More Than Meets The Eye Parts 1-3, Transport to Oblivion, and Roll For It!

Hello there and welcome to the TFG1 podcast.

My name is Michael Blanchard. I will be your

host. for the next 50, 60, 70 or so episodes.

I don't know how long this thing is going to

be. This idea came to me because I have absolutely

tons of extra time on my hands that I waste with

sleeping. I'm not kidding you folks. I sleep

probably 16 hours a day. off and on you know

throughout a 24 hour day so I figured why not

just write up a whole bunch of crap and talk

to people about it basically what the TFG one

podcast will do is review the entire generation

one cartoon of the transformers I am a transformers

fan I have been a transformers fan since I was

a little kid and yes like Most of us Transformers

fans I cried and threw a fit when Optimus Prime

got killed in the movie. My so far schedule for

this podcast will be hopefully every other Friday

which the episode will be available on iTunes

to download. I am in the process of setting up

a Gmail account for email for listeners to email

me and ask me questions either about myself or

about the podcast or if they'd just like to make

general comments on the G1 DVDs if they have

them and they've watched the episodes as I am

doing I'm also a fan of He -Man, She -Ra, Airwolf,

Knight Rider I love movies, music, video games,

reading, writing. I have two books of poetry

published. What inspired me to do this podcast

was another podcast I listen to, entitled World's

Finest Podcast. The two hosts that do that are

Michael David Sims and James Doe. Michael runs

a website called earth2 .net. That's www .earth

-2 .net. It's a great website. It's dedicated

to geek culture. Also, why I was going to do

this podcast was because no one else out there

in the Transformers fandom has thought to do

it. Granted, G1 may not have been the best cartoon

at times, but back in 1984, it's all we had.

So what I'm going to do is each episode I will

be reviewing five episodes of the cartoon This

episode today will feature more than meets the

eye parts one through three Transport to oblivion

and roll for it what I'm going to do is I'm going

to synopsize each episode and and then give my

thoughts on that. At some point when I eventually

get around to reviewing the 1986 animated movie,

which will be in between the season two and three

of the DVD set, I will hopefully get a bunch

of people on here that are Transformers fans

to record with me. I think the format that I'm

going to follow on that is I'm going to record

my synopsis and thoughts of the movie. And then

I'm going to have a roundtable discussion with

hopefully people like Mike the Birdman Dodd from

ThisWeekInGeek .net, my actual sponsor Steven

C. Phillips slash Megatron from PredaconEmpire

.com, maybe if they're interested Jesse Spada

and Ryan of TF Wire which is also another good

TF Transformers podcast. My podcast will feature

absolutely no news Everyone else out there in

podcast land and website land is doing news toy

lines Comics stuff like that upcoming movie stuff

from the new the now sequel revenge of the fallen

I will not be doing any news whatsoever Just

to let everybody know up front The main purpose

of my podcast is to review and talk about and

discuss the episodes of the generation one cartoon

I'll leave the news and everything else up to

the professionals So without further ado Let's

get into some episodes here. I just want to also

on some episodes that I remember to do this including

some of my favorite quotes from the episode So

here we go Many millions of years ago on the

planet Cybertron life existed, but not life as

we know it today Intelligent robots that could

think and feel inhabited the cities. They were

called Autobots and Decepticons. But the brutal

Decepticons were driven by a single goal. Total

domination. They set out to destroy the peace

-loving Autobots. And a war between the forces

of good and evil raged across Cybertron. Devastating

all in its path, draining the planet's once rich

sources of energy. The Autobots, on the verge

of extinction, battled valiantly to survive.

More than meets the eye, part one. To synopsize

this episode, we open on Cybertron, with Wheeljack

and Bumblebee coming out of a vent shaft. With

energy conductors, they are going to hightail

it back to Iacon, and they run into a Decepticon

welcoming committee. I've got to stop here for

a second because there are people walking through

the hallways, and I can hear them, and hopefully

it's not coming in on the microphone, but it's

just... God, I hate living in this place. Anyway,

hopefully that's over with. Before I continue

with this synopsis, I really should start over.

The Transformers are a race of robots, Autobots

and Decepticons who are on good and evil sides

and they're in a war for their planet Cybertron.

Now, to stop size this episode. Oh god, this

is gonna suck. We open on Cybertron with Wheeljack

and Bumblebee coming out of a vent shaft with

some energy conductors. They are going to hightail

it back to Iacon, but they run into a Decepticon

welcoming committee. Thundercracker, Skywarp,

and Starscream attack them. Wheeljack and Bumblebee

race towards the Decepticons. Skywarp shoots

a flamethrower blast at them, surrounding the

Autobots in a ring of fire. Wheeljack turns on

some exterior fan blades and blows through the

fire. Bumblebee gets hit and slides into Wheeljack's

cargo hold. They then are chased by Thundercracker

and Skywarp, but head underground. where the

jets cannot get to them. Meanwhile, at Iacon,

Optimus Prime asks Jazz about any remaining energy

sources on Cybertron, and Jazz tells him that

the north side of Cybertron is blacker than the

inside of a driveshaft. You gotta love Scatman

Carothers as Jazz. Just what a great voice. After

which both the Autobots and Decepticons board

their ships and leave Cybertron to find a new

source of energy to reenergize their planet.

Both factions get caught in a meteor shower.

The Decepticons follow the Autobots in their

energy cannon blasted path. Then the Decepticons

breach the Autobot ship, a fight ensues, and

all of a sudden, G -forces start to drag the

Autobot ship towards Earth. They crash land into

a volcano and four million years pass. The volcano

erupts, reactivating the Autobots' computer,

Teletran 1. The computer starts reviving Decepticons

and Autobots because it can't tell the difference,

apparently. After the Decepticons are revived,

they fly out of the Autobot base and Megatron

tells them that much time has passed, but their

mission hasn't changed. After the other Decepticons

walk away, Starscream turns around and starts

blasting the volcano's entrance so the Autobots

will be trapped. Megaton tells him to stop wasting

energy. The Decepticons start scavenging for

materials for a new spaceship and a new base

of operations. Back at Autobot headquarters...

After the Autobots have all been reactivated,

Optimus Prime states that the new planet is richly

filled with resources of energy. But the Decepticons

must know this as well. Prime sends Hound and

Cliffjumper to investigate and just see what

the Decepticons are up to. He doesn't want them

to engage them, but just spy on them. Well, Cliffjumper

is wanting a fight. Well, on the way to where

the Decepticons are, Hound makes the comment

of how much Earth is different from Cybertron,

to which Cliffjumper replies, Don't fall in love

with it. We won't be staying that long. Yeah,

right. They reach the Decepticon base and start

spying on them. Megatron and the other Decepticons

are getting ready to convert oil into energon

cubes, while Cliffjumper has Megatron in his

sights, and fires on the Decepticons. He misses

Megatron, and Soundwave sends Laserbeak after

Hound and Cliffjumper. They split up, but Laserbeak

sends a missile after Cliffjumper, and then he

and then Chase's Hound. He shoots and hound and

runs him off a small cliff After a while some

of the Autobots show up and help him up cliff

jumper Should have lost my voice Back at the

Decepticon Base yeah back in the Decepticon base

Thundercracker and Reflector spy a human vehicle

going to the site where Starscream and Rumble

got their materials. Megatron tells Soundwave

to release Ravage, and he scares the humans away.

Hound reports to Optimus Prime on what the Decepticons

are up to. Prime then tells Jazz to organize

a battle unit so they can go after the Decepticons.

Laserbeak has found a source of energy for the

Decepticons. They attack an oil platform with

humans on it. This is where we meet spark plug

and spike The Decepticon start converting the

oil into energon cubes Starscream shoots off

at the mouth and Megatron tells him That this

is just a small sample of the energy that they

need Starscream spots the Autobots flying in

and a battle between the warring factions begins

Megatron blasts the oil platform and a barrel

of oil creating a fire trapping the humans and

Autobots. Optimus Prime attempts to save Spike

and Sparkplug but cannot lift the obstacle hindering

their escape. To be continued. That about sums

up the plot of this first episode. Now, this

is the first episode. This is the very first

episode of the series. It just, it was good.

There are some problems with it. Like when it

first opens and they're on Cybertron. When Starscream

tells the other Decepticons to attack Wheeljack

and Bumblebee, it's Thundercracker's voice, but

Starscream's mouth is moving. What the fuck.

And when Wheeljack and Bumblebee get away from

the Decepticons, it's Megatron's voice that says,

after them, But we never actually see Megatron.

I don't know what the animators or the voice

actors or whoever's fault this was. I don't know

what their problem was in this scene. Soundwave's

Cybertronian mode. I... I don't know. I honestly

don't know what to say. Because... On Earth,

he's a tape deck. You know, you want to be small,

you know, if you're a Decepticon you're supposed

to be an evil spy, you're supposed to be an evil

doer, you want to be small and compact and hide

from people. On Cybertron, he is some sort of

statuesque thing. I don't know what it is. I

have no clue. And why on Cybertron do all the

robot modes look exactly the same? Autobots and

Decepticons alike look exactly the same as their

robot modes on Earth. That makes no sense whatsoever.

Okay, when they're flying to Earth, the Decepticons

make the magnetic junction and the first fight

ensues. All of a sudden, they're within the Milky

Way galaxy in the Earth's orbit? Holy shit. I

thought Cybertron was millions of miles from

Earth, in another galaxy even. Yeah, I know the

way the story artists and writers did it was

to move the plot along, but still, they had only

just launched the spaceships from Cybertron like

20 seconds ago. That's animation for you, I guess.

After the 4 million years pass, Skywarp is the

first that Teletran 1 revives. It shows Teletran's

satellite going out and finding an alternate

mode for him. However, when he puts Megatron

under the scope, it just revives Megatron. Does

not go out and show him going to a pawn shop

or something to get a gun or rifle or whatever

the hell kind of gun Megatron is. We never actually

see what Megatron's Cybertronian mode was. Still,

it makes no sense. I know that these are advanced

robots and everything, but since when does a

cassette deck door have a TV screen with schematics

on how to convert the energy into energon cubes

in it? Plus Soundwave actually makes the energon

cubes out of his cassette deck door. I know the

80s were, you know, high tech at the time and

cassette decks and everything else was the high

tech, but I never had any cassette deck when

I was a kid that... was a TV and could make giant

cubes. Again, makes no sense. And Cliffjumper,

when he blasts Megatron. Cliffjumper is a subcompact

car. But yet he has a big fucking gun to blast

Megatron. Where the hell did he get the goddamn

rocket launcher from? Did he have it in his hatchback?

After Megatron tells Soundwave to release Ravage

and the human van pulls up. How the hell is a

van slash truck like the one that they show in

the cartoon with those wheels going to drive

on that desert terrain? I mean this thing looks

like a U -Haul moving van. I mean a very small

U -Haul moving van, but still. You know, how

are you gonna get that over rough terrain? Again,

another nonsensical trip. One thing that has

always bothered me ever since I watched these

cartoons the Autobots for the forced first four

episode episodes can fly Like the Decepticons

can Okay, if you have a cartoon series and you're

going to make both of your Good hero robots fly

and your bad evil take over the universe here

are almost at heroes. Oh boy You know your evildoers.

You know overlords. Whatever you want to call

them fly how Can you only do it for four episodes

for one faction? But then the other faction gets

to fly throughout the entire series And that

yeah that doesn't make any sense oh Spark plug

what the hell kind of a name for a guy is spark

plug He must have had automobile junkie for a

dad or something. In closing, the first episode

of G1 was good. I didn't really notice any animation

flubs at all other than that when they showed

Hound, after he got injured right before they

hauled him up, his paint job was like tie -dye.

What's up with that? And not his regular green

colors. Anyway, that is it for More Than Meets

the Eye Part 1. I don't know who you are, but

you saved our lives. We're Autobots. We're from

Cybertron, a planet far from Earth. Another planet?

That's awesome! Those who tried to harm you are

called Decepticons. We must stop them before

they destroy your world. Can we help? We are

the only ones who can stop the Decepticons. But

my son Spike and I know more about Earth than

you do. Maybe you can help us More than meets

the eye part two to synopsize this episode We

open where the last episode left off with optimus

prime and the humans trapped at the oil platform

Trailbreaker and wheeljack attempt to put the

fire out but prime and the humans Prime and the

humans get out of the water Prime then tells

the humans who they are and where they come from,

and tells them as well that the Autobots are

the only ones that can stop the Decepticons from

taking over Earth. Sparkplug brings up the fact

that he and his son Spike know more about the

Earth than the Autobots do, so Prime agrees to

let them help. The next scene is Spike sitting

on a cliff above Autobot headquarters writing

in his journal about the Autobots... Soundwave

is spying in the area and transforms into his

cassette deck alt mode. Spike finds this cassette

deck and brings it into Autobot headquarters

and sets him down. Spike doesn't know that the

tape deck is a transformer, much less a Decepticon.

He goes further into the base to talk to the

other Autobots and they explain to him why they

transform. And we find Spike with Mirage, Hound,

Trailbreaker, and a few of the other Autobots

in the repair bay. They're all showing off to

him their abilities. Hound takes Spike for the

ride of his life as they leave Soundwave, who

is still in the base. Hang on, folks. I might

have to redo that. Got something in my eye. Ow.

Ow. As they leave, as Hound and Spike leave,

Soundwave, whom is still in the base, transforms

and releases Ravage. Ravage is to enter Teletran

1 and acquire knowledge of Earth's resources.

We then go back to riding with Hound and Spike.

and Hound is commenting on how much of a nice

place Earth must be to live. However, Spike wants

to know more about Cybertron. Hound tells him

that it was a nice place before the war. They

then get back to base and Spike actually catches

Soundwave and Ravage downloading the information

from Teletran 1. Soundwave swipes at Spike but

narrowly misses him. Spike then hits the alarm.

Soundwave and Ravage attempt to retreat. Prime

sees them and tells the Autobots to get them.

Soundwave escapes but the Autobots capture Ravage.

Soundwave gets back to the Decepticon base and

reports to Megatron on Sherman Dam. The Decepticons

are going to create a tidal wave to put the dam's

power outage in overload to fill the energon

cubes at the dam. Rumble is dispatched to, quote,

shake things up a bit and get the tidal wave

going. At the Sherman Dam, the humans realize

that the river is rising, but the Decepticons

arrive and attack. The Autobots are monitoring

the situation and Jazz goes to tell Optimus Prime

of the Decepticon activity. The dam is going

to explode from all the electrical output. Soundwave

prepares the energon cubes while the Autobots

arrive and are too late. Hound and Spike find

the heart of the tidal wave. and then Hound dives

under the water to find rumble. Bumblebee and

Ironhide attempt to make a new river to stop

the overflow of the water output from the dam.

Prime and the rest of the Autobots head to the

plant, while Megatron tells the Decepticons to

gather the energon cubes and get back to base.

Prime tells Megatron to, quote, stick it in neutral,

and then he's not going anywhere, end quote.

A battle ensues with the Autobots and Decepticons.

Sparkplug leads the humans out of the plant to

safety. Starscream blasts the control panel,

ruining the Decepticon mission. Prime and Megatron

engage in a battle atop the dam. They trade insults

and attack each other with their energy weapons.

Prime has an energy axe and Megatron has the

energy mace. We then get back to Spike and Hound

attempting to stop Rumble. Rumble comes out of

the water and pushes Spike down. Hound is still

underwater. So Spike dives underwater and finds

Hound trapped under some rocks and he frees him.

Of course, then Hound has to gently... Push on

spikes back to get him to breathe again because

he was underwater that long and humans can't

breathe underwater that long without oxygen obviously

We then see Megatron and the rest of the Decepticons

retreating while the dam is still in danger of

exploding and Optimus Prime is adrift in the

water Jalus yells out to Prime and he throws

him the grappling hook he has and pulls the Autobot

leader out of the water Where was I? Optimus

Prime tells his troops that if Megatron succeeds

on Earth, he'll be impossible to stop on Cybertron.

He also tells them that we must not ignore the

danger, we must conquer it. Peter Cullen is such

a great, great voice. He will always be Optimus

Prime. The scene then skips to the Decepticons

who are filling their energon cubes. Soundwave

tells Megatron that the new space cruiser is

nearly completed, but they need more energon

cubes. They need one more source of energy, however,

because dumbass Starscream tries to quote -unquote

test the energon cubes, and so begins a power

struggle between Megatron Sound and Starscream,

which is a running gag throughout the entire

series. Well, of course until the movie, until

Galvatron shoots the poor bastard. Sorry, spoiler.

Oh Christ. So after which Megatron yells at Starscream

telling him they need now two sources of energy.

One being the ruby crystals of Burma and the

other being rocket fuel. at a nearby air base.

Trailbreaker, Spike, and Sparkplug are spying

on the Decepticons and get caught. They call

in for help. Side Swipe and Sunstreaker show

up to stop the Decepticon attack on the humans

and Trailbreaker. At the Crystal Mines, the Decepticons

have a mining operation going to siphon off the

energy. The Autobots are outside the mine wondering

where the Decepticons are, so Bumblebee and Sparkplug

volunteer to go into the mines and find the Decepticons.

Wheeljack hands Sparkplug an explosive charge,

a very potent explosive charge. They are to get

in, place the charge, and get out. They only

have 60 seconds to do so. So Bumblebee and Sparkplug

head off towards the mine's entrance. They soon

find the Decepticons whom are loading the last

of the inner John cubes and they plant the explosive

but are spotted by Skywarp and Thundercracker.

Bumblebee and Sparkplug are now hostages of the

Decepticons. Outside, Prime and the Autobots

are worried and Ironhide volunteers to go in

after Bumblebee and Sparkplug. Prime states that

he'll go and he'll use Roller. that roller is

small enough to get in the mine without being

noticed. Prime gets to the mine entrance after

transforming and releases roller, but just as

that happens the bomb goes off. This causes a

massive explosion and a cave -in. The explosion

reaches the mine entrance and Optimus Prime tumbles

end over end trailer and all down the cliff.

That about synopsizes this one up. Okay, now

for my thoughts on this episode. First off, in

the second episode it debuted Spike writing in

his journal and of course the voice actor is

telling Spike's thoughts as he's writing them

down. I think that this was and is a great thing.

It's a way for, at the time back in 84, it's

a way for children to live kind of live vicariously

through Spike. You know, Spike and Sparkplug

are, you know, other than a few of the other

human characters that are introduced later on,

but Spike and Sparkplug throughout the main series,

at least until the movie, are the main characters

and they, you know, they're the only humans that

really interact with the Autobots. And I think

it's very, very cool that they wrote that in

there because it, like I said, it allows children

to live vicariously through Spike and because

it's like, who wouldn't want to be standing next

to a however 60 feet or 20 feet tall Optimus

Prime? You know I mean that has just got to be

the coolest thing ever yes. I know it's animation

But still you know it. It's just very very freaking

cool And I thought that was a really really good

thing that the writers did was to make that scene

happen So anyway after spike jumps off the cliff

ledge. He's sitting on Soundwave is in his tape

deck mode. Spike picks up the Decepticon, looks

right at the tape deck door, and sees the Decepticon

purple symbol. I understand it's plot line and

storyline to get Soundwave into the base to be

able for the Autobots to capture Ravage later,

but I mean, come on, how stupid is this kid?

Oh, and when... When Hound takes Spike for quote

-unquote the ride of his life Hmm anyway, that's

a little questionable How the hell is just a

waist belt going to protect anyone in a damn

Jeep driving over rough terrain? I mean Hound

is driving over Sand dunes and everything else

and I'm sorry the only thing it showed when Hound

told Spike to buckle up was a waist belt. There

was no shoulder belt, no nothing. The kid could

have fallen out of the goddamn Jeep at any point

in time. Okay, when Soundwave transforms and

releases Ravage to enter Teletran 1, wouldn't

a fucking computer know that an unauthorized

outside source is downloading information from

it? Why did it take the Autobots to hear an alarm

to realize that there was an intruder? This is

also and I will bring this same point up multiple

times with the Autobots defenses at the base

In the next podcast episode because there's several

times where Decepticons get in like laser beak

He flies right in at the top of the volcano down

to the Autobot base No alarm. No nothing What

was Optimus Prime smoking that day when They

had a security class or something. I dunno. I

didn't note this before, but these transformers

are made of freaking metal. Wouldn't they rust

or something going underwater? The scene where

Jazz and Spike are reading Teletran? How can

they be reading what's on the screen? It isn't

even written in the fucking English language.

Now I paused it. That point and I looked at the

screen of teletran ones on the animation The

stuff it's not written in any language. I know

it's not Chinese symbols It's not Japanese symbols,

and I'm not saying that I know how to read those

But supposedly they were reading it word for

word off the screen like it was English It was

friggin squiggly lines what the hell The the

battle where Megatron and Prime are at the top

of the dam and Megatron flies off He's still

swinging his energy mace. He flies right by the

other Decepticons who are carrying the energon

cubes You mean to tell me that his swinging mace

didn't hit any of them. I call bullshit on that

At the very end scene, when the Autobots are

outside the Crystal Mine, Wheeljack's voice sounds

different than in the first episode and even

earlier in this episode. It was very gravelly.

So I looked it up online and found out, wow.

Chris Lada did the voice of Wheeljack. Now I

know a lot of these voice actors did multiple

voices for these cartoons back in the 80s, but

I did not know Chris Lada, who also does the

voice of Starscream, and of course Cobra Commander

over on G .I. Joe, you know, I didn't know he

had done Wheeljack. And while I'm thinking about

it, seeing as how this is the first podcast episode,

throughout the first about 10 episodes, Wheeljack's

little things on the side of his face that blink

the lights like sometimes they're blue, sometimes

they're red, I think one time they're yellow,

there's another animation flow. But back to my

point about Chris Lata, you know, unfortunately

he's no longer with us, you know, rest in peace.

He was a very talented guy. In closing Very good

episode if I had now on this podcast by him I

am no means going by a scale of grading because

I suck at math But if I had to grade this episode,

I would probably give it a 7 out of 10. I was

very entertaining And the first episode I would

give the same 7 on 10 Still generating roller

what what happened to him? Down but not out role

is one tough little autobot prime can you transform

I? I'll try I I don't know if I can do it I've

almost got it come on prime you can do it Now

onto More Than Meets the Eye Part 3. To synopsize

this episode... We open this episode where the

last one left offed. Optimus Prime is tumbling

to his doom after the explosion at the mine entrance.

Prime lands on his side, trailer and all. The

Autobots rush to him, get him onto his wheels.

Prime asks about Roller, and then the little

carbot is okay because he rolls out of the mine

back to Prime's trailer. Ratchet asks Prime if

he can transform. The leader states that he is

not sure if he can transform, but he'll try.

So we go through a very slow... I'm talking slow

transformation process. The Decepticons are trapped

in the mines until they blast their way free.

They get away with the energon cubes intact.

Ironhide mouths off and chases the Decepticons.

Blue Streak goes after Ironhide. They are firing

on Megatron, Skywarp, Soundwave and the other

two secret jets. Skywarp requests permission

to teleport and he teleports behind the Autobots

and attacks them. Skywarp hits Ironhide and Blue

Streak goes after Ironhide to save him. Ironhide

is slightly injured and gave the Autobots a pretty

good scare. The Autobots head back to headquarters

when we see the headquarters again Spike is writing

in his journal. Mirage and Hound are guarding

Ravage, who the Autobots have trapped in a cage.

Mirage makes the comment that holograms look

so real that no one would know the difference.

This gives Hound an idea to trap the Decepticons

with a giant hologram of a rocket fuel base.

Mirage and Hound are having a conversation to

set up Ravage. Hound is twirling the key to Ravage's

cage around his finger. As they talk, they decide

to tell Ironhide about the rocket fuel to cheer

him up. Mirage asks, what about Ravage? To which

Hound replies, don't worry about him. He's not

going anywhere. Hound puts the key into the cage

on a hook. Sorry. Hound puts the key to the cage

on a hook on his leg, but unbeknownst to him,

he accidentally slaps it off with his arm swinging.

Ravage gets the key and escapes. Hound, Mirage,

and Jazz see him escape and give chase, but he

jumps off the cliff. They head back to base to

tell Prime what happened. After telling him that

Ravage escaped, Prime says, Perfect. deep in

my voice there a little bit because i was trying

to pull off a peter cullen but that's not happening

i am no voice over artist unfortunately because

the autobots are going to trap the decepticons

at the decepticon camp ravage reports his false

findings to megatron and i'd like to point out

this is the only difference in voice for ravage

he does talk but it is only in when he's in cassette

mode inside Soundwave usually when the Decepticon

cassettes are doing reports it's either the audio

that they've captured like Optimus Prime's voice

saying what they're going to do but this time

it was a voice that I guess belongs to Ravage

I don't know who played that voice but you know

so anyway After which Starscream opens his mouth

yet again saying that he should lead and he takes

a shot at Megatron. Soundwave warns Megatron

and the leader puts a energy shield up to block

Starscream's shot. Then Megatron aims at Starscream

who is now begging for Megatron not to shoot.

The Decepticon leader shoots Starscream in the

arm telling him he made mistake number two. Megatron

then states that the Decepticons will attack

the rocket base at sunrise. Hound and the rest

of the Autobots create a fake rocket base. The

Decepticons attack, but in the middle of the

battle Optimus Prime yells out for them to stop

fighting. The reason for this is that they have

been fighting nothing but a bunch of loose screws.

Megatron explains to Prime that while the Autobots

have been fighting junk robots, the real Decepticons

have been at the real rocket site. The Decepticons

have invaded the rocket base and taken over.

They are now preparing Energon cubes for a space

flight to Cybertron. Soundwave gives Megatron

a report on the status of their mission. Which

Megatron replies, get ready to blast off. When

then we see the Autobots outside the Ark, Optimus

Prime tells them that they have come to a moment

of truth. The Decepticons are in position to

return to Cybertron. And the Autobots have no

choice but to attack them directly. Prime then

asks for volunteers, which the Autobots step

forward and Jazz tells them to transform. They

are ready to go after the Decepticons at the

Decepticon base. Megatron tells Soundwave that

they are so very close to conquest to which Soundwave

replies that the space cruiser is ready for boarding.

The Autobots arrive at the Decepticon base and

attack them. As the battle progresses Hound and

Rumble get into it Hound tells him he owes him

one from Sherman Dam. This is the first time

so far that we see Megatron transform into his

rifle, gun, mode, whatever it is. This is also

the first, and possibly I have not researched

this yet by watching more episodes, but the first

and possibly the only time we see Optimus Prime's

trailer transform and the guns inside are used.

Megatron and Prime engage in a battle between

themselves, where Starscream takes aim at them,

but Spike throws a rock at his arm, knocking

his gun off him. Ravage then attacks Optimus,

giving Megatron the advantage. The Decepticons

get into the space cruiser and blast off. Optimus

Prime shouts out Megatron's name. Optimus demands

sideswipe to give him his rocket pack. Jazz mounts

the rocket pack on Prime, and Prime says that

he'll be back. I'll be back. I am the Optimus

Prime Terminator. Sorry, I just had to do that.

Inside the ship, Megatron and the Decepticons

are gloating that they have won. Starscream then

spots Prime coming up behind them. Megatron tells

them to open the artillery hatch and they fire

on Prime, hitting him and knocking the jet pack

off. Prime is tumbling through the atmosphere.

The Autobots spot him and Ratchet says that he

will crash very hard. Optimus does hit the ground

hard and the other Autobots rush to his aid after

telling his troops that he is fine. Prime looks

around and asks where's Mirage? Blue Streak says

he was here earlier during the fight, but he's

gone now. Meanwhile, on the Decepticon ship,

Starscream and Megatron get into another power

struggle. This is becoming just... I don't know.

Anyway... Starscream is ready to fire upon the

leader when Mirage appears and shoots the controls

on the spaceship. Starscream shoots Mirage, Megatron

shoots Starscream, screaming, Death to all traitors!

Yes, that's the best I can do on Megatron. My

voice is no... I have no range whatsoever. The

ship is going to crash. Soundwave cannot regain

control. Mirage jumps out of the ship before

it crashes. He lands near the Autobots. Prime

tells him that he could have waited for them

to board. To which Mirage replies, sorry Prime,

the ship was full. Now because the Autobots have

stopped the Decepticons, the governments of the

world have decided to give Optimus Prime and

the Autobots the energy that they need to revitalize

Cybertron. Spike ends his journal by saying,

I'm glad we don't have to worry about Megatron

and all those Decepticons anymore. The episode

closes by showing the sunken Decepticon ship

and Megatron swimming out of it. Now for my thoughts

on the episode. I found some more sound and audio

glitches. In the scene where Ravage escapes,

and the Autobots give chase, and they get back

to Optimus Prime to tell him what happened, it's

Mirage's voice talking, but Hound's mouth moving,

as another sound glitch. A couple of animation

glitches that I caught were the scene where the

Autobots are going to attack the Decepticons

to prevent them from leaving the Earth when Hound

transforms, Spike is nowhere to be found. In

the very s - scene prior to this earlier the

scene right before this The the battle at the

bay at the at the shipyard there where the Decepticons

are gonna blast off It shows spike getting into

hound and putting his seat belt on and then driving

off with the rest of the Autobots But yet one

hound transforms no spike Let's hope the poor

kid didn't end up in hounds gears. That would

have been horrible Let's see when mirage goes

to oh, yeah when mirage is on the decepticon

ship and after he's sabotaged it and he's gonna

jump and he goes I'll say hello to prime for

you Megatron the When he where he goes to open

the door there is no button. I know these are

advanced robots I've said this before I know

they're an advanced race of robots But every

kind of robot or every kind of anything has to

have some sort of button knob Something to open

a freaking door even on a fucking spaceship I'm

sorry, that's just the way it is. Mirage's finger

presses something, we never see anything move.

There's no button. And then the Seekers. This

pisses me off, and I will reiterate this in a

couple of, probably half the episodes. Between

this first episode of the TFG one podcast and

the second episode of the TFG one podcast Every

time we see the seekers whether it's Starscream

and Thundercracker Thundercracker and Skywarp

Skywarp and Starscream and Thundercracker and

Starscream or Thundercracker and Skywarp Say

Starscream is in a scene okay, and he's talking

it could be Thundercracker or Skywarp that walks

up right next to him, but the exact same coloring

as the main robot that's talking. So if Skywarp

walks up next to Starscream on Starscream's right

on the left hand side of the screen facing us,

they're the same freaking colors. This happens

tons of times in these episodes. I don't know

what that's all about, but something the animators

did not catch. Four million years ago, creatures

from the planet Cybertron crash -landed on Earth.

Mechanical creatures of great technical sophistication.

Autobots. Look out! Decepticon! Cliffjumper!

Cease fire! And move it! Sorry, guys. But it

kind of looked like a Decepticon. Decepticon?

Ha! We sent those oversized tin cans to the bottom

of the sea months ago. Yep. Decepticons are gone

for good. Right, Optimus? I wish I could believe

that, Ironhide. Next up today is Transport to

Oblivion. To synopsize this episode... We open

at the Autobot base with iron hide and optimus

prime watching the I can't tell it's either the

sunrise or the sunset I don't know cliff jumper

is walking out of the base and thinks a rock

formation is a Decepticon attacking This is a

good old time to facepalm right now just put

your palm right in your face He blasts the rocks

causing a rock slide on Optimus and Ironhide.

Prime tells him to cease fire. Cliffjumper apologizes

and Ironhide states that we haven't seen the

Decepticons since we sent them to the bottom

of the sea four months ago. But Prime is uncertain

if the Decepticons are actually destroyed or

not. Then we cut to the Decepticons sunken ship

and the fact that they are not destroyed and

are ready to conquer Earth We then see some sort

of plant. Some sort of power energy plant. I

didn't really catch it and I didn't write it

into the synopsis. But that's the basis of almost

every Decepticon plot. They attack some sort

of energy plant. Or mine or something. Where

human workers are working, there's a loud tape

player blaring music. Which just happens to be

blue and silver and will eventually transform.

One of the workers tells the other to turn his

tape deck down. The other guy says it's not his.

Then, all of a sudden, as I said before, Soundwave

transforms. The Decepticons arrive and are draining

the solar energy. Okay, it's a solar energy plant.

I guess I did add it in later. I don't know.

From the power plant. The Autobots are monitoring

Decepticon activity and realize this. They go

after them. When the Autobots get to the solar

power plant, a battle ensues. Prime and Megatron

fight each other. The rest of the Decepticons

escape with the Energon cubes, but Megatron tells

Soundwave that Prime is target and he transforms

into his gun mode. Ironhide jumps in front of

Optimus, saving him, but injuring himself. Megatron

and Soundwave escape and the rest of the Autobots

tend to Ironhide. Bumblebee and Spike go to spy

on the Decepticons and they find the evil doers

in a riverbed in the desert. They find out that

Megatron has built a space bridge to Cybertron

and is going to send the energon cubes that the

Decepticons have collected over the space bridge

to Shockwave. This actually marks the first episode

we see Shockwave. Well, no, I take that back.

It's not the first episode we see him It's the

first episode since the first episode of the

cartoon series that we've seen him Let's see

The only problem is the vehicle that they are

going to send over the space bridge and he needs

guidance and Megatron asks his fellow Decepticons

for volunteers Well, none of the Decepticons

are gonna volunteer Bumblebee and Spike get trapped

inside the riverbed and because Bumblebee tries

to peel out and he slips and slides down the

little cliff there Starscream wants to destroy

them Megatron says no they have just volunteered

to pilot the vehicle over the space bridge however

Megatron has run out of time and the vehicle

carrying Spike and Bumblebee does not go over

the space bridge Bumblebee transforms and blasts

their way out of the transport vehicle. Spike

runs alongside Bumblebee, trying like hell to

get inside, but he trips and falls, and Bumblebee

cannot get to him because Ravage has been released

and is in between them. Thundercracker, Starscream,

and Skywarp give chase of Bumblebee. They corner

him inside a cave and Bumblebee transforms and

he thinks, well, they're not gonna go up to the

top of the cave. Wrong. So he climbs to the top

of the cave and to find the three Decepticon

jets awaiting him Excuse me, and they capture

him Starscream wants to destroy him But Megatron

alters Bumblebee's memory circuits and sends

him back to Autobot headquarters to bring the

other Autobots into a trap that the Decepticons

have placed The Autobots roll out for the false

location of the space bridge, which is some cave

that Bumblebee gives them. Laserbeak is spying

on the Autobots to see what they're going to

do, and he reports it back to Megatron as the

Autobots drive off. Laserbeak flies back to the

Decepticon underwater headquarters. As one thing,

I'm sorry to interrupt this synopsis, but I kinda

have to take a breath here. As one thing that

I always liked about this, these early... Generation

1 episodes was that it was really cool that the

Decepticons had an underwater base with some

sort of up periscope type of entrance deal that

they had to go into and out of Instead of just

diving down into the water. I thought that was

like a really really cool thing The Autobots

reach the cave where the Decepticons have laid

a trap for them Gears thinks that there's something

wrong with Bumblebee's memory chips hint hint

The battle rages and Prime returns the favor

to Ironhide by helping him. However, Optimus'

foot gets caught in a rock formation and Megatron

is about to blast him. When Bluestreak shoots

at Megatron, Shockwave radios Megatron telling

him that they need to get their asses back to

the space bridge. He didn't say that, I just

put that in there. Because it is about to open,

the Decepticons leave the cave and head for the

riverbed. Starscream says to Megatron that the

Autobots will follow them and learn the location

of their space bridge. Megatron replies, no Autobot

will leave the cave alive and they both blast

the cave entrance so it is blocked by rocks.

Ratchet goes over to Bumblebee and starts to

repair him, and the medic bot reports to Optimus

that a bank of Bumblebee's circuits have been

altered. Bumblebee, after Ratchet fixing his

altered circuits, remembers the real location

of the space bridge. The Autobots concentrate

their firepower and blast out of the cave, heading

for the riverbed. At the riverbed, Shockwave

tells Megatron, that the space bridge will only

be operable for a maximum of four minutes. Ravage

growls at Spike who is trapped in an energy net.

Soundwave tells Ravage to stand aside because

Megatron is going to put Spike into the next

transport vehicle. The Autobots arrive and start

attacking the Decepticons. Bumblebee is going

to get Spike out of the mess that he got him

into in the first place. Prime assists Bumblebee

by blasting the top of the Space Bridge Vehicle's

door. He also blasts Spike's seatbelt harness,

which one thing I did notice about this, Prime

actually adjusts his rifle. I don't think I ever

see him do this any other time, but he does in

this episode and I thought that was really cool.

The Autobots fire on Megatron. They fire on the...

space bridge vehicle and destroy it. As a reaction

to this, Megatron gets knocked into the space

bridge as it closes and Megatron is sent to Cybertron.

Now that Megatron is gone, Starswim, of course,

attempts a takeover, shock shock, and tells the

Decepticons to retreat. The Autobots rejoice

in the fact that Megatron is gone, but Prime

says he wishes he could be certain. When we close

we we then close the episode with Seeing Megatron

back on Cybertron and telling shockwave that

he will be avenged Now for my thoughts on this

episode So more than meets the eye the three

-parter It was a very good start to this series,

I think. It introduced us to the Autobots, the

Decepticons. It introduced us to actually a lot

of characters, even though we will get a lot

more down the line. I think that it just is a

very good introduction to the Transformers history

and timeline and everything else. Couple of sound

and audio glitches I found. When Bumblebee and

Spike get captured by the Decepticons and are

going to be sent over the space bridge, it closes

without the vehicle inside it. When Megatron's

mouth is moving, it shockwaves voice that you

hear another audio flow. Couple of animation

glitch alerts. In the cave battle when Optimus

Prime has his foot caught and Megatron is going

to finish him off, it shows Megatron's fusion

cannon as gray slash silver. and it is not the

black coloring that it is supposed to be this

just Megatron on a whole for the most part his

legs majority of his legs his arms and his upper

torso and his head and his back is gray the fusion

cannon on his arm is black with a little red

dot button or something whatever it is up at

the upper part of the arm But in this scene that

I saw it was gray I don't know if that was a

color flub from the animators or if it I don't

think it was intentional but I Don't know. It's

just another one of those animation flubs At

the scene where Megatron is sent over the space

bridge Starscream tells the Decepticons to return

to base now that Megatron is gone. He is the

new Decepticon leader well This is the same thing

I mentioned earlier The Starscream Skywarp Thundercracker

bit where one of them is standing next to the

other And they're both the same colors So I don't

know I'm not really sure You must get back to

Earth. There's no telling what damage that fool

Starscream has done in my absence. You'll know

soon enough, Megatron. I don't have to tell you

what's ahead of us. They've got to be stopped

and we're the only ones who can do it. They're

within attack range! When we're done with them,

they're gonna wish they'd never been assembled!

All right, bro, let's go! Okay, big noise! Let's

see how tough you are! Hey, check out this move!

Yee -haw! The one thing you'll show us our forgetting

is... me! Next up today the last episode actually

for this for today's episode of TFG one podcast

is Roll for it to synopsize this episode The

episode starts off with Starscream leading the

Decepticons to a power plant and blasting up

the place. We then see Optimus and the Autobots

en route to the plant to stop them. A fight ensues

and the energon cubes the Decepticons have collected

are destroyed. Soundwave calls a full retreat.

Optimus tells Bluestreak and Prowl to follow

them, but don't bite off more than they can shred.

We then are shown Cybertron and Megatron contacting

Starscream and Thundercracker. He tells them

to meet him in the desert near the laboratory

that they plan on stealing the antimatter formula

from. Bumblebee, Spike, and a new character,

which is introduced in this episode, Chip Chase,

another human, who is actually a computer whiz

kid, arrive at the laboratory. As the guards

are letting them in, we see Reflector in his

camera mode, which I will talk about later, taking

pictures of the entry codes. As they enter the

lab, Professor there gives Chip a computer disk

that has the antimatter formula on it that will

allow... No, I'm sorry. He gives Chip a computer

disk that will allow Chip's home computer to

talk to the one at the laboratory. As the group

is leaving, Laserbeak attacks. Bumblebee and

Spike drop Chip off at his house and then race

to the lab where Megatron will be attacking.

Bumblebee says that he has already radioed Optimus

Prime and is on his way. but they need additional

help so he calls for Blue Streak and Prowl but

they say that they can't get there and Bumblebee's

like what do you mean you can't get here and

then come to find out that they have found Starscream's

raiding party at a military air force base type

deal unfortunately Blue Streak and Prowl are

outnumbered and the Decepticon jets fire on them

Meanwhile, Megatron reaches the lab and busts

in, but not before the professor can upload the

antimatter formula out of the lab's computer

system. Back at the battle where Prowl and Bluestreak

got ambushed, Prowl's battle computer has been

severely damaged. He attempts to link up with

another online computer at that very moment,

which happens to be Chip's computer. Chip is

now guiding Prowl's actions in the battle. Chip

guides Prowl to a jet within the hangar that

is armed with missiles. And he proceeds to fire

on the Decepticons causing them to retreat. However,

Megatron has learned of the location where the

anti -matter formula was sent. Chip memorizes

the formula and destroys the data disk just as

Ravage breaks down his door. Ravage then kidnaps

Chip and puts him into Starscream's cockpit.

Back at the laboratory, Megatron has achieved

his goal in making antimatter energon cubes because

he had Soundwave read Chip's mind to get the

antimatter formula. However, the Autobots have

a plan to get Chip free of the Decepticons. Hound

uses holograms and Mirage goes invisible to create

a distraction for Spike and Bumblebee to rescue

Chip. The Autobots send an Optimus Prime to retrieve

the antimatter energon cubes, but it is already

too late. Megatron throws one at the Autobots

and there is a giant explosion. The Autobots

survive the explosion. The Decepticons survive

the explosion. but the Autobots are very badly

damaged and head back to headquarters for repairs.

At the Ark, which is the Autobots ship, I guess,

I don't know if, I'm not really sure if at any

point during this series do they call it the

Ark, but from watching Beast Wars and Beast Machines,

that's what they called it in that, so I don't

know, whatever. Ratchet looks over the battle

unit that has come back, and they're in very

bad shape. Chip is feeling down about memorizing

the antimatter formula and the Decepticons getting

it from him, but Wheeljack has a plan for its

use. The Autobots are getting repaired when Teletran

1 picks up some Decepticon activity. They are

in attack range of the Autobot base. Sideswipe

and Sunstreaker head out to attack the Decepticon

jets, something which they call Jet Judo. The

Autobots send in Optimus Prime to retrieve the

antimatter energon cues, but it is already too

late. Megatron throws one at the Autobots, and

there's a giant explosion. The Autobots survive

the explosion. Okay, I already read that part.

Chip is feeling down about memorizing the antimatter

formula. Sorry about this, folks. This is gonna,

like I said, this isn't the inaugural episode,

so it's gonna be kinda rough. Lost my place.

Okay, the Decepticons are in attack range of

the Autobot base after Teletran 1 Find some Decepticon

activity Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. Yeah, the

Jet Judo read that. Sorry folks Wheeljack's plan

is to have Teletran take over the anti -matter

that's inside Megatron Chip places a module on

Skywarp that negates the control of his own limbs

Teletran 1 now has control of Skywarp and control

of Megatron's gun, which his core temperature

is rising. Megatron needs to dump the antimatter

or it could destroy him. He does so. Megatron

dumps the antimatter. Optimus Prime blasts him.

After the explosion of the antimatter energon

cubes, the Decepticons are defeated this day

and they retreat. Chip is called a hero. The

Autobots rejoice and they're excited and everything

else and all in all a good episode. Now for my

thoughts. First off, when the Decepticons raid

the plant, the guy on the phone that calls for

help, he says, help Decepticons, and he screams

whatever the hell kind of scream he's got. First

off, who'd he call? First, you know, he didn't

dial anything, he just picked up a receiver.

Do all electrical plants have a just straight

line into Autobot headquarters? or police headquarters

or whatever because then approximately two seconds

after the guy picks up the phone and calls the

thing or whoever the hell he called police officers

are there yeah right police response ain't that

damn fast i'm sorry it's not i love the look

of cybertron and the way the camera panned into

its view from the galaxy starts next to so um

yeah The time thing if these are truly advanced

robots and everything why do they switch from

using units of time like five Billion astro seconds

to our times 11 minutes 12 minutes an hour whatever

What the fuck is an astro second anyways can

anyone answer that for me anyone? I don't care

who just email me TFG one podcast at gmail .com

The episode showcases reflect or quite a bit

question Why the fuck is he three robots but

only one camera? That makes no sense. When Prowl

gets hurt and his battle computer is damaged

and he links up with Chip's computer, that reminds

me of the Headmasters and Targetmasters. Even

though Chip isn't physically inside of Prowl,

he's still controlling him. I wonder if that's

where David Wise the writer of Rebirth Saga got

the idea. When Ravage kidnaps Chip and Soundwave

says, Excellent Ravage, it kind of sounds like

the voice of Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget.

Now I know for a fact that Alan Oppenheimer did

the voice of Dr. Claw and it was not Frank Welker.

But just when he says that thing to Ravage and

his voice is all gravelly, it kinda sounds like

Dr. Claw. Here's yet another gripe. When Bumblebee

and Spike rescue Chip, Bumblebee stands over

them at the top of the two humans and transforms,

catching them inside of him. What the fuck? I

have never seen a transformation like that since

I started watching these episodes. And that brings

us to a close on the inaugural episode the very

first episode of TFG one the podcast TFG one

podcast My name is Michael Blanchard. I am your

host. Hopefully in future episodes. I will have

Other guest hosts. I would like to eventually

get and I think I've said this before in this

podcast I don't know if I have I would like to

get Mike the bird man dot on here I want to thank

my sponsor, Steven C. Phillips of PredaconEmpire

.com who so graciously agreed to host my podcast

for me. You're a great guy, Steve, and any Transformers

fan is okay with me. So, as long as they're not

RID fans. No, I'm joking. Or fans of Wheely.

No, I'm just kidding. I'm just trying to have

some fun here. So thank you for listening to

TFG... the TFG1 podcast. Please tune in next

time when I will be reviewing the following five

episodes from Transformers Generation 1 Season

1. Divide and Conquer, Fire in the Sky, S .O

.S. Dinobots, Fire on the Mountain, War of the

Dinobots. You may send emails with questions

or comments to tfg1podcast at gmail dot com.

Until next time. Have an excellent day and keep

watching those cartoons. Autobots rule.