Starscream's Ghost

« The Transformers ep 75 » « Transformers 2010 ep 7 »
"Ebenezer Ooooctaaaane! You must pick a mode and stick to it!"
"Starscream's Ghost"
Production code	700-95
Production company	Sunbow Productions
Airdate	October 2, 1986
Written by	Megeen McLaughlin
Animation studio	AKOM
Continuity	Generation 1 cartoon continuity

On the run from the Decepticons, Octane seeks asylum on Cybertron, where he encounters the ghost of Starscream, who is still scheming in death.

Japanese title: スタースクリームの幽霊 (Starscream no Yūrei, "Starscream's Ghost")

German title: "Der Geist von Starscream" ("The Ghost of Starscream")

German Generation 2 title: "Starscream kehrt zurück" ("Starscream Returns")

Russian title: "Prizrak Skandalista" (Призрак Скандалиста, "Starscream's Ghost")

Synopsis

Clearly, Homeland Security is earning its budget.

Exiled from the Decepticons, the former Decepticon Octane now makes a living freighting scrap metal from planet Junkion for the Autobots. However, his past catches up to him when a vengeful Galvatron hires an alien bounty hunter, the Skuxxoid, to assassinate Octane. Just after he leaves Junk, Octane's cargo ship is destroyed by a bomb planted by his would-be assassin. Fortunately Octane is merely blown away from the explosion and is rescued by a passing transport ship.

Who would have thought Brawl could keep quiet?

Enraged by this failure, Galvatron dispatches the Combaticons to track and eliminate the exile. Fearing for his life, Octane takes refuge with the Autobots on Earth and seeks the advice of his friend Sandstorm, who at first doesn't believe him. When they are ambushed and the Combaticons concentrate on Octane while leaving Sandstorm alone, however, the Autobot is convinced and the pair escape Earth in an Autobot shuttle.

"Why'd you take me here, man? This bar has the ugliest hookers in space."

The two Triple Changers stop and refuel at a neutral alien space station and use the time to discuss the situation at the adjoining diner. The Skuxxoid, having either tracked them there or anticipated their arrival, poses as the host and ushers them into the diner. As they enter, some seated customers get in a fight, knocking their own table over. Octane and Sandstorm nonchalantly right the table and have a seat, and soon a waitress delivers a plate of energon appetizers. As they eat, Octane tells Sandstorm that Galvatron wants him dead because he had stolen Trypticon and tried to become the most powerful Decepticon. Meanwhile, the Skuxxoid tries several times to kill Octane but is thwarted by a farcical series of mishaps. In frustration, he finally charges at his target from behind and jumps onto his shoulders, pounding his head repeatedly to little effect. 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.

Octane's a leg man.

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 drainage pipe, but turns out to be the secret entrance to a Decepticon Crypt. While there, he encounters the ghost of Starscream, who conspires with Octane to take control of Cyclonus. Successful, Starscream then proceeds to "capture" the runaway Octane. However, they are pursued by the Autobots, intent on protecting Octane. Rodimus confronts "Cyclonus", and when he hears his voice, he recognizes him as Starscream instantly. Starscream promises Rodimus a "bonus" if he lets them go, and Rodimus agrees, to the other Autobots' confusion.

When "Cyclonus" brings the cowering Octane back to Chaar, Galvatron is initially furious that the exile was not destroyed. But "Cyclonus" convinces Galvatron that the traitor should be interrogated for any information he might have learned amongst the Autobots. "Cyclonus" puts on a show of torturing Octane, who eventually relents and volunteers a "secret". The two conspirators take Galvatron to a location where Rodimus Prime appears to be alone and vulnerable. Galvatron attacks him and a short battle ensues, but he pauses when he realizes that several more Autobots have come out of hiding and all have their guns trained on him. Rodimus Prime waves to "Cyclonus" and Octane as they abandon Galvatron and fly away.

"DAMN YOU, TACO BELL!"

"Cyclonus" and Octane return to Chaar and lounge on Galvatron's throne, gloating about their successful ambush. But their mood is quickly spoiled by the appearance of a battered and vengeful Galvatron. Starscream reveals his identity to the Decepticon leader, who fires at him just as he exits Cyclonus's body. The gut-shot Cyclonus mumbles that the last thing he remembers is being in the Decepticon Crypt. Galvatron orders Cyclonus to be repaired, and Scourge acknowledges the command... then giggles with Starscream's voice as an image of the ghost becomes slightly visible over him.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	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)	Junkyard (1) Skuxxoid (4) Alien serving wench (9) Alien tentacle guy (10)

Quotes

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

—Octane, apparently having forgotten that he is a jerk.

[Taps Octane on the shoulder.]"It's your old buddy, Starscream!AHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Just a shadow of my former self. Don't you think?"
"STAAARRRRRSCCCRRREEEEAAAAAMMMM!"

—Ghost Starscream and Octane have a less than warm reunion.

[Autobots shoot at Decepticons in air.]
"They've spotted us!"
[muttering] "Whatever would we do without a powerful intellectual like you around?"

—Octane to Cyclonus/Starscream who is thrilled by the remark.

"Okay, that's it!"
"I'm still hungry!"
"Oh, this? I picked it up on Mars."
"Ahaha, you mean without a paddle?"
"Well, I thought the water was safe to drink."
"Is he with us? We gotta get movin'!"

—A group of diner patrons have the most nonsensical conversation ever while unintentionally thwarting one of the Skuxxoid's assassination attempts.

"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! Look, a guy's got to make a living, don't you understand?!"

—Skuxxoid, easy lizard, we don't want to hear your life story!

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

—Cyclonus and Scourge

Scourge: You! Go down that shaft!
Whining Sweep: How come I gotta do the dirty work?
Scourge: You! See if the traitor is hiding down there!
Cowardly Sweep: No way! If you're so fired up to know what's going on, you go down there!
Scourge: YOU LEAD!
Politely Declining Sweep: I wouldn't want anyone thinking that I question you as a leader, but sorry.
Cyclonus: I question your leadership skills, Scourge. The last one in there will face me!
[The Sweeps jump into the shaft.]
Cyclonus: You have much to learn.
Scourge: Yes, that is true.
Cyclonus: Now, DIVE!

—Scourge, the Sweeps and Cyclonus debate entering the Crypt.

"Come out and die like a warrior! How dare you disgrace your ancestors by cowering 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 a Decepticon you have become!"

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

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

—Galvatron

"I'll never tell! (Hey, you got pretty close that time.)"
[Snicker] "You'd better before they discover your bad acting!"

—Octane and Cyclonus/Starscream during their faux interrogation

Notes

Animation or technical glitches

• When first seen, Junkyard is drawn in Scrapheap's colors.

• When Galvatron is speaking in the opening sequence of the episode, only his throne is seen; the character is missing.

• The display of the robot girl Octane views in the shuttle doesn't correspond to any of the displays in the long shot.

• 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.

• None of the Combaticon lasers sound like traditional Decepticon laser weapons—a common occurrence in Season 3, where the Decepticons regularly have old science fiction stock sound effects for their weapons. One particularly notable instance of this practise can be heard when Cyclonus fires upon Sandstorm. The laser sound accompanying this shot is sampled from a scene in The Empire Strikes Back, in which C-3PO is shot to pieces by a Stormtrooper. The sample, however, fails to cut out 3PO's cry of "No!", and his voice can heard in this episode and each time the sound effect is used again, in "Only Human" and "The Rebirth, Part 1".

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

• Not necessarily an error, but the commercial bumpers have a few extra seconds' worth of music in this episode.

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

• Cyclonus has purple eyebrows and a purple chin in this episode. In "The Killing Jar," they were the same color as his face.

• The back of Starscream's legs are colored light blue as he creeps up behind Cyclonus in the Crypt.

• The first time we see the Decepticons on the Autobot monitor, the chains holding Octane are missing.

"Kup, there's something wrong with your optics!"
"They're fine, Magnus; Ratchet fixed 'em yesterday."
"...Ratchet's dead, Kup."

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

• When the Autobots counter-attack in an attempt to rescue Octane, Kup is shown arriving at the battle driving backwards.

• Practically none of the lasers in this episode sound like they should, especially during the attempt to rescue Octane from Cyclonus' forces.

• During Octane's "interrogation," Octane mouths Starscream's laugh.

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

Continuity errors

• Shouldn't Octane have Autobot logos instead of Decepticon logos?

• As Octane rides in the cargo shuttle, it looks like he's tuning in to a transmission of a robot that looks a lot like Arcee, only with "breasts", giant shoulder pads and wings instead of her backpack. What was all that about?

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

• 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.

• Octane and Sandstorm don't notice the laser fire (and its subsequent commotion) or a grenade going off as they sit at the diner.

• As Starscream (in Cyclonus's body), Scourge and the Sweeps are carrying the captured Octane back to Chaar, Sandstorm chases them in helicopter mode...through outer space. Despite the obvious lack of an atmosphere, Sandstorm's aerial mode flies unbothered.

Transformers references

• The Decepticons have a dark sense of humor. Starscream's marker in the Decepticon crypt consists of nothing but his boots, in apparent "homage" to his death in The Transformers: The Movie, wherein his legs were the only part of him not seen crumbling to ash. Well, it's either that, or the animator forgot to include the cel with the rest of the statue on it.

• This episode is the first appearance of Starscream's ghost. He'll reappear in the follow-up episode "Ghost in the Machine" as well as in the 4th issue of the 2010 manga and in the Star Gate War manga. He'll then be featured in the Beast Wars episode "Possession" and his latest appearances have been in issues of the Information Administration Teletraan 15 Go! Go! comics and Kiss Players radio drama.

• The Beast Wars episode "Bad Spark" would explain Starscream's "ghost": The spark of Starscream possesses a mutation which has rendered it indestructible.

Trivia

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

• Several clues indicate that this episode was originally scripted to feature Blitzwing in Octane's role, following on from the conclusion of "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5", in which Blitzwing was banished from the Decepticons and offered a place among the Autobots by Rodimus Prime (though he declined):
  • When Octane relates the reasons for his banishment, he quotes verbatim Galvatron's words to Blitzwing, that he would "never be welcome in the ranks of the Decepticons again".
  • The events of "Thief in the Night" are used to provide a reason for Octane's own banishment, but when he recounts them in this episode, actor Beau Weaver's lines sound noticeably rushed, as if they were being fitted into a pre-existing framework that did not originally contain them. Also, "Thief in the Night" was actually broadcast after this episode.
  • A piece of artwork in Japan's TV Magazine shows Blitzwing being accosted by the specter of Starscream.
  • When Octane first sees Starscream, he is paralyzed in terror halfway between truck and robot mode. Starscream even remarks that he needs to be "straightened up". This reflects Blitzwing's on-package bio, which states that he "often gets stuck in mid-transformation."
  • Though Blitzwing's toy was still being sold at this point, Octane's was newer, which has always been a good enough reason for anything that happens in Transformers media.

• This episode's dialogue script ascribes all of Sandstorm's dialogue to Springer. While it's tempting to think that, like Octane, his character was consciously switched, this script seems to have been written up using the finished episode, rather than the actual recording script, so it's probably just a transcription error.

• This episode has an especially humorous tone, with quippy dialogue and wacky events such as Octane tripping over rocks and the Skuxxoid clumsily failing to kill him multiple times.

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

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

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

Grab your dipstick and double-click...

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

• Sandstorm borrows the same helicopter blade sound effect used for Cop-Tur in Challenge of the Go-Bots.

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

• Two of the alien patrons of the diner were originally for the episode "Chaos", though due to script changes, they were not used until "Starscream's Ghost".

• 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.

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

Home video releases

All releases listed are in English audio unless otherwise noted.

VHS

1987 — Transformers — Starscream's Ghost / The Nightmare Planet / The Ghost in the Machine (St. Michael Video Library)
1991 — Transformers — Starscream's Ghost / Fight or Flee (Tempo Video)

Laserdisc

1999 — The Transformers: 2010 (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.

DVD

2001 — The Transformers: 2010 — DVD Box (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
2003 — The Original Transformers — Season 3 Part 1 (Rhino Entertainment)
2003 — The Original Transformers — Season 3 Part 1: Vol. 2 (Rhino Entertainment)
2004 — Transformers — Season 3 and Season 4 (Metrodome)
2004 — Transformers — Collection 4: Series 3.1 (Madman Entertainment)
2006 — Transformers — The Complete Generation One Collection (Metrodome)
2007 — The Transformers — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)
2009 — Transformers — Season's Three & Four [sic] (Metrodome)
2009 — The Transformers — Complete Collection: Decepticon Edition (Madman Entertainment)
2009 — The Transformers — The Complete Series: 25th Anniversary "Matrix of Leadership" Collection (Shout! Factory)
2010 — The Transformers — Seasons Three & Four: 25th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory)

External links

• Dossier at the Cybertron Chronicle