More than Meets the Eye, Part 1



In search of energy, the Autobots leave Cybertron and are pursued by the Decepticons.

Detailed synopsis


On Cybertron, many millions of years ago, the Autobots are on the verge of extinction. Eons of war have drained the planet's once plentiful resources. Autobots Wheeljack and Bumblebee are scraping together energy conductors, and narrowly avoid capture by a Decepticon patrol. They arrive at Iacon, the Autobots'5 headquarters. There, Optimus Prime, the Autobot leader, confers with his lieutenants Jazz and Prowl on the plan to leave Cybertron on a mission to search for new sources of energy. This plot is overheard by the Decepticon spies Soundwave and Laserbeak. The Decepticon leader, Megatron, plots to intercept the Autobots, and leaves his lieutenant Shockwave in charge of Cybertron.

The Autobots blast off aboard an Autobot spaceship, followed by the Decepticon cruiser. An asteroid collision forces them to use up most of their energy clearing a path through the resulting storm. The Decepticons take advantage of this vulnerability and attack. Both ships spin out of control, crashing on nearby Earth.



Four million years pass. It is the year 1984, and volcanic activity stirs the half-buried Ark, awakening the computer systems aboard. Teletraan I sends out a sky-spy satellite to reconnoiter this new world, and scans examples of terrestrial machinery in order to reformat the Transformers into new modes. The Decepticon Skywarp is awakened first, and he revives the other Decepticons. Megatron observes that much time has past since the crash. An impudent Starscream leaves a parting shot at the dormant Autobots, unwittingly awakening them, with Optimus Prime as the first autobot to awaken.

Megatron decrees that their mission is to drain Earth of its resources in order to build an ultimate weapon and conquer the universe (as you do). To start, they'll need a base of operations, so he puts Starscream in charge of converting the area for the construction of a new star cruiser. The Decepticon Rumble trashes a nearby power station to serve as raw materials.

Meanwhile, Optimus Prime dispatches Hound and Cliffjumper to scout the area. They find the Decepticons, and Cliffjumper brashly takes a shot at Megatron. He misses, and the Decepticons unleash Laserbeak in pursuit. Hound is blasted and injured.



Autobot medic Ratchet and Hauler come to fetch Hound. Meanwhile, Decepticon Thundercracker and Reflector spot an Earth vehicle coming to investigate the destruction of the power station. Ravage intercepts the vehicle, frightening the human workers away.

Hound is repaired, and reports what he overheard: that the Decepticons are on the hunt for energy. Prime has Jazz assemble a battle group to go after them. The Decepticons attack an off-shore oil rig, where William "Sparkplug" Witwicky and his son Spike work. They begin gathering energon cubes, but are interrupted by the Autobots.

A battle erupts on the drilling platform. Megatron blasts the rig's supports, tipping it into the ocean. It bursts into flames. Realizing the humans are in danger, Optimus Prime tries to save Spike and Sparkplug while the Decepticons retreat with their energon plunder.

To be continued...

Stats
Original airdate: September 17, 1984

Production number: 4023

Written by: George Arthur Bloom

Featured Characters
(''Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Notable quotes
"Prime told me there would be days like this." "And you didn't believe him?" "I do now!"
 * Bumblebee and Wheeljack under fire.

"When do we start the search mission?" "'Soon as you are ready to launch."
 * Prowl is told to hurry up by Optimus Prime

"Fear not, Megatron. Cybertron shall remain as you leave it."
 * Shockwave, more accurate than he realizes.

"But what about materials?" "Use your imagination!"
 * Starscream and Megatron.

"Here's something to keep you warm."
 * Megatron as he ignites the oil spill.

Animation and/or technical glitches

 * The Decepticon "welcoming committee" that tries to detain Wheeljack and Bumblebee includes Seekers with the exact colors of Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker, but with different voices. This group also features an orange Seeker who was retroactively established to be Sunstorm.


 * Further, the welcoming committee is shown to have as many as five members in one shot, but seven distinct color schemes, and rarely more than three jets appear in any single shot. The other jets may have been just offscreen, or mistakes.


 * Immediately after a shot of Optimus Prime rallying his troops to prepare to repulse Decepticon boarders ("Prepare for battle!"), the same animation is re-used, but this time with Megatron's voice urging his troops to "Attack! Attack!" When the episode was re-done for the Generation 2 series, this scene was amended by placing a shot of Megatron sitting on this throne from earlier in the episode over the image, shouting the command.


 * A shot of Soundwave being kicked out of frame by Ironhide is immediately followed by Soundwave sparring with Ratchet.


 * When Soundwave tosses Ratchet into a console aboard the Ark, the Autobot Medic is sporting a Decepticon symbol in the center of his chest windshield, most likely the result of the animator carrying over Soundwave's design.


 * After Ratchet is thrown into the console, Optimus Prime and Megatron enter the frame, struggling with each other. Megatron is missing his fusion cannon in this shot, but it reappears when the angle changes to show them grappling as Prime asks for a status report.


 * As the above shot pans across the bridge to the right, we see Soundwave has teleported from one side of the bridge to the other, slumped against a console. Ratchet has similarly teleported onto the floor next to Thundercracker.


 * When Optimus Prime assigns Hound his mission, the establishing shot has Cliffjumper with Bumblebee's yellow colors.


 * In the long shot of the Decepticons building their base, Soundwave appears in Sideswipe's colors.


 * In the pan shot on the Ark when the Transformers find out they're going to crash, there are TWO Soundwaves...


 * When Rumble (meanie) knocks Spike into the water, his father yells, "Pike!" instead of "Spike"! Ooops!!

Continuity errors

 * Jazz's role-call of the Autobots assembled to stop the Decepticons at the oil platform does not match the Autobots who eventually go on the mission. For example, Huffer and Brawn are both seen next episode at the oil platform, though Jazz never called their names.
 * Because Laserbeak discovered the oil platform long after Hound was chased away, Hound could not have overheard the Decepticon plans to attack the platform. As such, it is unclear how the Autobots knew to go there.
 * The Autobots are all shown flying. In subsequent episodes, this ability would disappear when required.
 * The episode ends with a preview of Part 2. While other multi-part Transformers episodes generally refer to the episode by its title ("Next time, on The Transformers: The Ultimate Doom"), this preview uses the series title, "The Transformers", instead. This is probably because More Than Meets the Eye is a retroactive name for the three part episode, which began as a mini-series before becoming a regular program.

Real-world references

 * References

Transformers references

 * The Decepticon vessel is rediscovered in Microbots.
 * The vessel is named Nemesis in the Beast Wars episode "Nemesis, Part 1", where it is described as the most powerful Decepticon warship in history. Gotta wonder why it went down so easily, though it probably doesn't help that no one was shown piloting the ships during the fighting.

Miscellaneous trivia

 * The events of the Beast Wars cartoon take place during the 4 million years in which the Autobots and Decepticons lie dormant in the wreckage of the Ark.