Miracle (episode)
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 He's back. What a surprise. | ||||||
| "Miracle" (Fukkatsu) "Miracle: Revival" | ||||||
| Production code | TF: A-42 | |||||
| Production company | TV Tokyo, NAS | |||||
| Airdate | September 12, 2003 (English, Canada) 17 October 2003 (Japanese) October 31, 2003 (English, United States) | |||||
| Writer | Shōji Tonoike | |||||
| English adaptation | Terry Klassen | |||||
| Director | Shin'ichirō Aoki | |||||
| Animation studio | Actas Inc., Big Bang | |||||
| Continuity | Unicron Trilogy | |||||
Autobots wage their battle to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons... IN SPAAAAAACE!
Synopsis
Aboard the Autobot spaceship Axalon, Alexis and her friends look back on Earth as they head towards Cybertron. Fred eats some chocolate and Billy cries that he forgot his video camera. On the bridge, Hot Shot and the Autobots salute Earth and the memory of Optimus Prime.
On the Decepticons' ship, Megatron orders the ship to be turned around so the Autobots can be destroyed.
Sparkplug, still holding Optimus Prime's Matrix, meets with several Mini-Cons. Moments later, hundreds of glowing lights swarm around the Autobot ship. High Wire—in English—introduces the lights as Mini-Con friends. After the swarm of Mini-Cons are introduced, the Street Action Mini-Con Team trigger a flashback in the humans to that time they saw a big evil in Cyberspace. High Wire names the evil Unicron.
Blurr tries to pilot the Axalon through an asteroid field. In the thick of the space debris, the Decepticons start their attack. Alexis notices the Mini-Cons also running to help the Autobots in the battle. Thrust fights against Jetfire, Cyclonus fights against Blurr, and Starscream and Hot Shot continue their long-standing grudge. Scavenger erratically battles against Demolishor. Megatron easily overpowers Side Swipe.
When Megatron aims the Requiem Blaster at the Axalon, Hot Shot stands in his way. Meanwhile, on the Axalon's hull, Perceptor and Sparkplug present the Matrix to the swarm of their gathered friends. Several Mini-Cons plunge into the Matrix, where something begins to take shape.
Megatron degrades Hot Shot, but a large sphere of green light swoops around and knocks Megatron aside. To everybody's astonishment, Optimus Prime stands alive. With a Max Flare, Optimus ruins the Decepticon's attack. Megatron is glad that Optimus is back.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Mini-Cons | Misc |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Quotes
Carlos: "Hey dude, what's he saying?"
Rad: "Haven't got a clue? What's wrong?"
High Wire: "Enemy."
"Unicron..."
- —High Wire
"Oof! Gagh! Enough! Are those Mini-Cons firing at me?!"
"You're mine, pencilhead! YEEHAAW!"
- —Thrust receives another head-related insult now that Jetfire's around!
"BWAHAHA! HOOHOOHOO! It doesn't seem like work when ya LOVE your job!"
"Enjoy it while you can! 'cause you're about to get TERMINATED!"
- —Cyclonus is having too much fun for Blurr to handle.
"That's it! I'll give you to the count of three to get offa me!"
"Like you can count."
- —Demolishor and Scavenger
"I'd never thought I'd say this, but it's good to have you back, Prime."
- —Megatron, pleased that his old foe is alive
Notes
Differences with Legends of the Microns
- Originally, Megatron asks Demolishor where "those guys" are when referring to the Autobots, which Demolishor understandably asks clarification for. In the dub, Megatrons names Autobots specifically, resulting in Demolishor rather absurdly asking "What Autobots?"
- When Megatron shows up with the Requiem Blaster, in Armada Demolishor seems happy to see the gun. In Legends of the Microns, Demolishor instead (and understandably) doesn't want to be collateral damage, crying out "have mercy!"
- In Armada, Megatron recognizes Optimus as soon as the newly resurrected Autobot commander speaks to him from inside the orb of light. In Legends of the Microns, he keeps questioning the figure's identity up until Optimus blasts him before appearing clearly.
- After Optimus returns to life, Thrust laments that the turn of events will ruin all of his plans. In the original, he quite appropriately expresses shock over Optimus having just returned from the dead.
- Megatron being glad to have Optimus back has the same intention in both dubs, but the English version has him outright say it whereas the Japanese version makes Megatron call Optimus a "tenacious" bot.
Animation and technical errors
- Alexis sees Iceberg in the hallway and calls him by his Japanese name, Junk. You should be used to this kind of thing by now.
- Optimus is missing the jaw on his Autobot logo in the last shot.
- Just before Optimus is about to go into his Super Mode, Megatron Powerlinxed with Tidal Wave doesn't appear to be in his Full Blast Mode configuration and instead appears in his normal mode. Weird, isn't it?
Continuity notes
- Smokescreen finally has his name changed to Hoist; a later edit to the series would instead move this revelation to "Remorse".
- The arrival of the Mini-Cons is explained in the Linkage series of comics that came with each Japanese Legends of the Microns DVD release.
- This episode debuts several non-toy Mini-Cons with unique designs, some of which would later get bios from the Transformers Collectors' Club, such as Flashbox.
- In previous episodes, Megatron began to feel empty after Optimus Prime's death in "Crisis". This episode he is somewhat happy to see his nemesis has come back to life.
Continuity errors
- Billy mentions that he forgot his video camera. Where's Laserbeak?
- Last episode, Thrust said that it was only a matter of time before the Autobots would pass the Decepticons and beat them to Cybertron. This episode, he reassures Megatron that the Autobots will never catch up to them.
- Even though a shot from the Requiem Blaster is enough to fatally injure Smokescreen back in Sacrifice, when Side Swipe gets hit all it really does is knock him into a nearby asteroid with no serious injuries.
- As the "fireflies" arrive, Red Alert addresses Hoist as "Smokescreen" in spite of the fact that Hot Shot has earlier asked Hoist how he likes his new name.
- Megatron talks to Hot Shot as if knowing that the young Autobot has been appointed to a new commander in Optimus' place, despite no one having brought it up to him beforehand.
Real-world references
- Megatron says that it's "time to sink a battleship," possibly referencing the popular kids game.
- Lightsaber sounds and R2-D2 beeps are heard when Optimus Prime is being reborn.
Trivia
- The Prime-Transforms sequence airs at the start of the episode, rather than after the first scene.
- Note how Megatron felt incomplete ever since Prime was killed in "Crisis". Sounds familiar.
- The series-long animation error of Optimus Prime's mouthplate flashing yellow when transforming into Super Mode doesn't occur in this episode.
Foreign localization
German
- Title: "Ein Wunder" ("A Miracle")
- Original airdate: 12 December 2003
Hungarian
- Title: "Csoda" ("Miracle")
Portuguese
- Title: "Milagre" ("Miracle")
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)
2007 — Transformers: Armada — The Collector's Edition (Universal)
2009 — Transformers: Armada — Volume Two (New KSM) — English and German audio.
2014 — Transformers: Armada — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)
