MEGA MAN: FULLY CHARGED

 

MEGA MAN: FULLY CHARGED
(Cartoon Network, August 5, 2018-May 23, 2019 US
Family Chrgd, September 8, 2018-June 22, 2019 CAN)
 
Capcom, Dentsu Entertainment USA, DHX Media, DXH Media Studios Vancouver

  

MAIN CAST:
Vincent Tong – Mega Man/Aki Light, Namagem
Ryan Beil – Mega Mini, Wayne
Caitlyn Bairstow – Suna Light
Garry Chalk – Dr. Thomas Light

For the history of Mega Man, check out the post here.  

Mega Man: Fully Charged was the second western-developed animated series featuring the Blue Bomber since 1994’s Mega Man from Ruby-Spears, and the fifth solo series overall including the OVA series Upon a Star, NT Warrior and Star Force. It was meant to coincide with the 30^th anniversary of the franchise.

The new generation of Mega Man.

In 2015, Capcom entered into a production deal with Dentsu Entertainment USA to create a new 26-episode Mega Man series. Dentsu chose the writing team Man of Action—Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, Duncan Rouleau, and Steven T. Seagle—to oversee the development of the series, considering their successful billion dollar franchise Ben 10, which also starred a heroic young boy with various abilities. While they issued assurances that they would be sticking closely to the spirit and established look of the franchise, there would be some changes made and an attempt to appeal to western audiences with the storytelling.

Mega Man's new alter-ego, Aki Light.

Mega Man was now Aki Light (“Aki” could mean “bright” or “sun”, voiced by Vincent Tong), a robot who looked like an ordinary boy and attended junior high school with other children in Silicon City. He could summon his Mega Man armor in a stock transformation sequence, which resembled the game’s depiction of it with a few added flourishes. Along with his regular Mega Buster blaster, Mega Man could fire a beam onto a robot that would copy their abilities after about a minute and allow him to use them. As a side effect, Mega Man would also gain some of their personality traits as well that would often work against him. Unlike the games where he could hold onto all of the boss abilities, this Mega Man was limited to only three at a time via a safeguard; otherwise, his blaster would overheat and cause personality glitches. Being a little boy, he displayed a level of self-confidence and cockiness that often led to his being impetuous and leaping without thinking. He also had some locked-away memories from being in the Hard Wars, a period when humans were at war with robots at a time known as the Hard Age.

The Light family: Dr. Thomas, Suna, Aki and Rush.

Dr. Thomas Light (Garry Chalk, who played various roles in the 1994 series) was Aki’s father and strong advocate for human/robot relations, having been a veteran from the Hard Wars. He knew Aki was secretly Mega Man, but kept it to himself for a while. He was the keeper of the Mega Key: a device that could grant complete access to the schematics and programming of any robot placed inside it. Suna Light (a play on “sun light”, voiced by Caitlyn Bairstow) was Aki’s intelligent human sister who had a variety of gadgets at her disposal. She openly knew of Aki’s double life and often aided him. She was this show’s version of Roll (who appeared on a poster in her bedroom), and later revealed to become their version of Zero from the Mega Man X spin-off game series. Rush was Aki’s loyal robot dog as in the games, but colored a normal brown instead of red (although he would be upgraded with armor that would bring him closer to his original look). After being injured in a supervillain battle, Rush developed a fear of them and often froze up when Aki took him into a fight. A new addition to the Mega crew was Mega Mini (Ryan Beil), a small quippy robot that lived in Aki’s head and monitored his circuits, offered (often ignored) advice, and handled his transformation into Mega Man.

Bert Wily, not the bad guy.

Aki’s best friend was Bert Wily (Cole Howard, who voiced Mega Man in Mega Man Powered Up), designed to resemble both Alan from the Dreamwave comics and traditional arch villain Dr. Wily (the latter of whom was actually his grandfather). He was a genius inventor whose devices tended to be adorned with a skull motif reminiscent of the bad doctor. Other characters included Principal 100100 (Brian Drummond), the building-sized school principal that used to be a battle robot; Peter Punkowski (Howard), a know-it-all with a love for history and a perpetually runny nose; Ashley Adderley (Shannon Chan-Kent), a semi-egotistical science lover that Aki had a crush on, but who had a crush on Mega Man (not knowing they’re one and the same); Junk Man, a robot made out of scrap by Aki and Suna as a training dummy for Rush, later turned into a lab protector by Dr. Light; Man Man (Ian Hanlin), a bumbling human who wanted to be like Mega Man (modeled after Bad Box Art Mega Man); and The Good Guild, Silicon City’s robotic peacekeeping force that served as various public services such as police and firefighters.

Two villains in one: Sgt. Breaker Night (above) and his alter-ego, Lord Obsidian.

The primary antagonist of the series was Sgt. Breaker Night, aka Lord Obsidian (Michael Adamthwaite). As Sgt. Night, he was a human veteran of the Hard Wars that lost an arm and had it replaced with a robotic one by Dr. Light. He sought to destroy human/robot relations by encouraging some robots to attack humans to turn them against them, and believed humans were superior to robots since they created them. Sgt. Night shared a lot of similarities with the villain Xander Payne from the Archie Comics Mega Man series. Night donned powerful armor to become his alter ego Lord Obsidian, a robot supremacist seeking to turn Mega Man into the perfect weapon for his goals (essentially playing both sides of the conflict he sought to create). He desired the Mega Key to obliterate all robot kind. His second-in-command was Namagem (Tong), who shared all of Mega Man’s abilities but could hold up to five copied powers at once. It turned out that Namagem was actually Aki’s long-lost twin brother who was stolen and brainwashed by Sgt. Night at the end of the Hard Age. He was this series’ version of Proto Man.

Lord Obsidian leading Air Man, Blasto Woman, Drill Man, Namagem, Wave Man, Fire Man and Guts Man.

The Robot Masters that often caused trouble around town were comprised of Fire Man (Hanlin), a hot-headed former construction robot that grew to despise humans; Drill Man (Andrew McNee), a perpetually angry robot whose unfeeling father replaced his hands with drills to take part in the family construction business, rather than pursue his musical passions; Wave Man (Samuel Vincent), a sanitation robot who took his job too far and almost flooded the city; Ice Man (Travis Turner), a glitched robot who takes everything too literally and believes he’s helping bring humans and robots together by freezing them; Air Man (Hanlin), a wind-blowing robot with a superiority complex and quirky siblings called The Bluster Bunch (he’s a composite of Wind Man and Tengu Man); Guts Man (Peter New), a powerful waste-disposal robot powered by eating garbage who took issue with Dr. Light’s eco-friendly recycling program; Elec Man (McNee), a hyperactive robot with electrical abilities; Cut Man (Colin Murdock), the Lights’ perfectionist gardener who flew off the handle whenever that perfection was disturbed or challenged; and Wood Man (Mark Oliver, who voiced FreezeMan.EXE in Mega Man: NT Warrior), a paranoid who was deactivated during the Hard Wars and believed he was still fighting in them when accidentally reawakened (although he’s a Robot Master as far as the games go, he operated independently of the others and Night).

Chaotique: friend or foe?

Additionally, three series-exclusive Robot Masters were introduced: Hypno Woman, a robot with hypnotic abilities that used to be a guidance counselor until she got tired of listening to students’ problems; Blasto Woman (both Kathleen Barr), a former flying cargo-delivering robot who sought to make money through illegal means; and Chemistry Man (New), a former chemistry teacher that Sgt. Night convinced to go rogue when he was fired for putting his students to sleep with boring lectures. Other foes included Chaotique (Rhonda Rees), a prankster fun-loving robot who tended to be a bad influence on Mega Man and worked as a double agent of Obsidian; and The Hoover Gang, former custodians-turned-criminals that carried non-lethal weapons, comprised of humans Duane (Adamthwaite) and Wayne (Beil), and a vacuum robot.

Mega Mini inside Mega Man's head.

The first 10 episodes of Mega Man: Fully Charged were made available through the Cartoon Network app and website on August 3, 2018 before debuting on the network itself on August 5. It was initially reported that the series would air on Disney XD (where it would air in Southeast Asia in 2019). Despite a traditionally-animated demo reel being leaked by studio Film Roman featuring Mega Man battling Fire Man and Drill Man, DHX Media was announced as the animation studio for the series in 2016 and that they would be using a computer-generated 3D style. It would be one of the last shows made under the DHX name before they became WildBrain in 2019.

Elec Man crashes Ashley's play, starring Aki as--of all things--Mega Man.

Originally intended for a 2017 debut, Dentsu and DHX announced it would be delayed until 2018. DHX revealed the show’s title at the 2018 Licensing Expo and held its premiere on July 20 at the San Diego Comic-Con. Sister network Boomerang began airing reruns as early as August 12^th, however it was removed from both channels’ schedules after 10 weeks until January. Internationally, DHX-owned Family Chrgd (now WildBrainTV) broadcast the show in Canada beginning on September 8^th; POP in the United Kingdom on October 1^st; and 9Go! in Australia on July 15^th, 2019.

Iced-up Mega Man and Ice Man putting out fires.

The series was written by Man of Action with Marcus Rinehart, A.J. Marchisello, Michael Oliver, Joe Barnathan, Justin Peniston, Janis Robertson, Kevin Somers, Lawrence H. Levy, Kevin Grevioux, Beata Harju, Sean Kennedy Moore (as Sean Patrick Geraghty), Jeff Treppel, Rocco Pucillo, Ricky Mammone, Dan Goldman, M.J. Offen, Greg Hart, Bob Fingerman, Patricia Villetto, Dan Marmor, Ian Drazen, Tanner Marchisello and Henry Stukenbog. Peter DeTina was the lead designer, with Derek Weselake, Diane Quach, Francine Delgado, Harrison Hemeon and Lera Nyukalova serving as designers. Mega Man’s machinery graphics were handled by Greg Sepelak. The modelers included Colin Robinson, Aldrich Chung, Ezra Petruik, Ben Hutchinson, Ingrid Clemeno, Brooke Schlaphoff, Derek Levesque, Jaroslav Chorny, Jin Man Kim, Jin Sung Jim, Kenneth Ma, Melissa Sylvana and Snehal Gopal. Episodes ran for 11 minutes and were typically shown together until they were split up halfway through the run. The series’ music was composed by Steffan Andrews. As a nod to the franchise’s video game origins, there were times when the animation switched to 2-D pixel art; typically in flashbacks, fantasy sequences, enemy encounters and images displayed during the end credits. These was done by Gurkan Tenekecioglu, Juan Carlos Lopez and Paul Johnson.

Man Man, following Mega Man's example. Unfortunately.

Cartoon Network has been noted as having not been very supportive of Fully Charged (or, frankly, any third-party programs). There was little to no promotion on the network’s part for it, instead all promotion came from the websites of the companies involved with making it and advertisements could only be found on YouTube. Cartoon Network initially placed it at 6:30 AM on Sunday morning. After, it bounced between Saturdays and Sundays before ending its season in a Monday-Thursday 12:30 PM timeslot. Most of the episodes were released in batches on the Cartoon Network app just before they began airing on the network itself. While Cartoon Network’s YouTube channel previewed the first few episodes, the official Fully Charged channel had very little activity. The series was once available to stream on Cartoon Network’s website, and available to purchase digitally on Prime Video.

Fire Man's 8-bit origin story.

There was some question as to whether or not a second season was happening. An online article posted by Rockman Corner had anonymous sources claim that they were told that a renewal was “99% greenlit” with some minor things to iron out. Those minor things ended up being a disagreement over DHX wanting to take the funding for several of the episodes to make promotional Mega Man shorts for their YouTube channel—like music videos or “a day in the life” of characters—and Dentsu not wanting to allow it. Production on the new season had begun halfway during production on the first, so things were ready to go. All they needed was the word. Unfortunately, between that disagreement and the abysmal ratings due to Cartoon Network’s neglect of the series, Fully Charged was effectively dead.

Mega Man, Drill Man, Guts Man, Wave Man, Ice Man, Air Man and the Mega Buster lab playset.

In 2019, Jakks Pacific released a line of Fully Charged toys. Mega Man, Air Man, Ice Man and Wave Man were included in the basic set, while Drill Man, Guts Man and Mega Man with Drill Man’s schematics were included in the deluxe. There were two Mega Busters; one for kids to wear, and one that opened up into Dr. Light’s lab. A second wave was planned but ultimately cancelled. The toys were used in cheaply-made “Toyplay” shorts and stop-motion videos on the series’ official YouTube channel. In 2020, BOOM! Studios published a 6-issue comic series set after the events of the show. Written by A.J. Marchisello and Reinhart with art by Stefano Simeone, colors by Igor Monti and letters by Ed Dukeshire, the series saw the Robot Masters gain a new leader in Skull Man, who seemed to have insights into Aki’s role during the Hard Age. He faced off against them and Namagem with the aid of the mysterious Zero and Hard Age authority Dr. Wily.

 

EPISODE GUIDE:

“Throwing Shade Part I / Throwing Shade Part II” (8/3/18 app, 8/5/18 CN) – When Sgt. Night crashes Dr. Light’s speech on human/robot coexistence, Fire Man arrives to make an example out of him. / Mega Man must fight to control his anger after copying Fire Man’s powers.

 

“Drilling Deep / Videodrone” (8/3/18 app, 8/12/18 CN) – Aki ends up humiliated in school when he has trouble controlling Drill Man’s copied powers. / When everyone but Aki and Suna end up hypnotized at school, they discover it’s the work of former teacher robot Hypno Woman.

 

“Please Rush Home / Blaze of Glory” (8/3/18 app, 8/19/18 CN) – Aki searches for Rush after he runs away from home but ends up having to deal with a sanitation robot flooding the city. / Cooling mechanisms fail throughout the city during a heatwave, and Fire Man is the culprit.

 

“Nice on Ice / Hard Times in Silicon City” (8/3/18 app, 8/26/18 CN) – Ice Man decides the best way to help human/robot relations is to freeze them all together. / An educational trip to the museum results in Aki having to deal with Blasto Woman trying to rob the artifacts.

 

“Tripping the Light Fantastic / Running Wild” (8/3/18 app, 9/2/18 CN) – Dr. Light’s new date turns out to be Hypno Woman in disguise. / Copying Air Man results in Aki becoming vain and arrogant, which he puts on full display when he runs for school president against Bert and Peter.

 

“Unfriendly Competition / Opposites Attract” (8/3/18 app, 9/9/18 CN) – Aki makes fun of Bert for using robot legs and a speed button to join the track team just as Chemistry Man attacks the school. / A weekend vacation is put on hold when Aki and Suna discover Fire Man and Wave Man working together.

 

“I.C.E. (In Case of Emergency) / Trust Your Guts, Man!” (8/3/18 app, 9/16/18 CN) – Ice Man’s heroics cause Aki to doubt himself, and copying his powers ends up making him take things too literally. / Guts Man becomes offended by Dr. Light’s new garbage recycling device and decides to destroy his lab.

 

“Drill of the Hunt / Power Cycle” (8/3/18 app, 9/23/18 CN) – After using hypnosis on Drill Man to turn him good, Aki unintentionally hypnotizes others around him. / Copying Elec Man’s abilities makes Mega Man just a bit too hyper for anyone’s good.

 

“Bored to Be Wild / Enter the Wood Man” (8/3/18 app, 9/30/18 CN) – Megan Man is forced to rely on classmate Ashley’s help to solve Chemistry Man’s riddles. / Aki and Suna are attacked in the woods by Wood Man who still believes he’s fighting in the Hard Wars.

 

“Lightfall Part I / Lightfall Part II” (10/5/18 app, 10/7/18 CN) – Mega Man foolishly agrees to a battle with Lord Obsidian and loses handily. / Obsidian invades the Lighthouse and attempts to take the Mega Key unless Mega Man can stop him with some new tricks.

 

“Rush to Greatness” (11/11/18 CAN, 1/4/19 app, 1/5/19 US) – Despite his fear of villains, Rush speeds out to try and stop Wave Man on his own.

 

“S.W.I.S.H.” (11/11/18 CAN, 1/4/19 app, 1/6/19 US) – Mega Man is easily bested by Namagem until he has Rush retrieve a force field device that causes Namagem’s blaster to overheat.

 

“Minus Mini” (11/18/18 CAN, 1/4/19 app, 1/12/19 US) – Mega Mini ends up falling out of Mega Man’s head and Blasto Woman intends to sell him on the black market.

 

“A Cut Above” (11/18/18 CAN, 1/4/19 app, 1/13/19 US) – Upset over the accidental destruction of a tree, the Lights’ robotic gardener is upgraded by Obsidian to get his revenge.

 

“A Bot and His Dog” (11/25/18 CAN, 1/4/19 app, 1/19/19 US) – Mega Man feels the “emergencies” he’s called on are beneath him until Hyno Woman takes over the city power plant.

 

“This Man, This Man Man” (11/25/18 CAN, 1/4/19 app, 1/20/19 US) – Mega Man is upset by a bumbling wannabe that interferes with stopping Guts Man from attacking the school.

 

“A Guilded Cage” (1/4/19 app, 1/26/19 CN) – Aki’s new love of mystery films comes at the perfect time as The Good Guild is suddenly causing trouble around town.

 

“To Air Is Robot” (1/4/19 app, 1/27/19 CN) – Aki must overcome Air Man’s arrogance when he uses his schematics to stop him from leveling buildings around the city.

 

“Watt’s Happening” (1/4/19 app, 2/3/19 CN) – Aki auditions to play himself in Ashley’s Mega Man play, but needs to stop acting when Elec Man crashes the show.

 

“Chill Out, Bruh” (1/4/19 app, 2/10/19 CN) – The Lights rehabilitate Ice Man by giving him a device that balances his emotions, but Sgt. Night secretly sticks a counter-device on him.

 

“Big Bad Dreams” (1/4/19 app, 2/17/19 CN) – Sgt. Night has Hypno Woman attack Aki’s dreams at night, giving him nightmares about Namagem.

 

“License to Drill” (1/4/19 app, 2/24/19 CN) – Aki is dismissive of Bert’s interest in Hover-Surfing until he needs his hoverboard to help him defeat Drill Man.

 

“All Good in the Wood” (3/1/19 app, 3/3/19 CN) – Mega Man copies Wood Man’s abilities and gains his paranoia just as Suna and Ashley needs his help to stop their science project run amok.

 

“Fire Man in the Hole” (3/1/19 app, 3/10/19 CN) – When lava blocks their exit during a fight, Mega Man and Fire Man work together to get to safety.

 

“A Split End” (3/1/19 app, 3/11/19 CN) – Cut Man has become a barber, but a customer complaint sends him back over the edge into supervillainy.

 

“All Play and No Work” (3/1/19 app, 3/12/19 CN) – Mega Man hangs out with Chaotique to relax until she frames Bert for theft.

 

“More More More!” (3/1/19 app, 3/13/19 CN) – Mega Man copies Guts Man’s schematics to beat him, but ends up acquiring a voracious appetite as the Robot Masters erect a wall through the city.

 

“Blast Resort” (3/1/19 app, 3/14/19 CN) – Blasto Woman tricks Mega Man into helping her steal an EMP device, which she promptly uses on him to hand him over to Obsidian.

 

“Too Much is Never Enough” (3/1/19 app, 3/15/19 CN) – Mega Man has his schematic safeguard removed so he can carry more, but he becomes moody and overloads as a result.

 

“The Bluster Bunch” (3/1/19 app, 3/24/19 CN) – Mega Man battles Air Man to stop him from ruining his siblings’ work.

 

“It’s Chemistry, Man” (3/1/19 app, 3/31/19 CN) – The new chemistry teacher proves a boon when Chemistry Man attacks and turns robots into other metals.

 

“Flower Power” (3/29/19 app, 4/7/19 CN) – Mega Man pursues Wood Man who has taken a Corpse Flower that is stinking up the entire city and giving Mega Man an allergy attack.

 

“Enemy of My Enemy” (3/29/19 app, 4/14/19 CN) – Unable to talk sense to Namagem, Mega Man teams up with Fire Man to take him down.

 

“Old School” (3/29/19 app, 4/21/19 CN) – Chaotique crashes a school assembly to steal a device that can make things vanish and make the school disappear.

 

“This Is Not a Drill” (4/26/19 app, 4/28/19 CN) – Mega Man goes on patrol after a fight with Dr. Light and ends up having to stop Drill Man from destroying a tunnel his father is working on.

 

“A Man Man for All Seasons” (4/26/19 app, 5/5/19 CN) – Man Man causes Mega Man’s systems to be gummed up by the Hoover Gang, leaving him unable to transform.

 

“Change the Charge” (4/26/19 app, 5/12/19 CN) – A blast from Elec Man causes Mega Man to take everything literally again and leads to him helping Elec Man carry out his task.

 

“Hide and Secrets” (4/26/19 app, 5/19/19 CN) – Using Wood Man’s schematics prompts Mega Man to try and get the Mega Key to use against Namagem.

 

“Make the Cut” (5/20/19) – An exhausted Mega Man must protect Suna and Ashley from Cut Man.

 

“Panic in the Lighthouse” (5/21/19) – Obsidian convinces Chaotique to invade the Lighthouse and steal the Mega Key to get back at Mega Man.

 

“The Gauntlet Part I” (5/22/19) – Obsidian and the Robot Masters attack the Lighthouse, but the Lights stand together to defend the Mega Key.

 

“The Gauntlet Part II” (5/23/19) – Mega Man combines all of his schematics to take on a powerful form to defeat Obsidian once and for all.

INSPECTOR GADGET (2015)

INSPECTOR GADGET (2015)

(Teletoon, Netflix, Family Channel, January 3, 2015-May 18, 2018)

DHX Media, DHX Studios Halifax

 

            Serving as a sequel to the original series, Inspector Gadget sees Gadget (Ivan Sherry) being brought out of retirement when his arch-nemesis, Dr. Claw (Martin Roach), is thawed out of the icy prison he was trapped in by his nephew, Talon (Lyon Smith), and resurrects MAD. However, Gadget wouldn’t be on the case alone—this time, his niece Penny (Tara Strong) and her dog Brain (Scott McCord) would be his partners as agents-in-training. The series was produced by DHX Media (now WildBrain), who had come to own the DiC Entertainment library and the rights to Gadget. The show, now rendered in computer animation, followed the same basic premise of the original in that Gadget, while equipped with a powerful assortment of gadgets, was completely inept and it was Penny who usually foiled MAD’s schemes (a fact Gadget and Claw were oblivious to). However, being older and an agent meant Penny could fight back and not need rescuing, nor did she have to work in secret. Talon had his own issues with trying to get Claw to stop being so old-fashioned and to avoid the mistakes that lets Gadget win. Penny and Talon shared a mutual attraction that couldn’t be acted upon due to their being on opposing sides. Penny also a gained a new best friend and fellow agent, Kayla (Katie Griffin), whose cheerful disposition and motormouth tended to cripple any MAD goons she came across.

Promotional artwork of Brain, Gadget, Penny, MAD Cat, Dr. Claw and Talon.

            Inspector Gadget debuted on January 3, 2015, airing on Teletoon (and later the DHX-owned Family Channel) in Canada, as well as on Boomerang and DStv internationally. It was originally intended to air on Cartoon Network in the United States but became a Netflix exclusive first airing that March (Cartoon Network Arabic would air it in the Middle East). This time around episodes (excluding the first) were comprised of two 11-minute segments rather than a full half hour. Gadget’s boss, Chief Quimby (Derek McGrath), still delivered his missions from peculiar hiding spots, but they were updated to exploding holograms. The theme by series composers Asher Lenz and Stephen Skratt was a stylistic update of the original, played over an opening sequence that followed virtually the same beats. Ultimately, Gadget ran for 52 episodes over 4 seasons. In November of 2017, the series came to American airwaves on Universal Kids. 

TRANSFORMERS: RESCUE BOTS

TRANSFORMERS: RESCUE BOTS

(The Hub/Hub Network/Discovery Family, February 18, 2012-October 22, 2016)

Atomic Cartoons, Darby Pop Productions (season 1), Vision Animation, Kickstart Productions, Moody Street Productions (season 2), DHX Media Vancouver (season 3-4), Hasbro Studios

MAIN CAST:

Steve Blum – Heatwave, Mr. Alper, Mr. Bunty, Mr. Perkins, Captain Wild, Bounce, various

Parvesh Cheena – Blades, Mr. Sharma

D.C. Douglas – Chase, Mr. Harrison, Ernie

Imari Williams – Boulder

Maurice LaMarche – Chief Charlie Burns, Edgar Pruitt, Captain Arthur Shaw, Mr. Hunter, Dr. Bieber, MorBots, various

Elán Garfias – Cody Burns

Jason Marsden – Kade Burns, Salvage, Milo, Mr. Levy, Billy, Timmy, Kyle, Jimmy, Robo-Baby, various

Lacey Chabert – Dani Burns, Miss Frederick, Mrs. Rubio

Shannon McKain – Graham Burns, Jerry, George

LeVar Burton – Doc Ezra Greene, Trex, Dither

Diamond White – Frankie Greene

Kath Soucie – Professor Anna Baranova, CeCe Greene, Ms. Lima, Elma Hendrickson, various

For the history of Transformers, check out the post here.

            To tap into a younger demographic, Hasbro decided to release a new line of Transformers figures through their Playskool Heroes toyline. Called Rescue Bots, the figures featured a bulkier design and an automatic transforming mechanic. 

Debuting in 2011, the initial lineup included the established bots of Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, as well as introduced the line-specific bots of Heatwave the Fire-Bot, Chase the Police-Bot, Blades the Copter-Bot, Boulder the Construction-Bot, Hoist the Tow-Bot and Medix the Doc-Bot, with variants of several of them released later. Their base of operations was the high-tech Fire Station Prime, which was a building with Optimus’ likeness and voice informing them of emergencies. A series of soft plastic human characters with cartoonish proportions were released with their own rescue tools to compliment the bots. Amongst them were Chief Charlie Burns, firefighter Cody Burns, rescue pilot Axel Frazier, Sawyer Storm and engineer Walker Cleveland. A line of tie-in storybooks were also created for inclusion with the fire station and the electronic versions of Heatwave and Chase (the first was given out at BotCon 2011).

Promotional art of the main characters.

To promote the toys, Hasbro commissioned the creation of an animated series that would air on the network they owned: The Hub. The show was developed by Nicole Dubuc, Brian Hohlfeld and Jeff Kline, who served as story editor, supervising producer and executive producer, respectively. Under no instruction from Hasbro, it was decided that since the show was going to air on the same network as the already-airing Transformers: Prime, also co-produced by Darby Pop Productions, that the two shows should share a mythology in what was known as the Aligned Continuity of the franchise (a short-lived attempt to create a singular continuity for the brand by Hasbro). That connection carried over to the Prime sequel series, Robots in Disguise, that aired on Cartoon Network beginning in 2015 (not to be confused with the earlier anime of the same name). As the toys and thus the show were meant for a younger audience, the setting and premise were devised to keep the show insulated from the larger conflict between Autobots and Decepticons depicted in Prime, and to allow both shows to do their own thing. It was also decided to focus on the new bots introduced in the line, with some revisions made to their overall appearance and to their human friends.

Blades, Boulder, Heatwave and Chase.

Transformers: Rescue Bots centered on Rescue Force Sigma-17, the last known Rescue Bot regiment from Cybertron. Their ship brought them to Earth after receiving the message Autobot leader Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen, reprising the role he originated and from Prime) broadcast as a beacon to all lost Autobots. Determining their skillsets weren’t suited for combat, Optimus assigned them the task of pairing up with human partners to learn about the Earth and how best to engage in the protection of the populace. However, they had to pretend to be actual robots so as not to alarm humans and expose the presence of aliens on Earth.

Griffin Rock, a sleepy little hamlet.

The Rescue Bots were sent to the island town of Griffin Rock, Maine (named because of Dubuc’s love of griffins) with Chief Charlie Burns (Maurice LaMarche); an ally of Optimus’ and initially the only one privy to their secret. As Griffin Rock was a proving ground for new technologies and a producer of many great scientific minds, the idea of transforming robots wasn’t that hard of a sell. As part of their cover, the Rescue Bots assumed new vehicle forms: Heatwave (Steve Blum), the short-tempered and impatient leader, was a fire engine (and fire boat); Chase (D.C. Douglas), the most robotic of the bunch who loved rules and regulations, became a police car; Boulder (Imari Williams), whose great strength was contrasted by his intelligence and gentle spirit, took the form of a bulldozer; and Blades (Parvesh Cheena), the fun-loving and most child-like, was left with a helicopter (despite his fear of heights). As a play on Optimus’ battle call of “Autobots, roll out!”, the Rescue Bots mobilized with the call “Rescue Bots, roll to the rescue!”

The Burns family of heroes: Graham, Charlie, Dani, Cody and Kade.

To serve as their pilots were the rest of the Burns family: firefighter Kade (Jason Marsden), a former star athlete with an ego to match, was paired with Heatwave; daredevil rescue pilot Dani (Lacey Chabert), who never met a machine she couldn’t fly or drive and didn’t hesitate to jump into a rescue, was assigned Blades; brilliant engineer Graham (Shannon McKain), who tended to live inside his own head a bit too much, was partnered with Boulder; and Chief Burns took Chase for himself. The bots’ secret wasn’t kept too long as the youngest Burns, Cody (reimagined as a young boy from his figure, voiced by Elán Garfias), discovered the truth as soon did the rest of the family. After a period of adjustment, the humans and bots found a way to work together as true partners, with Cody serving as support from the firehouse where they all lived.

Doc Greene with Anna Baranova and Frankie.

Aiding the Burns family with research and quick inventions was the Greene family. Dr. Ezra “Doc” Greene (LeVar Burton) was Griffin Rock’s top inventor and scientist whose creations tended to go a bit haywire and often caused as much trouble as they helped. His daughter, Frankie (Diamond White), was Cody’s best friend and shared in her father’s brilliance. Eventually, Doc met and married Professor Anna Baranova (Kath Soucie) and together they had their own brilliant daughter, CeCe (Soucie). 

Huxley interviews Mayor Luskey.

Some of the colorful citizens of Griffin Rock included the blusterous and egotistical Mayor H.B. Luskey (Jeff Bennett), who sought to get tourists to the town often at the expense of safety; Huxley Prescott (Bennett), a nosy reporter often followed by a drone camera who believed from the start the bots weren’t just mere robots but couldn’t prove it; Mr. Harrison (Douglas), who traveled via a heli-pack that tended to malfunction; Jerry (named for production coordinator and prop designer Jeremiah Regan, voiced by McKain), a hapless truck driver who got into frequent accidents or screwed up his deliveries; Deputy Barney (based on the character Barney Fife from The Andy Griffith Show, voiced by Bennett doing a Don Knotts impression), the only other cop in town who was a bit slow-witted; Dr. McSwain (Ginny McSwain, the show’s voice director), the town doctor; Mr. Feiffer (Hohlfeld), the jolly town baker; Mr. and Mrs. Rubio (Bennet & Chabert), who often had mishaps with their car; and Milo (Marsden), an excitable young man who believed in conspiracies.

Dr. Morocco and his MorBot.

Primarily, the bots and Burns family dealt with a variety of natural and man-made emergencies all around Griffin Rock; such as landslides, traffic accidents, storm damage and more. But, even without the Decepticons (who were mentioned several times, if never seen) they managed to rack up their fair share of antagonists. Colonel Quint Quarry (Jim Cummings) was a big-game hunter who employed a variety of high-tech devices in his hunts; Lord Thurston Chumley (based on a character from the original series, also Cummings) was Quarry’s brother and chief rival who kept animals he captured frozen in stasis as trophies; Madeline Pynch (Katherine McNamara) was a rich businesswoman who would do anything to be even richer and get what she wanted; Chickadee (Kristen Schaal), a ruthless con artist who did whatever it took to get what she wanted; Skip Scobble (Eric Bauza), the underpaid agent and stunt double of actor Murray Dorfhauser (also Bauza) who stole rare books on the side; Evan and Myles (both Robbie Daymond), twins who were Griffin Rock’s main criminal element involved in crimes ranging from car theft to hacking; and the Velgrox (Bennett), a violent alien race that fed on other sentient beings. Their biggest foe, however, was  Dr. Thaddeus Morocco (based on Basil Rathbone, initially voiced by Tim Curry until he was replaced by Jonny Rees after his stroke), a purely evil genius who could manipulate events behind the scenes as well as attack full-on with his variety of inventions—particularly robots called MorBots. Even being stranded in the future with no memory could stop him, as he returned as a sentient computer virus to further plague Griffin Rock.

New recruits: Blurr and Salvage.

Transformers: Rescue Bots had a preview of the first two episodes on December 17, 2011 before officially debuting on February 18, 2012 on The Hub; which would eventually become Discovery Family Channel during its run when Discovery Communications took back a controlling interest in the network. Dubuc, Hohlfeld, Kline and Zac Atkinson served as the primary writers for the series, with additional scripts written by Greg Johnson, Dean Stefan, Mairghread Scott, Greg Weisman, Chris “Doc” Wyatt, Kevin Burke, Gregory Bonsignore, Marty Isenberg, Jackson Grant, Cydne Clark, Kim Beyer-Johnson, Claire Yorita Lee, Bob Forward, Christopher J. Gentile, Luke McMullen, Ken Pontac, Warren Graff, Thomas Pugsley, Steve Aranguren, Brandon M. Easton, Zac Atkinson, Amy Gershwin, Steven L. Sears, Andrew Robinson, Len Uhley, Doug Molitor, Carin Davis, Joseph Kuhr and Steve Granat. Show star McKain also contributed to scripts for three episodes. The series’ theme described the show’s premise with lyrics by Dubuc, music by Starr Parodi and Jeff Eden Fair, and performed by Josh Ramsay of Marianas Trench. Parodi and Fair also provided the incidental music for the first season, with Christopher Elves taking over for the remainder. The theme’s lyrics were shown on screen during the third season episode “I Have Heard the Robots Singing”, which was the franchise’s first-ever musical episode.

Quickshadow: bot of action!

Over the course of four seasons the show changed animation studios, resulting in slightly different character designs and overall looks to the series. For the first season, it was animated by Atomic Cartoons in Canada using Toon Boom Harmony. For the second season, animation was handled by Vision Animation in Malaysia, Moody Street Productions in Australia, and Kickstart Productions. Frequent Hasbro collaborator DHX Media took over the production of the final two seasons, outsourcing the bulk of the work to Philippine studio Top Draw Animation. 

Bumblebee and Optimus Prime.

Optimus would make several appearances throughout the series, either giving the team new instructions via a comm link or the rare personal appearance for help with a mission. Other appearing established Autobots included Bumblebee (initially using sound effects by Dubuc, but later voiced by Will Friedle reprising the role from Prime and Robots in Disguise) who appeared in several episodes and was said to be good friends with Blades, and Sideswipe (Darren Criss, reprising the role from Prime) as he chased a Mini-Con named Bounce (Blum) to Griffin Rock. Veteran Autobot High Tide (Michael Bell, who starred in the original Transformers cartoon), who could combine with his rescue ship to form a giant Autobot, was created for the show as an old friend of Optimus and served as a trainer for the Rescue Bots. He also left them his Mini-Con dog, Servo, to watch over the team. Another new Autobot, Quickshadow (Alex Kingston), was a covert operations specialist also sent by Optimus to train the team and whose vehicle form was the high-tech spy car from the Maven Danger films (a play on James Bond).

As the show progressed, several things were introduced. Boulder and Doc Greene created new Energon-powered tools that the bots could use on rescues. Activated with the phrase “Power up and energize!”, Heatwave could gain an axe, Chase a grappling claw, Boulder a gun that shot multi-purpose foam, and Blades a hook and winch. To rescue Professor Baranova from Quint Quarry, the bots adopted alternate dinobot forms to impersonate the ones Quarry wanted Doc Greene to build for him. Heatwave became an Apatosaurus, Chase a Stegosaurus, Boulder a Triceratops, Blades a Pterodactyl, and even Optimus became a Tyrannosaurus Rex. New Rescue Bots Salvage (Marsden) and Blurr (Max Mittelman) were introduced, having been found in stasis for thousands of years of Earth. Quiet and thoughtful Salvage adopted the form of a garbage truck and utilized objects others regarded as useless to create useful items. Blurr was Salvage’s complete opposite, adopting a race car form that matched his lack of patience and desire to always move fast, and had trouble finding how a racer could be a Rescue Bot. 

The training center.

For the fourth season, the series time-jumped three years both to catch up to events transpiring in Prime (such as Optimus’ death and resurrection—this happens often) and to account for the kids’ voice actors aging and their voices changing. Both Cody and Frankie received new aged-up character models as a result. In the interim, Doc Greene and Professor Baranova had CeCe. The entire fourth season focused on a subplot that would change the entire status quo of the Rescue Bots series. Optimus finally allowed the bots to reveal themselves to the townspeople of Griffin Rock, who, despite fears of the contrary, were welcoming and receptive to them. The reason for the reveal was to enlist their help in building a new training center on the mainland where the bots would usher in the next generation of Rescue Bots. The center could transform like the bots and was hidden from view by a series of holographic projectors. It was also controlled by a hologram of Griffin Rock’s first female scientist, Elma Hendrickson (Soucie). Travel between the center and Griffin Rock, and later around the world, was made instantaneous by the development of a teleporting Ground Bridge. At the conclusion of the season, Optimus gave the bots their new assignments: Chase would remain on Griffin Rock with Chief Burns; Boulder and Graham would build a community for Autobots and humans in the northwest; Blades and Dani would command Quickshadow and High Tide in China; and Heatwave and Kade would oversee the training of the recruits at the academy.

Some of the cast of Rescue Bots Academy: Wedge, Whirl, Hoist, Hotshot and Tough Luck Chuck.

The entire season set-up the possibility of a spin-off, however fans, the cast and crew were left wondering about the future of the series for months afterward. Eventually, it was revealed that a spin-off, Rescue Bots Academy, would be going forward, but with significant changes. Animation duties were handed off to Boulder Media Studio, which was purchased by Hasbro in 2016 and became their official animation arm. Likewise, the cast for returning characters would be completely replaced by a non-union New York-based talent pool.

 

Uncle Woody comes to visit.

Rescue Bots became the longest-running Transformers cartoon, surpassing the original by 6 episodes. During the show’s run, it was nominated for an Annie Award, two Australian Screen Sound Guild Awards, five Behind the Voice Actors Awards, two Daytime Emmy Awards and a Cynopsis Kids !magination Award. Cummings won the Voice Actor award for his portrayal of Quint Quarry, Bennett won the Emmy for his portrayal of Mayor Luskey, and Mark Hamill the Cynopsis for guest-starring as Woodrow Burns; Chief Burns’ younger brother who was an inventor and adventurer with an interest in the paranormal. 

Book collection.

To better tie into the show, the Rescue Bots toyline was completely retooled to bring the designs of both the bots and humans closer to their animated appearances. At San Diego Comic Con 2018, it was announced that a series of blind bag figurines featuring the various bots would be released to stores. Little Brown and Company, through their LB Kids imprint, published a series of easy-reader books that adapted episodes of the show beginning in 2013. Bendon Publishing International, Inc. published four jumbo coloring and activity books that contained nearly-identical content, but different covers. They also released Welcome to Griffin Rock, which essentially provided profiles for each character geared towards a very young audience. Also in 2013, Reader’s Digest published Roll to the Rescue!, which was a “lift-the-flap” book, and Leap Frog published Race to the Rescue, a video game in which the bots had to stop Morocco’s Disaster Bots from destroying Griffin Rock. In 2017, Hasbro published a Choose Your Own Adventure-style interactive video on their official YouTube account called My Transformers: Rescue Bots Adventure. The video utilized some new limited footage of Heatwave and Cody along with repurposed clips from the show. 

DVD Cover.

The first DVD release of the show came in 2012 as a Toys ‘R’ Us exclusive with the first two episodes that could either be purchased on its own or given for free with the purchase of a Rescue Bots toy. Shout! Factory released 13 collections between 2012 and 2018. The first three contained episodes in release order, but each one after pulled episodes from various seasons that fit a particular theme; sometimes with repeated selections based on their ability to fit into multiple themes. EDEL released the German version of the show across six volumes between 2013 and 2014. Beyond Home Entertainment handled the Australian and New Zealand releases which featured the first three seasons broken up into volumes and a complete season 1 set. The first season was made available to stream on Netflix and Apple TV, two seasons on Roku and three on Direct TV while the entire series could be seen on Amazon Prime and Google Play. Episodes were also uploaded to the official Transformers Kids channel on YouTube.

EPISODE GUIDE:

Season 1:

“Family of Heroes” (12/17/11) – The Rescue Bots arrive on Earth and are assigned by Optimus Prime to work with a family of heroes to learn about Earth.

“Under Pressure” (12/17/11) – An old man-made volcano causes lava to burst out around Griffin Rock and the Burnses learn that their robots are actually aliens.

“Hotshots” (2/25/12) – Blades’ new scoop claw allows him and Dani to complete rescues by themselves, leaving everyone else out.

“Flobsters on Parade” (3/3/12) – While Heatwave tires of playing robot, the other bots deal with an invasion of lobsters.

“The Alien Invasion of Griffin Rock” (3/10/12) – Huxley Prescott is determined to prove that aliens are planning to invade Earth.

“Cody on patrol” (3/17/12) – Cody’s desire to help on rescues causes him to unleash a swarm of futuristic nanites.

“Four Bots and a Baby” (4/14/12) – Cody babysits Doc’s Robo-Baby, which ends up causing trouble for him and the bots.

“Walk on the Wild Side” (4/21/12) – Boulder acquires a lion from the zoo to become the team’s mascot.

“Christmas in July” (4/28/12) – Doc’s weather machine causes a snow storm in the middle of summer.

“Deep Trouble” (5/5/12) – The bots deal with a shark that seems to be targeting high-tech equipment.

“Return of the Dinobot” (5/12/12) – A hacker uses Doc’s dinobot to cause chaos and allow them to hack into the town’s central computer.

“The Other Doctor” (5/19/12) – Dr. Morocco introduces his MorBot which could put the Rescue Bots out of a job.

“The Reign of Morocco” (5/19/12) – The Rescue Bots adopt hobbies during their forced retirement while Cody and Frankie investigate Morocco.

“Small Blessings” (6/9/12) – All the bots except Chase end up shrunken when they try to stop Myles and Evan’s attempt to rob Doc’s lab.

“The Griffin Rock Triangle” (6/16/12) – The bots have to rescue a reluctant Professor Baranova from her underwater lab as it teeters on a trench.

“Rules and Regulations” (6/23/12) – When Heatwave ignores Chief Burns’ orders, Chase has to figure out how to help without breaking the rules.

“The Lost Bell” (6/30/12) – A storm strands the bots and Cody on a remote island where they discover a bell stolen from Griffin Rock 200 years prior.

“Bumblebee to the Rescue” (7/7/12) – Bumblebee joins the bots in investigating and destroying a meteor, but it releases a parasite that renders the bots immobile.

“You’ve Been Squilshed” (7/14/12) – Experimenting with a green compound from Mars, Doc accidentally awakens a blobby eating machine that devours everything in its path.

“Countdown” (7/21/12) – Doc accidentally releases a swarm of bugs from the museum who act out their programming to protect the townspeople by teleporting them away to an unknown cavern.

“The Haunting of Griffin Rock” (7/28/12) – Criminals use holographic projects as ghosts to cover their activity.

“Little White Lies” (8/4/12) – The kids try to set up a surprise party for their father but soon discover he and Chase have gone missing.

“Shake Up” (8/11/12) – Frankie follows the bots on a mission to remove a troublesome underground loudspeaker and learns their secret when she’s saved from a cave in.

“Rescue Boy” (8/11/12) – Cody uses an invisibility invention to participate on more rescues but ends up trapped by it when it malfunctions.

“It’s a Bot Time” (8/18/12) – Doc accidentally sends the bots, Cody and Frankie back to the past and their rescue results in a return to a changed timeline.

“Bot to the Future” (8/18/12) – With Morocco now in control of Griffin Rock, the bots have to get past him and his MorBots to return to the past and correct the timeline.

Season 2:

“Road Trip” (3/1/14) – When Cody gets swept up in a transporter only Kade is available to save him.

“Sky Forest” (3/1/14) – Cody becomes jealous when Frankie beats him in an inventor competition but has to put that aside to help her and the bots stop sentient plants from causing trouble.

“One for the Ages” (3/8/14) – Myles and Evan steal government tech while Chief Burns is sick with the flu, and Doc accidentally ages Cody into an adult.

“Tip of the Iceberg” (3/15/14) – A ship once piloted by Cody’s great-grandfather is targeted by Morocco for the cargo it holds.

“Spellbound” (3/22/14) – A golden cellphone puts everyone but Cody and Boulder under mind control.

“A Virtual Disaster” (3/29/14) – Cody and Blades play a virtual reality game that becomes all-too-real.

“Prescott’s Bots” (4/5/14) – To pump up the excitement of his new reality show, Huxley unwittingly unleashes squilsh on a reservoir.

“Blame the Gremlins” (4/12/14) – Kade’s gremlin nightmares become real when Doc’s holographic device allows them to break free and drain energy from various devices.

“Feed the Beast” (4/19/14) – The bots hunt down a strange beast known as the Maine Ridge Monster.

“What Lies Below” (4/26/14) – When Cody and his uncle Woodrow end up trapped underground while looking for aliens, the bots recruit Optimus to help rescue them.

“What Rises Above” (5/3/14) – All stuck underground, the Burns family and the bots discover a cave filled with Energon as they search for a way out.

“Space Bots” (5/10/14) – Doc and Graham test Prof. Baranova’s new space elevator and end up stranded out there when it malfunctions.

“The Island of Misfit Tech” (5/17/14) – Chasing down a rampaging mechanical bull sends Cody and the bots to an island where dangerous technology is stored.

“The Vigiliant Town” (5/24/14) – A series of accidents prompts Luskey to replace the town’s computer system with a new super-computer that begins taking over.

“Buddy System” (5/31/14) – A Lad Pioneer hike gets interrupted when a bunch of snakes on their way to the zoo break free.

“In Search of the Griffin’s Nest” (6/7/14) – Cody and the bots head to Wayward Island to find a mythical griffin while Chief Burns and Chase investigate metal objects being drawn towards there.

“Bots and Robbers” (6/14/14) – A detective movie allows Chase to use his imagination just as Myles and Evan plan to disrupt all the technology on the island.

“Rescue Dog” (6/21/14) – The bots discover the stray dog they took in after a rescue is a rescue dog from a neighboring city.

“Changes” (6/28/14) – As Heatwave trains with Optimus, Morocco uses a prototype weather machine to cause a distraction so he can learn where the bots came from.

“Movers and Shakers” (7/5/14) – Animals run wild in the town as a Power Planter starts collecting every heat source it detects.

“Odd Bot Out” (7/12/14) – Blades becomes jealous when Dani, whose pilot’s license was allowed to expire, teams-up with Bumblebee to save the island from a Cybertronian Liquefier.

“The Griffin Rock Express” (7/19/14) – Cody discovers that Frankie has taken to playing superhero while the bots are busy elsewhere.

“Double Villainy” (7/26/14) – Morocco and Pynch team-up to acquire the bots and the gold under Griffin Rock.

“Rise of the Heroes” (8/2/14) – The Burns family have to free the bots from Morocco and Pynch’s control if they want to stop the island from sinking due to a methane gas explosion.

Season 3:

“Land Before Time” (11/1/14) – Investigating a pterodactyl gets the bots trapped in a tar pit on Wayward island, and Optimus has to become a dinobot to save them.

“Big Game” (11/1/14) – The bots try to help Optimus get used to his dino mode while Colonel Quint Quarry decides to target him for a hunt.

“Too Many Kades” (11/8/14) – Doc’s imaging chamber creates exact duplicates of Kade with differing personalities.

“Phantom of the Sea” (11/15/14) – The bots and Burns family discover a ghost ship that has been appearing every ten years is the result of a damaged time machine from Dr. Morocco.

“Unfinished Business” (11/22/14) – Chase and Boulder head into space to complete a rescue mission they left unfinished.

“No Place Like Dome” (11/29/14) – Doc’s dome to protect the town from a hurricane causes Vigil to reactivate and seek to resume his own “protection” methods.

“Bugs in the System” (12/6/14) – Morocco warns the rescue team that mutant metal-eating army ants are loose on the island, which serve as a diversion for his escape.

“Switcheroo” (12/13/14) – A space nebula switches all the minds of the bots and the Burns family.

“The Riders of Midwinter” (12/13/14) – When a terrible snowstorm puts a damper on a town tradition, the bots take it upon themselves to complete it.

“Bot-Tastic Voyage” (12/20/14) – When Kade accidentally ingests some of Doc’s Scrub-Mites, the bots have to shrink down and go inside him to stop them from causing him harm.

“Quarry vs. Quarry” (12/27/14) – Quarry kidnaps Prof. Baranova and demands Doc make more dinobots for him to hunt.

“Chief Woodrow” (1/18/15) – While Chief Burns is away, Woodrow ends up being made his replacement by Luskey after coming up with a successful plan to save his boat.

“Did You See What I Thaw?” (2/28/15) – Searching for Energon on Wayward Island leads the rescue team to discover a frozen caveman wearing an Energon necklace.

“The Attack of Humungado” (3/7/15) – Doc loans a holomorphic projector to the drive-in theater and an electrical surge causes the monster from Kade’s favorite movie to come to life.

“Thieves Like Us” (3/14/15) – Luskey holds a Bot Appreciation Day and gives out action figures of the bots, which Myles and Evan have programmed to steal for them.

“Time After Time” (3/21/15) – When Cody relives the same day twice he discovers Luskey’s new clock tower may be the cause.

“Pirates Ahoy” (3/28/15) – When it’s determined that the Burns’ ancestor may be connected with pirates, Luskey suspends and replaces the rescue team.

“Turning the Tide” (4/11/15) – Optimus sends High Tide to teach the team about ocean rescues just as a nearby oil rig causes an oil spill.

“The Last of Morocco” (4/18/15) – Jules Verne arrives to find his old friend, Dr. Morocco, but when Verne refuses to help Morocco he uses sea life to attack High Tide’s ship to change his mind.

“The New Recruits” (4/25/15) – The bots find a crashed Cybertronian ship on Wayward Island and revive Salvage and Blurr within.

“Rescue Bots Academy” (5/2/15) – The bots play highlights of past rescues as part of Salvage and Blurr’s training.

“A New Hero” (5/9/15) – Blurr defies Heatwave and leaves the firehouse as a solar flare affects all of Griffin Rock’s technology, leaving Blurr the only one to stop a falling satellite.

“Four-Legged Hero” (5/16/15) – Mrs. Luskey’s dog becomes involved with Servo, which could threaten the bots’ cover.

“Endangered Species” (5/23/15) – When Boulder discovers a previously-thought extinct woodpecker, Luskey plans to exploit them to increase tourism.

“More Than Meets the Eye” (5/30/15) – Doc’s magician sister visits the island and Chase discovers her assistants are Myles and Evan, who use her tricks to commit their latest crimes.

“I Have Heard the Robots Singing” (6/6/15) – Huxley accidentally activates Doc’s latest invention, which causes everyone on the island to sing when they talk.

“Now and Then” (6/13/15) – When the Griffin Rock time capsule is dug up, the Quantum Crystal held within is struck by lightning and causes the island to disappear.

“Today and Forever” (6/13/15) – The rescue team works to return Griffin Rock home while Woodrow, Optimus, High Tide and Blurr deal with the fallout from its disappearance.

Season 4:

“New Normal” (4/23/16) – Heatwave is uneasy about Optimus’ orders to reveal themselves to the townspeople, but that decision has to wait when the alien Velgrox invade.

“Bridge Building” (4/23/16) – While the townspeople decide the fate of the bots in their town, the team is split-up by a GroundBridge malfunction.

“Arrivals” (4/30/16) – As Frankie deals with being a big sister while a mysterious car seems to keep getting in the way of the team’s rescues.

“Plus One” (5/7/16) – Quickshadow begins her training of the team by teaching them how to function apart.

“Back to Virtual Reality” (5/14/16) – A virtual version of Morocco threatens to destroy the very real Griffin Rock.

“Vanishing Returns” (5/21/16) – Unable to find anyone free to play with results in Velgrox tech turning Cody invisible and allowing him to learn Pynch’s latest plans for the island.

“Ghost in the Machine” (5/28/16) – Myles and Evan carjack Quickshadow and threaten to reveal the secret of the bots to the world.

“Enemy of My Enemy” (6/4/16) – The Burns family has to get help from Quarry to save the bots from his brother, Lord Chumley.

“Mayor May Not” (6/11/16) – Chase is elected as the new mayor of Griffin Rock.

“All Spark Day” (6/18/16) – The bots take up babysitting when CeCe is accidentally turned into a giant.

“Part Time Heroes” (6/25/16) – The town lacks the funds to replace a vital communications tower, so the rescue team takes on additional part-time jobs to raise the money needed.

“The More Things Change…” (7/2/16) – CeCe’s personality is accidentally uploaded into Elma’s programming, causing her to cause mischief with the training center.

“The More Things Stay the Same” (7/9/16) – The bots have to restore the training center before the disguise holograms fail and it’s exposed to jets about to pass overhead.

“Hot Rod Bod” (7/23/16) – Dani helps Blurr find his place as a Rescue Bot.

“King Burns” (7/30/16) – It’s discovered that the Burns kids are heirs to the kingdom of Griffin Rock.

“Pizza Pi Party” (8/6/16) – Doc’s new yeast invention causes a massive doughy problem at the Pizza Pi Festival.

“Uninvited Guest” (8/13/16) – Bumblebee stops by the training center to get his ship repaired and unknowingly brings an Energon eater with him.

“Camp Cody” (8/27/16) – Graham and Cody use a hologram projector to allow Blades to participate in a Lad Pioneer ceremony.

“Once Upon a Time” (9/3/16) – The rescue team investigates what’s causing the spruce trees to fall over.

“The Need for Speed” (9/10/16) – When Sideswipe follows a Mini-Con to Griffin Rock, Blurr finally finds someone he can relate to—or can he?

“Cody’s 11” (9/17/16) – The rescue team works to retrieve stolen tech from Pynch.

“A Brush With Danger” (10/1/16) – A new Maven Danger film is filming in Griffin Rock, but rare books end up disappearing as a result.

“To Infinity...and Back” (10/8/16) – Dani’s test-flight of a solar-sail spaceship ends up getting her stranded in orbit.

“Family Business” (10/15/16) – Cody tries to figure out what kind of rescuer he’ll become as he needs to save a member of his family.

“Upgrades” (10/22/16) – Optimus sends the team on missions around the globe while the Morocco Virus hatches his latest plan to destroy them.

“Transformations” (10/22/16) – The Morocco Virus builds himself a robot body and takes on a brainwashed Cody as his pilot.

Originally posted in 2019. Updated in 2021.