The Probe
From Transformers Wiki
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 There's a probe around Uranus! | |||||||||
| "The Probe" | |||||||||
| Season | 1 | ||||||||
| No. in season | 11 | ||||||||
| Production company | Mainframe Entertainment | ||||||||
| Airdate | October 15, 1996 | ||||||||
| Written by | Craig Miller Marv Wolfman | ||||||||
| Directed by | Ezekiel Norton | ||||||||
| Animation studio | Mainframe Entertainment | ||||||||
| Continuity | Beast Wars continuity | ||||||||
| Packaged with | Dinobot | ||||||||
 Watch this episode on YouTube
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As a probe from Cybertron approaches the planet, the Maximals desperately try to make contact with it, but Megatron has other plans.
Contents |
Synopsis
Numerous temporal 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 Maximal teammates to a race home. Rattrap does a commendable job in keeping up with the cheetah, but Optimus 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 Optimus Primal assures him that this won't happen. Scorponok, spying on the Maximals, films some footage of the device and sends it to Megatron via Terrorsaur. Once the device is complete, Scorponok begins an attack upon it, but is quickly blasted away 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 each 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 Predacons' restoration chambers to escape the transformation lock.
Terrorsaur attacks the array, but the three Maximals scare off the flier in short order. Dinobot comments that Terrorsaur always was a coward. Megatron agrees, but notes that he still makes a great diversion. 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, but Rattrap blasts Blackarachnia over the edge of a cliff. With her out of the picture, Rattrap talks to Dinobot, who is experiencing transformational dysfunction. Rattrap figures out what's wrong—an instant before the lock lens strikes him as well. The two Maximals are then blasted by Megatron.
Optimus Primal defeats Tarantulas, but is then locked into his beast mode like the others. Nonetheless, he manages to fend off Megatron's next attempt to destroy the array, but is soon subdued. Megatron prepares to end Primal, but Rhinox arrives just in time, sending 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. Lacking fingers in his beast mode, he can't enter the codes and convinces Optimus he has to do it. But before Primal can input the codes, Megatron destroys the array.
Megatron prepares to finish off Optimus and Rhinox, but Cheetor and Tigatron arrive, destroying Tarantulus's device and driving off Megatron. But the damage has been done-the probe flies past the planet, uncontacted. Megatron boasts that the war will continue until he wins; the Maximals worry that they may never be rescued.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Maximals | Predacons |
|---|---|
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Quotes
"Don't cats ever get tired of being stupid?"
- —Rattrap (and later, Tarantulas) to Cheetor
"C'mon, baby, c'mon, give it up for the rat…."
- —Rattrap has a unique way with computers.
"Well of course! We wouldn't want to miss our chance to go home."
"HEY HEY HEY, what's biting your sensors, Dinoboob?"
- —Dinobot and Rattrap. Rattrap just said "boob."
"You're a Maximal now, and we'll see that you're treated as one."
"And what makes you think that I want to be?"
- —Optimus Primal and Dinobot
"Time for you to decorate a cage, Megadork!"
"I. Think. Not. Cybertron won't find you now, and the war will go on—until I am the victor!"
- —Cheetor's threat rings hollow when Megatron has already destroyed the array.
"Did we get our signal to the probe? Are we goin' home?!"
"Not today, Cheetor… But someday."
- —Cheetor and Optimus Primal
Notes
Script timeline
- Finalised: 5th April 1996
Animation and technical errors
- The panels on Rattrap's elbows slide apart in certain shots, like when he discovers the probe or when he assures Dinobot that Rhinox will get there in time.
- When the Predacons review the footage captured by Scorponok, Tarantulas is either standing on nothing or clinging onto the platform in front of him with just the tips of his feet.
- As Dinobot, Rattrap and Optimus start shooting at Terrorsaur, the pistons on Optimus' right foot are disconnected. Also, for some reason he's trying to hit an airborne target by launching a missile straight in front of himself.
- While using his optic blasts against Terrorsaur, Dinobot's eyes do not glow green.
- When Megatron declares that Terrorsaur was an excellent diversion, the spike-like piece on his left shoulder is sticking straight up, instead of lying flat like normal.
- Scorponok was threatening Optimus Primal with his left claw when Rattrap blew it off. Odd, since his left claw doesn't contain missiles, but his Cyberbee drones. Perhaps another viral mine?
- Right before Scorponok's claw is blasted off, there is a tiny dark speck floating around it.
- As the Preds open fire on Optimus and co., the "shininess" on both the transformation lock lens and Blackarachnia's upper arm keep blinking on and off in sync with her weapon blasts, likely due to the light effects causing something to their textures.
- When the explosion scatters the three Maximals:
- The CG model of Dinobot's shield comes apart; its two tail-halves are open, but one half's inner red part is sticking forward. The tool also clips through Dinobot.
- A triangular piece briefly juts out of Dinobot's left hip as he's blown into the air.
- Optimus' body totally gets mangled; his arms snap back abruptly and his legs are pushed up into his body. As he flips around in the air, his feet remain in a horizontal position, completely clipping through him.
- After the transformation lock lens hits Optimus, Megatron's feet are sunken into the ground.
- Blackarachnia's shoulder plates turn black when Rattrap's blasts hit them, but when she's pushed back to the cliff edge, they're back to their normal color.
- As she's shot over the cliff side and falls, Blackarachnia's feet remain flat and parallel to the ground, clipping through her shins.
- When Optimus lifts up Tarantulas with his arm-cannon, Tarantulas' feet are sunken into the ground.
- Megatron's shoulders turn upside down as he gets up after being decked by Rhinox.
- On the multiple-angle explosion of the Maximal's construct, an arc-panning shot of the explosion is repeated exactly. Also, the characters are strangely absent in these shots.
- At the end, when Cheetor asks Optimus whether they'll be going home, his gun starts clipping into the ground.
Continuity errors
- The Maximals are all out in the open in their robot modes for quite a while- long enough for Cheetor and Tigatron to be taken to the Darksyde, escape, heal themselves, and walk back to the tower- but they don't seem to suffer the usual side-effects.
- Right before Rhinox leaves the base to bring the Axalon's duplicated transwarp signature to the array, the ship's computer informs him that the probe will be back in signal range in 1.4 mega-cycles. Two scenes later, the Predacons' space scanner detects that the probe will be over the planet in merely ten cycles. The deadline jumped down from basically 1.4 hours to ten minutes in no time at all. What's worse, a panning shot between these two scenes shows the array being built not very far from the Axalon, yet Rhinox won't get to it until much later. What took him so long to get to the array?
Continuity notes
- This is the first and only time we actually see Cybertron (outside of a dream in "The Web" and an illustrated description in "Law of the Jungle"). There's a bustling, neon-lit city with flying cars and an orbiting city-cum-spaceport that launches the probes, complete with a voiceover from an unseen Maximal official (voiced by Doug Parker).
- Following "Chain of Command" and "Fallen Comrades", we get more hints about what planet the Beast Wars are taking place on. When we first see the probe approach the planet it heads towards a continent that looks like Africa. Later, the probe does a tour of the local solar system and passes by planets that look awfully like Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. When the probe returns towards the end of the episode, we can again see what looks like Africa and Madagascar along with Antarctica, although the locations are a bit off.
- After its creation two episodes ago, we see Sentinel in regular use for the first time (unless you're watching one of the home video releases. See "Trivia" below.)
- Dinobot's hesitation towards the idea of being rescued will resurface in "Victory".
- Cheetor may know where the Predacon's CR Chamber is due to the events of "Equal Measures", when he was chased through much of the Predacon base.
- In a neat little bit of continuity, when Blackarachnia is about to be shot off a cliff by Rattrap, Scorponok's body is barely visible at the bottom. He's even missing the claw that was blown off by Rattrap earlier in the episode!
- Gadgets and powers:
- Scorponok can apparently transfer recordings to the little disk bearing the Predacon insignia on his chest. The disk can be detached and taken back to base. Maybe his cyberbees were being repaired at the time? Or perhaps he was keeping it in reserve in order to fire another viral mine.
- Once again, Cheetor uses his rump gun instead of his normal gun when Tigatron is around.
Transformers references
- Tarantulas' Transformation Lock device has a similar function to Megatron's Transfixatron device in the G1 episode "The Autobot Run". However, Tarantulas' device is a step ahead forcing the target back into their alternate mode. It can also fly on its own. Like in the original episode, the good guys are shown to be slightly useless when stuck in their alt-modes. You'd think a giant robotic Velociraptor would be good in a fight, but no, Dinobot is taken down by Blackarachnia kicking him a few times and is only saved when Rattrap shoots her. Apparently guns and missiles are the only important thing in a Beast Wars fight. Though to be fair, the Maximals do eventually learn to appreciate their beast forms and put their capabilities to good use later on.
- This episode has another reference to the Inferno, the (soon to be renamed) Transformers version of Hell.
- After last episodes use of "minutes", this time we're back to using "cycles".
- Tigatron's exclamation of "By the Matrix, what's happening?!" is the first reference to the various meanings of Matrix to show up in the series.
Trivia
- Cheetor's dialogue at this point in the series is always slightly embarrassing, but calling the Predacon leader "Mega-dumb"? That's pretty mega-lame.
- Scorponok's black and white POV shot has purple Cybertronix text on the bottom. It translates to "f**k".
- A more clever use of Cybertronix comes when Rhinox identifies the probe. The text scrolling on the bottom repeats "ceci est un alphabet tres bizarre et je ne comprends rien", French for "This is a very odd alphabet, and I do not understand anything".
- On home video, the running order of this episode and "A Better Mousetrap" are consistently switched due to this episode having been the ninth one produced and that episode the eleventh, both having been switched in their original broadcast order.
- The exception is the American Kid Rhino DVD release of Season 1, in which this episode appears after "Double Jeopardy". This is particularly noticeable in the presence of the Sentinel defense system before its introductory episode. However, the Madman release for Australia has this episode appearing in the proper place, as does Shout! Factory's.
- Many (but not all) scenes with Blackarachnia were omitted in the Alliance Video VHS release of this episode, as her introductory episode was not included on the same cassette.
Foreign localization
French
- Title: "La Sonde" ("The Probe")
- Title: "La Sonde" (Canada, "The Probe")
German
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- In an extra bit of rudeness, when Rattrap argues that the Maximals' transwarp engine is offline, he concludes his line by calling Rhinox a "tin-can."
- Cheetor's line "He's got a better chance than you, chuckles." is shortened to simply "Du Kichererbse." ("You chickpea.", or to preserve the German wordplay, "You giggling pea.")
Italian
- Title: "La sonda" ("The probe")
Japanese
- Title: "Kyōfu no Shin Heiki!" (恐怖の新兵器!, "A Terrifying New Weapon!")
- Original airdate: 26 November 1997
- When Tigatron and Cheetor are swinging the cages back and forth, Cheetor repeats wheeee and yahooooo incessantly.
- With this episode, the Predacons fully adopt the Maximals' habit of making noises whenever they fire their weapons; usually a noise related to their verbal tic (Scorponok says orya orya orya whenever he fires, Terrorsaur says caw caw caw whenever he fires, etc.). Blackarachnia, however, not only shouts tshaa tshaa tshaa whenever she fires her weapon, but whenever she performs one of her kicks.
Portuguese
- Title: A Sonda ("The Probe")
Mandarin
- Title: "Shíjiān Tànzhēn " (时间探针, "A Time Probe")
Spanish
- Title: La Sonda (America, "The Probe")
Home video releases
- VHS
1996 — Beast Wars — A Feature Length Beasties Adventure (Alliance Video)
1996 — Robots-Bêtes — Une Adventure Cybernetique (Alliance Video) — French audio only.
1998 — Beast Wars: Super Lifeform Transformers — New Weapon of Terror (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
1998 — Beast Wars / Robots-Bêtes Three 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)
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)
