Episode Guides • G1 Production Bible • Sounds • Videos • Promos • Wallpapers • Other • Beast Wars

Season One, Episode 22: The Low Road
Reviewed by Blackjack

Episode Review

Much silliness. Unlike some of the banal filler episodes, this one actually tries to be entertaining. What they lacked in substance, they make up with humour. While the Rhinox defeating the Preds with an atomic fart is rather nonsensical, it's a funny enough joke that I'll let it pass. The off-beat tone of this episode is highlighted by the Looney-Tunes-comedy-style of 'Cartoon Physics' at several points.

The highlight of the episode would be Rattrap and Dinobot's constant bickering throughout the episode. When you consider that the two is voiced by the same voice actor, it's rather impressive. Stuff like the two knocking out Tarantulas for interrupting them, or the 'Silicon valhalla', are simply hilarious pieces of dialogue. Megatron's dialogue is well-scripted too, although he's only in the episode for a little bit. All in all, a nice break before we get to the more serious endgame of Season One.

Notes

Dinobot's whirly-blade weapon is a great gardening tool.

Dinobot refers to 'Silicon valhalla' as an afterlife that he couldn't enter if a rodent kills him. It references the Norse mythology of the afterlife destination for noble warriors, and perhaps Silicon Valley as well.

Rattrap calls Dinobot as a 'Pre-evolved birdbrain'. Some scientific theories claim that velociraptors and dinosaurs closely related to them would evolve into birds.

While searching for the antivirus in Tarantulas' lab, Blackarachnia discovers that Tarantulas has encrypted all the data in his computers, meaning that he had hidden something. More foreshadowing! Also, for some reason, one of Waspinator's arms is in Tarantulas' lab.

As the Maximals enter Tarantulas' lab and posing heroically, Airazor is kneeling and holding Optimus' feet in a possible parody of the Star Wars theatrical poster. After the scene cuts to Rattrap and back to them, Airazor is standing normally.

Rhinox's atomic fart is clearly in Africa. More foreshadowing that the planet is really Earth (oh, you haven't figured that out?). He also uses a beer hat to drink his medicine.

Goofs

The cracks on the boulder that hits Tarantulas seems to be too shallow.

When Rattrap and Dinobot fall through the trapdoor, Rattrap's gun is left spinning in mid-air. However, when they fall down through the hole, the gun didn't fall with them. Rattrap gains it back several scenes later, though.