Crisis (Armada)
| The name or term "Crisis" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Crisis (disambiguation). |
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 I would have waited an-wait, you've heard this before. | ||||||
| "Crisis" (Kiki) "Earth: Crisis" | ||||||
| Production code | TF: A-39 | |||||
| Production company | TV Tokyo, NAS | |||||
| Airdate | August 19, 2003 (English, Canada) September 26, 2003 (Japanese) October 10, 2003 (English, United States) | |||||
| Writer | Ryō Motohira | |||||
| English adaptation | Terry Klassen | |||||
| Director | Hidehito Ueda | |||||
| Animation studio | Actas Inc. | |||||
| Continuity | Unicron Trilogy | |||||
Megatron prepares to use the Hydra Cannon to destroy the Autobots' base on Earth from space.
Synopsis
As Megatron's new weapon causes panic on Earth and the sky is filled with a strong green haze, the kids don't know what action they should take next.
On board the Decepticons' ship, Megatron annoys Thrust by laughing at the tactician's silly head. To himself, Thrust mocks Megatron's silly head. Outside, the force fields block Jetfire's efforts to attack the ship.
The Autobots wonder how to destroy the Decepticon ship without killing the Mini-Cons in its core. Hot Shot angrily blames the entire situation on Starscream, and goes so far as to yell at Optimus Prime for letting Starscream join the Autobots. Instead of responding, Optimus leaves to let Hot Shot whine vengeance on the edge of sanity.
In the warp room, Optimus Prime inspects his own Matrix before Jetfire returns. When the Autobots and kids assemble in the warp room, Optimus announces he has a plan to save Earth. Hot Shot's request to join both Prime and Jetfire are shot down, and in exchange, Prime attempts to pass the Matrix on to Hot Shot, who refuses to accept it.
Starscream considers his position with the Decepticons. When requested, he puts aside the compassion he's learned and fires upon Earth, even if it harms humans. But when the shields are lowered to fire, Prime and Jetfire take advantage of the window and begin to attack.
The Decepticons rush out to fight the two Autobots. Eventually Megatron and Optimus are faced against each other, but his desire to save Earth causes Optimus to glow yellow and use his body to block the Hydra Cannon's energy blast.
Optimus Prime holds back the blast (visible on Earth). With pieces of him breaking off, he pushes the blast back over the Decepticon ship. When the cannon is spent, Optimus stands, bleached white. Right when the kids happen to see the Autobot leader standing, he shatters into tiny fragments. The kids, the other Autobots, and even Megatron shout concerned yells.
The Decepticons retreat, while Jetfire recovers Sparkplug and Optimus Prime's Matrix.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Mini-Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"But Rad, we can't stand around and not say anything while the whole stinkin' planet blows up to smithereens."
- —Carlos
"Do as the Squidhead says, men."
"...Squidhead? Even you, Megatron?"
- —Megatron begins to belittle Thrust
"What's that? You don’t enjoy my Earthly humor? Buck up, soldier, or you’ll be looking at a demotion."
"...I understand, sir."
- — Megatron tells
SquidheadThrust to take it like a man. And he takes it.
"Ha ha! Don't you just love watching those miserable mechanical morons attempt to attack me, Squidhead?"
[to self] "I wish he wouldn't call me that any more. How would he like to be called flathead?" [giggles]
"So why don't you share your little joke with everyone?"
"Ahem, I wasn't laughing, sir." [to self] "Flathead...boy, I can really dish it out."
"You...are a freak."
- —Megatron and Thrust
"You have betrayed my trust on more than one occasion, Starscream, but you always seemed to return to the Decepticon fold when it really mattered. So can I trust you this time? Well, Starscream?"
- —Megatron to Starscream, describing the problem they generally have.
Notes
Differences with Micron Legend
- In Micron Legend, Thrust's nickname for Megatron was in reference to his horns invoking the appearance of a stag beetle, instead of flatness.
- Micron Legend includes few redrawn and more detailed shots of the surface of the Hydra Cannon ship.
- After Hot Shot blames Optimus for letting Starscream join the autobots and the Autobot commander leaves, Hot Shot originally starts pounding the floor continuing to yell out his frustration over Starscream's betrayal, with Blurr commenting all of them being too naive. In Armada Hot Shot's frustration is targeted more on Optimus' desicion, with Blurr reassuring him that Starscream will soon pay.
- The poorly put together scene of Tidal Wave appearing behind Optimus (noted velow) is redrawn and re-edired to correctly have the Decepticon emerge from solidly colored explosion and smoke.
- Megatron yells "This cannot be!" while Thrust describes in shock that Optimus managed to stop the blast from the Hydra Cannon in Armada. In Micron Legend, their reactions are swithed around.
- Smokescreen's line about Optimus and Jetfire becoming invincible when they combine, following with "Isn't that right?" is pretty much identical in both versions, in Armada he sounds confused and seems to his last line as a guestion. This could be missinterpretation of the line, as in Micron Legend he speaks in boisterous tone.
- In Armada after Jetfire finds Sparkplug drifting in space holding the Matrix, he sadly and loudly declares he will never forget his commander. In the original, he painly grunts before letting out loud, agonized scream.
Animation and technical errors
- One newsreader has a name plate on his desk reading "Jhon Thompson".
- When Jetfire transforms after hitting the shield, he raises his arms presumably anticipating his shield and gun attaching, but they never appear. A moment later they are present on his arms.
- Carlos and Fred talk about attacking the Hydra Cannon with the "Cybertron ship". While the Autobots' ship is obviously ment to travel back to the Cybertron planet, the line could be an error of the japanese Cybertron faction name not being translated into Autobot.
- When Optimus is explaining that it might be the final battle, his grille is missing.
- As Optimus is blasting the Hydra Cannon, he gets shot in the back by purple blast. As he turns around, Tidal Wave just fades into the shot out of nowhere.
- As Tidal Wave falls on top of Starscream, the jet Decepticon is misscolored with all of his normally red parts being either grey or white.
- When Optimus activates the power of the Matrix to escape Megatron, his left leg is miscolored gray.
- In the Finnish dub, when Kelly reports on a bring light on the sky (the blast from the Hydra Cannon), her voice actress missreads one the words in her line, and immediately corrects herself, seemingly without an option for another take on the line.
Continuity errors
- Optimus and Megatron duel near the nose of the spaceship before the Autobot leader rushes to block the Hydra Cannon blast. When Megatron is later seen in wider shot with other Decepticons (and Jetfire) on the ship's deck, he is shown to be suddenly standing further back than others.
- Tidal Wave, last seen falling right on top of Starscream, has also disappeared.
Transformers References
- When Optimus shows Hot Shot the Matrix and identifies it, he states that it's a gift from the original Transformers, and that it holds all the data from previous commanders, like its Generation 1 counterpart.
- Optimus then asks Hot Shot to hold onto the Matrix for him. Hot Shot's Japanese name is Hot Rod, a name shared with a holder of the Matrix from Generation 1.
Trivia
- Jetfire rejects Hot Shot from joining the mission on the Decepticon ship, since the latter cannot Powe Link like him and Optimus can. Yet...
Foreign localization
German
- Title: "Die Hydra-Kanone" ("The Hydra-Cannon")
- Original airdate: This episode was never shown on TV, but was dubbed in 2003. The dub premiered in 2009 with the German DVD release of the show.
Hungarian
- Title: "Válság" ("Crisis")
Korean
- Title: "Jiguleul Jikyeola" (지구를 지켜라, "Protect the Earth")
- This episode is the marked finale of the Korean dub, effectively leaving Optimus Prime's death permanent. Wonder how Korean viewers felt at the time.
Home video releases
- DVD
2004 — Transformers: Micron Legend — Volume 10 (Columbia Music Entertainment) — Japanese audio only.
2006 — Transformers: Armada — Season One: Part Two (Rhino Entertainment)
2007 — Transformers: Armada — The Collector's Edition (Universal)
2009 — Transformers: Armada — Volume Two (New KSM) — English and German audio.
2014 — Transformers: Armada — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)
