The Probe
As a probe from Cybertron approaches the planet the Maximals desperately try to make contact with it, but Megatron has other plans.
Summary
Numerous probes are launched from Cybertron, programmed to search through time for the missing Axalon. One pod floats through the rift in space-time created by Megatron and approaches the planet on which the Beast Wars are taking place.
On the planet's surface, Cheetor challenges his teammates to a race home. Rattrap does a commendable job in keeping up with the cheetah, but Primal wins the race by using his flight mode. Primal and Dinobot scold Cheetor for letting his own guard down. Once inside, the four Maximals meet with Rhinox, who is trying to use the ship's scanners to detect something in space. Rattrap pulls up a visual, revealing that the orbital object is a temporal probe. Rhinox makes an attempt to contact the probe, but it moves out of range before communication can be established. However there's one more chance to get the probe's attention, by duplicating the Axalon's transwarp signal by the time the probe make its return journey. The Maximals are happy, except for Dinobot.
The next morning, the Maximals begin construction of the signal array they'll use to contact the probe. Although they're in Predacon territory, they have Tigatron protecting them. Tigatron detects a tipsy Waspinator and blasts the insect away easily. But by shooting down Waspinator, he makes himself a target of the transformation lock lens, a diabolical machine that Tarantulas has built. Eventually, the device fires a beam that hits Tigatron, trapping him in his beast mode. Without his blaster, Tigatron is ensnared in an energon web. Cheetor arrives to aid Tigatron, but quickly finds himself in the same situation.
At the construction site, Dinobot admits that he imagines that upon returning to Cybertron, he'll be persecuted as a Predacon, but Primal assures him that this won't happen. Scorponok, spying on the Maximals, films some footage of the device and sends it to Megatron. Once the device is complete, he begins an attack upon it, but is quickly blasted before the array can be damaged. All the array needs is a transwarp component, which Rhinox will deliver from the Axalon.
The two cats have been caged inside the Predacon base, where Megatron reviews footage of the Maximals constructing their signal array. Cheetor accidentally lets slip that the array is being made to contact a probe. The Predacons rush out of the room, leaving the captives unsupervised. Tigatron begins to swing his suspended cage. Cheetor copies this behavior, and the two cages soon strike other, knocking their bottom panels open. Tigatron lands on his feet and catches Cheetor, saving him from a lava bath. They then head for the Precadons' restoration chambers to escape the transformation lock.
Terrorsaur attacks the array, and the three Maximals scare off the flier. Dinobot comments that Terrorsaur always was a coward. Megatron agrees, but notes that he still makes a great diversion. Then he and the two spiders engage the Maximals at closer range, with Tarantulas's device to assist them. Dinobot is locked into his Beast Mode and is defeated with several kicks from Blackarachnia. Rattrap uses his rifle to blast Blackarachnia over the edge of a cliff. With her out of the picture, Rattrap talks to Dinobot, who is experiencing transformational dysfunction, only for Rattrap to be struck by the lock lens as well. The two Maximals are then blasted by Megatron.
Optimus Primal fights against Tarantulas and fires a shot right through the spider's chest. Then Primal is locked into his beast mode like the others. Megatron nearly kills Primal, but Rhinox arrives just in time and sends Megatron flying with a mighty punch. With the Predacons defeated, Rhinox activates the array. He only needs to enter in the code that will allow the array to mimic the Axalon's transwarp signal and contact the probe. But at the crucial moment, Tarantulas's evil device strikes Rhinox, and without fingers to use in his beast mode, the array is useless. With all the present Maximals incapacitated, there is nobody to stop Megatron from destroying the array.
Megatron prepares to finish off Optimus and Rhinox. Cheetor and Tigatron arrive and destroy Tarantulus's device and scare off Megatron, but the damage has been done, and Megatron boasts that the war will continue until he wins. Now the Maximals may never be rescued.
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Writers: Craig Miller and Marv Wolfman
Original Air Date: October 15, 1996
Major Characters (in order of appearance): Cheetor, Rattrap, Dinobot, Optimus Primal, Rhinox, Tigertron, Waspinator, Tarantulas, Scorponok, Terrorsaur, Megatron, Blackarachnia
Notes
- Dinobot's hesitation towards the idea of being rescued is a concept revisited in Victory (Beast Wars episode)
- On the DVD release of Season 1, this episode appears out of order, coming after "Double Jeopardy". This is particularly noticeable in the presence of the Sentinel defense system before its introductory episode.
