Nature Calls



Prowl, Bumblebee and Sari get more than they bargained for when they head out to the remote woods to investigate a mysterious energy signal.

Synopsis
Far outside of Detroit, a lone worker monitoring some oddly coloured mining machines hears a strange noise. Alerted, he looks around, but returns to his drink... only to be attacked by something. The construction machines stop their work, and they too get attacked.

Outside Detroit, Prowl, in his alternate mode, looks on at the snow covered city, before a plow comes along and rather rudely covers him in snow. Transforming, he rises from the snow with a sad look on his face



When Prowl returns to the base, he goes on a rant about nature's beauty and how humanity destroys it at every turn. Bumblebee and Sari are playing a video game, ignoring his vent. Prowl looks down on Bumblebee and asks if he was listening, where Bumblebee retorts by noting that Prowl is "electrical components" too, nudging his Autobot insignia to activate a hologram of Prowl. Optimus Prime interrupts the friendly banter by noting that there is a strange energy signature coming from the forest, and so sends Prowl and Bumblebee to investigate. Bumblebee is horrified at the idea at venturing into the tech-less wilderness, while Sari uses the opportunity to go camping with the two Autobots.

The three of them head off into the woods and Bumblebee laments unpaved roads, while Sari is excited, saying that they'll roast marshmellows, tell ghost stories, and the like. When they prepare to proceed on foot, it's learned that Bumblebee brought a few entertainment devices... stored in a place that makes him a little ashamed. After finding a suitable camping site, Prowl sits quietly to commune with nature while Bumblebee searches for an outlet to power his flatscreen TV. As campers, Sari and Bumblebee are miserable failures. They can't pitch a tent or get a fire going, and Sari is forced to admit that she's never been camping before, so Prowl does both within seconds. When Bumblebee commandeers Prowl's holographic imager to watch a movie, the ninja bot smashes Bumblebee's portable media player, much to the yellow bot's horror. Prowl 1, Bumblebee 0.



During the night, the trio is awoken by a crunching noise. Bumblebee cries monster. Prowl says it's a bear, which are hardly monsters. Lo and behold, a monstrous creature covered in purple tentacles and pink eyes does stomp out into the open and attack them. Bumblebee 1, Prowl 1.

After a brief battle, they run ahead and determine the creature is made up of space barnacles, scourge of space-going vessels everywhere. Prowl says these barnacles appear to have been mutated by something and made more powerful. They decide to go back and destroy the barnacles, rather than risk the creature reaching Detroit and infecting other machines. Glowing in the direction of the Cybertronian energy, Sari's key leads them to the mine shaft. When they're not looking, the creature drops a snowbank on them from above, sealing Bee and Sari inside.

Prowl fools the creature into smashing the entrance open and Bumblebee uses his stingers to fry the barnacles. However, Prowl's prolonged contact with the creature has infected him and taken over, turning him into a barnacle zombie. Bee and Sari make a run for it, but they know they can't go back to the city because the barnacles may spread. They backtrack, hoping to lure Prowl to the mine and seal him inside, but end up sealing themselves inside too.



Now trapped, Bee and Sari seal themselves in a furnace room and Sari hatches a plan to heat up water from a fire hose to scorch the barnacles off Prowl. But Prowl's touch has infected Bumblebee as well. Sari tries to use the key on the furnace machinery but it doesn't work (for once). Sari manages to light the furnace by scratching a spark (not that kind of spark) from the Key. The furnace heats the water and Sari sprays her two friends, boiling the barnacles off. The two Autobots are restored and the three return to the plant to recount their harrowing tale to Prime.



Back in the woods, Professor Sumdac arrives in a truck and finds the Cybertronian machinery that was formerly coated by the barnacles, machinery that bears the Decepticon insignia. Sumdac comments that he's finally found what he's been looking for for several years, and that Megatron will be pleased with his discovery. What, oh what, could it be?

Stats

 * Written by: Todd Casey
 * Directed by: Ben Jones, Bouakeo Thongkham, & Shunji Oga
 * Original airdate: March 22, 2008
 * Animation studio: The Answer Studio

Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes
Bumblebee: At least I can get this junk out of me. I was feeling kinda bloated. [Electronic devices suddenly fall out of him, Prowl gives him a look] Bumblebee: What? You said to pack the bare essentials! Prowl: Since when are surround-sound speakers, a strobe light, and a hand-held media player "bare essentials?" Bumblebee: You should've seen what I left back at the plant. Prowl: Where did you even find room for all of this junk? [Bumblebee taps his fingers uncomfortably] Bumblebee: I'd... rather not say.
 * Bumblebee and Prowl's conversation takes a decidedly uncomfortable turn.

"First we must determine this creature's intentions." [Creature knocks Prowl aside without provocation] "I'm gonna go with 'hostile'."
 * Prowl and Bumblebee meet the monster.

Bumblebee: Hey! Why don't you pick on someone your own size?! [Creature swipes at Bumblebee and Sari] Bumblebee: Okay. Maybe we're a little unclear on the concept of "your own size". Sari: Maybe you should stop talking logic to a creature that has no head!
 * Bumblebee and Sari debate whether or not to open negotiations with the monster.

"What did I tell you about camping? Monsters. TV is always right." "So, wait. Monsters are real? Tutor Bot is such a liar!"
 * Bumblebee ' s faith in Television is reinforced, while Sari Sumdac ' s faith in Tutor Bot is shattered.

"You've got anything that ugly on Cybertron?" "Yeah, but Bulkhead's back at the plant."
 * Sari Sumdac asks a question which Bumblebee decides to use as a platform to insult Bulkhead while the bigbot isn't there, oh burn!

"Attention, barnacle monster! Come out with your hands over your... well, you don't have a head. But you get the idea."
 * Bumblebee instructs the creature to surrender.

"We're slagged!"
 * Bumblebee, facing the barnacle-infected Prowl.

"Quick, turn off your headlights so he can't see us." "Good idea!" [Bumblebee switches off his headlights and crashes into a tree] "Bad idea..."
 * Sari Sumdac gives some advice to Bumblebee in his car mode on how to escape the infected Prowl, didn't turn out so well....

Sari: And then, they were back to normal, like nothing ever happened. Meanwhile, I'm stuck riding home with no dry clothes and an Autobot whose car mode doesn't have a heater! [Sari sneezes] Optimus: You showed a lot of courage and ingenuity, Sari. And hopefully, you'll stop... backfiring soon. Sari: Hel-lo, it's called "sneezing". [Sari sneezes, then blows her nose] Bumblebee: I don't even wanna know what that's called.
 * The Autobots discover the concept of the common cold.

"Megatron will be so surprised!"
 * Isaac Sumdac, cheerfully dooming us all.

Continuity errors

 * If space barnacles are killed by heat, how did any survive atmospheric entry?

Transformers references



 * The construction drones are green and purple. Foreshadowing much?


 * Megatron's body ends up in the deep freeze.


 * Bumblebee's combined stinger attack also rings a few bells.


 * Sari remarks that Bumblebee has no heater. Remember that 'Bee took his alternate mode from Captain Fanzone's car... and if any car in Detroit would be old and decrepit and lacking basic amenities, it'd be Fanzone's.


 * This episode revisits a concept of the balance between technology and nature, with Prowl advocating the benefits of nature, Bumblebee advocating the benefits of technology, Sari advocating the benefits of balance, and lots of running away from things.




 * The construction worker looks very familiar. (He's only credited as "Worker" and is voiced by Bumper Robinson.)


 * This episode is one in a long line of episodes featuring Transformer-based diseases transferred by touch. It shares elements of the hate plague, cosmic rust, the transorganics from "Dweller in the Depths" and, most notably, the scraplets.  Coincidentally, water ended up destroying the scraplets as well in the pages of Marvel comics.

Real-world references

 * Bumblebee and Sari play their racing game on a console shaped very much like an X-Box with a purple and gray palette swap.
 * There are actually barnacles not from space. Neat, huh?

Miscellaneous trivia

 * So... what happened to that mine worker, anyway?


 * What use could Bumblebee (and possibly Sari) have with a strobe light?


 * Ratchet, Bulkhead, and Megatron ('s head), while mentioned, make no appearances in this episode.


 * Tutor Bot is mentioned, and in the voice credits for the episode, but does not actually appear.


 * ...space barnacles?


 * Why didn't Sari get scalded by hot water when she soaked Prowl and 'Bee?