Enter the aliens... the other aliens, non-transforming ones.
Last time on Beast Wars, Cheetor
had quite the adventure. The Maximals formulated a plan to destroy the Predacon
base, but needed to survey the area for Energon deposits that might complicate
their plan. The mission is complicated by a massive lightning storm blowing through.
Cheetor, wanting to prove himself to Optimus and egged on by Dinobot, raced the
storm to set up the survey posts. He ends up planting a post in an Energon deposit
and then hit by lightning, teleporting him into the Predacon base. He has to
dodge Scorponok and Waspinator, while Terrorsaur gets teleported to the Maximal
base and fills in Dinobot about what happened. He hopes to form an alliance
between himself and the defector Predacon, but Dinobot isn’t a team player. He attempts
to use the teleporter to destroy the Predacon base, convincing Optimus to go
along with it by assuring him Cheetor must be dead by now. Cheetor, meanwhile,
discovers both bases are on top of a connected Energon deposit. If the bomb goes
off in one base, it’ll take ‘em both out. Cheetor quickly stops the bomb, and
teleports away, destroying the survey posts in the process. Enough recap. Let’s
get to it.
The episode begins as the Maximals arrive
at the Stonehenge-like formation. Rhinox assures us that this isn’t a natural phenomenon,
which Rattrap points out is weird do to the… uninhabited nature of the planet. Optimus,
with a scanner, notes that there is also an Energon reading, this one coming
from a pile of rocks in the center of the structure. As Dinobot goes to examine
the rock pile, Rhinox points out that Energon deposits don’t match the planets
geology, which is also weird. Dinobot says it doesn’t matter, as they’ll need
to take the Energon before the Predacons do. Megatron, clearly waiting just off
camera for that line, steps in and orders his soldiers to attack. The Maximals
make quick work of Scorponok and Tarantulas. Optimus duels in the sky with
Waspinator and Terrorsaur. He takes out Waspinator, but Terrorsaur, embracing
the “if we can’t have it, no one can” shoots the rock pile. The pile is
destroyed, both sides running to avoid the blast wave. The pile sends a beam of
energy into the sky. Rhinox notes that it looked like a signal of some kind, but
wonders to who. Optimus says maybe they’ll learn the answer, some day.
An undisclosed number of days
later, a pod arrives from transwarp space and heads for the Stonehenge-structure,
dubbed the Standing Stones from this point on. Both sides detect the device, and
head out to investigate it. Optimus and Dinobot arrive first, but are immediately
ambushed by Waspinator and Megatron. Optimus is blasted back, and Dinobot
prepares to fight the Preds… when the pod starts glowing and then shoots off an
energy burst that shorts out the three in robot mode but also Optimus still in
his gorilla hazmat suit. Optimus is seemingly vaporized by the pod as Dinobot passes
out.
Dinobot wakes up in one of their Restoration
Chambers sometime later in Beast Mode. He is woozy and thinks he’s in a Maximal
torture chamber until his mind catches up. Rhinox reveals that they found him
dumped on the doorstep, alone. Dinobot claims that Optimus was destroyed by the
pod, vaporized when he attempted to transform against the Predacons. Dinobot wants to attack immediately, appointing
himself as leader after Optimus’ death. Rattrap prepares to attack him, not believing Dinobot's story about Optimus' death and assumes he was involved, but
Rhinox gets between them, saying that they’ll settle this like Maximals, with a
secret ballot.
Back at the Predacon base Megatron
and Waspinator exit their recovery chambers, explaining a similar situation to
Dinobot being dropped off. He orders Scorponok and Waspinator to the probe and
prepares to lead Terrorsaur and Tarantulas to attack the Maximal base.
The secret ballot concluded, Rattrap
and Dinobot end up tied for leadership. I… damn it, why didn’t they vote for Rhinox?
Rattrap accuses Dinobot of killing Optimus himself, causing Dinobot to flip the
table and announce he’ll break the tie and become leader by force if he must.
He throws Rattrap across the room, just before Optimus voice comes to them over
the intercom. He reveals that he’s within the pod, but he’s without a body
currently. His mind is being stored while his body is scanned. He names Rattrap
as leader while he’s incapacitated and warns them of a Predacon attack, mere
seconds before it happens. Rattrap, Cheetor and Dinobot head out to fight the Predacons,
but Rattrap tasks Rhinox to make something to get Optimus out of the probe. Cheetor
and Rattrap take on Terrorsaur and Tarantulas while Dinobot fights his former
boss. Rhinox attempts to make a device to free Optimus, while the base is
shaking from missile hits. Yep, he’s got to be a miracle worker for this. Rattrap
does a scan of the base as they fight, learning that the shields are about to
go down. He orders Dinobot to go fix them, a prospect made more difficult due
to his fist fight with Megatron. With no other option, Rattrap runs to the base
to reset the shield, getting there and powering it up again just in time. And shooting
down Terrorsaur for good measure. Dinobot blasts Megatron back, Tarantulas advising
them to fall back to the probe. The Maximals revert to beast mode. Dinobot apologizes
for being distracted by Megatron and not following orders, to which Rattrap
just says that he can try again next time.
The Maximals arrive at the probe
with Rhinox’s new gizmo. He isn’t sure it’ll work but the device will be as
ready as it’ll ever be. The Predacons attack a moment later, because of course
they do. Rattrap tells Rhinox to get Optimus out of the probe as they get into
a fire fight. Rhinox’s device doesn’t seem to be working, much to his frustration. He
notes that the whole area is awash with stable Energon radiation, like it’s one
big device. He spies on Waspinator trying to sneak around to attack him in the probe’s
reflection, turns and unloads like 400 rounds of his machine gun into
Waspinator. Waspinator, missing an arm and heavily damaged, falls back onto one
of the Standing Stones, energizing it. The whole structure starts sparking with
Energon. Rhinox says that the whole place is a single device as the pod
opens and Optimus reforms. He takes down the rest of the Predacons, Megatron
bowing out and saying they win the day. Optimus congratulates Rattrap for his
leadership, and wonders what they’ll do with the pod… right before it vanishes.
The Maximals muse who sent the pod and why as we cut to orbit and look out
across space. Neat philosophical musing right there.
So, we’ve hit plot type 2: Alien Device
Investigation. The aliens have some bizarre technology and are basically gods
in comparison to the Cybertronians. The Standing Stones are just the tip of the
iceberg. But more on that when we get to it. One thing that is a little weird
on reviewing is Scorponok. Episode to episode he fluctuates from average
intelligence to a skilled engineer to what he was like in this where he’s barely
able to string together a coherent sentence. It’s just… odd. They eventually
settle on him being average intelligence but a MASSIVE kiss ass. We also see
the beginning of a running gag of the series, Waspinator being blow up. Basically,
from this episode onwards, Waspinator gets shot, blown up, ripped to pieces,
melted, partially disintegrated, exploded, or otherwise horribly hurt at least
once per episode. They get incredibly creative with how they torture this poor
guy. While it’s been hinted at in the previous episodes, this marks the start
of Rattrap as Optimus’ second-in-command. He’s constantly whining about it, but
whenever Optimus is indisposed or they need to split into groups, Rattrap is
the number 2. And that’s all I have to say about that. Have a good night.
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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero
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