More than Meets the Eye, Part 2



The Decepticons continue raiding Earth's energy sources, including Sherman Dam and the Ruby Crystal Mines of Burma.


 * Japanese title: "Secret of the Ruby Crystals"
 * Russian Tv dub title (6th channel): "Ne vse tak prosto. Chast 2" ("Not so simple. Part 2")

Detailed synopsis


The fire at the off-shore oil rig continues to grow. Poor Huffer is caught in some girders, but is freed by Brawn. Not so easy to extricate are the humans Spike and Sparkplug Witwicky. As Optimus Prime grapples with the debris trapping the workers, Trailbreaker and Wheeljack put out the fire. Rescued by Prime, Spike and Sparkplug introduce themselves to the Autobots, offering their terrestrial knowledge to help them.



Their newfound human friends return with the Autobots to their headquarters. As Spike explores the Ark, he finds a small cassette player and brings it in with him, setting it aside. Little does he realize he has brought Soundwave into Autobot Headquarters. Soundwave and his minion Ravage begin using Teletraan I to locate Earth's most plentiful energy resources. Meanwhile Spike enjoys a tour of the headquarters and some sunset joyriding with Hound. Returning to the base, Spike spots Soundwave's intrusion and sounds the alarm. Soundwave escapes, but the Autobots catch Ravage, thanks to Gears' infrared light.

Soundwave briefs Megatron on his findings. Megatron decides to attack Sherman Dam, causing a tidal wave to increase the dam's output. The next day, the Decepticons arrive at the dam. Rumble dives into the river and activates his piledrivers to whip the river into dangerous rapids. The energy output is detected by Teletraan I, and the Autobots rush there to stop the Decepticons.



With the river at its peak, the Decepticons begin producing energon cubes. The Autobots arrive, and a battle ensues. Hound dives into the river to stop Rumble's quaking, and the two scuffle in the depths, with the Autobot coming off worse. Ironhide and Bumblebee help divert the course of the river to save a nearby neighborhood from being flooded. Megatron and Optimus Prime duel with energy melee weapons atop Sherman Dam while exchanging insults. Megatron knocks Prime into the rapids (the latter was distracted by Spike's shouts for help) and he and his Decepticons escape with their spoils.

Jazz helps pull Prime from the river. The Autobots regroup and vow to stop the Decepticons as they continue their activities across the land... but apparently don't do a very good job of it at all. The space cruiser they are developing is almost complete, and they are one more energy raid away from having enough fuel to return to Cybertron. Unfortunately, the impudent Starscream feels the need to test some of the energon cubes. His wasteful experimenting forces the Decepticons to now make two trips. Their first destination, the Ruby Crystal Mines of Burma. These plans are overheard by Trailbreaker, Spike and Sparkplug, who are eavesdropping on the Decepticons.



As Trailbreaker returns to Autobot headquarters to relay the news, the trio are attacked by a pair of generic Seekers. Sparkplug radios for help, which comes in the form of Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. Sunstreaker uses a vehicle-mode cannon to give one of the Seekers a small scratch on its wing, prompting the two jets to retreat.

The Decepticons are soon in Burma, pulling energetic rubies from the Earth's crust. The Autobots wait for them outside the mine. Wheeljack has developed a powerful and compact explosive. Bumblebee and Sparkplug volunteer to plant the charge in the mine. They do so, but are caught by Thundercracker and Skywarp as they make their escape.

Concerned that Sparkplug and Bumblebee haven't returned, Optimus Prime drives up the mine's entrance and dispatches Roller into the mine. The explosive detonates, and the blast knocks Prime off his wheels, sending him tumbling down the mountainside.

To be continued...

Stats
Original airdate: September 18, 1984

Written by: George Arthur Bloom

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

Notable quotes
"For someone who doesn't like to fight, heh, you're not bad, Mirage!"
 * Cliffjumper complimenting Mirage after he helped fight off Skywarp and Thundercracker

"You destroy everything you touch, Megatron!" "Because everything I touch is food for my hunger, my hunger for power!"
 * Optimus Prime and Megatron banter while fighting on top of Sherman Dam

"You're old, Megatron. Yesterday's modelready for the scrap heap!" "We'll see who's ready for the scrap heap!" "Junk! That's what you are, junk!" "Silence!"
 * Optimus Prime insults Megatron during their battle

"Don't push me, Megatron, my desire for power is as great as yours!" "Power flows to the one who knows how. Desire alone is not enough." "Time makes all things possible. I can wait."
 * Starscream and Megatron, foreshadowing several repetitive scenes in the future

"Let's give Megatron a little present." "Heh. Maybe we oughtta wrap him up and put a little bow on him."
 * Skywarp and Thundercracker on capturing Bumblebee. Not seen: Bumblebee's humiliated weeping.

Animation and/or technical glitches



 * In the recap of Part 1 at the beginning of the episode, a scene is shown in which Optimus Prime is trying to lift a grate trapping Spike and Sparkplug. However, in Part 1, the grate was orange, while in the recap that same grate is shown as gray.


 * Huffer's trapped arm does not appear to actually connect to his torso.


 * As Huffer and Brawn converse, Brawn's lips move for Huffer's line, "Let's take off."


 * After picking up Soundwave, Spike runs into the Ark carrying his rucksack slung over his shoulder. In the next shot, the rucksack has vanished.


 * When Gears transforms, his blue parts change to red, but in the subsequent shot, they are the correct shade of blue. He and Hound are also extremely tiny in their vehicle modes.


 * It's supposedly "too dark" to spot Ravage on the cliffs without the use of Gears's infrared, but the visuals of the scene make it look like it's happening in mid-day...even though Hound was taking Spike on an early-evening joyride just before.


 * When arriving at the dam, Optimus Prime speaks the line "We've got to work fast," but it is Prowl shown talking.


 * One of the neighbors that Ironhide and Bumblebee rescue appears to be a woman in a pink dress...with a man's voice as she says, "Thanks, neighbor!" (Then again, you never know.)


 * Rumble is in two places at once during the battle at Sherman Dam. He is underwater struggling against Hound but is also fighting against Jazz and Bluestreak inside the turbine room of the power generators. (Then again...)


 * During the scene in which Sparkplug radios the Autobots for assistance while riding inside Trailbreaker, when he supposedly passes the radio to Spike, the radio has vanished from his hand.


 * In one scene of Decepticons filling energon cubes, there is a registration error that causes Soundwave's legs to vanish several frames before the foreground content is meant to block them.


 * When the strike force is present, there are two Skywarps, two Thundercrackers and seven Reflectors.


 * In the establishing shot of the Autobots outside the Burma ruby mines, Ratchet's head is black and gray. The next time the shot is repeated, Bluestreak's head is yellow, making his head resemble Bumblebee's.

Continuity errors

 * Large numbers of generic Decepticons appear in this episode, primarily Seekers and Reflector-types as usual, but also has numerous, oddly colored clones of Rumble, a "generic" type that would not appear after this mini-series.


 * When Spike tells Jazz that there's trouble at Sherman Dam, the screen shows what is presumably Cybertronian text. Spike shouldn't be able to read this. Then again, the language on the screen differs significantly from the Ancient Autobot language the Decepticons find in Cosmic Rust. It's also rather different from the Ancient Cybrertronian that Cerebros finds on the control panel of the Plasma Energy Chamber in The Rebirth, Part 1. It's possible that Jazz is reading the modern version of these languages...or it's just an extremely poor rendering of English.


 * In the scene when Spike goes into the river to rescue Hound, he's able to lift the rock pinning the Autobot down. Wasn't that supposedly doubly-heavy? Guess Spike is somehow stronger than Hound. Of course, this won't be the last time Spike demonstrates The Rebirth Part 3.


 * The episode begins with a recap of Part 1 and ends with a preview of Part 3. As with the preview at the end of Part 1, this preview refers to the next episode simply as The Transformers.

Real-world references

 * Burma is a country in southeast Asia, currently known to the United Nations as Myanmar.

Miscellaneous trivia

 * When Hound submerges to pursue Rumble, he drops a face shield into place, implying he may be susceptible to water.


 * Gears is called by name and gets to display a special power in this episode, but he has no dialogue.


 * The likelihood of rubies being a viable power source is questionable. But given the explosive evidence provided in this episode, it's probably best never to purchase rubies for your spouse.


 * Early in the episode, the scene is shown changing from the Ark to a similar-looking shack nearby. This shack appears to have the same construction as the Ark itself, but is not a part of the ship. This shack is almost never seen again, except in the episode "The Ultimate Doom, Part 2" and in "The Autobot Run".


 * Sparkplug claims that he used to work at the diamond mine in Burma. The diamond mine Burma, really?


 * How can Sparkplug survive being punched directly in the ribcage and into a stone wall by Thundercracker? He should be wall-pizza after that. Fortunately for Thundercracker, if he's pulling his punches, Skywarp is probably too stupid to notice.


 * The dam sequence was adapted for the UK comic story "Decepticon Dam-Busters!" in isues #29-30.


 * Brawn uses a blow torch to free Huffer's oil-soaked arm, and somehow, it doesn't catch fire.