Resurrection!? The Decepticon Fortress



'''The bitter memories that rise to the surface when Deathsaurus attempts to re-energize his fortress force the Decepticon leader into a deadly outer space battle with Star Saber. '''


 * English/Malay dub name:  "The Reactivation of the Space Headquarters"
 * Also known as: "The Resurrection of the Decepticon Fortress!?", "The Destron Fortress Resurrected"

Detailed synopsis
The work on planet Micro done, the Autobots head back to Earth. The Rescue Team bid their homeworld a tearful farewell, while Jean teases Holi about being parted from his girlfriend. The other Rescues get in on the yuks... until they realize that they don't even have girlfriends, and start crying even harder.

Meanwhile, Deathsaurus and the Dinoforce are heading for the black depths of Dark Nebula aboard the Thunder Arrow, in order to locate the Decepticon leader's massive planet-destroying fortress. As the Dinoforce stare slack-jawed at the immense fortress, the Thunder Arrow flies into its depleted energy reactor and transfers its own stockpile of energy into the fortress's systems. As the villains watch, pinpricks of light begin appearing throughout the fortress as the energy steadily reactivates its systems... but as the Dinoforce cheer and dance, the lights suddenly go out, and the fortress becomes dark once more. Goryu points out that they did not bring enough energy to fully power the fortress, but Deathsaurus explains that he was aware of that, and merely wished to make sure that the fortress was still in working order. The mission accomplished, Deathsaurus recounts the tale of how he built his fortress years earlier, while he was still vying for the position of Emperor of Destruction. The young Autobot commander, Star Saber discovered his plans and led a massive attack on the fortress, clashing personally with Deathsaurus while his teams planted a series of gravity boosters on the fortress's surface. Upon activation, the gravity boosters absorbed the fortress's energy and encased it in a gravity cell, in the hyperdense depths of the Dark Nebula. Deathsaurus vowed vengeance upon Star Saber, but as he concludes his story, the possibility of revenge suddenly seems very close at hand, as Yokuryu reports that Star Saber is flying nearby!

Off out in space, as Star Saber and Galaxy Shuttle continue on their way, they suddenly pick up something on their radar. The hail of laser fire that quickly surrounds them heralds the arrival of the Thunder Arrow, and Star Saber swings around to face the ship head on. Deathsaurus leaps from the hull of the Thunder Arrow and he and Star Saber begin a brutal one-on-one battle, punctuated by Deathsaurus's unveiling of his mightiest weapon: the Living Metal Destroying Cannon!

At the same time as this battle rages, the Dinoforce decide to follow their emperor's example and take on their foes face-to-face. Linking the Thunder Arrow and Galaxy Shuttle with an energy tube, they attempt to board the Galaxy Shuttle, but the Rescue Team repel their approach with a hail of debris. When Fire blasts the whole team back down the tube into the Thunder Arrow with a high pressure water blast, Goryu opts for a "no mercy" approach, and launches a bomb down the energy tube instead. Jean is quick to act, activating Galaxy Shutle's external manipulator arms and using them to squeeze down on the tube, narrowing it so that the bomb cannot pass through. The bomb drifts back down to the Thunder Arrow before the Dinoforce can disengage the tube and smashes straight through the hull and out the other side... all without exploding, since Kakuryu forgot to install the ignition plug in the first place!

Back with Star Saber and Deathsaurus, the Autobot's body is wracked by the deadly blasts of the Living Metal Destroying Cannon, which steadily eats away at the metal cells of his body. Deathsaurus transforms to robot mode and links the cannon up with his internal systems to increase its power, but as he monologues about his fortress and presses the cannon against Star Saber's head, Galaxy Shuttle swoops in and opens fire on the villain. He turns the cannon on the shuttle and clips it with a blast, then swings back around to face Star Saber, quickly pulling the trigger, only for the energy beam to fizzle out before it can strike his foe. Both the cannon and Deathsaurus's sword disappear into subspace, and he realizes that he has depleted too much of his energy in reactivating the fortress, leaving him unable to summon them. The crippled Thunder Arrow drifts by overhead, and Deathsaurus cackles that he will let Star Saber live for now, before flying off to rejoin his troops. Star Saber realizes how close he came to death, and resolves not to underestimate Deathsaurus's power, or his fearsome obsessiveness.

Stats
Written by:  Yoshihisa Araki

Original airdate: 29th August 1989

Featured Characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Transformers references

 * Star Saber and the other Autobots have been on planet Micro since "Planet Micro - The Mysterious Warrior".
 * The Dark Nebula was first name-checked in the first episode, "The Brave Hero of the Universe - Star Saber."
 * The existence of Deathsaurus's fortress was revealed in "Explosion!! The Energy Base".

Miscellaneous trivia

 * Although it was not a common occurrence in the American cartoon, weapons would on very rare occasions appear and disappear in a flash of light, as a sort of animation cheat that sidestepped the bothersome question of where the guns went when the robots transformed (totally subspace). Super-God Masterforce turned it into a moderately regular thing, with God Ginrai summoning and dispelling his guns, but Victory does it like it was going out of style, with literally every character who wields a weapon simply summoning up said implement in a flash of blueish light, without even making a mock "reach-behind-their-back" motion. This episode actually makes a bit of plot point out of it, with Deathsaurus being unable to summon up his weapons because he has run out of energy.