The Hunt for Black Pyramid
From Transformers Wiki
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 Everything's better down where it's wetter. | ||||||
| "The Hunt for Black Pyramid" (Kesshi no Jump! Mach Alert) "Resolute Jump! Mach Alert" | ||||||
| Production company | TV Tokyo, NAS, Studio Gallop | |||||
| Airdate | May 3, 2000 (Japanese) September 14, 2001 (English) | |||||
| Written by | Tadashi Hayakawa (Japanese) Marc Handler (English) | |||||
| Director | Akira Katō | |||||
| Animation studio | Studio Gallop | |||||
Marine pyramid.
A Predacon power source?
Swim! Autobots, swim!
Contents |
Synopsis
Still needing more energy to power the Predacons' base, Megatron sets his sights on a new source of power: the undersea Black Pyramid. Gas Skunk and Slapper wire the pyramid up to the ship's energy systems, but while making the installation, Slapper fears being discovered by the Autobots. Above, on a research vessel, Koji and the wily scientist Doctor Akase prepare for their trip to see the Black Pyramid, unaware the Predacons are there.
From his own ship, Megatron sees the research vessel approaching. Sky-Byte and Dark Scream are sent to destroy the ship before it discovers the Predacons' activity, and as the two Predacons leave, it's clear Sky-Byte and Dark Scream have a grudge with each other.
Dr. Akase and Koji buckle up and prepare for aquatic descent. Pieces of the ship shift their alignment as the entire vessel rotates its nose downwards until the ship is vertical. Once the ship is standing in the water, the compartment holding Koji and the Doctor lowers into the sea—where they're unintentionally dangled in front of Sky-Byte. The crew of the ship panic, while Dark Scream attacks the sections of the ship above sea level. Sky-Byte rams the compartment, knocking Doctor Akase out cold, and Koji radios for help from his Autobot friends.
Prime, about to get waxed, hears Koji's distress message and leaves the fire hall he was stored at (leaving behind one very confused attendant). He travels out to sea on the Global Space Bridge while T-AI orders the Autobot Brothers to follow Prime (although she has a bit of difficulty getting Side Burn to follow instructions). The four Autobots meet up together and reach the end of the Global Space Bridge's ability to extend out to sea—a large distance short of the ship.
Side Burn, eager to show off, is the first to leap from the end of the road, but he chickens out at the last moment. Prowl is the next to try jumping, making use of his jet boosters, but he only makes it far enough to baffle and confuse Kelly (who happens to be on a fishing trip). While Optimus prepares to make a mighty full-throttle leap, Side Burn and X-Brawn swim towards their destination. Prime makes an incredible leap, breaking a handful of the laws of physics, and reaches the ship.
Prime knocks Dark Scream off of the research vessel. Sky-Byte leaps from the sea to confront Prime, and after Sky-Byte recites some bad poetry, the two plunge into the sea as they begin their battle. T-AI asks Koji for a situation report, and he tells her that Prime is at a disadvantage underwater and losing badly. T-AI orders X-Brawn to help repair the damage done to the research vessel.
While Prime continues to battle Sky-Byte, being tossed around by the shark, X-Brawn works to repair the ship. Finally he asks Prowl to give it a push, and the ship returns to horizontal alignment, lifting Sky-Byte and Prime out of the water. No longer at such a disadvantage, Prime puts on one of the "gloves" from his super mode and punches Sky-Byte back into the depths. With Sky-Byte's defeat, Megatron destroys the Black Pyramid so the Autobots can't use it.
Although the day has been saved, the Autobots know that there's still a Predacon threat. Prime states that he and the Autobots will continue to defend the planet.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Predacons | Humans |
|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"Don't tell me to relax, I hate to relax!"
- —Slapper
"Whatever, you pathetic little guppy."
"What did you just say—?"
"Nothing! I said I wish I... had a puppy."
- —Dark Scream and Sky-Byte bicker
"It's a robot squirrel or hamster or something!"
- —Crewman, on seeing Dark Scream
"Now you got me as worried as a steer in a steakhouse."
"Dude, where do you come up with this stuff?"
- —X-Brawn and Side Burn
"I'm going to pretend that didn't happen."
- —Kelly, after seeing a police car fall out of the sky in the middle of the ocean
The cobalt ocean roils
zephyrs blow cold,
and another hapless foe is crushed beneath my heel.
- —Sky-Byte's poem
"You might do better with limericks! Your imagery is derivative. It lacks semiotic cohesion, and the 'hapless foe' is you!"
- —Optimus Prime's critique
"My next poem will be your eulogy, as you rust away in a watery grave. Then we'll see whose imagery lacks semiotic cohesion!"
- —Sky-Byte's retort
"It's not happening, it's not happening, it's not happening... I'm going to sleep."
- —Kelly
Notes
Differences with Car Robots
- This episode is the first of the series to contain a major change to its central plot. In Car Robots, the Black Pyramid is just an ordinary archaeological ruin which the Predacons are hiding in the shadow of in order to tap a nearby undersea oil pipeline, possibly a reference to the Yonaguni Monument. Robots in Disguise, however, reimagines the pyramid as a mysterious energy-generating "Matrix Chamber" of unknown, presumably-alien, origin, the activation of which is the goal the Predacons are actively pursuing.
- As with past episodes, Robots in Disguise refrains from mentioning something Car Robots regularly has been pointing out: that the Predacons are simply trying to gather energy to get the Megastar back up to full power. Presumably, this is a little bit of a feint, as the show tries to make the audience think they're just on Earth to steal all its energy, in classic Transformers style, before their true mission is revealed later in the series.
- Unnamed in Robots in Disguise, the ship featured in this episode is named the Aquatall II in Car Robots.
- Car Robots explains Koji's presence on the ship by noting that Doctor Akase had promised to take him in the past. For whatever reason, Robots in Disguise replaces this with Koji wondering how the ship will be able to go underwater.
- When Gas Skunk inquires as to why Slapper is so happy, Car Robots has him explain that being a frog, he feels at ease in the water. In Robots in Disguise, it's because he's sure Megatron will be happy with him, prompting Gas Skunk to fear Sky-Byte will steal the credit.
- Immediately after the above exchange, Sky-Byte swims by, kicking up the seabed. Robots in Disguise cuts out a clip of Dark Scream doing the same a second later.
- In Robots in Disguise, the ship's crew want to bring the observation pod up upon Sky-Byte's attack, only to find it isn't responding. They're happy to let it stay down there in Car Robots!
- Robots in Disguise trims down and re-orders the scene of T-AI summoning the Autobot Brothers. In Car Robots, she cycles past Team Bullet Train on the member select program, and a scene of Optimus Prime moving from regular roadways onto the Global Space Bridge is then shown before three short scenes of the brothers being called by T-AI are played. In Robots in Disguise, the scene of T-AI cycling through the program is cut, going straight to Prime's driving scene, and before each of the three brothers' scenes, a shot of their name flashing on the member select program is shown. As in previous episodes, Robots in Disguise digitally replaces the brothers' Japanese toy ID numbers on the member select readout with their names.
- In Robots in Disguise, Side Burn is moping about having just recently failed to woo a red sports car; in Car Robots, he's been unable to find one to pursue.
- Robots in Disguise shortens the scene of T-AI's argument with Side Burn a little, as well as changing the nature of their disagreement to T-AI being frustrated about Side Burn's reluctance to follow protocol. In Car Robots, she's annoyed that he's referring to her with the informal "chan" suffix. Side Burn says that Optimus does it, and T-AI retorts that he is allowed to.
- In Car Robots, the motocross rider who watches X-Brawn drive off is impressed by his leap; in Robots in Disguise, he's angry about a car being on the track.
- Car Robots has Side Burn deny that he was breaking the speed limit when questioned on it by Prowl, while Robots in Disguise has him admit it, and brush it off because it was an emergency.
- When Side Burn chickens out of the jump, Car Robots has X-Brawn and Prowl do an anime prat-fall. This fall is removed in Robots in Disguise, but the scene is not made any shorter: it's just turned into a still image of the characters talking.
- The Space Bridge's angle is altered by 44.8 degrees in Car Robots, but only 20 degrees in Robots in Disguise. The scene of Optimus requesting the change is shortened a little for Robots in Disguise, and then an extra scene of him conversing with T-AI in preparation for the jump is added after X-Brawn and Side Burn jump into the water.
- In Car Robots, rather than attack Sky-Byte's poetry, Optimus just points out that it's a senryū, a Japanese poem form similar to haiku but in the more dark humor or cynical context.
- Robots in Disguise adds a CGI POV shot as Side Burn targets Sky-Byte, overlaid on top of footage of Sky-Byte swimming around from earlier in the episode, rather than laid over concurrent Car Robots animation.
- In Robots in Disguise, X-Brawn asks Prowl to ram the ship to level it; whereas in Car Robots, Prowl tells X-Brawn to get out of the way as he does it.
- At the conclusion of this episode, Robots in Disguise has Koji bring up his father, after which the Autobots depart to foil the latest Predacon scheme. In Car Robots, Koji makes no mention of his dad, instead telling the Autobots about something strange that he saw under the ocean (namely, the Megastar). The data that comes in is not of the Predacons' new activities, but of a scan of the remains of the Black Pyramid, revealing the cavity which the Megastar occupied. It would seem that in Car Robots, the Autobots are unaware that the Predacons' base is mobile, and this scene is their discovery of that fact; in Robots in Disguise, this is never an issue.
- Some spots of untranslatable Japanese word play from Car Robots in this episode include:
- Dark Scream saying "地獄耳" (jigoku mimi), literally "Hell ears" and meaning "sharp hearing", when Sky-Byte heard a comment Dark Scream didn't meant for him to hear.
- X-Brawn commenting "帯に短し、襷に長し" (obi ni mijikashi, tasuki ni nagashi) when the Global Space Bridge proves not to have enough reach. This is a proverb meaning literally "too short for a belt, too long for a sleeve tie", in essence "neither one, nor the other". A tasuki is a length of cord used to tie kimono sleeves out of the way, while an obi is the sash/belt that ties the kimono closed and in place on the wearer.
- Scenes extended in Robots in Disguise by looped and repeated footage include:
- Slapper's gripe about the Autobots to Gas Skunk in the first scene.
- Dark Scream attempting to claim he didn't insult Sky-Byte ("I wish I had a puppy!").
- Doctor Akase's explanation of the Black Pyramid as the ship tilts.
- Koji's distress call, after the fireman washing Optimus walks away.
- Prime's response to Koji's SOS, and the conversation between the two that follows, is about 50% longer.
- Prime requesting information from T-AI.
- X-Brawn talking to himself about the motocross course just before driving off.
- Prowl and X-Brawn talking about Side Burn's guts.
- The Autobots talking about who will attempt the jump next after Side Burn fails.
- Prime's reaction to Sky-Byte's appearance.
- Prime's resolve to keep Koji's safe as Sky-Byte attacks.
- Prime telling Koji the Predacons are sure to return.
Continuity errors
- The Black Pyramid's location is described first as being west, then east of Zuma Point. Whups!
Real-World references
- The pyramid is based on actual underwater structures off the coast of Japan.
- The unusual phrasing of this episode's title suggests it is a reference to the book/film The Hunt for Red October.
- The coastal position of Zuma Point suggests it is named after Zuma Beach in Malibu, California.
- When flying through the air before he crashes down next to Kelly, Prowl yells out a holler similar to the iconic one of Disney character Goofy.
Trivia
- Kelly's boat has the registry number UF 26 S/C.
- One of the crewmen knows about the Predacons, confirming (along with "Bullet Train to the Rescue") that the Transformers' war is common knowledge. Yet Kelly still has no idea what's going on. She needs to watch the news once in a while.
- After Prowl jumps into the water, he's missing for the entire underwater fight, only showing up at the end to give the ship a nudge. What was he doing?!
Foreign localization
Italian
- Title: "Caccia alla Piramide Nera" ("Hunt for the Black Pyramid")
- Koji's line: "Are we really going to see the Black Pyramid?" becomes: "Doctor, is it true that we're going to see the Black Pyramid?", hence, instead of looking excited to see it, it looks like he really wasn't sure if they were going there or somewhere else.
- When Optimus criticizes Sky-Byte's poetry, the line: "Your imagery is derivative" is changed to: "Your prose is obvious", the problem is that... that's poetry, which is pretty much the opposite of "prose"...
Portuguese
- Title: "A Busca da Pirâmide Negra" ("The Search of the Dark Pyramid")
Home video releases
- DVD
2000 — Transformers: Car Robots — Vol. 2 (Pony Canyon) — Japanese audio only.
2004 — Transformers: Robots in Disguise — Volume One (Maximum Entertainment)
2004 — Transformers: Robots in Disguise — Three-Disc Box Set: Part 1 of 2 (Maximum Entertainment)
2007 — Transformers: Robots in Disguise — Evil Intent (Maximum Entertainment)
2007 — Transformers: Robots in Disguise — Special Edition 2-Disc Set (Maximum Entertainment)
2007 — Transformers: Robots in Disguise / Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation / Action Man (Maximum Entertainment)
2007 — Transformers: Robots in Disguise — Season One (Maximum Entertainment)
2007 — Transformers: Robots in Disguise — Ultimate Collection (Maximum Entertainment)
