Optimal Situation

2012-01-24T16:56:27Z

70.49.126.66: /* Notes */

{{episode
|series=BWtoon
|ep=40
|series2=Metals
|ep2=13
|next2=Where Is the Banana?
|title="Optimal Situation"
|image=Optimal Optimus.JPG
|caption=[[Trukk not munky|Trukk ''and'' munky]].
|production code=
|production company=[[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|writer=[[Bob Forward]]
|director=[[Steve Sacks]]
|animation studio=[[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|airdate=[[October 24]], 1998
|continuity=[[Beast Wars continuity]]
}}
'''With Optimus Prime in critical condition after Megatron's attack, Optimus Primal takes on his spark to save the timestream.'''

==Synopsis==
[[Image:Smelt Prime.JPG|left|150px|thumb|Smelts in your mouth, not in your hand.]]
As a time storm ravages reality, [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] gloats to the fading [[Maximal]]s, since his attack on [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] ensures that the [[Autobot]]s lose to the [[Decepticon]]s, resulting in the [[Predacon (BW)|Predacons]] having control of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. However, [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]], having been a Maximal protoform, is also affected by the time storm. She uses the information from the [[Golden Disk (Voyager)|Golden Disk]] to activate [[Teletraan I (G1)|Teletraan I]]'s security system, forcing Megatron out of the [[Ark (G1)|Ark]].

[[Image:OptimusPrimal OpSit Matrixspark.jpg|right|150px|thumb|It's not the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]]. We swear.]]
Blackarachnia and [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] activate the Ark's repair systems to help stabilize Optimus Prime's condition, but the [[Prime (rank)|Autobot leader]] is still dying, and "reality is still in flux". The other Maximals arrive, and upon seeing Prime, realize that they must save him. However, his spark is fading. Believing there is no other choice, Optimus Primal merges his spark with Prime's to save it. He succeeds, and [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] summons an [[Autobot repair device]] to begin restoring Prime's body. Holding Prime's spark causes Primal to expand into a new, larger body.

Megatron and [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] arrive and attack, though Primal manages to save the Maximals and convince the Predacons to leave, while Blackarachnia uses the commotion to escape. Outside, [[Waspinator]] provides cover fire by shooting the rocks above the Ark. The Predacons destroy the cave entrance and flee, but Megatron notices a trapped Blackarachnia. Enraged by her betrayal, Megatron shoots her as the Maximals break free. Knowing that they are heading for the unprotected ''[[Axalon (BW)|Axalon]]'', Primal and [[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] race off.

[[Image:BWSilverbolt Blackarachnia OptimalSituation.jpg|left|150px|thumb|Ug, gag unto me with a spoon.]]
As Silverbolt cradles the damaged Blackarachnia, he begs her to fight on and praises her defiance of Megatron. She maintains that what she did was self-preservation, but Silverbolt points out that she also saved him and the universe. He openly admits to Blackarachnia that he loves her, shocking her. While there's still time, Silverbolt asks her one last time to join the Maximals. Although she maintains that she's still a Predacon, Blackarachnia joins the Maximals for him, then goes off-line. However, Rhinox reveals that she's merely in [[Stasis lock|stasis lock]].

Primal and Cheetor manage to down Megatron, Inferno, and Waspinator, but Primal discovers that [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]] and the [[Arachnoid]]s are literally trying to drag the base away. Optimus manages to sever the lines and dispatch Rampage, but not before Rampage fires a missile which deflects off Primal and hits the ''Axalon''. The ''Axalon'' plummets off the cliff and crashes into the river. Knowing that he must return Prime's spark, Optimus withdraws with Cheetor to rejoin the Maximals.

[[Image:Optimusx2.JPG|right|150px|thumb|And in four million years, he'll tell [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] he had the strangest [[Humanization#Sleep|dream]].]]
Back in the Ark, the repairs are finished. Returning the spark causes Optimus Prime to reactivate briefly, but he almost immediately returns to stasis lock. [[Rattrap]] is less than happy, as they now have the difficult task of protecting the Ark from the Predacons. With the time stream safe—for the moment—Optimus orders the Maximals, including Blackarachnia (who still maintains she's a Predacon), to begin rounding up every piece of salvage and make fortifications.

They're moving into [[Mount St. Hilary]].
{{--}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|h1=[[Maximal]]s|c1=
*[[Optimus Primal]] (1)
*[[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] (2)
*[[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] (4)
*[[Rattrap]] (5)
*[[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]](6)

|h2=[[Predacon (BW)|Predacons]]|c2=
*[[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] (3)
*[[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] (7)
*[[Waspinator]] (9)
*[[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] (10)
*[[Quickstrike (BW)|Quickstrike]] (11)
*[[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]] (12)
*[[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]] (13)
*[[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] (14)

|h3=[[Autobot]]s|c3=
*[[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] (8)
}}

==Quotes==
"You wouldn't dare fire in here! It might upset history." 
"We'd have four million years to clean you off the walls, Megatron. I ''might'' risk it."
:—'''Megatron''' and '''Optimus Primal''' are badasses.

'''Megatron:''' This is not the end of it, Optimal Optimus. Nooo. The universe cowered once at the name of Megatron, and it shall do so again! 
'''Optimus:''' Freedom is the right of all sentient beings, Megatron. 
'''Megatron:''' Then they'd better stay out of my way! 
'''Rattrap:''' Oh, fer bootin' up cold! Will you just shoot him? 
'''Optimus:''' I'm trying not to resort to that.
:—The 'bots talk smack.

"Jumping gyros, Optimus sure learns a new body fast!" 
"Well wha'd ya expect? He ''changes'' 'em often enough!"
:—'''Cheetor''' and '''Rattrap''', who gets a rim shot.

"Blackarachnia, dark poison of my heart, abide with me yet a while." 
"You got a way with words there, Rover. You almost make me wish I was a better girl."
:—'''Silverbolt''' and '''Blackarachnia''' have a touching moment. Rattrap is probably on the verge of puking or shooting them.

==Notes==
*There is a real-life reason why the Axalon was destroyed; simply because Optimus in his new form would simply not fit in it. And when the new base is formed with the front of the Axalon, Optimus is seemingly just barely ceiling level.
*Optimus runs through all four of his new body's modes within a few minutes of its debut. (His beast mode is easy to miss, but he uses it when he shields the other Maximals from the Predacons' weapons fire.)
* Primal's voice becomes noticeably deeper when he takes on his new form, as well as gaining an additional flanging effect. One might think the change is related to having old John Wayne-voice Optimus Prime within him, but both changes remain after Prime's spark is restored, so apparently it's just from being bigger and more metally. The deeper voice would vanish in future episodes, however.
*Blackarachnia opposes Megatron's plan to wipe the Autobots from history because she was a Maximal protoform. Technically, Quickstrike, Inferno, and (arguably) Rampage all count as Maximal protoforms too, but they don't oppose Megatron's plan because Quickstrike's ignorant, Inferno's crazy, and Rampage doesn't have a say in the matter (and is also crazy).

===Animation and technical errors===
*When Rhinox slaps Rattrap for cracking wise over Optimus Prime's ruined state, his green understructure clips through the gold surface of the lower rhinoceros jaw that covers his chest.
*When the camera pans around Prime to show the repairs starting to be made, the Autobot insignia inside his chest is upside-down.
*When Megatron and Inferno fire at the Maximals inside the Ark, it takes surprisingly lot of time for the projectiles to reach their targets - enough to let Primal throw his arm shields in the air, transform, catch them, leap in front of his comrades and provide cover for them.
*When Primal first transforms into his jet mode, the cockpit is empty, but should house Prime's spark.
*After the Predacons leave the ''Ark'', Inferno, who looked like a zombie in the scene before (and after being apparently vaporized two episodes prior), is now in mint condition.
*During Primal and Cheetor's aerial attack on the fleeing Predacons, the cat's flight-mode jets are not deployed as he swoops closer to "camera" in the medium shot following his initial approach, but well before he transforms.
*As the ''Axalon'' is being dragged off of the cliff, the bottom of it can be seen. However it is completely flat at the rear; the engines are not there at all.
*In the Brazilian dub, Rampage is called "Destruição", but his name is "Violência". "Destruição" is Ravage's name.

===Continuity errors===
[[Image:Sparkholderprimevaldawn.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Geekery.]]
*The "spark container" which held Optimus Prime's spark was hauntingly similar to the [[Matrix of Leadership]]. According to [[Ben Yee]]'s [http://www.bwtf.com/bw/tvshow/episodes/seasonthree/os/ site], the Mainframe animators used Optimus Prime's death sequence from "[[The Transformers: The Movie]]" as a visual reference and used the Matrix's design as a spark container because they didn't know its significance. This, of course, leads us to ask the question: How do you get involved with ''Transformers'' and not know the most important McGuffin in the entire continuity?
** "[[Primeval Dawn]]" later explained the Matrix-shaped spark container as being a [[Decoy|decoy]] Matrix constructed to sit in front of the real Matrix.
** Or Rhinox's "his spark has the Matrix with it" line could suggest that while he held the Matrix, the Matrix seen in ''Beast Wars'' was the Matrix and not a decoy. Consider that in ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'', Prime didn't give the Matrix to Ultra Magnus until after he had died. Look, just watch the episode, okay?
*Optimus was briefly knocked out after deflecting the missile and falling to the ground. However he is awake to watch the ''Axalon'' teeter back and forth and eventually fall off the cliff. One wonders why he couldn't have stopped it. After all, in his original form, he was able to slow the ship's descent to keep it from crashing in the episode "[[Victory (episode)|Victory]]". One would think that his much larger and more powerful form would be enough actually to lift the ship up.
**On the other hand, he may not have wanted to leave himself (or more importantly, Prime's spark) exposed to Rampage. Considering the fact that the ''Axalon'' fell in the first place because Primal was trying to protect his ancestor's spark, it seems like the most logical in-universe explanation.
* Although the kinds of relative damage that can cause [[Death|fatal]] injury is [[Waspinator (BW)|notoriously]] [[Dinobot (BW)|inconsistent]] in ''Beast Wars'' (and the wider franchise in general), it is particularly strange that Ravage is killed outright by the explosion that traveled the length of the ship before consuming him, whereas Tarantulas was literally at the epicenter of the blast and yet was easily cobbled back together by his [[Arachnoid]]s. To be fair, perhaps Ravage could have been just as readily reassembled had anyone bothered to do so, although if so this raises the question of why no-one did... (or, at least, not until [[Ravage_%28G1%29#3H_Universe_comics|the]] [[Ravage_%28G1%29#IDW_Beast_Wars_comics|comics]]).

===Transformers references===
[[Image:OptimalSituation Tarantulas insignia.jpg|thumb|right|200px]]
* The [[Arachnoid]]s seen in this episode sport a special Tarantulas [[insignia]], which they possess in all of their appearances from now on.
*After Optimus Prime's spark is returned to him, he reactivates, but almost immediately returns to [[stasis lock]]. The [[Binaltech#Binaltech_2|''Binaltech'' story]] chapter supplied with BT-22 Convoy establishes that Optimus Prime was at least partly aware of both the spark transfer and Optimus Primal.
*When confronting Megatron on the ''Ark'''s bridge, Optimus Primal tells Megatron, "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings," the motto of Optimus Prime. When informed by [[Ben Yee]] about this fact during the [[Madman Entertainment]] ''Beast Wars'' Season 3 DVD commentary for this episode, writer Bob Forward confessed that up to this point he had no idea, and the phrase was simply something he'd picked up from the alt.toys.transformers newsgroup.
* Later, Optimus Primal tells the Maximals to "transform and [[Roll out|roll out]]."

===Real-world references===
* The [[Autobot repair device]] used that fits over Prime's head unfurls in a distinctively layered fashion reminiscent of the exploding mask worn by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the film [[wikipedia:Total Recall| Total Recall]].

===Foreign localization===
'''French'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Situation Optimal'''" (Canada, "Optimal Situation")

'''Italian'''
:*''Title:'' "'''L'alba di una nuova era'''" ("The Dawn of a New Age")

'''Japanese'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Ōkiku Na~re'''" (大きくな～れ, "Gro~w Bigger")

'''Portuguese'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Situação Optimal'''" ("Optimal Situation")

'''Spanish'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Situación Óptima'''" ("Optimal Situation")

:*''Title:'' "'''Situación Optima'''" (America, "Optimal Situation")

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote}}
;VHS
[[Image:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 2000 — ''Beast Wars: Super Lifeform Transformers: Metals'' — Groooww Bigger ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Pioneer LDC]]) — Japanese audio only. 
[[Image:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2000 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — Free Video ([[Universal]])
;DVD
[[Image:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 2000 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers: Metals'' — DVD Box 2 (Pioneer LDC) — English and Japanese audio. 
[[Image:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2004 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — Vol. 1 (Universal) 
[[Image:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2004 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — The Complete Third Season ([[Rhino Entertainment|Rhinomation]]) 
[[Image:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2006 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — Season 3 ([[Madman Entertainment]]) 
[[Image:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2009 — ''The Transformers: Beast Wars'' — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)

[[Category:Beast Wars episodes]]

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Optimal Situation