Dust off your cape and trunks, Superman takes flight once again.
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Megatron goes recruiting.
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New Season, new look.
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A Hail Mary plan to save the day.
Last time on Beast Wars, the
aliens made contact. Rattrap and Airazor were the first to reach the alien site
just before it morphed from an open location of standing stones into a closed
off temple. Rattrap is knocked outside of it, while Airazor is painfully
scanned by the aliens. Optimus arrives along with the Predacons, though
Megatron is ‘kind’ enough to order Scorponok to blow a hole in the building
with a poison missile. They enter and Rattrap gets Airazor out, but Optimus
stays behind to try to talk to the aliens. He’s grabbed and violently scanned
again. The aliens appear to him in the form of Unicron’s giant disembodied head
to show Optimus the gravity of the situation. The aliens tell Optimus that
regardless of their reasoning, the Transformers have ruined whatever project
they’d been working on here and they were activating a termination sequence.
The closer of the planets two moons is revealed to be a giant WMD that is now
being charged with Energon to prepare it for scourging the planet. Meanwhile,
Tarantulas is desperate to get off the planet to avoid this very fate, and gets
the idea from Blackarachnia to break onto the Axalon to steal one of
their stasis pods when he learned it’d be over a day before the next orbiting
pod landed. Megatron anticipated this scheme as he’s actively spying on all of
his minions and ordered Inferno to follow them. As the doom moon is powering
up, the spider’s knock out both Dinobot and Rhinox, and Tarantulas ominously
calls the weapon “The beginning of the end.” Enough recapping. Let’s get to it,
shall we?
We begin the finale with a few from
space as the doom moon is powering up by syphoning Energon from the surface. It
seems to be growing bigger as it does. Cheetor and Tigerton were on patrol
together and watch it for a few minutes, Cheetor asking what it is and Tigerton
rightly calling it, ‘The light at the end of the world.” Optimus radios them to
tell them to regroup at the base so he can explain what’s going on. He’s
rocketing towards the base as we speak, Rattrap clinging to his back as he
often does, and Airazor flying alongside him. Rattrap announces for the
fiftieth time that they’re all going to die, but Optimus tells him to stow that
talk as Rhinox will figure out a way to save them.
At the site, the upload of energy
seems to be complete as the temple disappears, and the alien announces that
it’s returning to Nexus Zero.
The Predacons are monitoring the
situation and both Terrorsaur and Scorponok think it’s gone. Megatron calls
them dolts for even thinking it was ever a moon and tells them to do a deep
space scan. We see that the larger outer shell was concealing two rings, one
encircling the other. The central ring expands into a flower shape, and
Megatron calls it the instrument of their destruction. He has the others seal
their base and charge the shields to maximum. He initiates program Zero Hour.
The plan seems to hinge on Tarantulas’ escape attempt, as the Darksyde’s
computer tracks his location to the Maximal base. Upon learning that he’s in
the Maximal base and their shield is down, he has the computer scan using the
alien frequency. Through it he learns that two Maximals are in the base but
offline, and that the spiders and Inferno are inside. He’s happy to learn his
little drone is still with the spiders and prepares to sit and wait.
In the stasis pod hold, Tarantulas
is frantically programming one of the pods to make the pod space worthy.
Blackarachnia joins him. She makes the observation that the one pod would be
snug for two but then switches to a flirty line about how that might be
romantic. Tarantulas at this point is not even amused with her flirty comments
and says that he has a megacycle (hour) to get this ready and he doesn’t have
time for her banter. As he gets back to work, Blackarachnia pulls her blaster
on him, saying he won’t have to put up with it for much longer, but is then
shot by Inferno. The Ant says that the Royalty will be interested to learn what
the spider’s are up to. He tries to radio their boss but can’t get through the
static. Tarantulas tries to shoot the gun out of his hand, but Inferno catches
the bolt, catches his gun and sets Tarantulas alight. Tarantulas screams as he
runs through the halls of the ship before colliding with a wall and passing
out.
The computer warns Megatron that
the upload of data to the pod has stopped and Tarantulas is now offline. He
angrily shouts, “NO!” and demands to know what that fool has done.
Optimus and company reach the Axalon
and aren’t happy to learn the shield is down. Airazor spots the cats and
says they’re nearly there. Rattrap says that’s great and now they can all be
reduced to hot burning scrap together. Airazor and Optimus tell him in unison,
“Shut up, Rattrap!”
In the hold, Inferno examines the
modified pod but is jumped by Blackarachnia in spider mode. She bites him and
that seems to mess with his aim. They have a quick fight, with the smaller
spider ultimately stealing his blaster and shooting him in the face. She grabs
Tarantulas’ headgear and plugs herself into Tarantulas’ mind to get access to
his data tracks to finish the ship. We see a psychedelic image of a
Blackarachnia avatar entering Tarantulas’ lab and snooping for the data she
need before we hear Tarantulas’ chittering laughter. She’s briefly surrounded
by Tarantulas’ heads before she gets out of his head, screaming.
The Maximals find the base empty,
Dinobot and Rhinox nowhere to be seen. That is until Airazor steps on some of
the spider’s Energon silk and they see their missing companions webbed to the
ceiling. The cats are ordered to get Rhinox and Dinobot to the R Chamber for
repairs and Airazor and Rattrap to look for the spiders. Rattrap asks why they
can’t just let Sentinel handle it, and Optimus tells him they can’t spare the
power. He also tells his hunters that he wants the spiders functional, making
Rattrap whine about him ruining the fun.
Megatron’s computer informs him
that the data upload has resumed, which is good. But then Scorponok tells him
the doom moon is powering up. We get an ariel shot of the weapon charging its
main gun and firing. Optimus tells Sentinel to get the shields up. Sentinel
tells him that the shields are holding but the outside heat is hitting 140 RADS
and climbing. That’s enough radiation to cause cancer in mammals, just an FYI.
Optimus realizes that the weapon is going to heat the Energon deposits until
they all ignite. The boom will be massive if that happens. Megatron explains
that it will be a big enough boom to rip the planet to atoms and remove all
traces of the alien’s existence. He’s impressed by the showmanship, if nothing
else. “I rather like these aliens,” as he puts it. The others are panicking
slightly, though Scorponok says that Megatron will save them. Megatron says
he’s going to leave that to Tarantulas. He tries to reestablish a link with the
Maximal base but the shields are back up.
Rattrap and Airazor search the ship
for the spiders. Meanwhile, Blackarachnia finishes setting up the pod. Before
she can celebrate, the hunters pull their guns on her head and say, “whoopy for
you,” Blackarachnia calmly reminds them both they have a truce. The RADS have
hit 300 and are climbing. Optimus tells Sentinel to modulate shields as
necessary. The heat is getting so bad it’s causing the Axalon to shake
on its foundation. Optimus asks Cheetor how long before Rhinox is functional,
and he says about a megacycle (hour). He took a big hit of cyber venom. Optimus
then asks Sentinel how long they have based on the present data, and Sentinel
says about 28 cycles (minutes). Rattrap radios in and tells Optimus to get to
the hold.
They examine the pod and Optimus
says that it might fly. Rather insulted by this, Blackarachnia says it WILL
fly, but only for her. She’d set it only to respond to her commands. Optimus
demands she change it to accept his, and when she doesn’t immediately comply,
he has Sentinel remind everyone they’ve got 20 minutes to figure this out. The
others question the plan, Rattrap pointing out that he’s pretty sure Tarantulas
didn’t build this thing to duke it out with a planet buster. Optimus thinks
that if the doom moon follows other alien artifact’s designs, it was built for
a singular purpose, one it’s fulfilling so it’ll be too busy to defend itself.
Rattrap sarcastically asks if he’s going to beat it into submission with a
heroic speech and Optimus says, “No, a transwarp explosion.” Blackarachnia says
he’ll blow himself to atom and laughs. Optimus points out that if it works,
it’ll be worth it, and if it doesn’t, well, they aren’t going to be any worse
off. Blackarachnia gets to work reprogramming the pod. Everyone volunteers to
do this instead of Optimus, except Rattrap who says suicide isn’t in his job
description. Optimus agrees it’s not in his either and asks everyone to get to
work rigging the Transwarp cell to explode with just enough of a delay for him
to get clear.
The pod is finished, and Optimus
gets inside. Blackarachnia asks if he realizes that this is crazy, and he
shrugs and says sometimes crazy works. The others say goodbye to their leader,
Tigertron and Airazor give heartfelt goodbyes, and Rattrap asks if he can have
Optimus’ quarters if he doesn’t come back. Classic Rattrap. Optimus says no and
tells his crew that they’re the finest beings he’s every served with.
Blackarachnia asks if Maximals always talk such slop, and Airazor punches her
in the face. Optimus lies back and takes off.
The pod has difficulty flying
through the heated air but gradually climbs. Once it’s clear of the shield,
Megatron realizes that Optimus is in the ship instead of Tarantulas, and he
dubs this turn of events ‘delicious.’ The Maximals get their monitoring equipment
working, Cheetor saying he used a trick Rhinox taught him to get a micro pulse
out. He wishes Rhinox was with them. Rhinox does come to in the R chamber and
seems to sense his friend is in danger.
Optimus reaches nearest point and
commences ignition sequence on the bomb. He tries to blow the pod hatch, but
Sentinel tells him it’s magnetically sealed. Optimus says that’s impossible,
but Megatron transmits to him that it is quite possible. He says it’s amazing
that they both thought of the same plan to destroy the weapon, but in
Megatron’s version the pilot goes down with the ship. The Maximals on the
ground don’t know what’s going on and wonder why he hasn’t blown the pod yet.
Blackarachnia suddenly speaks in Tarantulas voice and says “It’s too late.
Goodbye, Optimus Primal.” Megatron points out how all Optimus’s seemed to love
making heroic sacrifices. He tells Optimus that this one, though, will see his
troops dead. He announces that the Beast Wars are over and that the Maximals
lose. As the pod hits the doom moon, Optimus screams, “MEGATRON!” before being
destroyed, along with the doom moon. It unleashes a massive blast wave of energy,
and we unfortunately see bits of Optimus mixed with the wreckage. The episode
ends with an ominous “The End?” title card.
Nearly 30 years after first
premiering and that finale still gives me chills. I mean, as an adult I can
really appreciate how insane it is to end a season on your hero dead, the
villains in a position to seize victory, and there’s no guarantee at the time
of making it that you’ll get another season. The gambit clearly worked as we
get two more seasons, but that had to be at least a little nerve wracking back
in production. Optimus choosing to risk his life to stop the attack, and
Megatron ultimately using that against him, is very on brand for the character.
I would say from a purely logical standpoint that yes, Airazor would make more
sense as she’s the more expendable flier of the Maximal forces, but Optimus
would 100% never allow a subordinate to do something he wouldn’t do himself.
Their goodbyes all felt on brand, even Rattrap’s flippant remark about getting
Optimus’ quarters. Scavengers gotta scavenge. This final reveal of Megatron
rigging the pod to explode is what cemented him in my mind as the superior
tactician of the two Megatrons. Don’t get me wrong, classic D-16 Megatron is a
brilliant commander and a warlord, but from what I remember of the G1 series,
most of his plans are more… brute force than this. He’s all about new troops,
bigger weapons, one off technologies, and yelling at Starscream. I just don’t
see him coming up with a fiendish plan to trick one of his most traitorous
subordinates into kamikaze-ing the doom moon and instead getting his rival in
the trap. It’s a diabolical plan. But
this plan will have a few… unforeseen side effects, but I’ll get into that next
time. Have a good night, everyone.
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The landlords are back and they're not happy.
Last time on Beast Wars,
Megatron did the unthinkable and called truce between the Predacons and
Maximals. While Optimus is willing to try to give peace a chance, he’s not an
idiot and wants to know what has got Megatron so scared that he doesn’t want to
devote any brain power to the Maximals for a while. The Maximals perform a
feint, sending Airazor in to drop Rattrap off to ‘infiltrate’ the base only for
them to get caught. This was just a distraction to let Tigertron slip in.
Meanwhile, Tarantulas steals a Transwarp cell from the Predacon vault and
modifies it for his own use. Unbeknownst to him, Megatron anticipated this and
sent Blackarachnia to distract Tarantulas while he adds his own programming
modification to the cell. Tigertron hacks the Predacon system and learns that
Megatron recently got his hands on an alien golden disk and translated the
runes on it. Tigertron is spotted and all the Predacons try to capture him, but
nonviolently as they’re trying to stick to the letter of the Truce if not the
spirit. The Maximals arrive and help Tigertron get away. Once the escape is
completed, we learn that Megatron set up everything. He tells Scorponok that
when it comes to bait, presentation is key. Tigertron informs his comrades that
according to the disk, the aliens that built the flying island and other
artifacts on the planet are coming. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall
we?
We open on a shot of the planet
from space. We shoot past the dual moons to outer space. There’s a ripple in
space time and a sphere of energy heads towards the planet. The Axalon detects
the energy surge and Sentinel tells Rhinox that the energy source has the same
signature as the other alien artifacts that they’ve dealt with. Rhinox tells
Optimus, who orders Rattrap and Airazor to check it out, as they are closest.
Rhinox warns him that the Predacons will have detected this as well. Optimus
realizes that and says that he hopes the truce stands as he takes off.
In his lab, Tarantulas also detects
the energy surge. He learns that the next stasis pod isn’t projected to land
for another 30 megacycles (hours), which isn’t soon enough for his purposes.
He’s desperate to find away off Planet. Blackarachnia arrives and suggests tries
to cozy up to the other spider. Tarantulas isn’t interested in talking to her…
until she points out that the Axalon has in tact stasis pods on board
that would just need a little tinkering to be made into an escape ship. She
suggests that with most of the Maximals busy with the energy signal, they could
break into the Axalon in under 2 megacycles. Megatron was watching this
whole exchange and laughs at the inevitability of treachery in his ranks. He
claims that with proper guidance, Tarantulas’ scheme will help him nicely. He
has a newly repaired Waspinator to secure the area near the energy signature.
Waspinator complains about getting another crap assignment, but Megatron yells
at him that the ceasefire only applies to Maximals. Waspinator transforms and
flies off. Megatron looks over the original Golden Disk and mutters to himself
that he needs to play the next few moves very carefully.
Airazor and Rattrap come upon the
energy anomaly. It’s created a new alien site. Rattrap says that this is their
chance to get vaporized first. When Airazor asks if he ever thinks positively,
he says that it WAS positive. He could have said tortured and then vaporized.
They land at the site and find an energy crystal at the center. While it
initially seems stable, when Airazor scans it, it sets it off. She’s blasted by
an energy pulse and knocked out and Rattrap is blasted from the sight as it
morphs into a full temple. He radios into Optimus to let him know what’s going
on and to tell him to hurry, before he’s tackled by Waspinator.
Airazor wakes up in the temple.
She’s clearly hurt but able to move. She stands and hears some alien language.
She tries to talk to it but gets blasted by lightning instead.
Waspinator transforms and tells
Rattrap to either leave or be scrapped. Rattrap says he was there first and
there’s not anything Waspinator can do due to the ceasefire. Waspinator shrugs
and says he won’t use a gun. He punches Rattrap and sends him flying. Rattrap
transforms and tackles Waspinator, saying that when you fight a rat, you better
be prepared to fight dirty. He then kicks Waspinator in his nonexistent balls
and then gives him a noogie before kicking clear. Waspinator mutters that he
thinks the areas is secure and fly off. Optimus lands and says that he can’t
take Rattrap anywhere. They take a look at the structure and Optimus tells
Rattrap to try a cutting laser.
Inside, Airazor is still getting
shocked. She transforms back into bird mode, which seems to cut off the attack
and pass out. As she does, the aliens mutter in a few more languages before
saying ‘Cybertron’ in English.
Rattrap’s laser doesn’t do
anything. Megatron, Scorponok and Terrorsaur arrive, Megatron saying that he’s
surprised that Optimus thought a laser would work, as these beings can make
Energon itself. He suggests using a biological weapon instead. Scorponok fires
a missile at it and melts a hole into it. Optimus says that he and Rattrap are
going in first as a Maximal is the one captured. Megatron graciously allows
them in. He tells Scorponok to be ready with a missile if things go wrong, and
that this is a calculated risk to let the Maximals in first. Whatever he’s
planning involves Inferno doing something else.
Optimus and Rattrap find Airazor.
He tells Rattrap to take her outside. She tries to stop him, but he says that
he needs to try to explain what’s happening to the aliens. He knows they’ve
done damage to whatever the alien’s were doing here and they owe them an
explanation. She weakly says “No,” as she’s dragged away. The second he’s
alone, cables grab him and hoist him into the sky. He gets scanned and it looks
extremely painful.
Meanwhile, the spiders break
through Sentinel’s shield, using a device Blackarachnia made to cut a hole into
it. Inferno tries to follow them, but the shield cutter loses power before he
can. Shrugging, Inferno starts digging.
Rattrap drags Airazor clear,
falling as the hole seals shut. When he opens his eyes he is staring down the
barrels of Megatron and Scorponok’s guns and sighing that the Truce must be
over.
The aliens complete their scan and
confirm that Optimus is the same being that they scanned before. A giant head
is then projected above him. The head of… Unicron? … It’s not actually him; the
Aliens just chose to take on a form that would instill in Optimus the right
emotional response. The face of the planet eating Cybertronian Devil… ya that’s
not good. Optimus says that if they scan him then they know they aren’t here
willingly. The alien tells him that regardless of their intentions, they’ve
contaminated the experiment that the aliens were running. It says they’re going
to sterilize the planet. Optimus says they cant’ do that, there are living
beings on the planet and they don’t have the right to end them. The Aliens say
that it’s too late and they won’t reconsider. They announce they’re activating
the termination sequence. Optimus transforms and breaks free, flying away.
Outside, Rattrap and Airazor get
the upper hand on the Predacons and knock them aside. Optimus bursts from the
structure and they fall back. Megatron watches the structure from where he
landed and says that thankfully there’s another hand to be played. The pulsing
at the structure hits its pique and fires skyward. It strikes the nearer of the
two moons and transforms it into a damned Deathstar. The energy wave that
strikes it causes and Energon surge that disrupts the circling stasis pods.
Rhinox detects the disturbance and
does his best to boost Sentinel’s signal so that he can track where the pods
may land. Before he can do much more, though, the Spiders break in.
Blackarachnia hits him with an arrow that knocks him out, and Tarantulas shoots
Dinobot until he passes out as well. Blackarachnia sees the scan of the death
moon and asks what that is, wonder in her voice. Tarantulas cryptically says,
“the beginning of the end.”
Solid penultimate episode of season
1. The aliens have been a constant background force in this first season, their
artifacts defying the laws of science and nature and causing headaches to both
sides of the Beast Wars. The flying island alone showed their
immense power, but even that pales in comparison to having a planet destroying
weapon at the ready. Taking the form of Unicron was the right choice for these
guys to take. Again, when you choose to appear to a being as the literal
incarnation of death and destruction of their history, that says something all
on its own. It’d be like if I spoke to an alien and it took on the form of Vlad
the Impaler. He’s not just promising torture; he’s promising cruel and unusual
torture. Meanwhile, the spiders have invaded the base and taken out two of the
Maximals to do it. The situation for everyone is bad, but the situation for the
Maximals is extremely bad. How will they get out of this? Tune in next
time to find out. Have a good night, everyone.
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Something wicked this way comes, and Megatron will be prepared.
Last time on Beast Wars,
Tigertron called it quits. The white tiger Maximal saved Cheetor and Dinobot
from a Predacon aerial attack, but in his zeal to defend his friends took a
wild shot that unfortunately set off the Predacon’s weapons cache and caused an
avalanche that killed his tiger companion Snowstalker. After burying her, he
announced to Dinobot and Cheetor that he’s finished with the fighting and
wanton destruction their war has caused. He storms off. Cheetor is sent back to
base for repairs while Dinobot stays behind to ‘converse’ with Tigertron. He
tries to use the ol ‘survival of the fittest’ idea to get Tigertron to accept
that their battle is necessary. He also reminds Tigertron and us that if
Megatron gets off the planet with even a little of the massive amount of
Energon it has, he’ll restart the Great War all over again. Tigerton insists
that the war will never end until Transformers decide not to fight it. This
pisses off Dinobot to no end and he tries to goad Tigertron into fighting him,
but the big cat refuses. Optimus joins them and orders Dinobot to back off.
Dinobot leaves and is spotted by the Predacons who decide killing him would
earn them big points with Megatron. Optimus gives Tigerton his condolences but
also tries to more gently persuade him not to give up the fight. Their
discussion is interrupted by the gun fire and Optimus rushes to save Dinobot.
He personally takes out Terrorsaur and Waspinator, but Inferno finally gets him
and Dinobot in his crosshairs. Tigertron saves them, blasting Inferno from the
sky while shouting “You will leave the wild alone!” Tigertron accepts that he
can do more to defend the planet’s wild landscape fighting with the Maximals
than by not fighting at all and the war goes on. Enough recapping. Let’s get to
it, shall we?
The episode begins with Tigerton
spotting a glowing mountain in the distance. We cut to Megatron who is dozing
in the Darksyde when his computer gives him a priority alert, for his
ears only. It informs him that there’s an energy anomaly of alien origin and
shows him a display of the mountain. Megatron is intrigued by this information
and ominously announces that “This could be it.”
We return to the mountain which is
shaking violently as Inferno tunnels into it. Within the mountain is an alien
monolith, this one with a golden disk displayed upon it with Alien symbols
etched upon it. Inferno transforms and flies over to steal the disk. He pulls
on it with all his might, but he can’t get it to budge. Worse, despite only
being in the cavern in robot mode only moments, he’s starting to his an Energon
surge. He finally rips the disk free and flies away, cackling madly.
Back at the Darksyde,
Megatron tells us that he’d been expecting this kind of artifact to appear at
some point, and he’s pleased they got their hands on it. He congratulates
Inferno and dismisses him to get repairs. Inferno salutes and thanks his Queen.
Megatron sighs and says he wishes Inferno would stop doing that.
Optimus flies through the area
where Tigertron had seen the mountain. He flies by a Predacon device that
launches something after him. He notes in his report that he can’t seem to find
the source of the anomaly that Tigertron reported when the object flies past
him. Optimus follows it. The device is revealed to be a hologram projector, and
it shows Megatron’s big head. Megatron cuts to the chase and says that he wants
to speak with Optimus in person, alone, on neutral ground. Optimus is skeptical
as the Pit at that statement and asks Megatron why he’d even consider doing
that. Megatron boldly states that he wants to discuss a Truce.
Megatron and Optimus meat on a
mountain top, converting to Beast Mode to remove any risk of weaponry. Megatron
gets right to it, saying that something has come up that requires his undivided
attention and that he doesn’t have time to fight the Maximals right now.
Optimus points out that in his experience, when Predacons ask for a truce,
they’re just buying time to reload. Megatron does admit that’s usually true,
but insists this time is different. He also says it really doesn’t matter, as
they both know Optimus will accept the truce even if he doesn’t trust Megatron.
When Optimus asks if Megatron takes him for a fool, Megatron says he takes him
for a Maximal.
Later, at the Axalon, the
others take the Truce idea about as well as you’d think. Rattrap and Dinobot
are both vocally against it. Optimus tells them that he had to accept, because
Megatron was right, as a Maximal, Optimus has to at least try to give peace a
chance. Even if it’s insanely unlikely. Rhinox guesses that this has something
to do with the anomaly and Optimus agrees, he knows whatever that is, it’s got
Megatron so scared that he doesn’t want to even think about the Maximals right
now. The Maximals need to know what Megatron knows and immediately form a plan
of action. They have the idea of sending Rattrap into the Predacon base, again,
unarmed to not violate the rules of the Truce. Dinobot says that Megatron will
surely think of this plan himself and be on guard for it, to which Optimus
cryptically says, “So? Let him.”
In the Predacon base, Tarantulas
hacks into the Predacon’s Transwarp engine using Megatron’s voice code and
begins to steal a Transwarp cell. Waspinator spots him and demands to know why
he’s stealing the cell. When Tarantulas doesn’t immediately answer, Waspinator
demands he answer now. Tarantulas casually throws a smoke bomb at Waspinator to
distract him. He slips around Waspinator and says, “The Answer is simple,” he
then shoves Waspinator deeper into the vault and throws a bomb at him before
finishing the thought, “I’m leaving,” and locking Waspinator inside with it.
The bomb goes off and Waspinator is blown to pieces. Megatron, who was watching
the whole thing, tells his T-Rex head-hand that Tarantulas obviously hacked
into his data tracks and is making his own plans. He admits that he’d normally
punish treachery like this, but thinks the current situation calls for letting
Tarantulas play out his hand in this game. But he decides Tarantulas needs
watching, so orders Blackarachnia to stop doing whatever she was about to do to
a frog she’d captured and check out the disturbance on the Transwarp level. He
relaxes back into his chair and says that the next move is Optimus’s.
We cut to Airazor flying Rattrap
towards the Darksyde. He complains about the lack of dignity this mode
of transport gives him, with Airazor telling him that if he lost a few kilos
this would be easier on everyone. They’re shot at by the Predacon’s proximity
defenses, their autocannons pelting them with fire. Airazor is a fast flier,
though, and gets Rattrap to the ground without being shot down. Rattrap
transforms and complains he feels naked without his guns. Airazor transforms
and opens a channel to Megatron, who is… brushing the T-Rex head-hand’s teeth…
so I guess he’s also washing his hand. She asks if this sort of hospitality is
part of the Predacons idea of a truce. Megatron is extremely obvious that he
knows that Airazor is there to spy but plays along to turn off the autocannons.
He tells her that he will insist that she leave his airspace to preserve the
truce. Airazor agrees, but then Megatron adds that she needs to take the rat
too.
Airazor and Rattrap report back to
Optimus. Their mission was ‘a failure’ but they’re all smiles. As it turns out,
this is all part of the plan. As while Megatron was distracted by the at this
point obvious move to send the Maximals resident Spy-Guy into the Predacon
base… he completely neglected to think that they might send anyone else in.
Tigertron slips into the base while the defenses are down, a snow-white Tiger
in a black ship, but no one is the wiser.
In his lab, Tarantulas finishes
working on the Transwarp cell. He announces that it’s fully functional, it just
needs some special programming. He’s interrupted by Waspinator’s head getting
kicked into his lab and Blackarachnia’s arrival. We zoom out to see Megatron
watching this from one of the CR pits that he’s using as a hot tub. While
Tarantulas is distracted, he uses a special override to hack into the cell and
add his own special programming.
Tigertron hears Megatron’s evil
laugh as he walks the base. He transforms and does his best to sneak around the
patrols.
Back at the Axalon Cheetor
sorts through the Maximals archive of Alien artifacts and asks Optimus if he
thinks Tigertron will find anything. Optimus admits he’s not sure, but they
need to find something, anything about what is going on. They know that aliens
were present on the planet, that the planet has mysteries like their artifacts
and the huge Energon deposits, and whatever knowledge Megatron has at his
disposal has scared him.
Tigertron hacks into the Darksyde
computer using a pelvis cable and a early 90s vr display. He gets into their
system by solving a Rubix cube in the form of Megatron’s head and discovers the
Megatron’s files on the alien disk. Terrorsaur finds him searching, though, and
announces that curiosity has claimed another cat. In his room, Megatron
pontificates to Inferno that a storm is coming unlike anything the Transformers
have seen before. He claims that his original plan of gathering Energon and
conquering Cyberton seem so… small to him now and that he will soon be tasting
REAL power. He laughs maniacally and Inferno looks confused. Terrorsaur puts a
gun to Tigertron’s head and tells him not to move. Tigertron reminds him that
they have a truce, which Terrorsaur admits that he knows, but his trigger
finger might forget. Tigertron says that he’ll remind it, and tackles
Terrorsaur while transforming back to beast mode. Megatron runs after him,
shouting at Terrorsaur to GET HIM, but not to shoot as they have a truce.
Tigertron is caught in a pincer by Terrorsaur and Scorponok, but dives through
a hole in the wall and the two collide with each other.
Outside, Tigerton sets up a flare
to warn the others he’s heading their way. The whole Predacon army is on his
tail. Rattrap calls it in and the Maximals prepare to get him clear without
using their blasters. Dinobot initially prepares to attack anyway but Optimus
insists that they’ll hold to the letter (if not the spirit) of the Truce and
find ways to help Tigertron without fighting. Dinobot sees a large boulder near
a hill and gets an idea. Optimus and Airazor fly in. They spot Inferno, and run
a slight diversion tactic, Optimus circles around to come up behind him while
Inferno is distracted by Airazor and rips the fuel line to Inferno’s thruster
from him. He runs out of gas and crashes into the ground. Rhinox and Cheetor
stop Terrorsaur from chasing Tigertron by holding up a big metal plate that he
runs headfirst into. The spiders find Dinobot and an obvious pit trap that he’d
set up. Tarantulas and Blackarachnia leap over it… jostling the boulder free
from Dinobot had precariously positioned it and crushing them both. Dinobot
laughs. Terrorsaur frees himself by transforming. Rattrap goads him into
charging with an actual matador cape. At the last second, he pulls the cape
aside and reveals Rhinox’s huge rhino butt. He collides into it and Rhinox sits
on him. Dinobot remarks that this was peaceful, and Optimus agrees that it was
very peaceful. To add insult to injury, Rhinox sits down on Terrorsaur and
makes himself comfortable.
The Predacons limp back to base.
Scorponok says that that was a close one. Megatron agrees… saying that when
serving bait, presentation is key.
Back at the Axalon, they ask
Tigerton what he’d found. He tells them that Megatron has found an alien golden
disk, like the one Megatron initially stole that set off this whole thing. He
says that Megatron has translated the symbols on the disk and learned that the
aliens that built the artifacts like the flying island and Stonehenge are
coming to the planet and that he doesn’t think they’re happy. A massive storm
starts rolling in as Optimus says, “That’s just prime.”
This episode was a great set up to
the two-part season finale. The twenty minute format of the show makes a lot of
plots feel rushed, but this one was paced out well enough in my opinion to set
the stakes. The aliens are coming, Megatron knows about them, has the disk that
might give him the edge, and is seemingly maneuvering the Maximals into doing
something about it. This final arc of season one does a lot to reinforce the
idea that this version of Megatron is in fact a tactical genius. Yes, he’s been
foiled multiple times throughout the season, but aside from maybe the Maximals
almost getting off planet, almost all those plots were chump change compared to
what he’s working toward. At every phase of this episode he got the Maximals to
do what he wanted, he even anticipated their altered plan, and while he’s
putting a worried face up when dealing with Optimus, his scenes alone make it
clear he’s more relaxed than he’s been putting on. I also liked the sight gag
of him talking to and pampering his T-Rex head. It’s just a cute little bit,
like his beast mode head is his dog while in Robot mode. There’s also the added
mystery of whatever Tarantulas is doing. We’ve seen that he is also aware that
something big is coming and has made attempts to get off planet before, but
he’s clearly getting desperate if he’s making such obvious moves in front of
Megatron. I do feel a little sorry for Waspinator spending most of this episode
in pieces, the guy gets no respect. So ya, the owners of the planet are coming,
and they’re probably upset. This is going to suck for everyone involved. Have a
good night, everyone, see you all tomorrow with the beginning of the end.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/137436051?pr=true
Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social
Collateral damage in battle comes once again.
Superman is coming, I promise, but
a little more Beast Wars since we’re coming up on the finale of season
1.
Last time on Beast Wars, we
ended on a Fart joke. The Predacons attack the Maximal base and infect Rhinox
with an Energon Discharge Virus. The virus causes Rhinox to use up his Energon
with powerful hiccups that release concentrated beams of Energon out of his
mouth. He’d either die from using up all his power and/or destroy the base with
the discharges. As their bickering is getting out of hand, Optimus sends Dinobot
and Rattrap to try to find Tarantulas and force him to give them the counter
virus. They do find and capture Tarantulas, beating him up several times
thought the rest of the episode as they drag his body through his tunnel
network back to his lab. Megatron and the Predacons anticipate this when
Tarantulas doesn’t turn up and prepare to ambush them. Dinobot tries to use the
spider as a hostage, but Megatron doesn’t care and shoots at them anyway. The
other Maximals arrive, doing a movie poster pose for some reason. Before a fight
can break out in earnest, though, Rhinox arrives. Now, to keep his power cells
charged, Rhinox had decided to eat a bunch of wild bean vines that had been
growing beneath the base. The beans had kept his power cells charged better
than even when he was plugged directly into the Axalon, but the wild
beans ended up giving him serious indigestion. Which is impressive given that I
don’t think he technically even has a stomach. He turns his back on Megatron
and unleashes a mega fart that blows the Predacons clear across the map. They get
Rhinox the counter virus, and Megatron claims this is the most humiliating
defeat of his career. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?
After a quick visual on the food
chain (a bug is eaten by a frog, who is then eaten by a snake, who is then
grabbed by an eagle), we join Dinobot and Cheetor walking across a mountain. The
big lizard complains about having his talents wasted on a hunt. We learn from
Cheetor that they’re out looking for more of the Alien sites, places like the
flying island or standing stones, as Rhinox thinks they’re all extremely
dangerous and Optimus wants them to have as many of them mapped out as
possible. Their conversation is interrupted by Inferno, who flies in with a
missile that he hurls at them, announcing this is for the Royalty. The Maximals
are blown from the mountain side and land in a canyon, transforming and a firefight
begins. We cut over to Waspinator and Terrorsaur, Waspinator saying that Inferno
didn’t wait for the signal. Terrorsaur is annoyed by this but decides to go
forward with their plan, he tells Waspinator to target Cheetor while he backs
up Inferno. We see that they’ve got a large ammunition stockpile nearby as
Terrorsaur grabs another bomb to drop. Waspinator says that he’s going to wait
for the signal to attack.
Cheetor takes a bad hit and his
body starts shorting out. Dinobot and Inferno face off, Dinobot using his spinning
tail shield-thing to block Inferno’s blasts. Terrorsaur fires a missile at them
both, knocking them apart. He starts to gloat, but Cheetor fires on him and knocks
him into the mountainside. Waspinator flies over to him and Terrorsaur screams
at him to do something. Waspinator insists that he’s waiting for the signal,
and Terrorsaur shrieks “ATTACK YOU IMBECILE!” Waspinator then turns to us and
says that he’ll now engage the enemy.
Cheetor radios to the others that
he’s pinned down and Dinobot is out as well, calling it a code R. Optimus is
nearby working on a relay post and says he’s on the way. He transforms and
flies out.
Waspinator grabs a missile and
prepares to use it, but is distracted when he sees a tiger. He assumes it’s
Tigertron, but it’s actually Tigertron’s friend, Snowstalker, an actual tiger.
Tigertron then leaps at him and knocks him aside. Waspinator drops his missile,
and it causes a lot of collateral damage. Tigertron meets with Cheetor, who
reverts to beast mode. Tigertron and Inferno face off, Inferno saying he’ll
destroy the one that destroyed his colony. Tigertron shoots him down, saying he
can give his regards to the Pit. He shoots Inferno down, but one of his shots
goes wide, flying into the ammo stockpile. It destroys the mountain they were
stashed on and Snowstalker is killed in the avalanche.
Tigertron holds a burial for
Snowstalker, giving his friend a carne and saying goodbye. Cheetor joins him as
Tigertron reverts to beast mode. Tigertron tells the smaller cat that he can’t
do this again. Cheetor tries to console him by saying it’s never easy to bury a
friend, but it’s bigger for Tigertron this time. He gestures at the ruined
landscape of their last battle and says it’s too easy to do this kind of wanton
destruction. Cheetor tries to say that they had to fight back, but Tigertron refuses
to take that as an answer, saying that regardless of who pulls the trigger,
innocents die. Dinobot scoffs at that, saying there are no innocents in a war.
Tigertron roars at him that they’re the ones turning this planet into a
battlefield. He says he won’t be a part of this anymore; he renounces the Beast
Wars. Dinobot accuses him of desertion, and Cheetor says that he can’t. Tigertron
says that his decision is made and runs off. Inferno was watching the exchange
and radios to the other fliers to regroup on his position. Dinobot says that the
Predacons know how to handle deserters. He tells Cheetor to return to base for
repairs while he ‘handles’ this. Cheetor isn’t stoked about leaving this to
Dinobot, but then sees Optimus fly in, which makes him more confident in this
plan.
The Predacons meet up. Terrorsaur
tries to insist that they return to base, but Inferno is weirdly insistent that
they have to kill the Maximals to fulfill Megatron’s command. The others agree,
but Terrorsaur insists that they actually wait for his signal this time. The
trio flyoff.
Optimus takes Cheetor partway back
to the base before dropping him off. He orders Cheetor back to base and tell
Rhinox to send backup ASAP. Cheetor asks what’s going to happen, but Optimus
doesn’t know for certain.
We cut to the evening. Tigertron sees
Dinobot searching for him and sneaks up on the raptor, demanding to know what
he wants. Dinobot insists he’s just here to talk. He preaches a survival of the
fittest mentality, using an actual tiger hunting deer nearby as an example.
Tigertron says that animals hunt to survive. Dinobot says that this war is ABOUT
survival. He states that while Maximals believe in peace, the Predacons are a
war machine waiting to be roused once again. We get a visual of a rebuilt Darksyde
attacking a floating city of Cybertron before raining hell down on the planet
surface. He insists that if Megatron gets the Energon of his planet off world,
he’ll begin a war that will burn GALAXIES. This being the cycle that’s existed
since the Autobots and Decepticons began the Great War millennia ago. Tigerton insists
that the war will never end until someone decides not to fight. Dinobot says
that isn’t an option, the Predacons will either destroy him or reprogram him.
Tigertron says they won’t find him, Dinobot counters by saying he found him.
Dinobot snaps at him, saying that if he’s not with the Maximals, then he’s
against them. He tries to goad Tigertron into fighting, but Tigertron refuses.
Dinobot goes so far as to shoot near Tigerton with his laser eyes, but
Tigertron won’t budge. Before he can attack in earnest Optimus arrives and
tells him to back off. When Optimus offers Tigertron his condolences for
Snowstalker’s death, Dinobot snarls with frustration, saying that he can’t
believe the Maximals have survived this long with their level of sentimentality.
He walks off, reverting to Beast Mode. Optimus does as well. Optimus tries to
convince Tigertron to not give up, saying that as Maximals they need to explore
and defend the planet. Tigertron doesn’t believe that any more.
As Dinobot walks off, the Predacon
fliers spot him and decide he’ll be a bigger prize than Tigertron. Three on one
they quickly overwhelm Dinobot. Optimus hears the explosions in the distance
and tells Tigertron they need to help him. Tigertron looks away, and Optimus
says that he guesses that he’s made his choice. He returns to robot mode and flies
off. Optimus quickly takes out both Terrorsaur and Waspinator in one shot, but
he’s shot down by Inferno. Both he and Dinobot are at their limit and revert to
beast mode. Inferno prepares to incinerate them, but Tigertron pounces on him.
Inferno laughs maniacally and causes a small brushfire. Infuriated, Tigertron
shoots at Inferno, shouting with each shot that Inferno WILL Leave the Wild ALONE!
He blasts Inferno into the sky and out of the episode. He put out the fire and still
looks depressed. Optimus congratulates him and welcomes him back to the fold.
Dinobot also thanks him for his timely arrival. Tigerton is clearly still
unhappy, saying that he’s still going to grieve Snowstalker… but he now accepts
that the Maximals are needed to keep the Predacons from spreading more wanton destruction.
I like that this episode is a call
back to, and in some ways a follow up to the Sky Island two parter. Tigertron
has always been a nature lover, holding the wild sacred like no other Maximal,
so their war’s continued damage to the planet hurting him on a spiritual level
is incredibly understandable. This coupled with the fact that Snowstalker was
killed by a careless blast of Tigertron makes his decision to try to walk away
from the war understandable. I like that the episode seems to acknowledge that
Tigerton’s sentiment is noble even if it’s not practical for their situation.
Yes, in most other situations choosing not to fight is a noble decision, but
when one side won’t stop until everyone on the other side is dead… like bro,
you don’t get to opt out of that. I also appreciate Dinobot reminding us of what’s
at stake here. The series has gone on for nearly twenty-five episodes at this
point, almost all of them being episodic stories about surviving while marooned
on a hostile world, so it’s understandable that folks might have forgotten WHY
the Transformers ended up here. Megatron is after Energon, and if he can get
even a fraction of this planet’s supply back to Cybertron, the age-old war will
begin anew. As slapstick as the Predacons have gotten, they’re also part of a
much larger army that will mess things up if they get up and running. I think
it’s important to remember this as we approach the final three episodes of this
season. Next time an unexpected twist… or three. See you then.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/137355060
Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social
