Hoist Goes Hollywood (episode)

This article is about the cartoon episode. For the mobile game event, see Hoist Goes Hollywood (Legends).

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Unfortunately, none of these guys made it past Michael Bay.
"Hoist Goes Hollywood"
Production code	700-54
Season	2
No. in season	39
Production company	Sunbow Productions
Airdate	November 21, 1985
Written by	Earl Kress
Animation studio	Toei
Continuity	Generation 1 cartoon continuity
Watch this episode on YouTube

Hoist gets cast in a big Hollywood movie! Hijinks ensue.

Synopsis

I dreamed I was in a Hollywood movie! And that I was the star of the movie.

Carly and Spike are on a drive through the countryside inside Hoist when they are overtaken by two speeding vehicles. They pursue and see one of the cars make an improbable crash off a cliff and land on top of the other. Before they can investigate, a man on the top of the cliff yells at them for ruining the shot. It turns out they've driven into the middle of a movie set. Hoist saves the imperiled drivers of the crashed cars, and the director is so impressed, he hires Hoist on the spot for his next movie. The director invites Spike and Carly along to visit the movie studio.

In the skies, Dirge is having trouble transporting a mysterious, heavy load. He crashes into the swamp set on the lot of Major Pictures. Megatron orders him to shut down, yells at Starscream for no good reason, then sends Astrotrain, Ramjet and Thrust to go after Dirge and retrieve the mysterious cargo.

Hoist arrives at Major Pictures for his big-screen debut, but gets the brush-off from the director. Before filming begins, Tracks, Warpath, Sunstreaker and Powerglide hone in on the set and ham it up for the director's attention. Strangely, the director is impressed by their hi-jinks and decides to hire them all for the action picture.

Show biz kids
Making movies of themselves

Movie work doesn't prove to be as glamorous as they had hoped. The bots wind up crashing into buildings and playing second fiddle to the human actors, Karen Fishook and Harold Edsel, while Hoist pulls them out of the smoldering wreckage after each take.

Disgruntled at their bit parts, the Autobots ask Hoist to lobby the director for better roles, but the director tells Hoist to get a bagel and sit tight. The Autobots take off just as Astrotrain and the other Coneheads show up to pull Dirge and the cargo out of the swamp set, all as the cameras roll.

Back at Decepticon headquarters, Megatron looks over the strange device. He isn't sure what it does; he only knows that Wheeljack built it, but he's sure that it is some kind of potent, deadly weapon. (He doesn't know Wheeljack very well, does he?) When switched on by Thrust, the device sparks and smokes, but does nothing else. Enraged, Megatron bashes Starscream. Astrotrain then reveals that he and the others were filmed by the humans when they retrieved the device. Megatron orders everyone to the studio to steal or destroy the footage so the device remains a secret.

At the studio, the director is viewing the robot footage and decides to revamp the script into a science fiction epic blockbuster called Attack of the Alien Robots, to the dismay of the human cast. He calls the Autobots to return with the promise of better parts. Once back, the director has the Autobots don googly-eyed, buck-toothed alien masks and stomp around after the female lead. For some reason, the Autobots still don't like their parts as monsters from space.

He's in the best-selling show
Is There Life on Mars?

Making their rounds, Spike and Carly find the room where the film negatives are stored and discover that someone has stolen scenes from the movie. That someone was Starscream, but Soundwave reports to Megatron that the original negative still exists. Megatron pounds on Starscream again, this time ripping wires out of his chest! He then orders the others to get the negative.

Meanwhile, the Autobots are filming another scene with pyrotechnics, which have been switched for actual explosives by Rumble. Spike and Carly are in a screening room watching a new print of the stolen footage of the Decepticons and the device. Midway through the screening, Soundwave rips through the screen and destroys the projector. Spike and Carly rush to the film vault to get the original before the Decepticons do, but are interrupted by Megatron. Carly fools him by giving him an empty film canister, and they race around the studio lot with the Decepticons close on their heels. They finally meet up with Hoist, who has a plan.

Now is the time
For you and I to cuddle close together
All through the night
I'll save you from the terror on the screen

Megatron and the others finally catch up and find the Autobots on a movie set. Hoist threatens to drop the humans and the film into a vat of flesh-eating lava if the ‘Cons don’t withdraw. Megatron says he won’t do it, but Hoist drops them in. Content that the film is gone, the Decepticons retreat. Hoist then lifts Spike and Carly from the “lava”, which is just bubbly, muddy water mixed with special effects.

The Autobots show the film to Wheeljack in the screening room. The Autobot scientist laughs at Megatron because the device Megatron wanted so much is actually worthless. Impressed with Hoist's performance at the lava pit, the director offers him the leading part in a new film, but Hoist declines, saying that his duty as an Autobot comes first, no matter how unglamorous it is.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans
Hoist (1) Tracks (14) Warpath (15) Sunstreaker (16) Powerglide (17) Wheeljack (21)	Dirge (8) Starscream (9) Megatron (10) Astrotrain (11) Ramjet (12) Thrust (13) Soundwave (18) Rumble (20)	Spike (2) Carly (3) Assistant director (4) Director (5) Karen Fishook (6) Harold Edsel (7) Production assistant (19)

Quotes

"Ready for my big scene, Mr. Director."
"Huh? Oh, yeah, the robot. Er...okay, Moist, er...pick up a donut from the catering truck and relax until I call for ya."
"Donut?"

—Hoist gets the brush-off from the Major Pictures director.

"The star has arrived!"

—Sunstreaker, humble as ever

"Oh, no. The Autobots have gone movie-mad.”
"And the director's gonna be just plain mad!"

—Spike and Carly

"Who would want to steal scenes from this picture?"

—Spike Witwicky, movie critic

Science fiction
double feature

"I feel like a fool!"
"Do you wanna quit?"
"No, but I still feel like a fool!"

—Tracks and Sunstreaker aren't enjoying their movie careers.

"He is...no match for the alien robots...I-I mean, the evil alien robots."

—Warpath shows his acting chops.

"Is this what you're looking for, Megatron? You and the rest of the Decepticons get out! Or I'll drop them, and your precious film, into this pit of flesh-eating lava!"
"An Autobot would never hurt a human. You're bluffing!"
"Am I?! [drops them] Maybe you'd like to follow them, Megatron!"

—Hoist is a bit scary as he bluffs Megatron

Notes

Production information

• First draft script submitted: 31st July 1985
• Dialogue recording: 16th August 1985

Continuity notes

• "Dash Jordon" was referenced in the Buzz Dixon-penned episode of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero titled "My Brother's Keeper". He was said to be appearing at a science fiction convention.

Real-world references

What do you mean, 'Flash Gordon approaching'?

• The characters of Harold Edsel and Karen Fishook are parodies of Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher from the Star Wars films. Karen Fishook is voiced by Susan Blu, who would later voice another Princess Leia parody: Arcee.
• Upon Powerglide's entrance, he references the Academy Awards, saying "I'll show you some real Oscar-winning material." No Transformers movie has won an Oscar, though the 2007 film was nominated for three awards, its 2009 sequel for one, and their 2011 sequel for three again.
• The role of "Dash Jordon" is a reference to the character Flash Gordon.

Animation and technical errors

• Coloring errors:
  • Spike's hair is colored orange in the first shot of him riding in Hoist's cab.
  • One of Dirge's smaller fins is gray instead of gold after he crashes into the swamp.
  • One panel of Powerglide's face is red instead of gray as he gripes about all the crashes.
  • In the swamp, when Ramjet transforms and takes off, he is given Thrust's colors. He's also standing where Thrust had been a moment earlier.
  • Ramjet's guns are white instead of dark gray as Thrust activates the device.
  • When Megatron grabs Starscream after he learns the negative is still in existence, Starscream's hips turn white, but they immediately turn back to their normal red when he gets picked up.
  • After Megatron rips Starscream a new one, Soundwave is colored like Perceptor.
  • Aboard the space ship set, Sunstreaker is colored light gray where he should be yellow.
  • When Spike and Carly view the footage, Wheeljack's invention is yellow instead of gray.
  • Megatron's "eyebrow" is light gray instead of black as he listens to Hoist's spiel.
  • The sides of Megatron's face are black as he runs out following the "destruction" of the negative.
  • Tracks' "hood" is dark gray instead of blue during the group pan over the Autobots at the end.
• Warpath "sharpshoots" at nothing! The shot causes some kind of energy effect to radiate out of thin air.
• As the director announces the Autobots will be his stunt vehicles, Spike's "Tracks!" line is randomly played over again.
• As the director notes he wants something "extra," his glasses are missing their earpieces for a moment.
• A number of sound effects are missing or played at oddly low volume:
  • Tracks drives off the building set and changes to his flight mode without the transformation sound.
  • Thrust and Ramjet land at the swamp set without any sound effect at all.
  • The usual "clunk" sound is barely audible as Megatron punches Starscream.
  • The electrical sounds of Starscream shorting out after Megatron brutalizes him are almost inaudible.
  • When the mechanical dinosaurs explode from Rumble's blasts, there are no explosion sounds.
• Thrust's mouth is missing as he and Ramjet set down the device.
• Tracks' seat says "Trucks" Instead of Tracks.
• Megatron, Starscream (in robot mode!) and Soundwave leave the Decepticon base; the very next shot shows Megatron, Soundwave and three jets (one could be Starscream, but there was no transformation sound).
• Karen Fishook's attempt to console her co-star is cut off in mid-sentence by the scene edit.
• The "CLOSED" sign on the studio the Decepticons are in reads "CLLOSE".
• When Megatron is examining a reel of film, the reel is out of scale from a normal film reel.
• Sunstreaker is Gray.
• Warpath and Powerglide are missing their face plates after the explosion scene.

Guess they mouthed off once too often.

• Spike yells, "DUCK!" when Soundwave bursts through the theater screen, but he and Carly run away instead.
• Soundwave's hand cannon repeatedly uses a sound effect that's not the usual Decepticon laser noise.
• As usual, human buildings comfortably accommodate a full-size Transformer, such as Megatron or Soundwave.
• Just before they run into Megatron, Spike and Carly appear to be mouthing something, but there's no dialogue.
• When Soundwave tells Carly and Spike to "Surrender the negative," he appears as if he's sliding forward in the next scene, even though he's walking towards them, as evidenced by the sound of his footsteps.
• Megatron, Soundwave and Rumble tear through a jungle background, but it's still there as they walk through the tear.
• When Spike and Carly emerge from the cave, they are about half the height of Megatron.
• As Megatron jumps out of the cave, his head is about a third the size it should be, but returns to normal size once he lands.
• As the director offers Hoist a role in his next movie, the shots show light brown walls around them, but in the last shot of the episode, the theater is back to dark blue again.
• Near the end of the episode, Warpath says "You tell him Hoist, yeah," but Hoist's mouthplate is moving in sync with the words, and his body language reflects the dialogue. A second later, Hoist is moving around again during Powerglide's line. (Maybe really he is just that good an actor.)
• During the last shot of the Autobots congratulating Hoist, Sunstreaker is placed too high in the cel, making him appear to be floating (and clipping through the humans!).

Continuity errors

They're gonna put me in the movies
They're gonna make a big star out of me
We'll make a film about a man that's sad and lonely
And all I gotta do is act naturally

• Improbable viewpoints:
  • From Decepticon Headquarters, Megatron and Starscream get a quarter-angle shot of Dirge flying along as he calls in his mayday.
  • Then they have a nicely-framed view of him crashed in the swamp, seconds after it happens.
• If Wheeljack’s doohickey was kept in his workshop, why are the Decepticons only trying to utilize it now? We know they’ve had access to it before, since they once put a lock on the door.
• Not an error per se, but we never do find out exactly why Megatron blames Starscream for Dirge's crash.
• Nor is it clear why Dirge struggles to carry the device, while Ramjet seems to have no trouble with it.
• For that matter, why was Dirge the right choice to literally shuttle the device through space to Earth from Cybertron, when the Decepticons have the space bridge or Astrotrain, whose function is - again, literally - "Decepticon Military Transport"?
• In the time it takes for Astrotrain, Ramjet, and Thrust to arrive at the studio to fish out Dirge and retrieve Wheeljack's gadget, a lot of events took place. Hoist arrives at the studio, four other Autobots arrive, four extra scenes are written and filmed, the director finds Dirge in the swamp set, and a bridge is built around the Conehead, at which point the director calls wrap for the day. Even if the three Decepticons sent to recover the device flew from coast to coast, they could have arrived at the studio in about three hours. Either it was a short work day at the studio, or Astrotrain, Ramjet, and Thrust ran into some problems.
• What exactly is this movie about, anyway? Plane crash, kissing. Car crash, kissing. Another car crash, kissing.
• Why do the Decepticons think it’s a good idea to bring a mystery Autobot machine into their headquarters and turn it on? Without knowing what it does or taking ANY precautions? For all they know, it could be a bomb! (Knowing Wheeljack, it had a decent chance of exploding anyway.)
• The production assistant, not to mention the entire rest of the production staff, is surprisingly uninterested in the film theft, despite the director's fear that "somebody is deliberately trying to shut down production. I want to know who it is!" as only Carly and Spike are seen viewing the new print.
• Hoist appears to be unfamiliar with - yet quite adamant about - how actual lava, at 700-1200 °C, interacts with human flesh. Judging by how he falls for Hoist's bluff, so is Megatron.

Trivia

Who says celluloid heroes never feel any pain?

The movie wasn't so hot
It didn't have much of a plot

• This is one of four pre-movie episodes that doesn't feature Optimus Prime.
• Due to the writer's tendency to use Starscream as a Waspinator-ish comedy relief, Megatron is incredibly abusive toward Starscream in this episode...well, more than usual. He blames him for Dirge's screw-ups, punches him, throws him around, pulls wires from his chest, and pretty much does everything short of killing him. Notably, every other Decepticon in the room, who usually hate Starscream's guts, are visibly horrified at this. Incidentally, Starscream is absent from the next few episodes; Megatron must have done some real damage.
• When the Autobots are role-playing the aliens chasing the actress, Sunstreaker looks like he's imitating the walk of Frankenstein's monster from early horror movies.
• When the Autobots are sitting in director's chairs with their names written on the backs, Tracks's chair is spelled "Trucks". This could be an extension of the gag where the director constantly gets Hoist's name wrong - although on Hoist's chair, his name is spelled correctly! Considering how common mangled English lettering is in the cartoon's backgrounds, it may be an outright error (presumably stemming from a misunderstanding on the part of Japanese animators, as the English short "a" and short "u" sounds are identical to the Japanese ear). The world may never know.
• This was one of twelve episodes of the original cartoon released as audio adventures by the German company Karussell Musik und Video.
• We never do find out what Wheeljack's device is supposed to do.

Foreign localization

French

• Title (European French broadcast): "Hoist part à Hollywood" ("Hoist Goes Hollywood")
• Title (Canadian French broadcast & European French DVD release): "Ça c'est du cinéma" ("Now that's Cinema")
• Original airdate: ?

• The annoying alien voice effect for the Transformers from previous episodes is still present. Sometimes it makes some phrases difficult to understand, while making Megatron sound particularly ridiculous at moments.
• Still no trace of Albert Augier in this episode. As a result, Georges Atlas keeps Soundwave for one more episode.
• All the logo transitions were cut. It is unknown if it was that way for the original broadcast or if the episode was chopped for the DVD release.
• Dirge's lines in plane mode before his crash are all missing.
• Megatron's line "Dirge! Report!" is missing.
• Powerglide's lines in plane mode are all missing.
• Spike's voice actor misses a word and says "Bon sang, tu ne pas savoir à quel point tu nous as fait peur !" ("Damn, you no idea how much you scared us!").
• The gag about the director constantly misnaming Hoist is entirely removed. For the final line, the director tells him "Well, big guy..." and Hoist says "Excuse-me but could you call me by my name please?".
• Harold Edsel's French name "Djanilax" may be a mix of "Djanik" and "Lax", the voice actors who dub Megatron and Optimus Prime. Moreover, Francis Lax dubbed Harrison Ford in the original Star Wars trilogy. If we rely on that idea, Karen Fishook's French name "Joëlle Atley" may come from her voice actress Joëlle Fossier, plus a mix of "Atlas" and Leccia".

German

• Title: "Hoist geht zum Film" ("Hoist Goes to the Movie")
• Original airdate: June 30, 1989

Italian

• Title (dub 1): "Cinema!"
• Original airdate: ?

• The gag about the director constantly misnaming Hoist is entirely removed. Particularly, at the end of the episode, Hoist's line: "Uh... excuse me, but the name's Hoist!" is changed to: "Excuse me, but I don't think I know you!"... wait, what?!

• Title (dub 2): "Hoist conquista Hollywood" ("Hoist Conquers Hollywood")
• Original airdate: ?

Japanese

• Title: "Hoist Hollywood e Iku" (ホイスト ハリウッドへ行く, "Hoist Goes Hollywood")
• Original airdate: May 23, 1986

Mandarin

• Title: "Zài Hǎoláiwù Pāi Diànyǐng " (在好莱坞拍电影, "Shooting a Movie in Hollywood")
• Original airdate: ?

Brazilian Portuguese

• Title: "Hoist Vai à Hollywood" ("Hoist Goes to Hollywood")
• Original airdate: ?

Russian

• Title: "Tyagatch v Hollywoodee" (Тягач в Голливуде, "Hoist in Hollywood")
• Original airdate: ?

Toys inspired by this episode

• Masterpiece MP-39 Sunstreaker (TakaraTomy, 2017)

In addition to the standard and alternate (smiling, shouting) faces, Masterpiece Sunstreaker includes an alien mask from this episode. For an additional homage, he can also stand on one leg.

• Masterpiece MP-58 Hoist (TakaraTomy, 2024)

In a similar fashion to Sunstreaker, Hoist comes with an optional alien mask accessory.

Home video releases

All releases listed are in English audio unless otherwise noted.

LaserDisc

1995 — Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers — Megatron Set (Takara) — Japanese audio only.
1999 — The Transformers — Decepticon Edition (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.

DVD

2001 — The Transformers — DVD Box 2 (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
2003 — The Original Transformers — Season 2 Part 2 (Rhino Entertainment)
2003 — The Original Transformers — Season 2 Part 2: Vol. 7 (Rhino Entertainment)
2004 — Transformers — Season 2 Part 2 (Metrodome)
2004 — Transformers — Collection 3: Series 2.2 (Madman Entertainment)
2004 — Transformers — Volume 12 (Déclic Images) — European French audio only.
2006 — Transformers — The Complete Generation One Collection (Metrodome)
2007 — The Transformers — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)
2007 — Transformers — Box-Set (3DVDs) (Flex Media) — German audio only.
2009 — Transformers — Volume 06: Stagione Due Parte Quarta (Medianetwork Communication) — English and Italian audio.
2009 — Transformers — Season Two: Part Two (Metrodome)
2009 — The Transformers — Complete Collection: Decepticon Edition (Madman Entertainment)
2009 — The Transformers — The Complete Series: 25th Anniversary "Matrix of Leadership" Collection (Shout! Factory)
2009 — The Transformers — Season Two, Volume Two: 25th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory)
2011 — The Transformers — The Complete Original Series (Shout! Factory)
2014 — The Transformers — Season Two, Volume Two: 30th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory)
2014 — Transformers — The Classic Animated Series (Metrodome)

External links

• Full episode script
• Voice actor call sheet and dialogue script
• Episode model sheets