Pilot (Part 1)
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 You kids these days don't understand, you weren't around to see Starscream dancing to Saturday Night Fever! | ||||||
| "Pilot (Part 1)" | ||||||
| Production company | Hasbro Studios | |||||
| Airdate | February 21, 2015 (Australia/NZ) March 14, 2015 (US) | |||||
| Writers | Adam Beechen, Duane Capizzi | |||||
| Director | David Hartman | |||||
| Animation studio | Polygon Pictures | |||||
Assigned on a solo mission to Earth, Bumblebee unexpectedly finds himself saddled with a team.
Synopsis
Years after the Great War, a rebuilt Cybertron is once again a populous, thriving planet. Among its inhabitants is Lieutenant Bumblebee - now on street patrol duty - and his new cadet Strongarm. While Strongarm is slightly awed at getting to work with the great hero Bumblebee, she's surprised that he didn't get a better position than street cop. The duo receives an alert about an in-progress 211. They find Sideswipe driving around a park with huge statues, scratching up the ground. While Bumblebee is in the middle of telling his partner that Sideswipe's not actually dangerous, he's suddenly distracted by a vision of Optimus Prime in a reflecting pool. Strongarm leaves him to his vision and heads off to deal with Sideswipe, and Optimus points Bumblebee to a diagram on a nearby building, indicating something to do with Earth. After an abortive attempt to stop Sideswipe, Strongarm manages to bash the renegade Autobot into the statue of Optimus Prime, and then slaps the cuffs on him, but to her horror, the damaged statue topples over, almost crushing Bumblebee. Snapped out of his trance, Bumblebee orders Strongarm to take the perp to the station while he heads towards the building Optimus pointed to.
On Earth, Denny Clay is moving a train car around his scrapyard when his son, Russell Clay arrives to stay while his mother's in Copenhagen. Russell is less than enthusiastic about this arrangement, but Denny shows off the 14th Street diner which he's recently had moved to the yard. Their discussion is interrupted by a loud boom from somewhere. Not far away in the woods, Fixit crawls from the shattered hulk of the prison ship Alchemor.
On Cybertron, Bumblebee enters the Cybertron History Museum and pokes around the back rooms, where he finds a space bridge with Earth co-ordinates already input. Optimus speaks to him in an another vision, telling him he's needed on Earth. In the middle of the vision Bumblebee's found by Strongarm, who's followed him there as per a regulation which means she has to accompany him at all times. Naturally she also still has Sideswipe handcuffed to her, and after Bumblebee explains he's received a mission from Optimus, he tells Strongarm to try to get the space bridge working while he distracts the guards.
A news report about a meteor piques Denny's interest, and he suggests he and Russell go look for it, though first Denny has to talk to a man who wants to sell him some Billy the Breakfast Beaver figures. Russell opts to go look for the meteor instead of helping with the deal. At the crash site, Fixit attempts to send a mayday to Cybertron Control, reporting that he's lost most of the stasis cells the ship was carrying.
Bumblebee manages to distract the museum guards for a brief time until they catch on to the fact that he's up to something. He's forced to deal with the pair, disabling them just as Sideswipe gets the bridge working. Ordering Strongarm to remain behind, Bumblebee charges through the open space bridge to Earth. Naturally Strongarm follows him with Sideswipe still cuffed to her, and though Bumblebee destroys the cuffs and orders Sideswipe to return to Cybertron, the punk runs off. Wandering through the woods elsewhere, Russell completely misses a set of giant footprints. Bumblebee and Strongarm find Fixit working on the wreckage of his ship, and he explains the situation with the missing prisoners. As the tracking systems come back online, Fixit detects a nearby Cybertronian signal. Figuring it's Sideswipe, Bumblebee and Strongarm head off to recapture the rogue Autobot.
Sideswipe is testing out the acoustics in a nearby rock formation when he bumps into Russell. They're both recovering from the shock when Underbite strolls up. Sideswipe introduces himself, but is none the wiser when Underbite reveals his name, though Underbite clarifies that he's the Decepticon who ate Nuon City. Sideswipe and Russell run for it, and Underbite consumes a nearby derelict van for energy. The fleeing pair find a clearing where Sideswipe transforms. As Underbite catches up with them, Sideswipe's able to speed off with Russell, and eventually finds Bumblebee and Strongarm. The Decepticon chases all four of them back to the crash site, where Fixit and Russell hid behind the last intact stasis cell, shortly before Grimlock pokes his head out of the end of it. After Underbite knocks the Autobots aside, Grimlock manages to goad Underbite into wrecking the stasis cell he's trapped in, freeing him. This only keeps Underbite busy for a short time, and the Decepticon spots the scrapyard through the trees, driving off to investigate. As the Autobots recover from the fight, Fixit tells them that Underbite is a Chompazoid, and gains power by eating metal. The Autobots realize that the scrapyard has enough material to make the Decepticon unstoppable.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans |
|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"It's kinda weird. Like living in a scrapyard."
"Please, 'vintage salvage depot for the discriminating nostalgist'."
- —Russell and Denny Clay
"Bumblebee, I knew you would understand."
- —Optimus Prime
"PLEASE take me to jail. This place is so much worse!"
- —Sideswipe on his trip to the Cybertron Museum
"You're a punk, you know how to take out security systems, don't you?"
"NO!" [pause] "Maybe."
- —Strongarm and Sideswipe
"Now, I've reconned the crash site and we're missing most of our stasis cells. Several nearby have ruptured, their inmates are presumably at large."
"How many is 'several'?"
"Oh, a couple of hundred."
- —Fixit and Strongarm
"You ever been to Nuon City?"
"Nooo."
"THAT'S 'CAUSE I ATE IT!"
- —Underbite tells Sideswipe of his over eating habits.
"I hear fighting! Who's fighting? I wanna fight!"
- —Grimlock's very first line in the series. Says it all, really.
"Hey! Aren't you Underbite, that 'con who ate that city?"
"FINALLY! What gave me away? The muscles?"
"The smell."
- —Grimlock and Underbite
Notes
Animation and technical errors
Continuity notes
- The opening shot of Cybertron is identical to how it looked in Prime and the War for Cybertron games.
- It's later revealed in the episode "Can You Dig It?" that Bumblebee and Strongarm were on patrol in Kaon.
- In this and part 2, the capsules holding the Decepticons are referred to as "stasis cells", whereas in later episodes they're referred to using the more standard name "stasis pods". This change appears to have been made due to the amount of spitting the term "stasis cell" produced in the recording booth.[1]
- Bumblebee's actions would earn him a bounty placed on his head as seen in Hunting Season.
- Bumblebee shouldn't be nearly so cavalier about taking the space bridge to Earth. Based on the events of Transformers Prime, Bumblebee doesn't have the capability to create a new space bridge to return to Cybertron, or even a way of contacting Cybertron at all. The spectre of Optimus Prime sure is convincing, it seems.
Transformers references
- The statues in the park depict the Thirteen Primes.
- Sidewipe's use of 'No...maybe' is rather similar to what Bulkhead sometimes said.
Real-world references
- 211 is actually Earth police code for a robbery. Sideswipe just seems to be causing a public nuisance though.
Trivia
- As with the following dozen episodes, this first premiered in Mandarin on Chinese streaming video site M1905.
- Unlike Prime, Strongarm and Sideswipe have unique Cybertronian robot and vehicle forms.
- Before even scanning an Earth vehicle, Sideswipe's Cybertronian alt mode has a normal vehicle interior, including seats and seat belts, even though these would serve no practical purpose on Cybertron. Maybe it's a holdover from the Age of Wrath?
- Fixit states his favorite color is Red.
- Strongarm throws Sideswipe into the shins of the Optimus Prime statue and it all comes crashing down. Either Strongarm seriously lives up to her name or the statue was made of sawdust.
Foreign localization
Brazilian Portuguese
- Title: "Piloto - Part 1 " ("Pilot - Part 1")
- Original airdate: March 31, 2015
Chinese
- Title: "Dìqiú Rènwù (shàng)" (地球任务 （上）, "Mission Earth (Part 1)")
- Original airdate: December 31, 2014
French
- Title: "Nouvelle mission sur Terre" ("New Mission on Earth")
- Original airdate: February 9, 2015
German
- Title: "Mission Erde - Episode 1" ("Mission Earth - Episode 1")
- Original airdate: March 28, 2015
Hungarian
- Title: "Robotok álruhában" ("Robots in Disguise")
- Original airdate: March 16, 2015
Italian
- Title: "Più di quanto non sembri, parte 1" ("More than how it looks like, Part 1")
- Original airdate: February 28, 2015 (preview in select cinemas); March 7, 2015 (TV airing)
Japanese
- Title: "Aratana Bōken no Hajimari" (新たな冒険のはじまり, "Beginning of a New Adventure")
- Original airdate: March 15, 2015
Polish:
- Title: "Pilot - część pierwsza" ("Pilot - part one")
- Original airdate: March 16, 2015
Portuguese
- Title: "Pilot - Part 1 " ("Pilot - Part 1")
- Original airdate: March 2, 2015
Spanish (Latin American)
- Title: "Piloto. parte 1" (Pilot, part 1)
- Original airdate: March 31 (Along with "Pilot, Part 2")
Russian
- Title: "Пилот, часть 1" (Pilot, Part 1)
- Original airdate: August 3 (Along with "Pilot, Part 2")
Home video releases
- TBA
