Mercenary Pursuits

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"Mercenary Pursuits"
Season	1
No. in season	4
Production company	Mainframe Entertainment
Airdate	October 9, 1999
Written by	Michael Reaves
Directed by	Raul Sanchez Inglis
Animation studio	Mainframe Entertainment
Continuity	Beast Wars continuity

The Maximals have a second run-in with the Vehicon generals, and sense the presence of a familiar spark.

Synopsis

Megatron rebukes his Vehicon generals for failing to destroy the Maximals, refusing to accept failure; he sends them forth with promises of rewards to whichever one captures the Maximals.

Optimus Primal contemplates the images of Rhinox and Silverbolt and vows to find them. His meditation is interrupted when he senses the presence of a spark; the team goes out to find it. During the search, Rattrap breaks into a secure laboratory and discovers the transformation inhibitor virus which Megatron used... and a counter-virus as well, a transformation enhancer. Rattrap swipes the enhancer while Cheetor's back is turned.

While Thrust and Jetstorm squabble, Tankor manages to find the Maximals, who elude him by reverting to beast mode... until Rattrap shows up, able to transform at last thanks to the enhancer. This alerts Tankor, of course, who attacks the team. Rattrap finds he's unable to control his transformations, as he continually changes between robot and beast mode, passing through strange intermediate forms.

Tankor manages to trap the Maximals under a metal dome. Thrust and Jetstorm arrive and fight Tankor for the right to bring in the captive Maximals; the distraction allows the Maximals escape from the dome, but an explosion knocks out all the Transformers present, leaving only the durable Tankor standing.

Now tell me, Maximal... how did you like my poem?

At the Citadel, Megatron gloats to the captured Maximals, while Tankor demands his reward: "freedom" via the removal of his spark. Rattrap's continual transformations strain his bonds to the breaking point, freeing him; he quickly releases the others. During the ensuing fight, Megatron loses control and breaks free of his control harness; Primal talks directly to Tankor's spark, compelling him to do what is right. After a moment of confusion, Tankor blasts open the door so the Maximals can escape, and leaves with them.

One of these things is not like the other...

Restored to his harness, Megatron interfaces directly with Tankor's CPU, deleting the last 20 cycles of his memory. Thus Tankor suddenly attacks the Maximals again as they travel underground; Megatron blocks Primal's attempts to speak to Tankor's Spark again. The Maximals trip up Tankor as he's preparing to fire; the cannon backblast sends him flying upwards through Cybertron's sublevels, only to crash back down to the surface atop a startled Thrust and Jetstorm.

Optimus Primal explains to the other Maximals that he sensed something familiar about Tankor's spark... but then it was gone.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"An interesting tale. Now here are some meaningful words. I am your creator. Please me and I shall reward you. Disappoint me and you shall suffer. A difficult choice?"

—Megatron attempts to raise his troops' morale.

Cheetor: Use me for _target practice?! THAT'S IT!! I Am Trans...
Optimus Primal: Negative. These storage bins may contain explosives.
Blackarachnia: [scoffs] Aren't you being just a little overcautious?
[Tankor blows up a storage bin, triggering the explosion of other storage bins in the vicinity.]
Optimus Primal: Next question?

—Optimus Primal, showing the other Maximals why he's the big banana.

"Transform back before Tankor locks in on you."
"But..but...I am transformed!"

—Optimus Primal talks sense to Rattrap who appears to be having an off-day.

[After escaping Tankor, parts of Rattrap's body changes uncontrollably from beast to robot mode]
Blackarachnia: Rattrap, what are you doing?
Rattrap: The hokey-pokey! What's it look like? I can't...stop!
Cheetor: The transformation enhancers. Tell me you didn't!
Rattrap: Can we.. [twitches once, robot mode head pops out and speaks simultaneously with his beast mode head] discuss this...later?

—Two heads are not better than one with Rattrap.

"Now, if there are no further interruptions."
"I'm afraid there will be."

—Megatron is clued in by Optimus.

"Tankor! Tankor!"
"I'm sorry, Tankor is not available at the present time. Would you like to leave a message?"

—Optimus Primal tries to contact Tankor's spark again and gets Megatron instead.

Notes

Animation and technical errors

• As Optimus says "I'm closing in on the spark," the colored bands on his beast mode arms are turned sideways.
• When Jetstorm throws Thrust at the building, Thrust looks exactly the same as the Cycle Drones, but then at the just before he transforms, he is back to normal.
• When Blackarachnia tells Rattrap to transform back into beast mode, one of her legs clips through her abdomen.
• As Rattrap comes to a halt while he and his team are fleeing from the generals, his tails keeps clipping into the ground.
• When Optimus confronts Tankor, and then as the latter drops the dome the Maximals, Optimus' hand is clipping through his forearm-guards – not an uncommon error, due to his design.
• When Jetstorm and Thrust stand off against Tankor, in the shot from underneath Thrust as he rolls backward towards the camera, Tankor in the distance has a solid blue Tank Drone chestplate instead of his red-banded chestplate.
• When Megatron glares at the Maximals after they simultaneously transform, his scar is over his left eye instead of his right.
• As the Maximals react to Megatron closing the gate, Cheetor's legs clip through each other.
• The sparks shooting out of Tankor when Megatron electrocutes him cast shadows – another common error in the show.
• When Optimus calls out to Tankor to follow them, and he twists around, a piece in the middle of Tankor's back doesn't turn with him.

Continuity errors

• At the end of the previous episode, Rattrap was excited to inform Optimus about the missing Rhinox and Silverbolt. But in this episode, he is instead annoyed about Optimus having been told about them.
• If the Maximals are immune to the debilitating effects of the transformation virus, shouldn't the counter-virus have no effect on them either?

Continuity notes

• Optimus is mourning the missing-in-action Rhinox and Silverbolt at the start of the episode. Clearly, Blackarachnia opted to tell her leader about her discoveries in "Fires of the Past".
• Blackarachnia mentions to her trip to Central Spaceport and Megatron almost hacking into her memories, which occurred in the same episode.
• Rattrap's inability to transform has been an issue since "Master of the House".
• Some more hints about the state of Cybertron: the transformation virus that prevented the Maximals from transforming in "The Reformatting" is finally identified.
• Gadgets and powers:
  • Optimus Primal displays his burgeoning spiritual side as he telepathically contacts Tankor.

Real-world references

• As Rattrap finds the transformation enhancer, he exclaims "Good-bye fur coat; hello full metal jacket!" A full metal jacket is a copper bullet casing commonly used by infantrymen, as well as the title of a Stanley Kubrick film.

Foreign localization

French

• Title: "Poursuite" ("Pursuit")

German

• Title: "Die Jagd" ("The Hunt")
• Original airdate: December 6, 2000

Italian

• Title: "Tentativo fallito" ("Failed attempt")

• When Megatron says: «please me and I shall reward you», it is translated as: «beg me and I shall reward you», which doesn't make a lot of sense.
• In Megatron's line: «Your sparks are mine» "your" is translated as a singular your, like if he was talking to one single Maximal... with multiple sparks.

Japanese

• Title: "Higan no Henshin" (悲願の変身, "The Coveted Transformation")
• Original airdate: November 14, 2004

Mandarin

• Title: "Shúxī de Huǒzhǒng " (熟悉的火种, "Familliar Sparks")

Polish

• Title: "W Pogoni Za Najemnikami" ("In Pursuit Of Mercenaries")

Brazilian Portuguese

• Title: "Perseguição Mercenária" ("Mercenary Pursuit")

Spanish

• Title: "Persecuciones Mercenarias" ("Mercenary Pursuits")

Home video releases

DVD

2004 — Super Lifeform Transformers: Beast Wars Returns — Volume 1 (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 One: Volume One (Sony)
2007 — Transformers: Beast Machines — Season One: Volume One — Reformatting (Sony)
2007 — Transformers: Beast Machines — Complete Season One (Sony)
2009 — Transformers: Beast Machines — Intégrale Saison 1 (Sony) — French audio only.