Big Game
From Transformers Wiki
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| And cue the inevitable Jurassic Park quotes... | ||||||
| "Big Game" | ||||||
| Season | 3 | |||||
| No. in season | 2 | |||||
| Production company | Hasbro Studios | |||||
| Airdate | November 1, 2014 | |||||
| Writer | Greg Johnson | |||||
| Director | Kevin Altieri | |||||
| Animation studio | DHX Media Top Draw Animation | |||||
Optimus Prime's new Dinosaur Mode becomes the target of a big game hunter.
Contents |
Synopsis
Optimus Prime gives a stirring speech as he and the Rescue Bots prepare for a running race. As Doc Greene tells them to get set, Frankie Greene suddenly comes from behind riding Trex and calls "GO!" herself. The Rescue Bots pursue, prompting Optimus to transform to his Tyrannosaurus mode and join in, passing Boulder. As they reflect whether The Little Engine That Could or The Tortoise and the Hare would be a more apt story to apply to Boulder, Heatwave trips, resulting in Boulder passing him. Cody is alarmed when Optimus begins acting strangely, stopping mid-race and blasting the Rescue Bots with a sonic wave. Suddenly feral, Optimus sprints off with Cody still inside, and almost runs Huxley Prescott off the road. Optimus reaches Griffin Rock proper, terrorizing the residents, all the while being filmed by Prescott's cameras which are transmitting the footage around the world - a transmission which is being picked up by one particularly interested party.
The Rescue Bots are having no luck slowing down the rampaging Optimus when a strange helicopter appears, scooping Optimus up in an energy field. After it shoots off at high speed, Chief Burns grabs Prescott's footage of the kidnapping as evidence. On another island, Quint Quarry announces to a camera that Quarry Safariland is back in action. As filming continues, he has his Q-Drones drop Optimus in the forest just outside his compound. The still-savage Optimus runs off, and Quarry announces he's starting his own hunt. Back in Griffin Rock, Dani has used the Internet to identify the owner of the helicopter as Quarry, who is known for running illegal safaris. Chief checks with Graham, Boulder and the Greenes, who are working on diagnosing what happened to Optimus - they think reduced energon caused the dino DNA to take over and Boulder's working on a solution.
Quarry attempts to track Optimus, only to be surprised when the dinobot creeps up on him from behind. He subsequently leads Optimus into a trap, however, and the Autobot leader is frozen in ice. Cody kicks his way out and attempts to make an arrest of Quarry, who laughs him off. Quarry attempts to net Optimus, but Optimus uses a sonic blast to fling the net straight back at the hunter. After Cody pleads with Optimus not to hurt Quarry, the Autobot heads off into the jungle, and Quarry continues the hunt. He's soon alerted by a Q-Drone to the rescue team approaching the island on the Darby Ava and gives his drones orders to intercept. Meanwhile, Boulder finishes a patch that might fix Optimus, but feels it needs another test before use. He, Graham and the Greenes head to the natural history museum, where Boulder scans a Triceratops and Doc Greene secures him, ready in case he goes out of control.
Reaching Quarry's island, the rescue team are set on by Q-Drones, one of which ties up Blades. Back in Griffin Rock, Boulder succumbs to dino-rage, but the patch successfully cures him. Quarry, meanwhile, uses an audio recording of Optimus to lure the other Rescue Bots and Cody together, spying on them as the human team members disembark from the Bots. He sends in Q-Drones, which capture the humans and fly them away, then attempts to traps the three Rescue Bots in nets. When that fails, he leads them into a trap, and the trio are caught in a cage which springs out of the ground. While the Q-Drones fly the cage back to his compound, Quarry resumes the hunt for Optimus, which doesn't take long as Optimus finds him. After his net-gun is crushed, Quarry has the Q-Drones catch Optimus in a containment field, however Boulder and Graham arrive and free the Autobot leader.
Quarry flees to his compound, while Graham's able to use the patch to bring Optimus back to his senses. Back in the compound, Quarry has the three captured Rescue Bots loaded onto his heli-jet but is still prepping for take off when Boulder makes short work of the compound's main door, and Optimus makes equally short work of the Q-Drones. Quarry tries to take off only to be forced to land by Boulder jumping onto the front of the heli-jet, and the three Rescue Bots breaking loose. Quarry is forced to land and is arrested by the Chief. While Optimus thanks the team for coming to his aid, Quarry makes use of a lone functioning Q-Drone to escape, and the team know they'll have to tangle with him again.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Humans | Others |
|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"'The Little Engine That Could'. One of my favourite Earth tales. Nice to know you've kept up on your reading, Boulder."
- —Optimus Prime
"We must locate this safari island immediately, if not sooner."
"What's sooner than immediately?"
"I have no idea."
- —Chase and Blades
"Guess what! I was attacked!"
- —Blades, tied up.
Notes
Continuity notes
- Chase uses an energize tool, the rescue claw that comes with his toy, to break free from the cage Quarry traps the bots in.
- Optimus Prime scanned his dino-mode in the previous episode. His regular team appears to remain unaware of it.
- The process of scanning a third form was depicted in detail when Heatwave went through the process in "Changes."
- The Energon patch uses the same delivery mechanism as the antidote patches shown in "Bumblebee to the Rescue."
Transformers references
- Optimus Prime is referred to as a "Dino Bot".
Real-world references
- Tyrannosaurus footsteps making a beverage vibrate. Wonder where we've seen that before.
- Quarry's visual design is based on Hasbro Studios exec Mike Vogel.[1]
- Like the Generation 1 episode "Prime Target", which had a similar premise of Optimus Prime being hunted by a big game hunter, this episode's plot appears to be loosely based on the short story The Most Dangerous Game.
Animation and technical errors
- Quarry's character model is mirrored a few times in the episode, the Q on his belt appearing backwards, and the pouch on his waist moving from his left hip to his right: When he's giving the speech about being in record books, when he confronts the Rescue Bots just before catching them in the cage, as he boasts that he's never been bested to Graham, and as he says "OK, you win. Today." to Optimus.
Trivia
- (tbd)
Foreign localization
French
- Title: "Le chasseur" ("The Hunter")
- Original airdate: ?
- Along with Land Before Prime, this episode originally aired as part of season 2, likely to make up for omitting the season 2 episodes The Riders of Midwinter and Chief Woodrow, which at the time had yet to be released anywhere.
Hungarian
- Title: "A hajtóvadászat" (first dub, "The Manhunt"); "A vadászat" (second dub, "The Hunt")
- Original airdate: 2 December 2014 (first dub); 14 September 2016 (second dub)
- Along with Land Before Prime, this episode originally aired as part of season 2, likely to make up for omitting the season 2 episodes The Riders of Midwinter and Chief Woodrow, which at the time had yet to be released anywhere. Strangely, the episode was re-dubbed when airing again during season 3, with a new title, different dialogue and a new voice actor for Quarry.
Italian
Portuguese
Home video releases
2015 — Rescue Bots — "Dinobots!" (Shout! Factory)
References
- ↑ "Quint Quarry's design is based on Hasbro Studios exec Michael Vogel. Only QQ's not as buff. #TFRescueBots"—Brian Hohlfeld, Twitter, 2014/11/01