Nemesis, Part 2
Title card via TFWiki, fan-archive fair use
In a desperate final battle, the Maximals bring down the Nemesis and capture Megatron, ending the Beast Wars and setting the stage for the future.
Megatron has raised the Nemesis from its watery grave and has begun a random attack on everything in sight, all the while quoting the Covenant of Primus. After telling Rhinox to "deploy Operation Eternity", Optimus Primal and Tigerhawk attempt to fight it off, but their weapons don't even scratch the hull. Tigerhawk tells Primal to rally the Maximals and that he will remain to fight. On the Nemesis, Dinobot is commenting that his spark has changed and feels complete. Aspects of the original Dinobot begin to emerge. He admires Tigerhawk's defense. Tigerhawk is able to damage power on several decks, limiting Megatron's offensive options to using the fusion cannon, which he uses to destroy Tigerhawk. Going to the anthropoid settlement, Megatron prepares to destroy it. Dinobot objects, asking where the honor is in such an act, but Megatron fires anyway, killing Inferno and Quickstrike in the process.
At Mount St. Hilary, the Maximals are preparing a last-ditch strategy—bring the Ark online and fight the Nemesis. However, the ship has been offline too long, and Rhinox and Blackarachnia are having trouble restoring power. The Nemesis arrives, but Tigerhawk's attack, as well as the wasted attack on the anthropoids, has depleted its energon reserves, and the fusion cannon requires time to recharge. Megatron activates its tractor beam, and Primal enters the Nemesis. He and Megatron duke it out, but the Predacon clearly has the advantage. On the Ark, the Maximals manage to get the engines on line, but they burn out almost instantly. Rattrap proclaims that they are all going to die, and for once, no one tells him to shut up. Instead, the characteristically stoic Rhinox simply responds with "Yup".
However, Dinobot, disapproving of Megatron's actions, sends a message to the Maximals of an Autobot shuttle stored in the Ark. Megatron orders Dinobot to fire, but he refuses, stating that he has his honor. In a last bid to save them all, Rhinox pilots the shuttle on a collision course with the Nemesis's bridge, crashing through the viewport and going out the other side, dragging Megatron along. Optimus urges Dinobot to save himself, but he simply bids farewell to Primal and remains as the bridge explodes around him. As the Nemesis crashes, Primal rejoins the other Maximals.
Sometime later, after repairing the shuttle and rigging a transwarp cell to it, the Maximals leave Earth for Cybertron. Optimus, piloting the ship, declares that the Beast Wars are over, and memorializes the Maximals who fell during the war. Rattrap, however, is more happy to be going home and points out that they won't have to see Megatron 'til they get there, as the Predacon is tied to the hull of their shuttle. As the shuttle enters transwarp, the scene shifts to the anthropoids, who have built a village and are using parts of Inferno and Quickstrike in a ritual to celebrate their new leader...Waspinator.
Waspinator declares that he is "happy at last".
—Megatron and Dinobot
-Megatron, commenting on the firepower of the Nemesis.
—Tigerhawk and Optimus Primal
—Megatron and Dinobot
—Megatron gets decked by Optimus Primal
- In an interview, Furman stated he was approached at BotCon 1998 to write a "G1-centric" episode, and worked closely with Bob Forward on what would become "Nemesis" (they originally weren't sure who'd write which part). Various ideas were pitched, but for reasons of budget and a lack of a fourth season meant everything needed to be wrapped up here; one key decision was to ensure the core cast "got a good send off, one that didn't leave them in limbo". Bob would do most of the Dinobot writing. Despite the rewrite to turn this into a series finale, Forward and Larry DiTillo learnt "too late" that they were being replaced after Season 3 "to tie up all the threads".
- Kid Rhino's Season 3 box set contains an animatic with additional footage cut out from the final episode (presumably to save time). One of the edits shows Optimus Primal tearing a transwarp cell from the Nemesis' control deck prior to telling Dinobot to save himself. The transwarp cell is visible in the (finished) episode in Primal's hand as he escapes the exploding Nemesis, and is later seen installed on the controls of the Autobot shuttle, explaining how the Maximals were able to travel through both space and time and return home.
- In the early plot of the episode, the Maximals successfully launch the Ark itself, instead of an Autobot shuttle. Also, Dirge, Ramjet and Thrust would have reactivated, ramming into the Nemesis instead of the Autobot shuttle.
- This episode addresses the Teletron vs Teletraan pronunciation debate. When Blackarachnia refers to it as "Teletron-1", Rattrap annoyedly corrects her with "Teletraan". Blackarachnia dismisses him presumably because she's got more important things to worry about than how to pronounce the computer's name.
- Was Dinobot's spirit influencing Dinobot II, or was something else going on? After Dinobot flashes between himself and the original Dinobot, his voice no longer has the electronic effect. The 2010 Transformers Hall of Fame competition would eventually say that Dinobot's "consciousness" was influencing him. "Dark Glass" provides a more direct explanation but it was ultimately not produced.
- There are echoes of musical cues from "Code of Hero" playing as Dinobot starts to recall the life of the original Dinobot, and when Rattrap mentions Dinobot II as the Maximals leave Earth.
Screencaps via TFWiki (Teletraan I), used under fan-archive fair use.