One Shall Rise, Part 1

One Shall Rise, Part 1 is the nineteenth episode of Transformers: Prime. It is the twenty-fourth episode of the series overall.

Premise
Unicron, located at the center of the Earth, is awakening and threatens to destroy the planet. Meanwhile, Optimus Prime must stop Unicron and Megatron, who attempts to side with the chaos-bringer.

Synopsis
As Dark Energon rains from the sky and Megatron prepares to deliver a killing blow to Optimus Prime, a Ground Bridge opens and Bulkhead tackles Megatron. While the big guy keeps Megatron busy, Arcee and Ratchet pull Optimus through the Ground Bridge. Arcee calls out to Bulkhead, who races back through the Ground Bridge just before it closes. Megatron, left alone, realizes he now has all of the Dark Energon he needs. Back at base, Optimus is glad to see that Raf is OK, but June reminds him that Raf's lucky to be alive. The Autobots discuss why so much Dark Energon is on Earth, though Ratchet is skeptical that it's literally the blood of Unicron. Sick of the kids being endangered, June decides to take Raf to a real hospital, and announces she's taking the other kids as well, since they don't belong in the Autobots' war out of a desperate attempt to restore normalcy. Miko refuses to go, and Jack decides to stay too. June takes off in her car with Raf, which later proves to be a nearly fatal mistake. No sooner has she left than Agent Fowler contacts the Autobots to report that earthquakes have occurred simultaneously worldwide, and other disasters are springing up as well.

As June drives away the base, lightning begins striking the ground near her car. She swerves to avoid it, and crashes into a power pole, though neither she nor Raf are hurt. The danger is not over, however, as a tornado begins bearing down on them. June tries to escape from it, but it begins to lift the car off the ground. Help arrives in the form of Bumblebee, who grabs the car's front end and prevents it from flying off into the storm, while Raf climbs onto him over the hood. There's a moment of alarm as the car is ripped away, but June manages to survive clinging to the hood which Bumblebee is still clutching. Bumblebee drives the relieved pair back to base.

Back at the volcano, the Decepticons are busy gathering up Dark Energon and loading it aboard the Nemesis. On the ship's bridge, Megatron is suddenly seized by a vision of the Earth exploding. Bumblebee arrives back at base, and everyone's relieved to see Raf and June safe, though she grounds Jack for disobeying her orders of going home with her until he's twenty-five. At roughly the same time, Fowler arrives to find out if the Autobots have made any progress in finding answers. Ratchet has traced the source of the earthquakes to the Earth's core, and when he plays the tiny tremors as sound, everyone present hears a heartbeat. Meanwhile, Soundwave plays the same sound to Megatron, who feels it resonating through his head.

Deep within the volcano, Unicron awakens.

Realizing that Unicron is at the Earth's core, Optimus explains to the humans present about the age-old war between Primus and Unicron, the creation of the Thirteen, the Well of Allsparks, and the defeat of Unicron. Fowler thinks they should find the hole Unicron crawled into the Earth through and fill it with explosives, but Optimus believes that the Earth formed around Unicron as he slept. Everyone wonders what will happen next.

Airachnid reports that the Nemesis hold is full of Dark Energon. Megatron places her in command while he goes to talk to Unicron. As the ship moves away, Megatron flies down to the lip of the volcano and beseeches Unicron to speak to him. Unicron is unimpressed with Megatron and senses the taint of Primus. Unicron is shocked that the last of the Primes still lives and tells Megatron he'll deal with it himself. Optimus scouts one of the locations where a quake has struck and confirms that, like the others, it's rich in metals. Ratchet warns him of an increase in spark activity, and a few moments later, Unicron himself appears to Optimus as a huge, stone being. Optimus asks Unicron to consider the many humans inhabiting Earth who rely on Unicron, but Unicron considers them parasites and opts to strike Optimus with lightning instead. Optimus retaliates, blasting Unicron until the stone golem falls and crumbles into the ground. Optimus has not won, however, as more Unicrons burst out of the ground all around him.

To be continued....

Autobots

 * Optimus Prime
 * Bulkhead
 * Arcee
 * Ratchet
 * Bumblebee

Decepticons

 * Megatron
 * Unicron
 * Decepticon Miners
 * Soundwave
 * Airachnid

Humans

 * June Darby
 * Rafael Esquivel
 * Jack Darby
 * Miko Nakadai
 * William Fowler

Others

 * The Thirteen (flashback only)

Cast

 * Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime
 * Frank Welker as Megatron
 * Sumalee Montano as Arcee
 * Kevin Michael Richardson as Bulkhead/Newscaster
 * Jeffrey Combs as Ratchet
 * Gina Torres as Airachnid
 * Josh Keaton as Jackson Darby
 * Tania Gunadi as Miko Nakadai
 * Andy Pessoa as Rafael Esquivel
 * Markie Post as June Darby
 * Ernie Hudson as William Fowler
 * John Noble as Unicron

Quotes
Miko: ''The ‘Cons killed a unicorn?" (Awkward silence) "White horse with a horn on its head... prances around all sparkly?''

— Miko makes the first canon Unicron/unicorn joke in twenty-five years.

Optimus: ''June, it deeply grieves me that I have failed. But I will do everything in my power to ensure that no harm comes to our human friends or any human ever again.''

June: ''Optimus…they’re children. They do not belong in your world. They should be worrying about grades, prom dates, pimples—not their own survival!''

— A spark-to-heart in which Optimus and June don't quite see optic-to-eye.

Optimus: ''Before the beginning...there was Primus. And there was Unicron. One, the incarnation of creation—the other...of destruction. For eons, Primus and Unicron battled, the balance of power shifting between them more times than could be counted. Only by creating the Thirteen—the original Primes who preceded me—was Primus finally able to defeat Unicron and cast him out. Primus became one with the very core of our planet, creating life through the Well of All Sparks, while Unicron was never to be heard from again...until now.''

—Optimus Prime tells the tale.

Unicron: ''Silence, worm! I have no need of your lowly assistance.''

Megatron: ''Please, my lord. I exist only to serve you.'' Unicron: ''What is this I sense? The taint of Primus? Here?!''

Megatron: That is Optimus, the last of the Primes, our sworn enemy.

Unicron: You profess loyalty to me, yet allow a disciple of Primus to live?!

Megatron: ''I will destroy him for you! His screams will be heard — ''

Unicron: ''I grow weary of your prattle. Surely if you had the power to destroy this Prime, you would have done so already. I will deal with him myself.''

— Confronting Unicron himself, Megatron starts to feel a little like Starscream.

Errors/Notes

 * A tornado with enough wind force to pull a car and the Autobot holding it should have sucked June and Raf in the second they exited the vehicle.


 * Optimus claims that the Earth's core is made of magma (or at least that humans believe this), but he's got his layers mixed up. It's the mantle that's made of magma, while the core is made of nickel and iron.


 * When Optimus tries to reason with Unicron, the Chaos Bringer detaches his spikes to reveal his hands, but after Prime guns him down the spikes are back again.

Gallery
Main Article: One Shall Rise, Part 1/Gallery

Trivia

 * This episode was initially intended to air on TeleToon on August 28, 2011, but its broadcast was replaced at the last minute by a rerun of "Predatory". It aired in Singapore on September 29, 2011.


 * This episode's intro sequence is shorter than previous ones, skipping the shots of the kids with their respective partners.


 * In a difference to the usual Primus/Unicron mythos, Unicron is shown physically stomping across Cybertron (and is later described as having shed his physical form completely) and Primus is said to have later become "one" with the planet as if it pre-exists him.


 * The piece of music that plays during the scene with Jack's potential separation from Arcee is the one that can be heard back during the similar situations in "Darkness Rising, Part 4" and "Darkness Rising, Part 5".


 * As the Autobots watch a news report of various catastrophes around the globe, the corner of the ticker running across the bottom of the screen displays mostly positive financial growth.


 * As of this episode, June dubs Jack grounded until the age of twenty-five. Let's see how long that lasts.


 * In his confrontation with Unicron, Optimus does not reveal his mask once. Perhaps he doesn't consider this a real battle for his life.


 * We get to see twelve of the Thirteen. It's the first time we've seen this many of them assembled on television.