Blast from the Past



Professor Sumdac upgrades a trio of animatronic dinosaurs from a local theme park, but the creatures develop minds of their own and become rampaging Dinobots, bent on destroying the Autobots.

Synopsis
Sari takes the Autobots to "Dino Drive", a dinosaur exibit, in order to teach them some of Earth's history. On the way, Bulkhead accidentally destroys every car in the parking lot. Once inside, they see the animatronic dinosaurs and become amazed by the creatures' power. Bulkhead becomes so fascinated, he tries to get the Pteranodon to fly and do other things to amuse him. This only succeeds in having the robot Pteranodon fall and cause a Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus robot to collide and break each other. The Autobot take the broken animatronics to Professor Sumdac for repair.

At the lab, Megatron views the power of dinosaurs, brought to {{Issac Sumdac|Professor Sumdac]] for repair, through the Tutor Bot and seems very impressed by their potential power. Sumdac enters the lab, and berates himself for programming the Tutor Bot with such simple information that everyone already knows. Megatron decides to finally speak to him, saying he never knew these things. Sumdac is shocked and Megatron, pretending he's just come back online, asks where he is. After a quick ramble, Professor Sumdac says it's a long story.. Megatron then reassures him that since he's not going anywhere, he can sit through a long story. After Sumdac gives a brief history of Megatron's discovery, and how he relates to modern technology, Megatron convinces him that he is an old friend of the Autobots and that they'll be mre forgiving of Sumdac keeping his secrets if he helps repair their old comrade. But, it would be best to keep it quiet, for now. As a sign of good faith he offers to help Sumdac reapir the dinosaur displays, and provide information on how to upgrade their technology so they'll be even more convincing. He conveniently forgets to tell him that he plans on using them for prototype attack drones.

Meanwhile, at the Autobot base, Prowl is trying to teach Bulkhead how to control his strength and size. This, of course, ends with Bulkhead falling on Prowl. Prowl tries a new tactic and moves the training to an island in Lake Eyrie. This results in Bulkhead dropping some trees on Prowl.

At the Dino Drive, Sumdac reveals his and Megatron's creations to the gathered press and Autobots—the Dinobots!

After a short display, Megatron takes control and the Dinobots go on a rampage. As the Autobots try and fight them, Bulkhead tries to recreate Prowl's teaching, but no effect other then falling into Prowl and knocking him flat on his back. Ratchet and Bumblebee then combine their powers to create an electromagnetic pulse to shut them down, but Sari's key is somehow drawn to the Dinobots. She decides to help, and plugs the key into Bumblebee. The blast intensifies, blowing the dinosaur skins off them and revealing their robot bodies beneath. Professor Sumdac is confused, and brings them back to his lab for maintenance.

At his lab, Megatron becomes perplexed as to why the key activated, thinking it sensed something Cybertronian about the Dinobots. He dismisses this idea and curses the drones for being useless. Then something very surprising happens Megatron—the Tyrannosaurus starts to talk, and the other dinosaurs begin moving move! And on top of that, he finds he can't control them!

Megatron then surmises that the Autobots must have done something to them, declaring, somehow, they have sparks of their own. The Tyrannosaurus then dubs himself "Grimlock" and, without fail, Megatron declares that he is the Dinobots' leader. Grimlock doesn't approve of this concept and announces that he is the leader. The Tutor Bot activates, much to Megatron's annoyance, and explains how dinosaur fossils make fossil fuel which makes cars and trucks work. Grimlock takes this to mean cars and trucks "eat" dinosaurs and announce that cars and trucks are bad. Megatron takes advantage of their low intelligence and tells them that "fossil feeders" are bad and the only thing worse are car robots, aka Autobots. He shows them how to use one of their more destructive powers, and they use them to destroy the Tutor Bot. Grimlock is pleased with this, but does not know how he did it. Megatron then tells them that the fossil feeders want them dead, so the Dinobots go to defend themselves.

As they go to wage war on the fossil feeders, Captain Fanzone arrives to attempt to stop them. Suddenly, Slag whips a car with his tail and Capt Fanzone's car becomes the first causality of the Dinobots' war on the fossil feeders as the thrown car lands on it. Fanzone, not missing a beat, takes a bazooka and shoots Slag in the face, but Slag just swallows the incoming missle.

The Autobots then arrive and, at Bulkhead's suggestion, lure them to a park to battle them. As Grimlock sees them transform, he says he forgot something, remembering a moment later that he was told that car robots were worse than cars and trucks. Furious he orders the Dinobots to attack. As the battle goes on, the Autobots are seriously outmatched. But as Bumblebee and Ratchet heat up a parking lot, tar is formed and Bulkhead, realising he should stick with his own style and not just copy Prowl's, throws the Dinobots in. The Dinobots use their flames in an attempt to free themselves from the "black-sticky-stuff" but to no avail.

The Dinobots are trapped with only their heads sticking out. Professor Sumdac promises to melt them down due to their danger to society. Optimus approves of this, but Prowl does not, feeling that they have shown they have minds and sparks of their own. As Sumdac returns the next morning, he finds the Dinobots have escaped from their tar prison.

On the deserted island where Prowl and Bulkhead trained, the Dinobots are freed into a lerge crater, which houses a beautiful natural environment. Prowl and Bulkhead see how happy they are and decide to keep it their little secret. With that, Prowl sets a hologram up to keep them hidden and safe from the world.

After they leave, Grimlock dubs cars and trucks bad, but nature good. Two birds promptly defecate on him which makes him rethink his claim and dub nature stupid. He orders them to come down and fight like a Dinobot. He spits out a flame but the birds simply fly away. Furious, Grimlock suddenly activates another of Megatron's 'upgrade', and transforms! Slag and Swoop stare in amazement as Grimlock draws a giant, flaming sword. Grimlock, like......

Stats

 * Written by: Kevin Hopps
 * Directed by: Irineo Maramba, Ben Jones, & Kentaro Mizuno
 * Original airdate: January 12, 2008

Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes
"Sorry I'm late, guys. Uh, did I miss anything?" "No, I'd say you hit just about every car in the lot."
 * —Bulkhead can't seem to catch a break

"Nice, Prowl, maybe next you can teach an engine block to float."
 * —Ratchet, being a crotchety old goat.

"The primitive materials available on this planet are useless. It will take countless solar cycles to create attack drones capable of my needs, and without more substantial robotics for my own body, my prospects are grim, locked in this prison of a lab". "Grim...lock...Grim...lock"
 * —Why Grimlock's name doesn't start with an S.

Grimlock: "Me, Grimlock." Megatron: "Then listen well Grimlock. I am Megatron, your leader." Grimlock: "Me Grimlock leader."
 * —Some things never change.

"Me Grimlock... like."
 * —And the world trembled.

Transformers references

 * The island Prowl takes the Dinobots to may be a reference to Dinobot Island.
 * Grimlock's robot mode looks very much like G1 Grimlock's with a few changes.

Real-world references

 * The entrance of Dino Drive is remarkably similar to the entrance of Jurassic Park in the movie of the same name, and music reminiscent of the Jurassic Park theme can be heard during some of the Dino Drive scenes.

Miscellaneous trivia

 * This marks the first time the Dinobots have been used in a Transformers TV series since Generation 1. There is much joy.
 * The Dinobots' color schemes are lifted directly from the Generation 1 cartoon, with some minor variations. This is most obvious in Swoop's torso being blue, rather then the red featured in Generation 1 Swoop's comic and toy incarnations. The Diaclone version of Generation 1 Swoop's toy likewise had a blue chest, so this is possibly an homage, but is more likely coincidence.
 * Unlike Generation 1, the Dinobot's alt modes match up more closely with how dinosaurs are depicted in the fossil record (less sluggish, more mammal/bird-like, Grimlock bent over horizontally, no bow-leggedness, etc.). There was still a lack of feathers before they were de-skinned, though.  (However, since it's doubtful T. Rexes had a feather covering like smaller therapods, and pterosaurs only had down, it's not really an issue)
 * In this episode, Tutorbot actually teaches Sari and the Autobots about dinosaurs and fossil fuels. He's back on form however when the pre-transformer Grimlock squashes him.