Editing Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 2

{{episode
|series=G1toon
|ep=38
|series2=SRLFtoon
|ep2=29
|prev2=Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 1
|next2=A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court (episode)
|series3=''[[Transformers: Generation 2 (cartoon)|Transformers: Generation 2]]''
|ep3=40
|prev3=Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 1
|next3=The Ultimate Doom, Part 1
|image=Desertion of the Dinobots 2 title shot.JPG
|caption=''Dessert of the Dinobots'', tonight on Food Network.
|title="Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 2"
|production code=#700-37
|airdate=[[October 22]], 1985
|written by=[[Earl Kress]]
|production company=[[Sunbow Productions]]
|animation studio=[[Toei]]
|continuity=[[Generation 1 cartoon continuity]]
}}

'''With the Dinobots having deserted the dying Autobots, Spike and Carly must find them and save the Autobots.'''

==Synopsis==
[[Image:DesertionDinobots2 Shockwave humans.JPG|left|200px|thumb|The sign on my house said "no humans or solicitors"!]]

The [[space bridge]] doors open, and [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike]] and [[Carly]] find themselves facing the business end of [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]]'s gun arm! He fires a ray that vaporizes Carly's car right out from under them. Fleeing through [[Decepticon Headquarters (G1 Cybertron)|Decepticon Headquarters]], the two humans manage to take refuge inside a small hole in a computer, a space where Shockwave won't fire after them for fear of damaging the equipment. Carly attempts to work the machine, but is hit by a surge of electricity and falls into a nearby pit, damaging the computer, but also twisting her ankle in the process. [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]] contacts Shockwave and orders him to send [[Cybertonium]] before the [[Decepticon]]s die, but Carly's tinkering has left the Space Bridge non-functional.

[[Image:DesertionDinobots2 Swoop humans.JPG|right|200px|thumb|Humans collect Transformers. Me Swoop collects humans!]]

Using Wheeljack's thumb radio, Spike makes contact with [[Sparkplug Witwicky|Sparkplug]], who is pretty much the only person standing at Autobot Headquarters, as the Autobots are all shut down. Sparkplug uses [[Teletraan I (G1)|Teletraan I]] to guide them out of the computer and toward [[Wheeljack's workshop|Wheeljack's old lab]]. Carly gets them through the door, but before they can start looking for Wheeljack's stash of Cybertonium, someone or something starts pounding on the roof.  Spike finds a rifle and blasts the intruder, who is revealed to be... [[Swoop (G1)|Swoop]]!  

The errant Dinobot explains that the Dinobots were captured by the Decepticons after a fight in Decepticon Headquarters, and taken to the [[Cybertonium Pit]]. The three are guided by Sparkplug to the [[Mass Transit System]]. Unfortunately, the tube carrying their car is damaged, and they can no longer communicate with Sparkplug. Deep underground, the three are nearly killed when they activate old defense systems. Swoop saves the day, but his wings are damaged. 

Reaching the surface, they find an abandoned city, which has clearly seen better days. Carly discovers a records room, with a datatrack which explains the history of the [[Great War (G1)|terrible war between the Autobots and Decepticons]]. Swoop says that he never knew the war had gone on for so long, but they are soon captured by a [[Sentinel (G1)|Sentinel]].

[[Image:DesertionDinobots2 Grimlock kill drones.JPG|left|200px|thumb|Taste like chicken.]]

Taken to the Cybertonium Pit, they discover that Shockwave altered the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]]' [[memory circuit]]s, making them think they're loyal to the Decepticons. Carly is able to repair their memory circuits, and the Dinobots thank Carly and Spike for rescuing them (except [[Slag (G1)|Slag]], of course). Now that the Dinobots are themselves, Spike comes up with an escape plan. He and [[Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]] start arguing, so the Sentinel decides to remove the humans. When the force field surrounding them comes down, the Dinobots destroy the drones. The Dinobots take the kids to an access tube, and Grimlock carries them up.

[[Image:DesertionDinobots2 Dinobots Cybertonium.JPG|right|200px|thumb|"Me Grimlock always have room for Jell-o!"]]

Meanwhile, Sparkplug sends a message to Cybertron, saying that he has managed to direct the space bridge to land outside the [[Ark (G1)|Autobot base]]. Shockwave contacts Megatron, saying that he has sufficient Cybertonium, and the Space Bridge is repaired, but that he has lost control of the destination site. Having overheard this, the Dinobots overwhelm Shockwave, and although Shockwave is able to hit Swoop, the Dinobots and humans manage to escape back to Earth with a shipment of Cybertonium.

At the Autobot base, [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] awards Spike and Carly with medals, making them "[[Honorary Autobot]]s". Grimlock decides to follow the Autobot leader's orders, and the Dinobots rejoin the [[Autobot]]s... until Grimlock no longer feels like following Prime's orders.

{{-}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Swoop (G1)|Swoop]] (6)
*[[Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]] (7)
*[[Snarl (G1)|Snarl]] (8)
*[[Slag (G1)|Slag]] (9)
*[[Sludge (G1)|Sludge]] (10)
*[[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] (13)

|c2=
*[[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] (1)
*[[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]] (5)

|c3=
*[[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike Witwicky]]  (2)
*[[Carly]] (3)
*[[Sparkplug Witwicky]] (4)

|c4=
*[[Early war history records Transformers|History records Transformers]] (11)
*[[Sentinel (G1)|Sentinel robots]] (12)
}}

==Quotes==
"That was my car, not an Autobot. Decepticreep!"<br>
"I don't think he cares, Carly."
:—'''Carly''' and '''Spike''' after Shockwave destroys Carly's car


"The more I see of this planet, the more I like it."<br> 
"The more I see of it, the more tired I get."
:—'''Carly''' as she marvels at Cybertron while '''Spike''' despairs over the huge stairs


[[Image:DesertionDinobots2 Mass transit junction.jpg|thumb|right|200px| ]]
'''Spike'''/'''Carly''': WHOA!<br>
'''Swoop''': Why you make ''that'' noise?<br>
'''Spike''': Because we just left our stomachs back up there. Hoh-oh!<br> 
'''Swoop''': Me glad me not have stomach to leave.<br>
:—Spike and Carly get a tiny bit of motion sickness sympathy from Swoop.


"Metal of good old days not so good!"
:—'''Swoop''' doesn't think much of the traps in the tunnels. He's going to think even less of the [[Quintesson|guys who built them]].


"Almost forgot — me Swoop can transform!"
:—In standard Dinobot fashion, '''Swoop''' hits on a solution for getting around with a damaged ''Pterodactyl'' wing.


"Millions of years ago, Cybertron was a planet of peace...until the Decepticons, lusting for power, began a terrible war. Not designed for combat, the Autobots were overwhelmed and subjugated by their evil opponents. While many Autobots fled Cybertron, a few valiant survivors devised new tactics and launched a counter-offensive on their arch-foes. And thus began a terrible series of wars. Many times, both sides have claimed victory, but this has been short-lived, for the Autobots have overthrown Decepticon tyrants, and, likewise, Decepticon treachery has toppled many a peaceful Autobot ruler. And to this day, the war rages on."
:— A '''computer''' telling the history of the Autobot-Decepticon conflict


[[Image:Grimlock01.JPG|right|200px|thumb|Me Grimlock say YOU PREGNANT.]]
"No! Me hate you!"<br>
"Well, I'm not nuts about you, either!"<br>
"Me not do what you say!"<br>
"You lunky bag of bolts, you can't do anything!"
:—'''Grimlock''' and '''Spike''' fake a fight within the Cybertonium Pit.


'''Slag''': Even though Dinobots not like it...<br>
'''Snarl''': ...We take orders from you now...<br>
'''Grimlock''': ...Until ''next time'' me Grimlock no '''''feel''''' like it.<br>
:—A warm fuzzy moment, Dinobot style.

==Notes==
===Animation and technical errors===
* An establishing shot shows us a pile of nonfunctional Autobots.  Among them is Jazz, now back in his complete robot mode after being stuck as a half-car, half-robot last episode.  
* Coloring errors:
** In the pile-of-Autobots shot, Prowl's head crest is white instead of red, Jazz's tires are white, Bumblebee's groin is gray instead of yellow, and Brawn's gauntlets are yellow instead of gray.
** Would anybody recognize Slag if they colored his face ''right''?
***  The front of Slag's checkguard is white instead of red as Carly fixes him.
*** His whole face is white as the energy fence deactivates, and again as he returns to robot mode and escapes from the pit.
*** The "side panels" of his head are white as Optimus Prime starts to address the Dinobots (his eyes are also colored red, and next to him, Sludge has empty white voids instead of eyes.)
*** White cheekguard-fronts again as Slag speaks his final line.  His chest plate is also gray instead of white.
** After their escape, the Dinobots stop to figure out which way to go; in this shot, Grimlock's head is light gray, and Slag's dino head is light gray instead of yellow.
** During the final scene, Swoop can be seen being repaired (presumably having his blown-up wing replaced, since he only has one), but his intact wing is the same color as the bed he's lying on, and his beak is red.  And Ratchet, standing at the foot of the bed, is red and gray.
* One of Teletraan I's displays labels Spike and Carly's location as "DECEPTKON COMPUTER BRAIN".
* Where's Spike been carrying that rather largish [[photon light]] he pulls out?  It's way too big to fit in a pocket.
* Carly's "oop!" happens before she actually stumbles.  She's calmly saying "Let me lean on your shoulder" while nearly pitching face-first into the ground.
*Predictably, the entrance to Wheeljack's lab looks completely different than when we saw it in "Divide and Conquer".  So does the access panel for the door. Neither of those looked like the entrance seen in "The Ultimate Doom, Part 3", but that seems to have been a back door.
* As is common in the cartoon universe, the metal ceiling of Wheeljack's lab cracks and crumbles like rock.
* As Swoop explains what happened to the Dinobots, he's speaking his narration IN the flashback. Not necessarily a mistake, but a very odd stylistic choice if not.
* Swoop's wing damage is missing in the very next shot of him after it happens ("Must've triggered switch!"). And then it's back when he tries to avoid some heat-seeking missiles. ("Wing won't work!").
* After he's shot by the Decepticon guard, Swoop falls over with a very organic-sounding thump.
* The Dinobots are all busily loading, loading, loading while they declare that they don't want to leave the Cybertonium pits.  But when Carly decides to check Snarl's circuits, he's just standing there doing nothing.
* During the "history of Cybertron" segment, there is a [[Early war history records Transformers|pink and a grey generic]] who is among the Decepticons that round up a group of Autobots. It is seen again shortly afterwards... among a group of (if the narration is something to go by) ''Autobots'' who show off their newly-acquired transformation abilities.
* When Shockwave appears on the guard's communication screen his gun hand has been replaced by a normal hand.

===Continuity errors===
* Victor Caroli's voiceover recap incorrectly describes the Autobots as "energy depleted"; in actuality, they're suffering mechanical breakdowns.  
*At the end of Part 1, Shockwave fires (with two guns!) into the opening Space Bridge elevator door, triggering a huge explosion (which the "in our last episode" recap is kind enough to replay for us at the episode's start.)  At the opening of this episode, however, he's just standing there when the elevator doors open, aiming his gun arm; his hand-held pistol is gone.  After a second, he fires a ray that vaporizes Carly's car out from under its two human passengers, but doesn't cause any human-eviscerating explosions.  It's not the first time that ''The Transformers'' has solved an unsolvable problem by just ignoring it, but it's one of the most flagrant.
*Incidentally, the ability to vaporize an entire automobile's worth of mass would seem to be a pretty useful power for an evil robot, but it's never seen outside of this episode's opening sequence.
*Also incidentally, Shockwave sure does stand there for an awfully long time, letting the clearly-still-alive humans run off into his headquarters.
[[Image:Dotdinos2 teletraan simulation.jpg|thumb|right|200px| ]]
* Improbable viewpoints:
** Most of the monitor imagery in this episode is simulated pictures constructed by Teletraan I to keep Sparkplug abreast of Spike and Carly's progress. All well and good, but it does seem to rule out any possibility that all those other unlikely camera views in all those other episodes were super-realistic computer simulations.
** Is Megatron collapsed against the video monitor console... or do the Decepticons have a camera on the floor?
*Spike and Carly happen upon a stack of energon cubes, and the script makes a point of having Spike wonder aloud where they came from, since Cybertron is supposed to be out of energy. Does nobody remember that whole [[The Ultimate Doom, Part 2|sending energon]] [[Divide and Conquer|to Cybertron]] thing the Decepticons had going on?
* Superhuman Spike and Carly:
** Spike and Carly manage to avoid all injury despite being in Carly's car when Shockwave disintegrated it.
** Spike manages to hold back an approximately 20+ foot tall metal door weighing several tons from crushing him and Carly.
** He also lifts a metal gun that's bigger than he is!
** Both he and Carly manage to hang on to Swoop's giant metal claws through a gut-wrenching series of aerial maneuvers.  They're both fine when he drops them before crashing.
*When Carly and Spike reach Wheeljack's lab, Carly opens the door without ever knowing the pass code.  It's not impossible that she got the code from [[Chip Chase]], who systematically guessed the code in "[[Divide and Conquer]]", but it does seem a bit on the unlikely side. Wheeljack also has a Decepticon symbol on his doorway, presumably put there by the Decepticons who sealed the entrance... but it wasn't there either of the last two times we saw the lab.
*Carly's ankle somehow repairs itself. Or was she faking just to get Spike to carry her everywhere? Maybe she found something in Wheeljack's lab that could heal her ankle or function as a brace.
* It's a cartoon convention that a missile can't harm you unless it physically hits you, no matter how close it gets, so we can cut ''The Transformers'' a little slack in this regard.  However, the absurdity of it is a bit flagrant as Swoop dodges missiles in the extremely tight confines of a hallway, where the missiles have several chances to explode basically right next to him.
* The Decepticon drones don't keep watch over the pit as Carly reprograms the (stationary) Dinobots.
*Sparkplug says he's altered the space bridge destination by tapping into the Decepticons' computers.  He never mentions how he managed to build an entire space bridge receiver ring right outside Autobot Headquarters.  There has also been some previous indication that the space bridge appears at random, uncontrolled locations, although given that that stopped being mentioned early on in the series it's possible that the Decepticons solved the problem between episodes. Perhaps the receiver ring is part of the deal?

===Continuity notes===
*When Swoop escapes the Decepticon guards, he is shown flying over [[Great Dome|Iacon]] as the Autobots left it in "[[More than Meets the Eye, Part 1]]".
* Gadgets and powers:
** As mentioned above, Shockwave can ''vaporize'' things with a ray from his gun arm.  What things?  Cars, robots, machinery, just about anything, it would seem.  How have the Decepticons not won the war with this guy on their side??
** Swoop can launch a couple of stubby little missiles out of his upper chest.
** The Dinobots' memory circuits can be bypassed via something or other in their chests. It sounds bizarre, but Bumblebee apparently had memory chips in his chest in "Transport to Oblivion", and Brainstorm later declares that he and his compatriots all have "auxiliary memory circuits" in their chests.
* Swoop and the humans wander into what appears to be an abandoned underground city on Cybertron.  The notion of Cybertron cities being built one atop the next would be revisited in the ''Beast Machines'' cartoon, many years later.
* This episode gives us a rare glimpse into Cybertron's past via a sort of mini-documentary:
** The footage features a ''ton'' of totally made-up robot and vehicle designs.
** The ships used by fleeing Autobots in the datatracks are the [[Vanguard-class Deep Space Interceptor|same type]] as the Ark.
** The documentary suggests that the Autobots created the art of transforming, something that "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4]]" corroborates.
** This was the first episode where a Transformer that isn't a hologram or a clone is shown to be destroyed.
* For the most part, this is the last time the Dinobots would be shown as rebellious, intimidating warriors in the original animated continuity, as by their next appearance in ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'' they are happy to work with other Autobots, and by [[The Transformers (cartoon)|Season 3]], are generally used as comedic foils.
* Since Cybertron clearly sucked up a bunch of Earth's atmosphere in "[[The Ultimate Doom, Part 1]]", we can forgive Carly and Spike's ability to breathe there. (Of course, Cybertron was human-inhabitable even before that incident, as demonstrated by Chip's visit in "[[Divide and Conquer]]".)  Awful handy of it to have human-compatible gravity (which it would need anyway to actually hold on to that atmosphere.)

===Real-world references===
[[Image:DisertionDinobots2 humans medals.JPG|right|200px|thumb|"I got shot through space, my car was disintegrated, I got lost and injured on an alien planet, captured by giant evil robots and made to act as slave mining labor, all to save your lives, and all I get is this lousy medal? That's it, I want a new car. And it better not be one of the Autobots acting like a car."]]

* ''[[Star Wars (franchise)|Star Wars]]'' sound effects:
** Spike's laser shot hits Swoop with the sound of [[Obi-Wan Kenobi|Ben Kenobi]] and [[Darth Vader]] cutting through some machinery on the [[Death Star]].
** The same sound is used as part of the heat-seeking missiles' engines.
** ''[[Millennium Falcon]]'' engine rumble as Swoop starts his "fancy flying", then ''Falcon'' engine burst, then Death Star superlaser, then [[TIE Fighter]] engine as he finally crashes.


===Trivia===
*Carly doesn't appear entirely thrilled with the whole "honorary Autobots" thing. Not surprising, considering everything that happened to her in this episode.
*"Photon Light" sounds redundant.
*This episode has a smaller number of Decepticons in it than any other in the Generation 1 series. Maybe Megatron wanted more screen time?

===Foreign localization===

'''Italian''' 
:*''Title (dub 1):'' "'''I Dinorobots disertano-Parte 2'''" ("The Deserting Dinobots-Part 2")
:*''Title (dub 2):'' "'''La diserzione dei Dinobots - II'''" ("The Desertion of the Dinobots - II")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?
:*The old dub has Grimlock briefly misnamed as Swoop.


'''Japanese'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Dinobot no Tōbō PART II'''" (ダイノボットの逃亡 PART II, "Desertion of the Dinobots PART II")
:*''Original airdate:'' [[January 31]], [[1986]]


'''Portuguese'''
:*''Title:'' "'''A Deserção dos Dinobots Parte 2'''" ("The Desertion of the Dinobots Part 2")
:*''Original airdate:'' ?

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote}}
;VHS
[[Image:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 1986 — ''The Transformers'' — Desertion of the Dinobots ([[Video Gems|A.M.T. Video Gems]])<br>
[[Image:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 1986 — ''Transformers'' — Desertion of the Dinobots ([[Channel 5]])<br>
[[Image:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 1988 — ''The Transformers'' — Desertion of the Dinobots ([[Video Gems|V.I.P. Video Gems]])<br>
[[Image:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 1990 — ''Transformers'' — Desertion of the Dinobots 3-D (Channel 5)<br>
[[Image:Flag of Canada.png|20px|Canada]] 1998 — ''The Transformers: Generation 2'' — Desertion of the Dinobots ([[Malofilm|Behaviour]])
;Laserdisc
[[Image:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 1994 — ''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'' — Convoy Set ([[TakaraTomy|Takara]]) — Japanese audio only.<br>
[[Image:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 1998 — ''The Transformers'' — Autobot Edition ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Pioneer LDC]]) — Japanese audio only.
;DVD
[[Image:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 2001 — ''The Transformers'' — DVD Box 1 (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.<br>
[[Image:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2002 — ''The Original Transformers'' — Season 2 Part 1 ([[The Original Transformers|Rhino Entertainment]])<br>
[[Image:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2002 — ''The Original Transformers'' — Season 2 Part 1: Vol. 4 (Rhino Entertainment)<br>
[[Image:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2003 — ''Transformers'' — Season 2 Part 1 ([[Metrodome]])<br>
[[Image:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2004 — ''Transformers'' — Collection 2: Series 2.1 ([[Madman Entertainment]])<br>
[[Image:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2006 — ''Transformers'' — The Complete Generation One Collection (Metrodome)<br>
[[Image:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2007 — ''The Transformers'' — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)<br>
[[Image:Flag of Italy.png|20px|Italy]] 2008 — ''Transformers'' — Volume 04: Stagione Due Parte Seconda ([[Medianetwork Communication]]) — English and Italian audio.<br>
[[Image:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2009 — ''Transformers'' — Season Two: Part One (Metrodome)<br>
[[Image:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2009 — ''The Transformers'' — Complete Collection: Decepticon Edition (Madman Entertainment)<br>
[[Image:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2009 — ''The Transformers'' — Season Two, Volume One: 25th Anniversary Edition ([[Shout! Factory]])<br>
[[Image:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2009 — ''The Transformers'' — The Complete Series: 25th Anniversary "Matrix of Leadership" Collection (Shout! Factory)

==External links==
*[http://cybertronchronicle.freewebspace.com/cartoon-dossier/synopses/desertion_of_the_dinobots_part_2.html Dossier at the Cybertron Chronicle]

[[Category:Generation 1 episodes]]
[[Category:Generation 2 episodes]]