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

Prime Target in a Nutshell...
A human big game hunter decides to go after the biggest game of all: Optimus Prime in a Really Pissy Mood™.

More Than...You Want to Know!

Warning! Warning! Major spoilers ahead! Proceed at your own risk!

Don't want to read everything that happened in this episode? Well, fine! Be that way! You can just darn well click here and go on to the next part, ya spoilsport!

Wow, talk about your anachronisms... In one of the most dated scenes of all the G1 episodes, we have a top-secret Russian plane... Or, more accurately, we have a top-secret plane representing the Soviet Union, red Soviet star on the tail rudder and all. We also have a female combat fighter pilot, which, though it would have been weird if it was an American plane at the time, it wasn't at all weird for the Soviet Union...

Well, anyway, what we have here is one female fighter pilot with a really, really bad Russian accent. (Why is it that whenever a character on a TV show tries to do a Russian accent--assuming that they aren't native Russian--they end up sounding Balkan, i.e. Romanian or Bulgarian, where the Slavic accent is much stronger than it is in, say, Moscow? Weird. I guess it's just one o' them stereotypes. OK, end of rant. Sorry. :) ) So we have a nifty plane. It's just flying peacefully along above a stretch of what must be the Arctic, given the thick crust of ice, when the pilot picks up a sonar reading beneath the ice. (I thought sonar only worked within water...Maybe it's special sonar...) She figures it's a submarine (Either that or a really big fish.) So why does she looked so danged surprised when a missile flies up out of the ice? Well, maybe she's surprised by the chain attached to the missile and the fact that it bursts through the fuselage of the plane and stays there, grabbing hold like a grappling hook. The plane gets pulled down and the pilot ejects. She parachutes down to the ice just in time to see her plane disappear into a hole in the ice to sink down into the frigid water below.

The scene changes and...Where the hell are we??? I have no idea. The sky is red, there are funky-looking rock formations and mountains all over the place and nestled atop one of those mountains is a Cinderella-looking castle... Well, wherever we are, inside the castle there's Lord Chumley, a caricature of an aristocratic English big game hunter, complete with a handlebar mustache, a stuffy accent, a penchant for shouting, "Good show!", an ascot tie, and khaki safari clothes (No pith helmet, sadly...). And there's his caricature of a positively ancient, spindly-looking English manservant, complete with bow tie, tails, pinstriped pants, long, stringy grey hair, and a tray bearing tea. Said ancient manservant reveals that there's a "frightful international row" brewing over the Soviet plane's disappearance--and said plane is hanging on the wall, along with dozens of other "trophies." Chumley asserts that "these things blow over," reminding the manservant of the Boer Wars, which the manservant "painfully" remembers. (Yow! He really is ancient...) The two of them stand beneath the Soviet plane hanging on the wall, admiring it. Chumley reveals that with one more trophy, his collection will be complete. As Dinsmore, the manservant, pours tea which completely misses the teacup, he guesses that Chumley's after the space shuttle (No sport, according to Chumley) and an aircraft carrier (Already got one, according to Chumley.). Nope, Chumley reveals as the tea splatters all over the floor that he wants Optimus Prime. (Hey! He's got something in common with Devastator from "City of Steel!" :) ) He's even got a nice plaque with Op's name already engraved on it. (And it says "Mount head here," in the appropriate empty spot, too...Hee! :) ) Oh, dear. In fact, that's just what Dinsmore says, too: "Ohhhh, dear." Chumley goes for a sip of tea to celebrate his revelation, only to find that his cup is empty...

Meanwhile, Tracks and Bumblebee are cruising (For a bruising, but I'm getting ahead of myself here.) They're apparently on a supply run, and Tracks thinks that it was "insightful" of Optimus Prime to send him in to show that the Autobots have both strength and refinement. (Actually, Tracks, he just wanted you out of his hair.) "Not to mention humility," Bumblebee adds (Score: Bumblebee 1, Tracks 0) as they stop and transform, to which Tracks retorts that many Autobots have much to be humble about. (Ouch! Score: Bumblebee 1, Tracks 1 ) Meanwhile, they notice a group of humans gathered around an appliance store. They wander over to join them, Tracks bemoaning that he's going to be mobbed by his "adoring public." When the humans ignore them, though, Bumblebee feels inspired to needle Tracks with, "Yeaaaaah! They can hardly resist ya, Tracks." (Score: Bumblebee 2, Tracks 1) But then the bantering is forgotten as the guy on the TV reports that tensions between the US and the Soviet Union are at their highest since the Cuban Missile Crisis over the disappearance of the not-so-top-secret jet. Both countries have their militaries on full alert. (And, I imagine, their fingers are hovering over the button that says, "Press here to nuke the Commies" and "Press here to nuke the Capitalist Slime." )

Meanwhile, Bumblebee spots Blitzwing and Astrotrain in an alleyway. He and Tracks are off to nab some 'Cons! Transforming, they take off for the alley, chasing the two Decepticons into what Bumblebee terms a "very dead" dead end. (No, not the Stunticon.) Tracks makes a move to grab Blitzwing...who promptly disappears into thin air. Whoops! They were holograms! Meanwhile, the truck that had been behind the Decepticon holograms shoots what looks like a giant magnet on a chain at Tracks. It attaches itself to the center his chest and gives him a good zap. As he collapses, he weakly tells Bumblebee to get help. Bumblebee transforms, speeds off...and ends up driving right onto another truck, the doofus. Tracks is dragged aboard the first truck as Dinsmore reports, "Trapped neat and clean."

Meanwhile, back at Autobot Headquarters, some Autobots--Blaster, Grapple, Beachcomber, and Jazz--are getting their daily "As the Kitchen Sinks" fix, featuring Donna having an affair with Gordon (What? I'm sorry, but no self-respecting soap opera would have a character with the name of "Gordon." They go for names like..."Austin" or "Luke" or "Donovon" or "Shane" or "Skyler" or any of those other names that very few real people have... In fact, now that I think about it, soap writers would dig some of the TFs' names...) and Jack and Cheryl hiding wills. (What? No demonic possession? No burying people alive? No witches? No former rapists being reformed into heroes? No people who've been dead for a year coming back to life? No wait! That's Transformers... :) Anyway, this can't be a real soap opera...) When the soap opera gets interrupted by the news bulletin that the UN Security Council is having an emergency meeting to discuss the uppity Soviets, the 'Bots do some serious grumbling. (Megatron take note: Forget the superweapons. Just schedule your next attack on Autobot Headquarters during an airing of "As the Kitchen Sinks." The Autobots'll never know what hit 'em...) Optimus--who was watching the soap, I'll betcha!--wants to know if that was the latest news report. (No, Op. It was an old one. DUUUUUH!) Jazz asks if Op thinks the Decepticons are behind the whole plane things. Of course he does--Wait a minute! What? He doesn't? Wow... He turns off the news and notes that Tracks and Bumblebee haven't reported in. Jazz notes that Tracks is probably hanging out at a body shop or a car wash. (Yeah....The Car Wash of Doom! MWAHAHAHAH! :) ) Or, as Grapple notes, he's probably "up to his hubcaps in trouble." (Yup! That's my Tracks! ;) ) Whatever the case, Op decides to send out the search party. (And he punches the palm of one hand with his other fist as he announces his intention. Feeling a little aggressive there, Oppy? Maybe it's the male TFs who get PMS...?? And here we thought Optimus decided to go look for energy because of Elita's PMS...) In any case, they're outta there and on the hunt.

Speaking of hunting...Jazz heads for the (Insert dramatic pause here) Car Wash o' Doom, thinking that maybe he'll find Tracks there. But nope, he just gets bumped into the contraption inside the car wash by a car driven by Dinsmore and ends up zapped 'n trapped. Dinsmore announces that he's "bushed," but Chumley chides him with "Where is your spirit?" The hunt, he says, has just begun. And indeed it is. In short order they bag:

Well, perhaps some of Inferno's SOS got through, because suddenly Prime gets the heebie jeebies and decides to abort the search and head back to HQ. (And he displays an amazing turn radius for an eighteen-wheeler again as he makes his about-face!) Windcharger and Huffer narrowly miss the traps set for them as they obey Prime's order to scoot. "Drat! Dash! Double drat!" is Chumley's reaction as Windcharger escapes a trap involving a speeding train and a railroad crossing with attitude. Dinsmore's reaction to Huffer's escape from being drilled with a streetlight (Don't ask!) is "No cooperation! No cooperation at all!" (Cheetor: "Awwww...Do you need a hug?" :) )

Back at HQ, Optimus breaks the news to a couple of gathered Autobots--Hoist, Ironhide, Warpath, Windcharger--that everyone else is AWOL. Warpath wants to go stomp the Decepticons, but Optimus is still curiously adamant that the disappearances aren't the Decepticons' doing. (Remarkably non-paranoid for old Op...) And as Op says that, Teletran interrupts them with an alert from Cosmos, who broadcasts to the Autobots a scene from a chamber of horrors. Beachcomber in dune buggy mode is on a sadistic treadmill of sorts, where he has to jump stretches of spikes. (No, not the human. :) ) Bumblebee's getting the Edgar Allan Poe pendulum treatment, where he has to keep transforming back and forth or otherwise get sliced and diced by two swinging blades. Grapple's doing his Atlas impersonation, forced to hold a really big rock over his head. Tracks, meanwhile, has to drive around a figure-eight track while multiple lasers shoot at him. Optimus, outraged, tells Cosmos to transmit his coordinates, which Cosmos does...but Chumley interrupts the transmission.

Chumley greets Optimus Prime, informing him that Op's friends "can't wait" for his arrival. Optimus, pissed, demands to know who Chumley is. Chumley tells him and then offers him a "sporting chance" to rescue his friends while Dinsmore dusts Chumley's computer screen. "Torture isn't sport," Op retorts. "But I accept the challenge." Chumley, delighted, can't wait to begin. "Fine!" Optimus snipes. "Then let's begin now!" And he sends some voltage back at Chumley, causing his computer to blow up. "He does have a temper, doesn't he, Dinsmore?" Chumley muses. (Actually...he usually doesn't...) Back at Autobot HQ, Warpath's itching to charge to the rescue. But Op insists that it's his show. (Macho, macho 'Bot! He's got to be a macho 'Bot... Sorry. Possessed by the Village People again... :) )

Meanwhile, down in Decepticon HQ, the 'Cons are doing their nails... No, actually, they've apparently been monitoring what's going on. Megatron names Chumley "brilliant for a flesh creature." Starscream gets his digs in by pointing out that Chumley's done more about the 'Bots in two days than Megs has in two years. Megs is predictably thrilled with that observation, true as it is. :) He knocks Screamer for a loop as usual and sends Blitzwing and Astrotrain off to go have tea with Chumley. Screamer, meanwhile, gets in his final dig of the episode, asking Megs if he's afraid to quaff some tea with Chumley himself...

Back with Optimus Prime, meanwhile, he reports back to HQ that he's arrived in the "target area." Chumley greets him on a PA, tells him that the other Autobots are somewhere in this "well-researched mock-up of Cybertron" (Hate to tell ya this, Chumley, but it looks nothing like Cybertron...). As a dragon- looking thing sneaks up on Optimus Prime, Chumley informs Optimus that his task is to find the Autobots before something "rather unpleasant" happens to them. Op snarls, "You better hope I find them before I find you." (Whoa! Optimus Prime physically threatening a human?? Holy cow! :) ). Meanwhile, the dragon thing attacks, biting a hole in the top of Optimus Prime's right shoulder. Op flips the dragon, losing his gun in the process. He makes a dive for the gun, which the dragon- thing flicks away with its tail. The gun lands on a catwalk across a very deep abyss. Op runs for his gun, and the dragon-thing chases him and gives him a bear hug from behind, biting Optimus' left shoulder so that he has a precisely-matched symmetrical set of holes. Eventually, Op gives Mr. Dragon the old flying kick (Which is usually Ratchet's, thing...but maybe Ratchet gave Op lessons. :) ), sending it tumbling into the abyss. (AARRGH! Vertigo shot! I hate vertigo shots!) Chumley, watching the action on the monitors in his little hidey-hole, is quite impressed, naming Optimus a "magnificent creature." Dinsmore agrees...but thinks Chumley's talking about the dragon-thing... (Senility is a terrible thing. I should know! :) )

Well, whatever, Chumley decides it's time to put the bag on Prime (Hee! I rhyme! ), and drops a net on him, which Op easily evades, running outside. But it's a special net, you see. It can tunnel through the ground in order to snare Prime...which it does while Prime is taunting Chumley...and it zaps him... Ooops! Him Optimus in deep doo- doo...

But not for long! He grabs a convenient length of chain with a convenient hook on the end of it that's conveniently lying next to him, and hurls it at a conveniently-nearby power line, the resulting jolt from which shorts out the net. "Unless you can do better than that," Optimus growls as he gets up, "you're finished, Chumley." Undaunted, Chumley pronounces the situation "simply smashing" and salutes Optimus Prime, naming him a "magnificent beast."

Meanwhile, Astrotrain and Blitzwing have arrived on the scene. They trail behind Optimus Prime as he confronts a Scantily-Clad Babe who's all chained up and sobbing piteously, just waiting for a knight in shining armor to come and rescue her. (Too bad for her BW Silverbolt's not around. ;) ) Optimus contemplates her for a moment...and then, sensing a trap (No! Really?) moves on. "Drat! Outsmarted by a lorry!" is Chumley's response. (Hee! :) ) Blitzwing and Astrotrain, meanwhile, confront the Babe. Blitzwing goes to stomp on her to put her out of her misery, but the bear-trap-like thing behind her grabs his leg and green slime shoots up and coats him, immobilizing him. Chumley, pissed that his toying with Optimus Prime is being interrupted, demands to know where the "blasted fool" came from. Astrotrain calls Blitzwing a "blasted fool," too, as Blitzwing makes muffled, incoherent noises. Astrotrain shoots his laser at Blitzwing, hoping to fry the goop off of him, I guess. Optimus, hearing the commotion, turns around and makes an amusing remark about boobies and then continues on his way. :) Astrotrain, his laser solution not working, demands to know how Blitzwing gets into such messes while Blitzwing, his voice still muffled, demands that Astrotrain "get [him] out of this stuff!". Astrotrain sighs that he'll have to go to the castle to free Blitzwing and then stalks off.

At the castle, Chumley remarks that it's just like the Decepticons to spoil a hunt. "Yes, sir," Dinsmore replies. "Just like the Humane Society in a way." (Oh, Megs would just love to hear that comparison... :) )

Meanwhile, Optimus Prime is being attacked by a giant, laser-shooting, metallic scorpion! (No, not Scorponok...either of them...) The scorpion has a video monitor in its head and Chumley chats to Prime for a moment--Chumley noting how Op will make a great addition to his collection, Optimus snarling that Chumley's "one royal pain in the...diode." (Dang it! After talking about boobies, I thought he'd move on to talking about asses! ;) )--before they get down to the business of duking it out, 'Bot to scorpion. Unfortunately, Astrotrain interrupts their knock- down-drag-out by shooting Optimus Prime in the back, royally pissing off Chumley, who yells that Optimus was "Mine! Mine!" (Geez, what is it with TF characters and the "Mine!" thing? Didn't they learn to share in kindergarten? :) ) Astrotrain goes to make nice with Chumley, offering to help Chumley rid the world of Autobots. Chumley just zaps him with the scorpion's tail and tosses him on top of Optimus Prime (Woo hoo! :) ) Chumley's pissed because Astrotrain bagged Optimus, not Chumley himself, which just takes all the fun out of big game hunting...The scorpion grabs Astrotrain by one leg and drags him off, leaving Optimus lying there.

Later, at the castle, Chumley's got Astrotrain and a de-slimed Blitzwing all tied up, chained to the wall by each limb. He's deactivated their weapons. Astrotrain sputters that they came to help. Chumley "would sooner have the help of an aardvark!" (Hee! :) ) and, as Blitz' and 'Train exchange a befuddled glance, he further snipes that the two "blundering oafs" Decepticons robbed him of his trophy, the head of Optimus Prime. Then he goes to pout at his Autobot captives. Grapple insists that they've done nothing to Chumley and demands to be released. No go. So Bumblebee decides to give Optimus Prime a wake-up call. Optimus turns over and hits the snooze button. No, no, I'm kidding. Of course Optimus is thoroughly inspired by Bumblebee telling him to get up off his lazy ass and come rescue them, for pity's sake! (OK, so BB didn't quite put it that way, but still...) He's so inspired, in fact, that he goes into overdrive...

Meanwhile, Chumley's back with Blitz and Train, pondering how to dispose of them. Dinsmore suggests molten lava. (Nope! The 'Bots tried that already with the other Decepticons. Didn't work.) And then Chumley notices that Optimus is on the prowl again (No, not that Prowl... :) ). Delighted with the turn of events, Chumley forgets the Decepticons and turns his full attention of Optimus Prime, who's now really pissed off. It ain't a pretty sight. A saw blade goes for him. Prime knocks it aside. A bear trap thing grabs his leg. Prime rips its jaws apart as if they were made of tissue paper, tosses it into the air, and then shoots it with his gun for good measure. Crossing the drawbridge into the castle, he lifts up the portcullis and stomps inside. A robotic black widow spider (No, not Blackarachnia...) greets him. He gets stuck in her web, but Op still makes short work of her, ripping off her legs and forcing her fangs into a stump of her own leg. She blows up. "If that was your best shot," Optimus growls, "you're in deeeeep trouble." (Yeah! Get him, Op!) One more trap to bust out of--a funhouse-like spinning hallway--and then one vidscreen to bust through (Huh?) and Optimus is practically sitting in their laps. "Impossible!" Chumley protests as he and Dinsmore scoot.

Chumley and Dinsmore head for the trophy hall. Dinsmore conceals himself in a tank in the hall as Optimus stomps past, intent on his trophy. He punches through a wall, Megatron-style, and declares...uh..."Neither impossible nor impossible!" (Eh? Uhhh...I think the testosterone's gettin' to ya there, big guy... :) ) Chumley, desperate since he's got a pissed-off berserker Autobot leader breathing down his neck, asks the two Decepticons if they'll trounce Optimus for him. "Sure!" Astrotrain responds. Chumley lets them go...and as Optimus Prime arrives on the scene, Astrotrain proceeds to play "Stomp the Squishy." Alas, he misses. As Chumley crawls away, blubbering, Astrotrain snipes, "Let's see how you like being hunted." (Yeah! Get him, 'Train!) Alas, their fun is ruined by the Autobots, who've been freed. They arrive on the scene, guns a-blazin'. Blitzwing and Astrotrain are outta there. "No point in chasing after them," Optimus says as he turns to Chumley, who's cowering in the corner, "Here's the trophy I want." (Ouch! :) )

And Chumley and the not-so-top-secret Russian plane win an all-expense-paid one-way ticket to Red Square, where Chumley is presented to the Russians all tied up on the nose of the plane.

And as Optimus and crew drive away from the city, a news voice-over tells us that all's well again between the US and the USSR, thanks to that-there Lorry With Attitude... :)

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Nightwind's Unsolicited Opinions

A miracle happens whenever I watch this episode. Truly! And it's big. Bigger than Moses parting the Red Sea, even. When I watch this episode, something happens that only happens one other time in the entire run of the G1 series. And let me tell you, I was shocked when it happened to me the first time. The first time it happened to me, I started rummaging around for a thermometer to take my temperature, to make sure I wasn't delirious with fever or something...

What is this truly miraculous event, you may ask? Whenever I watch this episode, I actually find myself liking Optimus Prime. I even find myself rooting for him, for pity's sake! That never happens...OK, it only happens one other time, but not nearly so strongly as it does here. If it's not clear to you yet (and if you've been reading these, it should be clear, but just in case...), I have no great love for either Megatron or Optimus Prime. Both of them are archetypical, stereotypical, and...well, boring character types, one of them the sterling, do-no-wrong hero, the other the hand-wringing, mustache-twirling (Well, not really, but you know what I mean), world-dominating, bad-to-the-bone bad guy. Snooze! They're nothing we haven't seen a thousand times before in other shows, cartoon or not. And, as stereotypical archetypes, neither of them ever gets to come out of his little box, so to speak. Neither of them gets to step beyond being the sterling hero or the evil villain. Both of them are defined by the archetype and, as such, neither of them is believable to me as a "real person." No real person is that good--or that evil--all the time. So while Megatron's and Optimus Prime's underlings get to have charisma and character quirks--endearing or otherwise--galore, the two faction leaders are generally stuck with being stereotypes. One is emotionally distant to the point of self-effacement and utter self-sacrifice, the other overly emotional to the point of self-defeat. In short, neither of them is "real" to me, and therefore I can relate to neither of them on any level. Therefore, I don't particularly like either of them. I'm much more fascinated with some of those endearing and charismatic underlings. :)

Unfortunately, Megatron never gets to step out of his "box" at any time in the G1 series. There is not a single episode where I find myself thinking, "Hey, I like this Megatron guy." Fortunately for Optimus Prime, there's "Prime Target..."

Why do I like Optimus in this episode? Why do I root for him when I never root for him in any other episode? Well, one simple answer would be a rather easy one. That would be that I don't like big game hunters. I find them to be the scum of the Earth, those (mostly) men who think themselves all macho simply because they're "brave" enough to shoot a rhinoceros or a lion or some similarly dangerous animal from at least several hundred yards away with a high-powered rifle while sitting atop a large all-terrain vehicle. Any moron with a half-decent scope on their rifle--much less laser sights, as most hunters have--can do that! Now, if they hunted on foot with a spear or a knife or even a bow-and-arrow, I might have some small modicum of respect for them. But hunters with big guns who kill predators or big prey species simply because it gives them a macho rush and a head they can hang on their wall are, to me, several thousand kilometers beneath contempt. So, since Optimus is going after a big game hunter (Yes, Chumley's "graduated" to military hardware, but numerous references are made to hunting big game) in this episode, I'll cheer for Optimus just because of that. There is no other G1 episode where I sit and mutter, "Go, Optimus...Get him...GET HIM!" But I do while watching this one!

The other reason is that Optimus Prime is just chock-full of some all-too-rare and seemingly genuine emotions in this episode. To wit:

Now, the fact that Optimus Prime actually shows emotions and actually shows concern for those under his command in this episode makes him seem far more "real" to me than he usually does. In this episode, Optimus wears his heart on his sleeve, so to speak. Some would call it being out of character, and I suppose that in some ways, it is. But, let me tell you, Optimus Prime in this episode is the kind of out-of-characterness I could get used to... If Optimus Prime was always like this--at once macho, funny, principled, morally outraged, determined, emotional, and in short real--I'd love him to death. Unfortunately, this beserker Optimus Prime is never really seen again. His wit's still there sometimes, but the personal moral outrage he displays in this episode--which leads him on a personal, outraged vendetta--is, sadly, never seen again. Too bad, in my opinion. He was far more interesting in this episode than he is in any other... (In fact, he reminds me of BW's Optimus Primal in the BW episode "Gorilla Warfare" in this episode, only without the "drug" aspect... :) )

And the fact that I actually like Optimus Prime in this episode is, of course, the main reason why I like--well, actually, love--this episode. 'Tis a G1 favorite, in fact. But there are still a couple other things I like as well!

One is Dinsmore. Yes, he's sort of a caricature of a stuffy old English butler/manservant, but he's vastly amusing to me, not to mention impressively spry for a guy who "painfully" remembers the Boer Wars...(Which, for those who are unfamiliar with that most obscure of wars, ran from 1880 to 1881 and then again from 1899 to 1902!) I love it when Chumley announces that he's going to hunt Optimus Prime and Dinsmore's reaction is a chagrined "Ohhh, dear." It kind of sets up his whole grousy, long-suffering character. Makes me wonder what happened to him. Chumley went to the gulag, no doubt, but Dinsmore...? Hmmmm...Fanfic fodder, perhaps...? :)

The other is Astrotrain and Blitzwing, who kind of get to be the Two Stooges in this episode. Nevertheless, there is some amusing interplay between the two of them that hints that these two go way back, that they have a history together that just wasn't quite so obvious in, say, "Triple Takeover," where they seemed just to have separate but momentarily intersecting agendas. For instance, in this episode, when Blitzwing falls into the Scantily-Clad Babe Trap that Optimus Prime deftly avoided and Blitzwing subsequently gets slimed, I love Astrotrain's exasperated reaction: "Blitzwing! How do you get into these messes?!" Astrotrain's exasperated and long-suffering tone suggests to me that Blitzwing in the past got into many more messes that Astrotrain had to get him out of. It's a nuance that just wasn't there in "Triple Takeover," which is the only other episode where those two get any kind of extended airtime together. I love little injected character bits like that, in general. Unfortunately, they don't happen nearly enough in G1, for my likings and hardly ever with the Decepticon characters, which is why it's a particular joy here...

To me, in fact, the whole episode is a joy. Seriously. It is! :)

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Great Moments

Oh, there are some goodies here. In fact, there's one of my favorite lines of the entire series:

Optimus Prime (noticing Blitzwing caught in Chumley's Babe Trap): "Amazing. A booby trap that actually catches boobies."
(Heh...he said "boobies"...heh heh... :) )

Then there's Chumley's: "Drat! Outsmarted by a lorry!" when Optimus Prime decides not to take the Babe Bait.

And then there's that little "exchange," when Chumley's pissed about the Decepticons interfering in his hunt. He calls Blitzwing a "blasted fool!" ("Blasted" pronounced "blosted" in his stuffy accent, of course.) Half a second later, as Blitzwing struggles in the goop from the Babe Trap, Astrotrain calls Blitzwing a "blasted fool"...and he pronounces "blasted" the same way Chumley did. For some very odd reason, I find this very amusing. In fact, I've got the giggles for this whole scene...

And then of course, there's Astrotrain's "Blitzwing! How do you get into these messes?!"

Heh, I just noticed that all my favorite lines are in that one scene. No wonder I look forward to that scene so much... :)

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Totally Arbitrary Overall Rating, Just For the Heck of It

Hmmmmm...Optimus Prime acting like a real person and not like a guy who's spent the last few millennia locked in an emotional freezer...A big game hunter gets his due...Tracks, my favorite new Season Two character, gets a bit (more! :) ) airtime...An amusingly crusty English butler guy...and, last but not least, a bit of non-confrontational character development between two Decepticons, which is about as rare as rare gets.

Yup! Me Nightwind like! In fact, this one's in my Top 5 for G1. "Auto Berserk" still edges it out a bit, though...Let's give it a 9.75.