The Terror of the Giant Tidal Waves
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| "The Terror of the Giant Tidal Waves" (Kyodai Tsunami no Kyōfu) | ||||||
| Production company | Takara, Toei | |||||
| Airdate | 28 November 1989 | |||||
| Writer | Yoshihisa Araki | |||||
| Director | Yoshikata Nitta | |||||
| Animation studio | Toei | |||||
| Continuity | Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity | |||||
Deadly tidal waves put the world in danger when the Decepticons raise Atlantis.
- Omni Productions dub name: "The Tidal Wave"
- Also known as: "Terror of the Giant Tsunamis"
Synopsis
A month has passed since the Decepticons' last attack, and Jean and Holi are feeling restless, so they pay a visit to Braver's lab. It turns out that Braver has been putting the downtime to good use, rebuilding, perfecting and mass-producing his Decepticon brainwave scanner. The five completed units are distributed amongst the Autobots, and Star Saber, Victory Leo and the Multiforce begin using them to scour the planet for the silent Decepticons.
At the bottom of the ocean, aboard the Thunder Arrow, Leozack gets yet another chewing-out from Deathsaurus, who is so entirely fed up with his failures that he refuses to listen to any more of his plans and just beats up Leozack instead. Hellbat chooses this moment to pop up and curry Deathsaurus's favour with a secret message. A little later, Hellbat happily dances off down the hallway...straight into Leozack's fist. Like Deathsaurus, he is at the end of his patience with his scheming subordinate, and Hellbat desperately dodges Leozack's attacks until he can sweet-talk his superior into going along with his plan. Hellbat has, to his credit, actually discovered the lost city of Atlantis, and is encouraging Deathsaurus to use all of the Decepticons' stockpiled energy to raise it, so that they can ransack its energy stockpiles. Deathsaurus is hesitant to use up their entire energy reserve, but the prospect of finally reactivating his fortress convinces him to take the risk.
The Thunder Arrow relocates to the site of Atlantis, off the coast of Portugal, where the Dinoforce unload the Decepticons' collected energy and position it strategically around the seabed. Using his Living-Metal-Destroying Cannon, Deathsaurus detonates the energy, causing a monumental explosion that tears the ocean floor apart, dislodging Atlantis and hurling it to the surface of the sea.
Meanwhile, the Autobots are having no luck with their search until Wingwaver picks up a faint trace off the coast of Portugal, and he arrives just as Atlantis breaks through the surface, causing a series of monstrous tidal waves of globally threatening proportions. Wingwaver contacts Star Saber, who quickly dispatches the other Autobots to coastal cities all across the world for rescue operations and then joins up with Wingwaver to investigate Atlantis. Moving stealthily between the pillars, they watch as the Dinoforce carry up armfuls of energy from Atlantis's stockpiles and load it into the Thunder Arrow. Unfortunately, the growing number of disasters on land require Star Saber's attention, and he leaves Wingwaver to keep watch while he and Victory Leo head for Spain to help an evacuation train reach its destination. The two Autobots have to hold up a broken railway bridge to allow the train to cross over, but as they are doing so, the Breastforce suddenly attack, leaving them unable to do anything to defend themselves or the humans. Hellbat blows up the bridge, just as Wingwaver reports in that the Dinoforce have finished extracting as much energy as they can. With time running out, Star Saber and Victory Leo merge into Victory Saber, and the Breastforce respond by merging into Liokaiser to hold him back.
In Atlantis, Deathsaurus announces that he is pulling out, and he withdraws inside the Thunder Arrow. When Gōryū inquires what the Dinoforce are to do next, Deathsaurus says he will return for them shortly. The Thunder Arrow flies above Liokaiser and Victory Saber's battle, and Deathsaurus instructs Liokaiser to retreat. Liokaiser complies, just as a second tidal wave crashes down on Spain, and Victory Saber is swept up and battered by the surf. He is not the only victim; as Atlantis begins to descend back beneath the waves, the sea rushes over it, sweeping the abandoned Dinoforce away into the foam.
As the sea settles and the Autobots overlook the destruction on the coast, Holi and Jean cry out for Victory Saber, who, after a tense moment, emerges from beneath the watery ruins. The Autobots return to the Shuttle Base, where they resolve to end the threat of the Decepticons once and for all.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Breast Animals |
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Quotes
"Hellbat! Have you come to make me happy?"
- —Deathsaurus
"La la-la, la-la, la-la, la-la, la-la..."
"DA-DAN DA-DAN!"
- -Hellbat's happy mood is interrupted by Leozack's less-than-happy fist.
"He is so happy, and he praises you a lot, you know."
"Is that right?"
"Yeah, you're the apple of his eye! It's true. He loves you."
- —Hellbat and Leozack discuss Deathsaurus.
"Be careful, Hellbat! They're no pussycats!"
- —Guyhawk with a timely warning about the Autobots.
Notes
Lost in translation
Among the changes made by the Omni Productions dub:
- Star Saber's computer analysis indicates the Decepticons are hiding underground, so naturally they search the oceans.
- The conversation between Deathsaurus and Leozack in the original episode is largely Deathsaurus grousing about how all of Leozack's plans have failed, while in the dub Leozack claims to have come up with a new plan, and Deathsaurus spends the whole time telling him it better not fail.
- Wing reports he's in Africa rather than over the Atlantic, Tackle says he's in South America, despite the obvious minarets behind him. Wing later reports that he's detected a faint signal off the east coast of America, which is followed by Blacker checking out Spain on his computer. Star Saber says he'll go check it out, and orders the others to check the coast of Spain. Riiiight.
Transformers references
- Braver's original brainwave scanner was introduced (and destroyed) way back in "The New Warrior - Hellbat".
- The discovery of Atlantis parallels (intentionally or unintentionally) the discovery of Lemuria during the finale of The Headmasters. It also puts the lie into "Atlantis, Arise!", where the city of Sub-Atlantica was (incorrectly, it turns out) believed to have been the basis for the "legend" of Atlantis.
Continuity errors
- Hellbat claims Leozack has never hit him before. It's possible he has memory loss from the previous instances.
Trivia
- It... really doesn't look like that train makes it across the bridge before Hellbat blows it up. Yikes. Likewise, the Autobots are never shown helping a cruise ship that is the first victim of the tidal waves. Lotta dead folks about.
- Looks like the Breastforce are tired of Victory Saber's long stock footage sequence, since they interrupt it partway through to merge into Liokaiser. They finish first too!
- Deathsaurus really shows that he's evil here. He tells the Dinoforce that he'd be back for them when he intended to let them go down into the sea. That's cold.
Home video releases
- DVD
2003 — Transformers: Victory — DVD Box 02 (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
2006 — The Takara Collection Vol 3 — Transformers: Victory (Metrodome)
2007 — Transformers — The Complete Takara Collection (Metrodome)
2008 — The Transformers: Victory (Madman Entertainment) — Optional Omni dub.
2009 — The Transformers: Japan Generation 1 — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment) — Optional Omni dub.
