Lights Out
- This article is about the Cars on the Road episode. For the book, see Lights Out!.
| Lights Out | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Aired | September 8, 2022 |
| Written by | Steve Purcell |
| Directed by | Steve Purcell |
| Previous | Dino Park |
| Next | Salt Fever |
Lights Out is the second episode of Cars on the Road. It was released on September 8, 2022, where it aired exclusively on Disney+.
Synopsis
The rain-soaked duo check into a creepy hotel where Lightning is haunted by four-wheeled frights.
Story
The episode starts out with Lightning and Mater traveling on the road once again. Mater looks up at the sky with a worried face and mentions that a storm is on the way. McQueen disregards his claim and tells him to look at the sky as it is not cloudy enough for a storm to happen and questions where Mater gets his claims. Mater replies that his rusty joints know when the rain is approaching and tells McQueen that they should have stopped at a little motel they passed a few miles back. McQueen disagrees and suggests they should keep going and that there will be another motel eventually.
Soon the storm does come and both McQueen and Mater are soaked and cold. Mater is going to tell McQueen that he was right but McQueen argues back to him that he should not with Mater responding with that he will and with McQueen finally saying "don't". The duo soon come across a sign for the Destiny Hotel with lightning coincidentally breaking and hitting the sign causing it to go out which adds onto the creepiness of the hotel's appearance. Mater is scared in response to this but McQueen tells him that it was "perfect" and hints that he was right.
McQueen and Mater both head up to the entrance of the hotel and are creepily greeted by Randy, the founder of Destiny Hotel. Randy greets the duo in a menacing fashion. In response, Mater says "nope" multiple times with McQueen not being fazed by Randy in any way. Randy soon lets the two into the hotel with McQueen describing that it has vintage charm. Mater is creeped out by the whole décor of the hotel as Randy begins to slowly explain how everything goes for it. Randy specifically states that the check out time for all guests is precisely at noon with thunder breaking just when he says noon. Mater simply gulps in response.
Both McQueen and Mater enter their room with McQueen telling Mater that the hotel is fine and jokingly tells him that they are not going to live at the hotel. Some brief shots of the hotel and its sounds are shown with the hatch on the ground making thudding noises. Mater says he is going to keep the light on with McQueen telling him to suit himself as he is going to "sleep like a rock tonight". However, the exact opposite happens as Mater is the one fast asleep with McQueen being freaked out by the noises coming inside and outside of the hotel. The lamp in the room moves which freaks out McQueen and causes him to try to wake up Mater. This does not work as Mater is still asleep. McQueen soon hears two girls call out his name and proceeds to exit his room to check it out.
McQueen travels down the hall and calls out to see if anyone is there at all. He quickly hears the girls giggle and starts to travel further down. Lightning soon strikes which illuminates pictures of older cars with creepy faces which freaks out McQueen but he tries to shake it off until a cargoyle scares him. McQueen continues down the hall passing seemingly 3 innocent pictures of older cars until those 3 cars come out of their pictures when McQueen is far enough and proceed to follow him. McQueen has a sneaking suspicion that someone is following him and stops to look back. The three ghosts pop out and the same two girls once again call out McQueen's name. McQueen finally comes across a small entrance to a room with a door with the number 717 and with the word "RACECAR" painted in red on it. McQueen goes back and forth with the word in the mirror and on the wall being confused and not understanding what it meant.
McQueen ignores this and proceeds to travel down the hotel some more as the girls laughs get more prominent. McQueen finally comes across Lisa and Louise, who are floating, and which surprises McQueen. The twins creepily smile at the racecar and proceed to him they he should race with them as they rev their engines. The twins eyes soon turn red and and their physical appearance disappears. McQueen, scared, tries to immediately leave the two but struggles. The twins look at each other briefly as they finally see McQueen succeed and take off. As McQueen is leaving the premises of the situation he is soon halted and is surrounded by candles and skulls for a bit. McQueen soon comes across an elevator and is relieved as he thinks he will be able to escape this crazy place and pushes the down button multiple times. However, the elevator does not show the indication of going downwards but rather shows "Antifreeze", which confuses McQueen. The elevator doors start to open with tons of antifreeze pouring out of it. McQueen is briefly freaked out until he points out that there is a lot of antifreeze and soon takes off.
As McQueen is escaping the antifreeze he comes across a room that is playing music and hears lively chatter. He enters the room hoping to be greeting by other cars only to be greeted with ghost cars instead. One of the three ghost cars that was following McQueen greets him with another claiming that he was late. Another ghost car suggests he should try the punch as the twins tell him that "it's to die for." The party soon resumes with a ghost car suggesting to McQueen that they should dance and proceeds to pick him up and spins him around as she claims that he is light on his tires. McQueen is passed around the fellow ghost cars and is tossed out the room with them telling him not to leave as they were just getting started. McQueen says sorry in response for his early departure.
McQueen hears the sound of an engine down the hall next to him. He calls out to it only to be greeted by Wraith Rod. McQueen screams and takes off quickly as Wraith Rod chases after him. The carpet under McQueen starts to roll up and McQueen questions what is going on. McQueen travels down the hall once again with Wraith now being right besides him with two miniature Wraith Rods laughing alongside him. McQueen pushes himself to the limit to escape Wraith Rod only to randomly drive outside and to soon enter a door falling downwards with everything he saw flashing right in front of him.
McQueen finally comes back to his room, exhausted and starts to fall asleep with Mater still be sound asleep. However, the alarm soon rings as it is day time. Mater opens the curtains which wakes McQueen up and claims that he slept better than "a snow plow on the Fourth of July." Mater briefly stretches and tells McQueen that he was right about the hotel and tells him that he can "pick the stops every time from here on out." McQueen instantly disagrees with this suggestion due to the shenanigans he got into at the hotel and states "never again" two times. As the duo leaves their room, Mater questions if McQueen is okay with McQueen responding with that he is and says that old buildings like the hotel "can really play tricks with your mind." The episode ends with two receptionists at the desk as they are shocked at what they heard. The green car questions if Randy was messing with the guests again with Randy simply popping out of his picture maniacally laughing only to stop due to coughs.
Characters
Videos
Gallery
- For this subject's image gallery click here: Lights Out/Gallery.
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 燈滅之時 | When the lights go out |
| Czech | Potemnění | Darkening |
| Danish | Sov godt | Sleep well |
| Dutch | Mag het licht uit | Can the lights be turned off |
| French | Extinction des phares | Turning off the headlights |
| German | Keine Angst | No fear |
| Greek | Φώτα Κλειστά Fóta Kleistá |
Lights Off |
| Hungarian | Villanyoltás | Power outage |
| Italian | Non aprite quella portiera | Don't open that door |
| Japanese | 悪夢 | Nightmare |
| Polish | Niedobra noc | Bad night |
| Russian | Гаси свет Gasi svet |
Turn off the world |
| Spanish | Luces Apagadas | Lights off |
| Swedish | Nattsvart | Night black |
| Turkish | Işıklar Gitti | The Lights Are Gone |
Trivia
- In a tribute to The Shining, McQueen encounters two twin girls and a door reading "racecar" while exploring the motel hallways.
- A mirror placed next to the "racecar" door reflects its writing. While an intentional reference to The Shining's "redrum" scene, this plays on the fact that "racecar" is a palindrome, meaning it reads the same way backwards.
- In the ballroom, there is a tractor in ghost-form.
- The episode's title card, hall of portraits, and ghost-car ballroom scene are derived from the Disney Parks' Haunted Mansion attraction.