Law of the Jungle
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 Tigatron finds out that he got Jeph Loeb's Hulk in the mail instead of The Incredible Hercules. | ||||||
| "Law of the Jungle" | ||||||
| Production company | Mainframe Entertainment | |||||
| Airdate | February 17, 1997 | |||||
| Written by | Mark Leiren-Young | |||||
| Directed by | John Pozer | |||||
| Animation studio | Mainframe Entertainment | |||||
| Continuity | Beast Wars continuity | |||||
After an innocent is killed, Tigatron questions his commitment to the Maximal cause.
Synopsis
Frogs eat bugs, snakes kill frogs, birds kill snakes. Things are mercilessly killing each other, as Nature intended. But Nature didn't intend for a giant crazed robotic fire ant to attack Cheetor and Dinobot. As the maniacal Inferno gleefully assaults the two, Terrorsaur brings out some heavy explosives from a mountaintop weapons cache to take out Dinobot, though he ends up knocking Inferno aside as well; Waspinator just hangs back, waiting for the signal that Terrorsaur never bothered to give. After getting blasted a good distance, Terrorsaur signals for Waspinator to attack. Cheetor radios for back-up.
Waspinator plans an attack on Cheetor using another heavy explosive, but overestimates his own strength and can't keep himself aloft when he's holding the weapon. While trying to keep airborne, Waspinator sees a tiger, which he naturally mistakes for Tigatron—who is actually a few feet higher on the mountain, ready to pounce on the Predacon. Tigatron holds on and guides the bug to a crash.
Inferno switches his weapon to a flamethrower to cook the cats. Tigatron transforms and blasts Inferno away, but a stray shot from his own gun passes Inferno and heads towards the mountain where both Snowstalker and the Predacon's weaponry cache are located. The entire supply of explosives detonates in a single blast, and Tigatron's animal friend is caught in the rockslide. Concerned for his companion, Tigatron hurries to unbury the wild tiger, but it's too late.
Later, as the sky darkens, Tigatron finishes constructing a marker for Snowstalker's resting place. Surveying the damage to the landscape from the fight, Tigatron resolves to quit being a participant in the Beast Wars. Dinobot argues that destruction is part of the nature of war, but Tigatron remains with his decision to stay out of the Maximal/Predacon conflict. After Tigatron leaves, Dinobot follows him, making it clear he has a sort of plan. Cheetor is relieved when Primal arrives to make sense of the situation.
The three Predacons meet to plan their next move.
In the dark of night, in thick foliage, Dinobot shows Tigatron an example of Nature in action: a tiger killing some gazelles. Slaughter for survival, just like the Maximals battle the Predacons for the survival of peace on Cybertron. Dinobot explains that if Megatron wins, he will spread war to other worlds, ultimately destroying Cybertron in the process. Thus, the Maximals must stop him. It is the legacy of the Autobots and the Decepticons: they will always oppose each other. Tigatron still disagrees, and Dinobot gets aggressive. Luckily, before Dinobot gets carried away, Primal arrives to take his turn at reasoning. Disgusted, Dinobot takes his leave. After he leaves, Primal tells Tigatron that he hates the Beast Wars just as much as him, but that as long as they are on this planet, they have a duty to protect it from the Predacons.
The three Predacons attack Dinobot, overpowering the lone Maximal despite his inhumanly flexible neck. Primal arrives soon after, and the Predacons hope for another victory. Optimus puts up a better fight, knocking away both Terrorsaur and Waspinator with one shot, but Inferno hits Optimus from behind with a strong blast. The two Maximals are too damaged to fight against the killer fire ant, when to their rescue comes Tigatron, who can't sit passively while his friends are close to death.
Inferno's flamethrower ignites a bush, adding to Tigatron's fury. The cat blasts Inferno into the distance, ending the Predacon's campaign. Tigatron extinguishes the fire and is welcomed back to the Beast Wars. Although he still hates the collateral damage, Tigatron now understands he can do more good as a warrior than a bystander.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Maximals | Predacons | Others |
|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"FIIIIIRRRE! For the Royalty!"
- —Inferno attempts a surprise attack.
"Inferno not wait for your signal!"
"So much for surprise! You take the cat; I'll support Inferno!"
- —Waspinator and Terrorsaur in response to the above.
"The Royalty commands your wreckage, destroyer of my colony!"
"Give my regards to the Pit, Predacon."
- —Inferno and Tigatron exchange trash talk.
"Goodbye, Snowstalker. Let your hunting ground shelter you now."
- —Tigatron at Snowstalker's grave
"In my lust for battle, I caused the death of an innocent."
"Hrah! There are no innocents. This is war! And this...well, this is simply a battlefield."
"We made it so! And every time we do, this world suffers. But I will have no more of it. From this moment on, I am no longer part of the Beast Wars."
- —Tigatron tells Dinobot that he's out of the war.
"You have the instincts of a warrior. You know when danger's approaching."
"Why do you stalk me?"
"To... talk."
- —Dinobot refuses to give up on Tigatron.
"Hrah! Sentiment. The more time I spend with you Maximals, the more I wonder how you survived so long."
- —Dinobot protests too much.
"You. Will. Leave. The wild. ALONE!"
- —Tigatron, blasting Inferno with every word
Notes
Continuity errors
- Dinobot says that the Great War began three centuries ago. What he meant to say was that it ended three centuries ago.
Transformers references
- Snowstalker had previously been seen in the episode "Fallen Comrades". Who's the fallen comrade NOW?
- Inferno calls Tigatron "destroyer of my colony!", a reference to how the tiger-bot ticked him off in his debut episode. Apparently, Inferno doesn't yet think of the Predacon base as his colony.
Foreign localization
French
- Title: "La Loi de la Jungle" ("The Law of the Jungle")
- Title: "Loi de la Jungle" ("Law of the Jungle")
Italian
- Title: "La legge della natura" ("The Law of Nature")
Japanese
Portuguese
- Title: "A Lei da Selva" ("The Law of the Jungle")
Spanish
- Title: "La Ley de la Selva" ("The Law of the Jungle")
Trivia
- At the beginning of the episode, Cheetor and Dinobot are searching for more alien sites.
- The wild tiger that Dinobot and Tigatron observe looks rather strange: it is, of course, just a direct color swap of Tigatron's animation model replacing almost all the white with orange, which results in the tiger being too orange, whereas a real tiger would still have white fur all over its underbelly, neck, and face.
Home video releases
- VHS
1998 — Beast Wars: Super Lifeform Transformers — Farewell Tigatron (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
2001 — Beast Wars: Transformers — The Beginning: Vol. 4 (Universal)
- Laserdisc
1998 — Beast Wars: Transformers — Predacon Edition (Pioneer LDC) — English and Japanese audio.
- DVD
2000 — Beast Wars: Transformers — DVD Box (Pioneer LDC) — English and Japanese audio.
2003 — Beast Wars: Transformers — The Complete First Season (Rhinomation)
2005 — Beast Wars — Classic Episodes: Volume 4 — The Predacons Advance! (Alliance Atlantis) — English and French audio.
2005 — Beast Wars — The Complete First Season (Alliance Atlantis) — English and French audio.
2006 — Beast Wars: Transformers — Season 1 (Madman Entertainment)
2009 — The Transformers: Beast Wars — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)
