[6.2/10] As I’ve said about prior unavailing episodes, there’s some solid ideas here. The notion of our heroes having to be subject to their more beastly impulses is an interesting one, and the Predacons engineering that and trying to take advantage of it is a solid villain plot. The problem, as usual, are that the execution of that idea is really campy and over the top and doesn’t quite hit the levels of philosophical or spiritual transcendence that the show is going for.
Let’s also be frank here -- this is an unintentionally silly episode. While a more incisive exploration of primal urges could be compelling, this episode just features the good guys turning feral and running around the jungle grunting and roaring for long stretches of time. It’s surprisingly boring. And the concept that Megatron goes on a safari-style hunt for them rather than trying to take over their base is utterly ridiculous.
(As an aside, does this same condition happen to car-based Transformers? I never watched those shows, but in my head I’m imagining Optimus Prime having spent too much time in big rig form and thinking to himself “must...haul...cargo.”)
I do like that Tigatron is able to snap them out of their feral state. He, more than anyone, has found a balance between being a robot and being a beast, and it’s nice to see him using that spiritual transcendence to help his friends achieve the same. There’s a strong-if-basic “Gray Jedi” notion of taking the good from both sides of oneself there.
Granted, the show dramatizes the Maximals’ newfound acceptance of their beastly sides by...having Rattrap roll under Terrorsaur’s legs? Having Rhinox pick up and throw a heavy object? It’s not really clear what advantage this newfound inner peace has given our heroes, which is a failing, but it’s still a solid beat.
Overall, this one feels pretty dull and/or silly through much of the “We’re becoming too animalistic” sections, but the solid idea at the core and Tigatron material is enough to put it into “perfectly fine” territory.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-06-11T14:47:43Z
[6.2/10] As I’ve said about prior unavailing episodes, there’s some solid ideas here. The notion of our heroes having to be subject to their more beastly impulses is an interesting one, and the Predacons engineering that and trying to take advantage of it is a solid villain plot. The problem, as usual, are that the execution of that idea is really campy and over the top and doesn’t quite hit the levels of philosophical or spiritual transcendence that the show is going for.
Let’s also be frank here -- this is an unintentionally silly episode. While a more incisive exploration of primal urges could be compelling, this episode just features the good guys turning feral and running around the jungle grunting and roaring for long stretches of time. It’s surprisingly boring. And the concept that Megatron goes on a safari-style hunt for them rather than trying to take over their base is utterly ridiculous.
(As an aside, does this same condition happen to car-based Transformers? I never watched those shows, but in my head I’m imagining Optimus Prime having spent too much time in big rig form and thinking to himself “must...haul...cargo.”)
I do like that Tigatron is able to snap them out of their feral state. He, more than anyone, has found a balance between being a robot and being a beast, and it’s nice to see him using that spiritual transcendence to help his friends achieve the same. There’s a strong-if-basic “Gray Jedi” notion of taking the good from both sides of oneself there.
Granted, the show dramatizes the Maximals’ newfound acceptance of their beastly sides by...having Rattrap roll under Terrorsaur’s legs? Having Rhinox pick up and throw a heavy object? It’s not really clear what advantage this newfound inner peace has given our heroes, which is a failing, but it’s still a solid beat.
Overall, this one feels pretty dull and/or silly through much of the “We’re becoming too animalistic” sections, but the solid idea at the core and Tigatron material is enough to put it into “perfectly fine” territory.