Kingdom episode 1
| ||||||
 Video games, toys, comics... now even cartoons and movies... yeah, we're definitely back, baby! | ||||||
| Episode 1 | ||||||
| Production company | Allspark Animation, Rooster Teeth, Entertainment One | |||||
| Airdate | July 29, 2021 (Netflix) | |||||
| Written by | Mae Catt | |||||
| Director | Takashi Kamei | |||||
| Animation studio | Polygon Pictures | |||||
The Autobots and Decepticons crash land on Earth, meeting their descendants—the Maximals and Predacons.
Synopsis
The Nemesis burns up in its descent to the Earth's surface, while the Decepticons onboard are violently thrown about their bridge. Starscream and Megatron are both thrown into disarray over their predicament, and the Nemesis soon crashes in a lush jungle on the surface. Megatron receives a vision of Galvatron, who has been forcibly summoned by Unicron. Clutching a Golden Disk, Galvatron swears to find a way back to Megatron. Awakening from his vision, Megatron ties the Matrix of Leadership to his chest via crude metal straps.
The Autobots slowly awaken, battered by their crash-landing in the Ark. Optimus Prime requests a status report from Wheeljack, who discovers that they landed next to an active volcano and sustained serious ship system failures. Optimus realizes he is leaking Energon, but assures Ratchet he will be okay. Wheeljack discovers Teletraan I isn't 100% out of commission—it is mumbling something. Optimus orders Wheeljack to repair the ship and reiterates the importance of locating the Allspark.
Noticing an Earth cheetah on the ship's monitor, Bumblebee becomes nervous about its whereabouts. Wheeljack then finds a large rat in the Ark's underbelly, and the ship's crew is suddenly attacked by a rhinoceros and a white tiger! The cheetah Bumblebee spotted arrives on the ship and sees through Mirage's holographic field. Optimus shoots the organic creatures with his Ion blaster to halt their attack only to be assaulted and floored by a huge ape.
As Optimus throws his assailant off, the gorilla transforms into Optimus Primal. As the other organics reveal their Cybertronian modes, Prime vehemently denies any affiliation with the Nemesis and orders Primal's team to cease their attack. Primal refuses to believe that his opponent is the original Optimus Prime and demands that he sees the Matrix of Leadership for validation of Prime's title. Prime begins to suffer from his wound more seriously, forcing Ratchet to intervene between their fight to tend to the Autobot leader.
A falcon spots Laserbeak flying around the Nemesis. Megatron orders his troops to work on the ship so they can leave Earth, asserting his desire to locate the Allspark and repeating his claims about "saving Cybertron". Megatron turns down Starscream's request to scout the area, while Soundwave reports that Laserbeak has spotted intruders...
The Decepticons wander into the jungle and find a purple Tyrannosaurus Rex and a Velociraptor, the former of which recognizes Megatron as his ancestor and showers him with praise. Predacon Megatron and his partner Dinobot reveal their robot modes and bow to the Decepticons. Predacon Megatron shows the original Megatron the Golden Disk.
Back at the Ark, Prime barely recovers from his wound and asks Prowl for information on their visitors. Primal suggests to his Maximals that they salvage materials from the Ark to fix their ship and leave the Autobots behind. Rightfully enraged, Bumblebee demands that the Maximals explain themselves, but Primal churlishly says they owe the Autobots nothing. However, Prime offers an alliance with their former attackers and recounts their dreadful journey through space, and offers to donate parts to the Maximal cause. Primal insults Prime for losing the Allspark, which caused the downfall of Cybertron and the Maximals' suffering for it. When Prime explains his quest to find the Allspark lost on Earth, Primal realizes that the restoration of Cybertron would wipe out his crew—the Maximals come from a dystopian future timeline where the Allspark was never returned to Cybertron. The tiger Maximal, Tigatron receives a transmission from his comrade Airazor–the falcon Maximal who spotted the Nemesis–in distress, causing Optimus to realize the Decepticons are also on Earth.
Predacon Megatron explains the origins of the Predacons to the original Megatron: they were the few survivors of the mostly extinct alternate Cybertron who traveled to Earth. When the first Megatron questions why they went to Earth of all places, Predacon Megatron asserts that he specifically wanted to join forces with the Decepticons and deliver the Golden Disk to his ancestor—the disk contains all of Megatron's past, present, and future memories and can track his Energon signature. When the original Megatron suspects treachery on Predacon Megatron's behalf, he explains that his existence from the alternate future of Cybertron is essentially proof that Prime never succeeded in retrieving the Allspark. As Starscream expresses disgust at the sycophantic Predacons and his lack of recognition from his peers, the arachnid Predacon Blackarachnia sneaks up on Starscream to polish his wounded ego. The two 'cons then form an alliance in secret.
Back at the Ark, the Autobots and Maximals struggle to trust each other, with the rat Maximal Rattrap suggesting the discovery of the Allspark will halt their alternate timeline and erase the Maximals' existence, but the idealistic cheetah Maximal Cheetor argues that stopping Megatron is more important than safeguarding their own existence.
Meanwhile, Airazor is spotted by Laserbeak and gunned down, enabling Soundwave to drag her back to the Nemesis at the mercy of both Megatrons...
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots / Maximals | Decepticons / Predacons | Others |
|---|---|---|
|
|
Quotes
"It is you, isn't it? Yesss! Lord Megatron, at last!"
(Predacon Megatron transforms and bows his head to his ancestor)
"Megatron... greatest leader of the Decepticons, my namesake, whose destiny lies in an endless war. That is, until now... thanks to this."
- —Predacon Megatron, with the Golden Disk, meets the ancestor he holds to the highest esteem
"You stole the Allspark and left Cybertron to rot! And while you apparently gallivanting through the stars, we were left to deal with the consequences of your treachery!"
- —Meanwhile, Optimus Primal is pissed at his ancestor
"We... have to help them. Fate has warped time and space to give us an opportunity to aid our ancestors in their darkest hour. You're going to let that slip by?"
- —Tigatron puts a paw forward to help, and drops a quick reference
Notes
Continuity notes
- While Megatron is knocked unconscious by the Nemesis crashing to Earth, he sees a premonition of the aftermath of Galvatron's forced departure by Unicron in Earthrise episode 5. Megatron also makes note that Predacon Megatron is not the first to attempt to turn over the Golden Disk, as seen in the reused footage in this episode of Galvatron attempting to turn over the Golden Disk from Earthrise episode 5.
- Due to Optimus Primal's (later explained) origin, he first believes Optimus Prime is Nemesis Prime, who previously appeared in a vision in Earthrise episode 5.
- Optimus Prime sees the same images Teletraan I processed in Earthrise episode 6, now in an un-obstructed view, which are War for Cybertron Trilogy-style recreations of moments from the original The Transformers cartoon. A full list can be found here.
- Optimus Prime lists the major events the Autobots went through in Siege and Earthrise to Optimus Primal.
Continuity errors
- In Earthrise episode 5, Galvatron is pulled away with his particle cannon as he tosses the Golden Disk to Megatron (as seen in the reused footage of this episode) , though when he pops into Unicron's domain, his particle cannon is gone and the disk is in his hand.
- Megatron lacks the bandage and its respective wound from Earthrise episode 4, when he first appeared with the Matrix strapped to his chest and for the rest of the show. Maybe the wound healed?
- Predacon Megatron claims he decrypted a few minutes of the Golden Disk, despite only Cybertronian units of time being used in the show previously and after.
Transformers references
- Optimus Prime sustains a heavy hole-like injury to his side/lower torso, much like The Transformers: The Movie, albeit, the opposite side.
- Rhinox name drops the Axalon from the '90s cartoon.
- Predacon Megatron pets his Tyrannosaurus rex-head hand, much like he did in Beast Wars.
- Starscream calls himself Air Commander, his function on his original toy. Coincidentally or not, Starscream also repeatedly referenced this rank during his appearance in the original Beast Wars cartoon.
- Arcee mentions that she wouldn't be surprised if the Maximals were Sharkticons.
Real-world references
- A spacecraft can be brielfy seen in the background when Galvatron returns to his time. This is presumably the NASA Voyager space probe where the real-life Golden Disk resides.
- The scene of the puddle shaking as a consequence of the stomping feet of Predacon Megatron (while approaching the Decepticons) is clearly an homage to Rexy's first appearance in Jurassic Park.
Trivia
- Astrotrain and Laserbeak speak for the first time! Well, Laserbeak squawks, voiced by the voice actor of fellow cassette Ravage, Frank Todaro.
- The subtitles and credits differentiate the "Beast" and "Generation 1" Megatrons by identifying the former as "Predacon Megatron".
- Predacon Megatron says to Megatron that he is his descendant, and while the Decepticons are collectively depicted as the "ancestors" of the Predacons, this statement (like a similar one made by the original Optimus Primal in the episode "Sparkwar Pt. II: The Search" of Beast Machines) seems to imply a deeper relationship between the two Megatrons.
- A scrapped line exchange between the Megatron would refer to a Cybertron without the Allspark as the Dark Ages and had Predacon Megatron say a David Kaye-esque "Precisely, yeeess."[1] Whether by a coincidence or not, Megatron said this towards the end of "Savage Landing Part 1".
