Prehistory
| ||||||
 Attack of the Clones | ||||||
| "Prehistory" (Ikisatsu) "Reason: The Whole Story" | ||||||
| Production code | TF: A-12 | |||||
| Production company | TV Tokyo, NAS | |||||
| Airdate | November 22, 2002 (English) 28 March 2003 (Japanese) | |||||
| Writer | Shōji Tonoike | |||||
| Director | Keisuke Ōnishi | |||||
| Animation studio | Actas Inc. | |||||
| Continuity | Unicron Trilogy | |||||
A Mini-Con is located on a volcanic island which soon erupts.
Synopsis
Standing over the Mini-Con panel retrieved from Antarctica, Rad muses that at last he knows what happened to Atlantis.
Up on the Moon, Megatron grumbles about the dormant Mini-Con they've picked up. Despite provoking some small amount of activity from it, he's unable to activate it.
Rad asks Optimus if there's any way to stop the ongoing war with the Decepticons, and the Autobot leader explains how the war began four million years ago when the Decepticons began overrunning Cybertron with their troops. Once the planet was divided into Decepticon and Autobot halves, the Mini-Con faction began to appear and join with both Decepticons and Autobots to increase their power. Realising that they were causing the war, the Mini-Cons opted to leave Cybertron. The Decepticons attempted to block them, but with the Autobots' help, the Mini-Con ship was able to escape. It crashed on Earth, and the rest is history. When Rad and Carlos found the first Mini-Con, they activated a signal which alerted the inhabitants of Cybertron, who sent teams to Earth.
The Mini-Con alarm goes off, and Red Alert quickly fixes the location of the latest Mini-Con on a volcanic island. The Autobots rush there with their young friends. The Decepticons also detect the Mini-Con.
On the island, Rad asks if there's any way to avoid involving the Mini-Cons in the battle, but Optimus says use of the Mini-Cons is the only way they can effectively stop the Decepticons from gaining more Mini-Cons. While they're talking, Megatron appears and opens fire on them. The Autobots return fire, with Optimus using his trailer as a weapons platform. Alexis attempts to convince Rad and Carlos that they should search for the Mini-Con, so Rad dispatches Laserbeak to scout the island.
Starscream and Megatron powerlink with their Mini-Cons, prompting the Autobot-aligned Mini-Cons to man the weapons on Optimus's trailer. Everyone is surprised, but Carlos points out that they're just fighting back. Meanwhile, Laserbeak spots the Mini-Con panel they're searching for at the end of an incomplete rail tunnel. Optimus orders his men to cover him while he retrieves the Mini-Con, but the battle is interrupted by the volcano erupting. Lava erupts from the end of the rail tunnel, carrying the Mini-Con panel. Optimus finds himself falling into an opening fissure in the ground as the lava begins spread across the island.
Red Alert tells Hot Shot to get the kids to higher ground and has Smokescreen dig a trench to divert the lava. Taken to safety, the kids spot the Mini-Con floating on top of the lava, but so do the Decepticons. Starscream prevents Hot Shot from getting it first, but the Decepticons are halted by a burst of energy from the newly arrived Optimus. Cyclonus grabs the Mini-Con but is fired on by High Wire, Grindor and Sureshock and drops it. After Red Alert snatches the Mini-Con out of mid-air, the Decepticons retreat. Once the Mini-Con panel cools down, the kids watch as the ghostly form of a Mini-Con manifests over it.
Back at base, Red Alert says that the Mini-Cons may be the key to peace in the Universe. The only way to solve the riddle as to how is to collect all of them.
Megatron tries again to awaken the Mini-Con from the ruins and at last succeeds, revealing Sonar, one of the Air Defence team who form the Star Saber sword. Megatron laughs in triumph.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Mini-Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
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|
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Quotes
"Hurry up! Destroy those Autobots! You will not escape my wrath!"
"We can't do that, Megatron! If we do, it'll give away our position!"
- —Megatron and Demolishor, the latter of whom doesn't appear to notice that the Autobots already know where they are.
"Luckily, I fell into a chasm and the lava passed right over me. I had to dig my way out, but I'm all right."
- —Optimus explains how he survived the lava.
"They're fighting to protect the universe!"
- —Alexis, Carlos and Rad, in unison.
"Niiiice"
- —Smokescreen responds in awe to Red Alert and Hot Shot powerlinxing
"Fire away, gentlemen."
- —Megatron is uncharacteristically complimentary to his troops
"Cyclonus failed me again. That figures."
- —Megatron not surprised at Cyclonus's failure
Notes
Differences with Micron Legend
- The Japanese dub has long moments of silence as Optimus recollects the history of the Transformers, and Armada gives him extra dialogue to fill those scenes.
- During the scene transitions, Armada uses a snippet of the Transformers theme from the title sequence.
- While looking at the distorted hologram of the Star Saber, the opening narration in Armada has Rad refer to the previous episode's ruins as Atlantis, and he says it was destroyed because Amphitrite's people couldn't control the Mini-Cons' power; Micron Legend removes the Atlantis reference, and Rad says he knew the sword was once in the ruins and that the Mini-Cons' power was the cause for the city's destruction.
- Depending on the dub of the previous episode, Megatron's dialogue as he fails the activate the dormant Mini-Con follows accordingly; in Armada, Megatron mysteriously knows it will stay dormant until the other two panels are found, and in Micron Legend, Megatron notices the Mini-Con is still dormant. With this episode, Megatron claims to have waited some time for the dormant Mini-Con to scan his image and awaken, and after failing to force it to awaken, Megatron surmises that he needs the other two before it will activate in Armada; in Micron Legend, it appears as though it's the first time Megatron tries to activate the Mini-Con and he's confused as to why it will not awaken.
- After High Wire speaks to Rad in Armada, Rad curiously asks what's that. Then, in his internal monologue, he wonders why the Mini-Cons are on Earth since, as Amphitrite said, no good can come from fighting the Decepticons. In Micron Legend, Rad's response to High Wire is changed to better match his mood in the scene as he is deep in thought, and he says "Ah, nothing at all...". He doesn't mention Amphitrite in his internal monologue and instead asks what the Mini-Cons want out of the war since he believes that fighting never brings anything good with it.
- Armada has Alexis claim that she knew something has been bothering Rad before Carlos asks Rad if he's thinking about what Amphitrite said, but Carlos nodding his head doesn't make sense with his dialogue; Micron Legend changes it so that Alexis asks Rad what he means about a way for the Autobots to avoid a war with the Decepticons, and then Carlos nods and says Rad is right as Amphitrite also said that the fighting should stop.
- During Prime's flashback, Armada plays the title sequence theme when the Autobots appear. Micron Legend uses a different theme for the Autobots.
- In Micron Legend, after the shot of Cybertron, there's no dialogue from Optimus until the scene of Optimus and his team in their Cybertronian forms, showing the rise of the Autobots.
- When he brings up the Mini-Cons' first appearance and not knowing their origin in Micron Legend, Optimus says we (the Autobots) instead of referring to himself.
- In Micron Legend, the shot of Megatron attaching Leader-1 to his arm is silent, and so is the shot of Sparkplug powerlinxing with Optimus. In the latter scene, Prime's line about Mini-Cons agreeing to join the Autobots against the Decepticons is changed to him saying that the Autobots had to borrow the Mini-Cons' power.
- In Armada, Optimus says the Mini-Cons believed they had caused the war despite it going on ages before they came into existence; Micron Legend fixes this mistake to have Optimus say the Mini-Cons feared their entry into the war made matters worse.
- During the scene that pans across the Mini-Cons, in Armada, Optimus says they decided to leave Cybertron and the Autobots gave their full support; in Micron Legend, Optimus only says the Mini-Cons made an important decision. His line about them deciding to leave Cybertron is heard over the shot of the planet, and then his line about the Autobots' support is heard over the scene of the Mini-Cons' ship. Optimus' line about them being loaded onto their ship is heard in the next scene showing the Mini-Cons onboard. There is no mention of a skeleton crew, the Mini-Cons entering hibernation, or them slipping under the radar.
- Micron Legend has Optimus' line about the Decepticons uncovering the plan during the scene panning across the Mini-Con panels. Then it's silent until the Mini-Cons' ship enters the warp gate and Optimus says it traveled to a new world. To fill in the silence, Armada added the bit about the Autobots trying to create a distraction.
- In Armada, Optimus says the ship was damaged by going through multiple warp gates before crash-landing on Earth four million years ago as the scene zooms out of his eye; in Micron Legend, the detail about the ship being damaged is removed as Optimus says it came to Earth. Then there's silence before he says it happened over four million years ago after the zoom out before the scene goes silent again.
- After the war flashback in Armada, Optimus immediately speaks about Rad reawakening the Mini-Cons, with it being through either a twist of fate or destiny; in Micron Legend, this doesn't happen until the scene cuts to Rad and Optimus says it was a fateful encounter. Then, in Armada, Prime repeats how Rad unknowingly activated a homing beacon that reached the Transformers on Cybertron by touching High Wire's panel. He brings up how the Autobots tried to beat the Decepticons to Earth; after this, Micron Legend has another long moment of silence until the scene showing the Mini-Cons being traced to Earth on the monitor, and instead of addressing the assembly of Autobots, Optimus tells Red Alert and Hot Shot they have no time to waste before entering the warp hole.
- After the alarm goes off, Alexis says another Mini-Con has awakened in Armada, but the Japanese dub changes her line to there being an emergency in the Pacific. Micron Legend also slightly tweaks Smokescreen's line to have him say that a Mini-Con is in the ocean again.
- Micron Legend changes Alexis' line in Armada about the volcanic island being abandoned to her noticing the decrepit water slide.
- In Armada, Optimus tells Rad the only way to stop the Decepticons from abusing the Mini-Cons' power is for the Autobots to use the Mini-Cons as well before Rad claims that to be the reason why the Mini-Cons left Cybertron. In Micron Legend, this is changed to Optimus saying that as long as the Decepticons abuse the Mini-Cons, the Autobots have no choice but to fight for their sake. Then Rad says the Mini-Cons' hatred of war is why they left Cybertron.
- The English dub has Hot Shot talk about the Decepticons ambushing the Autobots but Micron Legend has him talk about the 'Cons finally showing themselves.
- Micron Legend changes Optimus' line of him demanding the Decepticons to leave the island to him saying that he won't let them find the Mini-Con.
- Weirdly enough, when Alexis suggests they find the panel, Armada has Rad and Carlos answer no, so Alexis asks if they're scared before Rad suggests using Laserbeak. Micron Legend changes it to the boys answering no after Alexis asks them if they want the Decepticons to find the Mini-Con.
- In Armada, Megatron commands his troops to destroy the Autobots and Demolisher says that doing so would give away their position; in Micron Legend, Megatron says to not let the Autobots phase them and push forward, and Demolisher tells him they can't move their "line of suppressing fire" anymore.
- Armada has Starscream saying they should send in a Mini-Con before powerlinxing with Swindle and unleashing the Null Laser Cannon; Micron Legend has Starscream say the Autobots are focused on finding the panel.
- Carlos is just as confused as Rad about why the Mini-Cons start shooting at the Decepticons in the Japanese dub.
- In Micron Legend, Megatron is also confused by this development but, in Armada, he just states the obvious about the Mini-Cons firing at the 'Cons.
- Megatron calls Starscream a "stupid lunkhead" after shooting and nearly hitting the Mini-Con panel in Micron Legend.
- The music playing when Optimus returns is heard more clearly in Micron Legend.
- Instead of being shocked by Prime's return and claiming he finished off the Autobot leader, Megatron curses Optimus. Then Armada has Optimus once again tell Megatron to leave the island. Micron Legend changes Prime's line and connects it to the Mini-Cons as he says that he'll never let Megatron abuse their power.
- In Armada, Optimus claims he fell into a cavern and the lava passed over him before he dug his way out. His answer in Micron Legend is slightly more confusing as he says the ground gave out beneath him but he was saved before falling into the river of lava.
- As High Wire, Sureshock, and Grindor fire at Cyclonus, Armada has the children say the Mini-Cons are not only protecting their own kind, but they also want to save the planet and are fighting to protect the universe; in Micron Legend, the children translate what the Mini-Cons are saying as "We won't run away...We won't give up our comrades...In order to protect them...we'll fight together for their sake!"
- In the Japanese dub, Cyclonus doesn't say anything before getting shot.
- Rather than singling out Cyclonus for the mission failing, Megatron calls all of his men "stupid morons" before ordering a retreat. Cyclonus also doesn't moan about being "robbed".
- In Armada, after Rad says the Mini-Cons also want to fight, Optimus says "I know" as he nods, and when Rad says the kids will keep helping out, Optimus says it's not necessary. In Micron Legend, Optimus nods and then says "But.." before Rad cuts him off, and Optimus tells him this isn't the children's fight.
- In Armada, Demolisher asks Megatron if he can activate the dormant Mini-Con and Megatron says he should be able to now that the Autobots found the other two panels, and Megatron demands the Mini-Con to reveal itself. In Micron Legend, Demolisher notices something about the panel and Megatron wonders if it's because all three have now been uncovered.
- Megatron refers to the Star Saber as simply "his sword" in Micron Legend instead of "my Saber Sword" as he does in Armada.
Animation and technical errors
- It's stated that Optimus leaves Cybertron in Thrust's hands. However, "Thrust" is actually Jetfire—the silhouette shown is clearly Jetfire with the shuttle wings removed. This is corrected in the Japanese dub.
- When Smokescreen says "And they're not getting the Mini-Con either", he has two antenna/horns instead of one.
- When the Autobots and Decepticons are having their firefight, Smokescreen's antenna/horn is colored yellow as if it were part of Hot Shot's body.
- During the flashback showing the history of the Transformers, the close-up of Megatron after powerlinxing with Leader-1 debuted in the first episode and it will be reused in some episodes after this. Plus, the scene of Megatron and Optimus pushing against each other as their hands are locked is also recycled animation from the first episode.
- In the shot of Rad and Alexis while the kids and Mini-Cons are hiding, Rad is frozen with an out-of-place happy expression.
- When Megatron says, "Hurry up! Destroy those Autobots! You will not escape my wrath!", he says "You" instead of "They".
- Demolisher tells Megatron that destroying the Autobots would give away the Decepticons' position even though the Autobots already know where they are.
- In the shot of Rad and Alexis while the kids and Mini-Cons are hiding, Rad is frozen with an out-of-place happy expression.
- In some shots, there's either an Autobot insignia or red spot on Smokescreen's roof in vehicle mode.
- Some of the Decepticons are either missing their insignia(s) or they're badly drawn as plain shapes lacking detail.
- When the Transformers powerlinx in this episode, their voices sound a bit off.
- The Autobots look off-model in their last scene at the base.
- In one scene at the end, Rad looks cross-eyed.
- In the ending scene, Megatron refers to the Star Saber as the "Saber Sword".
- As per Armada tradition, Sureshock and Grindor's names are mixed up throughout the episode, and Alexis refers to Sureshock as a male instead of female.
Continuity errors
- It's as if Rad has already forgotten about the Star Saber despite getting a clear look at it in the previous episode.
- Megatron wonders why the Mini-Con retrieved in the previous episode won't wake up, but when he collected it, he stated that there was a reason why it won't wake up.
- Smokescreen's small hook makes a surprisingly large trench while diverting the lava.
- So according to Optimus Prime, the Mini-Cons appeared during the war out of nowhere with no known origin for them, and they leave because... they were the cause of this war that was going on years before anyone knew they even existed.
Other errors
- Optimus Prime says the lava passed over him while he was in a chasm. Somehow, this lava doesn't respond normally to gravity.
Transformers references
- Cybertron is seen in Prime's flashback, as well as practically everyone's Cybertronian form.
- In Optimus Prime's flashback, several G1 character models were used as generic Transformers, including those of Beachcomber, Crosshairs, and (once again) Skyfire and Hound.
Real-world references
- Rad seems to think the underwater city in the previous episode actually was Atlantis.
Trivia
- The kanji 理由 would be pronounced as "riyū", while "ikisatsu" is used for the kanji 経緯.
- Over a quarter of this episode is taken up with the flashback recounting the history of the war.
- The idea of an abandoned theme park on a volcanic island where the volcano suddenly erupts while people are there looking for something important sounds very familiar.
- This episode marks the first time the term "powerlinx" is used.
Foreign localization
German
- Title: "Die Vulkaninsel" ("The Volcanoisland")
- 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: "Tűzhányó" ("Volcano")
- When the kids call out the names of the Mini-Cons who've taken up battle stances, they leave out Sparkplug. So when the shot cuts to him, there's just awkward silence. Most likely, the translator got so confused by all the name inconsistencies, he didn't know what to call him. He won't get his own name until later.
Polish
- Title: "Prehistoria" ("Prehistory")
French
- Title: "Le volcan" ("The Volcano")
Korean
- Title: "평화의 수호자 마이크론" ("Guardians of Peace: Micron")
Home video releases
- DVD
2003 — Transformers: Micron Legend — Volume 3 (Columbia Music Entertainment) — Japanese audio only.
2003 — Transformers: Armada — Vol:04 (Warner Music Video)
2004 — Transformers: Armada — Flashbacks (Rhino Entertainment)
2004 — Transformers: Armada — Season One: Part One (Rhino Entertainment)
2005 — Transformers: Armada — Vol:04 (Universal)
2008 — Transformers: Armada — Volume One (New KSM) — English and German audio.
2014 — Transformers: Armada — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)
