Endangered Species
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 Just before Kade ruins the moment by insinuating that "woodpecker" sounds dirty. | ||||||
| "Endangered Species" | ||||||
| Production company | Hasbro Studios | |||||
| Airdate | May 23, 2015 | |||||
| Writer | Andrew Robinson | |||||
| Director | Nathan Chew | |||||
| Animation studio | DHX Media Top Draw Animation | |||||
The Bots go to extremes to protect endangered woodpeckers discovered by Boulder.
Synopsis
At Blossom Vale, Boulder, Cody and Frankie are engaging in some bird spotting while Kade mostly complains. Boulder finally agrees it's time to go, but the two younger kids have climbed a tree to get a photo of the whole grove. Boulder spots a family of woodpeckers nesting in a tree, shortly before the branch the kids are on breaks. Boulder manages to prevent them hitting the woodpeckers and catch the pair before they hit the ground, though Kade's annoyed they endangered themselves.
Back at the firehouse, Boulder and the kids are showing off their bird photos when Doc Greene arrives. Boulder's been unable to find the woodpeckers in his guide, and Doc explains why - it turns out the woodpeckers are from a species thought to be extinct, the Gold-Crested Woodpecker. Though everyone's overjoyed, Doc cautions that they must keep it a secret because too many people will disturb the birds before they can be protected as an endangered species. Boulder, Blades and Chase make up their minds to do their best to protect the woodpecker family, and Chief agrees, though Heatwave opts out of the operation.
Cody, Frankie and the three bots arrive at Blossom Vale to guard the birds, however boredom swiftly sets in, and they set about rearranging the habitat to make it better for the woodpeckers. Unfortunately the bushes they move near the tree attract bees. Though Boulder moves the bushes, the birds seem spooked. They have the idea to play them some soothing music, so Cody plugs his MP3 player into Blades's PA system. Chief soon arrives to find them belting out beats at full volume because Blades's sound system is stuck. He suggests maybe finding a balance between not doing anything and overprotection, and as they watch, the baby woodpeckers get ready to fly.
In town, Mr. Harrison has a helipack incident that sees the mayor's car drive into a ditch. After Kade and Heatwave help recover the car, the mayor overhears Kade talking about the endangered birds and forces him to spill, though he swears the mayor to secrecy. The mayor immediately calls Mr. Alper to arrange a press conference. The rescue team is soon watching the press conference on TV as the mayor announces the woodpecker discovery, and lets slip to Huxley Prescott that the Burns family had something to do with it. Prescott calls the emergency line and Cody patches him through to Boulder, who waxes lyrical about the birds but refuses to say where they are.
"I don't think it was that as much as the unholy amount of lighter fluid we used to get them lit."
As more people arrive on the island to go bird spotting, the mayor is unable to tell them where the birds are and redirects their attention to Kade. As they interrogate Kade live on air, the rest of the family frantically try to call him, but are unable to stop him blabbing the location of the woodpeckers. As the crowd disperses, the mayor announces the establishment of a new campground in Blossom Vale. The rescue team manages to get there first and close off Blossom Vale, though Blades and Dani have to shoo away Mr. Harrison and a hang-glider. Huxley tries to sneak in disguised as a bush, only to run afoul of a skunk. Finally Mr. Alper arrives with a court order forcing the team to let everyone in. Blossom Vale is quickly filled with campers, one of whom starts a fire which swiftly spreads to the trees. As pandemonium ensues, the rescue team swings into action, containing the fire until Heatwave and Kade arrive to put it out. In the aftermath of the disaster, Boulder reflects that at least they saved the woodpeckers, but they soon discover that the woodpeckers have gone.
The Bots all sit around depressed at the firehouse until Doc Greene arrives bearing good news — the leg tags he placed on the woodpeckers are showing that they simply moved to the next valley. To protect the woodpeckers when they return, Doc Greene organizes with the mayor to establish a bird sanctuary in Blossom Vale, and the woodpeckers are soon back in their tree.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Humans |
|---|---|
|
Quotes
"I think it's a red-headed cuckoo."
"Why are you looking at me when you say that?"
- —Boulder and Kade
"Birdies, it's easy. Just do what I did the first time. Close your eyes and scream."
- —Blades on flying.
"Don't worry, my boy. I know how to keep a secret. I'm a politician."
- —Mayor Luskey has the makings of a Congressman.
Notes
Continuity notes
- Blossom Vale was previously introduced in "Spellbound". It didn't fare well there either.
- Blades' scoop claw was first introduced in "Hotshots".
Transformers references
- (tbd)
Real-world references
- Blades mention of My Sister the Mob Boss is a reference to the VH1 program Mob Wives.
Animation and technical errors
- On two separate occasions - moving the logs and putting out the fire - Blades' scoop claw appears from nowhere but disappears again once he's back in robot mode, with no telltale tummy bulge.
Trivia
- In the show, the woodpeckers are presumed extinct because they have not been seen in 40 years - but in real-world scientific practice, it takes 50 years since the last sighting for a species to be declared extinct.
Foreign localization
French
- Title: "Oiseaux en danger" ("Endangered birds")
- Original airdate: ?
Hungarian
Italian
Portuguese
