The Journey
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 Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale... | ||||||
| "The Journey" | ||||||
| Production company | Hasbro Studios | |||||
| Airdate | September 21, 2018 (CN app/website)
September 22, 2018 (US) | |||||
| Writer | Eugene Son | |||||
| Director | Jean Texier | |||||
| Animation studio | Boulder Media Studio | |||||
Bumblebee remembers the voyage of the Ark, and the adventure that led Optimus Prime into making a drastic decision.
Synopsis
As the Ark continues its voyage through deep space in search of the AllSpark, Optimus Prime remains concerned about their dwindling levels of Energon — concerns that only worsen when Wheeljack's latest experiment to try and boost the ship's scanners leads to another blackout. Optimus warns Wheeljack that, until they can refuel their ship, they can't afford any more dangerous experiments...
... and, as the latest gap in Bumblebee's memory is filled, Windblade begins to piece together what might have happened to the AllSpark. As another memory comes back online, she asks Bumblebee to access it.
Some time later, the Ark's energon situation has become critical. The ship chances across a barren and seemingly uninhabited world, and when Teletraan-1 detects concentrations of Energon on the surface, Optimus assembles a survey team — consisting of himself, Grimlock, and Bumblebee — to scout out the situation. As their shuttlecraft touches down on the planet, Prime sends Grimlock and Bumblebee to investigate a nearby ridge. The pair find a massive canyon, but still no Energon, and turn away to regroup with Prime... but Bumblebee is none the wiser when a mass of tentacles slither out from the canyon and drag Grimlock into its depths!
When he realises Grimlock is missing, Bumblebee races back to the shuttleto warn Optimus of the situation, and when Prime is unable to raise Grimlock on his communicator, the two Autobots track his signal back to the canyon. A series of tremors knock them off balance and send them tumbling into the cave below, where they discover the source of the tremors — Grimlock, using his strength to slam the ground so as to ward off the "beasts" responsible for dragging him into the canyon. A more important discovery draws Prime's attention, however, and the three find a nearby cave, containing a reservoir of the Energon that Teletraan-1 had detected in the first place. As they approach the Energon lake, however, their presence attracts a swarm of the cave monsters, and a battle ensues as the three Autobots try to keep the aliens at bay. Their weapons have no effect on the creatures, however, and Optimus makes a crucial discovery: the creatures feed on Energon, and were merely trying to protect their food supply. Realizing that they can't jeopardize an innocent alien species, Prime orders the group to retreat to the surface.
Back aboard the Ark, Prime shares what he has learned with the other Autobots, but makes a crucial decision: in order to conserve what little Energon they have left, the Autobots will enter stasis, with Teletraan-1 taking control of the vessel. As the Transformers prepare to enter the ship's hibernation pods, Wheeljack races in to give Prime the news that he's successfully boosted the ship's scanning capabilities. With the Autobots sealed in their stasis pods, Bumblebee is the only Autobot conscious enough to see the ship's scanners successfully detect the AllSpark... a second too late to do anything about it.
Inside Bumblebee's mind, Windblade and Bumblebee speculate what happened to the other Autobots aboard the Ark, and Bumblebee vows that, no matter what, he'll find the ship.
Featured characters
Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks.
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Others |
|---|---|
|
Quotes
"What do we have here?"
"I dunno, but this place is the pits. Get it? C'mon, that was funny!"
- — Grimlock and Bumblebee inspect a canyon
"You think you're tough? Well you're not as tough as me...GRIMLOCK!"
- — Grimlock reminds the cave monsters who is king.
Notes
Continuity notes
- The Ark was established to have left Cybertron in "Memory" in search of the Allspark, which was launched off Cybertron as seen in the flashback in "Allspark."
- The flashback of Bumblebee boarding the Ark at the end of "Memory" established he had already lost his voice while on Cybertron, as he bid farewell to Windblade only through a series of mechanical warbles, but in this episode, he is shown to be capable of speech during the ship's mission. This isn't an error, though; back in "Fractured," Windblade established that Ratchet had repaired Bee's voicebox since his departure. How it became damaged again is a lost memory waiting to be uncovered...
- Though we don't get a glimpse of modern-day Earth, Bumblebee and Windblade are still presumably holed up at the radio station where they landed in the previous episode.
Transformers references
- Raw Energon appears here in a bright blue, crystalline form, as seen in both the Beast Wars and Transformers: Prime cartoons.
- Stasis pods first appeared in Beast Wars, though their use here as a sort of "hibernation chamber" hearkens back to their use in the Transformers Animated pilot movie.
- Grimlock's boast about his toughness Easter-eggs the third-person speech pattern that most other Grimlocks tend to use.
Real-world references
- The episode begins with a dramatic pan of the Ark as it travels through deep space as Optimus Prime narrates another addition to his log, referencing the iconic opening scene of many a Star Trek episode, complete with a very Trek-ish musical score.
- The Ark's massive stasis bay, and the radial design of the stasis chambers within, resembles the hibernation chambers aboard the Sulaco from Aliens, or possibly the Avalon's hibernation deck from Passengers.
Trivia
- TBD
Animation and technical errors
- Optimus Prime consistently mispronounces "Teletraan," drawing out the double-a sound and making the word sound like "Teletron," not unlike how characters used to mispronounce it in Beast Wars. Bumblebee, however, pronounces it right.
- It is a bit funny how Ratchet, Grimlock and Chroma move. At the beginning of the Ratchet is the furthest on the left side of the ship. And the next shot suddenly appeared near the right side where the bumblebee had previously stood and point out that you can not hear his steps. At first, Grimlock and Chroma are not visible and then suddenly appear. Are they hiding or what?
- Wheeljack is shown that it has glass wings and as the camera has moved away and showed all crew members he suddenly lost them.
Foreign localization
French
- Title: "Le Voyage" ("The Journey")
- Original airdate: October 14, 2018
Italian000
- Title: "La Spedizione" ("The Expedition")
- Original airdate: October 20, 2018
Home video releases
- TBA
External links
- "The Journey" on YouTube (US only)
