Power Surge (episode)

« Beast Wars: Transformers ep 6 »
File:Power Surge Terrorsaur pointing.jpg Uncle Terror wants YOU.
"Power Surge"
Production company	Mainframe Entertainment
Airdate	September 25, 1996
Written by	Larry DiTillio
Directed by	Nicholas Kendall
Animation studio	Mainframe Entertainment
Continuity	Beast Wars continuity
Packaged with	Waspeeter

Terrorsaur discovers a cache of energon on a floating mountain that gives him enough power to overthrow Megatron.

Synopsis

A wild and free bird majestically soars through the air, experiencing the wonders of aviation as it feels the wind flow around its proud wings. The bird explores its domain with a grace and sincerity and deliciousness. The lattermost attribute is of interest to a hungry Terrorsaur, who quickly swallows the bird as a snack.

Maybe it's made of very light rock?

Terrorsaur discovers a massive mountain elevated into the sky—defying gravity. Flying closer, he discovers the mountain houses an incredible cache of energon. To check the energon's stability, he transforms into his robot mode, at the risk of having raw energon radiation harm his circuits. When he tries to take a sample for study, bolts of pure energy surge though him, greatly enhancing his abilities. Naturally, the first thing the overcharged Predacon does is fly back to his base to overthrow Megatron. Luckily, Cheetor also finds the airborne crag, and watches Terrorsaur leaving at top speeds.

They just don't make Megatrons like they used to.

Outside of the Predacons' crashed ship, Megatron shows his troops some newly installed territorial defenses. Terrorsaur arrives, and flowing with power, immediately announces that he's taking over the Predacons. Megatron obviously disagrees, and the two fight, but the pumped-up Terrorsaur easily blasts Megatron over the edge of a cliff, where he lands in pieces. With the remaining Predacons under his control, Terrorsaur announces the Maximals are his next target. Cheetor, having followed Terrorsaur from the floating mountain, perceives the new developments as bad news.

Before he can lead the final battle against the Maximals, Terrorsaur finds his new charge has a short life and he must return to the floating mountain to reinvigorate himself. Tarantulas follows in secret, eager to steal the source of Terrorsaur's new capabilities. Scorponok is left alone with Waspinator, so the two begin to re-assemble and repair Megatron.

Cheetor rushes back to the Maximal base and scrambles onto the bridge, where he spits out an incoherent sequence of words vaguely relating to the current crisis. Giving explanations a second try, Cheetor explains the story thus far to his fellow Maximals. Rhinox concludes that the floating mountain isn't totally scientifically impossible, given enough energon. Optimus Primal and Rattrap prepare to destroy the entire island.

The Gutbuster Workout doesn't prove to be quite what Primal thought.

A weakened Terrorsaur flaps back to the island; on the ground, Tarantulas climbs a webline up to the suspended formation. Optimus and his cargo, Rattrap, arrive moments later. The two watch Terrorsaur re-charge his systems. To give Rattrap time to plant the explosives, Optimus Primal engages Terrorsaur in an airborne chase. Primal swiftly dodges most of what Terrorsaur fires, but eventually is hit by his optic blasts. He lands to deliver the finishing blast to Primal, who is now trapped in his beast mode thanks to energon buildup. But before a final shot can be fired, Terrorsaur's energon enhancements run out again, and he is forced to go for another recharge, promising to return to finish Optimus.

Fly my pretties!

Rattrap meanwhile, has been tussling with Tarantulas, the two of them staying in their Beast Modes as they wrestle. With a toss of mud, Rattrap blinds Tarantulas and the spider blindly runs off the side of the mountain to the ground far, far below. Rattrap is passed by the flapping Terrorsaur, and concludes that Optimus Primal must have lost their bout. Terrorsaur, meanwhile, discovers the timed charges Rattrap left, and flees in panic without recharging.

The explosives detonate, causing the energon crystals to collapse and explode. Before the ground loses form, Optimus arrives to carry Rattrap away from annihilation. With his ratty companion, Optimus Primal swan dives off the exploding alp and somehow the two survive thanks to Primal grabbing onto a tree.

Terrorsaur, no longer having the mountain's resources to rely on, returns to base to meet a very, very angry repaired Megatron.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Maximals	Predacons
Cheetor (2) Rhinox (7) Rattrap (8) Optimus Primal (9)	Terrorsaur (1) Megatron (3) Tarantulas (4) Waspinator (5) Scorponok (6)

Quotes

"Terrorsaur, you treacherous worm. I'll finish you forever!"

—Megatron's famous last words.

"Well?"
"Well what?"
"If you're second in command, what is your command?"
"..."

—Waspinator and Scorponok. Be patient, Waspinator.

"Demolition charges?! Th..They'll blow this mountain to PIECES!"

—Terrorsaur realizing the source of his energon addiction is coming to an explosive end.

"You do know... that was crazy."
"Eh, sometimes crazy works. By the way, you did good up there!"
"Eh, you weren't so bad yourself. But, er...don't tell anybody I said so!"

—Rattrap witnesses Optimus Primal coin his motto.

[Terrorsaur flies in defeat towards the Predacon base]
"Blast those Maximals, they destroyed my power! But at least I got rid of Megatron"
[After landing, Scorponok, Waspinator and Megatron emerge from the Ship]
"Well, well, look who's BACK!"
"...Help..."

-Megatron is back. Scorponok is happy, Terrorsaur... not so much.

Notes

Animation and technical errors

• When Terrorsaur begins destroying Megatron, a patch of "flesh" is blasted off his back, revealing metal underneath. In the following shot, however, his backside is intact, save of course for the broken-off kibble.
• Tarantulas shoots a line up to the floating mountain and begins scurrying up it—yet the mountain is revolving. What is his line anchored to?

Transformers references

• Terrorsaur eating the bird in the beginning of the episode may be alluding to his on-package bio, where it is said that he "ingests entire flocks of birds by flying opened mouthed through their flight pattern". He apparently didn't have much of an appetite in this case.
• When Optimus Primal and Rattrap are flying to the mountain, Rattrap complains that if he wanted to fly, he'd have chosen a bat as an altmode.

Trivia

• Insecticon was at one point slated to join the cast of the Beast Wars TV show. A remnant of this can be found in the script to "Power Surge" on Ben Yee's website, where it is noted most of Insecticon's intended lines (including the "If you are second in command, what is your command?" exchange with Scorponok) were transferred to Waspinator.
• This is the only episode in the entire series where Waspinator has actual dialogue and doesn't get damaged in some way, shape or form. That and the fact he doesn't use his normal tic of referring to himself and others in the third person are probably explained by his role originally being meant for Insecticon, as above.
• The Predacon Autoguns are introduced in this episode.
• Megatron's line "I thought you already learned your lesson about challenging me, Terrorsaur" suggests that this isn't the first time Terrorsaur has tried to openly seize leadership of the Predacons. Some possibilities are that this episode was meant to be set after "Double Jeopardy" (the absence of the Predacon Autoguns in that episode would seem to reinforce that), that Megatron has found out about the attempted coup in "Equal Measures", or simply that Terrorsaur did something before the series started.
• Rattrap plays holographic cards. According to the Cybertronix text, he's playing old maid.
• Dinobot is mentioned but does not appear.
• Tarantulas's interest in the floating mountain's energon is the first glimpse at his treacherous nature. The darkly amused chuckle he gives upon seeing Megatron getting his aft kicked doesn't exactly inspire confidence in his loyalties, either...
• After Terrorsaur informs the rest of the Predacons that "Megatron is scrap," he adds Megatron's practically patented "Yeess".
• When charging on the unstable energon, Terrorsaur appears to flicker in and out of existence. That can't be good.
• When indicating where he saw the floating mountain, Cheetor points to a location in North America.
• A 'Con that wants to overthrow his leader? Where have we seen this before? (In a twist on the usual formula, none of the 'Cons take his coup seriously and happily bring Megatron back when he's not looking.)
• When Terrorsaur sees the newly repaired Megatron, his entire body changes from red to white in complete terror.
• The concept of energon crystals supercharging a Transformer would be used again as an explanation for the DX Convoy and DX Megatron toys in the Telemocha Series being of a much larger size than the other toys.

Foreign localization

French

• Title: "L'Énergie d'Énergon" ("The Energy of Energon")

• Title: "Surcharge" (Canada, "Overcharge")

Italian

• Title: "Sete di potere per i Biocombat" ("Thirst for Power for the Biocombats")

Japanese

• Title: "Kūchū Sanmyaku Dai Bakuha" (空中山脈大爆破, "The Aerial Mountain Explodes")
• Original airdate: 5 November 1997

• Immediately before devouring the bird at the start of the episode, Terrorsaur shouts "Itadakimasu!" Because even a Predacon knows to mind their manners at suppertime.
• When Terrorsaur discovers the floating mountain, in the original English version, he describes his thoughts and plans outloud by talking to himself. In the Japanese dub, this is instead framed as a conversation with Navi-ko.

Portuguese

• Title: "Surto de Energia" ("Power Surge")

Spanish

• Title: "Descarga de Energía" ("Power Discharge")

Home video releases

All releases listed are in English audio unless otherwise noted.

VHS

1998 — Beast Wars: Super Lifeform Transformers — Convoy Disappeared (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
2001 — Beast Wars: Transformers — The Beginning: Vol. 1 (Universal)
2002 — Beast Wars: Transformers — Volume 2 (Rhinomation)

Laserdisc

1998 — Beast Wars: Transformers — Maximal Edition (Pioneer LDC) — English and Japanese audio.

DVD

2000 — Beast Wars: Transformers — DVD Box (Pioneer LDC) — English and Japanese audio.
2002 — Beast Wars: Transformers — Volume 1 (Rhinomation)
2003 — Beast Wars: Transformers — The Complete First Season (Rhinomation)
2005 — Beast Wars — Classic Episodes — Where the Beasties Began! (Alliance Atlantis) — English and French audio.
2005 — Beast Wars — The Complete First Season (Alliance Atlantis) — English and French audio.
2006 — Beast Wars: Transformers — Season 1 (Madman Entertainment)
2009 — The Transformers: Beast Wars — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)