Fight or Flee (episode)
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 "Man, I hate menial labor. Don't they have machines that can do this?" | |||||||||||||
| "Fight or Flee" | |||||||||||||
| Production code | 700-106 | ||||||||||||
| Production company | Sunbow Productions | ||||||||||||
| Airdate | October 15, 1986 | ||||||||||||
| Written by | Tony Cinciripini Larry Leahy | ||||||||||||
| Animation studio | Toei | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Generation 1 cartoon continuity | ||||||||||||
The Decepticons conquer Paradron, a world inhabited by pacifistic Autobots.
- Japanese title: 戦いか死か!? (Tatakai ka Shi ka!?, "Fight or Death!?")
- German title: Wenn du nicht kämpfst, wirst du sterben! (If you don't fight, you're going to die!)
- German Generation 2 title: Eine vollkommene Welt (A perfect World)
Synopsis
In space, Cyclonus and Scourge are pursuing Air Raid. Following him into an asteroid field, the two Decepticons are surprised to see the other Aerialbots. In the firefight, Scourge is damaged, so Cyclonus argues that they charge them. However, the Aerialbots form Superion and do further damage to the Decepticons. Cyclonus spots a vortex and decides to take refuge in it. Once they've passed through, they find a planet that looks similar to Cybertron during the Golden Age. Further analysis is discontinued, however, as they crash hard.
Nursed back to health by the natives, the Decepticons discover that the planet, called Paradron, is inhabited by Autobots. Native Sandstorm greets the two Decepticons, explaining their pacifistic ways, but Cyclonus and Scourge get a little too much energon... of which the planet has an unlimited supply. Contacting Chaar, they inform Galvatron of the discovery. Sandstorm calls an assembly, warning the populace that Cyclonus and Scourge are dangerous, but the others ignore his warnings. Soon enough, the Decepticons arrive and declare the planet a part of the Decepticon Empire. Naturally, the Paradrons don't agree with that, one claiming outright that the planet is a democracy. Galvatron shoots the dissenter.
Taken to a prison, Sandstorm manages to escape, but Brawl and Razorclaw follow him. They knock him off a bridge, but Sandstorm flies away and manages to lose the two Decepticons. Heading for a long-abandoned spaceship, Sandstorm manages to power it up and take off, narrowly avoiding Divebomb.
Making contact with the Autobots, Sandstorm explains that his ancestors left Cybertron during the fourth great war to escape the violence. The Autobots, knowing that they can't let the Decepticons have Paradron's energon, head for the planet. By now, the Decepticons have dug in and are using the Paradrons as slave labor. Detecting the Autobot ship, the Decepticons use their molecular cannon to destroy the Autobots—or so they think, as the Autobots actually used the ship as a decoy. Ultra Magnus takes a team to secure the energon, while Rodimus Prime takes Springer, Sandstorm, and Sky Lynx to rescue the prisoners.
Breaking through the prison defenses, the Autobots present the Paradrons with weapons, but the latter are reluctant to fight. Sandstorm claims that their forefathers would fight as well. The Autobot leader gives them a simpler choice: fight or flee. Reluctantly, the Paradrons take up arms.
"Yeah, now let's waste it! I hate nice things!"
Unfortunately, the Decepticons' control over the planet is too firm. Unwilling to let them have Paradron, Rodimus orders Ultra Magnus to destroy the energon core, which will destroy the planet. Sandstorm objects at first, but agrees to the plan when he learns that the Paradrons can live on Cybertron. Using escape pods, the Paradrons flee the planet, while Magnus and Sandstorm head for the core. Planting a time bomb, the two Autobots hightail it out of there. Galvatron sneers at their cowardice, then remembers that Magnus is anything but a coward. Realizing that something is wrong, Galvatron orders the Decepticons to abandon the planet.
From space, the Autobots watch the planet explode. Sandstorm remarks that even in death, it's still beautiful. Rodimus callously says that Cybertron is better anyway.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons |
|---|---|
|
Quotes
"Hey! I'm stuck up here!"
"Everybody's got to be somewhere."
- —A Paradronian' and Cyclonus, after the latter throws the former into a wall.
"Before a society can move forward, everyone must agree on the rules. Now kneel!"
- —Come, sons of Paradron, kneel before Galvatron.
"I-is there something wrong with his timing program?"
- —Sandstorm, asking the question we're all thinking about Blurr.
"I've never seen anything this beautiful in the entire galaxy.... All right, give me the bomb."
- —Ultra Magnus with one of the greatest lines in the universe.
"Run, you Autobot cowards! Hhh...but he isn't a coward.... Something's wrong here!"
- —Galvatron mocks Ultra Magnus, then realizes they're in deep slag.
"It's as beautiful in death as it was in life."
"Well, no need to get all mushy. Cybertron's a better place anyway — not so...perfect."
- —A solemn Sandstorm witnessing the destruction of his home while Rodimus Prime callously mocks him for it. Jerk.
Other notes
Animation or technical glitches
- At the beginning of the episode, Cyclonus' gun sounds like Galvatron's cannon. This occurs throughout the scene, though in some shots it has the typical Decepticon laser sound.
- One shot of Air Raid standing on an asteroid has his top half in all red, with his bottom half in all white.
- Once again, Cyclonus' face looks different. Here, he has no "beard," and his eyebrows are white (except in certain shots like when he and Scourge spot the vortex, where he has the purple beard again).
- In various shots, the Paradronians are all in an off-white color scheme while in other shots of the same groups, they're more colorful.
- When Scourge delivers his line "The same goes for me..." as Cyclonus finishes drinking from the Energon fountain, Cyclonus has Sandstorm's color scheme. Sandstorm himself is also colored entirely orange during this moment.
- Shortly afterwards, as Cyclonus draws his weapon and notes that the Paradronians are not armed, the Decepticon brand usually seen on his chest is missing.
- When Cyclonus and Scourge contact Chaar, only Soundwave and Bonecrusher are shown, yet the voice that speaks is clearly Shrapnel. He even uses Shrapnel's unique repetition of dialogue, dialogue.
- When Cyclonus and Scourge plot against the Paradronians during Sandstorm's assembly, Scourge is drawn way shorter than Cyclonus.
- The Paradronians' Autobot logos are drawn/colored inconsistently throughout the episode. Some are missing areas of the symbol, others are colored only halfway, and others are drawn in rather poorly (especially during the assembly). In most group shots, they're missing entirely (only to show up when we get a close-up).
- When the Decepticons land on Paradron, Galvatron and Soundwave have huge heads and Soundwave's chest is white instead of blue.
- Galvatron's chin is darker than the rest of his face in this episode.
- As Razorclaw and Brawl chase Sandstorm, one shot of them shows an outer space sky, but the rest show a blue, Earth-like sky.
- When Razorclaw and Brawl land in the gorge to hunt down Sandstorm, both of their color schemes show areas of white where there should be black.
- When Divebomb is tracking Sandstorm, he is drawn flying in some sort of mid-transformational mode for the duration of the scene. Then again, as he goes back into robot mode, only half the transformation sound is heard.
- Bruticus is shown as being only a few feet taller than Galvatron.
- When Bruticus says "I believe it is an Autobot invasion party.", Galvatron mouths the line simultaneously.
- When the Autobots are meeting on Paradron's moon, Ironhide and Ratchet are seen among the group looking at Rodimus Prime. How the hell did they get better?
- When Rodimus tells Sandstorm to give the Paradrons the weapons, his spoiler is all-yellow (it should be orange in the middle).
- Oddly enough, when Rodimus gives the ultimatum for the Paradronians to "Fight... or flee!" (after the first slave acquires a gun), the slaves kneel to pick up weapons off of the floor... that aren't even there, making it appear as if they're plucking weapons from thin air. What?
- Also, when Rodimus gives the order, his left shoulder is missing its white detailing.
- When Magnus, Wheelie, and Blurr are ambushed, a shot panning across a group of Decepticons gives us Long Haul in a bizarre blue-and-orange color scheme, previously seen in "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4", which persists throughout this scene. Also Soundwave with a white cannon and no mouthplate, Scrapper in a Predacon color scheme, and Galvatron with a white cannon.
- The mis-colored Long Haul fires a rocket at a stand labeled, "NEWS PAPEP."
- When Rodimus gets the transmission from Ultra Magnus, his head crest is yellow, then lined incorrectly, then missing all lines in subsequent shots.
- When Wheelie finds the door in the floor, the lines around Magnus' eyes are too thick (like he's wearing mascara!).
- Sandstorm's size relative to the other Autobots varies drastically—when interrogated, he looks huge; when descending the steps to the core chamber, he's half the size of Ultra Magnus; when handing Magnus the bomb, they're roughly the same size.
- When Sandstorm and Magnus duck from the missile, the top of Magnus' back is red instead of (the now established) grey.
- During his "but he isn't a coward" line, Galvatron's chin is back to being the same color as the rest of his face.
- As Rodimus counts down the final seconds of the bomb, his head crest is missing its lines.
- As the Autobots watch the explosion, Magnus' Autobot logo is missing.
Continuity errors
- Although this episode gives Sandstorm's origin, he first appeared in "Starscream's Ghost". Gee, that's never happened before. Wonder why? Having said that, the episode features none of the traditional season 3 stock music used in surrounding episodes, possibly implying that it was actually to have been animated earlier in the season.
- Bruticus is noticeably eloquent compared to past appearances. He also talks like Cyclonus and is acting like Galvatron's right hand man. Maybe he was supposed to be Cyclonus?
- Despite being banished by Galvatron earlier, Blitzwing can be seen among Galvatron's troops when he orders them to make the slaves work faster.
- Brawl is shown helping Headstrong man a large gun at the same time as Bruticus is with Galvatron.
- Sandstorm claims his ancestors left during the fourth great war. According to "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4", the current war is the third.
- Ultra Magnus gives a five minute countdown after setting the bomb. Not the usual astro-minutes, just minutes.
Transformers references
- The Paradron Medics sure look familiar...
- Paradron would appear in Dreamwave's Micromasters comic and be the location of an important plot device.
Trivia
- At one point, this episode went by the preliminary title of "Fight or Die". As originally scripted, the episode featured an additional plot line that involved Galvatron forcing a Paradronian scientist to build huge planetary engines ("ion thrusters", per the script) on the planet's surface, in order to transform it into a mobile battle fortress.[1]
- Divebomb has the same hidden camera gimmick in his beast mode's forehead as Laserbeak.
- Rodimus Prime destroys an entire planet rather let the Decepticons have it. After it blows up and Sandstorm mourns its loss, Rodimus even has the gall to say that "Cybertron's a better place anyway, not so perfect." And people wonder why everyone else prefers Optimus Prime!
Home video releases
- VHS
1989 — Transformers — The Big Broadcast of 2006 / Fight or Flee (Tempo Video)
1989 — Transformers — Fight or Flee / Call of the Primitives (Tempo Video)
1990 — The Action Adventure Collection IV (Tempo Video)
1991 — Transformers — Starscream's Ghost / Fight or Flee (Tempo Video)
- Laserdisc
1999 — The Transformers: 2010 (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
- DVD
2001 — The Transformers: 2010 — DVD Box (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
2004 — The Original Transformers — Season 3 Part 2 & Season 4 (Rhino Entertainment)
2004 — Transformers — Season 3 and Season 4 (Metrodome)
2004 — Transformers — Collection 5: Series 3.2 (Madman Entertainment)
2006 — Transformers — The Complete Generation One Collection (Metrodome)
2007 — The Transformers — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)
2009 — Transformers — Season's Three & Four [sic] (Metrodome)
2009 — The Transformers — Complete Collection: Decepticon Edition (Madman Entertainment)
2009 — The Transformers — The Complete Series: 25th Anniversary "Matrix of Leadership" Collection (Shout! Factory)
2010 — The Transformers — Seasons Three & Four: 25th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory)
