In the opening two parter, the Maximals came across a stone structure that the characters refer to as 'the standing stones' (which is, of course, Stonehenge). It was noted by Rhinox that it wasn't built by the Maximals or the Predacons. This was the show's first hint of some kind of third party being present on this bizarre planet they've ended up on. This episode doesn't delve into that so much, but it does confirm the existence of this third party.
During a battle between the Maximals and Predacons at the standing stones, a buried energon crystal is stuck by an attack by Terrorsaur which causes a beam of light to shoot up into the sky. Later on, some kind of probe lands in the same spot, so Optimus Primal and Dinobot go to investigate the probe. However, upon arrival they are ambushed by Megatron and Waspinator. Before the battle can ensue, the probe awakens and they all end up in stasis lock with Primal vanishing completely. With Primal gone, the Maximals need to decide on who will take command, while Megatron uses this opportunity to his advantage and fronts an all out attack on the Maximal base.
I like that this episode features the characters investigating the "standing stones" as the show calls them, since that was obviously a point of interest/concern for the Maximals when they saw it in the distance. Of course, upon inspecting it, Rhinox determines that the planet's energon is unnatural since it doesn't line up with the geology of the planet.
At this point, I need to bring up something I wasn't aware of until after I posted last weeks post - the order that the episodes were broadcasted in (and the order that the episodes are featured in on the DVDs) was not the order that the episodes were produced in (at least, for the first season). For the most part, this is fine due to a lot of the episodes this season being more episodic in nature, but there are some discrepencies (such as having two Cheetor centric episodes that are pretty similar to each other in a row), and one of them relates to the placing of this episode.
In terms of the show's production order, this is the third episode. This makes a bit more sense since it means that, after finding the standing stones in the previous episode, one of the first things the Maximals decide to do is investigate this. Having it as the fifth episode is fine, as it isn't a massive discrepency, but I prefer it's placing in production order as opposed to broadcast order. However, since I've already started viewing the show in it's production order, it makes sense to stick with that for the duration of this retrospective.
The main focus of this episode is the Maximals being out of their element without their leader. This initially leads to conflict between who will take command. Dinobot, upon reawakening from statis lock after the incident with the probe, immediately tries to take command only for Rattrap to challenge him on this. Dinobot is fully prepared to kill Rattrap to take command, and Rattrap is happy to do the same, seeing as Dinobot is still essentially a Predacon. However, Rhinox stops the fighting and determines that the leadership should be determined by a secret ballot.
I like the friction between Dinobot and Rattrap, which is something that persists and evolves throughout the series. Rattrap is obviously still incredibly mistrusting of Dinobot, going as far as to suspect him of killing Optimus in order for him to take command. Dinobot of course doesn't take kindly to this. Later on in the episode, Rattrap gives Dinobot an order to reactivate the shields of the Axalon, but Dinobot refuses as he's focused on taking down Megatron. This highlight's that Dinobot isn't with the Maximals out of loyalty, but because he simply just wants to destroy Megatron.
Rhinox gets some chances to shine this time around as well. He's largely been a background presence up until this point, mainly characterised as being a voice of reason to calm the Maximals when Optimus isn't around. Here, his role as someone more technically minded is fleshed out a bit more as he's the one who points out that the planet's energon isn't natural, and when the Predacons attack the base, he stays behind to contruct a devide that will extract Optimus from the alien probe. This is also the first instance where he gets to utilise his signature weapon - his twin chainguns (affectionately referred to as 'the chainguns of doom' by the fandom).
The victim on the recieving end of Rhiox's chainguns this time is Waspinator. This is the first of many instances where poor Waspinator gets obliterated in some form or another, which will become his signature character trait as well as a source of humour throughout the show.
This is quite an action packed episode with four big action sequences throughout the episode. Much like a lot of the action in Beast Wars, the action sequences are fun to watch due to their fast paced nature and the way they are filmed/rendered as if it were a live action sequence. The best of these sequences is the battle near the Axalon when the Predacons decide to capitalise on Primal's disappearence. This is particularly tense since the Predeacons have weakened the shields of the ship, and if the shields go completely offline, the Predacons are then free to destroy the ship. It gets particularly tense when Rattrap is forced to bring the shields back online himself due to Dinobot disobeying his orders and continuing to fight Megatron.
The most intriguing thing about the episode is the aliens themselves. We aren't told what they are, where they come from, or what their motivations are at this stage. By the end of the episode, we just know that they are aware that the Transformers are on the planet and that they're aware of their destructive capabilities. Will they come back to the planet? If so, when? Whose side are they on?
This is one of the better early episodes of the show thanks to the character dynamics as well as the mystery surrounding the aliens, planting seeds for future episodes to build upon and adding a new ambiguous layer to the show.
Next week: Terrorsaur gets a taste of power in 'Power Surge'
No comments:
Post a Comment