| "The Alien Invasion of Griffin Rock" | |
|---|---|
| Season 1, Episode 5 | |
| Air date | March 10, 2012 |
| Written by | Greg Johnson |
| Directed by | Patrick Archibald |
| Episode guide | |
| Previous "Flobsters on Parade" |
Next "Walk on the Wild Side" |
The Alien Invasion of Griffin Rock is the fifth episode of Transformers: Rescue Bots. It aired on March 10, 2012.
Episode Synopsis[]
Huxley Prescott is determined to dig up scoop about aliens invading planet earth. However he finds that his enthusiasm could indeed put many people in danger. The Rescue Bots also question their disguise to sustain that 'robot' image for the public instead of revealing their true identity.
Plot[]
Reporter Huxley Prescott interupts a parade broadcast to present an emergency situation: A truck carrying toxic material is dangling over a cliffside and Graham and Boulder are having extreme difficulty keeping the truck and its driver from falling. The rest of the Burns's family and Rescue Bots rush to their aid. Huxley is looking suspicious and Cody warns them to be on their best "robot" behavior.
Kade and Heatwave are able to successful save the truck driver right before the straps on the toxic waste container break and rolls off the cliff. Chase rushes to stop it before the container can go any further, but Cody acknowledges that nobody was driving Chase when he does so. Huxley then asks if this is proof that aliens are living on the island, but when Charlie asks what he means, Huxley points at a crop circle, which Charlie explains is neither a crop (grass field) nor a circle (square), and it is where the mayor and his wife have had the grass cut for their weekly picnics. Huxley appears embarrased, but assures his viewers that he will continue in his search for aliens.
Later Chase laments his failure to protect their cover as robots, but Charlie reassures them that saving lives is their top priority, even if it means revealing their true identities. Meanwhile, Dr. Greene and Frankie reveals a SETI dish Dr. Greene built for Huxley, which Huxley plans to use to search for aliens. Dr. Greene shows Huxley how to use the amplifier dial, but warns him not to leave it on high for too long.
Back at the base, Cody and the Rescue Bots are trying to decide what movie they should watch and settle on a (disappointing) movie documentary about explores and natives. Cody streams this film from their satellite. Meanwhile with Huxley, his new SETI dish picks up on the film at a point where one character from the film is talking about taking over the island. Huxley turns up the amplifier dial to hear it better and thinks he is picking up on a secret message from aliens planning to take over the island, which he broadcasts.
Right after Huxley's broadcast, the Griffen Rock Emergency phones begin to recieve calls from concerned and terrified citizens, with calls ranging from cows being stolen, moon people eating a farmer's corn (It is later revealed the cows wondered off and were eating the corn), a UFO rising (A person in a hot air balloon) and so on.
While this is happening, the power starts to go out all over town, the communication lines between Cody and the rest of the Burns's goes out, and the Mayor raises the emergency alarms while Dani manages to save evacuating citizens from a sinking boat.
The whole crew travel to the power plant to try to restore electricity to the island, where they encounter Cody who leads them to Graham, leaving the Rescue Bots outside (Where they debate how to handle the alien situation and Heatwave reminds them that they themselves are aliens).
Graham explains that the power outages are being caused by Huxley's SETI dish and it needs to be shut down before it causes a power surge that will destroy the island. However, the power completely goes out in the plant, locking them inside, leaving the Bots no choice but to take out the dish on their own.
Dr. Greene and Frankie go to Huxley's dish and Dr. Greene chastises Huxley for leaving the amplifier dial on too high, as it is causing the SETI dish to overload and there is nothing he can do to stop it, as the controls are now down. The Bots show up to take out the dish, with Frankie pointing out there is no one inside of the vehicles, causing Huxley to question who is giving them instructions, and turns on his camera to broadcast the event to the rest of the island.
The Bots are successful in taking out the SETI dish, and Huxley tries to claim they are the aliens given that they are robots without masters, however the Burns's show up and play it off as if the Bots were following instructions. Huxley continues to try to claim that, though his SETI dish was responsible for the power outages, there really are aliens coming to invade and he plays a recording his dish recieved from the movie as his proof. Cody clears this up, telling everyone where the recording is really from.
Everyone scolds Huxley for his mistake causing a panic and nearly putting everyone in danger and now he has been revealed at fault due to his broadcasting since the power came back on. Frankie asks her father if vehicles can drive themselves, to which he says they cannot, causing Frankie to look at the Bots suspiciously.
Huxley attempts to salvage whatever credibility he has left when he hears a rustling in the bushes and thinks it's the aliens. It is soon revealed to be more missing cattle, causing Huxley great annoyance.
Trivia[]
- This is the first major appearance of Huxley Prescott
- The parade footage Huxley interrupts at the beginning of the epside is from the previous episode's (Flobsters on Parade) Lobster and Technology Festival.
- The episode's premise is most likely parodying/inspited by H. G. Wells' 1938 The War of the Worlds public hysteria, when many people mistake the radio drama for an acutal news report.
- The movie the Bots watch in this episode, the Native of Tatooine, is a reference to the Star Wars planet, Tatooine.
- There are several references to various famous alien/horror films throughout this episode, including:
- The Fly (1986).
- Signs (2002).
- Men in Black (1997).
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1987).
- E.T. (1982).
- Alien (1979).
- The Blob (1958/88).
- Predator (1987).
Errors[]
- While Huxley may have left the amplifier dial on high, the power surges caused by this were a poor design choice made by Dr. Greene, something he seemed to know about given he warned Huxley not to leave the dial on high for too long.
- During scenes that take place in the dark/nighttime, Dr. Greene is the ony character to not be properly shaded using nighttime colors, cauing him to look as if he is still in broad daylight.
- Huxley's watch is stuck at 12:53.
- It is unwise to have a building, much less a power plant, that requires electricity to open.