Space Bots

When Doc Greene and Graham are stranded in orbit, the Rescue Bots take to the stars to rescue them.

Synopsis

Huxley Prescott introduces a new space elevator, the Asgard, which will launch into space on a laser. In mission control, Professor Baranova is wondering where the ship's crew is — as it turns out, Doc Greene's plain forgotten about the launch, while Graham Burns is having launch day jitters. The Rescue Bots try to help by reminding Graham that they have experience with space travel, but Graham's not convinced. Soon everything is ready though, and the countdown underway. Prescott, excited to bring his viewers a front row seat, sends his hover camera in, but the device accidentally gets too close and interrupts one of the laser beams for the elevator. With the laser nearing overload, there's a danger the Asgard will be destroyed. Graham and Doc Greene attempt to escape but find they're sealed in, and are forced to return to their launch chairs. The Rescue Bots swing into action, lifting the craft so that Heatwave can get to the camera and remove it from the laser, and the launch goes off successfully.

Frankie, Cody and the Chief check with Baranova, who says everything went fine post-launch, so they return to the fire house to use the telescope on the roof. As the Asgard heads upwards, Doc Greene suspects he's forgotten something, while Graham panics every time something minor happens. The elevator finally reaches the top, at which point Graham is violently sick into Doc Greene's lunch bag—the Doc forgot the motion sickness bags. Down on Earth, Frankie peers at the Asgard through the telescope, while the Rescue Bots wonder if one of them should have gone too, though they admit to never having done a space rescue before. They spot a meteor through the telescope, though Frankie says it's not going to go near the Asgard. Unfortunately the meteor happens to plough through a cluster of asteroids, sending a number of them spinning. Graham and the Doc are about to go get lunch when the impact alarm sounds, and an errant asteroid strikes the ship, sheering off one of the pods.

Baranova reports that the ship's comms are down, but they're retracting the elevator to bring the Asgard back to Earth. Of more concern, debris from the Asgard is about to rain down on the island, so the team swings into action. Chase and Boulder use foam to contain two of the pieces, while Heatwave punches one into the ocean, and Blades uses a deft maneuver involving his scoop claw to take out the last two. With the island safe, the team returns to the launch pad, however when the laser finally deactivates, the Asgard is nowhere to be seen. They realize that the Asgard has been knocked from the laser beam. Baranova rings NASA, but they don't have any way to launch a rescue mission on short notice. Luckily the Chief has a contingency plan.

On the Asgard, Graham and Doc Greene discover that their air supply has been leaking away, and they have a half-hour of air left. Help isn't far away, as the rescue team enters the hidden hanger containing the Rescue Bots' ship, the Sigma. Meanwhile, Graham and Doc realize that they have an oxygen supply in the form of the greenhouse pod. They seal themselves in there, unaware that one of the exterior windows is cracked. The Sigma lifts off from its hanger under the basketball court, and the Rescue Bots discover Cody is aboard, having accidentally stowed away while bringing a first aid kit. Heatwave has Cody get into his passenger compartment for safety. Doc Greene notices the swiftly-spreading crack in the window, however the Sigma arrives soon enough, and Heatwave space-walks over to the Asgard. Entering the other ship, he finds Doc and Graham and has them climb inside him, just before the window breaks. Heatwave clings on, but is ultimately sucked out into space. All seems lost until Cody has the idea of using Heatwave's water reserves as propulsion, and they're able to jet back to the Sigma.

Some time later, the Sigma carries the Asgard back to Earth on a cable, and lands. The space travelers are reunited with their family on the ground. They quickly come up with a splashdown explanation to give Baranova. The Rescue Bots muse it was nice to take the Sigma for a spin again.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"The good news is, once you're at zero gravity you can't plummet back down to Earth."

—Blades trying to help calm Graham's nerves.

"I get sick riding teeter totters."

—Graham

"Difficult to believe that we're still connected to Griffin Rock, a hundred and forty miles below us. That's over seven hundred and thirty nine thousand sandwiches stacked end to end."

—Doc Greene puts distance into perspective.

"Now what?! We did not train for this! At least I didn't. I may have missed that day."

—Blades

Notes

Continuity notes

• The Asgard uses a similar design aesthetic to the Midgard, Baranova's previous design from "The Griffin Rock Triangle", which was also her introductory episode.
• Chase and Boulder use Energize tool versions of the Collision Foam Cannon from "Blame the Gremlins".

Transformers references

• (tbd)

Real-world references

• Baranova contacts NASA.
• The idea of a space elevator has roots as far back as 1895, with multiple concepts having been explored during the mid 20th century using tools such as carbon nanotubes.
• Like the Midgard, the Asgard takes its name from Norse mythology—Asgard being the realm inhabited by the gods.
• The Sigma emerges from a slide-open basketball court, homaging the launch of the X-Jet in the first live-action X-Men movie, complete with a basketball falling into the opening doors.

Animation and technical errors

• Before the title sequence, the countdown is down to 7 seconds. It takes somewhat longer than that for the Rescue Bots to remove the camera.
• At several points, the Asgard experiences periods of weightlessness. It's later revealed to have a waterfall and stream in one of the pods, which ought to have caused problems.
• In the shot of Griffin Rock as the laser first activates, parts of the scene seem to be colored as though it's night. Noticeably the normally light brown sand is rendered dark brown, and all of the buildings have lights on.
• Chase's arm clips through the hinge on the Sigma's ramp as he exits the ship.
• When Heatwave inserts Cody in his chest, his windshield lowers like a typical car's side window. In all other instances of his chest opening, it bends at the base.

Trivia

• This episode was later adapted into storybook form as Blast Off!.
• The point of having a countdown for launches is that you can halt it if something's wrong. Clearly Griffin Rock mission control missed the memo!
• Apparently a meteoroid, which is a small piece of rock in space, can give great velocity to a gigantic object that is classified as a small planet!
• When Heatwave sprays water to propel himself, the water trail accumulates into large droplets. This is how water behaves in space, and it's a really nice touch on the part of the animators!

Foreign localization

French

• Title: "La conquête de l'espace" ("The Space Conquest")
• Original airdate: ?

Hungarian

• Title: "Űrbotok" ("Space Bots")
• Original airdate: 20 November 2014

Italian

• Title: "I Rescue Bot nello spazio" ("Rescue Bots in Space")
• Original airdate: 15 July 2017

Portuguese

• Title: "Missão Espacial" ("Space Mission")
• Original airdate: 1 April 2015 (Netflix)

Home video releases

👁 Australia
2015 — Rescue Bots — "Space Bots" (Beyond Home Entertainment)