Call of the Wild

Template:Episodenav Writers: Bob Forward

The Predacons steal the Axalon's rectifier coil which causes the Maximals to revert into a more feral state.

Characters (in order of appearance): Cheetor, Scorponok, Tarantulas, Optimus Primal, Rhinox, Rattrap, Dinobot, Megatron, Waspinator, Terrorsaur, Airazor, Blackarachnia, Inferno, Tigatron

Original Air Date: January 7, 1997

Summary

A Cheetah enthusiastically chases at some wildlife, before the ground around it breaks up and the Cheetah 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 alert him of a Predacon attack. Dinobot takes Cheetor outside to battle the attackers.

Primal exits the Maxima;s' control room via the roof hatch, but Waspinator and Terrorsaur grab a piece of Maximal hardware and retreat with the other Predacons. A well-placed rocket from Megatron prevents Primal from chasing the fliers and Airazor is just able to catch the Maximal leader before he's harmed from an impact with the ground - but lowering Primal after taking a hit from Terrorsaur serious 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 be stuck in Beast Mode. Meanwhile, the Predacons, after an uncharacteristically successful mission, enjoy a hearty laugh together.

Days later, Rhinox interrupts a dream Primal has (of being a real ape) to mention that Predacons are still haunting the local area. Rattrap suffes frustration from his Beast Mode's diminutive size. 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 slumber and hope Tigatron soon arrives to teach his allies how to tolerate being stuck as animals.

in his dreams, Primal is tormenting by eyes glowing in the dark. Dinobot dreams of hunting animals from the wrong continent, and Rattrap dreams of rat stuff. The dreams overpower their creators and the maximals awaken, trapped in the mindsets of the creaters they pretend to be. The animals all eventually exit their base. His foe's intellect gone, Megatron and the Predacons begins 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 recitfier coil is under no protection she can't destroy.

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. Tigatron explains how the schism that exists between the Maximal's two modes is a side effect of a programming block, and as long as that program exists, the animal identies and the maximal identities will never reach cohesion. Now embracing the beast 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.

Quotes

Airazor: She stoops to conquer!

Rattrap: Rat. Robot. Rat. Robot. I'm a robot - and a rat! Yeaah, I like it!
Dinobot: Hrmf, I do not see why.

Notes

• In his beast dream, Dinobot is chasing a Parasaurolophus. While his toy bios and a previous statement from Rattrap seem to establish that Dinobot's beast mode as a Velociraptor, scaled up to match Dinobot's size, that would make Dinobot's Mongolian beast mode quite a traveler in order to instinctively hunt a North American Hadrosaur -- which, by the way, was waaay to small for a Parasaurolophus (it couldn't have been a juvenile because of it's sporting a distinct crest only characteristic of adults).

• This episode may or may not get it's title from the name of a song by Deep Purple.

• This episode explores many themes that several of the same characters would later explore in Beast Machines. The idea of the Maximals taking more basic personalities because of their beast modes is used in the episode Forbidden Fruit.
  
  
  From Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki, a Wikia wiki.