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Season Two, Episode 13: The Agenda, Part 3
Reviewed by Blackjack

Episode Review

Well-scripted. There are some parts that feel rushed, though. Like how quickly Rattrap takes out Tarantulas and Ravage, making you wonder why they included Ravage at all other than blatant fanservice. The action scenes are well-done, and Megatron's long dialogue at the end of the episode, as well as the reveal of the Ark, is a fantastic build-up. Megatron is pure gold in this episode, and both Rattrap and Blackarachnia have several great lines. The whole 'killing Optimus Prime to release the Predacons from virtual slavery' thing is a nice edge that allows Megatron to perform the act with a motivation instead of simple, pure malice.

The suspense as the Maximals battle the autoguns while Megatron takes his time to construct a poetic speech is well-executed. Some of the more glaring plot holes are excusable—Megatron didn't do this sooner because of the risks, while Blackarachnia might be the only one who could decrpyt the Disk. The whole impact of time travel, previously seen only in Marvel UK arcs (in fact, the plot of this episode seems to borrow aspects from Time Wars and Target: 2006) is well-done too. And the cliffhanger as Optimus Prime seemingly dies must've made G1 fans grit their teeth in anger. Ravage's death, however, feel very rushed no matter how you dice it. All in all, the Agenda three-parter, while not perfect, is one of the better story arcs. It's a shame that the law of fiction tells us that Megatron's triumph won't last until the third season...

Notes

First appearance of the Ark, the Nemesis and Optimus Prime in the Beast Wars series. Blackarachnia retells the battle between the Ark and the Nemesis seen in 'More than Meets the Eye part one'. We also get to see cameos of Optimus Prime, Prowl, Ironhide, Ratchet and what could be Jazz or Bluestreak during the flashback. As Megatron walks through the Ark itself, the deactivated bodies of Prowl, Optimus Prime, Megatron, Ironhide, Soundwave, Starscream, Skywarp and Thundercracker could be seen, plus a few unidentifiable ones.

Rattrap refers to his vehicle mode as 'Knievel' mode, a reference to Evil Knievel.

Primal breaks the fourth-wall at one point, saying that the Ark has 'die-cast construction', before turning to the audience and saying that it's a lost art. It refers to the die-cast parts featured on early Transformers toys.

Apparently, Rhinox is afraid of heights. When flying with Primal, he looks down, and immediately looks back up with horror on his face.

Goofs

This episode uses the Roman numeral for 3 (III) as part of its title instead of Arabic numbers, which the series uses for every other multi-part episodes, including the last two parts of 'the Agenda'.

Optimus Primal's chest is damaged and blackened early on, but the damage disappears and reappears at random.

If we follow what happened on the original cartoon, Optimus Prime was not in a sitting position prior to being awakened.

'Teletraan 1' is mispronounced as 'Teletron 1' several times. While not much of a big difference, the fans complained enough about this that it received a jab in a subsequent episode.

When the Maximals land outside the cave the colors on Rattrap's wheel kibble and his rat legs are reversed.

Why didn't Megatron think of downloading the codes to himself from the Golden Disk?