Chaos (episode)
| This article is about the Generation 1 cartoon episode. For the alien creature featured in the episode, see Chaos (alien). For a list of other meanings, see Chaos (disambiguation). |
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 Kup discovers a very distant cousin (twice removed) of that big green, fire-snortin' lizard. | |||||||||
| "Chaos" | |||||||||
| Production code | 700-92 | ||||||||
| Production company | Sunbow Productions | ||||||||
| Airdate | September 30, 1986 | ||||||||
| Written by | Paul Davids | ||||||||
| Animation studio | Toei | ||||||||
| Continuity | Generation 1 cartoon continuity | ||||||||
A discovery on Goo forces Kup to face a demon from his past.
Synopsis
Near Goo, a Skuxxoid is using a bazooka to fire strange crystals at random pieces of junk. However, Blast Off spots him and they start firing at each other. Cornering the Skuxxoid on Goo, Blast Off demands to know with what he was being shot. The Skuxxoid shows him the crystals. He says that they are hard to find, but he knows where the planet is.
On Cybertron, Kup is telling a story about one of his encounters with an Ick-Yak to Blurr, Wheelie, and Grimlock. An Ick-Yak had cornered Kup on Dread, but Kup managed to trick it into walking into the quickmud. Grimlock says he heard that a monster named Chaos lived on Dread, and asks Kup if that's true. Kup freaks out and tells Grimlock never to speak of Chaos again. However, Wreck-Gar contacts Cybertron, telling them of a discovery he made. Using Sky Lynx, the Autobots go to investigate. On Goo, they discover that a destroyed Earth Defense Command station. Grimlock is shocked, as the station was made of the strongest metal in the galaxy. Kup, however, recognizes what did it: Death crystals. The Autobots ask what death crystals are, but Kup is hesitant. At that moment, Blast Off appears with Runamuck riding on him, firing death crystals. Escaping on Sky Lynx, the two Transformer shuttles play a game of cat and mouse, until Runamuck destroys a comet, allowing Sky Lynx to escape.
After escaping, the Autobots demand answers. Kup explains that one hundred-thousand years ago, when he was on Dread, he was captured by Orbs, a slaver race. He was forced to work in the death crystal mines under extremely hazardous conditions, facing attacks by wrecks of shrikebats. Kup managed to sneak away from his work detail, heading into the caves, where he found a group of imprisoned robots. As he was preparing to free them, Chaos appeared. Kup was so frightened that he fled, leaving the robots behind. He's never forgiven himself for leaving those other robots behind, and now the Decepticons know about the death crystals. The Autobots resolve to stop the Decepticons before disaster should strike.
On Dread, it turns out that Galvatron is not content to use them merely as ammunition—he's building a cannon that will fire death crystals at Cybertron, destroying the planet with one shot. Landing away from the Decepticon camp, Kup takes Blurr to do some recon. During their search, the Predacons arrive, with Razorclaw and Rampage taking on Kup, with the others knocking Blurr into the quickmud (which has the benefit of shutting him up). Grimlock, Wheelie, and Wreck-Gar head to help, while Sky Lynx separates. Heading for the two Autobots, Grimlock mauls Razorclaw as Wheelie and Wreck-Gar fire, while Sky Lynx rescues Blurr from the mud. As the Predacons retreat to inform Galvatron, Sky Lynx follows to further investigate.
Heading for the camp, the other Autobots arrive to attack the Decepticons, and the Predacons form Predaking, managing to get a lucky shot on Sky Lynx. Kup is trapped in the mines of Queeg Mountain due to a random shot, and immediately goes to find Chaos. Finding imprisoned robots, he frees them, just as Chaos arrives. The beast has death crystals embedded into his skin, but Kup has a plan. Using another opening in the volcano, Kup leads the robots to freedom, and uses Galvatron's death crystal cannon on Chaos, which also causes the volcano to erupt. Sky Lynx manages to rescue the Autobots, who flee into space. Sky Lynx has been injured, but Kup is sure that he'll be okay. It actually reminds him of the time he was riding the shuttle Jonagar and was trapped in a space whale. As the other Autobots bemoan another tale, Grimlock commands them to be quiet, as he loves Kup's war stories.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Others |
|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"This could be the galaxy-busting case I've been waiting to sink my teeth into."
- —Kup, thinking he's Nightbeat.
"Secret-keepers always weepers! Tell a friend or heads will bend!"
- —Wheelie starts getting violent.
"Sky Lynx! If he's come after the cannon, he's gonna get himself obliterated!"
"Obliterated? By you grubby Predacons? That'll be the day!"
- —Tantrum and Sky Lynx trade barbs.
Notes
Animation or technical glitches
- There's an odd silent moment at around 3:13. Presumably this is where Casey Kasem's Teletraan I dialogue was supposed to go.
- As Kup remembers his first encounter with Chaos (over 100,000 years ago), there's a camera pan over the slaves in the mine. Later, when we first see that Galvatron is on the planet, the same pan is played in reverse.
- As Kup and Blurr exit Sky Lynx on the planet, Kup's Autobot symbol is purple instead of red.
- Blurr sinks entirely into the mud puddle, but he's half out of it and is able to grab Sky Lynx a few shots later.
- As he delivers the "9 out of 10 Autobots" line, Wreck-Gar only has 6 fingers extended.
- As he says, "Commence hunting season!," Galvatron's Decepticon symbol is red instead of purple. This happens again just after Sky Lynx passes by him.
- When Kup frees the imprisoned robots, one of them, round in shape, keeps appearing and disappearing between frames.
- Just before firing the crystals at Chaos, the triangles under Kup's eyes are the same color as his eyes (they should be white like the rest of his face). The same error occurs several shots later, as Wheelie worries about getting Sky Lynx patched up.
Continuity errors
- Perhaps not an error per se, but about 1:57 into the episode we pan into a background painting of Cybertron (establishing that the next scene is to take place there) showing TWO MOONS situated with/floating around the planet. Weren't these moons previously devoured by Unicron in the animated movie? For the sake of Fandom debate, it could be argued that other Cybertronian moons have always been in orbit around Cybertron, and these particular ones weren't ingested by Unicron. The existence of other moons was even vaguely hinted at by Victor Caroli in the The Transformers: The Movie epilogue, but most sources consider this to be a continuity error.
- Wasn't Goo destroyed in a previous episode? Of course, this might not have been 8739B.
- Kup and three slaves are saved by Sky Lynx, but what about the rest of the slaves still on the planet? They've still got Galvatron, Astrotrain and the Predacons to deal with, if they weren't burned to a crisp by the lava!
Continuity notes
- This is the second time that Kup would narrate an encounter with an Ick-Yak. He first mentions them in the movie.
- The Ick-Yak was not the only monster Kup mentioned in the movie to make an appearance. The bat creatures that harried Kup and the other slaves were labeled "shrikebats" on their character models.
- When Kup first mentions Dread, Grimlock asks about the rumors of Chaos living there; Kup tells the Dinobot to forget he ever heard the name. Later, Kup mentions Chaos, and Grimlock asks who that is. Apparently he took Kup's instructions a little too literally.
- Despite not being present for the adventure on Goo, Blurr knew well enough to turn the Goo off so the Autobots could walk around though no one instructed him to do so.
Real-world references
- The story of Jonagar and the space whale is a reference to the Biblical story of Jonah and the Whale
Trivia
- This episode would be the last time Casey Kasem would ever voice a character in Transformers. He can briefly be heard as one of the robot slaves in Kup's first flashback to Chaos, screaming, "We have to return to our home planets!"
- Like most movie characters, Kup had an alternate character model. In "Chaos", the animators cleverly used the alternate model for Kup's flashbacks.
- An early title for the episode (as well as the titular antagonist) was "Mayhem".
- The early script also called for organic alien slaves, who even had character models developed. The final, aired version replaced these organic slaves with robots. Jim Sorenson posted their designs on his blog. These models did appear in the episode very briefly, as Kup frees the prisoners, and were reused as patrons of the diner that Sandstorm and Octane stop at in "Starscream's Ghost".
Foreign localization
German
- Title: "Tödliche Kristalle" ("Deadly Crystals")
- Original airdate: ?
Japanese
- Title: デスクリスタル (Death Crystal)
- Original airdate: January 30, 1987
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.
2003 — The Original Transformers — Season 3 Part 1 (Rhino Entertainment)
2003 — The Original Transformers — Season 3 Part 1: Vol. 1 (Rhino Entertainment)
2004 — Transformers — Season 3 and Season 4 (Metrodome)
2004 — Transformers — Collection 4: Series 3.1 (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)
