Rules and Regulations
From Transformers Wiki
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| "Rules and Regulations" | ||||||
| Season | 1 | |||||
| No. in season | 16 | |||||
| Production company | Hasbro Studios | |||||
| Airdate | June 23, 2012 | |||||
| Writer | Dean Stefan | |||||
| Director | Nathan Chew | |||||
| Animation studio | Atomic Cartoons | |||||
 Watch this episode on YouTube
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The Rescue Bots disobey the Chief's orders and find themselves in a life-threatening situation.
Contents |
Synopsis
Cody, keen to play catch with dad, finds his siblings watching television. Huxley Prescott has dared himself to jump out of an airplane, however as Graham observes, Huxley's parachute cord is tangled up. Chief Burns orders the team to scramble, much to Cody's disappointment. As the reporter is falling way too fast to pluck out of the air the team looks for an alternate way to save him and Cody spots a nearby kids party with a bouncy house. Kade manages to clear the children off it, and Blades uses the downdraft from his blades to redirect Huxley so that the other bots can use the bouncy house to break Huxley's fall without breaking him.
Later, Chief Burns finds Cody looking sad because he didn't get to spend time with dad. Charlie decides to invite him along on a security assignment on Griffin Crest. Cody's soon packing though the bots are disappointed that they're not going to get to come along. Blades fails to see the attraction in sleeping outdoors, while Chase has found the Lad Pioneers Handbook (1959 edition) and starts quoting from it. As Chief Burns arrives to get Cody, he tells the bots that Kade is now in charge, and orders them not to cross Canyon Road. The two Burnses reach Griffin Crest, while Chief Burns explains how the Crest has an EMP generator on it to create a safe zone from technology, in case anything ever went rogue.
Back at base, Chase is still reading the handbook, while Boulder messes with the camping gear. Boulder inadvertently gets stuck in a bubble tent, which also triggers a campfire starter, but the minor emergency is soon dealt with.
Cody and Chief Burns continue to check the fence around the Crest, but encounter a bear. They hide behind a rock and the Chief uses a holographic generator provided by Doc Greene to lead the bear away. While dad opens the gate, Cody calls the station, but his garbled message leads the bots to believe that there's the two humans are being attacked by a bear. Chase stops Heatwave giving the order to roll out, noting that it would be against orders and that Kade is in charge. They try to contact Kade, but Kade's gone to a movie with Hayley and is ignoring his comms. Heatwave decides they're heading out anyway.
At the Crest, Cody and his dad watch a geyser, Old Parker, go off, though Chief Burns has to chase away a squirrel.
The bots approach the Crest, but Chase stops short, determined to follow the order not to cross Canyon Road. Once Blades flies over the fence surrounding the crest, he's hit by the EMP, and as Heatwave and Boulder crash through the fence, so are they. The three bots come to a halt, immobilized in their vehicle modes. Chase, unaware of the problem, finds he can't contact the others. He ends up ringing the emergency line and faking a litter emergency so he can call out the rest of the team. Things get worse for the immobilized bots, as a bear, attracted by the sandwich Kade left in Heatwave, starts attacking the Rescue Bot.
The sound of Heatwave's tire being burst reaches the Chief, but before they can investigate, they encounter the bear and are forced to retreat up a nearby cliff. After Cody nearly slips, they start working their way along the side and Cody spots the immobilized bots, and the fact that they're stuck on top of Old Parker. They start heading down slowly, to avoid the bear.
The rest of the team arrives in Kade's old fire engine, and Kade finally overrides Chief Burns' orders so Chase can cross Canyon Road. They soon arrive at the fence around Griffin Crest and use a rope to tie Chase to Boulder and Blades. He manages to pull the pair clear of the EMP zone, but Old Parker eruption is imminent and it's too hot for the humans to go back and hook up Heatwave. Chase runs into the EMP zone and throws himself on top of Heatwave, right as the geyser goes off. After a few worrying moments, as the steam clears, the others see that Heatwave and Chase are safe inside the bubble tent. The pair are hauled out, and Chase points out that the tent's resistance to high temperature is in the manual. Chief contacts them from the other side of the zone to let them know he and Cody are OK, before he goes to enjoy a night of camping with Cody.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Humans |
|---|---|
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Quotes
"This is Huxley Prescott reporting live from the scene of an emergency. MIIIIIIIIIIINE!"
- —Huxley Prescott in freefall.
"Blades, are you all right?"
"Of course! How could I get hurt falling upside down onto your back?!"
- —Boulder and Blades
"This day can't get any worse."
"Heatwave, don't say that. In the movies, whenever someone says that-" [enter a bear, stage left] "-it always gets worse."
- —Heatwave and Blades
"I guess rules can be useful once in a while."
"May I have that in writing?"
- —Heatwave and Chase
Notes
Continuity notes
- Kade's on a date with Hayley, whom he got together with in "Small Blessings".
- As in "Small Blessings", Kade once again appears to be driving the old fire truck that was destroyed in "Under Pressure".
- Gadgets and powers:
- Chase shares Boulder's tow cable feature.
Real-world references
- After the bots are rescued and Chief and Cody head off to continue their camping trip, Cody muses "does a bear chase a hologram in the woods?", a spin on the rhetorical colloquialism "does a bear pee (or, uh... poop) in the woods?"
Transformers references
Animation and technical errors
- The tech-free EMP safety zone includes a hot geyser which can kill people or destroy any item, and may prevent entry to the zone when in the process of erupting. This seems like poor planning.
- The EMP is said to "disable all tech," however while their vehicle modes are affected, the bots themselves still remain online. It's not clear how this distinction is made. It's at least curious that their internal screens somehow remained functional; these seem to be part of their vehicle mode, as they serve no purpose in bot mode.
Trivia
- It's not clear why the EMP safe zone is classified, considering it's supposed to be a place to go in an emergency. At any rate, the human members of the team know about it, so it's equally unclear why Chief Burns doesn't fill in the bots.
- Huxley's robo-camera has its own little parachute. It's pretty adorable.
Foreign localization
French
- Title: "Zone à risques" ("Risk Zone")
- Original airdate: ?
Hungarian
- Title: "Szabályok és parancsok" ("Rules and Orders")
- Original airdate: 22 February 2013
Italian
Portuguese
Home video releases
2013 — Rescue Bots — "Griffin Rock Rescue" (Shout! Factory)
2014 — Rescue Bots — "Bumblebee to the Rescue" (Beyond Home Entertainment)
2015 — Rescue Bots — "Complete Season 1" (Beyond Home Entertainment)
