This Is Why I Hate Machines: Difference between revisions
SpideyTerry (talk | contribs) |
SpideyTerry (talk | contribs) m →Quotes |
||
| Line 108: | Line 108: | ||
"This is why I hate machines." ''[looks at Sentinel Prime | "This is why I hate machines." ''[looks at Sentinel Prime]'' "Certain machines more than others." | ||
:—'''Captain Fanzone''' | :—'''Captain Fanzone''' | ||
Revision as of 02:05, 5 September 2009
| ||||||
 This is what Hell to Captain Fanzone looks like. | ||||||
| "This Is Why I Hate Machines" | ||||||
| Airdate | May 9, 2009 | |||||
| Written by | Rob Hoegee | |||||
| Directed by | Kalvin Lee Yutaka Hirata | |||||
| Animation studio | Mook | |||||
A space bridge accident sends Ratchet and Captain Fanzone to Cybertron, right as the Decepticon controlled Omega Supreme arrives.
Synopsis
Ratchet is trying to calibrate the newly constructed space bridge properly to begin the hunt for Omega Supreme. Unfortunately, Bulkhead's advanced notation system of adhesive note papers leaves something to be desired. Captain Fanzone chooses that moment to step off Sumdac Tower's elevator, engaged in a spirited discussion with Sumdac Systems technical support over some malfunctioning police drones. Fanzone has come to take up the matter with Isaac Sumdac himself, but before he can start looking for the scientist, a pair of police drones catch up to him and open fire with lethal force. Now dodging gunfire while the oblivious Ratchet continues to sort through Bulkhead's notes, Fanzone grows progressively more irate until the space bridge suddenly activates, having located Omega Supreme's transwarp signature. Ratchet looks up just in time to see the hapless Fanzone being sucked into the space bridge portal, and, deciding that this probably isn't a good thing, opts to follow.
Fanzone finds himself unceremoniously dumped in the middle of a large city on Cybertron, a situation he's less than thrilled about. A crowd of Autobots freaks out at the presence of the horrifying organic lifeform. Nearly stepped on by the immense Grandus at the urging of a friend, Fanzone is rescued by the timely arrival of Ratchet. Fanzone wants to return home immediately, but Ratchet insists that while they're on Cybertron, they may as well hit up Maccadam's Old Oil House. To his dismay, his favorite watering hole has been shut down, along with other "subversive" gathering places, by order of Sentinel Prime. After watching one of Sentinel Prime's propaganda videos, the pair are soon approached by the Elite Guard, and Sentinel Prime demands to know how they have been able to get to Cybertron with space bridge travel locked down. Ratchet angrily explains that they didn't use the space bridge network, but rather piggybacked on Omega Supreme's transwarp signature. Sentinel, well-informed as always, laughs off Ratchet, thinking that Omega Supreme had been decommissioned centuries ago. He is immediately proven wrong as the looming shape of Omega Supreme's robot form appears in the Cybertronian skies.
Above the city, aboard Omega's inert body, Megatron muses on this (glorious!) moment for the Decepticons: With the plasmadynamic thruster that was causing them to warp through space and time randomly now disabled, those who were once driven away from Cybertron in exile are now poised over it in one of its greatest weapons. As Starscream points out that they have no means actually to use said weapon, Megatron rebuffs him with the revelation that he still has a spy on Cybertron who can fetch him the access codes to Omega Supreme. Starscream comments that this will only work if the Cybertronian defense cannons don't shoot them out of the sky, but Megatron doubts that they would fire on one of the greatest symbols of Autobot military strength.
Meanwhile, Sentinel is giving the order to divert all energon reserves to fire the Cybertronian defense cannons on one of the greatest symbols of Autobot military strength. This understandably does not go over well with several prominent members of the Autobot High Council, to say nothing of Omega Supreme's former mentor, Ratchet, who warns that destroying Omega with the amount of transwarp energy currently stored within him could cause a blast that would wipe out Cybertron itself. Alpha Trion and Perceptor rebuff Sentinel and inform him to wait for the council's decision. Sentinel prepares to lock up Ratchet and Fanzone, but they make a break for it in order to try to make contact with Omega. The pair take refuge in the forgotten network of maintenance tunnels beneath the city, which have been sealed for quite some time, but soon realize that someone else has been hiding in the tunnels quite recently. The occupant of that hideout is revealed to be none other than the double-agent Shockwave, who nearly gets the jump on the duo, still armed with the stolen Magnus Hammer. Ratchet fights back, surmising that Shockwave wishes to hack his processor to get the access codes to Omega Supreme, but Shockwave scoffs at this, revealing that he plans to go right to the original source: Arcee! Horrified, Ratchet loses his concentration, allowing Shockwave to hurl him aside and escape.
As the council continues to deliberate a course of action, Sentinel Prime orders Jetfire and Jetstorm to arm the weapons of the Elite Guard's base, Fortress Maximus, and aim at Omega Supreme. Starscream and Lugnut advocate leaving Omega's body and retaliating, but Megatron silences them, claiming he has a reason for exposing their position. Shockwave then contacts Megatron to inform him that he has acquired clearance codes to enter the facility holding Arcee.
"A whole bucket, see?"
"A Charley Horse, it's true!"
"I'm the doctor for YOU!"
Fanzone puts his cop instincts to work and quickly tracks down the local stoolie, Rattletrap, the bot who gave Shockwave the clearance codes. With a little organic coercion, the pair are able to force an access card from Rattletrap, but when they attempt to use it, they discover that the codes are bogus. Just as they make this discovery, Jazz steps from the shadows to offer them his aid. He has finally had it with Sentinel Prime's attitude, and he gives Fanzone and Ratchet a functioning access card. The duo quickly locate Arcee, only to find that they have inadvertently led Shockwave right to her. A running firefight ensues as Ratchet tries to get Arcee to safety while Shockwave pursues them, and the battle carries them to the medical bay in which Ultra Magnus is convalescing. Thinking that Ratchet is out of commission after a blow from the Magnus Hammer, Shockwave decides to finish the job on Ultra Magnus and turns his back on his fallen foe. Ratchet is still very much alive and kicking, however, and he downs Shockwave with a blast from his electromagnetic pulse generator, allowing him to reclaim the Magnus Hammer from the Decepticon's clutches. Of course, Sentinel Prime chooses that moment to enter the room, and he promptly leaps to the conclusion that Ratchet is trying to do away with Ultra Magnus. This distraction offers Shockwave the time he needs to escape with Arcee, which prompts Sentinel to issue the command to fire on Omega Supreme. Fortress Maximus opens fire, but Omega transwarps out of the path of the blast, which shoots off harmlessly through the sky.
A short while later, the council and Elite Guard see Ratchet and Fanzone to the space bridge nexus so that they can return to Earth. Alpha Trion chastises Sentinel for his actions, making it clear that if it was up to him alone, Sentinel wouldn't be Magnus for a second longer. Trion extends his thanks to Ratchet and Fanzone, but Ratchet sees little reason to celebrate, as the Decepticons now have Arcee. Perceptor tries to assure Ratchet that the damage done to Arcee's processor is irreversible, but Ratchet is not cheered up at the prospect. Just before they enter the space bridge, Sentinel orders Ratchet to hand over the Magnus Hammer, but Ratchet refuses, telling him they will give it back to its rightful owner, Ultra Magnus, when he is repaired. Before Sentinel can object, Ratchet and Fanzone dart off through the space bridge. Sentinel is about to pursue them, but Jazz blocks his path and offers to go in his stead. Ratchet and Fanzone are not happy to see Jazz when he appears in front of them, but Jazz explains that he is unable to condone Sentinel's actions any more and is deserting to join the Autobots on Earth.
Out in space, Omega Supreme rematerializes close to Earth's moon. Aboard the dormant Autobot, Shockwave bows before Megatron and abandons his electronic paint job so that he can finally serve his leader under his true colors. Megatron bids his "most loyal servant" to rise, sending Lugnut into fits of silent, quivering rage—much to Starscream's amusement. On the other side of the bridge, the conscious Arcee lies upon a table and looks out at the Earth below, quietly whispering Ratchet's name...
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Quotes
"Halt. You are in violation of Criminal Code 30114. Lethal force has been authorised."
"Hey! Ow! Hey!"
"Think you have it bad? I got to decipher Bulkhead's handwriting! And those claws of his aren't exactly designed for penbotship."
- —As the Security Bots try to kill Captain Fanzone, Ratchet shows the depth to which he does not care.
"I'd be a happy man if I never see another—[Fanzone takes in his surroundings]...robot?
- —Captain Fanzone enters his own personal hell, and its name is Cybertron.
"I can't believe we're on Cybertron! Of all the places we transwarped, this is great!"
- —Ratchet, happy for the first time since...well, since we've seen him.
"Citizens of Cybertron, Decepticons are in our midst! Neighbours, friends, even your own model can be a spy! Do your duty and report any suspicious activity to the Elite Guard immediately."
"...what is this scrap?!"
"For your protection, all potentially subversive gathering places remain closed. Curfew remains in effect. Remember, Decepticons will stop at nothing to destroy our way of life! Don't let THIS [picture of Ultra Magnus on spark support] happen to you. As your Magnus, I will continue to defeat the Decepticon scourge and bring peace and security to Cybertron! I'm Sentinel Prime, and I approve of this message."
"No-good glory-hog's got a lot of steel. It was Lockdown who caught those 'Cons!"
- —Sentinel Prime's propaganda film, with commentary by Ratchet
"Cybertron. At last, our ultimate goal is at our feet. And here we stand, aboard its ultimate weapon."
"Now, wouldn't it be nice if we could figure out how to use it!"
- —Megatron has a moment, which Starscream ruins.
"How'd you know about this bot?" [indicating Rattletrap]
"Ehh. There's one in every town."
- —Ratchet learns a little more about how Captain Fanzone works.
"This is why I hate machines." [looks at Sentinel Prime] "Certain machines more than others."
- —Captain Fanzone
Notes
Animation or technical errors
- A few of the laser blasts that the drone fires at Captain Fanzone (before he gets sucked up by the Space Bridge) are out of sync with the animation of the strafing drone.
- Shockwave's head model changes randomly throughout the episode in shape, size and in the positioning of his optic.
- When Shockwave holds up the Magnus Hammer and starts generating lightning, its handle is only half as long as usual.
Transformers references
- Captain Fanzone's arrival on Cybertron treats us to another crowd scene full of cameos, some of which we haven't seen before. Notable newbies in this crowd include Glyph, Bumper and his white recolor Sedan, Steeljaw, Zaur and robot-mode Grandus. We also get a closer look at Carerra, but only from behind, as he talks to an unnamed blue-and-tan female robot.
- Ratchet's favorite hangout is Maccadam's Old Oil House.
- Parade footage from "Decepticon Air" is used in Sentinel's little propaganda video. (See said episode for the list of cameos within.)
- Ratchet remarks that Lockdown was the one to capture the Decepticon prisoners, as seen in "Five Servos of Doom".
- The Autobot Council's headquarters is known as "the Metroplex", and the Elite Guard's battle station is "Fortress Maximus".
- Ratchet's flashback uses footage from "The Thrill of the Hunt", giving Lockdown a brief "appearance" in this episode.
- At the end of the episode, Shockwave utilizes an electronic paint job to reveal his "true colors", represented by a Target exclusive redeco reminiscent of his Generation 1 namesake's color scheme.
- Rattletrap's design and speech pattern are modelled after Rattrap.
Real-world references
- Sentinel Prime's broadcast was based on The Red Scare during the Cold War. The broadcast concludes with him saying "I'm Sentinel Prime, and I approve of this message."—in the style of contemporary political campaign ads.
- Sentinel's insistence that he is the one who "makes the tough decisions" and insistence that any questioning of his orders is tantamount to treason is probably some kind of statement about someone or something, but we'll leave it at that.
- Shockwave's slow, deadpan delivery of "I'm afraid I can't let you do that" is a reference to the menacing supercomputer HAL from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, who also featured an unblinking single red eye.
- When Ratchet and Fanzone are headed to Maccadam's, they stop in front of a building which appears to have Target's trademark "bull's-eye" logo.
- Ratchet's line to Shockwave about taking the activation codes from his "cold, offline processor", similar to one of Charlton Heston's most famous quotes in support of the NRA. He'd previously used a similar line in Megatron Rising - Part 1.
Trivia
- This is the first, and only, episode in which Optimus Prime does not appear at all.
- There is oxygen on Cybertron. Probably to allow combustion to happen.
- This episode marks the last appearances of Jetfire, Jetstorm, Ultra Magnus and Captain Fanzone in the series.
- Arcee wasn't actually offline at the end of the flashbacks in "The Thrill of the Hunt"—although she was amnesiac, she could stand, talk and take in her surroundings. This implies that it was the vivisection of her head in the "TransWarped" flashbacks in an attempt to retrieve the activation codes for Omega Supreme which caused the "damage to her circuitry" that Perceptor called "completely irreversable", and meant she was left, comatose, in a hospital bed for millions of stellar cycles.
- Everything has to be "cold and offline" with Ratchet, doesn't it?
External links
- "This Is Why I Hate Machines" streaming video at Cartoon Network (link viable until 5/25/09)
