Dinobot Island, Part 1



'''The Dinobots are sent to a mysterious, prehistoric island for training. But the Decepticons intend to plunder its energy resources.'''

Japanese title: "Showdown! Dinobot - Part 1"

Synopsis


Bumblebee and Powerglide are dispatched to investigate mysterious energy readings emanating from the sea. What they discover is an island filled with long thought extinct lifeforms, including Dinosaurs. Investigation is terminated, however, when the Autobots are attacked by the natives, and they decide to retreat. Returning to the base, they inform Optimus Prime and the Autobots of their findings. Spike is fascinated, but Cliffjumper dismisses it, what with the problems the Dinobots cause them. Wheeljack defends the Dinobots, and brings Grimlock out to show them.

Grimlock displays his "finesse" by using his fire breath to turn on Blaster, impressing Prime and causing Ironhide, Trailbreaker, and Sideswipe to grimace in pain. Hearing the commotion, Slag and Sludge investigate, and cause Grimlock to mess up, sending his fire breath all over the place. Grimlock angrily orders his subordinates to go away, but Sludge steps on Slag's tail, causing him to breathe fire. Snarl and Swoop also come to investigate, and the Dinobots collide with each other, resulting in a brawl. Teletraan I is nearly destroyed, but Trailbreaker's force field manages to protect the computer, while Red Alert and Inferno put out the fires.

The Autobots are prepared to fight the Dinobots to a standstill, but Optimus orders Grimlock to bring the other Dinobots under control. Grimlock succeeds, and apologizes to Prime. The Autobot leader accepts, but also realizes that the base is too small for the Dinobots to train in, and decides to have Powerglide lead them to Dinobot Island, as Spike has called the island. However, Ravage overhears this, and Soundwave sends Laserbeak to follow them. Arriving at the island, the Dinobots are impressed with the wide open spaces. However, Spike gets into trouble with the local fauna, nearly getting eaten twice. Spike decides to go home with Powerglide, while the Dinobots work on their skills, such as Slag's "fire stuff", Snarl's "tail stuff" and Swoop's "flying stuff". However, Laserbeak reports his findings back to Megatron, who decides to plunder the island's multiple energy sources. Spike, having had enough of real dinosaurs, decides to check out some books with Bumblebee. However, while at the library, they see a temporal distortion, out of which comes barbarians riding woolly mamoths. They begin randomly attacking things, destroying the library and burying Spike and Bumblebee under a ton of rubble. At Dinobot Island, the Dinobots discover the Decepticon presence, and attack. However, Megatron causes the native Dinosaurs to stampede toward the Dinobots, causing them to fall into a tar pit, which they sink into.

To be continued...

Stats
Original airdate: Wednesday September 25, 1985

Production number: 700-29

Written by: Donald F. Glut

Featured Characters
(''Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes
"Hang in there, Bumblebee. Prepare for a daring rescue maneuver!" "Can't he just save a guy without doing a commercial?"
 * Powerglide narrates his rescue of Bumblebee, to the latter's frustration.

"Once a dino-klutz, always a dino-klutz."
 * Huffer

"What that is, Sludge?" "Uh, Sludge not know. Maybe it time to do our thing?"
 * Slag and Sludge.

"Very impressive, Wheeljack. But what about the other Dinobots?"
 * Optimus Prime, about to regret what he said.

"Slag, Sludge, go away! Me Grimlock demonstrating finesse. Whatever that mean."
 * Grimlock.

"Oh wow! I think I'll call it, Dinobot Island."
 * Spike, showing an incredible lack of creativity.

"Goodbye, Dinobots. I'd write, but you can't read."
 * Spike Witwicky. He should be thankful that the Dinobots didn't get offended by his comments.

Animation errors/glitches

 * An unnamed Pterosaur (with an appearance that fits the description of a Dimorphodon, only much, much larger) somehow manages to catch Spike and fly with him to her nest. There, Spike founds himself among three giant eggs. This maaay be nit-picky here, but each of those things is, in fact, bigger than the animal that laid them. The mother actually looks like a newly hatched chick next to them. We don't even want to know how she managed to lay those eggs, unless there are some really HUGE prehistoric cuckoo's birds on the island.
 * When Megatron states that Dinobot Island is a very primitive place, his Decepticon symbol is red.

Continuity errors

 * One really has to wonder, why does Wheeljack keep insisting on showing off the Dinobots indoors?
 * Why does Optimus Prime always pronounce Dinobots as "Dinabots"?
 * Powerglide's cockpit only seats one in this episode, but in other episodes his cockpit seats two.
 * When Megatron unleashes the Dinosaur stampede the Dinobots are facing the Decepticons, Grimlock looks back at the Dinosaurs, and in the immediate next frame the Dinobots are standing on the edge of a cliff that wasn't there before.

Transformer references

 * This part featured the first appearances of the Autobots Red Alert, Blaster, Grapple, Tracks, Hoist and Smokescreen, and the Decepticons Ramjet, Thrust and Blitzwing.
 * Powerglide can shoot a light beam from his forehead that fixes things. Convenient.

Real world references

 * References

Miscellaneous trivia

 * This is the second episode in which the Dinobots nearly destroy Teletraan I.
 * This episode and its conclusion introduce a large number of new characters from the 1985 toy assortment, and seem to have been written specifically to do so. Many of them have short but fairly explicit introductory lines/scenes, seemingly intended to sum up their personalities or abilities, and thus help sell their toys. Given this, it's a bit odd that several random members of the 1985 cast started showing up in earlier episodes which otherwise featured the Season One cast (Beachcomber and Inferno in "The Insecticon Syndrome"; Powerglide and Warpath in "A Prime Problem"), particularly since those same characters each get their own scenes in this episode.
 * Huffer uses the term "beryllium bologna" in this episode, which would later be used again by Slag in the movie, in much the same way.
 * Paleontology weeps in the presence of this episode.