From kendrick@io.com Wed Nov 22 22:09:17 CST 1995 Article: 26683 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 11/21 - The Return of Optimus Prime Part I Date: 22 Nov 1995 22:01:46 -0600 Organization: Illuminati Online Lines: 123 Message-ID: <490rna$mqk@bermuda.io.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: bermuda.io.com Status: RO X-Status: TF Weekday Nov 21 1995 - The Return of Optimus Prime Part I Here comes one of the most divisive of the post-movie episodes. In essence, the retconning of the movie. Many people like the return of the guy who is essentially the cosmological god of the Transformers. Others think it's an unnecessary and contrived way to generate audience numbers. In any case... The EI/AD: Evil red spores from the nether reaches of space which cancel out the effects of endorphins and enerdorphins, causing paranoia and unbridled hatred in any living, thinking being. Invention or Device? We'll argue that in tomorrow's review... The plot: Jessica Morgan and Gregory Swafford are testing a new heat-resistant alloy near an unstable star where they run into a derelict ship; it's the Autobot flagship (from 'Dark Awakening') with a dead Optimus Prime at the helm. Jessica retrieves the corpse with Swafford's grudging help, since Swafford blames Prime for his injury sustained in a Decepticon attack. The flagship crashes into a planetoid which crashes into the star, causing it to go nova, and the super-metal survives; the explosion covers the ship with some mysterious red spore. Back on Earth, Dr. Morgan, Jessica's father, determines that the spores cause hatred and rage in living beings. The Terrorcons attack, retrieving the super metal. The Technobots are unable to stop them, and the Protectobots rescue an injured Jessica over the loud protest of Swafford and Morgan. Jessica's new exo-skeleton for countering her paralysis is the last straw, and Morgan and Swafford plan on using the spores to make the Autobots destroy each other. They cajole Jessica into luring the Autobots into their trap, but she has designs on warning them. Rodimus jumps right into the retrieval operation, burdened by doubts about his leadership ability. But Magnus, the Throttlebots, and the Aerialbots are infected, leaving only Rodimus to rescue Optimus. The Decepticons arrive out of curiosity aroused by Ratbat's latest espionage, and only Galvatron escapes the infection. Rodimus takes Optimus back to Wreck-Gar, who determines that only a Quintesson can revive him, and so Rodimus sends Sky Lynx off to find one. Defensor is downed trying to protect humans, and is infected himself. Bumblebee and a few other Autobots are blown to pieces in an attack by Superion. Meanwhile, the plagued Autobots run around infecting everything and everyone. Rodimus deactivates Metroplex just before Magnus can infect him. Wreck-Gar and Rodimus capture Ultra Magnus only to be infected themselves. Sky Lynx rescues a Quintesson from hate-plagued Sharkticons and brings him back to Earth, and they are able to revive Optimus Prime. To be continued... The characters: Do Optimus' reborn words sound a little strange to anybody? They seem egotistical and destructive for some reason; at least, I thought they sounded that way the first time I watched the episode. That Quintesson is terribly cooperative; that jives with my take on the Quintessons, that they really aren't as bright or as powerful as they say they are, and that if you manage to outwit or scare them they'll do anything you say. Check out how Magnus' deeper fears and insecurities come to the fore once he's infected; his contempt of Rodimus and his own insecurity about his own leadership ability really come out in his mad ravings. Wreck-Gar's quoting is actually relevant to what he's doing for a change. Hot Spot seems to come off as much more of a PR man than he has been... Defensor may consider himself a fellow human, but that doesn't mean that Spots has to be an apologist for the Autobots every time a human has an axe to grind. Galvatron isn't all insane... He has the good sense to know when to hold 'em. Know when to fold 'em. Know when to walk away. And know when to run. And happy cameos from three of the Throttlebots... Chase, Searchlight, and Wideload, I believe? Where's Rollbar and Freeway? And for those of you keeping track, Bumblebee makes a special guest appearance so he can get rebuilt as Goldbug next episode. The plot holes: First of all, any touch seems to infect another being with the red spore hate plague, right? So why didn't Metroplex get infected the minute Magnus drove up the entrance ramp? To say nothing of the contrived idiocy of the plague to begin with... Anything which would cause that kind of instantaneous and specific behavioral change would have destroyed the universe eons ago... How long ago did Swafford get ripped up in that accident with the Decepticon attack and the flying glass? Why has he waited until now to get revenge on the Autobots? It's refreshing to see that not all humans are pro-Autobot in the cartoon universe, but it seems contrived and B-movish rather than a genuine fear of big alien machines. How did the plague get to the latest Quintesson hideout? Are infected humans capable of staying calm enough to pilot their ships still, or have space-bound Transformers flown all over the place, or what? Oh yes, and the ultimate hole... How did Prime get repaired between 'Dark Awakening' and now? At the end of Dark Awakening, he was missing half his faceplate and an arm after the fight with Rodimus Prime. When Jessica and Swafford retrieve him, he's got all his pieces in place. My retconning mind likes to think that he was ACTUALLY repaired in Morgan's lab, but that contradicts the moving pictures. Moving Pictures: Check out the cool parallel story development when Jessica is in the hospital; as doctors work on her body, Morgan and Swafford are working on Optimus Prime's body. It's a refreshing reminder that not all plot development in a kid's show needs to be dialogue-driven. Otherwise this is Toei animation at its most average. It's not spectacularly bad, but it could have been nicer in a lot of places. Cool shots of Rodimus transforming inside Morgan's lab, with the hallway walls curving away as he speeds towards an exit. Silly shot of Soundwave receiving Ratbat in his chest... His head moves to the left, but his mouthplate stays where it was still facing right. Anybody recognize that stadium the Decepticons are hiding in? Call me crazy, but I think that's the same stadium that Blitzwing was using for a hideout in 'Triple Takeover'... The cuts: None that seemed to really bother me, although I do remember a lot more glowing red robots shooting and beating on each other than was shown. Toys they should re-issue: Saved for the next review... Quotables: "I will not rest until I find you a Quintesson! Though it may strain my superior engines..." "Just do it!" "Aye-aye-aye! Lucy, Lucy, what have you done now?" "I'm a doctor, not a forklift!" "Fine! Whatever makes you a happy Decepticon!" "I'm a Pepper. Wouldn't ya like to be a Pepper too?" KKC, is a piece of meat. -- Kendrick Kerwin Chua - "Oh the bubbles, they tickle my - *GASP* Tchaikovsky!" 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