Peril from the Past
From Transformers Wiki
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 Don't you need a bag of dirt for this? | ||||||
| "Peril from the Past" (Saigo no Kagi? Sayonara Ai) "The Final Key? Farewell, Ai" | ||||||
| Production company | TV Tokyo, NAS, Studio Gallop | |||||
| Airdate | 8 November 2000 (Japanese) November 17, 2001 (English) | |||||
| Written by | Tadashi Hayakawa (Japanese) Michael McConnohie (English) | |||||
| Director | Yoshiaki Tsutsui | |||||
| Animation studio | Studio Gallop | |||||
T-AI and O-Parts merge
Locate the Orb of Sigma
Saharan ruins
Contents |
Synopsis
T-AI believes if she merges with the O-Parts, she will be able to extract the information they need. Though Optimus expresses his concerns, they go ahead, and the O-Parts form into a glowing sphere. T-AI is able to report the sphere is the key to the Orb of Sigma, which is hidden in the Sahara Desert, but finds herself unable to extract herself. She suggests that if the sphere is taken to the Orb of Sigma they might be able to get her out. Optimus and the Autobot Brothers head for Egypt, with Koji hitching a ride with Side Burn.
The group makes their way through the desert, with X-Brawn taking a minor detour to rescue Kelly and drop her off at an oasis. The Autobots are being tracked from space by Movor, who reports to the Megastar. Although Sky-Byte and Scourge both ask to lead the mission, Megatron insists he'll lead, feeling some great destiny awaits him.
Optimus is unimpressed that Koji has tagged along, and leaves him in Side Burn's care. He, X-Brawn and Prowl enter a tunnel under the ruins, finding a huge door which opens when he holds up the key sphere. On the surface, the Predacons and Decepticons arrive and attack Side Burn until the ground collapses and he and Koji fall into the hole.
Optimus's group has located a pyramid and they ride a moving platform to the top, where the Orb of Sigma sits on a pedestal. The key sphere floats over and begins to merge with it—T-AI tells the Autobots that they need to get the Orb back to base, and then they lose all contact with her. Unfortunately, before they can grab the Orb, the Predacons and Decepticons arrive.
The brothers super-charge and begin throwing the Decepticons about, but Megatron kicks Optimus over the side of the pyramid and grabs the Orb. As he does so, its pedestal lowers into the ground and he is seized by powerful lightning. The ground begins to shake as the whole cavern begins to collapse. Side Burn and Koji finally arrive, with the Autobot snatching the Orb of Sigma right out of Megatron's hand and high-tailing it back towards the surface. Sky-Byte and the Decepticons pursue (with everyone running over Sky-Byte in the process) but are hampered by the other two brothers and Ultra Magnus. Scourge calls a general retreat, with the Decepticons ignoring despite Sky-Byte as he points out Megatron is still in danger.
Megatron and Optimus both burst out of the ground, locked in combat, and Ultra Magnus takes the opportunity to "lend a hand". Omega Prime and Megatron dive back into the ground, crash next to the pyramid, and unleash their strongest attacks. A massive explosion tears through the sand above... and only Omega Prime emerges.
The Autobots return to base with the Orb of Sigma, and manage to extract T-AI's program. She reports that the Orb shows the location of Cerebros, the key to Fortress Maximus, leaving the Autobots to wonder if that's a good thing or not.
Beneath the Sahara, the Predacon trio manage to dig themselves out of the rubble, finding the pyramid's energy still crackling away and Megatron nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, they find their power being drained out by an unknown force! The three of them collapse... as Megatron arises in a new form, crackling with energy, and declares himself to be Galvatron!
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Predacons | Humans |
|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"I never should have signed up for that discount vacation. Next time it's first class all the way."
- —You'd think with all those sports cars, Kelly could afford not to skimp on her travel.
"Here we go again. The flying fish and the master of disaster."
"Same thing every time. Gets pretty boring, you know?"
"Why didn't we just shoot?"
- —Slapper, Gas Skunk and Dark Scream lampshade the villain/hero banter
"I think your side's going to get burned, bot boy."
- —Gas Skunk's banter needs work.
"If we go down there, are we going to come out in China?"
- —Koji has a shaky grasp of geography.
"Stand aside, Optimus Prime! *backing away very quickly* That treasure and all its secrets belong to the mighty Megatron! I shall protect it with every alloy in my body, every last spark of —"
- —Sky-Byte says one thing and does another
Gas Skunk: What does it mean when the ground shakes?
Slapper: Ain't good.
Dark Scream: What do you think we should do?
Gas Skunk: I think we should leave!
- —The Predacons have their first good idea all episode.
"You're not getting away!"
"There he goes again, my hero. Always gets his man!"
- —This must be a different, more competent Sky-Byte whom Slapper is talking about.
"Did anyone get the license number of that... oh wait, I think I know who it was."
- —Sky-Byte, having been run over by X-Brawn, Prowl, Scourge, Mega-Octane, Armorhide and Rollbar, would probably find it harder working out who didn't just hit him.
"NO MERCY!"
"NONE GIVEN!"
- —Megatron and Omega Prime finish it
"The power, the infinite POWER! Give it to me! Ahahahahaaa! Energy is flowing through me as it never did before! MY DESTINYYYY! Look at me, tremble with fear! I AM GALVATRON!"
- —Galvatron certainly knows how to make an entrance.
Notes
Differences with Car Robots
- The video of the Robots in Disguise version of this entire episode is cropped by couple of millimeters on all sides compared to the Car Robots episode, giving it a noticeably lower resolution. We've illustrated this clearly to the right, but you can also see it in action from the fuzziness of the screencaps on this article.
- Robots in Disguise omits a plot point from the first scene of this episode that explicitly connects the O-Parts to Cybertron. T-AI realizes she will be able to merge with the O-Parts because the data coming from the completed O-Parts globe is similar to her own programming; after doing so, she learns more about the O-Parts, and is able to tell Optimus that they were created by Vector Sigma, just as the Transformers were. Though removed from Robots in Disguise, this reference to Vector Sigma is used by the English script as a springboard to create a name for the orb that the Autobots then head off in search of—the Orb of Sigma—which in Car Robots is merely called the "Jurassic Globe" (ジュラの地球儀 Jura no Chikyūgi). Doctor Onishi is the one to speak this name in Car Robots; his line is changed for Robots in Disguise to have him simply describe the visuals, while the line naming of the orb is given to T-AI to take the place of the dropped line about Vector Sigma.
- Robots in Disguise places the Orb of Sigma in the Sahara Desert; Car Robots is more specific, locating it in the Libyan Desert, a sub-portion of the Sahara.
- For a dehydrated woman, Kelly does a lot more mumbling and babbling in Car Robots: the English version cuts down her first speech, from when she watches X-Brawn drive by to her head hitting the sand from 14 seconds to only 3 seconds, and her second, after she spots the oasis before X-Brawn opens his sunroof, from 6 seconds to 3 seconds. Nothing of value is lost.
- Also cut from the Robots in Disguise version of the scene is a shot of X-Brawn actually spotting Kelly after she collapses (pictured, right), and a Car Robots scene transition, which is replaced with one of the English version's own.
- After her dunking, Kelly bemoans a "discount vacation" in Robots in Disguise, while in Car Robots, she complains that even when "that playboy" (Side Burn!) isn't chasing her, things always turn out bad for her anyway.
- In Robots in Disguise, Sky-Byte and Scourge argue over who will get to lead the mission to pursue the Autobots, while in Car Robots, they're arguing over what the Autobots' objective is; Sky-Byte thinks they may have hidden Fortress Maximus (or "the ruins", as he calls them, since Max's identity has not yet been revealed in Car Robots) in the desert, but Scourge doubts it.
- Megatron is silent as he stands in Car Robots—not something we'd normally consider enough of a difference to point out, but it means Sky-Byte's reaction is different in the two versions. In Car Robots, he's yelping out of fear he's about to get walloped, while in Robots in Disguise, it's a yelp of shock that Megatron is actually going to do something for once.
- Another Car Robots scene transition is removed and replaced as the Autobots enter the subterranean temple.
- In Car Robots, Side Burn calls Sky-Byte a kamaboko, or a "fish cake". In Robots in Disguise, this is changed to him catching the scent of "bad fish". Sky-Byte later refers back to the kamaboko joke in Car Robots when he gets run over by the Autobots and Decepticons.
- When the Predacon trio address Side Burn, their tone differs between versions of the show: in Robots in Disguise, they're ready and eager to fight, while in Car Robots, they match Side Burn's attempt at handling the situation peacefully, and just try to get him to tell them what's hidden beneath the desert. In the process, Slapper also flags up how long it's been since the trio have done anything in the show!
- A 14-second long sequence of the Decepticons opening fire on Side Burn is added to Robots in Disguise—only the final shot of Ro-Tor firing his weapon was part of the Car Robots version.
- The shot of Side Burn shaking his fist then being blasted again is a continuous one in Car Robots; Robots in Disguise extends the scene by adding re-used footage of the aforementioned shot of Ro-Tor into the middle of it.
- After T-AI merges with the Orb of Sigma, Robots in Disguise changes her dialogue to be a lot more... non-specific. She merely talks of a "change in potential" and a "need to rebooted", where in Car Robots, she is able to explain that the completed globe has identified the next spot on Earth they must investigate (called the "Plasma Point", after Cerebros's Japanese name, Plasma), that she will no longer be able to communicate with through it, and that they must bring the globe back to base for analysis.
- Car Robots cuts to commercial break as Megatron's voice rings out during a rear-view panning shot across the Autobot group; when the show returns from commercial, it opens on a still version of the pan, into which Scourge's foot then comes stomping. Robots in Disguise doesn't go to commercial here, so the still shot that includes Scourge's foot (pictured) is removed.
- In Car Robots, the scene of Megatron obtaining the orb begins with a shot of Megatron first standing over the orb, then reaching for it, followed by reaction shots of X-Brawn, Prowl and Optimus, then a closeup on Megatron's hand as he seizes the orb. The scene is extended for Robots in Disguise by first using the shot of Megatron standing over the orb but cutting away before he reaches for it, then inserting the Autobots' reaction shots, then re-using the shot of Megatron but this time including the moment of reaching out, then inserting a second, longer reaction shot from Optimus (the same footage, lengthened), before Megatron finally grabs the orb. Phew!
- Robots in Disguise goes to commercial after Megatron is caught in the pyramid's power; upon its return from commercial, the show re-established the scene with a twelve-second long scene of Megatron screaming, made up of reused footage from a moment before.
- Robots in Disguise also goes to commercial after Omega Prime and Megatron's battle, cutting out the dissolve that links the scene to the next in Car Robots.
- The penultimate scene of the Robots in Disguise episode doesn't really tell us anything we don't know already, aside from the fact that the globe is now pointing the way to the location of Cerebros, which the dub has already established several episodes ago to be the key to Fortress Maximus. It's a lot more revelatory in Car Robots, as the existence of Cerebros is new information, plus the scene also includes the reveal of Fortress Maximus's name for the first time, and direct confirmation that the O-Parts, orb and Maximus were left on Earth by the Autobots' ancestors.
- In the final moments of Car Robots, Galvatron's dramatic declaration is not of his new name, as it is in Robots in Disguise, but of the new mode he has gained, Devil Saurer.
Transformers references
- After 32 episodes, Optimus Prime finally gets to break out his iconic "Transform and roll out!" catchphrase.
- This is, of course, not the first time a Megatron has metamorphosed into a Galvatron, and it certainly wouldn't be the last, either.
- Presumably the last O-Part was also located in the Sahara, since Kelly's still wandering around there.
- In Car Robots, when the existence of Cerebros and Fortress Maximus is at last revealed (information the Autobots already knew in the English version of the show) Cerebros and the Emissary are together noted to form the "Head On system" for Maximus. "Head On" was the activation code used by the Headmasters in the Japanese series, The Headmasters and Super-God Masterforce.
Trivia
- Koji spends the whole episode being very concerned about T-AI, almost crying at one point. If this hasn't spawned a romance ship yet, it's only a matter of time.
- Despite the fact that Movor seems to need help getting into space in "Attack from Outer Space" and time to get back down again, here he's just hanging around in orbit and quickly joins the other Decepticons in Egypt.
- Somehow, Kelly's lost (crashed?) the jeep she had from just an hour or so earlier.
- Ultra Magnus, meanwhile, seems to be trying to rival Kelly in the "wildly coincidental appearance" stakes; despite having refused to be an official part of Optimus Prime's Autobot team and maintaining no contact with them, he nevertheless seems to always be hanging around their current mission destination, whether that be in the city, underground or slap-bang in the middle of the world's largest desert. Very handy.
- In Car Robots, his tendency to show up at just the right moment seems to be more attributed to whenever Side Burn is in trouble since Magnus originally grew to look out for the young Autobot ever since a conversation shared between the two of them back in Episode 28.
- Optimus is going to find the all-important Orb of Sigma, and he only took the Autobot brothers as backup? Seriously?
- Galvatron makes his appearance in his griffin form, an alternate mode that Megatron did not have. This both quickly indicates Galvatron's new and greater power and flogs the new toy.
Foreign localization
Italian
- Title: "Pericolo dal passato" ("Peril from the past")
- In the Italian dub of this series, the scene transitions lack the voice saying: "Transform!". Still, in this episode there's one instance in which the voice is kept.
- T-AI says that Cerebros is "the key to find Fortress Maximus" instead of "the key to Fortress Maximus". As shown in the next episode, this isn't wrong, but it isn't exactly what she was supposed to say.
Portuguese
- Title: "Ameaça do Passado" ("Threat from the Past")
Home video releases
- DVD
2001 — Transformers: Car Robots — Vol. 8 (Pony Canyon) — Japanese audio only.
2005 — Transformers: Robots in Disguise — Three-Disc Box Set: Part 2 of 2 (Maximum Entertainment)
2007 — Transformers: Robots in Disguise — Season Two (Maximum Entertainment)
2007 — Transformers: Robots in Disguise — Ultimate Collection (Maximum Entertainment)
