Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4: Difference between revisions
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* One of the most famous continuity gaffs of the entire series comes as the Matrix journey wraps up. A scene showing Megatron's creation millions of years ago is illustrated with him surrounded by Constructions. It's problematic because, according to "[[The Secret of Omega Supreme]]", the Constructicons weren't actually ''evil'' until ''Megatron himself'' reprogrammed them to be Decepticons. And according to a one-off line in "[[Heavy Metal War]]", Megatron and the other Decepticons built the Constructicons on Earth in 1984! | * One of the most famous continuity gaffs of the entire series comes as the Matrix journey wraps up. A scene showing Megatron's creation millions of years ago is illustrated with him surrounded by Constructions. It's problematic because, according to "[[The Secret of Omega Supreme]]", the Constructicons weren't actually ''evil'' until ''Megatron himself'' reprogrammed them to be Decepticons. And according to a one-off line in "[[Heavy Metal War]]", Megatron and the other Decepticons built the Constructicons on Earth in 1984! | ||
* On top of that, there's eight Constructions! None of them are really on-model; three appear to be entirely made up. | * On top of that, there's eight Constructions! None of them are really on-model; three appear to be entirely made up. | ||
[[Image:Alphatrionagesbackwards.jpg|thumb|right|150px| ]] | [[Image:Alphatrionagesbackwards.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Maybe the device that Alpha Trion finds in the first picture is a rejuvinator.]] | ||
* Somebody forgot that we'd already seen an 11-million-years-younger Alpha Trion, back in "[[War Dawn]]"... and he looked visibly different than the elderly Trion of 1985! He is shown in his "elderly" design when he receives the matrix from the dying Autobot leader; chronologically, the events of "[[War Dawn]]" happen after this, but in that epiosde he's portrayed with a much younger look. | * Somebody forgot that we'd already seen an 11-million-years-younger Alpha Trion, back in "[[War Dawn]]"... and he looked visibly different than the elderly Trion of 1985! He is shown in his "elderly" design when he receives the matrix from the dying Autobot leader; chronologically, the events of "[[War Dawn]]" happen after this, but in that epiosde he's portrayed with a much younger look. | ||
* The Constructicons build (or rebuild, depending on whether you're watching [[Transformers 2010 (franchise)|2010]]) [[Trypticon (G1)|Trypticon]] out of a human city overnight. And no one notices. | * The Constructicons build (or rebuild, depending on whether you're watching [[Transformers 2010 (franchise)|2010]]) [[Trypticon (G1)|Trypticon]] out of a human city overnight. And no one notices. | ||
Revision as of 21:41, 9 February 2010
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 What the hell did Beachcomber give me? | |||||||||
| "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4" | |||||||||
| Production code | #700-89 | ||||||||
| Production company | Sunbow Productions | ||||||||
| Airdate | September 18, 1986 | ||||||||
| Written by | Flint Dille | ||||||||
| Continuity | Generation 1 cartoon continuity | ||||||||
Seeking answers about their mysterious new foes, Rodimus Prime takes a journey through the Matrix to learn the truth about the Quintessons... and the origins of the Transformers.
- Japanese title: マトリクスの秘密 (Matrix no Himitsu, "The Secrets of the Matrix")
- German title: "Die fünf Gesichter der Finsternis, Teil 4" ("The five Faces of Darkness, Part 4")
Synopsis
On Goo, the Decepticons open fire on the Autobots (and miss spectacularly). Judge Deliberata cheers them on, until Grimlock slams him into the goo. As they get closer, Galvatron arrives, intending to punish the Decepticons for their "disloyalty". Upon seeing (and being shot by) their long-lost leader, the Decepticons repledge their loyalty to Galvatron and tell him that they were bribed into following the Quintessons for energon. Galvatron is not happy and decides to punish the Quintessons for their usurpation.
On Goo, the Autobots find the control center, and Rodimus Prime and Ultra Magnus find out that the planet is a garbage collection system for the Junkions. Contacting Wreck-Gar, they request assistance after managing to "talk Teevee".
On Io, Blurr and Wheelie are under attack by the lipoles, who are ferociously flapping their wings in the two Autobots' faces. Wheelie is overtaken, but tells Blurr to leave him and take Metroplex's transformation cog. Instead of leaving his comrade to die, Blurr heads right into the thick of the swarm. Marissa Faireborn arrives and manages to drive off the lipoles, but a number of them transform into missiles and destroy her ship. The three begin a search through the ship's wreckage, hoping that the communications are still working.
Galvatron introduces himself by firing on the Quintesson ship. Realizing that Galvatron must be handled differently, the Quintessons offer an alliance with the Decepticons against the Autobots, but Galvatron says he never asked for their help. They offer Galvatron the Decepticon Matrix of Leadership, but Galvatron simply demands it in exchange for letting them live. The Quintessons say that their lives are not enough, and that the Autobots must be destroyed.
Galvatron attacks the Autobots, but the Junkions arrive and melt the goo out from under the Autobots, sucking them right through the planet. Judge Deliberata winds up getting ejected in the process. Galvatron destroys Goo, but by the time he's done, the Junkions and Autobots have fled.
Heading back to the ship, Galvatron rants at the Quintessons, who counter that they would be powerful allies. Galvatron demands to know why the Quintessons haven't destroyed the Autobots themselves. They explain that the Autobots have been made unpredictable by their interactions with the humans. Sneering at the Quintessons' fear of the flesh creatures, Galvatron agrees to an alliance. The Decepticons cry "Hail Galvatron!" to affirm their support of their leader, and even the Quintessons give out a shout.
On the Planet of Junk, Wreck-Gar restores Springer to life. However, Rodimus is not as cheered up as expected. He has questions about the Quintessons—about their hostility towards the Autobots, how they know so much about them, and about their intentions. Rodimus has become convinced that the answers behind the Quintessons lie in the Matrix, but he still doesn't know how to consult the wisdom of the ages. Springer makes a sarcastic suggestion, saying that he should just come close to death again. Although Arcee says not to do that, Springer assures her that Rodimus is not as stupid as he looks. Wandering off, the Autobot commander short-circuits himself and falls unconscious.
Rodimus enters the Matrix, where he is greeted by the spirits of the Ancient Autobots, who show him the face of the creators of the Transformers...the Quintessons! Eons ago, the Quintessons used Cybertron as a factory to build two lines of robots: consumer goods and military hardware, who evolved into the Autobots and the Decepticons, respectively. Millennia of torturous abuse led the Autobots to rebel and drive the Quintessons off Cybertron. Afterwards, the Cybertronians warred with each other for control, which was ended when the Autobots developed the art of transformation. A Golden Age followed, which was ended when the Decepticons mastered transformation and created a new leader: Megatron. He killed the Matrix-bearer, who passed the Matrix to Alpha Trion, one of the oldest among them. However, Alpha Trion did not take the Matrix for himself, but gave it another who would challenge Megatron. This was Optimus Prime, who became the Autobot leader for the Third Cybertronian War, which has raged for nine million years and continues to rage even now.
Rodimus reactivates to find Springer and Arcee seriously freaked out. Dismissing their concerns, he tells them that they need to get to Cybertron as soon as possible.
Near Cybertron, Galvatron and the Quintessons plot their strategy. They will attack on two fronts: Autobot City and Cybertron. On Earth, the Constructicons are making changes to a human city. At dawn, they activate a transformation sequence, and the city begins to change. As the humans flee, the dust settles to the ground. In the place of the city now stands...Trypticon!
On Cybertron, an Earth Defense Command ship requests emergency landing clearance. Perceptor warns that it might be a trick, but Kup refuses to allow a ship full of innocents to perish, giving them clearance to land. But the ship instead crashes into Cybertron's central power facility, shutting down the planet's defenses. Storming from the Quintesson ships, Galvatron leads the Decepticons in an attack. Aboard the vessels, the Quintessons are pleased, for soon the Autobots will be destroyed, and then they will deal with the Decepticons.
Featured Characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
Quotes
"Last big party of the summer, folks! Let's go out with a bang!"
"Just once, couldn't your attitude reflect the gravity of the situation?!"
"Not if I can help it!"
- —Rodimus Prime and Ultra Magnus have rather different leadership styles.
"Yes! Yes! Even if it means my life is forfeit, destroy them! Destroy th—ooh!"
[Tail smack]
"Me Grimlock say shut your faces!"
- —Judge Deliberata annoys Grimlock.
Galvatron: Now, Decepticons, learn the price of your disloyalty! Attack!
Cyclonus: Attack whom?
[Galvatron shoots Cyclonus]
Galvatron: EVERYONE!
- —Galvatron isn't so good with specifics.
Wreck-Gar: Bulletin: You are in danger of being canceled or losing your time slot.
Ultra Magnus: What's he talking about?
Rodimus Prime: We're gonna get killed.
- —Rodimus shows the value of knowing a second language.
"He ran right back into the danger! My digital watch is smarter than that!"
- —Marissa Faireborn isn't impressed with Blurr's tactics
Notes
Animation or technical glitches
- Victor Caroli's opening recap narration says that Quintessa "was detonated by the deadly Quintesson". Maybe a single Quint really did push the button all by himself, but the use of the singular is a bit odd.
- The first two shots, of the Decepticons pouring out of the Quintesson ship and firing at the Autobots, are loaded with too many screwups to count, as a mixture of made-up characters and off-model characters with the wrong color scheme pads out the background. An off-model Blitzwing colored like Air Raid is just one example.
- In the wide shot of the Autobots, Kup, Magnus, Arcee and Rodimus are in front. Grimlock and Deliberata are in back, and behind them are two guys that don't look like any of the Aerialbots (who remain AWOL throughout the sequence.)
- Just before Magnus starts to chastise Rodimus, Rodimus's torso is orange instead of red, and his waistline has climbed half way up his stomach, kinda like an old man being swallowed by his trousers.
- In the closeup shot of Rodimus and Magnus, yellow lasers are flying past them, despite the Decepticon lasers being pink in all the other scenes.
- How long do the Autobots intend to stand there without shooting back at the Decepticons? Why are they just strolling along without defending themselves?
- When Judge Deliberata is celebrating the impending destruction of the Autobots, Slag is shown with them, despite not being part of the group that landed on Goo.
- A subsequent shot gives us a better look at the crowd-filler Decepticons. In addition to Air Raid/Blitzwing, we have Ramjet missing most of his wings, with a black head, and one of his lasers on backwards. Every other character in the shot is entirely made up, though two of them appear to be using Octane's wing design.
- In the next shot, as Dead End and Blast Off are discussing how easy it is to destroy the Autobots, Motormaster is colored like Kup, Octane is colored like Grimlock, and an off-model Snarl shows up colored like Rodimus Prime. Also there is an early version of Breakdown's character model with Cyclonus' color scheme right behind Kup-colored Motormaster. What's more, standing near the miscoloured Snarl is a Decepticon coloured like Wheelie. Yikes.
- Dead End and Blast Off's conversation is screwed up more ways than one:
- "We owe this grand opportunity entirely to our new allies" is about as obvious a statement as one could make, yet Blast Off has to ask for an explanation.
- The explanation seems to come from Swindle, but he's not in the shot.
- The pointless explanation ("He means that what opportunities--") is suddenly truncated by Galvatron's arrival. Maybe he sensed the scene was going nowhere.
- Galvatron's lower helmet rim is gray instead of purple as he first appears. Man, AKOM sure does that a lot.
- More Decepticon generics and off-models after Galvatron arrives. A shot of the tail end of the mob includes Soundwave, Scavenger, Swindle and Onslaught all in white, a generic with Octane's wings, a generic with what looks like Rodimus's spoiler, and several totally made-up generic guys.
- When Motormaster is blasted by Galvatron, a white and red Onslaught is in the background.
- Motormaster has the wrong voice as he reacts to Galvatron's return. He has the right voice in his next line ("Spare me and I'm yours to command!")
- When the Swindle and Motormaster fly up to pledge their allegiance to Galvatron, the Autobot Skydive is with them for two different consecutive shots.
- During his "Sloppiness. Disorganization." line, Magnus has much smaller eyes than usual.
- Rodimus's spoiler ridge is so often colored yellow instead of orange that it's almost more noteworthy when they get it right.
- After the Decepticons break off their assault, Rodimus and Magnus once again just walk right out of the inescapable goo.
- As Marissa's ship enters the Jovian system, it passes over what looks like a post-Movie Cybertron!
- Improbable viewpoints:
- Marissa's screen shows Blurr and Wheelie from a surface point of view, even though she's still high above the moon's surface. She reacts to this full-screen image of the two by saying "I think I've spotted them", as if there were some doubt.
- The inside of Blurr's mouth is blue as he frets over saving Wheelie.
- As Blurr charges back into the lipole swarm, most of the creatures aren't animated, despite being in the air.
- No wing-flapping in the shot of the lipoles surrounding Wheelie, either. They just magically bob up and down in the air.
- How does Marissa's jet pack support her in mid-air when she's upside-down?
- The jetpack's flames change from non-existent, to blue, to orange when Marissa lands.
- Galvatron is colored with a gray "goatee" after he blasts the Decepticon ship, and again as he climbs aboard. As he scoffs at the Quintessons, the whole area around his mouth is gray; the gray disappears as he turns and fires. The goatee returns as he rants at the Quintessons after destroying Goo. Then the beard returns as well.
- "Tell me? What?" The Quintesson in this shot is missing his energy beam.
- The Quintessons are pretty clearly mechanical, yet one of them makes a squishy noise when Galvatron slams him into the ship's deck.
- Deliberata is missing his energy beam as Kup takes aim at Galvatron.
- As Kup and company open fire on Galvatron, Bonecrusher is firing with them! In the background are two pipe-cleaner-thin generics.
- Galvatron rises back into the frame after destroying Goo, as if he just returned to robot mode, but there's no transformation noise.
- As Galvatron accepts the Quintessons as allies, his left hand goes from purple to gray and back.
- We see seven Sweeps aboard the Quintesson ship, the most we've seen so far in the whole mini-series. Some previous shots have indicated that there are as few as three.
- As the wimpy-sounding Decepticons hail Galvatron, two Shockwaves are shown colored like Constructicons, alongside a Seeker colored like Onslaught.
- Seriously. No combination of known Decepticon voices would result in that chorus of "Hail Galvatron."
- On Junkion, Arcee continues to be without the bridgeline of her nose.
- When Arcee and the repaired Springer speak with Rodimus, the latter is drawn in his Hot Rod form.
- The sprawled, unconscious Rodimus changes positions between the end of Act 2 and the opening of Act 3; specifically, his arms move from eagle-spread to down by his sides.
- The U-Haul Robot's barbed mace phases through the foot of the Powerful Robot after it hits the ground.
- Vehicles based on Hook and Scavenger are used as generic construction vehicles during a shot showing the Transformers' freedom from the Quintessons (prior to inventing transformation). Or maybe all construction vehicles are green and purple on Cybertron.
- When the Decepticons assemble Trypticon, Vortex is colored like Octane and Long Haul is colored like U-Haul Robot.
- When the Constructicons celebrate Trypticon's awakening, they're drawn as generics and colored like the core Movie Autobots: Magnus, Kup, Wheelie, and Arcee's color schemes are all visible.
- As Kup, Perceptor and Cosmos watch the incoming ship, Perceptor is colored like Grimlock, and Cosmos's arms are on backwards.
- Cosmos's voice lacks its usual reverberated echo.
- The Aerialbots who fly to intercept the ship are all colored the same light gray and medium blue. Only Silverbolt and Skydive are on-model.
- The horde of miscolored generic Decepticons is recycled for the attack on Cybertron.
- Really makes you wonder how AKOM actually gets work, doesn't it?
Continuity errors
- The lipoles have totally changed size since the last episode. Instead of a deep-throated growl, they now give off high-pitched squeaks. They aren't glowing anymore, either.
- The animation does absolutely nothing to tell us what's so bad about being swarmed by lipoles. From what we see in this episode, it would seem to be little more than a mild annoyance.
- Why doesn't Wheelie transform and drive to escape the lipoles?
- The animators and writers alike seem to have forgotten that Blurr's defining physical trait is that he's fast. In this episode, he runs like a grandmother.
- Marissa's space suit has no visor or anything covering her face.
- Speaking of which, how can these creatures fly by flapping their wings when Io has only the thinnest of atmospheres?
- Marissa's demand that the lipoles "eat null rays" doesn't make much since, as an actual null-ray affects electronic circuits. Marissa's gun instead causes the lipoles to violently explode.
- On the other hand, her assertion that they are "bags of protoplasm" doesn't make much since either, since they can transform (complete with the transforming noise) into rocket-propelled missiles.
- There appears to be some missing lines in the Ancient Robot's monologue: "Now, the machines could manufacture themselves. And before long, they grew too lazy and greedy even for that. There were simpler ways to wring performance out of their slaves." The "they" in the second sentence clearly refers to the Quintessons, not the machines.
- How does one recycle a robot by dumping it into a molten vat?
- Where did those dancing robots get the cloth sheet things they're waving around?
- The ancient Autobot that gets knocked off of the motorcycle is a recycled character model; he was last seen standing alongside Wreck-Gar on the Junkion ship, just a few scenes ago!
- One of the most famous continuity gaffs of the entire series comes as the Matrix journey wraps up. A scene showing Megatron's creation millions of years ago is illustrated with him surrounded by Constructions. It's problematic because, according to "The Secret of Omega Supreme", the Constructicons weren't actually evil until Megatron himself reprogrammed them to be Decepticons. And according to a one-off line in "Heavy Metal War", Megatron and the other Decepticons built the Constructicons on Earth in 1984!
- On top of that, there's eight Constructions! None of them are really on-model; three appear to be entirely made up.
- Somebody forgot that we'd already seen an 11-million-years-younger Alpha Trion, back in "War Dawn"... and he looked visibly different than the elderly Trion of 1985! He is shown in his "elderly" design when he receives the matrix from the dying Autobot leader; chronologically, the events of "War Dawn" happen after this, but in that epiosde he's portrayed with a much younger look.
- The Constructicons build (or rebuild, depending on whether you're watching 2010) Trypticon out of a human city overnight. And no one notices.
- The idea of rebuilding a human city into a Transformer only makes any sense if the city was made entirely of metal.
- Trypticon is seemingly brought to life without the use of Vector Sigma, which we were previously assured is the only way to grant life and/or sentience and/or "cybernetic personalities" to new Transformers. Of course, it's not as if he is unique in that respect: the Dinobots were also made without the use of the computer, and Trypticon wound up being as dim as they are.
- Cybertron appears to have gotten a remodel since we saw it in the Movie. Who had time to patch up all those holes?
Real-world references
- Star Wars sound effects:
- The Powerful Robot attacks the U-Haul Robot with the sound of Ben Kenobi and Darth Vader's lightsabers clashing aboard the Death Star, and Luke Skywalker's lightsaber deflecting seeker bolts aboard the Millennium Falcon.
- The Powerful Robot launches against his Quintesson overseers with the same Death Star firing/Alderaan exploding sound effect that Galvatron used in Part 2.
- Wreck-Gar's lines are mostly based on generic sales pitches ("Batteries not included", "for a limited time, your money back," "Doors closing at midnight!" hilariously timed to coincide with Galvatron confronting a closing donut hole of goo). A few lines have more specific origins, though:
- "Glad you used the dial, wish everybody would." parodies the "Aren't you glad you used Dial?" soap ad campaign.
- "Why'd you come on down to Goo?" is based on the famous "Come on down, you're the next contestant on..." catch phrase of The Price is Right.
- "Wreck-Gar will put you in good hands" references the "You're in good hands with Allstate" insurance ad campaign.
- "You'll have Springer back faster than Snap Crackle Pop", the mascots of Rice Krispies cereal.
- "I believe in me" would reoccur as a Junkion mantra in "The Big Broadcast of 2006".
Trivia
- This episode features the second and final instance of Rodimus referring to Springer with the nickname "Springo".
- Apart from Optimus Prime and Alpha Trion, the ancient (pre-)Autobots that Rodimus meets in the Matrix are identified in the shooting script as:
- The entire Decepticon army fails to hit a single Autobot when they are all grouped together on Goo. My, how energon depletion affects the optics.
- The original video cassette release of this episode featured some odd audio edits to the final scene: all of Cosmos's lines were missing, as were the fake pilot's claim that their "engines have just gone critical", and the Quintesson's declaration that their decoy worked and that Cybertron is helpless. The Kid Rhino DVD of this episode restores all the missing lines, but they are all once again missing on the subsequent Shout! Factory release.
