Palace
| ||||||
 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 finding 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 annoyed when the ground begins falling away.
The Mini-Con alarm also sends the Autobots and their three human friends to the desert, where Hot Shot immediately discovers 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 strikes them. While the kids and their Mini-Cons scatter, the Autobots take cover and attempt to locate the weapons fire source. Hot Shot combines with Jolt to try returning fire and almost gets 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 Grindor grabs him. Demolishor calls out to Megatron while disappearing beneath the sand and, on the Moon, Starscream reports the SOS to their leader. The kids all begin sinking into the pit too, and Rad releases Laserbeak to get help.
Meanwhile, the Autobots have realized that the kids are missing, and begin looking for them. They quickly locate Laserbeak in the sand but their search is interrupted by Megatron, Cyclonus, and Starscream's arrival.
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 see 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 also be hunting for the Mini-Con.
The Autobots and Decepticons fight topside. 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 sees things. He joins his friends only to see a couple of 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 fraction of death, but Demolisher isn't far from them and, hearing their cries, begins breaking through walls to find them. He soon locates the kids and their Mini-Cons, but Demolishor is promptly attacked by the mechanical spiders, unwittingly saving Rad and his friends.
Above ground, the battle continues, and Megatron wonders again where Demolishor is.
While Demolishor deals with the spider-robots, the kids go farther and arrive in a grand throne room. They stumble on a vast statue-lined chamber; at the end of it is the Mini-Con storage panel for which they've been searching. After admiring the sight for some time, Carlos steps forward and triggers a trap, and Rad has to save him from a colossal 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 stop him, the floor begins caving in, cutting them off from both the Decepticon and panel. Demolishor manages to cling to the side, climbing back up and running along the floor as it collapses behind him. The statues begin firing energy pulses at him to add to his troubles. The three Street Action Mini-Cons combine into Perceptor to save Rad and Carlos from another falling boulder. Finally, Demolisher can 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 hole, 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 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
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 Legends of the Microns
- There's a lot of silence in the Legends of the Microns 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. Armada is determined to fill as much of it as possible 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.
- The first minute or so of this episode is silent in Legends of the Microns, with no dialogue until Cyclonus transforms. Armada adds a narration from Rad over the "prologue" segment, talking about the Mini-Con panel's history and a legend surrounding it (the Japanese dub never suggests that it's a known story), 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, he's complaining about being on the job alone and angrily suggests Demolishor should be searching too in Legends of the Microns. Demolishor snaps back that Megatron ordered him to stand lookout, setting up the episode's final gag scene. In Armada, it is turned into him demanding Cyclonus to return to work, despite the gag remaining unchanged for the Armada dub.
- As the kids suit up and the Autobots warp out, Legends of the Microns 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. Armada replaces it 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 short lines from Hot Shot and Red Alert to fill in the Japanese version's silence. Both versions play different music during the scene, but the Armada dub 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 dubs. 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. On the other hand, in Legends of the Microns, Carlos notes exasperatedly that the kids already told Hot Shot he couldn't 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 prompts Optimus to make his speech about listening to the kids who know more about Earth than the Transformers do, making the children their sempai (mentors).
- In Legends of the Microns, 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 Japanese version removes the kids screaming as Demolishor's shots go over the team's heads.
- 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 that they should keep their heads down. Legends of the Microns removes Red's line, and instead, Hot Shot asks about the shots' origin.
- 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. Legends of the Microns 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.
- Legends of the Microns 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 Demolishor's side, Rad's dialogue in Legends of the Microns 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's 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 Legends of the Microns.
- Legends of the Microns changes the tone of Carlos's response to Rad just before he nearly falls into the sandpit from laid-back to unsettling and removes Rad's line about the dune sinking into a pit.
- When Demolishor sinks into the sand in Legends of the Microns, his cry for Megatron to save him is a plea 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 Legends of the Microns, Starscream reports they've lost contact with Demolishor, not that they've received a message.
- Similarly, as the kids sink along with Demolishor in Legends of the Microns, Rad calls out for Optimus to save them before sending Laserbeak to get him; in Armada, he addresses his words to Laserbeak himself.
- In the following scene after the sandpit closes, Legends of the Microns removes some lines 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; Legends of the Microns 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's name.
- Upon awakening underground in Armada, Alexis asks where she is, Carlos says they are in some pyramid, and Rad asks, "What is that?" ('That' being the archway). Legends of the Microns changes it so that Alexis realizes they're alive, and Carlos and Rad ask where they are.
- When Starscream warps into the desert in Armada, his chortle is slightly exaggerated. It's more subtle and sinister in Legends of the Microns.
- Legends of the Microns 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, Legends of the Microns has Optimus declare that the Autobots have no choice but to delay searching for the missing humans until they have defeated their enemies. Hot Shot (via internal monologue) hopes the kids (sempai) will stay safe until then. Armada sucks all meaning out of 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.
- Like the episode's start, the first minute or so after the mid-episode commercial bumper is silent in Legends of the Microns. It continues wordlessly telling the story from the prologue, as the merchant brings the Mini-Con panel before the pharaoh, who will use it to build the pyramid. However, Armada features irrelevant, filler narration from Rad that's mostly dedicated to recapping the episode's first half and very unrelated to the actual animation.
- As the kids walk through the pyramid, Carlos and Rad are in awe of it in Legends of the Microns. Rad recognizes it as a shrine's base, and Carlos wonders if it was originally built underground. Alexis explains it was likely buried because of the desert's shifting sands, prompting Carlos to compliment her intelligence as something he'd expect from a future president. Armada warps this into more irrelevant gibberish as Carlos says the place creeps him out and 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". Then Alexis chips in by mocking the two "men" for hanging back and being scared while a "woman" takes the lead, resulting in Carlos angrily responding that he isn't scared of anything. Whatever, Armada.
- This trend continues into the next exchange in Armada, where Carlos mocks Alexis for acting like "an archaeologist," delivering his "Harrison Ford" joke before Rad tells him to knock it off. In Legends of the Microns, he's again just agreeing with her, complimenting her knowledge, and Rad says the Mini-Con may be "happy to be found again."
- Legends of the Microns: the "shrine" was built to "worship" the Mini-Con panel. Armada: the "palace" was made to "honor" the Mini-Con panel. Subtle, but...
- After the glowing eye appears on the wall and vanishes, Legends of the Microns slightly edits Carlos's lines. He says seeing the eye was just his imagination, and he must have been startled. He asks Rad and Alexis if they feel the same, and while the kids see the multiple floating eyes, Legends of the Microns removes his line of begging Rad and Alexis to tell him that he isn't imagining things.
- Legends of the Microns extends the children's screaming so that it flows naturally into the scene of Demolishor wondering what he just heard. Then 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. Legends of the Microns has Rad asking what the spiderbots are and saying there are too many of them.
- When Demolishor bursts through the wall in Armada, Carlos starts saying something about him before Rad says that they should leave. Carlos says to the Decepticon, "Hope you're not afraid of spiders!" and Demolishor demands the kids to come back. In Legends of the Microns, Carlos notes how Demolishor "saved" them, and Rad says they should use the 'Con's appearance to make a run for it. Then Carlos says, "We'll leave the rest to you from this point on, Ironhide!" and Demolishor tells Carlos not to mock him.
- For the third time, Armada adds narration from Rad to the extended scene that slowly pans across the statues and reveals the Mini-Con panel, which is silent in Legends of the Microns. This time, it just describes what we already see 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 Legends of the Microns, 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 one.
- When Demolishor passes the children towards the Mini-Con, Carlos tells him to back off before going after him in Armada; Carlos only says, "Not good!" in Legends of the Microns.
- Starscream apprehensively blurts out a line about the sand in Legends of the Microns but, for some reason, tells Megatron to move back from the pit in Armada.
- Armada omits a bit of dialogue from Legends of the Microns that sees Demolishor christen the Mini-Con ("Bomb," as he's known in Japan) before activating his panel and releasing him. It's still unclear at 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 in "Metamorphosis," but referred to Blackout by name before activating his panel in "Base."
- Instead of telling Demolishor to quit "blubbering", Megatron praises the soldier for finding the Mini-Con.
- After Hot Shot asks Demolishor what's happened to the kids, Armada has him utter perhaps one of his most famous lines (quoted above). In Legends of the Microns, he merely retorts, "Like I care?!" and returns to extolling the Mini-Con panel's importance.
- When Demolishor opens fire after combining with Bonecrusher, his gun fingers make rapid laser noises in Armada. Legends of the Microns uses a sound effect closer to a standard 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 Legends of the Microns, he refers to Hot Shot.
- Legends of the Microns 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, mainly because they lost the Mini-Con. Armada 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. Demolishor 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 unfair and tells the Decepticon to come closer for "a hands-on demonstration," much to Starscream's delight. In Legends of the Microns, the scene's overall tone is the same, but the dialogue is slightly 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 come to him, so Demolishor gives in and complies.
Animation and technical errors
- When Hot Shot calls for Jolt to powerlinx with him, he refers to him as "Grindor", Carlos's partner Mini-Con. This mistake is Armada-exclusive.
- 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. He doesn't have Cyclonus's voice in the Japanese dub.
- 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.
- 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 expression. Legends of the Microns has Alexis tell Rad that he's right since Demolishor is somewhere nearby too, and they have to find the panel before he does. Now more in line with his animation, Rad excitedly says, "Okay, let's go!"
- During the scene in which Megatron threatens to "send Optimus to the scrapheap," Megatron's face looks like a jumbled off-model mess.
- When Demolishor bursts through the wall, unwittingly "saving" the kids, Carlos's line seems to be incomplete or cut short. He says Demolishor "saves" them in the Japanese dub.
Continuity notes
- This episode makes Bonecrusher technically Demolishor's "true" Mini-Con partner in the cartoon. Earlier episodes reinforces this, where it's also shown that a Mini-Con scans it's activator's image before emerging from its panel. Furthermore, in "Base", he didn't scan anyone's appearance; Megatron's antler beam forced him out of his slumber, meaning that Blackout is only Demolishor's Mini-Con partner by association.
- This theory doesn't seem to stay true later, however, as Megatron confiscates Bonecrusher from him at the end of this episode, and Blackout is the one that gains the color-changing upgrade later in the series.
- This is likely an error in Armada's dubbing since it's based on dialogue within that version of the show and the Linkage comics (set in the same as the Legends of the Microns continuity). It's established the Mini-Cons just emerge from the panels rather than "scanning a bulk's image" like the Armada cartoon claims.
- Gadgets and powers:
- Blackout sits in the seat behind Demolishor's turret; this is the only instance where the cartoon displays this function from the toy.
- Starscream fires from his chest again, but this time the lasers come from further down. His cockpit fins even fold down out of the way of the lasers.
- Demolishor powerlinxs with Bonecrusher, increasing the strength of his fingertip cannons.
Transformers references
- David Kaye managed to fit a nice long "yes" into the dialogue, a staple from his earlier Megatron.
Real-world references
- While joking about archaeology, Carlos refers to Harrison Ford "swinging out of the wall on a vine," alluding to Ford's famous film character, Indiana Jones.
Trivia
- The kanji 神殿 would usually be pronounced as "shinden", while "takara" is used for the kanji 宝, 財, 貨, 寳, or 寶 (宝 is the most commonly used one).
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")
Portuguese
- Title: "Palácio" ("Palace")
Home video releases
- DVD
2003 — Transformers: Legends of the Microns — Volume 2 (Columbia Music Entertainment) — Japanese audio only.
2004 — Transformers: Armada — Season One: Part One (Rhino Entertainment)
2004 — Transformers: Armada — Volume 2 (TFou Vidéo) — French audio only.
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)
