Grand Designs

Grand Designs is a series of Warehouse 13 webisodes on Syfy.com. It is presented by Toyota Prius C.

Synopsis

Cast

Full Recap

The web series begins when, one rainy day, Pete and Trailer are playing football in the Warehouse. Pete manages to inadvertently throw a pass, which Trailer was supposed to have caught, but instead knocks over several artifacts including a vase. Pete goes to clean up the broken vase, but stops when Trailer gives him a piece of another artifact, a large metal box which, according to the label on the shelf, should not be activated. Pete inserts the key into the box, accidentally triggering the artifact—a model of Warehouse 13, created by Nikola Tesla, M.C. Escher, and Thomas Edison—which causes the entire Warehouse, and everyone inside, to turn into a diorama of the original Warehouse 13.

Pete and Trailer return to Leena, Claudia, Myka and Artie, who are waiting on the balcony outside Artie's office. Artie explains that they are now inside the first Warehouse 13, which burned down years before. The model is a concept representation of what the first Warehouse 13 looked like ("but more 3D," according to Artie) as created by Tesla, Escher, and Edison. The agents decide to find the model and neutralize it, which would return the Warehouse to normal, but the Warehouse suddenly experiences a powerful earthquake, and Artie reveals that the Warehouse was originally powered by three artifacts.

Artie explains that the first Warehouse 13 was powered by three different energy sources: hydroelectricity, wind power, and seismic force. Since there isn't enough time to deactivate the diorama, the agents decide to deactivate the original power sources. Leena, Claudia and Trailer take Claudia's Prius (which she had parked inside the Warehouse against Artie's wishes) to the Anubis Shrine, the seismic power source and which is housed inside the pyramid that also houses the Ancient Archives.

Leena and Trailer enter the Shrine, narrowly avoiding being flattened by pieces of falling ceiling. Rearranging the five molderite crystals that power the Shrine, Leena manages to deactivate the Shrine, which stops any further earthquakes from occurring. At the same time, the other two power sources - Michael de Cervantes' Windmill and the hydroelectric plant - come back on line.

Leena and Trailer go to find the artifact, while Claudia and Artie take the Prius to the Neutralizer Processing Center (the Gooery), which originally housed the hydroelectric generators. Pete, who stayed back at the office to read the Warehouse manual, and Myka use the zipline to try and reach the Windmill, but can't get close enough due to the gale-force winds generated by the Windmill.

On arrival at the Gooery, Claudia and Artie discover that the room is almost completely flooded with neutralizer. Claudia decides to use an old diving suit to open the drain valve that controlled the hydroelectric outflow, but in doing so is sucked into the former outflow. Artie attempts to save her by reversing the flow, but realises he can't do that without electricity. He then uses his Tesla to charge the controls, and reverses the flow to save Claudia.

Meanwhile, Pete and Myka attempt to reach the Windmill by crawling along. The strong winds however are now blowing artifacts off the shelves, making it harder for the two to get close to the Windmill. Pete announces he has an idea, and allows the wind to carry him away. Myka tries to carry on, but is blown away - only to be caught by Pete, who has found Angelo "Charles Atlas" Siciliano's Workout Trunks and is using his newly-altered density to approach the Windmill.

Pete discovers that his altered density won't allow him to get to the Windmill, and instead throws Myka through the door of the Windmill at her suggestion that the Trunks don't just increase density but also strength. Finding Don Quixote's Lance, Myka uses it to jam the mechanism of the Windmill, deactivating it, before going back out to help Pete remove the Trunks, which had pulled Pete to the floor of the Warehouse.

Meanwhile, Leena and Trailer continue to seek the diorama, but are stopped by a fire in the vicinity of aisle YYZ-2112, the home of the diorama. Leena calls Artie on her Farnsworth, and Artie tells her that the temperature controls of the Lehmann Fornax would have been deactivated, causing a fire to start in the Warehouse. Leena and Trailer try to put the fire out briefly, but are picked up by Artie, Claudia, Pete and Myka in the Prius.

On arriving at the Lehmann Fornax, the agents discover that since the Fornax wasn't found until 1944 - after the original Warehouse 13 burned down - there's no way of getting into the Fornax. Artie sends Claudia, Pete and Myka to look for the Peppermill, which can break down solid matter. However, on finding it, the agents discover that the fire has destroyed the Peppermill.

In the process, Pete accidentally bumps another artifact, which activates the Lumière Brothers' Cinematograph. The camera projects the first film of a train onto a wall - but then projects the train into real life, knocking several shelves over as it slows down. On stopping the train flickers, and fades away, giving Pete an idea on how to get into the Fornax.

Pete brings the Cinematograph back to the non-existent door, and activates it on the space where the door was. The train crashes through the wall, giving the agents a chance to enter the Fornax. On discovering that the cooling pipes were disconnected, Pete and Myka are sent to reconnect them while Artie and Claudia power up the cooling fans. On completing this, the fans activate, putting out the fire.

On exiting the Fornax, the agents discover that the original Warehouse was designed to fold up for storage purposes, to which Pete says "I knew those guys were bug-nuts!" Claudia uses the Prius' onboard GPS to plot the quickest route to aisle YYZ-2112, involving a jump across two sections folding away from each other. Artie then deactivates the diorama, reverting the Warehouse to its normal state.

The others head back to the office, while Pete attempts to get back to where he left off... until Artie reminds him he isn't supposed to play ball inside, as evidenced by the broken vase. As the others drive off, Pete sighs and says "Worst rainy day, ever."

Artifacts Featured

Original Warehouse 13" Diorama: Transforms the warehouse into a two-dimensional version of the original version of itself. Located on aisle YYZ-2112, it can only be deactivated by inserting the key and turning it, much like a lock.
Don Quixote's Lance: Properties unknown. Contained in Miguel de Cervantes' Windmill, it was used by Myka to shut the Windmill down by jamming the gears.
Miguel de Cervantes' Windmill: Produces gale-force winds. Was one of three artifact power sources used to power the Warehouse in its original design.
Anubis Shrine: Provides seismic force to power the original Warehouse 13. It is located on top of the pyramid and harnesses the vibrations of green molderite crystals. In order to function properly the crystals must be carefully balanced, if not, the Shrine can cause massive earthquakes.
Peppermill: Has the power to disintegrate solid matter. Damaged during the fires that broke out in the Warehouse due to the Lehmann Fornax being rendered inoperable.
Lehmann Fornax: Main heating System of the Warehouse. Not used in the original Warehouse 13, it was deactivated by the Warehouse 13 Diorama, causing fires to break out across the Warehouse. Reactivated by Pete, Myka, Artie and Claudia.
Angelo Siciliano's Workout Trunks: Allows the wearer to manipulate their density at will. Used by Pete to get Myka into Miguel de Cervantes' Windmill after discovering the gusts generated by the Windmill were too strong to walk through.
The Lumière Brothers' Cinematograph: Plays the first film made by the Lumiere Brothers of a train pulling into a station. However, the camera doesn't just project the image of the train onto the wall, but projects the actual train into real life. The train which damages anything it comes into contact with as it slows down, and on stopping remains solid for a short time before flickering and fading from view.
Neutralizer Processing Center: Originally the location of the third power source of the original Warehouse 13, the hydroelectric plant. When the second Warehouse 13 was connected to the national grid, the space occupied by the hydroelectric plant was converted to house the neutralizer pumps.
Fire Fighting Panniers: While the Warehouse Diorama was active, Trailer wore a set of fire-fighting panniers on his back. They were used when Trailer and Leena worked together to put out fires caused by the inactive Lehmann Fornax. It is not known whether they are controlled by the wearer or by an external operator.

Trivia

YYZ and 2112 are two songs by the band Rush.
During the strong winds Windmill scene we can see the "City of Ghouls" comic from "Of Monsters and Men" webisodes.