Thanksgiving, a.k.a. the greatest holiday in the known universe, has come to an end.  And after spending the better part of the day stuffing myself with almost as much food as Marlon Brando has in a mid morning snack, I figured the only way to combat the tryptophan/case of beer drowsiness that's overcoming me is to review another episode of The Transformers.  If nothing else, it should serve to give you a reason to take that nap your body so desperately craves right about now.

The Autobots decide to race for charity, since Megatron hasn't concocted any lame schemes lately.  But little do they know, the Constructicons have just completed the Transfixatron--a device with a really stupid name that can freeze an Autobot or Decepticon in vehicle mode.  During the race, Skywarp fires it on all but a few Autobots.  Unable to transform, Megatron sentences the Autobots to death in his huge Venus Fly Trap machine.  Luckily, the remaining Autobots (with the help of one Chip Chase, Master Inventor and future President of the United States) build a grenade that counteracts the effects of the Transfixatron and they chase away Megatron.

After catching the grenade, Chip goes wildly careening down a mountain to throw it.  Ravage comes leaping in out of nowhere and knocks Chip to the ground.  The entire sequence is pretty funny.

• This episode begins with Chip and Spike at a race track.  The race ends and they hit on the idea of having the Autobots race for charity.  They go back to headquarters, pitch the idea to Optimus, and he agrees.  Then the Autobots roll for the race track and begin.  Wouldn't there need to be some advertising or publicity for this race?  Where does this huge crowd come from if the Autobots just decided to go and race?
• Also, though it was probably meant to be cute, this mysterious crowd has never heard of the Autobots, the guys who have saved Earth many, many times now.
• After using the Transfixatron, Megatron says that the Autobots "can no longer call themselves 'Transformers!'"  That's not going to be a big deal, since they don't and never will refer to themselves as such.  Though it's the name of the show and the toys, the Autobots call themselves "Autobots," not "Transformers."
• Trying to determine the cause of their inability to transform, Chip feeds information about how the Autobots transform into Teletran I while Wheeljack and Ratchet look on.  That Chip must really be a genius, since I'd think that Teletran, Wheeljack, and Ratchet should already know this as they have all repaired and built (or rebuilt) Autobots in the past.
• And speaking of Chip's data entry, it seems a little suspect since the Autobots that appear on the screen look nothing like any robot I've ever seen on the show.
• Why did the Decepticons bother building the giant Venus Fly Trap when they could have just shot all the Autobots?
• At one point, Soundwave deactivates all of the Autobots' communicators, yet Hound can still communicate with headquarters.
• And when he does, Hound sends a hologram of their prison (something he could never do before).  Chip and Teletran I look at the projected image of the corner of a building and instantly pinpoint the exact location.
• As usual, the five remaining Autobots bring Chip and Spike along to the front lines, even though they're grossly unequipped to fight the Decepticons.  Of course, it's a good thing they did since the terrible twosome are the ones who manage to activate the grenade.
• And speaking of which, while being chased by the Decepticons, Spike throws the grenade to our good friend "paralyzed and wheelchair bound" Chip Chase, who then stands to catch it.
• At the end, the Autobots destroy the Transfixatron but not the huge Autobot Crushing Machine.

CHANGED PREMISES

• Scrapper seems to have adopted Prowl's voice.
• Mirage uses his scanner to detect the Decepticons' attack.  This would normally be the duty of Hound, who's right next to Mirage but probably didn't have his voice actor in the studio that day.
• Megatron shoots lasers from his eyes.

ANIMATION FLUBS

• Spike mouths Chip's line "like a big race for charity."
• Megatron's shoulder cannon still wants to be black instead of grey, except for one shot when it's colored correctly.
• Feeling lonely on Cybertron, Shockwave rides the Space Bridge to Earth in order to stand menacingly behind Megatron in two shots.
• During the race, Mirage and Jazz both speed way ahead of the pack, then every other shot shows them only a few feet ahead.
• When Skywarp appears overhead to disable the Autobots, he transforms from jet mode and instantly has the Transfixatron--a device as big as he is--in his hand.
• And speaking of this race, every shot of the crowd shows them to be in a circular race track, but every shot of the Autobots driving has them out on a straight stretch of highway somewhere out in farmland.
• After being stuck in vehicle mode, Ironhide is painted like Ratchet for one quick scene.
• Wheeljack's ears steadily pulse throughout the entire episode.  They don't match the tempo of his speech and they keep flashing even when he's not talking.
• Twice during the grenade-throwin' rescue mission, Ratchet is painted like Ironhide.
• At one point, Skywarp and Thundercracker chase Wheeljack, who suddenly turns and fires.  When he does, Skywarp is painted like Thundercracker.  Then he teleports and reappears painted like Starscream.
• Wheeljack then throws the grenade to Spike.  Spike begins to run and Chip gets smaller and fades off into the distance.  The problem is that the background doesn't move so it looks like Spikes running in place and Chip just blinks out of existence (something we'd never want as he is so critical to this show).
• When Devastator picks up Optimus and throws him, he has no arms.
• I guess I can't complain too much, since it's finally not that same sequence, but every time Optimus transforms, it's really choppy and there's a sort of "ghost trail" quality to it.
• Devastator's liking that single piece sunglasses visor of his.  He has it for all but two quick shots when he reverts to two separate eyes.
• As Wheeljack turns the Transfixatron on Devastator, the middle section of it disappears.

- Danimal