Blast from the Past
"Yes, but, John, when Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don't eat the tourists."
Professor Sumdac upgrades a trio of animatronic dinosaurs from a local theme park, but the creatures develop minds of their own and become rampaging Dinobots, bent on destroying the Autobots.
Synopsis
Sari takes the Autobots to "Dino Drive", a dinosaur exibit, in order to teach them some of Earth's history. On the way, Bulkhead accidentally destroys every car in the parking lot. Once inside, they see the animatronic dinosaurs and become amazed by the creatures' power. Bulkhead becomes so fascinated, he tries to get the Pteranodon to fly and do other things to amuse him. This only succeeds in having the robot Pteranodon fall and cause a Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus robot to collide and break each other. The Autobot take the broken animatronics to Professor Sumdac for repair.
At the lab, Megatron views the power of dinosaurs through the Tutor Bot and becomes amazed at their apparent strength. Sumdac then walks in and realizes the Tutor Bot is on and becomes perplexed at how simple the information on it is, saying how everyone already knows it. Megatron then speaks to him, saying he did not know. Sumdac becomes shocked at Megatron's awakening and tells him where he is, but that the details of his arrival are a long story. Megatron then reassures Prof. Sumdac that since he's not going anywhere, he can sit through a long story. He then convinces Sumdac that he is a friend of the Autobots and that they'll be happier to see him repaired than in his current state, so it would be better keep Megatron's existence a secret for now. He then tells Sumdac he will help him repair the dinosaurs, not revealing that he plans on using them for prototype attack drones.
Meanwhile, at the Autobot base, Prowl tries to teach Bulkhead how to control his strength and size. This, of course, ends with Bulkhead falling on Prowl. Prowl then takes Bulkhead to an abandoned island to train, but this results in Bulkhead dropping trees onto him.
At Dino Drive, Sumdac reveals his (and Megatron's) creations—the Dinobots! After they display what Sumdac programmed them to do, Megatron makes them display what he programmed them to do—destroy the Autobots! As the Dinobots attack, Bulkhead tries to remember and apply Prowl's teaching, but to no effect, as the others get beat up by the Dinobots. Ratchet and Bumblebee then combine their powers to create an electromagnetic pulse to shut them down, but Sari's key activates to blow the dinosaur skin off them and reveal their robot bodies. Sumdac then takes them back to his lab to see what he can fix.
At his lab, Megatron becomes perplexed as to why the key activated, as if something was Cybertronian about the Dinobots. He then dismisses this idea and curses the drones for being useless. Then something happens that surprises Megatron: The Tyrannosaurus starts to talk, and the other dinosaurs to to move! And on top of that, he finds he can't control them!
Megatron then surmises that the Autobots did something to them and declares that somehow, they have sparks of their own. The Tyrannosaurus then dubs himself "Grimlock" and, without fail, Megatron declares that he is the Dinobots' leader. Grimlock doesn't approve of this concept and announces that he is the leader. The Tutor Bot activates, much to Megatron's annoyance, and explains how dinosaur fossils make fossil fuel, which makes cars and trucks work. Grimlock takes this as meaning that cars and trucks "eat" dinosaurs and decides that cars and trucks are bad. Megatron takes advantage of their low intelligence and tells them that "fossil feeders" are bad and the only thing worse then cars or trucks are car robots, a.k.a. Autobots. He then causes them to activate their fire-breath powers, which they use to destroy the Tutor Bot. Grimlock is pleased with this, but does not know how he did it. Megatron then tells them that the fossil feeders want them dead, so the Dinobots go to defend themselves.
As they emerge to cause havoc, Captain Fanzone arrives to attempt to stop them. Suddenly, Slag (who has not yet named himself, neither has Swoop) whips a car with his tail, and Capt Fanzone's car becomes the first causality of the Dinobots' war on the fossil feeders as the thrown car lands on it. Fanzone then takes a bazooka and shoots Slag, but Slag just eats the missile.
The Autobots then arrive and, at Bulkhead's suggestion, lure the Dinobots to a park to battle them. As Grimlock sees them transform, he remembers something he'd forgotten: Car robots are worse than cars and trucks. As the battle goes on, the Autobots are seriously outmatched, especially since Bulkhead is trying to "access the situation" the way Prowl tried to teach him to do. Prowl, realizing their disadvantage, hollers for Bulkhead to not try and be like Prowl, but to be like Bulkhead. Reassured, Bulkhead quickly downs Slag and Swoop.
Meanwhile, Bumblebee and Ratchet are pinned down by Grimlock's fire-breath. Slag and Swoop get up and join in, the heat melting the parking lot behind the two Autobots. Optimus remembers the tar lesson from Dino Drive, and Bulkhead throws the Dinobots into the newly formed pool. The Dinobots use their flames in an attempt to free themselves from the "black, sticky stuff," but only make things worse for themselves.
The Dinobots are trapped with only their heads sticking out. With the chunk of lot cooled, forming a prison, the block is extracted so the Dinobots can be removed. Sumdac promises to melt them down due to their danger to society. Optimus approves of this, but Prowl does not, feeling that they have sparks within them. As Sumdac returns the next morning, he finds the Dinobots have escaped from their tar prison.
On the deserted island where Prowl and Bulkhead trained, the Dinobots are freed into a large crater, which houses a beautiful natural environment. Prowl and Bulkhead see how happy they are and decide to keep it their secret. With that, Prowl sets a hologram up to keep the Dinobots hidden and safe from the world.
After they leave, Grimlock dubs cars and trucks bad, but nature good. Two birds promptly defecate on him, which makes him retake his claim and dub them stupid. He orders them to come down and fight like a Dinobot. Suddenly, Grimlock transforms! Slag and Swoop stare in amazement as Grimlock draws his flaming sword. Grimlock approves of this.
Stats
- Written by: Kevin Hopps
- Directed by: Irineo Maramba, Ben Jones, & Kentaro Mizuno
- Original airdate: January 12, 2008
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
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Quotes
Other notes
Continuity errors
Transformers references
- The island Prowl takes the Dinobots to may be a reference to Dinobot Island.
- Grimlock's robot mode looks very much like G1 Grimlock's with a few changes.
Real-world references
- The entrance of Dino Drive is remarkably similar to the entrance of Jurassic Park in the movie of the same name, and music reminiscent of the Jurassic Park theme can be heard during some of the Dino Drive scenes.
Miscellaneous trivia
- This marks the first time the Dinobots have been used in a Transformers TV series since Generation 1. There is much joy.
- The Dinobots' color schemes are lifted directly from the Generation 1 cartoon, with some minor variations. This is most obvious in Swoop's torso being blue, rather then the red featured in Generation 1 Swoop's comic and toy incarnations. The Diaclone version of Generation 1 Swoop's toy likewise had a blue chest, so this is possibly an homage, but is more likely coincidence.
- Unlike Generation 1, the Dinobot's alt modes match up more closely with how dinosaurs are depicted in the fossil record (less sluggish, more mammal/bird-like, Grimlock bent over horizontally, no bow-leggedness, etc.). There was still a lack of feathers before they were de-skinned, though. (However, since it's doubtful T. Rexes had a feather covering like smaller therapods, and pterosaurs only had down, it's not really an issue)
- In this episode, Tutorbot actually teaches Sari and the Autobots about dinosaurs and fossil fuels. He's back on form however when the pre-transformer Grimlock squashes him.
