The Dweller in the Depths
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 Cthulhu fhtagn! | |||||||||
| "The Dweller in the Depths" | |||||||||
| Production code | 700-107 | ||||||||
| Production company | Sunbow Productions | ||||||||
| Airdate | October 30, 1986 | ||||||||
| Written by | Paul Dini | ||||||||
| Animation studio | Toei | ||||||||
| Continuity | Generation 1 cartoon continuity | ||||||||
The Quintessons, as part of a new attempt at regaining Cybertron, unleash the most dangerous creature known.
Synopsis
On Cybertron, the Autobots have just successfully activated Perceptor's new power core, which should be able to triple the planet’s energy reserves. A short distance away in their ship, the Quintessons watch, disgusted by the success and progress of their creations. One Quintesson unveils a plan to release the Dweller, one of the early biomechanical experiments called Trans-Organics that were developed by the Quintessons that predate the creation of the Transformers. Unable to even perform rudimentary assignments, the Trans-Organics were unstable monsters that were eventually sealed away in a hibernation chamber deep within Cybertron.
On Chaar, Galvatron is lamenting his Decepticon troops' incompetence when the Quintessons beam down to talk. The Quintessons inform Galvatron about the Autobots' new power core but purposely give him the wrong location. Galvatron, Cyclonus and the Sweeps arrive on Cybertron, and break into the tunnel that leads below, soon pursued by Ultra Magnus, Arcee, Kup, Springer, and Wreck-Gar. The Decepticons uncover the storage chamber of the Trans-Organics, and accidentally release them from their stasis pods. The creatures soon attack both the Decepticons and the Autobots. In trying to escape, the Decepticons open another chamber and release the most powerful of the monstrous experiments: The Dweller, a giant energy leech that drains their energy and turns the Transformers into energy vampires. Running and fighting through the maze of chambers and tunnels in the dark depths of Cybertron, The Dweller quickly whittles down the Decepticon and the Autobot forces, leaving only Galvatron, Ultra Magnus, and Arcee to escape. Of course, many of the Decepticon losses can be attributed to Galvatron throwing his own soldiers at the Dweller to buy himself time.
The two Autobots make it back to headquarters where they update Rodimus Prime and Perceptor on the situation, the energy vampires bursting in right behind them. Perceptor determines that the vampires are suffering from a unique form of energy depletion and that a power surge should restabilize their levels. The Autobots form a chain with Perceptor at the end, who plugs himself into the console and they inject the crowd of vampire with an energon surge. The surge returns the Autobots and Decepticons to normal. Cyclonus, Scourge, and the other Sweeps quickly escape and rejoin Galvatron.
Meanwhile, The Dweller is breaking free to the surface, getting bigger from its energy absorption, and heading for Perceptor’s generator. Knowing that it will be unstoppable once it has attached itself to the generator, Perceptor uses the emergency eject switch to launch both the generator and The Dweller on top of it into space. Floating far away from Cybertron, The Dweller instead attaches itself to the ship of the Quintessons who started everything in the first place.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Others |
|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"You cringy, cowardly, weak-willed fools! Why am I still stuck on this worthless, cosmic trash bin! Why have I not retaken Cybertron?! And most importantly, why have I been saddled with such a useless pile of rusting junk for followers!"
"But, mighty Galvatron, we humble Sweeps need energon to—"
"It's power you want?! I will give you power!"
- —Galvatron in his rage demands to know from Scourge and the Sweeps why he isn't victorious. He takes out his frustrations on them until the Quintessons arrive.
"Quintesson! You have betrayed us to the Autobots once before. Why should I trust you?"
"Heh heh. Please, Galvatron, you can't lay one bad experience on the doorstep of the whole Quintesson race. Besides, how can you be so certain that we were the ones who betrayed you?"
"Well...you all do look alike."
- —Galvatron and the Quintessons as the latter manipulate the Decepticon leader as part of their new plan to retake Cybertron
"YO, JOE! Here I come to save the day. Ayay-yaya-yai! Can this be...the end...of little Wreck-Gar? Oh, no!"
- —Wreck-Gar saves Ultra Magnus from the Dweller's energy-draining web, only to get trapped in it himself and be drained.
"Come on, Wreck-Gar, buddy! They haven't canceled your series yet!"
- —Springer frees the energy-drained Wreck-Gar from the Dweller's rear pouch.
"Be a good soldier, help him."
"Galvatron, NO! I beg you!"
- —Galvatron sacrifices another Sweep to the energy vampires that are approaching.
"I don't know what that thing is back in the tunnels, but even if it gets me as well, I'll die with the satisfaction that the universe will have two more Autobots to mourn!"
- —Galvatron as he is about to attack Ultra Magnus and Arcee, not realising that the Dweller is fast approaching.
Notes
- This isn’t the only energy leech to plague the Transformers, as a few episodes later, Tornedron will make an appearance in "Call of the Primitives".
Animation or technical glitches
- Perceptor's cannon is on the wrong shoulder in the first shot he's in.
- Just after Springer places the power core, Arcee refers to Rodimus giving a signal. Springer is then shown in robot mode waving and speaks with Rodimus's voice. Rodimus is nowhere to be seen.
- As usual, Galvatron's chin changes from dark grey to grey throughout the episode.
- As the Quintesson scientist notes that the power core mission is a "peace offering" to Galvatron, the long-faced Quintesson's face is brown instead of green.
- When Galvatron and the Sweeps are entering the abandoned shaft, Galvatron has a small head.
- Just before a commercial break, as Cyclonus is being chased by a Trans-Organic, the rectangle on his chest isn't colored (it should be orange).
- As one of the Sweeps is killed by a Trans-Organic, his scream is in Galvatron's voice.
- Magnus' gun sounds like Prime's gun.
- When Galvatron throws the last Sweep at the group of "vampires," the Sweep's Decepticon logo has an overly large crest.
- After throwing Galvatron, Ultra Magnus is missing the Autobot logo on his shoulder.
- When Arcee and Magnus note that they'll come for Galvatron later, both of them are missing their Autobot logos (and most of their detailing as well).
- When Perceptor notes the "unknown force," his Autobot logo is lined in black instead of white. This happens several more times over the rest of episode.
- The next shot has the lights going dim, well before the Dweller has reached the power core.
- Ultra Magnus and Arcee arrive a shot later, Arcee's Autobot logo disappears for a frame.
- As Magnus says, "So what can we do about it?," Arcee is missing her "wings."
- When he hits the console with his arm tool, Perceptor's chest is white instead of red.
- When the Dweller reaches Cybertron's surface, Streetwise and Groove are seen shooting at it, but Streetwise is colored like Optimus Prime and Groove is colored like Wheelie.
- As he notes releasing the power core is the only way to stop the creature, Rodimus' helmet is missing its horizontal line.
- As the Dweller reaches the core, its eyes are black instead of glowing yellow.
- "Now!" - Rodimus' helmet is missing its horizontal line.
- As the Autobots watch the core blast off, Rodimus' spoiler is all-yellow (it should be orange in the middle).
- As Perceptor works on the auxiliary generator, his right hand can be seen through a pillar.
- In the next shot, Arcee's nose is missing its bridge.
Continuity errors
- When the Autobots are buried by Galvatron's shot, it takes Springer to blast them out of it, even though Ultra Magnus drove himself out of rubble in Carnage in C-Minor.
- When the Dweller breaks the surface and is being attacked by a bunch of unamed generic Autobots to the energy reactor, in the extreme bottom left corner, Optimus Prime makes a cameo. Yes, yes, he could be a generic autobot, but his coloring and size and shape is too much of a coincedence.
Transformer references
- The Quintessons remark on the Autobots' ancestors being the ones responsible for their exile from Cybertron.
- When the Dweller drains all the energy from a Transformer, it turns grey (like Optimus Prime when he died).
- The shot of the Autobots watching the core get blasted away is very similar to the shot of them watching Unicron's head get blasted away (in Ghost in the Machine). Only, here they aren't cheering and Wreck-Gar is standing where Kup was.
Real-world references
- This episode is heavily influenced by the writings of H.P. Lovecraft.
- Wreck-Gar quotes the catchphrases of both the G.I. Joe team and Mighty Mouse.
- While "Ai-yai-yai" is a fairly generic cry of distress, his TV-mania almost certainly makes it a quote from Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz) in I Love Lucy.
- "Can this be...the end...of little Wreck-Gar?" parodies the dying words of Edward G. Robinson's title character in Little Caesar.
Foreign localization
German
- Title: Der Moloch der Tiefe (The Dweller in the Depths)
- Original airdate: ?
Japanese
Latin American
- Title: El Morador de las Profundidades (The Dweller in the Depths)
- Original airdate: ?
Trivia
- When Cyclonus calls for help from Galvatron after the Dweller grabs him, Galvatron turns and...actually hesitates for a moment before moving on. Clearly he has some regard for Cyclonus, despite his usual disgust and abuse.
- Galvatron comments that all Quintessons look the same, yet this episode features some of the more disparate designs in place of the usual five-faced Quints.
- The Quintesson describing the Dweller's creation remarks that it lost one of its faces to the creature. It then reveals an otherwise hidden face that has been damaged. It seems likely that the script intended for him to be a standard five-faced Quintesson.
Home video releases
- 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)
