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Dinobot mirror

"Hmm. He looks good, but is he tasty?"

Megatron creates a non-transforming clone of Dinobot in an effort to disable Sentinel.

Double Dinobot is the fourteenth episode of first season of Beast Wars: Transformers, is the fourteenth episode of the Beast Wars: Transformers series and is overall the fourteenth episode of the Beast Era of the Transformers series. It is overall the one hundredth-twelfth episode of the G1 Era of Transformers.

Summary[]

In a scene reminiscent of a certain early gothic novel, Megatron and Scorponok create a velociraptor clone based on the DNA of Dinobot, Clone 1, which also possesses a copy of Dinobot's mind.

Terrorsaur attacks the real Dinobot while on patrol and buries him in a cave-in so that Clone 1's origin is not spotted if the real Dinobot was to be present. Clone 1 is sent to infiltrate the Maximal Base in his place, but fails to convince Optimus Primal to immediately attack a fictional Predacon camp in Grid Omega. Primal instead sends the Clone and Rattrap to fix the camp's exact location.

Rattrap Transforms to attack the alleged base and almost discovers the Clone's inability to Transform, but stands down when the Clone reminds him this is a recon mission. Rattrap is puzzled by this uncharacteristic show of restraint, but stands down. While crossing an open lava flow, Clone 1 kicks the bridge out from under Rattrap, apparently sending him to his death.

Clone 1 returns to the Axalon (now crewed only by Optimus Primal) and fakes an injury, telling Primal that they discovered the Predacon camp under cover of a "stealth device" and Rattrap is trapped. Despite having just received a report from Rhinox that Grid Omega shows no signs of Predacon activity, Optimus Primal activates Sentinel and leaves to rescue Rattrap.

Clone 1 struggles to deactivate the shield without Dinobot's authorization codes. Meanwhile, the real Dinobot, who has freed himself from the cave-in, returns to the Axalon and deactivates the perimeter shield. Clone 1 believes he has finally succeeded and summons Megatron.

Primal and Cheetor rendezvous in Grid Omega, where they pick up Rattrap's trail. Rattrap, who landed on a chunk of rock on the lava flow, leaps for his life when the flow becomes a lavafall. He then grenade jumps back to stable ground, which draws Cheetor and Primal.

The two Dinobots come face to face and are momentarily baffled as their identical reflexes cause them to mirror one another's reactions. Clone 1 realizes the situation first and attacks, but Dinobot Transforms and challenges the clone to a fight. As soon as he discovers that his double cannot Transform, Dinobot returns to Beast Mode and the two fight on equal terms. The Clone is losing ground, but a lucky blow appears to knock Dinobot unconscious. Clone 1 eagerly goes to meet Megatron, not realizing that Dinobot, in a tactic introduced in "Enter the Nightbird", was really playing robo-possum...

Dinobot poses as his clone and greets Megatron outside the base and flatters his ego while discovering his plan to ambush the Maximals as they return from Grid Omega then use their own defense grid to finish them off. Dinobot activates the perimeter shield just as Megatron is walking through it, shocking him badly. Megatron initially believes the clone has betrayed him just as Dinobot did, but is cheered to learn that's not the case. With the arrival of the other Maximals, Megatron retreats.

The Maximals survey the damaged command center in dismay and inquire what happened to the clone. Dinobot informs them that it is gone for good...and was 'quite tasty' as he flicks a piece of Clone One's skin off his maw and into Primal's face, to which the latter replies: Your disgusting.

Quotes[]

"At last, an end to the boredom!"

Dinobot, delighted to be attacked


"Peaceful as an R-chamber. Looks like old chopper face is seein' things."

Rattrap doesn't believe in the clone's existence


"It's time to blow this joint!"

Rattrap demonstrates the proper method for a WartHog jump


"Well that's just prime."

Rattrap copies Optimus Primal's favorite quote.


"What in the Inferno are you!?"
"What you might have been, had you not betrayed Megatron."

Dinobot, meet Clone 1, Clone 1, Dinobot


"Ooh, your brilliance is an inspiration to me!"
"Oh, you are an enchanting creature! I may just clone the rest of my troops."

Dinobot impersonates his clone, to Megatron


Rattrap: "If there was a clone, then where is he, huh?"
Dinobot: "I'm afraid he's gone for good. A shame, really; he was such a handsome creature. And... quite tasty."
[Dinobot flicks a piece of flesh from his teeth at Primal and belchs rather loudly. Cheetor gives him a thumbs up.]
Optimus Primal: "...You're disgusting."
[Dinobot smiles]

—The Maximals discover the clone's deliciously gruesome fate: eaten off-screen

Stats[]

Original air date: November 5, 1996
Writer: Rowby Goren Director: John Pozer

Production Company/Animation Studio Mainframe Entertainment

Co-Production Company Alliance

Writer Rowby Goren

Director John Pozer

Featured Characters[]

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Maximals Predacons Others

Notes[]

  • Clone 1's skin will later be seen on the wall of Dinobot's room one season after. Code of Hero
  • Megatron is extremely pleased to learn the clone did not betray him. One might suppose that if Dinobot had let him think clones were unreliable it would have saved the Maximals a world of trouble. Ah, hindsight.
  • Megatron would clone Dinobot twice more; the Cyber raptors in Cutting Edge and Dinobot II in Feral Scream Part 1. The Oracle would use DNA from Dinobot's spark to create the Dinobots in Beast Machines.
  • The Chamber Dinobot's clone was created in appears to be an extensively refitted Predacon R-Chamber.

Animation and/or technical glitches[]

  • With all the focus on Dinobot's beast mode, not to mention Clone One's rather theatrical body language, this episode really demonstrates the limitations of their CG model. It contorts in strange ways and continuously clips through itself in various places.
  • When the bolts and rivets fly off the cloning chamber, there's no screw-holes remaining in their place, the metal remains intact.
  • When Clone One is called a "ZombieBot" by Scorponok, and when he growls and bites at him, Tigatron's scream is heard instead.
  • As Dinobot approaches the cave Terrorsaur flew into, for a moment the "camera" clips into some rocks on the right side of the screen.
  • More of an oddity than an error, but due to the angle the shot was rendered in, as Dinobot transforms into robot mode to enter the cave, you may notice how his robot torso and sword miraculously appear in shrunken form behind or above (but clearly separate from) his dinosaur mode, before merging with the rest of his body to complete transformation. Later, as he tries to fight his clone, the robot torso correctly appears from within the beast's body.
  • When Terrorsaur creates a cave-in to trap Dinobot, the latter briefly clips through the screen as the "camera" pulls out. His left hand then passes through his sword, and as he hurries into the cave, he clips into the screen again, very briefly giving us a view of the insides of his animation model's head.
  • When Megatron orders the clone to go, his left hand clips completely through the console on his seat.
  • The circular compartment in the middle of the table that Rattrap emerges from has a very pixelated rim around it.
  • After Clone One has kicked Rattrap's log off the ledge, he begins to leave, but instead of turning and beginning to walk convincingly, his body just awkwardly kinda contorts itself before the shot cuts.
  • When Rattrap grabs a hold of the ledge after escaping the lava fall, he seems to have a double-hand: one which holds onto the rock and one that's actually attached to him. You can see the two hands' joints merging in and out of each other as he hangs there, and the stationary hand's joint even stays there as he pulls himself up.
  • When Rattrap blows his way out of his predicament, the smoke of the explosion is very blocky and low-res.
  • When the clone opens wide to snap at the real Dinobot, the inside of his maw is really messed up, and the lower part of his jaw folds over itself.
  • During the clash between the Dinobots, the one who gets launched forward by the chair has some very weird things going on with his body. Namely, it gets so distorted, that the point where the legs meet the torso seemingly turn inside out, and flesh that wasn't there before (or afterwards) juts out of his sides. Also, while barely noticeable, his left arm jumps out of position for just a frame a few seconds before the chair hits him.

Continuity errors[]

  • Phase One of Megatron's plan is basically "kill Dinobot", a job he dispatches Terrorsaur to take care of with seemingly no worry that he will fail. He doesn't normally display this level of faith in Terrorsaur's abilities. (Also, if "Kill Dinobot" is that easy, then the next phases should probably be "kill Rattrap", "kill Cheetor", etc.)
  • Although Clone One failed in this particular situation, the overall experiment was a success. One wonders why Megatron didn't just create a whole herd of Dinobot clones. Even in Beast Mode, they'd be useful for boosting his numbers. (For that matter, if all it takes is a small, easily obtainable piece of DNA, we run into the same problem that we had back in "A Prime Problem"... why not clone Primal, or even Megatron himself?)
  • Although this episode necessarily takes place after the introduction of Sentinel in "A Better Mousetrap", when Dinobot activates the perimeter shield to betray Megatron, the appearance of the shield is that of the old green one, rather than the new silver one.

Transformers references[]

  • The Dinobot (Maximal)-Dinobot (Clone) showdown is reminiscent of the battle between Swoop and Snarl vs Grimlock, Slag and Sludge in The Transformers Season 1 episode "War of the Dinobots"; in that two Dinobots, one the genuine article and the other a doppleganger, enter the prehistoric heat of battle
    • How Dinobot managed to defeat his clone was based on a tactic used in The Transformers Season 2 episode "Enter the Nightbird", as noted in the plot summary above.

Real-world references[]

  • Megatron creates the Dinobot clone in the middle of a dramatic lightning storm, as is tradition when cartoon super-villains use mad science to create life. The references are less subtle next time in the first part of the rwo-part Season 3 episode "Feral Scream".

Notes[]

  • "Double Dinobot" is very similar to The Transformers Season 2 episode "A Prime Problem", in that its an episode about Megatron creating a clone of a Autobot/Maximal to sneak in a base.
  • While the Dinobot clone is trying to deactivate Sentinel, a holographic Maximal logo appears with Cybertronix writing under it saying "who is this putz scally user." Then the shot changes to behind the projection as some more text appears next to a diagram that says "hey ian go f**k yourself," making one wonder what Ian James Corlett did to anger the animator. Then the words 'Merv Griffin' display.

Keywords[]

External links[]

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