The Spark

The name or term "Spark" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Spark (disambiguation).

« Beast Wars: Transformers ep 15 »
"The Spark"
Production company	Mainframe Entertainment
Airdate	November 11, 1996
Written by	Larry DiTillio
Directed by	Colin Davies
Animation studio	Mainframe Entertainment
Continuity	Beast Wars continuity
Packaged with	Rhinox

Rhinox and Cheetor assist a downed stasis pod and the damaged protoform within.

Japanese title: ハヤブサ戦士エアラザー (Hayabusa Senshi Airazor, "Falcon Warrior Airazor")

Latin-American title: La Chispa

Italian title: La scintilla

Synopsis

Oh, hey, more foreshadowing.

In orbit around the planet, a stasis pod is clipped by a piece of space debris, causing the pod to descend to the surface. Tarantulas and Megatron detect this, and dispatch Scorponok and Blackarachnia to capture it.

Meanwhile, Rhinox happens to be scouting the landing area in his beast mode, observing that the local raw energon deters the Predacons from properly fortifying the terrain. He witnesses the pod descending and, unable to radio for support, goes to recover the pod by himself. In another area, Cheetor sees the pod and, after radioing the news to Tigatron, heads to where he anticipates the pod will land.

Rhinox struggles to work this really old video game console.

Rhinox is first to reach the pod, but finds that because of the local energon, his robot mode is in risk of damage from prolonged exposure to the energon radiation. Worse, the protoform within the pod could soon expire if the pod itself isn't soon repaired.

Tigatron freezes Scorponok's journey to the stasis pod, but Blackarachnia paralyzes Tigatron with a dose of her cyber venom.

Cheetor arrives at the landing crater, and Rhinox tells him that his body contains a component the pod needs to save the protoform. Cheetor voluntarily deactivates to allow Rhinox to harvest the hardware that will protect the new Maximal from energon damage. While in deep sleep, Cheetor envisions himself learning about the concept of a Transformer spark from Rhinox. After Cheetor reactivates, a tense Rhinox installs the chip and gives the dormant Transformer a second chance.

Waspinator only want one kiss

Blackarachnia arrives and exchanges trash talk as she battles Cheetor, who uses his robot mode conservatively. Cheetor manages to shove her own venom dart into her forehead, knocking her out. Next, Cheetor faces Waspinator and Terrorsaur. With his robot mode pushed to the max, Cheetor uses his beast mode to draw the two fliers away.

Rhinox tries to interface his own systems with the stasis pod to assist the protoform, but is disconnected by feedback and left trapped in his own beast mode.

Don't mess with this lady.

Cheetor fries Waspinator with some maneuvering around one of the local natural energon geysers. However, Terrorsaur is able to score a direct hit on Cheetor, and proceeds to the now-unprotected pod. At the last possible moment, the pod scans a bird circling overhead, providing the biological information needed to complete the new Maximal.

The fresh-from-case avian Transformer drags Terrorsaur away from the crash site. His attempts to fry the bird with gunfire are dodged. Announcing her name to be Airazor, the new Maximal transforms and blasts the Predacon to pieces.

Back at the Axalon, Rhinox and Cheetor introduce the rest of the Maximals to their new friend.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

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

Quotes

"Just as Megatron said! Just as Megatron said! Don't you ever get tired of grovelling to that Saurian?"

—Blackarachnia mocks Scorponok

"Bah, I'll tell you nothing, Maximal! Scorponok, terrori-" [is zapped] "Sorry, I don't have time to play."

—Scorponok and Tigatron.

"When a Spark goes online, there is great joy. When one is extinguished, the universe weeps."

—Rhinox

"Whoa, that was ultra gear!"

—Cheetor, coming out of his tripped-out dream.

"By the way, how do you dance with all those skinny legs?"
"Ugh, this must be my day for cats!"

—Cheetor to Blackarachnia

"You don't know what fast is, furball."
"I know what ugly is, and you're it!"

—Blackarachnia feels Cheetor's burn.

"Who dares attack Waspinator?!"

—A better question would perhaps be who wouldn't dare attack Waspinator.

Notes

• This episode introduced and defined the concept of Sparks to the Transformer mythos.
• Tarantulas snickers to himself after detecting the pod. It's possible that had Megatron not taken notice, Tarantulas would have secured the pod for his own purposes, as he tried to do when Inferno's pod landed.
• When Cheetor arrives at the pod, why does Rhinox ask him why he's there? Surely it's obvious!
• Rhinox refers to the Transformer race as "Cybertrons".
• Whereas in "Double Jeopardy" the protoform had Blackarachnia's head prior to formatting, Airazor's protoform state has a blank head.
• Cheetor's youth really shows when he calls Blackarachnia "ugly". He doesn't seem to think so when he grows up a little, but right now she clearly has cooties.
• Cheetor's dream correctly predicts the last line in the episode from Rhinox: "When a spark comes online, there is great joy." Cheetor makes a face indicating he recognizes it, and smiles to himself. This is the second of Cheetor's precognitive dreams in the Beast Wars.