From kendrick@io.com Mon Sep 25 09:29:10 CDT 1995
Article: 23396 of alt.toys.transformers
Path: news.io.com!io.com!not-for-mail
From: kendrick@io.com (Kendrick Kerwin Chua)
Newsgroups: alt.toys.transformers
Subject: TF Weekday 9/26 - Divide and Conquer
Date: 25 Sep 1995 09:25:48 -0500
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Welcome back, classic TF shows! Thanks to the Sci-Fi channel cashing in
on the TF toy revival and a new season, they've replaced the
Bionic-Six/Defenders of the Earth program with suitably high-class
material. This TF Weekday feature will appear every morning (or at least,
get posted every morning) on alt.toys.transformers.

TF Weekday Sept 25 1995 - Divide and Conquer

The EI/AD: No Evil Invention/Alien Device this week, unless you want to
count The Cosmotron(tm). More on that later.

The plot: Autobots and Decepticons compete to discover the next random
coordinates of the space bridge portal, and Prime is seriously wounded
defending a human defense installation from Starscream and the
Skyraiders. After being further blasted by an inflitrating Laserbeak,
Prime is declared dead-real-soon-now by Wheeljack unless his cosmotron is
replaced. Megatron starts making grand plans to defeat the Autobots now
that Prime is dead-real-soon-now, and allows Ironhide, Bumblebee,
Trailbreaker and Bluestreak with Chip to sneak onto the space bridge and
make it to Wheeljack's lab on Cybertron. But his acid rain ploy fails,
and the fearless four bring back the part just in time for the Really Big
Fight at the End, where Prime is repaired just as Megatron declares his
supremacy. Big Red defeats Buckethead (who wasted all his energy early in
the fight), and the bad guys run away... but they'll be back.

The characters: Starscream doesn't seem quite like his usual annoying
self... he's still referring to Megatron as 'Leader' unequivocally and
making useful suggestions in battle, which points this out as a very
early episode indeed. We get to see a bit of Laserbeak's cowardice, as he
refuses to fly off and investigate Prime's condition. Declared a chicken
by Skywarp and threatened by Megatron, he flies off in a condorly huff.
Speaking of huff, Huffer takes command of the 'Bots for the RBFatE, odd
as that may seem. A little out of character for our favorite pessimist,
but it was nice to see him get in on the action, get inspired, and belt
one to ol' Thundercracker as the fight starts. Bumblebee lives up to his
Everyman image by being the first Autobot to decide to fight against the
evil acid rain. And Shockwave is, unfortunately, his toadying best,
without a trace of the rebellious spark he might have displayed when he
first sent Megatron back home over the space bridge. Oh, and apparently
there are a few random Reflector clones in the crowd somewhere...
Starscream 'volunteers' one short green guy to be the space bridge pilot,
just before three guys who are visibly and audibly Reflector run away
>from  the bridge construct. And we get a nice view of three Pyramid
Seekers, yellow purple and green.

The plot holes: For starters, what the hell is a cosmotron? Some
Cybertronian magazine that gives you tips on how to make your headlights
stand out more? Good sci-fi-ish touch, but some explanation would have
been nice. Why does Shockwave allow the Autobots to invade for starters,
and then escape to finish off? We can maybe presume that he was under
orders from Megatron to let them through and that he didn't receive new
orders just in case the 'Bots made it through the acid rain, but that's
stretching it a little... Speaking of which, this episode is proof that
Cybertron has an atmosphere, at least for this episode. But how and where
they got themselves high pH precipitation is beyond me. It could easily
have been dangerous radiation or retro-rats or a New York flasher without
straining believability so much. Oh, and Ironhide grabs a fire
extinguisher (!) off the walls of Vilnacron to blast a hole in the wall
for the Bots to escape through. That was horrible.

The plot moves: This is maybe episode eight or nine. Certainly a bit
after the MTMTE epilogues since we have established space bridge tech,
but a bit before The Ultimate Doom, since they haven't quite perfected it
yet. The flawless return of the Autobots from Cybertron suggests that
maybe this is the episode where SB tech moves from an experimental to a
proven technology. Nice to see the precedent for law and order on
Cybertron, with Megatron being forced out of honor or code to fight Prime
one-on-one when Big Red accepts his challenge. And it's nice to see them
building up Starscream's lust for leadership as Megatron screws up more
and more, adding to their tension.

Moving pictures: This ep reads like a guide to the best and worst
animation examples of the whole series. Nice that they only use stock
footage of Prime's transform once, but the other sequences aren't quite
up to par; a head-on shot when he barrels his way into the defense base
shows his trailer either disappearing completely (into subspace?) or
receding into the background rather messily. Skywarp is miscolored not
once but twice, first in red blue and grey, then in silver blue and
black. Nice transform sequences in the inspiring scene before the RBFatE,
with seamless animation of Huffer, Jazz, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker
folding up and basically hawking their toy gimmick. Shame that the fight
between Prime and Megatron was done so horribly in comparison, with
mis-aligned laser blasts and very few frames per second. The best part,
IMO, was the dramatic close-ups of the seeker faces... Each face is
subtly different, take a close look. Rumble's arms morphing into the pile
drivers during the RBFatE comes a close second.

The cuts: One scene I know for sure was cut is a few seconds of
exposition by Megatron as the Pyramid Seekers are shooting up a big cloud
to create the acid rain. Also, the end horns-and-strings was cut short to
lead right into the credits. Thankfully, the Sci-Fi Channel seems to be
adhering to the old 2-minute commercial standard rather than going with
their usual 3-minute eggs, so they may not be cutting as much as they
otherwise would.

Toys they should reissue: The original seekers, of course... But with new
gimmicks to differentiate them. It probably hurt sales to begin with that
they were all recolors, if the STARS Thundercracker offer is any
evidence. The minibots were featured prominently, but most of the
Microman molds have been trashed by Takara, so there's little or no hope
of that unless you happen to like the idea of a Gobot Huffer. And for
crying out loud, we need a suitably sinister Soundwave soon.

Quotables:
"How fast can you go, Bumblebee?"
"Hold on to your teeth!"

"Sometimes son, it doesn't matter how much you try..."

"I am the only suitable leader."

KKC, yes! It's the return of TF Weekday! There's a reason to read this
newsgroup again! (c) 1995 Kendrick Kerwin Yap Chua, all rights etc.
--
kendrick@io.com - Kendrick Kerwin Chua - WTB: 80s Transformers and GIJoe toys
"What would you have me do with Washington,Destro? Pepper it with spitballs?"
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