The Return of Dr. Sloth

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"No one seems to realize that something evil is coming..."

The Return of Dr. Sloth was a plot, set on Kreludor and the Virtupets Space Station, first set for release in 2004 in conjunction with its trading card expansion, but cancelled in favour of the Hannah and the Ice Caves plot. It was finally revived on the 29th January 2008, and is presumed to feature the return of Dr. Frank Sloth.

Plot summary

While in a closet within the Space Station, Gorix is contacted by a Green Ixi and told to meet with 'the Scout', a female Cybunny spy who has information vital to their cause. Agreeing to the task, Gorix takes off his janitor jumpsuit and walks out to find her. Meanwhile, the Cybunny is being chased by someone with laser fire. She barely escapes, and sneaks into the crowd of the Space Station. Needing to quickly get to Grundos Cafe and meet with the spy without being seen, Gorix travels through the maintenance tunnels, risking death by being sucked out through an air lock or attack by a maintenance robot. After passing through the tunnels, he goes to Grundos Cafe to meet with the spy.

Meanwhile, on the Space Station a young Cybunny called Cylara was being given a tour of the Space Station with her parents, who were impressed with the technology on board. At that moment the station's alarm goes off and Commander Garoo enters, flanked by armored Blumaroo guards, declaring that the Station is now under the control of Dr. Sloth. The guards start rounding up the Neopets on board, causing chaos, and Cylara is separated from her parents. The Scout, who has been hidden and watching, is found by one of the guards and conceals her identity by pretending to be Cylara. Cylara herself is found by Gorix and mistaken for the Scout, to Cylara's confusion. They are spotted by the guards and Gorix drags Cylara away to make their escape. As they are surrounded Cylara thinks on her feet and smashes a fire extinguisher to conceal their escape. Only then is Cylara able to reveal to Gorix that she is not the contact he was expecting, much to his horror.

Plot participation

The entrance to the Maintenance Section.

Following the first comic's release, the Space Station was updated with an image link to the Maintenance Section. This link lead to a cross-section of corridors, with the far left door open. Through this door, the user reached the maintenance tunnels and was required to guide Gorix through five different map puzzles. Open air locks prevented safe travel through the tunnels, requiring the user to position the gravity generators correctly and closing every pressure door before moving to the exit or Gorix would die, resulting in the puzzle reseting. Some of the levels contained maintenance robots (specifically the Robot Petpet Buzzler), which would also kill Gorix if he came into contact with them.

In each puzzle, every pressure door must have been passed through (by Gorix or by a robot) in order to close it, which would open the gate to the next puzzle. Once closed, a pressure door could not be passed through again. Gorix was guided by the use of gravity generators which changed his direction at cross-sections. One of the four ports onto the generator was marked with an arrow Gorix would follow down a corridor. Every time a generator was walked over (by Gorix or by a robot), it would rotate ninety degrees clockwise. Generators could be set up to point in a specific direction at the beginning of each level by clicking on them with the mouse to cycle through the different orientations.

Prizes

...to be added...

2004 cancellation

The Return of Dr. Sloth TCG expansion logo.

While The Return of Dr. Sloth was cancelled without any plot comics or storyline released, some information about this plot is known, due to the release of the Return of Dr. Sloth Neopets TCG expansion on May 1, 2004, flash games released over the years, and entries of in the Gallery of Heroes (Cylara, Gorix, and Commander Gormos).

The original plot was to star Cylara, who joined a resistance movement alongside Gorix during an unknown event involving the return of Dr. Sloth while on her family vacation in the Space Station. They would flee the Space Station and be pursued by Dr. Sloth's robot ships and bounty hunters, eventually crash landing on Kreludor, where they were set to make an "amazing discovery". This discovery was believed to involve the link between the Orange and Purple colours that is seen on Neopets. There were also rumours the Space Station would be destroyed, and be replaced by a newer model based on the design of the Return of Dr. Sloth logo.

Since the cancellation, The Neopets Team has released many games which related to the intended plot, giving hints they intended to eventually release it. The most noted was The Return of the Return of Dr. Sloth, which generated lots of hype among those eagerly awaiting the plot, only to be shown it was just another game. Dr. Sloth was also shown to be disappointed about the cancellation, and took over part of the news on November 18, 2004, to vent his anger over the Hannah and the Ice Caves plot getting chosen over his. A mock ending was even released for the replacement, in which Dr. Sloth appeared and changed Hannah into a Mutant, claiming revenge against her for cancelling his plot. A few users were able to catch it before it was reverted to the official ending.

With the 2008 revival of the plot, it is unknown if any of the details will remain the same, or if they will be rewritten.

Trivia

  • The first puzzle "A Series of Tubes" is a reference to a speech (refered to by the same name) made by Ted Stevens, in which he states the Internet is "not a dump truck, but a series of tubes".

External links

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