The Immobilizer

« The Transformers ep 22 » « Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers ep 15 »
"See? We can shoot him right in the nads!" "Television doesn't work that way, you doofus."
"The Immobilizer"
Production code	#700-21
Season	2
No. in season	6
Production company	Sunbow Productions
Airdate	September 24, 1985
Written by	Earl Kress
Animation studio	Toei
Continuity	Generation 1 cartoon continuity
Watch this episode on YouTube

The Decepticons steal Wheeljack's latest invention, which immobilizes stuff, and Ironhide attempts to retrieve it.

Synopsis

At Autobot headquarters, Wheeljack gathers everyone around for a demonstration of his newest invention, the Wheeljack Instant Immobilizer. Walking in late, Ironhide sees Hound’s hologram of Laserbeak and, thinking it’s real, fires wildly at it, scattering the Autobots and nearly bringing down the roof. As Ironhide apologizes, Wheeljack reveals that the Immobilizer was damaged and needs a replacement polarizer. Bumblebee and Spike volunteer to go into town to retrieve it.

Before Dance Dance Revolution, there was...Robot Resource.

While on their mission, 'Bee and Spike stop for a few rounds of Robot Resource at the local arcade. A young woman named Carly introduces herself to the pair and admits her fondness for the "cute Autobot". A somewhat jealous and awkward Spike reminds Bumblebee that they need to leave, and the pair take off, only to be stopped a few moments later by a sarcastic policeman. As they are being busted for speeding, Ravage attacks Bumblebee and secretly plants a miniature video camera on the Autobot. Spike electrocutes Ravage with jumper cables, and the Decepticon retreats. The officer lets the pair go with a warning.

With the Immobilizer repaired, Wheeljack starts the demonstration again, unaware his every word is being caught by the microbug camera on Bumblebee and relayed to Starscream and Megatron. The Decepticons aren't too keen on the idea of being permanently immobilized by the invention, and Megatron promises to steal it.

Trailbreaker has a great ass. Who knew?

Optimus Prime decides to move the test outdoors for safety. As the Autobots approach the location, Prime directs Ironhide to guard the perimeter. The rest proceed toward a fast-moving river, which Wheeljack immobilizes with the device. In the commotion caused by the success of the test, Spike messes with the Immobilizer and is almost zapped, but Wheeljack throws him out of the way, takes the blast himself, and winds up stiff as a board.

Still patrolling the perimeter, Ironhide catches a glimpse of a shadowy figure and fires his weapon. He discovers that the figure was Carly, whom he scolds for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The distant sound of gunfire cuts their conversation short, and Ironhide rushes off. He reaches the clearing to find the Decepticons have the Autobots at gunpoint, and blames the ambush on himself.

Megatron demands that Prime hand over the Immobilizer, and a battle ensues. The device gets knocked about and winds up in Megatron's hands, but just as he starts issuing another threat, the river, on which he and the Decepticons are now standing, re-mobilizes and sweeps them downstream.

Ratchet puts the finishing touches on his resin-cast Wheeljack model.

While undergoing repairs back at headquarters, Ironhide criticizes his performance in the field. Concluding that he's too old to be of use, he resigns from active service, and nothing Ratchet or Prime says dissuades him. Carly blames herself for Ironhide's attitude and tries to convince him not to quit. Ironhide gives her a tour of the base, and she pockets a grenade when they visit the armory.

Some time later, Wheeljack unfreezes, and Spike notices that Carly is missing. Suspecting she's emotional and going to do something rash ('cuz she is a girl), Spike and Bumblebee set out to look for her. Turns out he's right. Carly has driven a boat out into the ocean and, using SCUBA gear, swims down to Decepticon headquarters to plant the stolen grenade on their outer wall. However, she's detected by Soundwave, kidnapped by Laserbeak, and brought into the base to face Megatron's judgment.

Luckily for Carly, her abduction was caught by the Sky Spy. Ironhide rushes off to find Spike and Bumblebee and start a rescue mission.

Back under the ocean, the grenade Carly planted earlier goes off, and seawater starts rushing into Decepticon headquarters. They manage to fix the damage and contain the water, except in the cell where Carly is being held. With disturbing glee, Megatron and the others watch Carly struggle as water fills the cell to the ceiling. Assuming she's dead, they leave the cell unguarded. This lets Ironhide swim through the hole in the wall, grab the girl and bring her back to the surface.

You hit me! Kong never hit me!

After thanking Ironhide for the rescue, Carly rides off with Spike and Bumblebee, but when Ironhide doesn't follow, they realize that he's been immobilized. The Decepticons and Autobots square off, with Rumble in control of the Immobilizer and freezing most of the Autobot forces. Following a plan of Carly's design, Brawn tunnels under the ground with her and Spike so they come up near the Immobilizer's position. As Jazz distracts the Decepticons with a sound and light show, Carly crosses some wires in the device and the trio escapes. When Rumble tries to immobilize Optimus Prime, the device starts to re-mobilize the frozen Autobots instead. Ironhide grabs the Immobilizer from Laserbeak, and when all the Autobots are unfrozen, he smashes the device. With his toy in pieces, Megatron swears to return, and the Decepticons retreat.

This early version of Thelma and Louise never took off.

Back at headquarters, Ironhide asks to return to active duty, and Optimus heartily welcomes him back. Carly explains how she switched around the wires in the Immobilizer, since she does have a science scholarship at MIT. Confronted by both brains and beauty, Spike has no choice but to ask Carly on a date. Sparkplug watches them drive off and smiles in approval, despite the fact that his son is going out with a college student while he's too young to have a driver's license.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"We should vaporize those Autobot fools and fuse their carcasses into slag!"

—So, Starscream, you're planning to, uh, fuse their vaporized carcasses? It'd be worth paying to see you attempt it.

"Give me the device now, Optimus Prime."
"Try and take it, Mega-turkey!"

—Megatron and the oh-so-witty Trailbreaker

"Starscream, retreat!"
"A Decepticon never retreats!"

—Megatron finds that Starscream is more of a prideful fool than he thought.

Optimus Prime: "You’re losing your warriors, Megatron."
Megatron: "Warriors are expendable! The most important thing is I get what I deserve! And I always do."
[The river unfreezes; the Decepticons fall in and are swept away]
Trailbreaker: "You deserved that, all right, Mega-jerk. Rust in peace!"

—Megatron makes the mistake of tempting fate.

"This is where we store our ammo. Course, uh, we'd rather not have any of this stuff around. But until the Decepticons change, or we pacify 'em once and for all..."
"Someone should pacify those Decepticons...and their underwater headquarters."

—Ironhide finds that Carly is a girl after his own heart

"The show’s over. Back to work."

—A leering Megatron takes glee in Carly’s apparent drowning.

Notes

Continuity notes

• This episode is Carly's introduction to the series.
• Gadgets and powers:
  • Brawn uses the same tunneling drill he had in "The Ultimate Doom, Part 1".
  • Ironhide has a jet pack that pretty much fills the back of his torso. That same space contained a missile launcher in "More than Meets the Eye, Part 3".
  • Ironhide fires one of his liquids out of his totally-retracted wrist. It's a brownish-red stuff which appears to act like glue — very different than the whitish glue stuff he fired from tri-barreled wrist weapons back in "Divide and Conquer".
• This episode marks the second time that Ratchet has threatened to shut Ironhide up by physically removing his ability to speak (the first was in "Transport to Oblivion"). Yeesh, someone needs to work on their bedside manner.
• If this episode's dialogue is taken seriously, it would mean that Spike is at least 13–15 years old (depending on the particular state). This raises disturbing questions about why Sparkplug allows his son to date a woman who's old enough to at least be starting college. Then again, Sparkplug had Spike working on a remote oil platform in the middle of the ocean, so family dynamics within the Witwickys are certainly... unconventional, Carly also could be clever enough to have graduated high school early.
• Running "into town" from Autobot Headquarters presumably means that Spike and Bumblebee went to Central City, the only nearby city ever named on-screen.
• < < What makes Starscream the leader? Megatron got shot and fell down! > >

Real-world references

• It was the 80s. Video arcades were the hot thing.
  • Robot Resource uses sounds from Galaga.
• Carly is or will be a student at MIT.
• Spike describes a chocolate soda as "an emulsified CO2 with lactic acid".

Animation or technical glitches

If only they all looked like this, instead of "The Core" or "Carnage in C Minor" or...

The general art quality in this episode is noticeably good, but not without its flubs:

• Coloring errors:
  • Gears's shoulders/torso is all blue as the Autobots gather around Wheeljack. Only his truck roof should be blue; the rest should be red.
  • Ironhide's helmet rim is partly light gray instead of red as Wheeljack speaks to him. The same error will recur throughout the episode.
  • Bumblebee has two random black rectangles on the back of his VW Bug mode as he transforms outside the arcade.
  • When Wheeljack screws the polarizer on his new doohickey, his hand and lower arm pass through the polarizer. He also has random orange on his shoulders where there should only be white.
  • Bits of Brawn's helmet are yellow instead of gray during the bizarre sequence of partial transformations at Autobot Headquarters.
  • As Prime orders Ironhide to take the first watch, his headlights aren't colored in. In the background, a whole line of misshapen Autobot cars is driving past, including what looks like an off-model Cliffjumper colored entirely blue.
  • Starscream has an all-yellow nosecone as he transforms to fly over the force field.
  • As he dives at the Autobots, Starscream's air intakes are the same light gray as the rest of him, instead of red.
  • Prime's thighs are red instead of silver as Trailbreaker makes his "rust in peace" gag.
  • Ravage's rear paws are light grey instead of black as he leaps to transform.
  • Skywarp's arm laser, and Soundwave's head vents, are both white after Starscream gives the order to attack.
  • In an overhead shot when Optimus Prime is rallying the Autobots to find the Immobilizer "before Megatron turns it against us," Cliffjumper is colored like Bumblebee (who has just left with Spike). In a subsequent front-on shot, the error is corrected, showing Cliffjumper in the same position (next to Gears), transforming into vehicle mode.
• Wheeljack is missing the lines on his "ears" when they stop flashing during "a clever little creation I call..."
• Gears is the one who asks what the Immobilizer does, but Cliffjumper is animated speaking the line.
• Appearing/disappearing Autobots:
  • Brawn is suddenly with the gathered Autobots as they duck from Ironhide's random firing, despite not being in any of the establishing shots of the group.
  • Bumblebee leaves base to look for Carly... then is shown in the very next shot with the Autobots gathered around Prime in the base.
  • Prowl is shown rolling out, even though he hasn't been in a single shot so far. Ironhide is also shown rolling out even though he "retired", and more problematically, is still at the base when Sparkplug detects Carly's kidnapping.
• Ironhide's arm is layered in front of Spike as Spike dusts himself off, making them appear the same size.
• Bumblebee's arm is layered behind one of the onlookers in the arcade as he bows. Said onlooker and his buddies continue their huge-mouthed gaping long after the cheering has stopped.
• The background behind Bumblebee changes between shots; when he bows, there's just the Robot Resource game, but in the next shot, two consoles have appeared, neither of them Robot Resource.

So the car and the characters are drawn at one scale, and the hydrant and the buildings are drawn at a completely different scale.

• As Ravage gets zapped and runs off, the police car behind has turned from a typical 80s slab-sided squared-off car into a deformed Jetsons-like bubble car.
• Carly's car is just sitting there half on the sidewalk. It's next to a fire hydrant that's almost as big as the car. And Robots Video Arcade apparently has a huge front door.
• Ravage's eye is randomly glowing white before he attacks Bumblebee. It could be an intentional effect to show emotion or recognition or something, but it's an odd choice.
• Some have claimed that Trailbreaker and Jazz are off-model as they help clean up the mess in Autobot Headquarters (too thin and too fat, respectively). Others find this claim to be rather dubious.
• Megatron appears to have an extra right forearm segment as he speaks his first line.
• Jazz is off-model during his sequence a second later, with no fenders, no stripes, and an extra window.
• The Immobilizer ray would have passed completely over Spike. It zaps Wheeljack in the head; granted, he was stooped, but still.
• Prime has a huge crotch as the camera pans down to Bumblebee.

• Missing Seeker insignias:
  • In the first pan of the Decepticons surrounding the Autobots, Starscream's missing his wing insignia, and Soundwave's visor is white instead of red (and again when the shot is recycled after the first commercial break.)
  • Starscream is missing his wing emblems as he falls over from Ironhide's goop.
  • As he wanders into the trees, Starscream only has one of his wing insignia.
  • Thundercracker only has one insignia as he climbs out of the river.

• Ratchet's mouth is missing as he stands behind the force field.
• Megatron has no transformation sound effect as he transforms to destroy the bouncer bomb.
• Prime's left exhaust stack disappears into thin air as he turns toward the falling tree. He also has a random white segment above his grille.
• Trailbreaker's force field projector is missing as the Autobots prepare to return to base.
• Ironhide clips through the corner of the wall as he walks off to "retire".
• Improbable viewpoints:
  • Sparkplug shows Ironhide a visual that's supposedly from the Sky Spy. Somehow, the orbital satellite shows a tracking pan view of Laserbeak that's right beside him — below him, in fact. If the entire sequence is taken as Sky Spy's footage, Laserbeak flies within inches of Sky Spy's camera, as Carly's face fills the screen at one point.
• Ironhide's observation that Laserbeak has taken Carly is muffled as if it were coming over a radio transmission.

Continuity errors

• For his initial Immobilizer demonstration, Wheeljack asked Hound to project a hologram. Was he actually going to immobilize the hologram? How's that even possible?
• Spike suddenly has a wristwatch when he needs to check the time in the arcade. The watch is never seen before or after.
• Megatron knows which one is Bumblebee. Later, he doesn't.
• Optimus Prime tells Ironhide to "take the first watch." How long were they expecting to be there?
• Once Bumblebee and Spike take off after Carly, Optimus Prime orders the Autobots into action in order to "recover the Immobilizer before Megatron turns it against us." They transform and head out. Exactly where are they going? They don't head to the Decepticon base; that's where Carly is, and Sparkplug needs to send the retired Ironhide out to save her.
• Carly apparently knows where the Decepticon base is located. How she knows is anyone's guess.
• In addition to the Immobilizer, she also has a great understanding of technology she's seen for the first time in her life. In the armoury, Ironhide only refers to storing ammunition yet Carly seems to recognize a bomb, or had the knowledge to convert alien ammunition into a timed explosive. MIT obviously gave that scholarship to the right candidate!
• The remote changes sizes throughout the episode. Beginning, it's the perfect size for Wheeljack's hand, which is about the size of half of Spike's body when he steps on it. But in the next shot showing the remote, it's small enough to fit in Spike's hands. Then when Rumble uses it, it's sized for his hands.
• Would Ironhide really have prevented the Decepticon sneak attack if he hadn't moved the hundred feet or so from his station? Couldn't the 'cons have just come from the other direction?
• Carly's another pressure-proof super human, just like Spike. She swims at least a few hundred feet underwater to Decepticon Headquarters with no pressurized diving equipment at all. At least the animators were kind enough to give her a wet suit!
• In addition, since Ironhide isn't shown to have any SCUBA gear for Carly, he had to have made an extremely rapid ascent to the surface so she wouldn't drown. However, an ascent that fast would have given her decompression sickness, or worse.
• In all the time the Decepticons spent with the Immobilizer, making it permanent, nobody thought to scan and retain a copy of its schematics, so they could make as many as they wanted?
• "It's a theory I've had ever since I accepted my science scholarship at MIT," says Carly about Wheeljack's immobilizer, which she just encountered for the first time like, earlier that same day. Did she accept the scholarship while imprisoned in Decepticon Headquarters? It was probably supposed to mean that Carly had previously had the idea for an immobilization device that was technologically similar yet otherwise unrelated to Wheeljack's Immobilizer, which would (kind of) explain how she knew which wires to rewire to reverse the device's function, but it didn't come across very well.

Trivia

• Stores on the street: Vincenzo's Pizza, Rose Beauty Saloon, Meat, and Robots Video Arcade.
• Video games in the arcade: Pan!!, Oh!!, Chu, Ha Ha Ha, SFX, Hot, and Robot Resource.
• No wonder the cops pull Bumblebee over. His entrance into traffic is terrible; he swerves between lanes, and totally cuts off some poor driver.
• C'mon! Starscream walking into trees is hilarious!

Foreign localization

French

• Title: "L'immobilisateur" ("The Immobilizer")
• Original airdate: ?

• Several logo transitions were cut. It is unknown if it was that way for the original broadcast or if the episode was chopped for the DVD release.
• This is one of the worst cases of narrow-team for the dub of an episode. Only Francis Lax, Henry Djanik and an unidentified actor are here to dub the entire cast, with the exception of Carly.
• When Cliffjumper misnames the Immobilizer ("immobilisateur") as a "mobilisateur", Wheeljack corrects him. However, after Ironhide broke a piece of it, Wheeljack calls it a "mobilisateur" himself, and the way Henry Djanik pronounces it sounds like he does it on purpose for fun.
• When Spike explains to Ironhide that Laserbeak was a hologram, he sounds very happy and relaxed compared to the original version and to the face he does at that moment.
• Wheeljack's line "Okay everybody, here goes the immobilizer!" is only translated to "Admirez le travail !" ("watch that!"), which is very short. This results in Wheeljack's "ears" keeping lighting up after he finished talking.
• When the river re-mobilizes and sweeps the Decepticons downstream, one of the voice actors yells a "WOOOOHOOOO" among the screams.
• Megatron's line to Rumble "Destroy Optimus Prime!" is absent from the dub.
• The beginning of Spike's ending phrase ("Huh, Carly!") has the voice effect used for the robots on it, before disappearing for the rest of the phrase.

Italian

• Title (dub 1): L'immobilizzatore ("The Immobilizer")
• Original airdate: ?

• At the beginning, Cliffjumper and Hound are misnamed as Gears and Wheeljack.

• Title (dub 2): L'immobilizzatore ("The Immobilizer")
• Original airdate: ?

• The policeman's remark about Spike calling his car Bumblebee is changed to "You named your car Bumblebee? Is not like I call my car Panther or stuff". That references the fact that "Pantera" was Prowl's name in the old dub.

Japanese

• Title: "Immobilizer" (イモビライザー)
• Original airdate: October 18, 1985
• Cut: All scenes featuring Skyfire have been removed (due to the fact that Takara were unsure about using Skyfire at the time because he was based on a Bandai toy). The cuts aren't made very well, either, as there are jumps in the background music. Skyfire-centric episodes were eventually aired near the end of the show's run when the legal matters had been resolved.

Mandarin

• Title: "Jìngzhǐqì " (静止器, "Immobilizer")
• Original airdate: ?

Brazilian Portuguese

• Title: "O Imobilizador" ("The Immobilizer")
• Original airdate: ?

Toys inspired by this episode

Not Wheeljack Instant Release, though.

• Masterpiece MP-23 Exhaust (TakaraTomy, 2015)

A redeco and retool of Masterpiece Wheeljack with a new head and deco based on the "Marlboor" version of the Diaclone Lancia Stratos Turbo (which is unrelated to this episode) that includes an Immobilizer accessory based on this episode.

• Masterpiece MP-20+ Wheeljack (TakaraTomy, 2019?)

A redeco of Masterpiece Wheeljack in a more cartoon-accurate color scheme that also includes the Immobilizer accessory originally available with Exhaust.

• Masterpiece MP-27 Ironhide (TakaraTomy, 2016)

Included with Masterpiece Ironhide is a back-mountable jetpack as seen in this episode, complete with jet-flare effects.

Home video releases

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. 1 (Rhino Entertainment)
2003 — Transformers — Season 2 Part 1 (Metrodome)
2004 — Transformers — Bumper Collection Special (Metrodome)
2004 — Transformers — Collection 2: Series 2.1 (Madman Entertainment)
2004 — Transformers — Volume 5 (Déclic Images) — European French audio only.
2004 — Transformers — Le Retour de Megatron (UFG Junior) — 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

• Audio of deleted episode dialogue courtesy of Transformers At The Moon
• Model sheets and background layouts