Mot

Oscar Moutz is a lucky soul! This notorious and clever villain has just escaped and evades the police by running off to prehistoric times with the aid of a time door carelessly left open by Mot. This mafioso finds the paleolithic age absolutely great and immediately installs himself as the king of "Halted History". Naturally, by forbidding any progress he can be quite sure that none is going to invent school, the law court or the police. While Oscar is thrilled, Leo is horrified by his stone-age family. A helping hand from Mot is called for in order to capture the bandit and get Leo's universe back to normal.

Leo's parents have just returned from Egypt, bringing back serious sunburns and an authentic sarcophagus of a cat, which the ever deft Mot manages to crush immediately. Cutting short Leo's rage, the monster swiftly sets off for ancient Egypt, the only place where one can find an identical cat sarcophagus, ferocious guards, mourners wailing like Tyroleans, a psychopathic High Priest and a neurasthenic Pharaoh. The difficulty here is not so much finding the way through the labyrinthine corridors of the pyramid, but rather trying to raise a laugh from the Ruler of Egypt, whose life is nothing but a vale of tedium.

December 31st: party time! And Leo's parents are throwing a costume party. Finger food, music, dancing and fun, is more than one needs to attract Mot. Turning up unexpectedly, the monster mingles with the guests who consider his costume to be a great success. One small problem: Mot can't hold his champagne! One tiny sip is enough to send the monster into a strange torpor punctuated by violent hiccups which transport the house through the centuries. New guests gush from every epoch: an enterprising Bedouin, a stunned medieval samurai, an annoyed gorilla, etc. The only one not enjoying himself is Leo who is preoccupied with trying to avoid disaster and awaken Mot.

Colonel N's day of glory! This eccentric officer has manages to kidnap Mot! The monster's powers will allow him to realize his dream: to travel back in time in search of the most ferocious warriors. In the military laboratory, a platoon of soldiers is at the ready and the experiment can begin. Destination: Mongolia, 1230. Their mission: bring back the Huns, the most merciless barbarians of all time. Unfortunately for Colonel N, his squad returns with one very small Hun as all the rest had left to invade Europe. For Leo, the hardest part is not saving Mot and the tiny barbarian but rather, convincing his parents that the tiny Hun is his Bulgarian pen-pal ....

It really is more fun playing bows and arrows in the Middle Ages than doing maths, isn't it? Glued to his desk by some tricky geometry homework, Leo is trapped for the afternoon. Not to worry, Mot always has a solution. All he has to do is transport his friend to tomorrow so that he can collect the answers and bring them back to today in order to complete his work. The result: homework completed in five minutes and the afternoon free. Simple, isn't it? All this type of voyage calls for, is a little bit of accuracy - a subject Mot neglected to revise. Left reluctantly pacing the corridors of time, Leo wanders between his childhood and the centuries while Mot guzzles anti-freeze.

It's show-time for Leo! This evening in the school play he is to play the role of the wizard. For the time being, he is in his room rehearsing and it isn't going too well. Luckily Mot brings him back a role-model: a real wizard! Ralph Machinello! The best of the Middle Ages, or so they say ... With all the good will in the world, Ralph drones a series on incantations with unexpected and disastrous consequences. A booming Swiss cuckoo bursts forth from the neighbor's throat, Aunt Zelda becomes a horrifying virago, Mot is Leo, Leo is Mot, and Ralph is a bat who must be caught if ever one is to undo this surfeit of spells.