The Penguins of Madagascar

Sketch page of my favorite supervillian.

So sorry for the slight hiatus! Over the course of the next month I am going to be dropping 12 episode summaries, for our first season of the Penguins of Madagascar along with some keyframe art. Without further ado, here is the Pilot aka The First Hiest of May The sun rises over the Central Park Zoo as Skipper, Private, and Rico do their morning exercises. Kowalski however, is busy working on Project Delta, a satellite to keep their covert missions off the global radar. With the project almost done, he only requires one final element, diamond coating, to protect it from the heat of the sun. Lucky for them,  the Eye of Prague, a massive green diamond, is on display at the Met.

King Julien learns of this plan and becomes obsessed with getting the diamond for himself, concocting his own harebrained scheme to break into the museum. That night, both groups infiltrate the Met. The penguins sneak in disguised as a delivery and knock out the security team. From there they execute a carefully orchestrated diversion, splitting up on roller skates, they lure and trap all the guards into the Egyptian wing. 

Julien and co break in by using Mort to smash the glass ceiling, and with the guards already taken care of, they run into little trouble. That is, till Maurice goes missing, entranced by an art-house video installation (something that will come back in the following episode Cinema Parrotidso). Julien, initially amused by Muarice’s emotional response to art, soon finds himself overwhelmed and distracted by the Costume Institute Gallery. 

Private learns of a Lunacorn exhibit and risks taking the mission off the rails, but is put back on track by Skipper, who promises to take him there for his upcoming birthday. The Penguins then enter the European Decorative Arts wing and find the Eye of Prague. However, it is surrounded by a massive network of security lasers. Kowalski and Private dawn mirror suits, to reflect the laser’s light, and carefully make their way across the gallery. After much work they are finally about to  grab the diamond, only for Julien to appear. 

Claiming the diamond for himself, he throws Mort across the room, sending the podium, and the diamond, crashing to the floor. Alarms blare and it is every penguin for himself as they all dash to escape the Met, without the diamond. Reaching the car, Skipper congratulates them on a successful heist.

Successful heist? See, while Private was distracted attempting to nab the diamond, Skipper and Rico grabbed the real treasure, a Birthday gift for Private, a rare first-edition Lunacorn toy. The lemurs, on the other hand, are thrown out of the museum in disgrace, mocked by guards who mistake them for squirrels. Julien fumes at his humiliation, but Mort unexpectedly regurgitates the Eye of Prague diamond, leaving the lemurs with the treasure after all. 

Sorry for the lack of episode update today. Hopefully tomorrow, I've just been swamped with work.