A quick look at the calendar--which may or may not be a naked girlie calendar from March, 1987--shows that it's been waaay too long since I did a review of those wacky Autobots and Decepticons and their continuing struggles to "out-boob" the other side.  I could also tell by the literally thousands of emails begging for another installment (NOTE:  figures have a margin of error of thousands).  Without further ado, or maybe with just a bit of ado, let's get going!

Megatron decides to drill to the Earth's core in order to tap it's immense amount of energy, since he still hasn't figured out that he should maybe find another planet with an immense amount of energy.  During his operation, the Autobots--with the help of one Chip Chase, Master Inventor and future President of the United States--take control of Devastator and turn the tide of the battle.  But Megatron, having read the script, anticipated this move and invented his own Undo-What-the-Autobots-Did gizmo.  All of the conflicting signals cause Devastator to go haywire and destroy the drill, which saves the Earth from sure catastrophe.

There's a really great sequence where the Autobots implant the Dominator Disks onto the Constructicons in order to take control of them.  It's nice to see some teamwork and a well orchestrated plan on this show for a change.

• Megatron orders Mixmaster to take Scavenger outside in order to check his geological circuits or some such nonsense.  Of course, by taking him outside, the two Constructicons are spotted by the Autobots.  Why not just examine Scavenger right there?
• After the Autobots find the two Constructicons and discover the Decepticons' lair, Devastator attacks by somehow sneaking up behind the Autobots, who were all looking at the base.
• After the super cool infiltration sequence, Starscream discovers the Autobots and has a clear shot at them.  For reasons no one can ever know, Megatron tells him not to fire.
• After taking control of Devastator, the Autobots trap the Decepticons in their base.  For reasons no one can ever know, they don't go in and destroy them once and for all, but rather return to base for repairs even though none of them is injured.
• At the end, Devastator plunges into the ground and speeds down to catch the drill before it strikes the core.  Why not simply have him destroy the drill at the source?  Oh yeah, not as much suspense.
• While Devastator pointlessly struggles with the drill, Optimus and Megatron count down the time until it strikes the core.  They get down to "one second," at which time Megatron runs out of the room.  Naturally, at least twenty more seconds pass before Devastator stops the drill and he's still nowhere near the core when this happens.
• In typical Autobot fashion, Optimus brings along Chip, despite the fact that he's unarmed and an invalid.  At least three times in the ensuing battle, he's nearly killed.
• What's the deal with this sure destruction of the Earth if Megatron taps into its core?  At least two other episodes ("Fire in the Sky" and "Fire on the Mountain") deal with tapping into the core and absolutely nothing bad happens in those.

CHANGED PREMISES

• Mixmaster's voice seems to be much deeper and he's lost his quirk of repeating, repeating, repeating everything.
• To make up for this, Scrapper talks with a much higher, silly sounding voice.
• The Decepticons suddenly have a beam of light elevator.  They normally have a regular old metal one.  Of course, since they can fly (and fly up the elevator shaft in the episode once), you kind of have to wonder why they need elevators at all.

ANIMATION FLUBS

• At the beginning, Hook shuts down the drill when the ground cracks.  He dramatically swings his arm sideways to turn it off, then in the nest shot is facing it with his arm straight ahead.
• The first time Devastator merges, he does so without the transforming sound.
• Then, as he's attacking the Autobots, Mirage sneaks into the lair to snoop.  As he does so, you can see three of the Constructicons at work even though they're supposed to be outside fighting.
• Mocking Megatron, Starscream says "some stragety."
• While attacking the Autobot-controlled Devastator, Skywarp becomes Thundercracker as he gets get swatted out of the air.
• For one brief scene in this battle, Bluestreak appears out of nowhere and then decides he'd rather go get a haricut.
• Hook is doing unnecessary repairs on Wheeljack even though you can see he's still attached to Devastator.  Then when he rejoins Devastator, he transforms into the head only.
• Devastator, running amuck, destroys the temporary Space Bridge (those Decepticons sure can build these things quickly!), knocking down Megatron and Starscream.  In the next shot, Starscream is standing next to Soundwave.  I think this was supposed to be Skywarp.
• At the end, when Devastator taunts the Autobtos before retreating, he sure does twitch an awful lot.  Must be that epilepsy kicking in again.
• Throughout this episode, Megatron's shoulder cannon is black.  That is, on the rare occasion he has it at all.
• Devastator still just plain can't decide whether or not to have two eyes or a sold visor.

- Danimal