[7.8/10] Stuff’s going down! There are stakes when the aliens (or alien tech, at least) shows up that rarely seem present in the show apart from that. It makes episodes like this one, where the good guys and bad guys are tangling with forces they don’t fully understand, while the audience gets to understand things a little bit better, that become much more exciting and engrossing than the average episode of the show.
On the knowledge front, we finally get Megatron’s plan! (Kind of!) He wants to use the alien tech and power to conquer Cybertron and beyond. That’s pretty simplistic, and it’s not exactly clear how the actions he’s taken up till this point have led to that or helped that effort, but it's basic and clear enough to help give him a goal and a purpose.
Likewise, we get a few interesting lore details here. For one, the golden disk is actually useful for something! It’s not just some type of crystal ball, but actually a mechanism for accessing and using alien ships and technology. Likewise, we learn that the quantum storm that turned some of the characters into “Transmetals” made them one with the aliens somehow, to the point that they’re no longer detected by the alien defense systems. (Why that extends to the Fuzors, I’m not sure, but whatever!)
Then there’s some cool imagery. There’s something legitimately scary about Megatron actually managing to gain control of the alien ship, particularly when his face morphs out of its exterior hull. The ease with which he beams in and abducts his fellow bots is concerning, to say the least. And the fact that he has Optimus strung up in his new lair, while monologuing about how he’s going to go out and conquer makes this seem like serious business in a way that average skirmish doesn’t.
Granted the actual story parts aren’t exactly amazing. There’s some juice from the fact that the Maximals end up teaming with Tarantulas in a “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” type situation, and it gives Rattrap a bit of spotlight in a major episode, which is an interesting choice. But otherwise, a lot of this is the arbitrary “shoot energy beams at each other for a while until the big thing blows up” sort of deal. There’s nothing wrong with that exactly, but it’s a pretty minor conclusion to such a bigtime episode. Most of the intrigue here comes from Tarantulas as a wildcard, albeit with some interesting judgment calls and even bravery from Rattrap otherwise.
Overall, this duology is one of the show’s best pair of episodes, tapping into some of the big time stuff the show’s been saving for a rainy day and letting it loose. Curious to see where they go from here.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-07-11T16:20:30Z
[7.8/10] Stuff’s going down! There are stakes when the aliens (or alien tech, at least) shows up that rarely seem present in the show apart from that. It makes episodes like this one, where the good guys and bad guys are tangling with forces they don’t fully understand, while the audience gets to understand things a little bit better, that become much more exciting and engrossing than the average episode of the show.
On the knowledge front, we finally get Megatron’s plan! (Kind of!) He wants to use the alien tech and power to conquer Cybertron and beyond. That’s pretty simplistic, and it’s not exactly clear how the actions he’s taken up till this point have led to that or helped that effort, but it's basic and clear enough to help give him a goal and a purpose.
Likewise, we get a few interesting lore details here. For one, the golden disk is actually useful for something! It’s not just some type of crystal ball, but actually a mechanism for accessing and using alien ships and technology. Likewise, we learn that the quantum storm that turned some of the characters into “Transmetals” made them one with the aliens somehow, to the point that they’re no longer detected by the alien defense systems. (Why that extends to the Fuzors, I’m not sure, but whatever!)
Then there’s some cool imagery. There’s something legitimately scary about Megatron actually managing to gain control of the alien ship, particularly when his face morphs out of its exterior hull. The ease with which he beams in and abducts his fellow bots is concerning, to say the least. And the fact that he has Optimus strung up in his new lair, while monologuing about how he’s going to go out and conquer makes this seem like serious business in a way that average skirmish doesn’t.
Granted the actual story parts aren’t exactly amazing. There’s some juice from the fact that the Maximals end up teaming with Tarantulas in a “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” type situation, and it gives Rattrap a bit of spotlight in a major episode, which is an interesting choice. But otherwise, a lot of this is the arbitrary “shoot energy beams at each other for a while until the big thing blows up” sort of deal. There’s nothing wrong with that exactly, but it’s a pretty minor conclusion to such a bigtime episode. Most of the intrigue here comes from Tarantulas as a wildcard, albeit with some interesting judgment calls and even bravery from Rattrap otherwise.
Overall, this duology is one of the show’s best pair of episodes, tapping into some of the big time stuff the show’s been saving for a rainy day and letting it loose. Curious to see where they go from here.