Hoist, Spike and Carly are heading back to the Autobot HQ, when a car speeds by. A few seconds later, another car does the exact same thing, so they start to go after them. The cars split up and take different paths, but continue going at high speed.

The blue car races off a cliff and flips in mid-air, landing upside down on top of the red car. As Hoist approaches, he stops when a film crew yell at him for ruining their shot! Hoist, Spike and Carly find out this is all for a movie.

However, the stunt does wrong and the cars nearly go off the edge of a cliff. The film crew rush to the scene, but they realize they can't do anything, and it'll take too long for them to get a helicopter flown out here. Carly says there must be something Hoist can do, and he heads down to the cars. He is able to save the drivers seconds before the cars fall away and explode.

The film crew cheer and the director thinks Hoist is amazing. Spike points out to Carly that Harold Edsel and Karen Fishook are here -two real movie stars!

Carly thinks this is really exciting. The director tells Hoist -who he keeps calling "Moist" -that they could use him. He offers him a job, but Spike says Hoist can't accept, but Hoist says he'll accept the job offer. The director tells Spike not to feel bad, and gives him and his girlfriend a couple of free passes for their movie studio.

At the Decepticon HQ, a mayday signal sent out by Dirge is picked up by Starscream and Megatron. Megatron asks why Dirge can't carry out a simple mission, and Starscream thinks the answer to that is obvious. Dirge says he's going to crash, and lands in the movie studio. He hits a jungle set and lands in a swamp. He says he can't move or transform.

Megatron tells Starscream he should have him dissembled for this, to which Starscream protests, but Megatron silences him. He wants the cargo Dirge was carrying to remain secret, and tells him to shut down the rest of his systems and remain still. He then tells Astrotrain, Ramjet and Thrust to get in here, and tells them to go and rescue Dirge and his cargo. The three Decepticons head out.

Hoist, Spike and Carly arrive at the movie studio. Hoist tells the director he's ready for his big scene, but the director has already kind of forgotten about him. He tells him to go and pick up a donut from the catering truck, and relax until he calls for him. As they are about to start filming, a flying car interrupts them: it's Tracks!

Hoist wonders what he's doing here, but then even more Autobots show up. Warpath appears show shows off some sharp shooting, and then Sunstreaker drives off a ramp...

...and transforms, saying that the star has arrived. Powerglide then flies in and says they don't want a star who can't get off the ground, and says he'll show them some real Oscar winning material. Spike thinks the Autobots have gone movie mad, whilst Carly tells him the director is going to be just plain mad.

Powerglide accidentally crashes through a piece of set that had been made to look like the sky, causing him to crash. As he apologizes, Hoist says his career was enjoyable whilst it lasted -all ten seconds of it!

However the director says this picture is meant to be an action one, and they need plenty of action, so he tells the new arrivals that they're all hired. They can be his new stunt vehicles, to which the Autobots are happy about. But they don't get to do much acting -instead, Sunstreaker kicks things off by driving into a house, which explodes. Harold Edsel moves into position, and the filming resumes with him crawling away from the car.

His co-star Karen Fishook runs over and calls him a brave, brave man before kissing him. Hoist then plays his part by pulling Sunstreaker out of the wreckage. Later on, another scene is filmed, this time having Powerglide fly into a building, and then having Harold climb out of him. Karen once again runs over, telling him he's stopped the crooks.

She could just kiss him, and does so. The director yells cut, and Hoist once again does his job by pulling Powerglide out. Later on another scene is filmed, which is pretty much the same thing as before, just with Tracks instead of Powerglide.

As Karen gets to kiss Harold again, Hoist goes to drag Tracks out, although Tracks thinks that whilst Harold gets kissed, what does he get? Later on, the director visits the jungle set, but wonders why there is a plane in the swamp, as he didn't ask for that. He tells his assistant to get the producer down here right away.

Powerglide complains to Hoist that this crashing business isn't exactly the kind of acting he had in mind. The other Autobots aren't happy either, but Hoist wants to know what they want him to do about it. Sunstreaker says he knows the director, so he should talk to him and tell him they want to do some real acting. Meanwhile, the director has had a change of heart -he tells one of the set guys they can work the jet plane into the picture by building a bridge around it.

As the director walks by the Autobots, Hoist calls out to him, but is told they won't need him for a while, so he should go get a bagel and coffee until they call him. As he walks off, the other Autobots say they quit! Warpath tells him to find some Decepticons to beat up. As the Autobots head off, the Decepticons head in.

But the director thinks this is great, and starts filming them. Astrotrain removes Dirge from the swamp, whilst Thrust and Ramjet pick up the cargo he was carrying. They see they are being filmed, but mistake the camera for a weapon, and blow it up.

They return to their HQ, and Megatron thinks this could be the ultimate weapon for defeating the Autobots. Ramjet asks what does it do, but Starscream says their clever leader doesn't know what it does. Megatron punches him and says it was kept locked up on Cybertron in Wheeljack's workshop for all this time, so it must be deadly.

He wants a demonstration, so Thrust turns it on. However the machine just bounces around for a few seconds, then stops as smoke pours out of it. Starscream tells Megatron that's some ultimate weapon, so Megatron picks him up and throws him. He says it was because it had been left to soak in the swamp, and it would take months to dry out and repair.

Astrotrain then gives more bad news: whilst they were out, they were filmed by a motion picture crew. Megatron says if the Autobots see that film, the weapon will be worthless, as Starscream says Optimus Prime will surely tell Wheeljack to create a device to counter it. Megatron says they must get that reel of film before anyone sees it, so he and a few other Decepticons fly off to the studio.

At the studio, the director, his assistant, Harold and Karen are watching the swamp footage. The director thinks this is too good to waste, and says they'll have to work it into the picture, Harold asks how do robots fit into his action movie, but the director has a solution: the robots don't fit in the old script, but the new script... a great science fiction epic... they'll call it Attack of the Alien Robots! He tells his assistant to get those stunt robots back here. Harold cries, as Karen tries to comfort him.

Tracks and the others are easily persuaded to come back and are treated as stars, but then the director passes them their costumes: alien masks. Tracks asks what kind of character he's supposed to be, and the director explains they are all evil robots, who chase after the girl. The camera start rolling, as the Autobots start their acting careers.

Harold, who is now a space hero, comes to save Karen, and shoots at Warpath. The director tells Warpath to fall down, but Warpath is confused, as Harold's weapon didn't fire. The director explains that they'll draw the laser rays onto the film later with special effects. Warpath can't believe it, but pretends to have been hit, and falls over. Harold declare these monsters from space are no match for him, Dash Jordan!

Powerglide thinks this bit is the pits, and he'd rather do the stunt crashes. Elsewhere, Spike and Carly come across the production assistant, who is looking through reels of film. She says she's missing several scenes from the picture, and that someone broke in and stole them. Carly checks a reel and asks why it's in black and white. The assistant tells her it's just a copy, called the work print, as that way they can keep changing it around without scratching the original negative. Carly points out that means she can make other copies, so the assistant heads off to the vault, to get the scenes reprinted. As she heads off, Carly tells Spike hopefully they'll find out why someone took them.

In another warehouse, Megatron has been given the film reels Starscream stole, and asks if he's sure he got all of the film with Decepticons in it. Starscream says he has, but Soundwave mentions that the negative is still missing. Starscream says how was he to know, but Megatron says he warned him. Starscream tells him to wait, as they could just level the studio...

...but Megatron has had enough of him and his "ideas", and throws him. He then rips some cables out of him to disable him, and tells the other Decepticons to get the Autobots out of the way, and get that negative -he wants it now!

Meanwhile, a new scene for the movie is being filmed. The evil robots are going to be chased by the hero, so they need to film the alien robots being attacked. As the crew gets things ready, Rumble sneaks in and replaces a set of explosives with much more powerful ones, and then leaves the room without anyone noticing. Filming begins, and some of the crew rock the ship set the Autobots are sitting in.

Other crew members throw prop asteroids at the ship, as the Autobots awkwardly say their lines. The director orders for the front explosion to go off, and it does, but it's such a powerful blast thanks to Rumble it totals the set.

The Autobots all survive, as the director demands the names of everyone involved in this accident. But a crew member says this was no accident, and the director thinks somebody is deliberately trying to shut down production, and he wants to know who it is. Hoist tells him to take it easy, as it's not worth getting this upset. The director thinks he may be right, and they can use the explosion in the film!

Elsewhere, Spike and Carly have got the print of the stolen footage, and start watching it. They see the Decepticons at the swamp, and watch footage of them taking the device. Carly wants to go and tell somebody, but Soundwave then bursts through the screen. As Spike and Carly run off, he shoots into the projector room.

Spike and Carly run into the projector room, only to find that the new print has been destroyed. They head back off to the film vault, as Carly tries to find the negative, before the Decepticons do. She quickly finds it, so she and Spike run back out...

...only to find Megatron waiting, who says he believes they have something that belongs to him. Carly throws it to him and then runs off with Spike, as Megatron takes the film can.

They run into another warehouse and Spike asks why she gave Megatron the negative, but she reveals that she didn't -she just threw him the film can, she still has the negative on her. But before they can do anything else, they see Soundwave is waiting for them, and fires. They run off into a jungle set.

They eventually get into a cave set, and Spike comes across a control box. Carly takes a look at it and wonders what it could be for, and starts pushing buttons on it. This activates some model dinosaurs that the Decepticons see.

Rumble mistakes them for the Dinobots and blasts them, reducing them to scrap. Carly and Spike get out of the cave set, and spot a couple of guys fishing, so Spike tells them to run, as the Decepticons are coming. They don't respond, and Spike finds out why: they're just dummies!

He and Carly then see a boat and try to use it to escape, only to find out it's not a real boat -it has no motor! But it gives Carly an idea. A few moments later, the Decepticons exit the cave set and see the boat out in the middle of a lake.

Thrust goes and retrieves it and brings it back to Megatron, but they find out the boat doesn't contain who they're after -it's just some dummies! Meanwhile Spike and Carly have managed to get to Hoist, and explain everything that's happened. He tells them to follow him and do exactly as he tells them, as they head inside hanger #12.

The Decepticons arrive, and Soundwave starts scanning the area until he finds where the two humans are. Megatron tells them to surround the building, as he heads inside. But as he gets in, Hoist calls out and asks if this is what he's looking for. Megatron sees that Hoist has Spike and Carly dangling over a lava pit.

Carly still has the film reel, as Hoist tells Megatron for him and the rest of the Decepticons to get out, or he'll drop the two humans and the film reel into the lava. Megatron says an Autobot would never hurt a human, so he's bluffing. Hoist proves he isn't when he releases the humans and kills them!

He tells Megatron maybe he'd like to follow them, and fires at him. The other Autobots appear and start firing, but Megatron runs out and tells the Decepticons that the negative has been destroyed, so they can go back to HQ.

Back inside, Hoist picks Spike and Carly out of the "lava", which is revealed to just be a movie prop. Spike says Hoist had them worried, but Hoist says it's amazing what you can do with some muddy water, some air hoses and a little smoke machine.

Later on, Wheeljack arrives at the studio, and watches the film. He laughs and says the device Megatron has stolen never worked, and if it had, he would have taken it with him when the Autobots left Cybertron. The director tells Hoist that was a fine piece of acting he did back there, and he'd like to work him in as the leading man in his next film. Hoist says thanks but no thanks, as his duty as an Autobot comes first, no matter how unglamorous a role it may seem. The rest of the Autobots enthusiastically agree with him.

NOTES

-Harold Edsel is a parody of Harrison Ford, and he wears a costume that resembles Han Solo's, but also wears a hat similar to the one Indiana Jones wears.

-Karen Fishook is a parody of Carrie Fisher, and has a hairstyle which looks just like Princess Leia's.

-And finally, Dash Jordan is a parody of Flash Gordon.