« Transformers: Rescue Bots ep 20 »
"Countdown"
Season	1
No. in season	20
Production company	Hasbro Studios
Airdate	July 21, 2012
Writer	Catherine Clinch
Director	Nathan Chew
Animation studio	Atomic Cartoons
Watch this episode on YouTube

Cody and the Rescue Bots try to solve the vanishing mystery when the residents of Griffin Rock start disappearing.

Synopsis

"I saw something like this on TV once. It didn't end well."

Dither is pursued around the archive room by Edison and Aristotle, who are in turn being chased by Frankie and Doc Greene. During the chase, one of the dogs knocks over a drum full of small spheres that turn into bugs. One lands on Doc Greene's nose, and when Frankie comes to find him, he's gone. The bugs quickly depart from the Hall of Inspiration and start spreading out. Soon cars are crashing, driverless and people are disappearing all over Griffin Rock. As Cody takes a call from Mr. Sharma, he sees Mr. Harrison's empty helipack fly past. Kade and Heatwave report finding empty campsites while Dani reports empty ships at sea. The emergency calls all stop. After Chase stops a runaway truck, he turns around to find that Chief Burns has disappeared too.

"You stare at that bug! You stare til you learn!"

Cody cycles through deserted streets to rendezvous with the rest of the team at the location the Chief was last seen. Though Heatwave blames the shrink ray, Cody doesn't think it's likely and a few moments later a man disappears in front of their eyes. When they spot the bugs running around, everyone piles into the bots for safety. Chase manages to catch one of the bugs, so Graham suggests returning to the fire station so he can take a look at it. On the way, Cody gets a call from Frankie who's still in the archive. Blades makes a stop so they can pick her up, but they then have to shake off the swarm by flying through the wind farm. Back at the fire station, Graham pokes at the bug they caught and discovers a link to an experiment in the 50s to open subspace wormholes with quantum crystals. Graham explains that the townspeople have all been transported someplace else, but before he can explain the solution he's come up with, the bug lands on him and he disappears.

Graham lands up somewhere pitch black in the middle of his sentence. As he calls out, he's found by the Chief who says half the town is there. Graham and Greene swap notes before Greene shows them the power generator he's found. Chief switches it on and they find they're in a cavern with a half-built encampment. As they speculate as to where they are, Dani arrives and tells them the bugs got into the fire house.

Upstairs, Kade, Cody and Frankie deal with the bugs that got in, while the Rescue Bots splatter the bugs that get into the garage. Blades manages to trap one in a jar, and Boulder discovers it doesn't like when he taps on the glass. Frankie gets the idea to contact Professor Baranova. Baranova says the bugs are tracers, part of the Sanctuary Plan project to safeguard the island's population in case of a cataclysm. The Sanctuary shelter turned out to be unstable, and the plan was shut down, but the location of the shelter is a mystery. Baranova is teleported by a tracer before they can go get her. Piling into Heatwave, the kids head for the lab to check for information on the Sanctuary Plan.

Cody dares the viewer to pull his finger.

Back in the sanctuary, the trapped people have found they don't have any provisions, and quakes are making the cavern unstable, so they prepare to dig themselves out. Heatwave reaches the laboratory, but as Cody, Frankie and Kade get inside, Kade is zapped by a tracer. Frankie comes up with a blueprint for the shelter shortly before a tracer gets her, and Cody can only find that it's located in the biggest cavern under Griffin Rock. He disappears just as he's reporting his findings to Heatwave. The rest of the bots arrive, having found a sonic signal that disables the bugs, and the four bots resolve to search every cave under the island. Chase points out the nearby mountain, which Boulder says also happens to be called Griffin Rock, and Blades remembers seeing a door. The four bots race there and break through the slab blocking the entrance to the cavern, freeing everyone. Frankie makes Cody promise not to mention to anyone she's afraid of the dark.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"You have broken the law and must now submit to the fair but firm hand of justice."

—Chase arrests one of the bugs.

Blades: *groan*
Frankie: What was that?!
Cody: Engine noise!
Dani: Funky rotor!

—Frankie still doesn't know the bots are sentient.

"We're at war, and the Cybertronian Combat Guide says we should understand our enemy."

—Blades

Notes

Continuity notes

• The Greene's dogs previously appeared in "Cody on Patrol", while Dither was previously seen (but not named) in "Deep Trouble".
• Heatwave refers to the shrink ray from "Small Blessings".
• Professor Baranova was previously introduced in "The Griffin Rock Triangle".
• The two scientists seen in a photo related to the Sanctuary Plan reappear in the later episode "It's a Bot Time".

Real-world references

• Homage time again! This week, it's from such varied 'people are disappearing into thin air' sources as The Quiet Earth, Vanishing on 7th Street, Where Have All The People Gone?, Night Of The Comet, and Star Trek: The Next Generation's "Remember Me".

Trivia

• As the Rescue Bots begin to head for the cave, Blades shoots upwards off the screen before transforming into helicopter mode. It's unclear if this indicates some sort of robot-mode flight capability or if he can just jump really high. Considering that he's previously displayed significant jumping skills, it's most likely the latter.

Foreign localization

French

• Title: "Disparitions" ("Disappearances")
• Original airdate: ?

Hungarian

• Title: "Visszaszámlálás" ("Countdown")
• Original airdate: 26 February 2013

Italian

• Title: "Conto alla rovescia" ("Countdown")
• Original airdate: 20 October 2017
• For unknown reasons, the episode was skipped for months, with a rerun of "Walk on the Wild Side" replacing its place as the 20th episode of Season 1, for unknown reasons. Then, in the middle of October, the episode was suddendly aired for the first time, one week after the airing of the series finale. At least we have the complete series now...

Portuguese

• Title: "Contagem Regressiva" ("Countdown")
• Original airdate: 9 May 2013

Home video releases

2014 — Rescue Bots — "Mystery Rescue" (Shout! Factory)
2014 — Rescue Bots — "Bumblebee to the Rescue" (Beyond Home Entertainment)
2015 — Rescue Bots — "Complete Season 1" (Beyond Home Entertainment)