The Catalyst

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File:Catalyst titlescreen.jpg Looks like Rumble had a bit of a run in with Lockdown.
"The Catalyst"
Production company	Mainframe Entertainment
Airdate	December 11, 1999
Written by	Robert N. Skir Marty Isenberg
Directed by	Steve Sacks
Animation studio	Mainframe Entertainment
Continuity	Beast Wars continuity

Rattrap uses a catalyst program to accelerate the growth of the plants at the Maximal stronghold, and Blackarachnia learns the truth about Thrust.

Japanese title: 生命の水 (Seimei no Mizu, "The Water of Life")

Synopsis

Now with 500x the iron of normal vegetables!

The Maximals have set up a system to keep their orchard supplied with the organic goo provided by Cybertron, and are holding a memorial service for Rhinox, unaware that they're being spied on by Tankor. Tankor is also spying on Megatron, who asks Jetstorm and Thrust what happened to the third of his Vehicon generals prior to his apparent death. The Diagnostic Drone informs Megatron about the discovery of the Key to Vector Sigma, and the (decoy) Tankor's subsequent overloading while using it. The Drone suggests attaching copies of the Key to the drones and using them to purge Cybertron of all organic matter. When Megatron asks what it'll do to his beast mode, the Drone says it will be eliminated, and inadvertently begins to repeat Tankor's ramblings about how it will also drive Megatron mad, before covering his blunder. Although suspicious, Megatron orders the key be attached to Aero and cycle drones and tested on a Maximal, much to Tankor's annoyance.

Rattrap uses the ancient computers to run a planet-wide search for more organic goop, but is interrupted by Blackarachnia, who needs the goo herself to try to turn Thrust back into Silverbolt. Rattrap reluctantly lets her take the sample.

Meanwhile, the Diagnostic Drone is taking Jetstorm and Thrust on a wild goose chase on Tankor's orders. Tankor intends to give Megatron a change of heart.

I've heard of weed killers, but killer weeds?

Rattrap has had some measure of success, turning up a catalyst program. He returns to the orchard, where the catalyst dramatically increases the plant-growth, and he's carried into the air by vines. Optimus, Nightscream and Cheetor turn up to rescue him from the clutches of the plantlife.

Blackarachnia locates the searching Vehicons and attacks, seizing Thrust and carrying him off. The Aero drones zap her web line with the keys they're carrying, and she's forced to detach, falling to the ground.

Optimus tells Rattrap to try his experiments on a small scale next time, but the other Maximals think he's wrong and that the fast-growing vines would be a great weapon against Megatron. Optimus goes to commune with the Oracle while the others clear up.

Up in the city, Blackarachnia knocks out Jetstorm and the Diagnostic Drone before leading Thrust to a more secluded location where she traps him in a web. Dosed with goo, Thrust reverts to his old personality—Waspinator. Waspinator explains that he got bored on prehistoric Earth and flew back to Cybertron. Blackarachnia is more than a little disappointed that he's not Silverbolt, but they're interrupted by Jetstorm, who knocks the container of goo from Blackarachnia's hand and is dosed with it. Jetstorm's old personality comes out, and this time it's Silverbolt.

Rattrap admits to Cheetor and Nightscream what the spider's up to. Nightscream volunteers to get Optimus, but Cheetor has other plans. Optimus, meanwhile, is having problems accessing the Oracle.

This is the best laser show EVER!!

Silverbolt and Waspinator fight over Blackarachnia, but they're interrupted by the arrival of aero and motorcycle drones, which neither Vehicon realises they can control. The power of the Keys eliminates the goo, reverting Thrust and Jetstorm to their normal selves, and they order the drones to close in. Fortunately the other three Maximals burst in riding a giant vine, and pick up Blackarachnia, whisking her away to safety.

Diagnostic Drone reports failure to Megatron, but he's been monitoring the situation anyway. The drones zap the huge vine with their keys, changing it to technomatter. The Maximals leap off before they're infected, but Rattrap announces they have to sever the vines to stop the infection spreading to the orchid and Cybertron's organic core. They race alongside the vine, chasing the infection until it reaches the orchid. Optimus spots the problem and frantically begins breaking vines. He succeeds, and rounds on Cheetor for disobeying orders, before informing him that he believes the Oracle has been tampered with.

Tankor, through the Diagnostic Drone, convinces Megatron to load the Key into all of the tank drones, and muses to himself that it's all thanks to the catalyst program he let Rattrap find.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Maximals	Vehicons	Others
Cheetor (1) Optimus Primal (2) Blackarachnia (3) Rattrap (4) Nightscream (5)	Tankor/Rhinox (6) Thrust (7) Megatron (8) Jetstorm (9) Diagnostic Drone (10) Sonic Attack Jets (11) Motorcycle Drones (12)	Oracle (13)

Quotes

"And so we pause, to reflect on our departed friend Rhinox, rather than the enemy Tankor he became. For all possibilities exist within our sparks, and each of us is vulnerable to the path of darkness."

—Primal's eulogy to Rhinox.

"Your glorious army will shine less brightly without his guiding...can I have his tank drones?"

—Jetstorm, that greedy son of a...

Diagnostic Drone: "My scanners indicate a Maximal signature right in this vicinity."
Jetstorm: "If it's so close, why can't we-"
Computer: "Maximal signature detected."
Diagnostic Drone: "What?"

—The hunt takes an unexpected turn.

"Nooooooo. Doggie-bot not here."

—Waspinator's first words when reactivated in Thrust's body.

"You mean I risked everything to save this... this.. this... scrap heap?! Eww!"
"That mean spider-bot not go steady with Waspinator?"

—Blackarachnia and Waspinator, the wrong Scott McNeil character.

"Blackarachnia. Oh, dark poison of my heart!"

—Silverbolt's first words when reactivated in Jetstorm's body.

Notes

Technical/animation glitches

• Glitch

Continuity errors

• Silverbolt and Waspinator seem unaware that they are in Vehicon bodies with drones at their command. This is odd, considering that Rhinox was fully aware (or so he claims) within the body of Tankor, and even more so when Silverbolt feels guilt when he finally returns to the Maximal fold (although these can both be chalked up to the Maximals tampering with their respective programming). Even a few seconds before Waspinator acts oblivious to his command over the drones, he confesses "Chickbots dig brooding, loner bit!", acknowledging his role as Thrust. Huh?

Transformers references

• Silverbolt and Waspinator's Beast Wars personalities emerge in this episode, albeit for a few minutes.

Real-world references

• None identified as of yet.

Trivia

• It seems unusual that Megatron would threaten the Diagnostic Drone with a spark extractor, seeing as how it doesn't have a spark to begin with.
• Palm tree is the most ecological way to time-travel.
• So Waspinator was able to break through Vehicon programming when facing Blackarachnia but Silverbolt either never was or just didn't, and he never did later even when his true love was directly appealing to him. This raises worrying questions about either Waspinator or Silverbolt, especially the latter as he'll later admit how much he loved being a murderous villain...