Changing of the Guard

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Some days you just wish you hadn't gotten out of bed.
"Changing of the Guard"
Season	3
No. in season	3
Production company	Mainframe Entertainment
Airdate	November 8, 1998
Written by	Evan Somers
Directed by	Steve Sacks
Animation studio	Mainframe Entertainment
Continuity	Beast Wars continuity
Watch this episode on YouTube

While trying to salvage the Sentinel module from the ruins of the Axalon, Rattrap finds himself caught between Depth Charge and Rampage.

Synopsis

Rhinox is in the process of engineering a way to use Teletraan I's forcefield to protect the base. But mixing Autobot and Maximal tech is difficult, and the machinery fails. With that trick failed, Optimus Primal puts together a plan to salvage the Maximals' old force field module, Sentinel, from the wreckage of the Axalon. Depth Charge refuses to respond to any contacts. So instead the Maximals will use a subaquatic stealth vessel—a single-occupant submarine developed by Blackarachnia. Rattrap is assigned to pilot the submersible, over his usual handful of whines and complaints.

Rattrap makes a cameo in Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

Silverbolt delivers the submarine to the Axalon's resting site. Under the lake, Rattrap is surprised to find himself having a good time exploring the water and passing by schools of fish to the sound of a jolly tune. The tune changes as Rattrap finds the fallen corpse of what used to be the Maximals' home. He slowly enters, looking through the darkened hallways. He finds Sentinel, and carefully begins to extract it—and is suddenly frightened by an eel who was hiding in the machinery. As he calms down, his radar detects something else approaching, and he realizes it's time to panic for real. Rattrap frantically tries to escape the Axalon, but a massive claw emerges from the darkness and seizes the submarine—Rampage has found him.

Rampage squeezes the entire ship, threatening to crush it completely. Luckily, Depth Charge, still hunting Protoform X, shows up and blasts him away, freeing Rattrap. Depth Charge agrees to keep Rampage busy while Rattrap continues his mission. He escapes the Axalon just as shockwaves from the battle cause the ship to fall over a ledge and plunge deeper into the lake. Rattrap surfaces and finds a worried Silverbolt, who starts to carry the submarine home. But Waspinator arrives, causing Doggybot to drop his passenger and cargo.

It's crab rutting season again.

While Rampage and Depth Charge continue their match underwater, on the beach, Quickstrike sends Waspinator to take Sentinel back to the Predacon base while the Fuzor takes care of the two Maximals. But Quickstrike ends up crushed by Rampage, tossed out of the water by Depth Charge. Silverbolt tries to convince Depth Charge to help recover Sentinel, but as usual, Depth Charge has no interest, wanting only to execute Protoform X, who has snuck away during the few seconds of conversation.

Burn rubber!

Together, using some incredible aerial acrobatics, Rattrap and Silverbolt steal back Sentinel from Waspinator... just when things were looking up for the poor Predacon. But Inferno pushes a tree into Silverbolt's path. Silverbolt passes Sentinel to Rattrap, who races away with it. Depth Charge hears explosions in the distance and decides to go help.

Unrelenting, Inferno blows up a bridge in Rattrap's path, causing the rat to plunge—back into Silverbolt's arms. But the two Maximals crash into the incoming Depth Charge, and drop Sentinel into Inferno's hands. Thanks to Depth Charge's ill-timed arrival, the Maximals have lost.

Why won't the red button work?

At the Maximal base, Rattrap and Optimus Primal chew out Depth Charge for getting in their way and handing another major strategic advantage to the Predacons—but he did save Rattrap's life (which Rattrap initially left out, and was very begrudging to admit). Primal offers Depth Charge a place with the Maximals so mistakes like this can be avoided in the future, and Depth Charge agrees to consider it.

Meanwhile, in the Predacon base, Megatron activates Sentinel, encasing his base in a protective force field.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"What are you grinnin' about, litter-butt?"
"I was just thinking; with you inside, this'd make a swell cat toy."

—Rattrap and Cheetor, who will always remain a cat kid at heart.

"We're approaching the target area. How you faring in there, Rattrap?"
"I'm hot, I'm cramped, I'm airsick. Eh, the next time that big ape asks me to do something for him, man I am gonna shove my blaster so far up his—"
"Target dead ahead! Prepare for drop."

—Silverbolt and Rattrap

"Looks like that Pred friend of yours finally did something right!"
"Yes, my beloved has... many skills."

—Rattrap and Silverbolt, who isn't about to let us know what those "other" skills might be.

"How droll. Rat in a can."

—Rampage finds himself a new toy.

"Waspinator having good day! Not get shot once."
*BLAM!*

—Waspinator, not having such a good day after all

Depth Charge: I knew saving your hide was a mistake.
Optimus Primal: Rattrap?
Rattrap: Oh, well, yeah, technically, he did kinda do that... um eh, thanks.

—Rattrap gives credit where credit is due, but only because he has to.

Notes

Script timeline

• First draft: 5th May 1998
• Second draft: 18th May 1998
• Finalised: 21st May 1998
• As Air: 25th August 1998

Animation and technical errors

• The writer is mistakenly credited as "Evan Sommers".
• When Rampage falls backward after yanking Depth Charge's tail out from under the wreckage, he inexplicably has Depth Charge's legs.
• When Silverbolt circles in on Rattrap, who has just surfaced, we can see Rattrap's water-reflection inside the vessel, as if it was halfway filled with water.
• Watch Waspinator getting shot in slow-motion. It reveals his insect head isn't connected to his neck. There is a small gap between the two.
• In the scene where Inferno pushes a tree in Silverbolt and Rattrap's way, Rattrap's comm system is on the wrong side of his chest, possibly due to an overall "flopped" shot.
• While Inferno tries to grab Sentinel, just before Rattrap snatches it away from him with his tail, the insect leg on his right lower leg is tilted backwards, clipping through the rest of his leg, and through his thorax-propeller too.
• Speaking of Rattrap's tail-whip grabbing maneuver - we first see a long-range shot of Rattrap extending his tail towards Inferno, then cut to a close-up of Rattrap standing with his tail retracted and then swinging and extending it.
• When Depth Charge emerges from the water to face Silverbolt, he isn't rendered in part of the frame at the very bottom.

Continuity errors

• Once again, Depth Charge uses "Maximize" to transform into his vehicle mode instead of his robot mode.

Continuity notes

He's a pinball wizard...

• The Axalon was destroyed back in "Optimal Situation", with the Maximals salvaging what they could from its frontmost section, which landed on dry land rather than sinking into the lake like its aft section.
• Cheetor imagines himself in his organic beast mode from Season 1, complete with a cartoony "thought bubble".
• Since its last appearance in "A Better Mousetrap", Sentinel has gained a handle, presumably to make it easier for the characters to grab and hang onto it in this episode.
• Rattrap's successful attempt to shut down Sentinel in "A Better Mousetrap" is the reason he was chosen to retrieve it and not Blackarachnia, as Rattrap knew what to look for.
• This is the only episode in which Rampage uses his activation code. ("Rampage, terrorize!")
• Gadgets and powers:
  • Depth Charge carries around an energon knife, much like the one that Megatron used on Rampage in "Bad Spark".
  • Rattrap's beast mode tail can telescope, like a grappling hook.

Real-world references

• When Megatron contacts his henchmen, Inferno can be seen spending his free time playing cards with Waspinator and Quickstrike.
• The jaunty sea shanty heard in this episode has a very similar tempo and chordal arrangement to the popular Beatles song Yellow Submarine. Also, while clearly played for the audience, the puzzled look on Silverbolt's face suggests that he can hear it as well with no explanation as to its origin.
• The "Changing of the Guard" traditionally refers to a formal ceremony in the United Kingdom wherein the sentries providing ceremonial guard duties at important institutions are relieved by a new batch of sentries. The ceremonies are often elaborate and precisely choreographed. Its meaning here is somewhat more literal, with Sentinel being appropriated by the Predacons for their vessel.
• Rattrap's submarine bounces like a pinball after being dropped by Silverbolt (complete with pinball sound effects); after it comes to a halt, the word "TILT" flashes in each of Rattrap's eyes.
• Rattrap calls Depth Charge "Captain Minnow", referencing the boat of the same name from Gilligan's Island.

Trivia

Foreign localization

French

• Title: "Protection" (Canada)

Italian

• Title: "Uniti si vince" ("United We Win")

• "United we win" is the Italian equivalent of "united we stand".

Japanese

• Title: "Bukubuku!" (ぶくぶくっ!, "Bubble Bubble!")
• Original airdate: January 19 2000

Portuguese

• Title: "Troca da Guarda" ("Changing of the Guard")

Spanish

• Title: "Cambio de Guardia" ("Changing of the Guard")

• Title: "Cambio de Guardia" (America, "Changing of the Guard")

Mandarin

• Title: "Huàngǎng Fēngbō" (换岗风波, "Disturbance of Changing of the Guard")

Home video releases

VHS

2000 — Beast Wars: Super Lifeform Transformers: Metals — Rrray! (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
2000 — Beast Wars: Transformers — Volume 1 (Universal)

DVD

2000 — Beast Wars: Transformers: Metals — DVD Box 2 (Pioneer LDC) — English and Japanese audio.
2004 — Beast Wars: Transformers — Vol. 1 (Universal)
2004 — Beast Wars: Transformers — The Complete Third Season (Rhinomation)
2011 — Beast Wars: Transformers — Seasons 2 & 3 (Shout! Factory)
2011 — Beast Wars: Transformers — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)
2006 — Beast Wars: Transformers — Season 3 (Madman Entertainment)
2009 — The Transformers: Beast Wars — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)