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Talk:Delta Quadrant

2009-12-23T09:13:35Z

134.88.189.221: Removing all content from page

Talk:Delta Quadrant

2009-12-23T09:03:07Z

134.88.189.221:

:No. --[[User:KilMichaelMcC|KilMichaelMcC]] 12:11, 22 December 2009 (EST)

Endgame Pt. I: The Downward Spiral

2009-12-23T08:05:47Z

134.88.189.221: /* Continuity errors */

{{disambig2|the ''Beast Machines'' episode|the ''Animated'' episode|Endgame, Part I}}

{{episode
|series=BMtoon
|ep=24
|title="Endgame Pt. I: The Downward Spiral"
|image=BMEndgame1 Rattrap Botanica dying.jpg
|caption=I ''knew'' I should have watered my girlfriend more often!
|airdate=[[April 19]], 2000
|written by=[[Michael Reaves]]
|directed by=[[Angela Stevenson]]
|production company=[[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|animation studio=[[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|continuty=[[Beast Wars continuity]]
}}
'''Under siege inside Megatron's floating fortress, the Maximals must protect the captive sparks against Megatron's final attack.'''

:''French title:'' '''Bataille Finale (Partie 1)''' ("Final Battle (Part 1)")
:''French-Canadian title:'' '''Fin du Jeu p1: Descente en Spirale''' ("End of the Game p1: Spiral Descent")
:''Japanese title:'' 地獄の総攻撃 (''Jigoku no Sōkōgeki'', "The General Offensive of Hell")
:''Spanish title:'' '''Juego Final Parte 1: La Espiral Descendente'''

==Synopsis==
[[Image:BMEndgame1 Megadrone plans.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Oh, what delicious irony]]
Legions of drones roll across [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]], while still more of the things are created at an automated plant. But it's not enough: [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] orders an immediate attack to regain his base. After the Generals depart, Megs reflects that he needs a better body than a puny [[Diagnostic Drone]], but with no time to design a new one, he requires a template. He finds one that's suitably ironic.

Aboard the [[Grand Mal|big floating head]], [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] and [[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]] try to convince [[Optimus Primal|Optimus]] to restore the Sparks to their bodies. But Primal won't risk having Megatron recapture them. [[Botanica]] announces that she has changed the defense grid so Megatron can't remote-access it; [[Rattrap]] sets to work on getting the weapons working. [[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] asks, logically, how they're supposed to reformat the planet; Op isn't sure, but says the missing piece of the puzzle lies with the [[Oracle (BM)|Oracle]]. He further explains the Oracle knew about Megatron downloading it, and wanted it to happen... though he hasn't the faintest idea why. Rattrap announces that the weapons are keyed to Megatron's [[Spark]] and are totally inaccessible, as hundreds of drones arrive.

Rattrap whips out his [[scrambled field generator|handy disks]] again, and tosses one at each Maximal. Each affected Maximal suddenly sees the others as a different Maximal. Silverbolt, [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]], and Nightscream move out with the disks to buy the group some time.

Three pods deploy from the big head, revealing Maximal signatures when the drones scan them. But when they're shot down, the pods are empty, a distraction while the Maximals slipped down to the surface.

As [[Obsidian (BM)|Obsidian]] observes that it's some kind of trick, Nightscream tags him with a disk. Obsidian spins to find Blackarachnia and Nightscream standing there. Though his computer reports no Maximal signatures, he quickly destroys three of them — and comes to a puzzled pause as he sees Nightscream again, even though he just blew him away. As the smoke clears, he finds the ruins of three of his own drones; [[Thrust (BM)|Thrust]] is having similar problems. As the Maximals exult in this triumph, [[Strika (BM)|Strika]] attacks.

[[Image:BMEndgame1 Grand mal under attack.jpg|right|thumb|200px]]
Optimus radios Silverbolt, urging him to get his team inside the big head before they raise shields. Silverbolt tells him not to wait... and Optimus reluctantly agrees. Cheetor raises the shield in time for a number of helodrones to plow into it; the remainder surround the big head and attack.

Silverbolt's team uses one of the disks to send Strika chasing after Thrust; after briefly noting the battle going on above, they retreat underground.

Above, the big head's shields are holding, but they're also cutting Botanica off from the organic core, causing her to collapse and Rattrap to panic. Primal notes that if they lower the shields for an instant, they're all doomed.

Obsidian reports that they can't penetrate the shields, but Megatron is confident that their power will run out sooner or later.

Below ground, Silverbolt decides to go after Megatron's drone factories.

The Maximals still have no access to the ship's weapons; Botanica is still faltering. Rattrap comes up with a plan to slip a life pod through the shield by matching its harmonics.

The away team enters Megatron's factory and finds themselves face-to-scanner with Megs himself. Though he initially repels their attacks with ease, Nightscream uses another disk to distract him long enough to blast some kind of large box, which promptly overloads. The Maximals escape; Megatron tries to stop the inevitable with some controls, but finally just stares slack-armed as the plant goes BOOM.

[[Image:BMEndgame1 Botanica emerges from pod.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Nanu nanu?]]
Silverbolt reports that they've put Megatron out of business and buried him to boot, leaving only the remaining billion or so drones to be defeated. But the shields are sucking up a lot of the big head's power. Rattrap, elsewhere, has loaded Botanica into a pod, which launches from the big head. Silverbolt's group observes as the pod is hit, and springs into action to keep it from crashing. Inside, they find Botanica, who is desperate to rejoin the soil. Her pallor returns as she does so, as a relieved Rattrap observes from above. A squad of Vehicons appears down the road, and the Maximals split.

Megatron is with the squad, and his sensors locate Rattrap's harmonics-matching disk. He radios Obsidian, sending the harmonic frequency to the General.

[[Image:BMEndgame1 Grand mal hits tower.jpg|right|thumb|200px]]
The attack that follows goes straight through the shields, to Primal and Cheetor's surprise. Rattrap's reaction—lowered head, slumped shoulders—tells most of the story, but he defends his actions. Primal tries to salvage the situation, but Cheetor bluntly tells him that the defense grid is finished. Rattrap uses the last of the ship's power to erect a stasis field around the Spark containment unit, as the big head begins a long, slow crash that brings it smashing to a halt atop the Citadel.

The Maximals and the Sparks survive the crash, but they're surrounded and without power. Rattrap berates himself for his recklessness, but Primal dismisses it, and vows that Megatron will not retake the Sparks. But it looks grim as a wall of drones rises into the air around the fallen ship.

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|h1=[[Maximal]]s|c1=
*[[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]] (6)
*[[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] (7)
*[[Optimus Primal]] (8)
*[[Botanica]] (9)
*[[Rattrap]] (10)
*[[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] (11)
*[[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] (12)

|h2=[[Vehicon (BM)|Vehicons]]|c2=
*[[Copter Drone|Copter Drones]] (1)
*[[Heavy Artillery Drone|Heavy Artillery Drones]] (2)
*[[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] (3)
*[[Obsidian (BM)|Obsidian]] (4)
*[[Strika (BM)|Strika]] (5)
*[[Thrust (BM)|Thrust]] (13)
*[[Motorcycle Drone|Motorcycle Drones]] (14)

}}
==Quotes==
"Strika, Thrust, the Maximals are up to something." 
[''standing in pile of destroyed Cycle drones''] "Ya think?"
:—'''Obsidian''' and '''Thrust'''

"Hey, stop! Are you nuts, lady?!"
:—'''Thrust''', being chased by Strika

"Don't you ever get tired of losing?"
:—'''Megatron'''

"Someone underestimated me. Someone thought because I was trapped inside this puny body, I would be easily vanquished. Someone was wrong!" 
"Uh, Mr Megatron, sir? I'm over here!"
:—'''Megatron''' and '''Nightscream'''

"This is it, people. The beginning of the end. And as the Matrix is my witness, Megatron will not get those sparks."
:—'''Optimus Primal'''

==Notes==
* Although he'd shown glimpses of it before, Megatron's gloating to his enemies, maniacal laughter, picking a body purely on irony, and "yesss"-ing seem to indicate a large reversion to his Beast Wars personality. It's about time.

===Continuity errors===
* Nightscream says that the drones will arrive within "minutes", rather than cycles.
* Perhaps more than any episode of ''Beast Machines'', this one calls out some of the illogical concepts driving much of the series. Primal won't risk releasing the Sparks until Megatron is defeated, because Megatron ''might'' recapture them; yet by passing up the chance to have thousands of additional troops on his side, Primal seems to be making their recapture all the more likely. The real-life answer is that the show's CGI format made it prohibitive to have thousands of extras running around.
* Likewise, why have the Maximals not been targeting the apparently unguarded and very-easy-to-destroy drone factories from Day 1? Real-life answer: it'd be a very short show if they did.
* Cheetor berates Rattrap as if he's caused a total reversal in their situation. Megatron, however, seems quite confident that they'd manage to bring down the Grand Mal regardless. And the Maximals themselves had already noted that the shields were rapidly depleting the ship's power. All Rattrap really did was speed up the inevitable.
* How the heck did Megatron survive being at ground zero without a scratch? (Well, his Spark ''is'' all red and evil and mutated and scary...)

===Trivia===
* When Botanica is launched out of the Grand Mal, the characters left on board are [[Optimus Primal |the]] [[Rattrap |only]] [[Cheetor (BW) |ones]] who were allied with the Maximals since the start of the Beast Wars.

[[Category:Beast Machines episodes]]

Talk:Delta Quadrant

2009-12-22T15:37:14Z

134.88.189.221: New page: Is Delta Quadrant also where Airazor's stasis pod landed?

Is Delta Quadrant also where Airazor's stasis pod landed?

Nemesis Part 1

2009-12-22T12:38:26Z

134.88.189.221: /* Continuity errors */

{{episode
|series=BWtoon
|ep=51
|image=BWNemesisPt1 rises.jpg
|caption="The most powerful warship ever built! ...and I just had it washed."
|title="''Nemesis'' Part 1"
|production company= [[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|airdate= [[May 6]], 1999
|written by= [[Bob Forward]]
|directed by= [[Ezekiel Norton]]
|animation studio= [[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|continuity= [[Beast Wars continuity]]
}}

'''Down but not out, Megatron discovers Tarantulas's secret tunnel network that leads to the Decepticon warship, the ''Nemesis''.'''

:''French-Canadian title:'' '''Némésis 1'''
:''Japanese title:'' ドッカーン (''Dokkān'', "Ka-Boom")
:''Latin-American title:'' '''Nemesis Primera Parte'''
:''Italian title:'' '''Destini - Parte 1''' ("Fates - Part One")

==Synopsis==
[[Image:Nemesis Part 1 Optimus book.jpg|left|200px|thumb|"And the Bay said 'Let there be light', and there was a sunset."]]
The [[Maximal]]s, secure for the first time since they moved into [[Mount St. Hilary]], begin searching for the [[Predacon (BW)|Predacons]], who have been vulnerable since [[Tigerhawk]] destroyed the [[Darksyde|Predacon base]]. [[Optimus Primal]] quotes a verse from the [[Covenant of Primus]], believing Tigerhawk's arrival to be divine prophecy.

[[Image:Nemesis Part 1 Dinobot hatch.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Dinobot II discovers why no one can get down Bugs Bunny's rabbit hole.]]
Meanwhile, the Predacons are growing disaffected with Megatron. (Even [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] is mouthing off.) [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]], ever loyal to his "queen", declares that a new "colony" will resecure them. Megatron orders him to take Waspinator and [[Quickstrike (BW)|Quickstrike]], while he, [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]], and [[Dinobot II|Dinobot]] search the remains of [[Tarantulas's lair]]. Dinobot finds a hatch which leads to an underwater tunnel and a computer. Accessing the computer, Megatron becomes quite excited by what he discovers, and takes the rail car with Dinobot II, while Rampage follows in tank mode.

[[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] and [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]] spot Inferno, Waspinator, and Quickstrike leaving. Optimus orders them to fall back, but Depth Charge heads in. Optimus leaves with [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]], [[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]], and Tigerhawk to support them. As Primal arrives, Depth Charge finds the hatch—and a bomb. The explosion fails to kill any of the Maximals, but Silverbolt is damaged, and Blackarachnia and Cheetor escort his parts back to base.

At the protohumans' cave dwellings, Inferno declares that the caves will be their new "colony". He orders Quickstrike and Waspinator to engage, but Waspinator angrily refuses. Something has finally snapped in Waspy's central processor, and he declares that he is out of the Beast Wars. After a tirade against Megatron, the Predacons, life in general, and always being blown up, Waspinator tells them that they can kiss his stinger. Inferno and Quickstrike blast him, and proceed to attack the protohumans (who have become much tougher, having learned from the example of [[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] and the Maximals).

[[Image:Nemesis Part 1 Megatron nemesis.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Where is all the furniture?]]
In the tunnels, Primal, Tigerhawk, and Depth Charge continue searching. After locating a data terminal, Primal accesses it and discovers what Tarantulas found and Megatron desires—the ''[[Nemesis (G1)|Nemesis]]'', the flagship of the [[Decepticon fleet]] and the vessel which [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] used to shoot down the [[Ark (G1)|Ark]]. Realizing the threat the Decepticon warship holds, Depth Charge heads out to locate it. Optimus sends out an emergency warning to the Maximals, and he and Tigerhawk head out to the ''Nemesis''' location through the air.

Meanwhile, Megatron and Dinobot are able to board the ship, where they discover that Tarantulas had been a busy spider: not only did he repair the vessel, he added a [[transwarp]] cell and installed a Predacon control console. Best of all, in Megatron's optics, Tarantulas left behind a copy of the Covenant of Primus to boot. Megatron and Dinobot begin powering up the vessel for an attack.

[[Image:Nemesis Part 1 Depthcharge blade.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Why so serious?]]
Reaching the sunken behemoth, Depth Charge informs Optimus of his discovery, and Optimus in turn authorizes Depth Charge to neutralize the ''Nemesis'' by any means neccessary. Before Depth Charge can start, he is engaged by Rampage. The two enemies fight, and Depth Charge grabs an [[energon crystal]]. He drives it into Rampage's [[spark]], and the explosion destroys both Transformers and also causes Dinobot to cry out in pain. Optimus, though mourning Depth Charge's loss, is relieved to know the threat of the ''Nemesis'' has been dealt with.

That is, until the ''Nemesis'' rises from the ocean, fully operational. [[Nemesis Part 2|To be continued...]]

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|h1=[[Maximal]]s|c1=
*[[Tigerhawk]] (1)
*[[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] (2)
*[[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] (3)
*[[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] (4)
*[[Optimus Primal]] (5)
*[[Rattrap]] (6)
*[[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] (7)
*[[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge]] (8)

|h2=[[Predacon (BW)|Predacons]]|c2=
*[[Dinobot II]] (9)
*[[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] (10)
*[[Quickstrike (BW)|Quickstrike]] (11)
*[[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]] (12)
*[[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] (13)
*[[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] (14)

|c4=
*[[Una]] (15)
*[[Protohuman]]s (16)
}}

==Quotes==
"Ant-Bot not find own thorax with both hands and a road map."
:—'''Waspinator''' gets in a decent dig in for once. Inferno drops him on his head for this.

"That will be our new colony!" 
"Eww, I don't wanna move in there. Got all them hairy critters in it."
:—'''Inferno''' and '''Quickstrike''' discuss a possible new home.

"I said '''no!''' [[Megatron (BW)|Dragon-Bot]] command ''you,'' [[Sub-Commander]] [[Inferno (BW)|Kiss-Butt]]! Dragon-Bot not command Waspinator! Not any more! Waspinator sick of being evil. Sick of being Predacon! ''And'', Waspinator especially sick of getting blown to '''scrap''' all the time! Sooo, Waspinator ''quit!'' As of ''now'', which means [[Inferno (BW)|Ant-Bot]] and [[Quickstrike (BW)|Two-Head]] can just pucker their mandibles and plant [[Kiss|big, wet, juicy one]] right here on Waspinator's big...fat...stripy...a..." 
[''BAM!!!'']
:—'''Waspinator''' finally stands up for himself...and gets blown to scrap by Inferno and Quickstrike.

[''Silverbolt has been injured in an explosion''] 
'''Silverbolt''': "Worry not, my love. It's just a...scratch." 
[''Silverbolt's arm falls off''] 
'''Optimus''': "Maybe. But I think you're due some time in the CR chamber." 
'''Silverbolt''': "Sir, I'm fine. I —" 
'''Blackarachnia''': "Shut up and obey your commander, bone-brain." 
[''Silverbolt's head falls off''] 
'''Silverbolt''': "Yes, dear."
:—Silverbolt is pretty whipped.

"You have to stop Megatron! At any the cost."
:—'''Optimus Primal''' telling Depth Charge what must be done.

"Hmm... impressive." 
"Oh, it is more than that, my malevolent minion. That is the most powerful Decepticon warship in Transformer history. The ship that shot down the Ark itself! THE ''NEMESIS''! The ''Nemesis''..."
:—'''Dinobot II''' compels '''Megatron''' to give his most dramatic exposition...in this episode.

"I've no time for you, X." 
"Like you had no time for Starbase Rugby? You had friends there as I recall. Tasty ones too!"
:—'''Depth Charge''' and '''Rampage'''.

"I was [[Depth Charge (BW)|your]] assignment, and you failed!"
:—'''Rampage'''

"Raw energon! Right through your twisted spark! Take it! Take it straight to the pit, you SICKENING PIECE OF SLAG!"
:—'''Depth Charge''''s final words before killing Rampage.

==Notes==
* The death of Rampage is the only time in the series that a Maximal kills a Predacon (not for lack of trying).
* "Nemesis" was originally going to be a three-part episode, but was later compressed to two. {{fact}}
* Bob Forward and Simon Furman both worked together on the "Nemesis" outline, to the extent that it wasn't decided for a while who would be writing which part. Originally they'd had bigger, grander plans, but many of them got dropped when it was clear a fourth season wouldn't be coming. [http://www.bwint.net/interviewsimonfurman.htm]
* Apparently Cheetor can fly in his Transmetal 2 form's Beast Mode, and Depth Charge can fly in his Robot Mode.
* At the beginning of the episode, when Rattrap holds up the Covenant of Primus, the Maximal variant of [[Cybertronix]] text can be seen. It reads "7 613 were cast out with him a cork one fork and a bowl of beans between them". This presumably follows the portion of the Covenant read by Primal, Datatrack 7.613: "And a mighty warrior came down from the sky, and a rainbow was upon his head, and his feet as pillars of fire. And the great dragon was cast out onto the earth, and his followers were cast out with him."
* The copy of the Covenent of Primus on the Nemesis has the Autobot symbol on the cover.
* This is clearly the only time Waspinator refers to himself as "I." This is also (regrettably) the last time Waspinator is slagged as a participant of the Beast Wars.
*Since Transmetal 2 Megatron has his beast-mode head as a robot-mode arm as his original T-Rex body did, Megatron's... odd relationship with his hand has returned. In this two-parter, he can not only be seen petting the dragon-head, but at one point, he turns from a monitor he's watching, and his head-hand turns toward it, and actually moves back and forth as it observes the on-screen events.

===Animation or technical errors===
* When Dinobot squeezes the piece of Rampage's spark he possesses to pacify his "half-brother", his shoulder pads are missing. Also, the spark seems to float freely when it is released, in contrast to previous episodes where it was held in place by Dinobot's spark chamber.
* At the very beginning when Optimus is reciting, Cheetor is visible in the background in his normal Transmetal body, walking with Blackarachnia.
*Megatron must have had a tight fit climbing down the hatch that Dinobot found.

===Continuity errors===
*The ''Beast Wars'' retelling of the Ark's crash and the Nemesis differs from any previous version. In the original cartoon, the Decepticons used the ''Nemesis'''s tractor beam to lock onto the Ark, and it was the Autobot/Decepticon fight inside the Ark that caused it to crash. (As elaborated in "[[More than Meets the Eye, Part 1]]" and "[[Microbots]]".) In the [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|Marvel comics]], the Decepticons boarded the ship, and Optimus ''deliberately'' crashed the Ark onto Earth, in "[[The Transformers (issue)|The Transformers]]", with the ''Nemesis'' being left abandoned. (The UK comics had [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] destroy it in "[[Target: 2006]]".) As ''Beast Wars'' is intentionally not a direct continuation of any specific continuity, instead seeking to treat all previous ''Generation 1'' stories as if they were Arthurian legend, this would imply that those accounts are not canonical in this series. Alternatively, Optimus could just have the details wrong.
* The flashbacks to the battle between the Ark and the ''Nemesis'' recounted by Optimus Primal and Megatron neglect to mention that the Decepticons boarded the Ark before the crash. This was probably done either to simplify the retelling, increase the significance of the ''Nemesis'''s involvement, or both.
* The bomb Megatron left behind as a trap for the Maximals has some very curious properties. It has enough power to severely damage Silverbolt and creates a powerful energy wave that is felt by the approaching Cheetor and Tigerhawk, who are miles away (even disintegrating a butterfly in the process). However, despite all of the above, Optimus and Depth Charge suffer absolutely no ill effects from the bomb, despite being at extremely close range and having very little time (or even room, given the terrain) to run for cover. Depth Charge opened the hatch, but Silverbolt is the one who got damaged. Assuming that there was very little time to get away, Silverbolt could have jumped in front of Depth Charge to protect him (but why would he?), but it is still misleading going into the commercial break.
* How ''exactly'' did Megatron construct a bomb from scratch to begin with? With his base destroyed in the previous episode, it seems very unlikely that he would have the materials to create one on hand.

===Transformers references===
*Megatron refers to Tarantulas as [[Unicron]]'s spawn. While from the context this appears to have been a generic insult (equivalent to "bastard" or "son of a bitch"), convention-exclusive fiction like [[Primeval Dawn]] have depicted Tarantulas as a literal creation of Unicron.
*This is the first source to give the Decepticon vessel that attacked the Ark a name.
*Optimus Primal tells Depth Charge to stop Megatron "at any cost", which echoes Optimus Prime ("no matter the cost") in [[The Transformers: The Movie|the ''Transformers'' movie]] during the [[Battle of Autobot City|Decepticon siege of Autobot City]] on Earth.
*When [[Dinobot II]] cries out in pain after the death of Rampage, brief flashes of the original Dinobot's animation model can be seen as he looks upward. This possibly alludes to the plot of the unproduced episode "[[Dark Glass]]", where Rattrap uploads the original Dinobot's datatrax into the clone. For more information on that controversy, please refer to [[Dinobot II|these]] [[Dark Glass|articles]].

===Real-world references===
*Inferno calls Rampage a drone at least once in this episode. It is unknown whether the writers knew that a drone is a male ant whose main purpose is to mate with the queen, who in this case would be Megatron.
*When contacting the Maximals, Optimus encodes transmission "M Sipher", a reference to [[Greg Sepelak]].
*Silverbolt's remark "It's just a scratch" followed by the dismemberment of his arm could be a reference to the immortal line of the Black Knight in ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail''. Coincidentally, the Black Knight is able to survive [[Waspinator (BW)|fatal mutilation]].
* Inferno utilizes the classic cartoon method of hiding, appearing from behind an impossibly skinny tree.
* When Megatron powers up the Nemesis, external ship lights illuminate [[Cybertronix]] text in the Predacon variant, which spells out "Red Dwarf", a reference to the British sci-fi comedy show.

[[Category:Beast Wars episodes]]