Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1



Generation One >  Season 3

The Decepticons were thought to be defeated and the Autobots, now led by Rodimus Prime, are looking forward for a more peaceful future. Well, they can’t be more wrong about that.

Detailed synopsis
It is the year 2005. Autobots had reclaimed Cybertron while the Decepticons, now squabbling with each other for energon, retreated to the planet Chaar. Cyclonus realize that to return the Decepticons to fighting form, they need drastic measures.

Somewhere else, the first Galactic Olympics are being held. Blurr is griping about being stuck in a mission with Wheelie when he wants to join the events. But Perceptor wants them to go to Autobot City on Earth, to deliver the new Transformation Cog for Metroplex (his old one was damaged during the battle in the movie).

Meanwhile, the Galactic Olympics were being sabotaged. In the middle of the confusion, Spike, Kup and Ultra Magnus were kidnapped. Rodimus Prime suspects Decepticon shenanigans. Arcee and Springer follow the saboteur’s spaceship escaping the now supposed-to-be quarantined planet.

Cyclonus sneaks into Unicron’s memory banks to watch how Rodimus Prime shoves Galvatron to space. He then did some fast calculations and comes up with Galvatron being in the planet Thrull. There they see their leader soaking up in the hot lava pools.

On Earth, Blaster and Outback goes to Federated Republic of Carbombya to investigate EDC reports of Decepticons in that country. Outback, equipped with a “Decepticon detector”, then flushes out Dirge and Ramjet. The two Autobots get the coordinates of Chaar from them… which they report to Rodimus Prime who wants to there to investigate.

Arcee and Springer, meanwhile, commandeered the Skuxxoid's (that alien mercenary guy) bigger but uglier spaceship. The alien guy escapes and then calls his benefactor to confirm that the Autobots indeed suspect the Deceptions to be behind the disruption. The tentacled, egg-shaped benefactor listens to the report and then tunes out as he looks on as their prisoners, Spike, Kup and Ultra Magnus, were being led by a sharkticon.

Cyclonus, Scourge and the Sweeps return to Chaar, where the rest of the Decepticons are convinced that the solution to their problems was to have a strong leader again. They cheered when they heard that Galvatron lives, and were desperate enough that they give their remaining scraps of energon for reviving him. Rodimus Prime, with Grimlock,were spying nearby and realizes that the Decepticons are too down on their luck to be the ones responsible for the sabotage. Their cover suddenly gets blown and the Decepticons attacks...

Stats
Original airdate: September 1,1986

Written by: Flint Dille

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

Notable quotes
Astrotrain: “In the days of Megatron, it was not like this.” Cyclonus: “You mean Galvatron.” Cyclonus and the Sweeps: “Hail Galvatron! Hail Galvatron! Hail Galvatron!” Astrotrain (Muttering to Menasor): “Well, they were the same guy.”

Ultra Magnus: “Don’t you want to say something about concord and tranquillity in the galaxy?” Rodimus Prime: “Aww, give me a break.”



Rodimus Prime: “This planet is quarantined. Nobody comes; nobody goes until we find Kup, Spike and Magnus.” (A spaceship escapes) Springer: “So much for quarantine. I need a ship!” Arcee: “And you’ll need a gunner!” (They both rush off, leaving Rodimus with cleanup) Rodimus Prime: “Why’d I have to be the chosen one?”

Cyclonus: “There’s nothing to fear, Unicron is dead.” (They hear a sigh.) Cyclonus: “Must be the wind.” Scourge: “There is no wind in space.”

Rodimus Prime: “Our charts don’t show any planets in that sector – no, wait. Here it is. I thought it was a smudge on the screen.” Outback: “Yeah, that fits the description of Chaar.”

Rumble: “I say we pulverowderize the Autobots! I say we pulverowderize ‘em!”

Rodimus Prime: “I never thought I’d feel sorry for the Decepticons.” Grimlock: “Me Grimlock, not feel sorry. Me Grimlock laugh!” (Snickers)

Other Notes

 * First appearance of Outback, Octane, Tantrum, and (gasps!) Abdul Fakkadi.


 * The script calls that alien mercenary guy the script a “Skuxxoid”. It is not sure if it is its name or it is its race.

Animation and/or technical glitches

 * The Constructions forms Devastator, even though Mixmaster is absent in this episode.


 * When Menasor struck Devastator, we get to see only Bonecrusher, Scavenger, Hook and Long Haul when they were forcibly split up.


 * The winner of the race in the Galactic Olympics looks like Jazz, runs like Jazz, transforms like Jazz, but is revealed not to be Jazz.



Continuity errors

 * During the course of the episode, dead and deactivated bots are seen loitering around in Chaar. The list includes Kickback, Sharpnel, Thundercracker, Skywarp, and the supposed-to-still-be-in-Thrull Galvatron.

Real-world references

 * Middle East tensions in the 1980s, resulted in the poorly made (depending on who you ask) spoof called Carbombya.

Miscellaneous trivia

 * In an interview with Flint Dille, he said that the Quintesson origin story came from his and a fellow writer, Jay Bacal, aborted script for the movie, “Secrets of Cybertron”.

Keywords
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Quintessons, Season 3 episode