Carnage in C-Minor
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 Hey, what is that awful noise? Okay, let me straighten him out! | |||||||||
| "Carnage in C-Minor" | |||||||||
| Production code | 700-102 | ||||||||
| Production company | Sunbow Productions | ||||||||
| Airdate | October 14, 1986 | ||||||||
| Written by | Buzz Dixon | ||||||||
| Animation studio | AKOM | ||||||||
| Continuity | Generation 1 cartoon continuity | ||||||||
Several Autobots and Decepticons battle over a planet whose civilization revolves around music and whose inhabitants can use sound as a powerful weapon.
- Japanese title: "音楽惑星の挑戦" (Ongaku Wakusei no Chōsen, "Challenge of the Music Planet")
- German title: "Das Gemetzel in Cis-Mol" ("The Slaughter in Cis-Mol")
Synopsis
The Decepticons are building engines into the side of a comet in order to alter its course and crash it on top of Metroplex. As they fire up the engines, a group of Autobots close in, led there by Perceptor. The Autobots attack, much to Galvatron's dismay. The Constructicons form Devastator, who is promptly flattened when Broadside drops on him in ship mode. In the ensuing battle, the engines are destroyed, and the comet is sent hurtling towards a small planet, which Perceptor reports is inhabited.
The Autobots attempt unsuccessfully to stop the comet before Galvatron again orders his men to engage their foe. While Galvatron and Ultra Magnus are grappling, waves of sound energy destroy the comet and cause both groups of Transformers to plummet to the planet's surface. In a nearby city, three aliens are having a disagreement. One of them, Allegra, storms out, saying that she's going to her retreat.
The Transformers recover from their crash, wondering what hit them. Soundwave describes it as the most perfect harmony ever, but Galvatron is more interested in its destructive power. Broadside breaks up the discussion by punching Galvatron, and the fight resumes. As the Constructicons form Devastator again, Perceptor blows the giant apart with one shot from his cannon. Galvatron and Soundwave depart in search of the source of the harmony they heard earlier, but Ultra Magnus spots them leaving and takes Broadside and Blaster in pursuit. Perceptor reflects that unless the trio are swift, there might not be much of them left.
Broadside swiftly passes the two Decepticons and overflies the city, which Blaster realises is laid out like a musical harmony. Magnus and Blaster meet with Basso Profundo, leader of the planet Eurythma, but Basso refuses to help them, believing that the harmony is all his people need to protect themselves. He drops a hint that Allegra might be able to help them, a fact overheard by Galvatron and Soundwave, who are spying outside. As the three Autobots go in search of Allegra, the Decepticons drop a bridge on them. To make sure, Galvatron blasts the wreckage, and the pair fly off to find Allegra.
Basso watches the two Decepticons leave, and fellow Eurythman Zebop Skandana uses a harmony to help the Autobots out of the rubble. Blaster realises that Zebop was creating part of the harmony which originally blew the Autobots out of space, and Zebop says he's sympathetic to their cause and will help them find Allegra.
The two Decepticons meet Allegra, offering to help her overthrow Basso in return for the secret of the harmony. She obliges and Soundwave records it, but to Galvatron's rage, it turns out that she is only one part of the harmony; Basso and Zebop make up the other two thirds. Still, when the Autobots arrive with Zebop, Soundwave is testing the part of the harmony he has by destroying a rock. The Autobots set up an ambush, but Zebop is so distressed by the fact that Allegra is working with the Decepticons that he gives away their position. Galvatron starts firing, and Zebop takes refuge in Ultra Magnus's cab. Soundwave begins battering the Autobots with the harmony. When Zebop counters with his part of the harmony, Soundwave promptly records it and uses the resulting two-thirds of the harmony to devastating effect.
With the Autobots apparently gone, Galvatron terminates the alliance with Allegra. She attempts to attack them with her part of the harmony, but Soundwave retaliates, knocking her out. The Autobots climb out of their hole in time to prevent Galvatron from terminating the Eurythman, but during the resulting fight, Blaster and Soundwave struggle and accidentally fall on Zebop. Galvatron grabs his minion and departs, leaving Allegra cradling Zebop in her arms. Though the Autobots believe he's had it, Allegra uses a harmony to revive him. The Autobots leave for the city.
Back at the landing site, the rest of the Autobots and Decepticons are still fighting. Hot Spot voices his hope that Magnus, Blaster and Broadside hurry. The Eurythmans have spotted the battle, and Basso uses an amplifier to direct a destructive harmony at it. Defensor is forced to disassemble, but the two factions fight on. Basso is depressed, and his aide points out he needs Allegra and Zebop to complete the harmony. Arriving, Soundwave begins playing two-thirds of the harmony, shaking the city and provoking Basso into using the third part again, which Soundwave promptly records. He is subsequently able to use the complete harmonic weapon to attack the city. Pleased, Galvatron announces their next targets are Metroplex and then Cybertron.
Ultra Magnus's party arrives back at the city to find it devastated and their fellow Autobots badly damaged. The Eurythmans are able to repair Perceptor and the Protectobots with a harmony, and the Autobots set off for Earth.
Galvatron and Soundwave attack Metroplex with the harmony, but the Autobots soon arrive with the three Eurythmans, who nullify Soundwave's weapon with anti-sound. Blaster grabs Soundwave and uses his buttons to erase the harmony from Soundwave's tapes. Despite Galvatron raging that he hasn't ordered a retreat, the Decepticons flee anyway. The Autobots return the Eurythmans to their world, where Ultra Magnus tells them they need to learn to live in harmony.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Others |
|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"What was that?!"
"That was heaven. The purest, most vibrant, most perfect harmony I've ever heard."
- —Galvatron and Soundwave wonder what hit them, to the latter's monotoned enjoyment.
"You! Because of you, I got blasted out of space. DO YOU REALIZE WHAT THAT DID TO MY PAINT JOB?!"
- —Broadside, right before he sucker-punches Galvatron
"Broadside! Blaster! Galvatron and Soundwave went to find the weapon that knocked us out of space!"
"Weapon? That was no weapon. That was harmonic bliss! A musical kiss!"
"Whatever."
- —Ultra Magnus, who doesn't have any soul, and Blaster, who does.
"Blaster, you picking up anything?"
"Yeah, yeah! Beauty like you wouldn't believe, Broadside. Sweet soul music. It's their art, their commerce, their philosophy, their whole—uh-oh, bummer. Galvatron and Soundwave are here."
- —Broadside and Blaster get their vibes harshed.
"I don't wanna see your ugly face, just the button that says 'ERASE'!"
"My tapes! You've erased my tapes!"
- —Blaster destroys Soundwave's tapes, to the Decepticon's monotoned horror.
Notes
Animation or technical glitches
"Carnage in C-Minor" is infamous among the fandom for the sheer number of, and particularly glaring nature of, animation errors in this episode. Among the more prominent are the following:
- The Transformation sound effects are frequently cut off.
- Soundwave's head crest is supposed to be the same blue as his body, but its lines and/or triangle randomly turn grey throughout the episode. His back piece is also grey when it should be blue.
- Speaking of Soundwave, his face plate doesn't move when he speaks for most of this episode.
- Throughout the entire episode, Broadside is drawn with a previously discarded character model.
- Devastator is the exact same size as Soundwave during the start of the first battle.
- Devastator also appears before he forms later in the battle.
- While the Autobots are shooting at the meteor, they are so badly drawn that they appear to have only one leg each, left arms starting from the elbows, and enormous heads...and Superion is tiny.
- When Bonecrusher orders the formation of Devastator, he's wearing an Autobot insignia. See also the continuity error below.
- When the Constructicons form Devastator for the second time, the first shot shows four Constructicons forming the legs and the torso. The second shot shows three robots forming the arms and upper torso. This means that seven Constructicons formed Devastator.
- After watching Galvatron and Soundwave leave, Ultra Magnus dispatches Hook and Scrapper—by picking them up in his hands and bashing them together. Magnus is supposed to be big, but not that big. (It's possible that the animators used the toys for reference, unaware that the cartoon scale traditionally doesn't match the toys' scale in this case.)
- Blaster, Ultra Magnus and Zebop are shown hanging onto Broadside while he flies around. Sometimes, the shots make them appear tiny or not to be hanging onto Broadside at all. (One wonders why Zebop doesn't just ride in Broadside's cockpit, as he does for the trip to Earth.)
- As Blaster and Ultra Magnus talk to Basso, Blaster is taller than Magnus in closeup shots but (correctly) shorter than him in the long shots.
- As Galvatron shoots the bridge, his cannon has the usual Decepticon laser sound effect rather than its own sound effect.
- Broadside's eyes are yellow when he gets up from under the rubble on the bridge.
- When Galvatron and Soundwave first talk to Allegra, Soundwave has eyes rather than a visor for most of the shots (something that actually happens in much of the episode). One shot also has his face colored blue instead of grey (again, this happens several times later on). And Soundwave looks very small next to Galvatron (Galvatron even picks him up!), even though most of the other shots show them to be almost the same height.
- Soundwave has a purple Autobot insignia...again. So does Broadside...
- Blaster is drawn delivering Broadside's line about "scorch-marks on top of everything else".
- During part of the battle at Allegra's retreat, Hot Spot is with the Autobots instead of Broadside.
- After Soundwave blasts the Autobots into the ground, he transforms and disappears before leaving the frame.
- When Blaster explains that the Eurythmans use the harmony even for healing, Ultra Magnus is the one mouthing the words.
- Magnus also has a visor instead of eyes during that shot.
- When the Protectobots are combined as Defensor, Hot Spot (the main body) is fighting alongside his combined self!
- When Galvatron orders Soundwave to play the harmonics on Earth, Soundwave's tape deck door is the same color as his body (it should be light blue).
- When Soundwave plays the harmonics to disrupt Metroplex, the waves are shown emanating from Galvatron's head!
- One shot shows Metroplex transformed, even though Soundwave is still playing the harmonic sounds.
- When Superion tackles Galvatron, they're almost the same size.
- Soundwave doesn't have an erase button, it's actually two buttons that have to be pressed (and how would Blaster know which ones to press?).
- In one scene, a cel-layering error causes Blaster to appear very tiny compared to Soundwave.
- As the Decepticons retreat, Blaster is shown flying away (again!) behind two Constructicons (it was probably supposed to be Soundwave).
- And there's even more. Seriously, how much time do you have?
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We'll take revenge by merging into Devastator. -
Hey! Part of me, get back in me! -
It's his little shoulder-angel.
Continuity errors
- In one infamous scene, Brawn and Huffer (who should also be dead) show up alive and well. And it seems Bonecrusher has switched sides, as he's helping them shoot at the giant Decepticon rocket engine he just helped build! (Huffer has the wrong paint job, too.)
- To add insult to injury, Devastator is shooting at the Autobots before the Constructicons form Devastator.
- Soundwave travels with Galvatron to find the source of the harmony (while holding his hand!). However, when the scene returns to the battle outside the city, Soundwave is with the other Decepticons at the same time.
- Several Autobots fly during this episode, even ones who aren't really supposed to (Ultra Magnus, for instance).
- Nobody noticed the Decepticons fly to Earth? What happened to the Earth Defense Command satellites?
- When the Decepticons reach Earth, they pass Autobot City (in the usual lush valley) to reach Metroplex, who seems to be hanging out in a barren desert for no reason.
Real-world references
- The Eurythman characters' names are all music-related puns. Allegra is named after either the Italian operetta and opera composer Salvatore Allegra or Italian tempo marking "allegro", while Basso Profundo is derived from the singing style basso profondo. While these are all related to classical music, Zebop Skandana is named after popular music guitarist Carlos Santana and his 1981 album Zebop!... And the difference shows.
- Eurythma was possibly named after the popular '80s band The Eurythmics.
Trivia
- "Carnage in C-Minor" is widely regarded by fans as the worst episode of all Transformers series, but this is seemingly due to the sheer volume of animation errors (and poor animation overall), as well as the glaringly obvious nature of many of the individual errors. However, the actual plot is certainly not the weakest to grace the cartoon series, and its "continuity errors" have little to nothing to do with the script itself...certainly not to the level of, say, "B.O.T.".
- That said, there is plenty of inanity to be found in the story too. For instance: Despite the aliens' dialog being in perfectly understandable English (or Galactic Standard or whatever), because they say everything in a sing-song rhythm, apparently none of the Transformers except Blaster and Soundwave can understand them, and the two tape decks spend a large (and annoying) amount of time translating Eurythman to "non-sing-song" for everyone else.
- While not strictly an animation error per se, the number of Autobots appearing in this episode seems a little inconsistent, with several characters appearing, disappearing or seemingly replacing others with no clear indication of how many there are fighting in what place at any given time. Notably, at one point Hot Spot states the Autobots are "outnumbered two to one", but even excluding oddities like Brawn and Huffer, the Autobots actually seen in this episode outnumber the Decepticons.
- Galvatron and Soundwave are briefly seen holding hands whilst flying.
- Apparently, a single blast from Perceptor's lightning cannon can cause Devastator to disassemble! And Grimlock believes that intellectuals are weak.
- In hindsight, it wasn't the best idea for Soundwave to have his erase button open so it could be pushed by a enemy. Or to have an erase button in the first place. For their sake, we hope Rumble and the other cassettes had their copy-protection tabs removed.
- Anyone else bothered that this "sonic weapon" was used to destroy a comet IN SPACE?
- This was one of several episodes subjected to the MSTF treatment at BotCon 1999.
Home video releases
- VHS
1989 — Transformers — Carnage in C Minor / The Ultimate Weapon (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)
