Editing Forbidden Fruit

{{episode
|series=BMtoon
|ep=5
|image=ForbiddenFruit titlescreen.jpg
|caption=Yum! Mangoes!
|title="Forbidden Fruit"
|production company=[[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|airdate=[[October 16]], 1999
|written by=[[Steven Melching]]
|directed by=[[Trenton Carlson]]
|animation studio=[[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|continuity=[[Beast Wars continuity]]
}}
'''A mysterious bat offers a strange new energy supply, but is it a blessing or a curse?'''

==Synopsis==
In the depths of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]], the two [[technorganic]] warriors, [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] and [[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]], mock-spar in their beast modes. They are being tutored by [[Optimus Primal/Beast Wars cartoon continuity|Optimus Primal]] on finding their still point during battle so they can transform. Cheetor objects to the new, "mystical" Optimus and proclaims that he trusts his instincts. All this unfolds while they are watched by an unfamiliar set of bat eyes. Beside the more advanced Blackarachnia and Cheetor, now learning to transform in combat, [[Rattrap (BW)|Rattrap]] is still struggling with the basics of his technorganic body and relearning the transformation process—unsuccessfully. Optimus Primal tells Rattrap to have patience and just let it happen. Frustrated with his new body and his liability in combat, the rat lashes out at his leader. According to him, Primal should save his advice for the still-missing [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] and [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]].

[[Image:Forbidden Fruit Nightscream restrained.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Charlton Heston in a role that will surprise you!]]
Hurt, Optimus Primal leaves Rattrap, while the other two scold the rat for his behavior. Primal notices something up above and catches it. It's a bat, and Primal is shocked at the presence of organic life on Cybertron. Before he can examine it further, he is hit with a sonic pulse, and the creature flaps away. The Maximals pursue the bat in their beast modes through the lower regions of Cybertron before Cheetor transforms and catches the creature. As Cheetor holds the bat down, it speaks! Not only that, it—or rather, he—claims to be a Maximal.

At this point, [[Jetstorm (BM)|Jetstorm]] and his [[Aero Drone]]s appear and attack the Maximals. Optimus Primal, Cheetor, and Blackarachnia transform into combat modes, while Rattrap, unable to transform and devoid of weapons, hides. After a short clash, the Maximals run away, followed by Jetstorm, who fires a homing mine after the Maximals that the bat deflects with a sonic blast. While the Maximals take cover, the Aero Drones are destroyed by the bat, and Jetstorm vows to return. 

[[Image:Bm soundwave.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Mainframe's compensation for [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]]'s survival in [[The Transformers: The Movie|the movie]].]]
The creature, being the kind soul he is, leads the Maximals back to his hideout. On the way, Optimus Primal tells him a simplified story of the [[Beast Wars (event)|Beast Wars]], their [[reformatting]], and basically all the events leading up to the present. The bat recounts how he found himself trapped in this new form when the first [[Vehicon (BM)|Vehicon drones]] attacked Cybertron. As other robots were destroyed, he fell down a deep pit and awoke, he says, in his current, organic body. When the Maximals reach their destination, Primal is amazed at the bat's temporary home. It is a towering, organic fruit tree lodged in the metal world of Cybertron.

[[Image:Forbidden Fruit Optimus Primal tree.jpg|left|200px|thumb|I'm not really digging this new remake of ''[[King Kong]]''.]]
The creature explains that he has been eating from the tree since his transformation and offers its fruit to the others. While three of them accept, Cheetor is suspicious of the creature. While Optimus Primal tries the fruit, claiming that it may help their organic components, Cheetor retorts that he only processes [[energon]], period. Cheetor interrogates the bat and demands answers. He wants to know if the newcomer's an agent for [[Megatron (BW)/Beast Wars cartoon continuity|Megatron]], but the bat denies it, as Megatron took everything he loved away from him. Cheetor and the bat go back to the others, but the Maximals seem unresponsive and strange. Primal beats his chest and speaks in a primitive way, while Rattrap and Blackarachnia squabble over the fruit, hissing and nipping one another. The organic fruits have magnified their bestial sides, creating a mental imbalance and the eventual dominance of their animal natures.  

Amidst the chaos, Jetstorm reappears and attacks. Cheetor attempts to snap the others out of their beast mentality and get them transform. They ignore him, and he and the bat attempt to take the food away from the increasingly feral Maximals. Cheetor notices the trunk of the organic tree, transforms, and cuts it down, despite the bat's protests. This restores the affected Maximals to their old selves, and they transform and begin the fight. The bat is badly hurt by a blast from Jetstorm, and the only way to save his life is for Optimus Primal to reformat him.

[[Image:Nightscreambm.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Dammit, Mainframe. This is why nobody liked ''Beast Machines''!]]
From his chest, a brilliant white light shoots out. The bat's organic components are mixed with technology, and a technorganic bat emerges. Transforming into his new robot mode, he decimates the ranks of the Aero Drones and drains energon out of Jetstorm until the general crashes. But reformatting the creature has taken its toll on Optimus. He is severely weakened and requests Cheetor to lead while he recovers, as Cheetor was right to destroy the tree; its purely organic nature was creating imbalance in their technorganic bodies. Cheetor eagerly accepts and orders Optimus to be placed on a stretcher.

The new robot decides to travel with them and introduces himself as [[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]]. But as they leave, a fruit from the organic tree puts down roots into what appears to be organic soil!
{{--}}

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

|h2=[[Vehicon (BM)|Vehicon]]s
|c2=
*[[Jetstorm (BM)|Jetstorm]] (6)
*[[Aero Drone]]s (7)
}}

==Quotes==
"How do you expect to master your new body if you keep turning your back on the Matrix, the source of our very sparks." <br/>
"I hate to disappoint you, Big Bot, but, (grunts) in the heat of the battle, I have to follow my instincts, not ''blind faith''.
:—'''Optimus''' preaches it, but '''Cheetor''' opposes it.


"But that's impossible. How can it ''live'' down here?"<br />
"Eh, even with wings, a rat's a rat.  And we're survivors."
:—'''Blackarachnia''' and '''Rattrap''' spot a bat.


"Well, well, well.  Looks like what we have here is an unlawful assembly.  I'm afraid I'm going to have to take you boys downtown—''in pieces!''"
:—'''Jetstorm'''


"That's it! I'm through working with a bunch of empty-headed tin-plated-" [''is interrupted by Maximals''] "Ganging up on me?  Let's see how tough you are when I bring a whole battalion back!"
:—'''Jetstorm''' suffers from ADD.


"I was trying to remember how to transform.  I thought I could learn by watching him.  Like that would ever happen."<br />
"'''Like that would ever happen.'''"
:—'''Nightscream''' doesn't have a high opinion of '''Rattrap''' (or anyone else, actually).


"Sit! Eat! Get strong!"
:—'''Optimus Primal''', nutritional specialist on fruit


Cheetor: (roars)
Nightscream: Whoa, easy! I'm worried about your buddies too. I didn't know the fruit was gonna affect them like that.
Cheetor: (scoffs) Like I'm supposed to believe that. This whole thing stinks of Megatron.
Nightscream: Watch it! Megatron destroyed everything and everyone I ever cared about! Don't you EVER accuse me of--
Cheetor: Shh!
:—'''Cheetor''' and '''Nightscream''' have an argument

==Notes==
===Animation and Technical errors===
* When the Maximals escape into the underground and knock out a large metal cover blocking the tunnel, one of the bolts fallen on the ground clips through the thick metal plate as it drops down on top of it.
* When Nightscream first transforms, his beast mode noticeably separates from him, shrinks, and disappears into the space between his legs. Granted, all of the show's transformations are cheaty and unfeasible, but at least they normally make it look like the characters remain in one piece.

===Transformers references===
* During his flashback, Nightscream is seen hiding behind a Transformer that resembles [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]]. 

===Real-world references===
* As the Maximals hold down Nightscream, he looks at Optimus and cries, "Get your stinking paws off me, you big, dirty ape!", semi-quoting the famous line from the Charlton Heston film ''Planet of the Apes''.

===Trivia===
* This episode was riffed on in [[MSTF]] fashion at [[BotCon 2000]]. It is one of two ''Beast Machines'' episodes to get the MSTF treatment, the other being "[[A Wolf in the Fold]]".
* Nightscream's explanation of the upgrade removal of stasis pods is rather iffy. Apart from being obviously for plot convenience, the details really don't make a lot of sense. BW established that stasis pods provided more functions than just mere DNA scanning, including their primary one of housing sparks of unactivated transformers, specifically for long-range missions off the planet. And, as established in numerous other TF series before it, all active Transformers, even still on Cybertron, already possess alt modes upon activation, (hence the name!) thus, would have virtually zero need to have scanners built in. It just makes little sense all around.

===Continuity Notes===
*Contrary to Cheetor's line of "We don't eat, period!" throughout the Beast Wars, everyone physically ate quite often in beast mode, from Rattrap munching on garbage, to Tarantulas' eating of live animals, to even other Transformers.

===Foreign localization===
'''French'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Le Fruit Défendu'''" ("The Forbidden Fruit")


:*''Title:'' "'''Fruit Défendu'''" ("Forbidden Fruit")


'''Japanese'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Kindan no Kajitsu'''" (禁断の果実, "Forbidden Fruit")
:*''Original airdate:'' [[November 20]], [[2004]]


'''Spanish'''
:*''Title:'' "'''El Fruto Prohibido'''" ("The Forbidden Fruit")

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote}}
;DVD
[[Image:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 2004 — ''Super Lifeform Transformers: Beast Wars Returns'' — Volume 2 ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Geneon Entertainment]]) — Japanese audio only.<br>
[[Image:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2006 — ''Beast Machines: Transformers'' — The Complete Series ([[Rhino Entertainment|Rhinomation]])<br>
[[Image:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2007 — ''Transformers: Beast Machines'' — Season One: Volume One ([[Sony]])<br>
[[Image:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2007 — ''Transformers: Beast Machines'' — Season One: Volume One — Reformatting (Sony)<br>
[[Image:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2007 — ''Transformers: Beast Machines'' — Complete Season One (Sony)<br>
[[Image:Flag of France.png|20px|France]] 2009 — ''Transformers: Beast Machines'' — Intégrale Saison 1 (Sony) — French audio only.

[[Category:Beast Machines episodes]]
[[Category:MSTF]]