Palace
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 Not this world's Keyhole. | ||||||
| "Palace" (Takara) "Temple: Treasure" | ||||||
| Production code | TF: A-08 | |||||
| Production company | TV Tokyo, NAS | |||||
| Airdate | October 18, 2002 (English) 28 February 2003 (Japanese) | |||||
| Writer | Akira Okeya | |||||
| Director | Takashi Sano | |||||
| Animation studio | Actas Inc. | |||||
| Continuity | Unicron Trilogy | |||||
The Autobots detect a Mini-Con in the desert, but its panel is hidden away in a strange temple underground...
Synopsis
Following up on an old tale, the Decepticons have arrived in the Sahara Desert to attempt to locate a Mini-Con. Demolishor lays in ambush and fires on a passing helicopter which turns out to be an indignant Cyclonus, who reports no success in locating the Mini-Con. After complaining about the ubiquitous sand, Cyclonus takes off again, the wash from his rotors covering Demolishor with sand. The tank Decepticon is further put out when the ground begins falling away.
The Mini-Con alarm also sends the Autobots with their three young human friends to the desert, where Hot Shot immediately discovers that his tires don't get much in the way of traction. They prepare to search the desert on foot, but before they get the chance, Demolishor shells them. While the kids and their Mini-Cons scatter, the Autobots take cover and attempt to locate the source of the weapons fire. Hot Shot combines with Jolt to attempt to return fire, and is almost blasted but Optimus knocks him out of the way.
Alexis spots Demolishor, but before the three kids can execute a diversion, the panicked Decepticon begins sinking into the sand. As Rad shouts a warning, Carlos also falls into the growing hole and is grabbed by Grindor. Demolishor calls out to Megatron as he disappears beneath the sand and, up on the Moon, Starscream reports the SOS to their leader. The kids all begin sinking into the pit, too, and Rad releases Laserbeak to fetch help.
Meanwhile the Autobots have realised that the kids are missing, and begin looking for them. They quickly locate Laserbeak in the sand but their search is interrupted by the arrival of Megatron, Cyclonus and Starscream.
The kids recover to find themselves in a mysterious ruined ancient palace in a cavern beneath the desert. They explore in the hopes of finding a way out, and find the Mini-Con symbol carved into a ceiling. After a discussion on what it might mean, Alexis warns the others to watch out for Decepticons, who'll be hunting for the Mini-Con as well.
Topside, the Autobots and Decepticons fight. Megatron enquires what they've done with Demolishor, but Optimus naturally doesn't know.
In the ruin, Carlos sees a glowing eye symbol appearing on the wall and believes he's seeing things. He joins his friends only to realise that there are a couple dozen glowing red eye symbols floating in the air ahead of them. They find themselves surrounded by terrible metal spider-like creatures. The kids are within a hairbreadth of death, but Demolisher is not far from them and, hearing their cries, begins breaking through walls to find them. He soon locates the three kids and their Mini-Cons. Demolishor is promptly attacked by the mechanical spiders, unwittingly saving Rad and his friends.
Above ground, the battle still rages on. Megatron wonders again where Demolishor's gotten to.
While Demolishor deals with the spider-robots, the kids go farther and arrive in a splendid and stately throne room. They stumble on a large statue-lined chamber, at the end of which is the Mini-Con storage panel they've been searching for. After admiring the sight for some time, Carlos steps forward and triggers a trap and Rad has to save him from a huge falling boulder. Demolishor turns up, having disposed of the mechanical spiders, and heads for the Mini-Con panel as well. As the kids move to block him, the floor begins caving in, cutting them off from both Decepticon and Mini-Con. Demolishor manages to cling to the side, climbing back up and running along the floor as it collapses behind him. To add to his troubles, the statues begin firing energy pulses at him as well. The three Street Action Mini-Cons combine into Perceptor in order to save Rad and Carlos from another falling boulder. Finally Demolisher is able to grab the Mini-Con and begins making for the surface in tank mode.
Up above, the warring Transformers are startled when the ground begins falling away. Demolishor climbs out of the growing pit to report success in obtaining the Mini-Con. As Hot Shot jumps into the pit, Demolishor activates the new Mini-Con, Bonecrusher, and begins firing on the Autobots. Megatron orders a withdrawal as they've obtained the Mini-Con and the Decepticons teleport away. Hot Shot soon emerges from the sand carrying Perceptor and the three kids.
Back on the Moon, Megatron demands that Demolishor hand over the Mini-Con to him, as punishment for disobeying his orders to only stand lookout in the desert. The Decepticon objects, but Megatron forces him to obey. Starscream witnesses the scene, lacking his usual fiendish delight; though he's not a friend of Demolishor, he understands that Megatron treats him unjustly.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Mini-Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"I tell ya, I got sand in my mouth, sand in my joints; I even have sand in places I'd rather not mention, but no Mini-"
"Well, keep looking!"
- —Cyclonus and Demolishor hate sand.
"You think any mole-like dudes live down here?"
"Boy, Carlos, with your imagination, you should write comic books. You are one strange guy."
- —Carlos and Rad explore the ruined palace.
"Hey you, what have you done with the humans?"
"I ate them. And they were quite tasty, too."
- —Hot Shot talks about the kids, but Demolishor is only concerned with food.
"But that isn't fair, sir!"
"Not fair? Why I'll show you what's not fair."
"Well, actually sir, you really don't have to."
"No no no, really, I insist. I said I was going to show you what's not fair and so I shall show you what's not fair. Why don't you come a little closer, Demolishor, so I can give you a hands-on demonstration, yesss."
- —Demolishor and Megatron.
Notes
Differences with Micron Legend
- There's a lot of silence in the Micron Legend version of this episode, from un-narrated flashbacks to long pans of desert sands, to characters wandering through hallways and staring off into the middle distance, and Armada is determined to fill as much of it as it can with noise, whether it's in the form of narration from Rad, or characters grunting, gasping, growling, laughing under their breath, or making that dreaded "uh?" sound. To wit...
- The first minute or so of this episode is silent in Micron Legend, with no dialogue spoken until Cyclonus transforms. Armada adds in a narration from Rad over the "prologue" segment, talking about the history of the Mini-Con panel and a legend surrounding it (which is never suggested to be a known story in Micron Legend) then some filler dialogue from Demolishor about "spotting a bogey" (the incoming Cyclonus).
- While Armada has Cyclonus complaining about all the places on his body he's wound up getting sand stuck, in Micron Legend, he's complaining about being on the job alone, and angrily suggests Demolishor should be searching too. Demolishor snaps back that Megatron ordered him to stand lookout, which sets up the final gag scene of the episode, but which in Armada is turned into him ordering Cyclonus back to work, despite the gag remaining unchanged for the Armada version of the episode.
- As the kids suit up and the Autobots warp out, Micron Legend has Carlos observe, in a voiceover narration, that the kids are looking forward to a trip to the desert, even though they know it's for a serious matter. In Armada, this is replaced with Carlos explaining (to the audience, we guess?) that the alarm sounding means a Mini-Con has been detected (stating the obvious, much?). Armada also has brief lines from Hot Shot and Red Alert to fill in the silence of the sequence from the Japanese version. Both versions play different music during the scene but Armada edition has it seamlessly flow into the opening bumper.
- When Hot Shot gets stuck in the sand upon arrival in the desert, the tone of his exchange with Carlos is a little different between versions. In Armada, Carlos sarcastically informs him that he'll never get out of the sand in vehicle mode, so Hot Shot transforms, thanking him for the advice. In Micron Legend, on the other hand, Carlos notes exasperatedly that the kids already told Hot Shot he wouldn't be able to travel over the sand in vehicle mode, and Hot Shot's response is a sarcastic "Know-it-all!" harrumph. Hot Shot's reluctance to take their advice is what prompts Optimus to make his speech about listening to the kids who know more about Earth than the Transformers do, the tone of which doesn't quite follow naturally from the way Armada plays the scene.
- In Micron Legend, after Hot Shot bellyaches about where they should look for the Mini-Con, Red Alert says "More than likely we don't know where to look." He talks about setting up a grid system in Armada.
- The kids screaming as Demolishor's shots go over the team's heads is removed in the Japanese version.
- In Armada, as the Autobots take cover after Demolishor's opening shots, Red Alert says he doesn't detect any Decepticons, and Hot Shot pointlessly says they should keep their heads down. Micron Legend removes Red's line and instead Hot Shot asks where the shots came from.
- In Armada, Hot Shot guesses Demolishor to be the one shooting at the Autobots and Optimus tells him to pipe down unless he wants Demolishor to lock on to them. Micron Legend changes this a bit so the dialogue makes sense as Hot Shot wants the Autobots to attack but Optimus tells him to stay down instead of keeping quiet. *Micron Legend removes Hot Shot saying "Holy cow!" when Demolishor fires at him and changes his following line about Demolishor having the Autobots pinned down to "No way we can easily see each other".
- As the kids sneak around to the side of Demolishor, Rad's dialogue in Micron Legend suggests they're going to attack him somehow. Armada changes this to them merely intending to catch his attention with a distraction; interestingly, earlier in Armada, when Rad suggests looking for whoever fired at them, Carlos' response matches the Japanese version.
- In Armada, Demolishor laughs while shooting at the Autobots and exclaims as the sand gives way beneath him. He is silent during the scene in Micron Legend.
- Micron Legend changes the tone of Carlos' response to Rad just before he nearly falls into the sandpit from laid-back to worrisome, and Rad's line about the dune sinking into a pit is removed.
- In Micron Legend, when Demolishor sinks into the sand, his cry for Megatron to save him is an entreaty bellowed to the heavens. Armada reframes it as a literal SOS message he transmits to the Decepticon base, where Starscream informs Megatron of it. In Micron Legend, Starscream reports that contact with Demolishor has been lost, not that a message was received.
- Similarly, in Micron Legend, as the kids sink along with Demolishor, Rad calls out for Optimus to save them before sending Laserbeak out to get him; in Armada, he addresses his words to Laserbeak himself.
- In the following scene after the sandpit closes, Micron Legend removes some lines of dialogue added to the English dub, such as Optimus' saying the Autobots should wait to be sure, Hot Shot being sick of waiting, and Prime saying that he has a bad feeling.
- After finding Laserbeak in the sand, Armada has Optimus asking Hot Shot what's wrong and the latter saying that it does not look good; Micron Legend removes these lines and only has Prime referring to Hot Shot. Hot Shot's line about the kids being in trouble is changed in the Japanese dub to have him only say Carlos' name.
- Upon awakening underground, in Armada, Alexis asks where she is, Carlos says they are in some sort of pyramid, and Rad asks "What is that?" ('That' being the archway); Micron Legend changes it so that Alexis realizes they're alive, and both Carlos and Rad ask where they are.
- When Starscream warps into the desert in Armada, his chortle is slightly exaggerated; in Micron Legend, it's more subtle and sinister.
- Micron Legend has Optimus say Megatron's name as the shot finishes panning from Starscream to the Decepticon leader; Armada has Prime say the snarkier "Megatron, what an unpleasant surprise."
- When the Decepticons appear, Micron Legend has Optimus declare that the Autobots have no choice but to delay searching for the missing humans until they have defeated their enemies, and Hot Shot (via internal monologue) hopes that the kids will stay safe until then. Armada sucks all meaning out the scene, with Optimus instead talking about finding the Mini-Con later, not the kids, and Hot Shot's thoughts being about nothing more than how easy it will be to beat the Decepticons.
- As at the start of the episode, the first minute or so of the episode's second half (after the mid-episode commercial bumper) is silent in Micron Legend, but features an irrelevant, dead-air-killing narration from Rad in Armada that's mostly dedicated to recapping the first half of the episode you just watched and is pronouncedly unrelated to the actual animation, which continues wordlessly telling the story of the merchant from the prologue, as he brings the Mini-Con panel before the pharaoh who will use it to build the pyramid.
- In Micron Legend, as the kids walk through the pyramid, Carlos and Rad are both in awe of the place, Rad recognizes it as the base of a shrine, and Carlos wonders if it was originally built underground, with Alexis chiming in to explain it was likely buried because of the desert's shifting sands, prompting Carlos to compliment her intelligence as something he would expect from a future president. Armada warps this into more irrelevant gibberish, as Carlos says the place "gives him the willies" and he wonders if "mole-like dudes" live in this underground city, Rad says the feeling is mutual and tells Carlos he is a "strange guy" who should use his imagination to "write comic books," and Alexis chips in to be a bad feminist by mocking the two "men" for hanging back and being scared while a "woman" takes the lead, resulting in Carlos responding angrily that he isn't scared of anything. Whatever, Armada.
- This continues into the next exchange, in which Armada has Carlos make fun of Alexis for acting like "an archaeologist," delivering his "Harrison Ford" joke before Rad tells him to knock it off, while in Micron Legend, he's again just agreeing with her, complimenting her knowledge, and Rad says the Mini-Con may be "happy to be found again."
- Micron Legend: the "shrine" was built to "worship" the Mini-Con panel. Armada: the "palace" was built to "honor" the Mini-Con panel. Subtle, but...
- In Armada, Alexis tells the boys to look out for any Decepticons since they're also searching for the Mini-Con, and when Rad says "We'll beat'em", his neutral tone of voice doesn't match his facial animation; in Micron Legend, Alexis tells Rad that he's right since Demolishor is somewhere nearby too and they have to find the panel before he does and, more in line with his animation, Rad excitedly says "Okay, let's go!"
- After the glowing eye appears on the wall and vanishes, Carlos's lines are slightly edited in Micron Legend. He says seeing the eye was just his imagination and he must have been startled, then he asks Rad and Alexis if they feel the same, and while the kids see the multiple floating eyes, Micron Legend removes his line of asking Rad and Alexis to tell him that he's not imagining things.
- Micron Legend extends the children's screaming so that it flows naturally into the scene of Demolishor wondering what he just heard. Then in Micron Legend, he asks what is going on, while he demands whoever is there to speak up in Armada.
- Armada has Rad state the obvious about the kids now having company, before comically resigning himself to his doomed fate. Micron Legend changes this to Rad asking what the spiderbots are and saying there are too many of them.
- In Armada, when Demolishor bursts through the wall, Carlos starts saying something about Demolishor before Rad tells him they should leave, Carlos says to the Decepticon "Hope you're not afraid of spiders!", and Demolishor demands the kids to come back. In Micron Legend, Carlos notes how Demolishor "saved" them, Rad says they should use the 'Con's appearance to make a run for it, Carlos says "We'll leave the rest to you from this point on, Ironhide!", and Demolishor tells Carlos not to mock him.
- Cutting back to the Autobots and Decepticons battling it out, Armada plays the Transformers theme in the background while Micron Legend changes it to the Autobots' theme tune.
- For the third time, Armada adds narration from Rad to the extended scene of the camera slowly panning across the statues and revealing the Mini-Con panel, which is silent in Micron Legend. This time, it just describes what we're already seeing in the animation.
- Demolishor comments on how disposing of the spiderbots was a handful, instead of inquiring about the Mini-Con as he does in Armada.
- When Demolishor spots the Mini-Con panel in Micron Legend, that's all he calls it: a panel. In Armada, this is changed to him saying "My own Mini-Con," which is nonsense since he already has a Mini-Con of his own.
- When Demolishor passes the children towards the Mini-Con, Carlos tells him to back off before going after him in Armada; Carlos simply says, "Not good!" in Micron Legend.
- Starscream apprehensively blurts out a line about the sand in Micron Legend but, for some reason, tells Megatron to move back from the pit in Armada.
- Armada omits a bit of dialogue from Micron Legend that sees Demolishor christen the Mini-Con ("Bomb," as he's known in Japan) before activating his panel and releasing him. It hasn't been clear up to this point if the Mini-Cons already have names that the 'bots learn upon bonding with them, or if they're given to them by the 'bots who activate their panels; Megatron seemed to recognize Leader-1 by name back in "Metamorphosis," but referred to Blackout by name before opening his panel in "Base."
- Instead of telling Demolishor to quit "blubbering", Megatron praises the soldier for finding the Mini-Con in Micron Legend.
- After Hot Shot asks Demolishor what has become of the kids, Armada has him utter perhaps one of his most famous lines of dialogue, quoted above: "I ate them! And they were quite tasty, too!" In Micron Legend, he merely retorts "Like I care?!" and returns to extolling the importance of the Mini-Con panel.
- When Demolishor opens fire after combining with Bonecrusher, his gun fingers make rapid laser noises in Armada, while Micron Legend uses a sound effect closer to a normal machine gun.
- Rather than "getting caught up in all of the excitement" as he does in Armada, Demolishor blames an insufficient targeting adjustment for his aiming.
- Red Alert just remembers the kids after the Decepticons retreat in Armada; in Micron Legend, he is referring to Hot Shot.
- As per the opening of this episode, Micron Legend closes with narration from Carlos, telling the audience how the kids later awoke in their beds back at base, how the Autobots were worried about them, and how much of a downer the whole experience was, not least of all because they lost the Mini-Con. Armada totally inverts the tone of this, replacing it with more narration from Rad about how great the Autobots are for taking care of the kids, even in the heat of battle.
- In Armada, Megatron extends his hand and demands Demolishor to hand over the Mini-Con before calling the latter a "spoiled bot" and demanding the Mini-Con again; Demolishors states being under the impression that the Mini-Con is now his but Megatron berates the bot for disobeying a direct order and leaving his post, which is why the Mini-Con is his now. Demolishor says it's not fair, irritating Megatron, who insists on showing the now-hesitant Demolishor what's not fair and tells the Decepticon to come closer for "a hands-on demonstration", much to Starscream's bemusement. In Micron Legend, the overall tone of the scene is the same, but the dialogue is a little different; Megatron doesn't speak until the shot of both him and Demolishor. He asks the latter what he's so surprised about before demanding the Mini-Con. Demolishor begins mumbling in protest but Megatron cuts him off with the "No, ifs, ands, or buts!" response before telling him off about leaving his post. Then Demolishor answers "How can this be?". Now aggravated, Megatron asks Demolishor if he's unhappy about something and tells Demolishor to approach him if there is. The now-fearful Demolishor tries to back out and tells Megatron he's not upset about anything, but Megatron insists that Demolishor approach him, so Demolishor gives in and complies.
Transformers references
- David Kaye was able to fit a nice long "yes" into the dialogue, a staple from his earlier Megatron.
Real world references
- While joking about archaeology, Carlos makes a reference to Harrison Ford "swinging out of the wall on a vine," alluding to Ford's famous film character, Indiana Jones.
Animation and technical errors
- When Hot Shot calls for Jolt to powerlinx with him, he refers to him as "Grindor", Carlos' partner Mini-Con.
- The shots Demolishor fires at the Autobots right before the sand gives way underneath him are Autobot-red, instead of Decepticon-purple.
- In Armada, just before Demolishor sinks into the sand and while he sinks, he strangely sounds like Cyclonus. This happens again when Demolishor laughs after grabbing the Mini-Con panel.
- In the shot of Red Alert, Optimus, and Hot Shot after finding Laserbeak in the sand, Hot Shot's right leg is miscolored light gray.
- When the Autobots are under fire from Cyclonus, the Autobot insignia on Red Alert's chest is miscolored as a white pentagon with a black outline.
- During the scene in which Megatron threatens to "send Optimus to the scrapheap", Megatron's face looks like a jumbled mess.
- When Demolishor bursts through the wall, unwittingly "saving" the kids, Carlos' line in Armada seems to be incomplete or cut short.
Trivia
- The kanji 神殿 would normally be pronounced as "shinden", while "takara" is used for the kanji 宝, 財, 貨, 寳, or 寶 (宝 is the most commonly used one).
- At the beginning of the episode, Blackout is seen sitting behind Demolishor's turret, the only instance where this function from the toy is displayed in the cartoon.
Foreign localization
Hungarian
- Title: "Sivatagi palota" ("Desert Palace")
Polish
- Title: "Pałac" ("Palace")
French
- Title: "Le temple" ("The Temple")
Korean
- Title: "사막속의 신전" ("Temple in the Desert")
Home video releases
- DVD
2003 — Transformers: Micron Legend — Volume 2 (Columbia Music Entertainment) — Japanese audio only.
2004 — Transformers: Armada — Season One: Part One (Rhino Entertainment)
2005 — Transformers: Armada — Vol:03 (Universal)
2005 — Transformers: Armada — Triple Collection (Universal)
2008 — Transformers: Armada — Volume One (New KSM) — English and German audio.
2014 — Transformers: Armada — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)
