The God Gambit
| |||||||||
 If anyone asks if you're a god, you say YES | |||||||||
| "The God Gambit" | |||||||||
| Production code | #700-41 | ||||||||
| Production company | Sunbow Productions | ||||||||
| Airdate | October 28, 1985 | ||||||||
| Written by | Buzz Dixon | ||||||||
| Continuity | Generation 1 cartoon continuity | ||||||||
The Decepticons scheme to conquer a race of primitive humanoids by exploiting their religious beliefs.
- Japanese title: スカイゴッド (Sky God)
- Italian title, dub 1: Il pianeta degli schiavi ("Slave planet")
- Italian title, dub 2: Falsi dei ("False Gods")
Synopsis
The people of Titan (one of Saturn's moons), are slaving under the tyrannical rule of Jero, the head astrologer priest. The time has come for the harvest offerings and the Titans bring their contributions to the feet of the statue of their "Sky God".
Talaria, a rebel who believes in "reason and common sense", leads a revolt, shatters the statue, and exposes Jero for using the Sky Gods as an "excuse for high taxes and harsh laws".
At the same time, Cosmos is being chased through space by Astrotrain, with Starscream and Thrust aboard. Cosmos calls Autobot headquarters on Earth and tells Optimus Prime about energy data he gathered. During the transmission he gets hit and falls towards the surface of Titan.
The Titans have gathered around a fire while Talaria tries to convince her people that the Sky Gods are an illusion. At that very moment, Cosmos crashes nearby, and Jero, tied up along with his high priests, uses the strange event to reclaim his place as leader.
Astrotrain, Starscream, and Thrust land in front of the temple, overhearing the struggle between Talaria and Jero. Astrotrain spontaneously decides to pretend to be the Titans' supreme god in order to enslave them. Starscream protests, but relents without much effort.
Starscream and Thrust prop up the unconscious Cosmos in the temple as a new idol in place of the shattered statue. Astrotrain then removes Cosmos' data storage, and points out a disconnected cable that prevents the Autobot from calling for help. He fails to notice that Talaria has been watching him. Unseen by the Decepticons she slips to Cosmos's side and reconnects the cable, re-establishing the communication to Optimus Prime on Earth. Prime tells her how to activate Cosmos' homing beam. In that moment, the Decepticons notice her, but she escapes, thanks to Cosmos who woke up just in time to fire at Starscream. Cosmos is, however, quickly disabled again by Astrotrain.
Back on Earth, Optimus Prime orders Omega Supreme to take a team to Titan and rescue Cosmos. Omega informs Prime that the trip will use up 97% of his energy, which will leave him unable to transform. The team includes Perceptor, who will discover what the energy source was, and Optimus himself intends to go. However, Red Alert warns Prime that as the leader of the Autobots, they cannot afford to let Prime be killed or captured. Jazz goes in Prime's place.
On Titan, Jero leads the Decepticons to a cave full of energy-rich crystals. Astrotrain forces the Titans to harvest crystals and carry them to the temple.
In the meantime, the Autobots arrive, with Omega crash landing on the edge of an abyss. Jazz and Perceptor leave in search of Cosmos and his energy source. They meet with Talaria, who takes them to the temple and to Cosmos.
Before they can repair Cosmos, they are attacked by Starscream and Thrust. Jazz quickly gets the upper hand on Starscream. But Astrotrain has the Titans fire the crystals at the Autobots, and they have to retreat, leaving Talaria to be captured by Astrotrain. Astrotrain orders her to be sacrificed as a means to further intimidate the rest of the Titans.
Jazz and Perceptor soon find the crystal cave, where Perceptor notes the instability of the crystallized energy, as did Starscream earlier. They meet a group of Titans there who tell them about the sacrifice. While Perceptor takes some of the crystals to refuel Omega Supreme, Jazz heads for the temple to rescue Talaria.
He is successful, and he manages to hold off the Decepticons long enough for Omega and Perceptor to arrive.
The Decepticons flee after realising that they can't fight Omega Supreme. Before they leave Titan, however, they blow up the crystals, starting a chain reaction that will destroy the temple and the surrounding area.
Omega Supreme helps the Titans to escape over the abyss that surrounds the temple mount, and the Titans thank the Autobots for their help. Jazz expresses relief that the Decepticons won't be messing around with the Titans' religion again.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Titans |
|---|---|---|
|
|
Quotes
"Here's the church. Here's the steeple. Open the doors and where are the people?!"
- —Starscream, playing the role of Wheelie
"Sarcasm, not appreciated."
- —Omega Supreme to Jazz's remark that he should stay put after the larger Autobot crash lands on a precarious cliff edge.
"Not the slightest sign of Cosmos, but there is a native in that tree shooting arrows at us."
- —Perceptor isn't that concerned about Talaria's attack
"A heretic. What more fitting end than to be sacrificed."
- —Astrotrain needs Talaria's blood in order to be appeased.
"Sorry to bust up your revival, but the Lady ain't got her heart in it."
- —Jazz while saving Talaria from being sacrificed.
"Lord Astrotrain, what about me?!"
"Die, like the worm you are!"
- —Jero learns that he shouldn't have worshipped Astrotrain
"They started the chain reaction!"
"Don't ya just hate sore losers?"
- —Perceptor and Jazz are not amused by the Decepticons' actions.
Notes
Animation/Technical Errors
- Listen closely as Perceptor explains why Jazz using a rock to loosen up some energy crystals is a bad idea. He starts off by saying, normally, "Set off one crystal, and a chain reaction..." and then continues, "...will blow us all up!" in Jazz's voice!
- Starscream and Thrust are missing their transformation sounds just before they board Astrotrain to retreat from the planet.
Continuity errors
- Omega Supreme can go to Cybertron and back without recharging, but a one-way trip to Saturn will use up 97% of his energy? Of course, he just may not be at his maximum energy level from the start, but that isn't mentioned anywhere.
- The crystals are said to be dangerously unstable, yet Omega Supreme is able to use them to power up (with no ill effects).
- The aliens speak English! True, Beachcomber once tried to translate a bird's chirping ( in The Golden Lagoon), but here no one has to activate any special program to talk to the people on Titan.
Real-world references
- Starscream recites a human nursery rhyme. "Here's the church. Here's the steeple. Open the doors and where are the people?!" He doesn't, however, do the hand gestures that go along with it.
Trivia
- Astrotrain seems out of character in this episode, especially with him ordering Starscream around. It would seem that this episode may have been originally written for Megatron in the Astrotrain role and quickly re-written in order to feature Astrotrain (who was, not coincidentally, a new toy at the time). This would explain Starscream's deference (and apparent fear) of Astrotrain, plus Astrotrain's Megatron-esque dialogue.
- The inhabitants of Titan would never be seen again, but the moon would be revisited later. Apparently Titan had been "terraformed" in the meantime, which makes the unspoken fate of this civilization especially curious.
- Talaria is a really horrible shot, isn't she? When firing arrows at the Autobots, she manages to miss Jazz twice despite the fact that he's a relatively big target and standing in place. The way the arrows arc (as well as the fact that one falls before hitting Perceptor) also indicate that she's not even putting any strength behind those shots.
- Like the previous episode, this one debuts a few new commercial bumpers: Shockwave and Grimlock.
- This was one of several episodes subjected to the MSTF treatment at BotCon 1999.
- This episode and "The Gambler" are the only episodes (pre-The Transformers: The Movie) that Megatron doesn't appear in.
- Astrotrain proclaims that the people of Titan "worship Transformers". Hmmmmmmm.
- This is the 1st episode where Frank Welker doesn't voice anyone.
Home video releases
- Laserdisc
1994 — Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers — Convoy Set (Takara) — Japanese audio only.
1998 — The Transformers — Autobot Edition (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
- DVD
2001 — The Transformers — DVD Box 1 (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
2003 — The Original Transformers — Season 2 Part 2 (Rhino Entertainment)
2003 — The Original Transformers — Season 2 Part 2: Vol. 5 (Rhino Entertainment)
2004 — Transformers — Season 2 Part 2 (Metrodome)
2004 — Transformers — Collection 3: Series 2.2 (Madman Entertainment)
2006 — Transformers — The Complete Generation One Collection (Metrodome)
2007 — The Transformers — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)
2009 — Transformers — Volume 05: Stagione Due Parte Terza (Medianetwork Communication) — English and Italian audio.
2009 — Transformers — Season Two: Part Two (Metrodome)
2009 — The Transformers — Complete Collection: Decepticon Edition (Madman Entertainment)
2009 — The Transformers — Season Two, Volume One: 25th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory)
2009 — The Transformers — The Complete Series: 25th Anniversary "Matrix of Leadership" Collection (Shout! Factory)
