From kendrick@io.com Fri Nov 17 09:26:50 CST 1995
Article: 26305 of alt.toys.transformers
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From: kendrick@io.com (Kendrick Kerwin Chua)
Newsgroups: alt.toys.transformers
Subject: TF Weekday 11/16 - Call of the Primitives
Date: 17 Nov 1995 09:26:13 -0600
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TF Weekday Nov 16 1995 - Call of the Primitives

The EI/AD: Tornitron is this episode's evil invention, an energy being
made from an endothermic reaction of helium and the forced electron
matrix of an energon cube. Brought to you today by Primacron, inventor of
robotic beings since 8x10^66 B.C.E.

The plot: As the mysterious Primacron creates Tornitron in his lab,
Autobots and Decepticons fight on Earth's moon. On Cybertron, every
Autobot is drained of energy and deactivated by Tornitron in the shape of
a huge spider, and Primacron gloats about how Tony's a much better
servant than Unicron was. Meanwhile on the moon, the Dinobots, the
Predacons, the Terrorcons, Trypticon, Sky Lynx, and the animal cassettes
from both sides mysteriously stop fighting, looking to the sky and
listening to a beckoning voice in the distance. They all board Trypticon
and fly off for the center of the galaxy. Then Tornitron comes and drains
the energy out of all the Transformers on the moon and everything else on
Earth. The Primitives, as they now know themselves, get to a barren
planet where they hear the story of their origins from a glowing energy
being... Long ago, the scientist called Primacron created some (but not
all) of the Primitives, building larger and larger robots until he built
his masterpiece, Unicron. He rebelled against Primacron, almost
destroying him, but was destroyed himself later on, as Primacron's
assistant (the energy being telling the story) escaped in a ship that
looked remarkably like the matrix. Primacron's strength is intelligence,
and the hope of the assistant is that the Primitives will be able to
counter this with sheer instinct. Outside, Tornitron splits into four
separate energy monsters and methodically takes down everybody... But
carelessly forgets Grimlock, who was almost crushed underneath a dead
dead Trypticon. Grimlock is declared the last hope of the universe by the
assistant, and he follows Tornitron back to Primacron's lair. Primacron
is having difficulty controlling Tornitron, who is finally rebelling and
threatens to eat Primacron just as Grimlock bashes his way into the lab.
Grimlock discovers that Primacron is a tiny, insipid humanoid organic being.
Primacron has tried every method of silencing or countering Tornitron's
attack with no success... until Grimlock swipes as a switch marked
'Reverse,' which sends Tornitron back into an atomic state and
re-energizes every planet and being from which he took energy. Grimlock
celebrates, tearing apart Primacron's lab in the process.

The characters: For some odd reason, out of all the Primitives,
Headstrong gets the closest and best characterization, Grimlock
notwithstanding. He's stubborn and single-minded, not merging into
Predaking until he feels good and ready, and turning to face Tornitron
when everybody else is wisely running away. The Dinobots are serious
warriors in this episode, without any of the silly lines they're usually
stuck with in the post-movie episodes... Snarl is quick to offend and
Slag is brash and uncompromising. The Terrorcons are their usual
senseless selves ("Fight everybody!") but this is made up for by the
Predacons' sense of strategy ("It can't follow all of us!") Sky Lynx is
his usual egotistical self, and Trypticon is surprisingly cooperative...
Which in my mind only corroborates his tech spec personality. Give
someone with low self-esteem a sense of purpose and a clear goal, and
that person will become efficient and empowered. Check out the brief
appearance by Slugfest and Overkill on the moon, and a cool two seconds
of Ravage and Ramhorn fighting side by side on the barren planet. Cool
cameos by Jazz and Bumblebee (in the background as Kup sounds the alert)
and Slingshot, Blades, and Wheelie (three hothead hip-shooters) get to be
the first Tornitron victims. Too bad we don't get much out of the
Decepticon leadership, but it's nice to see Soundwave around even if he's
only there to provide Primitive cassettes.
   Oh yes, and listen closely to that line in the beginning when we get
to the moon... Two Sweeps are identified as 'Six' and 'Seven', which
leads me to believe that none of the Sweeps have names, contrary to all
the fanfiction and MUSH ideas. The idea of Sweeps not even having
individual designations makes them that much more interesting to me...
Maybe one of them has gotten the idea to rise up and make a better
Decepticon out of himself ("I am not a number! I am a free man!" :)

The plot holes: This is one of those few examples of a bad story made a
lot of fun by amazing animation. So psychosomatically, the plot holes are
lot less jarring than they ought to be... Stuff like Primacron's planet
and his assistant's ship looking a lot like the matrix, or Grimlock
having space flight.
   But the biggest plot hole is also a characterization problem... The
bad guy in this episode, Primacron, is a sipher. Granted, the surprise
ending of him looking and acting like a little child is a great plot
twist (and it tugs at those old prejudices about science being predicated
in child-like wonder and naivete) but other than that, we don't know much
about the man. We don't know WHY he built Unicron, or WHY he wants to
destroy all the Transformers, or WHY his creations keep rebelling. And
does the guy have any relationship to the Quintessons, since the old
multi-faced guys claim to have built ALL the Transformers?

Moving pictures: If you haven't heard, 'Call of the Primitives' is the
episode that fans mention again and again for an example of the best
animation in the entire American run of the Transformers cartoon. All the
action is smooth and flawless, and there are so many frames per second
that they can get away with tiny details and flashes of action (like the
Sweep burning up as Rodimus blows him away, or the effects animation of
Tornitron spinning through the cosmos as any number of flaming spheres.)
Cool transform sequences; Rodimus folds and folds like there's no
tomorrow, and Abominus and Predaking both have those funky pop-up heads
that you only see in the Japanese series (ref. Dinoking or Raiden.)
   Of particular note is the way Trypticon is drawn in this episode...
Fans know that he's huge relative to all other Transformers, but this is
accentuated by the level of detail he's drawn with. Check out the scene
where he lowers his chest to become a ramp, or the scene where he's
standing outside of the assistant's cave... The shadows and light across
his body are too numerous to count. Check out the panels and grooves
along his shoulders when he first joins the battle on the moon. All of
this contributes to the image of Trypticon as big, big, big.
   Kendrick's Anime Lesson #8; insects. If you've ever wondered why
Battletech mechs always have big antennae sticking up out of them, or why
the Insecticons even exist, then you need to know something about the way
insects are regarded in Japan. An almost foundational part of Japanese
literature and prejudice is the way that the insect has become a symbol
of strength and power. Check out the horns on a samurai helmet or the TV
aerial on a Yakuza's limousine, and you'll see evocative insect images
in almost anything involving power and muscle.
   Case in point is 'Call of the Primitives.' Check out Ultra Magnus'
helmet... Rather than the straight, up-and-down silver poles, he instead
has thin white antenna that flare out from his helmet. Springer has that
crest on his head that is much more pronounced in this episode than
normal, and Rodimus has instead that huge yellow spoiler, spread out like
paper-thin insect wings. Look at the helmets on Predaking and Abominus,
or the shot of Tantrum on the moon in robot mode, blasting away at
Autobots. You've got more antennae (and more shows of strength) than
you've ever seen in any other episode.

The cuts: This is the first time I've seen the episode. But I suspect
that perhaps a bit was cut from the Assistant's story. I also get the
feeling that a minute or so was cut off the filler at the end, which
incidentally is a silly recap of the origins of the cassettes (Rewind and
Eject as ground troops. Ha.)

Toys they should reissue: All I can say is that I don't think I'll mind
Beast Warriors too much.

Quotables:
"I, Slag, lead Dinobots away! Until I get better idea..."

"Me, Grimlock, think it better to fight later."

"Now before you do anything, think to yourself... 'Is this what Sky Lynx
would do in my position?'"

"I'd say the Dinobots have lost their minds! If they had any minds to lose!"

KKC, vive la difference. Vive les femmes.
--
Kendrick Kerwin Chua - "London? You put the Eiffel Tower back... in London?!"
kendrick@io.com - WTB: 1980s Transformers, US and Japanese, and GIJoe figures
Necronomcon FAQ home page at http://www.io.com/~kendrick/necronomicon or anon
FTP at io.com:/pub/usr/kendrick -Personal home at http://www.io.com/~kendrick