Trial of Megatron, Part 1
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 I'm sure we'll find out Sari's origin this time! | ||||||
| "Trial of Megatron, Part 1" | ||||||
| Airdate | August 17, 2019 (TFNation 2019) | |||||
| Written by | Marty Isenberg | |||||
| Continuity | Animated cartoon continuity | |||||
In the aftermath of the Decepticons' defeat, an unprepared Optimus Prime is pushed into conflict with Sentinel Prime for the position of Autobot leader — and Sentinel isn't afraid to play dirty.
Synopsis
Act I
On a newsreel, Optimus Prime leads Megatron, Shockwave, and Lugnut through the streets. The newsbot Uplink presents several soundbite interviews with Optimus Prime and his Autobots. Optimus has the Magnus Hammer but plans to return it to Ultra Magnus as soon as he gets the chance. Bumblebee is characteristically excited, Ratchet is characteristically cranky. Jazz plays it cool as always. Arcee, while glad to be back, is disoriented by everything that's happened in all the stellar cycles she's missed. Bulkhead, meanwhile, is overwhelmed by all the attention - they're celebrities, just like they were upon their arrival on Earth.
The protoforms which were stolen by the Decepticons have all been recovered, along with the AllSpark, and entrusted to the Cyber-Ninja Corps led by Dai Atlas.
Not all of the Autobots are so warmly welcomed. Omega Supreme - a living reminder of the Great War - is shunned by Cybertron's populace. Many of them are terrified outright by Sari Sumdac, having never seen an organic being before.
Optimus is hailed as being responsible for the victory, and the public wants him to be the next Magnus. When Uplink points this out, Sentinel Prime is quick to downplay his rival's achievements.
The feed cuts to Blitzwing, Sunstorm and Ramjet, being held in the new Trypticon Prison in Kaon. Their mouths are clamped shut and they wear stasis cuffs. Mini-Cons attend to them. Uplink asks why the Decepticons are being held in their own ex-capital-city. Sentinel states that it breaks their spirits. When Uplink suggests that the starving Decepticons have nothing to lose, all he has to say is "bring it on".
A memorial for Prowl is held at the Cyber-Ninja Dojo, presided by Jazz. Arcee stares at the protoforms. She no longer has any students of her own - but she might do soon. Seeing this, Sari offers to be Arcee's student, hoping to find out more about her own Cybertronian origins and the world she finds herself in. Prowl's body is lowered into a forge, where it is turned into a brand new protoform just like the others.
Sentinel arrives, having missed the funeral entirely. He declares that he's too busy as Magnus and begins to speak insensitively about "Pow-Wow" - but is caught on camera by Uplink. He changes tone mid-sentence, praising Prowl. Disgusted, Jazz rips off his Elite Guard stripes.
Sentinel turns to Optimus and demands the Magnus Hammer. Optimus agrees that it's time the hammer was returned to its rightful owner - Ultra Magnus, that is - and leaves.
When Optimus finally gives the hammer back to Ultra Magnus, it temporarily revives the comatose leader. Ultra Magnus declares that he was wrong about Optimus Prime's programming - the younger Autobot did have the makings of a hero all along - and hands the hammer back. Optimus Prime doesn't know what to say; so far as he's concerned, he was just doing his job. As he remarks that it would be refreshing to see a Magnus with humility, Ultra Magnus finally dies.
Alpha Trion is not so easily moved, and declares that the council will make the final decision as to who will succeed Ultra Magnus. "Not if I have anything to do about it," says an overhearing Sentinel.
Act II
Ratchet prepares for the reopening of Maccadam's Old Oil House. Arcee doesn't want to go, and neither does Omega Supreme; he doesn't fit in - literally. Sari, meanwhile, is much too small for the bot-sized furniture. Omega Supreme flies off as the Autobots shriek at Sari.
The rest of Optimus Prime's crew are also at Maccadam's. Sentinel is too - he stands at the back with Jetstorm, Jetfire, and some Autotroopers. Bumblebee teases his old classmate Ironhide, despite Bulkhead's best efforts to stop him. Sari, meanwhile, resorts to using her jetpack to remain at eye level with the larger bots. She can't drink oil - she has enough energon to last her a lifetime.
Rattletrap begins to spread rumours that Optimus Prime is to become the next Magnus, and snaps a photo with the Autobot. Sentinel's Autotroopers try to shut him down, but it's no use - Bumblebee toasts Optimus Magnus. Furious, Sentinel sics the Autotroopers on Bumblebee - but the rest of the Autobots come to his defense, and things quickly escalate into a full-blown bar brawl. All of this is recorded by Uplink - including, embarrassingly, one moment where Optimus comes to Sentinel's rescue.
The next day, Sentinel sees the broadcast, and smashes the screen in anger. Arcee is preparing material for Sari's lessons when Ratchet arrives with a gift - a pair of laser swords. He admits that he was actually trying to make laser pointers, but got a little carried away. He says that things at Maccadam's didn't go the way he'd hoped, and asks Arcee on a second date. She agrees, but just as Ratchet suggests that they do something that night, Ironhide arrives, summoning Ratchet to the Project Omega lab.
Wheeljack, Perceptor and Red Alert are already at the lab. Sentinel tasks them and Ratchet to build him a suit of flying armour, dubbing the assignment "Project Powermaster". He expects results within the decacycle.
Out in deep space, a bored Beachcomber pilots an energon transport ship and bemoans his job - at least he's not on space bridge repair duty. Suddenly, the lights go off. Blackout punches his way into the ship from the outside and grabs Beachcomber, draining the life from the Autobot in mere moments. He heads back outside, shifting to vehicle mode, and begins to tow the ship away.
Act III
In her classroom, Arcee lectures Sari about the life cycle of Cybertronians: after a protoform is molded, it is given life by the AllSpark. Under her breath, Sari remarks that she actually misses Tutor Bot - when Arcee tells her to share that remark with the rest of the class, Sari snaps back that she is the rest of the class. At that moment, Bumblebee and Bulkhead arrive with Burger Bot hamburgers brought from Earth via space bridge. Thanks to a "subspace tachyon transmitter" installed in Sumdac Tower by Bulkhead, Sari is able to speak to her father.
All around Detroit, strange crystalline growths are forming - raw energon. Sari impresses Arcee by linking this phenomenon to the AllSpark. When Sumdac sees the protoforms, he doesn't recognise them - apparently, Sari's was much smaller. Bumblebee promises that they'll find answers, and they go to the Cyber-Ninja Dojo, where Jazz - at Optimus Prime's word - lets them in. Sari doesn't know what to ask the AllSpark.
Ultimately, she doesn't have to ask anything - the ghost of Prowl appears, having become one with the AllSpark, and tells her that she has become the key to the future of Cybertron and Earth. The AllSpark grants visions to those present: Sari sees a spark merging with a DNA double-helix; Optimus Prime sees a larger version of himself fighting Megatron; Bumblebee sees himself wearing Elite Guard stripes.
Sentinel Prime meets Cliffjumper outside of the Metroplex, and asks the commander of Cybertron Intelligence to help make him look good. Cliffjumper is sceptical of this request, noting that it falls outside his job description, but Sentinel persists - asking not just as a leader, but as a friend. Cliffjumper bluntly remarks that he's neither.
Rattletrap arrives, and says that he has a photo of Optimus Prime being friendly with Megatron. It turns out to be the photo of Optimus Prime and Rattletrap at Maccadam's, with Megatron's head crudely edited in place of Rattletrap's. Sentinel sends Rattletrap off, but the photo's given him an idea of his own.
Bulkhead returns to the energon farms on the moon. The Cybertronian energon is withering - Earth energon is ten times more potent, but because of its organic component it cannot be grown on Cybertron. Another Autobot, Trac-Tor, tends to the crops. The harvest gets worse every year - whoever controls the energon controls the planet.
Back on Cybertron, Sentinel, Jetstorm and Jetfire meet with Bumblebee. Sentinel invites Bumblebee to join the Elite Guard - leading the Autobot to remember his vision - on the condition that he endorses Sentinel as Magnus. Bumblebee is conflicted, and requests time to think on the matter - Sentinel gives him one solar cycle to make up his mind.
Once Bumblebee is gone, the twins ask Sentinel why he's stooped to bribery. "It's war," says Sentinel. Ironhide arrives with an urgent message, but Sentinel doesn't notice - he's too busy cooking up another plan, one which requires an unremarkable Autobot which he can plant as Optimus Prime's bodyguard to get dirt on his rival. Eventually, the twins point out Ironhide, and Sentinel realises Ironhide will be perfect for the job.
Bulkhead is enjoying the relative quiet of the energon farm... but not for long. Suddenly, General Obsidian and a strike force of Decepticons attack!
Quotes
"His spark still grooves with us."
- —Jazz gives Prowl's eulogy.
"I'm splitsville on the Elite Guard. From now on, I'm swingin' a full-time Cyber-Ninja gig."
- —Jazz leaves the Elite Guard.
"Humility... something that would be refreshing to see in a Magnus."
- —Ultra Magnus passes the torch.
"Dude, that is so not cool... seriously dude, what do you get by taking meee offffliiiiiine..."
"A message."
- —Beachcomber is (finally) murdered by Blackout.
"Once you carried the key... now you are the key... to the future of Cybertron... and Earth."
- —The ghost of Prowl foreshadows events that won't occur later in the season.
"So what is its will? What does it want?"
"What it wants, has always wanted... life."
- —Bumblebee and Prowl discuss the motivations of the AllSpark.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Humans | Others |
|---|---|---|
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Development
Before each season of Transformers Animated was greenlit, the production staff would come up with story ideas and a wishlist of things they wanted to include. Prior to the fourth season, because of restrictions put in place by Cartoon Network, Hasbro had story editor Marty Isenberg create a full set of outlines for its three-part-opener. For a variety of reasons, the fourth season was never greenlit, and those outlines languished in Isenberg's drawer for a decade. Things changed when the organisers of TFNation 2019 invited Isenberg to the UK-based Transformers convention, and he offered to bring the outline with him to read - on the express condition that nobody be allowed to record it.
The convention organisers expected Isenberg to read the draft himself - what they didn't expect was for him to get in touch with the entirety of the show's original cast, asking them to record narration and dialogue, and for the entire cast (well, bar two) to agree to reprise their original roles in that fashion. Eric Siebenaler even created brand new designs for Uplink, Trac-Tor and an Animated version of Obsidian - the three new characters introduced in the three-part opener - which were used by the convention organisers to create artwork to accompany the reading.
Although recording was strictly prohibited at the event, a couple of people took extensive notes throughout the reading, which were adapted into a full summary for The Allspark fansite.
Notes
- When Marty Isenberg was writing these episodes, he asked Derrick J. Wyatt if he knew of any Transformer journalists. None sprang to Wyatt's mind, and thus Uplink was born. When the outline was read at TFNation 2019, Uplink served as the story's narrator; his part was played by fan (and professional voice actor) Chris Finney.
- Trac-Tor was an in-joke amongst the Animated production team. Isenberg didn't know if Hasbro would be onboard with the character or not, but threw him in the outline anyway. He was voiced by TFNation guest Peter Spellos.
- Obsidian makes his Animated debut in this episode, though he receives no dialogue in the outline. He and Strika have their origins in Beast Machines, for which Isenberg was a story editor.
- Though Bumper Robinson returned to voice Bumblebee, he did not reprise his role as Blackout, whose voice was instead provided by TFNation staff member David Wallace.
- Tara Strong did not return to reprise her role as Sari, whose voice was instead provided by fan Aimee "Ladywreck" Morgan.
- According to Isenberg, Beachcomber had originally been slated to die in an episode of the third season. At the time, he'd asked Wyatt for an established character he'd be able to kill without anyone getting mad, and Wyatt - apparently without hesitation - put forward Beachcomber. As originally planned, Beachcomber would have seen Shockwave converting from his Longarm disguise, and would've said "Dude, not cool." Shockwave, raising his weapon, would've said "I have a very simple explanation," to which Beachcomber would've responded "I don't get it..."
- It's worth noting that, had production on these episodes gone ahead, Hasbro would almost certainly have rejected or modified many aspects of their plot. Isenberg threw everything he could at the outlines, fully expecting not all of it to make its way into the finished product.
- Although the Mini-Cons are not named individually in the outline, designs for five of them appeared in The AllSpark Almanac Addendum. Grindor, Sureshock, and High Wire were based on their Street Action Mini-Con Team namesakes, but the other two seem to have been designed with their role as Megatron's helpers in mind: Leader-1 (Animated) is based on Armada Megatron's Powerlinx partner, while DUCK-E might have been inspired by Beast Wars Megatron's famous Rubber Ducky.
- The beat in which Isaac Sumdac notes that Sari's protoform was much smaller than the protoforms seen in this episode is another piece of the puzzle that is her origin. Though this mystery would've been explored over the course of the season, Isenberg has actually stated that they never really worked it out! However, with the fourth season of the show having originally been pitched as having a strong emphasis on Maximals and Predacons, which historically have had much smaller protoforms than Autobots and Decepticons...
- While this is pure speculation, it'd be remiss of us not to highlight Prowl's dialogue: "You are the key... to the future of Cybertron... and Earth." Perhaps Sari's protoform would've literally have turned out to have come from the future?
- In The AllSpark Almanac II, the title for the three-part opener to the fourth season was given as "The Trial of Megatron" - however, TFNation consistently referred to it simply as "Trial of Megatron", and this was reflected in the reading itself. We've gone with the latter.
