Space (episode)

This article is about the episode of Cybertron. For outer space, see Space (the place).

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"Space. Trial. Puttin’ the system on trial. In space. Space system. On trial. Guilty. Of being in space! Going to space jail!"
"Space" 脅威の惑星スピーディア () (Kyōi no Wakusei Speedia) "Wondrous Planet Speedia"
Production company	TV Aichi, We've, Tōkyū Agency
Airdate	February 12, 2005 (Japanese) July 16, 2005 (English)
Writer	Hiro Masaki
Director	Fumiharu Kamanaka, Megumi Sakai (asst. dir.)
Animation studio	GONZO
Continuity	Unicron Trilogy cartoon continuity

Scattorshot and Bud use the space bridge to travel beyond Earth's atmosphere, but a Decepticon attack could spell their doom!

Synopsis

You're gonna regret tailgating me...

In the Autobots' base on Earth, Bud loudly announces his desire to follow in Hot Shot and Red Alert's footsteps and travel into space. He manages to talk Jolt into thinking it's a good idea, and Jolt in turn convinces Scattorshot to take Bud above the Earth's atmosphere and into space using the space bridge. As Optimus Prime has taken most of the other Autobots to look for the Omega Lock in the British Isles, nobody is around to tell him what a crazy idea this is; by the time Jetfire, Coby and Lori realize that Bud and Scattorshot are not where they should be, the pair are already above the clouds.

Concurrently, on Velocitron, Hot Shot is in awe of the planet's huge race tracks, while Red Alert can't see any point in them. But they are not the only offworlders on the Speed Planet: Megatron is also there, and locates the planet's leader, Override, just as she wins yet another race. Megatron directly questions her on the whereabouts of Velocitron's Cyber Planet Key, but Override informs him that he will have to beat her in a race before she will tell him. Despite Megatron's use of his Cyber Key Power, Override still wins the race, but confesses to Megatron that she has never heard of the Cyber Planet Key, and just wanted a challenge.

No, no worries about lack of gravity! Not to mention temperature, radiation, pressure...

Back on Earth—or rather, over it—Bud is having the time of his life on the space bridge. He and Scattorshot, encased in a gravity bubble, look down upon the Earth, but Bud's elation is cut short when Scattorshot spots Starscream and Thundercracker approaching the British Isles. The two Decepticons attack Optimus Prime's team, and a stray missile flies into space and knocks Scattorshot and Bud off the bridge, sending them floating off into space. Unaware of the drama unfolding above, the Autobots down below continue their battle, and call on Jetfire to back them up. Just as Jetfire deploys from the Autobot base, however, Coby and Lori finally manage to wring Scattorshot and Bud's location out of Jolt, and they promptly flip out. Coby triangulates their position and finds that they're drifting helplessly, so they call on Jetfire to go to their aid. Jetfire wastes no time in breaching the atmosphere and locating his comrades, but just as he is about to take them to safety, a passing satellite collides with them, knocking the gravity bubble from Jetfire's hands and sending Scattorshot and Bud plummeting down through the atmosphere.

I just hope this is covered by my burn insurance!

Back with the battle, Optimus Prime and Vector Prime attempt to lure Starscream and Thundercracker down to ground level, but Starscream isn't falling for it, and seizes the two Autobots before they can get too low. However, they have managed to bring the Decepticons into range of Overhaul's Cyber Key-powered "Slam Attack" missile, and the small Autobot blasts Thundercracker, sending him spiralling into Starscream, who loses his grip on the two Primes. The Decepticons opt for retreat as the Primes, Jetfire and Jolt all try to reach Scattorshot and Bud as they come falling through the sky, their forcefield burning up as they hurtle downward. Suddenly, in a burst of white light, Scattorshot and Bud vanish, and rematerialize inside the Autobot base. Jolt almost offhandedly reveals that Vector Prime has taught him how to open dimension gates, which he used to teleport them to safety.

Taken out by a smaller car - how embarrassing.

Meanwhile, on Velocitron, Hot Shot and Red Alert watch from a distance as Dirt Boss summons his Cyber Key, piquing Red Alert's curiosity. As the medical Autobot muses on the fact that all the Velocitronians have Cyber Keys that are the same color, in contrast to the differently-colored keys the Autobots themselves use, Hot Shot's attention is caught by the sight of Crumplezone and Ransack. The dastardly duo are terrorizing two Velocitronian natives: the youthful Clocker and his wise, elderly mentor Brakedown, who Megatron has ordered them to shake down in hopes of gaining information on the Cyber Planet Key. Red Alert attempts to stop Hot Shot from getting involved, reminding him of Optimus Prime's order not to interact with the locals, but when Crumplezone and Ransack draw their weapons on their two victims, the younger Autobot can't hold himself back, and leaps to their rescue. As Brakedown thanks him for his help, Hot Shot realizes the folly of what he has done...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans
Jolt (1) Scattorshot (3) Reverb (4) Six-Speed (5) Hot Shot (6) Red Alert (7) Jetfire (8) Landmine (11) Optimus Prime (12) Overhaul (13) Vector Prime (14) Override (15) Brakedown (22) Clocker (23)	Megatron (16) Thundercracker (17) Starscream (18) Crumplezone (19) Ransack (20) Dirt Boss (21)	Bud Hansen (2) Coby Hansen (9) Lori (10)

Quotes

"Aw, what a drag!"
"Is something wrong, Master Bud?"
"I'm not a master, I told you that!"
"Right, sorry. Bud. Dude."

—Bud and Jolt.

"How come everyone thinks I'm going to mess up, just 'cause I like to drive fast? I'd never break Optimus's orders!"

—Hot Shot, who breaks Optimus's orders before the sun sets.

"One more second, and I'd have knocked you down like a bowling pin!"
"Hmph. Keep dreaming."

—Override and Megatron

"Nice view! You know, there was a scene like this in Mutants From Beyond."
"That's a movie, this is real life!"
"Yeah, what's your point?"

—Bud and Scattorshot

Crumplezone: "You raced against Override? Wow, did you win?"
Megatron: "Never mind! She doesn't know anything about the Cyber Planet Key, so it doesn't matter!"
Ransack: "In other words, you lost."

—Ransack is either very brave or very stupid.

Coby and Lori: "He's in space?!"
Lori: "What do you mean?"
Jolt: "He wanted to see space, and he seemed upset when I said no, so I finally said yes, and I talked Scattorshot into it...?"
Lori: "So he got to go and we didn't?!"
Coby: "That's not the point."

"This is all my fault! I'm a worthless excuse for a Mini-Con!"

—Jolt's not entirely wrong.

Notes

Differences with Galaxy Force

• This episode gives our first solid look at one of the biggest differences between Cybertron and Galaxy Force. In Cybertron, Override is depicted as female (is referred to as "she" and has a female voice actor), while in Galaxy Force, Override (Nitro Convoy) is male. This change in the English dub script was done at the request of Cartoon Network on which Cybertron had been contracted to air, and was approved by Hasbro.
• When Megatron and Override first meet, in Cybertron, Megatron is unaware of who he is addressing until Override tells him. In Galaxy Force, on the other hand, Megatron already knows who Override is, and Override's part of the conversation is instead an expression of disbelief that life exists beyond Velocitron.
• In Cybertron, Megatron believes Override has cheated to win their race; in Galaxy Force, he is stoic in defeat.
• In Galaxy Force, Stonehenge is incorrectly located in Ireland. Cybertron fixes this mistake by placing it in England, but it's never really named.

Animation and/or technical glitches

• In the opening scene, the tentacles Jolt is using to run the computer disappear between shots. As does the computer. (The chunk of metal he appears to be standing in front of in later shots is actually some distance away.)
• When Starscream launches his "Pulse Attack", he speaks with Vector Prime's voice.

Continuity errors

• The space bridge's relationship to Earth geography is fluid; the lower terminus is in the American Rockies, but in one scene, Scattorshot is clearly passing east-to-west over Mexico, while later he's close enough to the British Isles to get hit by a stray missile. Later yet, he's over Florida.
• When Thundercracker begins his attack on the Autobots, he says that he's taking "both" of them out. Apparently, he's completely ignoring Landmine and Overhaul in his headcount.
• So a missile flies off into the unfathomably huge void of space and just happens to hit Scattorshot and Bud? How convenient.

Transformers references

• Ransack invites Clocker to "Slag off!", dropping Cybertron's first use of the Transformer swear word that Beast Wars made famous.

Trivia

• As with Starscream and Thundercracker in the previous episode, Megatron now displays his Cyber Key Power for the first time, with no explanation ever being given for how he obtains the ability. On Velocitron, however, Brakedown, Crumplezone, Dirt Boss, and Ransack all summon Cyber Keys at various points in the episode, so it's clearly a widely-known ability there.

Foreign localization

French

• Title: "L'espace" ("Space")

Italian

• Title: "Spazio profondo" ("Deep Space")

• For... whatever reason, the name "Master Bud" is kept in English instead of being translated in Italian.
• Crumplezone's actor pronounces the line: "You raced against Override?! Wow, did you win?" in a totally wrong way. The result is him saying: "You raced against Override and you won?!", like if he was surprised in discovering that Megatron won (which he didn't). This is not a translation mistake but an acting mistake since, in Italian, the two sentences are pretty much the same, with the only difference being on how to pronounce them (as written sentences, the only difference is the punctuation), so this is really the actor's fault.

Home video releases

All releases listed are in English audio unless otherwise noted.

VHS

2006 — Transformers: Cybertron — A New Beginning (Paramount)
2006 — Transformers: Cybertron — A New Beginning (Paramount)

DVD

2005 — Transformers: Galaxy Force — Vol. 02 (Victor Entertainment) — Japanese audio only.
2005 — Transformers: Cybertron — A New Beginning (Paramount)
2006 — Transformers: Cybertron — A New Beginning (Paramount)
2006 — Transformers: Cybertron — A New Beginning (Paramount)
2008 — Transformers: Cybertron — The Ultimate Collection (Paramount)
2014 — Transformers: Cybertron — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)