Sparkwar Pt. II: The Search

« Beast Machines: Transformers ep 21 »
"Wait, if you're Optimus Prime, why do you have a mouth?" "All the better to eat you with, my dear Primal!"
"Sparkwar Pt. II: The Search"
Season	2
No. in season	8
Production company	Mainframe Entertainment
Airdate	March 29, 2000 (Canada) September 30, 2000 (USA)
Written by	Michael Reaves
Directed by	Gino Nichele
Animation studio	Mainframe Entertainment

The Maximals continue their search for the missing sparks.

Synopsis

Megatron's fascist planet is being patrolled by legions of the new drones as the Maximals, in beast mode, make their way along the lower levels of the surface. They observe that Megatron is fortifying his position. Optimus has a jolting vision of the drifting Sparks, apparently the Oracle contacting him about the Sparks, which have been moved.

Within the big floating head, Megatron speaks to his three generals, directing them to locations where the Maximals will be, and instructing them to capture Optimus alive.

"I nicked this out of Tony Stark's chest."

Rattrap introduces the team to his scrambled field generator devices, small disks intended to befuddle the Vehicons' sensors. Rattrap's not quite sure they'll work, but the team figures it's better than nothing. The group tries them out, changing to robot modes... then dives for cover as Obsidian passes by overhead. But the general doesn't notice them, instead moving to carry out his orders along with Strika.

Optimus tells the group that his flashes were of familiar places, and splits them up into three teams to go investigate. Rattrap and Botanica aren't too happy at being paired up, but the group deploys as ordered.

At the Maximal shell yard just outside processing plant #57, Cheetor, Silverbolt, and Blackarachnia move in. Silverbolt is not interested in taking orders from Cheetor, despite Blackarachnia's assurance that a lot has changed since they were parted. Obsidian, watching from concealment, prepares his strike force.

As Optimus and Nightscream walk below the surface, Nightscream finds a familiar claw slash in the wall. Nightscream wants to find Noble, but Primal gently persuades him to take one job at a time. They run into a cave-in around the corner; Op's eyes flash with white light, and, glancing at a floor hatch, he says they're heading down...

Rattrap and Botanica arrive outside the Citadel, still squabbling. Rattrap detects a massive positronic residual charge, but inside they find piles and piles of Spark canisters... empty. They've arrived here too late. They depart, only to be ambushed by Strika. Botanica is chagrined that Rattrap's scramblers didn't work very long; they fall back.

Obsidian observes from high above as the Maximals explore the shell complex. Silverbolt and Cheetor argue over the latter's leadership capabilities, till Obsidian attacks. Surrounded, Silverbolt decides a berserker head-on attack is the only option.

"The decaying ruins of Old New York... This place brings back a lot of memories-"
"Keep 'em to yourself, Pops."

Optimus and Nightscream, meanwhile, have found a stunning ruin below the surface, a great city that was replaced after the Great War between the Autobots and the Decepticons, during the Great Upgrade: Iacon. The two apparently trigger a ghostly spector, a holographic tribute to the original Optimus Prime.

Rattrap and Botanica get out of robot mode to escape detection, and duck into a convenient building; Strika drives by without finding them. Rattrap taps his scrambler disk uncertainly, only to get snapped at by Botanica. But Rattrap's attention is suddenly distracted by the contents of the building they're in: holographic pleasure chips. He loads several of said chips into his backpack, then spots some sort of player for the chips just then. He plugs into it, becoming enthralled with a vision of a peaceful metallic world. Just then Strika enters and attacks.

At the shell plant, Silverbolt finally gets blasted back to the ground, and rebuked by Cheetor for his recklessness.

Optimus and Nightscream are about to move on, when the virtual Prime reaches down and scoops Optimus up, bringing him up to face level. From Nightscream's point of view, the hologram disappears, though Optimus continues to float in mid-air. Thrust arrives just then and attacks, but Optimus is seemingly in a trance.

A wondrous robotic world and no civil war destroying everything? That's disgusting.

Rattrap is still lost in his fantasy world, till Botanica pulls the machine's plug. A blast scatters the Maximals as well as Rattrap's precious chips, which he scrambles to scoop up. He tells Botanica to keep Strika occupied.

As leader, Cheetor decides on a strategic advance to the rear.

Nightscream is dodging Cycle Drone shots, while Optimus talks with Optimus on some other plane. The Prime hologram tells him that the Oracle lies within him, and he has but to summon it. Primal does so, and is surrounded by a white, Oracle-style hoola-hoop. The hologram of Optimus Prime chuckles... then laughs... a laugh which quickly deepens into that of Megatron, whose face suddenly replaces the figure of Prime.

Strika is posed to deliver a killing blow to Botanica, when Rattrap notices that one of her feet is on the activation pad of the holo-player he was using earlier. He leaps, landing on her shoulders and plugging one of the chips into her head, ensnaring her with the same vision that he was having before. He's pretty pleased with himself; Botanica drags him off.

In the shell yard, Cheetor has a bit of inspiration. The Maximals use a discarded power core to defeat their tormentors, blowing it up in their faces.

Megatron gloats to Optimus; he used the Spark vision to have the Maximals sent off on fools' errands, so Optimus would access the Oracle for his benefit. Megatron has studied and mastered most of the Oracle's secrets, but there's still some pieces missing... till now. And a fast, forceful download commences.

IGNORE THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN.

Megatron gloats again; all the pieces are in place, and now he can complete his ultimate plan for the Sparks. The hologram fades away, and Optimus finds himself in the middle of Nightscream's Cycle Drone battle.

Nightscream, meanwhile, has been brought down by weight of numbers, when a bolt out of the blue hits his attackers. It's Savage, lumbering onto the scene and prompting the Cycle Drones into a frantic retreat. Savage morphs to Noble and jogs after them, out of sight. A second later the drones go flying through the air. Optimus recovers, and immediately orders Nightscream to follow him to a rendezvous with the others.

The Maximals are shocked that Megatron has the full power of the Oracle, but Primal tells him that he gave Megatron access to the Oracle on purpose. While Megatron was downloading it, Primal accessed information from him as well, and learned the location of the Sparks. They have but a short window of opportunity to act, to free the Sparks from the location where they're being held: within the big floating head.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"No offense, kitten, but I don't take orders from children."
"Silverbolt, a lot's happened since you've been gone."
"Not that much."

—Silverbolt isn't impressed with Cheetor, despite Blackarachnia sticking up for him.

"This calls for a strategic advance to the rear."
"Meaning?"
"RUN AWAY!"

—Rattrap and Botanica encounter Strika.

"Looks like we've been spotted." [sarcastically] "Thank you very much, Rattrap."

—Blackarachnia after being spotted by Obsidian.

"Ugh, everyone else gets a partner, I get a flea-ridden travel agent."

—Botanica

Notes

Animation and technical errors

• When Obsidian reacts to Silverbolt's feather-bombing solo action, the drone next to him is firing its guns with its fingers deployed at the same time.
  • At the end of said shot, the camera clips into Obsidian's head for a handful of frames.
• Nightscream's hands pass through his leg-wings several times.
• Thrust pronounces Iacon as "Iocon".
• The textures on Thrust's left gun-barrel are glitching out throughout his scenes.
• When Botanica picks up the metal plate to use as a shield, the connectors between her torso and arms are missing, so her arms are just floating beside her.
• Strika's mouth movements are really out of sync with her "What a pretty little plant..." line.
• When Nightscream warns the entranced Optimus that they should be going, he's flying without flapping his wings.
• With its curved antennae, the head of the Optimus Prime hologram sure looks like Primal's original Beast Wars head, doesn't it? Further, when he reaches down to pick up Primal, Prime has a mouth. (It's gone by the next shot.) Apparently, Mainframe had lost the model for Prime's head, and had to use a faceplated Primal head as a "good enough" replacement.
• "Its... beautiful!" – Strika's "eyelids" apparently disagree, because they remain in place when she raises her brows (the front part of her helmet, actually), causing an odd gap to appear between them.
• Just before Blackarachnia throws the Prowl-lookalike torso off herself, a nearby Soundwave leg is partially floating in the air.
• Savage/Noble lacks a shadow when he begins and is done transforming (he casts one in the in-between shot).

Continuity errors

• Isn't Silverbolt younger than Cheetor? Then again, Transformer aging is weird, so...

Continuity notes

• Megatron notes that the "Oracle lies within you"—Optimus has notably spent less time relying on the computer this season, especially since "Fallout" ended with the Oracle concluding that there was nothing more to teach, and apparently vanishing. This episode shows that the Oracle merely transferred itself (or part of itself) into Optimus.
• Megatron also mentions the Optimus's "previous visit" to the Grand Mal, as seen in "In Darkest Knight".
• Optimus Primal alludes to the "Great Upgrade", an event, or period of time, where the old Autobot faction transitioned into a postwar Maximal society.
• Gadgets and powers:
  • Strika can lob explosive blasts from her palms. Additionally, her forearm armor (forearmor)? can deploy into a sort of close combat weapon.
  • Rattrap's multi-purpose facemask comes equipped with a pair of headlamps.

Transformers references

• While traveling through the sublevels of Cybertron, Optimus Primal and Nightscream stumble upon the ruins of Iacon.
• After that, they encounter a hologram of Optimus Prime. Interestingly, Optimus (Primal) describes Optimus (Prime) as "his ancestor". He might just be speaking metaphorically, as the Autobots are collectively the "ancestors" of the Maximals, but the comment seems to imply a deeper relation beyond their shared names.
• The hologram claims to be Optimus Prime's "essence, stored here these many years after The Final Battle". Sure, it was a ruse by Megatron, but there had to be enough truth in it to attempt to fool Optimus Primal. It seems likely there was some sort of Final Battle, or a legend of a Final Battle in Beast Era lore, where it would be believable that Prime's essence would get stored away afterwards. The implication is also that Optimus Prime died in this battle.
  • 2016's "Dawn of the Predacus" kicked off its take on the Final Battle with Optimus Prime having fallen in a final duel with Galvatron, so make of that what you will.
• The Maximals stumble on the remains of more Transformers, reusing Prowl and Soundwave's character models again.

Real-world references

• As the Big Floating Head hovers into view, Rattrap mutters "Talk about yer bad moon risin'," in tribute to the classic Creedence Clearwater Revival song.

Trivia

• Megatron breaks out one of his classic "yesses" as he describes his plan to the Vehicon generals.
• Rattrap breaks the fourth wall as he describes a "virtual, but not virtuous" pleasure disc, wiggling his eyebrows knowingly at the camera. (Rattrap, you perv.)
• Some of the Cycle Drones perform wild takes in response to Noble transforming, during which they bounce and stretch like rubber, and momentarily break apart.

Foreign localization

French

• Title: "La Guerre des Étincelles (Partie 2)" ("The War of the Sparks (Part 2)")
  • The original Optimus Prime is wrongly also called "Optimus Primal" in the dub.

German

• Title: "Das Hologramm" ("The Hologram")
• Original airdate: December 22, 2000

Italian

• Title: "Sparkwar (seconda parte) - La ricerca" ("Sparkwar (second part) - The search")

• Weirdly, in the title "Sparkwar" is left in English.

Japanese

• Title: "Kyozō no Michibiki" (虚像の導き, "The Guidance of the Virtual Image")
• Original airdate: January 15, 2005

Mandarin

• Title: "Sōuxún Xíngdòng " (搜寻行动, "The Search Action")

Brazilian Portuguese

• Title: "Guerra das Chamas Parte 2: A Busca" ("Sparkwar Part 2: The Search")

Spanish

• Title: "Guerra de Chispas Parte 2: La Búsqueda" ("Sparkwar Part 2: The Search")

Home video releases

DVD

2005 — Super Lifeform Transformers: Beast Wars Returns — Volume 6 (Geneon Entertainment) — Japanese audio only.
2006 — Beast Machines: Transformers — The Complete Series (Rhinomation)
2014 — Transformers: Beast Machines — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)
2007 — Transformers: Beast Machines — Season Two: Volume One (Sony)
2007 — Transformers: Beast Machines — Complete Season Two (Sony)
2009 — Transformers: Beast Machines — Intégrale Saison 2 (Sony) — French audio only.