The Ultimate Doom, Part 2

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Blue moon, you saw me standing alone...
"The Ultimate Doom, Part 2"
Production code	#700-09
Season	1
No. in season	12
Production company	Sunbow Productions
Airdate	November 10, 1984
Story by	Dick Robbins, Bryce Malek, Douglas Booth and Earl Kress
Teleplay by	Earl Kress
Animation studio	Toei
Continuity	Generation 1 cartoon continuity
Watch this episode on YouTube

Cybertron's arrival causes disasters on Earth, leaving the Autobots to battle both the Decepticons and Nature.

Synopsis

Fear me, Starscream, as I put the fear of God into you!

As Cybertron arrives into Earth orbit, storms and earthquakes begin in earnest. Sparkplug celebrates, despite Spike's attempts to make him see reason. Starscream rallies the Decepticons to attack the Autobots, but the sudden violence of the elements has both the Autobots and the 'Cons disoriented.

Megatron orders Soundwave to broadcast audio disrupter waves, which cause much pain to the Autobots. Optimus Prime orders a retreat. As they head out, Spike sadly watches his father board Skywarp.

Hold onto the Cube!

Starscream berates Megatron for allowing the Autobots to escape, but Megatron brushes off the criticism... with a mere choke of Starscream's throat. The human slaves rush away in terror as Wheeljack notes they look like they've just woken up from a bad dream.

Doctor Arkeville realizes that the disrupter wave interferes with the hypno-chips' control signal and works to correct it, but he will need more "materials" to modify the chips. Megatron contacts Arkeville, who is informed of the situation. After a little experiment on Sparkplug, Arkeville is convinced that he has solved the problem, and Megatron promises that he will have all the slaves they need to gather the energy for Cybertron.

No, Mister Bond... I expect you to turn your head and cough.

Heading back to base under severe weather conditions, Bumblebee and Spike get separated from the group. Spike is still in a bit of a funk over his dad working with the Decepticons. An earthquake causes a fissure in the ground, which Bumblebee falls into while Laserbeak arrives and takes Spike. Hound, Bluestreak, and Windcharger arrive, rescuing Bumblebee and Spike.

At the Decepticon base, Megatron begins sending Seekers to transport energon cubes to Cybertron. Doctor Arkeville is displeased, as they are using his slaves as shields against Autobot aggression. Arkeville warns Megatron to remember their deal: He gets Earth after Megatron is done repowering Cybertron. Megatron promises to keep his word... but does not specify how much of Earth will be left. But even Megatron has his troubles with the violent storms. At Decepticon headquarters underwater, violent tsunamis destroy the base's entry tower and cause flooding.

Quick, change the channel!

Returning to the Autobot base, the Autobots debate how best to handle the situation and decide to send the Dinobots to prevent as much destruction as possible. At first, Grimlock could give a frag about the Earth's destruction, until he's reminded that he'd be on the planet at the time.

Me Snarl want play fetch, but nobody want play with Snarl.

At the Autobot base, Spike and Optimus discuss why Sparkplug would work with the Decepticons. Just then, the volcano becomes active. Several Autobots are ejected into the air, but Skyfire manages to catch them. Heading back into the volcano, Ironhide manages to cover the lava with an avalanche. Elsewhere, the Dinobots are hurrying to prevent a tidal wave from reaching the shore.

Meanwhile, Prime learns that Sparkplug was taken to Cybertron during energon shipments. Spike overhears and asks to go to Cybertron in order to save his dad and learn how the Decepticons are controlling their slaves. Optimus agrees. Skyfire, Wheeljack, Brawn, Trailbreaker, and Bumblebee head to Cybertron with Spike. As usual, Spike falls into a trap and needs rescuing by Brawn and Bumblebee. After they sneak into Shockwave's fortress, they discover information about the hypno-chips, but Sparkplug arrives and sounds an alarm.

To be concluded...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"The Decepticons will triumph. Ha ha ha ha! Join me, Spike. Join the conquerors!"
"Dad..."
"Look, I told you. Don't call me that!"

—Sparkplug adds to Spike's psychological wounds.

"Decepticon rule FOREVER!"
"Forever's shorter than you think!"

—Megatron and Spike argue philosophy with big weapons.

"That'll teach you to play with fire, Blundercracker!"

—Jazz, clever as ever.

Is Megatron gonna have to choke a 'bot?

"Cross me again, Starscream, and I'll reduce you to titanium fragments."
"But we had the Autobots disoriented. We could have eliminated them."
"We'll do that at our leisure when our more important work is done. You have had the only warning I intend to give."

—Megatron and Starscream bicker again.

"Creating a mindless slave is simplicity itself, thanks to the brilliant complexity of my hypno-chip."

—Doctor Arkeville to Rumble. The real irony is that Rumble is probably more advanced than anything Arkeville could ever create (and Rumble isn't even that smart).

"Let me go, you beryllium buzzard!"

—Spike disses Laserbeak.

"That ought to cook that tinfoil turkey."

—Bluestreak also disses Laserbeak.

"Look at the monitors! You must help stop these disasters."
"Uh, me Grimlock not care whole planet fall apart. Make no difference to me Grimlock."
"With you on it?"
"Hmm, hadn't thought of that."

—Optimus Prime, Grimlock and Wheeljack review An Inconvenient Truth.

Notes

Production information

• First draft script: 16th July 1984
• Script revised by Ron Friedman: 25th July 1984
• Final script: 27th July 1984
• Returned to the US for telecine: 9th November 1984

Continuity notes

Clear proof of extraterrestrial inte- wait...

• Despite the scientifically questionable premise, there are some nice bits of continuity with the effects of Cybertron's arrival, as the winds can be seen tugging trees in the direction of the planet as it continues to suck up Earth's atmosphere. Your wiki editors fully acknowledge that this may have been pure coincidence, and that the writers and animators probably weren't thinking about it at all, but hey.
• Bluestreak calls Laserbeak a "tinfoil turkey". Optimus Prime would use the same insult against him again in "A Prime Problem".
• Where's the trailer go?
  • When Optimus Prime transforms into vehicle mode during the rainstorm early in the episode, his trailer rolls in from off screen, outlined by a strange glowing light effect.

Audio Disruptor Waves, Eject. Operation: Cramped Hand.

There was a hole here. It's gone now.

• Gadgets and powers:
  • Soundwave can produce "audio disruptor waves" which wreak all kinds of mechanical havoc.
  • Jazz uses magnet beams to hitch a ride from Ironhide. It's an odd thing to show; he has never had this power before or since. Furthermore, magnetism is supposed to be Windcharger's schtick, and it comes into play in the very next act.
  • Thundercracker uses his flamethrower from "S.O.S. Dinobots"
  • Prime can apparently reverse the polarity of his windshield to repel rain and hail. Neat trick.
  • Bumblebee can almost change his own tire: he can jack himself up, eject his own spare tire, and unscrew the bolts holding the flat tire on, all without outside help.
  • Windcharger has a "tractor beam" that he uses to pull Bumblebee out of the crevasse, a big hose-like thing that slides out of his wrist. It would seem to just be a focused version of his magnetic powers, since it only pulls up Bumblebee and not a bunch of rocks and debris with him.
  • To find Bumblebee, Hound uses a big scanner thing that he has to carry in both hands. Per the script, that was supposed to be his "radar scope turret gun" of his character bio.
  • Trailbreaker announces his intention to activate a jamming ray to disrupt the Decepticons' scanners, but never gets around to doing so.
• So apparently, when they're not in use, the Dinobots stay in a closet!
• The little repair bay building outside of Autobot Headquarters shows up again. It hasn't been seen since "More than Meets the Eye, Part 2".
• The "skin" of the Transformers seems to be able to endure the heat of magma for at least brief periods. Or longer periods.

Real-world references

• This is one of the most Star Wars sound effect-laden episodes:
  • The end of Starscream and Thundercracker's attack dive is soundtracked with TIE Fighter engine roar and some Millennium Falcon engine whine, possibly from the Falcon's dive at the Death Star trench.
  • More TIE Fighter roar as Starscream and Thundercracker veer out of control.
  • Laserbeak arrives to kidnap the guards with the sound of the Falcon flying over Yavin IV. As he dives, he gets the whole sequence of TIE Fighter ambient cockpit noise, including the fighter's target system locking onto an X-wing Fighter, and one spell of Darth Vader's breathing. The Falcon on Yavin sound is used again at the end of the scene.
  • Laserbeak gets more Falcon engine rumble as he returns to Decepticon Headquarters.
  • When Laserbeak arrives at the crevasse, he gets TIE fighter engine noise with some Falcon rumble mixed in, possibly from the two ships approaching the Death Star. As he returns and dives, he gets more TIE Fighter noise, including the sound of its lasers firing. The Falcon-over-Yavin sound is heard as Laserbeak grabs Spike, and then another Falcon engine burst as he flies off.
  • And more TIE sounds as Laserbeak gets shot by Bluestreak, and again as he flies off, smoking and damaged.

Technical or animation glitches

• In his opening recap narration, Victor Caroli mispronounces Dr. Arkeville's name as "Ark-vill".
• The "last time" recap of Part 1 includes a scene that hasn't happened yet, from Part 3! (Specifically, the human slaves carrying energon cubes into Megatron's ship.)

Korean animation studio! He big mean man, whip us! We are slaves.

• The opening shot of Cybertron rising above the horizon is several flavors of mixed up:
  • If Cybertron was eclipsing the sun, its own surface wouldn't be nearly so well-lit.
  • If the sun was that low to the horizon, it would be orange or red, not bright white. Haven't the animators ever seen a sunset?
  • The clouds in the sky are behind both the sun and Cybertron. Cybertron's orbit can't be that low! Haven't the animators ever seen the sky?
• In the next shot, Cybertron's shadow is moving across Ironhide and company, but stops moving half-way through the shot.
• Thundercracker is shown shielding himself from the explosion of one of the energy pylons, but in the next shot it's Starscream who is coming out of the same pose.
• Coloring errors:
  • The side of Starscream's air intake is gray instead of red as he insists that Thundercracker fire.
  • Soundwave's eject button is slate blue instead of white as he activates the audio disrupter waves.
  • Bumblebee's face is yellow instead of white as he starts to fall.
  • As the three Autobots cluster at the edge of the crevasse, Windcharger is colored like Brawn.
  • As we pan in on Autobot Headquarters, the Ark is colored gray instead of orange. It's also rounded top and bottom, like one of the Rebel transports from Empire Strikes Back.
  • Swoop's head crest and bird feet are white after he transforms, instead of red and yellow, respectively. His wing is clipping through the closet's door frame. In the same shot, Grimlock's dino belly is yellow instead of gray, and Slag's horns are white instead of red.
  • As Starscream and Megatron watch Thundercracker being loaded up in Decepticon Headquarters, Starscream is colored as Skywarp. The error becomes doubly obvious a moment later, when Skywarp is shown on his way back to HQ from Cybertron.
  • The Ark continues to be colored gray instead of orange in the establishing shots before the volcano erupts.
    

    
  • As Sludge looms over the forest trees, the sides of his face are gray instead of yellow.
  • The frames around Optimus's windshields are colored glass-blue instead of red as he talks to Spike.
  • Bumblebee's nose is yellow as he looks out Skyfire's window at Cybertron.
  • Brawn's helmet is yellow instead of gray as he prepares to leap after Spike and Bumblebee.
• Improbable viewpoints:
  • Dr. Arkeville continues to watch the proceedings from Decepticon Headquarters... though this time, his monitor just shows some empty desert.
• When Rumble first reaches through the energy beams to grab the security guard, the energy strands around his wrist aren't backlit to glow.
• Soundwave seems to be missing some consonants as he reports on Cybertron's emergency bulletin; he reports that "energy levels: anticle!"
• As he switches his windshield polarity, Prime's exhaust stacks are drawn as pencil-thin lines.
• The crevasse changes width with every successive shot. In the second shot, it becomes so wide that Bumblebee can't straddle it, but in the third shot, it's suddenly narrow enough that Spike can straddle it. After the rocks under Spike's foot give way, it's suddenly so big that there's no way he could have been straddling it.
• Spike isn't wearing a helmet when he tries to help Bumblebee climb up the fissure. However, he's suddenly wearing one just before he's captured by Laserbeak.
• Bluestreak's left leg is mirrored as he lowers his gun; the windshield segment should be on the inside rather than the outside.
• As we pan from the Autobots down into the crevasse, Windcharger's head is the wrong color, the wrong shape, and the wrong design.
• Skywarp's cockpit is huge as he prepares to leave for Cybertron. A human passenger takes up just the first segment of it, with the rest occupied by quite a few energon cubes.
• The clouds are behind Cybertron again as Skywarp flies toward it.
• The tidal wave that hits the city is of truly Day After Tomorrow proportions; if that was, say, the east coast of North America, it would probably wash all the way to the Appalachian Mountains, killing millions.
• As he points at the Dinobots, only the front of Wheeljack's "ears" flash.

Me Grimlock no lose head. Me find new one!

• In the shot of the Dinobots lined up in their closet, Swoop's mouth is missing, and Slag's head is white instead of red. Also, Grimlock has his old head design, but it changes to the new design when he's talking to Optimus Prime and Wheeljack in the next shot.
• As Grimlock says he doesn't care, a random shot shows Cybertron rising over a wooded terrain... and a satellite drifts past! Is it orbiting at half a mile above the ground??
• An undersea avalanche hits Decepticon Headquarters. But rather than the kind of violent shaking one would expect, the floor just gently tilts for no clear reason.
• As he berates Megatron, the top of Starscream's chest/cockpit is dark gray instead of light gray.
• Soundwave is missing his Decepticon emblem as he walks toward the blasted door; it appears after a few frames.
• Two Bluestreaks are in the pan shot of the control room as the volcano erupts. Guess that makes up for the two Prowls, huh? (A subsequent shot replaces one Bluestreak with Prowl.)
• Prime's missing the line down the middle of his tummy grill as he orders the Autobots to evacuate headquarters.
• Sideswipe's vehicle mode is colored white as he flees Autobot Headquarters.
• Windcharger's arms are dark gray instead of red as Skyfire catches him.
• Bumblebee is missing his Autobot symbol as he stands alongside Prime and Ironhide.
• Peter Cullen seems to have mixed up a line; "But somebody's gotta turn off that volcano" should probably be Ironhide's line, but it is delivered in Prime's voice.
• During his "Now if only the Dinobots" line, only one segment of Wheeljack's ears lights up. He's also missing that pesky line near the end edge of his windshield.
• Slag wades into the water to try and slow a tidal wave. The subsequent shot shows another cresting wave moving against the tidal wave, rather than anything you'd expect from having a robot dinosaur in the water. The implication could be that he created a tremor large enough to cause the cresting wave that blocked the tidal wave... except creating tremors is Sludge's thing, not Slag's.
• Cybertron's skies have clouds, but there's no sign of them in the space-based views of the planet.
• Bumblebee's "You really think so?" line is almost totally obscured by sliding metal sound effects.
• On Cybertron, the font in which the words "Hypno Chip Control" are written changes between shots.

Continuity errors

Extreme Makeover: Earth Edition.

• The landscape sure changed between the previous episode and this one. The energy pylons were previously mounted up high on a grassless, deserty mountainous region, necessitating Optimus Prime to scramble up a rocky cliff after Megatron. However, the terrain is suddenly relatively flat and grassy.
• In the same vein, the energy pylons themselves are suddenly far smaller than they were in Part 1, previously positively dwarfing even Optimus Prime and Megatron, mounted on a large disc platform on which the two leaders battled. Now, Spike runs up and takes control of one as a weapon, and the main body is probably no taller than Optimus Prime, with the antenna portion fully visible in the same shot.
• The audio disrupter waves seem to affect everyone, including the Decepticons... except for Megatron, who is standing right next to the source!
• The waves also immediately free all the hypno-chip slaves... except for Sparkplug, who is unaffected for no clear reason.
• Wheeljack and Brawn are shown transforming and driving off with the other Autobots, yet a moment later they're both standing in robot mode, watching the freed humans flee.

May cause shrinkage.

• Landing on Hound's falling seats probably wouldn't be much better for Spike than landing on the rocky ground. Also, it sure was nice of Laserbeak to drop Spike right in front of that cliff face!
• Despite Bluestreak's statement, and despite falling who knows how far into the crevasse, Bumblebee doesn't have a mark on him.
• It's a minor plot point that Bumblebee is out of energy, and so he rides in Hound instead of driving. Yet Windcharger also said he was out of energy, but he still transforms and drives home.
• The Decepticons' parcel shipping policy is baffling. The energon cubes are made by the human slaves on location, then loaded up and moved - presumably by the jets - to Decepticon Headquarters... where they are unloaded, then reloaded, then shipped to Cybertron? Starscream's point about transporting the cubes would be moot if they'd just ferry them from the gathering/creation location straight to Cybertron.
• So... rather than fighting the disasters one by one, why aren't the Autobots trying to fight the problem at the source—namely, by figuring out a way to get Cybertron out of Earth's orbit? Did this little looming strategic problem not occur to any of them? Spike of all people finally thinks of it at the end of next episode.

You know what burns my butt? Flame about that high.

• Wheeljack says it's "amazing" that the volcano is becoming active again. Considering it erupted less than a year ago, it's hardly amazing at all. More like... expected.
• Skyfire announces his intention to outrun the Decepticon missiles, which makes no sense as the missiles are flying toward him head-on. Instead, he flies between them.
• Geological improbabilities:
  • Bringing a planet with Earth-like gravity into such incredibly close proximity to Earth would tear both worlds apart. Immediately.
  • Ironhide somehow shuts down a whole volcanic eruption by shooting a few rocks off the rim of the volcano cone. The whole reason volcanoes erupt is that there's so much pressure from below that no amount of rock can contain it any longer.
  • Furthermore, Ironhide just walks right into a cave which has a few exploding rocks and a lava pool, but nothing like the massive belching of lava and ash seen from the outside of the volcano in the previous shots.
• "For the moment, I feel we must not let the boy find out." 'The moment' apparently lasts all of two seconds, as Prime immediately divulges the information to Spike.
• Ironhide is consistently shown with the group traveling to Cybertron, but disappears after they land and disembark. The next episode makes clear that he stayed on Earth.
• Why was Spike carrying around his dad's wrench on Cybertron? And how does Sparkplug have a "favorite wrench"? Does he just love screwing in 22mm bolts more than any other size? Maybe it was a gift and has sentimental value.

Trivia

• This episode is subtitled "Search" in scripts and other official materials.
• This was one of the six episodes featured on the Revenge of the Fallen console game.

Foreign localization

French

• Title (European French): "Le dernier jugement, partie 2" ("The last judgement, part 2")
• Title (Canadian French): "L'ultime destin - Partie 2" ("The ultimate doom - Part 2")
• Original airdate: ?

• About the European French dub:

• The dialogue between Starscream and Thundercracker in vehicle mode is absent from the dub.
• Skyfire's line "Have no fear, Skyfire's here!" is absent from the dub, as well as "Sorry, guess I was a little to anxious to get on my feet." when he helps Brawn getting up.
• Spike's line "What did you say Bumblebee? Am I okay? Yeah, fine, it's fine." is said on a very happy tone that does not match the situation Spike is going through.

Italian

• Title (dub 1): "La Terra in crisi" ("Crisis on Earth")
• Original airdate: ?

• Skyfire's line "Sorry, guess I was a little too anxious to get on my feet." (when talking to Brawn) became: "Sorry, Wheeljack, we thought you already got out of the spaceship." This sentence is pretty odd, having Brawn misnamed as Wheeljack and Skyfire talking about himself as "the spaceship" and using a plural verb. The line is also not voiced by Skyfire's voice actor.

• Title (dub 2): "Destino finale - Seconda parte" ("Final Destiny - Second Part")
• Original airdate: ?

Japanese

• Title: "Hametsu no Hi PART II" (破滅の日 PART II, "Day of Destruction PART II")
• Original airdate: November 7, 1986

• Due to Skyfire's status as a Bandai toy in Japan, the Japanese broadcast of "The Ultimate Doom" three-parter was delayed until the end of the series, when the legal matters were resolved (as were nearly all Skyfire episodes). All three episodes of "The Ultimate Doom" aired on the same day as an extra length series finale.

Mandarin

• Title: "Miè Dǐng zhī Zāi (Zhōng)" (灭顶之灾(中), "Catastrophe of Extinction, Part II")
• Original airdate: ?

Brazilian Portuguese

• Title: "A Destruição Final, Segunda Parte: A Busca" ("The Final Destruction, Second Part: The Search")
• Original airdate: ?

Serbian

• Title: "Sudnji dan, drugi deo - Potraga" (Судњи дан, други део - Потрага, "Judgment Day, Part Two - Search")
• Original airdate: ?

Latin Spanish

• Title: "La Destrucción Máxima, Parte II" ("The Maximum Destruction, Part II")
• Original airdate: ?

Home video releases

VHS

1985 — The Transformers — Volume 2: "The Ultimate Doom" (Family Home Entertainment)
1996 — The Transformers — The Ultimate Doom (Malofilm)
1996 — Transformers — L'Ultime Piège (Malofilm) — French audio only.
2001 — The Original Transformers — Villains: The Ultimate Doom (Rhino Entertainment)

LaserDisc

1995 — Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers — Megatron Set (Takara) — Japanese audio only.
1999 — The Transformers — Decepticon Edition (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.

DVD

2001 — The Transformers — DVD Box 2 (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
2001 — The Original Transformers — Villains: The Ultimate Doom (Rhino Entertainment)
2002 — Transformers — Original Series: Volume One (Sony Wonder)
2002 — Transformers — Complete Original Series: Deluxe Edition (Sony Wonder)
2002 — The Original Transformers — First Season Collector's Edition (Rhino Entertainment)
2002 — The Original Transformers — Volume Three (Rhino Entertainment)
2003 — Transformers — Collection 1: Series 1 (Madman Entertainment)
2004 — Transformers — Season 1 (Metrodome)
2004 — Transformers — Volume 3 (Déclic Images) — European French audio only.
2004 — Transformers — Le Cosmitron (UFG Junior) — European French audio only.
2006 — Transformers — The Complete Generation One Collection (Metrodome)
2007 — Classic Transformers — Series One: Part Two (Metrodome)
2007 — The Transformers — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)
2008 — Transformers — Volume 02: Stagione Uno Parte Seconda (Medianetwork Communication) — English and Italian audio.
2009 — Transformers — Season One (Metrodome)
2009 — The Transformers — Complete Collection: Decepticon Edition (Madman Entertainment)
2009 — The Transformers — The Complete First Season: 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 — The Complete First Season: 30th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory)
2014 — Transformers — The Classic Animated Series (Metrodome)

External links

• Full episode script, finalised on 27th July 1984
• Model sheets and background layouts