Transport to Oblivion (episode)
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 "What a fool Megatron is, Ratchet!" "Yeah, we won't have anyone to pray to until 1989!" | |||||||||
| "Transport to Oblivion" | |||||||||
| Production code | #700-01 | ||||||||
| Production company | Sunbow Productions | ||||||||
| Airdate | October 6, 1984 | ||||||||
| Written by | Bryce Malek Dick Robbins | ||||||||
| Animation studio | Toei | ||||||||
| Continuity | Generation 1 cartoon continuity | ||||||||
After months in hiding, the Decepticons return and have a new method for moving energon cubes to Cybertron.
- Japanese title: スペースブリッジ作戦 (Space Bridge Sakusen, "Operation: Space Bridge")
- German title: Die Weltraumbrücke (The Spacebridge)
- German Generation 2 title: Reise nach Cybertron (Journey to Cybertron)
Synopsis
The Decepticons have not been seen in months and are presumed dead by the Autobots. That doesn't stop a twitchy Cliffjumper from blasting a rock that vaguely resembles a Decepticon. Optimus Prime is also not completely convinced of the Decepticons' demise. Unknown to the Autobots, the Decepticons are in fact still alive and have constructed an undersea fortress out of their crashed ship under the ocean.
Meanwhile, on Cybertron, an energy-depleted Shockwave attempts to make contact with Megatron. Shockwave succeeds in his attempt and informs Megatron that the energon reserves on Cybertron are almost depleted. He also tells him of the newly-constructed Space Bridge.
The Decepticons head out again to collect more energy. Their first target is a solar power plant. Soundwave and Laserbeak scare off the workers and secure the generators for energon creation.
While cruising the city, Jazz and Spike Witwicky encounter a traffic jam—the cause of which is a city-wide blackout. Both decide they need to head back to base to check in. Teletraan I shows that the blackout has spread across the city. Optimus has Teletraan survey the surrounding power stations. At the solar plant, Optimus sees Megatron.
Optimus puts together a small strike team consisting of Ironhide, Ratchet, Prowl, Cliffjumper, Gears, and Bumblebee to take care of the Decepticon raid (the rest of the force are out on patrol). The Autobots arrive and drive off the Decepticons, but not before they manage to steal a large amount of energy. During the battle, Ironhide is injured while saving Optimus from an attack.
Back at base, Ironhide is worked on by Ratchet and Sparkplug Witwicky, but his pride is more wounded then his chassis. Wanting to know how they plan to get the energon to Cybertron, Optimus sends Bumblebee out on recon to search for signs of the Decepticons in the surrounding area; Spike offers to go with him.
The two stumble upon the location of the Space Bridge and witness the Decepticons' first failed attempt to transport a small vehicle across space. Bumblebee and Spike attempt to leave, but are captured before they can report back. Megatron decides to use his two captives as pilots for the shuttle to help keep it on its course to Cybertron.
Bumblebee and Spike are placed in the second test vehicle and sent toward the Space Bridge portal, but the Decepticons run out of time and the alignment between Cybertron and Earth passes. The Bridge can't be reactivated for 3,000 astro-seconds. While the Decepticons grouse about the delay, Bumblebee transforms into his car mode and smashes free of the transport vehicle. Spike is recaptured immediately. Bumblebee manages to evade them for a short time but is also recaptured. Megatron alters Bumblebee's memory chips so he can lead the Autobots into a trap.
Bumblebee returns to the Ark and tells the gathered Autobots that Spike has been captured. They head for the Space Bridge, but Bumblebee has given them an incorrect location. The false location leads them to a cave where the Decepticons, tipped off by Laserbeak, have been waiting in ambush.
The battle is cut short as the dimensional alignment between Cybertron and Earth recurs, allowing for Space Bridge transport. The Decepticons leave, but not before Megatron blasts the cave, sealing the Autobots within. During the battle, Bumblebee is injured and Ratchet discovers that a bank of Bumblebee's memory chips have been altered. The Autobots soon learn the true location of the Space Bridge and once free of the cave, roll out.
The Autobots engage the Decepticons once more at the true location of the Space Bridge, managing to rescue Spike and destroy the shipment of energon. As the battle nears its conclusion, Megatron is knocked into the active Space Bridge and is presumed destroyed. Starscream assumes command and orders a retreat. But within the Decepticon base on Cybertron, Megatron emerges intact from the Space Bridge, and swears vengeance on his enemies.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans |
|---|---|---|
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Quotes
Cliffjumper: "Don't worry, Megatron. I'll get them after I've taken care of YOU!"
(Cliffjumper punches Megs downstairs. This has no effect, and he is brushed aside like a rag doll.)
Megatron: "WHO will take care of me?"
Optimus Prime: "I will, Megatron."
- —Megatron gets put in his place for picking on the short one.
Skywarp: "Starscream! Behind you!"
(Starscream turns to see Cliffjumper and Gears running towards him)
Cliffjumper: "Too late, Starscream!"
Starscream: "It's never too late, Autobot."
[calmly raises his left arm and fires]
"No more backtalk, or I'll short your mouth circuit."
- —Ratchet's bedside manner toward Ironhide.
"How're we gonna get out of this?"
"By the skin of our teeth!"
"I didn't know human teeth had skin!"
- —Bumblebee and Spike
"The Autobots robbed me of my victory, but they have not seen the last of Megatron. I shall be avenged!"
- —Megatron, for the first time, but not the last.
Notes
Animation or technical glitches
- Maybe not an error, but definitely odd: The establishing shots of Decepticon Headquarters are two completely different matte paintings that show the exact same thing.
- A strange establishing shot meant to convey the transition of an Earth-bound scene to one set on Cybertron shows a whole bunch of gray planets near each other, then suddenly cuts to the stock shot of Cybertron. It's possible this was meant to be a pan across our solar system, showing the Moon and then Saturn, but what it actually portrays is more like three moons orbiting a distant ringed planet unlike any in our Solar System.
- The animated glow behind Shockwave when he is communicating to Megatron is mis-aligned with his body.
- Ed, a solar power plant worker, has his skin change color from one shot to the next. He's first seen as an African-American when his coworker tells him to turn the radio down. When he turns to face the radio in the next shot, he's white. As he backs away from Soundwave's transformation, he's black again, possibly suffering from a rapid (but intermittent) form of Vitiligo.
- A glow effect surrounds Soundwave as he enlarges out of his tape player form. While it is clearly a deliberate artistic choice, this effect is never again seen for Soundwave's transformations.
- Cliffjumper and Gears' voices can clearly be heard among the panicked power plant workers.
- As the Decepticons start filling energon cubes, the background cubes filled by Skywarp are layered in front of the foreground cubes filled by Starscream.
- On-screen Engrish:
- The signage in the city includes some rather odd phrases: Par, Bolo Bulue, Spu Rashu, Bolve, Fee, Mascot, IOU, April, AGF, Bell.
- When Optimus Prime is using Teletraan I to survey nearby power stations, the map on the screen is labeled "EVE ISLAND".
- Teletraan's readout screen has a number of lost-in-translation typographical errors. It reads: SOLOR POWE STATION #001; CAPACITY: 80 %; PURRENT PRODUCTION: 0%.
- When the Autobots crash through the skylight, Cliffjumper is colored like Bumblebee.
- Skywarp has the wrong voice as he says his "Hurry it up!" and "Starscream! Behind you!" lines.
- As Megatron gloats over Optimus Prime's defeat and prepares to transform into gun mode, he says "Soundwave—Prime is target, Soundwave! FIRE!", an awkward-sounding line that appears to have been hastily edited to remove some dialog. Additionally, Megatron orders Soundwave to fire him before he even finishes transforming.
- After Ironhide is shot protecting Optimus Prime, Prowl's gun is black.
- When the Decepticons are leaving the power station, Skywarp is seen flying away twice.
- Laserbeak's caws and cries are not electronically modulated and are much more bird-like than the synthetic trill that would become his standard vocalization later in the series.
- The Autobots storming into the power plant at the battle's end do not have the standard Autobot laser fire sound effects.
- As the space bridge powers up for its first test, the light effects at the back of the ring pass in front of the test vehicle, which is inside the ring.
- Amid the rocks and debris sucked up into the space bridge, the test vehicle can be seen rising...then falling back down again!
- Bumblebee and Spike clearly withdraw from the edge of the river canyon, yet Bumblebee is standing right at the edge again when he transforms (a convenient conceit, so he can fall down and be captured).
- The sides of Starscream's air intakes are gray instead of red when Megatron restrains him from attacking Bumblebee.
- As Megatron says that Bumblebee and Spike have "volunteered", a glint of light plays across his optics. The sound guys mistook this for a powered light-up effect and inserted a sound effect accordingly.
- The animation of test run #2 is recycled from the first test run...which means that the test vehicle is shown inside the ring, even though it shouldn't be there.
- When Shockwave says, "Test run number two aborted," the animation is of Megatron speaking.
- Starscream's thighs are dark gray instead of light gray as he and Megatron fire on the fleeing Bumblebee.
- Skywarp and Starscream get the same not-standard-issue laser sound effect that the Autobots at the power plant had.
- As the Autobots are waiting for Bumblebee and Spike's return home, Cliffjumper is colored as Bumblebee.
- Upon arriving, Bumblebee says that "Pike was taken by the Decepticons!" Maybe it's a nickname?
- Appearing/disappearing Autobots:
- Four red(dish) cars are among the group leaving Autobot Headquarters. Ironhide and Cliffjumper should be red; the third could be Gears. The fourth is either a miscolored Prowl or Jazz, leaving the group one man short.
- Best guess is that it's Jazz who is missing from that last shot, because he's also missing from the lineup of Autobot cars outside the cave. His voice shows up once the group enters the cave...but he's not actually seen until after the first commercial break.
- Brawn, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and Trailbreaker all appear at various points during the battle in the cave and its aftermath, despite not being part of the group that arrives and leaves the cave.
- As often happens, Soundwave's chest is suddenly see-through transparent when he's playing back a tape report.
- Prowl's car form is horrifically off-model when Ironhide asserts that Bumblebee is never wrong. Gears isn't much better and is missing some of his red coloration as well. When off-model Prowl transforms, his missing headlights and bumper appear out of nowhere.
- Megatron's fusion cannon is white instead of black as he threatens to finish Ironhide and Prime.
- Megatron's wrist blaster disappears instantly after he fires it.
- Starscream is holding one of his arm-mounted weapons in his hand as Megatron orders him to blast the cave entrance open.
- After Megatron blasts the cave shut (again) and returns to robot mode, blue sky can be seen between Starscream's arms and torso, in the space where his wings should be. Possibly the artists thought his wings were attached to his arms instead of his back.
- Ironhide's cheek guards are gray instead of red as he patches himself up after the cave battle.
- Ratchet announces that Bumblebee's memory banks have been altered, despite not doing any work near or inspection of his head. All he does is weld 'Bee's chest for a brief second.
- Megatron's face is black as he listens to Shockwave's instructions about the space bridge.
- As Ravage guards Spike, the energy cage is layered over Ravage's neck, even though he is closer to the camera's point of view.
- Spike makes a very strange gesture as the energy cage disappears, seemingly rubbing a rock in the background as if he were wiping it off. Not only is it strange, it's also spatially impossible, as the "rock" is actually the ground below him, meaning he's just making a random wiping motion in the air.
- Soundwave's shadow over Spike disappears a second before the shot ends.
- As Megatron coaches Spike, Soundwave is missing his Decepticon insignia. Megatron's own insignia is missing its central crest.
- When the space bridge opens for the third time (with Spike as the driver), the inside of the ring is bizarrely misdrawn; the outlines and edges of the bridge ring do not line up correctly, resulting in impossible shapes.
- Megatron's eyes are blue instead of red as he punches buttons on the space bridge console.
- Ironhide is suddenly toting a HUGE green bazooka cannon laser gun thing when the Autobots attack the space bridge. He's never had this weapon before or since.
- After Megatron falls into the space bridge, two successive shots feature Skywarp in Starscream's color scheme, resulting in two Starscreams appearing on screen at once.
- Starscream is missing his back wing insignia as he takes off.
- As the space bridge beam arrives on Cybertron, the beam is layered in front of the bridge receiver tower that it's supposed to be entering.
Continuity errors
- At the end of the previous episode, the Autobot ship was being refueled and repaired in preparation for the imminent return of the Autobots to Cybertron. At the beginning of this episode, their journey home seems to have been all but forgotten. Apparently, they left the lights on and the battery died, and there wasn't another interstellar spaceship available for a jump start.
- It certainly took Cliffjumper long enough to notice the Decepticon-shaped rock outside the base.
- This is the only time Autobot Headquarters is ever depicted as being near a cliffside overlooking the ocean.
- In the opening scenes, Optimus seems pretty certain that the Decepticons have survived...yet he still seems shocked when Megatron reappears.
- Speaking of which, could the Decepticons really have built this whole huge underwater fortress without anybody noticing their activities?
- If Shockwave is "losing power", then he really shouldn't be up on the roof of Decepticon Headquarters shooting at nothing. The animation fails to convey that he had any sort of target or that a battle was occurring.
- Shockwave is clearly the most loyal soldier in all of creation. He's still trying to communicate with Megatron four million years after he disappeared and clearly expects an answer. What would it take to convince Shockers that Megs is actually dead??
- There doesn't appear to be any purpose to Soundwave sneaking into the power station in tape player mode. Megatron just marches right in about five seconds after Soundwave launches his attack.
- A solar power station would not need generators.
- Again, if Prime is shocked to find that Megatron is alive, it doesn't make a lot of sense for over half the Autobots to be on patrol.
- Ratchet and Sparkplug are working on Ironhide outside, in the desert sand, even though Ratchet has a (presumably) sanitary medical center for such things.
- Given that Starscream is a highly sophisticated living machine, it seems unlikely that he would have to look at his (notably unadorned) wrist to count down five seconds accurately.
- Would it really have killed Bumblebee to stop for half a second to let Spike get inside, instead of making him run alongside?
- Jazz is somehow able to use a stalagmite as a bat to knock back a null ray blast at Starscream.
- Optimus Prime's foot gets caught in a boulder for no apparent reason. In one shot, he's just standing around after helping Ironhide; in the next, he's suddenly stuck.
- It's a totally stock cartoon trope, but really, how many times can one cave be blasted open and shut? (Two times each in this episode.)
- Megatron can't possibly be dumb enough to think that Prime and company couldn't just blast their own way out of the cave, yet he declares that sealing the cave means "the end of Prime and the Autobots".
Continuity notes
- This episode does a fair bit to establish the status quo for the rest of Season 1 and all of Season 2:
- The Decepticons are shown to have converted their crashed space cruiser into the vast Decepticon Headquarters complex.
- The Decepticons re-establish contact with Cybertron.
- The 'Cons make their first use of the space bridge, a device that will feature in many future episodes. The space bridge's erratic performance and seemingly random opening times and locations would feature in a few more episodes, but would largely be downplayed.
- The generic hard rock/big band song makes its debut in this episode; the guitar section is featured as source music played by both Jazz and Soundwave.
- Prime's casual reference to "the entire city losing power" might be construed by continuity hounds as meaning that the traffic jam that Spike and Bumblebee run into is in Central City, a city later demonstrated to be close to, and have some legal jurisdiction over, the land where Autobot Headquarters is located. That might be giving the continuity editors too much credit, however.
- This episode continues the trend of Cybertron being located outside the Milky Way galaxy, as Shockwave refers to the space bridge as an "intergalactic transport system".
- Gadgets and powers:
- When Cliffjumper opens fire on the rock formation, he is carrying Jazz's gun.
- Ratchet describes Starscream's fire as "a concussion blast" (it's supposed to be a null ray.)
- Ratchet has a laser scalpel (or something similar) that emerges from his forearm. Later, he uses a less focused device that slides out of his wrist.
- Megatron has a chest-mounted hose-like memory scrambler... and a gauntlet-launched saw blade... and a wrist laser.
- Watching Bumblebee make his scrambled report, Laserbeak uses a head-mounted retractable microphone. Laser episodes (and the Movie) would have show a video camera in the same spot instead.
- Ratchet has a wrist-based net launcher, that fires a Pac-Man shaped net (which for some reason brings down Laserbeak.)
- Optimus Prime's laser rifle has a variable focus barrel that allows him to shoot a needle-beam blast.
- The blue button on Megatron's tummy blinks to show him communicating with Shockwave. Later, it would be the two trapezoids on his pecs that blinked.
- What makes Starscream the leader? Megatron fell into the space bridge! > >
Real-world references
- Star Wars sound effects:
- Laserbeak is a one-bot Star Wars effects gallery. He launches from his spy mission with the sound of the Death Star's superlaser obliterating the planet Alderaan.
- He then arrives at the Decepticon Headquarters docking tower with the sound of the Millennium Falcon arriving at the Rebel Base on Yavin IV, followed by a repeat of the Death Star/Alderaan effects.
- He then flies into Soundwave's chest with another burst of Millennium Falcon engines.
Trivia
- In an unusual directorial choice, the second and third acts of this episode lack most of the usual flip-symbol scene transitions, instead using a series of Star Wars-like transition effects (iris out, triangular wipes, radar screen wipe, etc.)
- The third act also features a one-time-only bit of background music as the Decepticons retreat from the cave.
- Seriously, Cliffjumper charges Megatron and punches him in the junk! That takes bearings of chrome steel.
