to the course staff, saying that he can’t leave because his son ran off and vanished.
• Chris and Wesker stop bickering momentarily as the pay attention to the conversation about the missing boy.
• The storm picks up and a strike of lightening hits the fake castle. There’s a scream. Everyone looks up to see the missing boy in the top of the castle– which has caught on fire

Act three

• Chris and Wesker put aside their grudge match to rescue the boy in danger.
• The team works together, despite not having their equipment, to find a way to scale the burning building and rescue the kid.
• Chris grabs a hold of the child, but it looks like they’re both going to be hit with falling debris, only to be pushed out of the way by Wesker at the last second.
• At the RCPD, an officer tries to get Rebecca to clean the men’s room for him. She finally has had it up to here and let’s off a little tirade before playfully whacking him with a plunger and stomping back to the office.
• Returning the child to his parents, Chris and Wesker agree that the bet has ended in a tie– for now.
• Jill calls them both ridiculous, but is seen bandaging Wesker’s burns with a sigh.
• Barry laments that he wasn’t able to show them his hole in one.

Final scene

The crew comes into the office the next day. Wesker and Rebecca each ask one another how the day went, and both claim to have had a completely normal day.

S.T.A.R.S. says!

Standing around the coffee machine in the office, Chris and Wesker explain to the audience that competition is all well and good, but not to let it go too far. Be a good sport, and make sure you’re never in a situation that will get someone hurt!