Editing Darkness Rising, Part 1

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{{episode|
|otherseries=''[[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)|Transformers: Prime]]''
|ep=1
|next=Darkness Rising, Part 2
|image=DarknessRising1-Cliffjumperface.jpg

|caption=Hey look, it's a major character!
|title="Darkness Rising, Part 1"
|airdate=[[November 26]], [[2010]]
|written by=[[Duane Capizzi]]
|directed by=[[Dave Hartman|David Hartman]]
|animation studio=[[Digitalscape]]
}}
'''Optimus Prime and the Autobots investigate the return of the Decepticons while being forced to account for a group of young humans who have unwittingly become involved in their centuries-old conflict.'''

==Synopsis==
[[Image:DarknessRising1-Starscreamsneer.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Pleased to introduce myself! I'm a man of wealth and taste...]]

[[Cliffjumper (Prime)|Cliffjumper]] is on the open road, boasting to [[Arcee (Prime)|Arcee]] over the comm about how he's been messing with the [[human]]s, when he detects a large amount of energon nearby.  As he goes to investigate, a [[Decepticon]] ship appears over the crater and [[Eradicon|Decepticon troopers]] drop down to attack him. Arcee alerts the rest of the [[Autobot]]s, who head back to base. Cliffjumper fights on, destroying several of the Decepticons, but their blasts detonate the energon, causing a huge explosion. They drag his defeated form back to the ship, where [[Starscream (Prime)|Starscream]] is upset about the loss of the energon. Cliffjumper is defiant, but Starscream executes him. The Autobots arrive at the crater via [[ground bridge]], only to find the aftermath of the fight. Arcee picks up a horn Cliffjumper lost during the battle, and Ratchet reports that Cliffjumper's life signal has terminated.

Back on the Decepticon ship, Soundwave replays a recording of Arcee's comms talk, and Starscream decides she will be their next target.

[[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus]] reminds the other Autobots that they must continue to work to survive to honor the memory of their fallen comrade. Arcee refuses to dwell on it and drives off. In [[Jasper]], [[Nevada]], [[Jack Darby]] is working at the [[KO Burger]] drive-thru. Arcee finds herself being chased by a couple of Decepticons, and she ducks into the KO Burger parking lot, where Jack mistakes her for a real motorcycle and, fantasizing about one day having a motorcycle of his own, hops on.

[[Image:DarknessRising1-thisisjasper.jpg|left|thumb|300px|But can he make out with his girlfriend on the hood of it?]]

[[Sierra]] and a friend catch him apparently talking to the motorcycle, but while Jack has an awkward moment, the Decepticons spot Arcee. She takes off with a startled Jack still on board. After a short chase, she attempts to let Jack go, sending him down a side alley with a warning not to tell anyone what he's seen. As she speeds off, she spots one of the Decepticons heading after Jack and is forced to double back and pick him up. The chase moves onto the freeway, where [[Bumblebee (Prime)|Bumblebee]] arrives to help them out.

In a nearby drainage canal, [[Rafael Esquivel]] is playing with a remote-controlled car when Arcee and Jack literally drop in. The Decepticons drop in as well, and first Arcee, then Bumblebee is blasted to the ground. Raf draws the 'cons' attention, which unfortunately works too well, and the two kids are forced to flee into a drain. While they make their escape, Bumblebee and Arcee stand defiant against the Decepticons and, as [[Bulkhead (Prime)|Bulkhead]] joins the fight, and the two Decepticons flee.

At Autobot headquarters, Optimus Prime informs the Autobots that since the Decepticons have seen the boys, the two humans may be targeted.  At high school, Jack and Raf meet up again, and Bumblebee and Arcee come to take them to HQ. Though Raf roars off in Bumblebee, Jack walks away. [[Miko Nakadai]], sitting outside the school, draws Arcee, but when the motorcycle disappears, she peeks around the corner and spots Arcee in robot mode arguing with Jack. She takes both kids and catches up to Bumblebee. They drive to the Autobots' HQ, concealed in a mountain, where the three kids marvel at the rest of the Autobots and Optimus Prime gives them some exposition regarding the Transformers' war. Optimus fears the imminent return of [[Megatron (Prime)|Megatron]].

Soundwave detects a transmission from deep space, and Starscream orders the [[space bridge]] activated. As it opens, Megatron emerges, announcing his return.

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Cliffjumper (Prime)|Cliffjumper]] (1)
*[[Arcee (Prime)|Arcee]] (2)
*[[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus Prime]] (4)
*[[Ratchet (Prime)|Ratchet]] (5)
*[[Bulkhead (Prime)|Bulkhead]] (6)
*[[Bumblebee (Prime)|Bumblebee]] (7)

|c2=
*[[Eradicon|Decepticon drones]] (3)
*[[Starscream (Prime)|Starscream]] (8)
*[[Soundwave (Prime)|Soundwave]] (9)
*[[Megatron (Prime)|Megatron]] (15)

|c3=
*[[Jack Darby]] (10)
*[[Sierra]] (11)
*Sierra's friend (12)
*[[Rafael Esquivel]] (13)
*[[Miko Nakadai]] (14)

}}

==Quotes==
"Clean that up."
:—'''Starscream''' after killing Cliff and not washing his servos


"Scrap!"
:—'''Arcee''' showing her fluency with Cybertronian expletives


"What are they?"<br>
"Talking cars that turn into robots. Or the other way around."
:—'''Rafael''' and '''Jack'''


"Dude, what are you waiting for? Go with!"
:—'''Miko''' says what the audience is thinking.


"So, if you guys are robots, who made you...?"<br>
"Ugh! Puh-''leez''..."
:—'''Rafael''' and '''Ratchet'''


"We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron..."
:—'''Optimus Prime''' likes to [[Transformers (2007)|repeat the same introduction over and over again]].


"Decepticons!  I have ''returned''."
:—'''Megatron''' likes to state the obvious.

==Notes== 
===Animation or technical errors===
*When Ratchet attempts to scan for Cliffjumper's life signal, only five Autobots are shown on his screen, despite there being a total of six Autobots in the range of his scan (including the soon-to-be-dead Cliffjumper).
*Upon this episode's original airing, the [[insignia]] on the floor of the Autobot base was the [[insignia#Live-action_movie_franchise|live-action movie Autobot insignia]], rather than the standard Autobot insignia used on the characters themselves. This however was swiftly changed upon the re-airing weeks later, suggesting the rendering team either originally took note in time to effect the change, or they REALLY DO read everything on this Wiki to make the show better. This is us waving at you! *waves*
*In the credits, Cliffjumper's name is parsed "Cliff Jumper".

===Continuity errors===
* ''[[Exodus: The Official History of the War for Cybertron]]'' is the basis of the ''Prime'' continuity's backstory, according to [[Hasbro]]: that, however, had Optimus and Megatron splitting up and ''that'' causing the war, whereas this episode has it happened ''during'' the war. But it's just not a proper Transformers continuity without early continuity divergences!

===Transformers references===
* Bumblebee and Bulkhead are big walking references to the [[Bumblebee (Movie)|movie Bumblebee]] and [[Bulkhead (Animated)|Animated Bulkhead]], looking near-identical and (in the former's case) sharing the same speech impediment. 
* Lots of references to "three years ago" as the last time the Decepticons and Megatron were seen. Three years ago was the year that ''[[Transformers (2007)|Transformers]]'' came out in the cinema, by ''Prime'' showrunners [[Roberto Orci]] and [[Alex Kurtzman]]. 
* Cybertron has been rendered uninhabitable by the war. This is not just established by ''Exodus'' and the ''[[War for Cybertron]]'' games, but was also part of the [[live-action film series]] canon and [[IDW]]'s earlier Generation 1 comics.
* The image of Cybertron from space that appears during Optimus's exposition reuses the model from ''War for Cybertron''.
*In this series, Energon is represented as a naturally growing blue crystal. This is [[Beast Wars (cartoon)|not the first time]] it has been represented in this way.

===Foreign dubbing===

===Real-world references===
* Jack's statement "The first rule of robot fight club is that you don't talk about robot fight club" is a reference to, well, ''[[Wikipedia:Fight Club|Fight Club]]''.

===Trivia===

* Cliffjumper was presented as a key Autobot in the publicity material, and a big deal made of "The Rock" being his voice actor. That made him the ''last'' character you'd expect to be killed off in the first few minutes of his first episode (to the extent some fans thought he'd turn out to be fine in episode 2). ''Prime'''s sister show, ''G.I. Joe: Renegades'', pulled the same tactic with the hero Ripcord.

==Home video releases==
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[[Category:Prime episodes]]