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The Autobots discover a race of aliens who have also experienced persecution from the Quintessons.
The Face of the Nijika (Japanese title: "Save the Planet of Telepathy") is the twenty-seventh episode of the third season of The Transformers and overall is the ninety-second episode in The Transformers series overall. It is the ninety-second episode of the G1 Era of Transformers.
Detailed synopsis[]
Sky Lynx, who is carrying Rodimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Blurr, and Perceptor, detects a disturbance nearby and discovers Galvatron bashing on some strange disk. They also detect a Quintesson ship heading for that same location. Perceptor speculates that the Quintessons don't want Galvatron meddling with the disk, so Rodimus decides to meddle with the Decepticons and the Quintessons.
At the disk, Galvatron continues bashing away, taking a moment to bash Cyclonus when he warns the Decepticon leader that the Quintessons are approaching. The Quintessons fire at Galvatron and are thankful that the quadrant lock is not damaged. However, the Autobots then arrive. The Quintessons refuse to let the Autobots learn anything about the lock...unless, say, they learn from the other side. Opening the lock, the Quintessons drive their ship through, taking Rodimus, Magnus, Blurr, and Perceptor with them. Unwilling to let the Autobots learn its secrets, Galvatron throws Cyclonus at them so he is also drawn through the lock, which closes. Unfortunately for the Quints, their isolator key has been damaged, and it is the only thing that can open the quadrant lock. However, Perceptor has a universal emulator, which could serve as a replacement.
Falling into the gravity well of the nearby planet Zamojin, Perceptor announces that he is suffering from transformation paralysis, and is stuck in microscope mode. However, the other Autobots do not respond. On the planet, members of a primitive, humanoid civilization see their descent. One man declares that the "devils" have returned. However, a blacksmith outside the city sees them and goes to investigate, recovering Perceptor. Meanwhile, the Autobots are not doing so well after their crash-landing. Rodimus and Magnus hit the trees, which are as hard as rocks, while Blurr hit an actual rock and is so injured he cannot walk. Rodimus tells him to lean on "fearless leader", while Magnus wonders where Perceptor crashed.
At his hut, the blacksmith removes Perceptor's insignia, which also contains his universal emulator. Having tracked Perceptor's descent, the Quintessons dispatch a pair of Sharkticons to deal retrieve the scientist, but someone follows them. The blacksmith places Perceptor's insignia on a small, female robot called Nijika. The Sharkticons arrive, but the blacksmith fights them off with ease, damaging their armor with his bare hands. (Holy slag!) Meanwhile, Perceptor, having taken control of Nijika, asks the blacksmith, named Katsu Don, what is going on. Perceptor learns that the Zamojin were once advanced and that they had developed interstellar travel, protected by the guardian Kodu Ri. Katsu Don's ancestor, Niko Don, built Nijika as an exploration drone, hoping to make contact with other races. However, the Quintessons attacked, damaging Kodu Ri and Nijika, then sealed them with the quadrant lock, which blacked out the stars. The Zamojin were reduced from technologically advanced to primitive within a very short amount of time and have been that way since. Perceptor concludes that something about the Zamojin terrified the Quintessons so much that they locked them in this part of space, and now he and Katsu Don need to warn the latter's people that the Quintessons have returned.
Elsewhere, Rodimus, Magnus, and Blurr are moving, but Blurr is slowing them down. (That's a turnaround.) Blurr tells them to leave him and find Perceptor, as only he can repair Blurr. Though not happy, they agree. This proves a mistake, for moments later, a band of warriors finds Blurr. On the Quintesson ship, the Quintessons are debating what to do. One of them will have to go to the surface, but if a single Zamojin damaged two Sharkticons, what chance do they have? Cyclonus appears and offers them a deal: Give Galvatron the secrets of the quadrant lock, and he will go with one of them to retrieve Perceptor. Looking for Perceptor, Rodimus and Magnus are attacked by a group of warriors but are able to drive them off. They locate Perceptor's body, but without the emulator, he is offline. Rodimus and Magnus decide to search the city.
At the city of Tozin, the Zamojin are preparing to melt Blurr, but he is not that worried. Cyclonus shouts out "burn him", inciting the Zamojin to lower him in. For a Con who shows no emotion, Cyclonus has apparently studied mob psychology. However, the Zamojin Empress commands them to stop. She reveals Perceptor/Nijika, who tries to explain the situation. However, the Quintesson shouts that the doll is malfunctioning, but Cyclonus grabs Perceptor and orders the Quintesson to bring their ship. Katsu Don grabs Cyclonus's legs, but the remaining Quintesson orders Perceptor to hand over the emulator, or Katsu Don will die. Perceptor complies, while the other Quintesson shoots Blurr's rope, causing him to fall into the molten liquid...which he describes as a nice soak that is repairing his injuries. Blurr jumps out, with Rodimus and Magnus following. Blurr frees Katsu Don, while Magnus takes on Cyclonus. Rodimus throws Katsu Don out, while Blurr grabs the emulator and Magnus takes Cyclonus, who follows after the Quintessons.
The Zamojin Empress fears what the Quintessons will take, but Perceptor, now in his real body, says that the Quintessons are about to give the Zamojin something. The Quintesson ship passes through the quadrant lock...and it fades, revealing the stars. Perceptor sabotaged the lock, and the Autobots realize the Zamojin's technology is telepathic in nature and powered by starlight. The intelligence of the Zamojin advances rapidly, and they repair Kodu Ri. As Sky Lynx lands, Perceptor asks Katsu Don if he will continue his ancestor's research. Katsu Don vows that Perceptor will meet Nijika again...out among the stars.
Stats[]
Original airdate: November 20, 1986
Written by: Mary Skrenes and Steve Skeates
Notable quotes[]
"Put yourself in idle, Blurr."
- —Rodimus Prime, saying what we're all thinking.
Cyclonus: "Burn him now!"
Quintesson: "Be silent! Don't call attention to us!"
Cyclonus: "VEEENNGEANNNNCE NOOOOOOOW!"
The crowd starts to cheer
Female Zamojin: "Yes! The devils must pay! They stole the stars in the sky!"
Male Zamojin: "They stole the life from our minds!"
Cyclonus: "Hahahaha. You've never understood mob psychology, have you?"
- —Cyclonus must be an expert on dealing with witches.
Notes[]
Animation and/or technical glitches[]
- An AKOM episode, so watch for color model oddities, including:
- Rodimus and Galvatron are both consistently colored using outdated color models; Rodimus's shoulder indentations are red instead of white, his pelvis-windshield details are white instead of light burgundy, and his gun is red instead of black, while Galvatron has pale purple "underpants."
- The inside of Magnus' mouth is red.
- The inside of Blurr's mouth is blue.
- Cyclonus has purple eyebrows and a purple neck.
- In the first shot of Sky Lynx's display, the bottom of the image is clipped over the frame of the screen.
- Coloring errors:
- Perceptor's face is light blue instead of light gray as Blurr reacts to Galvatron's first appearance.
- When the Quintesson ship arrives in the flashback, its front section is grey instead of green.
- After the flashback, when Nijika walks towards Bruta Lo, her face is all white.
- When Rodimus and Magnus halt before the crowd of natives, Rodimus's roof is colored windshield-blue, and his windshield is colored red.
- "You will not live to see the dawn!!" - Rodimus's side windows are orange and yellow.
- More than once, Rodimus's burgundy is so dark it's verging on black.
- Cyclonus mouths Galvatron's first "GRRAHHH!" just before Galvatron slugs him.
- Galvatron is supposed to tumble away after being shot by the Quintesson ship, but freezes on the edge of the screen.
- When he exits Sky Lynx, Magnus is missing his Autobot logo.
- The red squares on Galvatron's shoulders are missing in many shots.
- Sky Lynx gets a non-standard laser sound as he blasts Galvatron and the Quintesson ship.
- "Except, perhaps, from the inside!" - the Quintesson rotates his head as if to bring the speaking face into view, but none of his mouths move.
- When the Quintesson ship moves past the Autobots into the quadrant lock, it seems mighty small.
- Magnus explains for the viewer that the lock passageway is shrinking... but the animation doesn't actually show it. In fact it's not clear at all why the Quintessons think the passage would be harmful to them at all.
- The first Zamojin to speak sees the falling Autobots and declares "Behold! Fire in the sky!" But the Autobots aren't showing any heating or burning effects at all - in fact they're floating rather gently to the ground.
- There is, somewhat obviously, no room in Nijika's head for the universal emulator to fit — but it does anyway. The universal emulator is elongated horizontally when first removed from Perceptor, but later shots show it as just a few inches thick.
- During the flashback to the original Nijika's launch, the stars show through the heads of the crowd as they cheer her along.
- Despite the culminating point of Katsu Don's story being the disappearance of the stars after the quadrant lock is activated... they don't actually disappear.
- Where's the trailer go?:
- Rodimus's trailer slides out of the frame when he transforms while rolling out-of-control down the hill. At the bottom, when he changes back, it's already down there waiting for him! It just rolls in from off-screen.
See, we didn't need those fake mustaches after all!
- A crowd of Zamojins gathered to watch Blurr's execution is apparently supposed to feature some of their number costumed as the hated five-faced demons and their robot servants, thus explaining why Cyclonus and the Quintesson can just stand around in the middle of the crowd that hates their kind. The animation, however, almost totally fails to convey this, having the Cybertronians tower over the largely un-costumed Zamojins, who are mostly just wearing some little face masks. Furthermore, the animation mistakenly colors the masks flesh-toned, almost completely hiding the fact they're wearing them at all.
- The crowd member's line "they stole the light from our minds" is delivered in Perceptor/Nijika's voice.
- "Your life is over, Autobot!" yells Cyclonus - but rather than shooting at Blurr, he just stands there for a moment, making some strange, faint grumbling noises. Then finally Magnus tackles him.
- Cyclonus is missing the orange shape below his chest when Magnus tackles him, and when flying back towards the Quintesson ship.
- Sky Lynx is tiny when he lands on the planet, only a tad taller than the other Autobots.
Continuity errors[]
- The Zamojin hate robots and have an idea of what the Quintessons look like, yet don't seem to mind Cyclonus and a Quintesson standing in the middle of a crowd with them.
- Rodimus and Magnus apparently don't hear Blurr being jumped by a group of angry Zamojin, even though they left him just seconds ago.
Transformers references[]
- This episode marks the last appearance of Perceptor in the western cartoon.
Real-world references[]
- There is a very strong Japanese vibe to this episode. The planet Zamojin' culture, overall, bears great similarity to feudal Japan. At least two of the characters' names are reference to Japanese culture (specifically food): "Katsu Don" is a pork cutlet rice bowl, and Niko Don's name is very close to "Niku Don," which is a beef rice bowl. Many other names in the episode sound Japanese-like, but are harder to pin down.
Notes[]
- Tho he spends most of the episode in Nijika, this episode is Perceptor's biggest role.
- Blurr speaks at more-or-less normal speed several times in this episode and is the first time episode were Blurr specks at a normal speed. Apparently soaking in molten liquid really does relax him
, it even sounds mildly orgasmic for him.
- Internal Marvel/Sunbow documentation shows that this episode is supposed to be titled merely "The Face of Nijika," but an extra "the" wound up in the on-screen title that's never been corrected.
- This episode was originally assigned the production code 700-109, but the script was subsequently "put on hold" by Hasbro for unknown reasons. When later revised and approved, the episode was given a new production code of 700–113, according to a piece of internal correspondence from Marvel Productions.
- The entrance to Kodu Ri is shown in a glowing pattern similar to that of The Oracle from a few episodes ago.
Keywords[]
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External links[]
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