Christmas in July
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| "Christmas in July" | ||||||
| Production company | Hasbro Studios | |||||
| Airdate | April 28, 2012 | |||||
| Writer | Brian Hohlfeld | |||||
| Director | Patrick Archibald | |||||
| Animation studio | Atomic Cartoons | |||||
Cody, his family and the Rescue Bots have to stop a snow storm in July when a weather machine goes haywire.
Synopsis
Huxley Prescott reports on the heatwave currently gripping Griffin Rock, which Mayor Luskey demonstrates by breaking an egg on the sidewalk so it can fry. Nearby Cody and Frankie sell lemonade. Chase disapproves of their illegal commercial venture, but Chief Burns is more concerned at Chase's lack of air conditioning. Heatwave and Kade provide water for the kids to cool off. Surprisingly, it turns out to be not only hot enough to fry eggs, but to set them on fire, and soon the Mayor's chef hat has caught alight too. Luckily Heatwave and Kade put him out.
Cody arrives back at the fire station in search of more ice and finds Boulder looking up information on seasons. Boulder's confused by the concept and wants Winter now so he can see some snow. Cody has trouble explaining the concept to him, but it gives him an idea. He visits Doc Greene, who knows of an old weather machine, predating Greene's arrival on Griffin Rock. They venture into the "Best Left Forgotten" room and find the weather machine in perfect condition, though Frankie doesn't think much of Cody's idea of using it to create a snowfall.
They start setting the weather machine up in the town square, while Frankie, preferring the summer, heads down to the river. Cody is annoyed when the Mayor takes the credit for his idea, but Doc Greene lets him start up the machine. The square is soon blanketed in snow and the humans start playing. Boulder is disappointed that the Rescue Bots don't get to enjoy the snow as well, since they have to keep up the pretense of being ordinary robots, but their human partners lead them to a back alley where Cody had Doc Greene test the machine earlier. While Graham keeps watch, the Rescue Bots get to have their play in the snow, though Boulder turns out to be a terrible aim with a snowball which amuses Heatwave greatly. One of Boulder's snowballs strikes a tree in the square, knocking down a branch that breaks the weather machine, sending it out of control.
With Winter temperatures all over Griffin Rock, Doc Greene quickly discovers that the machine's control panel is broken and has to take it back to his lab. With the roads snowed in, the residents take shelter in city hall and Cody joins them to coordinate the rescue effort. The team splits up and starts lending help where necessary. Cody checks with Frankie, who's enjoying the frozen-over river. As Blades and Dani help free cars from a frozen bridge, Heatwave prevents an out-of-control car from ploughing into them. Meanwhile, Boulder and Graham help Doc Greene reach his lab and clear the snowdrift in front of it so he can get in.
Back at city hall, a new problem rears its head—the roof is in danger of caving in under the weight of all the snow. The Mayor attempts to get out, only to find that the door is blocked with a snowdrift, and Cody calls an emergency. Boulder arrives first and clears the door, letting everyone out. They next use Cody's idea to save the building—Boulder props up the roof while Dani flies Blades upside-down to clear the snow. With the building safe for now, Cody checks with Doc Greene, who completes repairs on the weather machine and uses it to reverse the weather. Summer returns to Griffin Rock.
Cody contacts Frankie, only to find that the ice on the lake has broken up, and Frankie is now trapped on a piece which is heading downriver towards a waterfall. Blades is still too frozen to fly, but the rest of the team head to the river. Boulder uses a snowball to knock a tree branch down, which Frankie grabs onto. With everything safe again, Cody looks around for Chase, but the Rescue Bot is some distance away, laughing and making snow angels.
Back in the fire station, Boulder finally understands seasons, and Cody reveals some snowballs he kept in the freezer, which he and Boulder use to pelt Heatwave, who was doing his daily combat exercises.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Humans |
|---|---|
|
Quotes
"Don't look at me; nothing on this planet makes sense. Hot dog, but it's not a pet!"
- —Blades
"And somewhere over here is the invisible telephone. *gasp!* It's missing! Hahaha, just kidding! I think."
- —Doc Greene
"Snow comes from the sky? I had no idea!"
- —Blades
"Nice try, green bean! You couldn't hit the back side of Unicron with a lobbing ball!"
- —Heatwave on Boulder's snowball skills.
Notes
Animation and technical errors
- Although some specially modified real-life helicopters can perform barrel rolls and loops, sustained inverted flight of the type Blades performs in this episode is aerodynamically impossible.
Continuity errors
- After Mayor Luskey comes flying out of the town hall, a group of people run out past Chase. A number of them run past him twice.
Transformers references
- Heatwave refers to both Unicron and lobbing, the latter sport first appearing in the Transformers: Prime episode "Con Job".
Real-world references
- Christmas in July is a real thing, plus the name of a 1940 movie.
