Home Is Where the Spark Is



The Autobots settle into their new home base, an abandoned automobile manufacturing plant, but the ancient assembly line machinery seems to have developed a mind of its own—or someone else's...


 * German title: "Megatrons Rückkehr" ("Megatron's Return")

Synopsis
As an armored car leaves a bank in the dead of night, the Angry Archer robs it and makes his escape from the cops on a fire engine, thinking the police won’t stop a firetruck heading to a fire. It’s the Archer’s mistake, however, because he's hitched a ride on the back of Optimus Prime. Prime, playing hero, subdues the thief easily and smiles for evening news cameras.

Elsewhere, Prowl observes a cat stalking a bird and finds it amazing, only to have his nature watch cut short by awestruck humans and camera-bots. He heads back huffily to the new Autobot headquarters, an abandoned car factory. The other Autobots are in the middle of installing the world’s largest flat-panel TV in their new home and sharing their views on their newfound stardom. Prowl returns upset with the constant interruptions and goes to his Japanese-decorated room. In his room, Prowl lectures Optimus on his fascination with the Earth's animals, only to have that cut short with Bumblebee's antics. Annoyed again, Prowl leaps off into a tree.

Meanwhile, Sari tries to enter her father's private lab. She uses her Key to open the door, but Professor Sumdac leaves with her before she can enter more than a step or two, reminding her no one but him is allowed in there. Residual energy from the Key floats over and reactivates the head of Megatron. As his higher functions take control, Megatron is horrified to discover that he is without a body and is hardwired into some sort of primitive computer. As he searchs for answers, he brings up video footage of the last battle between the Autobots and Starscream, including the latter’s confession of sabotaging his leader. Megatron is understandably ticked, and not just at Starscream's betrayal, but on the sheer helplessness of his situation. Not only do the Decepticons believe that he is dead, meaning there is no hope of rescue, but the AllSpark is finally within his reach, and he lacks the hands to take it! While lamenting his lack of a body, he discovers his new power to control machines around him. Picking up a discarded, miniature robot, Megatron decides that it's time to get...proactive.

After trashing her Tutor Bot using the Key, Sari tells Prof. Sumdac she is leaving to the Autobot base for a slumber party. Overhearing this, Megatron sends one of Isaac's pocketbots to hide in her backpack so he can search the base for the AllSpark.

At the Autobot base, Prowl watches a nature show about caterpillars evolving into butterflies, which he finds fascinating. Bumblebee, of course, isn't interested and changes the channel on him. Annoyed yet again, Prowl pounces on Bumblebee like a cat to prove what he has learned from animals before leaping to a high point to meditate. Later, Bumblebee and Bulkhead play high-tech Twister™ with much difficulty; Bumblebee then challenges Prowl to try. Prowl jumps in and easily touches all the spots Sari announces. Having won the game, he leaves to his room. Disgusted that the Autobots could ever get their hands on the AllSpark, Megatron uses the pocketbot to begin searching.

Sari then tells ghost stories to the rest of the Autobots and, with a little help from the Key, succeeds in scaring Bumblebee. Meanwhile, since the pocketbot's search for the AllSpark has proven fruitless, Megatron decides to kill the Autobots and extract info on its location from their lifeless shells. He takes control of the assembly line robots and uses pincers, riveters, a big electromagnet and a die press to pummel the Autobots. Prowl shows up and realizes that the machines are detecting the Autobots by use of motion sensors. He instructs everyone to be still, then strike in order to get to the control panel. However, while the motion sensors can't see him, Megatron can, so he gets caught by the machines as well. With Ratchet injured, the only bot left free to move is Bumblebee, who manages to listen to Prowl long enough to outrace the machines and destroy the control panel.

In a parting gesture, Megatron cuts open a fuel tank perilously close to a fire, but the Autobots team up and launch it into the sky, where it explodes harmlessly. As they wonder who tried to kill them, they discover the pocketbot under Megatron's control, but Bulkhead accidentally smashes it after catching it before they can study it.

Back at the lab, Megatron has a fit over his loss and decides to reveal more Cybertronian technology to Sumdac in order to get a new body.

At the end, Prowl again coaches Bumblebee in the art of stillness while both play a game of high-tech Twister™.

Stats

 * Written by: Michael Ryan
 * Directed by: Matt Youngberg, Shunji Oga
 * Animation Company: The Answer Studio
 * Original airdate: January 5, 2008

Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes
"HAHAHA!!! Victory is mine! Yon police would ne'er stop a firetruck from speeding to an emergency!" "Only one problem with that theory: You're the emergency."
 * —The Angry Archer ' s escape is cut short by Optimus Prime

"No way, being a star rocks! If the titanium alloy plating fits, wear it. And...I make it look good."
 * —Bumblebee, being himself.

"Auut-oh-bot-MegaMegaMega-Meg-Meeeegaaa-Mega-I am Megatron!"
 * —Megatron awakening after his fifty-year slumber

"STAAAAAARSCREEEEEEEEAM!"
 * —Megatron on learning of Starscream's treachery. So G1 it hurts.

"Whoa. Looks like somebody forgot to defrag his hard drive."
 * —Bulkhead, using a dubious computer analogy to describe Prowl's bad mood

"You Autobot fools are the keepers of the AllSpark? This must be some cosmic joke..."
 * —Megatron, disgusted at the Autobots' merry-making.

"What's the matter? We're not still enough for you? Ynnh—fine! Have a great time in there watching the grass grow!"
 * —Bumblebee to Prowl as the latter heads off to his private quarters (presumably to have a great time watching the grass grow).

"Everyone...stand still." "Forget stillness! We need action!"
 * —Prowl and Bumblebee debate strategy.

"That can't be good."
 * —Bulkhead, stating the obvious, seconds away from being crushed

"Stillness...then strike."
 * —Prowl, as he sneaks past the Megatron-possessed machinery

Continuity errors

 * When the Angry Archer turns around to notice he's being followed by police cars, the bags of money he'd just tied to his waist are nowhere to be seen. They're back in other shots, though.


 * Sari says "Right foot on green." during the Twister™ game. The only problem is there are no green spaces in the next shot, just purple, orange and yellow. (After that shot, they seem to appear as normal.) At the end of the episode, the problem is reversed--there are no yellow spaces, but there are green ones.


 * During the assembly line's rampage, Ratchet is injured after the explosion of some airborne gas tanks. He remains in a damaged state until the very end of the episode, when, in the close-up group shot of the Autobots, he can be seen completely undamaged before the camera focuses on Bulkhead attempting to grab the pocketbot as it runs out the door.


 * When Prowl jumps on Bumblebee, Bumblebee, seemingly, blushes.

Transformers references

 * In a different kind of Transformers reference, the Angry Archer is designed to resemble Hasbro's Aaron Archer.


 * Similarly, the bank shown in the opening sequence is the Izzo National Bank, named for Hasbro executive and series co-producer Joshua Izzo.


 * When Megatron comes online, his first coherent words are "I am Megatron!", the same thing his movie counterpart said.

Real-world references

 * Bumblebee's line "I make it look good!" is paraphrased from Will Smith in Men in Black.


 * A high-tech, Transformer-scaled version of Twister™ is repeatedly played in this episode.

Miscellaneous trivia

 * In this episode, Tutor Bot fails to teach Sari about the quadratic equation. It leads a thankless life.
 * According to the Animated production staff at BotCon 2008, the "b-list" villain of this episode was originally meant to be a humanized version of Octopunch instead of the Angry Archer. Reportedly, Octopunch would have looked exactly like his G1 counterpart, except with the addition of boxing gloves.

Home Is Where the Spark Is