Space Pirates!

From MediaWiki
Revision as of 16:07, 27 June 2009 by 84.71.129.159 (talk) (→Synopsis: added caption.)
Jump to navigationJump to search
« The Transformers and Visionaries #182–187 »

Arise, Ghyrikius Prime!
Space Pirates!
Publisher Marvel Comics
First published 10th September–15th October 1988
Cover date 10th September–15th October 1988
Script Simon Furman
Art Dan Reed (#182–183)
Lee Sullivan (#186–187)
Pencils Dougie Braithwaite (#184–185)
Inks Dave Harwood (#184–185)
Colour Euan Peters (#182–186)
Steve White (#187)
Letters Glib
Edits by Denton J. Tipton
Continuity Marvel Comics continuity

Death and destruction reign supreme as the Quintessons embark on their master plan to eliminate the Transformers species.

Synopsis

The Quintessons are not having a good year. Space-time itself has been seriously ruptured due to the continuing presence of Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge in Earth's past, and the feedback from the disruption has altered the orbit of the Quintessons' homeworld Quintesson, such that it is in imminent danger of falling into its sun.

The Quintessons' original plan of response to this crisis was to find an alternative homeworld to move to; to that end, Quintesson spies/explorers surveyed a number of machine worlds (including Cybertron) and recorded their findings in the Quintesson Journal. Unfortunately, the journal fell into the hands of Wreck-Gar, who withstood all attempts to wring its location from him. The Big Broadcast of 2006!

Um, Mr. Ghyrik, the capture of the hero comes before the "Villain's Exposition"...

As such, the Quintessons move to Plan B—direct conquest of Cybertron and elimination of the Transformers. Fear of the Creation Matrix has made them hold off to this point, but without any other option, they proceed.

The plan they execute is two-pronged: simultaneously, a Quintesson fleet commanded by General Ghyrik assaults and occupies Autobot City on Earth, killing many Autobots, while the remainder of the Quintesson army ambushes the massed forces of the Decepticons on Cybertron, commanded by Soundwave.

Rodimus Prime and a contingent of Autobot warriors are ambushed at Autobot City when they arrive to investigate why the facility has gone silent; the Matrix is stolen by General Ghyrik.

I'm here to kick ass and chew bubble gum. And I'm all out of bubble gum.

Then the plan begins to fall apart. In his juvenile form of Hot Rod, Prime manages to reactivate Metroplex, the giant Autobot sleeping within Autobot City, who unloads a can of whoopass on the occupying Quintessons.

Meanwhile, on Cybertron, acting-commander Soundwave sends a distress call to the remaining Autobots there, commanded by Ultra Magnus, who reluctantly come to the aid of their ancient foes.

Their combined forces overwhelm the Quintessons on Cybertron, and Soundwave even briefly considers the notion of a truce — but the two factions have been through too much to ever resolve their differences.

On Earth, Hot Rod manages to recover the Matrix by using a child's trick, and throws Ghyrik off a rooftop, thus winning the battle there.

Meanwhile, Wreck-Gar manages to escape Quintesson with the help of Wheelie, and makes his way to the Quintesson Journal's hiding place, where he transmits its contents to the galaxy at large. A large number of robotic species discover their worlds had been slated for potential colonization. As a result, those Quintessons who managed to escape the death of their world will be galactic fugitives, hated and hunted by the machine races of the galaxy.

I love it when a plan comes together.

Not quite the uncharismatic bore that nobody would follow. Somebody's eating humble pie.


(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Others

Errors

Items of note

British Junkionisms

  • As in the cartoon, Wreck-Gar's dialogue is littered with references to TV shows. However, UK comics Wreck-Gar has watched an awful lot more UK TV. This obviously wasn't a problem when the story originally came out, but thanks to the increased availability of UK stories in the US along with the fact that lots of these references are twenty years old, lots of this stuff is now just plain confusing. So, here's a list of exactly what the hell Wreck-Gar is talking about in each issue:

Part 1:

  • "Great Balls of Fire!"—a 1957 song made famous by Jerry Lee Lewis
  • "L.A. Law this ain't"—An American legal drama.
  • "No mealtime treat"—?.
  • "Tense, nervous headache" and "nothing acts faster than Anadin"—references a British advert for Anadin, a brand name for various headache tablets (yes, it's a real brand).
  • "Bite it, crunch it, chew it!"—the jingle used for an advert for Cadbury's Boost, a chocolate bar.
  • "Tonight on The Clothes Show..."—A television show originally shown on BBC 1 that showed you how you too could look great on a budget. Often involved tank tops.
  • "Top of the Pops on the Quintessons' hit-list was Cybertron"—A popular British music show, featuring artists from the Top 40. Ruthlessly crushed by MTV and its ilk.
  • "...and it's still not safe to go back in the water!"—Tag line from some film about a shark or something.

Part 2:

  • "For up to 20% fewer fillings, use Gibbs Sr!"—Gibbs Sr was a brand of toothpaste. It's also the answer to the question "What was the first advert ever shown on British TV?" Impress your friends with knowledge!
  • "...the sweet you can eat between meals!"—Allegedly, a Milky Way Bar. The version sold in the UK lacks the caramel you find in the US version, which is actually closer to a UK Mars bar (and which both used the "work, rest and play" advertising slogan). The UK version will float in water. More sexy knowledge!
  • "Shot my bolt, Bernie"—Possibly a reference to a TV show called The Golden Shot. Furman is showing his age a bit here. Out of context, it sounds incredibly rude.
  • "It'll take more than Five Alive to pep me up"—Juice drink still widely available in the UK. Contains 42% fruit juice, 22% sugar and several artificial sweeteners. Yum!
  • "Talk about close shaves...I was so impressed, I bought the company!"—Advertising slogan used on Remington Electric Shavers.
  • "The needs of the many must take precedence over the needs of the one, Captain"—A generic term, but in this case referencing the greatest sci-fi film of all time.
  • "Autobots must be warned of Quintessons' university challenge"—British quiz show, pitting university students against each other. Oxbridge colleges (who compete individually) usually won.
  • "It'll be winner takes all if we don't make our home run now!"—Another quiz show, notable for having a top prize of £1000 (oooh) and for helping to catch a rapist. Yes.

Part 3:

  • "I'm afraid it's time for closedown"—The name given to the period during the bad old days when TV stations would shut down for the night. Abandoned once they realised that people might want to watch TV after midnight, and that they had plenty of music/news/repeats to show them.
  • "Only when Bob says Opportunity Knocks!"—A sort of precursor to America/Britain's Got Talent, this show aired off and on from the 50s through to the 90s. Wreck-Gar is referencing the period when it was hosted by Bob Monkhouse - British National Treasure.
  • "Until then we follow the Green Cross Code"—The name given to the act of stopping at the side of the road and checking both ways before crossing. The original Green Cross Code man was David Prowse, who later went on to complain about being dubbed in some film.
  • "Run silent. Run deep. You know it makes sense."—The former refers to the 1958 film of the same name. The latter, meanwhile, was one of several catchphrases associated with British TV programme "Only Fools and Horses".
  • "Yeah. Why slowmo...when you can Flymo!"—Tagline to an advert for a really nice lawn mower that was much faster than contemporay designs.
  • "Need extra strength Daz. Reaches the parts of engines other powers can't stir!"—Washing detergent that is so much more powerful than normal ones that it had adverts proclaiming this power to all. Currently uses old soap stars (you see the joke!) instead.
  • "Points mean prizes!"—Catchprase used by Bruce Forsyth - British National Treasure, when he presented Play Your Cards Right, a quiz show based on the US show Card Sharks.

Part 4

  • "She flies through the air with the greatest of ease!"—Lyrics from the 19th century song, "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze". Wreck-Gar was probably more familiar with one of the many cover versions.
  • "I'm going to have to offer that to the other side!"—"The other side" was a typical way of referring to the opposing team on various television quiz shows, such as University Challenge.
  • "Today, the Wish You Were Here Team visits..."—"Wish You Were Here...? was a long-running British travel programme.

Part 5

  • Wreck-Gar's extended exchange with another Junkion is done in the style of football (that's soccer to the Colonials in the reading audience) commentation, after the British television show The Big Match. Wreck-Gar and his companion refer to each other with the names of the show's presenters, Brian Moore and Jimmy Hill, respectively.

UK printing

  • None yet identified.

Covers

  • 182 cover
    182 cover
  • 183 cover
    183 cover
  • 184 cover
    184 cover
  • 185 cover
    185 cover
  • 186 cover
    186 cover
  • 187 cover
    187 cover

Advertisements

  • None yet identified.

Reprints

  • Parts 1–3 were reprinted in Collected Comics #17 in July 1990. However, Collected Comics #18 did not appear for another ten months and moved onto reprinting "Time Wars" with no explanation.
Retrieved from "https://tfwiki.duckdns.org/index.php?title=Space_Pirates!&oldid=320553"