Judgment Day!

From MediaWiki
Revision as of 17:20, 9 December 2018 by Chris McFeely (talk | contribs) (→Notes)
Jump to navigationJump to search
« Transformers: The Movie #2 »

Weasels ripped my flesh! RZZZZZ!
"Judgment Day!"
Publisher Marvel Comics
First published September 1986
Cover date January 1987
Adaptation Ralph Macchio
Breakdowns Don Perlin
Finishes Ian Akin and Brian Garvey
Colors Nelson Yomtov
Lettering Janice Chiang
Editor Bob Budiansky

Galvatron attempts to hunt down and destroy Ultra Magnus and the Autobot Matrix of Leadership.

Synopsis

Galvatron and the Unicron-empowered Decepticons return to Cybertron, where Galvatron dispenses swift revenge upon Starscream as Starscream attempts to proclaim himself leader. As the other Decepticons see Starscream's ashen form crumble to the ground, they proclaim their loyalty to Galvatron.

Unicron devours one of Cybertron's moons, and earns Galvatron's wrath, having hoped that Cybertron and all of its moons would be given to him upon completion of the task Unicron had given him. But Unicron quickly makes clear that he has power to inflict great pain on Galvatron, even from a distance. Galvatron sets to his mission: find Ultra Magnus, the current keeper of the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, and destroy them both.

Ultra Magnus and the Autobots, learning of the threat Unicron poses to Cybertron, leave Earth in a pair of shuttlecraft to attempt to help, but they are quickly intercepted by Galvatron and the Decepticons. Although they manage to escape, Kup, Hot Rod, and the Dinobots are separated from the others, and Ultra Magnus must sacrifice most of his ship to fool Galvatron into believing him destroyed.

Hot Rod, Kup and the Dinobots crash upon the surface of a strange alien world, where they are quickly captured by the Quintessons. After being thrown in a prison cell, they meet Kranix, the sole survivor of Lithone. He explains to the Autobots that the Quintessons serve to hunt down survivors of Unicron's attacks, and sentence them to death. After Kranix is executed, the Autobots are taken to face the Quintessons. Just as they are dropped into a pit of Sharkticons, Kup frees himself from his bonds, and frees his fellow Autobots, enabling them to fight back. They soon turn the tables on the Quintessons, who are last seen being chased away by their own Sharkticons. Wheelie, a refugee hiding from the Quintessons, offers the Autobots a ship that will enable them to get off the planet.

Unicron inches closer to Cybertron, devouring the second of its moons, taking Bumblebee and Spike along with it...

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Humans Others

Notes

Differences with the film

The comic adaptation continues to be based on a slightly earlier version of the script than the finished film uses. Alternate scenes, details, and staging derived from the script include:

  • Unicron does not provide Galvatron with a ship, with Cyclonus instead serving as the new Decepticon leader's personal vessel. As established last issue, there are numerous Sweeps and members of Cyclonus's Armada.
  • The two shuttles which the Autobots use to escape Autobot City are explicitly stated to be newly-constructed.
  • While the finished film moves Moonbase Two's destruction up to right after the first one's, the comic keeps it in the same place as the script had it, following the conclusion of the Quintessa adventure.
  • There's an additional scene that furthers the "Ultra Magnus doesn't understand Perceptor's overdeveloped vocabulary" running gag, as Perceptor explains the dangers of taking off without warming up their engines first.
  • As the Autobot shuttles take off, Astrotrain swoops in to lead an attack on them. The Autobots escape by blasting an asteroid field, creating a screen of debris that covers their escape; a tactic Ultra Magnus picked up during a battle on Beta 4, which Galvatron angrily remembers.
  • The auto-combatant kicks Hot Rod in the butt, rather than punching him, then razzes him with a mechanical tongue.
  • The missiles the Decepticons fire at the missiles are called out in dialogue as "moleculon missiles."
  • Kup "inverting polarities" involves bringing the shuttle to a dead stop, so that the moleculon missiles overshoot it and detonate a safe distance away. This was changed for the finished film to the shuttle zapping the missiles with some kind of scrambler beam.
  • Rather than crashing after taking hit from Cyclonus, as in the film, Kup and Hot Rod's shuttle is pulled down to Quintessa by a giant rocket-powered claw that shoot up from the planet's surface.
  • Hot Rod and Kup encounter and are captured by Sharkticons rather than Allicons.
  • The Quintessons are explicitly tied to Unicron, as Kranix explains that they hunt down those who try to escape his wrath.
  • While the finished film has Hot Rod and Kup's restraining bolts disappearing from around them as they fall into the Sharkticon pit, the script and adaptation depict Kup managing to escape his bonds and shooting Hot Rod free. However, see below.
  • Rather than a pool, the Sharkticon pit into which Hot Rod and Kup are thrown is a gladiator pit, and they fight the creatures there, since they don't have to use their vehicle modes to create a whirlpool and escape before they can thrown down with the beasts on dry land. (but see "continuity errors," below).
  • Spike doesn't swear!
Grimlock jumps his cue.

Other changes made to the story, usually in the name of condensing and simplifying it, which are not derived from the script include:

  • Galvatron and Starscream's final exchange ("Megatron? Is that you?" "Here's a hint!") is omitted, replaced instead with Galvatron very awkwardly recapping his origin.
  • The various scenes of the Autobots making a run for their shuttles when the Decepticons attack are all cut: Arcee, Hot Rod, and Daniel dodging fire; Blurr trying to get the Dinobots into a shuttle and Hot Rod and Kup having to take over; and Springer pulling Arcee aboard their ship when she gets left behind.
  • When Ultra Magnus get the idea to repeat the Beta 4 asteroid trick, Springer remembers it from that past battle. In the script, however, it was Kup who was part of that battle, thereby setting up the story he goes on to tell the Dinobots about Beta 4 and his encounter with the Ick-Yak there. The scene of Kup telling that story, however, is cut from the comic, so Hot Rod is not distracted by it; he simply loses to the auto-combatant fair and square.
  • The Quintessa adventure is massively truncated, to much negative effect:
    • Hot Rod and Kup land safely, so the scene of Hot Rod's battle with the giant squid is cut, and Kup is never in need of repair. However, in the script, when they are thrown into the Sharkticon pit, Kup is able to escape his bonds because his complaint that Hot Rod "left a piece out" when putting him back together turns out to be true, leaving him double-jointed enough to wriggle free. As the scene of Kup even needing repair in the first place was cut from the adaptation, the comic simply credits Kup's "instinct for survival" as the reason for his ability to slip his bonds.
    • The scene of Kup trying to placate the Sharkticons with the universal greeting is left out, thereby removing the necessary set-up for the greeting's use on Junkion, which still takes place in the next issue of the adaptation.
Verily, I, Sludge, say unto thee. Forsooth!
    • In a huge difference to both the film and script, Grimlock lands with Hot Rod and Kup and is captured and put on trial with them. The plot is completely unchanged by this, but the scene of the Dinobots exploring Quintessa and meeting Wheelie is cut (as is another scene of the Dinobots getting lost in the first place that was in the script, but which didn't make it to the finished film). Without Wheelie to guide the to the rescue, Sludge, of all characters, is required to deliver an excruciatingly overwrought speech explaining that the Dinobot saw the others get captured and stealthily followed them to the Quintesson palace.
    • Having been deprived of an introductory scene, Weelie appears out of nowhere once the fighting is over. The need to have him introduce himself and explain his deal in one speech bubble (the only line of dialogue he gets in the entire adaptation) means he doesn't get to talk in rhyme.
  • While the film intercuts the Quintessa scenes with scenes of the Autobots crashing on Junkion and battling the Decepticons there, the comic presents them as one unbroken run, rather than split the story over two issues.

Visual differences from the film, resulting from incomplete or outdated reference material include:

  • Starscream has no extra coronation vestments, lacking both his famous crown and cape.
  • The ship in which Jazz and Cliffjumper try to escape the moon is not drawn using the model of a Lithonian ship (as seen in the finished movie, but not the comic) as reference. Also, it's upside down.
  • The auto-combatant bears only a loose resemblance to its animated counterpart.

Continuity and plotting errors

  • The abridged dialogue during Hot Rod and Kup's trial scene removes the Quintesson's warning that the Autobots will be "held in contempt of this court." However, Hot Rod's response—"I have nothing but contempt for this court!"—is retained, turned into a simple non-joke statement, lacking the set-up or emphasis in his delivery that makes it a pun.
  • In accordance with the script, as noted above, the Sharkticon pit is depicted as a gladiator pit when Hot Rod, Kup, and Grimlock are thrown in to it. However, earlier, when Kranix is tossed in, it appears as it does in the finished film, as a water-filled pit, though the script never describes it in this way even during this scene.
  • Spike refers to Unicron by name, but there's no way for him to know the monster planet's name, as Hot Rod and Kup have only just learned it from Kranix themselves.

Art and technical errors

  • Hot Rod's right arm is in a pretty crazy position on the cover. He's apparently the most thorough proctologist on Cybertron or Quintessa. Also, only the two Sharkticons being tossed about by Hot Rod and Grimlock have antennae.
  • Page 1: Compared to last issue, in which only six figures were visible in addition to Galvatron, Cylconus, and Scourge, there are now loads of new troops for the new Decepticons to command, with at least fifteen discernible silhouettes in the background.
  • When Unicron consumes the first moon, Jazz is colored like Cliffjumper and Cliffjumper is colored like Jazz. Poor Cliffjumper; he's colored wrong in the first and second issues and then doesn't even seem to be rescued in the third.
  • On the fourth page, Ultra Magnus is described as supervising the building of two huge shuttles, but only one shuttle can be seen in front of him, and it looks different from the ones used later on.
  • The antennae on the Sharkticons appear and disappear from panel to panel, implying the artist may have been referring to multiple versions of the character models. Their color schemes also shift on occasion.

Cover

  • Issue #2:Hot Rod, Kup, and Grimlock fight the Sharkticons.

Reprints

Reprint notes

Marvel UK

  • All three issues of the mini-series were collected into one special for release in the United Kingdom. This reprint edits the date from 2005 to 2006, to keep continuity with the regular weekly comic's recent story "Target: 2006," which—working from an even older draft of the film than the one on which this adaptation was based—placed the events of the movie in that year.

IDW Transformers Classics

Like the regular monthly series, this mini-series also had its colors "remastered" for The Transformers Classics series of trade paperbacks, with varying degrees of success. The process was applied less thoroughly to these issues; notably, Hot Rod was not recolored into toy-accurate red-and-orange.

Advertisements

  • M&M's (inside cover)
  • Lazer Tag
  • Gumby and Pokey in Gum Dinger Adventures
  • Cap'n Crunch: The Amazing Spider-Man in Free the Cap'n Mystery
  • The Universal Comic Service / American Comics / New England Comics / Another World
  • Marvel Super Mart
  • U.S. Mint Lincoln Cents
  • Page of classifieds
  • Comic book conventions
  • Escape from Tenopia
  • Subscribe to Marvel Comics for as low as 54¢ a copy
  • Yamaha DX100 synthesizer
  • Dungeons & Dragons Set #5: Immortals Rules (back cover)
Retrieved from "https://tfwiki.duckdns.org/index.php?title=Judgment_Day!&oldid=1307321"