Darkness Rising, Part 2

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Ohh, Dark Energon brings back the dead, so that's how they're getting out of killiOH GOD ARRRRGGG!
"Darkness Rising, Part 2"
Season	1
No. in season	2
Production company	Hasbro Studios
Airdate	November 26, 2010 (preview) November 30, 2010 (official premiere)
Written by	Nicole Dubuc
Directed by	David Hartman
Animation studio	Polygon Pictures
Watch this episode on YouTube

The Autobots try to get Cliffjumper back, unaware of what the Decepticons have done to him.

Synopsis

Starscream shows off the massive energon deposit that the Decepticons have located. After Megatron reminds his subordinate who's boss, he shows off what he's found — Dark Energon, the blood of Unicron, which Starscream claims is said to have the power to resurrect the dead. Megatron inquires if Starscream is willing to volunteer to try it out, but it turns out they still have Cliffjumper's corpse handy.

He's not taking the words of a group of unaccountable aliens with their own agenda as gospel. Scrapheads!

At Autobot HQ, Optimus Prime tells the kids that the Autobots will have to protect them, as the Decepticons will likely be interested in the Autobots' new allies. A proximity alert lets the Autobots know that Agent Fowler, their liaison with the US government, is paying them a visit. Fowler is not happy with the Autobots' antics during the recent freeway chase, but Bulkhead points out no humans were hurt. After Prime's assurances that the Autobots will take care of things, Fowler leaves.

Megatron uses the Dark Energon on Cliffjumper, who revives as a snarling, savage beast and immediately attacks a couple of Decepticon soldiers. The thing that was Cliffjumper then turns on Megatron, who slices him in two and announces that the Dark Energon is the key to a vast, indestructible army.

"Starscream, this is the police! We have you surrounded!"
"Oh scrud!"

Ratchet reports that he's detected Cliffjumper's signal, and the chance that Cliffjumper's alive is too much for the Autobots to resist. Leaving the kids with Ratchet, they take the GroundBridge out. Ratchet explains the ground bridge to the amazed kids and threatens to send them to Tokyo. Meanwhile, the rest of the Autobots arrive in the energon mine and start fighting Decepticon drones. Starscream alerts Megatron, who feels he needs more time to prepare to face Optimus and orders the ship made ready for departure. He also orders Starscream to blow up the mine. As the battle rages, Arcee spots Cliffjumper. The other Autobots cover her, and she reaches her fellow Autobot, or what's left of him, only to discover what the Decepticons have done. Starscream stops by to drop off a bomb before making a rapid exit. The Autobots race through the mine ahead of the explosion, back to their entry point, as Optimus radios Ratchet to order the opening of the ground bridge.

"That better not be Barry White you're playing, Jack."

After the team arrives back at base, Arcee tells the others what she saw. She becomes dizzy, and Ratchet scans her and finds contamination on her wrist. While Arcee goes and gets cleaned up, the kids explain to Optimus that they really need to get home, or their relatives will send the cops out looking for them. Prime assigns Bulkhead to take Miko home, Bumblebee to take care of Raf, and Arcee to Jack. Arcee and Jack arrive home shortly before Jack's mother hauls up in her car. Mom's less than impressed that Jack appears to have bought a motorcycle, but Jack talks her around. The next morning, despite Jack's protests that it's a Saturday, Arcee insists that they need to get to HQ.

On the Decepticon ship, Megatron is skeptical that Optimus perished in the destruction of the energon mine. Starscream is concerned that Megatron is being affected by too much exposure to the Dark Energon, but Megatron responds by taking a sliver of the substance and plunging it into his own spark.

Ratchet's analysis of the Dark Energon sample he retrieved from Arcee is incomplete due to his lack of the necessary technology. As he moves the sample to another part of the lab, some of it drips on the manipulator arm Bulkhead broke earlier. Unseen by Ratchet, the arm twitches into life, turning into a one-eyed, spider-like creature.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Then, as your humble servant, shall I ready the space bridge to bring forth the Decepticon army you have surely gathered during your three years in space?"

—Starscream drips with sarcasm.

"They have no protective shell! If they get underfoot, they will go...squish."

—Ratchet on humans.

"Team Prime knows when to use force, and how much to use!"
"Bulkhead, I NEEDED THAT!"

—Bulkhead destroys Ratchet's medical claw and starts a running gag.

"Blood of Unicron, how I might fathom the depths of your mystery, become worthy of wielding your astonishing power!"

—Megatron in a private moment with his prize.

"Robots who get dizzy?"
"Robots with emotions."
"Robots who can die."

—Miko, Raf and Jack recognize the lasting appeal of Transformers.

"Well, if I don't call my mom, like, now, I'm pretty sure the cops will be out looking for me."
"Have you broken a law?"

—Jack and Optimus Prime

"You can watch cartoons back at base with Bumblebee."
"Cartoons? I'm sixteen."

—Arcee's suggestion of weekend entertainment meets Jack's disapproval.

Notes

Continuity notes

• Dark Energon is an all-encompassing goal for Megatron in this continuity, first being used in the War for Cybertron games, as well as in the Transformers: Exodus novel. Megatron and Starscream's introductory conversation about the substance is very expository for the benefit of viewers who haven't read the book or played the game, to the extent that it sounds like neither of them has encountered it before, and neither Arcee nor Ratchet is indicated to have any familiarity with the substance, despite having seen it first-hand back during the war. And yet, Arcee does compare Decepticon experiments during the war on Cybertron to the substance's effect on Cliffjumper, without explicitly naming the stuff (though previously it didn't make anyone crazed zombies.... On the other hand, it was never used on a dead guy before (that we know of) - in fact, it always left deceased users and sought for living ones, which is kinda weird for a substance which could merely rise the user from the dead. Sorry, Cliff, them's the breaks). It's all a bit wobbly; while the cartoon almost certainly seems to have been written as if it is the characters' first encounter with Dark Energon, the dialogue does have enough wiggle room if you're obstinate, like us!
  • It's never actually explained where Megatron got the giant Dark Energon crystal seen aboard the Nemesis; he returned without any massive objects in tow. Unless he has a subspace storage pocket.

Transformers references

• The purple goo shares the property of changing ordinary machines into Transformers with the AllSpark.

Errors

• The Autobots have no shadows when they walk into the main mine.
• June parks her car in the driveway and goes to bed. In the morning it is moved. It could be explained by her going to work except that Jack says that she is still sleeping.
• When Megatron revives Cliffjumper, his arm cannon is gone, reappears when he sheathes his sword, disappears again when he walks over to Cliffjumper's corpse, and reappears one final time after he kicks Cliff off the ledge.
• When the Autobots reach the energon mine and Bulkhead says, "Energon mine" whilst his blaster transforms back to his hand, part of the blaster remains floating over his hand.
• Fowler rebukes Optimus Prime over recent Autobot-Decepticon activities, specifically Arcee's incursion with the Vehicons. His tally of the damage does not line up with the animation: "7 wrecks, 34 fender-benders, a three hour traffic jam." The streets of Jasper are shown to be remarkably empty, devoid of any other cars - or humans for that matter, after Sierra and her friend scatter - and barely a half-dozen vehicles shown on the highway... which inexplicably ended in a closed road anyway, which is what necessitated Arcee's jump into the drainage canal.

Trivia

• The energon mine is in Nebraska, as Fowler will point out in the next episode.
• When this episode premiered on the Vortexx block, Jack's line about "robots who can die" was cut.
• Adaptations of this episode include a prose version as part of Megatron Returns, and a screen-capture-style comic as part of A Rising Darkness.

Foreign localization

French

• Title: "Le Retour de Megatron" ("Megatron Returns")
• Original airdate: ?

German

• Title: "Die dunkle Macht erhebt sicht, Teil 2" ("The Dark Force Rises, Part 2")
• Original airdate: 30 September 2011

Hungarian

• Title: "Közeleg a sötétség, 2. rész" ("The Darkness Is Nearing, Part 2")
• Original airdate: 10 January 2012

Italian

• Title: "La rimonta delle tenebre, seconda parte" ("Darkness Rising, Second Part"), "L'Ascesa dell'Oscurità, Parte 2" ("The Arisal of Darkness, Part 2", 2017 airing)
• Original airdate: 17 September 2011

Indonesia

• Title: "Kegelapan Bangkit, Bagian 2" ("Darkness Rising, Part 2")
• Original airdate: 4 September 2012

Japanese

• Title: "Ankoku Henkei!? Dark Energon" (暗黒変形!? ダークエネルゴン, "Dark Transformation!? Dark Energon")
• Original airdate: 14 April 2012
  • At the end of the episode, when the manipulator arm turns into the spider-like creature and begins crawling around, a self-aware joke was added to the script: Ratchet mentions that he thinks he hears the kids in the audience telling him to watch his back, but brushes their concerns off as unimportant.

Korean

• Title: "Ak ui Buhwal 2" (악의 부활 2, "Return of the Evil, Part 2")
• Original airdate: 30 August 2011

Polish

• Title: ?
• Original airdate: 6 December 2011

Portuguese

• Title: "A Ascenção do Mal - Parte 2" ("The Rise of Evil - Part 2")
• Original airdate: 7 November 2011

Spanish

• Title: "El regreso del mal, Parte 2" ("The Return of Evil, Part 2")
• Original airdate: 7 November 2011

Home video releases

DVD

2011 — Transformers Prime — Darkness Rising (Shout! Factory)
2012 — Transformers Prime — Season One (Shout! Factory)
2012 — Transformers Prime — Folge 1: Die dunkle Macht erhebt sich (EDEL:kids) — English and German audio.
2012 — Transformers Prime — Season One Collection (Madman Entertainment)
2012 — Transformers Prime — Volume 1: Darkness Rising (Madman Entertainment)
2012 — Transformers Prime — Vol. 1 (Avex Trax) — Japanese audio only.
2012 — Transformers Prime — Season One: Darkness Rising (Universal Pictures UK)
2012 — Transformers Prime — Saison 1 Vol. 1: Le retour des Decepticons (Universal Pictures France) — English, French, Italian, Dutch and Spanish audio.
2012 — Transformers Prime — Staffel 1 - Das Bündnis (EDEL:kids) — English and German audio.
2012 — Transformers Prime — Stagione 1 Vol. 1: La rimonta delle tenebre (Universal Pictures IT) — English, Italian, Dutch, French and Spanish audio.
2014 — Transformers Prime — Saison 1: L'intégrale (Universal Pictures France) — English, French, Italian, Dutch and Spanish audio.
2015 — Transformers Prime — Season One (Universal Pictures UK)

Blu-ray

2012 — Transformers Prime — Season One (Shout! Factory)
2012 — Transformers Prime — Season One Collection (Madman Entertainment)
2012 — Transformers Prime — Staffel 1 - Das Bündnis (EDEL:kids) — English and German audio.