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Call of the Wild

Peter Jackson likely watched this episode.

The Predacons steal the rectifier coil from the Maximal base, which causes the Maximals to revert into a more feral state.

Call of the Wild is the nineteenth episode of first season of Beast Wars: Transformers, is the nineteenth episode of the Beast Wars: Transformers series and is overall the nineteenth episode of the Beast Era of the Transformers series. It is overall the one hundredth-seventeenth episode of the G1 Era of Transformers.

Summary[]

A cheetah enthusiastically chases some antelopes, when the ground around it breaks up and it is sent falling into hot lava. Before the cat gets burned, the sequence ends, revealed to be a dream of Cheetor's. Cheetor awakens from his nightmare in time to hear the alarms triggered by a Predacon assault. As the other Maximals prepare Sentinel, Dinobot drags Cheetor outside to battle.

Primal exits the Maximals' control room via the roof hatch, but is unable to prevent Waspinator and Terrorsaur from grabbing a piece of Maximal hardware off the roof and retreating with the other Predacons. A well-placed rocket from Megatron prevents Primal from chasing the fliers. Airazor is just able to catch the Maximal leader before he crashes into the ground, but lowering Primal after taking a hit from Terrorsaur seriously taxes Airazor's systems. On the upside, the Predacons are no longer attacking.

Inside the base, recuperating, the Maximals suddenly feel the harmful effects of Energon build-up. Rhinox explains that without the rectifier coil the Predacons stole, the Maximals will have to stay in Beast Mode, which they transform into before stasis lock takes place. Meanwhile, the Predacons, after an uncharacteristically successful mission, enjoy a hearty laugh together.

Days later, Rhinox interrupts a dream Primal has (of being a real ape) to mention that Predacons are still haunting the local area. Rattrap suffers frustration from his Beast Mode's diminutive size and limb length. Primal and Rattrap almost get into a fight with each other, their minds suffering from bestial traits leaking into their personalities, but Rhinox lays down the line. Once the Preds leave, the Maximals take some much-needed rest.

In Primal's dreams, he is tormented by noisemaking animals with eyes glowing in the dark, Dinobot dreams of hunting surprisingly tiny hadrosaurs, and Rattrap dreams of rat stuff. The dreams overpower their respective dreamers, and the Maximals awaken, trapped in the mindsets of the creatures whose forms they wear. The 'animals' all eventually exit their base. With their foes' intellects gone, Megatron and the Predacons begin their hunt.

Airazor exits the CR Chamber to meet Tigatron in the empty Maximal base. Tigatron resolves to reform his Maximal companions before they're destroyed by Megatron, while Airazor has her own mission. She heads to the unoccupied Predacon base, deftly dodging the automated defenses. Inside, the rectifier coil is under no protection she can't destroy.

In the jungle, Tigatron comes to face the feral Cheetor and Rhinox. The two follow him for reasons their animal minds don't comprehend. Next Tigatron recruits the primal Optimus into his party, and finally Dinobot and Rattrap. His friends gathered, Tigatron speaks to the dormant minds of his friends. He explains how the schism that exists between the Maximals' two modes is a side effect of a programming block, and as long as that program exists, the animal and Maximal identities will never reach cohesion. Now embracing the beasts within, the restored Maximals are ready to "Slag some bot!" Megatron and friends continue their march, Megatron doing nothing but being carried around on his throne, a number of preds: transporting 'His highness', Blackarachnia: percussion instrument, remaining preds: wind/bass. Megatron(Seeing flashes in the darkness): Uh-oh.

Primal, swinging, emerges from hiding, Maximizes and tumbles Megatron off of his throne as the two Maximal cats tackle the two Predacon goons who were carrying their leader. Dinobot's raptor mode conquers Blackarachnia. Rhinox knocks over a tree to ground the Predacon fliers, and a ratball special puts Rattrap into position to pump gunfire into Terrorsaur. After the Predacons start to feel the effects of Energon build-up, Megatron orders a retreat.

The Maximals, reunited with their rectifier coil, learned a valuable lesson this episode never to be forgotten: To let their beast forms' instincts help them, both in battle and in peace, and don't try to part with them. This is something that will possibly help them in the future.

Quotes[]

"Predacons, fall back!"
"Now he tells me!"

Megatron's order comes a wee bit too late to save Tarantulas.


"Hunting from the air with automatic weapons—now that's a sport!"

Terrorsaur


"She stoops to conquer!"

Airazor shows some wit.


"Rat...robot. Rat...robot. I'm a robot and a rat! Yeahh, I like it!"
"Hrmf, I do not see why."

Rattrap and Dinobot

"Alright! Beast or bot, we're still the baddest! YEAH!!!"

Cheetor cheering at their victory.

"And it looks like things will be back to normal."
"Maybe even BETTER."

Rhinox and Optimus Primal, last quotes before celebrating their new outlook and victory.

"Hear me, fellow Maximals. I know you are frightened, but I can help you. Access Maximal core consciousness. Passcode: Tigatron."

Tigatron activates countermeasure.

"SILENCE!!! Now, listen well..."

Tigatron calming his comrades.

"That's better. Now listen well...and learn."

Tigatron ready to explain.

"Once, we were merely robots-in-disguise; but on this planet, we Maximals have become something more. Maximal programming was designed to block our beast urges...but that has proven to be an error. Our beast forms are part of us, fighting their nature only made them stronger. We must accept both beast AND robot forms. Feel your core consciousness, find the programming block and DELETE it. Bring your beast AND robot forms together. Let them work in harmony...and let them both make you stronger then you were before."

Tigatron enlightening the rest of the Maximals of the truth of themselves.


"Remember, do not fight your beast instincts. Let them help your robot forms, both in battle and in peace...but for now, let us Maximize (transforms into robot mode), AND SLAG SOME BUTT!"!!

Tigatron delivers solid advice.

Stats[]

Writers: Bob Forward
Original Air Date: January 7, 1997

Characters (in order of appearance): Cheetor, Scorponok, Tarantulas, Optimus Primal, Rhinox, Rattrap, Dinobot, Megatron, Waspinator, Terrorsaur, Airazor, Blackarachnia, Inferno, Tigatron

Notes[]

  • In his beast dream, Dinobot is chasing a Parasaurolophus. While his toy bios and a previous statement from Rattrap seem to establish that Dinobot's beast mode is a Velociraptor, scaled up to match Dinobot's size, that would make Dinobot's Mongolian beast mode quite a traveler in order to hunt instinctively a North American Hadrosaur—which, by the way, was waaay too small for a Parasaurolophus. (It may have been a juvenile or infant, although the crest may have been too developed.) Although Dinobot may actually be a Utahraptor, which did live in North America, it still doesn't explain the size discrepancy, since while Utahraptors were bigger than Velociraptors, they were still considerably smaller than a full-grown Parasaurolophus. Perhaps even in a more feral state Dinobot has a bit of an ego.
  • This is Tigatron and Airazor's second biggest role of Beast Wars: Transformers, and their first biggest role in a solo episode of Beast Wars: Transformers.
  • This episode may or may not get its title from the name of a song by Deep Purple, the 1903 novel by Jack London "The Call of the Wild", the title is a caption or theme to do with animals and environments of the jungle.
  • This episode explores many themes that several of the same characters would later explore in Beast Machines: Transformers. The idea of the Maximals taking on more bestial personalities because of their beast modes is used in the episode "Forbidden Fruit". A similar concept would have been touched on in the unproduced Beast Wars episode "A Greater Ape".

Continuity errors[]

  • Its worth mention a very impotent detail, in that Dinobot was originally a Predacon as shown in the first part of the two-part pilot episode of Beast Wars: Transformers, "Beast Wars (Part 1)", yet he too suffers the same effects of the Maximal programming errors, also having to delete them in the same way. Predacons may have similar programming, but Megatron states that he had to study Maximal programming in order to devise his plan. Later on, though, Tarantulas asks to examine Dinobot's programming to make sure he really was a Predacon again, so it's possible that he adopted certain Maximal programming when he switched sides.
  • Another thing is that both Tigatron and Airazor are not effected by the Maximal programming errors in their based despite them being in robot modes.

Notes[]

  • When the Maximal computer announces that the Predacons are withdrawing from the area, text in the Maximal version of the Cybertronix language scrolls by the bottom of the screen, and more text flashes in blue in the middle of the screen. The blue flashing text reads "area clear," and the text on the bottom reads "its been a long time since ive had sweet thistle pie."
  • This episode marks the first and only use of Megatron's right arm-mounted missile launcher, which fires from the same port the laser beam emanates from. What is with Transformers and the one-use weapons?
  • Inferno appears in this episode, but has no lines, which suggest that Jim Byrnes wasn't available at that time.
  • This episode brings to question Tigatron's role aside from scout by choice, or perhaps one of his many roles as it seems. His programming prowess appears to be canon, and the Maximals seem to already have their skeleton key access code set before this episode--keep in mind that in this episode Primal suddenly realized that Tigatron could help them with their unexpected issue. A Cybertronian giving away your full systems access to someone who isn't a professional (Coding doctor? Psychologist?), even as safeguard in dire thus rather screw-up-able situations, would be unlikely, no? His dialog does sound guru enough. Though it can go both ways, he does offer the rest of the team a brief explanation of the issue with their Maximal programming.
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