The ClueFinders 3rd Grade Adventures: The Mystery of Mathra

The ClueFinders 3rd Grade Adventures: The Mystery of Mathra is a computer game in The Learning Company's ClueFinders series where the ClueFinders save the Numerian rainforest and Dr. Horace Pythagoras from a mysterious monster called Mathra, an allusion to Mothra.

The game is the first in the series and depicts the first meeting of the ClueFinders and LapTrap, who goes on to appear in all the other ClueFinders games. The game ends with LapTrap being given to the ClueFinders and, in this respect, The Mystery of Mathra can be seen as an origin story for the rest of the series.

Synopsis

A thousand years ago the ancient Numerians, great inventors, built a great city in the Numerian rainforest. According to legend, a monster named Mathra appeared out of nowhere one night. Mathra attacked the wild animals of the jungle, but the Numerians managed to capture Mathra. Fearing the monster might escape again, they abandoned their city, never to return. They locked the door to the city, split the key in two, and buried the halves in puzzles "in two corners of the rainforest." The Numerians still live in the villages around the Numerian rainforest, but the location of the Lost City remains a mystery.

When animals began disappearing in the Numerian rainforest again, some people suspect Mathra responsible for the animals' disappearance. Dr. Pythagoras, however, refuses to believe that, instead believing there should be a simple logical explanation. However, before he could explain, the doctor is suddenly kidnapped by what seems to be Mathra. Dr. Pythagoras' last words are, "Call the ClueFinders!" Interestingly enough, Joni is Dr. Pythagoras' niece.

The ClueFinders fly to the rainforest in Mr. Limburger's airplane, where he explains the legend of Mathra to them. The ClueFinders conclude that they need to get to the Lost City. Joni and Santiago set off to find the keys and Owen and Leslie stay behind. They also join LapTrap, Dr. Pythragoras' Turbo TURTLE (Turbo-charged Ultra Rugged Terrain Laptop Equipment), who has a map of the rainforest that comes in useful.

The two areas of the rainforest that contain the keys are the Monkey Kingdom and the Goo Lagoon. In both places, they meet highly intelligent animals and plants which can communicate to each other and the ClueFinders. While searching each area, Joni and Santiago find clues that suggest that Mathra couldn't be behind the animals' disappearance: a badge labeled "Fletcher's Furriers" and a can of aviation engine oil.

After Joni and Santiago collect both key halves, Mr. Limburger offers to fly them to the Lost City. However, when they jump out of the plane with their parachutes, they land in the jungle canopy, far from the Lost City. The ClueFinders eventually make their way on their own to the Lost City's gates. When they take out both keys, they fuse together to form one key, which they then use to unlock the gate.

Inside, they find what appears to be Mathra sleeping, but then it occurs to them who is really behind the animals' disappearance — Mr. Limburger. Limburger built a disguise for his airplane, so it would appear to be Mathra, having used the legend of Mathra to provide a cover of his smuggling of animal hides for his fur company. It turns out that "Fletcher" is Limburger's first name. He reveals that he kidnapped Dr. Pythagoras because he felt that Dr. Pythagoras was too close to exposing the smuggling operations, and is now being held with the animals that he had captured. After admitting that he was behind the mystery, Limburger locks Joni, Santiago, and Laptrap in the city and flies away in his Mathra plane to collect more animals.

Eventually, thanks to the ancient talking guardians of the Lost City, the ClueFinders discover that Dr. Pythagoras is trapped on the other side of the Bottomless Pits of Doom with all the animals that Limburger has been collecting. They rebuild the Mathra trap by collecting snakes made from ancient Numerian magnets (known as 'snagnets'), which the Numerians used to trap Mathra, and rescue Dr. Pythagoras and the animals in the process. After they do so, the Mathra trap becomes invisible, and the Cluefinders lure the returning Limburger to fly his plane into it. Upon falling into the trap, Limburger falls down the pit with his plane.

When the ClueFinders leave the rainforest by boat, as a reward for them for saving the rainforest, Dr. Pythagoras gives them LapTrap, who faints when he hears he'll be going on more dangerous adventures with them. Vasco da Bongo and the Four Flowers wave goodbye to Dr. Pythagoras and the ClueFinders. Meanwhile, Limburger reappears in the rainforest, having survived the plunge on the bottomless pits and now left with his clothes torn. He swears his vengeance against the Cluefinders, and as he walks away with his dark mood unappeased, the real Mathra appears behind him, roars, and spouts fire, hinting that Mathra could be a dragon.

Characters

The characters listed are characters that appear only in The ClueFinders 3rd Grade Adventures. For information about other characters see the main ClueFinders page.

Dr. Horace Pythagoras

Dr. Horace Pythagoras, PhD, is a famous naturalist and an uncle to Joni Savage, leader of the ClueFinders club. Dr. Pythagoras has a Turbo TURTLE called LapTrap who is responsible for keeping him organized. At the end of the game, he gives LapTrap to the ClueFinders, as a reward. His last name is a reference to Pythagoras. Dr. Pythagoras was mentioned in passing in The ClueFinders Reading Adventures, where Joni refers to him as "Professor Horace." In 3rd Grade Adventures, she refers to him as "Uncle Horace."

Mr. Limburger

Fletcher Q. Limburger is the pilot of the airplane that flies the ClueFinders into the rainforest.

In the climax, it is revealed that Limburger is the true antagonist of the game. Limburger used the legend of Mathra to keep people away from the Lost City so he could collect furs for his fur company, kidnapped Joni's uncle when he felt that Dr. Pythagoras was getting too close to discovering his operation, and polluted the Goo Lagoon by throwing his oil drum into Goo Springs. Upon hearing of the Cluefinders coming to investigate, Limburger pretends to be supportive of the quest to find the Lost City, taking the opportunity to trap the Cluefinders inside. Fortunately, the Cluefinders manage to activate the Mathra trap on Limburger after rescuing Dr. Pythagoras and the trapped animals, and Limburger falls into the Bottomless Pits of Doom. He reappeared in the rainforest later and swore revenge on the ClueFinders.

A fletcher is someone who makes arrows. Limburger is a kind of cheese and sounds similar to "Lindbergh", the last name of a famous airplane pilot.

Areas of the Rainforest

There are four different areas of the rainforest, each of which teaches a different skill and has a different goal.

The Monkey Kingdom

Skill: Mathematics

Goal: Find the left half of the key to the Lost City

The Monkey Kingdom is home to the monquistadors (combination of monkeys and conquistadors) who are headed by their leader, King Vasco da Bongo. The area is populated by Sneeze Berries which were planted by the ancient Numerians. The ancient Numerians hid one of the keys to the Lost City at the center of the Rings of Volcanic Fire (also called the Rings of Fire), where the Sneeze Berries are to be used to activate the bridges between the rings.

The Goo Lagoon

Skill: Logic

Goal: Find the right half of the key to the Lost City

Goo from Goo Springs flows down Goo Falls forming the Goo Lagoon. Goo is strange green substance that the flowers and insects who inhabit the area enjoy. However, since Mathra's return, the goo has been polluted, and much of the wildlife has been disrupted. The goal in the Goo Lagoon is to reach the top of Goo Falls and collect one of the keys to the Lost City. To do this, one must collect Beetle Bags.

When the ClueFinders reach the Lost City, they find there is a giant computer built by the ancient Numerians whose water wheel (goo wheel?) is turned by goo from Goo Springs, which feeds the Goo Lagoon. The ClueFinders find that Limburger has thrown an oil can in the goo here to pollute the Goo Lagoon. The Cluefinders remove the oil can.

The Jungle Canopy

Skill: Geography

Goal: Make it to the Lost City

After the ClueFinders collect both keys to the Lost City, Mr. Limburger mysteriously drops them in the canopy instead of at the Lost City, and thus the ClueFinders have to make it to the Lost City on their own. The goal in this area is simply to reach the Lost City. There are only two games, and each only needs to be played once.

The Lost City

Skill: Science and Language arts

Goal: Build the Mathra trap

To stop Limburger, the ClueFinders must bridge the Bottomless Pits of Doom, which rebuilds the Mathra trap. To do this, they must collect Snagnets (a combination of snakes and magnets), to move bridge stones.

Science

Language Arts

Cultural references and parodies

The game contains a number of parodies of and allusions to popular culture and other topics. These include:

• A "flower" living in the Goo Lagoon speaks with a Cockney accent and says "I'm a good girl, I am", referencing My Fair Lady.
• Vosco's musician companions are named Davy, Micky, and Peter.
• The name "Goo Lagoon" is a play on the Blue Lagoon.
• "Monquistador" is a play on "conquistador". The leader of the monkeystadors is named "Vasco da Bongo" in reference to Vasco da Gama.
• The "Rings of Fire" are a play on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a line of active volcanoes around the Pacific Ocean.
• The monster Mathra is a parody on Mothra from Toho Studios and Godzilla's films.
• The Four Flowers at Goo Lagoon resemble the four members of The Beatles. One wears glasses that resemble those worn by the Beatles guitarist John Lennon. The purple one has similar eyes and hair as Paul McCartney. The shortest flower has a deeper voice, making him easily recognizable as the drummer Ringo Starr, because he was the shortest member of the group and had a deeper voice than the other three. The rounded flower barely talks which resembles George Harrison, because he was the most quiet member of the group. They also all talk with a Liverpool accent that the Beatles talked with. They also performed parodies of several Beatles songs including "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite."
  • The game credits refer to these plants, as well as the other denizens of the Goo Lagoon, as "Livergooligans," a play on the word "Liverpooligan." This is another allusion to the Beatles.
• In the Lost City, one of the guardians speaks like Rod Serling of the Twilight Zone, and uses quotes such as "Picture as you will."
• The ancient inhabitants of the Lost City are called the "Numerians" which is a reference to the Sumerians.
• The monkey queen, Queen Itchabella is a reference to Queen Isabella.

Notes

• In one of the activities in the jungle canopy, players are given the geographical coordinates of Numeria. These place Numeria in northwestern Brazil. The geography of Numeria, however, doesn't match that of the actual area.
• If one makes it through the Rings of Fire or to the top of Goo Falls after acquiring the keys, one will win other golden objects.
• Also, when winning the keys or the golden objects, Joni tells the player while at the Rings of Fire, but Santiago tells the player while at Goo Falls.
• The time of day seems to progress as the user advances through the game. At the start of the game it is daytime and when the user travels through the canopy and reaches the Lost City it is sunset. When the ClueFinders leave the rainforest with Dr. Pythagoras after the game's climax, it is daytime again. Therefore, the game takes place over the course of about a day.
• If the player clicks on Santiago after making it inside the Lost City, he comments on them being the first humans to be within the city in a thousand years. This overlooks the fact that Limburger quite obviously reached the city before them.
• In the UK version of "Birds on Vacation", players learn World Geography instead. In this version, each bird goes to a different continent of the world.
• The monkeys at the Monkey Kingdom are all male; with the exception of Queen Itchabella and the monkey at the monument, who are both female.
• At the Rings of Fire, the flames only appear when Joni, Santiago, and LapTrap are up on the hills.
• When the player opens Joni's backpack, it always appears on the upper right-hand corner of the screen at default. If the player continuously clicks on her backpack, the backpack will be continuously seen closing as opposed to vice versa.
• After the player first enters the Jungle Canopy, the Base Camp area on the Map Screen becomes grayscale, much like when areas have not yet been reached before becoming colored. The Base Camp also remains grayscale after entering the Lost City.
• In the box art of the original edition of the game, Joni was illustrated wearing a cargo backpack; but in the game, it is a split-front backpack that zips vertically.

Critical reception

The game won the 1999 Bologna New Media Prize for the Best Logical Thinking Program.^[1]

References

External links

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