The Agenda (Part 2)

« Beast Wars: Transformers ep 38 »
In Soviet Russia, Megatron is captured by you.
"The Agenda" (Part 2)
Production company	Mainframe Entertainment
Airdate	March 12, 1998
Written by	Bob Forward
Directed by	Owen Hurley
Animation studio	Mainframe Entertainment
Continuity	Beast Wars continuity

Captured by Ravage, Megatron lets the former Decepticon warrior in on the secret of the Golden Disk and gets him to switch sides.

Japanese title: すきですっ! (Suki Desu!, "I Do Love You!")

Latin-American title: El Programa Segunda Parte

Italian title: Il coraggio di Grifo - Parte 2 ("Grifo's courage - Part Two")

Synopsis

What's it like to have a munky on your back... er in your face?

With Megatron a prisoner and the Predacons scattered, the Maximals prepare to wrap things up. Optimus Primal summons Silverbolt to his office and comes down on him about Blackarachnia. Silverbolt points out that she was originally a Maximal protoform and that he himself was a Predacon once, but Primal counters that Blackarachnia is evil to the core, whereas Silverbolt just didn't know any better. He confines Silverbolt to quarters and dispatches Cheetor to deal with Blackarachnia, despite Silverbolt's request to be sent, if only to protect Cheetor.

In his cell, Megatron berates Ravage for siding with the Maximals, to which Ravage responds that Megatron is an inferior leader when compared to his namesake. Megatron also points out that Ravage's ship is depleted of energon. He offers a stash of cubes for his freedom, but Ravage reveals he already knows the stash's location, as Tarantulas is a Lieutenant in the Predacon Secret Police.

Cheetor prepares to go out for Blackarachnia, but first apologizes to Silverbolt, who also apologizes—for the punch he gives Cheetor right afterward. The pair are interrupted by Rattrap, who raises the alarm, forcing Silverbolt to flee the base. Heading out to retrieve the energon cubes, Cheetor complains to Optimus about the rough treatment Silverbolt gave him. They arrive at the cave Tarantulas had indicated, carefully venturing inside, only to find that the energon is in the form of unstable crystals and Inferno is waiting to ambush them.

Did you ever know that you were my hero?The wind beneath my wings?

Silverbolt locates Blackarachnia following Waspinator to a mountain. Silverbolt begs her to come in, but Blackarachnia claims to have no feelings for him at all. To prove her point, she shoots him. But as Silverbolt points out, it was non-fatal, saying she does care for him and won't simply kill him. While they are distracted, the hoverpod they're in rams into Waspinator, shattering both, but Silverbolt saves Blackarachnia. (Waspinator is out of luck, as usual.)

Back at the cave, Inferno is beginning to suffer from energon buildup. Cackling madly, he ignites the crystals in an attempt to destroy Optimus and Cheetor. The chain reaction destroys the mountain and seemingly incinerates Inferno, but the two Maximals manage to escape. Once they're safe, Optimus informs Ravage of what happened.

Amazing how much data recovery can restore.

At his ship, Ravage confronts Megatron over his treachery. Megatron points out that Ravage intends to kill them all, Maximal and Predacon. Ravage admits to this and arms the vessel's internal autoguns. Desperate, Megatron reveals he had ulterior motives for stealing the Golden Disk, something which could affect the Great War. Ravage doubts him, pointing out the Disk's destruction, but allows Megatron to convince him. Released from his power bonds, the Predacon commander reveals that he still has a fragment of the Disk, and it holds proof that Ravage will believe—a message from Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons. Noting his potential defeat, Megatron left instructions for the descendants of the Decepticons to use transwarp technology to travel back in time to Ancient Earth. Although the message cuts out partway through, the Predacon's gambit succeeds: Ravage, moved by the sight of his former leader, releases Megatron.

You should've trusted Rattrap. Never trust a Decepticon.

At the mountain, Blackarachnia and Silverbolt discover that Megatron was already there, having dug a tunnel and then sealed it. Despite Blackarachnia's constant demands that Silverbolt leave, he refuses, and she reluctantly accepts his help in dispensing of one of the larger rocks.

As Optimus and Cheetor return to the Axalon, Optimus radios ahead for a status report and is warned by Rattrap that they no longer need to be subordinate to Ravage—he's switched sides! The warning is just a little too late, as the transwarp cruiser, with Megatron riding atop, shifts into view behind the pair. As Ravage transforms to interface with his ship, the Predacons launch an attack.

To be continued...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Maximals	Predacons
Optimus Primal (1) Silverbolt (2) Cheetor (6) Rattrap (7)	Megatron (3) Ravage (4) Tarantulas (5) Inferno (8) Waspinator (9) Blackarachnia (10)

Quotes

"Ahhh...I useta be young like that."
"...What?!"
"D'yah, I mean, we got trouble. Ohhhh, yeah, trouble with a capital B."

—Rattrap and Optimus Primal on Silverbolt's escape to find Blackarachnia

"I know how you're feeling. You don't know whether to kiss me or... kill me."
"I'm a black widow spider, you idiot! ...I can do both."

—Silverbolt and Blackarachnia

Blackarachnia: Oh no. You're not saving my life again? Even after I shot you?
Silverbolt: It's my duty, ma'am, as a Maximal and as a heroic character.
Blackarachnia: You know I like 'em big and stupid, but you're really pushing it.

—Love not only makes you crazy, it makes you break the fourth wall.

"For…the…ROYALTY!"

—Inferno, before causing the energon explosion

"This is Megatron, leader of the Decepticons. And if you're hearing this, it means I've failed...this time."

—Megatron, causing the fandom to rejoice at his appearance, yet complain that Frank Welker didn't provide the voice

"Not fair. Waspinator minding own business when BANG—gets whole stasis pod right up the kazooty."

—Waspinator

"Decepticons forever!"

—Ravage, before transforming with the traditional noise into a (humongous) mini-cassette, causing the fandom to rejoice without any complaints

Notes

• Apparently Silverbolt is stupid chivalrous enough to not only not harm Blackarachnia, but to assist her actively in carrying out Megatron's nefarious schemes. Bad doggy. Bad, bad doggy.

Technical/animation glitches

• Glitch

Continuity errors

• Tarantulas heads the recovery mission for Megatron's energon stash, yet it's been established that his new base is loaded with stable energon. Why doesn't he and Ravage simply use that to repower the stealth cruiser?
• Tarantulas said in "Tangled Web" that there was enough energon in his lair "to sustain a frugal Predacon for quite some time", which probably doesn't amount to enough to repower the cruiser.
• Along those same lines, it's odd how Ravage, one of Generation 1 Megatron's closest confidants and most loyal allies, didn't know of the secret message his leader put on the Golden Disk. Clearly, Megatron doesn't have the same trust in his allies as they do in him.

Transformers references

• When Megatron shows the recording from the remains of the Golden Disk, the face and voice of the original Megatron are shown.
• When Ravage transforms, the sound effect is the one used by all Transformers in the original series.
• Originally, when Ravage transformed and inserted his cassette mode into the control console, the Generation 1 cartoon theme song was going to play during his first cry of "Decepticons Forever!" and subsequent attack on the Axalon. However, due to copyright constraints, this plan was dropped, and a more generic song was put in its place.

Real-world references

• Silverbolt makes a howling noise to simulate a siren and asks Blackarachnia to "pull this vehicle over".
• When Waspinator is smashed to pieces by the stasis pod ship, a toilet is seen falling down among the wreckage.
• After the crash with Waspinator, when Blackarachnia is saved by Silverbolt, he either breaks the fourth-wall or is genre savvy when he tells her that he's "a heroic character."
• Silverbolt's words about "kiss me or kill me" may be a reference to Ash Williams.
• Ravage uses Dr. Evil's raised-pinkie gesture on Megatron.

Trivia

• Primal has a tiny trophy of a gorilla on his desk.

• Efforts were made to get Frank Welker to provide the voice for Megatron's message, but financial and scheduling conflicts precluded this from happening. Garry Chalk voiced him instead.

• This is the closest Silverbolt ever came to directly taking down Waspinator in the entire series. (Silverbolt was the backseat driver here.)

External links

• Synopsis of The Agenda (Part 2) at Ben Yee's website