Sound and Fury
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 Beginning now: Operation Revolution. Beginning afterwards: Check local listings for episodes of Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy. | |||||||||
| "Sound and Fury" | |||||||||
| Season | 1 | ||||||||
| No. in season | 10 | ||||||||
| Production company | Cartoon Network Studios | ||||||||
| Airdate | February 23, 2008 | ||||||||
| Written by | Henry Gilroy | ||||||||
| Directed by | Heather Maxwell Shunji Oga | ||||||||
| Animation studio | The Answer Studio | ||||||||
| Continuity | Animated cartoon continuity | ||||||||
 Watch this episode on YouTube
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Sari's new musical toy robot seems to have an evil streak and the ability to control other machines, but Bulkhead is the only one who sees it.
Contents |
Synopsis
Bulkhead takes Sari toy shopping for her birthday (or "construction date" as he terms it), to purchase her something that makes the loud music she loves so much. The two of them are attacked by Professor Princess, who is on an ironically violent crusade to destroy violent toys. They are able to defeat the bizarre villainess only after Sari uses the power of the AllSpark Key to trigger a powerful sonic attack from the stereo systems in the toy store. Megatron, monitoring events via security cameras as usual, notices both the power of the Key and the frivolous ways in which Sari employs it. He designs a new robot for Sari and tricks Professor Sumdac into allowing him to produce it.
Sari's birthday party isn't much fun; she has no real friends, the only attendees being the children of Sumdac Systems employees, who continue to be put off by her bad manners. When the Autobots arrive to help celebrate, the kids are quite happy to go play with the giant robots and leave the weird girl behind. Bulkhead tries to present Sari with his gift for her, a xylophone (Awwww!), but Dr. Sumdac steps in first and gives her the "toy" designed by himself and Megatron: a responsive, interactive, dancing, music-and-light-show robot known as Soundwave. It's hard for Bulkhead to compete with that, and so, embarrassed, he slinks away dejectedly. As days go on, Sari pays less attention to Bulkhead and far more to Soundwave. When she inevitably starts to grow bored with her new toy, she uses the AllSpark Key on it. Each dosage of the Key's power unlocks new features on Soundwave, making his musical light show more involved and impressive, and even more fun than plain ol' Bulkhead and the Autobots.
This has been Megatron's plan all along. Soundwave's systems were designed to grow and evolve when exposed to the AllSpark Key; eventually, Sari will unwittingly upgrade him into a suitable body for Megatron himself. Bulkhead begins to see signs of Soundwave's evolving nature—"Did that thing just move by itself?"—but no one believes him. Megatron successfully uses Soundwave's weaponry and voice-modulation systems to make both Sari and the Autobots think Bulkhead is erratic, jealous, and dishonest.
Soundwave's musical transmissions soon become powerful enough to control other Sumdac Systems automatons—which are pretty much everywhere. Megatron had not foreseen this. Sari takes Soundwave and Tutor Bot to the park, where they have an impromptu concert, complete with garbagebots banging on their fellow garbagebots, and dancing humans. (Even Tutor Bot does a little dance.) Bulkhead arrives, trying to convince Sari that something is wrong with Soundwave. However, as she turns her back to Soundwave, the music-bot activates a cannon and targets Sari. Bulkhead destroys Soundwave, forcing Sari to use the AllSpark Key to restore him, and he immediately starts up again. Optimus tells Bulkhead to give Sari a little time and space, saying that she still values her friend more than her toy, but Bulkhead isn't so sure. Megatron is convinced that Bulkhead is no longer a problem and decides it's time to take Soundwave for a test run.
But even Megatron himself is surprised when, after sufficient doses of AllSpark energy via the AllSpark Key, Soundwave grows fully self-aware and enhanced with Cybertronian upgrades. Neither Megatron nor Sari can control Soundwave anymore. As he explores Detroit, he is puzzled and angry to see machines like himself forced into servitude for humans; he finds this illogical and believes it should be the other way around. Megatron reveals himself to Soundwave, rather straightforwardly telling him of the Decepticon goals of conquest and machine supremacy, the injustice of the Key in Sari's possession, and the Decepticons' hatred for the treasonous Autobots who value organic life. Soundwave compels hundreds of smaller automatons to merge with him, constructing a new transforming body for himself and proclaiming himself to be a Decepticon. He commences "Operation Recruitment", using his sonic signals to turn all the automatons against both Autobots and humanity.
The Autobots attempt to track down Soundwave, but they are overwhelmed by his minions and flustered by his ability to forge deceptive messages on their own communication systems. Bulkhead manages to come face-to-face with Soundwave, but even the largest Autobot is swatted down by Soundwave's concussive sonic attacks. Soundwave attempts to convince Bulkhead of the rightness of the machine cause and the inferiority of Humanity, and orders him to destroy Sari. Bulkhead plays along for a few moments, but it's all a trick; as soon as he gets within range, he clobbers Soundwave, who shatters into his component automaton pieces.
The crisis averted, Bulkhead and Sari strengthen their friendship over some (quiet) music. Megatron fumes in disgust at their victory, swearing again to reconstruct himself. And, far beneath the city, a piece of equipment flares to life, flashing the Decepticon insignia. Soundwave still functions.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"Onward, Powdered Sugar! Let's discontinue this big, naughty, battle toy once and for all!"
- —Professor Princess to her Little Pony
Bumblebee: Here it comes!
Prowl: Swing.
Bulkhead: Give it the old Bulkhead treatment, Sari!
Optimus: Why exactly is she swinging at a colorful animal?
Ratchet: Smack it! Smack it already!
Bulkhead: Hold on, Sari, I'll help! I don't even need a bat.
Prowl: This will not end well...
- —The Autobots are introduced to the piñata concept.
"The idea is to celebrate the kid's birthday, not make it her last one!"
- —Ratchet, after Bulkhead trashes the party area.
Kid: C'mon! Say, say it! Pleeease?
Optimus Prime: Uh, uh, okay. Umm. "Transform and roll out!"
Kids: Yeah!
- —Optimus learns what Peter Cullen's life is like.
"I am Soundwave! I am Decepticon! The revolution begins now!"
- —Soundwave achieves sentience—and a new body.
"Good afternoon, Sari. Today's lesson is… the extinction of all humanity!"
- —Tutor Bot turns on Sari. All that abuse has finally caught up.
Notes
Continuity notes
- Back in "Nanosec", Megatron required destronium to build a Cybertronian-strength body from scratch. In this episode, he sidesteps that problem by opting not to build one from scratch, but by using the power of the AllSpark to evolve a body built with Earth-tech up to Cybertronian standards. Presumably, he came up with this scheme off the back of the creation of the Dinobots in "Blast from the Past", who were also Earth-made robots that the AllSpark transformed into Cybertronian-strength behemoths.
- When arguing against using the AllSpark Key, Bulkhead brings up various disasters it has caused:
- The creation of the Dinobots and their subsequent rampage in "Blast from the Past".
- Adding the turbo boosters to Bumblebee in "Nanosec".
- Blackarachnia draining the life from everything organic in "Along Came a Spider".
Transformers references
- The store in the opening scene, Wyatt Toys, is named for ranking Transformers Animated staffer Derrick J. Wyatt.
- Kremzeek is part of the "Please Stand By" image on a malfunctioning TV station.
- The piñata at Sari's birthday party is a purple theropod dinosaur, yessss.....
- The animation model for Lester Black looks like an older version of Generation 1 cartoon newsman Hector Ramirez, right down to the suit he's wearing. The AllSpark Almanac would later establish him as a descendant of Ramirez.
- One of Sari's "friends" is Daniel, based on Daniel Witwicky. He was last seen with his parents in "Transform and Roll Out". Since all the "friends" are identified as children of Sumdac employees, one can assume that "Spike" and/or "Carly" work for Isaac Sumdac.
- Soundwave is positively oozing references to his Generation 1 predecessor: He speaks in a similar heavily-processed robotic monotone; at one point, he manifests a cylindrical shoulder cannon; he orders his minions around by directing them to perform an "Operation"; and his eyes switch from yellow (like the original toy) to red (as they appeared in the Generation 1 cartoon).
- The appearances of the present box Soundwave arrives in and the remaining piece of Soundwave are based on the Generation 1 Soundwave's altmode, albeit in a teal and gold color scheme instead of blue and silver.
- When Optimus transforms to give the kids a ride, one of the kids has a T-shirt with Optimus's face on it. Even in fiction, children can't escape product placement.
Real-world references
- The episode's title is, of course, taken from a line in William Shakespeare's Macbeth, but it probably signifies nothing.
Animation errors
- At Sari's party when the Autobots leave, Bulkhead's headlights are black instead of red.
- When Megatron watches over Sari and Bulkhead after she has put the AllSpark Key into Soundwave, the Key is still present around her neck.
- When Soundwave is shown from behind after Bulkhead's punch connects, his left thumb is colored blue instead of yellow.
- When Prowl transforms to give the children a ride, his bike mode is three times bigger than the children.
Continuity errors
- The Tutorbot said "good afternoon" to Sari while it was in the evening.
- While he's being partnered up with Optimus, Bumblebee's faceplate comes in horizontally, with one half coming from each side. However, in "Nanosec" it slides up as one piece.
Trivia
- Why is it that the Autobots and Sari don't wonder why Soundwave starts wearing the Decepticon insignia?
- For some reason, Sari has an old rotary phone when she calls Bulkhead. Possibly she borrowed it from Captain Fanzone.
- This episode was adapted in comic book format using screen captures as half of "Transformers Animated Volume 4", with "Along Came a Spider" making up the other half.
Foreign localization
French
- Title: "Un gros son qui tue" ("A Very Huge Music")
- Original airdate: ???
German
Italian
- Title: "La Potenza della Musica" ("The Power of Music")
- Original airdate: 29 November 2008
Spanish (Latin America)
Japanese
- The usual "watch the TV in a well-lit room" message is back to the Otoboto family with the children giving the warning.
- The title of this episode would seem to be a reference to "The Great Cassette Operation", a Soundwave-centric episode of The Headmasters cartoon.
- This episode was pushed ahead in the broadcasting schedule at TakaraTomy's insistence, so that more Decepticon toy characters could be advertised sooner. This trend will continue for the remainder of the series. However, the episode script has not been altered to facilitate the new episode order. Instead, the time cuts are now being made more strategically in order to better accommodate the new order and not confuse the kids watching quite so much.
- Bulkhead does the intro this time.
- Cut: The close-up pan to Megatron's head and then the scene change to Sari commenting how the kids only came to her party due to their parents being Sumdac employees, Sari spitting back into the punch bowl, and the other kids about to leave.
- Cut: Bulkhead knocking the Key out of Soundwave, listing off the cases of where Sari misused the Key, and Megatron monitoring the duo.
- Bulkhead and Soundwave's turn on the commercial bumpers. Soundwave announces his name in his toy-voice before switching to his more menacing version.
- Cut: Bulkhead dejectedly playing with the xylophone and Optimus trying to cheer him up.
- Cut: Bulkhead getting a dial-tone when Sari's attempted call to him gets cut, and Sari leaving with Soundwave after dismissing Tutor Bot.
- Cut: Soundwave's "epiphany" on robot superiority and Megatron's comment on Soundwave's core processor being altered after the last dose of AllSpark energy.
- Cut: The news reporter fleeing before his camera bot attacks him.
- Cut: Slow pan in the sewers to Soundwave and the closeup of the Decepticon symbol on him before the closing credits.
- The Otoboto family segment starts out with Tatsuya watching his father make takoyaki, Hiroyuki shouting "TRANS-FOOORM!" as he flips one over. Yūka quickly steals a takoyaki and hands her father another card from the friend whom he thought had passed away. Apparently, Hiroyuki's friend, Udo, is in Hawaii at the moment. Yūka wonders if they could go to Hawaii as well, although Tatsuya prefers the idea of going to Cybertron instead.
- Near the end where Optimus tells viewers "till next time", Bumblebee sneaks in "pu" at the end of his repeating sentence.
Polish
- Title: "Wściekłość i Wrzaski" ("Fury and Screams")
- Original airdate: ???
Portuguese
- Title: "Som e Fúria" ("Sound and Fury")
- Original airdate: ???
Home video releases
- DVD
2008 — Transformers Animated — Season One (Paramount) — English and Spanish audio.
2009 — Transformers Animated — Volume Two: Lost and Found (Paramount) — English and German audio.
2009 — Transformers Animated — Volume Two: Lost and Found (Paramount) — English and German audio.
2009 — Transformers Animated — Volume Zwei: Die Alten Waffen (Paramount) — English and German audio.
2010 — Transformers Animated — Vol. 1 (Paramount) — Japanese audio only.
2013 — Transformers Animated — Season One (Madman Entertainment)
2014 — Transformers Animated — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)
