Dark Awakening (episode)
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 Yeah, let this be how the kids remember their hero. | |||||||||
| "Dark Awakening" | |||||||||
| Production code | 700-93 | ||||||||
| Production company | Sunbow Productions | ||||||||
| Airdate | October 1, 1986 | ||||||||
| Written by | Antoni Zalewski | ||||||||
| Continuity | Generation 1 cartoon continuity | ||||||||
Optimus Prime is revived as a zombie by Quintessons.
- Japanese title: コンボイの影 (Convoy no Kage, "Convoy's Shadow")
- German title: "Das Erwachen im Dunkeln" ("Awakening in the Dark")
Synopsis
On the run from Galvatron, Rodimus Prime, Arcee, Ultra Magnus, Kup, Spike and Daniel take refuge on board the Autobot Mausoleum containing many of their deceased comrades. These include Ironhide, Prowl, Ratchet, Huffer, and Optimus Prime. While exploring by himself, Daniel is stuck in a dark room with robot corpses and gets appropriately creeped out. When he finds the others he swears he has seen Optimus Prime alive. To satisfy his curiosity and against the opinions of the other Autobots, Rodimus opens Prime's tomb only to find it empty.
However, they cannot investigate further because the Decepticons have followed them inside and attack them. The fierce battle that follows appears lost for the Autobots when suddenly they are saved by none other than Optimus Prime. Freaked, the Decepticons retreat.
The Autobots are amazed and confused at his presence. Optimus can give them no explanation to his apparent resurrection, just the typical near-death experience of seeing darkness and then a light at the end of the tunnel.
Rodimus Prime eagerly (too eagerly) returns the Matrix of Leadership to him, despite Prime's bizarre behavior and damaged appearance, and against the advice of Kup and Ultra Magnus. Without the Matrix inside him, Rodimus reverts to Hot Rod and declares, "Let's party!" Optimus evidently has other plans and attacks the Autobots and sets the auto-destruct sequence to the mausoleum ship. He then departs and leaves the others stranded.
After returning to Cybertron, Optimus informs the Autobots that Rodimus and the others were killed by the Quintessons. This puts everyone in a pretty bad mood (Springer swears vengeance- particularly for Arcee- while Grimlock spends at least a minute stomping and thumping his tail). Optimus re-assumes command and orders an all-out attack on a supposed Quintesson base. The Autobots obey without question or explanation (loyal bunch, aren't they?) and the entire Autobot fleet heads into battle. The Dinobots stay behind to "guard the base".
Hot Rod and his group manage to escape and return to Cybertron, only to find that most of the Autobots have left to attack the Quintessons. They pursue the fleet in their own ship, but their frantic calls to stop the attack are dismissed by Optimus as Quintesson tricks.
Hot Rod and the others finally manage to board the lead ship and the former Rodimus goes "Optimus hunting" after his zombified mentor. When the two meet, Optimus starts to pound on Hot Rod, but as he's kicking Hot Rod's tailpipe he begs Hot Rod to defeat him.
It is finally revealed that the Quintessons stole Optimus Prime's corpse and reanimated it with their own evil programming to lead all Autobots into a trap. Optimus is nothing more than a "mindless zombie." However, since the Matrix of Leadership is inside him, Prime's true, heroic self is overriding the Quintesson evil.
Hot Rod is physically overcome by Prime, but the Matrix finally reverts the evil programming and Optimus returns it to Hot Rod's chest cavity. Prime then takes control of the ship, and orders the Autobot fleet away from the Quintesson trap.
The irreparable Optimus's last act is to pilot the Autobot flagship into the trigger zone of the Quintesson trap. With a massive explosion, the solar system is destroyed. As Kup bids his old friend farewell, Magnus remarks that it be his memorial. Rodimus doubts he'll be the Autobot leader that Optimus Prime was, but vows to try. And thus, the tears of Daniel Witwicky and many other thousands of young boys flowed all over again.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"Great. What'll Daniel and I do when the air runs out?"
"Basically you'll have two choices: suffocate, or smother."
- —As Spike wonders about the limited oxygen in the Autobot life pod, Rodimus Prime takes "deadpan" to a whole new level.
"Decepticons! Leave this place... or die!"
- —The half-dead corpse of Optimus Prime confronts the Decepticons.
"Quintessons! ME GRIMLOCK THUMP QUINTESSONS FLAT INTO GROUND!"
- —Grimlock mad. Grimlock want smash.
Arcee: Sludge! Snarl! Oh, are we glad to see you.
Sludge: Me Sludge not glad to see you.
Snarl: You all dead! Rarrr!
Sludge: ...Maybe we dead.
- —Arcee freaks out the Dinobots.
Kup: Where is everybody?
Sludge: All go smash Quintessons.
Ultra Magnus: Quintessons? What do the Quintessons have to do with any of this?
Snarl: They kill you! Optimus Prime say so! ...Uh-oh. Something not right.
- —The Dinobots start to comprehend that all is not well.
"Not a game! ...Matrix makes me too strong!"
"Now there's a unique complaint!"
- —Optimus Prime wails on Hot Rod, who takes it in stride
- —Optimus Prime's last words. Or not.
Notes
- When Daniel lists the names of the Autobots killed in the shuttle ambush, Brawn (the first casualty of the movie) is mysteriously absent, replaced instead by Huffer (whose death is unseen). Brawn and Huffer (discolored) later reappeared in the episode "Carnage in C-Minor" (This is usually dismissed as an animation error)
- Skyfire is seen with Powerglide and the Aerialbots. And there was much rejoicing (hooray).
Animation or technical glitches
- Hot Rod is occasionally drawn as Rodimus and even addressed as such a couple of times.
- When Optimus is in control of the flagship and orders the other Autobots to return, he has his left arm again... and the hand colored wrong.
- When Cyclonus shoots Arcee, the blast comes from WAY too low from the gun, coming instead from his third knuckle.
- Right after Optimus Prime shoots Hot Rod, Kup, Arcee, Daniel and Spike, the top of his helmet is colored gray. A few seconds later, his back is colored baby blue.
- Immediately after this, Kup, Ultra Magnus and Rodimus fire purple laser blasts.
- When Perceptor shouts "They're alive!", Blaster (with a white helmet) and what appears to be a miscoloured Jazz are standing in the background, despite the bridge looking somewhat empty, save for himself and Optimus.
Continuity errors
- Rodimus Prime and his crew were surprised to find the Autobot Mausoleum, suggesting they forgot where it was. Why didn't the Autobots just put the Mausoleum somewhere on Cybertron?
- When Daniel accidentally turns off a light and tries to turn around again, he sees Optimus Prime covered what appear to be spiderwebs. Leaving aside the question of organic spiders existing in an Autobot mausoleum and spinning webs to catch organic insects there, Prime has recently been worked on by the Quintessons, so there hasn't really been time for such webs to accumulate again. What, did Prime or the Quints set up some prop webs for atmosphere?
- Shortly after Optimus Prime first awakens, Rodimus Prime states that Optimus has been dead "for years". Unless he means dog years, this is impossible, considering season 3 starts immediately after the 1986 movie. Also, Daniel is the same age he was when Optimus died. In actuality, Optimus probably hasn't been dead more than a few months. This works a little better in Japan, though, where the series takes place in 2010.
- It's never explained where Hot Rod and company obtained the ship that carries them away from the Mausoleum. Magnus just comments vaguely about "this little improvisation" in reference to the vessel.
Transformers references
- The deaths of the Autobots happened in The Transformers: The Movie.
Real-world references
- Writer Antoni Zalewski recycled his own work for the opening scene of this episode, which is copied almost note-for-note from the 1985 "Ghost Ship" episode of The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians. The parallels include a pursuit through space, launching an escape pod ("We turned the cockpit into an escape ship just in time!"), right up to Spike's verbatim quote "It's the size of...Manhattan!"
