My Review of Transformers: Animated season 1 episode 9–Along Came a Spider

Grading Scale:

A (fantastic episode)
A- (an excellent episode with at least one flaw)
B+ (a great episode with a couple of flaws)
B (a good episode which still could have been better)
B- (a good episode with numerous flaws but still rewatchable)
C+ (a decent episode)
C (eh... it’s not terrible but not good either)
C- (it’s not worth rewatching although it does have good elements)
D+ (a bad episode with a few good things in it)
D (a really bad episode with wasted potential)
D- (a terrible episode with badly written characters and butchered moral)
F (horrible and unwatchable)

************

Greetings, fellas! Mr. J is here with another Transformers: Animated episode review! Today, we will be talking about Along Came a Spider. This episode was really well done with brilliant writing and the story. It was actually nice to see Sari showing the Autobots how humans normally celebrate their holidays... in this case, Halloween. Optimus, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead were great choices to feature for this episode since this is the actual one that brings back one of the show’s first Decepticon main antagonists from the season premiere: Blackarachnia. I am amazed with the way they handled her character and her backstory.

She was basically a former Autobot who was accidentally left behind by Optimus and Sentinel back on that organic spider planet and was painfully mutated to become a techno-organic Cybertronian, traumatizing and scarring her for the rest of her life. Driven by anger, revenge, and a newfound hatred of the Autobots, she eventually joined Megatron and his Decepticon faction. However, she never fully followed him or his agenda. So it would appear that she only joined his side to find ways to get her revenge on Optimus. Honestly, that’s quite an interesting way to write her character.

I can understand why we never really see her with Megatron and his crew again ever since the Transform and Roll Out premiere. She is her own mistress and will do anything to change back into the bot she used to be. Plus, this is the first time we see her interact with Sari here and see some form of personal connection between her and Optimus. I felt really bad for him as he expressed his absolute remorse over leaving her behind even though he tried to save her. So that is one reason why Sentinel hates Optimus and the main reason why he was expelled from Autobot Academy.

The voice acting and the animation was great as always. Cree Summer especially did a great job in giving that emotional voice portrayal of Blackarachnia/Elita-1. She’s really an awesome voice actress considering she voiced other female characters from other shows such as Batman Beyond, Rugrats, Codename: Kids Next Door, Danny Phantom, and many more.

I really like this episode although I don’t like the Halloween theme. So I give it an A-.

Peace! Stay tuned for the prologue chapter of the final TFA/MLP story that will be released today!

Comments

[Darth Wrex]

One thing I don't get. Why were the Decepticons open to her when they hate organics, too?

[GamerDroid23]

Here's some spooky trivia for you. In the original bible, the Elita-1 backstory does not exist, with Blackarachnia instead presented as Catwoman to Optimus Prime's Batman. The original character arc was that Optimus would get Blackarachnia to accept herself instead of considering herself a freak, but it would subvert audience expectations with her deciding she was superior to other Transformers, thus plotting to kill and replace them all with techno-organics. Shades of this alternate characterization can be seen in the original press kit for the cartoon, which explains that Blackarachnia's techno-organic state was caused by "an encounter with the Allspark" in the past. Btw, I know what episode is next. Wink wink nudge nudge.

[GamerDroid23]

5470023
That's... a good question, actually.

[Darth Wrex]

5470029
Thanks.

[TheClownPrinceofCrime]

5470023
That’s a good question, but here’s my theory as to why.

My theory is that they were somewhat impressed with her knowledge of the Autobots since she used to be one of them at one time. Her expert skill in spider-webbing and in combat proved rather useful for them although they didn’t care much for her personality or organic form.

Don’t forget that Blitzwing openly made a remark about her from the very first episode:

As usual, Blackarachnia, your demeanor is as unpleasant as that accursed organic mode of yours.

That’s just my take on it.

[TheClownPrinceofCrime]

5470028
You’re doing a great job doing these for everybody. I love reading your informative comments.

[Darth Wrex]

5470056
Makes sense to me.

[GamerDroid23]

5470058
Why thanks, man. I plan on doing it for as many reviews as I can

[Horseus King of Horses]

Blackarachnia was actually the first female transformer I saw.