[Plot Details] [Opinions] [Great Moments] [Caption Weirdness] [Rating]

Gorilla Warfare In a Nutshell...
Scorponok's Cyberbee persuades Optimus Primal to get in touch with his Inner Viking.
Give that boy a horned helmet!

All The Gruesome Details
Warning! Warning! Major spoilers ahead! Proceed at your own risk!
Don't want to read everything that happened in the episode? Well, fine then! Be that way! You can just darn well click here and skip to the next part, you spoilsport.

The opening wide shot shows us an "island" in the middle of the precipice of a large waterfall. We close in to follow a flying insect up the shoreline of the river to a close-up of a strange-looking plant growing up from under the side of a rather large boulder. Optimus Primal steps into frame, and apparently plans to collect the plant as a "new specimen." He yells at Dinobot to come and help him. Dinobot is, of course, every bit as enthusiastic about collecting plant specimens as one might expect--meaning that he's not at all enthusiastic. He emerges from behind another boulder, complaining all the way. He and Optimus Primal bicker amusingly for a while about the benefits of knowing the terrain and the flora and fauna and such versus the wisdom of planning for future Predacon attacks.

Eventually, though, Dinobot reconciles himself to the fact that Optimus Primal really wants that plant, so he goes to transform and blast it out from under the rock--only to be stopped by Optimus Primal, who slaps a hand over his mouth to stop him from uttering his activation code (Like they really need that to transform anyway... :) ). Instead of using violence to get the plant, Optimus Primal settles on using the next best thing--brute strength. He shoves the boulder aside and then smugly gives Dinobot the old "violence isn't always the answer" sermon. Dinobot responds with a doubtful "perhaps"...and then caustically notes that Optimus is losing his "battle edge." He then hisses contemptuously at the plant, announces that there's nothing to be learned from it, and then stomps away in disdain.

The plant, apparently taking offense, rears back, opens up, and launches a pod-like thingy at Dinobot. It flies through the air and attaches itself to the back of Dinobot's neck in a place where he apparently can't reach (Though I can't begin to fathom why...Any velociraptor's arm could indeed reach to the back of its own neck...but for dramatic purposes, I'll give the writer the benefit of the doubt here...). Dinobot yells and screams like a big baby for Optimus to get the thing off of him, which he does. Chuckling with amusement at Dinobot's expense, Optimus notes that the plant got him in the one place that Dinobot couldn't reach. Whereupon the pod wiggles, drops out of Optimus' hand, falls to the ground, and splits open. A new plant is born, and Optimus announces that they've learned something. Dinobot agrees, sourly noting that he's learned exactly what he's gonna do to his dinner salad from then on...

Suddenly, literally from nowhere, Scorponok appears. (One wonders if perhaps he was Skywarp in a previous life...) There's the requisite battle, during which one of Scorponok's missiles dislodges a boulder from above Dinobot, who's sheltering behind another boulder while he shoots eye lasers at Scorponok. The boulder above him falls, crushing the poor guy between the two rocks. (Talk about being between a rock a hard place, sheesh!)

Optimus, alarmed, runs out from behind his own sheltering boulder to help Dinobot and is rewarded for his troubles with a "special" Cyberbee (Which is about as welcome as a "special" agent from the IRS...) from Scorponok, which attaches itself to the front of his chest. He goes down but manages to fire off a shot from his forearm cannon at Scorponok, which sends the unfortunate Predacon and the log he's standing on hurtling over the waterfall. Dinobot finally manages to push the boulder off of himself, while Optimus, with attached Cyberbee, groans in distress...

Next scene, we're back at the Axalon. Dinobot, Cheetor, and Rattrap are seated around the table in the command center while Rhinox works at another console in the background. Cheetor accuses Dinobot of not being an effective backup and Dinobot, predictably, takes offense, threatening to make sure that Cheetor ends up occupying "several recycling bins." Rattrap, sensing that a squabble is about to ensue, interrupts, reminds them that they've got "bigger problems," and asks Rhinox what's up with Optimus, who is apparently in the R Chamber. Rhinox reports that the Cyberbee attached to Optimus carries a "viral mine" that has fused with Optimus' net core. He can't transform with it attached and if they try to remove it, it will kill Optimus and then explode, taking with it everyone within "sprintin' distance." Cheetor notes that this is a bad thing (Well, duh!) and then wonders why the Preds would do this terrible thing. (Um, Cheetor...? D'ya think maybe it could be because they're the bad guys, hmmm?)

Dinobot, meanwhile, announces that the purpose of the mine is to turn Optimus Primal into a coward who will lead them all to their doom. (How he knows this is a mystery, but there it is...). Scorponok, he says, will have the antivirus. Rhinox starts to say that there has to be something they can do for Optimus when suddenly loud banging and clanging erupts from the R Chamber. Bulges appear in the walls of the chamber. And then the front hatch flies off of the thing and Optimus Primal erupts from the wreckage yelling, "Who wants some?"

Some what, one wonders... Girl Scout cookies? Avon products? Great sex? This is what we are left to ponder as we go to a commercial.

When we come back from the commercial break, though, we learn that the answer to Optimus' question is actually "none of the above." Optimus Primal wants to know who wants some whupping, apparently... And then the curses start. (Geez, some people! They get a silly virus and suddenly every other word out of their mouths is some form of the word "slag.") Optimus Primal begins to rage at his fellow Maximals, warning them that if anyone touches his pet Cyberbee, he'll blow their "slaggin'" heads off. He makes a move to shoot Dinobot, who had been cautiously approaching Optimus from behind, and is stopped only by Rhinox, who hastily grabs on to him. As Primal continues to rage, Rhinox points out to Dinobot that Dinobot said the virus would make Primal a coward, which would not seem to be the case at all. Dinobot's defense: Scorponok's incompetent. (Well, duh!) His virus has instead created a berserker...

Everyone, meet Optimus the Red. Optimus the Red, this is...well, everyone.

Cheetor, meanwhile, insists that Optimus can beat it, but Optimus, in a brief moment of lucidity, tells the Maximals that he can't fight it. He advises them to disarm him and lock him up for safety--His and theirs. Cheetor reacts with a dismayed gasp as we head off to Pred Central...

There, Scorponok's happily puttering about in his lab, having a grand old time, when Megatron drops in for a visit, asking for a report. Scorponok reports that he "got Optimus good" and that he also has the antivirus. Just one dose, per Megatron's order. Megatron notes with glee that he is certain that Optimus Primal had exchanged his courage for a "nice cowardly yellow stripe, yeeeessss" by then but that, "he will not want to stay that way, noooo." His Royal Purpleness then announces that when Optimus and the Maximals show up to nab the antivirus, he plans to make it their "final battle in the beast wars."

Meanwhile, Optimus the Red is locked up in the hold, surrounded by red laser-like "bars" but he's trying to get out, smashing himself against the bars and getting zapped for his efforts, which only makes him madder. Cheetor pays him a visit from outside the hold. Optimus snaps at poor Cheetor at first, but quickly apologizes, saying that the aggressive tendency is hard for him to control. Cheetor wonders if there's any of the old Optimus left, and Optimus says that there is "some." Cheetor encourages him not to let it go. Optimus says that he doesn't know if he can beat the aggression, but he does think that perhaps he can channel it toward more constructive purposes--like kicking some Predacon keister. Cheetor thinks that's a smashing idea...and stupidly lets Optimus the Red out of his cage...

Up in the command center, the other Maximals are wondering what to do about Optimus. Dinobot notes that Optimus has become a "war machine" and that therefore they should, essentially, wind him up and turn him loose on the Predacons. Rattrap notes that that's all well and good, but that Dinobot's plan overlooks "just one little thing." That, according to Rhinox, is that Optimus will get scrapped in the process, which is a "big problem." Dinobot shrugs and notes that, "That depends on your viewpoint." Rattrap's about to argue--heatedly--just as Cheetor walks in with Optimus the Red...and he's not on a leash. Optimus the Red announces that Dinobot's idea isn't a bad one. Rhinox, dismayed, asks Cheetor what he's done. (Um, Rhinox? That's a bit obvious, isn't it?) Cheetor reports that Optimus has things under control, and encourages Optimus to tell the other Maximals his plan. Optimus obliges, telling them that he plans to channel his aggression and, with the others' help, storm the Predacon base and obtain the antivirus. The others discuss it a bit, but their discussion is interrupted when Optimus the Red reasserts himself with full force and begins to wreak havoc.

He proceeds to shoot up the command center, setting off alarms that only make his temper tantrum worse. And there's that "slag" word again... And then he really starts rampaging, shooting up everything in sight. Rhinox, cowering behind the table with Rattrap, notes that they have to stop him before he hurts himself. Rattrap, true to form, worries more about Optimus hurting them. So Rhinox takes it upon himself to tackle Optimus the Red and wrestle him to the floor. Cheetor and Rattrap join him in the effort but Optimus throws them off, staggers to his feet, and curses the Maximals out, saying that he doesn't need any of them to do what he feels he has to do. And with that, he takes off for the Predacon base, bristling with Viking testosterone, much to Cheetor's chagrin. He murmurs a tortured "Big bot, no..."

Cheetor, feeling a perhaps guilty need to back Optimus up, heads for the armory, piling on the weapons, arming himself to the teeth. Dinobot walks in and informs the impulsive hot-head that an attack is not the way to get Optimus Primal back, that instead they need to think of how the old Optimus Primal would handle the situation. When Cheetor wonders how that would be, Dinobot, of all people, comes up with "Negotiate."

At the Predacon base, Terrorsaur reports a transmission coming in on a Maximal frequency. Megs wants to hear it, so Terrorsaur puts it through. It's Cheetor, and he proceeds to warn the Predacons that Optimus the Red is heading their way, hankering to chew them all up, spit them all out, and then stomp on their remains. Megatron scoffs, informing Cheetor that any Maximal who "blunders" into their base will "not survive," and with that he abruptly cuts off the transmission. And then he gives poor Scorponok a swift kick for being incompetent. Meanwhile, Cheetor, defeated, goes to beast mode as the other Maximals join him. Rattrap asks how it went and Cheetor says that it didn't work and then berates Dinobot for his "bright ideas." Dinobot decides that it's now time that they start thinking on their own instead of like Optimus...

Meanwhile, Optimus the Red approaches the Predacon base, blasting a hole in the side of it. Megatron sends Tarantulas to intercept him. The spider doesn't have much luck, though. He throws everything he's got at Optimus...and just ends up impaled with his own weapon.

Viking-bot 1, Preds zippo...

Then it's Waspinator's turn. Waspy, as usual, doesn't have much luck, either. He gets pulled through a wall, thrown through another, and then blasted for his trouble.

Viking-bot 2, Preds zippo...

Optimus proceeds on in his quest... Blackarachnia and Terrorsaur, meanwhile, scurry outside, guns blazing, to face down Dinobot, Rattrap, Cheetor, and Rhinox.

Inside the Predacon base, Optimus Primal hears Cheetor's voice in his head (Oh, the horror! :) ) as he stomps through the base's corridors. Outside, Rhinox lays down cover fire with the ol' Chain Guns o' Doom while Cheetor sprints into the Predacon base to help Optimus. Meanwhile, a weakened Optimus has made it to Scorponok's lab. He looks around in search of the antivirus...and doesn't see it! As he falls to his knees in anguish, Megatron strolls out of the shadows in beast mode, antivirus in his dinosaur hands. He offers Optimus a deal: his allegiance to Megatron in return for the antivirus. Optimus the Red returns for a moment to scoff and, instead of taking Meg up on his offer, he rips the Cyberbee off of his chest. Megatron, knowing that the bee will now explode, reacts with horror and flees. Optimus tosses the Cyberbee after Megatron, noting that it's a trick he learned from a flower. The Cyberbee lands squarely on the back of Megatron's neck--right where he can't reach it. (And this time, they're right. A T. rex's arms would never reach to the back of its own neck...) The antivirus flies out of his hand into the air and Megatron runs out of the lab, in search of Scorponok.

Cheetor races into the room just in time, leaps, transforms in mid-air, and grabs the antivirus. Optimus is collapsing, his spark fading. Cheetor runs over and administers the antivirus just in time, announcing that they have to get out of the Predacon base before the Cyberbee blows up. Megatron finds Scorponok, and demands that Scorponok get the bee off of him. Cheetor and Optimus dash outside and the Maximals flee the scene as Scorponok gets the bee off of Megatron...just in time for it to explode in their faces.

An indeterminate amount of time later, Optimus Primal, back to normal, awakens in his quarters to find Dinobot, of all people, sitting at his bedside. Optimus notes that such a thing is not like Dinobot, to which Dinobot responds that it was merely his shift. (Yeah, right...) Dinobot clears his throat uncomfortably and stands up, muttering that it's good to have Optimus back. Optimus asks, amused, "Back home...? Or back to normal?" Dinobot turns back to him and says, "Both." And I'll be darned if there ain't a mushy little smile on his face... Optimus Primal chuckles, turns his head to the side...and sees the plant--the one he and Dinobot had been collecting way back at the start of all this mess--sitting at his bedside. He lifts up his head again and...Too late! Dinobot the Mushball is outta there. Optimus Primal chuckles again, his head falls back again...and all is right with the universe once again.

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Nightwind's Unsolicited Opinions

Look out, folks! Nightwind's gonna get up on her soapbox here and talk about violence for a while...but not in the way you might think. Here goes:

When the FOX Network bought the rights to the Beast Wars cartoon episodes they, in their infinite wisdom, decided that they were going to edit the episodes for graphically violent content. This set off a brief firestorm of controversy on the Transformers newsgroups. There were those who took exception to the edits because they chafed under what they saw as "censorship" in any form. On the other end of the spectrum, there were those who applauded FOX for caring enough to make sure that the cartoons were appropriate for its target audience, given the US's recent and shameful troubles with school violence and shootings. There were also many who fell somewhere between those extremes. For the record, I was in between the two extremes, but I definitely leant more toward applauding the edits. While I am no advocate of sheltering children from the scariness that often plagues real life, I see no need to enhance or glorify that aspect. And, to be honest, I felt that the edits--while the reasons that various split-second snippets were edited often seemed to be inconsistent--also did not in any way interfere with the overall story of the episode, which in the end is the only thing that concerns me.

It seems to me that FOX's first airing of "Gorilla Warfare" was the impetus of this fan controversy. There's a scene in the episode in which the virus-enraged Optimus Primal impales Tarantulas with his own crossbow-like weapon. More than a couple of fans were outraged by that little edit, which did not in any way, shape, or form take anything away from the overall story of the episode, in my opinion. But the whole controversy did get me to thinking about an issue to which I'd never given much thought before, that of the portrayal of violence on television.

As I said, violence in life is an immutable fact. It's not going to go away, no matter how much we shelter our children from the media and paint rosy, happy pictures for them of everyone getting along in perfect harmony. In real life, that doesn't happen all the time and, frankly, I believe that to try to make our children believe otherwise does them a great disservice. It sets them up for a rude awakening later on in their life. It's far better, I think, to prepare them for the harsh real world. Forewarned is forearmed, as they say. However, as I also said, there's also no need to enhance violence or to glorify it. I believe that there's a good way to handle the portrayal of violence on fictional television, and there's a bad way. Or maybe "good" and "bad" are too-loaded terms. Let's make it "responsible" and "irresponsible" instead.

And I find myself surprised to say that, for the most part, I think that Beast Wars handled its violence responsibly. Sure, the show is quite often mindlessly violent, as was the original series. But Beast Wars generally handles its violence well, in several key ways. As it was in G1, the more mindlessly violent and aggressive side of the conflict (i.e., the Decepticons/Predacons :) ) usually comes out of every Beast Wars episode as the losers--which is a good, albeit subtle, message about the effectiveness of violence as a means to get what one wants. But unlike G1, in Beast Wars there is also often at least a token mention made about how violence is not really the way to get what one wants. It's not surprising, given that Beast Wars is a child of the violence-wary 90s, while G1 was a child of the anything-goes 80s. And usually Beast Wars' anti-violence message is a subtle one, but every once in a while Beast Wars all but screams the anti-violence message, usually in the dialogue itself. And, to top it all off, the consequences of violence are usually shown or at least mentioned in the most violent Beast Wars episodes, even if it's done in an off-hand sort of way. Overall, the show usually sends an at least moderately positive message about the inappropriateness of violence in everyday life.

The operative word there, of course, is "usually"... Because sometimes Beast Wars sends the exact opposite message. And sometimes, it sends no message at all. Sometimes, it's just graphically and pointlessly violent. I don't have a huge problem with graphic violence in the sense of it offending me, personally. (I'm not talking about how I feel about kids watching it.) But the pointless kind of violence--graphic violence for no apparent reason--does bother me. It's not because it's offensive to me, per se. It's just that I believe that everything in a story, whether it's on a TV/movie screen or on a written page, should have a point, should have a logical reason to exist within the framework of the story. Pointless violence, by definition, is never necessary and never integral to the plot of a story.

And, believe it or not, I think that "Gorilla Warfare" is actually a good example of a "responsible" way to handle the violence issue. While it definitely is a very violent episode, it also has a distinct positive message about violence, a message that would be hard to miss by even a casual--or young--viewer. The episode "says" repeatedly that violence is not always--or even often--the answer to life's problems.

For instance, right off the bat in the very beginning of the episode, Optimus Primal flat-out lectures Dinobot, insisting that life should not always be filled with thoughts of future violence, no matter the situation, and that there are usually non-violent solutions to any given problem. It's a scene designed, I think, to contrast with and sort of "anti-foreshadow" what happens to Optimus later in the episode, but it gets the anti-violence point across very effectively. It's a little heavy-handed, perhaps, but, to paraphrase Optimus Primal, "Sometimes heavy-handed works."

Later, when he's infected by the cyberbee virus and becomes a berserker, Optimus Primal himself states repeatedly that his overly-aggressive condition is not the way that he wants to be nor is it the way that he should be. He fights the virus every step of the way--as well he should!--and even goes as far as to suggest that the other Maximals disarm him and lock him up for safety. (Which, being sensible folks, they do...until Cheetor, silly boy, lets him out, of course. :) )

Next thing we know, there's a sudden role reversal. "Optimus Primal the Usually Rather Mellow Guy" is rampaging off to the Predacon base in a blind fury while "Dinobot the Über-Warrior" suddenly starts arguing for, of all things, negotiation rather than a violent resolution to the "Primal Problem." It seems to me that Dinobot does this not because he's suddenly become a pacifist (Heaven forbid! :) ), but because--even though he is a warrior--he knows that violence isn't the solution to the particular problem at hand. This was a shrewd move on the writer's part (Either that, or it was a happy coincidence :) ), because this is a very good message coming from a character who is probably very popular with the show's younger fans. (And with grown-up female fans, too, but that's an entirely different story... ;) )

And even when Primal is running loose around the Predacon ship, very violently rampaging away, we at least know that he's trying to find and obtain the cure for his condition, so that he can get back to his normal, predominantly mellow and levelheaded self. So although his aggression has been amplified by the virus to levels that he would not normally contemplate and he's doing some hideously violent things, there's still a known and understandable reason that Optimus Primal is doing what he's doing. He's not being mindlessly violent (being violent just for the sake of being violent); he's being mindfully violent (being deliberately violent for a logical purpose). There's a difference. Violence for a "higher" purpose is a little more forgivable than violence just for the sake of shock-value violence.

Overall, I think this episode--while there are some moments that I would be uncomfortable letting a preschooler watch, but this is not a show meant for preschoolers--generally sends a good message to both adults and kids who are old enough to understand the reasons behind Optimus Primal's actions. And I think the target audience is at the age where they can understand that. I'd say that the episode--edited or not--is well done. The writer did a good--and, more importantly, a responsible--job.

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Great Moments

What I consider to be one of the classic lines of the entire series is in this episode:

Dinobot: "From now on I shoot my dinner salad before I eat it."
(Who'd've guessed that Dinobot would eat salad anyway? Real warriors don't eat salad...or is that quiche?)

And, besides that, the entire coda of the episode, with Dinobot's bedside vigil for Optimus Primal, complete with the return of the plant and Dinobot's mushy half-smile, just gives sappy Nightwind here the warm fuzzies...

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Closed Captioning Weirdness
(Or, Sometimes What You Think They Say Is Not Really What They Say...)

1. Shortly before he takes off for Pred Central, Optimus Primal curses out the other Maximals with "But if your cautious circuits are overriding your courage, let's melt you all!" instead of "But if your caution circuits are overriding your courage, then smelt you all!"
2. The end of Cheetor's warning to the Predacons is "...before you get baked" instead of "...before you get vaped."
   (To bake your Predacon, preheat oven to 350ºF... :) )
   

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Totally Arbitrary Overall Rating, Just For the Heck of It

I admit it! I love this episode! It's got a message that's admittedly heavy-handed at times, but it's still a good message. I'm all for that. It's got great Dinobot/Optimus Primal interaction, at both the beginning and the end of the episode, which shows the mutual respect that has grown between the two of them since the pilot. It subtly deepens the relationship between Optimus Primal and Cheetor without making Cheetor look like a complete idiot. Good character interaction and development interwoven into an interesting story with perhaps a bit of action is, to me, the hallmark of a good episode. I will always prefer it to plot stunts and fancy visuals. Live with it. :)

So this puppy gets a...9 from Nightwind.