This Is Why I Hate Machines
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| "This Is Why I Hate Machines" | ||||||
| Airdate | May 9, 2009 | |||||
| Written by | Rob Hoegee | |||||
| Directed by | Kalvin Lee Yutaka Hirata | |||||
| Animation studio | Mook | |||||
A space bridge accident sends Ratchet and Captain Fanzone to Cybertron, right as the Decepticon controlled Omega Supreme arrives.
Synopsis
Ratchet is trying to properly calibrate the newly constructed space bridge to begin the hunt for Omega Supreme. Unfortunately, Bulkhead's advanced notation system of post-it notes leaves something to be desired. At the same time, Captain Fanzone is having a spirited discussion with Sumdac Systems technical support, while in the elevator of Sumdac Tower itself. After the operator offers to transfer Fanzone to the supervisor, he announces he was taking it straight to the CEO, Isaac Sumdac. Unfortunately upon reaching the top of the tower a pair of overzealous Sumdac Systems police drones spot him, and enable lethal force. Now dodging gunfire while the oblivious Ratchet continues to sort through Bulkhead's notes, Fanzone grows progressively more irate until an errant button press from Ratchet activates the space bridge. Ratchet looks up to see Fanzone disappear into the space bridge nexus. Deciding that this probably isn't a good thing, Ratchet follows.
Fanzone finds himself unceremoniously dumped in the middle of a large city on Cybertron, a situation he's less than thrilled about. A crowd of Autobots freaks out at the presence of the horrifying organic lifeform. Nearly stepped on by the immense Grandus at the urging of a friend, Fanzone is rescued by the timely arrival of Ratchet. Fanzone wants to return home immediately, but Ratchet insists that while they're on Cybertron they may as well hit up Maccadam's Old Oil House. To his dismay, his favorite watering hole has been shut down, along with other "subversive" gathering places, by order of Sentinel Prime.
Shortly afterwards the Elite Guard manages to track down the pair using the residue of their transwarp signature. Apprehending them, Sentinel demands to know why they were on Cybertron when all interstellar travel was locked down. Ratchet explains that they had been tracking Omega Supreme's transwarp signature. Sentinel, well-informed as always, laughs Ratchet off as Omega Supreme had been decommissioned centuries ago. He is immediately proven wrong by the looming shape of Omega Supreme's robot form in the Cybertronian skies.
Above the city, Megatron muses on this (glorious!) moment for the Decepticons: those who were once driven away from Cybertron in exile were now poised over it in one of its greatest weapons. As Starscream points out that they have no means to actually use said weapon, Megatron rebuffs him with the revelation that he still has a spy on Cybertron who can fetch him the access codes to Omega Supreme. Starscream comments that this will only work if the Cybertronian defense cannons don't shoot them out of the sky. Megatron expresses doubt that they would fire on one of the greatest symbols of Autobot military strength.
Meanwhile, Sentinel is giving the order to divert all energon reserves to fire the Cybertronian defense cannons on one of the greatest symbols of Autobot military strength. This understandably does not go over well with several prominent members of the council, to say the least of Omega Supreme's former mentor Ratchet. Alpha Trion and Perceptor rebuff Sentinel, and inform him to wait for the council's decision. Sentinel prepares to lock up Ratchet and Fanzone, but they make a break for it, in order to try to make contact with Omega.
Thankfully their pursuers overlook the network of maintenance tunnels beneath the city, which had been sealed for quite some time. Ratchet and Fanzone make good their escape, only stopping when they realize that someone else had been dwelling in the tunnels quite recently, and had built up a temporary hideout. The occupant of that hideout is revealed to be none other than the double-agent Shockwave, who nearly gets the jump on the duo. Ratchet fights back, surmising that Shockwave wishes to hack his processor to get the access codes to Omega Supreme. Shockwave scoffs at this, saying he does not wish to risk the possibility of Ratchet corrupting the data or even using it as a carrier for a virus. Rather, Shockwave plans to go right to the source: Arcee!
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans |
|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"Halt. You are in violation of Criminal Code 30114. Lethal force has been authorised."
"Hey! Ow! Hey!"
"Think you have it bad? I got to decipher Bulkhead's handwriting! And those claws of his aren't exactly designed for penbotship."
- —As the Security Bots try to kill Captain Fanzone, Ratchet shows the depth to which he does not care.
"I'd be a happy man if I never see another—[Fanzone takes in his surroundings]...robot?
- —Captain Fanzone enters his own personal hell, and its name is Cybertron.
"I can't believe we're on Cybertron! Of all the places we transwarped, this is great!"
- —Ratchet, happy for the first since...well, since we've seen him.
"Citizens of Cybertron, Decepticons are in our midst! Neighbours, friends, even your own model can be a spy! Do your duty and report any suspicious activity—" [continues inaudibly behind...]
"...what is this scrap?!"
"—for your protection, all potentially subversive gathering places remain closed. Curfew remains in effect. Remember, Decepticons will stop at nothing to destroy our way of life! Don't let THIS [picture of Ultra Magnus on spark support] happen to you. As your Magnus, I will continue to defeat the Decepticon scourge and bring peace and security to Cybertron! I'm Sentinel Prime, and I approve of this message."
"No-good glory-hog's got a lot of steel. It was Lockdown who caught those 'Cons!"
- —Sentinel Prime's propaganda film, with commentary by Ratchet
"Cybertron. At last our ultimate goal is at our feet. And here we stand aboard its ultimate weapon."
"Now wouldn't it be nice if we could figure out how to use it!"
- —Megatron has a moment, which Starscream ruins.
"How'd you know about this bot?" [indicating Rattletrap]
"Ehh. There's one in every town."
- —Ratchet learns a little more about how Captain Fanzone works.
Notes
Animation or technical errors
- Shockwave's head model changes randomly throughout the episode in shape, size and in the positioning of his optic.
- When Shockwave holds up the Magnus Hammer and starts generating lightning, its handle is only half as long as usual.
Continuity errors
Transformers references
- Captain Fanzone's arrival on Cybertron treats us to another crowd scene full of cameos, some of which we haven't seen before. Although a lot of the 'bots who appear here showed up in the previous episode's parade scene, we get a closer look at several of them, allowing a few more identities to be confirmed. Notable newbies in this crowd include Glyph, Steeljaw, Zaur, robot-mode Grandus, and yet another three robots based on the Cybertron-mode Bumblebee body type: one light blue, one white and one yellow. The white and yellow 'bots feature the distinctive large, squared visor and three-bumped "crests" of the Bumper toy mold, suggesting we're looking at Animated versions of that character and his Robocar redeco, Sedan. (A white 'Bee-body 'bot appeared very briefly in the previous episode, but he had blue "pants" where this "Sedan" is white, suggesting he is an Animated Searchlight.) The light blue 'bot's head certainly has elements of the original Cliffjumper, but is notably different from Tap-Out's head design, making him likely an Animated Carerra (a similar-looking light-blue 'Bee-body leg was also seen in the previous episode, and might presumably be considerd to belong to this character). The most mysterious member of the crowd, however, is the light-blue and cream-colored robot with the football-head and pointed shoulder pads talking to "Carerra".
- Ratchet's favorite hangout is Maccadam's Old Oil House.
- When Ratchet and Fanzone are headed to Maccadam's, they stop in front of a building which appears to have Target's trademark "bull's-eye" logo.
- Parade footage from "Decepticon Air" is used in Sentinel's little propaganda video. (See said episode for the list of cameos within.)
- Ratchet remarks that Lockdown was the one to capture the Decepticon prisoners, as seen in "Five Servos of Doom".
- The Autobot Council's headquarters is known as "the Metroplex", and the Elite Guard's battle station is "Fortress Maximus".
- Ratchet's flashback uses footage from "The Thrill of the Hunt", giving Lockdown a brief "appearance" in this episode.
- At the end of the episode, Shockwave utilizes an electronic paint job to reveal his "true colors", represented by a Target exclusive redeco reminiscent of his Generation 1 namesake's color scheme.
Real-world references
- Sentinel Prime's broadcast was based on The Red Scare during the Cold War. The broadcast concludes with him saying "I'm Sentinel Prime, and I approve of this message."—in the style of contemporary political campaign ads.
- Sentinel's insistence that he is the one who "makes the tough decisions" and insistence that any questioning of his orders is tantamount to treason is probably some kind of statement about someone or something, but we'll leave it at that.
- Shockwave's slow, deadpan delivery of "I'm afraid I can't let you do that" is a reference to the menacing supercomputer HAL from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, who also featured an unblinking single red eye.
Trivia
- This is the first episode in which Optimus Prime does not appear at all.
- There is oxygen on Cybertron. Probably to allow combustion to happen.
- Arcee wasn't actually offline at the end of the flashbacks in "The Thrill of the Hunt" - although she was amnesiac, she could stand, talk and take in her surroundings. This implies that it was the vivisection of her head in the TransWarped flashbacks in an attempt to retrieve the activation codes for Omega Supreme which caused the "damage to her circuitry" that Perceptor called "completely irreversable", and meant she was left, comatose, in a hospital bed for millions of stellar cycles. Harsh
- Fanzone is shown to be a very experienced cop in this episode. He was the one who had the idea of looking for a 'Bot like Rattletrap, and he quickly spotted Jazz tailing him and Ratchet.
