A Better Mousetrap
From Transformers Wiki
| |||||||||
 Push the button, Frank. | |||||||||
| "A Better Mousetrap" | |||||||||
| Season | 1 | ||||||||
| No. in season | 9 | ||||||||
| Production company | Mainframe Entertainment | ||||||||
| Airdate | October 8, 1996 | ||||||||
| Written by | Chris Weber & Karen Willson | ||||||||
| Directed by | J. Falconer | ||||||||
| Animation studio | Mainframe Entertainment | ||||||||
| Continuity | Beast Wars continuity | ||||||||
| Packaged with | Rattrap, Colada | ||||||||
 Watch this episode on YouTube
| |||||||||
After the new Sentinel security program malfunctions, Rattrap is trapped alone inside the Maximal base, and must disarm it.
Contents |
Synopsis
In the caverns beneath the Axalon, Blackarachnia, Waspinator, and Terrorsaur dig a hole to deliver a sonic emitter that will allow the Predacons to access the Maximal base unhindered. When Waspinator leaves, Terrorsaur is stuck doing the labor.
On board the Axalon, Rhinox shows a holographic simulation of the Axalon's new defenses to Rattrap and Optimus Primal. Cheetor detects a Predacon in a sector of Maximal territory. Primal and Tigatron go to see why Waspinator has been buzzing around the area a lot recently.
Dinobot is unimpressed by how non-lethal the Axalon's new defenses are. Rattrap activates the defense against Dinobot to display how effective they can be. The enraged Dinobot breaks free from the restraints fastened around him and attacks the rat—but misses and impales the controls for the entire base's defense grid. The console registers the Maximals as intruders, forcing the occupants of the base to vacate. Rattrap stays behind and hides inside of a ventilation shaft so he can figure out how to disable the defenses.
Tigatron and Optimus Primal find Waspinator high on sugar and flying around aimlessly. When Primal gets Waspinator's attention, he runs away. Primal chases after, and has a surprisingly hard time keeping up with the hyperactive hornet. Primal returns home to see what irregularities are going on with Sentinel. Hunting alone, Tigatron follows Waspinator's scent through a tunnel—the entrance hidden by a holographic projector.
Inside the Axalon, Rattrap works his away around a pool of zero friction fluid by surfing over it. He scampers and dances to avoid other defensive systems. His marksman and demolitions expert skills come in useful as he works his way towards the ship's core.
Optimus Primal arrives at the Axalon and meets with the others locked outside. They explain what the situation is and where Rattrap is.
Tigatron finds the three Predacons underground in their excavation operation. He grabs their device and runs away with it. Blackarachnia demands he return it, explaining that the device is an explosive. Tigatron complies and tosses it at the Predacons, who all run away from the machine before it detonates. Tigatron also races away, and when the device explodes, it collapses a huge portion of the land outside of the Axalon, but not harming the Axalon itself. One battle over, Tigatron meets with the rest of the Maximals.
Rattrap enters the room where Sentinel's core is stored. The internal defenses continue to try to purge him. But before he's terminated, he hits the big red button to deactivate Sentinel.
Outside, the shield deactivates. Rhinox determines that this is because Rattrap must have been killed by the haywire defenses. The Maximals sadly say a few words to remember their annoying stinky friend who sacrificed himself trying to save them.
...until the Axalon hatch opens, and out comes Rattrap, alive and well, his mission a success.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Maximals | Predacons |
|---|---|
|
Quotes
"I'm soiled enough already just being around you two."
- —Blackarachnia doesn't appreciate Waspinator and Terrorsaur for company.
"Waszzpinator sick of taking orders. Waszzpinator is greatest of Predaconszz. Waszzpinator RULES! Heh heh heh."
- —Waspinator muttering to himself while flying in circles.
"Looks like Waspinator's been on a sugar binge."
- —Optimus Primal observing the former.
"Oh, man, I'm startin' to sound like Optimus Pinhead."
- —Rattrap has nothing but respect for his leader.
"Giga-bummer."
- —Cheetor's pissed that he and the others are locked out.
"This ain't a security grid, it's a gym just for spy-guys like me!"
- —Rattrap enjoying himself just a little too much.
"Resistance persists. Upgrading program."
"Oh man, there won't be enough left of me to fill a teaspoon."
- —Sentinel telling Rattrap he's slagged.
Cheetor: Rattrap... gone? No way. I don't believe it.
Optimus Primal: He was a difficult Maximal to deal with. At times, impossible. But I'll remember him with honor.
Dinobot: I won't disgrace his memory with lies! He was a stinking, omnivorous pestilence! Still, in some perverse way... I will miss him.
Rhinox: Sure, he smelled bad—he was a rat—but he was my best friend.
- —The Maximals memorialize Rattrap with honesty.
"Oh boo! Boo hoo! Oh, don't stop! You motorheads are KILLING me!"
- —Rattrap, king of ruining a memorial!
Notes
Script timeline
- Finalised: 1st May 1996
- As Air: 8th October 1996
Animation and technical errors
- On most home video releases, the running order of this episode and "The Probe" are consistently switched (which results in Sentinel appearing before its official introduction in this episode). The order is fixed on the Madman and Shout! Factory collections.
- The waterfalls in the background aren't animated when Primal and Tigatron converse on the cliffside.
- Whilst Tigatron is sneaking up on the Predacons, Waspinator can faintly be heard saying that he is "greatest of Predacons". This is a recycled clip from when he made the same declaration earlier on in the episode.
- When Waspinator transforms to chase after Tigatron, instead of his beast mode wings becoming his robot mode wings, he sprouts a new set of wings, leading to him having twice as many as he should.
- While sneaking into Sentinel's core, Rattrap's snout clips into some of the machinery.
- Tigatron's voice actor Blu Mankuma has his name misspelled as "Blu Mankma" in this episode's credits.
Continuity notes
- An Optimus Primal POV shot features the Cybertronix text "pud loser".
- For the first time both Megatron and Scorponok are completely absent (although Megatron does make an appearance in Rhinox's Sentinel simulation).
- After going missing at the end of the previous episode, Blackarachnia is now back with the Predacons. Maybe she came back off-camera?
- The measuring system used this week is... imperial.
- Rattrap has apparently realised that crawling around inside a ship in robot mode makes no sense. This episode, he largely sticks to his smaller beast mode.
- Rattrap has had a bit of a personality change (some would say "upgrade"). The guy who in the first episode refused to fire back at the Predacons in case it put him in danger, who spent all his time back talking authority figures and made perfectly clear that his main priority was himself... That guy volunteers to correct a mistake he's created at risk to his own life AND without being asked, just because it's the right thing to do. Even Rattrap himself notices the change ("I'm beginning to sound like Optimus Pinhead").
- Gadgets and powers:
- This is the first appearance of the Maximal defence system Sentinel, a series of weapons and shields designed to protect the Axalon. Usually it's used for external threats, rather than the internal one seen in this episode.
- Rattrap's incredibly versatile forearms contain yet another gadget; a grenade.
- The huge gaping crater created just next to the Maximal base is oddly never seen again.
- Waspinator rules. But then we already knew that.
Trivia
- The episode was story-edited by Larry DiTillio, and was originally titled "King of the Hill".[1]
Foreign localization
French
- Title: "Attrape Souris" (Canada, "Mousetrap")
German
-
- This episode aired after Gorilla Warfare and The Probe.
Italian
- Title: "Trappola per topi" ("Mousetrap")
Japanese
- Title: "Sayonara Rattle!?" (さよならラットル!?, "Goodbye, Rattle!?")
- Original airdate: 10 December 1997
- When Dinobot is delivering his eulogy for Rattrap, as he gets to the end where he admits that he'll actually miss the rodent, his voice cracks and he gets weepy and tearful.
Portuguese
- Title: "Uma Ratoeira Maior" ("A Better Mousetrap")
Spanish
- Title: "Una Mejor Ratonera" (America, "A Better Mousetrap")
Mandarin
- Title: "Gāojí Bǔshǔqì " (高级捕鼠器, "An Advanced Mousetrap")
Home video releases
- VHS
1998 — Beast Wars — Beasties Escape (Alliance Video)
1998 — Robots-Bêtes — L'Évasion (Alliance Video) — French audio only.
1998 — Beast Wars: Super Lifeform Transformers — Goodbye Rattle!? (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
1998 — Beast Wars / Robots-Bêtes Three pack (Alliance Video) — Available in English or French audio.
2001 — Beast Wars: Transformers — The Beginning: Vol. 2 (Universal)
2002 — Beast Wars: Transformers — Volume 3 (Rhinomation)
- Laserdisc
1998 — Beast Wars: Transformers — Maximal Edition (Pioneer LDC) — English and Japanese audio.
- DVD
2000 — Beast Wars: Transformers — DVD Box (Pioneer LDC) — English and Japanese audio.
2002 — Beast Wars: Transformers — Volume 2 (Rhinomation)
2003 — Beast Wars: Transformers — The Complete First Season (Rhinomation)
2011 — Beast Wars: Transformers — Season 1 (Shout! Factory)
2011 — Beast Wars: Transformers — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)
2005 — Beast Wars — Classic Episodes: Volume 2 — The Saga Continues! (Alliance Atlantis) — English and French audio.
2005 — Beast Wars — The Complete First Season (Alliance Atlantis) — English and French audio.
2006 — Beast Wars: Transformers — Season 1 (Madman Entertainment)
2009 — The Transformers: Beast Wars — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)
