Witwicky, Part 1

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"Witwicky, Part 1"
Season	2
No. in season	9
Production company	Hasbro Entertainment Nickelodeon
Airdate	June 7, 2024 (Paramount+) TBD 2024 (Nickelodeon)
Writer	Dale Malinowski
Director	Vinton T. Heuck
Animation studio	88 Pictures

Starscream's masterplan nears completion; meanwhile Hashtag and Mo make a shocking underground discovery.

Synopsis

The Malto family celebrates collecting another Embershard, but as Nightshade reunites it with the other shards, electricity arcs to them from the shard collection. As everyone else takes cover, Twitch closes the shard containment and once the arcs of energy stop, Nightshade falls to the ground. Fortunately they're relatively unharmed, and reports that all Embershards are now accounted for — those they don't already have are currently in the hands of the Decepticons. As they celebrate with an impromptu dance party, Alex Malto reminds Mo that she also has a history report to complete — a photo journal of Witwicky history, and it's due tomorrow. She admits she's been too busy saving the world to get started on it, however her attempts to explain why she hasn't done any of it do not go down well with her parents. Hashtag offers to help, as there's is almost no information online about Witwicky. Thrash suggests that the creepy ruins will get Mo an easy A, but opts out of actually volunteering to go, so Mo and Hashtag head out.

The pair soon reach the cave where Mo and Thrash found the Quintesson Executioner and Mo snaps a couple of photos before wanting to head home. Hashtag talks her into staying so they can check out where the Quintesson was found. She's fascinated as Mo tells the story of how the Quintesson ended up there, and jumps to the bottom of the pyramid, only for the ground to cave in beneath her. Mo suits up and dives into the abyss as well. After plummeting for a while, Hashtag manages to grab Mo and hook them both onto a rock bridge using a tow cable. They're just gathering their wits when a Dweller appears behind Mo. The pair attempt to make their escape, but as they head for a door, a second Dweller appears in front of them, and they're forced to do a U turn to speed back past the first Dweller while the rock bridge collapses. They again head towards the door around the edge of the chasm, but there are more Dwellers, and they have to hide. Mo has a reluctant Hashtag turn her lights off, recalling that the Dwellers are attracted to light, which allows the pair to sneak to the door and head through before the Dwellers can get to them. They find themselves in one of the alien corridors they'd seen previously, and Hashtag has V.A.L. combine all the maps they have of the alien tunnels into one, but before they can investigate further, they're interrupted by loud noises.

Aftermath and Spitfire are using the Cyber Slayer to attempt to break into the alien tunnels. They pause as Spitfire uses her fellow Chaos Terran to recharge the weapon before handing him cave water so he can recharge. Spitfire's blows with the Cyber Slayer activate Quintus Prime's message embedded on the wall, and she strikes the center of it, breaching the wall and causing a flood of water that washes Mo and Hashtag down a series of corridors before dumping them in a cavern. Mo decides maybe they should head home, but as V.A.L. reports, they're currently off the map. Looking around, they spy a giant face in the rock. Elsewhere Aftermath and Spitfire intensify their efforts with the Cyber Slayer, and the disruption causes the face to come to life, introducing itself to Hashtag and Mo as the Titan Terratronus. On being questioned by the two Maltos, the Titan relates the story of how Quintus Prime used the Emberstone to create life across the galaxy including the Quintessons, who began to distrust the Prime. She explains how they went to war against Quintus, who retired to Earth and hid the Emberstone, using it to create Terratronus to guard it. She was able to trick the Quintessons into thinking Quintus had left Earth, though they left the Dwellers behind. Thus, Terratronus and the Emberstone were hidden for millions of years until Robby and Mo were chosen as new custodians of the Emberstone. Terratronus is horrified to learn that the Emberstone has been shattered and tells Hashtag and Mo to protect her spark chamber at all costs — if she was corrupted by the chaos energy of the shattered Emberstone, she would fall under the power of whoever wielded it. The pair realize that this is what Starscream's plan has been, however they're too far underground to send a warning to anyone else.

Meanwhile, Aftermath and Spitfire finally manage to breach the wall they've been hammering, revealing a brilliant red light...

Featured characters

Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks.
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"How's your other big project going?"
"I got to grow a few more inches before I go to pro wrestling tryouts."

—Alex and Mo on Mo's aspirations.

"Isn't it super weird that there is almost nothing on the Internet about Witwicky? Tell 'em, VAL!"
"Witwicky, Pennsylvania, a town that exists in Pennsylvania. The end."

—Hashtag consults Wikipedia via V.A.L..

"Is homework supposed to be this fun?"
"Which part of this is fun?!"

—Mo and Hashtag falling to their doom.

"Ha! Some style you've got there Spitfire, or should I call you No-Fire?"
"Ha ha ha. And I thought you were just funny looking."
"Aftermath is the complete package. Ta-da!"

—Aftermath and Spitfire

Notes

Continuity notes

• Mo notes they've been collecting Embershards for "over a year".
• Hashtag gained her virtual assistant V.A.L. in "Control Alt Delete".
• Hashtag and Mo revisit the cave seen in "In Ruins".
• A flashback from "What Dwells Within" reminds Hashtag of facing her fears from the first time they encountered a Dweller.

Transformers references

• TBD

Real-world references

• Hashtag suggests starting a podcast titled "My Sister and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Alien", a reference to 1972 children's book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day which was loosely adapted into a film in 2014.

Errors

• Despite suggestions that there's almost no information about the town out there, in prior episodes we've seen copies of a book titled "A History of Witwicky: Volume 4".

Trivia

• The Ancient Autobot writing discovered by Spitfire and Aftermath translates to "IN TIMES OF NEED HELP SHALL RISE TO YOUR CALL"- the same message found in the cave in the episode "Friends and Family".

Foreign localization

French

• Title: "L'histoire de Witwicky, 1ère partie" ("The History of Witwicky, 1st part")
• Original airdate: August 3, 2024

Brazilian Portuguese

• Title: "Witwicky, Parte 1" ("Witwicky, Part 1")
• Original airdate: July 6, 2024