A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court (episode)

This article is about the cartoon episode. For the mobile game event, see A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court (Legends).

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"It's only a model." "Shhh."
"A Deceptacon Raider in King Arthur's Court" "A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court"
Production code	#700-39
Season	2
No. in season	24
Production company	Sunbow Productions
Airdate	October 24, 1985
Written by	Douglas Booth
Animation studio	Unknown
Continuity	Generation 1 cartoon continuity
Watch this episode on YouTube

The Transformers go to the sixth century but avoid Camelot, as it is a silly place.

Synopsis

You yellow bastard! Come back here, and get what's coming to you! I'll bite yer legs off!

Warpath and Hoist are battling it out with Starscream, Rumble, Ravage, and Ramjet. When the Decepticons retreat out of exhaustion, Rumble detects energy in a nearby cave, only for the Decepticons to get caught in a cave-in when they enter to investigate. While searching for the energy source, they accidentally activate ancient runes that transport them to Britain in the year 543 A.D. There, they are attacked by Sir Wigend of Blackthorn and his knights, who believe the Transformers are knights of an enemy realm, but they prove no match for the metal behemoths.

Listen... in order to maintain airspeed velocity, Ramjet needs to spin his turbines 43 times every second, right?

The Decepticons agree to help Wigend's knights win their conflict with rival Sir Aetheling the Red, but Starscream obviously wants to rule and have a land of his own. Nearby, Aetheling's daughter Nimue is spying on their conversation and runs to warn her father, but is detected by Ravage and pursued until the newly arrived Spike, Warpath and Hoist rescue her.

Aetheling decides to organize a jousting tournament in hopes of settling his feud with Wigend peacefully. After Spike fails in the tournament, Wigend sends Ramjet and Rumble to compete on his behalf (Rumble riding Ramjet in vehicle mode), but they are defeated by Warpath and Sir Aetheling. An enraged Starscream is sick of chivalry, kidnaps Nimue and threatens her life unless Sir Aetheling agrees to give up his realm. The Autobots give chase but cannot keep up due to lack of energy and collapse out of exhaustion. The chase is also observed by an owl, who flies off to inform his master, the wizard Beorht, of this new development.

What manner of man are you, that can summon up fire without flint or tinder?

Starscream holds Nimue prisoner in Wigend's castle, which he has commandeered, and forces its residents to construct and power a primitive electrical generator to keep the Decepticons energized. Having gathered sulfur, charcoal and rock salt to make gunpowder, Starscream then sends Rumble to get the last ingredient...potassium nitrate from lots of bird droppings.

Yes! Yes! You must give us ALL a good spanking!

Spike attempts to rescue Nimue from Wigend's keep, only to find Sir Wigend has switched sides and the two of them are now a happy couple. Despite feeling rejected, Spike still agrees to help fight the war against the Decepticons. Meanwhile, the Autobots and Sir Aetheling's knights charge towards the castle to battle it out with the Decepticons. The Autobots help the knights cross the moat and scale the walls, but they can't put up much of a fight due to their dangerously low energy levels. Starscream's gunpowder projectiles make short work of the invading forces.

When suddenly... the ANIMATOR suffered a fatal heart attack! And the cartoon peril was no more.

Beorht the wizard appears and summons lightning that repowers Warpath and Hoist back up to fighting strength, though not enough to use their weapons. They take back the battle with Starscream and are victorious, destroying Starscream's power dynamo. Beorht concludes the robots are time travelers and that the cave they arrived in was the Dragon Mound, a time travel structure of his own design. He leads the Autobots and captive Decepticons back to the cave, only to find it guarded by the eponymous dragon. Starscream refuses to go any closer, but Beorht pulls out a pouch of "Dragon's Bane", his own name for gunpowder, noting that a little bit of it works every time. He throws the concoction at the dragon and it explodes, frightening away the beast.

Spike and the Transformers re-enter the Dragon Mound and return to the present. When they arrive back in their own time, they are greeted by multiple cannon blasts by Megatron. Starscream tackles his leader in a burst of enthusiasm at being back safely. Megatron, on the other hand, isn't nearly as happy to see Starscream, who has just ruined his shot...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans	Others
Warpath (5) Hoist (6)	Starscream (1) Ramjet (2) Ravage (3) Rumble (4) Megatron (16) Thundercracker (17) Soundwave (18) Skywarp (19) Reflector (20)	Nimue (7) Wigend of Blackthorn (8) Wulf (9) Spike Witwicky (11) Deore (12) Aetheling the Red (13) Beorht (14)	Solomon (10) A dragon (15)

Quotes

Look! It's the old man from Scene 24!

"Who's that there?"
"I dunno. Must be a king."
"Why?"

"Oohh! I just changed heads last week!"

—A ground-bound Ramjet learns that even a tough jet is no match for a tank.

"Out of the way, Rumble! It could be dangerous. As your leader, I must take the risk. Anyway, I'm lower on energy than you!"

—Starscream acting true to form.

"Huh! Inferior construction, even for an Autobot. One good whack, it breaks right in two!"

—Ramjet examining the "wreckage" of Sir Wulf and his horse.

"What's more important is that we have 1,451 years to go before we have to worry about the Autobots and that bungler Megatron!"

—Even trapped in the past, Starscream looks on the bright side, unaware his math is failing.

"Whatcha waiting for, Red Knight? Don't you wanna rumble with Rumble?"

—"Sir" Rumble prepares to joust.

"Make some idiot twenty feet tall, and he thinks he rules the Earth."

— Beorht isn't too impressed by Starscream.

"Starscream! Lower the drawbridge! Ugh! I got your stupid potassium nitrate!"

—Rumble, carrying a pot of bird droppings while also covered in same.

"What's the matter? Aren't you glad to see us?"
"RRRRAGGGH!!"

—Starscream asks a rather loaded question of Megatron.

Notes

Production information

• First draft script: 8 March 1985
• Script revised by Ron Friedman: 13 March 1985

Continuity notes

In war we're tough and able
Quite in-de-fa-ti-gable
Although at times, we're given rhymes
That are quite un-sing-able!

• Gadgets and powers:
  • Starscream can create electric wiring out of gold coins & other treasure, simply by crushing it in his fist
• Ramjet apparently changes his head on a regular basis. Hah!
• Fans have made much of the fact that Warpath defeats Ramjet in a collision, but really, Ramjet's specialty is hitting other planes. Even a tough jet doesn't compare to a tank. It's impressive he withstood one hit when you get down to it.
• Warpath makes a strange observation, noting that he's so low on energy that he "can't even stay transformed". Apparently, remaining in vehicle mode consumes energy.
• Warpath speaks with a moving mouthplate in this episode, rather than the cheek blinkers he sometimes has.
• Even if he can't fire lasers, Warpath can still fire shells (and does so, trying to hit Ramjet in the castle).
• Given it was established that Starscream was a scientist before the war, it makes sense he's the one who takes the lead in creating the electric generator and the gunpowder.

Real-world references

SO, brave knights, if you do DOUBT your courage or your strength, come no further, for DEATH awaits you all... with nasty, big, pointy teeth!

It reads, "Here may be found the last words of Joseph of Arimathea...

...He who is valiant and pure of spirit may find the Holy Grail in the Castle of aaarrrrggh."

• The title of this episode is an homage to the novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court written by Mark Twain and published in 1889.
• The Dragon Mound is surrounded by a Stonehenge-like structure.
• The instrument panel on the time-travel device is written in Runic alphabet.
• Sir Wigend was to have sworn by Wodin in a deleted line.
• The 6th-century characters' names are mostly from period-appropriate Old English: "Aetheling" means "prince", "Beorht" means "bright", "Deore" (named only in the script) means "dear", "Wigend" means "warrior", and "Wulf" means, well, "wolf". "Nimue" is the name of the Lady of the Lake from Arthurian legend, though the character in the episode is nothing like her. "Solomon" is from the Old Testament, which long predates the 6th century.
• Despite the title, King Arthur doesn't make an appearance in this tale, thus making him Sir-Not-Appearing-In-This-Film.
• With the 543 AD setting, some elements are anachronistic, such as:
  • Castles (11th century in England)
  • Knights (8th century)
  • Gunpowder (13th century in Europe)
  • Early Modern English (15th century)
  • Received Pronunciation (19th century)
• Star Wars sound effects:
  • Luke Skywalker's lightsaber deflecting the seeker ball bolts can be faintly heard as Beorht recharges Warpath and Hoist.
  • The sound of a lightsaber igniting is used as Beorht drops his electrically charged staff.

Animation or technical errors

• This episode omits Warpath's glowing blue faceplate-slits, which light up when he talks throughout the rest of the season. In fact, when he consoles Spike after Nimue is captured, his mouthplate moves up and down, which it doesn't do in any other episode.
• Warpath's chest cannon's length changes frequently during the episode.
• The first shot of Warpath has him rolling along in tank mode, drawn at about a 1/4-angle viewpoint, but the ground beneath him is scrolling parallel to the camera.
• A bizarre flash of energy envelopes Ramjet as he returns to robot mode after colliding with Warpath.
• When Starscream raises his right arm to point, the Decepticon emblem on his wing is no longer there.
• Again showing a wanton disregard for the background matte, Warpath slides sideways as he drives down the hill.

Oh, wicked, bad, evil, naughty Zoot!

• Nimue has cleavage that appears and disappears from shot to shot and sometimes frame to frame. And no, you are not a pervert if you watched the episode six times to chronicle this error.
• The script seems to have called for a trumpet fanfare to summon Spike to the jousting field (thus Hoist's "That's your call!" line.) The sound editors complied by timing a fanfare in the background music to coincide with the moment, but the resulting effect is that Warpath seems to be listening to the background music.
• A glint of light from Sir Aetheling's lance gets a very loud sound effect. Since sunlight is so loud, y'know.
• When Ramjet rams into Warpath in the jousting duel, his canopy is smashed and nose cone crushed in, yet less than a minute later, he's back to normal when the remaining Decepticons attempt to flee with Starscream.
• As Starscream walks up to kidnap Nimue, the background scrolls behind him much faster than the speed of his walk.
• Starscream is missing his wing emblems as he drives off with Nimue.
• Warpath's tank mode is rather consistently portrayed as bigger and taller than Hoist's truck mode. While that would be accurate in the real world, Hoist is taller than Warpath in robot mode.
• Starscream's mouth doesn't move during most of his "No, Rumble, not I..." line.
• After he throws the gunpowder and puts his hands on his hips, one of Starscream's arm guns isn't quite attached to his arm.
• The tires on Hoist's feet are white instead of black as he stands up after the lightning recharge.
• Hoist tackles Starscream even though one frame later he's seen in vehicle mode.
• A bit of clumsy sound editing towards the end of this episode results in a small but noticeable error. As Hoist says, "That is, if there's a way—" his voice is very abruptly cut off. Then Beohrt announces: "Hoist said 'time'!" when Hoist has actually said nothing of the sort. The line as recorded was "That is, if there's a way back to our own time!" and it was followed by a short scene of Starscream feebly requesting a little energy and being threatened by Warpath, before Beorht makes his proclamation. The removal of the Warpath/Starscream scene appears to have inadvertently clipped the relevant few words off the end of Hoist's line.

Continuity errors

"Look, let me go back in there and face the peril."
"No, it's too perilous."
"...Oh, let me have just a little bit of peril?"

• Starscream's math is off by a decade: 543 + 1451 = 1994, rather than the correct date of the Transformers' awakening, 1984.
• Warpath's cannon changes from shooting lasers to shells again

Trivia

"Nu!"
"No no no no, it's not that, it's 'ni'."
"Nu!"
"No no, 'ni'. You're not doing it properly."

• The original broadcast version of this episode featured the misspelled title, "A Deceptacon Raider..." The error was corrected for the Generation 2 version of the episode. Likewise, when Kid Rhino recreated the title cards for their DVD release of the series, it was also amended. This flub seemed minor then, but years later...
• Per the dialogue script, Starscream was going to say the "Autobots have us trapped like robo-rats!" after the Decepticons were caved in by Warpath, but the line was shortened as-aired. Robo-rats would later be name-dropped in "Sea Change".
• Spike actually gets a kiss from a girl. What will Carly think?
• This episode is one of four pre-movie episodes in which Optimus Prime does not appear.

Fear not, Ranger! Or is that "Fear not-Ranger"?

• Among the audience members watching the joust is a dark-skinned man whose outfit greatly resembles the one worn by Hank the Ranger in the Dungeons and Dragons animated series—not entirely surprising, as that program was produced by Marvel Productions, who partnered with Sunbow on Transformers, and both shows were animated by Toei. Next to "Hank" are a man with a shield and a woman in a cloak, but they do not otherwise strongly resemble Eric the Cavalier or Sheila the Thief, characters who were associated with magical versions of those items in the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon.
• Beorht wishes "godspeed" to the departing time-travelers, which has to be pretty rare as '80s cartoons go.

Foreign localization

French

• Title (Canadian French broadcast): "La cour du roi Décepticon" ("The court of the Decepticon king")
• Title (European French broadcast): "La cour du roi Deceptican" ("The court of the Decepticon king")
• Title (European French DVD release): "Un commando Decepticon à la cour du Roi Arthur" ("A Decepticon Commando in King Arthur's Court")
• Original airdate: ?

• Starscream's first line "Wonderful!" was misinterpreted and translated literally, so he strangely says "It's the best!" before complaining about not having energy.
• Warpath's lines are absent from the dub during the first battle.
• Rumble's line as he inspects the stones is missing.
• Ramjet's line "Look! It is not blocked anymore!" is missing.
• Hoist mistakenly calls Wigend of Blackthorn "Wigend of Blackstone".
• For the first appearance of Wigend, Francis Lax voices him with his "hoarse" voice. He then uses that same voice for Aetheling the Red. Consequently, he dubs Wigend with his "classy" voice for the rest of the episode.
• Unlike in English, Starscream does not use a precise number when talking about the time they have before the Transformers awakening. He says they have "a good fifteen centuries" to go.
• Wigend mistakenly calls Ramjet "Ratchet". Ramjet has already been called "Ratchet" the previous times he was named in the dub of the series. However, Starscream and Rumble pronounce his name correctly for the rest of the episode.
• When Starscream asks Megatron "Aren't you happy to see us?", Megatron screams "No"!

German

• Title (Generation 2 dub): "Sprung in die Vergangenheit" ("Jump into the Past")
• Original airdate: July 9, 1994

Italian

• Title (dub 2): "Un Decepticon alla corte di re Artù" ("A Decepticon in King Arthur's Court")
• Original airdate: ?

• It's unknown whether this episode was ever broadcast in Italy in the '80s, since the 2008 Italian dub is the only one available now. If an '80s dub had been produced and broadcast, it's currently lost. A similar fate happened to "The Golden Lagoon".

Japanese

• Title: "Time Traveller" (タイムトラベラー, "Time Travellers")
• Original airdate: February 7, 1986

Mandarin

• Title: "Bàtiānhǔ Rùqīn Yàsè Wángcháo" (霸天虎入侵亚瑟王朝, "Decepticons Invade King Arthur's Dynasty")
• Original airdate: ?

Brazilian Portuguese

• Title: "Um Cavaleiro Decepticon na Corte do Rei Arthur" ("A Decepticon Knight in King Arthur's Court")
• Original airdate: ?

Polish

• Title: "Najeźdźcy na królewskim dworze" ("Invaders in King's Court")
• Original airdate: ?

Russian

• Title: "Deseptikony pri dvore Korolya Artura" (Десептиконы при дворе Короля Артура, "A Decepticons in King Arthur's Court")
• Original airdate:?

Home video releases

All releases listed are in English audio unless otherwise noted.

LaserDisc

1994 — Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers — Convoy Set (Takara) — Japanese audio only.
1998 — The Transformers — Autobot Edition (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.

DVD

2001 — The Transformers — DVD Box 1 (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
2002 — The Original Transformers — Season 2 Part 1 (Rhino Entertainment)
2002 — The Original Transformers — Season 2 Part 1: Vol. 4 (Rhino Entertainment)
2003 — Transformers — Season 2 Part 1 (Metrodome)
2004 — Transformers — Collection 2: Series 2.1 (Madman Entertainment)
2004 — Transformers — Volume 9 (Déclic Images) — European French audio only.
2006 — Transformers — The Complete Generation One Collection (Metrodome)
2007 — The Transformers — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)
2008 — Transformers — Volume 04: Stagione Due Parte Seconda (Medianetwork Communication) — English and Italian audio.
2009 — Transformers — Season Two: Part One (Metrodome)
2009 — The Transformers — Complete Collection: Decepticon Edition (Madman Entertainment)
2009 — The Transformers — Season Two, Volume One: 25th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory)
2009 — The Transformers — The Complete Series: 25th Anniversary "Matrix of Leadership" Collection (Shout! Factory)
2011 — The Transformers — The Complete Original Series (Shout! Factory)
2014 — The Transformers — Season Two, Volume One: 30th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory)
2014 — Transformers — The Classic Animated Series (Metrodome)

External links

• Episode Dossier at The Cybertron Chronicle
• First draft script, originally submitted 8th March 1985
• Full episode script, as revised by Ron Friedman 13th March 1985