The Lost Bell

« Transformers: Rescue Bots ep 17 »
"IT'S COMING RIGHT FOR US!"
Season	1
No. in season	17
Production company	Hasbro Studios
Airdate	June 30, 2012
Writer	Greg Johnson
Director	Patrick Archibald
Animation studio	Atomic Cartoons
Watch this episode on YouTube

A storm strands Cody and the Bots on a deserted island where they find a pirate ship that holds the key to a mystery.

Synopsis

Griffin Rock, 1812, and the lighthouse keeper spots an incoming pirate ship moments before it opens fire. The town is set ablaze and the pirates begin plundering it. 200 years later, Cody Burns relates the story of the Oaken Crow's attack on the town and the theft of the Settlers' Bell, before the pirates departed from the town. Cody has to cut short his story as he has to go to his Lad Pioneer meeting to get ready for tomorrow's Founders' Day ceremony. However, Cody's excitement is tempered when Chief Burns announces that the ceremony's on hold due to a major storm which is about to hit the island. The team rolls to the rescue!

"Hey, who's up for reproducing 'The Raft of the Medusa'?"

At the airport, a light plane is blown across the runway towards a pilot until Blades swoops down and grabs it. Dani starts showing interest in the young pilot they've just saved. As Blades's rotor was bent during the plane rescue, he, Cody and Dani are forced to hike back to where the others are sandbagging. Boulder observes the tower with the missing bell, and Cody says the pirates were never seen again. They continue to secure the marina, but as Chief Burns notes some idiot has stacked the shipping crates too high, the top crate is struck by lightning. It falls, severing the end of the pier which carries Cody and the Bots out to sea. The Burns family tries frantically to get Cody on the comms, but it turns out he's OK. During the little communications time they have, the Bots promise to take care of Cody.

"It'll help if you just sing along~"

Cody and the Bots eventually drift out of the storm and spot a small island. Unlike the Rescue Bots, Cody is enthusiastic about being a castaway and locates a waterfall to use as a location for a shelter. The Bots take this as their cue to build a shelter and head to get materials, though Blades and Chase have a brief encounter with the wildlife. Unfortunately the resulting shelter collapses after Boulder opens the door, but Cody has built his own shelter using Lad Pioneer know-how anyway and even started a fire. Realizing he now needs food, the Bots head to the beach and are completely unsuccessful at gathering anything edible, apart from a snail Chase offers up. Cody has already succeeded in catching a fish. He suggests they gather firewood, and as night falls, the four bots soon have a large stack. As they sit around the fire, Cody starts to tell a spooky story but when Blades grabs a piece of wood, the boy notices that the log in question has the figurehead of the Oaken Crow on it. Though Cody is keen to go check it out then and there, Heatwave and the others insist on waiting until morning.

The next day, Griffin Rock has a flotilla of boats and Dani's new friend in a plane searching the seas. On the island, Cody and the Bots reach the area where they found the wood, and as they look around, Cody disappears with a cry. First Heatwave and Boulder, and then Blades and Chase fall down the same hole, which Cody announces was built by the pirates. He's found the Oaken Crow in a cave, blocked in by a rock slide. While the Bots contemplate the idea that rescue might not be as imminent as they hoped, Cody climbs on board, and finds the Settlers' Bell, safe and sound. The Bots tell him they're worried that rescue might be a vain hope, but Cody has an idea—the pirates might not have been able to clear the rockfall, but the four Bots might. They soon do so, and tow the pirate ship clear of the cave before jumping aboard. Elsewhere, the flotilla is beginning to break up as it gets foggy when the Burns family hears a bell and Cody's voice comes over the comm. Father and son are soon reunited on the deck of the Oaken Crow.

The bell is returned to the old lighthouse, and Cody and two other Lad Pioneers get the honor of ringing it. Dani waves to the pilot as he overflies the celebrations, much to her brothers' amusement. Blades tries to get the others interested in starting the Bot Pioneers, with no success whatsoever.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"We could be out here drifting for days, or weeks, or-"
"Twelve minutes, seventeen seconds. Assuming we maintain our current rate of speed, of course."

—Blades and Chase

"It's coming for us!" [jumps into Chase's arms]
[A small puffin appears]
"We tell no one of this."
"Agreed."

—Blades and Chase have an encounter while looking for materials.

"Avast, me hearties! Hoist the jib and raise the yardarm! Or the other way around!"
"Aye, matey! Set sail for Griffin Rock!"

—Blades and Cody get into the mood by breaking out the pirate talk.

Notes

Continuity notes

• Lad Pioneers, previously referred to via the Lad Pioneers Handbook Chase finds in "Rules and Regulations", makes a reappearance here. Humans wearing the uniform have appeared as background characters in a number of other episodes starting with "Under Pressure".
• Taylor, the pilot Dani develops an obvious interest in, will go unnamed until the season 2 episode "Road Trip".

Real-world references

• Lad Pioneers bears no small resemblance to the Boy Scouts.

Animation and technical errors

• As Chase and Blades call out for Cody, the dohickey on Chase's left arm is the red one from his right arm. It switches to blue as he turns in reaction to hearing Heatwave and Boulder fall.
• During the time when Cody and the bots are sitting around the fire, the bots are all still covered in dirt and mud. When Cody started telling a story, all of the bots are suddenly clean. When Cody decides that they should check out where the bots got the wood from, they are messy again.
• Taylor can be seen among the crowd by the lighthouse a few shots before he also flies over in his plane.

Trivia

• The lighthouse keeper's character model is based on that of Captain Wild.[1]
• This episode was later adapted in storybook form as The Mystery of the Pirate Bell.
• Someone should tell the pirates to pillage then burn. It's no wonder they took the bell.

Foreign localization

French

• Title: "Les naufragés" ("The Shipwrecked")
• Original airdate: ?

Hungarian

• Title: "Az eltűnt harang" ("The Lost Bell")
• Original airdate: 23 February 2013

Italian

• Title: "La Campana Perduta" ("The Lost Bell")
• Original airdate: 13 June 2017

Portuguese

• Title: "O Sino Perdido" ("The Lost Bell")
• Original airdate: 6 May 2013

Home video releases

2014 — Rescue Bots — "Heroes on the Scene" (Shout! Factory)
2014 — Rescue Bots — "Bumblebee to the Rescue" (Beyond Home Entertainment)
2015 — Rescue Bots — "Complete Season 1" (Beyond Home Entertainment)