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Triple Takeover

2024-12-01T05:45:46Z

RoboP08: /* Continuity errors */

{{episode
|image=TripleTakeover Blitzwing Astrotrain stadium.jpg
|caption=In which we learn exactly why Megatron is in charge of the Decepticons.
|series=G1toon
|ep=50
|series2=SRLFtoon
|ep2=39
|prev2=Kremzeek!
|next2=Child's Play (episode)
|series3=''[[Transformers: Generation 2 (cartoon)|The Transformers: Generation 2]]''
|ep3=18
|prev3=Kremzeek!
|next3=Starscream's Brigade
|title="Triple Takeover"
|season=2
|season ep=34
|written by=[[Larry Strauss]]
|production code=700-49
|airdate=[[November 19]], [[1985]]
|production company=[[Sunbow Productions]]
|animation studio=[[Unknown Generation 1 animation studios|Unknown]]
|continuity=[[Generation 1 cartoon continuity]]
|video=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMPu4Adi7JQ
|videosite=YouTube
}}
'''Astrotrain and Blitzwing depose Megatron and Starscream, then proceed to wreak havoc.'''

==Synopsis==
[[File:TripleTakeover Mount Deceptimore.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|Admit it. That is pretty cool.]]
[[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]], [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] and [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]] are using their weapons to carve their faces along with [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]]'s into a mountainside. They agree one of the faces doesn't belong, then decide to band together and overthrow Megatron. Flying back to base, Blitzwing and Astrotrain decide who should lead Megatron into the trap, one of them suggesting Starscream while the other counters how the [[Air Commander]] has constantly been attempting to become leader of the [[Decepticon]]s and failed. Starscream retorts as usual and says he will do it, and the other two gloat about manipulating him.

Starscream leads Megatron into the sewers, stating that a secret [[Autobot]] energy base is present there, but the doors close around them. Megatron recognizes it's a trap but gets frozen. Starscream gloats and tries to escape through a hatch but finds out that it's been locked by his "allies". This leaves Astrotrain and Blitzwing as joint Decepticon leaders.

[[File:Tripletakeoverblitzwingcoach.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|The Coach rivals Prowl, Jazz, and Ultra Magnus as "Best Sub-Commander ever".]]
Heading for a stadium, Blitzwing, in a display of great intelligence, drafts a [[football coach]] to be his [[second-in-command]] and demands tactical advice from him, keeping him stuffed in a locker when not needed. Blitzwing misinterprets the coach's suggestions of "zone defense" and "long bomb" and has the [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicons]] build a massive highway maze, then begins firing "long bombs" from the stadium into the surrounding city. [[Prowl (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Prowl]] leads a group of Autobots to investigate, but they end up crashing into each other in the Constructicons' maze and getting mashed flat by Blitzwing in tank mode. Meanwhile, Astrotrain heads to a train station, where he "conscripts" the [[Astroforce]], human trains which are to be his army. He sends them into a tunnel to collect energy lines and convert them into [[energon]]. It actually goes quite well for Astrotrain. The Astroforce? Not so much.

[[File:TripleTakeover Astrotrain trashedroforce.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|"You're embarrassing me in front of the guys!"]]
Meanwhile, [[Powerglide (G1)|Powerglide]] flies over the maze, where [[Scrapper (G1)|Scrapper]] has built himself a throne... made of Prowl, [[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]], [[Skids (G1)|Skids]], and [[Bluestreak (G1)|Bluestreak]]. Guided by Powerglide from the air, [[Hoist (G1)|Hoist]] and [[Smokescreen (G1)|Smokescreen]] manage to rescue the Autobots, causing Blitzwing and Scrapper to crash into each other. At the train station, the [[Seeker (body-type)|Seekers]] come to see how Astrotrain is doing. To his credit, he has gotten a lot of [[energon cube]]s, but his Astroforce has somehow gotten off their tracks and into a knot. Astrotrain urges one of the trains to gather some energy from a gas main, but it turns out to be a water main, which floods the tunnel. Worse, it heads into the tunnel in which Megatron and Starscream are trapped. Online again, Megatron accuses Starscream of another attempt at treason and begins the customary throttling. Starscream maintains that he was tricked. The pair go in search of the two traitorous [[Triple Changer]]s.

[[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]], [[Ironhide (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ironhide]], and [[Spike Witwicky (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Spike]] see the two Decepticons, only to be distracted by the water main flooding the city. Optimus rescues Spike after the boy is washed away, handing him off to Powerglide to take to safety. [[Trailbreaker (G1)|Trailbreaker]] uses his [[force field]] to push back the water, while Optimus and Ironhide seal the main. Heading for the station, Megatron and Starscream encounter Prime, who claims that he's looking for the real leaders of the Decepticons, implying it isn't the two of them. This really angers Megatron, who tries to kill the Autobot leader, but Prime escapes. Megatron leaves to put Astrotrain and Blitzwing in their place, while the Seekers watch and place bets on who will win. Optimus, however, is content to sit back and wait for the outcome.

At the stadium, the Constructicons demand a share of the power Blitzwing promised, but he refuses and tells them to go jump off a bridge. Bad idea, for the Constructicons form [[Devastator (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Devastator]]. The flood from the water main finally dies out at the stadium, depositing Astrotrain, who decides to scrap Blitzwing as well.

[[File:Tripletakeoverautobotthrone.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|Unfortunately, the "Seatmaster" line never really took off...]]
Megatron and Starscream arrive, and Megatron beats his would-be usurpers senseless, but Devastator knocks out Megatron, then turns his sights on the Air Commander. Starscream manages to dodge Devastator, then Megatron slams the giant. Megatron, Blitzwing, Astrotrain, Starscream, and Devastator then engage in a battle royale which sees Megatron emerge victorious. He decides to spare the traitors, saying the Decepticon cause is too important, but warns them never to betray him again.

As the Autobots look on, they're impressed that Prime knew that Megatron would handle the Decepticons for them. The previously injured Autobots form a throne for their commander to sit on, but Optimus Prime declares that he'd rather [[Roll out|roll]].
{{--}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Hoist (G1)|Hoist]] (14)
*[[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]] (15)
*[[Prowl (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Prowl]] (16)
*[[Skids (G1)|Skids]] (17)
*[[Bluestreak (G1)|Bluestreak]] (18)
*[[Powerglide (G1)|Powerglide]] (19)
*[[Smokescreen (G1)|Smokescreen]] (20)
*[[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] (25)
*[[Ironhide (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ironhide]] (26)
*[[Trailbreaker (G1)|Trailbreaker]] (28)
|c2=
{{collist|2|
*[[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] (1)
*[[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]] (2)
*[[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]] (3)
*[[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]] (4)
*[[Scrapper (G1)|Scrapper]] (8)
*[[Bonecrusher (G1)|Bonecrusher]] (9)
*[[Mixmaster (G1)|Mixmaster]] (10)
*[[Hook (G1)|Hook]] (11)
*[[Long Haul (G1)|Long Haul]] (12)
*[[Scavenger (G1)|Scavenger]] (13)
*[[Thrust (G1)|Thrust]] (21)
*[[Thundercracker (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Thundercracker]] (22)
*[[Dirge (G1)|Dirge]] (23)
*[[Ramjet (G1)|Ramjet]] (24)
*[[Devastator (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Devastator]] (29)
}}
|c3=
*[[football coach|Coach]] (5)
*Football players (6)
*Train conductor (7)
*[[Spike Witwicky (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Spike Witwicky]] (27)
}}

==Quotes==
"No planet ever lost its orbit underestimating the stupidity of Starscream."
:—'''Astrotrain'''

[[File:TripleTakeover Football coach.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|"You're playing stupid football, and I'm not going to have it!"]]
"Coach, it's a tank! What do I do?" 
"GIVE HIM THE BALL!"
:—A hapless '''halfback''' and his '''coach''' meet Blitzwing.

"Tell me what's on your mind, or I'll splatter it on the wall and see for myself!"
:—'''Blitzwing''' to <s>the football coach</s> his second-in-command.

"Scrapper calling Blitzwing. What is the purpose of this highway maze you ordered us to build?" 
"It's a ''zone defense'', you ignorant fool!"
:—'''Blitzwing''' explains the perfectly obvious to '''Scrapper'''

"Scrapper, how big is our zone defense?" 
"Can't tell. All the others are lost in it! All I know is, it's ''big!''"
:—Decepticon "leader" '''Blitzwing''' and '''Scrapper'''

[[File:TripleTakeover-ThrustAndAstrotrain.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|A single double-crossing Triple Changer.]]
"Astrotrain couldn't lead rats to a garbage can."
''(Other Decepticons snicker)''
:—Astrotrain gets no respect from '''Thrust'''.

"''You'' led me into this trap!!" 
"I was tricked! The Triple Changers! They told me it was a power station!" 
"You are either lying, or you're ''stupid!''" 
"I'm stupid! I'm stupid!"
:—'''Megatron''' and '''Starscream''' cut straight to the chase

''(Constructicons drive through scoreboard)'' 
'''Scrapper''': Victory is ours! 
'''Blitzwing''': What do you mean, ''ours''? You broke my scoreboard! 
'''Scrapper''': We built your maze. Now you keep your part of the bargain. 
'''Blitzwing''': What bargain? 
'''Scrapper''': You promised us a partnership in leading the Decepticons. 
'''Blitzwing''': Tell you what, guys. Why don't you go build a bridge...and ''jump off it''! 
'''Scrapper''': Constructicons... transform into Devastator! 
''(Constructicons form Devastator and advances menacingly on Blitzwing)'' 
'''Blitzwing''': Hey! No offense, big guy!
:—Blitzwing learns an important lesson: never shortchange the Decepticon team that can combine into a giant robot mode.

"Don't waste your time, Megatron. Incinerating you is of no interest to me. I'm looking for the leaders of the Decepticons." 
"''I'' am the Decepticon leader!" 
"You and Starscream are just a nuisance. A couple of metallic mosquitoes." 
"Mosquitoes?! Then feel my BITE!"
:—'''Optimus Prime''' brilliantly manipulates '''Megatron'''.

'''Thundercracker''': I say Megatron will prevail! 
'''Thrust''': Three energon cubes says you're wrong! 
'''Thundercracker''': Make it four! 
'''Ramjet''': My money is on Devastator.
:—Who becomes new leader of the Decepticons? PLACE BETS NOW!

"Get this straight: ''I'' am Decepticon Leader. YOU are recyclable!"
:—'''Megatron''' disses Blitzwing and Astrotrain

"Megatron is a wimp!" 
"So is ''Starscream''!" 
:—'''Starscream''' finds that kissing up doesn't work so well on '''Devastator'''

==Notes==
===Production information===
* First draft script submitted: 23rd May 1985
* Dialogue recording: 10th June 1985

===Continuity notes===
[[File:TripleTakeover Skids.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Blink and you'll miss him! Unless you're Prowl, in which case you'll smash right into him.]]
*By this point in the series, Starscream's voice had gotten rather high-pitched, and this is one of the most notable instances.
*The Triplechangers' trap uses "[[absolute zero degree molecules]]".
*Astrotrain refers to the fleeing humans as "spineless plasm-heads".
*Gadgets and powers:
**Hoist unfolds an incredibly long length of telescoping crane to save a driver whose car ran into the river. No wonder they call him "Hoist"!
**Ironhide fires "supercool nitrogen" from his hand gun to patch the broken water main. It's a blue laser beam that solidifies as a dark blue substance.
**Trailbreaker's forcefields are rainbow-coloured. Pretty! He fires them from his gun arm [[Dinobot Island, Part 1|again]].
**Powerglide can float in place in jet mode.
*This is the second and last time that Skids shows up in the Generation 1 cartoon. He has a completely different voice than he did in "[[Quest for Survival]]".
*Where did the trailer go?
**Prime's trailer rolls in from off-screen when he transforms during the flood, and rolls away again when he returns to [[robot mode]].
**The trailer follows him ''everywhere''! Even when he transforms inside a random human building, the trailer comes rolling in!
*Scrapper making a throne from the trashed Autobots is based on his bio, which says he incorporates defeated Autobots into his works.
*Devastator makes his first attempt at usurping control of the Decepticons from Megatron and actually attacks his former leader, something that goes against previous character portrayals, in which he was shown as a loyal follower (particularly notable in "[[The Core]]"). Also, how Megatron was able to defeat him is unknown, since the battle ended off-screen. Earlier on in the fight, Megatron's fusion cannon shots just bounced off him, so it's a big mystery.
*'''[[Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 1|< <]]''' What makes Starscream the leader? Megatron's gotten himself frozen! Unfortunately, so has Starscream. '''[[Starscream's Brigade|> >]]'''

===Real-world references===
*The weirdly improbable face carving is, of course, an homage to [[Mount Rushmore]].
*Astrotrain's line about "No planet ever lost its orbit underestimating the stupidity of Starscream" is a paraphrase of a famous quotation by early 20th Century satirist and journalist {{w|H. L. Mencken}}.
*''[[Star Wars (franchise)|Star Wars]]'' sound effects:
**Some ''[[Millennium Falcon]]'' engine rumble as the Seekers fly into the subway tunnel.
**The sliding door sound effect from the [[Death Star]] is used for the trains venting steam.
**More ''Falcon'' noise as Megatron and Starscream take off to attack Blitzwing.
**[[X-wing Fighter|X-Wings]] diving, and faint [[TIE Fighter]] roar, as Megatron takes off from the stadium.

===Animation and technical errors===
[[File:AstrotrainTakeover.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.25|For this shot, Astrotrain's helmet and shoulder-wheels are colored purple, as on his finalized design, but his wings are mostly grey, in accordance with the outdated color model the rest of the episode uses.]]
*Astrotrain is a real mess this episode.
**He spends virtually the entirety of this episode with an outdated color model which makes his helmet and most of his wings and shoulder-wheels grey instead of the standard purple of his finished design usually seen in the series. This alternate model can also be spotted in "[[The Secret of Omega Supreme (episode)|The Secret of Omega Supreme]]", and will be consistently used by [[AKOM]] in season three.
**Further, in a small handful of scenes (most notably, the shot of him transforming as he arrives at the train station), he appears with a color scheme "in-between" his outdated and finished designs, with purple helmet and shoulder wheels, but still mostly-grey wings (right). It's not clear if this came from an actual, third model sheet that was created between colour revisions, or if it was just a goof by the colorist combining aspects of the two. This particular screenshot has been widely shared online as if it were Astrotrain's true cartoon coloration (it's one of the first things you get it you google "cartoon Astrotrain"), and consequently, it [[Miscolorings based on the Generation 1 cartoon|went on to influence]] the appearance of his [[Astrotrain (G1)/toys#War for Cybertron: Siege|2019 ''Siege'' toy]].
**Additionally, throughout the episode, he ''also'' intermittently appears with a different rear-view character model previously seen in the [[Commercial/Generation 1|commercial]] for his toy, which omits the shuttle tailfin that's normally on his back, and makes the backs of his wings much more detailed.
*The conspiracists' laser-sculpting is not very credible. Several shots in a row produce no effect, and then Megatron's face appears in the rock after one additional shot. The three Decepticons aren't even moving their arms as they shoot. They also keep firing after the four faces are already complete.
*Coloring errors:
**As they fly in the beginning, Starscreams' chest is red when it should be white.
**As Starscream says, "I will get Megatron," Decepticon HQ is miscolored as white instead of purple.
**Starscream's eyes are blue as Megatron yells at him for failing.
**Blitzwing's tank barrel is purple as he aims at the football player with the ball.
**Blitzwing's head is purple instead of yellow as the transforms after hitting the scoreboard.
**The side of Blitzwing's eyeband is white instead of red as Scrapper yells for help.
**Thundercracker is colored as Starscream when the jets transform and land in the tunnel; not only is Starscream not part of the group, he is still frozen underground at this point.
**Blitzwing's head is purple again (instead of yellow) as he chastises the Constructicons for breaking his scoreboard.
**Megatron's helmet is a shade lighter than the rest of him as he tells Starscream to shut up. It changes back to normal as they start walking off.
**During the "Three energon cubes says you're wrong" profile shot, Thrust and Ramjet's color schemes are switched.
**Megatron's helmet is ''darker'' than the rest of his body as he says "Why not?" It changes to normal as Devastator picks him up.
*Starscream has only one wing emblem as he and Megatron walk through the sewer, and it's on right side up instead of the usual upside down.
*"Straight ahead, Megatron." Starscream's mouth isn't moving.
*When Blitzwing plows through the goal at the football stadium, the debris left behind vanishes in the next frame.
*When Blitzwing grabs the football coach, the coach is yelling, "Okay! Okay....commander!", but ''Blitzwing'' is the one mouthing the words!
*The camera shot during whole conversation between Blitzwing and the Coach is strangely cropped, so that Blitzwing's head is cut off above the mouth.
*The train conductor makes the bizarre deduction that Astrotrain has no driver. Couldn't the driver just be on the other side of the cab, out of sight? Hard to tell, since Astrotrain's forward-facing windows are missing in the shot. As is the rear half of his wheel assembly.
*Astrotrain rather flagrantly changes from all-purple to all-gray as he transforms.
*In the station, strange shot cropping again, as Astrotrain's head gets cut off for part of the shot.
*As Astrotrain walks up to the trains, the trains have changed positions from where they were in the previous shot, when they were visible through the hole in the station wall.
*A line of Astrotrain's appears to have been cut between "Even soldiers need brains" and "Astrotrain can fix that". This was presumably an assessment that the trains have no brains.
*When Astrotrain wrests down a computer component to start work on his train army, the component vanishes as he rips out the engine. The vent he ripped off is still on the train a moment later. And for a brief moment afterward, it appears as if Astrotrain picks up thin air with his hands.
*The lockers that Blitzwing kicks open to stuff his "second in command" into are [[Scale|extremely huge]]. If one compares the size of the coach to one of those lockers, he would need to ''jump'' just to reach one of the handles.
**On that note, how ''exactly'' does Blitzwing kick the locker door open? By all rights, it should be a lump of scrap metal on the floor.
*The guy whose car falls off the bridge yells "Help!" in Spike's voice.
*Scrapper is seen scooping a load of dirt when he appears, but as he transforms, not only is the dirt gone, but he appears in an entirely different location.
*After the first commercial break, Blitzwing's cannon shots randomly change from having the Decepticon laser noise to Optimus Prime's rifle noise.
*As Blitzwing first runs over Prowl and Skids, the two Autobots have switched positions from where they were in the previous shot. Perhaps in an attempt by the colorists to fix this, their color schemes are switched.
*Blitzwing runs over Prowl and Skids twice from the same direction. The second time he runs over them with ''no'' sense of vertical motion, as if they were flat as paper. He couldn't possibly have crushed them ''that'' flat.
*For some reason, Astrotrain gets a red glowing effect as he transforms out of train mode in the tunnels.
*Despite Astrotrain's orders to do various things, the train just keeps doing exactly the same thing over and over, courtesy of recycled animation.
*As the train backs up to bump into the pipe again, the glow effects of its headlights are floating in front of the headlights themselves.
*The Autobot throne changes quite a bit between shots. When we first see it, it's a lumpy pile of beat-up Autobots. When Hoist lassos it, it's mostly just Prowl and Skids, sitting back to back, undamaged. Prowl is even holding his gun!
*Thrust is shown during Thundercracker's "Leader?! How do you figure that?" line.
*When the seekers land in the tunnel, Starscream is shown landing, despite being frozen solid elsewhere. A couple shots later, you can see it was a miscolored Thundercracker.
*Two successive musical cues overlap for a second or two as the water comes bursting out of the tunnel.
[[File:Tripletakeover megatron frozen.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|"Hey fellas, what's cooler than bein' cool?"]]
*When the water bursts in and frees Megatron and Starscream, Starscream is standing upright. When he froze, he was crouching by the exit hatch. In the same shot, Megatron is missing his Decepticon insignia.
*After they unfreeze, Megatron floats past the camera three times in a row.
*When Spike is washed away, Optimus yells "Spike!," but Peter Cullen uses Ironhide's voice.
*Also, the animation used for those shots is strangely distorted, making Spike looking like a child for a few moments.
*When he finds Spike, Optimus sort of transforms around him. In the next shot, Spike is in the driver's seat but there's no steering wheel. And when Powerglide lowers his ladder, Prime's trailer has a red stripe on it rather than a white one.
*The depth of the water varies all over the place. In one shot, Trailbreaker drives it away from a building, revealing several floors that were completely inundated; in another shot, it's almost to the top of a streetlamp. In other shots, it's shallow enough for the Autobots to wade through. In one scene, Optimus is wading through water up to his shoulders, yet when he transforms, it only comes up to his fenders.
*A huge pipe is shown breaking when Optimus first tries to fix the broken water main. The pipe that he and Ironhide repair later, however, just has a tiny little crack in it, nowhere near enough to flood a tunnel, let alone a whole city.
*Trailbreaker's forcefields are rainbow-colored rather than golden in this episode.
*Blitzwing is doing a strange little boogie before the Constructicons smash his scoreboard, with electrical effects around his hand. It's not really clear what this is meant to be. Is it his endzone victory dance?
*Scrapper's cab roof is misdrawn during Blitzwing's "What bargain?" line.
*Megatron reaches off-screen during his confrontation with Optimus, and something electrical lights up; we never do see what it is, though.
*As Megatron and Starscream shoot at Optimus, Starscream suddenly shifts from behind Megatron to in front of him. This makes him look tiny for a moment.
*Megatron gets the standard Decepticon laser sound for his fusion cannon, layered on top of its normal sound effect.
*Someone mistook Prime's blinding headlights for a laser attack, and inserted his standard rifle sound effect a couple of times.
*Megatron is shown with foot thrusters as he and Starscream take off.
*Among the Decepticon jets following Prime to the stadium is an off-model Seeker (or maybe an off-model Blitzwing) colored like Astrotrain; this should be Thundercracker. The jets are flying extremely low; Thrust can't be more than 10 feet above the road.
*As they fly toward Blitzwing's position, Ramjet and Thrust are flying alongside.... Blitzwing.
*As the Autobots stand on the building roof, the water lapping at the building's edge is drawn as though it were surf coming in on a flat beach; parts of it just drift right over the building parapet.
*The same scene is supposed to show Trailbreaker using his forcefield to push Astrotrain toward the stadium, but it's so badly drawn and edited that it's very easy to miss.
*Devastator and Blitzwing are almost the same size as they grapple.
*As Starscream crashes after strafing Devastator, he passes in front of Blitzwing. The relative size makes it seem like he was meant to land behind him.
*While Astrotrain and Blitzwing are grappling, Devastator stomps Astrotrain's train mode underfoot, crushing it flat, shouting "You're next, Blitzwing!" As Astrotrain is still grappling with Blitzwing in the next shot, it's not clear what this was supposed to be. It's possible this shot was meant to come later, when Devastator is fighting the other four Decepticons.

===Continuity errors===
*Astrotrain reads the temperature in the trap room as "470 degrees below zero", but actual absolute zero is only 459 below zero.
*The coach is introduced commanding the team with the same colors as his own clothing, but by the time the game gets interrupted by Blitzwing, he's commanding the ''other'' team.
*The bridge that Hoist repairs is clearly blown in half, yet once Hoist leaps into the river to shore up its supports, traffic keeps rolling across it.
*The four Autobots are pretty much destroyed by Blitzwing. Bluestreak explodes, and chunks of him (and three of his tires) go flying in different directions. Prowl, Skids, and Tracks all crash explosively and are all crushed under Blitzwing's tank treads. Unsurprisingly, none of them are nearly so damaged when they show up again later.
*Adding on to that point, it does seem rather dumb Tracks forgot his secondary alt mode which would have let him FLY over the maze, but alas, Tracks wasn't thinking very smart that day was he?(since later on Powerglide guides a smaller rescue team of Autobots in, namely Smokescreen and Hoist to recover them)
*Despite what he says, Astrotrain doesn't ''have'' any score to settle with Blitzwing. (It's possible, though, that he just needed a good punching bag to beat up after the humiliation the Seekers gave him.)

===Trivia===
*[[Transformers Comic issue 2.3|In an issue of Titan's Transformers comic]], the movie Decepticon [[Barricade (Movie)|Barricade]] would reveal he's seen this episode.
*Signs in the city: STAR Daster, Hotel, Kend.
*Final score: Visitors 0; Blitzwing 1,569!

===Foreign localization===
'''French'''
:*''Title (Canadian French broadcast and European French DVD release):'' "'''La prise de pouvoir'''" ("The Takeover")
:*''Title (European French broadcast):'' "'''La dernière tentative'''" ("The Last Attempt")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?
::*For the first time in the French version, the commercial bumpers were left in the episode, despite not sporting any voice.
::*The sportsmen don't say anything as they play, the exception being the player who faces Blitzwing with the ball.
::*Blitzwing's name is never pronounced throughout the episode. For example, Scrapper's line "Scrapper calling Blitzwing" is dubbed by "Hello, hello, do you read me?".
::*Blitzwing's lines "I must thank my advisor for such great strategy. With an assault of my long bombs, I'll totally level this city in no time!" is missing.
::*The dialogue between Prowl and Skids as they drive to the action is missing.
::*During the battle in the maze, Blitzwing's line "Ha ha! Wait for me!" is missing. Just after, his line "Autobots! Worth 10 points each!" is missing too.
::*Powerglide does not say anything as he guides Hoist and Smokescreen in the maze, which makes the scene incomprehensible.
::*Optimus Prime calls Ironhide "Iron", despite his usual nickname in the dub being "Irok".

'''German'''
:*''Title (Generation 2 dub):'' "'''Der Aufstand'''" ("The Revolution")
:*''Original airdate:'' [[August 27]], [[1994]]

'''Italian'''
:*''Title (dub 1):'' "'''I Triplex ribelli'''" ("The Rebel Triple Changers")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?
::*This is one of the few episodes after ''[[Quest for Survival]]'' in which Optimus Prime is voiced by [[Piero Tiberi]] instead of [[Angelo Nicotra]].
::*Blitzwing's line: «But one head does not belong!» is oddly changed to: «Yes, but one head managed to resist!».
::*Football is called "rugby". The same thing already happened in ''[[Atlantis, Arise!]]''.
::*"Long bomb" is changed to "time bomb", totally ruining the joke. Still, this is understandable giving the difficulty of translating such a pun.
::*Powerglide's line: «Turn right» is heard '''after''' Smokescreen and Hoist already started turning right. Also, the line in Italian uses a singular verb, like if Powerglide was talking to just one character.
::*Astroforce's name is kept in English, but since Astrotrain is known in Italy as "Triplex Uno", an Italian viewer totally wouldn't understand that "Astroforce" comes from the character's name.
::*Energon cubes are once called ''cubi energetici'' ("energetic cubes") and later ''cubi energo-genetici'' (which can be roughly translated as "energo-genetic cubes").
::*Once, Starscream calls Astrotrain and Blitzwing "those three traitors"... despite them being two!
::*Constructicons are called "Constructor", which is sort of a mash-up of the English name and the Italian one ("Escavator").
::*In Ironhide's line: «I guess Prime was right: Megatron took care of the Decepticons for us», Prime's name is not pronounced in Italian, making not clear who Ironhide was referring to.
:*''Title (dub 2):'' "'''Triplice congiura'''" ("Triple Conspiracy")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

'''Japanese'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Triple Changer no Hanran'''" (トリプル・チェンジャーの反乱, "The Rebellion of the Triple Changers")
:*''Original airdate:'' [[April 11]], [[1986]]

'''Mandarin'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Zhēng Quán Duó lì '''" (争权夺利, "Scrambling for Leadership")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

'''Brazilian Portuguese'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Domínio Tríplice'''" ("Triple Dominion")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

'''Russian'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Troynoy perevorot'''" (Тройной переворот, "The Triple Upheaval")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

===Toys inspired by this episode===
[[File:WFC-Siege-Leader-Astrotrain.jpg|thumb|upright=1.66|]]
*'''''[[War for Cybertron: Siege|Siege]]'' Leader Class Astrotrain''' (Hasbro [[2019]])

:''Siege'' (and its ''Earthrise'' repack) Astrotrain features the errorous pre-final character model-inspired wing deco patterns.
{{-}}
*'''''[[Dramatic Capture Series]]'' Triple Takeover''' (TakaraTomy [[2025]])

:The ''Dramatic Capture Series'' 3-pack features Astrotrain (without the battle damage and the tender/launchpad), Starscream (and his Coronation kit), and Blitzwing (without his Energon Fists and Gauntlets). Astrotrain still retains the same old erroneous wing deco pattern from the original.

{{-}}

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote}}
;{{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]] [[2003]] — ''The Original Transformers'' — Season 2 Part 2 ([[The Original Transformers|Rhino Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2003 — ''The Original Transformers'' — Season 2 Part 2: Vol. 6 (Rhino Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2004]] — ''Transformers'' — Season 2 Part 2 ([[Metrodome]]) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2004 — ''Transformers'' — Collection 3: Series 2.2 ([[Madman Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of France.png|20px|France]] 2004 — ''Transformers'' — Volume 16 ([[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 Australia.png|20px|Australia]] [[2007]] — ''The Transformers'' — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of Italy.png|20px|Italy]] [[2009]] — ''Transformers'' — Volume 05: Stagione Due Parte Terza ([[Medianetwork Communication]]) — English and Italian audio. 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2009 — ''Transformers'' — Season Two: Part Two (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 Series: 25th Anniversary "Matrix of Leadership" Collection ([[Shout! Factory]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2009 — ''The Transformers'' — Season Two, Volume Two: 25th Anniversary Edition (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'' — Season Two, Volume Two: 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/file/d/1wYU85J-1QGjmvpaYsIUeSiXGMUmnVbZu/view?usp=sharing Full episode script]
*[https://drive.google.com/open?id=1pZqvrqtckaaZ4Nn9WJh89fhB8djWG7-6m Episode dialogue script]
*[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1axaGBcBZmONCVzB7bWNa8e57SsZZUYi9/view?usp=drive_link Episode model sheets]

[[Category:The Transformers episodes]]
[[Category:Generation 2 episodes]]

Triple Takeover

2024-12-01T05:45:24Z

RoboP08: /* Continuity errors */

{{episode
|image=TripleTakeover Blitzwing Astrotrain stadium.jpg
|caption=In which we learn exactly why Megatron is in charge of the Decepticons.
|series=G1toon
|ep=50
|series2=SRLFtoon
|ep2=39
|prev2=Kremzeek!
|next2=Child's Play (episode)
|series3=''[[Transformers: Generation 2 (cartoon)|The Transformers: Generation 2]]''
|ep3=18
|prev3=Kremzeek!
|next3=Starscream's Brigade
|title="Triple Takeover"
|season=2
|season ep=34
|written by=[[Larry Strauss]]
|production code=700-49
|airdate=[[November 19]], [[1985]]
|production company=[[Sunbow Productions]]
|animation studio=[[Unknown Generation 1 animation studios|Unknown]]
|continuity=[[Generation 1 cartoon continuity]]
|video=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMPu4Adi7JQ
|videosite=YouTube
}}
'''Astrotrain and Blitzwing depose Megatron and Starscream, then proceed to wreak havoc.'''

==Synopsis==
[[File:TripleTakeover Mount Deceptimore.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|Admit it. That is pretty cool.]]
[[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]], [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] and [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]] are using their weapons to carve their faces along with [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]]'s into a mountainside. They agree one of the faces doesn't belong, then decide to band together and overthrow Megatron. Flying back to base, Blitzwing and Astrotrain decide who should lead Megatron into the trap, one of them suggesting Starscream while the other counters how the [[Air Commander]] has constantly been attempting to become leader of the [[Decepticon]]s and failed. Starscream retorts as usual and says he will do it, and the other two gloat about manipulating him.

Starscream leads Megatron into the sewers, stating that a secret [[Autobot]] energy base is present there, but the doors close around them. Megatron recognizes it's a trap but gets frozen. Starscream gloats and tries to escape through a hatch but finds out that it's been locked by his "allies". This leaves Astrotrain and Blitzwing as joint Decepticon leaders.

[[File:Tripletakeoverblitzwingcoach.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|The Coach rivals Prowl, Jazz, and Ultra Magnus as "Best Sub-Commander ever".]]
Heading for a stadium, Blitzwing, in a display of great intelligence, drafts a [[football coach]] to be his [[second-in-command]] and demands tactical advice from him, keeping him stuffed in a locker when not needed. Blitzwing misinterprets the coach's suggestions of "zone defense" and "long bomb" and has the [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicons]] build a massive highway maze, then begins firing "long bombs" from the stadium into the surrounding city. [[Prowl (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Prowl]] leads a group of Autobots to investigate, but they end up crashing into each other in the Constructicons' maze and getting mashed flat by Blitzwing in tank mode. Meanwhile, Astrotrain heads to a train station, where he "conscripts" the [[Astroforce]], human trains which are to be his army. He sends them into a tunnel to collect energy lines and convert them into [[energon]]. It actually goes quite well for Astrotrain. The Astroforce? Not so much.

[[File:TripleTakeover Astrotrain trashedroforce.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|"You're embarrassing me in front of the guys!"]]
Meanwhile, [[Powerglide (G1)|Powerglide]] flies over the maze, where [[Scrapper (G1)|Scrapper]] has built himself a throne... made of Prowl, [[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]], [[Skids (G1)|Skids]], and [[Bluestreak (G1)|Bluestreak]]. Guided by Powerglide from the air, [[Hoist (G1)|Hoist]] and [[Smokescreen (G1)|Smokescreen]] manage to rescue the Autobots, causing Blitzwing and Scrapper to crash into each other. At the train station, the [[Seeker (body-type)|Seekers]] come to see how Astrotrain is doing. To his credit, he has gotten a lot of [[energon cube]]s, but his Astroforce has somehow gotten off their tracks and into a knot. Astrotrain urges one of the trains to gather some energy from a gas main, but it turns out to be a water main, which floods the tunnel. Worse, it heads into the tunnel in which Megatron and Starscream are trapped. Online again, Megatron accuses Starscream of another attempt at treason and begins the customary throttling. Starscream maintains that he was tricked. The pair go in search of the two traitorous [[Triple Changer]]s.

[[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]], [[Ironhide (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ironhide]], and [[Spike Witwicky (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Spike]] see the two Decepticons, only to be distracted by the water main flooding the city. Optimus rescues Spike after the boy is washed away, handing him off to Powerglide to take to safety. [[Trailbreaker (G1)|Trailbreaker]] uses his [[force field]] to push back the water, while Optimus and Ironhide seal the main. Heading for the station, Megatron and Starscream encounter Prime, who claims that he's looking for the real leaders of the Decepticons, implying it isn't the two of them. This really angers Megatron, who tries to kill the Autobot leader, but Prime escapes. Megatron leaves to put Astrotrain and Blitzwing in their place, while the Seekers watch and place bets on who will win. Optimus, however, is content to sit back and wait for the outcome.

At the stadium, the Constructicons demand a share of the power Blitzwing promised, but he refuses and tells them to go jump off a bridge. Bad idea, for the Constructicons form [[Devastator (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Devastator]]. The flood from the water main finally dies out at the stadium, depositing Astrotrain, who decides to scrap Blitzwing as well.

[[File:Tripletakeoverautobotthrone.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|Unfortunately, the "Seatmaster" line never really took off...]]
Megatron and Starscream arrive, and Megatron beats his would-be usurpers senseless, but Devastator knocks out Megatron, then turns his sights on the Air Commander. Starscream manages to dodge Devastator, then Megatron slams the giant. Megatron, Blitzwing, Astrotrain, Starscream, and Devastator then engage in a battle royale which sees Megatron emerge victorious. He decides to spare the traitors, saying the Decepticon cause is too important, but warns them never to betray him again.

As the Autobots look on, they're impressed that Prime knew that Megatron would handle the Decepticons for them. The previously injured Autobots form a throne for their commander to sit on, but Optimus Prime declares that he'd rather [[Roll out|roll]].
{{--}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Hoist (G1)|Hoist]] (14)
*[[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]] (15)
*[[Prowl (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Prowl]] (16)
*[[Skids (G1)|Skids]] (17)
*[[Bluestreak (G1)|Bluestreak]] (18)
*[[Powerglide (G1)|Powerglide]] (19)
*[[Smokescreen (G1)|Smokescreen]] (20)
*[[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] (25)
*[[Ironhide (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ironhide]] (26)
*[[Trailbreaker (G1)|Trailbreaker]] (28)
|c2=
{{collist|2|
*[[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] (1)
*[[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]] (2)
*[[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]] (3)
*[[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]] (4)
*[[Scrapper (G1)|Scrapper]] (8)
*[[Bonecrusher (G1)|Bonecrusher]] (9)
*[[Mixmaster (G1)|Mixmaster]] (10)
*[[Hook (G1)|Hook]] (11)
*[[Long Haul (G1)|Long Haul]] (12)
*[[Scavenger (G1)|Scavenger]] (13)
*[[Thrust (G1)|Thrust]] (21)
*[[Thundercracker (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Thundercracker]] (22)
*[[Dirge (G1)|Dirge]] (23)
*[[Ramjet (G1)|Ramjet]] (24)
*[[Devastator (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Devastator]] (29)
}}
|c3=
*[[football coach|Coach]] (5)
*Football players (6)
*Train conductor (7)
*[[Spike Witwicky (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Spike Witwicky]] (27)
}}

==Quotes==
"No planet ever lost its orbit underestimating the stupidity of Starscream."
:—'''Astrotrain'''

[[File:TripleTakeover Football coach.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|"You're playing stupid football, and I'm not going to have it!"]]
"Coach, it's a tank! What do I do?" 
"GIVE HIM THE BALL!"
:—A hapless '''halfback''' and his '''coach''' meet Blitzwing.

"Tell me what's on your mind, or I'll splatter it on the wall and see for myself!"
:—'''Blitzwing''' to <s>the football coach</s> his second-in-command.

"Scrapper calling Blitzwing. What is the purpose of this highway maze you ordered us to build?" 
"It's a ''zone defense'', you ignorant fool!"
:—'''Blitzwing''' explains the perfectly obvious to '''Scrapper'''

"Scrapper, how big is our zone defense?" 
"Can't tell. All the others are lost in it! All I know is, it's ''big!''"
:—Decepticon "leader" '''Blitzwing''' and '''Scrapper'''

[[File:TripleTakeover-ThrustAndAstrotrain.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|A single double-crossing Triple Changer.]]
"Astrotrain couldn't lead rats to a garbage can."
''(Other Decepticons snicker)''
:—Astrotrain gets no respect from '''Thrust'''.

"''You'' led me into this trap!!" 
"I was tricked! The Triple Changers! They told me it was a power station!" 
"You are either lying, or you're ''stupid!''" 
"I'm stupid! I'm stupid!"
:—'''Megatron''' and '''Starscream''' cut straight to the chase

''(Constructicons drive through scoreboard)'' 
'''Scrapper''': Victory is ours! 
'''Blitzwing''': What do you mean, ''ours''? You broke my scoreboard! 
'''Scrapper''': We built your maze. Now you keep your part of the bargain. 
'''Blitzwing''': What bargain? 
'''Scrapper''': You promised us a partnership in leading the Decepticons. 
'''Blitzwing''': Tell you what, guys. Why don't you go build a bridge...and ''jump off it''! 
'''Scrapper''': Constructicons... transform into Devastator! 
''(Constructicons form Devastator and advances menacingly on Blitzwing)'' 
'''Blitzwing''': Hey! No offense, big guy!
:—Blitzwing learns an important lesson: never shortchange the Decepticon team that can combine into a giant robot mode.

"Don't waste your time, Megatron. Incinerating you is of no interest to me. I'm looking for the leaders of the Decepticons." 
"''I'' am the Decepticon leader!" 
"You and Starscream are just a nuisance. A couple of metallic mosquitoes." 
"Mosquitoes?! Then feel my BITE!"
:—'''Optimus Prime''' brilliantly manipulates '''Megatron'''.

'''Thundercracker''': I say Megatron will prevail! 
'''Thrust''': Three energon cubes says you're wrong! 
'''Thundercracker''': Make it four! 
'''Ramjet''': My money is on Devastator.
:—Who becomes new leader of the Decepticons? PLACE BETS NOW!

"Get this straight: ''I'' am Decepticon Leader. YOU are recyclable!"
:—'''Megatron''' disses Blitzwing and Astrotrain

"Megatron is a wimp!" 
"So is ''Starscream''!" 
:—'''Starscream''' finds that kissing up doesn't work so well on '''Devastator'''

==Notes==
===Production information===
* First draft script submitted: 23rd May 1985
* Dialogue recording: 10th June 1985

===Continuity notes===
[[File:TripleTakeover Skids.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Blink and you'll miss him! Unless you're Prowl, in which case you'll smash right into him.]]
*By this point in the series, Starscream's voice had gotten rather high-pitched, and this is one of the most notable instances.
*The Triplechangers' trap uses "[[absolute zero degree molecules]]".
*Astrotrain refers to the fleeing humans as "spineless plasm-heads".
*Gadgets and powers:
**Hoist unfolds an incredibly long length of telescoping crane to save a driver whose car ran into the river. No wonder they call him "Hoist"!
**Ironhide fires "supercool nitrogen" from his hand gun to patch the broken water main. It's a blue laser beam that solidifies as a dark blue substance.
**Trailbreaker's forcefields are rainbow-coloured. Pretty! He fires them from his gun arm [[Dinobot Island, Part 1|again]].
**Powerglide can float in place in jet mode.
*This is the second and last time that Skids shows up in the Generation 1 cartoon. He has a completely different voice than he did in "[[Quest for Survival]]".
*Where did the trailer go?
**Prime's trailer rolls in from off-screen when he transforms during the flood, and rolls away again when he returns to [[robot mode]].
**The trailer follows him ''everywhere''! Even when he transforms inside a random human building, the trailer comes rolling in!
*Scrapper making a throne from the trashed Autobots is based on his bio, which says he incorporates defeated Autobots into his works.
*Devastator makes his first attempt at usurping control of the Decepticons from Megatron and actually attacks his former leader, something that goes against previous character portrayals, in which he was shown as a loyal follower (particularly notable in "[[The Core]]"). Also, how Megatron was able to defeat him is unknown, since the battle ended off-screen. Earlier on in the fight, Megatron's fusion cannon shots just bounced off him, so it's a big mystery.
*'''[[Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 1|< <]]''' What makes Starscream the leader? Megatron's gotten himself frozen! Unfortunately, so has Starscream. '''[[Starscream's Brigade|> >]]'''

===Real-world references===
*The weirdly improbable face carving is, of course, an homage to [[Mount Rushmore]].
*Astrotrain's line about "No planet ever lost its orbit underestimating the stupidity of Starscream" is a paraphrase of a famous quotation by early 20th Century satirist and journalist {{w|H. L. Mencken}}.
*''[[Star Wars (franchise)|Star Wars]]'' sound effects:
**Some ''[[Millennium Falcon]]'' engine rumble as the Seekers fly into the subway tunnel.
**The sliding door sound effect from the [[Death Star]] is used for the trains venting steam.
**More ''Falcon'' noise as Megatron and Starscream take off to attack Blitzwing.
**[[X-wing Fighter|X-Wings]] diving, and faint [[TIE Fighter]] roar, as Megatron takes off from the stadium.

===Animation and technical errors===
[[File:AstrotrainTakeover.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.25|For this shot, Astrotrain's helmet and shoulder-wheels are colored purple, as on his finalized design, but his wings are mostly grey, in accordance with the outdated color model the rest of the episode uses.]]
*Astrotrain is a real mess this episode.
**He spends virtually the entirety of this episode with an outdated color model which makes his helmet and most of his wings and shoulder-wheels grey instead of the standard purple of his finished design usually seen in the series. This alternate model can also be spotted in "[[The Secret of Omega Supreme (episode)|The Secret of Omega Supreme]]", and will be consistently used by [[AKOM]] in season three.
**Further, in a small handful of scenes (most notably, the shot of him transforming as he arrives at the train station), he appears with a color scheme "in-between" his outdated and finished designs, with purple helmet and shoulder wheels, but still mostly-grey wings (right). It's not clear if this came from an actual, third model sheet that was created between colour revisions, or if it was just a goof by the colorist combining aspects of the two. This particular screenshot has been widely shared online as if it were Astrotrain's true cartoon coloration (it's one of the first things you get it you google "cartoon Astrotrain"), and consequently, it [[Miscolorings based on the Generation 1 cartoon|went on to influence]] the appearance of his [[Astrotrain (G1)/toys#War for Cybertron: Siege|2019 ''Siege'' toy]].
**Additionally, throughout the episode, he ''also'' intermittently appears with a different rear-view character model previously seen in the [[Commercial/Generation 1|commercial]] for his toy, which omits the shuttle tailfin that's normally on his back, and makes the backs of his wings much more detailed.
*The conspiracists' laser-sculpting is not very credible. Several shots in a row produce no effect, and then Megatron's face appears in the rock after one additional shot. The three Decepticons aren't even moving their arms as they shoot. They also keep firing after the four faces are already complete.
*Coloring errors:
**As they fly in the beginning, Starscreams' chest is red when it should be white.
**As Starscream says, "I will get Megatron," Decepticon HQ is miscolored as white instead of purple.
**Starscream's eyes are blue as Megatron yells at him for failing.
**Blitzwing's tank barrel is purple as he aims at the football player with the ball.
**Blitzwing's head is purple instead of yellow as the transforms after hitting the scoreboard.
**The side of Blitzwing's eyeband is white instead of red as Scrapper yells for help.
**Thundercracker is colored as Starscream when the jets transform and land in the tunnel; not only is Starscream not part of the group, he is still frozen underground at this point.
**Blitzwing's head is purple again (instead of yellow) as he chastises the Constructicons for breaking his scoreboard.
**Megatron's helmet is a shade lighter than the rest of him as he tells Starscream to shut up. It changes back to normal as they start walking off.
**During the "Three energon cubes says you're wrong" profile shot, Thrust and Ramjet's color schemes are switched.
**Megatron's helmet is ''darker'' than the rest of his body as he says "Why not?" It changes to normal as Devastator picks him up.
*Starscream has only one wing emblem as he and Megatron walk through the sewer, and it's on right side up instead of the usual upside down.
*"Straight ahead, Megatron." Starscream's mouth isn't moving.
*When Blitzwing plows through the goal at the football stadium, the debris left behind vanishes in the next frame.
*When Blitzwing grabs the football coach, the coach is yelling, "Okay! Okay....commander!", but ''Blitzwing'' is the one mouthing the words!
*The camera shot during whole conversation between Blitzwing and the Coach is strangely cropped, so that Blitzwing's head is cut off above the mouth.
*The train conductor makes the bizarre deduction that Astrotrain has no driver. Couldn't the driver just be on the other side of the cab, out of sight? Hard to tell, since Astrotrain's forward-facing windows are missing in the shot. As is the rear half of his wheel assembly.
*Astrotrain rather flagrantly changes from all-purple to all-gray as he transforms.
*In the station, strange shot cropping again, as Astrotrain's head gets cut off for part of the shot.
*As Astrotrain walks up to the trains, the trains have changed positions from where they were in the previous shot, when they were visible through the hole in the station wall.
*A line of Astrotrain's appears to have been cut between "Even soldiers need brains" and "Astrotrain can fix that". This was presumably an assessment that the trains have no brains.
*When Astrotrain wrests down a computer component to start work on his train army, the component vanishes as he rips out the engine. The vent he ripped off is still on the train a moment later. And for a brief moment afterward, it appears as if Astrotrain picks up thin air with his hands.
*The lockers that Blitzwing kicks open to stuff his "second in command" into are [[Scale|extremely huge]]. If one compares the size of the coach to one of those lockers, he would need to ''jump'' just to reach one of the handles.
**On that note, how ''exactly'' does Blitzwing kick the locker door open? By all rights, it should be a lump of scrap metal on the floor.
*The guy whose car falls off the bridge yells "Help!" in Spike's voice.
*Scrapper is seen scooping a load of dirt when he appears, but as he transforms, not only is the dirt gone, but he appears in an entirely different location.
*After the first commercial break, Blitzwing's cannon shots randomly change from having the Decepticon laser noise to Optimus Prime's rifle noise.
*As Blitzwing first runs over Prowl and Skids, the two Autobots have switched positions from where they were in the previous shot. Perhaps in an attempt by the colorists to fix this, their color schemes are switched.
*Blitzwing runs over Prowl and Skids twice from the same direction. The second time he runs over them with ''no'' sense of vertical motion, as if they were flat as paper. He couldn't possibly have crushed them ''that'' flat.
*For some reason, Astrotrain gets a red glowing effect as he transforms out of train mode in the tunnels.
*Despite Astrotrain's orders to do various things, the train just keeps doing exactly the same thing over and over, courtesy of recycled animation.
*As the train backs up to bump into the pipe again, the glow effects of its headlights are floating in front of the headlights themselves.
*The Autobot throne changes quite a bit between shots. When we first see it, it's a lumpy pile of beat-up Autobots. When Hoist lassos it, it's mostly just Prowl and Skids, sitting back to back, undamaged. Prowl is even holding his gun!
*Thrust is shown during Thundercracker's "Leader?! How do you figure that?" line.
*When the seekers land in the tunnel, Starscream is shown landing, despite being frozen solid elsewhere. A couple shots later, you can see it was a miscolored Thundercracker.
*Two successive musical cues overlap for a second or two as the water comes bursting out of the tunnel.
[[File:Tripletakeover megatron frozen.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|"Hey fellas, what's cooler than bein' cool?"]]
*When the water bursts in and frees Megatron and Starscream, Starscream is standing upright. When he froze, he was crouching by the exit hatch. In the same shot, Megatron is missing his Decepticon insignia.
*After they unfreeze, Megatron floats past the camera three times in a row.
*When Spike is washed away, Optimus yells "Spike!," but Peter Cullen uses Ironhide's voice.
*Also, the animation used for those shots is strangely distorted, making Spike looking like a child for a few moments.
*When he finds Spike, Optimus sort of transforms around him. In the next shot, Spike is in the driver's seat but there's no steering wheel. And when Powerglide lowers his ladder, Prime's trailer has a red stripe on it rather than a white one.
*The depth of the water varies all over the place. In one shot, Trailbreaker drives it away from a building, revealing several floors that were completely inundated; in another shot, it's almost to the top of a streetlamp. In other shots, it's shallow enough for the Autobots to wade through. In one scene, Optimus is wading through water up to his shoulders, yet when he transforms, it only comes up to his fenders.
*A huge pipe is shown breaking when Optimus first tries to fix the broken water main. The pipe that he and Ironhide repair later, however, just has a tiny little crack in it, nowhere near enough to flood a tunnel, let alone a whole city.
*Trailbreaker's forcefields are rainbow-colored rather than golden in this episode.
*Blitzwing is doing a strange little boogie before the Constructicons smash his scoreboard, with electrical effects around his hand. It's not really clear what this is meant to be. Is it his endzone victory dance?
*Scrapper's cab roof is misdrawn during Blitzwing's "What bargain?" line.
*Megatron reaches off-screen during his confrontation with Optimus, and something electrical lights up; we never do see what it is, though.
*As Megatron and Starscream shoot at Optimus, Starscream suddenly shifts from behind Megatron to in front of him. This makes him look tiny for a moment.
*Megatron gets the standard Decepticon laser sound for his fusion cannon, layered on top of its normal sound effect.
*Someone mistook Prime's blinding headlights for a laser attack, and inserted his standard rifle sound effect a couple of times.
*Megatron is shown with foot thrusters as he and Starscream take off.
*Among the Decepticon jets following Prime to the stadium is an off-model Seeker (or maybe an off-model Blitzwing) colored like Astrotrain; this should be Thundercracker. The jets are flying extremely low; Thrust can't be more than 10 feet above the road.
*As they fly toward Blitzwing's position, Ramjet and Thrust are flying alongside.... Blitzwing.
*As the Autobots stand on the building roof, the water lapping at the building's edge is drawn as though it were surf coming in on a flat beach; parts of it just drift right over the building parapet.
*The same scene is supposed to show Trailbreaker using his forcefield to push Astrotrain toward the stadium, but it's so badly drawn and edited that it's very easy to miss.
*Devastator and Blitzwing are almost the same size as they grapple.
*As Starscream crashes after strafing Devastator, he passes in front of Blitzwing. The relative size makes it seem like he was meant to land behind him.
*While Astrotrain and Blitzwing are grappling, Devastator stomps Astrotrain's train mode underfoot, crushing it flat, shouting "You're next, Blitzwing!" As Astrotrain is still grappling with Blitzwing in the next shot, it's not clear what this was supposed to be. It's possible this shot was meant to come later, when Devastator is fighting the other four Decepticons.

===Continuity errors===
*Astrotrain reads the temperature in the trap room as "470 degrees below zero", but actual absolute zero is only 459 below zero.
*The coach is introduced commanding the team with the same colors as his own clothing, but by the time the game gets interrupted by Blitzwing, he's commanding the ''other'' team.
*The bridge that Hoist repairs is clearly blown in half, yet once Hoist leaps into the river to shore up its supports, traffic keeps rolling across it.
*The four Autobots are pretty much destroyed by Blitzwing. Bluestreak explodes, and chunks of him (and three of his tires) go flying in different directions. Prowl, Skids, and Tracks all crash explosively and are all crushed under Blitzwing's tank treads. Unsurprisingly, none of them are nearly so damaged when they show up again later.
*Adding on to that point, it does seem rather dumb Tracks forgot his secondary alt mode which would have let him FLY over the maze, but alas, Tracks wasn't thinking very smart that day was he?
(since later on Powerglide guides a smaller rescue team of Autobots in, namely Smokescreen and Hoist to recover them)
*Despite what he says, Astrotrain doesn't ''have'' any score to settle with Blitzwing. (It's possible, though, that he just needed a good punching bag to beat up after the humiliation the Seekers gave him.)

===Trivia===
*[[Transformers Comic issue 2.3|In an issue of Titan's Transformers comic]], the movie Decepticon [[Barricade (Movie)|Barricade]] would reveal he's seen this episode.
*Signs in the city: STAR Daster, Hotel, Kend.
*Final score: Visitors 0; Blitzwing 1,569!

===Foreign localization===
'''French'''
:*''Title (Canadian French broadcast and European French DVD release):'' "'''La prise de pouvoir'''" ("The Takeover")
:*''Title (European French broadcast):'' "'''La dernière tentative'''" ("The Last Attempt")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?
::*For the first time in the French version, the commercial bumpers were left in the episode, despite not sporting any voice.
::*The sportsmen don't say anything as they play, the exception being the player who faces Blitzwing with the ball.
::*Blitzwing's name is never pronounced throughout the episode. For example, Scrapper's line "Scrapper calling Blitzwing" is dubbed by "Hello, hello, do you read me?".
::*Blitzwing's lines "I must thank my advisor for such great strategy. With an assault of my long bombs, I'll totally level this city in no time!" is missing.
::*The dialogue between Prowl and Skids as they drive to the action is missing.
::*During the battle in the maze, Blitzwing's line "Ha ha! Wait for me!" is missing. Just after, his line "Autobots! Worth 10 points each!" is missing too.
::*Powerglide does not say anything as he guides Hoist and Smokescreen in the maze, which makes the scene incomprehensible.
::*Optimus Prime calls Ironhide "Iron", despite his usual nickname in the dub being "Irok".

'''German'''
:*''Title (Generation 2 dub):'' "'''Der Aufstand'''" ("The Revolution")
:*''Original airdate:'' [[August 27]], [[1994]]

'''Italian'''
:*''Title (dub 1):'' "'''I Triplex ribelli'''" ("The Rebel Triple Changers")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?
::*This is one of the few episodes after ''[[Quest for Survival]]'' in which Optimus Prime is voiced by [[Piero Tiberi]] instead of [[Angelo Nicotra]].
::*Blitzwing's line: «But one head does not belong!» is oddly changed to: «Yes, but one head managed to resist!».
::*Football is called "rugby". The same thing already happened in ''[[Atlantis, Arise!]]''.
::*"Long bomb" is changed to "time bomb", totally ruining the joke. Still, this is understandable giving the difficulty of translating such a pun.
::*Powerglide's line: «Turn right» is heard '''after''' Smokescreen and Hoist already started turning right. Also, the line in Italian uses a singular verb, like if Powerglide was talking to just one character.
::*Astroforce's name is kept in English, but since Astrotrain is known in Italy as "Triplex Uno", an Italian viewer totally wouldn't understand that "Astroforce" comes from the character's name.
::*Energon cubes are once called ''cubi energetici'' ("energetic cubes") and later ''cubi energo-genetici'' (which can be roughly translated as "energo-genetic cubes").
::*Once, Starscream calls Astrotrain and Blitzwing "those three traitors"... despite them being two!
::*Constructicons are called "Constructor", which is sort of a mash-up of the English name and the Italian one ("Escavator").
::*In Ironhide's line: «I guess Prime was right: Megatron took care of the Decepticons for us», Prime's name is not pronounced in Italian, making not clear who Ironhide was referring to.
:*''Title (dub 2):'' "'''Triplice congiura'''" ("Triple Conspiracy")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

'''Japanese'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Triple Changer no Hanran'''" (トリプル・チェンジャーの反乱, "The Rebellion of the Triple Changers")
:*''Original airdate:'' [[April 11]], [[1986]]

'''Mandarin'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Zhēng Quán Duó lì '''" (争权夺利, "Scrambling for Leadership")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

'''Brazilian Portuguese'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Domínio Tríplice'''" ("Triple Dominion")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

'''Russian'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Troynoy perevorot'''" (Тройной переворот, "The Triple Upheaval")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

===Toys inspired by this episode===
[[File:WFC-Siege-Leader-Astrotrain.jpg|thumb|upright=1.66|]]
*'''''[[War for Cybertron: Siege|Siege]]'' Leader Class Astrotrain''' (Hasbro [[2019]])

:''Siege'' (and its ''Earthrise'' repack) Astrotrain features the errorous pre-final character model-inspired wing deco patterns.
{{-}}
*'''''[[Dramatic Capture Series]]'' Triple Takeover''' (TakaraTomy [[2025]])

:The ''Dramatic Capture Series'' 3-pack features Astrotrain (without the battle damage and the tender/launchpad), Starscream (and his Coronation kit), and Blitzwing (without his Energon Fists and Gauntlets). Astrotrain still retains the same old erroneous wing deco pattern from the original.

{{-}}

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote}}
;{{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]] [[2003]] — ''The Original Transformers'' — Season 2 Part 2 ([[The Original Transformers|Rhino Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2003 — ''The Original Transformers'' — Season 2 Part 2: Vol. 6 (Rhino Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2004]] — ''Transformers'' — Season 2 Part 2 ([[Metrodome]]) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2004 — ''Transformers'' — Collection 3: Series 2.2 ([[Madman Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of France.png|20px|France]] 2004 — ''Transformers'' — Volume 16 ([[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 Australia.png|20px|Australia]] [[2007]] — ''The Transformers'' — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of Italy.png|20px|Italy]] [[2009]] — ''Transformers'' — Volume 05: Stagione Due Parte Terza ([[Medianetwork Communication]]) — English and Italian audio. 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2009 — ''Transformers'' — Season Two: Part Two (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 Series: 25th Anniversary "Matrix of Leadership" Collection ([[Shout! Factory]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2009 — ''The Transformers'' — Season Two, Volume Two: 25th Anniversary Edition (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'' — Season Two, Volume Two: 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/file/d/1wYU85J-1QGjmvpaYsIUeSiXGMUmnVbZu/view?usp=sharing Full episode script]
*[https://drive.google.com/open?id=1pZqvrqtckaaZ4Nn9WJh89fhB8djWG7-6m Episode dialogue script]
*[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1axaGBcBZmONCVzB7bWNa8e57SsZZUYi9/view?usp=drive_link Episode model sheets]

[[Category:The Transformers episodes]]
[[Category:Generation 2 episodes]]

Dark Awakening (episode)

2019-05-25T01:20:28Z

RoboP08: /* Quotes */

{{featured}}
{{disambig2|the Generation 1 cartoon episode|the ''Legends'' event|Dark Awakening (Legends)}}
{{episode|
|series=G1toon
|series2=2010
|ep=73
|ep2=8
|prev2=Starscream's Ghost
|next2=Forever Is a Long Time Coming (episode)
|image=Optimusg1zombie.jpg
|caption=Yeah, let ''this'' be how the kids remember their hero.
|title="Dark Awakening"
|production code=700-93
|airdate=[[October 1]], [[1986]]
|written by=[[Antoni Zalewski]]
|production company=[[Sunbow Productions]]
|animation studio=[[AKOM]]
|continuity=[[Generation 1 cartoon continuity]]
}}
'''Optimus Prime is revived as a zombie by Quintessons.'''

==Synopsis==
[[File:G1-screencap darkawakening Optimus empty tomb.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|Don't you hate when your stuff goes missing?]]
On the run from [[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]], [[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Rodimus Prime]], [[Arcee (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Arcee]], [[Ultra Magnus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ultra Magnus]], [[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]], [[Spike Witwicky (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Spike]] and [[Daniel Witwicky (G1)|Daniel]] try the old "detonate three-quarters of the ship" trick to lose their pursuers. What's left of the ship can't support human life for long, however, so they take refuge on board the nearby [[Autobot Mausoleum]], an interstellar tomb containing many of their deceased comrades, most notably the venerated [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]].

While exploring by himself, Daniel is stuck in a dark room with robot corpses and gets appropriately creeped out... particularly when he sees what looks like the fully animated form of Optimus Prime. When he finds the others he swears he has seen Optimus Prime alive. To satisfy his curiosity and against the opinions of the other Autobots, Rodimus opens Prime's tomb, only to find it empty. However, they cannot investigate further because the Decepticons have followed them inside and attack them (turns out Galvatron has wised up to the detonate-three-quarters thing.) The fierce battle that follows appears lost for the Autobots, when suddenly they are saved by none other than Optimus Prime. With their ranks bolstered by the mighty warrior's firepower, they quickly drive the freaked out Decepticons into retreat.

[[File:OptimusMatrixAwakening.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|Uh uh. Nope. Had it. Done with it.]]
The Autobots are amazed and confused at Prime's presence. Optimus can give them no explanation to his apparent resurrection, just the typical near-death experience of seeing darkness and then a light at the end of the tunnel. Rodimus Prime eagerly (too eagerly) returns the [[Matrix of Leadership]] to him, despite Prime's bizarre behavior and damaged appearance, and against the advice of Kup and Ultra Magnus. Without the Matrix inside him, Rodimus reverts to Hot Rod and declares, "Let's party!" Optimus evidently has other plans and attacks the Autobots and sets the auto-destruct sequence to the mausoleum ship. He then departs and leaves the others stranded.

After returning to Cybertron, Optimus informs the [[Autobot]]s that Rodimus and the others were killed by the Quintessons. This puts everyone in a pretty bad mood ([[Springer (G1)|Springer]] swears vengeance - particularly for Arcee - while [[Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]] spends at least a minute stomping and thumping his tail). Optimus re-assumes command and orders an all-out attack on a supposed Quintesson base.

[[File:G1-screencap DarkAwakening Quintessons missiles.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|Our budget only ran to six missiles.]]
Hot Rod and his group manage to escape, mere moments before the mausoleum ship plunges into a star and explodes. They return to Cybertron, but find nobody around but the Dinobots. Turns out most of the Autobots have left to attack the Quintessons. They pursue their friends in their own ship, but arrive to find the [[Autobot fleet]] already being decimated by Quintesson missile fire. Their frantic calls to stop the attack are dismissed by Optimus as Quintesson tricks.

Hot Rod and the others finally manage to board the lead ship, and the former Rodimus goes "Optimus hunting" after his [[zombie|zombified]] mentor. When the two meet, Optimus starts to pound on Hot Rod, but as he's kicking Hot Rod's tailpipe he begs Hot Rod to defeat him.

[[File:Zombiesmatrixmakesmetoostrong.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|And that's for getting me killed!]]
Fighting against both Hot Rod and himself, Optimus flashes back to his own reanimation at the hands of the Quintessons, who stole his corpse and reanimated it with their own evil programming to lead all Autobots into a trap.
Optimus is nothing more than a "robotic zombie", combined with "lingering remnants" of his personality and memories. Hot Rod puts up a brave fight in a moment of compassion trying to help Optimus, Hot Rod is physically overcome by Optimus, but the influence of the Matrix allows Prime to overcome the Quintessons' programming. Ending the fight, Optimus returns the Matrix to Hot Rod's chest cavity, restoring him to his status as Rodimus Prime.
As Optimus Prime takes his leave, the other Autobots find their battered leader and inform him that the equally battered ship is being evacuated.

Optimus Prime takes control of the ship, and orders the Autobot fleet away from the Quintesson trap.

As the stunned Quintessons watch, the Autobot fleet escapes. Optimus's final act is to pilot the Autobot flagship into the trigger zone of the Quintesson trap; ensuring the safety of the retreating Autobot ships and craft.
Closing the distance piloting the command ship, Optimus Prime suffers horrendous damage as the Quintessons bombard the ship with missile fire and explosions and flames erupt from various points in the command ship on top of the battle damage Optimus had incurred previously from his fight with Hot Rod; loosing an arm namely.

With a massive explosion, the solar system is destroyed.
As Kup bids his old friend farewell and the other Autobots mourn their lost leader a second time, Magnus remarks that the nova will be Optimus's memorial. Rodimus doubts he'll be the [[Prime (rank)|Autobot leader]] that Optimus Prime was, but vows to try.

{{note|A short narrative voiceover by [[Victor Caroli]] was tacked on to the final scene when this episode made its first re-run airing: 'But is this ''really'' the end of Optimus Prime? Find out in tomorrow's exciting episode, "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1|The Return of Optimus Prime]]"!' Baffled by such an ambiguous title, children the world over were left wondering if this was in fact the end of Optimus Prime.}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Rodimus Prime]] (2)
*[[Ultra Magnus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ultra Magnus]] (3)
*[[Arcee (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Arcee]] (9)
*[[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]] (11)
*[[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] (14)
*[[Perceptor (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Perceptor]] (15)
*[[Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]] (16)
*[[Springer (G1)|Springer]] (17)
*[[Skydive (G1 Aerialbot)|Skydive]] (18)
*[[Snarl (G1)|Snarl]] (19)
*[[Sludge (G1)|Sludge]] (20)
*[[Slingshot (G1)|Slingshot]] (21)
*[[Powerglide (G1)|Powerglide]] (22)
*[[Jetfire (G1)|Skyfire]] (23)
*[[Blurr (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Blurr]] (24)
*[[Jazz (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Jazz]] (25)
*[[Blaster (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Blaster]] (26)
*[[Air Raid (G1)|Air Raid]] (27)
*[[Wheelie (G1)|Wheelie]] (28)
|c2=
*[[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]] (4)
*[[Scourge (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Scourge]] (5)
*[[Sweep (G1)|Sweeps]] (6)
*[[Cyclonus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Cyclonus]] (8)
*[[Dirge (G1)|Dirge]] (12)
*[[Thrust (G1)|Thrust]] (13)
|c3=
*[[Spike Witwicky (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Spike Witwicky]] (1)
*[[Daniel Witwicky (G1)|Daniel Witwicky]] (10)
|c4=
*[[Quintesson]]s (7)
}}

==Quotes==
"Great. What'll Daniel and I do when the air runs out?" 
"Basically you'll have two choices: suffocate, or smother."
:—As '''Spike''' wonders about the limited oxygen for the first time in life in the Autobot life pod, '''Rodimus Prime''' takes "deadpan" to a whole new level.

"How convenient Rodimus!....we can lay your wreckage beside that of your mentor!"
Galvatron being rather morbid this episode we should all be thankful for Zombie Optimus Prim being a bad ass.

"Decepticons!... leave this place...or DIE!!"

"Optimus Pri.....AARRRGHH!!"
:— for just one brief chill-bump moment, '''Optimus Prime''' is back and blasts Galvatron pretty badly also.

"Hey, he's here, he's back, and who cares how!" 
"Must... complete... plan..." ''Optimus abruptly walks offscreen.'' 
"Yeah! What's the plan?"
:—'''Rodimus''' misses some critical clues from '''Optimus Prime'''<nowiki>'s</nowiki> behavior.

'''Arcee''': Sludge! Snarl! Oh, are we glad to see you. 
'''Sludge''': Me Sludge not glad to see ''you''. 
'''Snarl''': You all dead! Rarrr! 
'''Sludge''': ...Maybe ''we'' dead.
:—Arcee freaks out the Dinobots.

'''Kup''': Where is everybody? 
'''Sludge''': All go smash Quintessons. 
'''Ultra Magnus''': Quintessons? What have Quintessons got to do with any of this? 
'''Snarl''': They kill you! Optimus Prime say so! ...Uh-oh. Something not right.
:—The Dinobots start to comprehend that all is not well.

"This won't even be a war." 
"Merely an exercise in... extermination."
:—the '''Quintessons''' nonchalantly slaughter the Autobot fleet

"Not a game! ...Matrix makes me ''too strong''!" 
"Now ''there's'' a unique complaint!"
:—'''Optimus Prime''' wails on '''Hot Rod''', who takes it in stride

"Monsters... they made me a weapon, to destroy the very ones I loved in life. But you will save them... Rodimus Prime."
:—'''Optimus Prime''' hands over the Matrix.

"I don't know if I'll ever be the leader that you were, but for sure... I'm gonna try. So long... Prime."
:—'''Rodimus''' gives a eulogy in his own inimitable fashion.

==Season 5==
{{note|When this episode was rebroadcast in [[The Transformers (cartoon)#Season 5|the fifth season]] of ''The Transformers'', it contained new bookending segments with original story material.}}
[[File:TommyInterviewsPrime.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4]]
[[Tommy Kennedy|Tommy]] and [[Powermaster]] [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] meet in the barren wasteland where Tommy, apparently a reporter for [[Autobot City News]], asks to interview Prime. Tommy asks for the inside scoop on how Prime came back from the dead. Prime recalls how it all began...

{{bigquote|Okay, what would you like me to tell you?}}
{{bigquote|Tell us the real scoop! The behind the scenes, super secret story of how '''you''' came back from the dead!}}

:''22 minutes later...''

{{bigquote|You said you were going to tell me how you were brought back to life and instead you tell me a story where you weren't ''really'' brought back to life at all! And even if you ''were'', you'd be dead again by now!}}

Tommy is furious, accusing Prime of dodging the question and not telling him how he ''really'' cheated death. Prime informs him that there's "more than meets the eye" to this story. In fact, the story has only just begun. Tommy stops him, as his recorder has run out of tape. Tommy and Prime then blast off into outer space to... go to the store to buy more tape. Okay.
{{--}}

==Notes==
===Continuity notes===
*Galvatron still has some degree of alliance with the Quintessons, despite their betrayal in "Five Faces of Darkness". (Of course, it's leading to ''another'' betrayal, as the Quintessons are presumably luring him and the Autobots to zombie Optimus's trap.)
*As an episode built around the events of the animated movie, Galvatron's order to examine the debris of the destroyed Autobot ship is almost certainly a callback to the last time he blew up an Autobot vessel from afar - he's wised up to the Autobots' "detonate three quarters of the ship" trick!
*Kup alludes to the [[Great War (G1)|Great War]] when Daniel asks about Optimus Prime's inclusion in the Mausoleum.
*Besides Optimus, the interred Autobots whose names are read off by Daniel are [[Ironhide (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ironhide]], [[Prowl (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Prowl]], [[Ratchet (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ratchet]], and [[Huffer (G1)|Huffer]]. The first three were killed off in ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'', all in the same scene, in fact. This is the first time we learn of Huffer's death, however. The absence of [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]] (also killed off in the same scene) has led to joking fandom speculation that he must have survived getting shot in the shoulder (bolstered by his and Huffer's animation-error appearance in "[[Carnage in C-Minor]]"). [[Wheeljack (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Wheeljack]] and [[Windcharger (G1)|Windcharger]]'s bodies weren't even mentioned, despite their offscreen deaths in the movie.
[[File:DarkAwakening dead Autobot.jpg|thumb|200px]]
*The dead Autobot that nearly squashes Daniel isn't Ironhide, but follows his general design pattern: rounded head helmet, boxy torso with a front window chest. The details are off, though, and of course he's got a totally different color scheme (mostly gray, with an olive green chest.)
*Cyclonus pulls his gun out of thin air during the fight on the mausoleum; it simply appears in his hand in a flash of light, another instance supporting the fan-theories of "subspace" and the like.
*Springer reacts pointedly to the supposed death of Arcee, continuing the romantic overtones between them that first showed up back in "Five Faces of Darkness".
*The Autobot fleet shown in this episode causes some bizarre continuity hijinks. Character models for the Aerialbots, Powerglide, and Skyfire are used to pad out the fleet's ranks (see details under Animation and/or Technical Errors), and many of these "ships" are showing getting annihilated by the Quintessons. While one might be tempted to say that Skyfire is thus shown getting killed, you'd also have to say the same for the Aerialbots and Powerglide, who all show up alive and well in later episodes. You'd also have to accept Skydive getting killed and then being alive a few seconds later, and Slingshot getting killed twice.

===Real-world references===
[[File:Autobot shuttle lifepod.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1]]
*Writer Antoni Zalewski recycled his own work for the opening scene of this episode, which is copied almost note-for-note from the 1985 "Ghost Ship" episode of ''The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians''. The parallels include a pursuit through space, launching an escape pod ("We turned the cockpit into an escape ship just in time!"), right up to Spike's verbatim quote "It's the size of... Manhattan!"
*''Star Wars'' sound effects:
**The ''Star Wars'' effects are of a much higher fidelity of sound than the rest of the episode's effects, music and voiceovers, sitting higher in the mix and sounding rather out of place. Some are mixed to the point of being unidentifiable.
**A long X-Wing whine - from the Rebel squads approaching the Death Star - is heard in the opening shot as the Autobot ship flies past camera.
**As the Decepticons launch torpedos, sounds from one of the firefights on the Death Star can be heard.
**The whine of Luke's X-Wing about to crash on Dagobah (a rare use of a sound effect from ''Empire'') plays as the Mausoleum approaches the sun; the sound of branches hitting the fighter's canopy can still be heard.
**Death Star superlaser as the Autobots escape from the Mausoleum.
**X-Wing engine whine as the Quintesson asteroid-ship moves into firing position.

===Animation and technical errors===
[[File:DarkAwakening Magnus hands.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Don't look at me either. I had my shot. I'm out.]]
[[File:DarkAwakening-Springer.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1]]
*An AKOM episode. Watch for off-model characters including:
**Rodimus and Galvatron are both consistently colored using outdated color models; Rodimus's shoulder indentations are red instead of white, his pelvis-windshield details are white instead of light burgundy, and his gun is red instead of black, while Galvatron has pale purple "underpants."
**Movie characters have colored mouths, such as Ultra Magnus with a red mouth, Cyclonus with purple, Blurr with blue and Springer with green.
**Optimus's running light rims are white, and the lights themselves are red, rather than vice versa; his backpack is white instead of red.
**The top part of Ultra Magnus' back is sometimes colored grey when it should be red (such as when he shoots at Galvatron).
*Coloring errors:
**In the first shot of the Decepticon mothership shooting at the Autobot shuttle, one of the two Sweeps flying alongside it is colored all white.
**"They're getting away!" - Cyclonus's jet windows are colored white instead of orange.
**As Rodimus delivers the "I'd hoped never to see it again" line, Kup's eyes are gray and the triangles below them blue, rather than the other way around.
**Rodimus's eyes flash blue-gray-blue as he details the location of Optimus's tomb.
**After driving the Decepticons off, Optimus walks up to the Autobots and the left side of his helmet is grey instead of blue.
**Right after Optimus Prime shoots Hot Rod, Kup, Arcee, Daniel and Spike, the top of his helmet is colored gray.
**As Optimus walks up to Hot Rod, his Autobot symbol is grey instead of red.
**Just before Optimus' flashback, his crotch piece and lower legs are dark grey instead of blue.
**When Rodimus tosses him, Optimus' face is entirely colored in blue. As he lands, the top of Optimus' helmet is grey.
*As the "torpedos" close in on the Autobot ship, it's suddenly no longer in the asteroid field, but in open space.
*The life pod's engine-roar sound effect flies past the camera long before the ship itself does.
*After they blow up the Autobot ship, a shot of the Decepticons flying shows their group to contain a 1984 Seeker design with Dirge's color-scheme. Thrust and Dirge are also flying alongside the ship - the first and only time they've been shown to be space flight capable. The Decepticon ship isn't all that much bigger than the Decepticons around it, either.
*As the Decepticon ship turns to intercept, the squad of Decepticons are no longer flying alongside it.
*The mausoleum first appears floating in empty open space, but as the Autobots approach it, it's suddenly got asteroids and a red sun nearby.
*As they approach the Mausoleum in their ship, the Autobots keep changing positions between shots. First Kup is up front on the right, then he's behind Rodimus on the left, then Rodimus is in the back right with Kup in front of him. Arcee moves from the front right to the back left, then back to the front right again.
**Also during the approach, the seats at the front of the ship appear and disappear between shots.
***''Also'' during the approach, the large door with the Autobot symbol has a grey frame around it (with parts that overlap the right and left sides), but when it opens, the frame is gone.
*As he walks up behind Daniel, Optimus is supposed to be obscured by darkness - but since the animation portrays the scene as not really dark at all, Optimus simply ''appears out of thin air'' when Daniel turns the lights back on.
**Also, he's covered with cobwebs, as if he's been standing immobile in one spot for ages, even though he was just walking around. Some of them even connect to the wall behind and above him! The cobwebs are gone in a closeup view in the very next shot. (Dare we even ''ask'' how there are ''spiders'' inside a Cybertronian tomb in space? What are they eating?)
*In that first closeup shot, Optimus has a much more damaged look (both his chest windows are broken, showing internal circuitry; his mouthplate is broken; and the overall look of the chest area is more worn out. For the remainder of the episode, he is drawn with the damaged look from the movie.
*After discovering Optimus's empty tomb, the Autobots are apparently supposed to be reacting to some sound, indicating the Decepticons' arrival - but there's no such sound. They just all turn at once in response to nothing.
*Rodimus is missing his spoiler after yelling "Take cover!"
*When Cyclonus shoots Arcee, the blast comes from WAY too low to be from the gun, coming instead from his third knuckle.
*When Optimus shoots at the Decepticons, Galvatron's Decepticon logo is missing its "eyes."
*Cyclonus steals Galvatron's cannon sound effect as he drags his wounded leader away.
*Ultra Magnus yells at the other Autobots to "Hold your fire, we've driven them off!" but they've already stopped shooting!
*After driving the Decepticons off, Spike is not in the shot, even though he was right next to Daniel earlier.
*After driving the Decepticons off, Optimus is still holding his gun, but when he asks about the Matrix, it's suddenly gone.
*Some weird shadows are drawn over Rodimus's face as he opens his chest to return the Matrix - but there's no light source shown to cause them.
*Layering problem: The flame pattern on Rodimus's chest opens sideways, leaving what ''appears'' to be a cavity in the same shape as the flame pattern - yet instead of reaching ''inside'', Rodimus's hand reaches ''behind'' it to retrieve the Matrix!
*After Optimus shoots him, Hot Rod lands on what seems to be the exterior surface of a planet, rather than the hangar bay of the Mausoleum.
*Optimus's mouthplate often doesn't move when he speaks, as when he relates the supposed fate of Rodimus and the others to the Autobots. After the Matrix overrides the Quintessons' programming, it consistently moves when he speaks. If it was an intentional effect, however, it's thrown off by the fact that it ''does'' move when he first appears and threatens the Decepticons.
*As Springer comments on going after the Quintessons, his lip flap stops a bit before his words do.
*When boarding Ultra Magnus' "little improvisation," the camera shake isn't synced with the frames of animation, so it looks like there are two Arcees, Kups and Hot Rods.
*The Autobot fleet contains all sorts of strange stuff; see also Continuity Notes, below:
**In the first pan shot: two Skydive, two Slingshots, an Air Raid, and lots of black-colored jets that may be various Aerialbot models.
**In the fly-over shot, the (much smaller) fleet is entirely light gray ships, some loosely based on Broadside's jet mode, but mostly generic science fiction style.
**As the Quintessons open fire, Skydive and two black jets are destroyed.
***On board one of those ships, a [[generic]] Autobot with Dead End's color scheme - including a purple Autobot symbol - gets blown away, followed by two more generics based on Dead End and Scamper.
**Next shot: Powerglide and Slingshot are destroyed. An all-white Skyfire, another Skyfire in Skydive's colore scheme, and a black jet are nearby.
**After the commercial break: the same shot repeats, but this time the missiles fly in and past without hitting anybody.
**Next shot: an all-white Skyfire with orange tailfins gets pummeled by missiles.
**Next shot: several generic white jets are blown up.
**Next shot: a generic white jet and Slingshot (again!) are destroyed. Two Skydives, two Air Raids, and someone in Powerglide's colors go untouched.
**A moment later, Skydive and Air Raid are seen manning laser cannons to destroy the interceptor ship.
**Four generic jets in white, gray and black are shown escaping at the end. In a second shot, two of them are loosely based on Skyfire's design.
**In the final shot, the escaping ships include generic ship/jets with Skydive and Air Raid's color schemes.
*When Perceptor shouts "They're alive!", Blaster (with a white helmet) and [[Jazz (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Jazz]] - completely miscolored in light and dark blue - are standing in the background. The space behind Perceptor was totally empty in the previous shot.
*Not a glitch so much as a strange shortcut: the Quintessons' lines, "Perhaps we should seek some cover." and "No. Place your faith in our defense systems." are both recycled from "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2]]".
*As Hot Rod announces he's going "Optimus hunting," Wheelie is missing his Autobot symbol.
*"Optimus, front and center!" - Hot Rod is drawn as his Rodimus self for a couple of shots.
**After Optimus returns the Matrix to him and walks off, Rodimus is still drawn as Hot Rod for the rest of the scene.
*When he puts Rodimus in the wrestling hold, Optimus' nose isn't drawn in.
*When Rodimus tosses him, Optimus clearly hits a display monitor (which doesn't break) in its upper left corner, but when he lands, he's way over on the right side of the console.
*Whatever the burbling thing that melts through Hot Rod's torso is, it's gone in the next shot - then back again, then gone for good in the following shots.
*When Optimus gives the Matrix back to Hot Rod, Hot Rod's door is made up of the entire yellow (flame) part of his chest. In "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4," the door was split in half and opened around the center of his chest.
*When Optimus is in control of the flagship and orders the other Autobots to return, he has his left arm again... and the hand colored wrong (red).
**In the first shot of him on the bridge, the bridge design is completely different than the one shown at the start of the attack.
*As the Autobots watch the explosion, Ultra Magnus' (red) mouth is shown gaping open and not moving when he speaks; his eyes are connected together like a visor.

===Continuity errors===
[[File:DarkAwakening Mausoleum.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Just in case you weren't clear that Prowl, Ratchet, etc. are dead - this episode goes and kills them ''even more dead''.]]
*[[Revenge (G1)|Galvatron's starship]] is shown to be perfectly intact here, despite being smashed by Unicron in the movie.
*Rodimus Prime and his crew were surprised to find the Autobot Mausoleum, suggesting they forgot where it was. Why didn't the Autobots just put the Mausoleum somewhere on Cybertron?
*Why are the tomb's light controls at human child level?
*Rodimus Prime states that Optimus has been dead "for years". While it's not always wise to take the flippant Rodimus [[The Burden Hardest to Bear|at face value]], Prime has actually been dead for a year at most. (The cartoon's timeframe is rarely made explicit, but "[[Five Faces of Darkness]]" was stated in narration to take place in [[2005]], while later episodes like "[[The Big Broadcast of 2006 (episode)|The Big Broadcast of 2006]]" indicate the series has moved on into [[2006]] as time has gone on. Also, Daniel is the same age he was when Optimus died. This works a little better in Japan, though, where the series takes place in [[2010]].)
*It's never explained where Hot Rod and company obtained the ship that carries them away from the Mausoleum. Magnus just comments vaguely about "this little improvisation" in reference to the vessel.
*Optimus returns to Cybertron still beat to hell, fine. But... then he rushes everyone off into battle and ''nobody'' stops him to say, hey, get yourself to repair bay first?
*During the flashback to the Quintessons discussing Optimus Prime over his dead body, shouldn't the body still be grey (as it appeared after his death in the movie)? It's the usual colors instead.
*Kup tells Rodimus the ship is being blown to pieces, but it seems perfectly calm (until the Quintessons notice it's heading for the detonator and fire on it, of course).

===Other trivia===
*This episode originally aired early in Season 3. However, it was re-aired as the season drew to a close, as a lead-in to the last episode, "The Return of Optimus Prime". The voiceover by Victor Caroli, described above, was added at this time, and subsequently became the more well-known ending. The original version was released on VHS by [[Rhino Entertainment|Kid Rhino]], but when the company released the episode on DVD, the altered ending was the only one included (despite the presence of no less than ''three'' audio tracks on the disc). Observing the frustration this caused among American fans, DVD consultant [[Chris McFeely]] helped ensure the restoration of the original ending for the [[Metrodome]] DVD release of the episode, with the alternate ending included as an easter egg. The original ending is also the version featured on the [[Shout! Factory]] DVD sets.
*The ''Transformers 2010'' story pages would run with this story's events, having the Quintessons analyze Optimus Prime's specifications and use them to build [[Guiltaur]]. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010 (story page)|Transformers 2010 Part 4}}
*This is easily the most gruesome episode of the original cartoon, and perhaps the only one with a certifiable body count - even if you don't include the named character models that are shown.
*That sure is some chipper, happy, peppy, upbeat music that plays as Daniel walks about reading the names of the dead, opening tombs, and running into zombies!

===Foreign localization===
'''German'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Das Erwachen im Dunkeln'''" ("The Awakening in the Dark")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?
*This was one of twelve episodes of [[The Transformers (cartoon)|the original cartoon]] released as audio adventures by the [[Germany|German]] company [[Karussell|Karussell Musik und Video]].

'''Italian'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Fantasmi dal passato'''" (First dub, "Ghosts from the Past"), "'''Risveglio oscuro'''" (Second dub, "Dark Awakening")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

'''Japanese'''
:*''Title:'' コンボイの影 (''Convoy no Kage'', "Convoy's Shadow")
:*''Original airdate:'' [[January 9]], [[1987]]
:*As Kup explains about the Autobot Mausoleum, he mentions the [[Unicron War]] instead of the Great War.

'''Mandarin'''
:*''Title:'' Wǔmiànguài de Guǐjì (五面怪的诡计, "Quintesson's Ruse")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote}}
;VHS
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[1988]] — ''Transformers'' — Dark Awakening / Grimlock's New Brain ([[Tempo Video]]) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[1990]] — ''Transformers'' — Dark Awakening ([[Tempo Video|Collins Video]]) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 1990 — ''Transformers'' — Dark Awakening / Grimlock's New Brain ([[Tempo Video|Abbey Home Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] [[1999]] — ''The Original Transformers'' — Volume 2: Revenge of the Decepticons ([[The Original Transformers|Rhino Entertainment]])
;{{w|LaserDisc}}
[[File:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 1999 — ''The Transformers: 2010'' ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Pioneer LDC]]) — Japanese audio only.
;DVD
[[File:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] [[2001]] — ''The Transformers: 2010'' — DVD Box (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only. 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] [[2003]] — ''The Original Transformers'' — Season 3 Part 1 ([[The Original Transformers|Rhino Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2003 — ''The Original Transformers'' — Season 3 Part 1: Vol. 2 (Rhino Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2004]] — ''Transformers'' — Season 3 and Season 4 ([[Metrodome]]) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2004 — ''Transformers'' — Collection 4: Series 3.1 ([[Madman Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2006]] — ''Transformers'' — The Complete Generation One Collection (Metrodome) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2006 — The Best of ''The Transformers'' (Madman Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2007]] — ''Transformers'' — The Classic Episodes (Metrodome) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2007 — ''The Transformers'' — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2009]] — ''Transformers'' — Season's Three & Four {{sic}} (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 Series: 25th Anniversary "Matrix of Leadership" Collection ([[Shout! Factory]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] [[2010]] — ''The Transformers'' — Seasons Three & Four: 25th Anniversary Edition (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'' — Seasons Three & Four: 30th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2014 — ''Transformers'' — The Classic Animated Series (Metrodome)

==External links==
*[http://cybertronchronicle.freewebspace.com/cartoon-dossier/season-3/synopses/700-93.html Episode Dossier at The Cybertron Chronicle]
*[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808822/ IMDb's page for this episode]
*[https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_CN1s80MHOZDFaY1ZWV2Y4UUk/view?usp=sharing Orignal dialogue script]

[[Category:The Transformers episodes]]
[[Category:MSTF]]

Dark Awakening (episode)

2019-05-25T01:19:50Z

RoboP08: /* Quotes */

{{featured}}
{{disambig2|the Generation 1 cartoon episode|the ''Legends'' event|Dark Awakening (Legends)}}
{{episode|
|series=G1toon
|series2=2010
|ep=73
|ep2=8
|prev2=Starscream's Ghost
|next2=Forever Is a Long Time Coming (episode)
|image=Optimusg1zombie.jpg
|caption=Yeah, let ''this'' be how the kids remember their hero.
|title="Dark Awakening"
|production code=700-93
|airdate=[[October 1]], [[1986]]
|written by=[[Antoni Zalewski]]
|production company=[[Sunbow Productions]]
|animation studio=[[AKOM]]
|continuity=[[Generation 1 cartoon continuity]]
}}
'''Optimus Prime is revived as a zombie by Quintessons.'''

==Synopsis==
[[File:G1-screencap darkawakening Optimus empty tomb.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|Don't you hate when your stuff goes missing?]]
On the run from [[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]], [[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Rodimus Prime]], [[Arcee (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Arcee]], [[Ultra Magnus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ultra Magnus]], [[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]], [[Spike Witwicky (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Spike]] and [[Daniel Witwicky (G1)|Daniel]] try the old "detonate three-quarters of the ship" trick to lose their pursuers. What's left of the ship can't support human life for long, however, so they take refuge on board the nearby [[Autobot Mausoleum]], an interstellar tomb containing many of their deceased comrades, most notably the venerated [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]].

While exploring by himself, Daniel is stuck in a dark room with robot corpses and gets appropriately creeped out... particularly when he sees what looks like the fully animated form of Optimus Prime. When he finds the others he swears he has seen Optimus Prime alive. To satisfy his curiosity and against the opinions of the other Autobots, Rodimus opens Prime's tomb, only to find it empty. However, they cannot investigate further because the Decepticons have followed them inside and attack them (turns out Galvatron has wised up to the detonate-three-quarters thing.) The fierce battle that follows appears lost for the Autobots, when suddenly they are saved by none other than Optimus Prime. With their ranks bolstered by the mighty warrior's firepower, they quickly drive the freaked out Decepticons into retreat.

[[File:OptimusMatrixAwakening.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|Uh uh. Nope. Had it. Done with it.]]
The Autobots are amazed and confused at Prime's presence. Optimus can give them no explanation to his apparent resurrection, just the typical near-death experience of seeing darkness and then a light at the end of the tunnel. Rodimus Prime eagerly (too eagerly) returns the [[Matrix of Leadership]] to him, despite Prime's bizarre behavior and damaged appearance, and against the advice of Kup and Ultra Magnus. Without the Matrix inside him, Rodimus reverts to Hot Rod and declares, "Let's party!" Optimus evidently has other plans and attacks the Autobots and sets the auto-destruct sequence to the mausoleum ship. He then departs and leaves the others stranded.

After returning to Cybertron, Optimus informs the [[Autobot]]s that Rodimus and the others were killed by the Quintessons. This puts everyone in a pretty bad mood ([[Springer (G1)|Springer]] swears vengeance - particularly for Arcee - while [[Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]] spends at least a minute stomping and thumping his tail). Optimus re-assumes command and orders an all-out attack on a supposed Quintesson base.

[[File:G1-screencap DarkAwakening Quintessons missiles.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|Our budget only ran to six missiles.]]
Hot Rod and his group manage to escape, mere moments before the mausoleum ship plunges into a star and explodes. They return to Cybertron, but find nobody around but the Dinobots. Turns out most of the Autobots have left to attack the Quintessons. They pursue their friends in their own ship, but arrive to find the [[Autobot fleet]] already being decimated by Quintesson missile fire. Their frantic calls to stop the attack are dismissed by Optimus as Quintesson tricks.

Hot Rod and the others finally manage to board the lead ship, and the former Rodimus goes "Optimus hunting" after his [[zombie|zombified]] mentor. When the two meet, Optimus starts to pound on Hot Rod, but as he's kicking Hot Rod's tailpipe he begs Hot Rod to defeat him.

[[File:Zombiesmatrixmakesmetoostrong.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|And that's for getting me killed!]]
Fighting against both Hot Rod and himself, Optimus flashes back to his own reanimation at the hands of the Quintessons, who stole his corpse and reanimated it with their own evil programming to lead all Autobots into a trap.
Optimus is nothing more than a "robotic zombie", combined with "lingering remnants" of his personality and memories. Hot Rod puts up a brave fight in a moment of compassion trying to help Optimus, Hot Rod is physically overcome by Optimus, but the influence of the Matrix allows Prime to overcome the Quintessons' programming. Ending the fight, Optimus returns the Matrix to Hot Rod's chest cavity, restoring him to his status as Rodimus Prime.
As Optimus Prime takes his leave, the other Autobots find their battered leader and inform him that the equally battered ship is being evacuated.

Optimus Prime takes control of the ship, and orders the Autobot fleet away from the Quintesson trap.

As the stunned Quintessons watch, the Autobot fleet escapes. Optimus's final act is to pilot the Autobot flagship into the trigger zone of the Quintesson trap; ensuring the safety of the retreating Autobot ships and craft.
Closing the distance piloting the command ship, Optimus Prime suffers horrendous damage as the Quintessons bombard the ship with missile fire and explosions and flames erupt from various points in the command ship on top of the battle damage Optimus had incurred previously from his fight with Hot Rod; loosing an arm namely.

With a massive explosion, the solar system is destroyed.
As Kup bids his old friend farewell and the other Autobots mourn their lost leader a second time, Magnus remarks that the nova will be Optimus's memorial. Rodimus doubts he'll be the [[Prime (rank)|Autobot leader]] that Optimus Prime was, but vows to try.

{{note|A short narrative voiceover by [[Victor Caroli]] was tacked on to the final scene when this episode made its first re-run airing: 'But is this ''really'' the end of Optimus Prime? Find out in tomorrow's exciting episode, "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1|The Return of Optimus Prime]]"!' Baffled by such an ambiguous title, children the world over were left wondering if this was in fact the end of Optimus Prime.}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Rodimus Prime]] (2)
*[[Ultra Magnus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ultra Magnus]] (3)
*[[Arcee (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Arcee]] (9)
*[[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]] (11)
*[[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] (14)
*[[Perceptor (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Perceptor]] (15)
*[[Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]] (16)
*[[Springer (G1)|Springer]] (17)
*[[Skydive (G1 Aerialbot)|Skydive]] (18)
*[[Snarl (G1)|Snarl]] (19)
*[[Sludge (G1)|Sludge]] (20)
*[[Slingshot (G1)|Slingshot]] (21)
*[[Powerglide (G1)|Powerglide]] (22)
*[[Jetfire (G1)|Skyfire]] (23)
*[[Blurr (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Blurr]] (24)
*[[Jazz (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Jazz]] (25)
*[[Blaster (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Blaster]] (26)
*[[Air Raid (G1)|Air Raid]] (27)
*[[Wheelie (G1)|Wheelie]] (28)
|c2=
*[[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]] (4)
*[[Scourge (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Scourge]] (5)
*[[Sweep (G1)|Sweeps]] (6)
*[[Cyclonus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Cyclonus]] (8)
*[[Dirge (G1)|Dirge]] (12)
*[[Thrust (G1)|Thrust]] (13)
|c3=
*[[Spike Witwicky (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Spike Witwicky]] (1)
*[[Daniel Witwicky (G1)|Daniel Witwicky]] (10)
|c4=
*[[Quintesson]]s (7)
}}

==Quotes==
"Great. What'll Daniel and I do when the air runs out?" 
"Basically you'll have two choices: suffocate, or smother."
:—As '''Spike''' wonders about the limited oxygen for the first time in life in the Autobot life pod, '''Rodimus Prime''' takes "deadpan" to a whole new level.

"How convenient Rodimus!....we can lay your wreckage beside that of your mentor!"
Galvatron being rather morbid this episode we should all be thankful for Zombie Optimus Prim being a bad ass.

"Decepticons!... leave this place...or DIE!!"
"Optimus Pri.....AARRRGHH!!"
:— for just one brief chill-bump moment, '''Optimus Prime''' is back and blasts Galvatron pretty badly also.

"Hey, he's here, he's back, and who cares how!" 
"Must... complete... plan..." ''Optimus abruptly walks offscreen.'' 
"Yeah! What's the plan?"
:—'''Rodimus''' misses some critical clues from '''Optimus Prime'''<nowiki>'s</nowiki> behavior.

'''Arcee''': Sludge! Snarl! Oh, are we glad to see you. 
'''Sludge''': Me Sludge not glad to see ''you''. 
'''Snarl''': You all dead! Rarrr! 
'''Sludge''': ...Maybe ''we'' dead.
:—Arcee freaks out the Dinobots.

'''Kup''': Where is everybody? 
'''Sludge''': All go smash Quintessons. 
'''Ultra Magnus''': Quintessons? What have Quintessons got to do with any of this? 
'''Snarl''': They kill you! Optimus Prime say so! ...Uh-oh. Something not right.
:—The Dinobots start to comprehend that all is not well.

"This won't even be a war." 
"Merely an exercise in... extermination."
:—the '''Quintessons''' nonchalantly slaughter the Autobot fleet

"Not a game! ...Matrix makes me ''too strong''!" 
"Now ''there's'' a unique complaint!"
:—'''Optimus Prime''' wails on '''Hot Rod''', who takes it in stride

"Monsters... they made me a weapon, to destroy the very ones I loved in life. But you will save them... Rodimus Prime."
:—'''Optimus Prime''' hands over the Matrix.

"I don't know if I'll ever be the leader that you were, but for sure... I'm gonna try. So long... Prime."
:—'''Rodimus''' gives a eulogy in his own inimitable fashion.

==Season 5==
{{note|When this episode was rebroadcast in [[The Transformers (cartoon)#Season 5|the fifth season]] of ''The Transformers'', it contained new bookending segments with original story material.}}
[[File:TommyInterviewsPrime.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4]]
[[Tommy Kennedy|Tommy]] and [[Powermaster]] [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] meet in the barren wasteland where Tommy, apparently a reporter for [[Autobot City News]], asks to interview Prime. Tommy asks for the inside scoop on how Prime came back from the dead. Prime recalls how it all began...

{{bigquote|Okay, what would you like me to tell you?}}
{{bigquote|Tell us the real scoop! The behind the scenes, super secret story of how '''you''' came back from the dead!}}

:''22 minutes later...''

{{bigquote|You said you were going to tell me how you were brought back to life and instead you tell me a story where you weren't ''really'' brought back to life at all! And even if you ''were'', you'd be dead again by now!}}

Tommy is furious, accusing Prime of dodging the question and not telling him how he ''really'' cheated death. Prime informs him that there's "more than meets the eye" to this story. In fact, the story has only just begun. Tommy stops him, as his recorder has run out of tape. Tommy and Prime then blast off into outer space to... go to the store to buy more tape. Okay.
{{--}}

==Notes==
===Continuity notes===
*Galvatron still has some degree of alliance with the Quintessons, despite their betrayal in "Five Faces of Darkness". (Of course, it's leading to ''another'' betrayal, as the Quintessons are presumably luring him and the Autobots to zombie Optimus's trap.)
*As an episode built around the events of the animated movie, Galvatron's order to examine the debris of the destroyed Autobot ship is almost certainly a callback to the last time he blew up an Autobot vessel from afar - he's wised up to the Autobots' "detonate three quarters of the ship" trick!
*Kup alludes to the [[Great War (G1)|Great War]] when Daniel asks about Optimus Prime's inclusion in the Mausoleum.
*Besides Optimus, the interred Autobots whose names are read off by Daniel are [[Ironhide (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ironhide]], [[Prowl (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Prowl]], [[Ratchet (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ratchet]], and [[Huffer (G1)|Huffer]]. The first three were killed off in ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'', all in the same scene, in fact. This is the first time we learn of Huffer's death, however. The absence of [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]] (also killed off in the same scene) has led to joking fandom speculation that he must have survived getting shot in the shoulder (bolstered by his and Huffer's animation-error appearance in "[[Carnage in C-Minor]]"). [[Wheeljack (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Wheeljack]] and [[Windcharger (G1)|Windcharger]]'s bodies weren't even mentioned, despite their offscreen deaths in the movie.
[[File:DarkAwakening dead Autobot.jpg|thumb|200px]]
*The dead Autobot that nearly squashes Daniel isn't Ironhide, but follows his general design pattern: rounded head helmet, boxy torso with a front window chest. The details are off, though, and of course he's got a totally different color scheme (mostly gray, with an olive green chest.)
*Cyclonus pulls his gun out of thin air during the fight on the mausoleum; it simply appears in his hand in a flash of light, another instance supporting the fan-theories of "subspace" and the like.
*Springer reacts pointedly to the supposed death of Arcee, continuing the romantic overtones between them that first showed up back in "Five Faces of Darkness".
*The Autobot fleet shown in this episode causes some bizarre continuity hijinks. Character models for the Aerialbots, Powerglide, and Skyfire are used to pad out the fleet's ranks (see details under Animation and/or Technical Errors), and many of these "ships" are showing getting annihilated by the Quintessons. While one might be tempted to say that Skyfire is thus shown getting killed, you'd also have to say the same for the Aerialbots and Powerglide, who all show up alive and well in later episodes. You'd also have to accept Skydive getting killed and then being alive a few seconds later, and Slingshot getting killed twice.

===Real-world references===
[[File:Autobot shuttle lifepod.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1]]
*Writer Antoni Zalewski recycled his own work for the opening scene of this episode, which is copied almost note-for-note from the 1985 "Ghost Ship" episode of ''The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians''. The parallels include a pursuit through space, launching an escape pod ("We turned the cockpit into an escape ship just in time!"), right up to Spike's verbatim quote "It's the size of... Manhattan!"
*''Star Wars'' sound effects:
**The ''Star Wars'' effects are of a much higher fidelity of sound than the rest of the episode's effects, music and voiceovers, sitting higher in the mix and sounding rather out of place. Some are mixed to the point of being unidentifiable.
**A long X-Wing whine - from the Rebel squads approaching the Death Star - is heard in the opening shot as the Autobot ship flies past camera.
**As the Decepticons launch torpedos, sounds from one of the firefights on the Death Star can be heard.
**The whine of Luke's X-Wing about to crash on Dagobah (a rare use of a sound effect from ''Empire'') plays as the Mausoleum approaches the sun; the sound of branches hitting the fighter's canopy can still be heard.
**Death Star superlaser as the Autobots escape from the Mausoleum.
**X-Wing engine whine as the Quintesson asteroid-ship moves into firing position.

===Animation and technical errors===
[[File:DarkAwakening Magnus hands.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Don't look at me either. I had my shot. I'm out.]]
[[File:DarkAwakening-Springer.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1]]
*An AKOM episode. Watch for off-model characters including:
**Rodimus and Galvatron are both consistently colored using outdated color models; Rodimus's shoulder indentations are red instead of white, his pelvis-windshield details are white instead of light burgundy, and his gun is red instead of black, while Galvatron has pale purple "underpants."
**Movie characters have colored mouths, such as Ultra Magnus with a red mouth, Cyclonus with purple, Blurr with blue and Springer with green.
**Optimus's running light rims are white, and the lights themselves are red, rather than vice versa; his backpack is white instead of red.
**The top part of Ultra Magnus' back is sometimes colored grey when it should be red (such as when he shoots at Galvatron).
*Coloring errors:
**In the first shot of the Decepticon mothership shooting at the Autobot shuttle, one of the two Sweeps flying alongside it is colored all white.
**"They're getting away!" - Cyclonus's jet windows are colored white instead of orange.
**As Rodimus delivers the "I'd hoped never to see it again" line, Kup's eyes are gray and the triangles below them blue, rather than the other way around.
**Rodimus's eyes flash blue-gray-blue as he details the location of Optimus's tomb.
**After driving the Decepticons off, Optimus walks up to the Autobots and the left side of his helmet is grey instead of blue.
**Right after Optimus Prime shoots Hot Rod, Kup, Arcee, Daniel and Spike, the top of his helmet is colored gray.
**As Optimus walks up to Hot Rod, his Autobot symbol is grey instead of red.
**Just before Optimus' flashback, his crotch piece and lower legs are dark grey instead of blue.
**When Rodimus tosses him, Optimus' face is entirely colored in blue. As he lands, the top of Optimus' helmet is grey.
*As the "torpedos" close in on the Autobot ship, it's suddenly no longer in the asteroid field, but in open space.
*The life pod's engine-roar sound effect flies past the camera long before the ship itself does.
*After they blow up the Autobot ship, a shot of the Decepticons flying shows their group to contain a 1984 Seeker design with Dirge's color-scheme. Thrust and Dirge are also flying alongside the ship - the first and only time they've been shown to be space flight capable. The Decepticon ship isn't all that much bigger than the Decepticons around it, either.
*As the Decepticon ship turns to intercept, the squad of Decepticons are no longer flying alongside it.
*The mausoleum first appears floating in empty open space, but as the Autobots approach it, it's suddenly got asteroids and a red sun nearby.
*As they approach the Mausoleum in their ship, the Autobots keep changing positions between shots. First Kup is up front on the right, then he's behind Rodimus on the left, then Rodimus is in the back right with Kup in front of him. Arcee moves from the front right to the back left, then back to the front right again.
**Also during the approach, the seats at the front of the ship appear and disappear between shots.
***''Also'' during the approach, the large door with the Autobot symbol has a grey frame around it (with parts that overlap the right and left sides), but when it opens, the frame is gone.
*As he walks up behind Daniel, Optimus is supposed to be obscured by darkness - but since the animation portrays the scene as not really dark at all, Optimus simply ''appears out of thin air'' when Daniel turns the lights back on.
**Also, he's covered with cobwebs, as if he's been standing immobile in one spot for ages, even though he was just walking around. Some of them even connect to the wall behind and above him! The cobwebs are gone in a closeup view in the very next shot. (Dare we even ''ask'' how there are ''spiders'' inside a Cybertronian tomb in space? What are they eating?)
*In that first closeup shot, Optimus has a much more damaged look (both his chest windows are broken, showing internal circuitry; his mouthplate is broken; and the overall look of the chest area is more worn out. For the remainder of the episode, he is drawn with the damaged look from the movie.
*After discovering Optimus's empty tomb, the Autobots are apparently supposed to be reacting to some sound, indicating the Decepticons' arrival - but there's no such sound. They just all turn at once in response to nothing.
*Rodimus is missing his spoiler after yelling "Take cover!"
*When Cyclonus shoots Arcee, the blast comes from WAY too low to be from the gun, coming instead from his third knuckle.
*When Optimus shoots at the Decepticons, Galvatron's Decepticon logo is missing its "eyes."
*Cyclonus steals Galvatron's cannon sound effect as he drags his wounded leader away.
*Ultra Magnus yells at the other Autobots to "Hold your fire, we've driven them off!" but they've already stopped shooting!
*After driving the Decepticons off, Spike is not in the shot, even though he was right next to Daniel earlier.
*After driving the Decepticons off, Optimus is still holding his gun, but when he asks about the Matrix, it's suddenly gone.
*Some weird shadows are drawn over Rodimus's face as he opens his chest to return the Matrix - but there's no light source shown to cause them.
*Layering problem: The flame pattern on Rodimus's chest opens sideways, leaving what ''appears'' to be a cavity in the same shape as the flame pattern - yet instead of reaching ''inside'', Rodimus's hand reaches ''behind'' it to retrieve the Matrix!
*After Optimus shoots him, Hot Rod lands on what seems to be the exterior surface of a planet, rather than the hangar bay of the Mausoleum.
*Optimus's mouthplate often doesn't move when he speaks, as when he relates the supposed fate of Rodimus and the others to the Autobots. After the Matrix overrides the Quintessons' programming, it consistently moves when he speaks. If it was an intentional effect, however, it's thrown off by the fact that it ''does'' move when he first appears and threatens the Decepticons.
*As Springer comments on going after the Quintessons, his lip flap stops a bit before his words do.
*When boarding Ultra Magnus' "little improvisation," the camera shake isn't synced with the frames of animation, so it looks like there are two Arcees, Kups and Hot Rods.
*The Autobot fleet contains all sorts of strange stuff; see also Continuity Notes, below:
**In the first pan shot: two Skydive, two Slingshots, an Air Raid, and lots of black-colored jets that may be various Aerialbot models.
**In the fly-over shot, the (much smaller) fleet is entirely light gray ships, some loosely based on Broadside's jet mode, but mostly generic science fiction style.
**As the Quintessons open fire, Skydive and two black jets are destroyed.
***On board one of those ships, a [[generic]] Autobot with Dead End's color scheme - including a purple Autobot symbol - gets blown away, followed by two more generics based on Dead End and Scamper.
**Next shot: Powerglide and Slingshot are destroyed. An all-white Skyfire, another Skyfire in Skydive's colore scheme, and a black jet are nearby.
**After the commercial break: the same shot repeats, but this time the missiles fly in and past without hitting anybody.
**Next shot: an all-white Skyfire with orange tailfins gets pummeled by missiles.
**Next shot: several generic white jets are blown up.
**Next shot: a generic white jet and Slingshot (again!) are destroyed. Two Skydives, two Air Raids, and someone in Powerglide's colors go untouched.
**A moment later, Skydive and Air Raid are seen manning laser cannons to destroy the interceptor ship.
**Four generic jets in white, gray and black are shown escaping at the end. In a second shot, two of them are loosely based on Skyfire's design.
**In the final shot, the escaping ships include generic ship/jets with Skydive and Air Raid's color schemes.
*When Perceptor shouts "They're alive!", Blaster (with a white helmet) and [[Jazz (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Jazz]] - completely miscolored in light and dark blue - are standing in the background. The space behind Perceptor was totally empty in the previous shot.
*Not a glitch so much as a strange shortcut: the Quintessons' lines, "Perhaps we should seek some cover." and "No. Place your faith in our defense systems." are both recycled from "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2]]".
*As Hot Rod announces he's going "Optimus hunting," Wheelie is missing his Autobot symbol.
*"Optimus, front and center!" - Hot Rod is drawn as his Rodimus self for a couple of shots.
**After Optimus returns the Matrix to him and walks off, Rodimus is still drawn as Hot Rod for the rest of the scene.
*When he puts Rodimus in the wrestling hold, Optimus' nose isn't drawn in.
*When Rodimus tosses him, Optimus clearly hits a display monitor (which doesn't break) in its upper left corner, but when he lands, he's way over on the right side of the console.
*Whatever the burbling thing that melts through Hot Rod's torso is, it's gone in the next shot - then back again, then gone for good in the following shots.
*When Optimus gives the Matrix back to Hot Rod, Hot Rod's door is made up of the entire yellow (flame) part of his chest. In "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4," the door was split in half and opened around the center of his chest.
*When Optimus is in control of the flagship and orders the other Autobots to return, he has his left arm again... and the hand colored wrong (red).
**In the first shot of him on the bridge, the bridge design is completely different than the one shown at the start of the attack.
*As the Autobots watch the explosion, Ultra Magnus' (red) mouth is shown gaping open and not moving when he speaks; his eyes are connected together like a visor.

===Continuity errors===
[[File:DarkAwakening Mausoleum.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Just in case you weren't clear that Prowl, Ratchet, etc. are dead - this episode goes and kills them ''even more dead''.]]
*[[Revenge (G1)|Galvatron's starship]] is shown to be perfectly intact here, despite being smashed by Unicron in the movie.
*Rodimus Prime and his crew were surprised to find the Autobot Mausoleum, suggesting they forgot where it was. Why didn't the Autobots just put the Mausoleum somewhere on Cybertron?
*Why are the tomb's light controls at human child level?
*Rodimus Prime states that Optimus has been dead "for years". While it's not always wise to take the flippant Rodimus [[The Burden Hardest to Bear|at face value]], Prime has actually been dead for a year at most. (The cartoon's timeframe is rarely made explicit, but "[[Five Faces of Darkness]]" was stated in narration to take place in [[2005]], while later episodes like "[[The Big Broadcast of 2006 (episode)|The Big Broadcast of 2006]]" indicate the series has moved on into [[2006]] as time has gone on. Also, Daniel is the same age he was when Optimus died. This works a little better in Japan, though, where the series takes place in [[2010]].)
*It's never explained where Hot Rod and company obtained the ship that carries them away from the Mausoleum. Magnus just comments vaguely about "this little improvisation" in reference to the vessel.
*Optimus returns to Cybertron still beat to hell, fine. But... then he rushes everyone off into battle and ''nobody'' stops him to say, hey, get yourself to repair bay first?
*During the flashback to the Quintessons discussing Optimus Prime over his dead body, shouldn't the body still be grey (as it appeared after his death in the movie)? It's the usual colors instead.
*Kup tells Rodimus the ship is being blown to pieces, but it seems perfectly calm (until the Quintessons notice it's heading for the detonator and fire on it, of course).

===Other trivia===
*This episode originally aired early in Season 3. However, it was re-aired as the season drew to a close, as a lead-in to the last episode, "The Return of Optimus Prime". The voiceover by Victor Caroli, described above, was added at this time, and subsequently became the more well-known ending. The original version was released on VHS by [[Rhino Entertainment|Kid Rhino]], but when the company released the episode on DVD, the altered ending was the only one included (despite the presence of no less than ''three'' audio tracks on the disc). Observing the frustration this caused among American fans, DVD consultant [[Chris McFeely]] helped ensure the restoration of the original ending for the [[Metrodome]] DVD release of the episode, with the alternate ending included as an easter egg. The original ending is also the version featured on the [[Shout! Factory]] DVD sets.
*The ''Transformers 2010'' story pages would run with this story's events, having the Quintessons analyze Optimus Prime's specifications and use them to build [[Guiltaur]]. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010 (story page)|Transformers 2010 Part 4}}
*This is easily the most gruesome episode of the original cartoon, and perhaps the only one with a certifiable body count - even if you don't include the named character models that are shown.
*That sure is some chipper, happy, peppy, upbeat music that plays as Daniel walks about reading the names of the dead, opening tombs, and running into zombies!

===Foreign localization===
'''German'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Das Erwachen im Dunkeln'''" ("The Awakening in the Dark")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?
*This was one of twelve episodes of [[The Transformers (cartoon)|the original cartoon]] released as audio adventures by the [[Germany|German]] company [[Karussell|Karussell Musik und Video]].

'''Italian'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Fantasmi dal passato'''" (First dub, "Ghosts from the Past"), "'''Risveglio oscuro'''" (Second dub, "Dark Awakening")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

'''Japanese'''
:*''Title:'' コンボイの影 (''Convoy no Kage'', "Convoy's Shadow")
:*''Original airdate:'' [[January 9]], [[1987]]
:*As Kup explains about the Autobot Mausoleum, he mentions the [[Unicron War]] instead of the Great War.

'''Mandarin'''
:*''Title:'' Wǔmiànguài de Guǐjì (五面怪的诡计, "Quintesson's Ruse")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote}}
;VHS
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[1988]] — ''Transformers'' — Dark Awakening / Grimlock's New Brain ([[Tempo Video]]) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[1990]] — ''Transformers'' — Dark Awakening ([[Tempo Video|Collins Video]]) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 1990 — ''Transformers'' — Dark Awakening / Grimlock's New Brain ([[Tempo Video|Abbey Home Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] [[1999]] — ''The Original Transformers'' — Volume 2: Revenge of the Decepticons ([[The Original Transformers|Rhino Entertainment]])
;{{w|LaserDisc}}
[[File:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 1999 — ''The Transformers: 2010'' ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Pioneer LDC]]) — Japanese audio only.
;DVD
[[File:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] [[2001]] — ''The Transformers: 2010'' — DVD Box (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only. 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] [[2003]] — ''The Original Transformers'' — Season 3 Part 1 ([[The Original Transformers|Rhino Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2003 — ''The Original Transformers'' — Season 3 Part 1: Vol. 2 (Rhino Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2004]] — ''Transformers'' — Season 3 and Season 4 ([[Metrodome]]) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2004 — ''Transformers'' — Collection 4: Series 3.1 ([[Madman Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2006]] — ''Transformers'' — The Complete Generation One Collection (Metrodome) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2006 — The Best of ''The Transformers'' (Madman Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2007]] — ''Transformers'' — The Classic Episodes (Metrodome) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2007 — ''The Transformers'' — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2009]] — ''Transformers'' — Season's Three & Four {{sic}} (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 Series: 25th Anniversary "Matrix of Leadership" Collection ([[Shout! Factory]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] [[2010]] — ''The Transformers'' — Seasons Three & Four: 25th Anniversary Edition (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'' — Seasons Three & Four: 30th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2014 — ''Transformers'' — The Classic Animated Series (Metrodome)

==External links==
*[http://cybertronchronicle.freewebspace.com/cartoon-dossier/season-3/synopses/700-93.html Episode Dossier at The Cybertron Chronicle]
*[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808822/ IMDb's page for this episode]
*[https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_CN1s80MHOZDFaY1ZWV2Y4UUk/view?usp=sharing Orignal dialogue script]

[[Category:The Transformers episodes]]
[[Category:MSTF]]

Dark Awakening (episode)

2019-05-25T01:18:54Z

RoboP08: /* Quotes */

{{featured}}
{{disambig2|the Generation 1 cartoon episode|the ''Legends'' event|Dark Awakening (Legends)}}
{{episode|
|series=G1toon
|series2=2010
|ep=73
|ep2=8
|prev2=Starscream's Ghost
|next2=Forever Is a Long Time Coming (episode)
|image=Optimusg1zombie.jpg
|caption=Yeah, let ''this'' be how the kids remember their hero.
|title="Dark Awakening"
|production code=700-93
|airdate=[[October 1]], [[1986]]
|written by=[[Antoni Zalewski]]
|production company=[[Sunbow Productions]]
|animation studio=[[AKOM]]
|continuity=[[Generation 1 cartoon continuity]]
}}
'''Optimus Prime is revived as a zombie by Quintessons.'''

==Synopsis==
[[File:G1-screencap darkawakening Optimus empty tomb.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|Don't you hate when your stuff goes missing?]]
On the run from [[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]], [[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Rodimus Prime]], [[Arcee (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Arcee]], [[Ultra Magnus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ultra Magnus]], [[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]], [[Spike Witwicky (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Spike]] and [[Daniel Witwicky (G1)|Daniel]] try the old "detonate three-quarters of the ship" trick to lose their pursuers. What's left of the ship can't support human life for long, however, so they take refuge on board the nearby [[Autobot Mausoleum]], an interstellar tomb containing many of their deceased comrades, most notably the venerated [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]].

While exploring by himself, Daniel is stuck in a dark room with robot corpses and gets appropriately creeped out... particularly when he sees what looks like the fully animated form of Optimus Prime. When he finds the others he swears he has seen Optimus Prime alive. To satisfy his curiosity and against the opinions of the other Autobots, Rodimus opens Prime's tomb, only to find it empty. However, they cannot investigate further because the Decepticons have followed them inside and attack them (turns out Galvatron has wised up to the detonate-three-quarters thing.) The fierce battle that follows appears lost for the Autobots, when suddenly they are saved by none other than Optimus Prime. With their ranks bolstered by the mighty warrior's firepower, they quickly drive the freaked out Decepticons into retreat.

[[File:OptimusMatrixAwakening.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|Uh uh. Nope. Had it. Done with it.]]
The Autobots are amazed and confused at Prime's presence. Optimus can give them no explanation to his apparent resurrection, just the typical near-death experience of seeing darkness and then a light at the end of the tunnel. Rodimus Prime eagerly (too eagerly) returns the [[Matrix of Leadership]] to him, despite Prime's bizarre behavior and damaged appearance, and against the advice of Kup and Ultra Magnus. Without the Matrix inside him, Rodimus reverts to Hot Rod and declares, "Let's party!" Optimus evidently has other plans and attacks the Autobots and sets the auto-destruct sequence to the mausoleum ship. He then departs and leaves the others stranded.

After returning to Cybertron, Optimus informs the [[Autobot]]s that Rodimus and the others were killed by the Quintessons. This puts everyone in a pretty bad mood ([[Springer (G1)|Springer]] swears vengeance - particularly for Arcee - while [[Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]] spends at least a minute stomping and thumping his tail). Optimus re-assumes command and orders an all-out attack on a supposed Quintesson base.

[[File:G1-screencap DarkAwakening Quintessons missiles.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|Our budget only ran to six missiles.]]
Hot Rod and his group manage to escape, mere moments before the mausoleum ship plunges into a star and explodes. They return to Cybertron, but find nobody around but the Dinobots. Turns out most of the Autobots have left to attack the Quintessons. They pursue their friends in their own ship, but arrive to find the [[Autobot fleet]] already being decimated by Quintesson missile fire. Their frantic calls to stop the attack are dismissed by Optimus as Quintesson tricks.

Hot Rod and the others finally manage to board the lead ship, and the former Rodimus goes "Optimus hunting" after his [[zombie|zombified]] mentor. When the two meet, Optimus starts to pound on Hot Rod, but as he's kicking Hot Rod's tailpipe he begs Hot Rod to defeat him.

[[File:Zombiesmatrixmakesmetoostrong.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|And that's for getting me killed!]]
Fighting against both Hot Rod and himself, Optimus flashes back to his own reanimation at the hands of the Quintessons, who stole his corpse and reanimated it with their own evil programming to lead all Autobots into a trap.
Optimus is nothing more than a "robotic zombie", combined with "lingering remnants" of his personality and memories. Hot Rod puts up a brave fight in a moment of compassion trying to help Optimus, Hot Rod is physically overcome by Optimus, but the influence of the Matrix allows Prime to overcome the Quintessons' programming. Ending the fight, Optimus returns the Matrix to Hot Rod's chest cavity, restoring him to his status as Rodimus Prime.
As Optimus Prime takes his leave, the other Autobots find their battered leader and inform him that the equally battered ship is being evacuated.

Optimus Prime takes control of the ship, and orders the Autobot fleet away from the Quintesson trap.

As the stunned Quintessons watch, the Autobot fleet escapes. Optimus's final act is to pilot the Autobot flagship into the trigger zone of the Quintesson trap; ensuring the safety of the retreating Autobot ships and craft.
Closing the distance piloting the command ship, Optimus Prime suffers horrendous damage as the Quintessons bombard the ship with missile fire and explosions and flames erupt from various points in the command ship on top of the battle damage Optimus had incurred previously from his fight with Hot Rod; loosing an arm namely.

With a massive explosion, the solar system is destroyed.
As Kup bids his old friend farewell and the other Autobots mourn their lost leader a second time, Magnus remarks that the nova will be Optimus's memorial. Rodimus doubts he'll be the [[Prime (rank)|Autobot leader]] that Optimus Prime was, but vows to try.

{{note|A short narrative voiceover by [[Victor Caroli]] was tacked on to the final scene when this episode made its first re-run airing: 'But is this ''really'' the end of Optimus Prime? Find out in tomorrow's exciting episode, "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1|The Return of Optimus Prime]]"!' Baffled by such an ambiguous title, children the world over were left wondering if this was in fact the end of Optimus Prime.}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Rodimus Prime]] (2)
*[[Ultra Magnus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ultra Magnus]] (3)
*[[Arcee (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Arcee]] (9)
*[[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]] (11)
*[[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] (14)
*[[Perceptor (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Perceptor]] (15)
*[[Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]] (16)
*[[Springer (G1)|Springer]] (17)
*[[Skydive (G1 Aerialbot)|Skydive]] (18)
*[[Snarl (G1)|Snarl]] (19)
*[[Sludge (G1)|Sludge]] (20)
*[[Slingshot (G1)|Slingshot]] (21)
*[[Powerglide (G1)|Powerglide]] (22)
*[[Jetfire (G1)|Skyfire]] (23)
*[[Blurr (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Blurr]] (24)
*[[Jazz (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Jazz]] (25)
*[[Blaster (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Blaster]] (26)
*[[Air Raid (G1)|Air Raid]] (27)
*[[Wheelie (G1)|Wheelie]] (28)
|c2=
*[[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]] (4)
*[[Scourge (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Scourge]] (5)
*[[Sweep (G1)|Sweeps]] (6)
*[[Cyclonus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Cyclonus]] (8)
*[[Dirge (G1)|Dirge]] (12)
*[[Thrust (G1)|Thrust]] (13)
|c3=
*[[Spike Witwicky (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Spike Witwicky]] (1)
*[[Daniel Witwicky (G1)|Daniel Witwicky]] (10)
|c4=
*[[Quintesson]]s (7)
}}

==Quotes==
"Great. What'll Daniel and I do when the air runs out?" 
"Basically you'll have two choices: suffocate, or smother."
:—As '''Spike''' wonders about the limited oxygen for the first time in life in the Autobot life pod, '''Rodimus Prime''' takes "deadpan" to a whole new level.

"How convenient Rodimus!....we can lay your wreckage beside that of your mentor!"
Galvatron being rather morbid this episode we should all be thankful for Zombie Optimus Prim being a bad ass.

"Decepticons!... leave this place... or DIE!!"
"Optimus Pri.....AARRRGHH!!"
:— for just one brief chill-bump moment, '''Optimus Prime''' is back and blasts Galvatron pretty badly also.

"Hey, he's here, he's back, and who cares how!" 
"Must... complete... plan..." ''Optimus abruptly walks offscreen.'' 
"Yeah! What's the plan?"
:—'''Rodimus''' misses some critical clues from '''Optimus Prime'''<nowiki>'s</nowiki> behavior.

'''Arcee''': Sludge! Snarl! Oh, are we glad to see you. 
'''Sludge''': Me Sludge not glad to see ''you''. 
'''Snarl''': You all dead! Rarrr! 
'''Sludge''': ...Maybe ''we'' dead.
:—Arcee freaks out the Dinobots.

'''Kup''': Where is everybody? 
'''Sludge''': All go smash Quintessons. 
'''Ultra Magnus''': Quintessons? What have Quintessons got to do with any of this? 
'''Snarl''': They kill you! Optimus Prime say so! ...Uh-oh. Something not right.
:—The Dinobots start to comprehend that all is not well.

"This won't even be a war." 
"Merely an exercise in... extermination."
:—the '''Quintessons''' nonchalantly slaughter the Autobot fleet

"Not a game! ...Matrix makes me ''too strong''!" 
"Now ''there's'' a unique complaint!"
:—'''Optimus Prime''' wails on '''Hot Rod''', who takes it in stride

"Monsters... they made me a weapon, to destroy the very ones I loved in life. But you will save them... Rodimus Prime."
:—'''Optimus Prime''' hands over the Matrix.

"I don't know if I'll ever be the leader that you were, but for sure... I'm gonna try. So long... Prime."
:—'''Rodimus''' gives a eulogy in his own inimitable fashion.

==Season 5==
{{note|When this episode was rebroadcast in [[The Transformers (cartoon)#Season 5|the fifth season]] of ''The Transformers'', it contained new bookending segments with original story material.}}
[[File:TommyInterviewsPrime.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4]]
[[Tommy Kennedy|Tommy]] and [[Powermaster]] [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] meet in the barren wasteland where Tommy, apparently a reporter for [[Autobot City News]], asks to interview Prime. Tommy asks for the inside scoop on how Prime came back from the dead. Prime recalls how it all began...

{{bigquote|Okay, what would you like me to tell you?}}
{{bigquote|Tell us the real scoop! The behind the scenes, super secret story of how '''you''' came back from the dead!}}

:''22 minutes later...''

{{bigquote|You said you were going to tell me how you were brought back to life and instead you tell me a story where you weren't ''really'' brought back to life at all! And even if you ''were'', you'd be dead again by now!}}

Tommy is furious, accusing Prime of dodging the question and not telling him how he ''really'' cheated death. Prime informs him that there's "more than meets the eye" to this story. In fact, the story has only just begun. Tommy stops him, as his recorder has run out of tape. Tommy and Prime then blast off into outer space to... go to the store to buy more tape. Okay.
{{--}}

==Notes==
===Continuity notes===
*Galvatron still has some degree of alliance with the Quintessons, despite their betrayal in "Five Faces of Darkness". (Of course, it's leading to ''another'' betrayal, as the Quintessons are presumably luring him and the Autobots to zombie Optimus's trap.)
*As an episode built around the events of the animated movie, Galvatron's order to examine the debris of the destroyed Autobot ship is almost certainly a callback to the last time he blew up an Autobot vessel from afar - he's wised up to the Autobots' "detonate three quarters of the ship" trick!
*Kup alludes to the [[Great War (G1)|Great War]] when Daniel asks about Optimus Prime's inclusion in the Mausoleum.
*Besides Optimus, the interred Autobots whose names are read off by Daniel are [[Ironhide (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ironhide]], [[Prowl (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Prowl]], [[Ratchet (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ratchet]], and [[Huffer (G1)|Huffer]]. The first three were killed off in ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'', all in the same scene, in fact. This is the first time we learn of Huffer's death, however. The absence of [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]] (also killed off in the same scene) has led to joking fandom speculation that he must have survived getting shot in the shoulder (bolstered by his and Huffer's animation-error appearance in "[[Carnage in C-Minor]]"). [[Wheeljack (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Wheeljack]] and [[Windcharger (G1)|Windcharger]]'s bodies weren't even mentioned, despite their offscreen deaths in the movie.
[[File:DarkAwakening dead Autobot.jpg|thumb|200px]]
*The dead Autobot that nearly squashes Daniel isn't Ironhide, but follows his general design pattern: rounded head helmet, boxy torso with a front window chest. The details are off, though, and of course he's got a totally different color scheme (mostly gray, with an olive green chest.)
*Cyclonus pulls his gun out of thin air during the fight on the mausoleum; it simply appears in his hand in a flash of light, another instance supporting the fan-theories of "subspace" and the like.
*Springer reacts pointedly to the supposed death of Arcee, continuing the romantic overtones between them that first showed up back in "Five Faces of Darkness".
*The Autobot fleet shown in this episode causes some bizarre continuity hijinks. Character models for the Aerialbots, Powerglide, and Skyfire are used to pad out the fleet's ranks (see details under Animation and/or Technical Errors), and many of these "ships" are showing getting annihilated by the Quintessons. While one might be tempted to say that Skyfire is thus shown getting killed, you'd also have to say the same for the Aerialbots and Powerglide, who all show up alive and well in later episodes. You'd also have to accept Skydive getting killed and then being alive a few seconds later, and Slingshot getting killed twice.

===Real-world references===
[[File:Autobot shuttle lifepod.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1]]
*Writer Antoni Zalewski recycled his own work for the opening scene of this episode, which is copied almost note-for-note from the 1985 "Ghost Ship" episode of ''The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians''. The parallels include a pursuit through space, launching an escape pod ("We turned the cockpit into an escape ship just in time!"), right up to Spike's verbatim quote "It's the size of... Manhattan!"
*''Star Wars'' sound effects:
**The ''Star Wars'' effects are of a much higher fidelity of sound than the rest of the episode's effects, music and voiceovers, sitting higher in the mix and sounding rather out of place. Some are mixed to the point of being unidentifiable.
**A long X-Wing whine - from the Rebel squads approaching the Death Star - is heard in the opening shot as the Autobot ship flies past camera.
**As the Decepticons launch torpedos, sounds from one of the firefights on the Death Star can be heard.
**The whine of Luke's X-Wing about to crash on Dagobah (a rare use of a sound effect from ''Empire'') plays as the Mausoleum approaches the sun; the sound of branches hitting the fighter's canopy can still be heard.
**Death Star superlaser as the Autobots escape from the Mausoleum.
**X-Wing engine whine as the Quintesson asteroid-ship moves into firing position.

===Animation and technical errors===
[[File:DarkAwakening Magnus hands.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Don't look at me either. I had my shot. I'm out.]]
[[File:DarkAwakening-Springer.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1]]
*An AKOM episode. Watch for off-model characters including:
**Rodimus and Galvatron are both consistently colored using outdated color models; Rodimus's shoulder indentations are red instead of white, his pelvis-windshield details are white instead of light burgundy, and his gun is red instead of black, while Galvatron has pale purple "underpants."
**Movie characters have colored mouths, such as Ultra Magnus with a red mouth, Cyclonus with purple, Blurr with blue and Springer with green.
**Optimus's running light rims are white, and the lights themselves are red, rather than vice versa; his backpack is white instead of red.
**The top part of Ultra Magnus' back is sometimes colored grey when it should be red (such as when he shoots at Galvatron).
*Coloring errors:
**In the first shot of the Decepticon mothership shooting at the Autobot shuttle, one of the two Sweeps flying alongside it is colored all white.
**"They're getting away!" - Cyclonus's jet windows are colored white instead of orange.
**As Rodimus delivers the "I'd hoped never to see it again" line, Kup's eyes are gray and the triangles below them blue, rather than the other way around.
**Rodimus's eyes flash blue-gray-blue as he details the location of Optimus's tomb.
**After driving the Decepticons off, Optimus walks up to the Autobots and the left side of his helmet is grey instead of blue.
**Right after Optimus Prime shoots Hot Rod, Kup, Arcee, Daniel and Spike, the top of his helmet is colored gray.
**As Optimus walks up to Hot Rod, his Autobot symbol is grey instead of red.
**Just before Optimus' flashback, his crotch piece and lower legs are dark grey instead of blue.
**When Rodimus tosses him, Optimus' face is entirely colored in blue. As he lands, the top of Optimus' helmet is grey.
*As the "torpedos" close in on the Autobot ship, it's suddenly no longer in the asteroid field, but in open space.
*The life pod's engine-roar sound effect flies past the camera long before the ship itself does.
*After they blow up the Autobot ship, a shot of the Decepticons flying shows their group to contain a 1984 Seeker design with Dirge's color-scheme. Thrust and Dirge are also flying alongside the ship - the first and only time they've been shown to be space flight capable. The Decepticon ship isn't all that much bigger than the Decepticons around it, either.
*As the Decepticon ship turns to intercept, the squad of Decepticons are no longer flying alongside it.
*The mausoleum first appears floating in empty open space, but as the Autobots approach it, it's suddenly got asteroids and a red sun nearby.
*As they approach the Mausoleum in their ship, the Autobots keep changing positions between shots. First Kup is up front on the right, then he's behind Rodimus on the left, then Rodimus is in the back right with Kup in front of him. Arcee moves from the front right to the back left, then back to the front right again.
**Also during the approach, the seats at the front of the ship appear and disappear between shots.
***''Also'' during the approach, the large door with the Autobot symbol has a grey frame around it (with parts that overlap the right and left sides), but when it opens, the frame is gone.
*As he walks up behind Daniel, Optimus is supposed to be obscured by darkness - but since the animation portrays the scene as not really dark at all, Optimus simply ''appears out of thin air'' when Daniel turns the lights back on.
**Also, he's covered with cobwebs, as if he's been standing immobile in one spot for ages, even though he was just walking around. Some of them even connect to the wall behind and above him! The cobwebs are gone in a closeup view in the very next shot. (Dare we even ''ask'' how there are ''spiders'' inside a Cybertronian tomb in space? What are they eating?)
*In that first closeup shot, Optimus has a much more damaged look (both his chest windows are broken, showing internal circuitry; his mouthplate is broken; and the overall look of the chest area is more worn out. For the remainder of the episode, he is drawn with the damaged look from the movie.
*After discovering Optimus's empty tomb, the Autobots are apparently supposed to be reacting to some sound, indicating the Decepticons' arrival - but there's no such sound. They just all turn at once in response to nothing.
*Rodimus is missing his spoiler after yelling "Take cover!"
*When Cyclonus shoots Arcee, the blast comes from WAY too low to be from the gun, coming instead from his third knuckle.
*When Optimus shoots at the Decepticons, Galvatron's Decepticon logo is missing its "eyes."
*Cyclonus steals Galvatron's cannon sound effect as he drags his wounded leader away.
*Ultra Magnus yells at the other Autobots to "Hold your fire, we've driven them off!" but they've already stopped shooting!
*After driving the Decepticons off, Spike is not in the shot, even though he was right next to Daniel earlier.
*After driving the Decepticons off, Optimus is still holding his gun, but when he asks about the Matrix, it's suddenly gone.
*Some weird shadows are drawn over Rodimus's face as he opens his chest to return the Matrix - but there's no light source shown to cause them.
*Layering problem: The flame pattern on Rodimus's chest opens sideways, leaving what ''appears'' to be a cavity in the same shape as the flame pattern - yet instead of reaching ''inside'', Rodimus's hand reaches ''behind'' it to retrieve the Matrix!
*After Optimus shoots him, Hot Rod lands on what seems to be the exterior surface of a planet, rather than the hangar bay of the Mausoleum.
*Optimus's mouthplate often doesn't move when he speaks, as when he relates the supposed fate of Rodimus and the others to the Autobots. After the Matrix overrides the Quintessons' programming, it consistently moves when he speaks. If it was an intentional effect, however, it's thrown off by the fact that it ''does'' move when he first appears and threatens the Decepticons.
*As Springer comments on going after the Quintessons, his lip flap stops a bit before his words do.
*When boarding Ultra Magnus' "little improvisation," the camera shake isn't synced with the frames of animation, so it looks like there are two Arcees, Kups and Hot Rods.
*The Autobot fleet contains all sorts of strange stuff; see also Continuity Notes, below:
**In the first pan shot: two Skydive, two Slingshots, an Air Raid, and lots of black-colored jets that may be various Aerialbot models.
**In the fly-over shot, the (much smaller) fleet is entirely light gray ships, some loosely based on Broadside's jet mode, but mostly generic science fiction style.
**As the Quintessons open fire, Skydive and two black jets are destroyed.
***On board one of those ships, a [[generic]] Autobot with Dead End's color scheme - including a purple Autobot symbol - gets blown away, followed by two more generics based on Dead End and Scamper.
**Next shot: Powerglide and Slingshot are destroyed. An all-white Skyfire, another Skyfire in Skydive's colore scheme, and a black jet are nearby.
**After the commercial break: the same shot repeats, but this time the missiles fly in and past without hitting anybody.
**Next shot: an all-white Skyfire with orange tailfins gets pummeled by missiles.
**Next shot: several generic white jets are blown up.
**Next shot: a generic white jet and Slingshot (again!) are destroyed. Two Skydives, two Air Raids, and someone in Powerglide's colors go untouched.
**A moment later, Skydive and Air Raid are seen manning laser cannons to destroy the interceptor ship.
**Four generic jets in white, gray and black are shown escaping at the end. In a second shot, two of them are loosely based on Skyfire's design.
**In the final shot, the escaping ships include generic ship/jets with Skydive and Air Raid's color schemes.
*When Perceptor shouts "They're alive!", Blaster (with a white helmet) and [[Jazz (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Jazz]] - completely miscolored in light and dark blue - are standing in the background. The space behind Perceptor was totally empty in the previous shot.
*Not a glitch so much as a strange shortcut: the Quintessons' lines, "Perhaps we should seek some cover." and "No. Place your faith in our defense systems." are both recycled from "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2]]".
*As Hot Rod announces he's going "Optimus hunting," Wheelie is missing his Autobot symbol.
*"Optimus, front and center!" - Hot Rod is drawn as his Rodimus self for a couple of shots.
**After Optimus returns the Matrix to him and walks off, Rodimus is still drawn as Hot Rod for the rest of the scene.
*When he puts Rodimus in the wrestling hold, Optimus' nose isn't drawn in.
*When Rodimus tosses him, Optimus clearly hits a display monitor (which doesn't break) in its upper left corner, but when he lands, he's way over on the right side of the console.
*Whatever the burbling thing that melts through Hot Rod's torso is, it's gone in the next shot - then back again, then gone for good in the following shots.
*When Optimus gives the Matrix back to Hot Rod, Hot Rod's door is made up of the entire yellow (flame) part of his chest. In "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4," the door was split in half and opened around the center of his chest.
*When Optimus is in control of the flagship and orders the other Autobots to return, he has his left arm again... and the hand colored wrong (red).
**In the first shot of him on the bridge, the bridge design is completely different than the one shown at the start of the attack.
*As the Autobots watch the explosion, Ultra Magnus' (red) mouth is shown gaping open and not moving when he speaks; his eyes are connected together like a visor.

===Continuity errors===
[[File:DarkAwakening Mausoleum.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Just in case you weren't clear that Prowl, Ratchet, etc. are dead - this episode goes and kills them ''even more dead''.]]
*[[Revenge (G1)|Galvatron's starship]] is shown to be perfectly intact here, despite being smashed by Unicron in the movie.
*Rodimus Prime and his crew were surprised to find the Autobot Mausoleum, suggesting they forgot where it was. Why didn't the Autobots just put the Mausoleum somewhere on Cybertron?
*Why are the tomb's light controls at human child level?
*Rodimus Prime states that Optimus has been dead "for years". While it's not always wise to take the flippant Rodimus [[The Burden Hardest to Bear|at face value]], Prime has actually been dead for a year at most. (The cartoon's timeframe is rarely made explicit, but "[[Five Faces of Darkness]]" was stated in narration to take place in [[2005]], while later episodes like "[[The Big Broadcast of 2006 (episode)|The Big Broadcast of 2006]]" indicate the series has moved on into [[2006]] as time has gone on. Also, Daniel is the same age he was when Optimus died. This works a little better in Japan, though, where the series takes place in [[2010]].)
*It's never explained where Hot Rod and company obtained the ship that carries them away from the Mausoleum. Magnus just comments vaguely about "this little improvisation" in reference to the vessel.
*Optimus returns to Cybertron still beat to hell, fine. But... then he rushes everyone off into battle and ''nobody'' stops him to say, hey, get yourself to repair bay first?
*During the flashback to the Quintessons discussing Optimus Prime over his dead body, shouldn't the body still be grey (as it appeared after his death in the movie)? It's the usual colors instead.
*Kup tells Rodimus the ship is being blown to pieces, but it seems perfectly calm (until the Quintessons notice it's heading for the detonator and fire on it, of course).

===Other trivia===
*This episode originally aired early in Season 3. However, it was re-aired as the season drew to a close, as a lead-in to the last episode, "The Return of Optimus Prime". The voiceover by Victor Caroli, described above, was added at this time, and subsequently became the more well-known ending. The original version was released on VHS by [[Rhino Entertainment|Kid Rhino]], but when the company released the episode on DVD, the altered ending was the only one included (despite the presence of no less than ''three'' audio tracks on the disc). Observing the frustration this caused among American fans, DVD consultant [[Chris McFeely]] helped ensure the restoration of the original ending for the [[Metrodome]] DVD release of the episode, with the alternate ending included as an easter egg. The original ending is also the version featured on the [[Shout! Factory]] DVD sets.
*The ''Transformers 2010'' story pages would run with this story's events, having the Quintessons analyze Optimus Prime's specifications and use them to build [[Guiltaur]]. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010 (story page)|Transformers 2010 Part 4}}
*This is easily the most gruesome episode of the original cartoon, and perhaps the only one with a certifiable body count - even if you don't include the named character models that are shown.
*That sure is some chipper, happy, peppy, upbeat music that plays as Daniel walks about reading the names of the dead, opening tombs, and running into zombies!

===Foreign localization===
'''German'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Das Erwachen im Dunkeln'''" ("The Awakening in the Dark")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?
*This was one of twelve episodes of [[The Transformers (cartoon)|the original cartoon]] released as audio adventures by the [[Germany|German]] company [[Karussell|Karussell Musik und Video]].

'''Italian'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Fantasmi dal passato'''" (First dub, "Ghosts from the Past"), "'''Risveglio oscuro'''" (Second dub, "Dark Awakening")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

'''Japanese'''
:*''Title:'' コンボイの影 (''Convoy no Kage'', "Convoy's Shadow")
:*''Original airdate:'' [[January 9]], [[1987]]
:*As Kup explains about the Autobot Mausoleum, he mentions the [[Unicron War]] instead of the Great War.

'''Mandarin'''
:*''Title:'' Wǔmiànguài de Guǐjì (五面怪的诡计, "Quintesson's Ruse")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote}}
;VHS
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[1988]] — ''Transformers'' — Dark Awakening / Grimlock's New Brain ([[Tempo Video]]) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[1990]] — ''Transformers'' — Dark Awakening ([[Tempo Video|Collins Video]]) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 1990 — ''Transformers'' — Dark Awakening / Grimlock's New Brain ([[Tempo Video|Abbey Home Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] [[1999]] — ''The Original Transformers'' — Volume 2: Revenge of the Decepticons ([[The Original Transformers|Rhino Entertainment]])
;{{w|LaserDisc}}
[[File:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 1999 — ''The Transformers: 2010'' ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Pioneer LDC]]) — Japanese audio only.
;DVD
[[File:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] [[2001]] — ''The Transformers: 2010'' — DVD Box (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only. 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] [[2003]] — ''The Original Transformers'' — Season 3 Part 1 ([[The Original Transformers|Rhino Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2003 — ''The Original Transformers'' — Season 3 Part 1: Vol. 2 (Rhino Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2004]] — ''Transformers'' — Season 3 and Season 4 ([[Metrodome]]) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2004 — ''Transformers'' — Collection 4: Series 3.1 ([[Madman Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2006]] — ''Transformers'' — The Complete Generation One Collection (Metrodome) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2006 — The Best of ''The Transformers'' (Madman Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2007]] — ''Transformers'' — The Classic Episodes (Metrodome) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2007 — ''The Transformers'' — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2009]] — ''Transformers'' — Season's Three & Four {{sic}} (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 Series: 25th Anniversary "Matrix of Leadership" Collection ([[Shout! Factory]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] [[2010]] — ''The Transformers'' — Seasons Three & Four: 25th Anniversary Edition (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'' — Seasons Three & Four: 30th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2014 — ''Transformers'' — The Classic Animated Series (Metrodome)

==External links==
*[http://cybertronchronicle.freewebspace.com/cartoon-dossier/season-3/synopses/700-93.html Episode Dossier at The Cybertron Chronicle]
*[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808822/ IMDb's page for this episode]
*[https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_CN1s80MHOZDFaY1ZWV2Y4UUk/view?usp=sharing Orignal dialogue script]

[[Category:The Transformers episodes]]
[[Category:MSTF]]

Dark Awakening (episode)

2018-08-07T13:39:23Z

RoboP08: /* Synopsis */

{{featured}}
{{disambig2|the Generation 1 cartoon episode|the ''Legends'' event|Dark Awakening (Legends)}}
{{episode|
|series=G1toon
|series2=2010
|ep=73
|ep2=8
|prev2=Starscream's Ghost
|next2=Forever Is a Long Time Coming (episode)
|image=Optimusg1zombie.jpg
|caption=Yeah, let ''this'' be how the kids remember their hero.
|title="Dark Awakening"
|production code=700-93
|airdate=[[October 1]], [[1986]]
|written by=[[Antoni Zalewski]]
|production company=[[Sunbow Productions]]
|animation studio=[[AKOM]]
|continuity=[[Generation 1 cartoon continuity]]
}}
'''Optimus Prime is revived as a zombie by Quintessons.'''

==Synopsis==
[[File:G1-screencap darkawakening Optimus empty tomb.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|Don't you hate when your stuff goes missing?]]
On the run from [[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]], [[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Rodimus Prime]], [[Arcee (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Arcee]], [[Ultra Magnus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ultra Magnus]], [[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]], [[Spike Witwicky (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Spike]] and [[Daniel Witwicky (G1)|Daniel]] try the old "detonate three-quarters of the ship" trick to lose their pursuers. What's left of the ship can't support human life for long, however, so they take refuge on board the nearby [[Autobot Mausoleum]], an interstellar tomb containing many of their deceased comrades, most notably the venerated [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]].

While exploring by himself, Daniel is stuck in a dark room with robot corpses and gets appropriately creeped out... particularly when he sees what looks like the fully animated form of Optimus Prime. When he finds the others he swears he has seen Optimus Prime alive. To satisfy his curiosity and against the opinions of the other Autobots, Rodimus opens Prime's tomb, only to find it empty. However, they cannot investigate further because the Decepticons have followed them inside and attack them (turns out Galvatron has wised up to the detonate-three-quarters thing.) The fierce battle that follows appears lost for the Autobots, when suddenly they are saved by none other than Optimus Prime. With their ranks bolstered by the mighty warrior's firepower, they quickly drive the freaked out Decepticons into retreat.

[[File:OptimusMatrixAwakening.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|Uh uh. Nope. Had it. Done with it.]]
The Autobots are amazed and confused at Prime's presence. Optimus can give them no explanation to his apparent resurrection, just the typical near-death experience of seeing darkness and then a light at the end of the tunnel. Rodimus Prime eagerly (too eagerly) returns the [[Matrix of Leadership]] to him, despite Prime's bizarre behavior and damaged appearance, and against the advice of Kup and Ultra Magnus. Without the Matrix inside him, Rodimus reverts to Hot Rod and declares, "Let's party!" Optimus evidently has other plans and attacks the Autobots and sets the auto-destruct sequence to the mausoleum ship. He then departs and leaves the others stranded.

After returning to Cybertron, Optimus informs the [[Autobot]]s that Rodimus and the others were killed by the Quintessons. This puts everyone in a pretty bad mood ([[Springer (G1)|Springer]] swears vengeance - particularly for Arcee - while [[Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]] spends at least a minute stomping and thumping his tail). Optimus re-assumes command and orders an all-out attack on a supposed Quintesson base.

[[File:G1-screencap DarkAwakening Quintessons missiles.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|Our budget only ran to six missiles.]]
Hot Rod and his group manage to escape, mere moments before the mausoleum ship plunges into a star and explodes. They return to Cybertron, but find nobody around but the Dinobots. Turns out most of the Autobots have left to attack the Quintessons. They pursue their friends in their own ship, but arrive to find the fleet already being decimated by Quintesson missile fire. Their frantic calls to stop the attack are dismissed by Optimus as Quintesson tricks.

Hot Rod and the others finally manage to board the lead ship, and the former Rodimus goes "Optimus hunting" after his [[zombie|zombified]] mentor. When the two meet, Optimus starts to pound on Hot Rod, but as he's kicking Hot Rod's tailpipe he begs Hot Rod to defeat him.

[[File:Zombiesmatrixmakesmetoostrong.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|And that's for getting me killed!]]
Fighting against both Hot Rod and himself, Optimus flashes back to his own reanimation at the hands of the Quintessons, who stole his corpse and reanimated it with their own evil programming to lead all Autobots into a trap.
Optimus is nothing more than a "mindless zombie", combined with "lingering remnants" of his personality and memories. Hot Rod puts up a brave fight in a moment of compassion trying to help Optimus, Hot Rod is physically overcome by Optimus, but the influence of the Matrix allows Prime to overcome the Quintessons' programming. Ending the fight, Optimus returns the Matrix to Hot Rod's chest cavity, restoring him to his status as Rodimus Prime.
As Optimus Prime takes his leave, the other Autobots find their battered leader and inform him that the equally battered ship is being evacuated.

Optimus Prime takes control of the ship, and orders the Autobot fleet away from the Quintesson trap.

As the stunned Quintessons watch, the Autobot fleet escapes. Optimus's final act is to pilot the Autobot flagship into the trigger zone of the Quintesson trap; ensuring the safety of the retreating Autobot ships and craft.
Closing the distance piloting the command ship, Optimus Prime suffers horrendous damage as the Quintessons bombard the ship with missile fire and explosions and flames erupt from various points in the command ship on top of the battle damage Optimus had incurred previously from his fight with Hot Rod; loosing an arm namely.

With a massive explosion, the solar system is destroyed.
As Kup bids his old friend farewell and the other Autobots mourn their lost leader a second time, Magnus remarks that the nova will be Optimus's memorial. Rodimus doubts he'll be the [[Prime (rank)|Autobot leader]] that Optimus Prime was, but vows to try.

{{note|A short narrative voiceover by [[Victor Caroli]] was tacked on to the final scene when this episode made its first re-run airing: 'But is this ''really'' the end of Optimus Prime? Find out in tomorrow's exciting episode, "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1|The Return of Optimus Prime]]"!' Baffled by such an ambiguous title, children the world over were left wondering if this was in fact the end of Optimus Prime.}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Rodimus Prime]] (2)
*[[Ultra Magnus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ultra Magnus]] (3)
*[[Arcee (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Arcee]] (9)
*[[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]] (11)
*[[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] (14)
*[[Perceptor (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Perceptor]] (15)
*[[Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]] (16)
*[[Springer (G1)|Springer]] (17)
*[[Skydive (G1 Aerialbot)|Skydive]] (18)
*[[Snarl (G1)|Snarl]] (19)
*[[Sludge (G1)|Sludge]] (20)
*[[Blurr (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Blurr]] (21)
*[[Wheelie (G1)|Wheelie]] (22)
|c2=
*[[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]] (4)
*[[Scourge (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Scourge]] (5)
*[[Sweep (G1)|Sweeps]] (6)
*[[Cyclonus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Cyclonus]] (8)
*[[Dirge (G1)|Dirge]] (12)
*[[Thrust (G1)|Thrust]] (13)
|c3=
*[[Spike Witwicky (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Spike Witwicky]] (1)
*[[Daniel Witwicky (G1)|Daniel Witwicky]] (10)
|c4=
*[[Quintesson]]s (7)
}}

==Quotes==
"Great. What'll Daniel and I do when the air runs out?" 
"Basically you'll have two choices: suffocate, or smother."
:—As '''Spike''' wonders about the limited oxygen for the first time in life in the Autobot life pod, '''Rodimus Prime''' takes "deadpan" to a whole new level.

"Hey, he's here, he's back, and who cares how!" 
"Must... complete... plan..." ''Optimus abruptly walks offscreen.'' 
"Yeah! What's the plan?"
:—'''Rodimus''' misses some critical clues from '''Optimus Prime'''<nowiki>'s</nowiki> behavior.

'''Arcee''': Sludge! Snarl! Oh, are we glad to see you. 
'''Sludge''': Me Sludge not glad to see ''you''. 
'''Snarl''': You all dead! Rarrr! 
'''Sludge''': ...Maybe ''we'' dead.
:—Arcee freaks out the Dinobots.

'''Kup''': Where is everybody? 
'''Sludge''': All go smash Quintessons. 
'''Ultra Magnus''': Quintessons? What have Quintessons got to do with any of this? 
'''Snarl''': They kill you! Optimus Prime say so! ...Uh-oh. Something not right.
:—The Dinobots start to comprehend that all is not well.

"This won't even be a war." 
"Merely an exercise in... extermination."
:—the '''Quintessons''' nonchalantly slaughter the Autobot fleet

"Not a game! ...Matrix makes me ''too strong''!" 
"Now ''there's'' a unique complaint!"
:—'''Optimus Prime''' wails on '''Hot Rod''', who takes it in stride

"Monsters... they made me a weapon, to destroy the very ones I loved in life. But you will save them... Rodimus Prime."
:—'''Optimus Prime''' hands over the Matrix.

"I don't know if I'll ever be the leader that you were, but for sure... I'm gonna try. So long... Prime."
:—'''Rodimus''' gives a eulogy in his own inimitable fashion.

"Decepticons!, leave this place OR DIE!!"

"Optimus Pri-AAAGGGHH!"

—'''Optimus Prime''' to —'''Galvatron'''
Optimus Prime warns the Decepticons as Optimus opens fire upon them(Decepticons) in an ambush and starting with Galvatron soon after taking out the Decepticon leader.

==Season 5==
{{note|When this episode was rebroadcast in [[The Transformers (cartoon)#Season 5|the fifth season]] of ''The Transformers'', it contained new bookending segments with original story material.}}
[[File:TommyInterviewsPrime.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4]]
[[Tommy Kennedy|Tommy]] and [[Powermaster]] [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] meet in the barren wasteland where Tommy, apparently a reporter for [[Autobot City News]], asks to interview Prime. Tommy asks for the inside scoop on how Prime came back from the dead. Prime recalls how it all began...

{{bigquote|Okay, what would you like me to tell you?}}
{{bigquote|Tell us the real scoop! The behind the scenes, super secret story of how '''you''' came back from the dead!}}

:''22 minutes later...''

{{bigquote|You said you were going to tell me how you were brought back to life and instead you tell me a story where you weren't ''really'' brought back to life at all! And even if you ''were'', you'd be dead again by now!}}

Tommy is furious, accusing Prime of dodging the question and not telling him how he ''really'' cheated death. Prime informs him that there's "more than meets the eye" to this story. In fact, the story has only just begun. Tommy stops him, as his recorder has run out of tape. Tommy and Prime then blast off into outer space to... go to the store to buy more tape. Okay.
{{--}}

==Notes==
===Continuity notes===
*Galvatron still has some degree of alliance with the Quintessons, despite their betrayal in "Five Faces of Darkness". (Of course, it's leading to ''another'' betrayal, as the Quintessons are presumably luring him and the Autobots to zombie Optimus's trap.)
*As an episode built around the events of the animated movie, Galvatron's order to examine the debris of the destroyed Autobot ship is almost certainly a callback to the last time he blew up an Autobot vessel from afar - he's wised up to the Autobots' "detonate three quarters of the ship" trick!
*Kup alludes to the [[Great War (G1)|Great War]] when Daniel asks about Optimus Prime's inclusion in the Mausoleum.
*Besides Optimus, the interred Autobots whose names are read off by Daniel are [[Ironhide (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ironhide]], [[Prowl (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Prowl]], [[Ratchet (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ratchet]], and [[Huffer (G1)|Huffer]]. The first three were killed off in ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'', all in the same scene, in fact. This is the first time we learn of Huffer's death, however. The absence of [[Brawn (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Brawn]] (also killed off in the same scene) has led to joking fandom speculation that he must have survived getting shot in the shoulder (bolstered by his and Huffer's animation-error appearance in "[[Carnage in C-Minor]]"). [[Wheeljack (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Wheeljack]] and [[Windcharger (G1)|Windcharger]]'s bodies weren't even mentioned, despite their offscreen deaths in the movie.
[[File:DarkAwakening dead Autobot.jpg|thumb|200px]]
*The dead Autobot that nearly squashes Daniel isn't Ironhide, but follows his general design pattern: rounded head helmet, boxy torso with a front window chest. The details are off, though, and of course he's got a totally different color scheme (mostly gray, with an olive green chest.)
*Cyclonus pulls his gun out of thin air during the fight on the mausoleum; it simply appears in his hand in a flash of light, another instance supporting the fan-theories of "subspace" and the like.
*Springer reacts pointedly to the supposed death of Arcee, continuing the romantic overtones between them that first showed up back in "Five Faces of Darkness".
*The Autobot fleet shown in this episode causes some bizarre continuity hijinks. Character models for the Aerialbots, Powerglide, and Skyfire are used to pad out the fleet's ranks (see details under Animation and/or Technical Errors), and many of these "ships" are showing getting annihilated by the Quintessons. While one might be tempted to say that Skyfire is thus shown getting killed, you'd also have to say the same for the Aerialbots and Powerglide, who all show up alive and well in later episodes. You'd also have to accept Skydive getting killed and then being alive a few seconds later, and Slingshot getting killed twice.

===Real-world references===
[[File:Autobot shuttle lifepod.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1]]
*Writer Antoni Zalewski recycled his own work for the opening scene of this episode, which is copied almost note-for-note from the 1985 "Ghost Ship" episode of ''The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians''. The parallels include a pursuit through space, launching an escape pod ("We turned the cockpit into an escape ship just in time!"), right up to Spike's verbatim quote "It's the size of... Manhattan!"
*''Star Wars'' sound effects:
**The ''Star Wars'' effects are of a much higher fidelity of sound than the rest of the episode's effects, music and voiceovers, sitting higher in the mix and sounding rather out of place. Some are mixed to the point of being unidentifiable.
**A long X-Wing whine - from the Rebel squads approaching the Death Star - is heard in the opening shot as the Autobot ship flies past camera.
**As the Decepticons launch torpedos, sounds from one of the firefights on the Death Star can be heard.
**The whine of Luke's X-Wing about to crash on Dagobah (a rare use of a sound effect from ''Empire'') plays as the Mausoleum approaches the sun; the sound of branches hitting the fighter's canopy can still be heard.
**Death Star superlaser as the Autobots escape from the Mausoleum.
**X-Wing engine whine as the Quintesson asteroid-ship moves into firing position.

===Animation and technical errors===
[[File:DarkAwakening Magnus hands.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Don't look at me either. I had my shot. I'm out.]]
[[File:DarkAwakening-Springer.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1]]
*An AKOM episode. Watch for off-model characters including:
**Rodimus and Galvatron are both consistently colored using outdated color models; Rodimus's shoulder indentations are red instead of white, his pelvis-windshield details are white instead of light burgundy, and his gun is red instead of black, while Galvatron has pale purple "underpants."
**Movie characters have colored mouths, such as Ultra Magnus with a red mouth, Cyclonus with purple, Blurr with blue and Springer with green.
**Optimus's running light rims are white, and the lights themselves are red, rather than vice versa; his backpack is white instead of red.
**The top part of Ultra Magnus' back is sometimes colored grey when it should be red (such as when he shoots at Galvatron).
*Coloring errors:
**In the first shot of the Decepticon mothership shooting at the Autobot shuttle, one of the two Sweeps flying alongside it is colored all white.
**"They're getting away!" - Cyclonus's jet windows are colored white instead of orange.
**As Rodimus delivers the "I'd hoped never to see it again" line, Kup's eyes are gray and the triangles below them blue, rather than the other way around.
**Rodimus's eyes flash blue-gray-blue as he details the location of Optimus's tomb.
**After driving the Decepticons off, Optimus walks up to the Autobots and the left side of his helmet is grey instead of blue.
**Right after Optimus Prime shoots Hot Rod, Kup, Arcee, Daniel and Spike, the top of his helmet is colored gray.
**As Optimus walks up to Hot Rod, his Autobot symbol is grey instead of red.
**Just before Optimus' flashback, his crotch piece and lower legs are dark grey instead of blue.
**When Rodimus tosses him, Optimus' face is entirely colored in blue. As he lands, the top of Optimus' helmet is grey.
*As the "torpedos" close in on the Autobot ship, it's suddenly no longer in the asteroid field, but in open space.
*The life pod's engine-roar sound effect flies past the camera long before the ship itself does.
*After they blow up the Autobot ship, a shot of the Decepticons flying shows their group to contain a 1984 Seeker design with Dirge's color-scheme. Thrust and Dirge are also flying alongside the ship - the first and only time they've been shown to be space flight capable. The Decepticon ship isn't all that much bigger than the Decepticons around it, either.
*As the Decepticon ship turns to intercept, the squad of Decepticons are no longer flying alongside it.
*The mausoleum first appears floating in empty open space, but as the Autobots approach it, it's suddenly got asteroids and a red sun nearby.
*As they approach the Mausoleum in their ship, the Autobots keep changing positions between shots. First Kup is up front on the right, then he's behind Rodimus on the left, then Rodimus is in the back right with Kup in front of him. Arcee moves from the front right to the back left, then back to the front right again.
**Also during the approach, the seats at the front of the ship appear and disappear between shots.
***''Also'' during the approach, the large door with the Autobot symbol has a grey frame around it (with parts that overlap the right and left sides), but when it opens, the frame is gone.
*As he walks up behind Daniel, Optimus is supposed to be obscured by darkness - but since the animation portrays the scene as not really dark at all, Optimus simply ''appears out of thin air'' when Daniel turns the lights back on.
**Also, he's covered with cobwebs, as if he's been standing immobile in one spot for ages, even though he was just walking around. Some of them even connect to the wall behind and above him! The cobwebs are gone in a closeup view in the very next shot. (Dare we even ''ask'' how there are ''spiders'' inside a Cybertronian tomb in space? What are they eating?)
*In that first closeup shot, Optimus has a much more damaged look (both his chest windows are broken, showing internal circuitry; his mouthplate is broken; and the overall look of the chest area is more worn out. For the remainder of the episode, he is drawn with the damaged look from the movie.
*After discovering Optimus's empty tomb, the Autobots are apparently supposed to be reacting to some sound, indicating the Decepticons' arrival - but there's no such sound. They just all turn at once in response to nothing.
*Rodimus is missing his spoiler after yelling "Take cover!"
*When Cyclonus shoots Arcee, the blast comes from WAY too low from the gun, coming instead from his third knuckle.
*When Optimus shoots at the Decepticons, Galvatron's Decepticon logo is missing its "eyes."
*Cyclonus steals Galvatron's cannon sound effect as he drags his wounded leader away.
*Ultra Magnus yells at the other Autobots to "Hold your fire, we've driven them off!" but they've already stopped shooting!
*After driving the Decepticons off, Spike is not in the shot, even though he was right next to Daniel earlier.
*After driving the Decepticons off, Optimus is still holding his gun, but when he asks about the Matrix, it's suddenly gone.
*Some weird shadows are drawn over Rodimus's face as he opens his chest to return the Matrix - but there's no light source shown to cause them.
*Layering problem: The flame pattern on Rodimus's chest opens sideways, leaving what ''appears'' to be a cavity in the same shape as the flame pattern - yet instead of reaching ''inside'', Rodimus's hand reaches ''behind'' it to retrieve the Matrix!
*After Optimus shoots him, Hot Rod lands on what seems to be the exterior surface of a planet, rather than the hangar bay of the Mausoleum.
*Optimus's mouthplate often doesn't move when he speaks, as when he relates the supposed fate of Rodimus and the others to the Autobots. After the Matrix overrides the Quintessons' programming, it consistently moves when he speaks. If it was an intentional effect, however, it's thrown off by the fact that it ''does'' move when he first appears and threatens the Decepticons.
*As Springer comments on going after the Quintessons, his lip flap stops a bit before his words do.
*When boarding Ultra Magnus' "little improvisation," the camera shake isn't synced with the frames of animation, so it looks like there are two Arcees, Kups and Hot Rods.
*The Autobot fleet contains all sorts of strange stuff; see also Continuity Notes, below:
**In the first pan shot: two Skydive, two Slingshots, an Air Raid, and lots of black-colored jets that may be various Aerialbot models.
**In the fly-over shot, the (much smaller) fleet is entirely light gray ships, some loosely based on Broadside's jet mode, but mostly generic science fiction style.
**As the Quintessons open fire, Skydive and two black jets are destroyed.
***On board one of those ships, a [[generic]] Autobot with Dead End's color scheme - including a purple Autobot symbol - gets blown away, followed by two more generics based on Dead End and Scamper.
**Next shot: Powerglide and Slingshot are destroyed. An all-white Skyfire, another Skyfire in Skydive's colore scheme, and a black jet are nearby.
**After the commercial break: the same shot repeats, but this time the missiles fly in and past without hitting anybody.
**Next shot: an all-white Skyfire with orange tailfins gets pummeled by missiles.
**Next shot: several generic white jets are blown up.
**Next shot: a generic white jet and Slingshot (again!) are destroyed. Two Skydives, two Air Raids, and someone in Powerglide's colors go untouched.
**A moment later, Skydive and Air Raid are seen manning laser cannons to destroy the interceptor ship.
**Four generic jets in white, gray and black are shown escaping at the end. In a second shot, two of them are loosely based on Skyfire's design.
**In the final shot, the escaping ships include generic ship/jets with Skydive and Air Raid's color schemes.
*When Perceptor shouts "They're alive!", Blaster (with a white helmet) and [[Jazz (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Jazz]] - completely miscolored in light and dark blue - are standing in the background. The space behind Perceptor was totally empty in the previous shot.
*Not a glitch so much as a strange shortcut: the Quintessons' lines, "Perhaps we should seek some cover." and "No. Place your faith in our defense systems." are both recycled from "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2]]".
*As Hot Rod announces he's going "Optimus hunting," Wheelie is missing his Autobot symbol.
*"Optimus, front and center!" - Hot Rod is drawn as his Rodimus self for a couple of shots.
**After Optimus returns the Matrix to him and walks off, Rodimus is still drawn as Hot Rod for the rest of the scene.
*When he puts Rodimus in the wrestling hold, Optimus' nose isn't drawn in.
*When Rodimus tosses him, Optimus clearly hits a display monitor (which doesn't break) in its upper left corner, but when he lands, he's way over on the right side of the console.
*Whatever the burbling thing that melts through Hot Rod's torso is, it's gone in the next shot - then back again, then gone for good in the following shots.
*When Optimus gives the Matrix back to Hot Rod, Hot Rod's door is made up of the entire yellow (flame) part of his chest. In "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4," the door was split in half and opened around the center of his chest.
*When Optimus is in control of the flagship and orders the other Autobots to return, he has his left arm again... and the hand colored wrong (red).
**In the first shot of him on the bridge, the bridge design is completely different than the one shown at the start of the attack.
*As the Autobots watch the explosion, Ultra Magnus' (red) mouth is shown gaping open and not moving when he speaks; his eyes are connected together like a visor.

===Continuity errors===
[[File:DarkAwakening Mausoleum.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Just in case you weren't clear that Prowl, Ratchet, etc. are dead - this episode goes and kills them ''even more dead''.]]
*[[Revenge (G1)|Galvatron's starship]] is shown to be perfectly intact here, despite being smashed by Unicron in the movie.
*Rodimus Prime and his crew were surprised to find the Autobot Mausoleum, suggesting they forgot where it was. Why didn't the Autobots just put the Mausoleum somewhere on Cybertron?
*Why are the tomb's light controls at human child level?
*Rodimus Prime states that Optimus has been dead "for years". While it's not always wise to take the flippant Rodimus [[The Burden Hardest to Bear|at face value]], Prime has actually been dead for a year at most. (The cartoon's timeframe is rarely made explicit, but "[[Five Faces of Darkness]]" was stated in narration to take place in [[2005]], while later episodes like "[[The Big Broadcast of 2006 (episode)|The Big Broadcast of 2006]]" indicate the series has moved on into [[2006]] as time as gone on. Also, Daniel is the same age he was when Optimus died. This works a little better in Japan, though, where the series takes place in [[2010]].)
*It's never explained where Hot Rod and company obtained the ship that carries them away from the Mausoleum. Magnus just comments vaguely about "this little improvisation" in reference to the vessel.
*Optimus returns to Cybertron still beat to hell, fine. But... then he rushes everyone off into battle and ''nobody'' stops him to say, hey, get yourself to repair bay first?
*During the flashback to the Quintessons discussing Optimus Prime over his dead body, shouldn't the body still be grey (as it appeared after his death in the movie)? It's the usual colors instead.
*Kup tells Rodimus the ship is being blown to pieces, but it seems perfectly calm (until the Quintessons notice it's heading for the detonator and fire on it, of course).

===Other trivia===
*This episode originally aired early in Season 3. However, it was re-aired as the season drew to a close, as a lead-in to the latest episode, "The Return of Optimus Prime". The voiceover by Victor Caroli, described above, was added at this time, and subsequently became the more well-known ending. The original version was released on VHS by [[Rhino Entertainment|Kid Rhino]], but when the company released the episode on DVD, the altered ending was the only one included (despite the presence of no less than ''three'' audio tracks on the disc). Observing the frustration this caused among American fans, DVD consultant [[Chris McFeely]] helped ensure the restoration of the original ending for [[Metrodome]] DVD release of the episode, with the alternate ending included as an easter egg. The original ending is also the version featured on the [[Shout! Factory]] DVD sets.
*The ''Transformers 2010'' story pages would run with this story's events, having the Quintessons analyze Optimus Prime's specifications and use them to build [[Guiltaur]]. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010 (story page)|Transformers 2010 Part 4}}
*This is easily the most gruesome episode of the original cartoon, and perhaps the only one with a certifiable body count - even if you don't include the named character models that are shown.
*That sure is some chipper, happy, peppy, upbeat music that plays as Daniel walks about reading the names of the dead, opening tombs, and running into zombies!

===Foreign localization===
'''German'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Das Erwachen im Dunkeln'''" ("The Awakening in the Dark")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?
*This was one of twelve episodes of [[The Transformers (cartoon)|the original cartoon]] released as audio adventures by the [[Germany|German]] company [[Karussell|Karussell Musik und Video]].

'''Italian'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Fantasmi dal passato'''" (First dub, "Ghosts from the Past"), "'''Risveglio oscuro'''" (Second dub, "Dark Awakening")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

'''Japanese'''
:*''Title:'' コンボイの影 (''Convoy no Kage'', "Convoy's Shadow")
:*''Original airdate:'' [[January 9]], [[1987]]
:*As Kup explains about the Autobot Mausoleum, he mentions the [[Unicron War]] instead of the Great War.

'''Mandarin'''
:*''Title:'' Wǔmiànguài de Guǐjì (五面怪的诡计, "Quintesson's Ruse")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote}}
;VHS
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[1988]] — ''Transformers'' — Dark Awakening / Grimlock's New Brain ([[Tempo Video]]) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[1990]] — ''Transformers'' — Dark Awakening ([[Tempo Video|Collins Video]]) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 1990 — ''Transformers'' — Dark Awakening / Grimlock's New Brain ([[Tempo Video|Abbey Home Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] [[1999]] — ''The Original Transformers'' — Volume 2: Revenge of the Decepticons ([[The Original Transformers|Rhino Entertainment]])
;{{w|LaserDisc}}
[[File:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 1999 — ''The Transformers: 2010'' ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Pioneer LDC]]) — Japanese audio only.
;DVD
[[File:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] [[2001]] — ''The Transformers: 2010'' — DVD Box (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only. 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] [[2003]] — ''The Original Transformers'' — Season 3 Part 1 ([[The Original Transformers|Rhino Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2003 — ''The Original Transformers'' — Season 3 Part 1: Vol. 2 (Rhino Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2004]] — ''Transformers'' — Season 3 and Season 4 ([[Metrodome]]) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2004 — ''Transformers'' — Collection 4: Series 3.1 ([[Madman Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2006]] — ''Transformers'' — The Complete Generation One Collection (Metrodome) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2006 — The Best of ''The Transformers'' (Madman Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2007]] — ''Transformers'' — The Classic Episodes (Metrodome) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2007 — ''The Transformers'' — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2009]] — ''Transformers'' — Season's Three & Four {{sic}} (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 Series: 25th Anniversary "Matrix of Leadership" Collection ([[Shout! Factory]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] [[2010]] — ''The Transformers'' — Seasons Three & Four: 25th Anniversary Edition (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'' — Seasons Three & Four: 30th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2014 — ''Transformers'' — The Classic Animated Series (Metrodome)

==External links==
*[http://cybertronchronicle.freewebspace.com/cartoon-dossier/season-3/synopses/700-93.html Episode Dossier at The Cybertron Chronicle]
*[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808822/ IMDb's page for this episode]
*[https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_CN1s80MHOZDFaY1ZWV2Y4UUk/view?usp=sharing Orignal dialogue script]

[[Category:The Transformers episodes]]
[[Category:MSTF]]

Dark Awakening (episode)

2018-08-07T13:33:23Z

RoboP08: /* Synopsis */

{{featured}}
{{disambig2|the Generation 1 cartoon episode|the ''Legends'' event|Dark Awakening (Legends)}}
{{episode|
|series=G1toon
|series2=2010
|ep=73
|ep2=8
|prev2=Starscream's Ghost
|next2=Forever Is a Long Time Coming (episode)
|image=Optimusg1zombie.jpg
|caption=Yeah, let ''this'' be how the kids remember their hero.
|title="Dark Awakening"
|production code=700-93
|airdate=[[October 1]], [[1986]]
|written by=[[Antoni Zalewski]]
|production company=[[Sunbow Productions]]
|animation studio=[[AKOM]]
|continuity=[[Generation 1 cartoon continuity]]
}}
'''Optimus Prime is revived as a zombie by Quintessons.'''

==Synopsis==
[[File:G1-screencap darkawakening Optimus empty tomb.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|Don't you hate when your stuff goes missing?]]
On the run from [[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]], [[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Rodimus Prime]], [[Arcee (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Arcee]], [[Ultra Magnus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ultra Magnus]], [[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]], [[Spike Witwicky (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Spike]] and [[Daniel Witwicky (G1)|Daniel]] try the old "detonate three-quarters of the ship" trick to lose their pursuers. What's left of the ship can't support human life for long, however, so they take refuge on board the nearby [[Autobot Mausoleum]], an interstellar tomb containing many of their deceased comrades, most notably the venerated [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]].

While exploring by himself, Daniel is stuck in a dark room with robot corpses and gets appropriately creeped out... particularly when he sees what looks like the fully animated form of Optimus Prime. When he finds the others he swears he has seen Optimus Prime alive. To satisfy his curiosity and against the opinions of the other Autobots, Rodimus opens Prime's tomb, only to find it empty. However, they cannot investigate further because the Decepticons have followed them inside and attack them (turns out Galvatron has wised up to the detonate-three-quarters thing.) The fierce battle that follows appears lost for the Autobots, when suddenly they are saved by none other than Optimus Prime. With their ranks bolstered by the mighty warrior's firepower, they quickly drive the freaked out Decepticons into retreat.

[[File:OptimusMatrixAwakening.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|Uh uh. Nope. Had it. Done with it.]]
The Autobots are amazed and confused at Prime's presence. Optimus can give them no explanation to his apparent resurrection, just the typical near-death experience of seeing darkness and then a light at the end of the tunnel. Rodimus Prime eagerly (too eagerly) returns the [[Matrix of Leadership]] to him, despite Prime's bizarre behavior and damaged appearance, and against the advice of Kup and Ultra Magnus. Without the Matrix inside him, Rodimus reverts to Hot Rod and declares, "Let's party!" Optimus evidently has other plans and attacks the Autobots and sets the auto-destruct sequence to the mausoleum ship. He then departs and leaves the others stranded.

After returning to Cybertron, Optimus informs the [[Autobot]]s that Rodimus and the others were killed by the Quintessons. This puts everyone in a pretty bad mood ([[Springer (G1)|Springer]] swears vengeance - particularly for Arcee - while [[Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]] spends at least a minute stomping and thumping his tail). Optimus re-assumes command and orders an all-out attack on a supposed Quintesson base.

[[File:G1-screencap DarkAwakening Quintessons missiles.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|Our budget only ran to six missiles.]]
Hot Rod and his group manage to escape, mere moments before the mausoleum ship plunges into a star and explodes. They return to Cybertron, but find nobody around but the Dinobots. Turns out most of the Autobots have left to attack the Quintessons. They pursue their friends in their own ship, but arrive to find the fleet already being decimated by Quintesson missile fire. Their frantic calls to stop the attack are dismissed by Optimus as Quintesson tricks.

Hot Rod and the others finally manage to board the lead ship, and the former Rodimus goes "Optimus hunting" after his [[zombie|zombified]] mentor. When the two meet, Optimus starts to pound on Hot Rod, but as he's kicking Hot Rod's tailpipe he begs Hot Rod to defeat him.

[[File:Zombiesmatrixmakesmetoostrong.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|And that's for getting me killed!]]
Fighting against both Hot Rod and himself, Optimus flashes back to his own reanimation at the hands of the Quintessons, who stole his corpse and reanimated it with their own evil programming to lead all Autobots into a trap.
Optimus is nothing more than a "mindless zombie", combined with "lingering remnants" of his personality and memories. Hot Rod puts up a brave fight in a moment of compassion trying to help Optimus, Hot Rod is physically overcome by Optimus, but the influence of the Matrix allows Prime to overcome the Quintessons' programming. Ending the fight, Optimus returns the Matrix to Hot Rod's chest cavity, restoring him to his status as Rodimus Prime.
As Optimus Prime takes his leave, the other Autobots find their battered leader and inform him that the equally battered ship is being evacuated.

Optimus Prime takes control of the ship, and orders the Autobot fleet away from the Quintesson trap.

As the stunned Quintessons watch, the Autobot fleet escapes. Optimus's final act is to pilot the Autobot flagship into the trigger zone of the Quintesson trap; ensuring the safety of the retreating Autobot ships and craft.
Closing the distance piloting the command ship, Optimus Prime suffers horrendous battle damage on top of the battle damage he had incurred previously from his fight with Hot Rod; loosing an arm namely.
With a massive explosion, the solar system is destroyed. As Kup bids his old friend farewell and the other Autobots mourn their lost leader a second time, Magnus remarks that the nova will be Optimus's memorial. Rodimus doubts he'll be the [[Prime (rank)|Autobot leader]] that Optimus Prime was, but vows to try.

{{note|A short narrative voiceover by [[Victor Caroli]] was tacked on to the final scene when this episode made its first re-run airing: 'But is this ''really'' the end of Optimus Prime? Find out in tomorrow's exciting episode, "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1|The Return of Optimus Prime]]"!' Baffled by such an ambiguous title, children the world over were left wondering if this was in fact the end of Optimus Prime.}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Rodimus Prime]] (2)
*[[Ultra Magnus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ultra Magnus]] (3)
*[[Arcee (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Arcee]] (9)
*[[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]] (11)
*[[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] (14)
*[[Perceptor (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Perceptor]] (15)
*[[Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]] (16)
*[[Springer (G1)|Springer]] (17)
*[[Skydive (G1 Aerialbot)|Skydive]] (18)
*[[Snarl (G1)|Snarl]] (19)
*[[Sludge (G1)|Sludge]] (20)
*[[Blurr (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Blurr]] (21)
*[[Wheelie (G1)|Wheelie]] (22)
|c2=
*[[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]] (4)
*[[Scourge (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Scourge]] (5)
*[[Sweep (G1)|Sweeps]] (6)
*[[Cyclonus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Cyclonus]] (8)
*[[Dirge (G1)|Dirge]] (12)
*[[Thrust (G1)|Thrust]] (13)
|c3=
*[[Spike Witwicky (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Spike Witwicky]] (1)
*[[Daniel Witwicky (G1)|Daniel Witwicky]] (10)
|c4=
*[[Quintesson]]s (7)
}}

==Quotes==
"Great. What'll Daniel and I do when the air runs out?" 
"Basically you'll have two choices: suffocate, or smother."
:—As '''Spike''' wonders about the limited oxygen for the first time in life in the Autobot life pod, '''Rodimus Prime''' takes "deadpan" to a whole new level.

"Hey, he's here, he's back, and who cares how!" 
"Must... complete... plan..." ''Optimus abruptly walks offscreen.'' 
"Yeah! What's the plan?"
:—'''Rodimus''' misses some critical clues from '''Optimus Prime'''<nowiki>'s</nowiki> behavior.

'''Arcee''': Sludge! Snarl! Oh, are we glad to see you. 
'''Sludge''': Me Sludge not glad to see ''you''. 
'''Snarl''': You all dead! Rarrr! 
'''Sludge''': ...Maybe ''we'' dead.
:—Arcee freaks out the Dinobots.

'''Kup''': Where is everybody? 
'''Sludge''': All go smash Quintessons. 
'''Ultra Magnus''': Quintessons? What have Quintessons got to do with any of this? 
'''Snarl''': They kill you! Optimus Prime say so! ...Uh-oh. Something not right.
:—The Dinobots start to comprehend that all is not well.

"This won't even be a war." 
"Merely an exercise in... extermination."
:—the '''Quintessons''' nonchalantly slaughter the Autobot fleet

"Not a game! ...Matrix makes me ''too strong''!" 
"Now ''there's'' a unique complaint!"
:—'''Optimus Prime''' wails on '''Hot Rod''', who takes it in stride

"Monsters... they made me a weapon, to destroy the very ones I loved in life. But you will save them... Rodimus Prime."
:—'''Optimus Prime''' hands over the Matrix.

"I don't know if I'll ever be the leader that you were, but for sure... I'm gonna try. So long... Prime."
:—'''Rodimus''' gives a eulogy in his own inimitable fashion.

"Decepticons!, leave this place OR DIE!!"

"Optimus Pri-AAAGGGHH!"

—'''Optimus Prime''' to —'''Galvatron'''
Optimus Prime warns the Decepticons as Optimus opens fire upon them(Decepticons) in an ambush and starting with Galvatron soon after taking out the Decepticon leader.

==Season 5==
{{note|When this episode was rebroadcast in [[The Transformers (cartoon)#Season 5|the fifth season]] of ''The Transformers'', it contained new bookending segments with original story material.}}
[[File:TommyInterviewsPrime.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4]]
[[Tommy Kennedy|Tommy]] and [[Powermaster]] [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] meet in the barren wasteland where Tommy, apparently a reporter for [[Autobot City News]], asks to interview Prime. Tommy asks for the inside scoop on how Prime came back from the dead. Prime recalls how it all began...

{{bigquote|Okay, what would you like me to tell you?}}
{{bigquote|Tell us the real scoop! The behind the scenes, super secret story of how '''you''' came back from the dead!}}

:''22 minutes later...''

{{bigquote|You said you were going to tell me how you were brought back to life and instead you tell me a story where you weren't ''really'' brought back to life at all! And even if you ''were'', you'd be dead again by now!}}

Tommy is furious, accusing Prime of dodging the question and not telling him how he ''really'' cheated death. Prime informs him that there's "more than meets the eye" to this story. In fact, the story has only just begun. Tommy stops him, as his recorder has run out of tape. Tommy and Prime then blast off into outer space to... go to the store to buy more tape. Okay.
{{--}}

==Notes==
===Continuity notes===
*Galvatron still has some degree of alliance with the Quintessons, despite their betrayal in "Five Faces of Darkness". (Of course, it's leading to ''another'' betrayal, as the Quintessons are presumably luring him and the Autobots to zombie Optimus's trap.)
*As an episode built around the events of the animated movie, Galvatron's order to examine the debris of the destroyed Autobot ship is almost certainly a callback to the last time he blew up an Autobot vessel from afar - he's wised up to the Autobots' "detonate three quarters of the ship" trick!
*Kup alludes to the [[Great War (G1)|Great War]] when Daniel asks about Optimus Prime's inclusion in the Mausoleum.
*Besides Optimus, the interred Autobots whose names are read off by Daniel are [[Ironhide (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ironhide]], [[Prowl (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Prowl]], [[Ratchet (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ratchet]], and [[Huffer (G1)|Huffer]]. The first three were killed off in ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'', all in the same scene, in fact. This is the first time we learn of Huffer's death, however. The absence of [[Brawn (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Brawn]] (also killed off in the same scene) has led to joking fandom speculation that he must have survived getting shot in the shoulder (bolstered by his and Huffer's animation-error appearance in "[[Carnage in C-Minor]]"). [[Wheeljack (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Wheeljack]] and [[Windcharger (G1)|Windcharger]]'s bodies weren't even mentioned, despite their offscreen deaths in the movie.
[[File:DarkAwakening dead Autobot.jpg|thumb|200px]]
*The dead Autobot that nearly squashes Daniel isn't Ironhide, but follows his general design pattern: rounded head helmet, boxy torso with a front window chest. The details are off, though, and of course he's got a totally different color scheme (mostly gray, with an olive green chest.)
*Cyclonus pulls his gun out of thin air during the fight on the mausoleum; it simply appears in his hand in a flash of light, another instance supporting the fan-theories of "subspace" and the like.
*Springer reacts pointedly to the supposed death of Arcee, continuing the romantic overtones between them that first showed up back in "Five Faces of Darkness".
*The Autobot fleet shown in this episode causes some bizarre continuity hijinks. Character models for the Aerialbots, Powerglide, and Skyfire are used to pad out the fleet's ranks (see details under Animation and/or Technical Errors), and many of these "ships" are showing getting annihilated by the Quintessons. While one might be tempted to say that Skyfire is thus shown getting killed, you'd also have to say the same for the Aerialbots and Powerglide, who all show up alive and well in later episodes. You'd also have to accept Skydive getting killed and then being alive a few seconds later, and Slingshot getting killed twice.

===Real-world references===
[[File:Autobot shuttle lifepod.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1]]
*Writer Antoni Zalewski recycled his own work for the opening scene of this episode, which is copied almost note-for-note from the 1985 "Ghost Ship" episode of ''The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians''. The parallels include a pursuit through space, launching an escape pod ("We turned the cockpit into an escape ship just in time!"), right up to Spike's verbatim quote "It's the size of... Manhattan!"
*''Star Wars'' sound effects:
**The ''Star Wars'' effects are of a much higher fidelity of sound than the rest of the episode's effects, music and voiceovers, sitting higher in the mix and sounding rather out of place. Some are mixed to the point of being unidentifiable.
**A long X-Wing whine - from the Rebel squads approaching the Death Star - is heard in the opening shot as the Autobot ship flies past camera.
**As the Decepticons launch torpedos, sounds from one of the firefights on the Death Star can be heard.
**The whine of Luke's X-Wing about to crash on Dagobah (a rare use of a sound effect from ''Empire'') plays as the Mausoleum approaches the sun; the sound of branches hitting the fighter's canopy can still be heard.
**Death Star superlaser as the Autobots escape from the Mausoleum.
**X-Wing engine whine as the Quintesson asteroid-ship moves into firing position.

===Animation and technical errors===
[[File:DarkAwakening Magnus hands.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Don't look at me either. I had my shot. I'm out.]]
[[File:DarkAwakening-Springer.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1]]
*An AKOM episode. Watch for off-model characters including:
**Rodimus and Galvatron are both consistently colored using outdated color models; Rodimus's shoulder indentations are red instead of white, his pelvis-windshield details are white instead of light burgundy, and his gun is red instead of black, while Galvatron has pale purple "underpants."
**Movie characters have colored mouths, such as Ultra Magnus with a red mouth, Cyclonus with purple, Blurr with blue and Springer with green.
**Optimus's running light rims are white, and the lights themselves are red, rather than vice versa; his backpack is white instead of red.
**The top part of Ultra Magnus' back is sometimes colored grey when it should be red (such as when he shoots at Galvatron).
*Coloring errors:
**In the first shot of the Decepticon mothership shooting at the Autobot shuttle, one of the two Sweeps flying alongside it is colored all white.
**"They're getting away!" - Cyclonus's jet windows are colored white instead of orange.
**As Rodimus delivers the "I'd hoped never to see it again" line, Kup's eyes are gray and the triangles below them blue, rather than the other way around.
**Rodimus's eyes flash blue-gray-blue as he details the location of Optimus's tomb.
**After driving the Decepticons off, Optimus walks up to the Autobots and the left side of his helmet is grey instead of blue.
**Right after Optimus Prime shoots Hot Rod, Kup, Arcee, Daniel and Spike, the top of his helmet is colored gray.
**As Optimus walks up to Hot Rod, his Autobot symbol is grey instead of red.
**Just before Optimus' flashback, his crotch piece and lower legs are dark grey instead of blue.
**When Rodimus tosses him, Optimus' face is entirely colored in blue. As he lands, the top of Optimus' helmet is grey.
*As the "torpedos" close in on the Autobot ship, it's suddenly no longer in the asteroid field, but in open space.
*The life pod's engine-roar sound effect flies past the camera long before the ship itself does.
*After they blow up the Autobot ship, a shot of the Decepticons flying shows their group to contain a 1984 Seeker design with Dirge's color-scheme. Thrust and Dirge are also flying alongside the ship - the first and only time they've been shown to be space flight capable. The Decepticon ship isn't all that much bigger than the Decepticons around it, either.
*As the Decepticon ship turns to intercept, the squad of Decepticons are no longer flying alongside it.
*The mausoleum first appears floating in empty open space, but as the Autobots approach it, it's suddenly got asteroids and a red sun nearby.
*As they approach the Mausoleum in their ship, the Autobots keep changing positions between shots. First Kup is up front on the right, then he's behind Rodimus on the left, then Rodimus is in the back right with Kup in front of him. Arcee moves from the front right to the back left, then back to the front right again.
**Also during the approach, the seats at the front of the ship appear and disappear between shots.
***''Also'' during the approach, the large door with the Autobot symbol has a grey frame around it (with parts that overlap the right and left sides), but when it opens, the frame is gone.
*As he walks up behind Daniel, Optimus is supposed to be obscured by darkness - but since the animation portrays the scene as not really dark at all, Optimus simply ''appears out of thin air'' when Daniel turns the lights back on.
**Also, he's covered with cobwebs, as if he's been standing immobile in one spot for ages, even though he was just walking around. Some of them even connect to the wall behind and above him! The cobwebs are gone in a closeup view in the very next shot. (Dare we even ''ask'' how there are ''spiders'' inside a Cybertronian tomb in space? What are they eating?)
*In that first closeup shot, Optimus has a much more damaged look (both his chest windows are broken, showing internal circuitry; his mouthplate is broken; and the overall look of the chest area is more worn out. For the remainder of the episode, he is drawn with the damaged look from the movie.
*After discovering Optimus's empty tomb, the Autobots are apparently supposed to be reacting to some sound, indicating the Decepticons' arrival - but there's no such sound. They just all turn at once in response to nothing.
*Rodimus is missing his spoiler after yelling "Take cover!"
*When Cyclonus shoots Arcee, the blast comes from WAY too low from the gun, coming instead from his third knuckle.
*When Optimus shoots at the Decepticons, Galvatron's Decepticon logo is missing its "eyes."
*Cyclonus steals Galvatron's cannon sound effect as he drags his wounded leader away.
*Ultra Magnus yells at the other Autobots to "Hold your fire, we've driven them off!" but they've already stopped shooting!
*After driving the Decepticons off, Spike is not in the shot, even though he was right next to Daniel earlier.
*After driving the Decepticons off, Optimus is still holding his gun, but when he asks about the Matrix, it's suddenly gone.
*Some weird shadows are drawn over Rodimus's face as he opens his chest to return the Matrix - but there's no light source shown to cause them.
*Layering problem: The flame pattern on Rodimus's chest opens sideways, leaving what ''appears'' to be a cavity in the same shape as the flame pattern - yet instead of reaching ''inside'', Rodimus's hand reaches ''behind'' it to retrieve the Matrix!
*After Optimus shoots him, Hot Rod lands on what seems to be the exterior surface of a planet, rather than the hangar bay of the Mausoleum.
*Optimus's mouthplate often doesn't move when he speaks, as when he relates the supposed fate of Rodimus and the others to the Autobots. After the Matrix overrides the Quintessons' programming, it consistently moves when he speaks. If it was an intentional effect, however, it's thrown off by the fact that it ''does'' move when he first appears and threatens the Decepticons.
*As Springer comments on going after the Quintessons, his lip flap stops a bit before his words do.
*When boarding Ultra Magnus' "little improvisation," the camera shake isn't synced with the frames of animation, so it looks like there are two Arcees, Kups and Hot Rods.
*The Autobot fleet contains all sorts of strange stuff; see also Continuity Notes, below:
**In the first pan shot: two Skydive, two Slingshots, an Air Raid, and lots of black-colored jets that may be various Aerialbot models.
**In the fly-over shot, the (much smaller) fleet is entirely light gray ships, some loosely based on Broadside's jet mode, but mostly generic science fiction style.
**As the Quintessons open fire, Skydive and two black jets are destroyed.
***On board one of those ships, a [[generic]] Autobot with Dead End's color scheme - including a purple Autobot symbol - gets blown away, followed by two more generics based on Dead End and Scamper.
**Next shot: Powerglide and Slingshot are destroyed. An all-white Skyfire, another Skyfire in Skydive's colore scheme, and a black jet are nearby.
**After the commercial break: the same shot repeats, but this time the missiles fly in and past without hitting anybody.
**Next shot: an all-white Skyfire with orange tailfins gets pummeled by missiles.
**Next shot: several generic white jets are blown up.
**Next shot: a generic white jet and Slingshot (again!) are destroyed. Two Skydives, two Air Raids, and someone in Powerglide's colors go untouched.
**A moment later, Skydive and Air Raid are seen manning laser cannons to destroy the interceptor ship.
**Four generic jets in white, gray and black are shown escaping at the end. In a second shot, two of them are loosely based on Skyfire's design.
**In the final shot, the escaping ships include generic ship/jets with Skydive and Air Raid's color schemes.
*When Perceptor shouts "They're alive!", Blaster (with a white helmet) and [[Jazz (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Jazz]] - completely miscolored in light and dark blue - are standing in the background. The space behind Perceptor was totally empty in the previous shot.
*Not a glitch so much as a strange shortcut: the Quintessons' lines, "Perhaps we should seek some cover." and "No. Place your faith in our defense systems." are both recycled from "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2]]".
*As Hot Rod announces he's going "Optimus hunting," Wheelie is missing his Autobot symbol.
*"Optimus, front and center!" - Hot Rod is drawn as his Rodimus self for a couple of shots.
**After Optimus returns the Matrix to him and walks off, Rodimus is still drawn as Hot Rod for the rest of the scene.
*When he puts Rodimus in the wrestling hold, Optimus' nose isn't drawn in.
*When Rodimus tosses him, Optimus clearly hits a display monitor (which doesn't break) in its upper left corner, but when he lands, he's way over on the right side of the console.
*Whatever the burbling thing that melts through Hot Rod's torso is, it's gone in the next shot - then back again, then gone for good in the following shots.
*When Optimus gives the Matrix back to Hot Rod, Hot Rod's door is made up of the entire yellow (flame) part of his chest. In "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4," the door was split in half and opened around the center of his chest.
*When Optimus is in control of the flagship and orders the other Autobots to return, he has his left arm again... and the hand colored wrong (red).
**In the first shot of him on the bridge, the bridge design is completely different than the one shown at the start of the attack.
*As the Autobots watch the explosion, Ultra Magnus' (red) mouth is shown gaping open and not moving when he speaks; his eyes are connected together like a visor.

===Continuity errors===
[[File:DarkAwakening Mausoleum.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Just in case you weren't clear that Prowl, Ratchet, etc. are dead - this episode goes and kills them ''even more dead''.]]
*[[Revenge (G1)|Galvatron's starship]] is shown to be perfectly intact here, despite being smashed by Unicron in the movie.
*Rodimus Prime and his crew were surprised to find the Autobot Mausoleum, suggesting they forgot where it was. Why didn't the Autobots just put the Mausoleum somewhere on Cybertron?
*Why are the tomb's light controls at human child level?
*Rodimus Prime states that Optimus has been dead "for years". While it's not always wise to take the flippant Rodimus [[The Burden Hardest to Bear|at face value]], Prime has actually been dead for a year at most. (The cartoon's timeframe is rarely made explicit, but "[[Five Faces of Darkness]]" was stated in narration to take place in [[2005]], while later episodes like "[[The Big Broadcast of 2006 (episode)|The Big Broadcast of 2006]]" indicate the series has moved on into [[2006]] as time as gone on. Also, Daniel is the same age he was when Optimus died. This works a little better in Japan, though, where the series takes place in [[2010]].)
*It's never explained where Hot Rod and company obtained the ship that carries them away from the Mausoleum. Magnus just comments vaguely about "this little improvisation" in reference to the vessel.
*Optimus returns to Cybertron still beat to hell, fine. But... then he rushes everyone off into battle and ''nobody'' stops him to say, hey, get yourself to repair bay first?
*During the flashback to the Quintessons discussing Optimus Prime over his dead body, shouldn't the body still be grey (as it appeared after his death in the movie)? It's the usual colors instead.
*Kup tells Rodimus the ship is being blown to pieces, but it seems perfectly calm (until the Quintessons notice it's heading for the detonator and fire on it, of course).

===Other trivia===
*This episode originally aired early in Season 3. However, it was re-aired as the season drew to a close, as a lead-in to the latest episode, "The Return of Optimus Prime". The voiceover by Victor Caroli, described above, was added at this time, and subsequently became the more well-known ending. The original version was released on VHS by [[Rhino Entertainment|Kid Rhino]], but when the company released the episode on DVD, the altered ending was the only one included (despite the presence of no less than ''three'' audio tracks on the disc). Observing the frustration this caused among American fans, DVD consultant [[Chris McFeely]] helped ensure the restoration of the original ending for [[Metrodome]] DVD release of the episode, with the alternate ending included as an easter egg. The original ending is also the version featured on the [[Shout! Factory]] DVD sets.
*The ''Transformers 2010'' story pages would run with this story's events, having the Quintessons analyze Optimus Prime's specifications and use them to build [[Guiltaur]]. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010 (story page)|Transformers 2010 Part 4}}
*This is easily the most gruesome episode of the original cartoon, and perhaps the only one with a certifiable body count - even if you don't include the named character models that are shown.
*That sure is some chipper, happy, peppy, upbeat music that plays as Daniel walks about reading the names of the dead, opening tombs, and running into zombies!

===Foreign localization===
'''German'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Das Erwachen im Dunkeln'''" ("The Awakening in the Dark")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?
*This was one of twelve episodes of [[The Transformers (cartoon)|the original cartoon]] released as audio adventures by the [[Germany|German]] company [[Karussell|Karussell Musik und Video]].

'''Italian'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Fantasmi dal passato'''" (First dub, "Ghosts from the Past"), "'''Risveglio oscuro'''" (Second dub, "Dark Awakening")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

'''Japanese'''
:*''Title:'' コンボイの影 (''Convoy no Kage'', "Convoy's Shadow")
:*''Original airdate:'' [[January 9]], [[1987]]
:*As Kup explains about the Autobot Mausoleum, he mentions the [[Unicron War]] instead of the Great War.

'''Mandarin'''
:*''Title:'' Wǔmiànguài de Guǐjì (五面怪的诡计, "Quintesson's Ruse")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote}}
;VHS
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[1988]] — ''Transformers'' — Dark Awakening / Grimlock's New Brain ([[Tempo Video]]) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[1990]] — ''Transformers'' — Dark Awakening ([[Tempo Video|Collins Video]]) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 1990 — ''Transformers'' — Dark Awakening / Grimlock's New Brain ([[Tempo Video|Abbey Home Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] [[1999]] — ''The Original Transformers'' — Volume 2: Revenge of the Decepticons ([[The Original Transformers|Rhino Entertainment]])
;{{w|LaserDisc}}
[[File:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 1999 — ''The Transformers: 2010'' ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Pioneer LDC]]) — Japanese audio only.
;DVD
[[File:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] [[2001]] — ''The Transformers: 2010'' — DVD Box (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only. 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] [[2003]] — ''The Original Transformers'' — Season 3 Part 1 ([[The Original Transformers|Rhino Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2003 — ''The Original Transformers'' — Season 3 Part 1: Vol. 2 (Rhino Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2004]] — ''Transformers'' — Season 3 and Season 4 ([[Metrodome]]) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2004 — ''Transformers'' — Collection 4: Series 3.1 ([[Madman Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2006]] — ''Transformers'' — The Complete Generation One Collection (Metrodome) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2006 — The Best of ''The Transformers'' (Madman Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2007]] — ''Transformers'' — The Classic Episodes (Metrodome) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2007 — ''The Transformers'' — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2009]] — ''Transformers'' — Season's Three & Four {{sic}} (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 Series: 25th Anniversary "Matrix of Leadership" Collection ([[Shout! Factory]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] [[2010]] — ''The Transformers'' — Seasons Three & Four: 25th Anniversary Edition (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'' — Seasons Three & Four: 30th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2014 — ''Transformers'' — The Classic Animated Series (Metrodome)

==External links==
*[http://cybertronchronicle.freewebspace.com/cartoon-dossier/season-3/synopses/700-93.html Episode Dossier at The Cybertron Chronicle]
*[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808822/ IMDb's page for this episode]
*[https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_CN1s80MHOZDFaY1ZWV2Y4UUk/view?usp=sharing Orignal dialogue script]

[[Category:The Transformers episodes]]
[[Category:MSTF]]

Dark Awakening (episode)

2018-08-07T13:14:58Z

RoboP08:

{{featured}}
{{disambig2|the Generation 1 cartoon episode|the ''Legends'' event|Dark Awakening (Legends)}}
{{episode|
|series=G1toon
|series2=2010
|ep=73
|ep2=8
|prev2=Starscream's Ghost
|next2=Forever Is a Long Time Coming (episode)
|image=Optimusg1zombie.jpg
|caption=Yeah, let ''this'' be how the kids remember their hero.
|title="Dark Awakening"
|production code=700-93
|airdate=[[October 1]], [[1986]]
|written by=[[Antoni Zalewski]]
|production company=[[Sunbow Productions]]
|animation studio=[[AKOM]]
|continuity=[[Generation 1 cartoon continuity]]
}}
'''Optimus Prime is revived as a zombie by Quintessons.'''

==Synopsis==
[[File:G1-screencap darkawakening Optimus empty tomb.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|Don't you hate when your stuff goes missing?]]
On the run from [[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]], [[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Rodimus Prime]], [[Arcee (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Arcee]], [[Ultra Magnus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ultra Magnus]], [[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]], [[Spike Witwicky (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Spike]] and [[Daniel Witwicky (G1)|Daniel]] try the old "detonate three-quarters of the ship" trick to lose their pursuers. What's left of the ship can't support human life for long, however, so they take refuge on board the nearby [[Autobot Mausoleum]], an interstellar tomb containing many of their deceased comrades, most notably the venerated [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]].

While exploring by himself, Daniel is stuck in a dark room with robot corpses and gets appropriately creeped out... particularly when he sees what looks like the fully animated form of Optimus Prime. When he finds the others he swears he has seen Optimus Prime alive. To satisfy his curiosity and against the opinions of the other Autobots, Rodimus opens Prime's tomb, only to find it empty. However, they cannot investigate further because the Decepticons have followed them inside and attack them (turns out Galvatron has wised up to the detonate-three-quarters thing.) The fierce battle that follows appears lost for the Autobots, when suddenly they are saved by none other than Optimus Prime. With their ranks bolstered by the mighty warrior's firepower, they quickly drive the freaked out Decepticons into retreat.

[[File:OptimusMatrixAwakening.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|Uh uh. Nope. Had it. Done with it.]]
The Autobots are amazed and confused at Prime's presence. Optimus can give them no explanation to his apparent resurrection, just the typical near-death experience of seeing darkness and then a light at the end of the tunnel. Rodimus Prime eagerly (too eagerly) returns the [[Matrix of Leadership]] to him, despite Prime's bizarre behavior and damaged appearance, and against the advice of Kup and Ultra Magnus. Without the Matrix inside him, Rodimus reverts to Hot Rod and declares, "Let's party!" Optimus evidently has other plans and attacks the Autobots and sets the auto-destruct sequence to the mausoleum ship. He then departs and leaves the others stranded.

After returning to Cybertron, Optimus informs the [[Autobot]]s that Rodimus and the others were killed by the Quintessons. This puts everyone in a pretty bad mood ([[Springer (G1)|Springer]] swears vengeance - particularly for Arcee - while [[Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]] spends at least a minute stomping and thumping his tail). Optimus re-assumes command and orders an all-out attack on a supposed Quintesson base.

[[File:G1-screencap DarkAwakening Quintessons missiles.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|Our budget only ran to six missiles.]]
Hot Rod and his group manage to escape, mere moments before the mausoleum ship plunges into a star and explodes. They return to Cybertron, but find nobody around but the Dinobots. Turns out most of the Autobots have left to attack the Quintessons. They pursue their friends in their own ship, but arrive to find the fleet already being decimated by Quintesson missile fire. Their frantic calls to stop the attack are dismissed by Optimus as Quintesson tricks.

Hot Rod and the others finally manage to board the lead ship, and the former Rodimus goes "Optimus hunting" after his [[zombie|zombified]] mentor. When the two meet, Optimus starts to pound on Hot Rod, but as he's kicking Hot Rod's tailpipe he begs Hot Rod to defeat him.

[[File:Zombiesmatrixmakesmetoostrong.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|And that's for getting me killed!]]
Fighting against both Hot Rod and himself, Optimus flashes back to his own reanimation at the hands of the Quintessons, who stole his corpse and reanimated it with their own evil programming to lead all Autobots into a trap. Optimus is nothing more than a "mindless zombie", combined with "lingering remnants" of his personality and memories. Hot Rod is physically overcome by Prime, but the influence of the Matrix allows Prime to overcome the Quintessons' programming. Ending the fight, Optimus returns the Matrix to Hot Rod's chest cavity, restoring him to his status as Rodimus Prime. As Optimus Prime takes his leave, the other Autobots find their battered leader and inform him that the equally battered ship is being evacuated.

Optimus Prime takes control of the ship, and orders the Autobot fleet away from the Quintesson trap. As the stunned Quintessons watch, the Autobot fleet escapes. Optimus's final act is to pilot the Autobot flagship into the trigger zone of the Quintesson trap. With a massive explosion, the solar system is destroyed. As Kup bids his old friend farewell and the other Autobots mourn their lost leader a second time, Magnus remarks that the nova will be Optimus's memorial. Rodimus doubts he'll be the [[Prime (rank)|Autobot leader]] that Optimus Prime was, but vows to try.

{{note|A short narrative voiceover by [[Victor Caroli]] was tacked on to the final scene when this episode made its first re-run airing: 'But is this ''really'' the end of Optimus Prime? Find out in tomorrow's exciting episode, "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1|The Return of Optimus Prime]]"!' Baffled by such an ambiguous title, children the world over were left wondering if this was in fact the end of Optimus Prime.}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Rodimus Prime]] (2)
*[[Ultra Magnus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ultra Magnus]] (3)
*[[Arcee (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Arcee]] (9)
*[[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]] (11)
*[[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] (14)
*[[Perceptor (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Perceptor]] (15)
*[[Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]] (16)
*[[Springer (G1)|Springer]] (17)
*[[Skydive (G1 Aerialbot)|Skydive]] (18)
*[[Snarl (G1)|Snarl]] (19)
*[[Sludge (G1)|Sludge]] (20)
*[[Blurr (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Blurr]] (21)
*[[Wheelie (G1)|Wheelie]] (22)
|c2=
*[[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]] (4)
*[[Scourge (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Scourge]] (5)
*[[Sweep (G1)|Sweeps]] (6)
*[[Cyclonus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Cyclonus]] (8)
*[[Dirge (G1)|Dirge]] (12)
*[[Thrust (G1)|Thrust]] (13)
|c3=
*[[Spike Witwicky (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Spike Witwicky]] (1)
*[[Daniel Witwicky (G1)|Daniel Witwicky]] (10)
|c4=
*[[Quintesson]]s (7)
}}

==Quotes==
"Great. What'll Daniel and I do when the air runs out?" 
"Basically you'll have two choices: suffocate, or smother."
:—As '''Spike''' wonders about the limited oxygen for the first time in life in the Autobot life pod, '''Rodimus Prime''' takes "deadpan" to a whole new level.

"Hey, he's here, he's back, and who cares how!" 
"Must... complete... plan..." ''Optimus abruptly walks offscreen.'' 
"Yeah! What's the plan?"
:—'''Rodimus''' misses some critical clues from '''Optimus Prime'''<nowiki>'s</nowiki> behavior.

'''Arcee''': Sludge! Snarl! Oh, are we glad to see you. 
'''Sludge''': Me Sludge not glad to see ''you''. 
'''Snarl''': You all dead! Rarrr! 
'''Sludge''': ...Maybe ''we'' dead.
:—Arcee freaks out the Dinobots.

'''Kup''': Where is everybody? 
'''Sludge''': All go smash Quintessons. 
'''Ultra Magnus''': Quintessons? What have Quintessons got to do with any of this? 
'''Snarl''': They kill you! Optimus Prime say so! ...Uh-oh. Something not right.
:—The Dinobots start to comprehend that all is not well.

"This won't even be a war." 
"Merely an exercise in... extermination."
:—the '''Quintessons''' nonchalantly slaughter the Autobot fleet

"Not a game! ...Matrix makes me ''too strong''!" 
"Now ''there's'' a unique complaint!"
:—'''Optimus Prime''' wails on '''Hot Rod''', who takes it in stride

"Monsters... they made me a weapon, to destroy the very ones I loved in life. But you will save them... Rodimus Prime."
:—'''Optimus Prime''' hands over the Matrix.

"I don't know if I'll ever be the leader that you were, but for sure... I'm gonna try. So long... Prime."
:—'''Rodimus''' gives a eulogy in his own inimitable fashion.

"Decepticons!, leave this place OR DIE!!"

"Optimus Pri-AAAGGGHH!"

—'''Optimus Prime''' to —'''Galvatron'''
Optimus Prime warns the Decepticons as Optimus opens fire upon them(Decepticons) in an ambush and starting with Galvatron soon after taking out the Decepticon leader.

==Season 5==
{{note|When this episode was rebroadcast in [[The Transformers (cartoon)#Season 5|the fifth season]] of ''The Transformers'', it contained new bookending segments with original story material.}}
[[File:TommyInterviewsPrime.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4]]
[[Tommy Kennedy|Tommy]] and [[Powermaster]] [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] meet in the barren wasteland where Tommy, apparently a reporter for [[Autobot City News]], asks to interview Prime. Tommy asks for the inside scoop on how Prime came back from the dead. Prime recalls how it all began...

{{bigquote|Okay, what would you like me to tell you?}}
{{bigquote|Tell us the real scoop! The behind the scenes, super secret story of how '''you''' came back from the dead!}}

:''22 minutes later...''

{{bigquote|You said you were going to tell me how you were brought back to life and instead you tell me a story where you weren't ''really'' brought back to life at all! And even if you ''were'', you'd be dead again by now!}}

Tommy is furious, accusing Prime of dodging the question and not telling him how he ''really'' cheated death. Prime informs him that there's "more than meets the eye" to this story. In fact, the story has only just begun. Tommy stops him, as his recorder has run out of tape. Tommy and Prime then blast off into outer space to... go to the store to buy more tape. Okay.
{{--}}

==Notes==
===Continuity notes===
*Galvatron still has some degree of alliance with the Quintessons, despite their betrayal in "Five Faces of Darkness". (Of course, it's leading to ''another'' betrayal, as the Quintessons are presumably luring him and the Autobots to zombie Optimus's trap.)
*As an episode built around the events of the animated movie, Galvatron's order to examine the debris of the destroyed Autobot ship is almost certainly a callback to the last time he blew up an Autobot vessel from afar - he's wised up to the Autobots' "detonate three quarters of the ship" trick!
*Kup alludes to the [[Great War (G1)|Great War]] when Daniel asks about Optimus Prime's inclusion in the Mausoleum.
*Besides Optimus, the interred Autobots whose names are read off by Daniel are [[Ironhide (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ironhide]], [[Prowl (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Prowl]], [[Ratchet (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ratchet]], and [[Huffer (G1)|Huffer]]. The first three were killed off in ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'', all in the same scene, in fact. This is the first time we learn of Huffer's death, however. The absence of [[Brawn (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Brawn]] (also killed off in the same scene) has led to joking fandom speculation that he must have survived getting shot in the shoulder (bolstered by his and Huffer's animation-error appearance in "[[Carnage in C-Minor]]"). [[Wheeljack (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Wheeljack]] and [[Windcharger (G1)|Windcharger]]'s bodies weren't even mentioned, despite their offscreen deaths in the movie.
[[File:DarkAwakening dead Autobot.jpg|thumb|200px]]
*The dead Autobot that nearly squashes Daniel isn't Ironhide, but follows his general design pattern: rounded head helmet, boxy torso with a front window chest. The details are off, though, and of course he's got a totally different color scheme (mostly gray, with an olive green chest.)
*Cyclonus pulls his gun out of thin air during the fight on the mausoleum; it simply appears in his hand in a flash of light, another instance supporting the fan-theories of "subspace" and the like.
*Springer reacts pointedly to the supposed death of Arcee, continuing the romantic overtones between them that first showed up back in "Five Faces of Darkness".
*The Autobot fleet shown in this episode causes some bizarre continuity hijinks. Character models for the Aerialbots, Powerglide, and Skyfire are used to pad out the fleet's ranks (see details under Animation and/or Technical Errors), and many of these "ships" are showing getting annihilated by the Quintessons. While one might be tempted to say that Skyfire is thus shown getting killed, you'd also have to say the same for the Aerialbots and Powerglide, who all show up alive and well in later episodes. You'd also have to accept Skydive getting killed and then being alive a few seconds later, and Slingshot getting killed twice.

===Real-world references===
[[File:Autobot shuttle lifepod.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1]]
*Writer Antoni Zalewski recycled his own work for the opening scene of this episode, which is copied almost note-for-note from the 1985 "Ghost Ship" episode of ''The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians''. The parallels include a pursuit through space, launching an escape pod ("We turned the cockpit into an escape ship just in time!"), right up to Spike's verbatim quote "It's the size of... Manhattan!"
*''Star Wars'' sound effects:
**The ''Star Wars'' effects are of a much higher fidelity of sound than the rest of the episode's effects, music and voiceovers, sitting higher in the mix and sounding rather out of place. Some are mixed to the point of being unidentifiable.
**A long X-Wing whine - from the Rebel squads approaching the Death Star - is heard in the opening shot as the Autobot ship flies past camera.
**As the Decepticons launch torpedos, sounds from one of the firefights on the Death Star can be heard.
**The whine of Luke's X-Wing about to crash on Dagobah (a rare use of a sound effect from ''Empire'') plays as the Mausoleum approaches the sun; the sound of branches hitting the fighter's canopy can still be heard.
**Death Star superlaser as the Autobots escape from the Mausoleum.
**X-Wing engine whine as the Quintesson asteroid-ship moves into firing position.

===Animation and technical errors===
[[File:DarkAwakening Magnus hands.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Don't look at me either. I had my shot. I'm out.]]
[[File:DarkAwakening-Springer.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1]]
*An AKOM episode. Watch for off-model characters including:
**Rodimus and Galvatron are both consistently colored using outdated color models; Rodimus's shoulder indentations are red instead of white, his pelvis-windshield details are white instead of light burgundy, and his gun is red instead of black, while Galvatron has pale purple "underpants."
**Movie characters have colored mouths, such as Ultra Magnus with a red mouth, Cyclonus with purple, Blurr with blue and Springer with green.
**Optimus's running light rims are white, and the lights themselves are red, rather than vice versa; his backpack is white instead of red.
**The top part of Ultra Magnus' back is sometimes colored grey when it should be red (such as when he shoots at Galvatron).
*Coloring errors:
**In the first shot of the Decepticon mothership shooting at the Autobot shuttle, one of the two Sweeps flying alongside it is colored all white.
**"They're getting away!" - Cyclonus's jet windows are colored white instead of orange.
**As Rodimus delivers the "I'd hoped never to see it again" line, Kup's eyes are gray and the triangles below them blue, rather than the other way around.
**Rodimus's eyes flash blue-gray-blue as he details the location of Optimus's tomb.
**After driving the Decepticons off, Optimus walks up to the Autobots and the left side of his helmet is grey instead of blue.
**Right after Optimus Prime shoots Hot Rod, Kup, Arcee, Daniel and Spike, the top of his helmet is colored gray.
**As Optimus walks up to Hot Rod, his Autobot symbol is grey instead of red.
**Just before Optimus' flashback, his crotch piece and lower legs are dark grey instead of blue.
**When Rodimus tosses him, Optimus' face is entirely colored in blue. As he lands, the top of Optimus' helmet is grey.
*As the "torpedos" close in on the Autobot ship, it's suddenly no longer in the asteroid field, but in open space.
*The life pod's engine-roar sound effect flies past the camera long before the ship itself does.
*After they blow up the Autobot ship, a shot of the Decepticons flying shows their group to contain a 1984 Seeker design with Dirge's color-scheme. Thrust and Dirge are also flying alongside the ship - the first and only time they've been shown to be space flight capable. The Decepticon ship isn't all that much bigger than the Decepticons around it, either.
*As the Decepticon ship turns to intercept, the squad of Decepticons are no longer flying alongside it.
*The mausoleum first appears floating in empty open space, but as the Autobots approach it, it's suddenly got asteroids and a red sun nearby.
*As they approach the Mausoleum in their ship, the Autobots keep changing positions between shots. First Kup is up front on the right, then he's behind Rodimus on the left, then Rodimus is in the back right with Kup in front of him. Arcee moves from the front right to the back left, then back to the front right again.
**Also during the approach, the seats at the front of the ship appear and disappear between shots.
***''Also'' during the approach, the large door with the Autobot symbol has a grey frame around it (with parts that overlap the right and left sides), but when it opens, the frame is gone.
*As he walks up behind Daniel, Optimus is supposed to be obscured by darkness - but since the animation portrays the scene as not really dark at all, Optimus simply ''appears out of thin air'' when Daniel turns the lights back on.
**Also, he's covered with cobwebs, as if he's been standing immobile in one spot for ages, even though he was just walking around. Some of them even connect to the wall behind and above him! The cobwebs are gone in a closeup view in the very next shot. (Dare we even ''ask'' how there are ''spiders'' inside a Cybertronian tomb in space? What are they eating?)
*In that first closeup shot, Optimus has a much more damaged look (both his chest windows are broken, showing internal circuitry; his mouthplate is broken; and the overall look of the chest area is more worn out. For the remainder of the episode, he is drawn with the damaged look from the movie.
*After discovering Optimus's empty tomb, the Autobots are apparently supposed to be reacting to some sound, indicating the Decepticons' arrival - but there's no such sound. They just all turn at once in response to nothing.
*Rodimus is missing his spoiler after yelling "Take cover!"
*When Cyclonus shoots Arcee, the blast comes from WAY too low from the gun, coming instead from his third knuckle.
*When Optimus shoots at the Decepticons, Galvatron's Decepticon logo is missing its "eyes."
*Cyclonus steals Galvatron's cannon sound effect as he drags his wounded leader away.
*Ultra Magnus yells at the other Autobots to "Hold your fire, we've driven them off!" but they've already stopped shooting!
*After driving the Decepticons off, Spike is not in the shot, even though he was right next to Daniel earlier.
*After driving the Decepticons off, Optimus is still holding his gun, but when he asks about the Matrix, it's suddenly gone.
*Some weird shadows are drawn over Rodimus's face as he opens his chest to return the Matrix - but there's no light source shown to cause them.
*Layering problem: The flame pattern on Rodimus's chest opens sideways, leaving what ''appears'' to be a cavity in the same shape as the flame pattern - yet instead of reaching ''inside'', Rodimus's hand reaches ''behind'' it to retrieve the Matrix!
*After Optimus shoots him, Hot Rod lands on what seems to be the exterior surface of a planet, rather than the hangar bay of the Mausoleum.
*Optimus's mouthplate often doesn't move when he speaks, as when he relates the supposed fate of Rodimus and the others to the Autobots. After the Matrix overrides the Quintessons' programming, it consistently moves when he speaks. If it was an intentional effect, however, it's thrown off by the fact that it ''does'' move when he first appears and threatens the Decepticons.
*As Springer comments on going after the Quintessons, his lip flap stops a bit before his words do.
*When boarding Ultra Magnus' "little improvisation," the camera shake isn't synced with the frames of animation, so it looks like there are two Arcees, Kups and Hot Rods.
*The Autobot fleet contains all sorts of strange stuff; see also Continuity Notes, below:
**In the first pan shot: two Skydive, two Slingshots, an Air Raid, and lots of black-colored jets that may be various Aerialbot models.
**In the fly-over shot, the (much smaller) fleet is entirely light gray ships, some loosely based on Broadside's jet mode, but mostly generic science fiction style.
**As the Quintessons open fire, Skydive and two black jets are destroyed.
***On board one of those ships, a [[generic]] Autobot with Dead End's color scheme - including a purple Autobot symbol - gets blown away, followed by two more generics based on Dead End and Scamper.
**Next shot: Powerglide and Slingshot are destroyed. An all-white Skyfire, another Skyfire in Skydive's colore scheme, and a black jet are nearby.
**After the commercial break: the same shot repeats, but this time the missiles fly in and past without hitting anybody.
**Next shot: an all-white Skyfire with orange tailfins gets pummeled by missiles.
**Next shot: several generic white jets are blown up.
**Next shot: a generic white jet and Slingshot (again!) are destroyed. Two Skydives, two Air Raids, and someone in Powerglide's colors go untouched.
**A moment later, Skydive and Air Raid are seen manning laser cannons to destroy the interceptor ship.
**Four generic jets in white, gray and black are shown escaping at the end. In a second shot, two of them are loosely based on Skyfire's design.
**In the final shot, the escaping ships include generic ship/jets with Skydive and Air Raid's color schemes.
*When Perceptor shouts "They're alive!", Blaster (with a white helmet) and [[Jazz (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Jazz]] - completely miscolored in light and dark blue - are standing in the background. The space behind Perceptor was totally empty in the previous shot.
*Not a glitch so much as a strange shortcut: the Quintessons' lines, "Perhaps we should seek some cover." and "No. Place your faith in our defense systems." are both recycled from "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2]]".
*As Hot Rod announces he's going "Optimus hunting," Wheelie is missing his Autobot symbol.
*"Optimus, front and center!" - Hot Rod is drawn as his Rodimus self for a couple of shots.
**After Optimus returns the Matrix to him and walks off, Rodimus is still drawn as Hot Rod for the rest of the scene.
*When he puts Rodimus in the wrestling hold, Optimus' nose isn't drawn in.
*When Rodimus tosses him, Optimus clearly hits a display monitor (which doesn't break) in its upper left corner, but when he lands, he's way over on the right side of the console.
*Whatever the burbling thing that melts through Hot Rod's torso is, it's gone in the next shot - then back again, then gone for good in the following shots.
*When Optimus gives the Matrix back to Hot Rod, Hot Rod's door is made up of the entire yellow (flame) part of his chest. In "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4," the door was split in half and opened around the center of his chest.
*When Optimus is in control of the flagship and orders the other Autobots to return, he has his left arm again... and the hand colored wrong (red).
**In the first shot of him on the bridge, the bridge design is completely different than the one shown at the start of the attack.
*As the Autobots watch the explosion, Ultra Magnus' (red) mouth is shown gaping open and not moving when he speaks; his eyes are connected together like a visor.

===Continuity errors===
[[File:DarkAwakening Mausoleum.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Just in case you weren't clear that Prowl, Ratchet, etc. are dead - this episode goes and kills them ''even more dead''.]]
*[[Revenge (G1)|Galvatron's starship]] is shown to be perfectly intact here, despite being smashed by Unicron in the movie.
*Rodimus Prime and his crew were surprised to find the Autobot Mausoleum, suggesting they forgot where it was. Why didn't the Autobots just put the Mausoleum somewhere on Cybertron?
*Why are the tomb's light controls at human child level?
*Rodimus Prime states that Optimus has been dead "for years". While it's not always wise to take the flippant Rodimus [[The Burden Hardest to Bear|at face value]], Prime has actually been dead for a year at most. (The cartoon's timeframe is rarely made explicit, but "[[Five Faces of Darkness]]" was stated in narration to take place in [[2005]], while later episodes like "[[The Big Broadcast of 2006 (episode)|The Big Broadcast of 2006]]" indicate the series has moved on into [[2006]] as time as gone on. Also, Daniel is the same age he was when Optimus died. This works a little better in Japan, though, where the series takes place in [[2010]].)
*It's never explained where Hot Rod and company obtained the ship that carries them away from the Mausoleum. Magnus just comments vaguely about "this little improvisation" in reference to the vessel.
*Optimus returns to Cybertron still beat to hell, fine. But... then he rushes everyone off into battle and ''nobody'' stops him to say, hey, get yourself to repair bay first?
*During the flashback to the Quintessons discussing Optimus Prime over his dead body, shouldn't the body still be grey (as it appeared after his death in the movie)? It's the usual colors instead.
*Kup tells Rodimus the ship is being blown to pieces, but it seems perfectly calm (until the Quintessons notice it's heading for the detonator and fire on it, of course).

===Other trivia===
*This episode originally aired early in Season 3. However, it was re-aired as the season drew to a close, as a lead-in to the latest episode, "The Return of Optimus Prime". The voiceover by Victor Caroli, described above, was added at this time, and subsequently became the more well-known ending. The original version was released on VHS by [[Rhino Entertainment|Kid Rhino]], but when the company released the episode on DVD, the altered ending was the only one included (despite the presence of no less than ''three'' audio tracks on the disc). Observing the frustration this caused among American fans, DVD consultant [[Chris McFeely]] helped ensure the restoration of the original ending for [[Metrodome]] DVD release of the episode, with the alternate ending included as an easter egg. The original ending is also the version featured on the [[Shout! Factory]] DVD sets.
*The ''Transformers 2010'' story pages would run with this story's events, having the Quintessons analyze Optimus Prime's specifications and use them to build [[Guiltaur]]. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010 (story page)|Transformers 2010 Part 4}}
*This is easily the most gruesome episode of the original cartoon, and perhaps the only one with a certifiable body count - even if you don't include the named character models that are shown.
*That sure is some chipper, happy, peppy, upbeat music that plays as Daniel walks about reading the names of the dead, opening tombs, and running into zombies!

===Foreign localization===
'''German'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Das Erwachen im Dunkeln'''" ("The Awakening in the Dark")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?
*This was one of twelve episodes of [[The Transformers (cartoon)|the original cartoon]] released as audio adventures by the [[Germany|German]] company [[Karussell|Karussell Musik und Video]].

'''Italian'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Fantasmi dal passato'''" (First dub, "Ghosts from the Past"), "'''Risveglio oscuro'''" (Second dub, "Dark Awakening")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

'''Japanese'''
:*''Title:'' コンボイの影 (''Convoy no Kage'', "Convoy's Shadow")
:*''Original airdate:'' [[January 9]], [[1987]]
:*As Kup explains about the Autobot Mausoleum, he mentions the [[Unicron War]] instead of the Great War.

'''Mandarin'''
:*''Title:'' Wǔmiànguài de Guǐjì (五面怪的诡计, "Quintesson's Ruse")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote}}
;VHS
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[1988]] — ''Transformers'' — Dark Awakening / Grimlock's New Brain ([[Tempo Video]]) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[1990]] — ''Transformers'' — Dark Awakening ([[Tempo Video|Collins Video]]) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 1990 — ''Transformers'' — Dark Awakening / Grimlock's New Brain ([[Tempo Video|Abbey Home Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] [[1999]] — ''The Original Transformers'' — Volume 2: Revenge of the Decepticons ([[The Original Transformers|Rhino Entertainment]])
;{{w|LaserDisc}}
[[File:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 1999 — ''The Transformers: 2010'' ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Pioneer LDC]]) — Japanese audio only.
;DVD
[[File:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] [[2001]] — ''The Transformers: 2010'' — DVD Box (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only. 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] [[2003]] — ''The Original Transformers'' — Season 3 Part 1 ([[The Original Transformers|Rhino Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2003 — ''The Original Transformers'' — Season 3 Part 1: Vol. 2 (Rhino Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2004]] — ''Transformers'' — Season 3 and Season 4 ([[Metrodome]]) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2004 — ''Transformers'' — Collection 4: Series 3.1 ([[Madman Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2006]] — ''Transformers'' — The Complete Generation One Collection (Metrodome) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2006 — The Best of ''The Transformers'' (Madman Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2007]] — ''Transformers'' — The Classic Episodes (Metrodome) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2007 — ''The Transformers'' — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2009]] — ''Transformers'' — Season's Three & Four {{sic}} (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 Series: 25th Anniversary "Matrix of Leadership" Collection ([[Shout! Factory]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] [[2010]] — ''The Transformers'' — Seasons Three & Four: 25th Anniversary Edition (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'' — Seasons Three & Four: 30th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2014 — ''Transformers'' — The Classic Animated Series (Metrodome)

==External links==
*[http://cybertronchronicle.freewebspace.com/cartoon-dossier/season-3/synopses/700-93.html Episode Dossier at The Cybertron Chronicle]
*[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808822/ IMDb's page for this episode]
*[https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_CN1s80MHOZDFaY1ZWV2Y4UUk/view?usp=sharing Orignal dialogue script]

[[Category:The Transformers episodes]]
[[Category:MSTF]]

Dark Awakening (episode)

2018-08-07T13:03:53Z

RoboP08:

{{featured}}
{{disambig2|the Generation 1 cartoon episode|the ''Legends'' event|Dark Awakening (Legends)}}
{{episode|
|series=G1toon
|series2=2010
|ep=73
|ep2=8
|prev2=Starscream's Ghost
|next2=Forever Is a Long Time Coming (episode)
|image=Optimusg1zombie.jpg
|caption=Yeah, let ''this'' be how the kids remember their hero.
|title="Dark Awakening"
|production code=700-93
|airdate=[[October 1]], [[1986]]
|written by=[[Antoni Zalewski]]
|production company=[[Sunbow Productions]]
|animation studio=[[AKOM]]
|continuity=[[Generation 1 cartoon continuity]]
}}
'''Optimus Prime is revived as a zombie by Quintessons.'''

==Synopsis==
[[File:G1-screencap darkawakening Optimus empty tomb.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|Don't you hate when your stuff goes missing?]]
On the run from [[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]], [[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Rodimus Prime]], [[Arcee (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Arcee]], [[Ultra Magnus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ultra Magnus]], [[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]], [[Spike Witwicky (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Spike]] and [[Daniel Witwicky (G1)|Daniel]] try the old "detonate three-quarters of the ship" trick to lose their pursuers. What's left of the ship can't support human life for long, however, so they take refuge on board the nearby [[Autobot Mausoleum]], an interstellar tomb containing many of their deceased comrades, most notably the venerated [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]].

While exploring by himself, Daniel is stuck in a dark room with robot corpses and gets appropriately creeped out... particularly when he sees what looks like the fully animated form of Optimus Prime. When he finds the others he swears he has seen Optimus Prime alive. To satisfy his curiosity and against the opinions of the other Autobots, Rodimus opens Prime's tomb, only to find it empty. However, they cannot investigate further because the Decepticons have followed them inside and attack them (turns out Galvatron has wised up to the detonate-three-quarters thing.) The fierce battle that follows appears lost for the Autobots, when suddenly they are saved by none other than Optimus Prime. With their ranks bolstered by the mighty warrior's firepower, they quickly drive the freaked out Decepticons into retreat.

[[File:OptimusMatrixAwakening.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|Uh uh. Nope. Had it. Done with it.]]
The Autobots are amazed and confused at Prime's presence. Optimus can give them no explanation to his apparent resurrection, just the typical near-death experience of seeing darkness and then a light at the end of the tunnel. Rodimus Prime eagerly (too eagerly) returns the [[Matrix of Leadership]] to him, despite Prime's bizarre behavior and damaged appearance, and against the advice of Kup and Ultra Magnus. Without the Matrix inside him, Rodimus reverts to Hot Rod and declares, "Let's party!" Optimus evidently has other plans and attacks the Autobots and sets the auto-destruct sequence to the mausoleum ship. He then departs and leaves the others stranded.

After returning to Cybertron, Optimus informs the [[Autobot]]s that Rodimus and the others were killed by the Quintessons. This puts everyone in a pretty bad mood ([[Springer (G1)|Springer]] swears vengeance - particularly for Arcee - while [[Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]] spends at least a minute stomping and thumping his tail). Optimus re-assumes command and orders an all-out attack on a supposed Quintesson base.

[[File:G1-screencap DarkAwakening Quintessons missiles.jpg|left|upright=1.1|thumb|Our budget only ran to six missiles.]]
Hot Rod and his group manage to escape, mere moments before the mausoleum ship plunges into a star and explodes. They return to Cybertron, but find nobody around but the Dinobots. Turns out most of the Autobots have left to attack the Quintessons. They pursue their friends in their own ship, but arrive to find the fleet already being decimated by Quintesson missile fire. Their frantic calls to stop the attack are dismissed by Optimus as Quintesson tricks.

Hot Rod and the others finally manage to board the lead ship, and the former Rodimus goes "Optimus hunting" after his [[zombie|zombified]] mentor. When the two meet, Optimus starts to pound on Hot Rod, but as he's kicking Hot Rod's tailpipe he begs Hot Rod to defeat him.

[[File:Zombiesmatrixmakesmetoostrong.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|And that's for getting me killed!]]
Fighting against both Hot Rod and himself, Optimus flashes back to his own reanimation at the hands of the Quintessons, who stole his corpse and reanimated it with their own evil programming to lead all Autobots into a trap. Optimus is nothing more than a "mindless zombie", combined with "lingering remnants" of his personality and memories. Hot Rod is physically overcome by Prime, but the influence of the Matrix allows Prime to overcome the Quintessons' programming. Ending the fight, Optimus returns the Matrix to Hot Rod's chest cavity, restoring him to his status as Rodimus Prime. As Optimus Prime takes his leave, the other Autobots find their battered leader and inform him that the equally battered ship is being evacuated.

Optimus Prime takes control of the ship, and orders the Autobot fleet away from the Quintesson trap. As the stunned Quintessons watch, the Autobot fleet escapes. Optimus's final act is to pilot the Autobot flagship into the trigger zone of the Quintesson trap. With a massive explosion, the solar system is destroyed. As Kup bids his old friend farewell and the other Autobots mourn their lost leader a second time, Magnus remarks that the nova will be Optimus's memorial. Rodimus doubts he'll be the [[Prime (rank)|Autobot leader]] that Optimus Prime was, but vows to try.

{{note|A short narrative voiceover by [[Victor Caroli]] was tacked on to the final scene when this episode made its first re-run airing: 'But is this ''really'' the end of Optimus Prime? Find out in tomorrow's exciting episode, "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1|The Return of Optimus Prime]]"!' Baffled by such an ambiguous title, children the world over were left wondering if this was in fact the end of Optimus Prime.}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Rodimus Prime]] (2)
*[[Ultra Magnus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ultra Magnus]] (3)
*[[Arcee (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Arcee]] (9)
*[[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]] (11)
*[[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] (14)
*[[Perceptor (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Perceptor]] (15)
*[[Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]] (16)
*[[Springer (G1)|Springer]] (17)
*[[Skydive (G1 Aerialbot)|Skydive]] (18)
*[[Snarl (G1)|Snarl]] (19)
*[[Sludge (G1)|Sludge]] (20)
*[[Blurr (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Blurr]] (21)
*[[Wheelie (G1)|Wheelie]] (22)
|c2=
*[[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]] (4)
*[[Scourge (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Scourge]] (5)
*[[Sweep (G1)|Sweeps]] (6)
*[[Cyclonus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Cyclonus]] (8)
*[[Dirge (G1)|Dirge]] (12)
*[[Thrust (G1)|Thrust]] (13)
|c3=
*[[Spike Witwicky (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Spike Witwicky]] (1)
*[[Daniel Witwicky (G1)|Daniel Witwicky]] (10)
|c4=
*[[Quintesson]]s (7)
}}

==Quotes==
"Great. What'll Daniel and I do when the air runs out?" 
"Basically you'll have two choices: suffocate, or smother."
:—As '''Spike''' wonders about the limited oxygen for the first time in life in the Autobot life pod, '''Rodimus Prime''' takes "deadpan" to a whole new level.

"Hey, he's here, he's back, and who cares how!" 
"Must... complete... plan..." ''Optimus abruptly walks offscreen.'' 
"Yeah! What's the plan?"
:—'''Rodimus''' misses some critical clues from '''Optimus Prime'''<nowiki>'s</nowiki> behavior.

'''Arcee''': Sludge! Snarl! Oh, are we glad to see you. 
'''Sludge''': Me Sludge not glad to see ''you''. 
'''Snarl''': You all dead! Rarrr! 
'''Sludge''': ...Maybe ''we'' dead.
:—Arcee freaks out the Dinobots.

'''Kup''': Where is everybody? 
'''Sludge''': All go smash Quintessons. 
'''Ultra Magnus''': Quintessons? What have Quintessons got to do with any of this? 
'''Snarl''': They kill you! Optimus Prime say so! ...Uh-oh. Something not right.
:—The Dinobots start to comprehend that all is not well.

"This won't even be a war." 
"Merely an exercise in... extermination."
:—the '''Quintessons''' nonchalantly slaughter the Autobot fleet

"Not a game! ...Matrix makes me ''too strong''!" 
"Now ''there's'' a unique complaint!"
:—'''Optimus Prime''' wails on '''Hot Rod''', who takes it in stride

"Monsters... they made me a weapon, to destroy the very ones I loved in life. But you will save them... Rodimus Prime."
:—'''Optimus Prime''' hands over the Matrix.

"I don't know if I'll ever be the leader that you were, but for sure... I'm gonna try. So long... Prime."
:—'''Rodimus''' gives a eulogy in his own inimitable fashion.

"Decepticons!, leave this place OR DIE!!"
"Optimus Pri-AAAGGGHH!"
—'''Optimus Prime''' to :—'''Galvatron''',
Optimus Prime warns the Decepticons as he opens fire upon them in an ambush and starting with Galvatron soon taking out the Decepticon leader.

==Season 5==
{{note|When this episode was rebroadcast in [[The Transformers (cartoon)#Season 5|the fifth season]] of ''The Transformers'', it contained new bookending segments with original story material.}}
[[File:TommyInterviewsPrime.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4]]
[[Tommy Kennedy|Tommy]] and [[Powermaster]] [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] meet in the barren wasteland where Tommy, apparently a reporter for [[Autobot City News]], asks to interview Prime. Tommy asks for the inside scoop on how Prime came back from the dead. Prime recalls how it all began...

{{bigquote|Okay, what would you like me to tell you?}}
{{bigquote|Tell us the real scoop! The behind the scenes, super secret story of how '''you''' came back from the dead!}}

:''22 minutes later...''

{{bigquote|You said you were going to tell me how you were brought back to life and instead you tell me a story where you weren't ''really'' brought back to life at all! And even if you ''were'', you'd be dead again by now!}}

Tommy is furious, accusing Prime of dodging the question and not telling him how he ''really'' cheated death. Prime informs him that there's "more than meets the eye" to this story. In fact, the story has only just begun. Tommy stops him, as his recorder has run out of tape. Tommy and Prime then blast off into outer space to... go to the store to buy more tape. Okay.
{{--}}

==Notes==
===Continuity notes===
*Galvatron still has some degree of alliance with the Quintessons, despite their betrayal in "Five Faces of Darkness". (Of course, it's leading to ''another'' betrayal, as the Quintessons are presumably luring him and the Autobots to zombie Optimus's trap.)
*As an episode built around the events of the animated movie, Galvatron's order to examine the debris of the destroyed Autobot ship is almost certainly a callback to the last time he blew up an Autobot vessel from afar - he's wised up to the Autobots' "detonate three quarters of the ship" trick!
*Kup alludes to the [[Great War (G1)|Great War]] when Daniel asks about Optimus Prime's inclusion in the Mausoleum.
*Besides Optimus, the interred Autobots whose names are read off by Daniel are [[Ironhide (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ironhide]], [[Prowl (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Prowl]], [[Ratchet (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ratchet]], and [[Huffer (G1)|Huffer]]. The first three were killed off in ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'', all in the same scene, in fact. This is the first time we learn of Huffer's death, however. The absence of [[Brawn (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Brawn]] (also killed off in the same scene) has led to joking fandom speculation that he must have survived getting shot in the shoulder (bolstered by his and Huffer's animation-error appearance in "[[Carnage in C-Minor]]"). [[Wheeljack (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Wheeljack]] and [[Windcharger (G1)|Windcharger]]'s bodies weren't even mentioned, despite their offscreen deaths in the movie.
[[File:DarkAwakening dead Autobot.jpg|thumb|200px]]
*The dead Autobot that nearly squashes Daniel isn't Ironhide, but follows his general design pattern: rounded head helmet, boxy torso with a front window chest. The details are off, though, and of course he's got a totally different color scheme (mostly gray, with an olive green chest.)
*Cyclonus pulls his gun out of thin air during the fight on the mausoleum; it simply appears in his hand in a flash of light, another instance supporting the fan-theories of "subspace" and the like.
*Springer reacts pointedly to the supposed death of Arcee, continuing the romantic overtones between them that first showed up back in "Five Faces of Darkness".
*The Autobot fleet shown in this episode causes some bizarre continuity hijinks. Character models for the Aerialbots, Powerglide, and Skyfire are used to pad out the fleet's ranks (see details under Animation and/or Technical Errors), and many of these "ships" are showing getting annihilated by the Quintessons. While one might be tempted to say that Skyfire is thus shown getting killed, you'd also have to say the same for the Aerialbots and Powerglide, who all show up alive and well in later episodes. You'd also have to accept Skydive getting killed and then being alive a few seconds later, and Slingshot getting killed twice.

===Real-world references===
[[File:Autobot shuttle lifepod.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1]]
*Writer Antoni Zalewski recycled his own work for the opening scene of this episode, which is copied almost note-for-note from the 1985 "Ghost Ship" episode of ''The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians''. The parallels include a pursuit through space, launching an escape pod ("We turned the cockpit into an escape ship just in time!"), right up to Spike's verbatim quote "It's the size of... Manhattan!"
*''Star Wars'' sound effects:
**The ''Star Wars'' effects are of a much higher fidelity of sound than the rest of the episode's effects, music and voiceovers, sitting higher in the mix and sounding rather out of place. Some are mixed to the point of being unidentifiable.
**A long X-Wing whine - from the Rebel squads approaching the Death Star - is heard in the opening shot as the Autobot ship flies past camera.
**As the Decepticons launch torpedos, sounds from one of the firefights on the Death Star can be heard.
**The whine of Luke's X-Wing about to crash on Dagobah (a rare use of a sound effect from ''Empire'') plays as the Mausoleum approaches the sun; the sound of branches hitting the fighter's canopy can still be heard.
**Death Star superlaser as the Autobots escape from the Mausoleum.
**X-Wing engine whine as the Quintesson asteroid-ship moves into firing position.

===Animation and technical errors===
[[File:DarkAwakening Magnus hands.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Don't look at me either. I had my shot. I'm out.]]
[[File:DarkAwakening-Springer.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1]]
*An AKOM episode. Watch for off-model characters including:
**Rodimus and Galvatron are both consistently colored using outdated color models; Rodimus's shoulder indentations are red instead of white, his pelvis-windshield details are white instead of light burgundy, and his gun is red instead of black, while Galvatron has pale purple "underpants."
**Movie characters have colored mouths, such as Ultra Magnus with a red mouth, Cyclonus with purple, Blurr with blue and Springer with green.
**Optimus's running light rims are white, and the lights themselves are red, rather than vice versa; his backpack is white instead of red.
**The top part of Ultra Magnus' back is sometimes colored grey when it should be red (such as when he shoots at Galvatron).
*Coloring errors:
**In the first shot of the Decepticon mothership shooting at the Autobot shuttle, one of the two Sweeps flying alongside it is colored all white.
**"They're getting away!" - Cyclonus's jet windows are colored white instead of orange.
**As Rodimus delivers the "I'd hoped never to see it again" line, Kup's eyes are gray and the triangles below them blue, rather than the other way around.
**Rodimus's eyes flash blue-gray-blue as he details the location of Optimus's tomb.
**After driving the Decepticons off, Optimus walks up to the Autobots and the left side of his helmet is grey instead of blue.
**Right after Optimus Prime shoots Hot Rod, Kup, Arcee, Daniel and Spike, the top of his helmet is colored gray.
**As Optimus walks up to Hot Rod, his Autobot symbol is grey instead of red.
**Just before Optimus' flashback, his crotch piece and lower legs are dark grey instead of blue.
**When Rodimus tosses him, Optimus' face is entirely colored in blue. As he lands, the top of Optimus' helmet is grey.
*As the "torpedos" close in on the Autobot ship, it's suddenly no longer in the asteroid field, but in open space.
*The life pod's engine-roar sound effect flies past the camera long before the ship itself does.
*After they blow up the Autobot ship, a shot of the Decepticons flying shows their group to contain a 1984 Seeker design with Dirge's color-scheme. Thrust and Dirge are also flying alongside the ship - the first and only time they've been shown to be space flight capable. The Decepticon ship isn't all that much bigger than the Decepticons around it, either.
*As the Decepticon ship turns to intercept, the squad of Decepticons are no longer flying alongside it.
*The mausoleum first appears floating in empty open space, but as the Autobots approach it, it's suddenly got asteroids and a red sun nearby.
*As they approach the Mausoleum in their ship, the Autobots keep changing positions between shots. First Kup is up front on the right, then he's behind Rodimus on the left, then Rodimus is in the back right with Kup in front of him. Arcee moves from the front right to the back left, then back to the front right again.
**Also during the approach, the seats at the front of the ship appear and disappear between shots.
***''Also'' during the approach, the large door with the Autobot symbol has a grey frame around it (with parts that overlap the right and left sides), but when it opens, the frame is gone.
*As he walks up behind Daniel, Optimus is supposed to be obscured by darkness - but since the animation portrays the scene as not really dark at all, Optimus simply ''appears out of thin air'' when Daniel turns the lights back on.
**Also, he's covered with cobwebs, as if he's been standing immobile in one spot for ages, even though he was just walking around. Some of them even connect to the wall behind and above him! The cobwebs are gone in a closeup view in the very next shot. (Dare we even ''ask'' how there are ''spiders'' inside a Cybertronian tomb in space? What are they eating?)
*In that first closeup shot, Optimus has a much more damaged look (both his chest windows are broken, showing internal circuitry; his mouthplate is broken; and the overall look of the chest area is more worn out. For the remainder of the episode, he is drawn with the damaged look from the movie.
*After discovering Optimus's empty tomb, the Autobots are apparently supposed to be reacting to some sound, indicating the Decepticons' arrival - but there's no such sound. They just all turn at once in response to nothing.
*Rodimus is missing his spoiler after yelling "Take cover!"
*When Cyclonus shoots Arcee, the blast comes from WAY too low from the gun, coming instead from his third knuckle.
*When Optimus shoots at the Decepticons, Galvatron's Decepticon logo is missing its "eyes."
*Cyclonus steals Galvatron's cannon sound effect as he drags his wounded leader away.
*Ultra Magnus yells at the other Autobots to "Hold your fire, we've driven them off!" but they've already stopped shooting!
*After driving the Decepticons off, Spike is not in the shot, even though he was right next to Daniel earlier.
*After driving the Decepticons off, Optimus is still holding his gun, but when he asks about the Matrix, it's suddenly gone.
*Some weird shadows are drawn over Rodimus's face as he opens his chest to return the Matrix - but there's no light source shown to cause them.
*Layering problem: The flame pattern on Rodimus's chest opens sideways, leaving what ''appears'' to be a cavity in the same shape as the flame pattern - yet instead of reaching ''inside'', Rodimus's hand reaches ''behind'' it to retrieve the Matrix!
*After Optimus shoots him, Hot Rod lands on what seems to be the exterior surface of a planet, rather than the hangar bay of the Mausoleum.
*Optimus's mouthplate often doesn't move when he speaks, as when he relates the supposed fate of Rodimus and the others to the Autobots. After the Matrix overrides the Quintessons' programming, it consistently moves when he speaks. If it was an intentional effect, however, it's thrown off by the fact that it ''does'' move when he first appears and threatens the Decepticons.
*As Springer comments on going after the Quintessons, his lip flap stops a bit before his words do.
*When boarding Ultra Magnus' "little improvisation," the camera shake isn't synced with the frames of animation, so it looks like there are two Arcees, Kups and Hot Rods.
*The Autobot fleet contains all sorts of strange stuff; see also Continuity Notes, below:
**In the first pan shot: two Skydive, two Slingshots, an Air Raid, and lots of black-colored jets that may be various Aerialbot models.
**In the fly-over shot, the (much smaller) fleet is entirely light gray ships, some loosely based on Broadside's jet mode, but mostly generic science fiction style.
**As the Quintessons open fire, Skydive and two black jets are destroyed.
***On board one of those ships, a [[generic]] Autobot with Dead End's color scheme - including a purple Autobot symbol - gets blown away, followed by two more generics based on Dead End and Scamper.
**Next shot: Powerglide and Slingshot are destroyed. An all-white Skyfire, another Skyfire in Skydive's colore scheme, and a black jet are nearby.
**After the commercial break: the same shot repeats, but this time the missiles fly in and past without hitting anybody.
**Next shot: an all-white Skyfire with orange tailfins gets pummeled by missiles.
**Next shot: several generic white jets are blown up.
**Next shot: a generic white jet and Slingshot (again!) are destroyed. Two Skydives, two Air Raids, and someone in Powerglide's colors go untouched.
**A moment later, Skydive and Air Raid are seen manning laser cannons to destroy the interceptor ship.
**Four generic jets in white, gray and black are shown escaping at the end. In a second shot, two of them are loosely based on Skyfire's design.
**In the final shot, the escaping ships include generic ship/jets with Skydive and Air Raid's color schemes.
*When Perceptor shouts "They're alive!", Blaster (with a white helmet) and [[Jazz (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Jazz]] - completely miscolored in light and dark blue - are standing in the background. The space behind Perceptor was totally empty in the previous shot.
*Not a glitch so much as a strange shortcut: the Quintessons' lines, "Perhaps we should seek some cover." and "No. Place your faith in our defense systems." are both recycled from "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2]]".
*As Hot Rod announces he's going "Optimus hunting," Wheelie is missing his Autobot symbol.
*"Optimus, front and center!" - Hot Rod is drawn as his Rodimus self for a couple of shots.
**After Optimus returns the Matrix to him and walks off, Rodimus is still drawn as Hot Rod for the rest of the scene.
*When he puts Rodimus in the wrestling hold, Optimus' nose isn't drawn in.
*When Rodimus tosses him, Optimus clearly hits a display monitor (which doesn't break) in its upper left corner, but when he lands, he's way over on the right side of the console.
*Whatever the burbling thing that melts through Hot Rod's torso is, it's gone in the next shot - then back again, then gone for good in the following shots.
*When Optimus gives the Matrix back to Hot Rod, Hot Rod's door is made up of the entire yellow (flame) part of his chest. In "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4," the door was split in half and opened around the center of his chest.
*When Optimus is in control of the flagship and orders the other Autobots to return, he has his left arm again... and the hand colored wrong (red).
**In the first shot of him on the bridge, the bridge design is completely different than the one shown at the start of the attack.
*As the Autobots watch the explosion, Ultra Magnus' (red) mouth is shown gaping open and not moving when he speaks; his eyes are connected together like a visor.

===Continuity errors===
[[File:DarkAwakening Mausoleum.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Just in case you weren't clear that Prowl, Ratchet, etc. are dead - this episode goes and kills them ''even more dead''.]]
*[[Revenge (G1)|Galvatron's starship]] is shown to be perfectly intact here, despite being smashed by Unicron in the movie.
*Rodimus Prime and his crew were surprised to find the Autobot Mausoleum, suggesting they forgot where it was. Why didn't the Autobots just put the Mausoleum somewhere on Cybertron?
*Why are the tomb's light controls at human child level?
*Rodimus Prime states that Optimus has been dead "for years". While it's not always wise to take the flippant Rodimus [[The Burden Hardest to Bear|at face value]], Prime has actually been dead for a year at most. (The cartoon's timeframe is rarely made explicit, but "[[Five Faces of Darkness]]" was stated in narration to take place in [[2005]], while later episodes like "[[The Big Broadcast of 2006 (episode)|The Big Broadcast of 2006]]" indicate the series has moved on into [[2006]] as time as gone on. Also, Daniel is the same age he was when Optimus died. This works a little better in Japan, though, where the series takes place in [[2010]].)
*It's never explained where Hot Rod and company obtained the ship that carries them away from the Mausoleum. Magnus just comments vaguely about "this little improvisation" in reference to the vessel.
*Optimus returns to Cybertron still beat to hell, fine. But... then he rushes everyone off into battle and ''nobody'' stops him to say, hey, get yourself to repair bay first?
*During the flashback to the Quintessons discussing Optimus Prime over his dead body, shouldn't the body still be grey (as it appeared after his death in the movie)? It's the usual colors instead.
*Kup tells Rodimus the ship is being blown to pieces, but it seems perfectly calm (until the Quintessons notice it's heading for the detonator and fire on it, of course).

===Other trivia===
*This episode originally aired early in Season 3. However, it was re-aired as the season drew to a close, as a lead-in to the latest episode, "The Return of Optimus Prime". The voiceover by Victor Caroli, described above, was added at this time, and subsequently became the more well-known ending. The original version was released on VHS by [[Rhino Entertainment|Kid Rhino]], but when the company released the episode on DVD, the altered ending was the only one included (despite the presence of no less than ''three'' audio tracks on the disc). Observing the frustration this caused among American fans, DVD consultant [[Chris McFeely]] helped ensure the restoration of the original ending for [[Metrodome]] DVD release of the episode, with the alternate ending included as an easter egg. The original ending is also the version featured on the [[Shout! Factory]] DVD sets.
*The ''Transformers 2010'' story pages would run with this story's events, having the Quintessons analyze Optimus Prime's specifications and use them to build [[Guiltaur]]. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010 (story page)|Transformers 2010 Part 4}}
*This is easily the most gruesome episode of the original cartoon, and perhaps the only one with a certifiable body count - even if you don't include the named character models that are shown.
*That sure is some chipper, happy, peppy, upbeat music that plays as Daniel walks about reading the names of the dead, opening tombs, and running into zombies!

===Foreign localization===
'''German'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Das Erwachen im Dunkeln'''" ("The Awakening in the Dark")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?
*This was one of twelve episodes of [[The Transformers (cartoon)|the original cartoon]] released as audio adventures by the [[Germany|German]] company [[Karussell|Karussell Musik und Video]].

'''Italian'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Fantasmi dal passato'''" (First dub, "Ghosts from the Past"), "'''Risveglio oscuro'''" (Second dub, "Dark Awakening")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

'''Japanese'''
:*''Title:'' コンボイの影 (''Convoy no Kage'', "Convoy's Shadow")
:*''Original airdate:'' [[January 9]], [[1987]]
:*As Kup explains about the Autobot Mausoleum, he mentions the [[Unicron War]] instead of the Great War.

'''Mandarin'''
:*''Title:'' Wǔmiànguài de Guǐjì (五面怪的诡计, "Quintesson's Ruse")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote}}
;VHS
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[1988]] — ''Transformers'' — Dark Awakening / Grimlock's New Brain ([[Tempo Video]]) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[1990]] — ''Transformers'' — Dark Awakening ([[Tempo Video|Collins Video]]) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 1990 — ''Transformers'' — Dark Awakening / Grimlock's New Brain ([[Tempo Video|Abbey Home Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] [[1999]] — ''The Original Transformers'' — Volume 2: Revenge of the Decepticons ([[The Original Transformers|Rhino Entertainment]])
;{{w|LaserDisc}}
[[File:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 1999 — ''The Transformers: 2010'' ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Pioneer LDC]]) — Japanese audio only.
;DVD
[[File:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] [[2001]] — ''The Transformers: 2010'' — DVD Box (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only. 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] [[2003]] — ''The Original Transformers'' — Season 3 Part 1 ([[The Original Transformers|Rhino Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2003 — ''The Original Transformers'' — Season 3 Part 1: Vol. 2 (Rhino Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2004]] — ''Transformers'' — Season 3 and Season 4 ([[Metrodome]]) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2004 — ''Transformers'' — Collection 4: Series 3.1 ([[Madman Entertainment]]) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2006]] — ''Transformers'' — The Complete Generation One Collection (Metrodome) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2006 — The Best of ''The Transformers'' (Madman Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2007]] — ''Transformers'' — The Classic Episodes (Metrodome) 
[[File:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2007 — ''The Transformers'' — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] [[2009]] — ''Transformers'' — Season's Three & Four {{sic}} (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 Series: 25th Anniversary "Matrix of Leadership" Collection ([[Shout! Factory]]) 
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] [[2010]] — ''The Transformers'' — Seasons Three & Four: 25th Anniversary Edition (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'' — Seasons Three & Four: 30th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory) 
[[File:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2014 — ''Transformers'' — The Classic Animated Series (Metrodome)

==External links==
*[http://cybertronchronicle.freewebspace.com/cartoon-dossier/season-3/synopses/700-93.html Episode Dossier at The Cybertron Chronicle]
*[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808822/ IMDb's page for this episode]
*[https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_CN1s80MHOZDFaY1ZWV2Y4UUk/view?usp=sharing Orignal dialogue script]

[[Category:The Transformers episodes]]
[[Category:MSTF]]