Victory (episode)

« Beast Wars: Transformersep12 » « Beast Wars: Super Lifeform Transformersep15 »
"I never noticed what great legs Tarantulas had."
"Victory"
Season	1
No. in season	12
Production company	Mainframe Entertainment
Airdate	November 1,1996
Written by	Wendy Reardon
Directed by	Steve Ball
Animation studio	Mainframe Entertainment
Continuity	Beast Wars continuity
Packaged with	DX Convoy
Watch this episode on YouTube

A rebellion (and explosion) at the Predacon base seemingly leads to a Maximal victory.

Synopsis

"The Predacons are revolting!"
"We know!"

Through a secret spy cam installed in thePredacon base,theMaximalswatch as thePredaconsattempt to use a device to increase the size and power ofenergon crystals.But when the experiment fails andMegatrondemands another crystal specimen for a retest, his troops refuse; apparently, the continuous testing has wasted most of theirenergonsupplies, and this latest failure has convinced the other Predacons to turn on their leader. A firefight soon breaks out, which ends up detonating the remaining energon in a huge explosion that seems to destroy the Predacon base. As the video feed goes dead, the Maximals are shocked; they have just won theBeast Wars.

Yep, it's Megatron's light bulb collection all right.

Heading to the Predacon base to investigate, the Maximals find it in ruins, with little more than charred debris and a few scant Predacon parts to confirm the group's demise.Rattrap,sensitive guy that he is, is rather pleased at the development, whileDinobotis more somber, enough to completely ignore Rattrap's attempts to pick an argument with him; despite defecting, he still feels some kinship with the Predacons, and laments their destruction. However, Dinobot's loss is the other Maximals' gain, as they decide to ransack the Predacon base for itsstar drivecomponents in order to repair theAxalonfor the trip home.

"And here you can see the once formidable pterosaur, about to be torn apart by other predators."

As the repairs are completed, Dinobot comes clean withOptimus Primalabout his mood as of late; he's convinced that he'll be executed as a Predacon criminal if he returns toCybertron,and would rather try and tame the wild world they've found themselves on. Optimus Primal, being an Optimus, tries to convince him that they'll stand up for him, but his mind is set, and he is eventually let go to wander the wilderness. Just as the Maximals are ready to take off, though, the wandering Dinobot stumbles upon the very alive and functional Predacon crew hiding in a crevasse; they had found the spy camera before the incident, and used it to trick the Maximals into thinking them dead, planning on stealing the repairedAxalonand leaving the Maximals stranded. Dinobot makes a mad dash back to the Maximal ship to warn them of the Predacons' duplicity, but gives himself away to the Predacons, who give chase in an attempt to stop him.

Quick, man! Cling tenaciously to my buttocks!

Fortunately, Dinobot is able to get within the Maximals' visual range before he's gunned down, and Optimus Primal andCheetorhead down to help him; the launch cannot be aborted, though, so he insists they take off without him or Dinobot if they're not able to get back on in time. Cheetor is able to get Dinobot to safety in the ensuing firefight, but Optimus is tagged by an errant missile fromScorponok,sending him plummeting. Soon afterwards, Megatron himself manages to get on board, and briefly takes out most of the other Maximals, before being subdued and ejected from the ship byRhinox.The scuffle, though, has the unforeseen consequence of jamming Megatron's tail weapon into the control console, cutting theAxalon's engines and sending it on a one-way trip back to terra firma.

All seems lost, when Optimus—now fully recovered—comes in to save the day, pulling aSupermanand exhausting his jetpack to slow the ship's descent enough to ease it back in its original place. Although no one is critically injured, the collateral damage has been done; theAxalonwill never fly again. And just to ensure that everything is back to normal, Rattrap and Dinobot are right back to verbally tearing into each other, to the other Maximals' amusement.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Cool. Now, aren't you glad we got cable?"

—Cheetorupon seeing the fake uprising.

"Alas, poor Tarantulas. I knew him, Cheetor. This is the leg that stalked so many victims. That it should come to this..."
"Aww, do you need a hug?"

—DinobotandCheetor,sharing a moment.

"I understand. Nonetheless, let the record show that I advise against this action. It will eventually lead to your destruction."
"Eventually... Eventually can be a long time, Optimus Primal."

—Optimusis about to leaveDinobotin charge of prehistoric Earth. Eesh.

"Give Waszzpinator more room! Tarantulasfat enough already!"
"If Waspinator does not stop cuddling me like astuffed toywhen he sleeps, I'll eat him as well! "
"I'd like to see you try!"
"Yes, I will!"

—Tarantulas,shedding light onWaspinatorand his soft side before both devolve into petty arguing.

"This is strategically unsound."

—Dinoboton his imminent rescue.

"You... <coughs>... should have left me behind. "
"Hey pal! Optimus got left behind just to save your scaly skin! So don't spoil the sacrifice, capiche?"
"Oh, but itisalready spoiled! Yeeees. "

—DinobotandRattrap's latest argument is interrupted byMegatron.

"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIIIIIIE!"
"Wait! Look! Down in the sky! Is it a bird?"
"Maybe a plane!"
"Nah! IT'S OPTIMUS!"

—Rattrap,Dinobot,andRhinoxlooking at "Super Primal" saving them.

Notes

Script timeline

• First draft: 18th February 1996
• Second draft: 30th May 1996
• Finalised: 6th June 1996
• As Air: 29th October 1996

Animation and technical errors

Get your hand out of my nipple, Maximal!

• When the Maximals are watching the false rebellion, the markings on Dinobot's chest are out of alignment, leaving half of his chest light brown and the other half dark brown.
• The Energon-filled tube that Megatron hides behind during the false rebellion has a large scorch mark before the Predacons even start firing at their leader.
• When Dinobot walks down a corridor in the Preds' ship, the tips of his spinning shield pass under his feet, making it look like he's floating.
• In the following few shots, as Rattrap talks to Optimus, the former' lower arms slowly twist around, coming off their "hinges".
• When Dinobot swipes at Cheetor, his left arm and his shield clip completely into the wall.
• As Dinobot menaces Cheetor after the latter suggests he needs a hug, there are a multitude of clipping errors: Cheetor's hand slowly passes into Dinobot's chest, Dinobot's chin clips through the "collar" around his neck, Rattrap's left hand clips through Dinobot's arm, and finally, still in the same shot, Dinobot's sword clips completely through Rattrap's shoulder.
• As Rhinox repairs the transwarp drive, Optimus mentions alerting Tigatron—but he very clearly pronounces his name "Tigertron" with an audible "r," likely a typo in the script.
• When Rattrap fantasizes about the dames back at home, his fists clip into each other, and after that, the rod holding his left shoulder clips into his neck.
• When Tarantulas devours the rat, a large drop of drool slides down the outside of his fangs before dripping on Terrorsaur's head. Presumably, the drool should have come from the inside edge. Also, his body is the same dark purple color as his mandibles in this shot.
• As Blackarachnia transforms torobot modeprior to chasing Dinobot, some of her spider legs are bent out of shape.
• In the same sequence, after Tarantulas takes on his robot form, his chest is briefly light purple before visibly changing to a darker shade of purple.
• When Dinobot is shot by Megatron's forces, he falls. After the cutaway to Optimus Primal, it pans out to show Dinobot "floating" on the ground for a few seconds.
• Cheetor's front paws clip through the rim on the top of the elevator shaft when he stops Optimus' descent and offers his help.
• As Optimus orders Cheetor to get back to his post and accepts his help a moment later, for some reason Optimus has double shoulder pads.
• The reflections disappear from Tigatron's arms and hands when he transforms inside theAxalon,and as he sits down, his left fists sink into his chest. Then, as Rhinox orders him to activate the guns, his left lower arm clips through its outer plate.
• As Optimus covers Dinobot during the Predacon assault, the latter's helmet clips into Optimus' shield.
• Sounds of Waspinator's gun firing can be heard as the Predacons attack Optimus, despite Waspinator himself apparently being taken out before the Preds even arrived at theAxalon.
• While Optimus begins flying away from the Predacons with Dinobot in tow, one of the shots that hits his shield clearly has the sound effect of Terrorsaur's cannons. However, Terrorsaur immediately appears to shoot Optimus from behind, so it couldn't be him.
• On the subject of Terrorsaur, his shoulder cannons are shown to be deployedandundeployed at the same time when he shoots Optimus; the deployed cannons are hovering over the raised "bumps" of their undeployed forms.
• When the Predacons charge theAxalonas it fires at them, the first few shots seem to pass right through Megatron, and Tarantulas is also partially missing thebeast modekibbleon his back (the purple and yellow part that forms his spider mode abdomen). "Partially", because some vague outlines of it are still visible floating around his backside. It's especially noticeable since Tarantulas is shown in the next shot with his kibble intact.
• When Cheetor enters the ship with the damaged Dinobot, the latter's chest again has an incorrect texture. It changes yet again just before Megatron makes his entrance.
• Dinobot is missing in a couple of Rattrap's closeups as he's being menaced by Megatron. He's supposed to be lying right behind him.
• The position of Megatron's claw stuck into theAxalonconsole changes between shots.
• When the ship tilts and Rattrap and Rhinox lose their footing, what looks like a fallen chair in the background keeps flickering. Then as Rhinox hits the console, part of his left thigh clips through his rhino-shin "skirt". Also, Cheetor, who was lying just behind them is gone, and Dinobot's knee bendsbackwardsas the ship begins falling.
• As theAxalonis falling from the sky, the ship itself is flipped. The antennas and such are normally on the port side of the ship, however during the fall, they are on the starboard side.
• In the same shot, a few empty black parts can briefly be glimpsed around the edges of the scenery's 3D model.
• When the ship settles back into place, Optimus is nowhere to be seen – his thrusters' jet seems to be coming from theAxalonitself. Then, as he turns the thrusters off, the jet doesn't actually disappear, it just turns dark.

Continuity errors

• The Predacon plan involves hiding until the Maximals repair theAxalon,at which point they attack and steal the ship for themselves. However, there seems to be no way for them to tell that the ship is repaired; they only arrive at theAxalonwhile pursuing Dinobot. So how, exactly, was Megatron going to knowwhentheAxalonwas flight-capable, without giving away the plan?
• In probably one of the largest lapses of judgment, it made no sense for Dinobot to run all the way to the Maximals to warn them rather than radioing the news.
• When Dinobot is shot, Optimus Primal is in his robot mode. However, when we come back from the break and Dinobot's retaliation against the Predacons, Optimus is in his beast mode, which he changes out of less than a minute later. Weird.
• Optimus and Cheetor are both in robot mode when they leave the Axalon to rescue Dinobot, who has been in robot mode for some time. And yet somehow Optimus is affected with an energon overload first, forcing him back to beast mode. Cheetor is fine as he lies on the Axalon's lift, and then we see beast mode Optimus carrying robot mode Dinobot, who isstillnot suffering from energon overload.
• Cheetor only drags himself halfway onto the Axalon's lift before collapsing, but a moment later he's fully on the lift.

The back of the ship is mangled...

...and now it's fixed!

• It's pretty clear that the rear section of the Axalon was damaged in the original crash. Not only were the fins bent out of position, the rear is missing much of its armor, and is bent. This is quite clearly shown in the computer targeting system Tigatron uses to lock to the Predacons. From the moment the ship takes off to the end of the episode, the entire rear section, fins included, are "reconstructed" and in their proper places. However every episode that follows shows the ship as it was before. Screwy.
• Speaking of that, the Axalon takes off, flies in a horizontal direction for a bit, and then loses power and starts to crash. And yet it somehow ends up landing in exactly the same position it was before? Okay then.
• Furthermore, when the Axalon is shown falling with the ground looming in the background the landscape appears to be mirrored from what it normally is, with the jungle on the wrong side of the grassland from where it has previously and will in future be located.
• Everyone acts as if Optimus has been abandoned when he gets knocked down to the ground. There's no dialogue to indicate that the Maximals can't steer the ship. Is there some reason theAxaloncan't loop back around and pick him up? Or even hover in place to allow him to fly up to it? That said, the ship was barely holding together as is, likely making maneuvers difficult, and Optimus was seemingly knocked out in beast form while there were still functional Predacons on the field.

Continuity notes

• Dinobot's aversion to being rescued was explained in theprevious episode.
• Though the two have been at odds since the beginning of the series, this is perhaps the first episode where Rattrap and Dinobot's constant feuding moves towards good-natured bickering. Rattrap is relieved when angsting Dinobot starts issuing comebacks to his insults again and offers constructive criticism on them; at the end of the episode, Optimus and Cheetor watch them volley insults back and forth with fondness.
• Gadgets and powers:
  • Rhinox carries around a tricorder-like device capable of detecting Predacon energy signatures.
  • Megatron displays the ability to "charge" his laser weapon, opening the jaws of his beast mode head with a visible orb of energy within it. Why he never seems to use it beyond this one episode is unclear, but hisTransmetalform would make extensive use of a similar mechanic.
  • TheAxalonis equipped with a complement of riot shield-like devices. It's anyone's guess as to why a peaceful exploration ship would carry such an armory (although later episodes show that there's more to the Axalon than isinitially apparent), but one does wonder why the Maximals don't use these more often.

Real-world references

• Dinobot paraphrasesWilliam Shakespeare'sHamletfor the first time upon finding several of Tarantulas's legs. More specifically, his little monologue is inspired by Hamlet's famous "Alas, poor Yorick!" scene.
• Rattrap refers to Tigatron as "Tigatron the Barbarian", a reference to pulp-magazine iconConan the Barbarian.
• The exchange between Dinobot, Rhinox, and Rattrap as Optimus saves theAxalon( "Look! Down in the sky! Is it a bird"? "Maybe a plane?" "No, it's Optimus!" ) riffs on a cliché line fromSuperman,as does the John Williams-esque music that plays immediately afterwards.

Trivia

• While bickering with Tarantulas, Waspinator speaks in first-person.

Foreign localization

French

• Title:"Victoire"(" Victory ")

• After Optimus Primal claims that the Maximals have probably won the Beast Wars, a loud fart noise can be heard as the camera zooms in on Primal's face. Presumably, this was a piece of goofing-off by one of the voice actors that was accidentally left in the audio track.Classy.

• Title:"Victoire"(Canada," Victory ")

German

• Title:"Die Sieg"(" The Victory ")
• Original airdate:20 June1998

Italian

• Title:"Vittoria"(" Victory ")

Japanese

• Title:"Make Drama da Destron"(メーク・ドラマだデストロン," The Destrons' Dramatic Finish ")
• Original airdate:7 January1998

• The Japanese release ofBeast Warssignificantly reordered the episodes. As a result, there's a noticeable continuity error in this episode: noAirazor.When viewed in this order, it ends up looking like the Maximals are leaving "him" behind onEnergoa.
• As an example of this dub's tendency to add levity which completely alters the mood of a scene: After dramatically bidding farewell to the Maximals and storming off into the lightning-riddled wastelands, Dinobot sings a carefree melody to himself using his humorous verbal tic (Daaa daaa danananananaaaa). His singing continues after the commercial break, as he tramples over the white rat. As he steps over the crevasse where the Predacons are hiding, he mumbles inanely to himself about the weather.
• The "It's a bird, it's a plane, etc" reference made it through to the Japanese dub intact.

Portuguese

• Title:"Vitória"(" Victory ")

Spanish

• Title:"Victoria"(" Victory ")

Mandarin

• Title:"Kǎixuán Guīlái"( khải toàn quy lai," Return with Victory ")

Home video releases

VHS

1998 —Beast Wars— Beasties Escape (Alliance Video)
1998 —Robots-Bêtes— L'Évasion (Alliance Video) — French audio only.
1998 —Beast Wars: Super Lifeform Transformers— The Destrons Make Drama (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
1998 —Beast Wars/Robots-BêtesThree pack (Alliance Video) — Available in English or French audio.
2001 —Beast Wars: Transformers— The Beginning: Vol. 2 (Universal)
2002 —Beast Wars: Transformers— Volume 4 (Rhinomation)

LaserDisc

1998 —Beast Wars: Transformers— Maximal Edition (Pioneer LDC) — English and Japanese audio.

DVD

2000 —Beast Wars: Transformers— DVD Box (Pioneer LDC) — English and Japanese audio.
2002 —Beast Wars: Transformers— Volume 2 (Rhinomation)
2003 —Beast Wars: Transformers— The Complete First Season (Rhinomation)
2011 —Beast Wars: Transformers— Season 1 (Shout! Factory)
2011 —Beast Wars: Transformers— The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)
2005 —Beast Wars— Classic Episodes: Volume 2 — The Saga Continues! (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)

External links

Official uploads (Japanese)

• Beast Wars Againre-airings:
  • "The Destrons' Dramatic Finish"on YouTube
  • "The Destrons' Dramatic Finish (Part 2)"on YouTube