Fight to the Death!! Antarctic Battle



When a Decepticon drilling operation begins to melt the polar ice caps, Star Saber clashes with Liokaiser and Deathsaurus to save the life of Jean's classmate's father.


 * English/Malay dub name:  "Battle in the Antarctic"
 * Also known as: "Battle to the Death at the South Pole," "Struggle at the South Pole"

Detailed synopsis
Somewhere in the frozen wastes of Antarctica, electricity crackles in the night, and with sudden, frightening speed, glaciers begin to melt, pouring into the ocean. A United Nations monitoring station nearby attempts to catalogue the seismic disturbances, but when the most powerful tremor yet hits, the station is devastated by an avalanche.

At the tip of South America, the Multiforce perform rescue operations in a coastal city that has become flooded due to sudden rising water levels. Machtackle randomly speculates that the hypothetical melting of the polar ice caps could be responsible, and if on cue, Star Saber radios the team and orders them to Antarctica to investigate the sudden loss of contact with the monitoring station.

At the same time, at the Shuttle Base Jean and his school friends are half-heartedly working on their summer schoolwork when Holi peeps his head around the door, and is very nearly press-ganged into doing all their work for them. Holi refuses, so Jean decides instead to ask Star Saber for permission to use the computer, but Holi tells him that Star Saber is leaving to investigate the Antarctic base. Jean's friend Clump flies into a panic, as his father works at the base, and he and Jean accompany Star Saber and Galaxy Shuttle to the South Pole.

In Antarctica, the cause of the disturbances becomes evidentit is, of course, the Decepticons, who are drilling for oil beneath the permafrost. Their crackling drilling equipment is observed from afar by Clump's father, who has holed up in an ice cave with a small group of survivors from the monitoring station. Unable to risk trekking across the ice to the next nearest base, they are out of options until they hear engines overhead, and spot Wing and Mach investigating the area. The two Multiforcers transform to help the humans, but are spotted by the Breastforce, who combine into Liokaiser, leaving the two Autobots in serious trouble. Thankfully, the other members of their team soon arrive (with Waver towing the others across the icy sea), and the group merges into Landcross to even the battle out. Liokaiser tips the scales in his favor by revealing his previously-unseen power of invisibility, vanishing from sight and pummelling Landcross with ease. To escape being hurled into the drilling shaft, the Multiforce separate, and Wing and Mach manage send Liokaiser to that fate instead by following his footprints in the snow and snagging him with a trip-wire. To beak his fall, Liokaiser grabs onto the drilling machine, throwing it off-kilter and causing the ice surrounding Clump's father and the other survivors to break and melt, carrying them away. The Multiforce form Landcross again as Liokaiser climbs to safety and fights back, but Star Saber arrives in time to take over the battle. Liokaiser surprises Star Saber with his "Battle Explosion" technique, separating into his component parts, attacking individually and recombining in one smooth motion, but Star Saber keeps on fighting, even as Galaxy Shuttle arrives with Jean, Clump, Holi and Boater. As Boater takes Jean and Clump to rescue Clump's father and the other survivors from the ice floe on which they are trapped, Galaxy Shuttle tends to Landcross and then attempts to aid Star Saber in battle, only to fall victim to Liokaiser's invisibility powers as well. Star Saber is finally flattened by his invisible foe, but as Liokaiser looms over him to deliver the final blow, Deathsaurus emerges and prepares to take that pleasure for himself. Liokaiser is taken aback by this, but steps aside to allow his emperor to strike, only to have Star Saber exploit the momentary distraction by transforming and taking to the air. Deathsaurus pursues the Autobot leader and blasts him out of the sky, but Star Saber recovers quickly and takes the fight under the freezing water, where he manages to turn things around and blast Deathsaurus into an iceberg. Deathsaurus retreats back to the surface, where the fight continues in the air until Star Saber is able to ground his enemy. Deathsaurus still has plenty of fight left in him and begins choking Star Saber with the chain of his flail, but Star Saber is able to flip the villain over his shoulder as Liokaiser stands back and watches, grunting to himself that Deathsaurus should have left Star Saber to him. Meanwhile, ignored by the villains, Galaxy Shuttle snipes the Decepticons' drilling equipment, and it explodes rather dramatically, prompting Deathsaurus to call retreat.

After the Decepticons flee in the Thunder Arrow, the Autobots and humans all gather together, and Clump's father thanks Star Saber for saving them all. Jean remarks that it looks like a happy ending for everyone, until Holi reminds him that he's still got homework to do!

Stats
Written by:  Hajime Suzuki

Original airdate: 5th September 1989

Featured Characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Transformers references

 * It is noted that Star Saber goes to Antarctica instead of Road Caesar, due to injuries the combiner suffered in the previous episode.

Miscellaneous trivia

 * Talk about filling for time: Liokaiser, Landcross and Star Saber have their complete combination/transformation stock footage used TWICE each in this episode. And they ain't short!