Master Blaster
| ||||||
 Tarantulas suddenly realizes how all those bugs eaten by geckos feel. | ||||||
| "Master Blaster" | ||||||
| Production company | Mainframe Entertainment | |||||
| Airdate | March 1, 1999 | |||||
| Written by | Eric Torin | |||||
| Directed by | Steve Sacks | |||||
| Animation studio | Mainframe Entertainment | |||||
| Continuity | Beast Wars continuity | |||||
The Predacons gain control over the body of Optimus Primal, and capture the Ark.
- Japanese title: もえてドラゴン (Moete Dragon, "Blaze, Dragon")
- Latin-American title: La Furia del Dragón
- Italian title: Uniti per sempre ("United forever")
Synopsis
Silverbolt dutifully patrols the Maximals' fortified entrance to Mount St. Hilary. Megatron, trying another attack on the Maximals' base, sends sub-commander Waspinator with a large explosive (from…somewhere) to destroy the patrolling Fuzor. Waspinator delivers the missile and destroys Silverbolt's gunning turret, and when Primal, Cheetor, and Rattrap rush outside to defend their home, Waspinator commands a full attack. But without support from additional troops, Waspinator is quickly crushed by Primal.
Hiding out of Primal's sight, Tarantulas blows a dart that burrows itself into Primal's foot, crawls through the Maximal leader's interior machinery, and accesses Primal's own spark. Primal disregards the infection, tells Cheetor to "take a rest" with a suspiciously Western drawl, and punches out the young Maximal.
Blackarachnia returns to the Maximal base, surprised by the open doors. She finds the entire interior dark. Primal sneaks up on the arachnid, and when she reveals that Depth Charge isn't with her, he grabs her as if she were a toy. With the widow restrained, Megatron and his crones step out of the darkness. Quickstrike is revealed to be controlling Optimus by piloting a large, mechanical suit of similar form to Primal's body. The other Maximals are being kept deactivated in a hanging cage.
Meanwhile, Quickstrike uses Primal's body to give Megatron access to the Ark's interior. Megatron walks through the halls of the ship to find what he's looking for: his namesake Megatron. The Predacon leader opens his own chest, and a tentacle reaches out of it to access the spark of his predecessor. After a bit of struggle, Megatron takes both sparks into his body. While Megatron convulses from the pain of containing two sparks, Quickstrike, who is secretly working for Tarantulas, dumps his leader into one of the lava pits outside.
Blackarachnia is left in the care of Rampage, who delights in causing her pain, but she overpowers the massive Transmetal crab by using her telekinesis to knock him down with a steel girder. She sneaks through the base, then leads Inferno away from the Maximals he's supposed to be protecting and locks him outside so she can free her team.
Quickstrike gives Tarantulas access to Teletraan I. Tarantulas then sends Quickstrike away to destroy the Maximals while he rigs the Ark to explode, which will kill all Autobots and Decepticons within it. As Tarantulas leaves the Ark, Megatron emerges from the lava, now reconfigured into a dragon form by his plunge into the molten rock and the additional spark within him. Megatron burns the spider who betrayed him and tosses Tarantulas into a distant lava pool as punishment for failing.
Quickstrike, still piloting his armor, finds Blackarachnia and double-teams her using Optimus's body, which is still under his control. But with a well-placed blast, she causes the two giants to fall over each other. The fall frees Optimus, who remembers what he did under Quickstrike's control, and he and Blackarachnia head back into the Ark to prevent the devastation.
Megatron finds Optimus, and the two enhanced transformers battle. While Blackarachnia tries to save the Ark, Megatron shows off his new abilities against his most hated enemy. Blackarachnia saves the Ark with just a single second to spare. Optimus is then saved from Megatron by the combined firepower of the other Maximals, who force Megatron to retreat. But with the spark of the original Megatron still in his possession, Megatron has gained a new advantage in the Beast Wars.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Maximals | Predacons | Decepticons |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Quotes
"Ah, sometimes deception is the better part of valor."
- —Megatron, observing Waspinator's unwitting decoy attack on the Maximal base
"You'll live to regret this, crab legs."
"I regret everything, my sweet. Struggle as much as you like, I enjoy it."
- —Blackarachnia as she struggles against Rampage
"Time to open me up a can of kick-keister!"
- —Quickstrike, after being told to finish the other Maximals
"By the Pit, you live!"
"I am not so easily destroyed. And thanks to your treachery, my power is greater than ever! Let me 'thank' you."
- —Tarantulas and Megatron
"I can suffer your treachery, lieutenant, but not your incompetence!"
[throws Tarantulas into the lava]
"Treachery requires no mistakes."
- —Megatron reborn deals with Tarantulas
"Enter the dragon!"
- —Megatron introduces the new him to Optimus Primal and Blackarachnia
"Megatron does not yield... he conquers!"
- —Megatron's response to Optimus Primal's demand for his surrender
"Eight clicks to core implosion.... five.. four... three... two... one... core implosion aborted... all systems normal... have a nice day."
- —
SpaceballTeletraan I
"Did you think you could stand against the fury of both Megatrons?"
- —Megatron gloating to Optimus Primal
"Talk about a makeover."
"It's no joke, Rattrap. What Megatron's done has just made it more important than ever for us to win this war… and win it soon."
- —Rattrap and Optimus Primal
Notes
- Although the toy is a Transmetal 2 and has detailing consistent with the other Transmetal 2 figures, within the context of the story, Megatron's upgrade is not related to the Transmetal driver and is never called a Transmetal 2 in the series. The stylistic difference from "Optimal Optimus" can be attributed to the lava, which Megatron likely wouldn't have survived had he not been in the process of being upgraded, as falling into lava killed Terrorsaur and Scorponok.
- When Primal finally gains control of himself and tells Blackarachnia that Megatron gained control of Teletraan I, he actually says Teletraan instead of Teletron. Although every other time it's said in this episode, it's pronounced Teletron.
Continuity errors
- It is unclear why Tarantulas and Quickstrike expected (Beast Wars) Megatron to expire in the lava, given Tarantulas suffers the same fate, but immediately climbs out of the lava moments later. Although it's possible that throwing Megatron into lava was just Quickstrike's idea.
- Megatron is not shown putting Generation 1 Megatron's spark back in its body. Even at the end of the series, the spark was never shown again, nor was it even mentioned that it had been replaced. There is only Primal's statement that "all is as it should be" (made in "Nemesis Part 2") to go on. However, the spark's replacement was written into the "Nemesis" script and even animated—it was simply cut for time from the final episode. A clip of this animation can be seen on BWTF.com's page for this episode and was included as an extra in Kid Rhino's DVD release of Beast Wars season 3.
- The computer that Blackarachnia uses seems to have been designed for human-size figures, rather then the larger Autobot occupants. Of course the controls could have been built when the Ark was constructed for the roughly human-sized transformers, such as the ones with cassette alternate modes.
Technical/animation glitches
- When Megatron says he has "Almost collected the whole set" his head has the wrong colors. Instead of his usual Transmetal head, the colors match that of his Dragon form. Strangely, earlier shots in this scene have the correct color scheme.
Transformers references
- Well, there is the original Megatron, but he's only in stasis lock.
- Blackarachnia (after saying "I can play your game too") saves the day by uploading "datatrax Viron" into Teletraan-1, which is the same datatrax Tarantulas used against the Metal Hunter.
- Megatron's tampering with Generation 1 Megatron's spark will have bizarre results several million years later when the original Megatron battles Optimus Prime in "Decepticon Leader Megatron Black Ver."
Real-world references
- Megatron counts "Six little Maximals, I've almost collected the whole set!" several Transformer fans collect the toys—and many fans make a point to collect specifically the toys of characters appearing on the show.
- While revealing himself in his new form, Megatron cries out "Enter the dragon!", which is also the title of a Bruce Lee movie.
- The title of the episode, "Master Blaster", is also the title of an old computer game, and a song by Stevie Wonder. However, it's clear from context that it primarily refers to the dwarf/giant duo from the film "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome".
Trivia
- The power-suit frame used by Quickstrike in this episode is later used by the Vok to create Primal Prime in "Primeval Dawn Part 1".
- This episode establishes that there are other equally powerful sparks; Prime's not being the only one.
- In an early version of episode's plot, Megatron decided to steal and absorb the original Megatron's spark only after failing at another attempt to kill Optimus Prime.[1]
- A techno-blowgun? Well, whatever works, works, we suppose.
Reference
- ↑ Beast Wars Universe [ISBN 978-4766938005]
