I suppose I should confess; Jazz was one of my favorite Autobots in G1 Transformers. I always felt that it was a shame that he never really got an episode to himself. Powerglide got an episode (which was complete feces), but Jazz almost always had to share the spotlight. He even survived the movie, a feat which was undermined by Scatman Crothers death. So you can imagine how thrilled I was that he shows up as sort of a guest in this episode of Transformers: Robots in Disguise.
The Decepticon of the episode goes by the name of Ped. He’s an… earthworm thing, I guess? For some reason, he has mandibles that give off a paralyzing sting., hence the confusion, but they refer to him as a worm, so whatever. For being such a big guy, he has a high pitched voice, courtesy of Eddie Deezen.
Anyway, the episode concerns him collecting the Alchemor’s spilled supply of energon cubes, with the intent of parlaying his possession of them into being a big name on Earth. For those that don’t know, energon is, by and large, the primary fuel source for Cybertronians, stored in cubes and frequently depicted as being liquid in state. Since it is by far their most efficient energy source, controlling a large amount of it on a planet with a bunch of escaped Decepticon convicts would instantly make him a big deal, assuming he could keep them from just taking it from him.
We first drop in on Bumblebee and co. while they’re watching TV with Russell. They seem to be watching the lighter and softer, kid friendly equivalent of Sons of Anarchy, because Grimlock expresses bewilderment at the fact that the motorcycles that the biker gang is riding don’t transform. None of them understand what a biker gang is, with Sideswipe ironically enough coming the closest and still falling short. After Russell is called for his bedtime, the program shifts to the closest a kid-friendly program can get to the sexy side of things, and their reactions are priceless.
Sideswipe had wandered off earlier, desperately trying to figure out why a group of people he clearly identified as individualists would all wear the same jacket. He reacts to a noise, and gets his ass beat by a shadowy figure.
Sideswipe immediately takes a shine to Jazz, who was sent to Earth to look into the sudden disappearance of the Alchemor. Also, he bears the news that the powers that be weren’t exactly thrilled with the fact that Bumblebee commandeered the space bridge to travel Primus knows where. Ultimately, he offers to smooth everything over with the leaders back on Cybertron.
As they finish catching up, Ped makes the stupid decision to try and steal their supply of energon. This goes about as well as you’d expect, but screw that! Jazz is here! He’s not taking this guy’s shit! Ped escapes underground, and they follow him, splitting up into two teams of two, with Jazz paired up with Sideswipe. They find where Ped’s been storing the energon he collected, and Sideswipe gets paralyzed by him again when they fight. Jazz tries to convince Ped that he’s up to be his enforcer. Unfortunately, the ploy Jazz runs on Pad fails when the sound wave Jazz used on Ped caused a cave in, threatening Sideswipe.
They plan around the knowledge that Ped will eventually come to them to try to steal their energon. Unfortunately for them, Ped isn’t as dumb as Grimlock, and he drops a sinkhole under them while they lie in wait. Since they can’t climb out, and they’re not tall enough combined to reach the top of the pit, Sideswipe jumps off the sides of the pit and their human ladder to reach the top. One of the things I liked about this part was that Denny actually managed to keep Ped occupied while the got out, scoring a nice hit with the back of his crane.
Sideswipe tries to sacrifice himself to get Ped into the containment device, but Jazz assists him and they manage to beat the crap out of him in close quarters. The day saved, Jazz hops back onto his off screen ship to return to Cybertron and be awesome.
I liked this episode, in case you couldn’t tell. It has Jazz. And Mandark Ped. And maybe we’ll see Jazz again. Good things.
Final Thoughts:
- Using high powered sound waves underground = bad idea.
- Electro-magnet crane murder.
- Jazz Jazz Jazz.
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