Sky-Byte Saves the Day

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Here I cooooome to save the daaaaaaay!
"Sky-Byte Saves the Day" 正義の味方? ゲルシャーク () (Seigi no Mikata? Gelshark) "Friend of Righteousness? Gelshark"
Production company	TV Tokyo, NAS, Studio Gallop
Airdate	30 August 2000 (Japanese) June 23, 2002 (UK) (English) July 28, 2002 (US, BotCon 2002) (English)
Written by	Tadashi Hayakawa (Japanese) Matthew V. Lewis (English)
Director	Akira Katō
Animation studio	Studio Gallop

A brilliant bluff
Has gone disastrously wrong
Sky-Byte—hold on tight!

Synopsis

Don't worry, that's normal—it's just the foundations settling.

Optimus Prime and T-AI look over the sites of several Predacon attacks, trying to work out what it is they're searching for. Optimus realises that Megatron must be after the O-Parts, and T-AI establishes finding the remaining O-Parts as the number one priority.

Meanwhile, back in Metro City, Sky-Byte and the Predacon Trio arrive to disrupt the grand opening of the CGA Tower, one of the tallest towers in the world. Sky-Byte plans to knock it down, believing this will make the Predacons famous (the trio is more skeptical). As they begin their attack, endangering the omnipresent Koji and Kelly, Optimus orders the Build Team in to keep the tower up. Their arrival prompts the Predacons to launch a devastating attack on every nearby building as a warning, until Wedge pleads with Sky-Byte not to harm his hostages.

"I could tolerate this for a long time if it were not for Gas Skunk's smelly armpits!" "HEY!!!"

This throws Sky-Byte off, as he didn't actually realise they could be hostages. In an attempt to appear in control and aware of what he's doing, he demands to talk to Optimus—and when Optimus asks for his demands, Sky-Byte randomly blabbers a desire for the "thingamajiggy". By sheer luck, T-AI believes this to be a demand for O-Parts, which Sky-Byte seizes on. Optimus prepares to take the O-Parts direct to him in exchange for the hostages' safety.

At this point, Sky-Byte is feeling pretty good about the situation—until he accidentally knocks the last tower support off. Along with Wedge, he swiftly moves to hold the tower up; unwillingly to let the rest of the Autobots hold the tower, he gets the Predacons to help. To the panicked people in the tower and the watching journalists, it looks like the Predacons are helping...

WHAT?

Meanwhile, Optimus is ambushed en route by Ruination and Scourge for the O-Parts, the latter ordered by Megatron in some vain attempt to procure the O-parts despite them being already bound for the exchange, with no clear or immediate gain for him present beyond self-sabotage. Optimus kicks Ruination into the air before blasting him into component parts, disables Scourge with a shot, then drives on—nothing will stop him protecting the hostages.

The Predacons and Wedge desperately hold onto the tower, though the Predacons are facing severe back pain and Sky-Byte has an itch he can't scratch. The younger hostages, led by Jenny, begin cheering Sky-Byte on though, something that's never happened to him before. Wedge uses this to talk him into letting the hostages go. However, when Optimus arrives, Scourge attacks out of revenge and threatens to use his firepower to destroy the tower if he doesn't get the O-Parts!

While Optimus battles Scourge and the Build Team try to keep Scourge's missiles from hitting the tower, Sky-Byte struggles to keep it upright despite the crossfire—gone completely round the bend, he now altruistically wants to save his "dear hostages". The hordes of small children cheer him on.

Once Scourge is driven off and Landfill manages to dig a hole for the tower to go in, the tower is saved and he can finally scratch his back. Optimus Prime and Koji wonder why Sky-Byte helped them, while the Predacons sit near a beach at sunset still trying to recover from their crippled spines. Why, Dark Scream wonders, did they even do all that?

...which is when they realise they forgot to pick up the O-Parts.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"On a scale from one to ten—that was stupid."

—Slapper reviews Sky-Byte's plan harshly, but fairly.

"You fools! Watch! DISTRACT! DISTRACT! DISTRACT!"

—Sky-Byte, tactical genius.

Optimus: What do you want from me?
Sky-Byte: I think you know. Don't you, Optimus?!
Optimus: I'm afraid I don't know, Sky-Byte.
Sky-Byte: No, you know what I'm talking about, Optimus! That... erm, er... thingamajiggy you monitor at your headquarters!
Slapper: He wants a "thingamajiggy"?
Gas Skunk: Wow!
Dark Scream: Sounds important.
Sky-Byte: My comrades know what I want!
Gas Skunk: Er... course! The, er, thingy!
Slapper: Yeah, that... whatchamacallit.
Dark Scream: The frim-fram with the flibbity jibbet!
Optimus: I'm sorry. It's a good description but I can't think of anything it might fit.

—And yet Optimus fails to realise Sky-Byte doesn't know what he's doing.

Sky-Byte: The O-Parts, or else! Don't make me fill in the blanks.
Gas Skunk: Hey. Do we know what an O-Part is?
Slapper: Nope.

—The Predacons refuse to let a little thing like utter feckless ignorance get in the way of a good scheme.

"They're cheering...for me! I've never been cheered for in my entire life! I wish Megatron would cheer for me once..."

-Sky-Byte, with some rather unrealistic expectations.

"These are my hostages! I'm protecting them! Let me have my pride!"

—Sky-Byte begins to lose the plot.

"Lucky move, Optimus! Now face me!"
"All right." [shoots]

—Scourge bites off more than he can chew with Optimus Prime.

"That's it, Sky-Byte—hold on tight!"

—The children of Metro City find a new hero.

"Why don't we take a little vote? Everyone in favour of freeing these innocent hostages, raise your hands—I DIDN'T MEAN TO LET GO!"

—Sky-Byte, in an uncharacteristic move, fails to think things through.

"Now, more than ever before—my dear hostages need me!"

—Sky-Byte loses the plot completely.

Optimus: Big mistake, tanker breath.
Scourge: I will do what it takes until I leave with the O-Parts.
Optimus: You'll be lucky to leave with all of YOUR parts.

--Optimus Prime gets serious(ly ticked off) with Scourge

Notes

Differences with Car Robots

"Sky-Byte Saves the Day" is the third of three Robots in Disguise episodes (after "Attack from Outer Space" and "Landfill") not to air in the United States in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, given that its plot revolves around the impending collapse of a huge tower. In contrast to a heavily re-edited episode like "The Secret of the Ruins", no attempt is made to disguise any of this, with all the scenes of the tower in peril and other buildings being destroyed remaining in the English version of the episode.

• In the opening scene, Robots in Disguise gives T-AI a better showing, allowing her to reach conclusions on her own and express her dedication to the Autobots' mission. In Car Robots, she's basically just there to parrot Optimus Prime's sentences back to him in the form of questions and worry about things while serving as the audience proxy for the new information Prime provides about the O-Parts. The only real observation she makes, which is not kept in Robots in Disguise, is that each of the three locations "had a lot of people", presumably referring to the civilizations that once lived in each area.
• The basics of the Predacons' conversation at the base of the tower is the same (the other Predacons don't know what Sky-Byte wants to do with the tower, and are exasperated when they learn he wants to destroy it in order to get on TV), but the trio's dialogue is a lot more harsh and mocking in Robots in Disguise, while Car Robots sees Sky-Byte take a more poetic approach, comparing the tower's heaven-piercing glory to Megatron's own. Also, Gas Skunk is impressed with the tower's height in Car Robots, while in Robots in Disguise, he's not wowed, as he says towers on Cybertron are bigger.
• In Car Robots, it's Scourge that Sky-Byte is looking to upstage with his tower stunt, but in Robots in Disguise, this sentiment is rather oddly changed into the notion that it's Megatron who will be jealous when he sees his men on TV.
• In Car Robots, Kelly notes that she—and presumably everyone else up on the tower—are there by invitation, which is why they've been able to gain access before the tower is opened to the public.

• In Car Robots, the scenes of Kelly looking through her binoculars, then feeling the tremor and looking up, are all part of the same, continuous shot; in Robots in Disguise, it is interrupted by a new scene of the Predacons launching their first attack on the tower, made up of footage taken from elsewhere in the episode, causing the tremor that Kelly then reacts to.
• When T-AI activates the member select screen in Car Robots, she first scrolls past all the Spy Changers before getting to the Build Team. As removing all their Japanese ID numbers and replacing them with their English names was probably an unwieldy task, Robots in Disguise replaces this shot with footage from "Wedge's Short Fuse" that just shows the Build Team on the screen.
• In both versions of the show, the Build Team's discussion in their first scene is about how on the ball they are with their construction work at the moment. Car Robots plays it very humble, with the satisfaction of job well done being its own reward, while Robots in Disguise has them acting a little puffed up, with Wedge bragging about the team finishing ahead of schedule and Heavy Load talking about rewarding themselves with oil baths, and, the prospect of having to miss such a reward causes Grimlock to be disappointed when T-AI calls them into action in Robots in Disguise, while in Car Robots, he simply relays her call to Wedge without comment.
• When T-AI briefs the Build Team, the scene is extended by inserting some re-used footage before the shot of Wedge on T-AI's screen: a close-up of T-AI, and a head-on view of the Build Team driving down the space bridge.
• In Car Robots, upon emerging from the space bridge, Heavy Load causes the Predacons to sweat-drop when he immediately deduces exactly what their plan is, and how silly it is. For Robots in Disguise, this was completely changed into a scene of the Predacons flop-sweating when Heavy Load threatens to destroy then and use their parts for construction. This general sense of exasperation on the Predacons' part carries on into the next scene, as Car Robots has Slapper sigh and resign himself to joining in on the destruction, while in Robots in Disguise, he's eager to have some fun.
• While the idea that Sky-Byte did not intend to take hostages, only being inadvertently convinced to do so by Wedge, is true in both versions, in Car Robots, the Predacons were unaware that there were even any humans in the tower when they attacked. Slapper, Gas Skunk and Dark Scream then think that Sky-Byte did know and was actually planning ahead, reinforcing his need to make himself look good by playing along with the hostage scenario.
• In Car Robots, Slapper also brings up that Sky-Byte has the "heart of a jellyfish", referring back to "The Fish Test", a reference removed from Robots in Disguise and replaced with Slapper complaining that he wasn't aware of any hostage-taking plan.
• Where Robots in Disguise has Sky-Byte ask to speak to Optimus, followed by Slapper telling him its a waste of time, Car Robots has him stumbles over his words, and for Slapper to encourage him to make a demand, after which he asks for Optimus.
• Robots in Disguise cuts out an unintuitive shot of Grimlock relaying Optimus Prime's communication to the group, in which Grimlock's eyes glow and Prime's voice comes from nowhere with a radio-muffling effect, and replaces it with a shot of Prime in the Autobot base.
• It's never quite clear in Robots in Disguise just how much Megatron knows about the O-Parts and the information he is drawing out of Dr. Onishi; in this episode, Car Robots reveals he was not aware of the O-Parts' name before Sky-Byte bluffed it out of Prime.
• In Car Robots, it's specifically noted that Optimus's tactic for defeating Ruination—hurling him into the air and blasting him—works because Ruination is in his "Land Mission" mode (Armorhide and Rollbar as arms, Ro-Tor and Movor as legs). Ruination cannot fly in this configuration, so he wasn't able to avoid Prime's blast.
• When Prime and Scourge arrive at the tower, in Car Robots, the Predacons actually cheer Prime on and hope to see Scourge get eaten up, prompting a puzzled Wedge to ask whose side they're on. In Robots in Disguise, this is changed to have them all discouraging the fight so the tower can be dealt with first.
• Scourge's attack on the tower is extended for Robots in Disguise with repeated footage of the Decepticon leader launching missiles and Hightower shooting them down.
• Car Robots has Scourge explain his attack on the tower with the justification that relying on hostages shows Sky-Byte's weakness, and that he intends to take the O-Parts with nothing but his own strength.

• In Robots in Disguise, Grimlock, Hightower and Heavy Load talk about becoming Landfill and securing the tower, with Wedge suggesting they do so by "clearing some space". In Car Robots, the trio don't know what to do, able only to figure out how much clear space they would need to move the tower, until Wedge suggests combining and destroying the surrounding buildings to make room.
• While Kelly lists many alternatives to her present predicament in Robots in Disguise, in Car Robots, she merely wishes she could be in her car... until she remembers that weird car that's always chasing her, and changes her mind, in a short sequence (pictured, right) cut from Robots in Disguise!
• After Gas Skunk reminds him he can scratch himself, Robots in Disguise plays Sky-Byte's subsequently flopping around like he's a dog rolling over to scratch his back. In Car Robots, on the other hand, he flails about out of frustration that he can't reach the itchy spot with his fins.
• This is the last episode of Robots in Disguise to make routine use of "slightly lengthened shot" method of extending the show's run-time. The tactic will be used in occasional isolated instances in future episodes, but going forward, episodes are mostly lengthened through the creation of brief new scenes made out of recycled footage. For this last hurrah, shots extended include:
  • Prime and T-AI looking at the screens, before T-AI turns around
  • A close up on Prime as he wonders if the Predacons are looking for the O-Parts
  • Prime telling T-AI to track Megatron closely
  • The final shot of the episode, with Sky-Byte's head on a black background

Animation or technical errors

• The CGA Tower varies dramatically in size between shots, sometimes appearing to be around the same size as the buildings around it.
• After T-AI orders the Build Team to "Just keep [their] equipment ready and get there!", what little of Hightower that is visible from behind Heavy Load (mostly just his crane arm and part of his front end) is colored in Grimlock's deco.
• After Optimus lays waste to Ruination and wounds Scourge, he re-attaches to his trailer which is in many separate pieces as if Prime had been fighting in Battle Mode, which he hadn't.

Continuity notes

• The locations Optimus and T-AI review at the episode's start are from the following previous episodes: The "ancient cavern ruins" are the Payuma ruins from "The Secret of the Ruins", the Cave of the Dragon is from "The Ultimate Robot Warrior", and the volcano at Montrose Island is, of course, from "Volcano".
  • If the inclusion of the island seems a little odd compared to the ruins (where Dr. Onishi's microchip was found) and the cave (where an O-Part was found), it is because the island was originally yet another location the Predacons learned about from probing Dr. Onishi's mind in the Japanese Car Robots version, whereas the English Robots in Disguise version of that episode omitted that bit of info to instead have the Predacons detect the geothermal energy of that island on their own without any mention of Onishi's involvement.
• In this episode, the unnamed artifact recovered in "The Ultimate Robot Warrior" is revealed to have been an O-Part. However, because this episode was banned from U.S. broadcast, the O-Parts namedrop in this episode was originally lost on U.S. viewers during the show's initial run on Fox Kids, making the actual first use of the word "O-Parts" in the original U.S. run not come until "Ultra Magnus"... wherein no actual O-Parts appear as their relevance in that episode was a feint. It is likely because of this mess that "Hope for the Future" was later created finally give U.S. viewers a more proper introduction to the O-Parts (see that episode's article for more information).
• Although Megatron and Scourge know about the O-Parts, the other four Predacons apparently don't.
• Wedge takes pride in how quickly his team has completed their latest Space Bridge project, the South Ocean Underpass, which was first alluded to in the previous episode.
• This starts a plot arc of small children adoring Sky-Byte which will last the rest of the series.

Continuity errors

• The Autobots claim to have more than one O-Part despite having only acquired one so far onscreen. This is likely a dubbing error since, in Japanese, the word "OOParts" ( オーパーツ Ōpātsu) has no distinction between singular and plural forms. In other words, Optimus was originally going to bring Sky-Byte the one "OOParts" that the Autobots had in Car Robots. However, by the time of "A Friendly Contest," the Autobots will be shown to have acquired a second O-Part offscreen with no explanation, so there's still some kind of goof going on.
• The CGA Tower and Autobot headquarters are both located in Metro City, so why does Optimus appear to be driving away from the city when the Decepticons ambush him?
  • In fact, why does Optimus drive to the tower from the base instead of using the much faster Space Bridge to get to the tower like the Build Team did?

Trivia

• After Ruination is knocked out, Scourge fires his gun and makes a Star Wars sound effect of a stormtrooper firing.
• For whatever reason, we have rarely seen full-body scenes of Optimus Prime fighting hand-to-hand in this series, and even rarer to watch him do it in normal robot mode (as opposed to Battle Mode). The short, but extremely well-animated, sequence of Prime fighting Ruination is a notable exception.
• Interestingly, from this same scene, the idea of Prime leaping up a taller opponent to make him top-heavy and therefore easier to pull down will be repeated in a famous forest battle scene of a future live action film.
• In continuing the theme of brutal hand-to-hand(ish) combat in this episode, perhaps to accentuate the dire circumstance of children in peril, Scourge, in tanker truck mode, rams speeding fire-truck-mode Optimus Prime hard enough to make him smash -sideways- into a building which cracks apart from the impact. Again this episode deviates from the more typical range/ blaster fighting choreography for a more physical, in-your-face style.

Foreign localization

Italian

• Title: "Sky-Byte eroe per un giorno" ("Sky-Byte hero for a day")

Portuguese

• Title: "Sky-Byte Ganha o Dia" ("Sky-Byte Wins the Day")

Spanish

• Title: "Sky-Bite el héroe" ("Sky-Byte the hero")

• When the humans cheer for him, Sky-Byte's states through inner monologue that not even his granny supported him like this.

Home video releases

DVD

2000 — Transformers: Car Robots — Vol. 6 (Pony Canyon) — Japanese audio only.
2005 — Transformers: Robots in Disguise — Three-Disc Box Set: Part 2 of 2 (Maximum Entertainment)
2007 — Transformers: Robots in Disguise — Season Two (Maximum Entertainment)
2007 — Transformers: Robots in Disguise — Ultimate Collection (Maximum Entertainment)