Depart
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 "You ever seen the Empire Strikes Back?" "No, I don't watch crap." | ||||||
| "Depart" (Tabidachi) "Departure" | ||||||
| Production code | TF: A-41 | |||||
| Production company | TV Tokyo, NAS | |||||
| Airdate | September 5, 2003 (English, Canada) October 10, 2003 (Japanese) October 24, 2003 (English, United States) | |||||
| Writer | Isao Shizuya | |||||
| Director | Osamu Kamijō, Mitsuru Kawasaki (asst. dir.) | |||||
| Animation studio | Actas Inc. | |||||
| Continuity | Unicron Trilogy | |||||
The Autobots prepare to return to Cybertron, joined—having acquiesced to the demands of Perceptor and the other Mini-Cons—by the kids.
Synopsis
Hot Shot addresses the Mini-Cons collected by the Autobots so far, announcing that they're soon going to leave for Cybertron. The kids observe how unsure the Autobot is of himself, as he invites the Mini-Cons to decide whether they want to come or not. Carlos wants to go to Cybertron. Rad follows High Wire, who unexpectedly tells him in English to stay on Earth. After Rad reacts in surprise to this, High Wire beeps and wanders off, leaving the boy to wonder if he imagined it after all.
Rad has breakfast with his parents and asks his father if he ever wanted to go into space. Rad's mother seems more concerned with them finishing their breakfast. The Autobots and Mini-Cons are preparing the spaceship for liftoff at the base. Billy and Fred arrive with luggage, only to be disappointed when Red Alert informs them they won't be able to come along. The other three kids watch, glumly reflecting that they most likely won't be able to come along either.
Megatron expresses dissatisfaction that they haven't made much progress towards Cybertron, but Thrust says they have to escape Earth's gravitational pull before they go to warp.
That night, Rad wakes his parents to explain the Autobots and Decepticons and gets told to go back to bed. He dreams of the Autobot ship under attack and High Wire asking him for help. On waking abruptly, his father comes in to chat, confiding that when he was Rad's age, he dreamed of going into space too. Rad's dad also permits him to go to Cybertron, but only if Rad promises to return.
The following day sees Rad interrupting Carlos brushing his teeth. Carlos is already packed, and they meet up with Alexis, who's also all packed, on their way to the Autobot base.
Hot Shot asks the Mini-Cons to step forward if they're coming to Cybertron, and they all volunteer to go. The kids arrive too, but Hot Shot refuses to let them join. Reacting to this, the Street Action Mini-Con Team combine into Perceptor and begin making a strange whistling noise. The Mini-Cons start running out of the room. Red Alert, prepping the ship for launch, is surprised when the Mini-Cons storm in and block all the control panels on the bridge. While the Autobots are confused, Perceptor announces that the humans should come along. Side Swipe suggests taking the kids somewhere safe, but the Mini-Cons start whistling until Hot Shot capitulates.
Billy and Fred turn up while everyone is piling into the ship, and Hot Shot resigns himself to letting them join too. Once everything is ready, the ship, dubbed the Axalon, moves along an underwater corridor to a nearby lake, where it lifts off. The kids rush to a window to see Earth from space.
The Decepticons detect the Autobot ship leaving Earth. Thrust laments that their superior engines will help them pass the Decepticon ship and reach Cybertron first.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Mini-Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"I think I'm going to leave it up to you to decide your own stations. And, uh, if any of you decide to join us and defeat the Decepticons once and for all, that's up to you. Oh, and if you decide to stay back here on Earth, that's okay, too."
- —Hot Shot is the best Autobot leader ever.
"Please, Red Alert. We're here to help you battle. You really think you can do it without us?"
"You need us!"
- —Billy and Fred overestimate their importance.
"How many times have I told you? Sci-fi is for your friends, not your parents."
- —Rad's mother doesn't want to hear about the Transformers.
"Ah, but now those are just childhood memories for me. Memories of when I let my imagination run wild and the world was filled with endless possibilities."
"Whoa, dad!"
"Never give up on your dreams. Sometimes that's all that we have."
- —Rad's father tells Rad about how it was before his soul was crushed.
Notes
Differences with Legends of the Microns
Animation and technical errors
- More shortcuts are employed in a few shots to depict the huge number of Mini-Cons amassed by the Autobots so far, at one point making it look like they've assembled into color-coordinated lines.
Continuity notes
- High Wire speaks English for the first time.
- After Rad mentioned them in the first episode, his parents finally appear in the series.
- The Street Speed Mini-Con Team-based generics appear again in this episode. Those Mini-Cons previously appeared in "Rescue" and "Tactician."
Continuity errors
- When High Wire talks for the first time, he says: "No, Rad. You must stay here." Yet, later in the episode, when Rad flashes back to that moment, High Wires says: "Journey with us." Since the Mini-Cons are later striking to let the kids join them, the first statement appears incorrect.
Transformers references
- According to the Legends of the Microns Year Book 2003:
- Blurr and Wheeljack were named after their Beast Wars counterparts in the Japanese dub, Silverbolt and Rampage respectively.
- The Axalon got its name from the ship the Maximals used in Beast Wars.
Trivia
- This episode's English dub features an entirely new title sequence, which unfortunately spoils Optimus Prime's return, and "The Unicron Battles" now appears as a subtitle.
- Two days travel, and the Decepticons are still in scanner range of Earth? Tell Tidal Wave to pedal faster!
- Rad's father complains about how Rad's room is a huge mess, yet when we see Rad's bedroom floor a moment earlier, there's no sign of the "clutter" his father means.
- Looking out his bathroom window, Carlos asks Rad what he's doing with his backpack on a Saturday. Rad's parents discuss him leaving for school early in the next scene. If they have classes on Saturdays, Carlos shouldn't be surprised, but if they don't, Rad's parents apparently can't even keep track of what day it is.
- The Legends of the Microns Year Book 2003 reveals that:
- Takeshi Sano thinks Rad's parents are a bit pathetic; however, he believes Mr. White is a good dad but says that Mrs. White is a little scary.
- Fred's dad is the Cosmoscope Laboratory director, making him Rad's father's boss.
- Billy and Fred didn't go into space with the others in the initial treatment.
- This episode is one of the show's few that doesn't have a battle; "Carnival" and "Vacation" share this trait.
Foreign localization
German
- Title: "Ab nach Cybertron!" ("Let's go to Cybertron!")
- Original airdate: 11 December 2003
Hungarian
- Title: "Indulás" ("Start")
Portuguese
- Title: "Partida" ("Departure")
Home video releases
- DVD
2004 — Transformers: Legends of the Microns — Volume 11 (Columbia Music Entertainment) — Japanese audio only.
2006 — Transformers: Armada — Season One: Part Two (Rhino Entertainment)
2009 — Transformers: Armada — Volume Two (New KSM) — English and German audio.
2014 — Transformers: Armada — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)
