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Beast WarsBWS03E04Season 3 · 1998–99

Cutting Edge

Written by Ian Weir · First aired 1998-11-15 · Production code 43

Title card via TFWiki, fan-archive fair use

Synopsis

A human tribe is caught between the factions as Megatron’s Predacon raptors raid their village.

Chak and Una, two anthropoid children, play, watched over by three older primates, the youngest of the which bearing a familiar hammer. But a large raptor with red, glowing eyes and laser vision arrives, attacks one of the older anthropoids, and begins to chase the leading anthropoid and the kids for their lives. The children hide and stay silent to avoid becoming snacks for the mechanical dinosaur. Optimus Primal and Silverbolt arrive in the sky to save the anthropoids from the evil dinosaur. Back in the Mount St. Hilary base, Rhinox analyzes recovered materials from the dinosaurs to deduce that Megatron must be masterminding the evil robot dinosaur's activities, and one raptor won't be the end.

Rattrap, lurking about, spies on Blackarachnia carrying around some materials in a suspicious manner. She drops her cargo when the two anthropoids run past her, followed by their monkeysitter, Cheetor. Cheetor stops to explain why the kids are here, but is distracted by the sensation of being close to Blackarachnia. In the control room, Primal assigns Cheetor and Blackarachnia to take the kids back to their regular habitat (making Silverbolt act rather territorial). Once the four leave, Rattrap mentions to Rhinox that he saw Blackarachnia taking something from the classified area of the Maximals' base.

Cheetor gives Chak a dizzying ride through the air, while on the ground, Una puts a coconut on her head and mimics Blackarachnia's behavior. Cheetor and Chak land and Blackarachnia professes her disdain for the adorable antics of the Neanderthals. A Cyber-Raptor attacks, and despite her own reservations about putting herself in danger, she fights to protect the human kids. Cheetor manages to damage himself with a grandstanding maneuver. After getting away, the Maximals find their radios are being jammed and Cheetor's flight ability is disabled; the two are on their own.

Megatron, watching the Maximals and their charges, sends Waspinator and Tarantulas (brandishing a new toy) and three additional raptors to attack the two Maximals in the field. Meanwhile, Primal and Silverbolt also go to reinforce the two Maximals who haven't radioed in a status report. The four remaining Predacons share a hearty laugh and prepare for an attack on the under-staffed Maximal base.

Cheetor, Blackarachnia, and the kids come under attack from Predacon forces. While they take cover, Silverbolt and Primal arrive to protect their comrades. Tarantulas's new weapon is a Transmetal cyber venom which disables Primal, leaving him drunkenly singing about his Little Guy. Blackarachnia dives to use her own body to take a shot from Tarantulas meant for the two kids. One of the raptors gets close to Optimus, but is damaged by the sudden appearance of the hammer-wielding anthropoid. The damaged raptor jumps madly, stomping on Waspinator. Thanks to the anthropoid, Primal figures out that the raptors are vulnerable on the control units on their backs. Blackarachnia destroys the control unit on the remaining raptor, which takes out Tarantulas as it self-destructs.

Megatron's attack on the Maximal base starts well. Quickstrike is sacrificed as a victim to an anticipated booby trap. After getting a radio message from Waspinator that the attack on the anthropoids has failed, Megatron, Rampage and Inferno push forward to claim the Ark—but Depth Charge arrives, giving Rhinox and Rattrap the opening they need to force the Predacons back into a retreat.

As Primal's group collects itself, the child anthropoids are delivered back into the care of their parents and wave goodbye to Cheetor. Blackarachnia smuggles some hardware from the damaged raptors. Cheetor congratulates Blackarachnia on her heroic actions, but Blackarachnia tells Cheetor she doesn't care for "nice kids". As she walks away under the wing of territorial Silverbolt, Cheetor mutters that he's not a kid...and maybe not so nice, either.

Meanwhile, Megatron determines that he can perfect the technology from the Cyber-Raptors by using it in conjunction with the other half of Rampage's divided spark.

Memorable quotes

—Blackarachnia, not appreciating the company she's stuck with.
—Blackarachnia still not appreciating the company.
—Megatron gives Quickstrike exactly the right answer.
—Silverbolt and Blackarachnia, after the latter saves Una and Chak
—Megatron uses Quickstrike to educate Inferno on the nuances of survival.

Notes of interest

  • This episode features the only time Tarantulas uses his spider leg guns in his Transmetal form. Though only in vehicle mode.
  • The invention of the club appears to have led swiftly and mercifully to the invention of pants.
  • Depth Charge arrives at the Ark just in the nick of time, without any previous establishment in the episode, making his introduction into the episode's plot a bit of a deus ex machina.
  • Perhaps Megatron shouldn't have put the most vulnerable parts of his creations right on top of their backs, where they could easily be shot, smashed, etc.
  • This must have been a bad day for Rampage, what with getting kicked out of the base by Depth Charge and, at the end, Megatron squeezing his half-spark just to gloat.
  • When Blackarachnia blasts Waspinator, his eyes bug out of his head in typical cartoon fashion.

Characters in this episode

Full roster →
Megatron

Screencaps

6 stills
Cutting Edge screencap 1Cutting Edge screencap 2Cutting Edge screencap 3Cutting Edge screencap 4Cutting Edge screencap 5Cutting Edge screencap 6

Screencaps via TFWiki (Teletraan I), used under fan-archive fair use.

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