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Season Three, Episode 13: Nemesis, Part 2
Reviewed by Blackjack

Episode Review

An excellent, action-filled episode. However, there is the distinct feel of it being rushed, since there are some niggling questions left unanswered at the end of the episode. We never saw the Nemesis return back to its undersea grave, or G1 Megatron's spark being returned to its original body. Nor do we get a definite explanation for Dinobot II's sudden change of heart. Inferno and Quickstrike are also gotten rid of in an idiotic manner, although it's very ironic and I suppose it's all part of Megatron's insane delusions. Regardless, those two's exit aren't the glorious exit that the other Predacons like Rampage or Dinobot got. Sure, they are comedy material, but they could've gotten more awesome or respectful deaths, right? I loved those two goons...

Other than those minor quibbles, though, this episode is simply excellent. Considering that it had been reduced from a three or four parter into a two-parter, it's a nothing short of brilliant. It's a grand finale for the Beast Wars series, with the Nemesis being portrayed as the ultimate threat and with past, present and future all on the line. When Tigerhawk, new-toy boy who had single-handedly defeated the Predacon army two episodes ago, is obliterated in a single blast... Tigerhawk's death is really well-done, considering he doesn't have much of a personality. I felt kind of sad seeing him die like that, heroically picking a battle he couldn't win to buy some time. The most tragic death had to be Megatron killing Inferno and Quickstrike without knowing that they were down there, and Inferno's anguished scream at seeing his beloved royalty not even bothering to check... that's cold. Megatron's delusions of godhood, including him quoting the Covenant of Primus constantly, is well-executed, and that final battle between Megatron and Optimus Primal is nothing short of climatic. It's brutal, direct, and yet at the same time satsifying to watch. I do think that they spent too much time for Optimus to fly into the grinders.

Dinobot II, who spent all the rest of season three as nothing short of yet another Predacon powerhouse, went through a sea of characterization in this episode. While nowhere as grand as the original Dinobot in Code of Hero, Dinobot II gets a lot of excellent lines, even though his change of heart is kind of abrupt. Rhinox, too, gets an excellent moment as he flies a shuttle directly at the Nemesis' bridge. For a moment there I thought Rhinox was going to buy the farm, considering the death toll of season finales and Silverbolt's sad salute before Rhinox takes off. The character's emotions are excellently portrayed by the CGI, especially that of Dinobot and Optimus Primal. There's really very little to hate in this episode, with every action and line being a joy to look at. It's a fitting ending to what is probably considered the best cartoon series ever by most of the fandom (bar those zoophobics and G1 purists).

Notes

The final appearances of Inferno, Quickstrike, Dinobot II and Tigerhawk. Also, everyone else has their final appearances in the Beast Wars cartoon... until Beast Machines, that is.

Megatron quotes the passage with the name 'Megatron' from the Covenant of Primus. Presumably the original Megatron took his name from it as well. From what it sounded, Megatron seems to be the name of some ancient powerful evil warrior. Very recently, this Megatron mentioned in the Covenant of Primus have been retconned as the Fallen. Eh.

The fusion cannon of the Nemesis borrows its name from the favoured weapon of G1 Megatron.

Rattrap mentions that he has a 'Predacon-parts' collection, including a lot of Waspinator pieces. Kind of morbid.

Optimus Primal lost a teeth in the battle with Megatron. Cute.

The passage from the Covenant of Primus, 'In the darkest hour, there will be light', is most likely a homage to the oft-repeated 'light our darkest hour' from the original Transformers: the Movie.

The pieces of machinery that float around as the Nemesis' tractor beam attacked the Ark include a dart from Blackarachnia's original gun, one of Rhinox's Chainguns of Doom, one of Depth Charge's missiles, Rattrap's gun, and one of the autoguns usually installed outside the Maximal base. Plus several other machinery bits.

Optimus Primal's line 'this has to stop! At any cost!' is another homage to the Movie, namely Optimus Prime's line 'Megatron must be stopped. No matter the cost'.

According to Blackarachnia, the Autobot shuttle hijacked by the Maximals to return to Cybertron was never mentioned in the history data-tracks, making the timestream constant with what it is supposed to be and not a paradox.

As befitting a Furman-written episode, there are lots of quasi-religious ramblings from the Covenant of Primus (several of which are quoted below). They bear strong resemblances to passages from the Bible.

Rattrap accuses Blackarachnia as being an 'emasculating fembot' when she uses his tail sword as a wire. Go find emasculating in the dictionary, and have a good chuckle.

Blackarachnia and Rattrap have a slight debate about how to correctly pronounce 'Teletraan', a nod to a similar debate in the internet fandom when the supercomputer was pronounced 'Teletron' by Blackarachnia in early episodes of season three.

If Megatron had heeded Dinobot's warnings and not opened fire on the Protohuman colony, the Nemesis would be recharged at full strength when reaching the Ark. Plus, he wouldn't have lost Inferno and Quickstrike due to the friendly fire. Had he not done that, he would've single-handedly won the Beast Wars...

Dinobot is still able to live even after Rampage's spark is destroyed, so it raises some interesting questions. Perhaps Megatron had placed some of the original Dinobot's cloning or whatnot inside the clone, causing it do develop a spark of its own? At this point I think we can assume that Dinobot II is really cloned from the original Dinobot, and it's not just a physical similarity.

It should be noted that Megatron seemingly killed Hammer the tribe chief. Coupled with Inferno and Quickstrike seemingly killing several in their assault, that should've had repercussions in the timeline...

In an early draft, the Maximals would launch the Ark instead of the Autobot shuttle. Also, the Coneheads Dirge, Thrust and Ramjet would've been activated to ram the Nemesis instead of the Autobot shuttle. This would've also probably provided an origin to where the three came out from in the second season of the original cartoon. This scene is obviously dropped.

Deleted scenes included in bonus DVD sets that have been partially animated but not included for time limits:
-Optimus Primal tearing out a transwarp cell (which would later be seen in the Autobot shuttle) from the Nemesis before telling Dinobot to save himself.
-Optimus Primal placing G1 Megatron's spark back where it belongs.

However, Optimus Primal did say that things were supposed to be (the scene that's supposed to take place after they return G1 Megatron's spark) where they are before they left Earth, so we could assume they returned G1 Megatron's spark off-screen.

Goofs

When Tigerhawk is about to be blown apart, Dinobot's monocle is on the wrong eye. The same thing happens during the final battle scene.

When the Nemesis begins approaching the mountains, the cannon is at 65 percent power, and by the time they reach the Ark, it's at 75 percent power. However, a short while later when Optimus Primal boards the Nemesis, it's already at 90 percent out of the blue.

In 'Other Victories', Megatron is worried that if Tarantulas destroys the Ark, he will destroy the Decepticons as well, and in extension the Predacons. So why is he doing it now? Although judging by his religious ramblings, it seems like power corrupts absolutely...

When Optimus Primal returns to the base and discovers Tigerhawk's death, his right wing is missing.

After he leaves Tigerhawk, the blast shields normally on Optimus' lower arms go missing throughout the rest of the episode. However, they appear for brief scenes during the battle with Megatron.

Inferno and Quickstrike are seemingly vaporized by the Nemesis, so how could the Protohumans use their parts for tribal equipment?

Optimus tears one of his wings off to jam the grinders at the bottom of the Nemesis. However, in subsequent scenes his wing is fine.

When Rattrap says his 'we're all gonna die' line, his kibble backpack is missing.

How did the Protos put Waspinator back together?