A Prime Problem

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"A Prime Problem"
Production code	#700-26
Season	2
No. in season	11
Production company	Sunbow Productions
Airdate	October 2, 1985
Written by	Dick Robbins Bryce Malek
Animation studio	Unknown
Continuity	Generation 1 cartoon continuity
Watch this episode on YouTube

Megatron creates a clone of Optimus Prime to lure the Autobots to their doom.

Synopsis

All right, who wants to dive first?

The Decepticons discover a crevasse in the Earth from which is emanating strange energy readings. Megatron stops Starscream from diving straight in, and orders Soundwave to send in an autoscout. They quickly determine that the crevasse is full of dangerous korlonium crystals, which destroy anything with electronic circuitry on contact, and decide to try to trick the Autobots into entering the crevasse. To that end they retire to their nearby temporary operations base.

Optimus Prime and the Autobots show up at the scene shortly, but before they can learn more about the lights, they are attacked by a Decepticon squad led by Starscream. Megatron dispatches Laserbeak, who knocks Prime over a cliff with a few well-aimed shots and puts him out of commission. The Decepticon then beams holographic pictures of the Autobot leader back to Megatron, who uses them to create a remote-controlled clone out of a clone synthesizer.

Speed, I will not let you race in this race!

While the real Optimus is still clambering out of the pit he fell into, the clone leads the Autobots back to base. There are some awkward moments when the clone addresses Ironhide as "Bumblebee", fails to work Teletraan I, and doesn't even remember giving Teletraan I a check up earlier that day, but the Autobots are distracted by the perimeter alarm sounding — the real Optimus Prime has arrived back at base. Under the clone's leadership, the Autobots prepare to shoot the real Prime as an impostor, but Ironhide stops them, announcing that no one's shooting anyone until they determine who's really Optimus Prime.

THIS is how you REALLY blow off steam!

Teletraan I scans both Primes, but is unable to determine which of them is fake. The clone excels at sharp-shooting, and when it's the real Prime's turn, the rocky outcrop they're using as a target falls on him. Fortunately Optimus shrugs the rubble off. A race to the end of the flats and back is even less conclusive. Any further tests are interrupted by Teletraan I reporting an increase in activity from the crevasse — in reality the work of Megatron's energy amplifiers. Ironhide announces he's taking command while Optimus Prime's identity is uncertain and the Autobots set out for the crevasse.

Naturally, they soon run into a Decepticon ambush. From the Decepticon base, Megatron and Starscream watch the fight. Megatron has decided that to win the Autobots' trust completely, the false Prime will have to destroy a Decepticon. Furthermore, he's picked Starscream to take the fall. Starscream isn't too enthusiastic about this plan, and makes a run for it. He's seen leaving the base by Windcharger and Spike Witwicky, who then watch Laserbeak drag the protesting Decepticon back to base, enabling the pair to slip in unnoticed. Megatron explains the part of his plan that he neglected to mention earlier: that the Prime clone will only be destroying a clone of Starscream. Windcharger and Spike watch the production of Starscream's clone, and start back to warn the Autobots, but are spotted — Spike is captured by Laserbeak while Windcharger falls into the crevasse.

No bacon on the salad!

Out on the battlefield, both Autobots and Decepticons alike are surprised when the Starscream clone joins in and immediately challenges one of the Optimus Primes to a duel to the death. The Decepticon at first gets the upper hand, but is blown apart when he stops to gloat. The rest of the Decepticons flee. Now convinced that the clone is the real thing after the battle, the Autobots follow the clone to the crevasse, ignoring the warnings from the real Optimus. But before they are led to their doom, Windcharger pulls up from the crevasse and reveals the truth, letting them know that the Decepticons have Spike captive.

Prime rubs Spike's head for good luck.

The clone says to disregard Windcharger's report and Spike's plight, and orders the Autobots forward into the crevasse. Ironhide declares the clone to be the fake, because the real Prime would save Spike. The Autobots shoot the fake Optimus into oblivion and follow Prime on a rescue mission. The Decepticon rocket base quickly launches, dropping Spike in mid-air, but fortunately Powerglide is able to execute a mid-air rescue. Optimus assures Spike that he's the real thing, and pets the boy like a puppy.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"It's just such ignorance which forever relegates you to the ranks of underlings, Starscream!"

—Megatron

"All the danger you can handle is already here, Floptimus Prime!"

—Starscream comes up with a clever insult.

"I'm sorry there are only three of you. Clobbering less than four Decepticons at a time is boring."

—Optimus Prime

"Laserbeak... you tin-foil turkey!"

—Optimus Prime dishes out the trash talk like a pro.

Optimus Prime clone: Bumblebee, come over here. The computer's not responding to my input.... Bumblebee, I'm speaking to you.
Ironhide: You talking to me?
Optimus Prime clone: Of course.
Ironhide: But I'm not Bumblebee, I'm Ironhide, Prime.
Optimus Prime clone: I meant Ironhide, naturally.

—The fake Optimus Prime totally flubs Ironhide's name, even though Ironhide's the only other one there, and the Southern-fried lug still doesn't get it...

"I don't mind hitting the dirt, but I don't enjoy eating it!"

—Gears

"Heh-heh! These energy amplifiers are giving Teletraan I exactly the wrong readings, which are just the right readings to lure the Autobots back to the crevice, and their doom! Hruhruhruhruhruhahaha!!"

—Good-old Megatron is nothing if not precise.

"No, DO NOT! ARGH, my magnificent creation, vaporized! With Prime's replica destroyed, we must escape, now!"

—Megatron, not being at all melodramatic.

"Is it really you, Optimus Prime? I mean really?"
"Yes, Spike. This time I am definitely me. Or I. Myself. Oh, whoever I am. Put 'er there, partner."

—A cautious but hopeful Spike questions Optimus Prime, who doesn't do the best job of keeping a sentence together.

Notes

Continuity notes

Yeah, that fancy scanning beam and complex mechanical stuff on the camera? Half the episode's art budget, right there.

• This episode features the only appearance of the Autoscout, a cassette drone launched by Soundwave.
• Optimus Prime calls Laserbeak a "tin-foil turkey". Bluestreak used the same insult against him in "The Ultimate Doom, Part 2".
• Trailbreaker references chrome-alloy cake.
• Starscream calls himself the "pride of the Cybertron War Academy".
• Megatron calls Starscream a "dynametal dolt".
• Thundercracker asks Starscream if he had a blowout in his "brain box".
• Windcharger's insulated rubber tires save him from exploding on contact with the Korlonium crystals, just as the Autobots' rubber tires saved them from Shrapnel's lightning back in "A Plague of Insecticons". A handy substance, indeed!
• Gadgets and powers:
  • Laserbeak uses his head-camera once again when he scans Optimus Prime. It sees action in a number of other episodes, as well as the Movie.
• This episode has the first appearances of Powerglide and Warpath. However, no explanation of their origins is made, which is made all the more irksome by the fact that this episode was written by the show's own dang story editors. Warpath gets no lines at all.

Animation and technical errors

• The entire episode has strangely desaturated colors, even the indoor scenes. The outdoor scenes are mostly washed with a dusk-like yellow and blue, even away from the strange light of the crystals.
• Coloring errors:
  • When Megatron grabs Starscream, his insignia is gray, he's missing the black "eye liner" above his optics and his dark gray helmet details are colored light gray.
  • Soundwave's optics turn white a couple of times, first when ejecting the Autoscout, and then when ejecting Laserbeak for the first time.
  • When Megatron orders him to eject Laserbeak, Soundwave's chest is blue instead of light gray. (The subsequent animation of Soundwave turning and ejecting the cassettebot is recycled from the episode's opening scene, and recycled again when Soundwave sends Laserbeak to retrieve Starscream.)
  • When the Prime clone is first shown, it is several heads taller than Megatron. They should be the same height.
  • Megatron has blue eyes as he tests out his voice control of the clone.
  • The clone's eyes are white instead of blue when Ironhide stops the Autobots from destroying Prime.
  • Bumblebee's arm briefly changes to gray when he asks Teletraan I who the real Optimus Prime is.
  • Starscream sports a red Decepticon insignia when he objects to Megatron's plan.
    

    

    So often, in fact, you'd be hard-pressed to get a screencap that didn't show it that way.
  • Starscream's chest-cockpit is repeatedly colored entirely yellow, missing the bit of gray that it's supposed to have near the bottom. In fact, through the course of the episode, it's colored wrong more frequently than right.
  • As he and Spike climb the mountain and spot Laserbeak, Windcharger is sporting a red Decepticon insignia.
  • Starscream's eyes turn blue when he dodges Laserbeak's first attack.
  • Windcharger's head is a darker gray than his body when he ducks to avoid Laserbeak outside the mountain, and again when Ratchet identifies the fake Prime.
• A strange animation shortcut has Optimus pick up Thundercracker to throw him. The camera angle changes, and suddenly it's Starscream that he's throwing. The next shot shows all three Seekers lying defeated, so it may or may not be an actual error. (The same color/character changing trick is used in "The Ultimate Doom, Part 1".)
• Improbable viewpoints:
  • Does Megatron have a camera that flies alongside Laserbeak to take a video of him? How else to account for the third-person camera angle that he gets on his screen as he talks to Laserbeak? Considering how often Laserbeak himself is dispatched for the purpose of obtaining video footage, this would be ludicrous.
  • Megatron seems to have filled the whole valley with cameras in rocks. He's able to keep constant tabs on the battle from a variety of viewpoints, including one head-on shot of the Autobots that travels with them as they run! There's no indication that these are the viewpoints of his troops (one comes right from just a foot or two above ground level.)
• Teletraan I's initial statement ("Detail comparison forthcoming") is strangely muffled, as if coming over an AM radio broadcast.
• Wheeljack's ears don't flash as he says "take your positions".
• After the clone announces that they'll spring any traps that need to be sprung, the real Prime's mouthplate disappears.
• Starscream's arm lasers disappear and reappear as he agrees with Megatron's plan to have the clone destroy a Decepticon.
• Laserbeak makes no transformation sound as he returns to Soundwave's chest compartment.
• When Starscream's clone takes a few steps out of the clone synthesizer, his headgear is colored blatantly white.
• Laserbeak is magically ejected from Soundwave's chest when he starts to chase Windcharger and Spike.
• The animators seem to have forgotten that the incredibly tall rocket is a ship / base. Soundwave is seen entering the control room through a rocky tunnel.
• The clone Prime, after ordering Jazz to "hit the deck", just stands there for a remarkably long time doing nothing.
• Megatron's gun barrel is dark gray as he orders Starscream to say his line.
• After the fake Starscream is destroyed by the fake Optimus, Starscream is seen standing next to the other Decepticons (it's not even a coloring error as Thundercracker and Skywarp are both standing next to him).
• In a hilariously placed dialogue flub, Optimus calls Trailbreaker "Trailblazer", just as he's trying to convince the Autobots that he's the real Prime.
• A moment later, as Megatron tosses Spike out of the ship, Peter Cullen's delivery of Prime's line makes it sound like Prime is calling Spike "Splick".
• Powerglide catches Spike by swooping beneath him a second before Spike hits the rocks. But slamming into a metal airplane really wouldn't be much better for a human than slamming into the rocky ground.
• Prime's not the only one having personal pronoun troubles in this episode, as Starscream repeatedly says "I" when, to make sense, let alone be grammatically correct, he should be saying "me".

Continuity errors

"I'm the real Optimus Prime, Stick."
"It's Spike, Prime. Now if only we could devise a way to figure out who's the real you!"

The Decepticons already blew through all their camouflage budget.

Even more powerful than the Earth's molten core? The ruby crystals of Burma? Oil? Explosive meteorites? Volcanoes? Dr. Arkeville's brain?

• The basic premise of the episode—that nobody can tell which Optimus Prime is real—requires all the Autobots (and Spike) to be incredibly stupid. Nobody thought to take the two Primes into separate rooms and grill them about things only the real Prime would know? Not even Prime himself thinks to suggest this? Even after Windcharger and Spike observe that something's very wrong with Prime, nobody puts two and two together when the real Prime shows up? The fake Prime's bloodthirsty response doesn't make it flagrantly obvious who's the fake? Nobody thinks to mark one of the Primes to tell them apart? Races and sharpshooting contests are supposed to prove who's who? Nobody gets suspicious at how easily Starscream is utterly annihilated?
  • On the other hand, the real Optimus Prime calls Trailbreaker "Trailblazer" and Spike "Splick", so maybe we should cut the Autobots a little slack.
• Megatron makes it even easier for the Autobots; he calls Ironhide "Bumblebee", despite being able to identify Ironhide by name in "The Autobot Run" and Bumblebee in "The Immobilizer", and flagrantly sets himself up for discovery by mucking around with Teletraan I, asking ridiculously leading questions of the Autobots, and responding to the real Prime's appearance with an uncharacteristic "KILL IT NOW" reaction.
• Furthermore, why didn't Megatron just have Laserbeak kill, capture or disable Optimus Prime while he was down, thus avoiding all the "two Optimus Primes" trouble in the first place??
• Heck, if it's so easy to make perfect reproductions of the strongest Autobot, why not just make a ton of them and overwhelm the Autobots? Why not just make a ton of Megatron clones and overwhelm the Autobots?
• Megatron describes the crystals as "the most rare and dangerous form of raw energy in this solar system". More dangerous and rare than electro-cells, Crystals of Power, the crystals on Titan, the Sun, etc.? Really?
• It doesn't make much sense that Megatron knows about the korlonium crystals and Starscream doesn't, considering it's established that Starscream is a scientist and has visited the Solar System before.
• Though the temporary base is mostly camouflaged as a mountain peak, there are some mechanical bits at its base that remain undisguised. Luckily for Megatron, nobody seems to notice.
• "It is Optimus Prime!" declares a shocked Soundwave as the clone is revealed. Was he just not paying attention to what Megatron was doing for the last few minutes, up to and including his saying "Now to begin the cloning process!"?
• As Megatron feeds lines to the newly created clone, the clone's vocal inflections don't really match those of Megatron.
• Megatron should be saying everything that the clone says on-screen, but is silent as the clone first meets up with Jazz and Trailbreaker.
• The cloning machine also somehow manages to clone Prime's trailer even though Prime was scanned in his robot mode.
• After the Decepticons retreat, why does the Prime clone lead the Autobots back to Autobot Headquarters, instead of investigating the energy source that drew them there in the first place?

"Hound, do we know that guy?"
"Huh? There was a guy?"

• Only Jazz and Trailbreaker are seen withdrawing alongside the Prime clone, even though half a dozen Autobots are present at the battle.
• It's only an error retroactively, but when both Primes get X-rayed, neither one possesses the Matrix of Leadership in his chest cavity. In fact their chest interior design is completely different than the design from the movie.
• If the clone is completely remote controlled, then what is clone Optimus Prime doing while Megatron is not wearing his control helmet? (seen several times, such as the beginning of the second battle and when Megatron gloats to Spike.) We never see him passing the helmet to any other Decepticon. The clone's physical motions never seem to correspond to what Megatron is doing, though, so perhaps it just loses the ability to speak.
• The clone's order for Jazz to "hit the deck" is completely useless; Jazz wasn't even remotely in Prime's way. (After this moment of tactical idiocy, Megatron takes a moment to gloat about his "brilliant scenario of Autobot destruction". We dare say this is ironic!)
• Powerglide and Warpath both just show up out of nowhere during the final battle.

Trivia

Totally toy-makable. Hasbro, we're waiting!

• Based on the absurdity of this episode, "WE MUST HAVE A RACE" has become a popular fandom meme any time two things might be remotely confused with one another.
• Originally, this episode had the intro for the first season due to being part of the first batch of season 2 episodes to air.

Foreign localization

French

• Title (European French broadcast): "Un gros problème" ("A big problem")
• Title (Canadian French broadcast & European French DVD release): "Un problème d'Optimus" ("An Optimus problem")
• Original airdate: ?
  • For unknown reasons, the entire soundtrack of this episode (music and sound effects) is taken from parts of another (others?) episode(s). This means that the music is different from the original version, but this also means that all episode long, we hear a plethora of sound effects in the background that have nothing to do with the scenes (gunshots, logo transitions, transformations, footsteps, even commercial bumpers...). For the parts in which the characters don't talk, the original sound is used. This also results in a lot of music cuts since it suddenly changes when the characters start talking. We can also sometimes briefly hear the first second of original voices when the cut happens. Best explanation is that the dubbing studio didn't have the international version (with sounds and music without the voices) and had to make one from scrap.
  • As usual, Laserbeak's name is skipped. Optimus Prime's line "Laserbeak! You tin-foil turkey!" is absent from the dub.
  • When Ironhide explains that they have to stop the reaction before the whole area explodes, Francis Lax makes a grammar error and corrects it immediately, still in Ironhide voice. ("il faut arrêter cette réaction avant que le secteur explose... ou n'explose !")

• In the DVD version of this episode by Déclic Images, the sound of the episode gradually shifts as it plays, leading to several seconds of lag in the final scenes, which does not help the already messed up soundtrack. The UFG Junior DVD release does not have the lag problem.

Italian

• Title (dub 1): "Un problema per Commander" ("A Problem for Optimus Prime")
• Original airdate: ?

• Instead of "olografic views" of Optimus Prime, Megatron asks Laserbeak for a "spectrographic analysis".
• Huffer's line: «Did someone mention traps?», is heard too soon, so, at the end of it, you can see him still moving his mouth without saying anything.
• Starscream refers to himself as the "commander of the Hundred Years' War on Cybertron" instead of the "pride of the Cybertron War Academy".
• When Megatron says that Windcharger "no longer exists", he misnames him as Huffer.
• Jazz's line: «Hey, man, the real Optimus Prime wouldn't chicken on a little recon operation!» is weirdly changed to: «Hey... the real Optimus Prime wouldn't appreciate this kind of gratitude.».

• Title (dub 2): "Un problema per Optimus Prime" ("A Problem for Optimus Prime")
• Original airdate: ?

Japanese

• Title: "Futari no Convoy" (二人のコンボイ, "The Two Convoys")
• Original airdate: December 6, 1985

Mandarin

• Title: "Zhēn Jiǎ Qíngtiānzhù " (真假擎天柱, "True or False Optimus Prime")
• Original airdate: ?

Brazilian Portuguese

• Title: "O Super Problema" ("The Super Problem")
• Original airdate: ?

Toys inspired by this episode

• Masterpiece MP-36 Megatron (TakaraTomy, 2017)

Included with Masterpiece MP-36 Megatron is the clone control helmet he used in this episode. Of course, in order to complete the effect, one would need to purchase a second Masterpiece Optimus Prime figure to act as the clone. To really complete the effect, one would also have to purchase a second Masterpiece Starscream to act as the Starscream clone, and an additional MP-36 in order to obtain another clone control helmet for the real Starscream.

Home video releases

VHS

1999 — The Original Transformers — Volume 1: Prime Threat (Kid Rhino)

LaserDisc

1994 — Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers — Convoy Set (Takara) — Japanese audio only.
1998 — The Transformers — Autobot Edition (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.

DVD

2001 — The Transformers — DVD Box 1 (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
2002 — The Original Transformers — Season 2 Part 1 (Rhino Entertainment)
2002 — The Original Transformers — Season 2 Part 1: Vol. 2 (Rhino Entertainment)
2003 — Transformers — Season 2 Part 1 (Metrodome)
2003 — Transformers — La Course des Autobots (UFG Junior) — European French audio only.
2004 — Transformers — Collection 2: Series 2.1 (Madman Entertainment)
2004 — Transformers — Volume 4 (Déclic Images) — European French audio only.
2006 — Transformers — The Complete Generation One Collection (Metrodome)
2007 — The Transformers — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)
2008 — Transformers — Volume 03: Stagione Due Parte Prima (Medianetwork Communication) — English and Italian audio.
2009 — Transformers — Season Two: Part One (Metrodome)
2009 — The Transformers — Complete Collection: Decepticon Edition (Madman Entertainment)
2009 — The Transformers — Season Two, Volume One: 25th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory)
2009 — The Transformers — The Complete Series: 25th Anniversary "Matrix of Leadership" Collection (Shout! Factory)
2011 — The Transformers — The Complete Original Series (Shout! Factory)
2014 — The Transformers — Season Two, Volume One: 30th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory)
2014 — Transformers — The Classic Animated Series (Metrodome)

External links

• Partial episode script, revised by Ron Friedman
• Episode dialogue script
• Model sheets and background layouts