Atlantis, Arise!
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 There's fire burning... underwater. Don't ask. | |||||||||
| "Atlantis, Arise!" | |||||||||
| Production code | #700-23 | ||||||||
| Production company | Sunbow Productions | ||||||||
| Airdate | October 3, 1985 | ||||||||
| Written by | Douglas Booth | ||||||||
| Continuity | Generation 1 cartoon continuity | ||||||||
The Decepticons ally with the undersea realm of Sub-Atlantica. But they may be more treacherous than Megatron expected.
- Japanese title: アトランティス浮上! (Atlantis Fujō!, "Atlantis, Arise!")
- German Generation 2 title: "Die Unterwasserstadt" ("The Underwater City")
Synopsis
Soundwave summons Megatron to the control room, saying that Laserbeak and Buzzsaw have detected massive energy readings underwater. The Decepticons investigate and encounter the Sub-Atlanticans, a race who hope to conquer the surface world one day. Megatron negotiates a deal with Nergill, King of Sub-Atlantica, offering Decepticon military technology in exchange for access to their geothermal storehouses. Starscream distrusts the Sub-Atlanticans, who communicate with each other telepathically.
Near the Autobot base, Spike, Bumblebee, and Hound are playing a game of football with the Dinobots. Wheeljack arrives before the Dinobots accidentally kill anyone, telling them there is a massive energy reading emanating from near the Decepticon base. Optimus Prime dispatches Bumblebee, Brawn, Hound, and Wheeljack to investigate, with Spike tagging along. The Decepticons and Sub-Atlanticans attack and take Wheeljack prisoner. After raising the city from the bottom of the ocean, the Decepticons and Sub-Atlanticans prepare to attack Washington, D.C. as a sign of their new alliance. Nergill communicates with his soldiers, telling Megatron that they will imprison Wheeljack in his dungeons. However, at Starscream's orders, Soundwave unscrambles the message and learns that Wheeljack is to be taken to their laboratory.
The Autobots head for Washington, hoping to stop the Decepticons and Sub-Atlanticans. Prime has Spike and Bumblebee head for Sub-Atlantica, hoping to rescue Wheeljack, while the Autobot leader takes the others to Washington. The Sub-Atlanticans raise a force field over Washington, trapping the Autobots inside. In Sub-Atlantica, Nergill is developing a magnetic dysfunction ray which will shut down Transformers. Starscream discovers this and is shot by Nergill, who learns that it is less effective on Decepticons. As Nergill leaves, Starscream attempts to drain power from Wheeljack, but Bumblebee and Spike stop the Air Commander.
Heading for Washington, Nergill uses the disruptor to defeat the Autobots, but holds back on the Decepticons. As the Sub-Atlanticans secure the Capitol building, his soldiers ask when to move against the Decepticons, but Nergill decides to wait a little while longer. Meanwhile, Megatron (sitting at the Lincoln Memorial) tells Thundercracker that they will deal with the Sub-Atlanticans soon enough.
Wheeljack calls in the Dinobots, who manage to penetrate the force field but come to blows with the Cons. Megatron and Grimlock fight, and Nergill tries to shoot them both, but Starscream causes Nergill to miss. Grimlock grabs the disruptor and destroys it, causing the Autobots to revive. The Decepticons and Sub-Atlanticans retreat back to their own city, with the Autobots in pursuit.
Back at Sub-Atlantica, Megatron demands an answer to Starscream's treason charge against Nergill, but Nergill informs him that the Autobots are coming. They invade the city, and the Dinobots begin smashing everything in sight.
Nergill decides to destroy the city, hoping to destroy the Transformers as well. Spike, Wheeljack, and Bumblebee follow, hoping to stop Nergill, with Rumble and Ravage in pursuit. The two Mini-Cassettes realize Nergill's intentions, and Rumble tries to bury him in rubble, but it's too late. Nergill throws a device into his energy containers, which starts a chain reaction that destroys the city. The Autobots and Decepticons manage to retreat, while the Sub-Atlanticans and their home disappear under the waves. Prime says they probably won't see Nergill again for a long time.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"Are you sure humans do this for fun?"
- —Hound, after playing a game of football with the Dinobots
"Ruining Autobots is my life!"
- —Starscream finds his true calling.
"Autobots bite off more than they can chew, then send for Dinobots! Come, Snarl, Sludge. We go!"
- —Grimlock, responding to the SOS call by Wheeljack. Apparently he does not want Slag or Swoop.
"Mmm, we are here."
- —Grimlock is a master of subtle and astute observation
"Me Grimlock here again, Optimus Prime, to pull your diodes out of laser fire."
- —Grimlock is getting a little tired of rescuing Optimus Prime
"Okay, Grimlock. Time for you and the Dinobots to act prehistoric!"
- —Optimus Prime
"You don't frighten me, you mechanical throwbacks!"
"Good, Megatron! We love stupid enemies!"
- —Grimlock has no grasp of irony.
Notes
Animation or technical glitches
- Someone mistook the strange glint of sunlight reflecting off of Buzzsaw for a laser beam, and inserted a sound effect accordingly.
- Soundwave has some extra black shading around his eyeband as he reports to Megatron.
- As Megatron pontificates about "an underwater city of such size", a strangely-timed edit has the scene cut to an exterior shot of Decepticon Headquarters, as if that were supposed to be the underwater city in question. If it's meant to be an establishing shot, why isn't it at the beginning of the scene?
- The docking tower appears to be listing about 15 degrees or so as it emerges from the water. Looks like somebody was tracing when they should have been re-drawing!
- When the Decepticons leave their base, Starscream's jet mode has a yellow underbelly. For an animation error, it's unusually appropriate!
- As he orders Soundwave to unscramble Nergill's message, Starscream's left pectoral is colored gray instead of red, and isn't really drawn in correctly, almost as if the animators intended his arm to be covering it during the scene.
- Considering how bright and well-lit everything is, Sub-Atlantica must be in about 25 feet of water.
- As Hound's camper roof unfolds, his turret gun phases right through it.
- Bumblebee appears to be using one of the Sub-Atlanticans' weapons as he fires at Starscream and company.
- During Wheeljack's "But nobody else is gonna follow you either" line, only the front side of his "ears" flash.
- Soundwave is drawn with a totally transparent tape door as Starscream has him unscramble Nergill's second message. It appears to be a deliberate choice to show the cassette mechanism within, but it conflicts with the usual white coloration of his chest panel.
- As Megatron makes his dramatic proclamation of the city's destination, the bottom of Starscream's cockpit cowling is colored yellow instead of gray.
- Starscream is shown among the Decepticons leaving Sub-Atlantica to conquer D.C. The very next shot shows him lurking within the city as Nergill exposits to himself.
- The "highway" that the Autobots use to drive to D.C. has an "exit" for the Chesapeake Bay that's more like a T-shaped intersection. Bumblebee somehow manages to negotiate it at full speed without flying out of control, but he's an alien, remember?
- The animation is very inconsistent as to whether the little red bulb on the Sub-Atlanticans' headwear is supposed to flash when they talk.
- The Dome Of Invulnerability guy is missing his telepathic waves as he refuses Megatron's order.
- Laser bolts bounce right off the Washington Monument without so much as a burn mark. No wonder nobody ever dies in this show!
- Laserbeak's attack on Hound is strangely truncated; he fires non-glowing lasers at him, and then suddenly vanishes out of the shot.
- The shot that Hound fires at Laserbeak comes out of his gun at a different angle than the gun barrel's alignment.
- The electrical volts enveloping Starscream right after Nergil blasts him are not animated to jigger for the first few seconds.
- The inside of Sludge's robot-mode mouth is white when he says "Alright!"
- When the Dinobots break through the force field, Starscream is among the group fighting them off, even though he is still lying inert within Sub-Atlantica at this point.
- Before Megatron bashes the Washington Monument, Prime and Prowl are standing there watching. After Megatron bashes the Monument, the shot returns to the same Prowl-and-Prime angle. But Prowl is gone, and the earlier artwork of Prime remains there standing and watching as another Prime runs to catch the monument!
- The Autobots shown entering the city and attacking Megatron include Prime, Hound, Brawn, Prowl, Ironhide, and Sunstreaker. Sunstreaker and Ironhide disappear after the battle begins; only Hound, Brawn, Prowl and Prime are shown being disabled by Nergill. Ironhide finally shows up again after the battle is over; Ratchet and Trailbreaker appear out of nowhere as the Autobots roll out of D.C. Then Sideswipe joins them, and Sunstreaker finally reappears, during the Sub-Atlantica battle.
- Slag's face is white instead of red as he exits Prime's trailer. In the next shot, his whole head is gray.
- Spike's declaration that "Nergill's gone!" doesn't mean much, since the animation never actually makes it clear that Wheeljack carried him out of Sub-Atlantica.
- What are Prime and the others standing on after they evacuate Sub-Atlantica? Even Spike is above water almost to his waist!
Continuity errors
- Megatron refers to Laserbeak and Buzzsaw as "vultures". They're supposed to be condors.
- If Nergill "communicates telepathically", as Soundwave claims, why is his mouth moving all the time?
- Spike is obviously some sort of super human. He can survive in the "deepest part of the Atlantic ocean" wearing only a bathing suit and using a simple oxygen tank and goggles. Amazing that he isn't crushed under the weight of the ocean or frozen to death.
- How can Bumblebee calculate Sub-Atlantica's destination from watching it sail along the coast for like two seconds? It could be going anywhere!
- The "conquest" of Washington is incredibly half-hearted. The Decepticons and the squiddy guys run around in the street for a bit, scare some tourists, blow up a couple of cars, and put up a force field. About the only conquery thing they do is set up a giant vacuum tube computer in the capital building.
- The Sub-Atlanticans have to wear aquatic masks over their faces when they're on dry land. Yet they don't wear them inside their city, which appears to be just as water-free as the surface.
- The water-based Sub-Atlanticans don't think to create a force field that extends under the water?
- More an omission than an error, but it's never explained just what Starscream was trying to do to Wheeljack.
- Wheeljack says that they'd better warn Prime about the dysfunction ray... then proceeds to say something totally vague and uninformative ("There is great danger! Nergill must be stopped!")
- How many times do cartoons have to be told that it's not a force field if it shatters like glass?
- Starscream's third appearance in DC isn't an animation error; he's central to the plot! How did he get free of the dysfunction ray?!
- Who knew that destroying a gun could un-shoot the gun's prior victims? That's exactly what happens -- Grimlock destroys the dysfunction gun, and suddenly the Autobots are un-dysfunctionalized!
District of Columbia errors
- Despite the Autobots being near the Chesapeake Bay, the backgrounds show huge rocks and expanses of sand, as if they were in the desert.
- As Hound fights near the reflecting pool, there's lots of tall buildings behind him. D.C. doesn't really have many tall buildings, certainly not near the Mall.
- Both the plot and the animation seem to imply that DC sits on a major body of water. Or did Sub-Atlantica just sail right up the Potomac?
- The Lincoln Memorial is strangely Megatron-sized. Also, the statue part apparently just comes right off. Who knew?
- Somehow, the rotational forces involved in the Washington Monument's partial fall do not cause the masonry structure to snap like a dry twig.
- Apparently, damaged masonry structures like the Washington Monument can be melted back together. Who knew?
Transformers references
- In the Decepticon campaign of Transformers The Game, Megatron also takes the Lincoln Memorial throne as his own.
- Grimlock also grumbled about having to save the Autobots in "Day of the Machines". It'll finally come to a head in "Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 1".
- Hey, that shot of Soundwave ejecting Laserbeak during the DC battle sure looks familiar... why, it's copied from "Transport to Oblivion"! Again!
Real world references
- As the obligatory "conquer Washington" episode (G.I. Joe had one too), "Atlantis, Arise!" features several D.C. landmarks, including the Washington Monument and the nearby reflecting pool, the White House (where the Decepticons first land), the US Capitol Building, and the Lincoln Memorial.
Trivia
- This episode is one of a handful that begins with a (rather pointless) narrative voiceover from Victor Caroli.
- Hound has a folding sunroof. That is awesome. His toy did not. That is not awesome.
- Whose bright idea was it to introduce Transformers to the world of football, using five godless killing machines?
- Watch out for the hilarious irony of Starscream shouting "TRAITOR!" and stopping Nergill from shooting Megatron in the back.
- They have in fact seen the last of Nergill.
