A stasis pod enters Earth's atmosphere and crashes in the polar region about 100 "clicks" away from the bases. Primal is eager to recover the pod, but Dinobot warns him of Predacon interference. What seems like over-abundant caution, Primal shoves Dinobot out of his way and blasts off to recover the pod himself. As he orders a scouting crew to follow him, Terrorsaur and Waspinator ambush the hovering Primal and then blast him out of the sky. Dinobot defends Primal's damaged body and the two Preds leave. Cheetor and Dinobot put Primal in the recovery pod after Dinobot
proclaims a "glorious funeral" for Primal (even though he is still functional :) funny scene).

Back at the Pred base, Megatron is disappointed that the two flyers didn't permanently disable Primal, but he orders them to secure the pod themselves now that they can beat the Maximals to the pod. Megatron then orders Tarantulas and Scorpy to accompany him to the Axalon and attack (while presumably Primal and one other Maximal would remain while the others go to recover the pod).

Megatron's assumption was correct: Cheetor, Rhinox, and Rattrap run to the northern sector to get to the pod before the Preds do. Terrorsaur and Waspinator attack the party near a ravine (with a land bridge similar to the one in the pilot). A small battle takes place where Rhinox uses his chain/rail gun! (VERY impressive!!) The Preds destroy the bridge and take off. Rattrap calls to Maximal HQ and Dinobot tells him "no excuses" - so they have to take the long way around.

Dinobot ponders. He calls up Primal's core consciousness on a holographic display (Primal is unconscious but this hologram "talks" to Dinobot!) They decide to bounce a radio signal off of one of the planet's moons to contact the pod via line-of-sight
transmission (the Max's comm links are not strong enough to reach the pod).

Dinobot sets up the transmission dish on top of the base, when Megatron approaches from below. He feigns peace and offers second-in-command to Dinobot who promptly laughs at Meg's proposal and gives him a nice optic-blast to the chest. Enraged, Megatron orders Scorp and Tarant to "vaporize him." Dinobot is wounded
but activates the Axalon's defense grid. In a VERY humorous scene, Tarant and Scorponok face to BFGs that blast them away from the ship's perimeter.

The frustrated Megatron abandons the assault and decides to get the pod himself.

Primal's consciousness activates the radio signal which hits the pod some distance away. It activates a scanning device and presumably scans a Bengal tiger (who has been fascinated with this pod since the beginning of the episode).

Waspinator and Terrorsaur arrive at the pod and begin to pry it open. Primal recovers and blasts off to get to the pod himself, while putting Dinobot into the recovery chamber. The other three Maximals arrive at the pod, but are forced to surrender when Megatron arrives and threatens to destroy two tigers who are watching the excitement from nearby. "You win you rotten piece of slag" hisses Rattrap. "Cultivated as always, even in defeat" Megatron says with a haughty smirk. Megs approaches the pod and they finally pop it open. Terrorsaur lets out a Beavis-type
scream - the pod is empty!

"Where is the protoform Maximal?" Megatron roars. "Right here." - we hear the off screen voice say, kinda gruff yet mellow sounding. The camera ZOOMS into a close shot of one of the tigers, "TIGATRON, MAXIMIZE!" He springs into robot mode
and fires a high-pitched blast at Megatron - knocking ALL the Preds to their feet. The other Maximals join in the onslaught and Primal soars into the brawl shooting off his twin back-launchers. Megatron is forced to retreat, and Tigatron fires a forearm attivated missle at the Preds which hits them over the horizon (off camera). A contented Tigatron transforms to beast mode and looks up at Primal who lands in front of him.

Primal greets the newbie, "Tigatron? We thought you didn't make it." A short conversation takes place, and Primal invited him back to the Axalon. Tigatron declines, stating that he feels more tiger than Maximal and that his memory circuits were damaged in the crash. This amnesia, coupled with his "noble savage" persona makes for ONE STRONG CHARACTER (in my book :)) Tigatron decides to stay in the polar region (how cool would it be if he, Polar Claw, and Wolfang form an offshoot Maximal group that is stationed in this northern region!) The Maximals leave. Tigatron looks up to the sky and offers a truly cool line: "Let the trails lead where they may, I will follow." The camera pans to the sky and we see the Northern Lights appear and the other tiger standing on a nearby mountain looking up.

General Thoughts:
This episode is the first to introduce us to the world of "birth by protoform". Whereas all previous characters were already functional when crashing to the planet, this new character is "born" on the Beast Wars planet. With some action tossed in, we are offered an insight into how this new generation of Transformers works.

Comments:

1. The white tiger shown early in the episode watching the pod crash gives the audience a constant allusion to what the beast form of the new Transformer would be.
   
   
2. It is interesting to note that in the original script for this episode, the character that was supposed to be introduced was Wolfang. All the same lines and personality traits were used, but ultimately the decision was changed and Tigatron was used instead.
   
3. This episode offers the audience an interesting contrast between Maximal and Predacon beliefs on protoforms. To Predacons, protoforms are tools, to be reprogrammed and used as a new warrior. To the Maximals, the protoform, although not "born" yet, is still considered a comrade.
   
4. Animation Error Alert: Waspinator's posterior is missing the black stripes in both the scene where Terrorsaur and Waspinator destroy the ice bridge and the scene where Waspinator is trying to break open Tigatron's stasis pod.
   
5. We learn in this episode that even when a Transformers' body is being repaired, their mind can be accessed form within the CR Chamber. However, Optimus Primal's "mind projection" acted tired and weak, as
   if exhausted from his damage.
   
6. The line where Rattrap is yelling at Dinobot saying "You can kiss my..." was edited from at least one broadcast of this episode because it was considered too risque.
   
7. This is one of the first close up looks we get at Sentinel's cannons on top of the Axalon. Scorponok's reaction to the guns are priceless!
   
8. Because Tigatron and Cheetor both were the same basic mold/shape in the toy, it was necessary to change their models slighly in the show to help people differentiate the characters. The biggest difference is the facial area which looks a bit more cat like and "mature" than Cheetor's.
   
9. Tigatron's partially damaged programming actually makes him an interesting character. With him staying in the wild, we have a character who is deeply connected to the planet he was born on.
   

Questions:

1. How come Tigatron's hand appeared outside the stasis pod before he got his beast form?
Aside from the obvious reasons of "dramatic scene", it would later be shown in "The Spark" that protoforms have two forms: a solid robot form and a liquid metal form. It would seem that in this scene, the protoform Tigatron began to form into the solid stage, but was not finished (hence the stasis pod door slamming shut). This scene also shows energon damage being done to the protoform which is mentioned later.

2. How come Cheetor uses a different gun in the end of this episode?
Towards the end of the episode, instead of using his Quasar "gut gun" rifle, Cheetor is shown using the other gun which in the toy forms his hindquarters. Most likely this was done because Tigatron would soon appear in this scene also using a "gut gun" styled rifle. This is of course because Tigatron and Cheetor were both based on the same mold toy-wise, only repainted.