Go with the Flow

The Predacons build a cannon that could destroy the Maximals, but requires an organic life-form to finish the construction.

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Summary

Quietly, Cheetor sneaks through the forest. He whispers his activate code to switch into his robot mode, and is ambushed by Jak, the protohuman. Cheetor laughs at his company, and the two are joined by Una, putting Cheetor in a hammer-lock. Rattrap arrives and makes fun of Cheetor's attemps to teach the primitives self-defense. Cheetor moves on to trying to instruct the kids in basic engineering principles, language, and comedy through self-abuse.

On a mountain top, Megatron's army works to assemble a new, powerful weapon capable of destroying the Maximals - but because the "bi-polar energon source" to the device is installed before the sheilding, the Predacons can't get near the machine they have erected. In order to complete the weapon, Tarantulas suggests recruiting the two educated protohumans who he happens to have been spying on.

Waspinator and Inferno attack the two Maximals. Waspinator captures Una and brings her back to Megatron. Depth charge arrives to aid his two allies against Inferno, but with one of the humans captured already, Inferno retreats. The danger gone, Cheetor radios back to the Maximal base to report on the attack. Primal calls Cheetor home and sends Depth Charge and Rattrap on a mission to retrieve the abducted infant.

En route to the Predacon development, Una recalls Cheetor's self-defense lession, and with her primitive spear, she removes several of Waspinator's wasp-mode limbs. Megatron is entirely unconcerned with the well-being of his underling, but hopes the girl is still in functional condition when she arrives. Once she is dropped off, Megatron orders the disruptor ray fired on just low enough a setting to knock Rattrap and Depth Charge out of the sky. But even at a low setting, the unfinished weapon causes harm to the Predacons, forcing Megatron to order it shut down.

Depth Charge and Rattrap crash land in a forest, lucky to be alive - but Depth Charge is no longer flight-capable. Rattrap leaves the Manta and races off on his own to finish rescuing the damsel.

Megatron begins his plot, and instructs Una on how to install the shielding the energy weapon needs in order to function. Una experiments in using the shielding plates as both fashion accessories and cuisine, but Una doesn't entirely comprehend the meaning of each of his precise instructions. After a fancy screen transition to show the passing of time, Una has completed the installing sheilding in an adorably haphazard manner. As a final step, she installs the stabilizer crystal.

Rattrap arrives to save the girl and stop Megatron, but Dinobot II prepares to devour the intruder. Tarantulas approaches Una to kill her, too. She squashes the spider by knocking over a huge piece of machinery, and then falls off her platform. Rattrap drives through Dinobot's legs and transforms in time to catch the girl. Together, the two drive out of the Predacon's territory.

At the site where Depth Charge crashed, Una helps Rattrap unearth Depth Charge by recommending he use a lever. With teamwork, they slide Depth Charge into a late, and then use the giant Maximal as a raft ride away from attacking Predacons. They escape their pursuers by falling down a waterfall, tossing mud in Waspinator's face, and letting Waspinator blindly fly into Inferno. The combined airborne mess of Predacons then lands on the Dinobot clone.

Megatron prepares to fires the disruptor canon and destroy his enemies. As the massive gun charges, the Maximals prepare for the worst. But the machine malfunctions and instead of destroying the Maximals, it explodes in place - because Una stole the stabilizer crystal. With the Predacons slagged, the Una and the two Maximals float into the sunset.

Quotes

"Sit down, and keep quiet."
"Yeah, yeah, story of my life."

-- Cheetor and Rattrap

"Waspinator want to re-negotiate contract!"

-- Waspinator, getting hacked to bits by a fleshling.

"The disruptor canon is now operational. And as it happens, our targets are right in line with the Maximal base. We shall destroy both in a single glorious onslaught of energon devastation!"

-- Megatron

Stats

Writers: Bob Forward
Original Air Date: February 18, 1999

Characters (in order of appearance): Cheetor, Jak, Una, Rattrap, Quickstrike, Tarantulas, Dinobot II, Megatron, Waspinator, Inferno, Depth Charge, Optimus Primal, Rhinox, Blackarachnia

Notes

• This episode was used in place of the planned episode Dark Glass.
• The moral of the episode is, effectively, "It's good to steal."

Technical/Animation Glitches

• When Rattrap says, "...and die horrible agonising deaths!" before they crash into the forest, Depth Charge is also mouthing the words!

Continuity Errors

• Dinobot II slices Rattrap's tail, but later it seems to be full-length as Rattrap uses it to paddle Depth Charge.

Transformers References

• Rattrap's interaction with Depth Charge is somewhat reminiscent of his ongoing rivalry with the then-recently deceased Dinobot.

Real-World References

• "This Bot tries for positive programming." "Time to change channels, frisky!" These lines reference human television.

External Links

• Link
  
  
  From Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki, a Wikia wiki.