Sea Change
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 Taking inter-species relationships to the next level. | |||||||||
| "Sea Change" | |||||||||
| Production code | 700-48 | ||||||||
| Production company | Sunbow Productions | ||||||||
| Airdate | November 20, 1985 | ||||||||
| Written by | Douglas Booth | ||||||||
| Continuity | Generation 1 cartoon continuity | ||||||||
Seaspray turns into a merman with robot feet and falls in love.
What?!
- Japanese title: 変身の泉 (Henshin no Izumi, "The Spring of Transformation")
Synopsis
Seaspray is pulling a water skiing Bumblebee around a lake, but Bumblebee wipes out while trying to jump a ramp. 'Bee decides to call it a day, as the first star comes out. Seaspray makes a wish on the star, but keeps it a secret, otherwise it won't come true.
Meanwhile, on another planet, the Tlalakans are all wishing for one thing...freedom from Deceptitran, who has enslaved them. He has developed a unique method of gathering energon by directly harvesting it from the Tlalakans themselves. However, the Tlalakans have finally had enough, and revolt. As his droids appear incapable of stopping them, Deceptitran sends out a distress signal.
Back on Earth, Seaspray is still wishing on stars, when he suddenly receives a signal. Heading back to the base, the two Autobots show it to Optimus Prime and Perceptor. Perceptor can't identify any specifics, but he is sure that it's a distress signal. Optimus sends the three in Cosmos, but the Autobot leader himself is too large to come. The Autobots depart, as Optimus wishes them luck. Before they reach the planet, Perceptor discovers that the distress signal is similar to ones intercepted during the Third Cybertron War. Seaspray suddenly realizes that they're responding to a distress signal intended for the Decepticons. Before they can abort, Deceptitran detects them, and orders the droids to open fire. As the Autobots emerge from the crash, the droids swoop in to finish the job, when the Tlalakans suddenly attack. Seaspray manages to save one, who calls herself Alana...and Seaspray appears a little shy.
Meanwhile, Astrotrain enters the planet's atmosphere and lands in the city. Megatron has come with Soundwave, Dirge, and Rumble to assist. After Deceptitran briefs Megatron on the situation, the Decepticons go Autobot hunting.
Meanwhile, the Autobots are being taken to the Well of Transformation, which the Tlalakans describe as the one secret that they have kept from Deceptitran. Unfortunately, a pair of droids have followed them in. Bumblebee downs one, while Seaspray throws another into the Well...where it dissolves. Alana explains that the Well dissolves the body, leaving only the lifeforce, which the Tlalakans use to change into whatever they want. Alana warns them not to get in, fearing that they will die just like the droid. After turning into a mermaid, Alana bids them farewell, blowing Seaspray a kiss. Bumblebee has to drag a babbling Seaspray out of the cave.
Heading to the river, the Autobots are discovered by Laserbeak, and the rest of the Decepticons swoop in. Seaspray transforms and takes the Autobots down the river—and right over the waterfall. Perceptor, Seaspray, and Cosmos are rescued by the Tlalakans, while Bumblebee is captured. The Autobots are taken to the Tlalakans underwater city, the only place that the Decepticons have not conquered. They meet Tlaloc, their king, who loans them some warriors to rescue Bumblebee and storm the city. However, Cosmos and Perceptor are too damaged. It's just Seaspray and his men. Er, mermen. After the mermen and Alana change back into humans, some of the mermen set bombs under the city, heralding the start of the attack. The Decepticons go to attack the Tlalakans, while Bumblebee activates a homing beam. He signals Seaspray, who rescues Bumblebee and damages Deceptitran. The Tlalakans withdraw, taking Bumblebee with them, while Seaspray and Alana go to the well. Unfortunately, Laserbeak follows Bumblebee underwater...
In the control room, Deceptritran is having a panic attack, causing Megatron to simply turn him off (why he doesn't do that with Starscream is beyond anyone's guess). Megatron receives a signal from Laserbeak, and promises to join their little friend in a short while...
In the forest, the Tlalakans are being chased by the droids, but manage to reach the Well of Transformation. Seaspray asks if Alana really believes he would die if he went in, but Alana points out that they're both machines. Feeling dejected, Seaspray resolves to go into the Well, as Alana cries out in horror. Believing him dead, Alana muses that she did love Seaspray...only for Seaspray to emerge as a blond muscle man, but with robot feet (and for some reason, still a gargling voice). The two jump into the Well and change into merpeople. They discover that the city is under attack by the Decepticons, but Seaspray doesn't have any weapons systems as a merman. Spotting them, Megatron orders Rumble to follow. Rumble begins firing, only for his body to also be affected by the Well. Alana begins to tell Rumble to think of a big tree, or become lost. Rumble survives...as a tree. Seaspray resumes his old robot mode, while Alana takes one of her own, as a measure for fighting Decepticons, but she likes her color (guess what it is). On the surface, Seaspray and Alana head to the above water city (with Alana transforming into a gondola) and attack Deceptitran's forces.
Underwater, the Decepticons are overwhelming the Autobots and Tlalakans, when Megatron receives a mayday from Deceptitran. Megatron is willing to leave Deceptitran to die, but the energon must be protected. Heading back for the city, the Decepticons spot Seaspray, and follow him into the energon warehouse. However, the droids fire on the Decepticons, as Alana has reprogrammed Decepitran to serve her. The explosion causes a massive tremor, destroys the city and causes Rumble, back in the caves, to fall into the Well of Transformation, allowing him to change back. Megatron orders Astrotrain to transform and take them off the planet.
As the Tlalakans celebrate, Alana has retaken her human form, but tells Seaspray that they won't let it ruin their relationship. As the two sail off into the sunset, Bumblebee notices the first star, and asks if anyone wants to make a wish. Perceptor asks why, and Bee says that it's merely a human superstition he heard...
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans |
|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"Oh no...my paint job's ruined."
- —Cosmos sweating the small stuff before collapsing
"She kissed me! She kissed me!"
- —Seaspray on foreplay (Ha ha! Making cyborgs!)
"Ah, dream on, bubble-brain."
- —Bumblebee on Seaspray's love life
"Maybe that is all I am, a bunch of transistors and bolts, but I don't believe it! My heart may look like an energon pump but that doesn't mean it can't feel."
- —Seaspray
"Transform, you sponge, and get us out of here!"
- —Megatron destroys Astrotrain's self-esteem with what appears to be a sea-related insult. Mercy.
Notes
Animation or technical glitches
- When Alana runs to assist Chac, the first cell is reversed, making her appear to be on the wrong side of the screen for an instant.
- While analyzing the distress signal, Perceptor's helmet is red.
- When Rumble is changed into a tree, he appears to be simply a tree with a mouth and eye holes, but during his close-up, his face is its regular, robotic self, apart from the fact his visor is now two separate eyes.
- When Deceptitran radios Megatron to tell him the energon supplies are in jeopardy, Soundwave's visor is white.
- When the droids first start firing on the Decepticons, the walls are pink.
- Megatron tells Dirge and the droids to chase Seaspray and Alana, but only the droids go.
Continuity errors
- Although Tlaloc appears to be among the mer-Tlalakans leading the escaping prisoners away, he later expresses surprise that Alana and Mok are free.
Transformers references
- Much of this episode takes place underwater, yet Bumblebee does not display any kind of special aptitude for underwater operations like his Tech Spec bio suggests he should.
Real-world references
- Sea-change or seachange is a poetical or informal term meaning a gradual transformation in which the form is retained but the substance is replaced, as with petrification.
- The vaguely Meso-American aesthetic of the natives and the word "Tlalakan" itself suggests that the planet is meant to evoke Tlalocan, the "heaven" in Aztec cosmology reserved for those who died by drowning or had an otherwise water-related death. That's, uh, actually pretty morbid!
- One of the Tlalakan natives is even named Tlaloc, after the Aztec god of rain and water who ruled Tlalocan. Hopefully, he didn't demand child sacrifices like the real one...
- Conversely, another of the natives is named Chac, which is very similar to Chaac, who was a Mayan god of rain.
