Space (episode)
Megatron races Override, Scattorshot and Bud undergo reentry, and Starscream and Thundercracker take on five Autobots by themselves.
Detailed synopsis
In Autobots HQ, Bud direly wants to travel into space. He manages to talk Jolt into thinking it's a good idea, and Jolt in turn convinces Scattorshot to take Bud into orbit on their "big invisible space bridge", which is in fact just that.
On Velocitron, Hot Shot and Red Alert are searching for the cyber planet key. Hot Shot desperately wants to try out the raceways that cover the planet's surface by challenging one of the locals, but Red Alert reminds him that Optimus ordered them not to talk to them, much less race.
Back on Earth, Jetfire is wondering where Scattorshot is, and Coby and Lori are wondering where Bud is.
In the British Isles, Optimus Prime, Vector Prime, and a few other Autobots are checking out a set of standing stones for clues to the location of the Omega Lock. This appears to involve having Landmine dig a big hole in the ground.
On Velocitron, Override is casually racing a few generics, when she suddenly sees Megatron standing in the road ahead of her. She bears down on him, then transforms to robot mode and skids by him on her feet, missing him by inches. He asks her, as planetary leader, to tell him where to find the cyber planet key. She says she'll tell him . . . if he can beat her in a race. He accepts.
The race is extremely close, but Override wins by inches. Megatron apparently takes this calmly, but inside is seething that she must have cheated. As he walks away, she tells him that, in fact, she never heard of this planet key thing, she just wanted to race.
On Earth, Lori and Coby confront Jolt over Bud's whereabouts.
On the space bridge over Earth, Bud is having the time of his life. Scattorshot, however, spots Starscream and Thundercracker approaching the British Isles. They attack Vector Prime, but a stray missile flies into space, and knocks Scattorshot and Bud off the bridge.
On Velocitron, Megatron tells his witless minions, Crumplezone and Ransack, about his fruitless race with Override. Crumplezone suggests Brakedown as a source of info, and Megatron instructs them to shake him down.
Back on Earth, 'Scream and 'Cracker are concentrating their fire on Vector Prime. Optimus invokes his Massive Attack Mode, Starscream transforms and summons his cyber key, then Optimus summons his cyber key, giving us a solid minute of stock footage. We then immediately cut to Landmine and Overhaul on the ground, who can only see the battle as fuzzy explosions in the distance. They call Jetfire for backup.
Back at HQ, Lori and Coby finally get Jolt to tell them where Bud is. They, predictably, flip out. Coby triangulates their position, and finds out that they're drifting helplessly. They call Jetfire to go and save them. Jolt and Coby also take off to help.
Just as Jetfire is about to save them, a random satellite kncks them apart, and sends Scattorshot and Bud into the atmosphre, where their forecfield begins to heat up.
The battle in the British Isles is largely stalemated until OVerhaul summons his cyber key and blasts Thundercracker. Starscream orders a retreat.
Jolt, Jetfire, Optimus, and Vector Prime all try to reach Scattorshot's firce-field before Bud dies, but they can't quite reach it. Suddenly, in a burst of white light, Scattorshot and Bud vanish, and rematerialize inside HQ. Jolt reveals that Vector Prime has taught him how to open dimension gates, which can be used to teleport people to safety.
On Velocitron, Hot Shot and Red Alaert watch from a distance as Dirt Boss summons his cyber key (apparently to switch to highway mode). Hot Shot points out that finding the key without talking to any of the locals will be royally difficult. Red Alert tells him to think of it as a challenge.
They then spot Crumplezone and Ransack mugging Brakedown and Clocker. The thugs apparently decide to skip asking about the planet key, and instead are about to slag Brakedwon, when hot Shot leaps to the rescue, knocking the miscreants away. Red Alert flips out.
Quotes
Bud: Aw, what a drag!
Jolt: Is something wrong, Master Bud?
Bud: I'm not a master, I told you that!
Jolt: Right, sorry. Bud. Dude.
"How come everyone thinks I'm going to mess up, just 'cause I like to drive fast? I'd never break Optimus's orders!"
- —Hot Shot, who breaks orders before the sun sets.
Override: One more second, and I'd have knocked you down like a bowling pin!
Megatron: Hmph. Keep dreaming.
Bud: Nice view! You know, there was a scene like this in Mutants From Beyond.
Scattorshot: That's a movie, this is real life!
Bud: Yeah, what's your point?
Crumplezone: You raced against Override? Wow, did you win?
Megatron: Never mind! She doesn'y know anything about the cyber planet key, so it doesn'yt matter!
Ransack: In other words, you lost.
- —Ransack is either very brave or very stupid.
Coby and Lori: He's in space?!
Lori: What do you mean?
Jolt: He wanted to see space, and he seemed upset when I said no, so I finally said yes, and I talked Scattorshot into it . . . ?
Lori: So he got to go and we didn't?!
Coby: That's not the point.
"This is all my fault! I'm a a worthless excuse for a Mini-Con!"
- —Jolt's not entirely wrong.
Stats
Written by: ???
Original airdate: October 2005 ???
Featured Characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans |
|---|---|---|
Other notes
"Cyber key power!" count: Megs, Scream, Op, Overhaul, Dirt Boss, Brakedown, Crump, Ransack
Animation and/or technical glitches
- In the opening scene, the tentacles Jolt is using to run the computer disappear between shots. As does the computer.
Continuity errors
- The space bridge's relationship to Earth geography is fluid, with the lower terminus in the U.S., one scene where Scattorshot is clearly passing east-to-west over Mexico, and later he's close enough to the British Isles to get his by a stray missile. Later yet they're over Florida.
- When Thundercracker begins his attack on the Autobots, he says that he's taking "both" of them out. Apparently he's completely ignoring Landmine and Overhaul in his headcount.
- Immediately afterwards, Starscream speaks with Vector Prime's voice.
Miscellaneous trivia
- While the CGI animation in Cybertron is often criticized for not giving the Transformer characters any facial expressions, Megatron's smug smirk as he plays chicken with Override is actually well done.
- On Velocitron, Brakedown, Crumplezone, Dirt Boss, and Ransack all summon cyber keys at various points in the episode. However, Override, during her (very close) race with Megatron, does not. Since she won anyway, one could hypothesize that she didn't feel it necessary.
