Retreat
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| "Retreat" (Mittsu Me no Planet Force) "The Third Planet Force" | |||||||||
| Production company | TV Aichi, We've, Tōkyū Agency | ||||||||
| Airdate | July 2, 2005 (Japanese) October 21, 2005 (English) | ||||||||
| Writer | Hiro Masaki | ||||||||
| Director | Mitsuru Kawasaki, Manabu Ono | ||||||||
| Animation studio | GONZO | ||||||||
| Continuity | Unicron Trilogy cartoon continuity | ||||||||
With the kids held captive by the government, Starscream's forces closing in and the Omega Lock and Cyber Planet Keys on the line, the Autobots have only one desperate choice left...
Synopsis
As Starscream's Ancient Decepticons continue to swarm across the Earth in search of the third Cyber Planet Key, Tim Hansen returns home to check on his family, only to find their house empty. He calls on Mr. Stanton (who is taking the whole "alien invasion" thing with great calmness), who offers to help him look for them.
In the Autobot base, the Autobots are trying to pull a plan of action together, starting with the shutting down of all radio communications to keep their location secret. Leobreaker connects a cable from the base into a human telephone tower, and the Autobots use this system to keep in contact with the panicking Autobot refugees to keep them calm. After Evac departs to recover Earth's Cyber Planet Key from the hiding place in which he has stored it, Vector Prime voices his concern over the fact that he is unable to contact the kids or the Mini-Cons. Optimus Prime is away ahead of him, and has already sent Hot Shot and Landmine to search for them. While on their search, the two Autobots nearly get into an accident with Tim, who runs his car off the road. When the distressed elder Hansen cries his brothers names to the heavens, Hot Shot and Landmine realize who he is, and assure him that they'll find his brothers.
Little does anyone realise that the kids, their families and the Mini-Cons have been taken into custody Colonel Franklin. Despite Franklin's claims that he genuinely wants to help the Autobots, and with photographic proof of their covert activities laid out on the table in front of them, Coby, Bud and Lori continue to play dumb. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the complex, Lucy Suzuki approaches the vehicle-mode Mini-Cons and helps them to escape, shocking the engineers and scientists examining them when the three driver-less vehicles move under their own power. Six-Speed and Reverb drive through the corridors of the building and burst into the room where Franklin is holding the kids, while Jolt flies outside and opens a warp in the wall of the building. Coby leaps through the warp to join Lucy in Jolt's cockpit while Bud and Lori board the other Mini-Cons, and they depart with great speed, promising their parents that they will explain everything later. Not long after making good their escape, Jolt decides to radio ahead to the Autobot base and inform them of the government's knowledge, unaware of the communications blackout. Unfortunately, Sideways picks up his transmission and pinpoints the location of the Autobots' headquarters! The humans and Mini-Cons return to the Autobot base with all due speed, arriving just as the Decepticons begin to close on its position. The Autobots are shocked that Coby has brought Lucy, an "outsider", into their base, but with more pressing matters at hand, the issue is tabled as Optimus hands down a grave order: to protect the humans and their city, the Autobots must leave Earth!
As the Decepticons approach the Autobot base, Starscream and Sideways spot Evac returning from his trip to the North Pole to collect the Cyber Planet Key. Starscream accosts him and spots the Key in his hand, but Evac is able to get away by bamboozling the Decepticons with a battery of homing missiles. The other Autobots, meanwhile, are ascending a space bridge to Velocitron when they spot Evac approaching, with the two Decepticons on his tail. Jetfire rushes to his aid and holds the villains off, allowing Evac to join up with the other Autobots, but then, as Jetfire attempts to withdraw, Starscream seizes him and hurls him to the ground, right by the kids and Lucy. Starscream lands beside them and aims his blaster at the group, ransoming them for the Cyber Planet Key, but Jolt quickly using his warping ability to teleport them all to safety. With the humans and Jetfire out of danger, Optimus Prime shifts to Super Mode to open fire on the Ancient Decepticons, blasting many of them out of the sky. Starscream, meanwhile, boards the space bridge, and a colossal battle royale of epic proportions ensues, as he slashes, blasts and bludgeons his way through the entire Autobot army.
Hot Shot and Override are the first to fall to Starscream's blades, quickly followed by Crosswise and Scattorshot. Landmine and Red Alert fire their attacks at the same time, but Starscream rides the currents of Landmine's Cyber Tempest to strike them down from above. Jetfire scores a direct hit with his cannons, leaving Starscream's body blackened and sparking, but is so amazed to see the Decepticons survive the attack that he is caught off guard by a volley from Starscream's chest blasters. Leobreaker and Snarl are next into action, and actually manage to break off one of Starscream's swords before they are taken down, leaving only Evac and Vector Prime. Starscream takes a direct route with Evac, simply kicking him off the space bridge and picking up the dropped Cyber Planet Key. With the last of his strength, he beats Vector Prime into unconsciousness and takes the Omega Lock and the two other Keys.
Starscream thinks his objective is complete...until Optimus Prime lands in front of him, declaring that he will not allow the Lock and Keys to fall into Megatron's hands. Starscream laughs, telling Prime that he has no intention of giving this power to anyone other than himself. Prime is intent on teaching Starscream that living for only yourself will never lead to success, as he merges with the recovered Leobreaker and takes Starscream on in Savage Claw Mode. Starscream is no match for Prime's power, and both he and the Lock and Keys are sent tumbling off the space bridge. Prime dives after the Lock and Keys, but Starscream recovers mid-fall and makes one final gamble, launching a missile at the watching humans below. Prime is forced to break off his pursuit of the Lock and target the missile inside, blowing it up before it hits its target, but this gives Starscream the time to grab the Lock and Keys and make his escape through a dimension gate.
With the Lock and Keys lost to them, the Autobots regroup, and the kids apologize, blaming themselves for being the cause of Starscream's success. The Autobots tell them not to worry about it: Starscream stole the Keys, so they'll just steal them right back, but they'll need their help to do it! However, as everyone's spirits start to rise and they psyche themselves up for the coming battle, Colonel Franklin appears from the shadow of the nearby forest, and declares that it is finally time for them to talk...
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Others |
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Quotes
Franklin: The time has come for you to lead me to the Autobots' base.
Lori: But sir, what is a "Botanot" anyway?
Coby: I just don't understand the point of all this!
Bud: No habla Ingles, Senor Franklin!
- —The kids play dumb. Bud's loving it.
"It's raining Decepticons... and you don't have an umbrella!"
- —Starscream's gonna let himself get absolutely soaking wet.
"Right. Looks like you've lost your only bargaining chip, Starscream - so now, I'm not holding anything back!!"
- —Optimus Prime begins the smackdown
"I love Autobot Bowling!"
"Well, this pin strikes back!"
- —Starscream shouts his enjoyment at defeating Hot Shot and Override, and Crosswise tries to put him in his place.
"Heheheheheh... You think I've gone through all this... for an arrogant fool like Megatron? This power is mine!"
- —Starscream
"Your team is your strength, Optimus... but it's also your one weakness!"
- —Starscream, as he reveals just how far he's willing to go to get the Omega Lock and Cyber Planet Keys.
Notes
Differences with Galaxy Force
- When Sideways returns to Starscream's side, Galaxy Force indicates that he is only just now getting back after his pursuit of Crosswise, as seen in "Trap" and "Invasion". This is a bit out of whack, chronologically speaking, so Cybertron changes the dialogue so that Sideways is returning from searching for the Autobots' base.
- In Galaxy Force, when the kids discuss how humans will react to Transformers, Lori brings up the time that Landmine's footprints were found. This occurred in chronologically-earlier episode "Inferno", but because that episode hadn't been dubbed yet for Cybertron, it's changed to a more generic remark for the dub.
- After Coby makes the leap to Jolt's cockpit, his face is red and flushed. In Cybertron, this is exhilaration at having made the jump; in Galaxy Force, it's blushing embarrassment at sharing the cramped confines of Jolt's cockpit with a hot older lady, who has her arms wrapped around him. Allllll right.
- After Optimus tells the kids the Autobots must leave Earth, Galaxy Force has Lori tell Coby that it must be. In Cybertron, she tells Coby to convince Optimus to stay.
Animation or technical errors
- All the footage of civilian Autobots in this episode is recycled from "Search". As such, it makes it seems like Signal Lancer has moved out of the city (where he was seen last episode) and back to his usual spot in the desert in a very short amount of time. That, or there's more than one traffic light Autobot around!
Transformers references
- The photos Franklin shows the kids depict events from "Race" and "Ice".
- We briefly glimpse Megatron and the other Decepticons in their metal sphere in space, where they have been imprisoned since "Trap".
Trivia
- The Galaxy Force version of this episode finally gives a name to the small town in which Coby and co. live: Rockville.
- For the duration of this episode, actress Chiara Zanni stands in for Sarah Edmondson as Lori. She continues to do so in the following episode, "Revelation", and returns to do so in "Inferno".
