Crossing the Rubicon

2019-01-18T03:09:07Z

RoseFan84: /* Trivia */

{{episode
|series=BWtoon
|ep=48
|image=Crossing the Rubicon title shot.JPG
|caption=Man, female characters just can't catch a break.
|title="Crossing the Rubicon"
|production company= [[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|airdate= [[February 22]], 1999
|written by= [[D. C. Fontana]]
|directed by= [[Trenton Carlson]]
|animation studio= [[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|continuity= [[Beast Wars continuity]]
}}

'''After she experiments with the Transmetal Driver, Blackarachnia's core consciousness begins to crash.'''

==Synopsis==
[[Image:Crossing the Rubicon Blackarachnia driver.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Seriously, they never do get a break.]]
Some distance from [[Mount St. Hilary]], [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] is setting up some equipment that will convert her into a [[Transmetal 2]]. However, [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] detects Blackarachnia's [[energy signature]], and, not understanding, pulls her from the machine. As Blackarachnia berates Silverbolt, she short circuits. Heading to the [[Maximal]] base, Rhinox concludes that the [[shell program]] is starting to degrade, and will erase her [[core consciousness]] if not treated soon. He can remove the shell, but it's never been done before.

Wandering off to think, Blackarachnia is followed by Silverbolt. She maintains that she's still a [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]], and that becoming a Maximal scares her. Silverbolt points out that she's only a Predacon due to [[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]], and deep down, she is one of the good guys. The touching moment is ruined when Blackarachnia short circuits again.

[[Image:Shell program.JPG|right|200px|thumb|Nice-looking arcade game.]]
In the lab, Blackarachnia has decided to go through with the procedure. Before she does, there is one last thing to do: transfer the access codes to the [[Ark (G1)|Ark]] to [[Optimus Primal (BW)/Beast Wars cartoon continuity|Optimus Primal]], thinking that he'd have the best chance to keep them from [[Megatron (BW)/Beast Wars cartoon continuity|Megatron]]. They begin the shell removal, but it has safe guards that will destroy Blackarachnia's core consciousness. Rhinox is able to destroy the first one. At his [[Tarantulas's lair|lair]], Tarantulas discovers the removal process. He contacts Megatron, informing him of the situation. Megatron notes that such an act risks destroying [[Teletraan I|Teletron 1]]'s access codes, and concludes that she gave them to Primal. Tarantulas informs Megatron of his safeguards, but the Predacon leader decides to cause a little more trouble.

[[Image:Crossing the Rubicon Blackarachnia dead.jpg|left|200px|thumb|By Grabthar's hammer, you shall be ''avenged!'']]
[[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]], [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]], and [[Quickstrike (BW)|Quickstrike]] are sent under Tarantulas to attack the Maximals. Optimus leads [[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] and [[Rattrap (BW)|Rattrap]] in the defense of the base. Rhinox is almost finished, but two more power surges head for her core consciousness. Rhinox blasts one, but Tarantulas fires a rocket which causes Rhinox to miss the other surge, which hits Blackarachnia's core consciousness and extinguishes her [[spark]]. Rhinox leaves to inform Optimus and allow Silverbolt to be alone. Upon leaving, Silverbolt snarls out "Tarantulas…".

[[Image:Crossing the Rubicon Blackarachnia TM beast.jpg|right|200px|thumb|She's back and she's...blue?]]
Detecting that his creation is dead, Tarantulas orders the Predacons to break off, as Rhinox tells the others. Gathering around Blackarachnia, they express their regrets over not giving her their full trust, if only for Silverbolt's sake. As Rattrap notices that the Fuzor is absent, Primal realizes what he's planning to do, and the Maximals head to stop him. Unseen, the Transmetal Driver begins to glow. Tracking down Tarantulas, Silverbolt easily defeats him and, with the villain unconscious, prepares to execute him. However, Rampage has been watching this and defeats Silverbolt. Preparing to strike the killing blow, Rampage is stopped—by Blackarachnia, now a Transmetal 2. Blackarachnia quickly defeats Rampage, and takes Silverbolt back to base.

In the control room, Blackarachnia explains to the Maximals that she saw only darkness, then a light, and thought Silverbolt was in danger. Primal points out that her actions weren't very Maximal, but Silverbolt express their gratitude at her return. Blackarachnia warns Silverbolt to stop rushing after her, but to show no hard feelings, [[kiss]]es him, sending a power surge through him and disorienting him.

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|h1=[[Maximal]]s|c1=
*[[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] (1)
*[[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] (2)
*[[Optimus Primal (BW)/Beast Wars cartoon continuity|Optimus Primal]] (3)
*[[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] (4)
*[[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] (5)
*[[Rattrap (BW)|Rattrap]] (6)

|h2=[[Predacon (BW)|Predacons]]|c2=
*[[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]] (7)
*[[Megatron (BW)/Beast Wars cartoon continuity|Megatron]] (8)
*[[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]] (9)
*[[Quickstrike (BW)|Quickstrike]] (10)
*[[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] (11)
}}

==Quotes==
"Oh, yeah. Sure. Like you were gonna help the Pred get more power." 
"Maximal or Predacon, you're one of us! You should know that by now."
:—'''Blackarachnia''' and '''Optimus Primal'''

'''Rhinox''': How do you feel? 
'''Blackarachnia''': Like someone's been playing 'squash the spider' with an energon bomb.
:—'''Blackarachnia''' gives a cheery view of her symptoms.

"See you soon, boys... if you're lucky."
:—'''Blackarachina''' says what she thinks may be her final words.

"Ahh, the avenging hero!"
:—'''Tarantulas''' on Silverbolt's attack

"Ah, such pain. I must help ''deepen'' it."
:—'''Rampage''', spying on Silverbolt

"Not a very Maximal approach." 
"Even if I'm good, I'm still bad."
:—'''Optimus Primal''' and '''Blackarachnia'''

==Notes==
===Animation and technical errors===
*Just as in "[[Proving Grounds]]", when Blackarachnia sits up in the scanning machine, the spider legs on her arms are missing.
*Each of the "wires" connecting the Predacon shell program to Blackarachnia's core consciousness has only one base point where they connect to the shell program. However, when Rhinox destroys the first link, the barely-visible link in the background also turns blue-only the near one should do so.
*When the Predacons are attacking the Maximal base, Primal first has his blast shields on his shoulders while talking to Rattrap. Then, when the camera goes back to Optimus, his blast shields are on his forearms, where they are in every one of his modes ''except'' robot mode.
*Rattrap's forearm compartments are rendered differently here, and are notably wonky-looking.

===Continuity errors===
*Throughout season 3 (not just in this episode), pre-Transmetal Blackarachnia appears to have battle damage (grey areas) which disappear when she's in the base. The damage extent also seems inconsistent, but in the same areas. Did she get into a fight between getting checked into the base and talking with Silverbolt outside? Or does the bright light of the base conceal her damaged body?
*Optimus Primal says "Maximize" despite already being in battle mode. Instead, he changes to flight mode. Previously, he has said "Optimus Primal—Flight Mode" to do this.
*Optimus Primal says that going off on your own isn't a very Maximal thing to do. Clearly, he hasn't been paying attention, since [[The Web|Cheetor, Rattrap]], [[The Agenda (Part 2)|Silverbolt]], [[Deep Metal|Depth Charge]], and [[Fallen Comrades|Tigatron]] have all done so at one point or another.

===Continuity notes===
*Blackarachnia's invention at the start of the episodes appears to be a replica of the cloning device Megatron built in "[[Feral Scream Part 1]]".
*This episode sees the culmination of Blackarachnia's plan to acquire a Transmetal upgrade, a character arc that was first foreshadowed in "[[Cutting Edge]]" and touched on with varying degrees of subtlety over the next few episodes.
*Megatron's "bath time [[Rubber Ducky|rubber duckie]]" is seen again in this episode, but it has undergone a slight makeover. It now has metallic rings around it and an antenna on its head, probably a reference to the Transformers' Transmetal changes.
*Megatron refers to Tarantulas as "lieutenant", a reference to his rank in the Predacon secret police.
*After Tarantulas deduces that Blackarachnia transmitted the ''Ark''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s access codes to Optimus, Megatron notes that "fits in nicely with our little plan for him." That foreshadows [[Master Blaster|the next episode]].
*Silverbolt isn't just trying to kill Tarantulas, he's trying to kill Tarantulas after the guy is already unconscious and utterly helpless. This is a jarringly ruthless move, and although it seemingly clashes with his chivalrously goofy personality, it foreshadows a [[In Darkest Knight|later development]] in ''[[Beast Machines: Transformers (cartoon)|Beast Machines]]''.
*Gadgets and powers:
**Rampage carries a telescope.
*This episode contains the second instance of Inferno getting slagged while assaulting the Maximal Base. This time (and the next) by an Auto-cannon.

===Transformers references===
*Blackarachnia describes her near-death experience as first seeing darkness, followed by a light. While this might just be a reference to real-world individuals who have undergone such an experience, [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] described a very similar experience in "[[Dark Awakening (episode)|Dark Awakening]]".

===Real-world references===
*The Rubicon is a river in [[Italy]]. During the Roman Republic era, it was illegal for a Roman general to have his army cross it, thus protecting Rome from a military threat. [[Julius Caesar]] crossed it and started a civil war which would eventually lead to Rome switching from a republic to an empire. During this, he uttered, "Alea iacta est", Latin for "the die is cast". Today, "crossing the Rubicon" is an idiom meaning to go past the point of no return.
*When Blackarachnia goes offline, a flatline, as one from hospital monitoring equipment, can be heard in the background.
*The Maximals seem to treat Blackarachnia's shell program as a cancerous brain tumor, as evidenced by Rhinox's description of it and the risky surgery to remove it.
*Rattrap sings a fragment of "{{w|Pop Goes the Weasel}}" as he takes out Rampage.
*Blackarachnia's spark produces a sound that's very similar to an electronic heartbeat. It even quickens and slows down at different points.

===Trivia===
*The episode was written by acclaimed Star Trek franchise Alumni [[D.C. Fontana]] who would contribute scripts and serve as a story consultant to multiple incarnations of the TV series throughout the 1960s to the 1980s, as well as go on to write for various ST video games, comics, and even fan-projects.
*"Proving Grounds" had Blackarachnia concluding that she's "fine with the way she is." Oh, really?
*The Predacons' plan involved the whole Predacon army in a coordinated effort with the sole purpose to kill an incapacitated Blackarachnia so she stays dead. When you think about it, that's one of the more openly diabolical schemes in a cartoon that usually involves battles where the losers limp home to [[CR chamber]]s.
**The viciousness of this is driven home by a monologue by Rampage: ''"Such profound sorrow... I must deepen it!"''
*The missile Tarantulas fires to finally disrupt Blackarachnia's surgery bears a "[[w:No_symbol|No]] Maximals" symbol on its nose cone.
*Once again, the mysterious Transmetal Driver gives us a ''[[w:deus ex machina|deus ex machina]]'' at its finest- once Blackarachnia's Transmetallization plan goes wrong, Rhinox's antivirus program fails, and she's left for dead, the Driver activates, brings her back to life, and gives her a Transmetal 2 body... because...?
*Don't ever piss off Silverbolt.

===Foreign localization===
'''French'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Le Passage'''" (Canada, "The Passage")

'''Italian'''
:*''Title:'' '''Addio Arachnia''' ("Goodbye Arachnia")

'''Japanese'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Pikapikā Sha!'''" (ぴかぴかーしゃ!, "Sssshiny!")
:*''Original airdate:'' [[February 23]] [[2000]]
::*The hissing noise "ssha" was Blackarachnia's verbal tic in the Japanese dub of ''Beast Wars'', indicating she is the one speaking the title.

'''Portuguese'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Atravessando o Rubicon'''" ("Crossing the Rubicon")

'''Spanish'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Cambiando de Bando'''" (America, "Switching Sides")

'''Mandarin'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Shēngsǐ Yīxiàntiān '''" (生死一线天, "The Line that Linked Life and Death")

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote}}
;VHS
[[Image:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 2000 — ''Beast Wars: Super Lifeform Transformers: Metals'' — Sssshiny! ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Pioneer LDC]]) — Japanese audio only. 
[[Image:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2000 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — Volume 3 ([[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 USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2004 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — The Complete Third Season ([[Rhino Entertainment|Rhinomation]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2011 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — Seasons 2 & 3 ([[Shout! Factory]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2011 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory) 
[[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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Crossing the Rubicon