What Rises Above
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 Does this count as "summon bigger fish"? | ||||||
| "What Rises Above" | ||||||
| Production company | Hasbro Studios | |||||
| Airdate | May 3, 2014 | |||||
| Writer | Steven L. Sears | |||||
| Director | Kevin Altieri | |||||
| Animation studio | Vision Animation | |||||
The gang gets stuck underground in a primeval world.
Synopsis
Cody records a message for Doc Greene on the ComTab, outlining how the rescue team has gotten trapped in underground, however when he converts it to its hoverboard mode, it's unable to get a GPS lock underground in order to go anywhere. Chief Burns and Woodrow start arguing over their situation, and as a result miss Chase's warnings about the lava he's found. The three humans jump into Chase and he heads down a tunnel away from the lava, even performing a difficult jump over a chasm. Elsewhere, Heatwave and Optimus Prime scale the side of a chasm. Optimus suggests he's inviting Heatwave to join the team on the mainland, but only him alone, so Heatwave turns him down. Optimus is pleased he's learned what's most important, and shortly Heatwave accidentally hits a switch that opens the top of the tunnel, and they realize they're in Mount Magma.
Trapped in another cave, Boulder uses his sonar in an attempt to find a way out for him, Blades and the other three Burns siblings. He finally finds a possible way out, and they use explosives to blast through a wall to find a much larger cavern with its own ecosystem, including salt water, vegetation, and a pterodactyl. Dani and Blades start flying low across the water to check out a cave on the other side, but are suddenly grabbed and dragged under by a giant prehistoric fish. Blades manages to escape it and surface, but at the cost of his rotor being damaged. Seeking to find a better place, Boulder and Graham instead strike on the idea of using the sonar to find the others.
The Chief's group explores a tunnel, while Woodrow questions Chase on alien biology. When they find a fork in the tunnel, Chief plans to go check one of the passages on his own, leading to another argument with Woodrow until Cody steps in to break them up. They hear Boulder's Morse code and start heading towards the source. Heatwave and Optimus meanwhile find Optimus's trailer and free it from some rubble, which reveals a cavern full of energon. They, too, hear Boulder's signal. Chief's team reaches the cavern first, but as they're climbing down to join the others, they come under attack from the pterodactyl. Chase swings at it with a stalagmite, but the humans with him are forced to shelter inside him. Blades transforms and lures the pterodactyl out over the water, where it's grabbed by the fish and dragged under. He admits that he was inspired by Woodrow and Chief's arguments making them oblivious to all else. The group is joined by Optimus and Heatwave, who reveal they've found a way out.
The rest of the team are impressed at the energon cavern, but when they reach the volcano, they realize it will take them days to climb out. After discussing several ideas, they eventually hit on making a platform and blowing up the energon to blow them out of the top of Mount Magma. The team soon get to work and construct a huge platform across volcano shaft. Some explosive ignites the energon, and the platform is fired up the volcano, with the bots violently but safely disembarking at the top. Back at the fire station, Woodrow reveals he's cutting his trip short to go adventuring once more. Though the Chief is disappointed, he understands. Outside, Optimus farewells the Rescue Bots, and tells Heatwave to be prepared for greater responsibilities "when the time comes."
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Humans |
|---|---|
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Quotes
"Chase, can you jump it?"
"Negative, and now may be an opportune time to mention that motion sickness bags may be found in my center console."
- —Chief Burns and Chase as they head towards a chasm.
"Extinction is no excuse for ignoring the law!"
- —Chase
"Heatwave! You're OK! I mean, uh..." [fistbump]
- —Kade Burns
Notes
Animation and technical errors
Continuity errors
Continuity notes
- Mount Magma was first introduced all the way back in "Under Pressure".
