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The Transformers (cartoon)

2025-07-01T12:01:17Z

Optimusprime67: /* Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers */

{{disambig2|the cartoon series|other uses of ''The Transformers''|Transformers (disambiguation)}}

{{nav-G1|logo=TheTransformers_Logo.jpg}}

[[File:TransformersLogoSlantedOrange.jpg|upright=1.4|thumb|Red is the color of [[Autobot|GOOD]]...]]
[[File:TransformersLogoSlantedPurple.jpg|upright=1.4|thumb|...while purple is the color of [[Decepticon|EVIL]]!!]]
[[File:G1Season1Logo.jpg|upright=1.4|thumb|In [[Space (the place)|space]], no one can hear your trumpets go [[Media:G1-Scene-Transition-Effect.ogg|Dah-NUN NUN NUN NAHHHHHH]]!]]

More than any other of the many media which [[Transformer]]s have invaded in the past {{#expr: {{CURRENTYEAR}}-1984}} years, it is '''''The Transformers''''', the original cartoon that ran from 1984 to 1987, that captured the imagination of children and the young-at-heart worldwide.

{{bigquote|...we feel '''action''' should be emphasized over''' plot'''—especially avoiding any complicated story lines—to ensure the success of this series with its intended viewers.|[[Bryce Malek]] and [[Dick Robbins]], ''Transformer''s story editors, [[Marvel Productions]] internal correspondence [http://tfarchive.com/cartoons/bible/#154]}}

==Overview==
[[File:Cybertronplanet.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|Depleted of energy... aside from the power source that lights up the entire core of the planet.]]
The cartoon (along with the [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|Marvel comics]]) set up the basic story of Transformers that most other incarnations were to follow: two warring factions of robots on the planet [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] leave in search of resources. The factions crash-land on [[Earth]] and, millions of years later, begin their battle anew in Reagan-era [[United States of America|America]] and across the globe.

Once established, the cartoon rarely took any steps to upset its status quo. Plots generally centered on a [[Decepticon]] plot or invention of the week, which would be used to gather energy or Defeat The [[Autobot]]s FOREVER!!, and the Autobots' efforts to stop the plan. Most of the time the Decepticons were forced into retreat, and the Autobots drove off victorious. At most, a new character or team was added to one side or the other. Plots became a bit less formulaic during Season 3, though character death and true plot upheaval remained a rarity.

Through its 98-episode run, this series took viewers around the globe and to many strange places and times: across the alien Cybertron, the Earth's prehistoric past, the Earth's then-future of 2005, the ''Metropolis''-like society of [[Nebulos]], and more. It is not the best animated series ever to air, but it stimulated viewers with its concept at the time, and continued to do so in the years to come.

Being the first series of ''Transformers'' ever, some episodes tended to be [[Prime Target (episode)|very]], [[A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court (episode)|very]], [[B.O.T. (episode)|weird]] and [[Auto-Bop|80s]]ish compared with later shows. The show also featured [[The Transformers (cartoon)/cast|an enormous cast of characters]] in comparison to the more limited cast of future shows, likely due to the cost of developing CGI models as opposed to hand-drawn animation.
{{-}}

==Production==
[[File:DivideAndConquer-UnderseaBase.jpg|center|upright=2.5|thumb|The Decepticon undersea base. Note that it is neither [[Tom Kenny|pineapple]], [[Bill Fagerbakke|rock]], nor tiki head.]]

Writing and distribution for ''The Transformers'' were handled as a joint effort by [[Marvel Productions]] and [[Sunbow Productions]]. The show's premise is based on the original story treatment developed by [[Marvel Comics]] editor-in-chief [[Jim Shooter]], though Marvel productions briefly proposed [[Car and Cable|their own pitch for the show]] separate from Shooter's before being shot down by [[Hasbro]]. Animation was produced overseas by a number of major studios: [[Toei Animation|Toei]] (68 episodes), [[AKOM]] (22 episodes), [[Sei Young Animation Co. Ltd.]] (at least 1 episode), and [[Unknown Generation 1 animation studios|an unknown studio]] (7 episodes). Additional contract services (such as additional animation production, photography, effects and finalization) were sub-contracted to numerous other studios, including: [[Dai Won Animation Co.]], [[Sam Young Studio]], [[Ashi Productions]], [[Trans Arts Co.]], [[Anime R]], [[Nakamura Production]], [[Studio Look]], [[Studio No. 1]] and [[T. Nishimura]].

[[File:CrashedArk1.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|Nobody on Earth noticed this for millions of years.]]
The original 30 or so characters were heavily modified from their toy designs for aesthetics and ease of animation. Among the artists involved in the original designs are [[Shōhei Kohara]] and [[Floro Dery]]. Other known production artists include [[Dell Barras]], who worked on second season backgrounds.

Story editors for the series included [[Dick Robbins]], [[Bryce Malek]], [[Flint Dille]], [[Marv Wolfman]], and [[Steve Gerber]]. Episode scripts were written by a large array of freelance writers. Writers notable for writing numerous episodes include [[Donald F. Glut]] and [[David Wise]].

The series was animated on an enormously rushed schedule, with many episodes going from script to screen in as little as four months, due to the need to get episodes on the air in sync with the toys appearing on shelves. That, combined with the vast number of characters and the difficulties involved with the overseas animation process, resulted in a cartoon that is notoriously riddled with [[animation error]]s and other mistakes. The producers were often aware of these mistakes, but tight deadlines left no time to correct them.

Another byproduct of the rushed production is that the show tends not to be very self-referential. Continuity between episodes is minimal, with most acting as self-contained, standalone stories, though a few Season Two and Season Three stories did build on previous episodes. Within each season, the addition of new characters is the only common change to the status quo.

[[File:ShockwaveDesertionOfTheDinobots1.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|My toy's so great, I bought one myself!]]
Mistakes or not, the show is fondly remembered by many fans for the high quality of its voice acting. Indeed, many characters, lacking any significant plot developments or screen time, were brought to life solely by their unique voices and inflection styles. Voice direction for the series was provided by [[Wally Burr]], notorious for driving his performers to the limit. One of the performers in his stable, [[Susan Blu]], would later go on to work as voice director for ''[[Beast Wars: Transformers (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]'', ''[[Beast Machines: Transformers (cartoon)|Beast Machines]]'', ''[[Transformers Animated (cartoon)|Transformers Animated]]'' and briefly ''[[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)|Transformers: Prime]]''.

The ''sinister'' voice of [[Victor Caroli]] provided narration for the entire series, most commonly heard on the [[commercial bumper]]s: "The Transformers will return after these messages!" Caroli's voice also provided occasional introductory narration, recap segments for multi-part episodes, and the ''[[Secret Files of Teletraan II]]'' segments which ran before the credits of Season 3.

[[File:RollForIt Spacebridge recieves.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|Looks safer than flying United.]]
In addition to the show's iconic [[theme song]], ''Transformers'' featured a great variety of background music, composed by [[Robert J. Walsh]]. Walsh had previously worked on the ''[[G.I. Joe (franchise)|G.I. Joe]]'' cartoon, and many of those pieces were reused for ''Transformers''. New pieces were composed as well, many incorporating the melody of the show's theme song. Walsh composed new music for 2nd and 3rd seasons, each in a different style, further distinguishing the three main seasons from one another.

The show also originated the concept of the iconic "[[Scene transition|symbol flip]]" serving as a transition between scenes, a tradition carried on by some of the later series.

===Credits===

{{see|The Transformers (cartoon)/credits}}
{{--}}

==Episodes==

{{see|List of The Transformers episodes}}

These episodes are listed in "production order", the order in which the episodes were actually approved and written, rather than the order in which they aired on television. In a few instances, this means that episodes are not in the correct chronological story order, the specifics of which are noted in their own articles. Arranging the episodes in airdate order would not solve this problem, and so, as fans have done for as long as there have been ''Transformers'' episode guides on the internet, {{SITENAME SHORT}} adheres to production order, in preference to simply making up a chronological order of our own (any attempt at which would be arguable at best).

The different DVD companies which have released the series down the years have at times presented the episodes of each season in a different order that adheres to neither production nor airdate, sometimes to improve any chronology errors evident in the production order, and other times for no apparent reason. No two English-language DVD releases of the series by different companies have placed all 98 episodes in the same order. [[Metrodome]] stuck closest to production order, only making changes for chronology reasons (and sometimes not even then), while other licensees have strayed from this order to varying degrees. Season 1 has consistently avoided reorganization (as production order is actually the correct story order), but Season 3 is a victim of continuous restructuring that sees its episodes presented in a wildly different order with each release.

Please note that Wikipedia claims that the production order is the correct chronological order for all seasons. However, they have listed the episodes in broadcast order, with a number next to each entry to indicate its story order.

===Season 1===
[[File:Autobot roll call-panning shot stitched-MTMTE1.jpg|centre|thumb|upright=2.5|"Uh Jazz, I think we're missing a few members."]]
{{note|For a list of characters for Season 1, See: ''[[The Transformers (cartoon)/cast#Season 1|The Transformers (cartoon)/cast]]''.}}

[[File:DinobotsG1.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|Remember those [[Dinobot (G1)|dinosaur guys]]? Man, they were awesome.]]
The first season is primarily set on [[Earth]], with a few excursions to [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. It started with the 1984 toys as its characters (with [[Reflector (G1)|some]] [[Shockwave (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|exceptions]]), and introduced the early wave of 1985 toys as it progressed—the [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicons]], [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]], [[Insecticon (G1)|Insecticons]], and [[Jetfire (G1)|Skyfire]].

The first 3 episodes were promoted as a miniseries, airing across three consecutive weekdays. A proper 13-episode season then began broadcasting on a weekly basis, usually on Saturday mornings, the following month. While the 3-episode miniseries and the 13-episode season one are typically combined as a single 16-episode season, production companies such as [[Toei Animation|Toei]] catalog the two separately.<ref>http://web.archive.org/web/20030106084320/http://www.toei-anim.co.jp/oldies/collabo.html Archive of Toei's outsourced productions during the '80s, listing the miniseries and season 1 separately</ref>
{{--}}
{{collist|3|
# "[[More than Meets the Eye, Part 1]]"
# "[[More than Meets the Eye, Part 2]]"
# "[[More than Meets the Eye, Part 3]]"
# "[[Transport to Oblivion (episode)|Transport to Oblivion]]"
# "[[Roll for It]]"
# "[[Divide and Conquer]]"
# "[[Fire in the Sky]]"
# "[[S.O.S. Dinobots]]"
# "[[Fire on the Mountain (episode)|Fire on the Mountain]]"
# "[[War of the Dinobots]]"
# "[[The Ultimate Doom, Part 1]]"
# "[[The Ultimate Doom, Part 2]]"
# "[[The Ultimate Doom, Part 3]]"
# "[[Countdown to Extinction (episode)|Countdown to Extinction]]"
# "[[A Plague of Insecticons]]"
# "[[Heavy Metal War]]"
}}

===Season 2===
[[File:CosmicRust-BigGroup.jpg|center|upright=2.5|thumb|I liked the one with the guy.]]
{{note|For a list of characters for Season 2, See: ''[[The Transformers (cartoon)/cast#Season 2|The Transformers (cartoon)/cast]]''.}}

[[File:Master builders prime basketball.jpg|upright=0.85|thumb|Didn't they make Optimus Prime play soccer or something once? Man, that was dumb.]]
At 49 episodes, the second season of ''The Transformers'' was rather substantial in length. The seemingly random number of 49 was not quite so random, though, as 65 episodes are the minimum requirement for a cartoon series to qualify for syndication status. (And 16 + 49 = 65)<ref>[[tvtropes:Main/SixtyFiveEpisodeCartoon|65-Episode Cartoon on TVTropes]]</ref> In addition to these 49 episodes, a series of 5 [[public service announcement]]s were animated, presumably to accompany the episodes. For whatever reason, these PSAs were never broadcast and the episodes aired without the burden of trying to teach you anything.

The second season greatly expanded the cartoon's scope and cast. This season tends to feature more character-driven episodes than the first, with many characters getting their own "spotlight" episode. It also features a recurring theme of the Autobots assimilating Earth culture, such as playing basketball and football and even watching a soap opera. Excursions to alien civilizations popped up occasionally as well (not to mention time travel, miniaturization, and battles against undersea creatures). The second season also saw the introduction of concepts and characters that would spread out to other segments of the franchise, including the mystic [[Alpha Trion]], the ancient [[Vector Sigma]] supercomputer and its [[Key to Vector Sigma|circuit key]], not to mention the first appearance of [[Female Transformer]]s within official fiction.

This season also marked a move from weekly airings (usually on Saturday mornings) to syndicated weekday broadcasts, airing Monday through Friday, either in the morning or afternoon. Some markets also scheduled it in conjunction with daily episodes of ''[[G.I. Joe (franchise)|G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero]]'' (like WPIX in New York).

Season Two breaks down very roughly into three segments:

*The first thirteen episodes feature (primarily) the Season One cast.
*A large second batch of episodes brings in the remainder of the 1985 toys.
*The final ten episodes introduce the four [[combiner]] teams that formed the early entries in the 1986 line.
{{--}}
{{collist|3|
# "[[Autobot Spike]]"
# "[[Changing Gears]]"
# "[[City of Steel (episode)|City of Steel]]"
# "[[Attack of the Autobots (episode)|Attack of the Autobots]]"
# "[[Traitor (episode)|Traitor]]"
# "[[The Immobilizer]]"
# "[[The Autobot Run]]"
# "[[Atlantis, Arise!]]"
# "[[Day of the Machines]]"
# "[[Enter the Nightbird]]"
# "[[A Prime Problem]]"
# "[[The Core]]"
# "[[The Insecticon Syndrome]]"
# "[[Dinobot Island, Part 1]]"
# "[[Dinobot Island, Part 2]]"
# "[[The Master Builders (episode)|The Master Builders]]"
# "[[Auto Berserk]]"
# "[[Microbots]]"
# "[[Megatron's Master Plan, Part 1]]"
# "[[Megatron's Master Plan, Part 2]]"
# "[[Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 1]]"
# "[[Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 2]]"
# "[[Blaster Blues]]"
# "[[A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court (episode)|A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court]]"
# "[[The Golden Lagoon (episode)|The Golden Lagoon]]"
# "[[The God Gambit]]"
# "[[Make Tracks]]"
# "[[Child's Play (episode)|Child's Play]]"
# "[[Quest for Survival]]"
# "[[The Secret of Omega Supreme (episode)|The Secret of Omega Supreme]]"
# "[[The Gambler]]"
# "[[Kremzeek!]]"
# "[[Sea Change]]"
# "[[Triple Takeover]]"
# "[[Prime Target (episode)|Prime Target]]"
# "[[Auto-Bop]]"
# "[[The Search for Alpha Trion]]"
# "[[The Girl Who Loved Powerglide]]"
# "[[Hoist Goes Hollywood (episode)|Hoist Goes Hollywood]]"
# "[[The Key to Vector Sigma, Part 1]]"
# "[[The Key to Vector Sigma, Part 2]]"
# "[[Aerial Assault]]"
# "[[War Dawn (episode)|War Dawn]]"
# "[[Trans-Europe Express]]"
# "[[Cosmic Rust (episode)|Cosmic Rust]]"
# "[[Starscream's Brigade]]"
# "[[The Revenge of Bruticus]]"
# "[[Masquerade]]"
# "[[B.O.T. (episode)|B.O.T.]]"
}}

===Intermediate===
[[File:Tftm1986b.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Then they like, killed him in the movie. Man, that was awesome.]]
''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'' is in continuity with the cartoon series, occurring 20 years after the end of Season 2 (in the then-futuristic year of 2005). It was the single biggest turning point for the series, and remains controversial. The movie saw the introductions of [[Unicron]], the [[Quintesson]]s, and the [[Matrix of Leadership]], all of which would play important roles in Season 3. It made radical changes to the show's cast, killing off many characters and introducing new ones—a shock to young viewers who were used to their heroes driving off into the sunset at the end of every adventure.

Despite its unconventional place in the cartoon canon, it remains the best-known representation of the cartoon series among fans.

{{--}}

===Season 3===
{{note|For a list of characters for Season 3, See: ''[[The Transformers (cartoon)/cast#The Transformers: The Movie and Season 3|The Transformers (cartoon)/cast]]''.}}
[[File:Intro3 4 with error.jpg|upright=1.5|thumb|They didn't make any more cartoons after the movie. Yeah, the movie totally killed Transformers.]]
Season 3 ''transformed'' the whole premise of the show. Gone were the two teams stranded on Earth, along with many of the characters that composed those teams. In their place was a galaxy-spanning tale of battles on alien worlds. With the Autobots in firm control of Cybertron, the Decepticons, though still a threat, were somewhat reduced as villains; new enemies in the form of the [[Quintesson]]s were introduced. Plots often centered on the ultra-powerful [[Titan (group)|city-bot]]s, [[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]] and [[Trypticon (G1)|Trypticon]].

Season 3 has a mixed reputation. It contains some of the most mistake-laden episodes of the entire franchise ("Five Faces of Darkness", "Carnage in C Minor", the [[title sequence]] at right) most of which can be laid at the feet of [[AKOM]]. But some of its episodes are among the best as well, both in animation and scripting; "Dark Awakening", "Chaos", "Webworld", and "Dweller in the Depths" are all heavy fan favorites.

Late in Season 3, as in Season 2, the forerunners of the 1987 toy line were introduced: the [[Terrorcon (G1)|Terrorcons]], [[Technobot (G1)|Technobot]]s, and [[Throttlebot]]s, and (very briefly) the cassettes [[Slugfest (G1)|Slugfest]] and [[Overkill (G1)|Overkill]]. The season concluded with the resurrection of Optimus Prime, spurred on by a massive campaign on the part of fans, who were displeased by his death and subsequent "evil" resurrection.
{{--}}
{{collist|3|
# "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1]]"
# "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2]]"
# "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 3]]"
# "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4]]"
# "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5]]"
# "[[The Killing Jar (episode)|The Killing Jar]]"
# "[[Chaos (episode)|Chaos]]"
# "[[Dark Awakening (episode)|Dark Awakening]]"
# "[[Forever Is a Long Time Coming (episode)|Forever Is a Long Time Coming]]"
# "[[Starscream's Ghost]]"
# "[[Thief in the Night]]"
# "[[Surprise Party]]"
# "[[Madman's Paradise]]"
# "[[Nightmare Planet]]"
# "[[Ghost in the Machine (G1)|Ghost in the Machine]]"
# "[[Webworld]]"
# "[[Carnage in C-Minor]]"
# "[[The Quintesson Journal]]"
# "[[The Ultimate Weapon]]"
# "[[The Big Broadcast of 2006 (episode)|The Big Broadcast of 2006]]"
# "[[Fight or Flee (episode)|Fight or Flee]]"
# "[[The Dweller in the Depths]]"
# "[[Only Human]]"
# "[[Grimlock's New Brain]]"
# "[[Money Is Everything (episode)|Money Is Everything]]"
# "[[Call of the Primitives]]"
# "[[The Face of the Nijika]]"
# "[[The Burden Hardest to Bear]]"
# "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]"
# "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 2]]"
}}

{{--}}

===Season 4===
{{note|For a list of characters for Season 4, See: ''[[The Transformers (cartoon)/cast#Season 4|The Transformers (cartoon)/cast]]''.}}
[[File:Bumblebee and Goldbug.jpg|upright=1.6|thumb|They kept making the toys? But weren't those like, [[Action Master|the ones that couldn't transform]] or something?]]
According to [[David Wise]], he was contacted by [[Sunbow Productions]] to write a ''five''-part series finale which would introduce a deluge of new characters while simultaneously tying up the series. Shortly after Wise completed the five-episode outline, however, a budget cutback reduced it to a ''three''-parter. This created a massive headache for the writer, who did the math and claimed that they'd be introducing a new character just about every 28 or 90 seconds.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVRk-sOMZ6Y Interview from Rhino Season 3/4 DVD set]</ref> [[Dan Gilvezan]] also expressed his confusion at the truncated season, as 98 episodes didn't fit into a syndicated weekday broadcast schedule (which needed to be divisible by 5).<ref>''Bumblebee and Me: Life as a G1 Transformer'', by Dan Gilvezan</ref>

In the end, 25 brand new Transformers and 21 [[Nebulan]]s, that's 46 new characters in all, were introduced across these final three episodes. Well, that's assuming you count [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress Maximus]] and [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] as separate characters from [[Cerebros (G1)|Cerebros]] and [[Zarak (G1)|Zarak]]... and [[Punch (G1)|Punch]] and [[Punch (G1)|Counterpunch]] as one guy.

While the previous three seasons each featured fully original [[title sequence]]s, season 4's title sequence was more economically cobbled together. By combining animation taken from toy commercials (produced by [[Toei Animation|Toei]]) and animation from the season 3 title sequence (produced by [[AKOM]]), they crafted a "new" title sequence (which used the season 3 rendition of the theme song). A clever ploy, though the difference in animation quality and art style between segments produced by Toei and AKOM leads to the footage blending rather poorly.

# "[[The Rebirth, Part 1]]"
# "[[The Rebirth, Part 2]]"
# "[[The Rebirth, Part 3]]"

{{--}}

===Season 5===
[[File:Puppetpmprime.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Man, I wish they'd made a fifth season. It would've been awesome.]]

Season 5 did not feature any new episodes, but rather consisted of 15 episodes from the previous seasons and ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'' broken up into five episodes, for a total of 20 episodes. A music video for "[[The Touch]]" was also used to fill time.

In addition to a new [[title sequence]] and new [[commercial bumper]]s, new bookending segments were added to each episode. These segments featured an animatronic/stop-motion puppet of [[Powermaster]] [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] meeting regularly with a live-action human named [[Tommy Kennedy]] to tell him old Transformers stories. While the stories were old, the bookending segments took place in a contemporary time with Optimus regularly name dropping characters who never appeared in the older episodes, but were currently available on store shelves.

Production of the segments fell under [[Tim Speidel]], a producer for [[Griffin Bacal]] (the New York-based advertising company which co-developed ''The Transformers'').<ref>http://digestmybrain.wordpress.com/2011/09/22/my-conversation-with-tim-speidel/</ref> The Optimus Prime puppet was operated by [[Marty Robinson]], a famous puppeteer best known for his work on ''Sesame Street'' providing the mouthplate movement and on-set voice, with an assistant performing the head turns. Filming of these segments was completed in one week during June, 1988, at Silver Cup Studios in Queens, New York. Powermaster Optimus Prime was made of wood and very fragile in certain areas, requiring actor [[Jason Jansen]] to watch his step while filming. Apparently, at one point a camera rig fell over onto the wooden Optimus Prime hand right where Jansen would have been sitting if he hadn't been eating a bagel at the craft services table. A crane operator who was strapped to the camera wasn't so fortunate and "rode" the falling equipment down for 40 feet.<ref>http://digestmybrain.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/tommy-kennedy-found-an-interview-with-jason-jansen/</ref>

{{collist|3|
# "[[More than Meets the Eye, Part 1#Season 5|More than Meets the Eye, Part 1]]"
# "[[More than Meets the Eye, Part 2#Season 5|More than Meets the Eye, Part 2]]"
# "[[More than Meets the Eye, Part 3#Season 5|More than Meets the Eye, Part 3]]"
# [[The Transformers: The Movie#Day One|''The Transformers: The Movie'' (Day One)]]
# [[The Transformers: The Movie#Day Two|''The Transformers: The Movie'' (Day Two)]]
# [[The Transformers: The Movie#Day Three|''The Transformers: The Movie'' (Day Three)]]
# [[The Transformers: The Movie#Day Four|''The Transformers: The Movie'' (Day Four)]]
# [[The Transformers: The Movie#Day Five|''The Transformers: The Movie'' (Day Five)]]
# "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1#Season 5|Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1]]"
# "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2#Season 5|Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2]]"
# "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 3#Season 5|Five Faces of Darkness, Part 3]]"
# "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4#Season 5|Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4]]"
# "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5#Season 5|Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5]]"
# "[[Surprise Party#Season 5|Surprise Party]]"
# "[[Dark Awakening (episode)#Season 5|Dark Awakening]]"
# "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1#Season 5|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]"
# "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 2#Season 5|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 2]]"
# "[[The Rebirth, Part 1#Season 5|The Rebirth, Part 1]]"
# "[[The Rebirth, Part 2#Season 5|The Rebirth, Part 2]]"
# "[[The Rebirth, Part 3#Season 5|The Rebirth, Part 3]]"
}}

{{--}}

===The Sci-Fi Channel===

[[File:CartoonQuestTitleCard.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|They totally never showed the old episodes on TV again after G1.]]

From 1992 to 1997, the Sci-Fi Channel rotated reruns of ''The Transformers'' in and out of their early morning cartoon programming blocks, [[Cartoon Quest]] and [[Animation Station]]. These broadcasts used a unique version of the [[title sequence]], which featured the season 2 animation set to the season 3 rendition of the [[theme song]].

Unfortunately, due to longer commercial slots, the decision was made to edit the cartoon down. Sometimes this was done in a comparatively harmless fashion, but other times the flow of scenes and even the plot suffered. In one of the most notorious edits, two lines from [[Grapple (G1)|Grapple]] and [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] in "[[Masquerade]]" ended up smooshed into a single nonsensical jumble: "Time to add fire torobably hate myself in the morning, but—"

Unusually, the Sci-Fi Channel network run '''overlapped''' with the ''Generation 2'' syndication run; at one point the Sci-Fi Channel even ran a contest where kids could submit postcards to win ''G2'' toys.

{{--}}

===Generation 2===

[[File:G2CartoonLogo.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|The reason G2 sucked is they didn't even have a show. There was like, nothing on.]]

Between 1993 and 1995, a total of 52 select episodes of ''The Transformers'' were repackaged as a new program: ''The Transformers: Generation 2''. The episodes featured new transitioning segments via the [[Cybernet Space Cube]] as well as a new [[title sequence]].
{{See|Transformers: Generation 2 (cartoon)|Transformers: Generation 2}}

{{--}}

===The Hub Network/Discovery Family===

[[File:Hub-CobraPaloozaMegatronAThon.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Nope. ''Definitely'' never showed the old episodes again.]]

Beginning in October 2010, ''The Transformers'' made its return to American television via [[Hub Network|The Hub Network]], a cable network jointly owned by [[Hasbro]]. ''The Transformers'' episodes were aired uncut and unaltered for the first time since their original broadcast (though the on-demand version of "[[Heavy Metal War]]" inexplicably used the infamous [[Kid Rhino]] version with unfinished animation). However, for scheduling and advertising purposes, the series was rebranded ''The Transformers: Generation 1''. This kept it from potentially getting confused with the [[Transformers Animated (cartoon)|many]] [[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)|other]] ''[[Transformers: Rescue Bots (cartoon)|Transformers]]'' cartoons which were airing simultaneously on the network. Despite this, nothing was done to alter the opening credits, which still say ''The Transformers''.

Incidentally, it ''also'' means that exactly the same episodes of ''The Transformers'' have been rebranded as "Generation 1" ''and'' "Generation 2"... and in reverse order, at that.

''The Transformers'' aired on the [[Huboom!]] programming block in all its various forms (changing hosts, time slots and theme every couple of years). New [[Commercial/Generation 1#2011|commercial segments]] frequently reworked animation from old episodes of ''The Transformers'', combining them with new voice overs (often from the original cast) to create humorous situations. Lo and behold, we now have [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]] bickering with [[Cobra Commander]].

In October 2014, The Hub Network was replaced with [[Discovery Family]] and reruns were moved to the early-morning slot, as Discovery Communications began programming evenings on the channel.

At the beginning of 2017, however, the series was removed from the lineup entirely, only to return without warning around mid 2020, airing on weekdays at 3 AM, where the ''Transformers'' and ''G.I. Joe'' series have mainly been banished to due to Discovery Family's main demographic skewing female (hence why ''[[Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015 cartoon)|Robots in Disguise]]'' and ''[[Transformers: Cyberverse (cartoon)|Cyberverse]]'' were aired on [[Cartoon Network]]).

{{--}}

==International Releases==
===Japanese release===
In Japan, ''The Transformers'' was broken apart into 2 separately branded shows:

====''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers''====

{{nav-fsrltf}}

'''''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers''''' (戦え! 超ロボット生命体トランスフォーマー, ''Tatakae! Chō Robotto Seimeitai Transformers'') began airing in 1985, consisting of the North American season 1 and 2 episodes. Although 2 episodes out of the original 65 were cut ("[[Attack of the Autobots (episode)|Attack of the Autobots]]" and "[[Day of the Machines]]"), an additional 9 [[clip show]]s were created, composed entirely of re-used footage taken from various episodes, bringing the total number of ''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'' episodes to 72. The 2 missing episodes were later dubbed in 1990 and released straight-to-video, then retroactively added to the series episode list, boosting its official count to 74 episodes.

{{collist|4|
# "[[More than Meets the Eye, Part 1]]"
# "[[More than Meets the Eye, Part 2]]"
# "[[More than Meets the Eye, Part 3]]"
# "[[Transport to Oblivion (episode)|Transport to Oblivion]]"
# "[[Roll for It]]"
# "[[Divide and Conquer]]"
# "[[S.O.S. Dinobots]]"
# "[[War of the Dinobots]]"
# "[[Countdown to Extinction (episode)|Countdown to Extinction]]"
# "[[Heavy Metal War]]"
# "[[Autobot Spike]]"
# "[[Changing Gears]]"
# "[[Traitor (episode)|Traitor]]"
# "[[Birth of the Transformers!]]"{{dag|red}}
# "[[The Immobilizer]]"
# "[[Atlantis, Arise!]]"
# "[[Enter the Nightbird]]"
# "[[Dinobot Island, Part 1]]"
# "[[Dinobot Island, Part 2]]"
# "[[The Master Builders (episode)|The Master Builders]]"
# "[[The Insecticon Syndrome]]"
# "[[A Prime Problem]]"
# "[[City of Steel (episode)|City of Steel]]"
# "[[Auto Berserk]]"
# "[[Microbots]]"
# "[[Megatron's Master Plan, Part 1]]"
# "[[Megatron's Master Plan, Part 2]]"
# "[[Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 1]]"
# "[[Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 2]]"
# "[[A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court (episode)|A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court]]"
# "[[The Golden Lagoon (episode)|The Golden Lagoon]]"
# "[[The God Gambit]]"
# "[[Make Tracks]]"
# "[[Quest for Survival]]"
# "[[The Secret of Omega Supreme (episode)|The Secret of Omega Supreme]]"
# "[[The Gambler]]"
# "[[The Girl Who Loved Powerglide]]"
# "[[Kremzeek!]]"
# "[[Triple Takeover]]"
# "[[Child's Play (episode)|Child's Play]]"
# "[[The Search for Alpha Trion]]"
# "[[The Key to Vector Sigma, Part 1]]"
# "[[The Key to Vector Sigma, Part 2]]"
# "[[Sea Change]]"
# "[[Hoist Goes Hollywood (episode)|Hoist Goes Hollywood]]"
# "[[Aerial Assault]]"
# "[[Trans-Europe Express]]"
# "[[Cosmic Rust (episode)|Cosmic Rust]]"
# "[[The Core]]"
# "[[Blaster Blues]]"
# "[[Prime Target (episode)|Prime Target]]"
# "[[Auto-Bop]]"
# "[[Starscream's Brigade]]"
# "[[The Revenge of Bruticus]]"
# "[[War Without End (episode)|War Without End]]"{{dag|red}}
# "[[Desperate Battle on Dinobot Island]]"{{dag|red}}
# "[[Devastator, the Giant Warrior]]"{{dag|red}}
# "[[Neverending Struggle]]"{{dag|red}}
# "[[B.O.T. (episode)|B.O.T.]]"
# "[[War Dawn (episode)|War Dawn]]"
# "[[Masquerade]]"
# "[[Fire in the Sky]]"
# "[[Fire on the Mountain (episode)|Fire on the Mountain]]"
# "[[A Plague of Insecticons]]"
# "[[The Autobot Run]]"
# "[[The Ultimate Doom, Part 1]]"
# "[[The Ultimate Doom, Part 2]]"
# "[[The Ultimate Doom, Part 3]]"
# "[[Earth's Greatest Crisis]]"{{dag|red}}
# "[[Seek the Cybertonium]]"{{dag|red}}
# "[[Stunticons vs Aerialbots]]"{{dag|red}}
# "[[Mutiny of the Combaticons]]"{{dag|red}}
# "[[Attack of the Autobots (episode)|Attack of the Autobots]]"{{dag|black}}
# "[[Day of the Machines]]"{{dag|black}}
}}
{{dag|red}} ''Added [[clip show]]'' 
{{dag|black}} ''{{w|Direct-to-video}}''

The broadcast order of the series was significantly reworked, with most of the episodes featuring [[Jetfire (G1)#Why "Skyfire"?|Skyfire]] being pushed to the end of the run (presumably owing the character's shaky status as a Bandai toy in Japan). Contrary to what would be sensible, this did ''not'' involve correcting any of the chronological errors present in the original order; in fact, it even created some new ones. The pack-in booklet included with the {{w|LaserDisc}} and DVD sets from [[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Pioneer]] includes the original production order with liner notes explaining some of the continuity issues and choices behind the Japanese airing order.

Perhaps most notoriously, the episodes were edited before their broadcast in Japan. These edits were made not for content, but for length so that the show could accommodate longer opening and ending [[Title sequence|sequence]]s. The combined length of the U.S. opening and ending sequences was about 1 minute and 10 seconds. The combined length of the Japanese opening and ending sequences, however, was about 2 minutes and 20 seconds. This resulted in roughly 1 minute and 10 seconds of content being cut from every single episode.

The translation in terms of script and story was faithful in regards to the original English version (the same cannot be said of the translations of ''[[Beast Wars: Transformers (cartoon)#Japan|Beast Wars]]'' and onward). However, the dub was at times rushed and had its own unique errors, primarily in terms of matching the right voices and names to the characters on screen. Some examples of character identification mistakes include "[[More than Meets the Eye, Part 3]]", in which it is '' [[Thundercracker (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Thundercracker]]'' who requests permission to teleport and attack [[Ironhide (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ironhide]], and "[[Divide and Conquer]]", where ''[[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]]'' voices the teleporting [[Seeker (body-type)|Seeker]] rather than [[Skywarp (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Skywarp]] (as a result, to Japanese viewers, it appears as though teleportation is a trait inherent in all Seekers and not just Skywarp). One of the worst examples would come in "[[The Master Builders (episode)|The Master Builders]]", as Megatron orders Blitzwing into battle, though the jet is clearly Ramjet (Ramjet is even dubbed with Blitzwing's voice). Another notable change made in the Japanese dub were the many different names given to some of the characters (Convoy as Optimus Prime, Lambor as Sideswipe, Bumble as Bumblebee, Jaguar as Ravage, Gong as Brawn, Cliff as Cliffjumper, so on and so on), all of which were used in the Japanese releases of Generation 1 toys, while some characters kept their original names (Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, Thundercracker). The changed names would be the staple for every Japanese Transformers content until 2007, since then Takara Tomy has been using the original English names for every content since then.

It is entirely possible that the translation for the series was done using preliminary scripts rather than the finished versions, resulting in the additional errors. The Japanese dub began airing 8 months after the American broadcast of the series and very quickly caught up with the United States. As a matter of fact, the episodes "[[Autobot Spike]]" and "[[Changing Gears]]" premiered in Japan several weeks ''before'' they aired in the US! Other evidence indicating translation was made from draft scripts can be seen in "[[Trans-Europe Express]]", where the [[Pearl of Bahoudin]] is referred to as the "Pearl of Jehuddin", the name it carried in preliminary scripts but changed for the final version.

Although primary characters such as Megatron, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, etc., had consistent actors, the dub was ''extremely'' loose in terms of casting its secondary characters. Bluestreak, for example, had no less than ''seven'' different actors portray him over the course of the series (though [[Kōki Kataoka]] is typically credited as his "standard" voice actor). By the looks of things, if a secondary character only received one or two lines in a given episode, then whatever actor was on hand in the studio would be called in to play them, consistency be damned.

Additionally, the Japanese dub of ''Transformers'' was geared toward a younger audience than the original English version. While the dialogue and stories remained faithful in localization, the episodes received '''extensive''' [[Narrator|narration]] from [[Issei Masamune]]. The additional narration was relentless to the point of becoming play-by-play commentary. The narrator would constantly describe what was happening on screen, summarize scenes and dialogue immediately after they were seen or spoken, and generally just provide needless asides such as "And then!" "Suddenly!" and "Meanwhile!" This was done to help the younger Japanese viewers follow along with the story, though later domestically produced Japanese ''Transformers'' animation would not include such excessive narration.

''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'' aired on various local [[Nihon TV]] affiliates and as a result, some episodes were preempted in some areas ("[[The Golden Lagoon (episode)|The Golden Lagoon]]", for example, only aired in the Kansai region, while "[[The Girl Who Loved Powerglide]]" aired in every region ''but'' the Kansai region). The opening theme was "[[Transformer (song)|TRANSFORMER]]" by [[Satoko Shimonari]] and the ending theme was "[[Peace Again]]" also by Shimonari. The Japanese dubs sound direction was provided by [[Shōzō Tajima]].

====''Scramble City''====

[[File:Scramble city logo.jpg|center|250x200px]]

An additional {{w|Original Video Animation|OVA special}} was produced as a spin-off of ''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers''. The special was released to home video in [[April]] [[1986]], placing it somewhere between the Japanese broadcast of "[[Kremzeek!]]" and "[[The Key to Vector Sigma, Part 1]]." Primarily concerned with introducing the toys in its [[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers (toyline)#1986 (Scramble City and 2010)|accompanying subline]], the special included the Japanese screen debuts of the [[Aerialbot (G1)|four]] [[Stunticon (G1)|1986]] [[Protectobot (G1)|combiner]] [[Combaticon (G1)|teams]] (the titular [[Scramble Power|Scrambles]]), [[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]] and [[Trypticon (G1)|Trypticon]] (the titular cities), and [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] and [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]], here dubbed "[[City Commander]]s."
{{See|Scramble City: Mobilization}}

====''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010''====

{{nav-2010}}

'''''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010''''' (戦え! 超ロボット生命体トランスフォーマー 2010 ''Tatakae! Chō Robotto Seimeitai Transformers Ni-Zero-Ichi-Zero'') began airing in 1986, consisting of the North American season 3 episodes. All 30 episodes were dubbed for ''Transformers 2010'' and 2 additional clip episodes were produced, bringing the total to 32 episodes.

{{collist|3|
# "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1]]"
# "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2]]"
# "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 3]]"
# "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4]]"
# "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5]]"
# "[[Thief in the Night]]"
# "[[Starscream's Ghost]]"
# "[[Dark Awakening (episode)|Dark Awakening]]"
# "[[Forever Is a Long Time Coming (episode)|Forever Is a Long Time Coming]]"
# "[[The Killing Jar (episode)|The Killing Jar]]"
# "[[Chaos (episode)|Chaos]]"
# "[[Madman's Paradise]]"
# "[[Surprise Party]]"
# "[[Carnage in C-Minor]]"
# "[[Fight or Flee (episode)|Fight or Flee]]"
# "[[Ghost in the Machine (G1)|Ghost in the Machine]]"
# "[[Webworld]]"
# "[[The Dweller in the Depths]]"
# "[[The Quintesson Journal]]"
# "[[The Ultimate Weapon]]"
# "[[The Big Broadcast of 2006 (episode)|The Big Broadcast of 2006]]"
# "[[Only Human]]"
# "[[Money Is Everything (episode)|Money Is Everything]]"
# "[[Nightmare Planet]]"
# "[[Grimlock's New Brain]]"
# "[[Call of the Primitives]]"
# "[[The Face of the Nijika]]"
# "[[The Burden Hardest to Bear]]"
# "[[Daniel's Adventure]]"{{dag|red}}
# "[[The Desperate Struggle of Justice]]"{{dag|red}}
# "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]"
# "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 2]]"
}}
{{dag|red}} ''Added [[clip show]]''

As with ''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'', ''Transformers 2010'' considerably reordered the sequence of episodes. However, rather than restore the narrative order (as the North American broadcast had jumbled up the story arcs), the Japanese broadcast actually made things ''worse''. And as with ''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'', Pioneer's LaserDisc and DVD sets for ''Transformers 2010'' include a "narrative viewing order" list in the pack-in booklet.

''Transformers 2010'' received the same editing treatment as its predecessor, losing scenes to make room for the longer title and credits sequences. Likewise, it received all the excessive narration and was prone to the same rotating cast members and character identification hiccups. In regards to the latter, it could become especially problematic when the ''narrator'' was the one misidentifying the characters (in "[[The Burden Hardest to Bear]]", the narrator mistakenly identifies Wildrider and Dead End as Runabout and Runamuck).

Again, as with ''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'', there is evidence the ''Transformers 2010'' translation was done using draft scripts and not the finished versions. This often bled into promotional material, such as a rather [[:File:TVMagazineStarscreamsGhost1.jpg|infamous advertisement]] for "[[Starscream's Ghost]]" which featured [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] as the main character rather than [[Octane]] (as it was written in early drafts of the episode, but changed by the final version).

In addition to the extensive narration to hold the viewer's hand, ''Transformers 2010'' also received brand new text captions which had not been often utilized in ''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers''. These captions would appear on screen to designate locations (be they planets, countries or cities) and to identify new characters whenever they first appeared (including both names and functions). The [[Secret Files of Teletraan II]] segments were also reworked; some were dubbed, some were dropped and some brand new ones exclusive to ''Transformers 2010'' were created.

The release of ''[[The Transformers: The Movie/dubs#Japan|The Transformers: The Movie]]'' was delayed in Japan and was not available between ''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'' and ''Transformers 2010''. To help viewers acclimate to the new status quo, explanatory material was published in the pages of ''[[TV Magazine]]'', describing the events of ''The Movie'' as the "[[Unicron War]]" and summarizing vital events from the film (such as Optimus Prime's death, Rodimus Prime's ascension and Megatron's upgrade into Galvatron). ''The Movie'' would eventually be released straight-to-video in 1989.

Like ''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'', ''Transformers 2010'' was broadcast on various local Nihon TV affiliates, resulting in preemptions in certain areas ("[[The Face of the Nijika]]" for example). The opening theme was "[[Transformer 2010]]" by [[Shō Hirose]] and the ending theme was "[[What's You]]" also by Hirose.

====''Transformers: The Rebirth''====

[[File:RebirthYoshiokaLaserDiscArt.jpg|center|300x200px]]

The season 4 episodes of ''The Transformers'' were not originally broadcast in Japan, with [[TakaraTomy|Takara]] instead electing to produce a brand new series to continue the story of their animated continuity: ''[[Transformers: The Headmasters (cartoon)|The Headmasters]]''. However, all 3 episodes were eventually released straight-to-video in 1996 as '''''Transformers: The Rebirth''''' (トランスフォーマーザ・リバース). The episodes received their much-belated Japanese television broadcast in 2007 on [[Cartoon Network|Cartoon Network Japan]].

To differentiate "The Rebirth" from the Japanese continuity of ''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'', the episodes were released under the American ''The Transformers'' branding. This included using the American [[title sequence]] and [[commercial bumper]]s (undubbed). To further this distinction, the dub used English-language names and terminology for the most part ("Hot Rod" was not changed to "Hot Rodimus" and "Kup" was not changed to "Cher", for example) while maintaining the Japanese-exclusive names for the more high-profile characters ("Convoy" was not changed to "Optimus Prime", for example).

Inconsistencies in translation choices aside, there were some bizarre errors in the dub; names attributed to characters or groups that existed in neither the English or Japanese versions. Scorponok is referred to as "Scorpion", the Throttlebots are referred to as the "Slot Robots", and in the Japanese subtitles of the English version, the Technobots are referred to as the "Tech Robots". The fact booklet (written by [[Hirofumi Ichikawa]]) included with the ''Transformers 2010'' DVD set specifically cites these instances as translation errors and not deliberate changes.

Only three actors from ''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'' and ''Transformers 2010'' returned to voice their respective characters: [[Tesshō Genda]] (Optimus Prime), [[Seizō Katō]] (Galvatron) and [[Issei Masamune]] (narrator). Every other cast member was replaced with a soundalike, to varying degrees of success. The voice direction for these episodes was conducted by [[Shōzō Tajima]].

===Brazilian release===
In [[Brazil]], most of the show was dubbed at the Herbert Richers studio in Rio de Janeiro, the most prominent Brazilian dubbing studio of the 20th century, and began airing in 1986 on Rede Globo in a weekly Sunday schedule, being later moved to weekdays with broadcasts from Monday through Friday. Due to how centralized the dubbing scene was at the time, most of the voice actors in ''The Transformers'' were the same people who dubbed basically every single movie and television series of the 1980s. Just like in the Japanese dub, however, only some of the main characters featured consistent voice actors for most of their episodes, with even Optimus himself getting his voice replaced halfway through the series, while everyone else got dubbed by whatever actors were available at the studio at any given time.

Regardless of that, the 80s dub is beloved by most fans who grew up with it and is considered one of the best cartoon dubs of its era. Most of the time, the characters were given very suiting voices that were even modulated to sound "robotic" just like in the American version, though they didn't had the means to recreate Soundwave's highly stylized voice pattern. As for localization, different from the comics which changed the name of almost every character to a Portuguese word, the cartoon kept most names intact with just a few exceptions; most famously, the Stunticons are referred to as the "Acrobaticons", and Optimus Prime is ''always'' called "Leader Optimus" or simply "Leader" whenever someone calls him "Prime" in the original. So yes, even Megatron calls him "Leader" all the time!

For unclear reasons, this dub (and subsequently the broadcast) of the show skipped the "More than Meets the Eye" miniseries and began with "Transport to Oblivion"; years later, the miniseries would be dubbed by ETC Filmes, a small studio located in São Paulo, and released on DVD by NBO Entertainment. They also released their own dub of "The Autobot Run", an episode inexplicably skipped by Herbert Richers. Unfortunately, this dub did a very poor job at casting its voice actors, giving most characters very unfitting voices that were left completely unmodulated; in a particularly egregious case, Optimus and Megatron are made to sound just like two regular thirty-something guys trying their best to overact each and every line of dialogue given to them.

Despite having been handled by two different studios over the years, the show was still left incomplete as far as anyone in the fandom could tell; specifically, the episodes "Kremzeek!", "Aerial Assault", "Starscream's Ghost" and everything between "Call of the Primitives" and "The Rebirth, Part 3" are not known to have ever been released in the country. Whether they were in fact never dubbed, were dubbed but never got to air, or did actually get aired but ended up being lost to time is still a mystery, though the first alternative seems to be the most plausible. Due to how haphazard dubs were made back then, it's possible that Herbert Richers skipped those episodes by pure accident and then never got to finish the rest of the show simply due to a lack of incentive. Similarly, it's possible ETC Filmes was planning on dubbing the remaining episodes just like they did with "The Autobot Run", but had their DVD releases cancelled before they could get to them. Because of this, the Brazilian release of the show is believed to have ended with the episode "Money is Everything".

As is also the case with [[The Transformers: The Movie/dubs#Brazil|the 1986 movie]], official home releases of the Brazilian dubs are extremely hard to find, with most episodes from season 2 onwards having never been released in home media to begin with. In fact, it's very likely that those episodes have only survived to this day thanks to TV recordings done by fans back when the show was still on air. As a result of this carelessness on the part of the distributors, the unknown state of preservation of the original recordings and the potential rights issues that may very well entangle them, it's effectively impossible for them to be reused in any way, meaning that an entirely new dub would necessarily have to be created from the ground up before the show could ever see another release for Brazilian audiences again.

===Latin America===
The shows aired in at least Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Argentina, Costa Rica, and Colombia. The dub was recorded at [[Magnum Estudios]] in Los Angeles California, using Spanish speaking expatriates (including a number of up-and-coming Mexican voice actors).

==Home video releases==
{{main|The Transformers (cartoon)/home video}}

==Notes==
[[File:G1 cartoon titles.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The Transformers will return once they have found their definite article.]]
[[File:WorldOfHectorRamirez.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|No universe is safe from being Hectored.]]
*Both the [[The Transformers (toyline)|toyline]] and the [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|Marvel comic]] used a definite article for their title, thus making the franchise's official name "''The'' Transformers" during its early years. At first sight, the cartoon appears to be the odd one out: The opening credits for all four seasons simply render the show's name as "Transformers", without "The"... except for the end of the season 2 opening credits. In addition, the [[commercial bumper]]s ''do'' use the definite article consistently. We have therefore chosen to use the version that matches both the toy line and the comic for the sake of consistency.
*While answering a letter from a fan in the [[Letters page (Marvel UK)|letters page]] to [[The Legacy of Unicron!|Issue #146]], the [[Grimlock (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Grimlock]] from the [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|UK Marvel Comics]] revealed that he totally knows all about ''The Transformers'' cartoon series. He claims the Marvel Comics depict the events as they actually happened and the cartoon is fictional.
*Looking at the production codes of the series reveals some choice tidbits:
**The series pilot, "More than Meets the Eye", was produced under a set of different production codes, as it was created before ''Transformers'' was expanded to become an ongoing series. After the pilot, the episode production numbers begin afresh with "700-01" ("Transport to Oblivion"), and proceeded in order until the end of the first season, with "700-13" ("Heavy Metal War"). At the beginning of the second season, it seems the production codes were adjusted to account for the three parts of "More than Meets the Eye", but someone's math was off by a digit: the first episode of the season, "Autobot Spike," was "700-16," instead of "700-17." This out-by-one numbering continued through the entire second season, ending with the 65th episode, "B.O.T.", as "700-64."
**The original intention of season 3 was to correct this numbering error and begin with "700-66," but after several episodes had moved into production, the decision was made to amend the numbering of the season and start with "700-86"—internal Sunbow documentation available on the Metrodome DVD release of the series shows each episode of "[[Five Faces of Darkness]]" numbered 700-66 through -70, crossed out and renamed 700-86 through -90 by hand, and a model sheet for [[Beta (G1)|Beta]] identified "Forever Is a Long Time Coming" as episode "700-74," when its finalized production number was "700-94". Presumably, this was done in reference to the year, 1986, to mark a new "era" for the series now that new writers and story editors were in charge of production.
**There is no episode with production code 700–109. "Only Human" was 700–108, while "Grimlock's New Brain" was 700–110; many online sources list "Money Is Everything" as episode 700-109 and instead omit 700–111, but Sunbow documentation consistently proves this incorrect. A piece of internal correspondence from Marvel Productions<ref>[https://twitter.com/MSipher/status/1107399668361650176 Marvel Productions internal correspondance, posted by MSipher on Twitter]</ref> reveals that this is because "[[The Face of the Nijika]]" was originally episode 109, but it was "put on hold" by Hasbro for unknown reasons, and when revised, was given the new number of 700–113.
*Twelve episodes were released as audio adventures by the [[Germany|German]] company [[Karussell|Karussell Musik und Video]] (featuring dialogue from the German dub of the cartoon by Polyband with new background music from Karussell's own library), a common practice at the time.
*Cartoon writers are a sneaky lot, and quietly put references to ''[[G.I. Joe (franchise)|G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero]]'', another show they were working on at the same time, into ''The Transformers''. [[Daina]] of the Soviet Oktober Guard ("[[Prime Target (episode)|Prime Target]]"), [[Flint (G.I. Joe)|Flint]] as [[Marissa Faireborn]]'s dad ("[[The Killing Jar (episode)|The Killing Jar]]"), and an elderly [[Cobra Commander]] ("[[Only Human]]") all appear. We also see journalist [[Hector Ramirez]] ("[[Prime Target (episode)|Prime Target]]"), who appeared in almost ''everything'' Hasbro and Sunbow were doing at the time.
{{--}}

==External links==
*[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvMHCfwLXJRYGTnvIQX9Hmwq_Q35qnaD8 Complete ''The Transformers'' playlist on YouTube]
*[http://groups.google.com/group/net.comics/browse_thread/thread/eab15c298a61cdfb/fce7a2ddb7e35a81 1985 net.comics review]
*[http://www.reocities.com/Area51/Comet/5606/tfepgd.html Aaron Marsh's Transformers Episode Guide] — Including variants and repackagings
*[http://www.facebook.com/pages/Transformers/9160392217 Transformers on Facebook] - Includes information on Matrix of Leadership Box Set
*[https://sunbowmarvelarchive.blogspot.com/p/mp-700-transformers-part-1-1984-1985.html Scripts and storyboards for Season 1 and 2 at the Sunbow and Marvel archive]
*[https://sunbowmarvelarchive.blogspot.com/p/mp-700-transformers-part-2-1986-1987.html Scripts and other material from Season 3 at the Sunbow and Marvel archive]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Transformers (cartoon), The}}
[[Category:Continuities]]
[[Category:Generation 1 media]]
[[Category:The Transformers episodes| ]]
[[Category:Television series]]

The Transformers: The Movie/dubs

2024-09-02T08:54:32Z

Optimusprime67: /* KBS dub */

'''''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''''' has been translated and dubbed into many languages, each with its own set of quirks and oddities.

==Brazil==
'''''Transformers: O Filme''''', as the movie is known in Portuguese, was released in Brazilian theaters in [[January 15]], [[1987]], not long after the launch of the series on television. It was later released on home video in the same year on a very small scale, which made it very hard to find in video stores. The movie was aired on television only twice, once in 1990 on Rede Globo (the same channel that broadcast the series) and again in 2000 on Fox Kids, each time receiving a new dub.

The most probable reason for the existence of the first two dubs is that the theatrical/home video dub was based on the American version of the movie while the television one from 1990 was based on the European release, as it had the ''Star Wars''-type text in the beginning and the narrator stating at the end that [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] would return. These dubs are different not only in the choice of some of their voice actors but also in their translations. Which dub is the best is a regular topic of debate among Brazilian fans, though both versions have their share of problems. Unfortunately, neither of them allowed Spike to swear.

===Theatrical/Home video dub===
In the theatrical/home video dub, all of the pre-''Movie'' main characters are dubbed by the same voice actors who played them on the television series, and [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]] does not receive a new voice when he is reformatted into [[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]].

This version is the most localized of the first two, but is also the most "childish" in nature. For example, when [[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Hot Rod]] and [[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]] are running toward [[Autobot City (G1)|Autobot City]] and spot the [[Insecticon (G1)|Insecticons]], Kup states, "The Insecticons are in the way," with Hot Rod replying, "Wrong, they're on their way to the hole!", something that makes no sense at all and that the translator probably just thought would sound funny to the kids watching. A better example of localization happens when Kup and [[Wreck-Gar (G1)|Wreck-Gar]] are greeting each other, in which both make references to Brazilian television series of the time. Kup even says "plim-plim", a reference to the sound effect used alongside the Rede Globo logo during vignettes and commercial breaks.

Instead of casting a deep-voiced actor for [[Unicron]], this dub chose to heavily distort the actor's voice, making him sound menacing but almost unintelligible. The same thing was done to the [[Quintesson]]s and their servants. A similar situation occurred with [[Blurr (G1)|Blurr]]; since his voice actor could not talk as fast as [[John Moschitta]], his voice was also distorted to make it sound faster, which also made it difficult to understand.

Finally, the "robotic" effect on the Transformers voices was not done the same way as it was for the television series, which resulted in the characters sounding as if they're talking through a radio more than anything else.

In this version, [[Wheelie (G1)|Wheelie]] does not rhyme.

===Rede Globo dub===
The movie was broadcast only once on Rede Globo during a special week dedicated to Children's Day, which in Brazil is celebrated in [[October 12]]. Most of the pre-''Movie'' characters retained the same voices they had on the home video release, but all of the new Transformers got new voice actors, including Galvatron. This dub also lost the localization aspect the other one received; while it resulted in more faithful translations, some instances lost all sense to Brazilian audiences.

The characters possess the same "robotic" distortion on their voices that they had in the television series, and no kind of heavy modulation was used. An actor with an actual deep voice was cast as Unicron and had his voice left unaltered, which made it much easier for the audience to understand his dialogue. On the other hand, no distortion was used for Blurr, so the actor was forced to try and emulate John Moschitta's impossibly fast speech pattern with debatable results.

One notable dubbing error occurs when Hot Rod opens the Matrix at the end of the film; the line "Light our darkest hour!" is delivered by Optimus Prime's voice actor instead of Hot Rod's. Because of this, Brazilian fans who had only watched this version were left to believe that it was in fact Optimus' spirit who was speaking through Rodimus in a deep "passing of the torch" moment. Of course, this belief became much less popular once the original American audio and the alternate dub became much more accessible to Brazilian fans by the start of the 21st century.

In this version, Wheelie rhymes.

===Fox Kids dub===
Little is known about the third Brazilian dub of the movie, other than the fact that it aired only once on Fox Kids in the year 2000 and has a list of voice actors available online. This version is by far the least known among fans, with a large portion of the fandom not even being aware of its existence and the few who claim to have seen it argue that it is the worst one of the bunch. While unconfirmed, the reason this dub was created is most likely because of rights issues involving the previous two versions.

Due to its obscurity, it's unknown if Wheelie does or does not rhyme in this version, nor if Spike gets to swear this time around (which is still highly unlikely).

==Denmark==
The first time the movie was shown was on Danish national television broadcaster DR in the fall of 2009. While there had been dubbed episodes of the original television show made in the 1980s for home video and later TV airings, the movie was not dubbed at that point. Rather a completely new cast was used for the movie, possibly made for this specific airing. The dubbed movie was re-broadcast 2 years later on a sub-station of DR.

The dubbing had a larger cast of voice actors than the late-80s dub of the TV series with one or two actors returning to the franchise after 25 years. However, some lines were omitted by mistake (a few characters could be seen moving their lips visibly but without any sound being heard) while others appeared at completely random times (a line uttered by Galvatron missing earlier in the movie "appearing" towards the end in a completely unrelated scene possibly due to a bad time code in the dubbing software).

This version was based on the UK print of the movie and has yet to see a public release on any kind of media.

==France/Quebec==
[[File:La Guerre des Robots.jpg|thumb|200px|left|upright=0.7|Is Arcee running away from Hot Rod?]]
The film was released in French theaters in April 1987,<ref name="france">"[https://www.cineanimation.fr/film/la-guerre-des-robots-transformers La Guerre des robots - Transformers]" at Ciné Animation.</ref> soberly titled "La Guerre des Robots" (''The War of the Robots''), which suggests that the marketing team really had no knowledge of the existence of the animated series.

For French-speaking audiences, who had thus far been given two separate dubs of the TV series (one made in France and one made in Quebec, a very common occurrence), a single dub was made in France for all French releases of the film. This release used a brand-new voice actor team rather than using either dub team from the series.

The film adds a prologue, voiced by the narrator, which is not present in the original version. It is added during the opening song, while the names follow one another on screen:
''{{quote|A new evil power crosses the universe. A monstrous planet that devours everything in its path. Its goal is the small planet Cybertron, on which the race of the Transformers robots continues to clash in a fratricidal war. A war between good and evil that has lasted for millions of years. These treacherous Decepticons, led by the evil Megatron, have sworn to crush their enemies, the Autobots. To achieve their goals, they relentlessly pursued them across the galaxy, from planet Cybertron to Earth. But the heroic Autobots and their courageous leader, Optimus Prime, are not easily defeated...}}''

Whereas the Canadian French dub used the Canadian French names from the toy packages, and the European French dub avoided using names or created some sort of improvised nicknames, the Movie used most of the characters' English names. However, here are the few exceptions:
:*The Constructicons are called ''Constructitors''. They were called ''Constructicans'' in the European French dub of the TV series and ''Constructicons'' in the Canadian French dub.
:*The Constructicons state that they can form ''le Dévastateur robot'' ("the robotic devastator").
:*The Dinobots, who kept their original name in both dubs, are firstly called ''Dinosaurobots'' in the Movie, then ''Dinorobots''.

Moreover, the Movie pronounced the names the original English way (notably "Optimus Prime", which was pronounced the French way in France and called "Optimus Primus" in Canada). For the factions, the Movie kept the pronunciation used in the European French dub ("Autobot" pronounced the French way and "Deceptican"). However, there is an exception in the last scene: when Rodimus Prime says "Autobots, transform and roll out!", he pronounces "Autobots" the English way.

Two characters were given gender changes for this dub; Starscream and Shrapnel both become females (Shrapnel being called "Mademoiselle Shrapnel").

Some robots don't have a continuous voice effect, it depends of the scenes. For example, Bumblebee says his first lines without any effect, and all of a sudden, his voice is exceedingly high-pitched, until the end of the film. Grimlock's voice is more or less altered depending on the scene, the same goes for Blurr. However, Soundwave does not have any particular effect, just the classic slight reverb, like in the TV dubs.

Megatron keeps the same voice once he becomes Galvatron, unlike in the original version.

There are several notable changes to the dialogs:
:*Arblus is not named. The line "Arblus, look! It's Unicron!" becomes "Watch out! Look, it's Unicron!".
:*The narrator states that "The evil Decepticons have invaded Cybertron, the home of the Autobots", which sounds like Decepticons come from another planet.
:*Starscream's line "How do you feel, mighty Megatron?" becomes "How do you feel, damn Megatron?".
:*When Starscream asks "Megatron? Is that you?" Galvatron's original answer, "Here's a hint!", is now much more direct: "Yes, but stronger than before!"
:*When the Decepticons make space in Astrotrain and push the others out, they say "The injured, jump!".
:*Hook tells Soundwave "Nobody would obey a cassette player!". Then Rumble says "Eh! No one has ever insulted Soundwave with such impunity!".
:*The Auto-combatant's line "Time out! Time out! Time out!" becomes "We don't negotiate anymore, it's too late!".
:*Slag's "Excuse me!" is dubbed by "Toi, écrase !". It's a pun with the expression meaning "You, lie low!" which uses the word "écraser" (to crush).
:*Wreck-Gar's noises as the Autobots plant the Quintesson ship in the ground are dubbed by "We have visitors! If you think this is where you're going to find oil, you're in trouble!".
:*Optimus Prime's line "Arise, Rodimus Prime!" followed by Hot Rod whispering "Optimus!" are replaced by Hot Rod saying... "Arise, Optimus Prime! Help me!".

There are several errors in the dub:
:*After Laserbeak's return, Megatron calls Soundwave "Cellule-espion" ("Spy Cell"). He will be called Soundwave for the rest of the film.
:*Optimus Prime's phrases are not the same in the replayed footage that Laserbeak shows, several words are different.
:*Blitzwing's line "Come on down, Autobrat!" is absent from the dub.
:*Hot Rod's line "Save it Kup, let's burn rubber!" is missing.
:*Starscream's line "Pathetic fools! There's no escape!" is missing.
:*Frenzy's line "Yeah! Let's kick tailgate!" is missing.
:*Spike's line "Oh shit! What are we going to do now?" is missing.
:*The first three faces of the Quintesson judge laugh, but the last two laughs are missing. This may be a technical issue since the cut is very harsh and we can briefly hear a sound during the last face.
:*Unfortunately, some key lines keep changing translation:
::*'Til all are one!" is firstly said by Optimus Prime "Until the day comes when all will be united", then Ultra Magnus says it the musketeer way, "One for all, all for one", and finally Rodimus Prime says "Until we become one".
::*"To light our darkest hour" is firstly said by Optimus Prime "To come and illuminate our darkest hours", then Ultra Magnus says "Didn't you say that the Matrix would light us in the darkness?", and finally Rodimus Prime says "Now light up our darkest hour".

On the nice hand, the Junkions make references to French TV:
:*"Vous pouvez toujours demander à Grand'Mère si elle fait du bon café !" ("You can always ask Grandma if she makes good coffee!") is a reference to French coffee brand ''Grand'Mère'', which had for TV slogan "Grand'Mère sait faire un bon café" ("Grandma knows how to make good coffee").
:*"N'oubliez pas de boucler vos ceintures ! Parce qu'un petit clic vaut mieux qu'un grand clac !" ("Don't forget to buckle your seat belts! Because a little click is better than a big clack!") refers to a 1975 French motto from the national road safety group.
:*Kup's phrase "Amis du soir, bonsoir !" ("Evening friends, good evening!") was often used in several night TV shows.
:*"Pousse, ça mousse!" ("Push, it foams!") refers to several French TV ads for soap brand ''Pousse Mousse''.

At the end, the film also adds a conclusion voiced by the narrator, which is not present in the original version. It is added during just before the head of Unicron reaches the orbit of Cybertron. Interestingly, it already announces the return of Optimus Prime.
''{{quote|The battle is over, but the galaxy waits, and the adventures of the Transformers will continue. And the greatest of the Autobots, Optimus Prime, will return.}}''

==Germany==
[[File:TFTM German DVD.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.0|German 2003 DVD cover]]
Germany also got two different dubs over the years:

===TV dub===
As the movie had never been shown in German theaters, the first dub, titled ''Transformers: Der Kampf um Cybertron'' (''Transformers: The Battle for Cybertron''), was made in 1994 for airing on the German TV station RTL, to serve as a "pilot" for the [[Transformers: Generation 2 (cartoon)|''Generation 2'' cartoon series]] which would be subsequently broadcast. (One might argue that the initial omission of the movie from the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|original cartoon's]] German airing schedule resulted in an information gap regarding the shift from the season 2 setting to the season 3 setting; but then again, the cartoon ''started'' with episodes from season 3 in Germany, and only ''six'' episodes from the first two seasons were ever aired during the entire original "Generation 1" run of the show, so it's not like context problems weren't already all over the place.)

Even though the dub was made only five years after the dub of the Generation 1 cartoon had started on German TV, only a few of the German voice actors returned, most of them not even in the same roles they had played before. Optimus Prime, for example, was now dubbed by Thomas Rau, who had originally voiced Rodimus Prime, Blaster and Scourge in the cartoon itself. As in the dub of the cartoon before, all the characters retained their English names... with the exception of [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]], whose name was translated as "Der Vernichter" ("the annihilator") for reasons unknown (he was "Devastator" in the dub of the cartoon itself). This version of the movie was only shown twice (not counting late-night reruns following those airings), on its TV premiere in April 1994 and one year later, in May 1995. It was never released on VHS either.

The TV version was based on the European edit of the film, including the {{w|Rank Organisation|Rank Film}} "{{w|Gongman}}" at the beginning. Contrary to a widespread rumor,<ref>[http://www.ofdb.de/view.php?page=fassung&fid=7489&vid=38680 German movie database still listing the rumor about Starscream's "edited death" in TF:TM]</ref> the German TV edition of the movie was ''not'' edited to omit Starscream's death scene.

Notably, the [[Junkion (species)|Junkions]]' dialogue was treated with a surprising amount of finesse, replacing their references to English TV and advertising phrases to contemporary German ones, including an ''extremely'' well-known and catchy advertising slogan used by Toyota. In addition, Bernd Simon's rendition of Starscream is spot on, coming ''frighteningly'' close to Chris Latta. Overall, despite a few minor hiccups, major technical and translation errors were far and far between.

===DVD dub===
[[File:TFTM German DVD 2006.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.0|German 2006 DVD cover]]
In 2003, the movie, this time simply titled ''Transformers'', was finally released on DVD in Germany, by a little-known, low-budget label. Since the TV edition of the movie had been used as a "pilot" for the G2 cartoon, and it had been archived under the title "Der Kampf um Cybertron", the dubbing masters were not located until more than a year later, so the DVD company assigned an entirely new dub... which makes the [[Omni Productions]] dub and the [[Voicebox Productions|Voicebox]] dub of ''[[Transformers: Energon (cartoon)|Energon]]'' look like masterpieces. Numerous translation errors resulted from the apparent lack of an original script, thus requiring the dubbers to translate simply from listening to the original audio; coupled with a lack of experience with the source material and a lack of professional knowledge in the English (and German) language in general, resulting in look-it-up-in-a-dictionary-use-first-suggestion translations, sentences that ''make no sense whatsoever at all'' in context, and generally stilted and unnatural-sounding dialogue. For example, after hijacking the Autobots' shuttle and killing off Ratchet, Prowl, Brawn and Ironhide, Megatron makes the completely nonsensical proclamation that he intends to get past the early warning system ''of'' the Autobots' shuttle (''which he is already in control of at this point''), instead of getting past the Autobots' early warning system ''in'' their own shuttle (as in, using the shuttle as a Trojan horse). Also, Grimlock's line "Me Grimlock need new strategy" gets misinterpreted as "Me Grimlock need ''no'' strategy", and the phrase "mockery of justice" is mangled into a completely nonsensical "Farce der Gerechtigkeit" ("farce of justice", with the loan word "Farce" mispronounced as if the voice actor had never seen that fancy word before, and "justice" in the sense of "fairness" rather than "judical system"). A much better translation would have been "Justizposse".

In addition, none of the voice actors sounded like they were particularly experienced in the field of dubbing, especially since none of their voices were recognizable from other productions.

The DVD is also notorious for its packaging, which does its best to obscure ''what exactly it contains'' (i.e. a feature-length animated movie). The front cover uses the cover artwork of the old Panini Generation 1 sticker album, while the back cover depicts stills from "[[The Golden Lagoon (episode)|The Golden Lagoon]]", "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]" and "[[The Autobot Run]]", coupled with an (incorrect) summary of the general setting of the first two seasons of the Generation 1 cartoon, which implies (likely due to a misinterpretation of the English word "emerge") that the Autobots and Decepticons somehow come into existence on Earth, rather than simply reawakening after lying dormant for millions of years, with the term "Transformers" even translated into German as "Transformatoren".

A second edition of this DVD was released in 2006, this time featuring artwork of [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Armada Optimus Prime]] on the front cover, with Earth (from the [[Transformers (film)|2007 movie's]] promo poster) as the background, plus the 1984 back-of-the-box artwork rotated by 270 degrees as an overlay, and the "Transformers" title logo from the 2007 movie. The back cover depicts a screencap from the [[Transformers (Armada PS2)|''Armada'' video game]], [[Don Figueroa]]'s "All Optimus" poster and the 1984 back-of-the-box battle scene, plus the same sleeve text as featured on the 2003 release of the DVD, with none of the errors fixed.
{{-}}

==Hungary==
The film was first dubbed into Hungarian by Mahir Studios for the Televideo company's 1992 VHS release; the second dub was recorded by Masterfilm Digital, and released by Mirax both on VHS and on DVD, the latter in 2004. Both versions include the scrolling text and other European edits; the Mirax one even has the "gong man". Issues they both have in common include small dubbing casts, inconsistent voices and translation errors. Neither dub used the name translations popularized by the Hungarian release of the [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|G1 comics]].

===Televideo===

The film's title was translated as ''Alakváltók'' (''Shape-shifters''), a rare instance of a name or expression matching up with the Marvel comic's terminology. The dub has a total of five voice actors (four men for random characters, one actress for Arcee, Daniel and most of Wheelie's lines), and is notorious for the dialogue almost never matching the lip movements and characters changing their voice on the fly. Certain lines are even missing or spoken at the wrong time (most notably Megatron's "Die, Autobots!" shout), and at times lines belonging to different characters were combined into one. Translation errors and flubbed line-reads also abound; Megatron ''berates'' Soundwave for jamming the Autobots' transmission instead of ordering him to do so, and Wreck-Gar calls Hot Rod Unicron at one point. But mistakes aside, the translation is surprisingly witty – Blurr's cheesy tongue-twister about shooting Decepticons is especially famous among older fans. In fact, the translator seems to have had a fondness for rhyming, as apart from Wheelie, the Dinobots, the Junkions and Blurr also deliver parts of their dialogue in verse. The problem is that the lines are also drastically ''compressed'', leading to many awkward moments of characters silently mouthing unspoken words.

There are numerous name changes, the most bizarre of which is the Decepticons being referred to as "Varangyok" ("Toads"). This may be a tribute to the '60s German sci-fi TV series ''Raumpatrouille – Die phantastischen Abenteuer des Raumschiffs Orion'' (''Space patrol – The Fantastic Adventures of the Spaceship Orion''). In this series, the main enemy alien race is called "Frogs", but they were named Toads in the Hungarian translation. Other strange name changes include Peca ("Fisher" or "Fishing Rod") for Hot Rod, Zsaru ("Cop") for Kup, RC for Arcee or "IQ Jack" for the [[Ick-Yak]], all obvious misinterpretations of their original names. Curiously, one originally nameless characters ''gets'' a name: during the Decepticons' reformation scene, Unicron claims that there's only one Sweep, naming him "Karmos" (roughly, "Claws"). However, the Insecticons' nonsensical name ("Rovarángok") is harder to decipher. It can only be assumed that the translator intended it to be "Rovarangyok" ("Insectoads", a playful pun consistent with the Decepticon-Toad theme), and the voice actor has simply misread it.

One point in the dub's favor is that it at least attempted to retain the spirit of the Junkions' speech. For example, when putting Ultra Magnus back together, they shout "Aye-Tee-Tee!", a reference to old Hungarian {{w|ITT Inc.}} product commercials that were the subject of numerous jokes in the early '90s.

===Mirax===
[[File:TFTM Hungarian DVD.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|left|Hungarian DVD cover]]
The second dub has a reputation for including more profanities than the original version of the film. Although Spike's "Oh, shit!" line was cut, [[Ironhide (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ironhide]], Galvatron and the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]] say terms akin to "asshole" (from Grimlock to Blurr), "bastards" (Galvatron to the Autobots), "stupid", "brainless, numbskull jackass" ([[Slag (G1)|Slag]] to [[Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]]), "sons of bitches" (this one even twice, in place of the original's "Decepti-chops" and "Decepti-creeps"), and "chickenshit" (from Galvatron, regarding Hot Rod). Other oddities are Wheelie only rhyming half the time, Blaster's extremely high-pitched transmission to Optimus Prime (either an audio editing error or a very strange creative choice), and [[Soundwave (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Soundwave]] and Unicron at first talking in a seg-men-ted, ro-bo-tic man-ner. Numerous grunts and screams were also inserted where there were originally none, even the Sharkticons can be heard yelling a lot.

This dub also uses a mix of untranslated or incorrectly translated names, and character voices – this time supplied by twelve actors – occasionally change from one sentence to the next. Erroneous names include Unicornis (Unicron), Prowl (Blurr), Mega-robot (Devastator, though he is also called "Devastator the Mega-robot" in one line), Constructors ([[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicons]]), Deceptors ([[Decepticon]]s, but only said once), Astro ([[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]], again only for one line), Gettison (unknown; derived and misinterpreted from the line "Jettison some weight."), Eject (this refers to no one, it was mistranslated from Soundwave's "Eject" call), and the Ick-Yak becomes a "Mega-Missort". Wheelie's name is omitted. Wreck-Gar's dialogue also lacks any sort of creativity, consisting instead of random nonsense and straight-faced reactions to what's happening on screen. These and a multitude of other errors suggest that the translator had no script to work from and had to rely solely on her hearing.

A major blooper also occurs during the attack on the Autobot shuttle: Ironhide speaks his final words in [[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]]'s voice ("Please, have mercy!"), and curiously, the translation of Megatron's "Such heroic nonsense." line corresponds with this sudden change of personality, as he responds with "Death to all traitors." before blasting him. Now ''this'' is foreshadowing.

The DVD case has G.I. Joe pictures printed on the back side, as well as on the DVD itself. Spiffy. On a positive note, the summary on the back of the case is actually competently written, even if the references to the cartoon series (which wasn't released in the country) and to the movie's place in its timeline are worded a bit confusingly, and unlike the dub, it renders Unicron's name correctly. Masterfilm Digital would later localize ''[[Transformers: Armada (cartoon)|Armada]]'' (episodes 1-26 of which were likewise commissioned by Mirax), sadly still maintaining some of the general incompetence displayed by their handling of this movie.
{{-}}

==Italy==
There are two Italian dubs: the original one and a 2007 redub made when the live movie arrived in cinemas.

===Original dub===
This dub uses the original names for the new characters, except for Wheelie, named here "Saetta" (which was already Wheeljack's Italian name, curiously). Lots of lines are completely different from the original script: Devastator's "Prepare for extermination!" became "I'll destroy you, Transformers!", Grimlock's "Me Grimlock like challenge!" is replaced with "We Dinobots ready for great battle!" Optimus's line "Soon I shall be all one with the Matrix" turns into "The most important thing now is the passage of the Matrix" and "Arise, Rodimus Prime" was changed to "Now rise up, Hot Rod!"

The scene on Quintessa also gets a weird rewrite: for some reason this dub refers to the Quintesson prosecutor as the evil "Emperor Quintesson" and all the dialogue said by the judge starts with "Yes, my Quintesson".

===2007 redub===
The redub uses the Italian names for everyone except Ravage, Laserbeak, Ratbat and Rodimus Prime (Hot Rod, although, is called "Folgore"). "Soundwave superior, Constructicons inferior" becomes "The Soundwave is superior, the Constructicon is inferior!" (no, seriously.)

There are many mispronounciations: Constructicons is pronounced "Con-STROOK-ticons", Laserbeak is named "Laserback" and [[Junkion (planet)|Junk]] is called "Yoonk".

Blurr's speech is fast, and for some reason he also speaks in rhymes, probably to make it sound more repetitive.

Another amusing error is in the Junkion's chant of "remove the toughest stains", that is translated as "remove the toughest Slags"... as in "taking away an army of clones of [[Slag (G1)|the Dinobot who transforms into a Triceratops]]", since the actual Italian line is "rimuovere i Tricex più duri" ("Tricex" is Slag's Italian name). What.

The script is more faithful to the original version otherwise. The redub was poorly received by Italian fans.

==Japan==
[[File:UnicronWarMagami01.jpg|right|upright=1.4|thumb]]

The Japanese dub was an official translation by [[Katsushige Hirata]]. Although '''''Transformers: The Movie''''' (トランスフォーマーザ・ムービー) was advertised during 1987, and was even originally scheduled for a theatrical release in the summer of that year, unknown circumstances resulted in a delay of the Japanese release. It was not released in Japan until [[August 9]]th 1989,<ref>http://pastport.jp/user/kabochan/timeline/%E6%94%BE%E9%80%81%E4%BB%A5%E5%A4%96%E3%81%AE%E3%81%A7%E3%81%8D%E3%81%94%E3%81%A8%E5%B9%B4%E8%A1%A8/event/uUhfr2WcbUI</ref> first through limited charity screenings for UNICEF in Tokyo and Osaka (where a man in a [[Ginrai (human)|Super Ginrai]] costume greeted guests), followed immediately by a {{w|LaserDisc}} and VHS release. According to one attendee of the charity screening in Tokyo,<ref>https://kakuyomu.jp/works/1177354054884808234/episodes/1177354054886027093</ref> some tickets to the event were offered to [[S.T.A.R.S.]] members via lottery, the version screened was in English with Japanese subtitles, and [[Tessho Genda]] (Japanese voice of Optimus Prime) was present to speak with fans; according to a different fan, leftover mail-away [[Lander]]s from ''[[Transformers: Super-God Masterforce (franchise)|Masterforce]]'' were available as point-of-sale items at the screening.<ref>{{citesocial|quote=あちしはビクトリー時期のトランスフォーマー・ザ・ムービーチャリティー上映会の物販で買った記憶。|link=https://twitter.com/nekoteck2011/status/920069769323192320|name=nekoteck2011|site=Twitter|year=2017|month=10|day=16|(defunct=)}}</ref> Footage taken during the charity screenings was included in the straight-to-video promotional film, "Transformers Theatrical Version!! Video Finally Here" (トランスフォーマー劇場公開バージョン!!ビデオついに登場). This was the second promotional VHS relating to the film, as ''[[The Transformers: The Movie - Apocalypse: Be Eternal, Matrix]]'' was produced to promote the movie prior to its Japanese release.

Unfortunately, the film's delay would later cause some continuity problems in future Japanese-penned ''Transformers'' fiction, as characters killed in the movie (notably [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] and [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]]) appear in later series ''[[Transformers: The Headmasters (cartoon)|The Headmasters]]'' and ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Victory (cartoon)|Victory]]'' respectively (though these would be addressed [[Controverse|years later]]).

Despite not being released in Japan in 1987 as intended, the events of the movie were [[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010 (story page)|summarized]] in ''[[TV Magazine]]'' with accompanying artwork by [[Ban Magami]] and [[Studio OX]] so that children tuning into ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010 (franchise)|Transformers 2010]]'' would not be lost. The events of the movie would regularly be referred to as the "[[Unicron War]]", gaining something of a mysterious and legendary quality, as their events were constantly referred to but never ''seen''.

Although ''Transformers: The Movie'' was dubbed several years after ''[[The Transformers (cartoon)#Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers]]'' and ''[[The Transformers (cartoon)#Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010|Transformers 2010]]'' had ended, the majority of cast members from those series returned to reprise their roles.

The Japanese dub is notable for adding a lot of lines and voice effects to moments which had been silent in the English version, including the following:

*The shuttle attack scene originally doesn't have much talking during combat, but the Japanese dub adds numerous lines to many characters on both sides of the fight. For example, after killing Brawn, Starscream cheerfully asks who's next while waving Megatron around.
*During Optimus Prime's attack on the Decepticons and his fight with Megatron, every Decepticon Prime shoots can be heard screaming in pain, while his battle with Megatron has numerous grunts and curses added in.

[[File:TFTMMagnusJPCaption01.jpg|left|200px|thumb|"Hang on, there's something on the screen down here. Let me get that..."]]

Some of the additions were quite goofy (e.g., Blitzwing begs Prime not to run him over before getting out of the way) but some were actually quite disturbing. For example, when Starscream is killed by Galvatron, he gives off a long, tortured scream. In addition, the destruction of Lithone is made more horrifying by the sounds of the natives dying (some of them even being cut off mid-scream).

There are also a few slight dialogue alterations, such as Megatron ''specifically'' ordering the Insecticons to breach the Autobot defenses, to which [[Shrapnel (G1)|Shrapnel]] and [[Kickback (G1)|Kickback]] respond in unison with a high-pitched ''"Yessss siirrr!"'' Soundwave's famous "Soundwave superior, Constructicons inferior," is modified into "Soundwave is intelligent, the Constructicons are just idiots!"

The only other alteration of note in regards to the Japanese version is that whenever a character appears on screen for the first time, their name and function appears with them (written in Japanese, of course).

{{-}}

==Latin America==
The Latin American Spanish dub was done in [[Los Angeles]] and is notable because it kept all the voice actors from the cartoon and the new characters remained with the same voices for the remainder of the show. Every character is referred to by their original English name, since none of the characters' names were translated when the cartoon was dubbed into Spanish (except Ravage, who was called "Destructor" on the cartoon, but kept his English name on the movie).

Features the Star Wars-type text in the beginning and the narrator at the end stating that Optimus Prime will return.

Though it is one of the most popular dubs of the movie, it has only been released domestically on home video once and is very difficult to find nowadays. In addition, it hasn't been shown on TV since the early Nineties. Despite this, the dub has been included in many international releases of the movie.

This dub removes all swearing and makes Optimus Prime's death scene even more traumatic by having Daniel ''actually'' crying when Optimus flatlines.

Galvatron sounds exactly like Megatron and Wheelie occasionally rhymes because his dialogue was ''literally'' translated.

==Poland==
In Poland, the movie was never professionally dubbed. In the only official (and cult classic) release on VHS in 1992, all the dialogue was read by a single voice-over actor, while the original sound was left intact and could be heard in the background. To this day, that characteristic form of "narrating" is a very popular solution in Poland when it comes to translating movies for TV or DVDs. Thanks to this method, you can both understand the story and hear all the original voices. In the case of ''The Transformers: The Movie'' it also forced translators to leave (almost) all the original names intact. (Yay!)

==Spain==
In Spain, the movie was aried once in Latin American on the channel ''Antena 3''. However, when the Generation 1 DVDs were published by the company Selecta Visión, they included both the Latin American dub and a new Spanish one (Castilian) that recycled the first's translations, but adding some errors in the character's names. It was aired for the first and only time in Castilian the year 2008 in ''Local Media TV'', but the audio quality wasn't very good, probably due to emission problems.

==South Korea==

===KBS dub===
The first Korean dub of the movie aired on the Korean TV channel KBS in 1989, titled "Unicron and the transforming robots". The voice acting is decent, almost matching the Japanese voices of Shockwave, Starscream, and Soundwave. At that time, many robot shows had only one robot appearing, but Transformers had more characters in their cartoon, gaining the attention of many children. KBS would later go on to dub several movies of the [[Live-action film series]]. This version is not found at the moment, and is still yet to reach the world of internet.

===VHS dub===
The VHS dub was titled "Transforming robots Transformers", and this time, Starscream sounds like the original US version. Just like the KBS dub, this version is not available on the internet.

===DVD dub===
The DVD dub, which was released in 2007, was titled just "Transformers", and it is filled with a lot of music errors, such as the first part of [[Dare]] being very quiet, [[The Touch]] had its lyrics repeating, and sometimes random music was added, for instance, when Hot Rod becomes Rodimus Prime, the music suddenly changes to Nothin's Gonna Stand In Our Way by Spectre General, and changes back to The Touch. Currently, this is the only dub that is available. The interest for this dub probably died out, as South Koreans could have easier reach to the original English version.

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Transformers: The Movie/dubs}}
[[Category:Generation 1 media]]
[[Category:Real world films]]

The Transformers: The Movie/dubs

2024-09-02T08:53:26Z

Optimusprime67: /* KBS dub */

'''''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''''' has been translated and dubbed into many languages, each with its own set of quirks and oddities.

==Brazil==
'''''Transformers: O Filme''''', as the movie is known in Portuguese, was released in Brazilian theaters in [[January 15]], [[1987]], not long after the launch of the series on television. It was later released on home video in the same year on a very small scale, which made it very hard to find in video stores. The movie was aired on television only twice, once in 1990 on Rede Globo (the same channel that broadcast the series) and again in 2000 on Fox Kids, each time receiving a new dub.

The most probable reason for the existence of the first two dubs is that the theatrical/home video dub was based on the American version of the movie while the television one from 1990 was based on the European release, as it had the ''Star Wars''-type text in the beginning and the narrator stating at the end that [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] would return. These dubs are different not only in the choice of some of their voice actors but also in their translations. Which dub is the best is a regular topic of debate among Brazilian fans, though both versions have their share of problems. Unfortunately, neither of them allowed Spike to swear.

===Theatrical/Home video dub===
In the theatrical/home video dub, all of the pre-''Movie'' main characters are dubbed by the same voice actors who played them on the television series, and [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]] does not receive a new voice when he is reformatted into [[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]].

This version is the most localized of the first two, but is also the most "childish" in nature. For example, when [[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Hot Rod]] and [[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]] are running toward [[Autobot City (G1)|Autobot City]] and spot the [[Insecticon (G1)|Insecticons]], Kup states, "The Insecticons are in the way," with Hot Rod replying, "Wrong, they're on their way to the hole!", something that makes no sense at all and that the translator probably just thought would sound funny to the kids watching. A better example of localization happens when Kup and [[Wreck-Gar (G1)|Wreck-Gar]] are greeting each other, in which both make references to Brazilian television series of the time. Kup even says "plim-plim", a reference to the sound effect used alongside the Rede Globo logo during vignettes and commercial breaks.

Instead of casting a deep-voiced actor for [[Unicron]], this dub chose to heavily distort the actor's voice, making him sound menacing but almost unintelligible. The same thing was done to the [[Quintesson]]s and their servants. A similar situation occurred with [[Blurr (G1)|Blurr]]; since his voice actor could not talk as fast as [[John Moschitta]], his voice was also distorted to make it sound faster, which also made it difficult to understand.

Finally, the "robotic" effect on the Transformers voices was not done the same way as it was for the television series, which resulted in the characters sounding as if they're talking through a radio more than anything else.

In this version, [[Wheelie (G1)|Wheelie]] does not rhyme.

===Rede Globo dub===
The movie was broadcast only once on Rede Globo during a special week dedicated to Children's Day, which in Brazil is celebrated in [[October 12]]. Most of the pre-''Movie'' characters retained the same voices they had on the home video release, but all of the new Transformers got new voice actors, including Galvatron. This dub also lost the localization aspect the other one received; while it resulted in more faithful translations, some instances lost all sense to Brazilian audiences.

The characters possess the same "robotic" distortion on their voices that they had in the television series, and no kind of heavy modulation was used. An actor with an actual deep voice was cast as Unicron and had his voice left unaltered, which made it much easier for the audience to understand his dialogue. On the other hand, no distortion was used for Blurr, so the actor was forced to try and emulate John Moschitta's impossibly fast speech pattern with debatable results.

One notable dubbing error occurs when Hot Rod opens the Matrix at the end of the film; the line "Light our darkest hour!" is delivered by Optimus Prime's voice actor instead of Hot Rod's. Because of this, Brazilian fans who had only watched this version were left to believe that it was in fact Optimus' spirit who was speaking through Rodimus in a deep "passing of the torch" moment. Of course, this belief became much less popular once the original American audio and the alternate dub became much more accessible to Brazilian fans by the start of the 21st century.

In this version, Wheelie rhymes.

===Fox Kids dub===
Little is known about the third Brazilian dub of the movie, other than the fact that it aired only once on Fox Kids in the year 2000 and has a list of voice actors available online. This version is by far the least known among fans, with a large portion of the fandom not even being aware of its existence and the few who claim to have seen it argue that it is the worst one of the bunch. While unconfirmed, the reason this dub was created is most likely because of rights issues involving the previous two versions.

Due to its obscurity, it's unknown if Wheelie does or does not rhyme in this version, nor if Spike gets to swear this time around (which is still highly unlikely).

==Denmark==
The first time the movie was shown was on Danish national television broadcaster DR in the fall of 2009. While there had been dubbed episodes of the original television show made in the 1980s for home video and later TV airings, the movie was not dubbed at that point. Rather a completely new cast was used for the movie, possibly made for this specific airing. The dubbed movie was re-broadcast 2 years later on a sub-station of DR.

The dubbing had a larger cast of voice actors than the late-80s dub of the TV series with one or two actors returning to the franchise after 25 years. However, some lines were omitted by mistake (a few characters could be seen moving their lips visibly but without any sound being heard) while others appeared at completely random times (a line uttered by Galvatron missing earlier in the movie "appearing" towards the end in a completely unrelated scene possibly due to a bad time code in the dubbing software).

This version was based on the UK print of the movie and has yet to see a public release on any kind of media.

==France/Quebec==
[[File:La Guerre des Robots.jpg|thumb|200px|left|upright=0.7|Is Arcee running away from Hot Rod?]]
The film was released in French theaters in April 1987,<ref name="france">"[https://www.cineanimation.fr/film/la-guerre-des-robots-transformers La Guerre des robots - Transformers]" at Ciné Animation.</ref> soberly titled "La Guerre des Robots" (''The War of the Robots''), which suggests that the marketing team really had no knowledge of the existence of the animated series.

For French-speaking audiences, who had thus far been given two separate dubs of the TV series (one made in France and one made in Quebec, a very common occurrence), a single dub was made in France for all French releases of the film. This release used a brand-new voice actor team rather than using either dub team from the series.

The film adds a prologue, voiced by the narrator, which is not present in the original version. It is added during the opening song, while the names follow one another on screen:
''{{quote|A new evil power crosses the universe. A monstrous planet that devours everything in its path. Its goal is the small planet Cybertron, on which the race of the Transformers robots continues to clash in a fratricidal war. A war between good and evil that has lasted for millions of years. These treacherous Decepticons, led by the evil Megatron, have sworn to crush their enemies, the Autobots. To achieve their goals, they relentlessly pursued them across the galaxy, from planet Cybertron to Earth. But the heroic Autobots and their courageous leader, Optimus Prime, are not easily defeated...}}''

Whereas the Canadian French dub used the Canadian French names from the toy packages, and the European French dub avoided using names or created some sort of improvised nicknames, the Movie used most of the characters' English names. However, here are the few exceptions:
:*The Constructicons are called ''Constructitors''. They were called ''Constructicans'' in the European French dub of the TV series and ''Constructicons'' in the Canadian French dub.
:*The Constructicons state that they can form ''le Dévastateur robot'' ("the robotic devastator").
:*The Dinobots, who kept their original name in both dubs, are firstly called ''Dinosaurobots'' in the Movie, then ''Dinorobots''.

Moreover, the Movie pronounced the names the original English way (notably "Optimus Prime", which was pronounced the French way in France and called "Optimus Primus" in Canada). For the factions, the Movie kept the pronunciation used in the European French dub ("Autobot" pronounced the French way and "Deceptican"). However, there is an exception in the last scene: when Rodimus Prime says "Autobots, transform and roll out!", he pronounces "Autobots" the English way.

Two characters were given gender changes for this dub; Starscream and Shrapnel both become females (Shrapnel being called "Mademoiselle Shrapnel").

Some robots don't have a continuous voice effect, it depends of the scenes. For example, Bumblebee says his first lines without any effect, and all of a sudden, his voice is exceedingly high-pitched, until the end of the film. Grimlock's voice is more or less altered depending on the scene, the same goes for Blurr. However, Soundwave does not have any particular effect, just the classic slight reverb, like in the TV dubs.

Megatron keeps the same voice once he becomes Galvatron, unlike in the original version.

There are several notable changes to the dialogs:
:*Arblus is not named. The line "Arblus, look! It's Unicron!" becomes "Watch out! Look, it's Unicron!".
:*The narrator states that "The evil Decepticons have invaded Cybertron, the home of the Autobots", which sounds like Decepticons come from another planet.
:*Starscream's line "How do you feel, mighty Megatron?" becomes "How do you feel, damn Megatron?".
:*When Starscream asks "Megatron? Is that you?" Galvatron's original answer, "Here's a hint!", is now much more direct: "Yes, but stronger than before!"
:*When the Decepticons make space in Astrotrain and push the others out, they say "The injured, jump!".
:*Hook tells Soundwave "Nobody would obey a cassette player!". Then Rumble says "Eh! No one has ever insulted Soundwave with such impunity!".
:*The Auto-combatant's line "Time out! Time out! Time out!" becomes "We don't negotiate anymore, it's too late!".
:*Slag's "Excuse me!" is dubbed by "Toi, écrase !". It's a pun with the expression meaning "You, lie low!" which uses the word "écraser" (to crush).
:*Wreck-Gar's noises as the Autobots plant the Quintesson ship in the ground are dubbed by "We have visitors! If you think this is where you're going to find oil, you're in trouble!".
:*Optimus Prime's line "Arise, Rodimus Prime!" followed by Hot Rod whispering "Optimus!" are replaced by Hot Rod saying... "Arise, Optimus Prime! Help me!".

There are several errors in the dub:
:*After Laserbeak's return, Megatron calls Soundwave "Cellule-espion" ("Spy Cell"). He will be called Soundwave for the rest of the film.
:*Optimus Prime's phrases are not the same in the replayed footage that Laserbeak shows, several words are different.
:*Blitzwing's line "Come on down, Autobrat!" is absent from the dub.
:*Hot Rod's line "Save it Kup, let's burn rubber!" is missing.
:*Starscream's line "Pathetic fools! There's no escape!" is missing.
:*Frenzy's line "Yeah! Let's kick tailgate!" is missing.
:*Spike's line "Oh shit! What are we going to do now?" is missing.
:*The first three faces of the Quintesson judge laugh, but the last two laughs are missing. This may be a technical issue since the cut is very harsh and we can briefly hear a sound during the last face.
:*Unfortunately, some key lines keep changing translation:
::*'Til all are one!" is firstly said by Optimus Prime "Until the day comes when all will be united", then Ultra Magnus says it the musketeer way, "One for all, all for one", and finally Rodimus Prime says "Until we become one".
::*"To light our darkest hour" is firstly said by Optimus Prime "To come and illuminate our darkest hours", then Ultra Magnus says "Didn't you say that the Matrix would light us in the darkness?", and finally Rodimus Prime says "Now light up our darkest hour".

On the nice hand, the Junkions make references to French TV:
:*"Vous pouvez toujours demander à Grand'Mère si elle fait du bon café !" ("You can always ask Grandma if she makes good coffee!") is a reference to French coffee brand ''Grand'Mère'', which had for TV slogan "Grand'Mère sait faire un bon café" ("Grandma knows how to make good coffee").
:*"N'oubliez pas de boucler vos ceintures ! Parce qu'un petit clic vaut mieux qu'un grand clac !" ("Don't forget to buckle your seat belts! Because a little click is better than a big clack!") refers to a 1975 French motto from the national road safety group.
:*Kup's phrase "Amis du soir, bonsoir !" ("Evening friends, good evening!") was often used in several night TV shows.
:*"Pousse, ça mousse!" ("Push, it foams!") refers to several French TV ads for soap brand ''Pousse Mousse''.

At the end, the film also adds a conclusion voiced by the narrator, which is not present in the original version. It is added during just before the head of Unicron reaches the orbit of Cybertron. Interestingly, it already announces the return of Optimus Prime.
''{{quote|The battle is over, but the galaxy waits, and the adventures of the Transformers will continue. And the greatest of the Autobots, Optimus Prime, will return.}}''

==Germany==
[[File:TFTM German DVD.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.0|German 2003 DVD cover]]
Germany also got two different dubs over the years:

===TV dub===
As the movie had never been shown in German theaters, the first dub, titled ''Transformers: Der Kampf um Cybertron'' (''Transformers: The Battle for Cybertron''), was made in 1994 for airing on the German TV station RTL, to serve as a "pilot" for the [[Transformers: Generation 2 (cartoon)|''Generation 2'' cartoon series]] which would be subsequently broadcast. (One might argue that the initial omission of the movie from the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|original cartoon's]] German airing schedule resulted in an information gap regarding the shift from the season 2 setting to the season 3 setting; but then again, the cartoon ''started'' with episodes from season 3 in Germany, and only ''six'' episodes from the first two seasons were ever aired during the entire original "Generation 1" run of the show, so it's not like context problems weren't already all over the place.)

Even though the dub was made only five years after the dub of the Generation 1 cartoon had started on German TV, only a few of the German voice actors returned, most of them not even in the same roles they had played before. Optimus Prime, for example, was now dubbed by Thomas Rau, who had originally voiced Rodimus Prime, Blaster and Scourge in the cartoon itself. As in the dub of the cartoon before, all the characters retained their English names... with the exception of [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]], whose name was translated as "Der Vernichter" ("the annihilator") for reasons unknown (he was "Devastator" in the dub of the cartoon itself). This version of the movie was only shown twice (not counting late-night reruns following those airings), on its TV premiere in April 1994 and one year later, in May 1995. It was never released on VHS either.

The TV version was based on the European edit of the film, including the {{w|Rank Organisation|Rank Film}} "{{w|Gongman}}" at the beginning. Contrary to a widespread rumor,<ref>[http://www.ofdb.de/view.php?page=fassung&fid=7489&vid=38680 German movie database still listing the rumor about Starscream's "edited death" in TF:TM]</ref> the German TV edition of the movie was ''not'' edited to omit Starscream's death scene.

Notably, the [[Junkion (species)|Junkions]]' dialogue was treated with a surprising amount of finesse, replacing their references to English TV and advertising phrases to contemporary German ones, including an ''extremely'' well-known and catchy advertising slogan used by Toyota. In addition, Bernd Simon's rendition of Starscream is spot on, coming ''frighteningly'' close to Chris Latta. Overall, despite a few minor hiccups, major technical and translation errors were far and far between.

===DVD dub===
[[File:TFTM German DVD 2006.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.0|German 2006 DVD cover]]
In 2003, the movie, this time simply titled ''Transformers'', was finally released on DVD in Germany, by a little-known, low-budget label. Since the TV edition of the movie had been used as a "pilot" for the G2 cartoon, and it had been archived under the title "Der Kampf um Cybertron", the dubbing masters were not located until more than a year later, so the DVD company assigned an entirely new dub... which makes the [[Omni Productions]] dub and the [[Voicebox Productions|Voicebox]] dub of ''[[Transformers: Energon (cartoon)|Energon]]'' look like masterpieces. Numerous translation errors resulted from the apparent lack of an original script, thus requiring the dubbers to translate simply from listening to the original audio; coupled with a lack of experience with the source material and a lack of professional knowledge in the English (and German) language in general, resulting in look-it-up-in-a-dictionary-use-first-suggestion translations, sentences that ''make no sense whatsoever at all'' in context, and generally stilted and unnatural-sounding dialogue. For example, after hijacking the Autobots' shuttle and killing off Ratchet, Prowl, Brawn and Ironhide, Megatron makes the completely nonsensical proclamation that he intends to get past the early warning system ''of'' the Autobots' shuttle (''which he is already in control of at this point''), instead of getting past the Autobots' early warning system ''in'' their own shuttle (as in, using the shuttle as a Trojan horse). Also, Grimlock's line "Me Grimlock need new strategy" gets misinterpreted as "Me Grimlock need ''no'' strategy", and the phrase "mockery of justice" is mangled into a completely nonsensical "Farce der Gerechtigkeit" ("farce of justice", with the loan word "Farce" mispronounced as if the voice actor had never seen that fancy word before, and "justice" in the sense of "fairness" rather than "judical system"). A much better translation would have been "Justizposse".

In addition, none of the voice actors sounded like they were particularly experienced in the field of dubbing, especially since none of their voices were recognizable from other productions.

The DVD is also notorious for its packaging, which does its best to obscure ''what exactly it contains'' (i.e. a feature-length animated movie). The front cover uses the cover artwork of the old Panini Generation 1 sticker album, while the back cover depicts stills from "[[The Golden Lagoon (episode)|The Golden Lagoon]]", "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]" and "[[The Autobot Run]]", coupled with an (incorrect) summary of the general setting of the first two seasons of the Generation 1 cartoon, which implies (likely due to a misinterpretation of the English word "emerge") that the Autobots and Decepticons somehow come into existence on Earth, rather than simply reawakening after lying dormant for millions of years, with the term "Transformers" even translated into German as "Transformatoren".

A second edition of this DVD was released in 2006, this time featuring artwork of [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Armada Optimus Prime]] on the front cover, with Earth (from the [[Transformers (film)|2007 movie's]] promo poster) as the background, plus the 1984 back-of-the-box artwork rotated by 270 degrees as an overlay, and the "Transformers" title logo from the 2007 movie. The back cover depicts a screencap from the [[Transformers (Armada PS2)|''Armada'' video game]], [[Don Figueroa]]'s "All Optimus" poster and the 1984 back-of-the-box battle scene, plus the same sleeve text as featured on the 2003 release of the DVD, with none of the errors fixed.
{{-}}

==Hungary==
The film was first dubbed into Hungarian by Mahir Studios for the Televideo company's 1992 VHS release; the second dub was recorded by Masterfilm Digital, and released by Mirax both on VHS and on DVD, the latter in 2004. Both versions include the scrolling text and other European edits; the Mirax one even has the "gong man". Issues they both have in common include small dubbing casts, inconsistent voices and translation errors. Neither dub used the name translations popularized by the Hungarian release of the [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|G1 comics]].

===Televideo===

The film's title was translated as ''Alakváltók'' (''Shape-shifters''), a rare instance of a name or expression matching up with the Marvel comic's terminology. The dub has a total of five voice actors (four men for random characters, one actress for Arcee, Daniel and most of Wheelie's lines), and is notorious for the dialogue almost never matching the lip movements and characters changing their voice on the fly. Certain lines are even missing or spoken at the wrong time (most notably Megatron's "Die, Autobots!" shout), and at times lines belonging to different characters were combined into one. Translation errors and flubbed line-reads also abound; Megatron ''berates'' Soundwave for jamming the Autobots' transmission instead of ordering him to do so, and Wreck-Gar calls Hot Rod Unicron at one point. But mistakes aside, the translation is surprisingly witty – Blurr's cheesy tongue-twister about shooting Decepticons is especially famous among older fans. In fact, the translator seems to have had a fondness for rhyming, as apart from Wheelie, the Dinobots, the Junkions and Blurr also deliver parts of their dialogue in verse. The problem is that the lines are also drastically ''compressed'', leading to many awkward moments of characters silently mouthing unspoken words.

There are numerous name changes, the most bizarre of which is the Decepticons being referred to as "Varangyok" ("Toads"). This may be a tribute to the '60s German sci-fi TV series ''Raumpatrouille – Die phantastischen Abenteuer des Raumschiffs Orion'' (''Space patrol – The Fantastic Adventures of the Spaceship Orion''). In this series, the main enemy alien race is called "Frogs", but they were named Toads in the Hungarian translation. Other strange name changes include Peca ("Fisher" or "Fishing Rod") for Hot Rod, Zsaru ("Cop") for Kup, RC for Arcee or "IQ Jack" for the [[Ick-Yak]], all obvious misinterpretations of their original names. Curiously, one originally nameless characters ''gets'' a name: during the Decepticons' reformation scene, Unicron claims that there's only one Sweep, naming him "Karmos" (roughly, "Claws"). However, the Insecticons' nonsensical name ("Rovarángok") is harder to decipher. It can only be assumed that the translator intended it to be "Rovarangyok" ("Insectoads", a playful pun consistent with the Decepticon-Toad theme), and the voice actor has simply misread it.

One point in the dub's favor is that it at least attempted to retain the spirit of the Junkions' speech. For example, when putting Ultra Magnus back together, they shout "Aye-Tee-Tee!", a reference to old Hungarian {{w|ITT Inc.}} product commercials that were the subject of numerous jokes in the early '90s.

===Mirax===
[[File:TFTM Hungarian DVD.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|left|Hungarian DVD cover]]
The second dub has a reputation for including more profanities than the original version of the film. Although Spike's "Oh, shit!" line was cut, [[Ironhide (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ironhide]], Galvatron and the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]] say terms akin to "asshole" (from Grimlock to Blurr), "bastards" (Galvatron to the Autobots), "stupid", "brainless, numbskull jackass" ([[Slag (G1)|Slag]] to [[Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]]), "sons of bitches" (this one even twice, in place of the original's "Decepti-chops" and "Decepti-creeps"), and "chickenshit" (from Galvatron, regarding Hot Rod). Other oddities are Wheelie only rhyming half the time, Blaster's extremely high-pitched transmission to Optimus Prime (either an audio editing error or a very strange creative choice), and [[Soundwave (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Soundwave]] and Unicron at first talking in a seg-men-ted, ro-bo-tic man-ner. Numerous grunts and screams were also inserted where there were originally none, even the Sharkticons can be heard yelling a lot.

This dub also uses a mix of untranslated or incorrectly translated names, and character voices – this time supplied by twelve actors – occasionally change from one sentence to the next. Erroneous names include Unicornis (Unicron), Prowl (Blurr), Mega-robot (Devastator, though he is also called "Devastator the Mega-robot" in one line), Constructors ([[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicons]]), Deceptors ([[Decepticon]]s, but only said once), Astro ([[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]], again only for one line), Gettison (unknown; derived and misinterpreted from the line "Jettison some weight."), Eject (this refers to no one, it was mistranslated from Soundwave's "Eject" call), and the Ick-Yak becomes a "Mega-Missort". Wheelie's name is omitted. Wreck-Gar's dialogue also lacks any sort of creativity, consisting instead of random nonsense and straight-faced reactions to what's happening on screen. These and a multitude of other errors suggest that the translator had no script to work from and had to rely solely on her hearing.

A major blooper also occurs during the attack on the Autobot shuttle: Ironhide speaks his final words in [[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]]'s voice ("Please, have mercy!"), and curiously, the translation of Megatron's "Such heroic nonsense." line corresponds with this sudden change of personality, as he responds with "Death to all traitors." before blasting him. Now ''this'' is foreshadowing.

The DVD case has G.I. Joe pictures printed on the back side, as well as on the DVD itself. Spiffy. On a positive note, the summary on the back of the case is actually competently written, even if the references to the cartoon series (which wasn't released in the country) and to the movie's place in its timeline are worded a bit confusingly, and unlike the dub, it renders Unicron's name correctly. Masterfilm Digital would later localize ''[[Transformers: Armada (cartoon)|Armada]]'' (episodes 1-26 of which were likewise commissioned by Mirax), sadly still maintaining some of the general incompetence displayed by their handling of this movie.
{{-}}

==Italy==
There are two Italian dubs: the original one and a 2007 redub made when the live movie arrived in cinemas.

===Original dub===
This dub uses the original names for the new characters, except for Wheelie, named here "Saetta" (which was already Wheeljack's Italian name, curiously). Lots of lines are completely different from the original script: Devastator's "Prepare for extermination!" became "I'll destroy you, Transformers!", Grimlock's "Me Grimlock like challenge!" is replaced with "We Dinobots ready for great battle!" Optimus's line "Soon I shall be all one with the Matrix" turns into "The most important thing now is the passage of the Matrix" and "Arise, Rodimus Prime" was changed to "Now rise up, Hot Rod!"

The scene on Quintessa also gets a weird rewrite: for some reason this dub refers to the Quintesson prosecutor as the evil "Emperor Quintesson" and all the dialogue said by the judge starts with "Yes, my Quintesson".

===2007 redub===
The redub uses the Italian names for everyone except Ravage, Laserbeak, Ratbat and Rodimus Prime (Hot Rod, although, is called "Folgore"). "Soundwave superior, Constructicons inferior" becomes "The Soundwave is superior, the Constructicon is inferior!" (no, seriously.)

There are many mispronounciations: Constructicons is pronounced "Con-STROOK-ticons", Laserbeak is named "Laserback" and [[Junkion (planet)|Junk]] is called "Yoonk".

Blurr's speech is fast, and for some reason he also speaks in rhymes, probably to make it sound more repetitive.

Another amusing error is in the Junkion's chant of "remove the toughest stains", that is translated as "remove the toughest Slags"... as in "taking away an army of clones of [[Slag (G1)|the Dinobot who transforms into a Triceratops]]", since the actual Italian line is "rimuovere i Tricex più duri" ("Tricex" is Slag's Italian name). What.

The script is more faithful to the original version otherwise. The redub was poorly received by Italian fans.

==Japan==
[[File:UnicronWarMagami01.jpg|right|upright=1.4|thumb]]

The Japanese dub was an official translation by [[Katsushige Hirata]]. Although '''''Transformers: The Movie''''' (トランスフォーマーザ・ムービー) was advertised during 1987, and was even originally scheduled for a theatrical release in the summer of that year, unknown circumstances resulted in a delay of the Japanese release. It was not released in Japan until [[August 9]]th 1989,<ref>http://pastport.jp/user/kabochan/timeline/%E6%94%BE%E9%80%81%E4%BB%A5%E5%A4%96%E3%81%AE%E3%81%A7%E3%81%8D%E3%81%94%E3%81%A8%E5%B9%B4%E8%A1%A8/event/uUhfr2WcbUI</ref> first through limited charity screenings for UNICEF in Tokyo and Osaka (where a man in a [[Ginrai (human)|Super Ginrai]] costume greeted guests), followed immediately by a {{w|LaserDisc}} and VHS release. According to one attendee of the charity screening in Tokyo,<ref>https://kakuyomu.jp/works/1177354054884808234/episodes/1177354054886027093</ref> some tickets to the event were offered to [[S.T.A.R.S.]] members via lottery, the version screened was in English with Japanese subtitles, and [[Tessho Genda]] (Japanese voice of Optimus Prime) was present to speak with fans; according to a different fan, leftover mail-away [[Lander]]s from ''[[Transformers: Super-God Masterforce (franchise)|Masterforce]]'' were available as point-of-sale items at the screening.<ref>{{citesocial|quote=あちしはビクトリー時期のトランスフォーマー・ザ・ムービーチャリティー上映会の物販で買った記憶。|link=https://twitter.com/nekoteck2011/status/920069769323192320|name=nekoteck2011|site=Twitter|year=2017|month=10|day=16|(defunct=)}}</ref> Footage taken during the charity screenings was included in the straight-to-video promotional film, "Transformers Theatrical Version!! Video Finally Here" (トランスフォーマー劇場公開バージョン!!ビデオついに登場). This was the second promotional VHS relating to the film, as ''[[The Transformers: The Movie - Apocalypse: Be Eternal, Matrix]]'' was produced to promote the movie prior to its Japanese release.

Unfortunately, the film's delay would later cause some continuity problems in future Japanese-penned ''Transformers'' fiction, as characters killed in the movie (notably [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] and [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]]) appear in later series ''[[Transformers: The Headmasters (cartoon)|The Headmasters]]'' and ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Victory (cartoon)|Victory]]'' respectively (though these would be addressed [[Controverse|years later]]).

Despite not being released in Japan in 1987 as intended, the events of the movie were [[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010 (story page)|summarized]] in ''[[TV Magazine]]'' with accompanying artwork by [[Ban Magami]] and [[Studio OX]] so that children tuning into ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010 (franchise)|Transformers 2010]]'' would not be lost. The events of the movie would regularly be referred to as the "[[Unicron War]]", gaining something of a mysterious and legendary quality, as their events were constantly referred to but never ''seen''.

Although ''Transformers: The Movie'' was dubbed several years after ''[[The Transformers (cartoon)#Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers]]'' and ''[[The Transformers (cartoon)#Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010|Transformers 2010]]'' had ended, the majority of cast members from those series returned to reprise their roles.

The Japanese dub is notable for adding a lot of lines and voice effects to moments which had been silent in the English version, including the following:

*The shuttle attack scene originally doesn't have much talking during combat, but the Japanese dub adds numerous lines to many characters on both sides of the fight. For example, after killing Brawn, Starscream cheerfully asks who's next while waving Megatron around.
*During Optimus Prime's attack on the Decepticons and his fight with Megatron, every Decepticon Prime shoots can be heard screaming in pain, while his battle with Megatron has numerous grunts and curses added in.

[[File:TFTMMagnusJPCaption01.jpg|left|200px|thumb|"Hang on, there's something on the screen down here. Let me get that..."]]

Some of the additions were quite goofy (e.g., Blitzwing begs Prime not to run him over before getting out of the way) but some were actually quite disturbing. For example, when Starscream is killed by Galvatron, he gives off a long, tortured scream. In addition, the destruction of Lithone is made more horrifying by the sounds of the natives dying (some of them even being cut off mid-scream).

There are also a few slight dialogue alterations, such as Megatron ''specifically'' ordering the Insecticons to breach the Autobot defenses, to which [[Shrapnel (G1)|Shrapnel]] and [[Kickback (G1)|Kickback]] respond in unison with a high-pitched ''"Yessss siirrr!"'' Soundwave's famous "Soundwave superior, Constructicons inferior," is modified into "Soundwave is intelligent, the Constructicons are just idiots!"

The only other alteration of note in regards to the Japanese version is that whenever a character appears on screen for the first time, their name and function appears with them (written in Japanese, of course).

{{-}}

==Latin America==
The Latin American Spanish dub was done in [[Los Angeles]] and is notable because it kept all the voice actors from the cartoon and the new characters remained with the same voices for the remainder of the show. Every character is referred to by their original English name, since none of the characters' names were translated when the cartoon was dubbed into Spanish (except Ravage, who was called "Destructor" on the cartoon, but kept his English name on the movie).

Features the Star Wars-type text in the beginning and the narrator at the end stating that Optimus Prime will return.

Though it is one of the most popular dubs of the movie, it has only been released domestically on home video once and is very difficult to find nowadays. In addition, it hasn't been shown on TV since the early Nineties. Despite this, the dub has been included in many international releases of the movie.

This dub removes all swearing and makes Optimus Prime's death scene even more traumatic by having Daniel ''actually'' crying when Optimus flatlines.

Galvatron sounds exactly like Megatron and Wheelie occasionally rhymes because his dialogue was ''literally'' translated.

==Poland==
In Poland, the movie was never professionally dubbed. In the only official (and cult classic) release on VHS in 1992, all the dialogue was read by a single voice-over actor, while the original sound was left intact and could be heard in the background. To this day, that characteristic form of "narrating" is a very popular solution in Poland when it comes to translating movies for TV or DVDs. Thanks to this method, you can both understand the story and hear all the original voices. In the case of ''The Transformers: The Movie'' it also forced translators to leave (almost) all the original names intact. (Yay!)

==Spain==
In Spain, the movie was aried once in Latin American on the channel ''Antena 3''. However, when the Generation 1 DVDs were published by the company Selecta Visión, they included both the Latin American dub and a new Spanish one (Castilian) that recycled the first's translations, but adding some errors in the character's names. It was aired for the first and only time in Castilian the year 2008 in ''Local Media TV'', but the audio quality wasn't very good, probably due to emission problems.

==South Korea==

===KBS dub===
The first Korean dub of the movie aired on the Korean TV channel KBS in 1989, titled "Unicron and the transforming robots". The voice acting is decent, almost matching the Japanese voices of Shockwave, Starscream, and Soundwave. At that time, many robot shows had only one robot appearing, but Transformers had more characters in their cartoon, gaining the attention of many children. KBS would later go on to dub several movies of the [[Live-action film series]] and [[Transformers: Robots in disguise]]. This version is not found at the moment, and is still yet to reach the world of internet.

===VHS dub===
The VHS dub was titled "Transforming robots Transformers", and this time, Starscream sounds like the original US version. Just like the KBS dub, this version is not available on the internet.

===DVD dub===
The DVD dub, which was released in 2007, was titled just "Transformers", and it is filled with a lot of music errors, such as the first part of [[Dare]] being very quiet, [[The Touch]] had its lyrics repeating, and sometimes random music was added, for instance, when Hot Rod becomes Rodimus Prime, the music suddenly changes to Nothin's Gonna Stand In Our Way by Spectre General, and changes back to The Touch. Currently, this is the only dub that is available. The interest for this dub probably died out, as South Koreans could have easier reach to the original English version.

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Transformers: The Movie/dubs}}
[[Category:Generation 1 media]]
[[Category:Real world films]]

The Transformers: The Movie/dubs

2024-09-02T08:53:13Z

Optimusprime67: /* KBS dub */

'''''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''''' has been translated and dubbed into many languages, each with its own set of quirks and oddities.

==Brazil==
'''''Transformers: O Filme''''', as the movie is known in Portuguese, was released in Brazilian theaters in [[January 15]], [[1987]], not long after the launch of the series on television. It was later released on home video in the same year on a very small scale, which made it very hard to find in video stores. The movie was aired on television only twice, once in 1990 on Rede Globo (the same channel that broadcast the series) and again in 2000 on Fox Kids, each time receiving a new dub.

The most probable reason for the existence of the first two dubs is that the theatrical/home video dub was based on the American version of the movie while the television one from 1990 was based on the European release, as it had the ''Star Wars''-type text in the beginning and the narrator stating at the end that [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] would return. These dubs are different not only in the choice of some of their voice actors but also in their translations. Which dub is the best is a regular topic of debate among Brazilian fans, though both versions have their share of problems. Unfortunately, neither of them allowed Spike to swear.

===Theatrical/Home video dub===
In the theatrical/home video dub, all of the pre-''Movie'' main characters are dubbed by the same voice actors who played them on the television series, and [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]] does not receive a new voice when he is reformatted into [[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]].

This version is the most localized of the first two, but is also the most "childish" in nature. For example, when [[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Hot Rod]] and [[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]] are running toward [[Autobot City (G1)|Autobot City]] and spot the [[Insecticon (G1)|Insecticons]], Kup states, "The Insecticons are in the way," with Hot Rod replying, "Wrong, they're on their way to the hole!", something that makes no sense at all and that the translator probably just thought would sound funny to the kids watching. A better example of localization happens when Kup and [[Wreck-Gar (G1)|Wreck-Gar]] are greeting each other, in which both make references to Brazilian television series of the time. Kup even says "plim-plim", a reference to the sound effect used alongside the Rede Globo logo during vignettes and commercial breaks.

Instead of casting a deep-voiced actor for [[Unicron]], this dub chose to heavily distort the actor's voice, making him sound menacing but almost unintelligible. The same thing was done to the [[Quintesson]]s and their servants. A similar situation occurred with [[Blurr (G1)|Blurr]]; since his voice actor could not talk as fast as [[John Moschitta]], his voice was also distorted to make it sound faster, which also made it difficult to understand.

Finally, the "robotic" effect on the Transformers voices was not done the same way as it was for the television series, which resulted in the characters sounding as if they're talking through a radio more than anything else.

In this version, [[Wheelie (G1)|Wheelie]] does not rhyme.

===Rede Globo dub===
The movie was broadcast only once on Rede Globo during a special week dedicated to Children's Day, which in Brazil is celebrated in [[October 12]]. Most of the pre-''Movie'' characters retained the same voices they had on the home video release, but all of the new Transformers got new voice actors, including Galvatron. This dub also lost the localization aspect the other one received; while it resulted in more faithful translations, some instances lost all sense to Brazilian audiences.

The characters possess the same "robotic" distortion on their voices that they had in the television series, and no kind of heavy modulation was used. An actor with an actual deep voice was cast as Unicron and had his voice left unaltered, which made it much easier for the audience to understand his dialogue. On the other hand, no distortion was used for Blurr, so the actor was forced to try and emulate John Moschitta's impossibly fast speech pattern with debatable results.

One notable dubbing error occurs when Hot Rod opens the Matrix at the end of the film; the line "Light our darkest hour!" is delivered by Optimus Prime's voice actor instead of Hot Rod's. Because of this, Brazilian fans who had only watched this version were left to believe that it was in fact Optimus' spirit who was speaking through Rodimus in a deep "passing of the torch" moment. Of course, this belief became much less popular once the original American audio and the alternate dub became much more accessible to Brazilian fans by the start of the 21st century.

In this version, Wheelie rhymes.

===Fox Kids dub===
Little is known about the third Brazilian dub of the movie, other than the fact that it aired only once on Fox Kids in the year 2000 and has a list of voice actors available online. This version is by far the least known among fans, with a large portion of the fandom not even being aware of its existence and the few who claim to have seen it argue that it is the worst one of the bunch. While unconfirmed, the reason this dub was created is most likely because of rights issues involving the previous two versions.

Due to its obscurity, it's unknown if Wheelie does or does not rhyme in this version, nor if Spike gets to swear this time around (which is still highly unlikely).

==Denmark==
The first time the movie was shown was on Danish national television broadcaster DR in the fall of 2009. While there had been dubbed episodes of the original television show made in the 1980s for home video and later TV airings, the movie was not dubbed at that point. Rather a completely new cast was used for the movie, possibly made for this specific airing. The dubbed movie was re-broadcast 2 years later on a sub-station of DR.

The dubbing had a larger cast of voice actors than the late-80s dub of the TV series with one or two actors returning to the franchise after 25 years. However, some lines were omitted by mistake (a few characters could be seen moving their lips visibly but without any sound being heard) while others appeared at completely random times (a line uttered by Galvatron missing earlier in the movie "appearing" towards the end in a completely unrelated scene possibly due to a bad time code in the dubbing software).

This version was based on the UK print of the movie and has yet to see a public release on any kind of media.

==France/Quebec==
[[File:La Guerre des Robots.jpg|thumb|200px|left|upright=0.7|Is Arcee running away from Hot Rod?]]
The film was released in French theaters in April 1987,<ref name="france">"[https://www.cineanimation.fr/film/la-guerre-des-robots-transformers La Guerre des robots - Transformers]" at Ciné Animation.</ref> soberly titled "La Guerre des Robots" (''The War of the Robots''), which suggests that the marketing team really had no knowledge of the existence of the animated series.

For French-speaking audiences, who had thus far been given two separate dubs of the TV series (one made in France and one made in Quebec, a very common occurrence), a single dub was made in France for all French releases of the film. This release used a brand-new voice actor team rather than using either dub team from the series.

The film adds a prologue, voiced by the narrator, which is not present in the original version. It is added during the opening song, while the names follow one another on screen:
''{{quote|A new evil power crosses the universe. A monstrous planet that devours everything in its path. Its goal is the small planet Cybertron, on which the race of the Transformers robots continues to clash in a fratricidal war. A war between good and evil that has lasted for millions of years. These treacherous Decepticons, led by the evil Megatron, have sworn to crush their enemies, the Autobots. To achieve their goals, they relentlessly pursued them across the galaxy, from planet Cybertron to Earth. But the heroic Autobots and their courageous leader, Optimus Prime, are not easily defeated...}}''

Whereas the Canadian French dub used the Canadian French names from the toy packages, and the European French dub avoided using names or created some sort of improvised nicknames, the Movie used most of the characters' English names. However, here are the few exceptions:
:*The Constructicons are called ''Constructitors''. They were called ''Constructicans'' in the European French dub of the TV series and ''Constructicons'' in the Canadian French dub.
:*The Constructicons state that they can form ''le Dévastateur robot'' ("the robotic devastator").
:*The Dinobots, who kept their original name in both dubs, are firstly called ''Dinosaurobots'' in the Movie, then ''Dinorobots''.

Moreover, the Movie pronounced the names the original English way (notably "Optimus Prime", which was pronounced the French way in France and called "Optimus Primus" in Canada). For the factions, the Movie kept the pronunciation used in the European French dub ("Autobot" pronounced the French way and "Deceptican"). However, there is an exception in the last scene: when Rodimus Prime says "Autobots, transform and roll out!", he pronounces "Autobots" the English way.

Two characters were given gender changes for this dub; Starscream and Shrapnel both become females (Shrapnel being called "Mademoiselle Shrapnel").

Some robots don't have a continuous voice effect, it depends of the scenes. For example, Bumblebee says his first lines without any effect, and all of a sudden, his voice is exceedingly high-pitched, until the end of the film. Grimlock's voice is more or less altered depending on the scene, the same goes for Blurr. However, Soundwave does not have any particular effect, just the classic slight reverb, like in the TV dubs.

Megatron keeps the same voice once he becomes Galvatron, unlike in the original version.

There are several notable changes to the dialogs:
:*Arblus is not named. The line "Arblus, look! It's Unicron!" becomes "Watch out! Look, it's Unicron!".
:*The narrator states that "The evil Decepticons have invaded Cybertron, the home of the Autobots", which sounds like Decepticons come from another planet.
:*Starscream's line "How do you feel, mighty Megatron?" becomes "How do you feel, damn Megatron?".
:*When Starscream asks "Megatron? Is that you?" Galvatron's original answer, "Here's a hint!", is now much more direct: "Yes, but stronger than before!"
:*When the Decepticons make space in Astrotrain and push the others out, they say "The injured, jump!".
:*Hook tells Soundwave "Nobody would obey a cassette player!". Then Rumble says "Eh! No one has ever insulted Soundwave with such impunity!".
:*The Auto-combatant's line "Time out! Time out! Time out!" becomes "We don't negotiate anymore, it's too late!".
:*Slag's "Excuse me!" is dubbed by "Toi, écrase !". It's a pun with the expression meaning "You, lie low!" which uses the word "écraser" (to crush).
:*Wreck-Gar's noises as the Autobots plant the Quintesson ship in the ground are dubbed by "We have visitors! If you think this is where you're going to find oil, you're in trouble!".
:*Optimus Prime's line "Arise, Rodimus Prime!" followed by Hot Rod whispering "Optimus!" are replaced by Hot Rod saying... "Arise, Optimus Prime! Help me!".

There are several errors in the dub:
:*After Laserbeak's return, Megatron calls Soundwave "Cellule-espion" ("Spy Cell"). He will be called Soundwave for the rest of the film.
:*Optimus Prime's phrases are not the same in the replayed footage that Laserbeak shows, several words are different.
:*Blitzwing's line "Come on down, Autobrat!" is absent from the dub.
:*Hot Rod's line "Save it Kup, let's burn rubber!" is missing.
:*Starscream's line "Pathetic fools! There's no escape!" is missing.
:*Frenzy's line "Yeah! Let's kick tailgate!" is missing.
:*Spike's line "Oh shit! What are we going to do now?" is missing.
:*The first three faces of the Quintesson judge laugh, but the last two laughs are missing. This may be a technical issue since the cut is very harsh and we can briefly hear a sound during the last face.
:*Unfortunately, some key lines keep changing translation:
::*'Til all are one!" is firstly said by Optimus Prime "Until the day comes when all will be united", then Ultra Magnus says it the musketeer way, "One for all, all for one", and finally Rodimus Prime says "Until we become one".
::*"To light our darkest hour" is firstly said by Optimus Prime "To come and illuminate our darkest hours", then Ultra Magnus says "Didn't you say that the Matrix would light us in the darkness?", and finally Rodimus Prime says "Now light up our darkest hour".

On the nice hand, the Junkions make references to French TV:
:*"Vous pouvez toujours demander à Grand'Mère si elle fait du bon café !" ("You can always ask Grandma if she makes good coffee!") is a reference to French coffee brand ''Grand'Mère'', which had for TV slogan "Grand'Mère sait faire un bon café" ("Grandma knows how to make good coffee").
:*"N'oubliez pas de boucler vos ceintures ! Parce qu'un petit clic vaut mieux qu'un grand clac !" ("Don't forget to buckle your seat belts! Because a little click is better than a big clack!") refers to a 1975 French motto from the national road safety group.
:*Kup's phrase "Amis du soir, bonsoir !" ("Evening friends, good evening!") was often used in several night TV shows.
:*"Pousse, ça mousse!" ("Push, it foams!") refers to several French TV ads for soap brand ''Pousse Mousse''.

At the end, the film also adds a conclusion voiced by the narrator, which is not present in the original version. It is added during just before the head of Unicron reaches the orbit of Cybertron. Interestingly, it already announces the return of Optimus Prime.
''{{quote|The battle is over, but the galaxy waits, and the adventures of the Transformers will continue. And the greatest of the Autobots, Optimus Prime, will return.}}''

==Germany==
[[File:TFTM German DVD.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.0|German 2003 DVD cover]]
Germany also got two different dubs over the years:

===TV dub===
As the movie had never been shown in German theaters, the first dub, titled ''Transformers: Der Kampf um Cybertron'' (''Transformers: The Battle for Cybertron''), was made in 1994 for airing on the German TV station RTL, to serve as a "pilot" for the [[Transformers: Generation 2 (cartoon)|''Generation 2'' cartoon series]] which would be subsequently broadcast. (One might argue that the initial omission of the movie from the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|original cartoon's]] German airing schedule resulted in an information gap regarding the shift from the season 2 setting to the season 3 setting; but then again, the cartoon ''started'' with episodes from season 3 in Germany, and only ''six'' episodes from the first two seasons were ever aired during the entire original "Generation 1" run of the show, so it's not like context problems weren't already all over the place.)

Even though the dub was made only five years after the dub of the Generation 1 cartoon had started on German TV, only a few of the German voice actors returned, most of them not even in the same roles they had played before. Optimus Prime, for example, was now dubbed by Thomas Rau, who had originally voiced Rodimus Prime, Blaster and Scourge in the cartoon itself. As in the dub of the cartoon before, all the characters retained their English names... with the exception of [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]], whose name was translated as "Der Vernichter" ("the annihilator") for reasons unknown (he was "Devastator" in the dub of the cartoon itself). This version of the movie was only shown twice (not counting late-night reruns following those airings), on its TV premiere in April 1994 and one year later, in May 1995. It was never released on VHS either.

The TV version was based on the European edit of the film, including the {{w|Rank Organisation|Rank Film}} "{{w|Gongman}}" at the beginning. Contrary to a widespread rumor,<ref>[http://www.ofdb.de/view.php?page=fassung&fid=7489&vid=38680 German movie database still listing the rumor about Starscream's "edited death" in TF:TM]</ref> the German TV edition of the movie was ''not'' edited to omit Starscream's death scene.

Notably, the [[Junkion (species)|Junkions]]' dialogue was treated with a surprising amount of finesse, replacing their references to English TV and advertising phrases to contemporary German ones, including an ''extremely'' well-known and catchy advertising slogan used by Toyota. In addition, Bernd Simon's rendition of Starscream is spot on, coming ''frighteningly'' close to Chris Latta. Overall, despite a few minor hiccups, major technical and translation errors were far and far between.

===DVD dub===
[[File:TFTM German DVD 2006.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.0|German 2006 DVD cover]]
In 2003, the movie, this time simply titled ''Transformers'', was finally released on DVD in Germany, by a little-known, low-budget label. Since the TV edition of the movie had been used as a "pilot" for the G2 cartoon, and it had been archived under the title "Der Kampf um Cybertron", the dubbing masters were not located until more than a year later, so the DVD company assigned an entirely new dub... which makes the [[Omni Productions]] dub and the [[Voicebox Productions|Voicebox]] dub of ''[[Transformers: Energon (cartoon)|Energon]]'' look like masterpieces. Numerous translation errors resulted from the apparent lack of an original script, thus requiring the dubbers to translate simply from listening to the original audio; coupled with a lack of experience with the source material and a lack of professional knowledge in the English (and German) language in general, resulting in look-it-up-in-a-dictionary-use-first-suggestion translations, sentences that ''make no sense whatsoever at all'' in context, and generally stilted and unnatural-sounding dialogue. For example, after hijacking the Autobots' shuttle and killing off Ratchet, Prowl, Brawn and Ironhide, Megatron makes the completely nonsensical proclamation that he intends to get past the early warning system ''of'' the Autobots' shuttle (''which he is already in control of at this point''), instead of getting past the Autobots' early warning system ''in'' their own shuttle (as in, using the shuttle as a Trojan horse). Also, Grimlock's line "Me Grimlock need new strategy" gets misinterpreted as "Me Grimlock need ''no'' strategy", and the phrase "mockery of justice" is mangled into a completely nonsensical "Farce der Gerechtigkeit" ("farce of justice", with the loan word "Farce" mispronounced as if the voice actor had never seen that fancy word before, and "justice" in the sense of "fairness" rather than "judical system"). A much better translation would have been "Justizposse".

In addition, none of the voice actors sounded like they were particularly experienced in the field of dubbing, especially since none of their voices were recognizable from other productions.

The DVD is also notorious for its packaging, which does its best to obscure ''what exactly it contains'' (i.e. a feature-length animated movie). The front cover uses the cover artwork of the old Panini Generation 1 sticker album, while the back cover depicts stills from "[[The Golden Lagoon (episode)|The Golden Lagoon]]", "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]" and "[[The Autobot Run]]", coupled with an (incorrect) summary of the general setting of the first two seasons of the Generation 1 cartoon, which implies (likely due to a misinterpretation of the English word "emerge") that the Autobots and Decepticons somehow come into existence on Earth, rather than simply reawakening after lying dormant for millions of years, with the term "Transformers" even translated into German as "Transformatoren".

A second edition of this DVD was released in 2006, this time featuring artwork of [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Armada Optimus Prime]] on the front cover, with Earth (from the [[Transformers (film)|2007 movie's]] promo poster) as the background, plus the 1984 back-of-the-box artwork rotated by 270 degrees as an overlay, and the "Transformers" title logo from the 2007 movie. The back cover depicts a screencap from the [[Transformers (Armada PS2)|''Armada'' video game]], [[Don Figueroa]]'s "All Optimus" poster and the 1984 back-of-the-box battle scene, plus the same sleeve text as featured on the 2003 release of the DVD, with none of the errors fixed.
{{-}}

==Hungary==
The film was first dubbed into Hungarian by Mahir Studios for the Televideo company's 1992 VHS release; the second dub was recorded by Masterfilm Digital, and released by Mirax both on VHS and on DVD, the latter in 2004. Both versions include the scrolling text and other European edits; the Mirax one even has the "gong man". Issues they both have in common include small dubbing casts, inconsistent voices and translation errors. Neither dub used the name translations popularized by the Hungarian release of the [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|G1 comics]].

===Televideo===

The film's title was translated as ''Alakváltók'' (''Shape-shifters''), a rare instance of a name or expression matching up with the Marvel comic's terminology. The dub has a total of five voice actors (four men for random characters, one actress for Arcee, Daniel and most of Wheelie's lines), and is notorious for the dialogue almost never matching the lip movements and characters changing their voice on the fly. Certain lines are even missing or spoken at the wrong time (most notably Megatron's "Die, Autobots!" shout), and at times lines belonging to different characters were combined into one. Translation errors and flubbed line-reads also abound; Megatron ''berates'' Soundwave for jamming the Autobots' transmission instead of ordering him to do so, and Wreck-Gar calls Hot Rod Unicron at one point. But mistakes aside, the translation is surprisingly witty – Blurr's cheesy tongue-twister about shooting Decepticons is especially famous among older fans. In fact, the translator seems to have had a fondness for rhyming, as apart from Wheelie, the Dinobots, the Junkions and Blurr also deliver parts of their dialogue in verse. The problem is that the lines are also drastically ''compressed'', leading to many awkward moments of characters silently mouthing unspoken words.

There are numerous name changes, the most bizarre of which is the Decepticons being referred to as "Varangyok" ("Toads"). This may be a tribute to the '60s German sci-fi TV series ''Raumpatrouille – Die phantastischen Abenteuer des Raumschiffs Orion'' (''Space patrol – The Fantastic Adventures of the Spaceship Orion''). In this series, the main enemy alien race is called "Frogs", but they were named Toads in the Hungarian translation. Other strange name changes include Peca ("Fisher" or "Fishing Rod") for Hot Rod, Zsaru ("Cop") for Kup, RC for Arcee or "IQ Jack" for the [[Ick-Yak]], all obvious misinterpretations of their original names. Curiously, one originally nameless characters ''gets'' a name: during the Decepticons' reformation scene, Unicron claims that there's only one Sweep, naming him "Karmos" (roughly, "Claws"). However, the Insecticons' nonsensical name ("Rovarángok") is harder to decipher. It can only be assumed that the translator intended it to be "Rovarangyok" ("Insectoads", a playful pun consistent with the Decepticon-Toad theme), and the voice actor has simply misread it.

One point in the dub's favor is that it at least attempted to retain the spirit of the Junkions' speech. For example, when putting Ultra Magnus back together, they shout "Aye-Tee-Tee!", a reference to old Hungarian {{w|ITT Inc.}} product commercials that were the subject of numerous jokes in the early '90s.

===Mirax===
[[File:TFTM Hungarian DVD.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|left|Hungarian DVD cover]]
The second dub has a reputation for including more profanities than the original version of the film. Although Spike's "Oh, shit!" line was cut, [[Ironhide (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ironhide]], Galvatron and the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]] say terms akin to "asshole" (from Grimlock to Blurr), "bastards" (Galvatron to the Autobots), "stupid", "brainless, numbskull jackass" ([[Slag (G1)|Slag]] to [[Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]]), "sons of bitches" (this one even twice, in place of the original's "Decepti-chops" and "Decepti-creeps"), and "chickenshit" (from Galvatron, regarding Hot Rod). Other oddities are Wheelie only rhyming half the time, Blaster's extremely high-pitched transmission to Optimus Prime (either an audio editing error or a very strange creative choice), and [[Soundwave (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Soundwave]] and Unicron at first talking in a seg-men-ted, ro-bo-tic man-ner. Numerous grunts and screams were also inserted where there were originally none, even the Sharkticons can be heard yelling a lot.

This dub also uses a mix of untranslated or incorrectly translated names, and character voices – this time supplied by twelve actors – occasionally change from one sentence to the next. Erroneous names include Unicornis (Unicron), Prowl (Blurr), Mega-robot (Devastator, though he is also called "Devastator the Mega-robot" in one line), Constructors ([[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicons]]), Deceptors ([[Decepticon]]s, but only said once), Astro ([[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]], again only for one line), Gettison (unknown; derived and misinterpreted from the line "Jettison some weight."), Eject (this refers to no one, it was mistranslated from Soundwave's "Eject" call), and the Ick-Yak becomes a "Mega-Missort". Wheelie's name is omitted. Wreck-Gar's dialogue also lacks any sort of creativity, consisting instead of random nonsense and straight-faced reactions to what's happening on screen. These and a multitude of other errors suggest that the translator had no script to work from and had to rely solely on her hearing.

A major blooper also occurs during the attack on the Autobot shuttle: Ironhide speaks his final words in [[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]]'s voice ("Please, have mercy!"), and curiously, the translation of Megatron's "Such heroic nonsense." line corresponds with this sudden change of personality, as he responds with "Death to all traitors." before blasting him. Now ''this'' is foreshadowing.

The DVD case has G.I. Joe pictures printed on the back side, as well as on the DVD itself. Spiffy. On a positive note, the summary on the back of the case is actually competently written, even if the references to the cartoon series (which wasn't released in the country) and to the movie's place in its timeline are worded a bit confusingly, and unlike the dub, it renders Unicron's name correctly. Masterfilm Digital would later localize ''[[Transformers: Armada (cartoon)|Armada]]'' (episodes 1-26 of which were likewise commissioned by Mirax), sadly still maintaining some of the general incompetence displayed by their handling of this movie.
{{-}}

==Italy==
There are two Italian dubs: the original one and a 2007 redub made when the live movie arrived in cinemas.

===Original dub===
This dub uses the original names for the new characters, except for Wheelie, named here "Saetta" (which was already Wheeljack's Italian name, curiously). Lots of lines are completely different from the original script: Devastator's "Prepare for extermination!" became "I'll destroy you, Transformers!", Grimlock's "Me Grimlock like challenge!" is replaced with "We Dinobots ready for great battle!" Optimus's line "Soon I shall be all one with the Matrix" turns into "The most important thing now is the passage of the Matrix" and "Arise, Rodimus Prime" was changed to "Now rise up, Hot Rod!"

The scene on Quintessa also gets a weird rewrite: for some reason this dub refers to the Quintesson prosecutor as the evil "Emperor Quintesson" and all the dialogue said by the judge starts with "Yes, my Quintesson".

===2007 redub===
The redub uses the Italian names for everyone except Ravage, Laserbeak, Ratbat and Rodimus Prime (Hot Rod, although, is called "Folgore"). "Soundwave superior, Constructicons inferior" becomes "The Soundwave is superior, the Constructicon is inferior!" (no, seriously.)

There are many mispronounciations: Constructicons is pronounced "Con-STROOK-ticons", Laserbeak is named "Laserback" and [[Junkion (planet)|Junk]] is called "Yoonk".

Blurr's speech is fast, and for some reason he also speaks in rhymes, probably to make it sound more repetitive.

Another amusing error is in the Junkion's chant of "remove the toughest stains", that is translated as "remove the toughest Slags"... as in "taking away an army of clones of [[Slag (G1)|the Dinobot who transforms into a Triceratops]]", since the actual Italian line is "rimuovere i Tricex più duri" ("Tricex" is Slag's Italian name). What.

The script is more faithful to the original version otherwise. The redub was poorly received by Italian fans.

==Japan==
[[File:UnicronWarMagami01.jpg|right|upright=1.4|thumb]]

The Japanese dub was an official translation by [[Katsushige Hirata]]. Although '''''Transformers: The Movie''''' (トランスフォーマーザ・ムービー) was advertised during 1987, and was even originally scheduled for a theatrical release in the summer of that year, unknown circumstances resulted in a delay of the Japanese release. It was not released in Japan until [[August 9]]th 1989,<ref>http://pastport.jp/user/kabochan/timeline/%E6%94%BE%E9%80%81%E4%BB%A5%E5%A4%96%E3%81%AE%E3%81%A7%E3%81%8D%E3%81%94%E3%81%A8%E5%B9%B4%E8%A1%A8/event/uUhfr2WcbUI</ref> first through limited charity screenings for UNICEF in Tokyo and Osaka (where a man in a [[Ginrai (human)|Super Ginrai]] costume greeted guests), followed immediately by a {{w|LaserDisc}} and VHS release. According to one attendee of the charity screening in Tokyo,<ref>https://kakuyomu.jp/works/1177354054884808234/episodes/1177354054886027093</ref> some tickets to the event were offered to [[S.T.A.R.S.]] members via lottery, the version screened was in English with Japanese subtitles, and [[Tessho Genda]] (Japanese voice of Optimus Prime) was present to speak with fans; according to a different fan, leftover mail-away [[Lander]]s from ''[[Transformers: Super-God Masterforce (franchise)|Masterforce]]'' were available as point-of-sale items at the screening.<ref>{{citesocial|quote=あちしはビクトリー時期のトランスフォーマー・ザ・ムービーチャリティー上映会の物販で買った記憶。|link=https://twitter.com/nekoteck2011/status/920069769323192320|name=nekoteck2011|site=Twitter|year=2017|month=10|day=16|(defunct=)}}</ref> Footage taken during the charity screenings was included in the straight-to-video promotional film, "Transformers Theatrical Version!! Video Finally Here" (トランスフォーマー劇場公開バージョン!!ビデオついに登場). This was the second promotional VHS relating to the film, as ''[[The Transformers: The Movie - Apocalypse: Be Eternal, Matrix]]'' was produced to promote the movie prior to its Japanese release.

Unfortunately, the film's delay would later cause some continuity problems in future Japanese-penned ''Transformers'' fiction, as characters killed in the movie (notably [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] and [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]]) appear in later series ''[[Transformers: The Headmasters (cartoon)|The Headmasters]]'' and ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Victory (cartoon)|Victory]]'' respectively (though these would be addressed [[Controverse|years later]]).

Despite not being released in Japan in 1987 as intended, the events of the movie were [[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010 (story page)|summarized]] in ''[[TV Magazine]]'' with accompanying artwork by [[Ban Magami]] and [[Studio OX]] so that children tuning into ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010 (franchise)|Transformers 2010]]'' would not be lost. The events of the movie would regularly be referred to as the "[[Unicron War]]", gaining something of a mysterious and legendary quality, as their events were constantly referred to but never ''seen''.

Although ''Transformers: The Movie'' was dubbed several years after ''[[The Transformers (cartoon)#Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers]]'' and ''[[The Transformers (cartoon)#Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010|Transformers 2010]]'' had ended, the majority of cast members from those series returned to reprise their roles.

The Japanese dub is notable for adding a lot of lines and voice effects to moments which had been silent in the English version, including the following:

*The shuttle attack scene originally doesn't have much talking during combat, but the Japanese dub adds numerous lines to many characters on both sides of the fight. For example, after killing Brawn, Starscream cheerfully asks who's next while waving Megatron around.
*During Optimus Prime's attack on the Decepticons and his fight with Megatron, every Decepticon Prime shoots can be heard screaming in pain, while his battle with Megatron has numerous grunts and curses added in.

[[File:TFTMMagnusJPCaption01.jpg|left|200px|thumb|"Hang on, there's something on the screen down here. Let me get that..."]]

Some of the additions were quite goofy (e.g., Blitzwing begs Prime not to run him over before getting out of the way) but some were actually quite disturbing. For example, when Starscream is killed by Galvatron, he gives off a long, tortured scream. In addition, the destruction of Lithone is made more horrifying by the sounds of the natives dying (some of them even being cut off mid-scream).

There are also a few slight dialogue alterations, such as Megatron ''specifically'' ordering the Insecticons to breach the Autobot defenses, to which [[Shrapnel (G1)|Shrapnel]] and [[Kickback (G1)|Kickback]] respond in unison with a high-pitched ''"Yessss siirrr!"'' Soundwave's famous "Soundwave superior, Constructicons inferior," is modified into "Soundwave is intelligent, the Constructicons are just idiots!"

The only other alteration of note in regards to the Japanese version is that whenever a character appears on screen for the first time, their name and function appears with them (written in Japanese, of course).

{{-}}

==Latin America==
The Latin American Spanish dub was done in [[Los Angeles]] and is notable because it kept all the voice actors from the cartoon and the new characters remained with the same voices for the remainder of the show. Every character is referred to by their original English name, since none of the characters' names were translated when the cartoon was dubbed into Spanish (except Ravage, who was called "Destructor" on the cartoon, but kept his English name on the movie).

Features the Star Wars-type text in the beginning and the narrator at the end stating that Optimus Prime will return.

Though it is one of the most popular dubs of the movie, it has only been released domestically on home video once and is very difficult to find nowadays. In addition, it hasn't been shown on TV since the early Nineties. Despite this, the dub has been included in many international releases of the movie.

This dub removes all swearing and makes Optimus Prime's death scene even more traumatic by having Daniel ''actually'' crying when Optimus flatlines.

Galvatron sounds exactly like Megatron and Wheelie occasionally rhymes because his dialogue was ''literally'' translated.

==Poland==
In Poland, the movie was never professionally dubbed. In the only official (and cult classic) release on VHS in 1992, all the dialogue was read by a single voice-over actor, while the original sound was left intact and could be heard in the background. To this day, that characteristic form of "narrating" is a very popular solution in Poland when it comes to translating movies for TV or DVDs. Thanks to this method, you can both understand the story and hear all the original voices. In the case of ''The Transformers: The Movie'' it also forced translators to leave (almost) all the original names intact. (Yay!)

==Spain==
In Spain, the movie was aried once in Latin American on the channel ''Antena 3''. However, when the Generation 1 DVDs were published by the company Selecta Visión, they included both the Latin American dub and a new Spanish one (Castilian) that recycled the first's translations, but adding some errors in the character's names. It was aired for the first and only time in Castilian the year 2008 in ''Local Media TV'', but the audio quality wasn't very good, probably due to emission problems.

==South Korea==

===KBS dub===
The first Korean dub of the movie aired on the Korean TV channel KBS in 1989, titled "Unicron and the transforming robots". The voice acting is decent, almost matching the Japanese voices of Shockwave, Starscream, and Soundwave. At that time, many robot shows had only one robot appearing, but Transformers had more characters in their cartoon, gaining the attention of many children. KBS would later go on to dub several movies of the [[Live-action film series]] and [[Transformers: Robots In Disguise]]. This version is not found at the moment, and is still yet to reach the world of internet.

===VHS dub===
The VHS dub was titled "Transforming robots Transformers", and this time, Starscream sounds like the original US version. Just like the KBS dub, this version is not available on the internet.

===DVD dub===
The DVD dub, which was released in 2007, was titled just "Transformers", and it is filled with a lot of music errors, such as the first part of [[Dare]] being very quiet, [[The Touch]] had its lyrics repeating, and sometimes random music was added, for instance, when Hot Rod becomes Rodimus Prime, the music suddenly changes to Nothin's Gonna Stand In Our Way by Spectre General, and changes back to The Touch. Currently, this is the only dub that is available. The interest for this dub probably died out, as South Koreans could have easier reach to the original English version.

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Transformers: The Movie/dubs}}
[[Category:Generation 1 media]]
[[Category:Real world films]]

Showdown! The Fortress vs the Victory Unification

2024-01-14T23:23:41Z

Optimusprime67: /* Foreign localization */

{{episode
|series=Victory
|ep=37
|image=Fortressvsunification.jpg
|title="Showdown! The Fortress vs the Victory Unification"
|japanese=激突! 要塞VSビクトリー合体
|romaji=Gekitotsu! Yōsai VS Victory Gattai
|production code=
|production company=[[TakaraTomy|Takara]], [[Toei Animation|Toei]]
|airdate=12 December 1989
|writer=[[Hiroyuki Hoshiyama]]
|director=[[Hiromichi Matano]]
|animation studio=[[Toei Animation|Toei]]
|continuity=[[Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity]]
}}
'''Star Saber and Deathsaurus engage in their greatest battle yet, and everything rests on Jan's shoulders as Earth hovers on the brink of destruction!'''

==Synopsis==
[[File:Victory37 goryudefects.jpg|left|thumb|"Do not grieve.... Soon... I shall be one... with the -" "Shut up, Goryu."]]
With [[Deathsaurus (G1)|Deathsaurus]]'s [[Planet-Destroying Fortress]] active and raining meteors down upon the [[Earth]] and [[Star Saber (G1)|Star Saber]] missing in action, the [[Multiforce]] and [[Rescue Patrol Team|Rescue Team]] are left to protect the planet on their own. The Multiforce merge into [[Landcross (G1)|Landcross]] to stop a meteor from crashing on top of the [[Rocket Base|Shuttle Base]], but are caught in the explosion and badly injured themselves. As the Rescue Team hurry to and fro tending to the wounded, the injured [[Goryu (G1)|Goryu]] comes to in the medical bay and requests an audience with any [[Autobot]]. [[Jan Minakaze|Jan]] comes to his side, and Goryu gives him the plans to the power source of Deathsaurus's fortress as a means of paying back the Decepticon leader for abandoning them. With all the other Autobots occupied, Jan realizes that he is the only one who can perform this task, but as he boards the [[Galaxy Shuttle]] with the ''[[Illumina II]]'', [[Holi]] spots him and follows him aboard. Jan explains his plan to Holi, and the pair resolve to see it through to the end.

[[File:Victory37 destroyermode.jpg|thumb|Gee, I wish we had one of them doomsday machines!]]
Out in space, Deathsaurus's fortress looms ever nearer to the Earth, and at the villain's instruction, [[Liokaiser]] initiates its transformation into its even-more-powerful Destroyer Mode. As the fortress shifts and changes, the inert form of Victory Saber, lying atop its hull where he crash-landed, is jarred back into the waking world. Realization dawns upon the horrified Victory Saber that Deathsaurus plans to eliminate the Earth with one shot of the fortress's main cannon, and he flies into action once more, attempting to destroy the cannon. Although his blasts have no effect, Deathsaurus dispatches Liokaiser to occupy Victory Saber as the minutes tick by until the cannon fully charges. Jan and Holi arrive just as the two combatants clash, and Star Saber disconnects from [[Ginrai (robot)|Victory Leo]], leaving him to fight Liokaiser while Star Saber covers his son's entrance into the fortress. Victory Leo and Liokaiser's battle is a brutal one, but in the end, the Autobot succeeds in blasting the combiner into the fortress's cannon barrel, which, still charging, drains his energy dry. With his consciousness fading and his body unable to move, Liokaiser can only utter a fading scream for help as he drifts off into the depths of space.

[[File:Victory37 finalblow.jpg|left|thumb|Leakin' Lubricant!]]
Meanwhile, Jan successfully pilots the ''Illumina II'' into the heart of the fortress, where he wires his vessel to explode and take out the power core. Ejecting from the mech, Jan beats a retreat in his spacesuit, and the ''Illumina II'' goes up in flames just seconds before Deathsaurus fires his cannon. As the power core is torn to pieces, the fortress's weapons deactivate, and Star Saber swoops into the fortress to find Jan. Before he can locate his son, however, he is confronted by the enraged Deathsaurus himself, and the two leaders engage in a ferocious final battle that stretches across the fortress. Every weapon in the two warriors' arsenals is unleashed until Star Saber blasts out one of Deathsaurus's eyes with his head-cannons, then takes advantage of the villain's hampered sight to stab him through the chest and break his sword off in the wound. Deathsaurus rips out the blade but collapses, gushing [[oil]].

[[File:Victory37 deadsaurus.jpg|thumb|He's like The [[Joker]] when he died from that Titan overdose.]]
Victory Leo and Holi venture inside the fortress to search for Jan and come across the boy just as he wakes up from a nightmare vision of [[Illumina]] dying in the fortress's attack on Earth. Holi takes Jan to safety outside as Victory Leo heads off to look for Star Saber, but just as the young pair exit the fortress, a huge door slams shut behind them. The same occurs all throughout the fortress, trapping Star Saber in the control room, where Deathsaurus communicates with him through a holographic projection. Refusing to lose, Deathsaurus has set the fortress on a collision course with Earth, intending to destroy the
planet and Star Saber with it! Deathsaurus, however, will not accept defeat, and blows himself out of an airlock...but as his shattered body floats off through space, the light dims from his eyes, and no signs of life remain in the body of the once-great [[Emperor of Destruction]].

[[File:Victory37 saberfireguts.jpg|left|thumb|Kaiō-ken!]]
In the control room, Star Saber desperately opens fire on the door, but cannot break through. Victory Leo and Jan contact him over his communicator, and Victory Leo is able to home in on his position and break into the room through the glass viewscreen. Now knowing that Jan is safely out of the fortress, Star Saber resolves to destroy it even at the cost of his own life, and Victory Leo agrees. The pair merge into jet-mode Victory Saber, and with their enhanced power, smash through the walls of the fortress, unleashing an unbelievable stream of missiles, bombs, cannons, lasers, machine guns and more, tearing the deadly craft apart from within. Bursting through the hull and out into space, the duo disconnect and recombine as robot-mode Victory Saber, concentrating all their energy for one final charge at the fortress's main cannon. Blazing with flaming energy, Victory Saber crashes into the fortress's cannon and releases all his power, vanishing in a burst of light as he finally destroys the fortress in a silent cosmic firestorm.

[[File:Victory37 happyend.jpg|thumb|Awww, bunnies!]]
Down on the surface of the Earth, the flare of light from the fortress's destruction catches the attention of Illumina, who stands amongst a group of injured refugees. As they all watch the sky, Galaxy Shuttle descends, and a short time later, Illumina and Jan have a happy reunion. As she praises him for his heroic deed, Jan tells her that he did it to save her. Holi chimes in that really, it was to save the Earth, but as the Shuttle Base comes rolling over the horizon, the disembodied voice of Star Saber wistfully declares that striving to save the ones you love is the emotion that will truly save the world.

Time passes...

[[File:Victory37 starsaberlives.jpg|left|thumb]]
With the Earth saved, Jan reports on the fates of all their allies. The [[Brainmaster]]s are appointed commanders of the Sector One defense force. The Multiforce are assigned to the [[Vega Sector]] and collectively promoted to governor. The Rescue Team have returned to planet [[Micro]]. [[Sixshot (G1)|Greatshot]] returned to being a mercenary and has not been seen since the [[Silvart War]], but Jan is sure he's okay. Goryu has become a construction foreman on Earth, with most of the [[Dinoforce]] working with him—except for [[Kakuryu (G1)|Kakuryu]], who has started working at an amusement park and is very popular with the children there. Jan himself is in the next grade at school and is still in the same class as Illumina.

But what of Star Saber...?

Why, he's more active than ever as Supreme Commander of the Autobots!

'''''LET'S SAY GO!'''''

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters|c1=
*[[Galaxy Shuttle]] (1)
*[[Machtackle]] (2)
*[[Dashtacker]] (3)
*[[Fire]] (4)
*[[Wingwaver]] (5)
*[[Tacker]] (12)
*[[Dash (G1)|Dash]] (13)
*[[Tackle]] (14)
*[[Mach (G1)|Mach]] (15)
*[[Waver]] (16)
*[[Wing (G1)|Wing]] (17)
*[[Landcross (G1)|Landcross]] (18)
*[[Pīpō]] (20)
*[[Blacker]] (21)
*[[Braver]] (22)
*[[Laster]] (23)
*[[Holi]] (24)
*[[Star Saber (G1)|Star Saber]] (27)
*[[Victory Leo]] (28)
*[[Boater]] (37)
*[[Clipper (G1)|Clipper]] (38)
|c2=
*[[Goryu (G1)|Goryu]] (6)
*[[Gairyu]] (7)
*[[Kakuryu (G1)|Kakuryu]] (8)
*[[Rairyu]] (9)
*[[Yokuryu]] (10)
*[[Doryu (G1)|Doryu]] (11)
*[[Deathsaurus (G1)|Deathsaurus]] (25)
*[[Liokaiser]] (26)
|c3=
*[[Jan Minakaze]] (19)
*[[Illumina]] (31)
*[[Joyce]] (32)
*[[Jan's other classmate]] (33)
*[[Clump]] (34)
*[[Mayville]] (35)
*[[Rami]] (36)
|h4=[[Breast Animal]]s|c4=
*[[Tigerbreast]] (29)
*[[Eaglebreast]] (30)
}}

==Quotes==
"Your attempt to wipe out the Earth was defeated by just one boy!"
:—'''Star Saber'''

"Your ambitions end here!" 
"My "ambition" is to ''possess your head!''"
:—'''Star Saber''' and '''Deathsaurus''' get about as worked up as anyone ever does in ''Victory''.

{{Note|The following quotes are from the Omni Productions dub.}}

"Maybe we should try it and see if it works or not."
:—'''Holi''' on the disk Goryu gave Jan.

"Nobody can beat me! Nobody in the Universe, for I am Deathsanraaaaaargh" ''(falls over)''
:—'''Deathsaurus'''

==Notes==
===Animation and technical errors===
*A switch Jan flicks lights up a display reading "Autocluse".
*As Deathsaurus is drifting into space, his Decepticon symbol is misdrawn.

[[File:Star saber shield.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Really more of an oversized codpiece.]]
===Continuity notes===
*Powers and gadgets:
**Star Saber pulls out the V-Shield for the first and only time in the series.

===Continuity errors===
*Tigerbreast and Eaglebreast appeared to be disabled by Star Saber's "Psycho Missiles", but a brief moment later, Deathsaurus was wearing them again as a breastplate.
*Deathsaurus appeared to be dead at the end and yet he didn't turn grey. [[Ultra Magnus Dies!!|Much like another time]]

===Transformers references===
*Deathsaurus's fortress was reactivated and the Brainmasters and Victory Saber were injured in the [[The Wrath of the Resurrected Giant Fortress!|previous episode]].

*The Dinoforce were abandoned on Earth by Deathsaurus in "[[The Terror of the Giant Tidal Waves]]".

===Real world references===
*When Deathsaurus engages Star Saber within the fortress, he accuses Star Saber of "entering my castle with your shoes on," referring, of course, to the Japanese custom of taking one's shoes off upon entering someone's home.

===Trivia===
*Although this episode is the final installment of the ongoing ''Victory'' storyline, it is not the final episode of the series. [[Autobots Forever|One further clip show]] was aired the following week as the final broadcast episode of the series, and a further six were released directly to video.
*It seems like Liokaiser should have known to avoid contact with the space fortress's cannon barrel, but no, he makes no attempt to avoid it.
*Deathsaurus is noticeably leaking dark fluids from his eye and body towards his final astro-minutes, suggesting bleeding out.
*For the first time since the [[The Brave Hero of the Universe - Star Saber|first installment]] of the series, this episode does not feature a preview of its content before the title card, instead including the first half-minute of the story.

===Foreign localization===
'''English'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Seek and Destroy the Space City'''" ([[Omni Productions]] dub)
:*''Original airdate:'' [[February 2]], [[1992]]
:**Machtackle suggests destroying the incoming meteor instead of moving Shuttle Base.
:**According to Jan's voiceover at the end, Landcross is now in charge of training new recruits, and Greatshot has returned to his duties on planet Micro—the image of devastation is left unexplained. The Dinoforce are in charge of garbage collection instead of construction.
:**This episode was the last Japanese Transformers cartoon to be dubbed by Omni Productions. Aren't you glad this is all over?

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote|jsubs}}
;DVD
[[File:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 2003 — ''Transformers: Victory'' — DVD Box 02 ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Pioneer LDC]]) — Japanese audio only. 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2006 — The Takara Collection Vol 3 — ''Transformers: Victory'' ([[Metrodome]]) — Optional commentary by [[Chris McFeely]]. 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2007 — ''Transformers'' — The Complete Takara Collection (Metrodome) — Optional commentary by Chris McFeely. 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2008 — ''The Transformers: Victory'' ([[Madman Entertainment]]) — Optional [[Omni Productions|Omni]] dub. 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2009 — ''The Transformers: Japan Generation 1'' — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment) — Optional Omni dub. 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2012 — ''Transformers: The Japanese Collection'' ([[Shout! Factory]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2012 — ''Transformers Japanese Collection: Victory'' (Shout! Factory)

[[Category:Victory episodes]]

Other Voices, Part 2

2023-12-14T23:33:05Z

Optimusprime67: /* Foreign localization */

{{episode
|series=BWtoon
|ep=26
|series2=BWJtoon
|ep2=26
|prev2=Other Voices, Part 1
|next2=Beast Wars Special Super Lifeform Transformers
|image=Other_Voices_2_Optimus_pod.jpg
|caption=[[The many deaths of Optimus Prime|Here we go again...]]
|title="Other Voices" Part 2
|season=1
|season ep=26
|production=[[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|airdate=[[April 1]], [[1997]]
|written by=[[Larry DiTillio]]
|directed by=[[Ezekiel Norton]]
|animation studio=[[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|continuity=[[Beast Wars continuity]]
|video=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFcwQaOZ5I0
|videosite=YouTube
}}

'''As the alien machine begins destroying the planet's energon, Optimus devises a desperate plan to destroy the device.'''

==Synopsis==
[[File:Other Voices 2 Tigatron Cheetor.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|Beautiful things never turn out good.]]
Out on patrol, [[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] and [[Tigatron]] stare in awe at "the light at the end of the world", as [[Planet Buster|the alien machine]] continues powering up in space. [[Optimus Primal (BW)/Beast Wars cartoon continuity|Optimus Primal]] makes contact and orders them to return to base. [[Rattrap (BW)|Rattrap]] is pessimistic about their chances of survival, but Primal assures him that [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] will find a way for them to survive.

The [[Bio-Dome|alien bungalow]] finishes transferring power to the moon, and in a flash, [[Vok|the aliens]] depart: "Termination sequence engaged. Return to [[Nexus Zero]]."

[[Megatron (BW)/Beast Wars cartoon continuity|Megatron]] and the [[Predacon (BW)|Predacons]] observe this from [[Darksyde (BW)|their base]]. Confronted with a machine intended to destroy them, Megatron activates a special program and scans the [[Axalon (BW)|Maximal base]], locating the spiders and [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] within.

[[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]] is nearly finished converting a stored [[stasis pod]] into his escape ship. [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] observes that it's a little cramped for two... but, weapon drawn, she has no intention of sharing the ride. Inferno arrives just then, blasts her, and sets Tarantulas on fire, knocking him out. Back at the Predacon base, Megatron detects the aborted flow of data to the stasis pod ship and reacts with fury.

[[File:Other Voices 2 Blackarachnia Inferno.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|A girl that can handle a gun, awesome!]]
Inferno starts to examine Tarantulas's work, but is attacked by Blackarachnia, who eludes him with a display of gymnastics before blasting him with his own gun. Picking up Tarantulas's cyber-link goggles, she forms a link with the unconscious Tarantulas to obtain the data needed to finish the pod ship—but finds that staring into the abyss of the spider's mind means that it also stares back...

The Maximals arrive at base, alarmed to find the shields down. Inside, they find Rhinox and [[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] cyber-webbed to the ceiling. Optimus Primal sends Rattrap and [[Airazor (BW)|Airazor]] to bring in their unwelcome visitors.

Megatron observes the data flow resuming, just as the altered moon opens fire on the planet with a broad, blinding power ray. Optimus Primal charges the Maximal base's shields as the external temperature begins climbing and deduces that the aliens intend to ignite the [[energon]] deposits. Megatron notes that this will obliterate the entire planet, an incredibly ruthless strategy that he rather admires. He assures his panicked troops that Tarantulas will save them, albeit inadvertently.

[[File:Other Voices 2 Optimus Blackarachnia.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|Stasis pod or coffin? At episode's end no one's sure.]]
Blackarachnia finishes the pod ship, only to be discovered and held at gunpoint by Rattrap and Airazor. With Rhinox still out of commission, Optimus Primal is beginning to despair, when Rattrap summons him to the stasis hold. Primal is impressed by the ship and immediately orders Blackarachnia to change the command codes to respond to him. He intends to fly the ship up to the [[Planet Buster]] and detonate the [[transwarp cell]] to destroy it. With little alternative, Blackarachnia complies.

[[File:Other Voices 2 Megatron Optimus.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|Worst in-flight movie ever.]]
Soon all is ready, and Optimus Primal has poignant parting words with his worried crew - at which point Blackarachnia comments on the Maximals' sentimentality and is knocked out by Airazor for it - before sealing the ship and launching it. Megatron scans the launch and notes with delight that Primal is flying the vessel. Primal soon reaches the Planet Buster, starts the ignition sequence, and gives the order to blow the hatch seals. But the hatch is sealed and locked! Megatron appears on his comm screen to gloat that he'd come up with exactly the same plan—only in his version of events, the ship's pilot goes "up with the ship". As the timer counts down to zero, the Maximals frantically wait for Optimus Primal to make his escape. Primal pounds on the sealed hatch, to no avail. As the Maximals wonder what is going on, Blackarachnia tells them it's too late... in Tarantulas's voice.

The transwarp cell explodes, and high above the planet, the Planet Buster is annihilated... along with the pod ship and Optimus Primal.

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|h1=[[Maximal]]s
|c1=
*[[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] (1)
*[[Tigatron]] (2)
*[[Optimus Primal (BW)/Beast Wars cartoon continuity|Optimus Primal]] (3)
*[[Rattrap (BW)|Rattrap]] (4)
*[[Airazor (BW)|Airazor]] (5)
*[[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] (13)
*[[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] (14)

|h2=[[Predacon (BW)|Predacons]]
|c2=
*[[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] (6)
*[[Scorponok (BW)|Scorponok]] (7)
*[[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] (8)
*[[Megatron (BW)/Beast Wars cartoon continuity|Megatron]] (9)
*[[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]] (10)
*[[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] (11)
*[[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] (12)
}}

==Quotes==
"Sufferin' circuits. What could it be?" 
"The light at the end of the world."
:—'''Cheetor''' and '''Tigatron''', watching the Planet Buster power up

"What is it?" 
"Well, I'd say it was the [[Instruments of Destruction|instrument of our destruction]]. Impressive, yesss..."
:—'''Scorponok''' and '''Megatron''' upon seeing the Planet Buster's true form.

'''Megatron''': Brilliant! They're causing a chain reaction which will rip this planet to atoms and destroy all traces of them—simply to deal with us! Such sheer ruthlessness. Such disregard for sentient life! ...I rather like these aliens. 
'''Terrorsaur''': Like them?! They're trying to ''destroy'' us! 
'''Waspinator''': Waszzpinator not want to be destroyed! Waszzpinator has ''plans''! 
'''Scorponok''': Megatron will save us! 
'''Megatron''': I think not. I've reserved ''that'' task for Tarantulas.
:—The Predacons react to the Planet Buster.

'''Blackarachnia''': We—I did it! 
'''Airazor''': ''Hooray'' for you. 
[''Blackarachnia finds herself held at gunpoint.''] 
'''Blackarachnia''': Did you know we have a truce?

"Cozy." 
"Just like a coffin."
:—'''Optimus Primal''' and '''Blackarachnia'''

"Oh, you Optimuses ''do'' love to sacrifice yourselves, don't you? Well, fortunately, this time your foolishness will destroy you ''and'' your Maximals. The Beast Wars are ''over'', Optimus. ''You'' '''''lose'''''."
:—'''Megatron''' rubs his victory in.

"'''''MEGATROOOOOON!'''''"
:—'''Optimus Primal'''{{'}}s last words before he kicks the bucket.

==Notes==
===Script timeline===
* First draft: 11th November 1996
* Second draft: 5th December 1996
* Finalised: 12th December 1996
* As Air: 2nd April 1997

===Animation and technical errors===
* When Blackarachnia grabs Inferno's gun, she clips into Inferno for a split second.
* During Airazor and Rattrap's search for Blackarachnia, Airazor's gun floats in her hand when they jump into a hallway, and then gets "stuck" in her armpit as they walk towards the camera. Meawhile, her hands are posed grasping at nothing.
* As Optimus Primal lies back into the stasis pod, his shoulder pads are much smaller than they usually are. This was done to avoid clipping with the sides of the cramped stasis pod model. It is an odd animation choice, however, given that simply folding his shoulder pads down is a normal part of his transformation, in much the same way he actually ''does'' do with his feet to allow the pod's canopy to close.
* When Megatron gloats to Optimus at the end of the episode, his hands seem to be switched, with his right arm ending in a normal hand instead of his [[beast mode]] head. (It's easiest to see when Megatron is laughing triumphantly at the end of his speech.)

===Continuity errors===
* When Blackarachnia and Tarantulas attacked Dinobot in the previous episode, they caused him to fall through the glass of the elevator on the right hand side of the ''Axalon''{{'}}s command center (from Dinobot's perspective). In this episode, the smashed elevator glass has been switched to the other elevator on the other side of the room.
* The piece of cyber-webbing Airazor steps on when she exits the elevator was not present during the close up of Rattrap as he complained about the missing Rhinox and Dinobot.
* Optimus asks Rattrap for a 30 nano-click timer on the self-destruct charge, but it's a 60 nano-click countdown when he activates it. Perhaps Rattrap felt his estimate wasn't generous enough.

===Continuity notes===
* Tigatron volunteers to pilot the stasis pod ship, citing that he "owes this world." This likely refers to his decision to destroy the [[Vok]]'s self-propelled-completely-peaceful-heavily-armed-[[Brigadoon|floating-island]]-paradise-of-death in "[[The Trigger, Part 2]]".

===Transformers references===
*Megatron's line, "You Optimuses do love to sacrifice yourselves", is a reference to the [[Optimus Prime (G1)|original Optimus Prime]] and [[The many deaths of Optimus Prime|his numerous deaths]].

===Real-world references===
* Tigatron describes the Planet Buster's death ray as "the light at the end of the world", which might be a reference to the [[w:The Light at the End of the World (A Flock of Seagulls album)|album]] of the same name.

===Trivia===
* At the script stage, this episode had the subtitle "Termination Day".
* Regular Tarantulas actor [[Alec Willows]] was evidently indisposed during the recording of this episode; while all of Tarantulas's screams and laughs are his, as well as the character's final line ("Too late! Goodbye Optimus!") all of Tarantulas's other dialogue is provided by [[Scott McNeil]], doing his best Willows impression.
* Inferno's got the moves in this episode! During his fight with Blackarachnia he pulls off all sorts of kung fu moves and even does a little Jet Li roundhouse kick. This still surprisingly doesn't keep her from blowing his head off though.
* This episode is the first of two where Inferno refers to Megatron by name rather than as "Royalty" or "my queen."
* A planned but never-produced Generation 1 cameo was planned for "Other Voices" Part 2. The intent was for Megatron to gloat to Primal while the latter was trapped in the stasis pod—by projecting an image of the Autobot leader, Optimus Prime, on Primal's viewscreen as Primal raced for the false moon and met his demise.<ref>[http://groups.google.com/group/alt.toys.transformers/msg/bc8e54e9165e0823?hl=en&&q=%22Optimus+Prime%22 Bob Forward interview on alt.toys.transformers]</ref>
[[File:OtherVoices2-explodedPrimalhead.jpg|right|thumb|300px|eject monke]]
*When you see the little parts of Primal flying towards the camera near the end of the episode, you can see Optimus's head fly at the screen very quickly with a distressed look on his face.
* In [[Madman Entertainment]]'s ''Beast Wars Season 1'' DVD set, on a commentary track for this episode with fan consultant [[Ben Yee]] and story editor [[Larry DiTillio]], fellow story editor [[Bob Forward]] popped in to explain the significance of the slang term "[[Slag (slang)|slag]]". He explained that he looked up on refineries as he figured that robots would be made of steel, and one of the waste byproducts of creating steel was an unusable detritus called slag, which he thought would be an appropriate swear word for robots to use.
* Tarantulas is aware that Optimus will be unable to eject far before the Maximals (or Blackarachnia) find out, hinting that he was aware of Megatron's machinations.
* Just as the pod enters the Planet Buster, you can actually hear the sound of Optimus' arm-cannon firing, and glass shattering. It appears that he attempted to blast his way out, but was too late to actually escape.
*The overall plot of this episode (and, to a lesser extent, the [[Other Voices, Part 1|previous episode]]), has several similarities to "Web World Wars", the season 2 finale of ''ReBoot'' (perhaps not coincidental, as both shows were produced by Mainframe):
**Both episodes feature the heroes and villains working against a common foe (The Vok in ''Beast Wars'', The Web in ''ReBoot'') who intends to destroy them all with a powerful weapon (The Planet Buster in ''Beast Wars'', a giant Web portal in ''ReBoot'').
**Both episodes involve the characters developing a plan to eliminate said foe's weapon (destroying the Planet Buster in ''Beast Wars'', closing the portal to The Web in ''ReBoot'').
**At the end of both episodes, the main villain betrays the heroes, shooting their leader into the enemy weapon right before its destruction (in ''Beast Wars'': Megatron traps Optimus Primal in the stasis pod-ship as it detonates in the Planet Buster; in ''ReBoot'': Megabyte traps Bob in a missile, firing it into the Web portal before using the Hardware to seal it).

===Foreign localization===
'''French'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Les Voix d'Autre Monde - 2e partie'''" ("The Voices from Another World - Part 2")

:*''Title:'' '''Les Voix 2''' (Canada, "The Voices 2")

'''Italian'''
:*''Title:'' "'''L'arrivo - Parte 2'''" ("The Arrival - Part Two")

'''Japanese'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Heiwa o Mamoru Tame ni...'''" (平和を守るために・・・, "To Protect the Peace...")
:*''Original airdate:'' [[March 25|25 March]] [[1998]]
:**For some inexplicable reason, beginning in this episode, Megatron now addresses [[Predacon computer|Naviko-chan]] by screeching her name in a very high-pitched voice. ''Every single time''.
:**While taunting Primal in the capsule, Megatron does not reference the previous sacrifices of [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]. This is actually the second time the Japanese dub deliberately eliminated a reference to Generation 1. Waspinator's brief identity crisis as [[Shrapnel (G1)|Shrapnel]] was removed from the dialogue in "[[Dark Designs]]".
:**As is expected, the ominous "The End?" text was replaced with the Japanese "To be continued?" (つづく?, ''Tsudzuku?'').
:**Various characters introduce themselves in the end credits, and there is no preview for the next episode (The season 2 and 3 episodes were not released there yet).

'''Portuguese'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Outras Vozes Parte 2'''" ("Other Voices Part 2")

'''Spanish'''
:*''Title:'' '''Otras Voces Segunda Parte''' ("Other Voices Second Part")

'''Mandarin'''
:*''Title:'' '''Mòrì Jiànglín ''' (末日降临, "The Doomsday Comes")

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote}}
;VHS
[[File:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 1998 — ''Beast Wars: Super Lifeform Transformers'' — To Protect the Peace... ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Pioneer LDC]]) — Japanese audio only. 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2001 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — The Beginning: Vol. 4 ([[Universal]])
;{{w|LaserDisc}}
[[File:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 1998 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — Predacon Edition ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Pioneer LDC]]) — English and Japanese audio.
;DVD
[[File:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 2000 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — DVD Box (Pioneer LDC) — English and Japanese audio. 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2003 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — The Complete First Season ([[Rhino Entertainment|Rhinomation]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2011 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — Season 1 ([[Shout! Factory]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2011 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory) 
[[File:Flag of Canada.png|20px|Canada]] 2005 — ''Beast Wars'' — Classic Episodes: Volume 4 — The Predacons Advance! ([[Alliance Atlantis]]) — English and French audio. 
[[File:Flag of Canada.png|20px|Canada]] 2005 — ''Beast Wars'' — The Complete First Season (Alliance Atlantis) — English and French audio. 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2006 — ''Beast Wars: Transformers'' — Season 1 ([[Madman Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2009 — ''The Transformers: Beast Wars'' — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Beast Wars episodes]]

The Transformers: The Movie/dubs

2023-12-12T21:28:49Z

Optimusprime67: /* DVD dub */

'''''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''''' has been translated and dubbed into many languages, each with its own set of quirks and oddities.

==Brazil==
'''''Transformers: O Filme''''', as the movie is known in Portuguese, was released in Brazilian theaters in [[January 15]], [[1987]], not long after the launch of the series on television. It was later released on home video in the same year on a very small scale, which made it very hard to find in video stores. The movie was aired on television only twice, once in 1990 on Rede Globo (the same channel that broadcast the series) and again in 2000 on Fox Kids, each time receiving a new dub.

The most probable reason for the existence of the first two dubs is that the theatrical/home video dub was based on the American version of the movie while the television one from 1990 was based on the European release, as it had the ''Star Wars''-type text in the beginning and the narrator stating at the end that [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] would return. These dubs are different not only in the choice of some of their voice actors but also in their translations. Which dub is the best is a regular topic of debate among Brazilian fans, though both versions have their share of problems. Unfortunately, neither of them allowed Spike to swear.

===Theatrical/Home video dub===
In the theatrical/home video dub, all of the pre-''Movie'' main characters are dubbed by the same voice actors who played them on the television series, and [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]] does not receive a new voice when he is reformatted into [[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]].

This version is the most localized of the first two, but is also the most "childish" in nature. For example, when [[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Hot Rod]] and [[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]] are running toward [[Autobot City (G1)|Autobot City]] and spot the [[Insecticon (G1)|Insecticons]], Kup states, "The Insecticons are in the way," with Hot Rod replying, "Wrong, they're on their way to the hole!", something that makes no sense at all and that the translator probably just thought would sound funny to the kids watching. A better example of localization happens when Kup and [[Wreck-Gar (G1)|Wreck-Gar]] are greeting each other, in which both make references to Brazilian television series of the time. Kup even says "plim-plim", a reference to the sound effect used alongside the Rede Globo logo during vignettes and commercial breaks.

Instead of casting a deep-voiced actor for [[Unicron]], this dub chose to heavily distort the actor's voice, making him sound menacing but almost unintelligible. The same thing was done to the [[Quintesson]]s and their servants. A similar situation occurred with [[Blurr (G1)|Blurr]]; since his voice actor could not talk as fast as [[John Moschitta]], his voice was also distorted to make it sound faster, which also made it difficult to understand.

Finally, the "robotic" effect on the Transformers voices was not done the same way as it was for the television series, which resulted in the characters sounding as if they're talking through a radio more than anything else.

In this version, [[Wheelie (G1)|Wheelie]] does not rhyme.

===Rede Globo dub===
The movie was broadcast only once on Rede Globo during a special week dedicated to Children's Day, which in Brazil is celebrated in [[October 12]]. Most of the pre-''Movie'' characters retained the same voices they had on the home video release, but all of the new Transformers got new voice actors, including Galvatron. This dub also lost the localization aspect the other one received; while it resulted in more faithful translations, some instances lost all sense to Brazilian audiences.

The characters possess the same "robotic" distortion on their voices that they had in the television series, and no kind of heavy modulation was used. An actor with an actual deep voice was cast as Unicron and had his voice left unaltered, which made it much easier for the audience to understand his dialogue. On the other hand, no distortion was used for Blurr, so the actor was forced to try and emulate John Moschitta's impossibly fast speech pattern with debatable results.

One notable dubbing error occurs when Hot Rod opens the Matrix at the end of the film; the line "Light our darkest hour!" is delivered by Optimus Prime's voice actor instead of Hot Rod's. Because of this, Brazilian fans who had only watched this version were left to believe that it was in fact Optimus' spirit who was speaking through Rodimus in a deep "passing of the torch" moment. Of course, this belief became much less popular once the original American audio and the alternate dub became much more accessible to Brazilian fans by the start of the 21st century.

In this version, Wheelie rhymes.

===Fox Kids dub===
Little is known about the third Brazilian dub of the movie, other than the fact that it aired only once on Fox Kids in the year 2000 and has a list of voice actors available online. This version is by far the least known among fans, with a large portion of the fandom not even being aware of its existence and the few who claim to have seen it argue that it is the worst one of the bunch. While unconfirmed, the reason this dub was created is most likely because of rights issues involving the previous two versions.

Due to its obscurity, it's unknown if Wheelie does or does not rhyme in this version, nor if Spike gets to swear this time around (which is still highly unlikely).

==Denmark==
The first time the movie was shown was on Danish national television broadcaster DR in the fall of 2009. While there had been dubbed episodes of the original television show made in the 1980s for home video and later TV airings, the movie was not dubbed at that point. Rather a completely new cast was used for the movie, possibly made for this specific airing. The dubbed movie was re-broadcast 2 years later on a sub-station of DR.

The dubbing had a larger cast of voice actors than the late-80s dub of the TV series with one or two actors returning to the franchise after 25 years. However, some lines were omitted by mistake (a few characters could be seen moving their lips visibly but without any sound being heard) while others appeared at completely random times (a line uttered by Galvatron missing earlier in the movie "appearing" towards the end in a completely unrelated scene possibly due to a bad time code in the dubbing software).

This version was based on the UK print of the movie and has yet to see a public release on any kind of media.

==France/Quebec==
[[File:La Guerre des Robots.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.7|Is Arcee running away from Hot Rod?]]
For French-speaking audiences, who had thus far been given two separate dubs of the TV series (one made in France and one made in Quebec, a very common occurrence), a single dub was made in France for all French releases of the film. This release used a brand-new voice actor team rather than using either dub team from the series.

Whereas the Canadian French dub used the Canadian French names from the toy packages, and the European French dub avoided using names or created some sort of improvised nicknames, the Movie used all of the characters' English names.

The film was released in French theaters in April 1987,<ref name="france">"[https://www.cineanimation.fr/film/la-guerre-des-robots-transformers La Guerre des robots - Transformers]" at Ciné Animation.</ref> soberly titled "La Guerre des Robots" (''The War of the Robots''), which suggests that the marketing team really had no knowledge of the existence of the animated series.

Two characters were given gender changes for this dub; Starscream and Shrapnel both become females.

One notable change to the dialog occurs when Starscream asks "Megatron? Is that you?" Galvatron's original answer, "Here's a hint!", is now much more direct: "Yes, but stronger than before!"

Another Megatron-related change is that he keeps the same voice once he becomes Galvatron (unlike the original dub).
{{-}}

==Germany==
[[File:TFTM German DVD.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.0|German 2003 DVD cover]]
Germany also got two different dubs over the years:

===TV dub===
As the movie had never been shown in German theaters, the first dub, titled ''Transformers: Der Kampf um Cybertron'' (''Transformers: The Battle for Cybertron''), was made in 1994 for airing on the German TV station RTL, to serve as a "pilot" for the [[Transformers: Generation 2 (cartoon)|''Generation 2'' cartoon series]] which would be subsequently broadcast. (One might argue that the initial omission of the movie from the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|original cartoon's]] German airing schedule resulted in an information gap regarding the shift from the season 2 setting to the season 3 setting; but then again, the cartoon ''started'' with episodes from season 3 in Germany, and only ''six'' episodes from the first two seasons were ever aired during the entire original "Generation 1" run of the show, so it's not like context problems weren't already all over the place.)

Even though the dub was made only five years after the dub of the Generation 1 cartoon had started on German TV, only a few of the German voice actors returned, most of them not even in the same roles they had played before. Optimus Prime, for example, was now dubbed by Thomas Rau, who had originally voiced Rodimus Prime, Blaster and Scourge in the cartoon itself. As in the dub of the cartoon before, all the characters retained their English names... with the exception of [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]], whose name was translated as "Der Vernichter" ("the annihilator") for reasons unknown (he was "Devastator" in the dub of the cartoon itself). This version of the movie was only shown twice (not counting late-night reruns following those airings), on its TV premiere in April 1994 and one year later, in May 1995. It was never released on VHS either.

The TV version was based on the European edit of the film, including the {{w|Rank Organisation|Rank Film}} "{{w|Gongman}}" at the beginning. Contrary to a widespread rumor,<ref>[http://www.ofdb.de/view.php?page=fassung&fid=7489&vid=38680 German movie database still listing the rumor about Starscream's "edited death" in TF:TM]</ref> the German TV edition of the movie was ''not'' edited to omit Starscream's death scene.

Notably, the [[Junkion (species)|Junkions]]' dialogue was treated with a surprising amount of finesse, replacing their references to English TV and advertising phrases to contemporary German ones, including an ''extremely'' well-known and catchy advertising slogan used by Toyota. In addition, Bernd Simon's rendition of Starscream is spot on, coming ''frighteningly'' close to Chris Latta. Overall, despite a few minor hiccups, major technical and translation errors were far and far between.

===DVD dub===
[[File:TFTM German DVD 2006.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.0|German 2006 DVD cover]]
In 2003, the movie, this time simply titled ''Transformers'', was finally released on DVD in Germany, by a little-known, low-budget label. Since the TV edition of the movie had been used as a "pilot" for the G2 cartoon, and it had been archived under the title "Der Kampf um Cybertron", the dubbing masters were not located until more than a year later, so the DVD company assigned an entirely new dub... which makes the [[Omni Productions]] dub and the [[Voicebox Productions|Voicebox]] dub of ''[[Transformers: Energon (cartoon)|Energon]]'' look like masterpieces. Numerous translation errors resulted from the apparent lack of an original script, thus requiring the dubbers to translate simply from listening to the original audio; coupled with a lack of experience with the source material and a lack of professional knowledge in the English (and German) language in general, resulting in look-it-up-in-a-dictionary-use-first-suggestion translations, sentences that ''make no sense whatsoever at all'' in context, and generally stilted and unnatural-sounding dialogue. For example, after hijacking the Autobots' shuttle and killing off Ratchet, Prowl, Brawn and Ironhide, Megatron makes the completely nonsensical proclamation that he intends to get past the early warning system ''of'' the Autobots' shuttle (''which he is already in control of at this point''), instead of getting past the Autobots' early warning system ''in'' their own shuttle (as in, using the shuttle as a Trojan horse). Also, Grimlock's line "Me Grimlock need new strategy" gets misinterpreted as "Me Grimlock need ''no'' strategy", and the phrase "mockery of justice" is mangled into a completely nonsensical "Farce der Gerechtigkeit" ("farce of justice", with the loan word "Farce" mispronounced as if the voice actor had never seen that fancy word before, and "justice" in the sense of "fairness" rather than "judical system"). A much better translation would have been "Justizposse".

In addition, none of the voice actors sounded like they were particularly experienced in the field of dubbing, especially since none of their voices were recognizable from other productions.

The DVD is also notorious for its packaging, which does its best to obscure ''what exactly it contains'' (i.e. a feature-length animated movie). The front cover uses the cover artwork of the old Panini Generation 1 sticker album, while the back cover depicts stills from "[[The Golden Lagoon (episode)|The Golden Lagoon]]", "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]" and "[[The Autobot Run]]", coupled with an (incorrect) summary of the general setting of the first two seasons of the Generation 1 cartoon, which implies (likely due to a misinterpretation of the English word "emerge") that the Autobots and Decepticons somehow come into existence on Earth, rather than simply reawakening after lying dormant for millions of years, with the term "Transformers" even translated into German as "Transformatoren".

A second edition of this DVD was released in 2006, this time featuring artwork of [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Armada Optimus Prime]] on the front cover, with Earth (from the [[Transformers (film)|2007 movie's]] promo poster) as the background, plus the 1984 back-of-the-box artwork rotated by 270 degrees as an overlay, and the "Transformers" title logo from the 2007 movie. The back cover depicts a screencap from the [[Transformers (PS2)|''Armada'' video game]], [[Don Figueroa]]'s "All Optimus" poster and the 1984 back-of-the-box battle scene, plus the same sleeve text as featured on the 2003 release of the DVD, with none of the errors fixed.
{{-}}

==Hungary==
The film was first dubbed into Hungarian by Mahir Studios for the Televideo company's 1992 VHS release; the second dub was recorded by Masterfilm Digital, and released by Mirax both on VHS and on DVD, the latter in 2004. Both versions include the scrolling text and other European edits; the Mirax one even has the "gong man". Issues they both have in common include small dubbing casts, inconsistent voices and translation errors. Neither dub used the name translations popularized by the Hungarian release of the [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|G1 comics]].

===Televideo===

The film's title was translated as ''Alakváltók'' (''Shape-shifters''), a rare instance of a name or expression matching up with the Marvel comic's terminology. The dub has a total of five voice actors (four men for random characters, one actress for Arcee, Daniel and most of Wheelie's lines), and is notorious for the dialogue almost never matching the lip movements and characters changing their voice on the fly. Certain lines are even missing or spoken at the wrong time (most notably Megatron's "Die, Autobots!" shout), and at times lines belonging to different characters were combined into one. Translation errors and flubbed line-reads also abound; Megatron ''berates'' Soundwave for jamming the Autobots' transmission instead of ordering him to do so, and Wreck-Gar calls Hot Rod Unicron at one point. But mistakes aside, the translation is surprisingly witty – Blurr's cheesy tongue-twister about shooting Decepticons is especially famous among older fans. In fact, the translator seems to have had a fondness for rhyming, as apart from Wheelie, the Dinobots, the Junkions and Blurr also deliver parts of their dialogue in verse. The problem is that the lines are also drastically ''compressed'', leading to many awkward moments of characters silently mouthing unspoken words.

There are numerous name changes, the most bizarre of which is the Decepticons being referred to as "Varangyok" ("Toads"). This may be a tribute to the '60s German sci-fi TV series ''Raumpatrouille – Die phantastischen Abenteuer des Raumschiffs Orion'' (''Space patrol – The Fantastic Adventures of the Spaceship Orion''). In this series, the main enemy alien race is called "Frogs", but they were named Toads in the Hungarian translation. Other strange name changes include Peca ("Fisher" or "Fishing Rod") for Hot Rod, Zsaru ("Cop") for Kup, RC for Arcee or "IQ Jack" for the [[Ick-Yak]], all obvious misinterpretations of their original names. Curiously, one originally nameless characters ''gets'' a name: during the Decepticons' reformation scene, Unicron claims that there's only one Sweep, naming him "Karmos" (roughly, "Claws"). However, the Insecticons' nonsensical name ("Rovarángok") is harder to decipher. It can only be assumed that the translator intended it to be "Rovarangyok" ("Insectoads", a playful pun consistent with the Decepticon-Toad theme), and the voice actor has simply misread it.

One point in the dub's favor is that it at least attempted to retain the spirit of the Junkions' speech. For example, when putting Ultra Magnus back together, they shout "Aye-Tee-Tee!", a reference to old Hungarian {{w|ITT Inc.}} product commercials that were the subject of numerous jokes in the early '90s.

===Mirax===
[[File:TFTM Hungarian DVD.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|left|Hungarian DVD cover]]
The second dub has a reputation for including more profanities than the original version of the film. Although Spike's "Oh, shit!" line was cut, [[Ironhide (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ironhide]], Galvatron and the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]] say terms akin to "asshole" (from Grimlock to Blurr), "bastards" (Galvatron to the Autobots), "stupid", "brainless, numbskull jackass" ([[Slag (G1)|Slag]] to [[Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]]), "sons of bitches" (this one even twice, in place of the original's "Decepti-chops" and "Decepti-creeps"), and "chickenshit" (from Galvatron, regarding Hot Rod). Other oddities are Wheelie only rhyming half the time, Blaster's extremely high-pitched transmission to Optimus Prime (either an audio editing error or a very strange creative choice), and [[Soundwave (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Soundwave]] and Unicron at first talking in a seg-men-ted, ro-bo-tic man-ner. Numerous grunts and screams were also inserted where there were originally none, even the Sharkticons can be heard yelling a lot.

This dub also uses a mix of untranslated or incorrectly translated names, and character voices – this time supplied by twelve actors – occasionally change from one sentence to the next. Erroneous names include Unicornis (Unicron), Prowl (Blurr), Mega-robot (Devastator, though he is also called "Devastator the Mega-robot" in one line), Constructors ([[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicons]]), Deceptors ([[Decepticon]]s, but only said once), Astro ([[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]], again only for one line), Gettison (unknown; derived and misinterpreted from the line "Jettison some weight."), Eject (this refers to no one, it was mistranslated from Soundwave's "Eject" call), and the Ick-Yak becomes a "Mega-Missort". Wheelie's name is omitted. Wreck-Gar's dialogue also lacks any sort of creativity, consisting instead of random nonsense and straight-faced reactions to what's happening on screen. These and a multitude of other errors suggest that the translator had no script to work from and had to rely solely on her hearing.

A major blooper also occurs during the attack on the Autobot shuttle: Ironhide speaks his final words in [[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]]'s voice ("Please, have mercy!"), and curiously, the translation of Megatron's "Such heroic nonsense." line corresponds with this sudden change of personality, as he responds with "Death to all traitors." before blasting him. Now ''this'' is foreshadowing.

The DVD case has G.I. Joe pictures printed on the back side, as well as on the DVD itself. Spiffy. On a positive note, the summary on the back of the case is actually competently written, even if the references to the cartoon series (which wasn't released in the country) and to the movie's place in its timeline are worded a bit confusingly, and unlike the dub, it renders Unicron's name correctly. Masterfilm Digital would later localize ''[[Transformers: Armada (cartoon)|Armada]]'' (episodes 1-26 of which were likewise commissioned by Mirax), sadly still maintaining some of the general incompetence displayed by their handling of this movie.
{{-}}

==Italy==
There are two Italian dubs: the original one and a 2007 redub made when the live movie arrived in cinemas.

===Original dub===
This dub uses the original names for the new characters, except for Wheelie, named here "Saetta" (which was already Wheeljack's Italian name, curiously). Lots of lines are completely different from the original script: Devastator's "Prepare for extermination!" became "I'll destroy you, Transformers!", Grimlock's "Me Grimlock like challenge!" is replaced with "We Dinobots ready for great battle!" Optimus's line "Soon I shall be all one with the Matrix" turns into "The most important thing now is the passage of the Matrix" and "Arise, Rodimus Prime" was changed to "Now rise up, Hot Rod!"

The scene on Quintessa also gets a weird rewrite: for some reason this dub refers to the Quintesson prosecutor as the evil "Emperor Quintesson" and all the dialogue said by the judge starts with "Yes, my Quintesson".

===2007 redub===
The redub uses the Italian names for everyone except Ravage, Laserbeak, Ratbat and Rodimus Prime (Hot Rod, although, is called "Folgore"). "Soundwave superior, Constructicons inferior" becomes "The Soundwave is superior, the Constructicon is inferior!" (no, seriously.)

There are many mispronounciations: Constructicons is pronounced "Con-STROOK-ticons", Laserbeak is named "Laserback" and [[Junkion (planet)|Junk]] is called "Yoonk".

Blurr's speech is fast, and for some reason he also speaks in rhymes, probably to make it sound more repetitive.

Another amusing error is in the Junkion's chant of "remove the toughest stains", that is translated as "remove the toughest Slags"... as in "taking away an army of clones of [[Slag (G1)|the Dinobot who transforms into a Triceratops]]", since the actual Italian line is "rimuovere i Tricex più duri" ("Tricex" is Slag's Italian name). What.

The script is more faithful to the original version otherwise. The redub was poorly received by Italian fans.

==Japan==
[[File:UnicronWarMagami01.jpg|right|upright=1.4|thumb]]

Although '''''Transformers: The Movie''''' (トランスフォーマーザ・ムービー) was advertised during 1987, and was even originally scheduled for a theatrical release in the summer of that year, unknown circumstances resulted in a delay of the Japanese release. It was not released in Japan until [[August 9]]th 1989,<ref>http://pastport.jp/user/kabochan/timeline/%E6%94%BE%E9%80%81%E4%BB%A5%E5%A4%96%E3%81%AE%E3%81%A7%E3%81%8D%E3%81%94%E3%81%A8%E5%B9%B4%E8%A1%A8/event/uUhfr2WcbUI</ref> first through limited charity screenings for UNICEF in Tokyo and Osaka (where a man in a [[Ginrai (human)|Super Ginrai]] costume greeted guests), followed immediately by a {{w|LaserDisc}} and VHS release. According to one attendee of the charity screening in Tokyo,<ref>https://kakuyomu.jp/works/1177354054884808234/episodes/1177354054886027093</ref> some tickets to the event were offered to [[S.T.A.R.S.]] members via lottery, the version screened was in English with Japanese subtitles, and [[Tessho Genda]] (Japanese voice of Optimus Prime) was present to speak with fans; according to a different fan, leftover mail-away [[Lander]]s from ''[[Transformers: Super-God Masterforce (franchise)|Masterforce]]'' were available as point-of-sale items at the screening.<ref>{{citesocial|quote=あちしはビクトリー時期のトランスフォーマー・ザ・ムービーチャリティー上映会の物販で買った記憶。|link=https://twitter.com/nekoteck2011/status/920069769323192320|name=nekoteck2011|site=Twitter|year=2017|month=10|day=16|(defunct=)}}</ref> Footage taken during the charity screenings was included in the straight-to-video promotional film, "Transformers Theatrical Version!! Video Finally Here" (トランスフォーマー劇場公開バージョン!!ビデオついに登場). This was the second promotional VHS relating to the film, as ''[[The Transformers: The Movie - Apocalypse: Be Eternal, Matrix]]'' was produced to promote the movie prior to its Japanese release.

Unfortunately, the film's delay would later cause some continuity problems in future Japanese-penned ''Transformers'' fiction, as characters killed in the movie (notably [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] and [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]]) appear in later series ''[[Transformers: The Headmasters (cartoon)|The Headmasters]]'' and ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Victory (cartoon)|Victory]]'' respectively (though these would be addressed [[Controverse|years later]]).

Despite not being released in Japan in 1987 as intended, the events of the movie were [[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010 (story page)|summarized]] in ''[[TV Magazine]]'' with accompanying artwork by [[Ban Magami]] and [[Studio OX]] so that children tuning into ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010 (franchise)|Transformers 2010]]'' would not be lost. The events of the movie would regularly be referred to as the "[[Unicron War]]", gaining something of a mysterious and legendary quality, as their events were constantly referred to but never ''seen''.

Although ''Transformers: The Movie'' was dubbed several years after ''[[The Transformers (cartoon)#Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers]]'' and ''[[The Transformers (cartoon)#Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010|Transformers 2010]]'' had ended, the majority of cast members from those series returned to reprise their roles.

The Japanese dub is notable for adding a lot of lines and voice effects to moments which had been silent in the English version, including the following:

*The shuttle attack scene originally doesn't have much talking during combat, but the Japanese dub adds numerous lines to many characters on both sides of the fight. For example, after killing Brawn, Starscream cheerfully asks who's next while waving Megatron around.
*During Optimus Prime's attack on the Decepticons and his fight with Megatron, every Decepticon Prime shoots can be heard screaming in pain, while his battle with Megatron has numerous grunts and curses added in.

[[File:TFTMMagnusJapCaption01.jpg|left|200px|thumb|"Hang on, there's something on the screen down here. Let me get that..."]]

Some of the additions were quite goofy (e.g., Blitzwing begs Prime not to run him over before getting out of the way) but some were actually quite disturbing. For example, when Starscream is killed by Galvatron, he gives off a long, tortured scream. In addition, the destruction of Lithone is made more horrifying by the sounds of the natives dying (some of them even being cut off mid-scream).

There are also a few slight dialogue alterations, such as Megatron ''specifically'' ordering the Insecticons to breach the Autobot defenses, to which [[Shrapnel (G1)|Shrapnel]] and [[Kickback (G1)|Kickback]] respond in unison with a high-pitched ''"Yessss siirrr!"'' Soundwave's famous "Soundwave superior, Constructicons inferior," is modified into "Soundwave is intelligent, the Constructicons are just idiots!"

The only other alteration of note in regards to the Japanese version is that whenever a character appears on screen for the first time, their name and function appears with them (written in Japanese, of course).

{{-}}

==Latin America==
The Latin American Spanish dub was done in [[Los Angeles]] and is notable because it kept all the voice actors from the cartoon and the new characters remained with the same voices for the remainder of the show. Every character is referred to by their original English name, since none of the characters' names were translated when the cartoon was dubbed into Spanish (except Ravage, who was called "Destructor" on the cartoon, but kept his English name on the movie).

Features the Star Wars-type text in the beginning and the narrator at the end stating that Optimus Prime will return.

Though it is one of the most popular dubs of the movie, it has only been released domestically on home video once and is very difficult to find nowadays. In addition, it hasn't been shown on TV since the early Nineties. Despite this, the dub has been included in many international releases of the movie.

This dub removes all swearing and makes Optimus Prime's death scene even more traumatic by having Daniel ''actually'' crying when Optimus flatlines.

Galvatron sounds exactly like Megatron and Wheelie occasionally rhymes because his dialogue was ''literally'' translated.

==Poland==
In Poland, the movie was never professionally dubbed. In the only official (and cult classic) release on VHS in 1992, all the dialogue was read by a single voice-over actor, while the original sound was left intact and could be heard in the background. To this day, that characteristic form of "narrating" is a very popular solution in Poland when it comes to translating movies for TV or DVDs. Thanks to this method, you can both understand the story and hear all the original voices. In the case of ''The Transformers: The Movie'' it also forced translators to leave (almost) all the original names intact. (Yay!)

==Spain==
In Spain, the movie was aried once in Latin American on the channel ''Antena 3''. However, when the Generation 1 DVDs were published by the company Selecta Visión, they included both the Latin American dub and a new Spanish one (Castilian) that recycled the first's translations, but adding some errors in the character's names. It was aired for the first and only time in Castilian the year 2008 in ''Local Media TV'', but the audio quality wasn't very good, probably due to emission problems.

==South Korea==

===KBS dub===
The first Korean dub of the movie aired on the Korean TV channel KBS in 1989, titled "Unicron and the transforming robots". The voice acting is decent, almost matching the Japanese voices of Shockwave, Starscream, and Soundwave. At that time, many robot shows had only one robot appearing, but Transformers had more characters in their cartoon, gaining the attention of many children. KBS would later go on to dub several movies of the [[Live-action film series]]. This version is not found at the moment, and is still yet to reach the world of internet.

===VHS dub===
The VHS dub was titled "Transforming robots Transformers", and this time, Starscream sounds like the original US version. Just like the KBS dub, this version is not available on the internet.

===DVD dub===
The DVD dub, which was released in 2007, was titled just "Transformers", and it is filled with a lot of music errors, such as the first part of [[Dare]] being very quiet, [[The Touch]] had its lyrics repeating, and sometimes random music was added, for instance, when Hot Rod becomes Rodimus Prime, the music suddenly changes to Nothin's Gonna Stand In Our Way by Spectre General, and changes back to The Touch. Currently, this is the only dub that is available. The interest for this dub probably died out, as South Koreans could have easier reach to the original English version.

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Transformers: The Movie/dubs}}
[[Category:Generation 1 media]]
[[Category:Real world films]]

The Transformers: The Movie/dubs

2023-12-12T01:08:31Z

Optimusprime67: /* KBS dub */

'''''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''''' has been translated and dubbed into many languages, each with its own set of quirks and oddities.

==Brazil==
'''''Transformers: O Filme''''', as the movie is known in Portuguese, was released in Brazilian theaters in [[January 15]], [[1987]], not long after the launch of the series on television. It was later released on home video in the same year on a very small scale, which made it very hard to find in video stores. The movie was aired on television only twice, once in 1990 on Rede Globo (the same channel that broadcast the series) and again in 2000 on Fox Kids, each time receiving a new dub.

The most probable reason for the existence of the first two dubs is that the theatrical/home video dub was based on the American version of the movie while the television one from 1990 was based on the European release, as it had the ''Star Wars''-type text in the beginning and the narrator stating at the end that [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] would return. These dubs are different not only in the choice of some of their voice actors but also in their translations. Which dub is the best is a regular topic of debate among Brazilian fans, though both versions have their share of problems. Unfortunately, neither of them allowed Spike to swear.

===Theatrical/Home video dub===
In the theatrical/home video dub, all of the pre-''Movie'' main characters are dubbed by the same voice actors who played them on the television series, and [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]] does not receive a new voice when he is reformatted into [[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]].

This version is the most localized of the first two, but is also the most "childish" in nature. For example, when [[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Hot Rod]] and [[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]] are running toward [[Autobot City (G1)|Autobot City]] and spot the [[Insecticon (G1)|Insecticons]], Kup states, "The Insecticons are in the way," with Hot Rod replying, "Wrong, they're on their way to the hole!", something that makes no sense at all and that the translator probably just thought would sound funny to the kids watching. A better example of localization happens when Kup and [[Wreck-Gar (G1)|Wreck-Gar]] are greeting each other, in which both make references to Brazilian television series of the time. Kup even says "plim-plim", a reference to the sound effect used alongside the Rede Globo logo during vignettes and commercial breaks.

Instead of casting a deep-voiced actor for [[Unicron]], this dub chose to heavily distort the actor's voice, making him sound menacing but almost unintelligible. The same thing was done to the [[Quintesson]]s and their servants. A similar situation occurred with [[Blurr (G1)|Blurr]]; since his voice actor could not talk as fast as [[John Moschitta]], his voice was also distorted to make it sound faster, which also made it difficult to understand.

Finally, the "robotic" effect on the Transformers voices was not done the same way as it was for the television series, which resulted in the characters sounding as if they're talking through a radio more than anything else.

In this version, [[Wheelie (G1)|Wheelie]] does not rhyme.

===Rede Globo dub===
The movie was broadcast only once on Rede Globo during a special week dedicated to Children's Day, which in Brazil is celebrated in [[October 12]]. Most of the pre-''Movie'' characters retained the same voices they had on the home video release, but all of the new Transformers got new voice actors, including Galvatron. This dub also lost the localization aspect the other one received; while it resulted in more faithful translations, some instances lost all sense to Brazilian audiences.

The characters possess the same "robotic" distortion on their voices that they had in the television series, and no kind of heavy modulation was used. An actor with an actual deep voice was cast as Unicron and had his voice left unaltered, which made it much easier for the audience to understand his dialogue. On the other hand, no distortion was used for Blurr, so the actor was forced to try and emulate John Moschitta's impossibly fast speech pattern with debatable results.

One notable dubbing error occurs when Hot Rod opens the Matrix at the end of the film; the line "Light our darkest hour!" is delivered by Optimus Prime's voice actor instead of Hot Rod's. Because of this, Brazilian fans who had only watched this version were left to believe that it was in fact Optimus' spirit who was speaking through Rodimus in a deep "passing of the torch" moment. Of course, this belief became much less popular once the original American audio and the alternate dub became much more accessible to Brazilian fans by the start of the 21st century.

In this version, Wheelie rhymes.

===Fox Kids dub===
Little is known about the third Brazilian dub of the movie, other than the fact that it aired only once on Fox Kids in the year 2000 and has a list of voice actors available online. This version is by far the least known among fans, with a large portion of the fandom not even being aware of its existence and the few who claim to have seen it argue that it is the worst one of the bunch. While unconfirmed, the reason this dub was created is most likely because of rights issues involving the previous two versions.

Due to its obscurity, it's unknown if Wheelie does or does not rhyme in this version, nor if Spike gets to swear this time around (which is still highly unlikely).

==Denmark==
The first time the movie was shown was on Danish national television broadcaster DR in the fall of 2009. While there had been dubbed episodes of the original television show made in the 1980s for home video and later TV airings, the movie was not dubbed at that point. Rather a completely new cast was used for the movie, possibly made for this specific airing. The dubbed movie was re-broadcast 2 years later on a sub-station of DR.

The dubbing had a larger cast of voice actors than the late-80s dub of the TV series with one or two actors returning to the franchise after 25 years. However, some lines were omitted by mistake (a few characters could be seen moving their lips visibly but without any sound being heard) while others appeared at completely random times (a line uttered by Galvatron missing earlier in the movie "appearing" towards the end in a completely unrelated scene possibly due to a bad time code in the dubbing software).

This version was based on the UK print of the movie and has yet to see a public release on any kind of media.

==France/Quebec==
[[File:La Guerre des Robots.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.7|Is Arcee running away from Hot Rod?]]
For French-speaking audiences, who had thus far been given two separate dubs of the TV series (one made in France and one made in Quebec, a very common occurrence), a single dub was made in France for all French releases of the film. This release used a brand-new voice actor team rather than using either dub team from the series.

Whereas the Canadian French dub used the Canadian French names from the toy packages, and the European French dub avoided using names or created some sort of improvised nicknames, the Movie used all of the characters' English names.

The film was released in French theaters in April 1987,<ref name="france">"[https://www.cineanimation.fr/film/la-guerre-des-robots-transformers La Guerre des robots - Transformers]" at Ciné Animation.</ref> soberly titled "La Guerre des Robots" (''The War of the Robots''), which suggests that the marketing team really had no knowledge of the existence of the animated series.

Two characters were given gender changes for this dub; Starscream and Shrapnel both become females.

One notable change to the dialog occurs when Starscream asks "Megatron? Is that you?" Galvatron's original answer, "Here's a hint!", is now much more direct: "Yes, but stronger than before!"

Another Megatron-related change is that he keeps the same voice once he becomes Galvatron (unlike the original dub).
{{-}}

==Germany==
[[File:TFTM German DVD.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.0|German 2003 DVD cover]]
Germany also got two different dubs over the years:

===TV dub===
As the movie had never been shown in German theaters, the first dub, titled ''Transformers: Der Kampf um Cybertron'' (''Transformers: The Battle for Cybertron''), was made in 1994 for airing on the German TV station RTL, to serve as a "pilot" for the [[Transformers: Generation 2 (cartoon)|''Generation 2'' cartoon series]] which would be subsequently broadcast. (One might argue that the initial omission of the movie from the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|original cartoon's]] German airing schedule resulted in an information gap regarding the shift from the season 2 setting to the season 3 setting; but then again, the cartoon ''started'' with episodes from season 3 in Germany, and only ''six'' episodes from the first two seasons were ever aired during the entire original "Generation 1" run of the show, so it's not like context problems weren't already all over the place.)

Even though the dub was made only five years after the dub of the Generation 1 cartoon had started on German TV, only a few of the German voice actors returned, most of them not even in the same roles they had played before. Optimus Prime, for example, was now dubbed by Thomas Rau, who had originally voiced Rodimus Prime, Blaster and Scourge in the cartoon itself. As in the dub of the cartoon before, all the characters retained their English names... with the exception of [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]], whose name was translated as "Der Vernichter" ("the annihilator") for reasons unknown (he was "Devastator" in the dub of the cartoon itself). This version of the movie was only shown twice (not counting late-night reruns following those airings), on its TV premiere in April 1994 and one year later, in May 1995. It was never released on VHS either.

The TV version was based on the European edit of the film, including the {{w|Rank Organisation|Rank Film}} "{{w|Gongman}}" at the beginning. Contrary to a widespread rumor,<ref>[http://www.ofdb.de/view.php?page=fassung&fid=7489&vid=38680 German movie database still listing the rumor about Starscream's "edited death" in TF:TM]</ref> the German TV edition of the movie was ''not'' edited to omit Starscream's death scene.

Notably, the [[Junkion (species)|Junkions]]' dialogue was treated with a surprising amount of finesse, replacing their references to English TV and advertising phrases to contemporary German ones, including an ''extremely'' well-known and catchy advertising slogan used by Toyota. In addition, Bernd Simon's rendition of Starscream is spot on, coming ''frighteningly'' close to Chris Latta. Overall, despite a few minor hiccups, major technical and translation errors were far and far between.

===DVD dub===
[[File:TFTM German DVD 2006.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.0|German 2006 DVD cover]]
In 2003, the movie, this time simply titled ''Transformers'', was finally released on DVD in Germany, by a little-known, low-budget label. Since the TV edition of the movie had been used as a "pilot" for the G2 cartoon, and it had been archived under the title "Der Kampf um Cybertron", the dubbing masters were not located until more than a year later, so the DVD company assigned an entirely new dub... which makes the [[Omni Productions]] dub and the [[Voicebox Productions|Voicebox]] dub of ''[[Transformers: Energon (cartoon)|Energon]]'' look like masterpieces. Numerous translation errors resulted from the apparent lack of an original script, thus requiring the dubbers to translate simply from listening to the original audio; coupled with a lack of experience with the source material and a lack of professional knowledge in the English (and German) language in general, resulting in look-it-up-in-a-dictionary-use-first-suggestion translations, sentences that ''make no sense whatsoever at all'' in context, and generally stilted and unnatural-sounding dialogue. For example, after hijacking the Autobots' shuttle and killing off Ratchet, Prowl, Brawn and Ironhide, Megatron makes the completely nonsensical proclamation that he intends to get past the early warning system ''of'' the Autobots' shuttle (''which he is already in control of at this point''), instead of getting past the Autobots' early warning system ''in'' their own shuttle (as in, using the shuttle as a Trojan horse). Also, Grimlock's line "Me Grimlock need new strategy" gets misinterpreted as "Me Grimlock need ''no'' strategy", and the phrase "mockery of justice" is mangled into a completely nonsensical "Farce der Gerechtigkeit" ("farce of justice", with the loan word "Farce" mispronounced as if the voice actor had never seen that fancy word before, and "justice" in the sense of "fairness" rather than "judical system"). A much better translation would have been "Justizposse".

In addition, none of the voice actors sounded like they were particularly experienced in the field of dubbing, especially since none of their voices were recognizable from other productions.

The DVD is also notorious for its packaging, which does its best to obscure ''what exactly it contains'' (i.e. a feature-length animated movie). The front cover uses the cover artwork of the old Panini Generation 1 sticker album, while the back cover depicts stills from "[[The Golden Lagoon (episode)|The Golden Lagoon]]", "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]" and "[[The Autobot Run]]", coupled with an (incorrect) summary of the general setting of the first two seasons of the Generation 1 cartoon, which implies (likely due to a misinterpretation of the English word "emerge") that the Autobots and Decepticons somehow come into existence on Earth, rather than simply reawakening after lying dormant for millions of years, with the term "Transformers" even translated into German as "Transformatoren".

A second edition of this DVD was released in 2006, this time featuring artwork of [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Armada Optimus Prime]] on the front cover, with Earth (from the [[Transformers (film)|2007 movie's]] promo poster) as the background, plus the 1984 back-of-the-box artwork rotated by 270 degrees as an overlay, and the "Transformers" title logo from the 2007 movie. The back cover depicts a screencap from the [[Transformers (PS2)|''Armada'' video game]], [[Don Figueroa]]'s "All Optimus" poster and the 1984 back-of-the-box battle scene, plus the same sleeve text as featured on the 2003 release of the DVD, with none of the errors fixed.
{{-}}

==Hungary==
The film was first dubbed into Hungarian by Mahir Studios for the Televideo company's 1992 VHS release; the second dub was recorded by Masterfilm Digital, and released by Mirax both on VHS and on DVD, the latter in 2004. Both versions include the scrolling text and other European edits; the Mirax one even has the "gong man". Issues they both have in common include small dubbing casts, inconsistent voices and translation errors. Neither dub used the name translations popularized by the Hungarian release of the [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|G1 comics]].

===Televideo===

The film's title was translated as ''Alakváltók'' (''Shape-shifters''), a rare instance of a name or expression matching up with the Marvel comic's terminology. The dub has a total of five voice actors (four men for random characters, one actress for Arcee, Daniel and most of Wheelie's lines), and is notorious for the dialogue almost never matching the lip movements and characters changing their voice on the fly. Certain lines are even missing or spoken at the wrong time (most notably Megatron's "Die, Autobots!" shout), and at times lines belonging to different characters were combined into one. Translation errors and flubbed line-reads also abound; Megatron ''berates'' Soundwave for jamming the Autobots' transmission instead of ordering him to do so, and Wreck-Gar calls Hot Rod Unicron at one point. But mistakes aside, the translation is surprisingly witty – Blurr's cheesy tongue-twister about shooting Decepticons is especially famous among older fans. In fact, the translator seems to have had a fondness for rhyming, as apart from Wheelie, the Dinobots, the Junkions and Blurr also deliver parts of their dialogue in verse. The problem is that the lines are also drastically ''compressed'', leading to many awkward moments of characters silently mouthing unspoken words.

There are numerous name changes, the most bizarre of which is the Decepticons being referred to as "Varangyok" ("Toads"). This may be a tribute to the '60s German sci-fi TV series ''Raumpatrouille – Die phantastischen Abenteuer des Raumschiffs Orion'' (''Space patrol – The Fantastic Adventures of the Spaceship Orion''). In this series, the main enemy alien race is called "Frogs", but they were named Toads in the Hungarian translation. Other strange name changes include Peca ("Fisher" or "Fishing Rod") for Hot Rod, Zsaru ("Cop") for Kup, RC for Arcee or "IQ Jack" for the [[Ick-Yak]], all obvious misinterpretations of their original names. Curiously, one originally nameless characters ''gets'' a name: during the Decepticons' reformation scene, Unicron claims that there's only one Sweep, naming him "Karmos" (roughly, "Claws"). However, the Insecticons' nonsensical name ("Rovarángok") is harder to decipher. It can only be assumed that the translator intended it to be "Rovarangyok" ("Insectoads", a playful pun consistent with the Decepticon-Toad theme), and the voice actor has simply misread it.

One point in the dub's favor is that it at least attempted to retain the spirit of the Junkions' speech. For example, when putting Ultra Magnus back together, they shout "Aye-Tee-Tee!", a reference to old Hungarian {{w|ITT Inc.}} product commercials that were the subject of numerous jokes in the early '90s.

===Mirax===
[[File:TFTM Hungarian DVD.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|left|Hungarian DVD cover]]
The second dub has a reputation for including more profanities than the original version of the film. Although Spike's "Oh, shit!" line was cut, [[Ironhide (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ironhide]], Galvatron and the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]] say terms akin to "asshole" (from Grimlock to Blurr), "bastards" (Galvatron to the Autobots), "stupid", "brainless, numbskull jackass" ([[Slag (G1)|Slag]] to [[Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]]), "sons of bitches" (this one even twice, in place of the original's "Decepti-chops" and "Decepti-creeps"), and "chickenshit" (from Galvatron, regarding Hot Rod). Other oddities are Wheelie only rhyming half the time, Blaster's extremely high-pitched transmission to Optimus Prime (either an audio editing error or a very strange creative choice), and [[Soundwave (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Soundwave]] and Unicron at first talking in a seg-men-ted, ro-bo-tic man-ner. Numerous grunts and screams were also inserted where there were originally none, even the Sharkticons can be heard yelling a lot.

This dub also uses a mix of untranslated or incorrectly translated names, and character voices – this time supplied by twelve actors – occasionally change from one sentence to the next. Erroneous names include Unicornis (Unicron), Prowl (Blurr), Mega-robot (Devastator, though he is also called "Devastator the Mega-robot" in one line), Constructors ([[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicons]]), Deceptors ([[Decepticon]]s, but only said once), Astro ([[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]], again only for one line), Gettison (unknown; derived and misinterpreted from the line "Jettison some weight."), Eject (this refers to no one, it was mistranslated from Soundwave's "Eject" call), and the Ick-Yak becomes a "Mega-Missort". Wheelie's name is omitted. Wreck-Gar's dialogue also lacks any sort of creativity, consisting instead of random nonsense and straight-faced reactions to what's happening on screen. These and a multitude of other errors suggest that the translator had no script to work from and had to rely solely on her hearing.

A major blooper also occurs during the attack on the Autobot shuttle: Ironhide speaks his final words in [[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]]'s voice ("Please, have mercy!"), and curiously, the translation of Megatron's "Such heroic nonsense." line corresponds with this sudden change of personality, as he responds with "Death to all traitors." before blasting him. Now ''this'' is foreshadowing.

The DVD case has G.I. Joe pictures printed on the back side, as well as on the DVD itself. Spiffy. On a positive note, the summary on the back of the case is actually competently written, even if the references to the cartoon series (which wasn't released in the country) and to the movie's place in its timeline are worded a bit confusingly, and unlike the dub, it renders Unicron's name correctly. Masterfilm Digital would later localize ''[[Transformers: Armada (cartoon)|Armada]]'' (episodes 1-26 of which were likewise commissioned by Mirax), sadly still maintaining some of the general incompetence displayed by their handling of this movie.
{{-}}

==Italy==
There are two Italian dubs: the original one and a 2007 redub made when the live movie arrived in cinemas.

===Original dub===
This dub uses the original names for the new characters, except for Wheelie, named here "Saetta" (which was already Wheeljack's Italian name, curiously). Lots of lines are completely different from the original script: Devastator's "Prepare for extermination!" became "I'll destroy you, Transformers!", Grimlock's "Me Grimlock like challenge!" is replaced with "We Dinobots ready for great battle!" Optimus's line "Soon I shall be all one with the Matrix" turns into "The most important thing now is the passage of the Matrix" and "Arise, Rodimus Prime" was changed to "Now rise up, Hot Rod!"

The scene on Quintessa also gets a weird rewrite: for some reason this dub refers to the Quintesson prosecutor as the evil "Emperor Quintesson" and all the dialogue said by the judge starts with "Yes, my Quintesson".

===2007 redub===
The redub uses the Italian names for everyone except Ravage, Laserbeak, Ratbat and Rodimus Prime (Hot Rod, although, is called "Folgore"). "Soundwave superior, Constructicons inferior" becomes "The Soundwave is superior, the Constructicon is inferior!" (no, seriously.)

There are many mispronounciations: Constructicons is pronounced "Con-STROOK-ticons", Laserbeak is named "Laserback" and [[Junkion (planet)|Junk]] is called "Yoonk".

Blurr's speech is fast, and for some reason he also speaks in rhymes, probably to make it sound more repetitive.

Another amusing error is in the Junkion's chant of "remove the toughest stains", that is translated as "remove the toughest Slags"... as in "taking away an army of clones of [[Slag (G1)|the Dinobot who transforms into a Triceratops]]", since the actual Italian line is "rimuovere i Tricex più duri" ("Tricex" is Slag's Italian name). What.

The script is more faithful to the original version otherwise. The redub was poorly received by Italian fans.

==Japan==
[[File:UnicronWarMagami01.jpg|right|upright=1.4|thumb]]

Although '''''Transformers: The Movie''''' (トランスフォーマーザ・ムービー) was advertised during 1987, and was even originally scheduled for a theatrical release in the summer of that year, unknown circumstances resulted in a delay of the Japanese release. It was not released in Japan until [[August 9]]th 1989,<ref>http://pastport.jp/user/kabochan/timeline/%E6%94%BE%E9%80%81%E4%BB%A5%E5%A4%96%E3%81%AE%E3%81%A7%E3%81%8D%E3%81%94%E3%81%A8%E5%B9%B4%E8%A1%A8/event/uUhfr2WcbUI</ref> first through limited charity screenings for UNICEF in Tokyo and Osaka (where a man in a [[Ginrai (human)|Super Ginrai]] costume greeted guests), followed immediately by a {{w|LaserDisc}} and VHS release. According to one attendee of the charity screening in Tokyo,<ref>https://kakuyomu.jp/works/1177354054884808234/episodes/1177354054886027093</ref> some tickets to the event were offered to [[S.T.A.R.S.]] members via lottery, the version screened was in English with Japanese subtitles, and [[Tessho Genda]] (Japanese voice of Optimus Prime) was present to speak with fans; according to a different fan, leftover mail-away [[Lander]]s from ''[[Transformers: Super-God Masterforce (franchise)|Masterforce]]'' were available as point-of-sale items at the screening.<ref>{{citesocial|quote=あちしはビクトリー時期のトランスフォーマー・ザ・ムービーチャリティー上映会の物販で買った記憶。|link=https://twitter.com/nekoteck2011/status/920069769323192320|name=nekoteck2011|site=Twitter|year=2017|month=10|day=16|(defunct=)}}</ref> Footage taken during the charity screenings was included in the straight-to-video promotional film, "Transformers Theatrical Version!! Video Finally Here" (トランスフォーマー劇場公開バージョン!!ビデオついに登場). This was the second promotional VHS relating to the film, as ''[[The Transformers: The Movie - Apocalypse: Be Eternal, Matrix]]'' was produced to promote the movie prior to its Japanese release.

Unfortunately, the film's delay would later cause some continuity problems in future Japanese-penned ''Transformers'' fiction, as characters killed in the movie (notably [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] and [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]]) appear in later series ''[[Transformers: The Headmasters (cartoon)|The Headmasters]]'' and ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Victory (cartoon)|Victory]]'' respectively (though these would be addressed [[Controverse|years later]]).

Despite not being released in Japan in 1987 as intended, the events of the movie were [[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010 (story page)|summarized]] in ''[[TV Magazine]]'' with accompanying artwork by [[Ban Magami]] and [[Studio OX]] so that children tuning into ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010 (franchise)|Transformers 2010]]'' would not be lost. The events of the movie would regularly be referred to as the "[[Unicron War]]", gaining something of a mysterious and legendary quality, as their events were constantly referred to but never ''seen''.

Although ''Transformers: The Movie'' was dubbed several years after ''[[The Transformers (cartoon)#Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers]]'' and ''[[The Transformers (cartoon)#Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010|Transformers 2010]]'' had ended, the majority of cast members from those series returned to reprise their roles.

The Japanese dub is notable for adding a lot of lines and voice effects to moments which had been silent in the English version, including the following:

*The shuttle attack scene originally doesn't have much talking during combat, but the Japanese dub adds numerous lines to many characters on both sides of the fight. For example, after killing Brawn, Starscream cheerfully asks who's next while waving Megatron around.
*During Optimus Prime's attack on the Decepticons and his fight with Megatron, every Decepticon Prime shoots can be heard screaming in pain, while his battle with Megatron has numerous grunts and curses added in.

[[File:TFTMMagnusJapCaption01.jpg|left|200px|thumb|"Hang on, there's something on the screen down here. Let me get that..."]]

Some of the additions were quite goofy (e.g., Blitzwing begs Prime not to run him over before getting out of the way) but some were actually quite disturbing. For example, when Starscream is killed by Galvatron, he gives off a long, tortured scream. In addition, the destruction of Lithone is made more horrifying by the sounds of the natives dying (some of them even being cut off mid-scream).

There are also a few slight dialogue alterations, such as Megatron ''specifically'' ordering the Insecticons to breach the Autobot defenses, to which [[Shrapnel (G1)|Shrapnel]] and [[Kickback (G1)|Kickback]] respond in unison with a high-pitched ''"Yessss siirrr!"'' Soundwave's famous "Soundwave superior, Constructicons inferior," is modified into "Soundwave is intelligent, the Constructicons are just idiots!"

The only other alteration of note in regards to the Japanese version is that whenever a character appears on screen for the first time, their name and function appears with them (written in Japanese, of course).

{{-}}

==Latin America==
The Latin American Spanish dub was done in [[Los Angeles]] and is notable because it kept all the voice actors from the cartoon and the new characters remained with the same voices for the remainder of the show. Every character is referred to by their original English name, since none of the characters' names were translated when the cartoon was dubbed into Spanish (except Ravage, who was called "Destructor" on the cartoon, but kept his English name on the movie).

Features the Star Wars-type text in the beginning and the narrator at the end stating that Optimus Prime will return.

Though it is one of the most popular dubs of the movie, it has only been released domestically on home video once and is very difficult to find nowadays. In addition, it hasn't been shown on TV since the early Nineties. Despite this, the dub has been included in many international releases of the movie.

This dub removes all swearing and makes Optimus Prime's death scene even more traumatic by having Daniel ''actually'' crying when Optimus flatlines.

Galvatron sounds exactly like Megatron and Wheelie occasionally rhymes because his dialogue was ''literally'' translated.

==Poland==
In Poland, the movie was never professionally dubbed. In the only official (and cult classic) release on VHS in 1992, all the dialogue was read by a single voice-over actor, while the original sound was left intact and could be heard in the background. To this day, that characteristic form of "narrating" is a very popular solution in Poland when it comes to translating movies for TV or DVDs. Thanks to this method, you can both understand the story and hear all the original voices. In the case of ''The Transformers: The Movie'' it also forced translators to leave (almost) all the original names intact. (Yay!)

==Spain==
In Spain, the movie was aried once in Latin American on the channel ''Antena 3''. However, when the Generation 1 DVDs were published by the company Selecta Visión, they included both the Latin American dub and a new Spanish one (Castilian) that recycled the first's translations, but adding some errors in the character's names. It was aired for the first and only time in Castilian the year 2008 in ''Local Media TV'', but the audio quality wasn't very good, probably due to emission problems.

==South Korea==

===KBS dub===
The first Korean dub of the movie aired on the Korean TV channel KBS in 1989, titled "Unicron and the transforming robots". The voice acting is decent, almost matching the Japanese voices of Shockwave, Starscream, and Soundwave. At that time, many robot shows had only one robot appearing, but Transformers had more characters in their cartoon, gaining the attention of many children. KBS would later go on to dub several movies of the [[Live-action film series]]. This version is not found at the moment, and is still yet to reach the world of internet.

===VHS dub===
The VHS dub was titled "Transforming robots Transformers", and this time, Starscream sounds like the original US version. Just like the KBS dub, this version is not available on the internet.

===DVD dub===
The DVD dub, which was released in 2007, was titled just "Transformers", and it is filled with a lot of music errors, such as the first part of [[Dare]] being very quiet, [[The Touch]] had its lyrics repeating, and sometimes random music was added, for instance, when Hot Rod becomes Rodimus Prime, the music suddenly changes to Nothin's Gonna Stand In Our Way and changes back to The Touch. Currently, this is the only dub that is available. The interest for this dub probably died out, as South Koreans could have easier reach to the original English version.

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Transformers: The Movie/dubs}}
[[Category:Generation 1 media]]
[[Category:Real world films]]

The Transformers: The Movie/dubs

2023-12-12T01:07:47Z

Optimusprime67: /* VHS dub */

'''''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''''' has been translated and dubbed into many languages, each with its own set of quirks and oddities.

==Brazil==
'''''Transformers: O Filme''''', as the movie is known in Portuguese, was released in Brazilian theaters in [[January 15]], [[1987]], not long after the launch of the series on television. It was later released on home video in the same year on a very small scale, which made it very hard to find in video stores. The movie was aired on television only twice, once in 1990 on Rede Globo (the same channel that broadcast the series) and again in 2000 on Fox Kids, each time receiving a new dub.

The most probable reason for the existence of the first two dubs is that the theatrical/home video dub was based on the American version of the movie while the television one from 1990 was based on the European release, as it had the ''Star Wars''-type text in the beginning and the narrator stating at the end that [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] would return. These dubs are different not only in the choice of some of their voice actors but also in their translations. Which dub is the best is a regular topic of debate among Brazilian fans, though both versions have their share of problems. Unfortunately, neither of them allowed Spike to swear.

===Theatrical/Home video dub===
In the theatrical/home video dub, all of the pre-''Movie'' main characters are dubbed by the same voice actors who played them on the television series, and [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]] does not receive a new voice when he is reformatted into [[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]].

This version is the most localized of the first two, but is also the most "childish" in nature. For example, when [[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Hot Rod]] and [[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]] are running toward [[Autobot City (G1)|Autobot City]] and spot the [[Insecticon (G1)|Insecticons]], Kup states, "The Insecticons are in the way," with Hot Rod replying, "Wrong, they're on their way to the hole!", something that makes no sense at all and that the translator probably just thought would sound funny to the kids watching. A better example of localization happens when Kup and [[Wreck-Gar (G1)|Wreck-Gar]] are greeting each other, in which both make references to Brazilian television series of the time. Kup even says "plim-plim", a reference to the sound effect used alongside the Rede Globo logo during vignettes and commercial breaks.

Instead of casting a deep-voiced actor for [[Unicron]], this dub chose to heavily distort the actor's voice, making him sound menacing but almost unintelligible. The same thing was done to the [[Quintesson]]s and their servants. A similar situation occurred with [[Blurr (G1)|Blurr]]; since his voice actor could not talk as fast as [[John Moschitta]], his voice was also distorted to make it sound faster, which also made it difficult to understand.

Finally, the "robotic" effect on the Transformers voices was not done the same way as it was for the television series, which resulted in the characters sounding as if they're talking through a radio more than anything else.

In this version, [[Wheelie (G1)|Wheelie]] does not rhyme.

===Rede Globo dub===
The movie was broadcast only once on Rede Globo during a special week dedicated to Children's Day, which in Brazil is celebrated in [[October 12]]. Most of the pre-''Movie'' characters retained the same voices they had on the home video release, but all of the new Transformers got new voice actors, including Galvatron. This dub also lost the localization aspect the other one received; while it resulted in more faithful translations, some instances lost all sense to Brazilian audiences.

The characters possess the same "robotic" distortion on their voices that they had in the television series, and no kind of heavy modulation was used. An actor with an actual deep voice was cast as Unicron and had his voice left unaltered, which made it much easier for the audience to understand his dialogue. On the other hand, no distortion was used for Blurr, so the actor was forced to try and emulate John Moschitta's impossibly fast speech pattern with debatable results.

One notable dubbing error occurs when Hot Rod opens the Matrix at the end of the film; the line "Light our darkest hour!" is delivered by Optimus Prime's voice actor instead of Hot Rod's. Because of this, Brazilian fans who had only watched this version were left to believe that it was in fact Optimus' spirit who was speaking through Rodimus in a deep "passing of the torch" moment. Of course, this belief became much less popular once the original American audio and the alternate dub became much more accessible to Brazilian fans by the start of the 21st century.

In this version, Wheelie rhymes.

===Fox Kids dub===
Little is known about the third Brazilian dub of the movie, other than the fact that it aired only once on Fox Kids in the year 2000 and has a list of voice actors available online. This version is by far the least known among fans, with a large portion of the fandom not even being aware of its existence and the few who claim to have seen it argue that it is the worst one of the bunch. While unconfirmed, the reason this dub was created is most likely because of rights issues involving the previous two versions.

Due to its obscurity, it's unknown if Wheelie does or does not rhyme in this version, nor if Spike gets to swear this time around (which is still highly unlikely).

==Denmark==
The first time the movie was shown was on Danish national television broadcaster DR in the fall of 2009. While there had been dubbed episodes of the original television show made in the 1980s for home video and later TV airings, the movie was not dubbed at that point. Rather a completely new cast was used for the movie, possibly made for this specific airing. The dubbed movie was re-broadcast 2 years later on a sub-station of DR.

The dubbing had a larger cast of voice actors than the late-80s dub of the TV series with one or two actors returning to the franchise after 25 years. However, some lines were omitted by mistake (a few characters could be seen moving their lips visibly but without any sound being heard) while others appeared at completely random times (a line uttered by Galvatron missing earlier in the movie "appearing" towards the end in a completely unrelated scene possibly due to a bad time code in the dubbing software).

This version was based on the UK print of the movie and has yet to see a public release on any kind of media.

==France/Quebec==
[[File:La Guerre des Robots.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.7|Is Arcee running away from Hot Rod?]]
For French-speaking audiences, who had thus far been given two separate dubs of the TV series (one made in France and one made in Quebec, a very common occurrence), a single dub was made in France for all French releases of the film. This release used a brand-new voice actor team rather than using either dub team from the series.

Whereas the Canadian French dub used the Canadian French names from the toy packages, and the European French dub avoided using names or created some sort of improvised nicknames, the Movie used all of the characters' English names.

The film was released in French theaters in April 1987,<ref name="france">"[https://www.cineanimation.fr/film/la-guerre-des-robots-transformers La Guerre des robots - Transformers]" at Ciné Animation.</ref> soberly titled "La Guerre des Robots" (''The War of the Robots''), which suggests that the marketing team really had no knowledge of the existence of the animated series.

Two characters were given gender changes for this dub; Starscream and Shrapnel both become females.

One notable change to the dialog occurs when Starscream asks "Megatron? Is that you?" Galvatron's original answer, "Here's a hint!", is now much more direct: "Yes, but stronger than before!"

Another Megatron-related change is that he keeps the same voice once he becomes Galvatron (unlike the original dub).
{{-}}

==Germany==
[[File:TFTM German DVD.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.0|German 2003 DVD cover]]
Germany also got two different dubs over the years:

===TV dub===
As the movie had never been shown in German theaters, the first dub, titled ''Transformers: Der Kampf um Cybertron'' (''Transformers: The Battle for Cybertron''), was made in 1994 for airing on the German TV station RTL, to serve as a "pilot" for the [[Transformers: Generation 2 (cartoon)|''Generation 2'' cartoon series]] which would be subsequently broadcast. (One might argue that the initial omission of the movie from the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|original cartoon's]] German airing schedule resulted in an information gap regarding the shift from the season 2 setting to the season 3 setting; but then again, the cartoon ''started'' with episodes from season 3 in Germany, and only ''six'' episodes from the first two seasons were ever aired during the entire original "Generation 1" run of the show, so it's not like context problems weren't already all over the place.)

Even though the dub was made only five years after the dub of the Generation 1 cartoon had started on German TV, only a few of the German voice actors returned, most of them not even in the same roles they had played before. Optimus Prime, for example, was now dubbed by Thomas Rau, who had originally voiced Rodimus Prime, Blaster and Scourge in the cartoon itself. As in the dub of the cartoon before, all the characters retained their English names... with the exception of [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]], whose name was translated as "Der Vernichter" ("the annihilator") for reasons unknown (he was "Devastator" in the dub of the cartoon itself). This version of the movie was only shown twice (not counting late-night reruns following those airings), on its TV premiere in April 1994 and one year later, in May 1995. It was never released on VHS either.

The TV version was based on the European edit of the film, including the {{w|Rank Organisation|Rank Film}} "{{w|Gongman}}" at the beginning. Contrary to a widespread rumor,<ref>[http://www.ofdb.de/view.php?page=fassung&fid=7489&vid=38680 German movie database still listing the rumor about Starscream's "edited death" in TF:TM]</ref> the German TV edition of the movie was ''not'' edited to omit Starscream's death scene.

Notably, the [[Junkion (species)|Junkions]]' dialogue was treated with a surprising amount of finesse, replacing their references to English TV and advertising phrases to contemporary German ones, including an ''extremely'' well-known and catchy advertising slogan used by Toyota. In addition, Bernd Simon's rendition of Starscream is spot on, coming ''frighteningly'' close to Chris Latta. Overall, despite a few minor hiccups, major technical and translation errors were far and far between.

===DVD dub===
[[File:TFTM German DVD 2006.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.0|German 2006 DVD cover]]
In 2003, the movie, this time simply titled ''Transformers'', was finally released on DVD in Germany, by a little-known, low-budget label. Since the TV edition of the movie had been used as a "pilot" for the G2 cartoon, and it had been archived under the title "Der Kampf um Cybertron", the dubbing masters were not located until more than a year later, so the DVD company assigned an entirely new dub... which makes the [[Omni Productions]] dub and the [[Voicebox Productions|Voicebox]] dub of ''[[Transformers: Energon (cartoon)|Energon]]'' look like masterpieces. Numerous translation errors resulted from the apparent lack of an original script, thus requiring the dubbers to translate simply from listening to the original audio; coupled with a lack of experience with the source material and a lack of professional knowledge in the English (and German) language in general, resulting in look-it-up-in-a-dictionary-use-first-suggestion translations, sentences that ''make no sense whatsoever at all'' in context, and generally stilted and unnatural-sounding dialogue. For example, after hijacking the Autobots' shuttle and killing off Ratchet, Prowl, Brawn and Ironhide, Megatron makes the completely nonsensical proclamation that he intends to get past the early warning system ''of'' the Autobots' shuttle (''which he is already in control of at this point''), instead of getting past the Autobots' early warning system ''in'' their own shuttle (as in, using the shuttle as a Trojan horse). Also, Grimlock's line "Me Grimlock need new strategy" gets misinterpreted as "Me Grimlock need ''no'' strategy", and the phrase "mockery of justice" is mangled into a completely nonsensical "Farce der Gerechtigkeit" ("farce of justice", with the loan word "Farce" mispronounced as if the voice actor had never seen that fancy word before, and "justice" in the sense of "fairness" rather than "judical system"). A much better translation would have been "Justizposse".

In addition, none of the voice actors sounded like they were particularly experienced in the field of dubbing, especially since none of their voices were recognizable from other productions.

The DVD is also notorious for its packaging, which does its best to obscure ''what exactly it contains'' (i.e. a feature-length animated movie). The front cover uses the cover artwork of the old Panini Generation 1 sticker album, while the back cover depicts stills from "[[The Golden Lagoon (episode)|The Golden Lagoon]]", "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]" and "[[The Autobot Run]]", coupled with an (incorrect) summary of the general setting of the first two seasons of the Generation 1 cartoon, which implies (likely due to a misinterpretation of the English word "emerge") that the Autobots and Decepticons somehow come into existence on Earth, rather than simply reawakening after lying dormant for millions of years, with the term "Transformers" even translated into German as "Transformatoren".

A second edition of this DVD was released in 2006, this time featuring artwork of [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Armada Optimus Prime]] on the front cover, with Earth (from the [[Transformers (film)|2007 movie's]] promo poster) as the background, plus the 1984 back-of-the-box artwork rotated by 270 degrees as an overlay, and the "Transformers" title logo from the 2007 movie. The back cover depicts a screencap from the [[Transformers (PS2)|''Armada'' video game]], [[Don Figueroa]]'s "All Optimus" poster and the 1984 back-of-the-box battle scene, plus the same sleeve text as featured on the 2003 release of the DVD, with none of the errors fixed.
{{-}}

==Hungary==
The film was first dubbed into Hungarian by Mahir Studios for the Televideo company's 1992 VHS release; the second dub was recorded by Masterfilm Digital, and released by Mirax both on VHS and on DVD, the latter in 2004. Both versions include the scrolling text and other European edits; the Mirax one even has the "gong man". Issues they both have in common include small dubbing casts, inconsistent voices and translation errors. Neither dub used the name translations popularized by the Hungarian release of the [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|G1 comics]].

===Televideo===

The film's title was translated as ''Alakváltók'' (''Shape-shifters''), a rare instance of a name or expression matching up with the Marvel comic's terminology. The dub has a total of five voice actors (four men for random characters, one actress for Arcee, Daniel and most of Wheelie's lines), and is notorious for the dialogue almost never matching the lip movements and characters changing their voice on the fly. Certain lines are even missing or spoken at the wrong time (most notably Megatron's "Die, Autobots!" shout), and at times lines belonging to different characters were combined into one. Translation errors and flubbed line-reads also abound; Megatron ''berates'' Soundwave for jamming the Autobots' transmission instead of ordering him to do so, and Wreck-Gar calls Hot Rod Unicron at one point. But mistakes aside, the translation is surprisingly witty – Blurr's cheesy tongue-twister about shooting Decepticons is especially famous among older fans. In fact, the translator seems to have had a fondness for rhyming, as apart from Wheelie, the Dinobots, the Junkions and Blurr also deliver parts of their dialogue in verse. The problem is that the lines are also drastically ''compressed'', leading to many awkward moments of characters silently mouthing unspoken words.

There are numerous name changes, the most bizarre of which is the Decepticons being referred to as "Varangyok" ("Toads"). This may be a tribute to the '60s German sci-fi TV series ''Raumpatrouille – Die phantastischen Abenteuer des Raumschiffs Orion'' (''Space patrol – The Fantastic Adventures of the Spaceship Orion''). In this series, the main enemy alien race is called "Frogs", but they were named Toads in the Hungarian translation. Other strange name changes include Peca ("Fisher" or "Fishing Rod") for Hot Rod, Zsaru ("Cop") for Kup, RC for Arcee or "IQ Jack" for the [[Ick-Yak]], all obvious misinterpretations of their original names. Curiously, one originally nameless characters ''gets'' a name: during the Decepticons' reformation scene, Unicron claims that there's only one Sweep, naming him "Karmos" (roughly, "Claws"). However, the Insecticons' nonsensical name ("Rovarángok") is harder to decipher. It can only be assumed that the translator intended it to be "Rovarangyok" ("Insectoads", a playful pun consistent with the Decepticon-Toad theme), and the voice actor has simply misread it.

One point in the dub's favor is that it at least attempted to retain the spirit of the Junkions' speech. For example, when putting Ultra Magnus back together, they shout "Aye-Tee-Tee!", a reference to old Hungarian {{w|ITT Inc.}} product commercials that were the subject of numerous jokes in the early '90s.

===Mirax===
[[File:TFTM Hungarian DVD.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|left|Hungarian DVD cover]]
The second dub has a reputation for including more profanities than the original version of the film. Although Spike's "Oh, shit!" line was cut, [[Ironhide (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ironhide]], Galvatron and the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]] say terms akin to "asshole" (from Grimlock to Blurr), "bastards" (Galvatron to the Autobots), "stupid", "brainless, numbskull jackass" ([[Slag (G1)|Slag]] to [[Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]]), "sons of bitches" (this one even twice, in place of the original's "Decepti-chops" and "Decepti-creeps"), and "chickenshit" (from Galvatron, regarding Hot Rod). Other oddities are Wheelie only rhyming half the time, Blaster's extremely high-pitched transmission to Optimus Prime (either an audio editing error or a very strange creative choice), and [[Soundwave (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Soundwave]] and Unicron at first talking in a seg-men-ted, ro-bo-tic man-ner. Numerous grunts and screams were also inserted where there were originally none, even the Sharkticons can be heard yelling a lot.

This dub also uses a mix of untranslated or incorrectly translated names, and character voices – this time supplied by twelve actors – occasionally change from one sentence to the next. Erroneous names include Unicornis (Unicron), Prowl (Blurr), Mega-robot (Devastator, though he is also called "Devastator the Mega-robot" in one line), Constructors ([[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicons]]), Deceptors ([[Decepticon]]s, but only said once), Astro ([[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]], again only for one line), Gettison (unknown; derived and misinterpreted from the line "Jettison some weight."), Eject (this refers to no one, it was mistranslated from Soundwave's "Eject" call), and the Ick-Yak becomes a "Mega-Missort". Wheelie's name is omitted. Wreck-Gar's dialogue also lacks any sort of creativity, consisting instead of random nonsense and straight-faced reactions to what's happening on screen. These and a multitude of other errors suggest that the translator had no script to work from and had to rely solely on her hearing.

A major blooper also occurs during the attack on the Autobot shuttle: Ironhide speaks his final words in [[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]]'s voice ("Please, have mercy!"), and curiously, the translation of Megatron's "Such heroic nonsense." line corresponds with this sudden change of personality, as he responds with "Death to all traitors." before blasting him. Now ''this'' is foreshadowing.

The DVD case has G.I. Joe pictures printed on the back side, as well as on the DVD itself. Spiffy. On a positive note, the summary on the back of the case is actually competently written, even if the references to the cartoon series (which wasn't released in the country) and to the movie's place in its timeline are worded a bit confusingly, and unlike the dub, it renders Unicron's name correctly. Masterfilm Digital would later localize ''[[Transformers: Armada (cartoon)|Armada]]'' (episodes 1-26 of which were likewise commissioned by Mirax), sadly still maintaining some of the general incompetence displayed by their handling of this movie.
{{-}}

==Italy==
There are two Italian dubs: the original one and a 2007 redub made when the live movie arrived in cinemas.

===Original dub===
This dub uses the original names for the new characters, except for Wheelie, named here "Saetta" (which was already Wheeljack's Italian name, curiously). Lots of lines are completely different from the original script: Devastator's "Prepare for extermination!" became "I'll destroy you, Transformers!", Grimlock's "Me Grimlock like challenge!" is replaced with "We Dinobots ready for great battle!" Optimus's line "Soon I shall be all one with the Matrix" turns into "The most important thing now is the passage of the Matrix" and "Arise, Rodimus Prime" was changed to "Now rise up, Hot Rod!"

The scene on Quintessa also gets a weird rewrite: for some reason this dub refers to the Quintesson prosecutor as the evil "Emperor Quintesson" and all the dialogue said by the judge starts with "Yes, my Quintesson".

===2007 redub===
The redub uses the Italian names for everyone except Ravage, Laserbeak, Ratbat and Rodimus Prime (Hot Rod, although, is called "Folgore"). "Soundwave superior, Constructicons inferior" becomes "The Soundwave is superior, the Constructicon is inferior!" (no, seriously.)

There are many mispronounciations: Constructicons is pronounced "Con-STROOK-ticons", Laserbeak is named "Laserback" and [[Junkion (planet)|Junk]] is called "Yoonk".

Blurr's speech is fast, and for some reason he also speaks in rhymes, probably to make it sound more repetitive.

Another amusing error is in the Junkion's chant of "remove the toughest stains", that is translated as "remove the toughest Slags"... as in "taking away an army of clones of [[Slag (G1)|the Dinobot who transforms into a Triceratops]]", since the actual Italian line is "rimuovere i Tricex più duri" ("Tricex" is Slag's Italian name). What.

The script is more faithful to the original version otherwise. The redub was poorly received by Italian fans.

==Japan==
[[File:UnicronWarMagami01.jpg|right|upright=1.4|thumb]]

Although '''''Transformers: The Movie''''' (トランスフォーマーザ・ムービー) was advertised during 1987, and was even originally scheduled for a theatrical release in the summer of that year, unknown circumstances resulted in a delay of the Japanese release. It was not released in Japan until [[August 9]]th 1989,<ref>http://pastport.jp/user/kabochan/timeline/%E6%94%BE%E9%80%81%E4%BB%A5%E5%A4%96%E3%81%AE%E3%81%A7%E3%81%8D%E3%81%94%E3%81%A8%E5%B9%B4%E8%A1%A8/event/uUhfr2WcbUI</ref> first through limited charity screenings for UNICEF in Tokyo and Osaka (where a man in a [[Ginrai (human)|Super Ginrai]] costume greeted guests), followed immediately by a {{w|LaserDisc}} and VHS release. According to one attendee of the charity screening in Tokyo,<ref>https://kakuyomu.jp/works/1177354054884808234/episodes/1177354054886027093</ref> some tickets to the event were offered to [[S.T.A.R.S.]] members via lottery, the version screened was in English with Japanese subtitles, and [[Tessho Genda]] (Japanese voice of Optimus Prime) was present to speak with fans; according to a different fan, leftover mail-away [[Lander]]s from ''[[Transformers: Super-God Masterforce (franchise)|Masterforce]]'' were available as point-of-sale items at the screening.<ref>{{citesocial|quote=あちしはビクトリー時期のトランスフォーマー・ザ・ムービーチャリティー上映会の物販で買った記憶。|link=https://twitter.com/nekoteck2011/status/920069769323192320|name=nekoteck2011|site=Twitter|year=2017|month=10|day=16|(defunct=)}}</ref> Footage taken during the charity screenings was included in the straight-to-video promotional film, "Transformers Theatrical Version!! Video Finally Here" (トランスフォーマー劇場公開バージョン!!ビデオついに登場). This was the second promotional VHS relating to the film, as ''[[The Transformers: The Movie - Apocalypse: Be Eternal, Matrix]]'' was produced to promote the movie prior to its Japanese release.

Unfortunately, the film's delay would later cause some continuity problems in future Japanese-penned ''Transformers'' fiction, as characters killed in the movie (notably [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] and [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]]) appear in later series ''[[Transformers: The Headmasters (cartoon)|The Headmasters]]'' and ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Victory (cartoon)|Victory]]'' respectively (though these would be addressed [[Controverse|years later]]).

Despite not being released in Japan in 1987 as intended, the events of the movie were [[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010 (story page)|summarized]] in ''[[TV Magazine]]'' with accompanying artwork by [[Ban Magami]] and [[Studio OX]] so that children tuning into ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010 (franchise)|Transformers 2010]]'' would not be lost. The events of the movie would regularly be referred to as the "[[Unicron War]]", gaining something of a mysterious and legendary quality, as their events were constantly referred to but never ''seen''.

Although ''Transformers: The Movie'' was dubbed several years after ''[[The Transformers (cartoon)#Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers]]'' and ''[[The Transformers (cartoon)#Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010|Transformers 2010]]'' had ended, the majority of cast members from those series returned to reprise their roles.

The Japanese dub is notable for adding a lot of lines and voice effects to moments which had been silent in the English version, including the following:

*The shuttle attack scene originally doesn't have much talking during combat, but the Japanese dub adds numerous lines to many characters on both sides of the fight. For example, after killing Brawn, Starscream cheerfully asks who's next while waving Megatron around.
*During Optimus Prime's attack on the Decepticons and his fight with Megatron, every Decepticon Prime shoots can be heard screaming in pain, while his battle with Megatron has numerous grunts and curses added in.

[[File:TFTMMagnusJapCaption01.jpg|left|200px|thumb|"Hang on, there's something on the screen down here. Let me get that..."]]

Some of the additions were quite goofy (e.g., Blitzwing begs Prime not to run him over before getting out of the way) but some were actually quite disturbing. For example, when Starscream is killed by Galvatron, he gives off a long, tortured scream. In addition, the destruction of Lithone is made more horrifying by the sounds of the natives dying (some of them even being cut off mid-scream).

There are also a few slight dialogue alterations, such as Megatron ''specifically'' ordering the Insecticons to breach the Autobot defenses, to which [[Shrapnel (G1)|Shrapnel]] and [[Kickback (G1)|Kickback]] respond in unison with a high-pitched ''"Yessss siirrr!"'' Soundwave's famous "Soundwave superior, Constructicons inferior," is modified into "Soundwave is intelligent, the Constructicons are just idiots!"

The only other alteration of note in regards to the Japanese version is that whenever a character appears on screen for the first time, their name and function appears with them (written in Japanese, of course).

{{-}}

==Latin America==
The Latin American Spanish dub was done in [[Los Angeles]] and is notable because it kept all the voice actors from the cartoon and the new characters remained with the same voices for the remainder of the show. Every character is referred to by their original English name, since none of the characters' names were translated when the cartoon was dubbed into Spanish (except Ravage, who was called "Destructor" on the cartoon, but kept his English name on the movie).

Features the Star Wars-type text in the beginning and the narrator at the end stating that Optimus Prime will return.

Though it is one of the most popular dubs of the movie, it has only been released domestically on home video once and is very difficult to find nowadays. In addition, it hasn't been shown on TV since the early Nineties. Despite this, the dub has been included in many international releases of the movie.

This dub removes all swearing and makes Optimus Prime's death scene even more traumatic by having Daniel ''actually'' crying when Optimus flatlines.

Galvatron sounds exactly like Megatron and Wheelie occasionally rhymes because his dialogue was ''literally'' translated.

==Poland==
In Poland, the movie was never professionally dubbed. In the only official (and cult classic) release on VHS in 1992, all the dialogue was read by a single voice-over actor, while the original sound was left intact and could be heard in the background. To this day, that characteristic form of "narrating" is a very popular solution in Poland when it comes to translating movies for TV or DVDs. Thanks to this method, you can both understand the story and hear all the original voices. In the case of ''The Transformers: The Movie'' it also forced translators to leave (almost) all the original names intact. (Yay!)

==Spain==
In Spain, the movie was aried once in Latin American on the channel ''Antena 3''. However, when the Generation 1 DVDs were published by the company Selecta Visión, they included both the Latin American dub and a new Spanish one (Castilian) that recycled the first's translations, but adding some errors in the character's names. It was aired for the first and only time in Castilian the year 2008 in ''Local Media TV'', but the audio quality wasn't very good, probably due to emission problems.

==South Korea==

===KBS dub===
The first Korean dub of the movie aired on the Korean TV channel KBS in 1989, titled "Unicron and the transforming robots". The voice acting is decent, almost matching the Japanese voices of Shockwave, Starscream, and Soundwave. At that time, many robot shows had only one robot appearing, but Transformers had more characters in their cartoon, gaining the attention of many children. KBS would later go on to dub several movies of the [[Live-action film series]].

===VHS dub===
The VHS dub was titled "Transforming robots Transformers", and this time, Starscream sounds like the original US version. Just like the KBS dub, this version is not available on the internet.

===DVD dub===
The DVD dub, which was released in 2007, was titled just "Transformers", and it is filled with a lot of music errors, such as the first part of [[Dare]] being very quiet, [[The Touch]] had its lyrics repeating, and sometimes random music was added, for instance, when Hot Rod becomes Rodimus Prime, the music suddenly changes to Nothin's Gonna Stand In Our Way and changes back to The Touch. Currently, this is the only dub that is available. The interest for this dub probably died out, as South Koreans could have easier reach to the original English version.

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Transformers: The Movie/dubs}}
[[Category:Generation 1 media]]
[[Category:Real world films]]

The Transformers: The Movie/dubs

2023-12-12T01:05:52Z

Optimusprime67: /* KBS dub */

'''''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''''' has been translated and dubbed into many languages, each with its own set of quirks and oddities.

==Brazil==
'''''Transformers: O Filme''''', as the movie is known in Portuguese, was released in Brazilian theaters in [[January 15]], [[1987]], not long after the launch of the series on television. It was later released on home video in the same year on a very small scale, which made it very hard to find in video stores. The movie was aired on television only twice, once in 1990 on Rede Globo (the same channel that broadcast the series) and again in 2000 on Fox Kids, each time receiving a new dub.

The most probable reason for the existence of the first two dubs is that the theatrical/home video dub was based on the American version of the movie while the television one from 1990 was based on the European release, as it had the ''Star Wars''-type text in the beginning and the narrator stating at the end that [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] would return. These dubs are different not only in the choice of some of their voice actors but also in their translations. Which dub is the best is a regular topic of debate among Brazilian fans, though both versions have their share of problems. Unfortunately, neither of them allowed Spike to swear.

===Theatrical/Home video dub===
In the theatrical/home video dub, all of the pre-''Movie'' main characters are dubbed by the same voice actors who played them on the television series, and [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]] does not receive a new voice when he is reformatted into [[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]].

This version is the most localized of the first two, but is also the most "childish" in nature. For example, when [[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Hot Rod]] and [[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]] are running toward [[Autobot City (G1)|Autobot City]] and spot the [[Insecticon (G1)|Insecticons]], Kup states, "The Insecticons are in the way," with Hot Rod replying, "Wrong, they're on their way to the hole!", something that makes no sense at all and that the translator probably just thought would sound funny to the kids watching. A better example of localization happens when Kup and [[Wreck-Gar (G1)|Wreck-Gar]] are greeting each other, in which both make references to Brazilian television series of the time. Kup even says "plim-plim", a reference to the sound effect used alongside the Rede Globo logo during vignettes and commercial breaks.

Instead of casting a deep-voiced actor for [[Unicron]], this dub chose to heavily distort the actor's voice, making him sound menacing but almost unintelligible. The same thing was done to the [[Quintesson]]s and their servants. A similar situation occurred with [[Blurr (G1)|Blurr]]; since his voice actor could not talk as fast as [[John Moschitta]], his voice was also distorted to make it sound faster, which also made it difficult to understand.

Finally, the "robotic" effect on the Transformers voices was not done the same way as it was for the television series, which resulted in the characters sounding as if they're talking through a radio more than anything else.

In this version, [[Wheelie (G1)|Wheelie]] does not rhyme.

===Rede Globo dub===
The movie was broadcast only once on Rede Globo during a special week dedicated to Children's Day, which in Brazil is celebrated in [[October 12]]. Most of the pre-''Movie'' characters retained the same voices they had on the home video release, but all of the new Transformers got new voice actors, including Galvatron. This dub also lost the localization aspect the other one received; while it resulted in more faithful translations, some instances lost all sense to Brazilian audiences.

The characters possess the same "robotic" distortion on their voices that they had in the television series, and no kind of heavy modulation was used. An actor with an actual deep voice was cast as Unicron and had his voice left unaltered, which made it much easier for the audience to understand his dialogue. On the other hand, no distortion was used for Blurr, so the actor was forced to try and emulate John Moschitta's impossibly fast speech pattern with debatable results.

One notable dubbing error occurs when Hot Rod opens the Matrix at the end of the film; the line "Light our darkest hour!" is delivered by Optimus Prime's voice actor instead of Hot Rod's. Because of this, Brazilian fans who had only watched this version were left to believe that it was in fact Optimus' spirit who was speaking through Rodimus in a deep "passing of the torch" moment. Of course, this belief became much less popular once the original American audio and the alternate dub became much more accessible to Brazilian fans by the start of the 21st century.

In this version, Wheelie rhymes.

===Fox Kids dub===
Little is known about the third Brazilian dub of the movie, other than the fact that it aired only once on Fox Kids in the year 2000 and has a list of voice actors available online. This version is by far the least known among fans, with a large portion of the fandom not even being aware of its existence and the few who claim to have seen it argue that it is the worst one of the bunch. While unconfirmed, the reason this dub was created is most likely because of rights issues involving the previous two versions.

Due to its obscurity, it's unknown if Wheelie does or does not rhyme in this version, nor if Spike gets to swear this time around (which is still highly unlikely).

==Denmark==
The first time the movie was shown was on Danish national television broadcaster DR in the fall of 2009. While there had been dubbed episodes of the original television show made in the 1980s for home video and later TV airings, the movie was not dubbed at that point. Rather a completely new cast was used for the movie, possibly made for this specific airing. The dubbed movie was re-broadcast 2 years later on a sub-station of DR.

The dubbing had a larger cast of voice actors than the late-80s dub of the TV series with one or two actors returning to the franchise after 25 years. However, some lines were omitted by mistake (a few characters could be seen moving their lips visibly but without any sound being heard) while others appeared at completely random times (a line uttered by Galvatron missing earlier in the movie "appearing" towards the end in a completely unrelated scene possibly due to a bad time code in the dubbing software).

This version was based on the UK print of the movie and has yet to see a public release on any kind of media.

==France/Quebec==
[[File:La Guerre des Robots.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.7|Is Arcee running away from Hot Rod?]]
For French-speaking audiences, who had thus far been given two separate dubs of the TV series (one made in France and one made in Quebec, a very common occurrence), a single dub was made in France for all French releases of the film. This release used a brand-new voice actor team rather than using either dub team from the series.

Whereas the Canadian French dub used the Canadian French names from the toy packages, and the European French dub avoided using names or created some sort of improvised nicknames, the Movie used all of the characters' English names.

The film was released in French theaters in April 1987,<ref name="france">"[https://www.cineanimation.fr/film/la-guerre-des-robots-transformers La Guerre des robots - Transformers]" at Ciné Animation.</ref> soberly titled "La Guerre des Robots" (''The War of the Robots''), which suggests that the marketing team really had no knowledge of the existence of the animated series.

Two characters were given gender changes for this dub; Starscream and Shrapnel both become females.

One notable change to the dialog occurs when Starscream asks "Megatron? Is that you?" Galvatron's original answer, "Here's a hint!", is now much more direct: "Yes, but stronger than before!"

Another Megatron-related change is that he keeps the same voice once he becomes Galvatron (unlike the original dub).
{{-}}

==Germany==
[[File:TFTM German DVD.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.0|German 2003 DVD cover]]
Germany also got two different dubs over the years:

===TV dub===
As the movie had never been shown in German theaters, the first dub, titled ''Transformers: Der Kampf um Cybertron'' (''Transformers: The Battle for Cybertron''), was made in 1994 for airing on the German TV station RTL, to serve as a "pilot" for the [[Transformers: Generation 2 (cartoon)|''Generation 2'' cartoon series]] which would be subsequently broadcast. (One might argue that the initial omission of the movie from the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|original cartoon's]] German airing schedule resulted in an information gap regarding the shift from the season 2 setting to the season 3 setting; but then again, the cartoon ''started'' with episodes from season 3 in Germany, and only ''six'' episodes from the first two seasons were ever aired during the entire original "Generation 1" run of the show, so it's not like context problems weren't already all over the place.)

Even though the dub was made only five years after the dub of the Generation 1 cartoon had started on German TV, only a few of the German voice actors returned, most of them not even in the same roles they had played before. Optimus Prime, for example, was now dubbed by Thomas Rau, who had originally voiced Rodimus Prime, Blaster and Scourge in the cartoon itself. As in the dub of the cartoon before, all the characters retained their English names... with the exception of [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]], whose name was translated as "Der Vernichter" ("the annihilator") for reasons unknown (he was "Devastator" in the dub of the cartoon itself). This version of the movie was only shown twice (not counting late-night reruns following those airings), on its TV premiere in April 1994 and one year later, in May 1995. It was never released on VHS either.

The TV version was based on the European edit of the film, including the {{w|Rank Organisation|Rank Film}} "{{w|Gongman}}" at the beginning. Contrary to a widespread rumor,<ref>[http://www.ofdb.de/view.php?page=fassung&fid=7489&vid=38680 German movie database still listing the rumor about Starscream's "edited death" in TF:TM]</ref> the German TV edition of the movie was ''not'' edited to omit Starscream's death scene.

Notably, the [[Junkion (species)|Junkions]]' dialogue was treated with a surprising amount of finesse, replacing their references to English TV and advertising phrases to contemporary German ones, including an ''extremely'' well-known and catchy advertising slogan used by Toyota. In addition, Bernd Simon's rendition of Starscream is spot on, coming ''frighteningly'' close to Chris Latta. Overall, despite a few minor hiccups, major technical and translation errors were far and far between.

===DVD dub===
[[File:TFTM German DVD 2006.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.0|German 2006 DVD cover]]
In 2003, the movie, this time simply titled ''Transformers'', was finally released on DVD in Germany, by a little-known, low-budget label. Since the TV edition of the movie had been used as a "pilot" for the G2 cartoon, and it had been archived under the title "Der Kampf um Cybertron", the dubbing masters were not located until more than a year later, so the DVD company assigned an entirely new dub... which makes the [[Omni Productions]] dub and the [[Voicebox Productions|Voicebox]] dub of ''[[Transformers: Energon (cartoon)|Energon]]'' look like masterpieces. Numerous translation errors resulted from the apparent lack of an original script, thus requiring the dubbers to translate simply from listening to the original audio; coupled with a lack of experience with the source material and a lack of professional knowledge in the English (and German) language in general, resulting in look-it-up-in-a-dictionary-use-first-suggestion translations, sentences that ''make no sense whatsoever at all'' in context, and generally stilted and unnatural-sounding dialogue. For example, after hijacking the Autobots' shuttle and killing off Ratchet, Prowl, Brawn and Ironhide, Megatron makes the completely nonsensical proclamation that he intends to get past the early warning system ''of'' the Autobots' shuttle (''which he is already in control of at this point''), instead of getting past the Autobots' early warning system ''in'' their own shuttle (as in, using the shuttle as a Trojan horse). Also, Grimlock's line "Me Grimlock need new strategy" gets misinterpreted as "Me Grimlock need ''no'' strategy", and the phrase "mockery of justice" is mangled into a completely nonsensical "Farce der Gerechtigkeit" ("farce of justice", with the loan word "Farce" mispronounced as if the voice actor had never seen that fancy word before, and "justice" in the sense of "fairness" rather than "judical system"). A much better translation would have been "Justizposse".

In addition, none of the voice actors sounded like they were particularly experienced in the field of dubbing, especially since none of their voices were recognizable from other productions.

The DVD is also notorious for its packaging, which does its best to obscure ''what exactly it contains'' (i.e. a feature-length animated movie). The front cover uses the cover artwork of the old Panini Generation 1 sticker album, while the back cover depicts stills from "[[The Golden Lagoon (episode)|The Golden Lagoon]]", "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]" and "[[The Autobot Run]]", coupled with an (incorrect) summary of the general setting of the first two seasons of the Generation 1 cartoon, which implies (likely due to a misinterpretation of the English word "emerge") that the Autobots and Decepticons somehow come into existence on Earth, rather than simply reawakening after lying dormant for millions of years, with the term "Transformers" even translated into German as "Transformatoren".

A second edition of this DVD was released in 2006, this time featuring artwork of [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Armada Optimus Prime]] on the front cover, with Earth (from the [[Transformers (film)|2007 movie's]] promo poster) as the background, plus the 1984 back-of-the-box artwork rotated by 270 degrees as an overlay, and the "Transformers" title logo from the 2007 movie. The back cover depicts a screencap from the [[Transformers (PS2)|''Armada'' video game]], [[Don Figueroa]]'s "All Optimus" poster and the 1984 back-of-the-box battle scene, plus the same sleeve text as featured on the 2003 release of the DVD, with none of the errors fixed.
{{-}}

==Hungary==
The film was first dubbed into Hungarian by Mahir Studios for the Televideo company's 1992 VHS release; the second dub was recorded by Masterfilm Digital, and released by Mirax both on VHS and on DVD, the latter in 2004. Both versions include the scrolling text and other European edits; the Mirax one even has the "gong man". Issues they both have in common include small dubbing casts, inconsistent voices and translation errors. Neither dub used the name translations popularized by the Hungarian release of the [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|G1 comics]].

===Televideo===

The film's title was translated as ''Alakváltók'' (''Shape-shifters''), a rare instance of a name or expression matching up with the Marvel comic's terminology. The dub has a total of five voice actors (four men for random characters, one actress for Arcee, Daniel and most of Wheelie's lines), and is notorious for the dialogue almost never matching the lip movements and characters changing their voice on the fly. Certain lines are even missing or spoken at the wrong time (most notably Megatron's "Die, Autobots!" shout), and at times lines belonging to different characters were combined into one. Translation errors and flubbed line-reads also abound; Megatron ''berates'' Soundwave for jamming the Autobots' transmission instead of ordering him to do so, and Wreck-Gar calls Hot Rod Unicron at one point. But mistakes aside, the translation is surprisingly witty – Blurr's cheesy tongue-twister about shooting Decepticons is especially famous among older fans. In fact, the translator seems to have had a fondness for rhyming, as apart from Wheelie, the Dinobots, the Junkions and Blurr also deliver parts of their dialogue in verse. The problem is that the lines are also drastically ''compressed'', leading to many awkward moments of characters silently mouthing unspoken words.

There are numerous name changes, the most bizarre of which is the Decepticons being referred to as "Varangyok" ("Toads"). This may be a tribute to the '60s German sci-fi TV series ''Raumpatrouille – Die phantastischen Abenteuer des Raumschiffs Orion'' (''Space patrol – The Fantastic Adventures of the Spaceship Orion''). In this series, the main enemy alien race is called "Frogs", but they were named Toads in the Hungarian translation. Other strange name changes include Peca ("Fisher" or "Fishing Rod") for Hot Rod, Zsaru ("Cop") for Kup, RC for Arcee or "IQ Jack" for the [[Ick-Yak]], all obvious misinterpretations of their original names. Curiously, one originally nameless characters ''gets'' a name: during the Decepticons' reformation scene, Unicron claims that there's only one Sweep, naming him "Karmos" (roughly, "Claws"). However, the Insecticons' nonsensical name ("Rovarángok") is harder to decipher. It can only be assumed that the translator intended it to be "Rovarangyok" ("Insectoads", a playful pun consistent with the Decepticon-Toad theme), and the voice actor has simply misread it.

One point in the dub's favor is that it at least attempted to retain the spirit of the Junkions' speech. For example, when putting Ultra Magnus back together, they shout "Aye-Tee-Tee!", a reference to old Hungarian {{w|ITT Inc.}} product commercials that were the subject of numerous jokes in the early '90s.

===Mirax===
[[File:TFTM Hungarian DVD.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|left|Hungarian DVD cover]]
The second dub has a reputation for including more profanities than the original version of the film. Although Spike's "Oh, shit!" line was cut, [[Ironhide (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ironhide]], Galvatron and the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]] say terms akin to "asshole" (from Grimlock to Blurr), "bastards" (Galvatron to the Autobots), "stupid", "brainless, numbskull jackass" ([[Slag (G1)|Slag]] to [[Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]]), "sons of bitches" (this one even twice, in place of the original's "Decepti-chops" and "Decepti-creeps"), and "chickenshit" (from Galvatron, regarding Hot Rod). Other oddities are Wheelie only rhyming half the time, Blaster's extremely high-pitched transmission to Optimus Prime (either an audio editing error or a very strange creative choice), and [[Soundwave (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Soundwave]] and Unicron at first talking in a seg-men-ted, ro-bo-tic man-ner. Numerous grunts and screams were also inserted where there were originally none, even the Sharkticons can be heard yelling a lot.

This dub also uses a mix of untranslated or incorrectly translated names, and character voices – this time supplied by twelve actors – occasionally change from one sentence to the next. Erroneous names include Unicornis (Unicron), Prowl (Blurr), Mega-robot (Devastator, though he is also called "Devastator the Mega-robot" in one line), Constructors ([[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicons]]), Deceptors ([[Decepticon]]s, but only said once), Astro ([[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]], again only for one line), Gettison (unknown; derived and misinterpreted from the line "Jettison some weight."), Eject (this refers to no one, it was mistranslated from Soundwave's "Eject" call), and the Ick-Yak becomes a "Mega-Missort". Wheelie's name is omitted. Wreck-Gar's dialogue also lacks any sort of creativity, consisting instead of random nonsense and straight-faced reactions to what's happening on screen. These and a multitude of other errors suggest that the translator had no script to work from and had to rely solely on her hearing.

A major blooper also occurs during the attack on the Autobot shuttle: Ironhide speaks his final words in [[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]]'s voice ("Please, have mercy!"), and curiously, the translation of Megatron's "Such heroic nonsense." line corresponds with this sudden change of personality, as he responds with "Death to all traitors." before blasting him. Now ''this'' is foreshadowing.

The DVD case has G.I. Joe pictures printed on the back side, as well as on the DVD itself. Spiffy. On a positive note, the summary on the back of the case is actually competently written, even if the references to the cartoon series (which wasn't released in the country) and to the movie's place in its timeline are worded a bit confusingly, and unlike the dub, it renders Unicron's name correctly. Masterfilm Digital would later localize ''[[Transformers: Armada (cartoon)|Armada]]'' (episodes 1-26 of which were likewise commissioned by Mirax), sadly still maintaining some of the general incompetence displayed by their handling of this movie.
{{-}}

==Italy==
There are two Italian dubs: the original one and a 2007 redub made when the live movie arrived in cinemas.

===Original dub===
This dub uses the original names for the new characters, except for Wheelie, named here "Saetta" (which was already Wheeljack's Italian name, curiously). Lots of lines are completely different from the original script: Devastator's "Prepare for extermination!" became "I'll destroy you, Transformers!", Grimlock's "Me Grimlock like challenge!" is replaced with "We Dinobots ready for great battle!" Optimus's line "Soon I shall be all one with the Matrix" turns into "The most important thing now is the passage of the Matrix" and "Arise, Rodimus Prime" was changed to "Now rise up, Hot Rod!"

The scene on Quintessa also gets a weird rewrite: for some reason this dub refers to the Quintesson prosecutor as the evil "Emperor Quintesson" and all the dialogue said by the judge starts with "Yes, my Quintesson".

===2007 redub===
The redub uses the Italian names for everyone except Ravage, Laserbeak, Ratbat and Rodimus Prime (Hot Rod, although, is called "Folgore"). "Soundwave superior, Constructicons inferior" becomes "The Soundwave is superior, the Constructicon is inferior!" (no, seriously.)

There are many mispronounciations: Constructicons is pronounced "Con-STROOK-ticons", Laserbeak is named "Laserback" and [[Junkion (planet)|Junk]] is called "Yoonk".

Blurr's speech is fast, and for some reason he also speaks in rhymes, probably to make it sound more repetitive.

Another amusing error is in the Junkion's chant of "remove the toughest stains", that is translated as "remove the toughest Slags"... as in "taking away an army of clones of [[Slag (G1)|the Dinobot who transforms into a Triceratops]]", since the actual Italian line is "rimuovere i Tricex più duri" ("Tricex" is Slag's Italian name). What.

The script is more faithful to the original version otherwise. The redub was poorly received by Italian fans.

==Japan==
[[File:UnicronWarMagami01.jpg|right|upright=1.4|thumb]]

Although '''''Transformers: The Movie''''' (トランスフォーマーザ・ムービー) was advertised during 1987, and was even originally scheduled for a theatrical release in the summer of that year, unknown circumstances resulted in a delay of the Japanese release. It was not released in Japan until [[August 9]]th 1989,<ref>http://pastport.jp/user/kabochan/timeline/%E6%94%BE%E9%80%81%E4%BB%A5%E5%A4%96%E3%81%AE%E3%81%A7%E3%81%8D%E3%81%94%E3%81%A8%E5%B9%B4%E8%A1%A8/event/uUhfr2WcbUI</ref> first through limited charity screenings for UNICEF in Tokyo and Osaka (where a man in a [[Ginrai (human)|Super Ginrai]] costume greeted guests), followed immediately by a {{w|LaserDisc}} and VHS release. According to one attendee of the charity screening in Tokyo,<ref>https://kakuyomu.jp/works/1177354054884808234/episodes/1177354054886027093</ref> some tickets to the event were offered to [[S.T.A.R.S.]] members via lottery, the version screened was in English with Japanese subtitles, and [[Tessho Genda]] (Japanese voice of Optimus Prime) was present to speak with fans; according to a different fan, leftover mail-away [[Lander]]s from ''[[Transformers: Super-God Masterforce (franchise)|Masterforce]]'' were available as point-of-sale items at the screening.<ref>{{citesocial|quote=あちしはビクトリー時期のトランスフォーマー・ザ・ムービーチャリティー上映会の物販で買った記憶。|link=https://twitter.com/nekoteck2011/status/920069769323192320|name=nekoteck2011|site=Twitter|year=2017|month=10|day=16|(defunct=)}}</ref> Footage taken during the charity screenings was included in the straight-to-video promotional film, "Transformers Theatrical Version!! Video Finally Here" (トランスフォーマー劇場公開バージョン!!ビデオついに登場). This was the second promotional VHS relating to the film, as ''[[The Transformers: The Movie - Apocalypse: Be Eternal, Matrix]]'' was produced to promote the movie prior to its Japanese release.

Unfortunately, the film's delay would later cause some continuity problems in future Japanese-penned ''Transformers'' fiction, as characters killed in the movie (notably [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] and [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]]) appear in later series ''[[Transformers: The Headmasters (cartoon)|The Headmasters]]'' and ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Victory (cartoon)|Victory]]'' respectively (though these would be addressed [[Controverse|years later]]).

Despite not being released in Japan in 1987 as intended, the events of the movie were [[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010 (story page)|summarized]] in ''[[TV Magazine]]'' with accompanying artwork by [[Ban Magami]] and [[Studio OX]] so that children tuning into ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010 (franchise)|Transformers 2010]]'' would not be lost. The events of the movie would regularly be referred to as the "[[Unicron War]]", gaining something of a mysterious and legendary quality, as their events were constantly referred to but never ''seen''.

Although ''Transformers: The Movie'' was dubbed several years after ''[[The Transformers (cartoon)#Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers]]'' and ''[[The Transformers (cartoon)#Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010|Transformers 2010]]'' had ended, the majority of cast members from those series returned to reprise their roles.

The Japanese dub is notable for adding a lot of lines and voice effects to moments which had been silent in the English version, including the following:

*The shuttle attack scene originally doesn't have much talking during combat, but the Japanese dub adds numerous lines to many characters on both sides of the fight. For example, after killing Brawn, Starscream cheerfully asks who's next while waving Megatron around.
*During Optimus Prime's attack on the Decepticons and his fight with Megatron, every Decepticon Prime shoots can be heard screaming in pain, while his battle with Megatron has numerous grunts and curses added in.

[[File:TFTMMagnusJapCaption01.jpg|left|200px|thumb|"Hang on, there's something on the screen down here. Let me get that..."]]

Some of the additions were quite goofy (e.g., Blitzwing begs Prime not to run him over before getting out of the way) but some were actually quite disturbing. For example, when Starscream is killed by Galvatron, he gives off a long, tortured scream. In addition, the destruction of Lithone is made more horrifying by the sounds of the natives dying (some of them even being cut off mid-scream).

There are also a few slight dialogue alterations, such as Megatron ''specifically'' ordering the Insecticons to breach the Autobot defenses, to which [[Shrapnel (G1)|Shrapnel]] and [[Kickback (G1)|Kickback]] respond in unison with a high-pitched ''"Yessss siirrr!"'' Soundwave's famous "Soundwave superior, Constructicons inferior," is modified into "Soundwave is intelligent, the Constructicons are just idiots!"

The only other alteration of note in regards to the Japanese version is that whenever a character appears on screen for the first time, their name and function appears with them (written in Japanese, of course).

{{-}}

==Latin America==
The Latin American Spanish dub was done in [[Los Angeles]] and is notable because it kept all the voice actors from the cartoon and the new characters remained with the same voices for the remainder of the show. Every character is referred to by their original English name, since none of the characters' names were translated when the cartoon was dubbed into Spanish (except Ravage, who was called "Destructor" on the cartoon, but kept his English name on the movie).

Features the Star Wars-type text in the beginning and the narrator at the end stating that Optimus Prime will return.

Though it is one of the most popular dubs of the movie, it has only been released domestically on home video once and is very difficult to find nowadays. In addition, it hasn't been shown on TV since the early Nineties. Despite this, the dub has been included in many international releases of the movie.

This dub removes all swearing and makes Optimus Prime's death scene even more traumatic by having Daniel ''actually'' crying when Optimus flatlines.

Galvatron sounds exactly like Megatron and Wheelie occasionally rhymes because his dialogue was ''literally'' translated.

==Poland==
In Poland, the movie was never professionally dubbed. In the only official (and cult classic) release on VHS in 1992, all the dialogue was read by a single voice-over actor, while the original sound was left intact and could be heard in the background. To this day, that characteristic form of "narrating" is a very popular solution in Poland when it comes to translating movies for TV or DVDs. Thanks to this method, you can both understand the story and hear all the original voices. In the case of ''The Transformers: The Movie'' it also forced translators to leave (almost) all the original names intact. (Yay!)

==Spain==
In Spain, the movie was aried once in Latin American on the channel ''Antena 3''. However, when the Generation 1 DVDs were published by the company Selecta Visión, they included both the Latin American dub and a new Spanish one (Castilian) that recycled the first's translations, but adding some errors in the character's names. It was aired for the first and only time in Castilian the year 2008 in ''Local Media TV'', but the audio quality wasn't very good, probably due to emission problems.

==South Korea==

===KBS dub===
The first Korean dub of the movie aired on the Korean TV channel KBS in 1989, titled "Unicron and the transforming robots". The voice acting is decent, almost matching the Japanese voices of Shockwave, Starscream, and Soundwave. At that time, many robot shows had only one robot appearing, but Transformers had more characters in their cartoon, gaining the attention of many children. KBS would later go on to dub several movies of the [[Live-action film series]].

===VHS dub===
The VHS dub was titled "Transforming robots Transformers", and this time, Starscream sounds like the original US version.

===DVD dub===
The DVD dub, which was released in 2007, was titled just "Transformers", and it is filled with a lot of music errors, such as the first part of [[Dare]] being very quiet, [[The Touch]] had its lyrics repeating, and sometimes random music was added, for instance, when Hot Rod becomes Rodimus Prime, the music suddenly changes to Nothin's Gonna Stand In Our Way and changes back to The Touch. Currently, this is the only dub that is available. The interest for this dub probably died out, as South Koreans could have easier reach to the original English version.

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Transformers: The Movie/dubs}}
[[Category:Generation 1 media]]
[[Category:Real world films]]

The Transformers: The Movie/dubs

2023-12-12T01:04:50Z

Optimusprime67:

'''''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''''' has been translated and dubbed into many languages, each with its own set of quirks and oddities.

==Brazil==
'''''Transformers: O Filme''''', as the movie is known in Portuguese, was released in Brazilian theaters in [[January 15]], [[1987]], not long after the launch of the series on television. It was later released on home video in the same year on a very small scale, which made it very hard to find in video stores. The movie was aired on television only twice, once in 1990 on Rede Globo (the same channel that broadcast the series) and again in 2000 on Fox Kids, each time receiving a new dub.

The most probable reason for the existence of the first two dubs is that the theatrical/home video dub was based on the American version of the movie while the television one from 1990 was based on the European release, as it had the ''Star Wars''-type text in the beginning and the narrator stating at the end that [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] would return. These dubs are different not only in the choice of some of their voice actors but also in their translations. Which dub is the best is a regular topic of debate among Brazilian fans, though both versions have their share of problems. Unfortunately, neither of them allowed Spike to swear.

===Theatrical/Home video dub===
In the theatrical/home video dub, all of the pre-''Movie'' main characters are dubbed by the same voice actors who played them on the television series, and [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]] does not receive a new voice when he is reformatted into [[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]].

This version is the most localized of the first two, but is also the most "childish" in nature. For example, when [[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Hot Rod]] and [[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]] are running toward [[Autobot City (G1)|Autobot City]] and spot the [[Insecticon (G1)|Insecticons]], Kup states, "The Insecticons are in the way," with Hot Rod replying, "Wrong, they're on their way to the hole!", something that makes no sense at all and that the translator probably just thought would sound funny to the kids watching. A better example of localization happens when Kup and [[Wreck-Gar (G1)|Wreck-Gar]] are greeting each other, in which both make references to Brazilian television series of the time. Kup even says "plim-plim", a reference to the sound effect used alongside the Rede Globo logo during vignettes and commercial breaks.

Instead of casting a deep-voiced actor for [[Unicron]], this dub chose to heavily distort the actor's voice, making him sound menacing but almost unintelligible. The same thing was done to the [[Quintesson]]s and their servants. A similar situation occurred with [[Blurr (G1)|Blurr]]; since his voice actor could not talk as fast as [[John Moschitta]], his voice was also distorted to make it sound faster, which also made it difficult to understand.

Finally, the "robotic" effect on the Transformers voices was not done the same way as it was for the television series, which resulted in the characters sounding as if they're talking through a radio more than anything else.

In this version, [[Wheelie (G1)|Wheelie]] does not rhyme.

===Rede Globo dub===
The movie was broadcast only once on Rede Globo during a special week dedicated to Children's Day, which in Brazil is celebrated in [[October 12]]. Most of the pre-''Movie'' characters retained the same voices they had on the home video release, but all of the new Transformers got new voice actors, including Galvatron. This dub also lost the localization aspect the other one received; while it resulted in more faithful translations, some instances lost all sense to Brazilian audiences.

The characters possess the same "robotic" distortion on their voices that they had in the television series, and no kind of heavy modulation was used. An actor with an actual deep voice was cast as Unicron and had his voice left unaltered, which made it much easier for the audience to understand his dialogue. On the other hand, no distortion was used for Blurr, so the actor was forced to try and emulate John Moschitta's impossibly fast speech pattern with debatable results.

One notable dubbing error occurs when Hot Rod opens the Matrix at the end of the film; the line "Light our darkest hour!" is delivered by Optimus Prime's voice actor instead of Hot Rod's. Because of this, Brazilian fans who had only watched this version were left to believe that it was in fact Optimus' spirit who was speaking through Rodimus in a deep "passing of the torch" moment. Of course, this belief became much less popular once the original American audio and the alternate dub became much more accessible to Brazilian fans by the start of the 21st century.

In this version, Wheelie rhymes.

===Fox Kids dub===
Little is known about the third Brazilian dub of the movie, other than the fact that it aired only once on Fox Kids in the year 2000 and has a list of voice actors available online. This version is by far the least known among fans, with a large portion of the fandom not even being aware of its existence and the few who claim to have seen it argue that it is the worst one of the bunch. While unconfirmed, the reason this dub was created is most likely because of rights issues involving the previous two versions.

Due to its obscurity, it's unknown if Wheelie does or does not rhyme in this version, nor if Spike gets to swear this time around (which is still highly unlikely).

==Denmark==
The first time the movie was shown was on Danish national television broadcaster DR in the fall of 2009. While there had been dubbed episodes of the original television show made in the 1980s for home video and later TV airings, the movie was not dubbed at that point. Rather a completely new cast was used for the movie, possibly made for this specific airing. The dubbed movie was re-broadcast 2 years later on a sub-station of DR.

The dubbing had a larger cast of voice actors than the late-80s dub of the TV series with one or two actors returning to the franchise after 25 years. However, some lines were omitted by mistake (a few characters could be seen moving their lips visibly but without any sound being heard) while others appeared at completely random times (a line uttered by Galvatron missing earlier in the movie "appearing" towards the end in a completely unrelated scene possibly due to a bad time code in the dubbing software).

This version was based on the UK print of the movie and has yet to see a public release on any kind of media.

==France/Quebec==
[[File:La Guerre des Robots.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.7|Is Arcee running away from Hot Rod?]]
For French-speaking audiences, who had thus far been given two separate dubs of the TV series (one made in France and one made in Quebec, a very common occurrence), a single dub was made in France for all French releases of the film. This release used a brand-new voice actor team rather than using either dub team from the series.

Whereas the Canadian French dub used the Canadian French names from the toy packages, and the European French dub avoided using names or created some sort of improvised nicknames, the Movie used all of the characters' English names.

The film was released in French theaters in April 1987,<ref name="france">"[https://www.cineanimation.fr/film/la-guerre-des-robots-transformers La Guerre des robots - Transformers]" at Ciné Animation.</ref> soberly titled "La Guerre des Robots" (''The War of the Robots''), which suggests that the marketing team really had no knowledge of the existence of the animated series.

Two characters were given gender changes for this dub; Starscream and Shrapnel both become females.

One notable change to the dialog occurs when Starscream asks "Megatron? Is that you?" Galvatron's original answer, "Here's a hint!", is now much more direct: "Yes, but stronger than before!"

Another Megatron-related change is that he keeps the same voice once he becomes Galvatron (unlike the original dub).
{{-}}

==Germany==
[[File:TFTM German DVD.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.0|German 2003 DVD cover]]
Germany also got two different dubs over the years:

===TV dub===
As the movie had never been shown in German theaters, the first dub, titled ''Transformers: Der Kampf um Cybertron'' (''Transformers: The Battle for Cybertron''), was made in 1994 for airing on the German TV station RTL, to serve as a "pilot" for the [[Transformers: Generation 2 (cartoon)|''Generation 2'' cartoon series]] which would be subsequently broadcast. (One might argue that the initial omission of the movie from the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|original cartoon's]] German airing schedule resulted in an information gap regarding the shift from the season 2 setting to the season 3 setting; but then again, the cartoon ''started'' with episodes from season 3 in Germany, and only ''six'' episodes from the first two seasons were ever aired during the entire original "Generation 1" run of the show, so it's not like context problems weren't already all over the place.)

Even though the dub was made only five years after the dub of the Generation 1 cartoon had started on German TV, only a few of the German voice actors returned, most of them not even in the same roles they had played before. Optimus Prime, for example, was now dubbed by Thomas Rau, who had originally voiced Rodimus Prime, Blaster and Scourge in the cartoon itself. As in the dub of the cartoon before, all the characters retained their English names... with the exception of [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]], whose name was translated as "Der Vernichter" ("the annihilator") for reasons unknown (he was "Devastator" in the dub of the cartoon itself). This version of the movie was only shown twice (not counting late-night reruns following those airings), on its TV premiere in April 1994 and one year later, in May 1995. It was never released on VHS either.

The TV version was based on the European edit of the film, including the {{w|Rank Organisation|Rank Film}} "{{w|Gongman}}" at the beginning. Contrary to a widespread rumor,<ref>[http://www.ofdb.de/view.php?page=fassung&fid=7489&vid=38680 German movie database still listing the rumor about Starscream's "edited death" in TF:TM]</ref> the German TV edition of the movie was ''not'' edited to omit Starscream's death scene.

Notably, the [[Junkion (species)|Junkions]]' dialogue was treated with a surprising amount of finesse, replacing their references to English TV and advertising phrases to contemporary German ones, including an ''extremely'' well-known and catchy advertising slogan used by Toyota. In addition, Bernd Simon's rendition of Starscream is spot on, coming ''frighteningly'' close to Chris Latta. Overall, despite a few minor hiccups, major technical and translation errors were far and far between.

===DVD dub===
[[File:TFTM German DVD 2006.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.0|German 2006 DVD cover]]
In 2003, the movie, this time simply titled ''Transformers'', was finally released on DVD in Germany, by a little-known, low-budget label. Since the TV edition of the movie had been used as a "pilot" for the G2 cartoon, and it had been archived under the title "Der Kampf um Cybertron", the dubbing masters were not located until more than a year later, so the DVD company assigned an entirely new dub... which makes the [[Omni Productions]] dub and the [[Voicebox Productions|Voicebox]] dub of ''[[Transformers: Energon (cartoon)|Energon]]'' look like masterpieces. Numerous translation errors resulted from the apparent lack of an original script, thus requiring the dubbers to translate simply from listening to the original audio; coupled with a lack of experience with the source material and a lack of professional knowledge in the English (and German) language in general, resulting in look-it-up-in-a-dictionary-use-first-suggestion translations, sentences that ''make no sense whatsoever at all'' in context, and generally stilted and unnatural-sounding dialogue. For example, after hijacking the Autobots' shuttle and killing off Ratchet, Prowl, Brawn and Ironhide, Megatron makes the completely nonsensical proclamation that he intends to get past the early warning system ''of'' the Autobots' shuttle (''which he is already in control of at this point''), instead of getting past the Autobots' early warning system ''in'' their own shuttle (as in, using the shuttle as a Trojan horse). Also, Grimlock's line "Me Grimlock need new strategy" gets misinterpreted as "Me Grimlock need ''no'' strategy", and the phrase "mockery of justice" is mangled into a completely nonsensical "Farce der Gerechtigkeit" ("farce of justice", with the loan word "Farce" mispronounced as if the voice actor had never seen that fancy word before, and "justice" in the sense of "fairness" rather than "judical system"). A much better translation would have been "Justizposse".

In addition, none of the voice actors sounded like they were particularly experienced in the field of dubbing, especially since none of their voices were recognizable from other productions.

The DVD is also notorious for its packaging, which does its best to obscure ''what exactly it contains'' (i.e. a feature-length animated movie). The front cover uses the cover artwork of the old Panini Generation 1 sticker album, while the back cover depicts stills from "[[The Golden Lagoon (episode)|The Golden Lagoon]]", "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]" and "[[The Autobot Run]]", coupled with an (incorrect) summary of the general setting of the first two seasons of the Generation 1 cartoon, which implies (likely due to a misinterpretation of the English word "emerge") that the Autobots and Decepticons somehow come into existence on Earth, rather than simply reawakening after lying dormant for millions of years, with the term "Transformers" even translated into German as "Transformatoren".

A second edition of this DVD was released in 2006, this time featuring artwork of [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Armada Optimus Prime]] on the front cover, with Earth (from the [[Transformers (film)|2007 movie's]] promo poster) as the background, plus the 1984 back-of-the-box artwork rotated by 270 degrees as an overlay, and the "Transformers" title logo from the 2007 movie. The back cover depicts a screencap from the [[Transformers (PS2)|''Armada'' video game]], [[Don Figueroa]]'s "All Optimus" poster and the 1984 back-of-the-box battle scene, plus the same sleeve text as featured on the 2003 release of the DVD, with none of the errors fixed.
{{-}}

==Hungary==
The film was first dubbed into Hungarian by Mahir Studios for the Televideo company's 1992 VHS release; the second dub was recorded by Masterfilm Digital, and released by Mirax both on VHS and on DVD, the latter in 2004. Both versions include the scrolling text and other European edits; the Mirax one even has the "gong man". Issues they both have in common include small dubbing casts, inconsistent voices and translation errors. Neither dub used the name translations popularized by the Hungarian release of the [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|G1 comics]].

===Televideo===

The film's title was translated as ''Alakváltók'' (''Shape-shifters''), a rare instance of a name or expression matching up with the Marvel comic's terminology. The dub has a total of five voice actors (four men for random characters, one actress for Arcee, Daniel and most of Wheelie's lines), and is notorious for the dialogue almost never matching the lip movements and characters changing their voice on the fly. Certain lines are even missing or spoken at the wrong time (most notably Megatron's "Die, Autobots!" shout), and at times lines belonging to different characters were combined into one. Translation errors and flubbed line-reads also abound; Megatron ''berates'' Soundwave for jamming the Autobots' transmission instead of ordering him to do so, and Wreck-Gar calls Hot Rod Unicron at one point. But mistakes aside, the translation is surprisingly witty – Blurr's cheesy tongue-twister about shooting Decepticons is especially famous among older fans. In fact, the translator seems to have had a fondness for rhyming, as apart from Wheelie, the Dinobots, the Junkions and Blurr also deliver parts of their dialogue in verse. The problem is that the lines are also drastically ''compressed'', leading to many awkward moments of characters silently mouthing unspoken words.

There are numerous name changes, the most bizarre of which is the Decepticons being referred to as "Varangyok" ("Toads"). This may be a tribute to the '60s German sci-fi TV series ''Raumpatrouille – Die phantastischen Abenteuer des Raumschiffs Orion'' (''Space patrol – The Fantastic Adventures of the Spaceship Orion''). In this series, the main enemy alien race is called "Frogs", but they were named Toads in the Hungarian translation. Other strange name changes include Peca ("Fisher" or "Fishing Rod") for Hot Rod, Zsaru ("Cop") for Kup, RC for Arcee or "IQ Jack" for the [[Ick-Yak]], all obvious misinterpretations of their original names. Curiously, one originally nameless characters ''gets'' a name: during the Decepticons' reformation scene, Unicron claims that there's only one Sweep, naming him "Karmos" (roughly, "Claws"). However, the Insecticons' nonsensical name ("Rovarángok") is harder to decipher. It can only be assumed that the translator intended it to be "Rovarangyok" ("Insectoads", a playful pun consistent with the Decepticon-Toad theme), and the voice actor has simply misread it.

One point in the dub's favor is that it at least attempted to retain the spirit of the Junkions' speech. For example, when putting Ultra Magnus back together, they shout "Aye-Tee-Tee!", a reference to old Hungarian {{w|ITT Inc.}} product commercials that were the subject of numerous jokes in the early '90s.

===Mirax===
[[File:TFTM Hungarian DVD.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|left|Hungarian DVD cover]]
The second dub has a reputation for including more profanities than the original version of the film. Although Spike's "Oh, shit!" line was cut, [[Ironhide (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ironhide]], Galvatron and the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]] say terms akin to "asshole" (from Grimlock to Blurr), "bastards" (Galvatron to the Autobots), "stupid", "brainless, numbskull jackass" ([[Slag (G1)|Slag]] to [[Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]]), "sons of bitches" (this one even twice, in place of the original's "Decepti-chops" and "Decepti-creeps"), and "chickenshit" (from Galvatron, regarding Hot Rod). Other oddities are Wheelie only rhyming half the time, Blaster's extremely high-pitched transmission to Optimus Prime (either an audio editing error or a very strange creative choice), and [[Soundwave (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Soundwave]] and Unicron at first talking in a seg-men-ted, ro-bo-tic man-ner. Numerous grunts and screams were also inserted where there were originally none, even the Sharkticons can be heard yelling a lot.

This dub also uses a mix of untranslated or incorrectly translated names, and character voices – this time supplied by twelve actors – occasionally change from one sentence to the next. Erroneous names include Unicornis (Unicron), Prowl (Blurr), Mega-robot (Devastator, though he is also called "Devastator the Mega-robot" in one line), Constructors ([[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicons]]), Deceptors ([[Decepticon]]s, but only said once), Astro ([[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]], again only for one line), Gettison (unknown; derived and misinterpreted from the line "Jettison some weight."), Eject (this refers to no one, it was mistranslated from Soundwave's "Eject" call), and the Ick-Yak becomes a "Mega-Missort". Wheelie's name is omitted. Wreck-Gar's dialogue also lacks any sort of creativity, consisting instead of random nonsense and straight-faced reactions to what's happening on screen. These and a multitude of other errors suggest that the translator had no script to work from and had to rely solely on her hearing.

A major blooper also occurs during the attack on the Autobot shuttle: Ironhide speaks his final words in [[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]]'s voice ("Please, have mercy!"), and curiously, the translation of Megatron's "Such heroic nonsense." line corresponds with this sudden change of personality, as he responds with "Death to all traitors." before blasting him. Now ''this'' is foreshadowing.

The DVD case has G.I. Joe pictures printed on the back side, as well as on the DVD itself. Spiffy. On a positive note, the summary on the back of the case is actually competently written, even if the references to the cartoon series (which wasn't released in the country) and to the movie's place in its timeline are worded a bit confusingly, and unlike the dub, it renders Unicron's name correctly. Masterfilm Digital would later localize ''[[Transformers: Armada (cartoon)|Armada]]'' (episodes 1-26 of which were likewise commissioned by Mirax), sadly still maintaining some of the general incompetence displayed by their handling of this movie.
{{-}}

==Italy==
There are two Italian dubs: the original one and a 2007 redub made when the live movie arrived in cinemas.

===Original dub===
This dub uses the original names for the new characters, except for Wheelie, named here "Saetta" (which was already Wheeljack's Italian name, curiously). Lots of lines are completely different from the original script: Devastator's "Prepare for extermination!" became "I'll destroy you, Transformers!", Grimlock's "Me Grimlock like challenge!" is replaced with "We Dinobots ready for great battle!" Optimus's line "Soon I shall be all one with the Matrix" turns into "The most important thing now is the passage of the Matrix" and "Arise, Rodimus Prime" was changed to "Now rise up, Hot Rod!"

The scene on Quintessa also gets a weird rewrite: for some reason this dub refers to the Quintesson prosecutor as the evil "Emperor Quintesson" and all the dialogue said by the judge starts with "Yes, my Quintesson".

===2007 redub===
The redub uses the Italian names for everyone except Ravage, Laserbeak, Ratbat and Rodimus Prime (Hot Rod, although, is called "Folgore"). "Soundwave superior, Constructicons inferior" becomes "The Soundwave is superior, the Constructicon is inferior!" (no, seriously.)

There are many mispronounciations: Constructicons is pronounced "Con-STROOK-ticons", Laserbeak is named "Laserback" and [[Junkion (planet)|Junk]] is called "Yoonk".

Blurr's speech is fast, and for some reason he also speaks in rhymes, probably to make it sound more repetitive.

Another amusing error is in the Junkion's chant of "remove the toughest stains", that is translated as "remove the toughest Slags"... as in "taking away an army of clones of [[Slag (G1)|the Dinobot who transforms into a Triceratops]]", since the actual Italian line is "rimuovere i Tricex più duri" ("Tricex" is Slag's Italian name). What.

The script is more faithful to the original version otherwise. The redub was poorly received by Italian fans.

==Japan==
[[File:UnicronWarMagami01.jpg|right|upright=1.4|thumb]]

Although '''''Transformers: The Movie''''' (トランスフォーマーザ・ムービー) was advertised during 1987, and was even originally scheduled for a theatrical release in the summer of that year, unknown circumstances resulted in a delay of the Japanese release. It was not released in Japan until [[August 9]]th 1989,<ref>http://pastport.jp/user/kabochan/timeline/%E6%94%BE%E9%80%81%E4%BB%A5%E5%A4%96%E3%81%AE%E3%81%A7%E3%81%8D%E3%81%94%E3%81%A8%E5%B9%B4%E8%A1%A8/event/uUhfr2WcbUI</ref> first through limited charity screenings for UNICEF in Tokyo and Osaka (where a man in a [[Ginrai (human)|Super Ginrai]] costume greeted guests), followed immediately by a {{w|LaserDisc}} and VHS release. According to one attendee of the charity screening in Tokyo,<ref>https://kakuyomu.jp/works/1177354054884808234/episodes/1177354054886027093</ref> some tickets to the event were offered to [[S.T.A.R.S.]] members via lottery, the version screened was in English with Japanese subtitles, and [[Tessho Genda]] (Japanese voice of Optimus Prime) was present to speak with fans; according to a different fan, leftover mail-away [[Lander]]s from ''[[Transformers: Super-God Masterforce (franchise)|Masterforce]]'' were available as point-of-sale items at the screening.<ref>{{citesocial|quote=あちしはビクトリー時期のトランスフォーマー・ザ・ムービーチャリティー上映会の物販で買った記憶。|link=https://twitter.com/nekoteck2011/status/920069769323192320|name=nekoteck2011|site=Twitter|year=2017|month=10|day=16|(defunct=)}}</ref> Footage taken during the charity screenings was included in the straight-to-video promotional film, "Transformers Theatrical Version!! Video Finally Here" (トランスフォーマー劇場公開バージョン!!ビデオついに登場). This was the second promotional VHS relating to the film, as ''[[The Transformers: The Movie - Apocalypse: Be Eternal, Matrix]]'' was produced to promote the movie prior to its Japanese release.

Unfortunately, the film's delay would later cause some continuity problems in future Japanese-penned ''Transformers'' fiction, as characters killed in the movie (notably [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] and [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]]) appear in later series ''[[Transformers: The Headmasters (cartoon)|The Headmasters]]'' and ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Victory (cartoon)|Victory]]'' respectively (though these would be addressed [[Controverse|years later]]).

Despite not being released in Japan in 1987 as intended, the events of the movie were [[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010 (story page)|summarized]] in ''[[TV Magazine]]'' with accompanying artwork by [[Ban Magami]] and [[Studio OX]] so that children tuning into ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010 (franchise)|Transformers 2010]]'' would not be lost. The events of the movie would regularly be referred to as the "[[Unicron War]]", gaining something of a mysterious and legendary quality, as their events were constantly referred to but never ''seen''.

Although ''Transformers: The Movie'' was dubbed several years after ''[[The Transformers (cartoon)#Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers]]'' and ''[[The Transformers (cartoon)#Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010|Transformers 2010]]'' had ended, the majority of cast members from those series returned to reprise their roles.

The Japanese dub is notable for adding a lot of lines and voice effects to moments which had been silent in the English version, including the following:

*The shuttle attack scene originally doesn't have much talking during combat, but the Japanese dub adds numerous lines to many characters on both sides of the fight. For example, after killing Brawn, Starscream cheerfully asks who's next while waving Megatron around.
*During Optimus Prime's attack on the Decepticons and his fight with Megatron, every Decepticon Prime shoots can be heard screaming in pain, while his battle with Megatron has numerous grunts and curses added in.

[[File:TFTMMagnusJapCaption01.jpg|left|200px|thumb|"Hang on, there's something on the screen down here. Let me get that..."]]

Some of the additions were quite goofy (e.g., Blitzwing begs Prime not to run him over before getting out of the way) but some were actually quite disturbing. For example, when Starscream is killed by Galvatron, he gives off a long, tortured scream. In addition, the destruction of Lithone is made more horrifying by the sounds of the natives dying (some of them even being cut off mid-scream).

There are also a few slight dialogue alterations, such as Megatron ''specifically'' ordering the Insecticons to breach the Autobot defenses, to which [[Shrapnel (G1)|Shrapnel]] and [[Kickback (G1)|Kickback]] respond in unison with a high-pitched ''"Yessss siirrr!"'' Soundwave's famous "Soundwave superior, Constructicons inferior," is modified into "Soundwave is intelligent, the Constructicons are just idiots!"

The only other alteration of note in regards to the Japanese version is that whenever a character appears on screen for the first time, their name and function appears with them (written in Japanese, of course).

{{-}}

==Latin America==
The Latin American Spanish dub was done in [[Los Angeles]] and is notable because it kept all the voice actors from the cartoon and the new characters remained with the same voices for the remainder of the show. Every character is referred to by their original English name, since none of the characters' names were translated when the cartoon was dubbed into Spanish (except Ravage, who was called "Destructor" on the cartoon, but kept his English name on the movie).

Features the Star Wars-type text in the beginning and the narrator at the end stating that Optimus Prime will return.

Though it is one of the most popular dubs of the movie, it has only been released domestically on home video once and is very difficult to find nowadays. In addition, it hasn't been shown on TV since the early Nineties. Despite this, the dub has been included in many international releases of the movie.

This dub removes all swearing and makes Optimus Prime's death scene even more traumatic by having Daniel ''actually'' crying when Optimus flatlines.

Galvatron sounds exactly like Megatron and Wheelie occasionally rhymes because his dialogue was ''literally'' translated.

==Poland==
In Poland, the movie was never professionally dubbed. In the only official (and cult classic) release on VHS in 1992, all the dialogue was read by a single voice-over actor, while the original sound was left intact and could be heard in the background. To this day, that characteristic form of "narrating" is a very popular solution in Poland when it comes to translating movies for TV or DVDs. Thanks to this method, you can both understand the story and hear all the original voices. In the case of ''The Transformers: The Movie'' it also forced translators to leave (almost) all the original names intact. (Yay!)

==Spain==
In Spain, the movie was aried once in Latin American on the channel ''Antena 3''. However, when the Generation 1 DVDs were published by the company Selecta Visión, they included both the Latin American dub and a new Spanish one (Castilian) that recycled the first's translations, but adding some errors in the character's names. It was aired for the first and only time in Castilian the year 2008 in ''Local Media TV'', but the audio quality wasn't very good, probably due to emission problems.

==South Korea==

===KBS dub===
The first Korean dub of the movie aired on the Korean TV channel KBS in 1989, titled "Unicron and the transforming robots". The voice acting is decent, almost matching the Japanese voices of Shockwave, Starscream, and Soundwave. At that time, many robot shows had only one robot appearing, but Transformers had more characters in their cartoon, gaining the attention of many children. KBS would later go on dub several movies of the [[Live-action film series]].

===VHS dub===
The VHS dub was titled "Transforming robots Transformers", and this time, Starscream sounds like the original US version.

===DVD dub===
The DVD dub, which was released in 2007, was titled just "Transformers", and it is filled with a lot of music errors, such as the first part of [[Dare]] being very quiet, [[The Touch]] had its lyrics repeating, and sometimes random music was added, for instance, when Hot Rod becomes Rodimus Prime, the music suddenly changes to Nothin's Gonna Stand In Our Way and changes back to The Touch. Currently, this is the only dub that is available. The interest for this dub probably died out, as South Koreans could have easier reach to the original English version.

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Transformers: The Movie/dubs}}
[[Category:Generation 1 media]]
[[Category:Real world films]]

The Ultimate Doom, Part 1

2023-10-31T00:37:38Z

Optimusprime67: /* Foreign localization */

{{episode
|series=G1toon
|ep=11
|series2=SRLFtoon
|ep2=66
|prev2=The Autobot Run
|next2=The Ultimate Doom, Part 2
|series3=''[[Transformers: Generation 2 (cartoon)|Transformers: Generation 2]]''
|ep3=41
|prev3=Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 2
|next3=The Ultimate Doom, Part 2
|image=Tud1 megatron cybertron.jpg
|caption="A ticker-tape parade using streams of volcanic ash. How ironic!"
|title="The Ultimate Doom, Part 1"
|season=1
|season ep=11
|production code=#700-08
|airdate=[[November 3]], 1984
|story by=[[Dick Robbins]], [[Bryce Malek]], [[Douglas Booth]] and [[Larry Strauss]]
|teleplay by=[[Larry Strauss]]
|animation studio=[[Toei Animation|Toei]]
|production company=[[Sunbow Productions]]
|continuity=[[Generation 1 cartoon continuity]]
|video=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3eHpAV5gVA
|videosite=YouTube
}}
'''Megatron brings Cybertron into Earth orbit to harvest the energy from the destruction caused by Cybertron's gravity.'''

==Synopsis==
[[File:Sparkplugkidnapped.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|"Kidnapping humans will be simplicity itself, thanks to my new, Transformers-sized crane game."]]
[[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]], [[Thundercracker (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Thundercracker]] and [[Skywarp (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Skywarp]] attack a solar power station off [[India]]'s [[Malabar Coast]]. [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]], [[Wheeljack (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Wheeljack]], [[Jazz (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Jazz]] and [[Sunstreaker (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Sunstreaker]] arrive in time to intercept them. Watching this battle remotely are [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]] and the evil human scientist [[Doctor Arkeville]]. Megatron orders [[Soundwave (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Soundwave]] to begin phase two of Operation Guinea Pig, which involves setting [[Rumble (G1)|Rumble]] and [[Ravage (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ravage]] loose inside [[Ark (G1)|Autobot headquarters]]. With the [[Autobot]]s distracted by Rumble's rumbling, [[Laserbeak (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Laserbeak]] flies in, nabs [[Sparkplug Witwicky|Sparkplug]] and flies out.

Back in India, the [[Seeker (body-type)|Seekers]] suddenly take flight and retreat. Prime smells a rat, then Sunstreaker tells him of the attack on their headquarters.

[[File:TFG1TUD1.jpg|right|upright=1.1|thumb|"I love the Power Glove. It's so bad."]]
After bringing Sparkplug to [[Decepticon]] headquarters, Doctor Arkeville fits him with a mind-control device called a [[hypno-chip]] which brings him into the Decepticons' control. As a means of demonstrating the new technology, Sparkplug is made to attack a full-sized replica of Optimus Prime. Megatron intends to use this technology to create an army of human slaves. With the successful completion of the first part of his plan, Megatron communicates with [[Shockwave (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Shockwave]] to confirm that the new [[space bridge]] is ready.

The Autobots attack the Decepticon undersea base to rescue Sparkplug. Optimus Prime leads a direct attack from above while [[Cliffjumper (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Cliffjumper]], [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]] and [[Windcharger (G1)|Windcharger]] tunnel under the ocean floor. The mission is successful, and the Autobots return him to their base. After undergoing repairs, the Autobots and Spike notice that Sparkplug is acting oddly, but before they can learn why, the Decepticons launch a surprise attack. [[Spike Witwicky (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Spike]] realizes that Sparkplug has sabotaged the Autobots' weapons and [[Teletraan I]], which let the Decepticons in undetected.

When Spike confronts his father, Sparkplug appeals to Spike to join the Decepticons. Spike refuses, and Sparkplug tells his son that when they next meet, they will be enemies. In a desperate effort to salvage the situation, Spike sets off the [[fire-retardant foam]]. This clogs the Decepticons' weapons, and Megatron orders a retreat. Sparkplug willingly goes with them.

[[File:Spikesparkandark.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|Snow Miser tunes in to his favorite show, ''The Witwickys''.]]
At the space bridge site, Megatron reveals that he intends to bring [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] into Earth orbit using the bridge. The gravity of Cybertron will cause natural disasters, and the Decepticons plan to harvest the vaguely-defined "energy" this will somehow create, and transport it to Cybertron. Arkeville isn't too keen on this idea, but Megatron says it's a new problem for the evil scientist to solve using his genius intellect.

Using the [[Sky Spy]], the Autobots see the giant space bridge and [[roll out]] to investigate. When they attack the bridge site, Megatron releases a group of human slaves to act as shields. The ploy works, and things get even more complicated when the humans attack the Autobots with sticks and stones.

Spike stops Sparkplug from attacking Bumblebee, and for a moment it appears that Sparkplug is back to normal. But Arkeville recomputes his signal, and Sparkplug is again under Decepticon control. He rushes to the first space bridge pylon and activates it. Thundercracker activates the second.

Optimus Prime chases Megatron up to the third pylon and wrestles him away from the button. Megatron orders Prime to turn on the pylon himself, or else he will be responsible for catapulting Cybertron into oblivion. Unwilling to sacrifice his home planet, Optimus Prime activates the space bridge, bringing Cybertron into Earth's orbit, but wonders if he is dooming Earth in the process.
{{--}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
{{collist|2|
*[[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] (5)
*[[Jazz (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Jazz]] (6)
*[[Sunstreaker (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Sunstreaker]] (7)
*[[Wheeljack (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Wheeljack]] (8)
*[[Ratchet (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ratchet]] (13)
*[[Bumblebee (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Bumblebee]] (14)
*[[Sideswipe (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Sideswipe]] (15)
*[[Ironhide (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ironhide]] (17)
*[[Prowl (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Prowl]] (20)
*[[Hound (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Hound]] (21)
*[[Cliffjumper (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Cliffjumper]] (23)
*[[Windcharger (G1)|Windcharger]] (24)
*[[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]] (25)
*[[Bluestreak (G1)|Bluestreak]] (26)
*[[Gears (G1)|Gears]] (27)
*[[Trailbreaker (G1)|Trailbreaker]] (28)
*[[Huffer (G1)|Huffer]] (29)
}}
|c2=
*[[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]] (2)
*[[Thundercracker (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Thundercracker]] (3)
*[[Skywarp (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Skywarp]] (4)
*[[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]] (9)
*[[Soundwave (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Soundwave]] (11)
*[[Rumble (G1)|Rumble]] (12)
*[[Ravage (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ravage]] (18)
*[[Laserbeak (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Laserbeak]] (19)
*[[Shockwave (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Shockwave]] (22)
|c3=
*[[Indian maharaja]] (1)
*[[Doctor Arkeville]] (10)
*[[Sparkplug Witwicky]] (16)
*[[Spike Witwicky (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Spike Witwicky]] (20)
}}

==Quotes==
'''Skywarp''': I say Megatron's plan was brilliant. 
'''Starscream''': And I say the diversionary attack on the solar plant was a waste of energy. 
'''Skywarp''': You waste more energy with your mouth!
:—More heart-warming Decepticon camaraderie.

"I've got the plan, if all of you've got the cast-iron [[manifold]]s for it!" 
"We have!"
:—'''Prowl''' and '''Optimus Prime'''

"Into the ocean, let's be daring. The last one in is a rusty herring."
:—'''Jazz''', turning into [[Wheelie (G1)|a poet]].

'''Megatron''': [[Fire-retardant foam]]! Our circuitry's been shorted out. 
'''Thundercracker''': My weapon! 
'''Skywarp''': Can't we just bash 'em to pieces? 
'''Megatron''': If we stay, this foam will permanently damage our circuitry. The Autobots are through anyway. RETREAT!
:—The Decepticons become ever more farcical and ridiculous.

"As the Earthlings say: Fat chance, fat-head!"
:—'''Optimus Prime''' has been spending too much time with Spike.

"Have I saved Cybertron... only to destroy the Earth?"
:—'''Optimus Prime''' angsts over his decision to bring Cybertron into Earth's orbit.

==Notes==
===Production information===
* First draft script: 11th July 1984
* Script revised by [[Ron Friedman]]: 18th July 1984
* Final script: 27th July 1984
* Dialogue recording: ([[Dan Gilvezan]] not present for main session, [[Wally Burr]] voiced Bumblebee for guide track)
* Returned to the US for telecine: 8th November 1984

===Continuity notes===
[[File:UltimateDoom1 Optimus on hydrofoils.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.1]]
*This episode is one of several that gets a narrative opening from [[Victor Caroli]].
[[File:TUD1 Brawn drilling.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.1|With that drill... take us to the heavens!]]
[[File:TUD1 Cliffjumper depth gauge.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.1|And now, on with the countdown.]]
*Gadgets and powers:
**The Autobots make their first use of [[hydrofoil]]s in this episode, newly installed by Wheeljack. More than most, these gadgets would show up in [[Dinobot Island, Part 2|many]] [[Atlantis, Arise!|future]] [[City of Steel (episode)|episodes]].
**Ironhide retracts his hand and out comes... a toilet plunger lookin' thing. He uses it to locate the center of Rumble's seismic disturbance, with the results displaying on his chest windows (not unlike his sonadar sensors).
**Sideswipe was getting ready to fire a flare from his hand weapon. He was interrupted by Ravage. Flares are mentioned in Sideswipe's [[bio]].
**Optimus Prime's chest windows light up, indicating an attack on Autobot Headquarters.
**Brawn has a vehicle mode tunneling drill. It'll show up again in "[[The Immobilizer]]".
**Cliffjumper has a depth gauge that emerges from his vehicle-mode hood.
**Sunstreaker fires a missile from his wrist at Megatron.
**Thundercracker fires a rocket from his forearm in the same way he did in "[[Divide and Conquer]]".
**Cliffjumper fires his [[glass gas]] like a regular laser beam from his hand gun.
**Ratchet uses the same retractable wrist-welder he had in "[[Transport to Oblivion (episode)|Transport to Oblivion]]".
**This time, it's the blue button on Megatron's stomach that acts as his radio transmitter.
*Once again, evidence that Cybertron is actually outside the Milky Way galaxy: Optimus describes the apex of the space bridge as being "beyond this galaxy".
*For those who wonder how humans can breathe on Cybertron, this episode offers some relief: the final scenes clearly show Cybertron sucking up a chunk of Earth's atmosphere. Of course, this doesn't cover Chip Chase's earlier visit to the planet in "[[Divide and Conquer]]".
*Also, it may just be perspective, but when we see Earth and Cybertron in the same shot, Cybertron looks almost comedically tiny - arguably a justification for it having buildings which are visible from orbit. That just raises questions about how it manages to siphon a visible chunk of the atmosphere, though.

===Real-world references===
*The Seekers attack a solar power plant off {{w|Malabar Coast}}, which is located in southern {{w|India}}.
*As [[The Transformers: The Movie|always]], when there's a {{w|American Top 40|countdown}} of any kind, it's given to Cliffjumper, thanks to being voiced by [[Casey Kasem]].
*Is Windcharger's line "This must be the place!" a reference to {{w|This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)|the Talking Heads song}} that came out just two years prior? Or would you have to be naive to think that?
*Brawn plays a reverse lifeguard: "Everybody into the pool!"
*''[[Star Wars (franchise)|Star Wars]]'' sound effects:
**The sound of an igniting [[lightsaber]] is repurposed for Cliffjumper's glass gas beam.
**As Spike flees the battle in Autobot Headquarters, the background laser effects include the sound of the [[Death Star]]'s turbolasers firing at the [[Rebel Alliance|Rebel]] fighters.
**The fritzed-out Autobots get the sound of [[Darth Vader]] and [[Obi-Wan Kenobi|Ben Kenobi]]'s lightsabers locking and sparking in their fight aboard the Death Star. The sound is recycled when Spike shorts out Teletraan I a second later.
===Technical or animation glitches===
*The Maharaja says that his solar panels are collecting three hundred energy units per second. Typical government inflation! The screen says it's ''thirty'' units per second.
[[File:UltimateDoom1 Indian maharaja.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.1]]
*For an Indian, that Maharaja ''sure'' does look like a Caucasian.
*Coloring errors:
**Skywarp has Thundercracker's colors as he blasts his way into the palace.
**As the Autobots enter the water, Sunstreaker is [[Spin-Out (G1)|colored red]] instead of yellow.
**As Rumble transforms, Soundwave's open chest cavity is colored light blue, as if it were closed. His open chest panel is colored dark blue, as if it weren't there!
**Starscream's face is light gray instead of medium gray as he and the other Seekers ride the elevator into Decepticon HQ.
**Starscream's air intake is light gray instead of red as he and the other jets wait for Megatron.
**As he dives back out of Decepticon HQ, Cliffjumper is colored as Bumblebee.
**When Dr. Arkeville insists that Sparkplug has "no choice" during the attack on the Autobot base, the background is Autobot orange instead of Decepticon purple. The same coloring error occurs during the scene at the energy pylons, when Arkeville mentions having to "recompute the control codes."
**While transforming after arriving at the Space Bridge, Optimus Prime has the gray stripe in his truck mode, and the stripe changes to red as he finishes the transformation. Usually that is done the other way; with no gray stripe in truck mode, but a gray stripe in his robot mode.
*Prime has a sloped windscreen as he and the other Autobots drive through the jungle (repeating an error from "[[Divide and Conquer]]".)
*Megatron's [[fusion cannon]] is drawn pretty badly repeatedly throughout this episode. The front barrel is often drawn at less than half the size it should be. (See the picture further up this page for an example). Apparently size isn't important after all.
*Improbable viewpoints:
**Megatron gets a stationary view of the Autobots charging into the Maharaja's palace. Did Starscream and company spend their time there setting up a camera for him?
**He also gets a view of Soundwave hanging around outside Autobot Headquarters. (Clearly, the Autobots have [[Megatron's Master Plan, Part 1|no security]] at this point.)
**As Sparkplug works to sabotage the Autobots, Dr. Arkeville gets footage from ''inside'' Autobot Headquarters! We can ''maybe'' let this one slide and say that Sparkplug set up a video feed or something.
**Then Arkeville gets a view that's clearly coming from Teletraan I itself! (Actually, that would explain both viewpoints.)
**The [[Sky Spy]] gets what is essentially a ground-level view of the Decepticon energy pylons.
**Megatron doesn't seem to be leaning over a console or anything as the Autobots arrive at the space bridge, but Arkeville still gets a full view of him from Decepticon Headquarters.
**Arkeville then gets a view from right next to Sparkplug as he talks with Spike during the battle.
*As Soundwave salutes, most of his body shifts around a bit, but his chestplate remains completely still.
*Soundwave has a purple Autobot symbol as he ejects Laserbeak. Once his cassette door is open, its inside face is colored solid dark blue, instead of the light blue that it should be.
*Most of Laserbeak's caws and cries are not electronically modulated, though his usual electronic trill does show up a few times.
*Sideswipe's leg clips through Spike as he joins them in watching Rumble.
*Sideswipe's gun vanishes as he bashes Ravage aside.
*Laserbeak grabs Sparkplug from a metal-paneled interior space, yet immediately flies right out of the volcano's cone. As Spike looks up after Laserbeak, he's suddenly standing against a rock background.
*After the Autobots in India realize they have been duped, Sunstreaker says "We were set up!", but in Prowl's voice. A similar goof happened in "[[Roll for It]]".
*Either a line was cut, or [[Frank Welker]] misparsed one of Megatron's lines; he says "It had ''better'' function" in regards to the hypno-chip... when nobody had previously been discussing the chips at all.
*The outer edges of Bumblebee's face are supposed to be white, but they're colored yellow as he consoles Spike.
*The animation of Shockwave talking to Megatron is recycled from "[[Transport to Oblivion (episode)|Transport to Oblivion]]", complete with its strange brightly-lit background and awkward shadow, and Shockwave's incomplete arms. The establishing shot of this conversation has Megatron appearing to "hover" in front of the screen and gently descend as Shockwave speaks. This is weird.
*Prowl drives into the air at the cliff edge before transforming.
*Brawn's front grill just phases right through his giant [[alternate mode|vehicle mode]] drill as it folds back up.
*Appearing/disappearing Autobots:
**Prime's strike team includes Prowl, Hound, Jazz, Sunstreaker, Wheeljack, and Bumblebee. During the underwater battle, Gears appears for a single shot.
**As Bumblebee says his "biggest space bridge ever" line, the shot changes, and he's been replaced by a misshapen Hound.
*As Optimus Prime flies to the Decepticon Space bridge, just after Megatron points his arm cannon at him, Optimus ducks to the side, and his face guard vanishes for a split second.
*Whatever damage Cliffjumper did to the inside of Decepticon Headquarters has disappeared by the time Autobots take their exit.
*After Starscream, soaking wet with seawater, emerges from the hole made by Cliffjumper's glass gas, there is a moment where his animation freezes... including the dripping water, which is suspended in mid-air.
*In a pan across the interior of Autobot Headquarters, there are two Prowls.
*One of them is drawn working on Jazz. Since when is Prowl a mechanic?
*In the same shot, Ratchet's mouth is missing as he works on Sunstreaker.
*A layering goof (or cheap shortcut) has Sparkplug's arms not actually reaching into the open panel on Wheeljack's back where he's supposed to be working.
*As Ratchet protests Sparkplug's attempt to work on Optimus, it's suddenly Prowl who he is repairing, rather than Sunstreaker (and despite Prowl being up and about a few shots ago).
*After Prime falls, suddenly it's Jazz laying on the table by Ratchet, with Bluestreak standing over him.
*Sparkplug's wrench looks different between shots, losing its round bolt wrench end in some shots.
*When the Decepticons are showered with foam at the Ark, the shot cuts from Thundercracker to Skywarp by simply changing the colors on the character.
*When Starscream flies to the space bridge, his alt mode is noticeably misshapen. His transformation is amazingly off, as well.
*As Optimus takes aim at Megatron for the second time ("It's not over yet, Megatron!"), his faceplate disappears for a second or two.
*After Sparkplug has his moment of hesitation, Spike's mouth moves, but no words come out.
*When Sparkplug climbs up onto the first energy pylon, the sound of his footsteps is that of a clanking, giant robot, not a human wearing boots.
*The third pylon's energy beam isn't quite aligned with the pylon itself.

===Continuity errors===
*Megatron's "diversion" only draws four Autobots away from their headquarters, with at least that many still present, yet he seems to regard it as a smashing success.
*Rumble, Ravage and Laserbeak are just able to saunter into Autobot Headquarters with no alarms or security systems going off; that's the by-product of a deleted scene from the episode's script, in which it is explained that Teletraan I is offline while Ratchet performs some standard repair work on it.
*In order to test the effectiveness of the hypno-chip, Megatron produces a model of Optimus Prime. Because Starscream is bone-headed enough to think Megatron just randomly let Prime into the base, Megatron directly says it's a model... right in front of Sparkplug. No one considers that Sparkplug might have more common sense than Starscream, or even that he could ''fake'' being mind-controlled because of what he's just been allowed to overhear.
*That must be one light Optimus Prime model; Sparkplug is able to grab it by the ankle and toss it across the room.
*The entire process of rescuing Sparkplug is fraught with improbabilities:
**Brawn's team should have been swept away by cascading torrents of water as soon as a big enough hole was opened in their tunnel.
**Decepticon Headquarters should also have been inundated as soon as the floor dropped out beneath Starscream. To hold the water at bay, the atmospheric pressure in the base would have to be equal to the water pressure at the bottom of the ocean — a pressure that Sparkplug and Arkeville most assuredly could not survive.
**Whatever force keeps water from gushing up through the big hole in the floor doesn't stop water from gushing in when Brawn punches a big hole in the ''wall''.
**"Hold your breath, Sparkplug!" says Windcharger, as they prepare to swim out of Decepticon HQ. Yes, that will save you from the freezing temperatures and crushing pressures at the bottom of the ocean!
**The water gushing into the base is nowhere to be seen as Starscream re-enters the base.
[[File:UltimateDoom1 Foamy Megatron.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.1|"Mr. Bubbles' Happy Time Fun Bath Soap?! RETREAT!!!"]]
*The Decepticons enter Autobot Headquarters through a huge hole in the wall, yet there has been no explosion or anything.
*The Decepticons can be apparently easily damaged by fire-retardant foam (Cybertronian fire-retardant foam at that!), yet the Autobots are fine.
*Spike trips over nothing as he flees the battle. The next shot make it seem like he was supposed to have tripped over his dad's wrench... but in order to have tripped Spike, the wrench must be either monumentally heavy or bolted to the floor; nonetheless, in the next frame Spike picks the wrench up with no sign of strain—just as you would expect anyone could.
*Every action has an equal and opposite ''re''action; the surface of Cybertron should have been just as devastated by ''Earth''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s gravity as the Earth's surface was by ''Cybertron''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s gravity.
*Why did Megatron slowly climb the rocks to reach the third pylon? Did he forget he could fly?

===Rhino DVD release===
*The energy readout screen is missing its glowing effects in the DVD version. In addition, it is misspelled as “ENERCY”.
*Arkeville’s chip disappears in the Rhino DVD version as soon as he puts it in Sparkplug’s ear.
*Megatron’s mouth freezes in several scenes in the DVD version.
*Wheeljack’s glowing effects are missing when he says, “Maybe, but we’ll need a plan.”
*When Shockwave says, “Everything is in readiness, Megatron.”, Megatron slowly floats down to the floor in the DVD version. In the original broadcast, he remains still. The background effects behind Shockwave are also different between the two versions.
*When Starscream says "Optimus Prime? Prepare to attack!", he and Skywarp have traded colors on the Rhino DVD Release, while in the broadcast, Starscream and Skywarp didn't.
*Shockwave falling into the water is missing the splash effect on the DVD. When he crawls out, the DVD version is also missing the water all over him.
*When Dr. Arkeville yells at his slave to only fix the damaged Autobots, his mouth isn’t moving in the DVD version.
*Spike’s hair is darker in the DVD version when he drops a wrench into Teletraan 1’s circuitry. The same shot also has a puff of smoke in the DVD version that is missing in the final broadcast version.

===Trivia===
*This episode is subtitled "Brainwash" in scripts and other official materials.
*Like "[[More than Meets the Eye (mini-series)|More than Meets the Eye]]", the mid-80s [[Family Home Entertainment]] VHS release of "The Ultimate Doom" was granted the {{w|Film Advisory Board}} Award of Excellence, proudly displayed on the video box cover. However, this particular "award" does not reflect the ''quality'' of any work submitted, but rather that the work is "family-friendly". Cheeky, once again!
*This was one of the six episodes featured on the ''[[Revenge of the Fallen (video games)|Revenge of the Fallen]]'' [[Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Xbox 360/PS3/PC)|console game]].
*The idea of bringing Cybertron to Earth via space bridge and enslaving humans was used as part of the plot for ''[[Transformers: Dark of the Moon (film)|Transformers: Dark of the Moon]]'' (which was, despite being a [[Michael Bay]] movie, oddly devoid of ''any'' sort of environmental damage that would be caused by such an event).

===Foreign localization===
'''French'''
:*''Title (European French):'' "'''Le dernier jugement, partie 1'''" ("The last judgement, part 1")
:*''Title (Canadian French):'' "'''L'ultime destin - Partie 1'''" ("The ultimate doom - Part 1")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?
::*About the European French dub:
:::*Like in ''[[More than Meets the Eye, Part 1]]'', Soundwave does not want to pronounce Laserbeak's name. When ejecting the three cassettes, he says "Rumble, mutation !" then "Ravage, mutation !" and finally "Réveille-toi ! À nous de jouer !" ("Wake up! It's our turn!").
:::*Brawn calls Cliffjumper "Cliff".

'''Italian'''
:*''Title (dub 1):'' '''Lo scienziato pazzo''' ("The Mad Scientist")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?
::*Optimus's line: «Autobots! Transform and move in!» (right before Megatron shows him the human slaves) was not dubbed.

:*''Title (dub 2):'' '''Destino finale - Prima parte''' ("Final Destiny - First Part")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

'''Japanese'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Hametsu no Hi PART I'''" (破滅の日 PART I, "Day of Destruction PART I")
:*''Original airdate:'' [[November 7]], [[1986]]
::*Due to [[Jetfire (G1)|Skyfire]]'s status as a [[Bandai]] toy in Japan, the Japanese broadcast of "The Ultimate Doom" three-parter was delayed until the end of the series when the legal issues were cleared up (as were most episodes featuring Skyfire). All three "Ultimate Doom" episodes were aired on the same day in Japan as a special extra length series finale.
::* This episode, along with the second and third parts, marked the end of ''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'' in Japan. Starting with the Japanese broadcast of [[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1]], It would be rebranded as ''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010''.

'''Mandarin'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Miè Dǐng zhī Zāi (Shàng)'''" (灭顶之灾(上), "Catastrophe of Extinction, Part I")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

'''Brazilian Portuguese'''
:*''Title:'' "'''A Destruição Final, Parte 1: Lavagem Cerebral'''" ("The Final Destruction, Part 1: Brainwash")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

'''Serbian'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Sudnji dan, prvi deo - Ispiranje mozga'''" (Судњи дан, први део - Испирање мозга, "Judgment Day, Part One - Brainwash")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

'''Latin Spanish'''
:*''Title:'' "'''La Destrucción Máxima, Parte I'''" ("The Maximum Destruction, Part I")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote}}
[[File:TransformersVillainsUltimateDoomParts1-3(1984).jpg|right|upright=0.85|thumb|"I'm such a villain, I even stole this DVD cover."]]
;VHS
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 1985 — ''The Transformers'' — Volume 2: "The Ultimate Doom" ([[Family Home Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of Canada.png|20px|Canada]] 1996 — ''The Transformers'' — The Ultimate Doom ([[Malofilm]]) 
[[File:Flag of Canada.png|20px|Canada]] 1996 — ''Transformers'' — L'Ultime Piège (Malofilm) — French audio only. 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2001 — ''The Original Transformers'' — Villains: The Ultimate Doom ([[The Original Transformers|Rhino Entertainment]])
;{{w|LaserDisc}}
[[File:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 1995 — ''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'' — Megatron Set ([[TakaraTomy|Takara]]) — Japanese audio only. 
[[File:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 1999 — ''The Transformers'' — Decepticon Edition ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Pioneer LDC]]) — Japanese audio only.
;DVD
[[File:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 2001 — ''The Transformers'' — DVD Box 2 (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only. 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2001 — ''The Original Transformers'' — Villains: The Ultimate Doom ([[The Original Transformers|Rhino Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2002 — ''Transformers'' — Original Series: Volume One ([[Maverick Entertainment|Sony Wonder]]) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2002 — ''Transformers'' — Complete Original Series: Deluxe Edition (Sony Wonder) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2002 — ''The Original Transformers'' — First Season Collector's Edition (Rhino Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2002 — ''The Original Transformers'' — Volume Three (Rhino Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2003 — ''Transformers'' — Collection 1: Series 1 ([[Madman Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2004 — ''Transformers'' — Season 1 ([[Metrodome]]) 
[[File:Flag of France.png|20px|France]] 2004 — ''Transformers'' — Volume 2 ([[Déclic Images]]) — European French audio only. 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2006 — ''Transformers'' — The Complete Generation One Collection (Metrodome) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2007 — ''Classic Transformers'' — Series One: Part Two (Metrodome) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2007 — ''The Transformers'' — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of Italy.png|20px|Italy]] 2008 — ''Transformers'' — Volume 02: Stagione Uno Parte Seconda ([[Medianetwork Communication]]) — English and Italian audio. 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2009 — ''Transformers'' — Season One (Metrodome) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2009 — ''The Transformers'' — Complete Collection: Decepticon Edition (Madman Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2009 — ''The Transformers'' — The Complete First Season: 25th Anniversary Edition ([[Shout! Factory]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2009 — ''The Transformers'' — The Complete Series: 25th Anniversary "Matrix of Leadership" Collection (Shout! Factory) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2011 — ''The Transformers'' — The Complete Original Series (Shout! Factory) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2014 — ''The Transformers'' — The Complete First Season: 30th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2014 — ''Transformers'' — The Classic Animated Series (Metrodome)

==External links==
*[https://drive.google.com/open?id=1SpaaKbcxwHDeZNmC4g9ZJemJ6HT5_vZp Full episode script, finalised on 27th July 1984]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ultimate Doom, Part 1}}
[[Category:The Transformers episodes]]
[[Category:Generation 2 episodes]]

The Ultimate Doom, Part 1

2023-10-31T00:34:45Z

Optimusprime67: /* Foreign localization */

{{episode
|series=G1toon
|ep=11
|series2=SRLFtoon
|ep2=66
|prev2=The Autobot Run
|next2=The Ultimate Doom, Part 2
|series3=''[[Transformers: Generation 2 (cartoon)|Transformers: Generation 2]]''
|ep3=41
|prev3=Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 2
|next3=The Ultimate Doom, Part 2
|image=Tud1 megatron cybertron.jpg
|caption="A ticker-tape parade using streams of volcanic ash. How ironic!"
|title="The Ultimate Doom, Part 1"
|season=1
|season ep=11
|production code=#700-08
|airdate=[[November 3]], 1984
|story by=[[Dick Robbins]], [[Bryce Malek]], [[Douglas Booth]] and [[Larry Strauss]]
|teleplay by=[[Larry Strauss]]
|animation studio=[[Toei Animation|Toei]]
|production company=[[Sunbow Productions]]
|continuity=[[Generation 1 cartoon continuity]]
|video=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3eHpAV5gVA
|videosite=YouTube
}}
'''Megatron brings Cybertron into Earth orbit to harvest the energy from the destruction caused by Cybertron's gravity.'''

==Synopsis==
[[File:Sparkplugkidnapped.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|"Kidnapping humans will be simplicity itself, thanks to my new, Transformers-sized crane game."]]
[[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]], [[Thundercracker (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Thundercracker]] and [[Skywarp (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Skywarp]] attack a solar power station off [[India]]'s [[Malabar Coast]]. [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]], [[Wheeljack (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Wheeljack]], [[Jazz (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Jazz]] and [[Sunstreaker (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Sunstreaker]] arrive in time to intercept them. Watching this battle remotely are [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]] and the evil human scientist [[Doctor Arkeville]]. Megatron orders [[Soundwave (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Soundwave]] to begin phase two of Operation Guinea Pig, which involves setting [[Rumble (G1)|Rumble]] and [[Ravage (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ravage]] loose inside [[Ark (G1)|Autobot headquarters]]. With the [[Autobot]]s distracted by Rumble's rumbling, [[Laserbeak (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Laserbeak]] flies in, nabs [[Sparkplug Witwicky|Sparkplug]] and flies out.

Back in India, the [[Seeker (body-type)|Seekers]] suddenly take flight and retreat. Prime smells a rat, then Sunstreaker tells him of the attack on their headquarters.

[[File:TFG1TUD1.jpg|right|upright=1.1|thumb|"I love the Power Glove. It's so bad."]]
After bringing Sparkplug to [[Decepticon]] headquarters, Doctor Arkeville fits him with a mind-control device called a [[hypno-chip]] which brings him into the Decepticons' control. As a means of demonstrating the new technology, Sparkplug is made to attack a full-sized replica of Optimus Prime. Megatron intends to use this technology to create an army of human slaves. With the successful completion of the first part of his plan, Megatron communicates with [[Shockwave (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Shockwave]] to confirm that the new [[space bridge]] is ready.

The Autobots attack the Decepticon undersea base to rescue Sparkplug. Optimus Prime leads a direct attack from above while [[Cliffjumper (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Cliffjumper]], [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]] and [[Windcharger (G1)|Windcharger]] tunnel under the ocean floor. The mission is successful, and the Autobots return him to their base. After undergoing repairs, the Autobots and Spike notice that Sparkplug is acting oddly, but before they can learn why, the Decepticons launch a surprise attack. [[Spike Witwicky (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Spike]] realizes that Sparkplug has sabotaged the Autobots' weapons and [[Teletraan I]], which let the Decepticons in undetected.

When Spike confronts his father, Sparkplug appeals to Spike to join the Decepticons. Spike refuses, and Sparkplug tells his son that when they next meet, they will be enemies. In a desperate effort to salvage the situation, Spike sets off the [[fire-retardant foam]]. This clogs the Decepticons' weapons, and Megatron orders a retreat. Sparkplug willingly goes with them.

[[File:Spikesparkandark.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|Snow Miser tunes in to his favorite show, ''The Witwickys''.]]
At the space bridge site, Megatron reveals that he intends to bring [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] into Earth orbit using the bridge. The gravity of Cybertron will cause natural disasters, and the Decepticons plan to harvest the vaguely-defined "energy" this will somehow create, and transport it to Cybertron. Arkeville isn't too keen on this idea, but Megatron says it's a new problem for the evil scientist to solve using his genius intellect.

Using the [[Sky Spy]], the Autobots see the giant space bridge and [[roll out]] to investigate. When they attack the bridge site, Megatron releases a group of human slaves to act as shields. The ploy works, and things get even more complicated when the humans attack the Autobots with sticks and stones.

Spike stops Sparkplug from attacking Bumblebee, and for a moment it appears that Sparkplug is back to normal. But Arkeville recomputes his signal, and Sparkplug is again under Decepticon control. He rushes to the first space bridge pylon and activates it. Thundercracker activates the second.

Optimus Prime chases Megatron up to the third pylon and wrestles him away from the button. Megatron orders Prime to turn on the pylon himself, or else he will be responsible for catapulting Cybertron into oblivion. Unwilling to sacrifice his home planet, Optimus Prime activates the space bridge, bringing Cybertron into Earth's orbit, but wonders if he is dooming Earth in the process.
{{--}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
{{collist|2|
*[[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] (5)
*[[Jazz (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Jazz]] (6)
*[[Sunstreaker (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Sunstreaker]] (7)
*[[Wheeljack (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Wheeljack]] (8)
*[[Ratchet (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ratchet]] (13)
*[[Bumblebee (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Bumblebee]] (14)
*[[Sideswipe (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Sideswipe]] (15)
*[[Ironhide (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ironhide]] (17)
*[[Prowl (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Prowl]] (20)
*[[Hound (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Hound]] (21)
*[[Cliffjumper (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Cliffjumper]] (23)
*[[Windcharger (G1)|Windcharger]] (24)
*[[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]] (25)
*[[Bluestreak (G1)|Bluestreak]] (26)
*[[Gears (G1)|Gears]] (27)
*[[Trailbreaker (G1)|Trailbreaker]] (28)
*[[Huffer (G1)|Huffer]] (29)
}}
|c2=
*[[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]] (2)
*[[Thundercracker (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Thundercracker]] (3)
*[[Skywarp (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Skywarp]] (4)
*[[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]] (9)
*[[Soundwave (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Soundwave]] (11)
*[[Rumble (G1)|Rumble]] (12)
*[[Ravage (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ravage]] (18)
*[[Laserbeak (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Laserbeak]] (19)
*[[Shockwave (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Shockwave]] (22)
|c3=
*[[Indian maharaja]] (1)
*[[Doctor Arkeville]] (10)
*[[Sparkplug Witwicky]] (16)
*[[Spike Witwicky (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Spike Witwicky]] (20)
}}

==Quotes==
'''Skywarp''': I say Megatron's plan was brilliant. 
'''Starscream''': And I say the diversionary attack on the solar plant was a waste of energy. 
'''Skywarp''': You waste more energy with your mouth!
:—More heart-warming Decepticon camaraderie.

"I've got the plan, if all of you've got the cast-iron [[manifold]]s for it!" 
"We have!"
:—'''Prowl''' and '''Optimus Prime'''

"Into the ocean, let's be daring. The last one in is a rusty herring."
:—'''Jazz''', turning into [[Wheelie (G1)|a poet]].

'''Megatron''': [[Fire-retardant foam]]! Our circuitry's been shorted out. 
'''Thundercracker''': My weapon! 
'''Skywarp''': Can't we just bash 'em to pieces? 
'''Megatron''': If we stay, this foam will permanently damage our circuitry. The Autobots are through anyway. RETREAT!
:—The Decepticons become ever more farcical and ridiculous.

"As the Earthlings say: Fat chance, fat-head!"
:—'''Optimus Prime''' has been spending too much time with Spike.

"Have I saved Cybertron... only to destroy the Earth?"
:—'''Optimus Prime''' angsts over his decision to bring Cybertron into Earth's orbit.

==Notes==
===Production information===
* First draft script: 11th July 1984
* Script revised by [[Ron Friedman]]: 18th July 1984
* Final script: 27th July 1984
* Dialogue recording: ([[Dan Gilvezan]] not present for main session, [[Wally Burr]] voiced Bumblebee for guide track)
* Returned to the US for telecine: 8th November 1984

===Continuity notes===
[[File:UltimateDoom1 Optimus on hydrofoils.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.1]]
*This episode is one of several that gets a narrative opening from [[Victor Caroli]].
[[File:TUD1 Brawn drilling.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.1|With that drill... take us to the heavens!]]
[[File:TUD1 Cliffjumper depth gauge.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.1|And now, on with the countdown.]]
*Gadgets and powers:
**The Autobots make their first use of [[hydrofoil]]s in this episode, newly installed by Wheeljack. More than most, these gadgets would show up in [[Dinobot Island, Part 2|many]] [[Atlantis, Arise!|future]] [[City of Steel (episode)|episodes]].
**Ironhide retracts his hand and out comes... a toilet plunger lookin' thing. He uses it to locate the center of Rumble's seismic disturbance, with the results displaying on his chest windows (not unlike his sonadar sensors).
**Sideswipe was getting ready to fire a flare from his hand weapon. He was interrupted by Ravage. Flares are mentioned in Sideswipe's [[bio]].
**Optimus Prime's chest windows light up, indicating an attack on Autobot Headquarters.
**Brawn has a vehicle mode tunneling drill. It'll show up again in "[[The Immobilizer]]".
**Cliffjumper has a depth gauge that emerges from his vehicle-mode hood.
**Sunstreaker fires a missile from his wrist at Megatron.
**Thundercracker fires a rocket from his forearm in the same way he did in "[[Divide and Conquer]]".
**Cliffjumper fires his [[glass gas]] like a regular laser beam from his hand gun.
**Ratchet uses the same retractable wrist-welder he had in "[[Transport to Oblivion (episode)|Transport to Oblivion]]".
**This time, it's the blue button on Megatron's stomach that acts as his radio transmitter.
*Once again, evidence that Cybertron is actually outside the Milky Way galaxy: Optimus describes the apex of the space bridge as being "beyond this galaxy".
*For those who wonder how humans can breathe on Cybertron, this episode offers some relief: the final scenes clearly show Cybertron sucking up a chunk of Earth's atmosphere. Of course, this doesn't cover Chip Chase's earlier visit to the planet in "[[Divide and Conquer]]".
*Also, it may just be perspective, but when we see Earth and Cybertron in the same shot, Cybertron looks almost comedically tiny - arguably a justification for it having buildings which are visible from orbit. That just raises questions about how it manages to siphon a visible chunk of the atmosphere, though.

===Real-world references===
*The Seekers attack a solar power plant off {{w|Malabar Coast}}, which is located in southern {{w|India}}.
*As [[The Transformers: The Movie|always]], when there's a {{w|American Top 40|countdown}} of any kind, it's given to Cliffjumper, thanks to being voiced by [[Casey Kasem]].
*Is Windcharger's line "This must be the place!" a reference to {{w|This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)|the Talking Heads song}} that came out just two years prior? Or would you have to be naive to think that?
*Brawn plays a reverse lifeguard: "Everybody into the pool!"
*''[[Star Wars (franchise)|Star Wars]]'' sound effects:
**The sound of an igniting [[lightsaber]] is repurposed for Cliffjumper's glass gas beam.
**As Spike flees the battle in Autobot Headquarters, the background laser effects include the sound of the [[Death Star]]'s turbolasers firing at the [[Rebel Alliance|Rebel]] fighters.
**The fritzed-out Autobots get the sound of [[Darth Vader]] and [[Obi-Wan Kenobi|Ben Kenobi]]'s lightsabers locking and sparking in their fight aboard the Death Star. The sound is recycled when Spike shorts out Teletraan I a second later.
===Technical or animation glitches===
*The Maharaja says that his solar panels are collecting three hundred energy units per second. Typical government inflation! The screen says it's ''thirty'' units per second.
[[File:UltimateDoom1 Indian maharaja.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.1]]
*For an Indian, that Maharaja ''sure'' does look like a Caucasian.
*Coloring errors:
**Skywarp has Thundercracker's colors as he blasts his way into the palace.
**As the Autobots enter the water, Sunstreaker is [[Spin-Out (G1)|colored red]] instead of yellow.
**As Rumble transforms, Soundwave's open chest cavity is colored light blue, as if it were closed. His open chest panel is colored dark blue, as if it weren't there!
**Starscream's face is light gray instead of medium gray as he and the other Seekers ride the elevator into Decepticon HQ.
**Starscream's air intake is light gray instead of red as he and the other jets wait for Megatron.
**As he dives back out of Decepticon HQ, Cliffjumper is colored as Bumblebee.
**When Dr. Arkeville insists that Sparkplug has "no choice" during the attack on the Autobot base, the background is Autobot orange instead of Decepticon purple. The same coloring error occurs during the scene at the energy pylons, when Arkeville mentions having to "recompute the control codes."
**While transforming after arriving at the Space Bridge, Optimus Prime has the gray stripe in his truck mode, and the stripe changes to red as he finishes the transformation. Usually that is done the other way; with no gray stripe in truck mode, but a gray stripe in his robot mode.
*Prime has a sloped windscreen as he and the other Autobots drive through the jungle (repeating an error from "[[Divide and Conquer]]".)
*Megatron's [[fusion cannon]] is drawn pretty badly repeatedly throughout this episode. The front barrel is often drawn at less than half the size it should be. (See the picture further up this page for an example). Apparently size isn't important after all.
*Improbable viewpoints:
**Megatron gets a stationary view of the Autobots charging into the Maharaja's palace. Did Starscream and company spend their time there setting up a camera for him?
**He also gets a view of Soundwave hanging around outside Autobot Headquarters. (Clearly, the Autobots have [[Megatron's Master Plan, Part 1|no security]] at this point.)
**As Sparkplug works to sabotage the Autobots, Dr. Arkeville gets footage from ''inside'' Autobot Headquarters! We can ''maybe'' let this one slide and say that Sparkplug set up a video feed or something.
**Then Arkeville gets a view that's clearly coming from Teletraan I itself! (Actually, that would explain both viewpoints.)
**The [[Sky Spy]] gets what is essentially a ground-level view of the Decepticon energy pylons.
**Megatron doesn't seem to be leaning over a console or anything as the Autobots arrive at the space bridge, but Arkeville still gets a full view of him from Decepticon Headquarters.
**Arkeville then gets a view from right next to Sparkplug as he talks with Spike during the battle.
*As Soundwave salutes, most of his body shifts around a bit, but his chestplate remains completely still.
*Soundwave has a purple Autobot symbol as he ejects Laserbeak. Once his cassette door is open, its inside face is colored solid dark blue, instead of the light blue that it should be.
*Most of Laserbeak's caws and cries are not electronically modulated, though his usual electronic trill does show up a few times.
*Sideswipe's leg clips through Spike as he joins them in watching Rumble.
*Sideswipe's gun vanishes as he bashes Ravage aside.
*Laserbeak grabs Sparkplug from a metal-paneled interior space, yet immediately flies right out of the volcano's cone. As Spike looks up after Laserbeak, he's suddenly standing against a rock background.
*After the Autobots in India realize they have been duped, Sunstreaker says "We were set up!", but in Prowl's voice. A similar goof happened in "[[Roll for It]]".
*Either a line was cut, or [[Frank Welker]] misparsed one of Megatron's lines; he says "It had ''better'' function" in regards to the hypno-chip... when nobody had previously been discussing the chips at all.
*The outer edges of Bumblebee's face are supposed to be white, but they're colored yellow as he consoles Spike.
*The animation of Shockwave talking to Megatron is recycled from "[[Transport to Oblivion (episode)|Transport to Oblivion]]", complete with its strange brightly-lit background and awkward shadow, and Shockwave's incomplete arms. The establishing shot of this conversation has Megatron appearing to "hover" in front of the screen and gently descend as Shockwave speaks. This is weird.
*Prowl drives into the air at the cliff edge before transforming.
*Brawn's front grill just phases right through his giant [[alternate mode|vehicle mode]] drill as it folds back up.
*Appearing/disappearing Autobots:
**Prime's strike team includes Prowl, Hound, Jazz, Sunstreaker, Wheeljack, and Bumblebee. During the underwater battle, Gears appears for a single shot.
**As Bumblebee says his "biggest space bridge ever" line, the shot changes, and he's been replaced by a misshapen Hound.
*As Optimus Prime flies to the Decepticon Space bridge, just after Megatron points his arm cannon at him, Optimus ducks to the side, and his face guard vanishes for a split second.
*Whatever damage Cliffjumper did to the inside of Decepticon Headquarters has disappeared by the time Autobots take their exit.
*After Starscream, soaking wet with seawater, emerges from the hole made by Cliffjumper's glass gas, there is a moment where his animation freezes... including the dripping water, which is suspended in mid-air.
*In a pan across the interior of Autobot Headquarters, there are two Prowls.
*One of them is drawn working on Jazz. Since when is Prowl a mechanic?
*In the same shot, Ratchet's mouth is missing as he works on Sunstreaker.
*A layering goof (or cheap shortcut) has Sparkplug's arms not actually reaching into the open panel on Wheeljack's back where he's supposed to be working.
*As Ratchet protests Sparkplug's attempt to work on Optimus, it's suddenly Prowl who he is repairing, rather than Sunstreaker (and despite Prowl being up and about a few shots ago).
*After Prime falls, suddenly it's Jazz laying on the table by Ratchet, with Bluestreak standing over him.
*Sparkplug's wrench looks different between shots, losing its round bolt wrench end in some shots.
*When the Decepticons are showered with foam at the Ark, the shot cuts from Thundercracker to Skywarp by simply changing the colors on the character.
*When Starscream flies to the space bridge, his alt mode is noticeably misshapen. His transformation is amazingly off, as well.
*As Optimus takes aim at Megatron for the second time ("It's not over yet, Megatron!"), his faceplate disappears for a second or two.
*After Sparkplug has his moment of hesitation, Spike's mouth moves, but no words come out.
*When Sparkplug climbs up onto the first energy pylon, the sound of his footsteps is that of a clanking, giant robot, not a human wearing boots.
*The third pylon's energy beam isn't quite aligned with the pylon itself.

===Continuity errors===
*Megatron's "diversion" only draws four Autobots away from their headquarters, with at least that many still present, yet he seems to regard it as a smashing success.
*Rumble, Ravage and Laserbeak are just able to saunter into Autobot Headquarters with no alarms or security systems going off; that's the by-product of a deleted scene from the episode's script, in which it is explained that Teletraan I is offline while Ratchet performs some standard repair work on it.
*In order to test the effectiveness of the hypno-chip, Megatron produces a model of Optimus Prime. Because Starscream is bone-headed enough to think Megatron just randomly let Prime into the base, Megatron directly says it's a model... right in front of Sparkplug. No one considers that Sparkplug might have more common sense than Starscream, or even that he could ''fake'' being mind-controlled because of what he's just been allowed to overhear.
*That must be one light Optimus Prime model; Sparkplug is able to grab it by the ankle and toss it across the room.
*The entire process of rescuing Sparkplug is fraught with improbabilities:
**Brawn's team should have been swept away by cascading torrents of water as soon as a big enough hole was opened in their tunnel.
**Decepticon Headquarters should also have been inundated as soon as the floor dropped out beneath Starscream. To hold the water at bay, the atmospheric pressure in the base would have to be equal to the water pressure at the bottom of the ocean — a pressure that Sparkplug and Arkeville most assuredly could not survive.
**Whatever force keeps water from gushing up through the big hole in the floor doesn't stop water from gushing in when Brawn punches a big hole in the ''wall''.
**"Hold your breath, Sparkplug!" says Windcharger, as they prepare to swim out of Decepticon HQ. Yes, that will save you from the freezing temperatures and crushing pressures at the bottom of the ocean!
**The water gushing into the base is nowhere to be seen as Starscream re-enters the base.
[[File:UltimateDoom1 Foamy Megatron.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.1|"Mr. Bubbles' Happy Time Fun Bath Soap?! RETREAT!!!"]]
*The Decepticons enter Autobot Headquarters through a huge hole in the wall, yet there has been no explosion or anything.
*The Decepticons can be apparently easily damaged by fire-retardant foam (Cybertronian fire-retardant foam at that!), yet the Autobots are fine.
*Spike trips over nothing as he flees the battle. The next shot make it seem like he was supposed to have tripped over his dad's wrench... but in order to have tripped Spike, the wrench must be either monumentally heavy or bolted to the floor; nonetheless, in the next frame Spike picks the wrench up with no sign of strain—just as you would expect anyone could.
*Every action has an equal and opposite ''re''action; the surface of Cybertron should have been just as devastated by ''Earth''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s gravity as the Earth's surface was by ''Cybertron''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s gravity.
*Why did Megatron slowly climb the rocks to reach the third pylon? Did he forget he could fly?

===Rhino DVD release===
*The energy readout screen is missing its glowing effects in the DVD version. In addition, it is misspelled as “ENERCY”.
*Arkeville’s chip disappears in the Rhino DVD version as soon as he puts it in Sparkplug’s ear.
*Megatron’s mouth freezes in several scenes in the DVD version.
*Wheeljack’s glowing effects are missing when he says, “Maybe, but we’ll need a plan.”
*When Shockwave says, “Everything is in readiness, Megatron.”, Megatron slowly floats down to the floor in the DVD version. In the original broadcast, he remains still. The background effects behind Shockwave are also different between the two versions.
*When Starscream says "Optimus Prime? Prepare to attack!", he and Skywarp have traded colors on the Rhino DVD Release, while in the broadcast, Starscream and Skywarp didn't.
*Shockwave falling into the water is missing the splash effect on the DVD. When he crawls out, the DVD version is also missing the water all over him.
*When Dr. Arkeville yells at his slave to only fix the damaged Autobots, his mouth isn’t moving in the DVD version.
*Spike’s hair is darker in the DVD version when he drops a wrench into Teletraan 1’s circuitry. The same shot also has a puff of smoke in the DVD version that is missing in the final broadcast version.

===Trivia===
*This episode is subtitled "Brainwash" in scripts and other official materials.
*Like "[[More than Meets the Eye (mini-series)|More than Meets the Eye]]", the mid-80s [[Family Home Entertainment]] VHS release of "The Ultimate Doom" was granted the {{w|Film Advisory Board}} Award of Excellence, proudly displayed on the video box cover. However, this particular "award" does not reflect the ''quality'' of any work submitted, but rather that the work is "family-friendly". Cheeky, once again!
*This was one of the six episodes featured on the ''[[Revenge of the Fallen (video games)|Revenge of the Fallen]]'' [[Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Xbox 360/PS3/PC)|console game]].
*The idea of bringing Cybertron to Earth via space bridge and enslaving humans was used as part of the plot for ''[[Transformers: Dark of the Moon (film)|Transformers: Dark of the Moon]]'' (which was, despite being a [[Michael Bay]] movie, oddly devoid of ''any'' sort of environmental damage that would be caused by such an event).

===Foreign localization===
'''French'''
:*''Title (European French):'' "'''Le dernier jugement, partie 1'''" ("The last judgement, part 1")
:*''Title (Canadian French):'' "'''L'ultime destin - Partie 1'''" ("The ultimate doom - Part 1")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?
::*About the European French dub:
:::*Like in ''[[More than Meets the Eye, Part 1]]'', Soundwave does not want to pronounce Laserbeak's name. When ejecting the three cassettes, he says "Rumble, mutation !" then "Ravage, mutation !" and finally "Réveille-toi ! À nous de jouer !" ("Wake up! It's our turn!").
:::*Brawn calls Cliffjumper "Cliff".

'''Italian'''
:*''Title (dub 1):'' '''Lo scienziato pazzo''' ("The Mad Scientist")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?
::*Optimus's line: «Autobots! Transform and move in!» (right before Megatron shows him the human slaves) was not dubbed.

:*''Title (dub 2):'' '''Destino finale - Prima parte''' ("Final Destiny - First Part")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

'''Japanese'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Hametsu no Hi PART I'''" (破滅の日 PART I, "Day of Destruction PART I")
:*''Original airdate:'' [[November 7]], [[1986]]
::*Due to [[Jetfire (G1)|Skyfire]]'s status as a [[Bandai]] toy in Japan, the Japanese broadcast of "The Ultimate Doom" three-parter was delayed until the end of the series when the legal issues were cleared up (as were most episodes featuring Skyfire). All three "Ultimate Doom" episodes were aired on the same day in Japan as a special extra length series finale.
::* This episode, along with the second and third parts, marked the end of ''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'' in Japan. Starting with the Japanese broadcast of [[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1]], It would be rebranded as Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010.

'''Mandarin'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Miè Dǐng zhī Zāi (Shàng)'''" (灭顶之灾(上), "Catastrophe of Extinction, Part I")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

'''Brazilian Portuguese'''
:*''Title:'' "'''A Destruição Final, Parte 1: Lavagem Cerebral'''" ("The Final Destruction, Part 1: Brainwash")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

'''Serbian'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Sudnji dan, prvi deo - Ispiranje mozga'''" (Судњи дан, први део - Испирање мозга, "Judgment Day, Part One - Brainwash")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

'''Latin Spanish'''
:*''Title:'' "'''La Destrucción Máxima, Parte I'''" ("The Maximum Destruction, Part I")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote}}
[[File:TransformersVillainsUltimateDoomParts1-3(1984).jpg|right|upright=0.85|thumb|"I'm such a villain, I even stole this DVD cover."]]
;VHS
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 1985 — ''The Transformers'' — Volume 2: "The Ultimate Doom" ([[Family Home Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of Canada.png|20px|Canada]] 1996 — ''The Transformers'' — The Ultimate Doom ([[Malofilm]]) 
[[File:Flag of Canada.png|20px|Canada]] 1996 — ''Transformers'' — L'Ultime Piège (Malofilm) — French audio only. 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2001 — ''The Original Transformers'' — Villains: The Ultimate Doom ([[The Original Transformers|Rhino Entertainment]])
;{{w|LaserDisc}}
[[File:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 1995 — ''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'' — Megatron Set ([[TakaraTomy|Takara]]) — Japanese audio only. 
[[File:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 1999 — ''The Transformers'' — Decepticon Edition ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Pioneer LDC]]) — Japanese audio only.
;DVD
[[File:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 2001 — ''The Transformers'' — DVD Box 2 (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only. 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2001 — ''The Original Transformers'' — Villains: The Ultimate Doom ([[The Original Transformers|Rhino Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2002 — ''Transformers'' — Original Series: Volume One ([[Maverick Entertainment|Sony Wonder]]) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2002 — ''Transformers'' — Complete Original Series: Deluxe Edition (Sony Wonder) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2002 — ''The Original Transformers'' — First Season Collector's Edition (Rhino Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2002 — ''The Original Transformers'' — Volume Three (Rhino Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2003 — ''Transformers'' — Collection 1: Series 1 ([[Madman Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2004 — ''Transformers'' — Season 1 ([[Metrodome]]) 
[[File:Flag of France.png|20px|France]] 2004 — ''Transformers'' — Volume 2 ([[Déclic Images]]) — European French audio only. 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2006 — ''Transformers'' — The Complete Generation One Collection (Metrodome) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2007 — ''Classic Transformers'' — Series One: Part Two (Metrodome) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2007 — ''The Transformers'' — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of Italy.png|20px|Italy]] 2008 — ''Transformers'' — Volume 02: Stagione Uno Parte Seconda ([[Medianetwork Communication]]) — English and Italian audio. 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2009 — ''Transformers'' — Season One (Metrodome) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2009 — ''The Transformers'' — Complete Collection: Decepticon Edition (Madman Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2009 — ''The Transformers'' — The Complete First Season: 25th Anniversary Edition ([[Shout! Factory]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2009 — ''The Transformers'' — The Complete Series: 25th Anniversary "Matrix of Leadership" Collection (Shout! Factory) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2011 — ''The Transformers'' — The Complete Original Series (Shout! Factory) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2014 — ''The Transformers'' — The Complete First Season: 30th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2014 — ''Transformers'' — The Classic Animated Series (Metrodome)

==External links==
*[https://drive.google.com/open?id=1SpaaKbcxwHDeZNmC4g9ZJemJ6HT5_vZp Full episode script, finalised on 27th July 1984]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ultimate Doom, Part 1}}
[[Category:The Transformers episodes]]
[[Category:Generation 2 episodes]]