God Ginrai - Showdown on the Surface of the Moon



On the lunar surface, God Ginrai fights a desperate battle against Overlord and BlackZarak, with the fate of the world at stake!


 * English/Malay dub name:  "Battle in Space"
 * Also known as: "Showdown on the Moon"

Detailed synopsis
On the surface of the moon, God Ginrai has been badly wounded by BlackZarak and Overlord. BlackZarak continues to pummel the crippled Autobot, but Overlord requests that be allowed to take over, for fear of BlackZarak being injured. The battle rages on, and Ginrai is able to dispatch Overlord with his God Cannon, only for BlackZarak to strike back, toppling Ginrai into a crater and pouncing on him in scorpion mode. Ginrai hurls his foe off of him, but his respite is short lived when Overlord appears again and separates into his component parts for a two-pronged attack. Again, the God Cannon saves his bacon when he blasts the Megajet out of the air with it, but BlackZarak then shoots Ginrai in the back, knocking the God Cannon off his body and out of his reach.

Down on Earth, the Autobots find that a magnetic storm is cutting off communications with Ginrai. Lander attempts to defuse the tense mood in the room by joking that Ginrai doesn't realize that they're trying to contact him because they're calling him "commander," but the Headmaster Juniors don't take the joke well, and he and the Pretenders retire for a drink. Lightfoot and the Juniors attempt to relax with tea, and Cab and Shūta try relaxing with a Rubix cube, but it only frustrates them more. At the instant the communications console starts to beep, everyone rushes over, but it is only Grand Maximus on the other end of the line, who reports that he is heading for the moon at that very moment.

Back on the moon, the injured Ginrai has managed to escape his foes for few moments and reclaim the God Cannon, but before long, he finds himself trapped, with a Decepticon on either side. Suddenly, Ginrai evens the odds by splitting off from Godbomber, who circles around behind Overlord while Ginrai draws his fire and blasts him in the back. Overlord loses his grip on his blaster and Ginrai seizes it, opening fire on BlackZarak, but the monstrous Decepticon dodges and sends Ginrai rolling across the lunar surface with an unrelenting volley of blasts. Just as BlackZarak seems poised to deliver the killing blow, a hail of laser fire rakes the moon's surface, forcing him back – Grand Maximus has arrived! Grand transforms into his giant robot mode and engages BlackZarak in hand-to-hand combat, giving Ginrai the time he needs to make contact with the Autobots on Earth. As he updates them on the situation, he looks down on the Earth, at last truly recognizing the beauty of the planet compared to the rocky wasteland of the moon, and vows to be its protector. Emotionally charged, he turns and dives into the fray, knocking BlackZarak back. With the numbers between the two sides now even, Overlord encourages BlackZarak to pull out and head for Earth in accordance with Devil Z's wishes, but Ginrai recombines with Godbomber and he and Grand give chase. The battle continues in space, with Ginrai blasting Overlord back down to the moon's surface as Grand Maximus and BlackZarak trade blaster fire in their ship modes. Ginrai boards Grand and delivers a massive last of Chokon Power, sending BlackZarak tumbling down to the moon as well. There, BlackZarak finds Overlord and instructs him to return to Earth and inform Devil Z of the situation, but Overlord is indignant at being given orders, and insists that BlackZarak must accompany him to Earth. BlackZarak refuses, and Overlord only acquiesces because of his injuries. In seconds, Ginrai and Grand Maxims are upon them again, and Overlord flees while BlackZarak tackles Ginrai head on. A "God Punch" attack from Ginrai forces BlackZarak back, and he follows it up with his "God Fire Guts" attack, wreathing himself in flaming Chokon Power and crashing like a meteor into BlackZarak. BlackZarak's body tumbles back to the ground, having been decapitated by the sheer force of the blast... but as his disembodied head lies burning on the ground, his headless body rises unsteadily, and flees into space, heading away from the Earth! Although Ginrai is concerned that the threat of BlackZarak is not over, Grand Maximus assures him that the rest can be left in his hands. He parts ways with Ginrai and heads after BlackZarak, and Ginrai then heads back down to Earth to reunite with the other Autobots, who are busy celebrating his victory, with Lander once again in favor of a drink to do the job.

Stats
Written by:  Hiroyuki Hoshiyama

Original airdate: 1st November 1988

Featured Characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Continuity errors

 * At the end of the previous episode, BlackZarak appeared in robot mode and impaled God Ginrai through the shoulder with his spear. And yet, at the start of this episode, he's in scorpion mode, goes through a super-dramatic showy-offy transform sequence as if this was the first time we were seeing his robot mode, and – in what can only be described as a moment of utter bizarreness – Overlord isn't sure who he is! And throughout all of this, Ginrai's still got the puncture wound in his shoulder! This is bad enough on its own, but it's compounded by the fact that the episode is preceded by a "last time" segment that shows clips of all this happening!!
 * The ignorance even carries over to the Autobots, who all claim never to have heard BlackZarak's name before!

Transformers references

 * This episode brings to a close the current story arc of the series – centred on the looming threat of BlackZarak, the creation of Godbomber and the formation of God Ginrai – which has been running since "Life? Death? Lightfoot Must Choose".
 * Ginrai recalls the Decepticons' asteroid bombardment of Earth from "Expose the Decepticons' Dark Deception!", realizing that BlackZarak was responsible for it.
 * In the course of the battle, Ginrai discovers that Overlord is not, as he had previously thought, the leader of the Decepticons. It's easy to forget as a member of the audience, but the Autobots are thus far unaware of the existence of Devil Z, and this is the first hint they receive.
 * Ginrai was appointed Autobot commander back in "The Autobot Warrior, Sixknight?!", but this has not really been touched on since then, and he has been seen taking orders from Metalhawk. It is this episode in which he truly embraces his role as protector of Earth and leader of the Autobots.
 * Previously seen in "Save the Little Girl! The Chojin Warriors, the Godmasters" (as the "Atomic Fire Guts") and in "Expose the Decepticons' Dark Deception!" (as the "Super Fire Guts"), Ginrai unleashes the third – and most famous - form of his "Fire Guts" attack for the first time in this episode: the "God Fire Guts."

Miscellaneous trivia

 * Okay, so, you're probably wondering how the heck BlackZarak is able to function perfectly when his head's been blasted off his body. It's not the last time it happens in the series, either, but like so many other things, no explanation is ever actually offered, either in the broadcast series, or in any of the direct-to-video clip episodes. The answer to this conundrum is actually given in the Masterforce manga, of all places, but even then, to understand it, one must understand that BlackZarak is, in fact, the original Scorponok from The Headmasters – a fact which is also not revealed in the broadcast series, but which was explained in the exclusive "Super Secrets" segment added to the video release of "With the Masterforce, You Too Transform". Issue #9 of the manga explains that Scorponok does not connect to this new Transtector as a head, but is, in fact, wired into the chest compartment. This, then, is how he is able to survive having his noggin blasted off – because that's not where his brains are.
 * The Metrodome R2 DVD release of this episode features an audio commentary by Chris McFeely.