Starscream's Ghost

Generation One > Season 3

On the run from the Decepticons, Octane seeks asylum on Cybertron. While in a hidden tomb to fallen Decepticons, he encounters the ghost of Starscream, who is still scheming in death.

Summary

When delivering scrap metal from planet Junkion, Octane's cargo ship is sabotaged when an alien bounty hunter, the Skuxxoid, slips a bomb disguised as a piece of scrap into the cargo.

After he is rescued by a passing passenger ship, Octane seeks the advice of Sandstorm, who at first doesn't believe him. When they are ambushed and the Decepticons concentrate on Octane while leaving Sandstorm alone, however, the Autobot is convinced and helps Octane hide out.

When the two of them get together in a diner on a space station to discuss the situation, the Skuxxoid returns and is foiled in several attempts to do away with the wanted ex-Decepticon - partly due to incompetence, partly due to interference. Finally, the Skuxxoid caves in and attempts to attack Octane by tackling the back of the transformer's head. Octane grabs the alien and demands to know who hired him. When the Skuxxoid says he was hired by Galvatron, Octane decides to go deeper into hiding.

He is followed to Cybertron by Cyclonus, Scourge, and the Sweeps. When the attacking Decepticons pin him down, he seeks shelter in what appears to be a large pipe, but turns out to be the secret entrance to a Decepticon crypt. While there, he encounters the ghost of Starscream, who takes control of Cyclonus and "captures" the runaway Octane.

The two of them manage to convince Galvatron that "Cyclonus" has forced Octane to betray an Autobot secret, which lures him into an ambush led by Rodimus Prime.

The ambush fails, however, and when Galvatron returns to see "Cyclonus" and Octane discussing his apparent demise, Starscream can't resist gloating, revealing his presence to the Decepticon leader, who proceeds to blast a hole into the posessed Cyclonus' torso.

As Galvatron orders Cyclonus repaired to top working order, the obedient Scourge is revealed to be Starscream's new host body.

Stats

Original airdate:  ?

Episode #: 74

Product Code:

Written by: Megeen McLaughlin

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans	Others
Sandstorm (5) Kup (15) Rodimus Prime (16) Ultra Magnus (17) Silverbolt (18) Air Raid (19) Fireflight (20) Skydive (21) Slingshot (22) Perceptor (23)	Octane (2) Galvatron (3) Onslaught (6) Blast Off (7) Brawl (8) Scourge (11) Sweeps (12) Cyclonus (13) Starscream (14)	Regulars Guests	Junkion (1) Skuxxoid (4) Alien serving wench (9) Alien tentacle guy (10)

Notable quotes

"I'd probably be a jerk too, if I was made of junk."

-- Octane

"Here's your energon, tall dark and metallic!"

-- Alien serving wench

"A little heavy on the photons."
"No-no-NO!"

-- Alien tentacle guy after eating the Skuxxoid's pistol.

"Nininizackarizackazigi!"

-- Skuxxoid saying... something after hearing the space station intercom announce that number 27 has been refueled.

"I interferred with Galvatron's orders! I swiped Trypticon and tried to become powerful enough to become the new leader of the Decepticons!"

-- Octane, needing a thesaurus.

"Take THAT, you overgrown tin can, and that, and THAT, and-- I didn't WANT this job, I HAD to take it! I've got a wife and kids! I HAVE to deactivate you! Little guy's got to make a living, don't you understand?!"

-- Skuxxoid

"He must be hiding in the crypt."
"Good. Then we won't have to take him anywhere when we're done."

-- Cyclonus and Scourge

"You! Go down that shaft!"
"How come I gotta do the dirty work?
"You! See if the traitor is hiding down there!
"No way! If you're so hard up to know what's going on, you go down there!"
"YOU LEAD!"
"I wouldn't want anyone thinking that I question you as a leader, but sorry."
"I question your leadership skills, Scourge. Last one in there, will face me!"
(The sweeps jump into the shaft)
"You have much to learn."
"Yes, that is true."
"Now, DIVE!"

-- Scourge, Whining Sweep, Cowardly Sweep, Politely Declining Sweep and Cyclonus debate entering the Crypt.

"No sign of life here!"
"It's quiet as a tomb!
"Gone, yeah, he's gone!
"Cowardly fools, fan out and search!"

-- Whining Sweep, Cowardly Sweep, Politely Declining Sweep and Cyclonus inside the Decepticon Crypt

"Come out and die like a warrior! How dare you disgrace your ancestors by cowaring like a pocket computer! He's worse than the Sweeps! Come out and face your fate like the powerful Decepticon you once were - not like the miserable excuse for the Decepticon you have become!"

-- Cyclonus, after spotting Octane hiding behind somebody's marker

"Sufferin' software! How the devil did they get in here!"

-- Kup, after seeing the Decepticons fly away with Octane

"Yes... we will interrogate him. Even if its not informative, it will be fun!"

-- Galvatron

"Ahhh, that's one thing I will say for Cyclonus. He administers a good interrogation."

-- Galvatron listening to Cyclonus and Octane's faux interrogation

"I'll never tell! (Hey, you got really close that time.)"
"*snicker* You'd better before they discover your bad acting!"

-- Octane: and Cyclonus/Starscream during their faux interrogation

Other notes

Animation and/or technical glitches

• When Galvatron is speaking in the opening sequence of the episode, only his throne is seen, the character is missing.
• While Octane is walking with Sandstorm outside Autobot City, he trips and falls over a rock. The rock actually jumps in front of Octane's foot causing him to fall down. Can't this guy catch a break?

• After Octane gets up and the pair begin to walk again, the background is of deep space, even though they are on Earth.

• When Octane and Sandstorm transform and go off joyriding, for some reason Sandstorm constantly emits exhaust fumes.

• None of the Combaticon lasers sound like traditional Decepticon laser weapons. This will be a common occurance in Season 3, where the Decepticons regularly have old science fiction stock sound effects for their weapons. In fact, when Cyclonus fires upon Sandstorm, his laser sound is the same sound effect when C-3PO is destroyed by Stormtroopers in The Empire Strikes Back.

• Autobot City's wall is very, very low, low enough for Octane and Sandstorm to merely jump over when the Combaticons fire upon them.

• As Octane stuffs his face with 'energon', he makes repeated 'gulping' sound effects.

• When the Decepticons attack Octane on Cybertron, some of the laser fire coming towards Octane is coloured gold, like Autobot lasers.

Octane's a leg man.

• Starscream's marker in the Decepticon crypt only has his boots in every shot. Either this is an animation error or somebody in the Decepticons had a sick sense of humour, as Starscream's legs were the only things left after Galvatron destroyed him.

• Silverbolt is drawn with four engines when the Aerialbots go after Cyclonus/Starscream's group.

• When Octane and the posessed Cyclonus are sitting around Decepticon headquarters discussing Galvatron's fate, Starscream/Cyclonus' dialogue is animated as Octane speaking, and vice versa.

Continuity errors

• For some reason Autobot City appears to be deserted, as nobody comes out to investigate the battle with the Combaticons.

• After escaping the Combaticons, Sandstorm and Octane are suddenly flying to a space station on an Autobot shuttle. When did that happen?!?

• The 'energon' served on board the alien space station/space trucker rest stop is drawn and coloured as small orange wedges, rather than the traditional glowing purple cubes.

• The Skuxxoid's laser pistol has a sight as he arms it, but is sightless when he aims it at Octane. The sight reappears in subsequent shots.

• It is unclear what happened after Starscream and Octane deliver Galvatron into Rodimus Prime's trap. Galvatron is surrounded and vastly outnumbered by the Autobots, but appears to escape by the end of the episode, albiet heavily damaged.

Miscellaneous trivia

• In the year 2006, the Skuxxoid uses the high-tech explosive dynamite.

• The female robot Octane ogles on his internets looks surprisingly like Arcee... but with much larger... shoulderpads. Yes.

• When Sandstorm asks if Octane is alright after the latter falls down, he doesn't sound very sincere.

• Sandstorm's cockpit is evidently large enough for Octane to operate him in robot mode.

• For some reason the Decepticon crypt is accessed via a drainage grate.

• The freighter Octane uses at the start of this episode is apparently a common Autobot design, as one is seen entering Cybertron as the Decepticons make their second attempt on Octane's life.

• This episode is the first appearance of Starscream's ghost. He also appears in the G1 episode "Ghost in the Machine" and the 5th issue of the 2010 manga where he possess Guiltar. His ghost makes a final appearance in the Beast Wars episode "Possession" in which he takes over Waspinator.

• Kup oversees Cybertron's security in Shockwave's old tower.

• After Starscream reveals himself to Galvatron, Octane exits the frame, stage left. He is never seen again in the television series.

Hey, remember that episode where Blitzwing fought Starscream's ghost? That was awesome.

• Japanese artwork seen in TV Magazine showed Blitzwing as the Decepticon being accosted by the specter of Starscream rather than Octane. This appears to have been the original direction of the storyline, as at that point, Blitzwing had been banished from the Decepticons after his selfless actions in Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5, and was on friendly relations with the Autobots and the Junkions.

Keywords

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External links

From Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki, a Wikia wiki.