Call of the Wild

« Beast Wars: Transformers ep 19 »
Scopes munky trial?
"Call of the Wild"
Production company	Mainframe Entertainment
Airdate	January 7, 1997
Written by	Bob Forward
Directed by	Jonathan Goodwill
Animation studio	Mainframe Entertainment
Continuity	Beast Wars continuity

The Predacons steal the rectifier coil from the Maximal base, which causes the Maximals to revert into a more feral state.

French-Canadian title: Appel Sauvage

Japanese title: よみがえれビーストパワー! (Yomigaere Beast Power!, "Revive, Beast Power!")

Latin-American title: El Llamado de la Bestia

Italian title: Il richiamo della foresta

Synopsis

A cheetah enthusiastically chases some antelopes, when the ground around it breaks up and it is sent falling into hot lava. Before the cat gets burned, the sequence ends, revealed to be a dream of Cheetor's. Cheetor awakens from his nightmare in time to hear the alarms triggered by a Predacon assault. As the other Maximals prepare Sentinel, Dinobot drags Cheetor outside to battle.

What do we do about the slime?

Primal exits the Maximals' control room via the roof hatch, but is unable to prevent Waspinator and Terrorsaur from grabbing a piece of Maximal hardware off the roof and retreating with the other Predacons. A well-placed rocket from Megatron prevents Primal from chasing the fliers. Airazor is just able to catch the Maximal leader before he crashes into the ground, but lowering Primal after taking a hit from Terrorsaur seriously taxes Airazor's systems. On the upside, the Predacons are no longer attacking.

Inside the base, recuperating, the Maximals suddenly feel the harmful effects of Energon build-up. Rhinox explains that without the rectifier coil the Predacons stole, the Maximals will have to stay in Beast Mode. Meanwhile, the Predacons, after an uncharacteristically successful mission, enjoy a hearty laugh together.

The Maximals look on as Michael Bay attempts to direct a scene.

Days later, Rhinox interrupts a dream Primal has (of being a real ape) to mention that Predacons are still haunting the local area. Rattrap suffers frustration from his Beast Mode's diminutive size and limb length. Primal and Rattrap almost get into a fight with each other, their minds suffering from bestial traits leaking into their personalities, but Rhinox lays down the line. Once the Preds leave, the Maximals take some much-needed rest.

Be very, very quiet. We're hunting Maxies.

In his dreams, Primal is tormented by eyes glowing in the dark, Dinobot dreams of hunting surprisingly tiny hadrosaurs, and Rattrap dreams of rat stuff. The dreams overpower their respective dreamers, and the Maximals awaken, trapped in the mindsets of the creatures whose forms they wear. The animals all eventually exit their base. Their foes' intellects gone, Megatron and the Predacons begin their hunt.

Airazor exits the CR Chamber to meet Tigatron in the empty Maximal base. Tigatron resolves to reform his Maximal companions before they're killed, while Airazor has her own mission. She heads to the unoccupied Predacon base, deftly dodging the automated defenses. Inside, the rectifier coil is under no protection she can't destroy.

Peter Jackson likely watched this episode.

In the jungle, Tigatron comes to face the feral Cheetor and Rhinox. The two follow him for reasons their animal minds don't comprehend. Next Tigatron recruits the primal Optimus into his party, and finally Dinobot and Rattrap. His friends gathered, Tigatron speaks to the dormant minds of his friends. He explains how the schism that exists between the Maximals' two modes is a side effect of a programming block, and as long as that program exists, the animal and Maximal identities will never reach cohesion. Now embracing the beasts within, the restored Maximals are ready to "Slag some bot!"

Primal swings Megatron off of his throne as the two Maximal cats tackle the two Predacon goons who were carrying their leader. Dinobot's raptor mode conquers Blackarachnia. Rhinox knocks over a tree to ground the Predacon fliers, and a ratball special puts Rattrap into position to pump gunfire into Terrorsaur. After the Predacons start to feel the effects of Energon build-up, Megatron orders a retreat.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Maximals	Predacons
Cheetor (1) Optimus Primal (4) Rhinox (5) Rattrap (6) Dinobot (7) Airazor (12) Tigatron (14)	Scorponok(2) Tarantulas (3) Megatron (8) Waspinator (9) Terrorsaur (10) Blackarachnia (11) Inferno (13)

Quotes

"Man, I swear them polka-dots go clear through to the brain."

—Rattrap on Cheetor.

"Trouble with the neighbours again."

—Airazor spots the Axalon under attack.

"Predacons, fall back!"
"Now he tells me!"

—Megatron's order comes a wee bit too late to save Tarantulas.

"Hunting from the air with automatic weapons—now that's a sport!"

—Terrorsaur

"She stoops to conquer!"

—Airazor shows some wit.

"Rat...robot. Rat...robot. I'm a robot and a rat! Yeahh, I like it!"
"Hrmf, I do not see why."

—Rattrap and Dinobot

"Remember, do not fight your beast instincts. Let them help your robot forms both in battle and in peace. But for now, let us maximize (transforms into robot mode), AND SLAG SOME BUTT!"

—Tigatron delivers solid advice.

Other notes

Continuity errors

• In one of the bigger continuity errors in Beast Wars—because it is actually in the spoken dialogue and not a result of careless animation or time-filling sound edits—Megatron says his plan is contingent on his research of Maximal programming, and Tigatron later confirms the existence of this specifically Maximal weakness. So why is Dinobot affected at all?

Other errors

• In his beast dream, Dinobot—supposedly experiencing the instincts of his beast mode, Asia's Velociraptor—dreams of chasing what appears to be a Parasaurolophus, which only lived in the Americas and which furthermore is portrayed as far too small. Since the creature is never actually named, it may be taken as representing a different dinosaur species as-yet-undiscovered.

Real-world references

• The episode was likely named after Jack London's 1903 novel The Call of the Wild.
• Airazor's "she stoops to conquer" line is a double reference: first, and most obviously, to 1773 play She Stoops to Conquer, and secondly to a stoop, which is the dive of a bird of prey. Some people do not get it.

Miscellaneous trivia

• This episode marks the only use of Megatron's right arm-mounted missile launcher, which fires from the same port the laser beam emanates from. What is with Transformers and the one-use weapons?
• This episode explores many themes that several of the same characters would later explore in Beast Machines. The idea of the Maximals taking on more bestial personalities because of their beast modes is used in the episode "Forbidden Fruit". A similar concept would have been touched on in the unproduced Beast Wars episode "A Greater Ape".
• When the Maximal computer announces that the Predacons are withdrawing from the area, text in the Maximal version of the Cybertronix language scrolls by the bottom of the screen, and more text flashes in blue in the middle of the screen. The blue flashing text reads "area clear", and the text on the bottom reads "its been a long time since ive had sweet thistle pie".