« Beast Machines: Transformers ep 10 »
We're sorry, Nightscream, but the tribe has spoken.
"Survivor"
Season	1
No. in season	10
Production company	Mainframe Entertainment
Airdate	November 27, 1999
Written by	Brynne Chandler Reaves
Directed by	Dennis Heaton
Animation studio	Mainframe Entertainment
Continuity	Beast Wars continuity

Megatron targets Nightscream for capture, so he can learn more about how the Maximal was able to survive the virus.

Synopsis

Megatron enjoys a good curry.

In the Council Citadel, Megatron rages at yet another setback in purging his organic form. He changes to dragon mode and unleashes a fireball at the Diagnostic Drone, who suggests an easier method would be to simply transplant Megatron's spark to a new body. Megatron is not keen on leaving his spark unprotected, so the Drone suggests another course of action: the Maximal Nightscream seems to have scanned an organic body, so if they could capture him, study the process and reverse it... Megatron orders his Vehicon Generals to take the Diagnostic Drone to the catacombs and capture Nightscream.

Optimus Primal and Rattrap are trying to help Nightscream unlock his memories. To their surprise, they find that the young Maximal has a built-in DNA scanner, to which he responds that everyone junked the stasis pods in favour of inbuilt scanners in the Quantum Cycle Upgrade. After Rattrap mentions they'd been off-planet fighting the Beast Wars, he resoundingly mocks them for losing said wars and is reminded that the Maximals lost friends during it. As Optimus stresses the importance of finding out where Nightscream scanned organic DNA on Cybertron, Rattrap drops a seed from the tree they found earlier into his hand. Cheetor reminds Primal of what happened last time they ate fruit from that tree, but Optimus merely says that the seed is what the Oracle was referring to when it mentioned "the seeds of the future".

Do re MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

The Maximals return to the chamber where they originally found the tree, only to discover it's been sealed off. Nightscream begins to use his sonic attack to break through. Unfortunately, the soundwaves gain the attention of the Diagnostic Drone, and the Vehicons interrupt Nightscream before the barrier is breached. Thrust buries Optimus beneath some rubble, while Blackarachnia immobilises Jetstorm in a web and then confronts Thrust. The pair freeze, waiting to see who will make the first move, until a recovered Jetstorm fires on Blackarachnia. The other three Maximals are reluctantly fighting Tankor with the knowledge he contains Rhinox's spark, until he blasts them all. The Maximals recover to find that Nightscream is gone.

Elsewhere in the catacombs, their friend is being spirited away by the Vehicons. The Diagnostic Drone observes that the regeneration chamber they've put Nightscream in doesn't seem to be doing anything for him. The chamber is opened, and the young Maximal transforms, much to the fascination of the Drone who says that his technorganic body is repairing itself and they will be able to use the same process to purge Megatron's beast form. The Drone closes itself in the regeneration chamber with Nightscream, who promises to tell the secret of his ability—and then unleashes a sonic attack at point blank range. Thrust and Jetstorm pursue the boy while Tankor digs out the Diagnostic Drone. Nightscream manages to lose the two Vehicons with some fancy flying.

He always wanted to get into video games, but Tetris may have been a bad idea.

Tankor digs out the Drone, but hides it under some rubble as the other four Maximals pass, searching for their friend. He again pulls out the Diagnostic Drone, who is surprised at Tankor's change of personality. Tankor explains that his time as both a Maximal and Vehicon has given him a greater perspective and though Megatron's plan has merit, it has one problem—Megatron himself. Tankor intends to personally become ruler of Cybertron. The Diagnostic Drone says it's programmed to serve only Megatron, and so Tankor begins the reprogramming.

Meanwhile, Nightscream has reached a dead end with Jetstorm and Thrust once again closing in behind him. He uses his sonic attack to escape through a tunnel, and the two Vehicons are cut off by the other four Maximals. Optimus pursues Nightscream while Rattrap, Cheetor and Blackarachnia fight the Vehicons, swiftly defeating them. Blackarachnia hesitates in slagging Thrust, which give the Vehicons ample recovery time to take off after Optimus and Nightscream.

Tankor completes his reprogramming job and gives his new loyal servant the task of tracking down a particular energy signature.

"My parents are DEEEAAAAD!"

Elsewhere, Nightscream finds himself in a cave staring at the skeleton of a bat. Optimus arrives as the young Maximal realises that the fossil was picked up by his DNA scanners, allowing him to reformat into his bat mode and survive Megatron's purge. While he's still wrought over why he survived and no one else, Jetstorm and Thrust pop up in time to be blasted by his sonic cry. The blast reveals more bones, and Optimus realises that Cybertron once had organic life. Nightscream angsts that if he hadn't been so self-absorbed, perhaps he could have saved other Transformers. Optimus commiserates and they plant the seed Rattrap found.

Back at the Citadel, the Diagnostic Drone can give no excuse for yet another failed purge and suggests the problem is Megatron himself. After the Drone is dismissed, it contacts Tankor to report. Tankor thanks the Drone for the accurate information on the energy signature—he has found the Oracle.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"I'm tired of suffering your "temporary setbacks"! Every moment I waste on your ineffectual treatment, the organics grow stronger!!!"

-Megatron vents his rage at the Diagnostic Drone.

"You tend to be a little out of the loop when you're on a distant planet fightin' the Beast Wars."
"And you did a fine job winning it. Oh, I forgot, you fumbled the ball at the very last nano-click."

—Rattrap name-checks the previous show and Nightscream demonstrates why he has few fans.

"Fascinating. His robot mode is implementing biologically-enhanced nanosurgical capabilities. It seems to accelerate the beast mode's natural healing abilities."

—Diagnostic Drone makes with the technobabble.

"Tankor, protect me! That's an order."
"I think it's time we come to an understanding about who gives the orders."
"You?!"
"Oh, I'm sorry. Were you happier when my vocabulary was limited to "TANKOR SMASH"? Poetic, perhaps, yet somehow it isn't me anymore."

—Diagnostic Drone is surprised at the latest revelation that Tankor is Rhinox.

"Step into my parlour, said the spider to the flyboy."
"Missed me! Missed me! Now you gotta kiss me!"

—Blackarachnia and Jetstorm have somewhat unique fight banter.

"They deserved to live as much as me, more even! Why did I get to live? WHY?"
"Beats me, kid, but I'll be happy to put you out of your misery!"

—Nightscream asks the question many of us wonder about him while Jetstorm offers a practical solution.

"According to my data, failure to purge your DNA contamination may actually stem from your own subconscious desire to maintain your beast mode."

—Diagnostic Drone to Megatron.

Notes

Animation and technical errors

• When Megatron calls out for the Vehicon Generals, not only is Tankor missing his headlights, the background pattern of his split-screen segment is visible through his mouth.
• Though Thrust bowing before Megatron is a deliberate piece of animation, his "hand" really wasn't designed to rotate separately from his lower arm like that, clipping through his gun barrel.
• As the Maximals walk towards the sealed-off chamber, Nightscream doesn't seem to have a shadow – or he was just accidentally animated walking in the air.
• When Blackarachnia first faces off against Thrust, the latter's body, apart from his head, is very blocky.
• The animators also forgot to turn on the subdivisions on Nightscream's model just before he lunges at Tankor, causing him to look crude and blocky as well.
• As the Diagnostic Drone emerges from the rubble, one of the fingers on his left hand briefly clips through some debris.
• After Jetstorm transforms while speeding towards the cornered Nightscream, bits of his robot mode remain poking through the underside of his jet mode.
• Just before Optimus jumps into the hole after Nigthscream, Cheetor pokes the tip of one of his blades through his own shoulder.
• Cheetor's blade is rendered over his body when he and Rattrap face Thrust. Even though it's meant to be on his back, it looks like it's floating in front of his chest, then miraculously jumps into his hand, with its grip floating over his closed fist.
• Nightscream spends a good chunk of the episode flying in robot mode without the aid of his usual heel-wings.

Continuity errors

• Both Nightscream and Optimus are very insistent in this episode that Optimus "lost" the Beast Wars. This idea has been brought up in previous episodes, but mostly as Megatron taunting Optimus. Here, our heroes treat it as accepted fact—and after they've learned that Megatron's domination of Cybertron was in spite of his rather decided defeat in the Beast Wars, and that Optimus could not in any way have prevented it.
• When chasing after the escaped Nightscream, Thrust uses the transformation code "accelerate", instead of his usual "overdrive".
• Cheetor's telling Blackarachnia to take Thrust out is odd considering they've already established the Vehicons contain Maximal sparks, and Cheetor's pledge not to hurt Rhinox/Tankor.
• We get a lot of backstory about Nightscream's survival, but it's not really clear why scanning a new beast form protected him from the virus. Rhinox, for instance, possessed a similar organic beast mode, but he was paralyzed nonetheless. It might be that Nightscream was so deep down that the virus couldn't reach him, or that the Cybertronian nature of his beast mode was somehow more resilient to its effects.
• Many of the fossils in this episode are rather obviously recycled from "Beast Wars (Part 1)", leading to the strange implication that there were dinosaurs and other Earth creatures running around on prehistoric Cybertron.
• How do you get DNA from fossils anyway?

Continuity notes

• Nightscream notes that Maximal society has evolved since Optimus's crew left the planet. Notably, stasis pods, a major component of the Beast Wars, have been rendered obsolete, and DNA scanners have been directly integrated into Cybertronians. No information is given about the storage or activation of new protoforms.
• When Nightscream chastises the Maximals for losing the Beast Wars, Rattrap angrily replies "You watch your mouth, junior. I lost friends in that war." This is most likely a reference to Dinobot, and to lesser degrees Depth Charge, Tigatron and Airazor, as well as Tigerhawk, the combined form of the latter two.
• When the Diagnostic Drone suggests the transfer of Megatron's spark, in one of the monitors behind him is shown the schematics of the Grand Mal. Foreshadowing?
• Cheetor and Optimus bring up the mysterious tree that the Maximals visited in "Forbidden Fruit", and the strange effects it had on the Maximals.
• Rattrap is carrying around a seed from said tree in his toolkit. On his last visit to Nightscream's old hiding place, he was seen tucking one of the fruits away for later use.
• Gadgets and powers:
  • Rattrap's face mask doubles as a radar system.
  • Optimus Primal's chest blaster is slightly different in this episode, firing blue energy spheres.
  • Unlike other beast mode Transformers, technorganics apparently heal faster in robot mode.

Transformers references

Real-world references

• When Jetstorm ambushes the Maximals, he taunts them by sneering "Honey, I'm home!" This is a repeating line from the '50s sitcom I Love Lucy.
• When Nightscream escapes, he remarks that how he can't return to the others, because he'll lead the Vehicons right to them. He then laments about how he'll be "alone again, naturally," a line from the song of the same name by Gilbert O'Sullivan.
• As Blackarachnia tangles with Jetstorm, she paraphrases the opening stanza of "The Spider and the Fly".
• Rhinox's description of Megatron's reign invokes the imagery of Nazi propaganda films.

Trivia

• Megatron's head underneath his harness is clearly shown to be his Transmetal head design only recoloured, rather than the head of his Transmetal 2 body. Presumably, this was done by the animators to allow his control harness to fit better.
• Nightscream's sonic powers are almost absurdly powerful in this episode. They can physically knock other Transformers away, and blow sizable holes in solid stone.
• Rhinox is notably more malevolent-sounding and sadistic from this episode on. (Check out that sinister "me..." when he's saying he should be in charge!) While Bob Skir's stated intent was that Rhinox had decided Megatron's cause was right after weighing up the evidence, the dialogue in these episodes makes it sound like he's gone mad and power-hungry.

Foreign localization

French

• Title: "Survivant" ("Survivor")

German

• Title: "Nightscream"
• Original airdate: December 11, 2000

Italian

• Title: "Una nuova speranza" ("A new hope")

• The title is possibly a reference to the first Star Wars movie.

Japanese

• Title: "Kikai no Harawa ta" (機械のはらわた, "The Innards of the Machine")
• Original airdate: December 5, 2004

Mandarin

• Title: "Xìngcúnzhě " (幸存者, "Survivor")

Polish

• Title: "Ci Którzy Przetrwali" ("Those Who Survived")

Brazilian Portuguese

• Title: "Sobrevivente" ("Survivor")

Spanish

• Title: "Sobreviviente" ("Survivor")

Home video releases

DVD

2005 — Super Lifeform Transformers: Beast Wars Returns — Volume 3 (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 Two (Sony)
2007 — Transformers: Beast Machines — Season One: Volume Two — Revelations (Sony)
2007 — Transformers: Beast Machines — Complete Season One (Sony)
2009 — Transformers: Beast Machines — Intégrale Saison 1 (Sony) — French audio only.