The Reformatting

Writers: Marty Isenberg, Bob Skir

The Maximals awaken on Cybertron in a state of confusion, and are under attack from a strange new foe.

Major Characters (in order of appearance): Optimus Primal, Rattrap, Cheetor, Blackarachnia

Minor Characters (in order of appearance): Tank Drones, Motorcycle Drones

Original Air Date: September 18, 1999

Summary
On the metal-and-steel planet of Cybertron, a single flower bizarrely grows out of a tear in the street. Suddenly, a familar munky races past, as he is pursued by a horde of Tank Drones. After a couple minutes of this, Primal decides to face them down and prepares to Maximize. But his beast-mode parts refuse to move and he screams in pain. Suddenly, his eyes glow and he recieves a strange signal from an alien source. He sees a monorail vehicle nearby and swings away from the drones, and finds another one of his missing comrades- Rattrap. Rattrap explains that he has had a lot of trouble transforming as well. Eventually, the two find Cheetor and Blackarachnia who too are all in their original forms, Optimus Primal points out that if they don't transform out of their beast modes their operating systems will shut down. The four head underground and encounter the supercomputer called the Oracle, who reformats them, using the Matrix, into techno-organic bodies. The Maximals try out their new bodies but are unable to transform. Optimus realizes they must learn how to transform as it as somehow become a lost art. He manages to transform during an attack from the Vehicons. A mysterious figure watches the battle in the citadel and vows to destroy the Maximals. This person is Megatron!

Technical/Animation Glitches

 * Glitch

Continuity Errors

 * Error

Transformers References

 * References

Real-World References

 * Rattrap says "Ground Control to Major Optimus" which is a miss quote from the David Bowie song "Space Oddity" from 1975