The God Gambit
The Decepticons scheme to conquer a race of primitive humanoids by exploiting their religious beliefs.
- Japanese title: "Sky God"
Summary
The episode starts on Titan, one of Saturn's moons, with the people of a pre-technological culture. Jero, the tyrannical High Priest, is ordering his aides to prepare the temple and the statue of their "Sky God" for the harvest offerings.
After the frightened people arrive with their offerings, Talaria, a rebel who believes in "reason and common sense" helps shatter the statue, thus exposing Jero for using the Sky Gods as an "excuse for high taxes and harsh laws".
At the same time, Cosmos in space nearby is being chased by Astrotrain, who has Starscream and Thrust aboard. He 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, with Jero and his priests tied up, while Talaria is trying to convince her people that the Sky Gods are an illusion. At that very moment, Cosmos crashes nearby, and Jero takes that opportunity to reclaim his place. Talaria is still suspicious, though.
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 to enslave them.
He has Starscream and Thrust prop up the unconscious Cosmos in the temple in place of the statue. He 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' 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. He 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 not to go. As the leader of the Autobots, they cannot afford to let Prime be killed or captured, so Jazz goes in Prime's place.
On Titan, Jero leads the Decepticons to a cave full of crystals "rich in energy". Astrotrain forces the Titans to carry the crystals 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.
Stats
Original airdate: October 28, 1985
Production number: 700-41
Written by: Buzz Dixon
Featured Characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regulars
|
Notable quotes
"Here's the church. Here's the steeple. Open the doors and where are the people?!"
- - Starscream, playing the role of Wheelie
"We're not gods and never claimed to be."
- - Jazz
"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.
"Sorry to bust up your revival, but the Lady ain't got her heart in it."
- - Jazz while saving Talaria from being sacrificed.
"Mighty Astrotrain, what about me?!"
"Die, like the worm you are!"
- - Jero learns that he shouldn't have worshipped Astrotrain
Other Notes
- Notes
Animation and/or technical glitches
- Glitches
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.
Transformers references
- References
Real-world references
- References
Miscellaneous 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.
- Strangely, the existence of a primitive humanoid civilization on Titan was never brought up again in official TF fiction.
- 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.
Keywords
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