Quest for Survival: Difference between revisions
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===Trivia=== | ===Trivia=== | ||
[[File:Skidsanimated.jpg|thumb|right|200px| ]] | [[File:Skidsanimated.jpg|thumb|right|200px| ]] | ||
[[File:RoboticInsecticide.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Comes in Small, Medium, Large and Combiner sizes.]] | [[File:RoboticInsecticide.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Comes in Small, Medium, Large and Combiner sizes.]] | ||
* This episode marks one of only two instances in which Soundwave laughs (the other being "[[Auto-Bop]]"). He chuckles along with Megatron when Starscream is knocked on his can, and again after Megatron destroys the insecticide. | * This episode marks one of only two instances in which Soundwave laughs (the other being "[[Auto-Bop]]"). He chuckles along with Megatron when Starscream is knocked on his can, and again after Megatron destroys the insecticide. | ||
* First appearance of [[Skids (G1)|Skids]] (out of only [[Triple Takeover|two in the whole cartoon!]]). | * First appearance of [[Skids (G1)|Skids]] (out of only [[Triple Takeover|two in the whole cartoon!]]). | ||
Revision as of 07:13, 29 November 2013
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 The Morphobots raise the roof. | |||||||||
| "Quest for Survival" | |||||||||
| Production code | 700-44 | ||||||||
| Production company | Sunbow Productions | ||||||||
| Airdate | November 5, 1985 | ||||||||
| Written by | Reed Robbins/Peter Salas | ||||||||
| Animation studio | Toei | ||||||||
| Continuity | Generation 1 cartoon continuity | ||||||||
The Autobots find themselves outnumbered when facing an Insecticon Clone Army and look to find a robotic insecticide to destroy them. However, their problems are just going to get bigger when spores from alien plants on Cosmos begin to grow rapidly...
Synopsis
The Insecticons are on their way
The Decepticons have turned the Insecticons' cloning ability to new heights, to be an unstoppable force that will devour Earth's food resources and convert it into energon. Like a horde of mechanical locusts, they will devour Earth's crops and cause the human race to starve to death. The Autobots make an attempt to stop the Insecticons, but they are too many in number, and are forced to retreat. At the Autobot base, the Autobots explain what happened to Optimus Prime, when Bumblebee, Spike Witwicky, and Cosmos contact Prime, saying that they found some robotic insecticide on Floron III. As they leave, however, something grabs hold of Cosmos, and he is barely able to escape.
Returning to the Decepticon base, the Insecticons convert the food they've eaten into energon, but only get one energon cube each. Megatron claims that this is because of the costly energy conversion process, but in another room, the Decepticons are busily converting massive amounts of energy into energon. Megatron muses that the Insecticons would be deadly if they weren't so stupid.
On his approach to Earth, Cosmos discovers that spores from whatever attacked him are growing across his hull, and he is losing control of his systems. Bumblebee and Spike manage to abandon ship before Cosmos crashes, and go to get help. Arriving back at the base, Bumblebee discovers that spores are attached to his body, but Ratchet manages to get them off. Prime attempts to contact Cosmos, only to discover that the valley he crashed in has been overtaken by the plant-like machines. As the Autobot leader leads a rescue mission, Laserbeak learns of the insecticide, and reports it to Soundwave. Megatron takes a team to retrieve it before the Autobots can...and in case he might need the insecticide himself.
At the base, Perceptor and Prowl discover that the spores are Morphobots, a plant-like species that the Transformers believed was extinct. They contact Prime, warning him that the Morphobots are particularly fond of robotic lifeforms. Elsewhere, Thrust is overseeing the Insecticons, when Megatron orders him to warn the Insecticons to stay away from the valley. The Insecticons suspect that Megatron is hiding something, and attack Thrust, after which they take the entire clone army to the valley.
At the valley, the Decepticons arrive first, only to discover the Morphobots. Starscream fires first, only to have the blast from his null-ray deflected right back at him. Before Megatron can choke a bitch properly admonish Starscream, Soundwave detects the Autobots. Megatron decides to let Prime do the work of getting the insecticide for him. Warpath fires a blast, but gets nowhere; Ironhide's liquid nitrogen only freezes them momentarily. Blaster begins broadcasting, which causes the Morphobots to recoil. Bumblebee, Ironhide, Hoist, and Blaster take Cosmos out of the field.
Once they're out, Megatron and the Decepticons attack, destroying the insecticide. However, the Morphobots also attack the Decepticons. As things get bad, the Insecticons arrive. Megatron believes the noble creatures are coming to save them. Obviously his logic circuits fail to tell him just how many things are wrong with his idea. Believing them to be food, the Insecticon clones fly straight into the field, and the Morphobots consume all the clones. The original Insecticons manage to escape, and the Decepticons follow.
At their base, the Autobots have loaded the Morphobots into a shuttle, intended to take them to a world with a large robotic insect population. However, Perceptor requests that a second shuttle be prepared as soon as possible, as the Morphobots he has been studying have become a little too friendly for his tastes.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Quotes
"Robotic Insecticide?"
- —Skids makes his debut by asking what everyone else is thinking.
"Muahah. If the Insecticons had brains, they'd be dangerous!"
- —Megatron reflects on the Insecticons' gullibility.
"Hmm. Very interesting."
"What is it?"
"Hmm? What is what?"
- —Perceptor and Prowl, a typical conversation with a scientist.
"Who says plants aren't intelligent? The Morphobots are repelled by your music."
- —Optimus Prime, being a little ungrateful to Blaster, who is repelling the Morphobots
"Just don't stand there with your cockpits open, you fools!"
- —Megatron, being dragged along the ground by a Morphobot.
"The Insecticons! Those noble creatures have come to save us, despite the danger to their own lives."
- —Megatron, seriously overestimating his allies.
"Our friend Megatron is in trouble."
"If I wasn't so hungry, I'd stop to help him out. HAHAHAHAHAH!"
- —Kickback and Bombshell both showing how an 'ally' should act.
"You didn't tell us they'd bite back!"
- —Kickback, realizing that plants do bite back.
"Where is your courage, Megatron?"
- —Starscream should practice what he preaches.
Notes
Animation or technical glitches
- When Tracks speaks near the start of the episode, he has the Insecticons' voice effect.
- Why does Cosmos need Spike to fire his emergency jet? Can't he do it himself?
- When the Morphobots penetrate into Cosmos' cabin, there is no indication of decompression from his pressurized and vacuum-sealed hull being breached.
- Not only is Cosmos big enough to carry Bumblebee, Spike and their cargo in relative comfort, but to carry an ejection chamber which is also capable of carrying the same occupants.
- After Cosmos crashes, Spike gestures as if he's trying to project his voice across the cliff, but Bumblebee is the one yelling.
- After the Insecticons step out of the energon extractor, Bombshell's chest is completely gray.
- The area around the Ark looks different in this episode. It's sitting flush with a plateau off to the side, not the usual rocky cliffside.
- As the Decepticons fly to intercept the insecticide, Starscream's left wing is missing its red stripe.
- The edge of Ironhide's helmet is the same color as his face in a couple of shots, notably when he reacts to the Morphobots shrugging off his nitrogen.
- When Megatron transforms to shoot the insecticide, he doesn't make the transformation noise (nor does he when he transforms back, for that matter).
- The second time Soundwave laughs, his voice is missing its usual synthesizer effect, and not for the first time.
- The sound effect used for the shot isn't the usual sound Megatron makes.
- As Megatron is thrown by the Morphobots, his voice sounds different and is missing its metallic effect.
- Several times towards the end of the episode, the triangles on Megatron's forehead are drawn wrong (sometimes one or the other is a square or cut-off polygon).
- A couple of times when Transformers are shaking, such as when Perceptor is struggling with the Morphobots at the end, their mouths aren't quaking with the rest of their bodies.
Continuity errors
- The two vehicle-driving farmers switch places at the start. The fellow in blue overalls is driving the tractor, but is shown running from the combine harvester, trading vehicles with his pal.
- Why couldn't Teletraan I detect Cosmos as he crashed?
- Beachcomber and Ratchet are in the group of Autobots who set out for the crash site, but when the group gets there, Ironhide and Hoist are there instead.
- Windcharger is also there for one shot, but disappears from the rest of the show.
- Blaster doesn't appear at all until after Ironhide and Warpath have tried to destroy the Morphobots. Maybe he was hiding in someone's back seat?
- If the Morphobots can't be harmed by explosives and laser fire, and they can hogtie Megatron in a matter of seconds and sling him around like a bag of bolts, how did the Autobots manage to round them up and put them inside the rocket ship? (Blaster's music could have played a part.)
- Also in "A Plague of Insecticons", the Insecticons are shown to be able to convert organic food into energy by themselves. What, from the Insecticons' point of view, is the logic behind extracting energon from them, converting it to energon cubes and then (ostensibly) getting it back in cube form, ready to be consumed?
Trivia
- This episode marks one of only two instances in which Soundwave laughs (the other being "Auto-Bop"). He chuckles along with Megatron when Starscream is knocked on his can, and again after Megatron destroys the insecticide.
- First appearance of Skids (out of only two in the whole cartoon!).
- Blaster repulses the Morphobots with an instrumental version of the song "Cold Slither" played in the G.I. Joe episode of the same name.
- Blaster transforms into a halfway form between his cassette player form and his robot mode.
- Where did the Autobots get the video footage of the Decepticon energon facility anyway?
- To get rid of the Morphobots, the Autobots wreck the ecology of another planet. That's real nice of them.
- Okay, seriously... robotic insecticide?
Foreign localization
Italian
- Title (dub 1): "L'insetticida robotico" ("The Robotic Insecticide")
- Title (dub 2): "Lotta per la sopravvivenza" ("Fight for Survival")
- Original airdate: ?
Japanese
- Title: "Survival Sakusen" (サバイバル作戦, "Operation: Survival")
- Original airdate: February 28, 1986
Home video releases
- Laserdisc
1994 — Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers — Convoy Set (Takara) — Japanese audio only.
1998 — The Transformers — Autobot Edition (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
- DVD
2001 — The Transformers — DVD Box 1 (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
2003 — The Original Transformers — Season 2 Part 2 (Rhino Entertainment)
2003 — The Original Transformers — Season 2 Part 2: Vol. 5 (Rhino Entertainment)
2004 — Transformers — Season 2 Part 2 (Metrodome)
2004 — Transformers — Collection 3: Series 2.2 (Madman Entertainment)
2006 — Transformers — The Complete Generation One Collection (Metrodome)
2007 — The Transformers — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)
2009 — Transformers — Volume 05: Stagione Due Parte Terza (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)
