Ice

« Transformers: Cybertron ep 19 » Galaxy Force ep 20
"OK, now my hand's frozen to your finger."
"Ice" オーロラの彼方の死闘 () (Aurora no Karata no Shitō) "Deadly Battle at the Edge of the Aurora"
Production company	TV Aichi, We've, Tōkyū Agency
Airdate	May 21, 2005 (Japanese) October 13, 2005 (English)
Writer	Gyō Yamatoya
Director	Atsushi Nakayama
Animation studio	GONZO, Radix
Continuity	Unicron Trilogy cartoon continuity

On a mission to the North Pole, the kids once again encounter Lucy Suzuki and the truth about the Autobots comes out.

Synopsis

Explain to us the teachings of keeping our hoods on indoors, sensei.

The insertion of the Velocitron Cyber Planet Key of the Omega Lock has caused atmospheric disturbances on Earth, centred on the Arctic. While Optimus Prime, Vector Prime and Leobreaker head back to Jungle Planet, the rest of the Autobots, along with the kids and the Mini-Cons head to the Arctic to search for the source of the trouble. Partway into the journey, the kids realize they'll need some heavy winter clothes, and stop at a shop in Fairbanks, Alaska to buy some. There, they cross paths with Bud and Lori's old acquaintance Professor Lucy Suzuki, who buys them some parkas, and then gives them a lift, telling them about her beliefs in the Hollow Earth theory, aliens, and how they may both be connected to the disturbances. Coby does not trust the scientist, but, unfazed by crazy ol' Lucy's bonkers ramblings, Lori asks her what she would do if she met an alien. After a tense moment that everyone feels, Lucy replies that she'd simply welcome the alien to Earth. Convinced of her good intentions, Lori asks if they can accompany her on her investigation, and she agrees.

On Jungle Planet, Megatron and Scourge observe the arrival of Optimus Prime and his team through a dimension gate and dispatch Ransack and Crumplezone to confront them. The two goons are no match for the power of Savage Claw Mode, however, and are quickly taken out by Optimus Prime and Leobreaker.

He's looking to join the club of frozen mechs.

As night falls, Lucy and the kids stop at a natural hot spring, where Lucy complains about her close-minded scientific colleagues and commends Lori for her and the boys' readiness to believe the unreal. Coby remains unconvinced of Lucy's trustworthiness, and when the group reaches their destination the next day, confers with Lori on the possibility of telling Lucy about the Autobots. Lori ignores Coby's warnings, claiming that "women's intuition" tells her she's a good egg, and she spills the whole story to the professor. The scientist's shock is quickly replaced with elation, as she believes every word of their story, and finally understands how all the strange artifacts and truths she has discovered in her research fit in. Thrilled as the group is, their elation is cut short by a literal bolt from the blue, as Starscream and Mudflap blow up Lucy's humvee and come swooping in to force information on the Autobots' activities out of the kids. Scattorshot comes to their rescue, drawing the Decepticons' attention and disarming Mudflap, but Starscream takes advantage of the environment by tossing a sphere at Scattorshot that explodes and douses him with water. The soaked Autobot suddenly finds his gears freezing solid in the sub-zero temperatures, leaving him wide open to a pummeling from the Decepticons. Luckily forgotten, the humans, with a little help from the Mini-Cons, are able to take control of Mudflap's dropped blaster and point it into the sky, firing it like a flare to draw the other Autobots in. Vastly outnumbered, Starscream calls a retreat.

In the aftermath of the battle, the beaming Lucy Suzuki extends her hand and welcomes Scattorshot to planet Earth. Scattorshot is happy to meet their new human ally, but worries what Jetfire will think!

And, across the galaxy, Optimus Prime's team continues their trek through the wilds of Jungle Planet...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"I feel my gears freezin' already!"
"Look on the bright side, maybe there'll be a battle and you'll catch on fire."

—Scattorshot complains, and Jetfire has some... interesting words of encouragement.

"Those brats are here somewhere...."
"But why did you shoot the truck?"
"They're the kids the Autobots have taken on like mascots."
"Ohhh, I get it! You thought the truck was an Autobot!"
"Forget the stupid truck!!"

—Starscream and Mudflap have different priorities

"Silence, lady! STOP BORING ME!"

—Starscream sums up the audience on Suzuki's Hollow Earth theory

"What are we going to do, Starscream?"
"I am going to act like a true leader!"
"What?"
"I'm going to make a tactical retreat!"

—Mudflap finds out from Starscream that nothing ever really changes.

Notes

Differences with Galaxy Force

• Galaxy Force includes a "previously on" segment recapping the final moments of the previous episode.
• In Galaxy Force, Landmine suspects that the source of the disturbances may be a Cyber Planet Key. In Cybertron, he's just eager to get going.
• Cybertron inserts (pretty awkwardly, all told) a line or two from Lucy Suzuki about the kids' parents' paying her back for their parkas and giving their permission for them to go with her. This would just appear to be a case of the English dub trying to be "responsible", 'cause in Galaxy Force, she doesn't bring up parents at all. After all, it's really, really unlikely the kids' parents would be okay with any of this, just as it's unlikely the kids would let Lucy contact them to tell them. Nonetheless, Cybertron ploughs ahead with this unfeasible scenario, claiming that the parents do indeed say it's okay! Riiiight.
• In the same scene, though, Cybertron fixes a little error in Galaxy Force, namely: if Lori's got her credit card, why do the kids need Lucy to buy them parkas? To explain this, Cybertron has Lori remark with disbelief that the store won't take credit.
• In Galaxy Force, Suzuki lists off the scientists "Bernard, Symmes and Gardner". Cybertron replaces Bernard with "Dewey". Hardly earth-shattering, but see "real-life references", below.
• In Galaxy Force, Lucy actually doesn't seem to believe as much of the Hollow Earth theory as she appears to in Cybertron. The thing is, in Galaxy Force, she doesn't actually explain what the connection between the theory and atmospheric disturbances is, so Cybertron adds a lot of dialogue (wiffle balls, distorting the rotation of Earth, etc.) in order to clearly draw the connection, but in the process, makes it seem that Lucy believes a lot more of the theory than Galaxy Force indicated she did.
• In Galaxy Force, Mudflap is asking if the Autobots are around the kids and Starscream says they're not. In Cybertron, the dubbers decide to have fun and have Mudflap flag up that blowing up the truck made no sense.
• Once again, Cybertron adds drawn-out babbling narration where Galaxy Force has none. This time the transformation stock footage is clean, but the full length launch-from-base stock footage is entirely chatted through by various characters explaining details about the Earth's magnetic poles, the aurora borealis, sun flares, and blah blah blah. Take that, stock footage!

Continuity errors

"Lose them, you're paying for them."
*loses them*
"Slaggit..."

• While Lucy may be smart enough to wear a heavy parka while in the frozen wastes of the Arctic, she doesn't think to put on a pair of freakin' slacks to cover her bare legs.
• In one of the show's occasional moments of culture-clash, the Japanese production staff forget that Lori, Coby and Bud, three kids from Colorado who aren't Asian, really shouldn't be bowing to express their thanks to Lucy.
• Mudflap is carrying two guns (see right) that have never been seen before, purely because the plot demands that he have a weapon he can drop.
• Rather than use his Cyber Key Power, or fire either of the giant honking missiles he's always carting around, or wield the gun that came with his toy, Scattorshot... shoots a bolt of energy from his wrist?

Continuity notes

• Bud and Lori met Lucy Suzuki back in "Race".

Transformers references

• In Galaxy Force, Bud refers to Suzuki as a collector of "O-Parts". He's using the actual real-world archaeological term, rather than making a direct reference to the 2001 Robots in Disguise franchise, but, eh, close enough!
• Scattorshot drops the famous slogan of the Transformers brand when he tells Starscream: "You know there's more to me than meets the eye!"

Real-world references

Makes you wonder if they ever thought whether the Earth would either implode or explode due to a sun in the center.

• The Hollow Earth theory (Lucy's vision of which is pictured at right) is a real classical school of thought. The scientists that Suzuki lists off are all real life individuals associated with the idea: John Cleves Symmes Jr. (most famous 19th century proponent of the idea), Marshall Blutcher Gardner (author of the 1913 book A Journey to the Earth's Interior) and Raymond Bernard (author of 1964's The Hollow Earth, actually a pseudonym of Dr. Walter Siegmeister). The scientist that Cybertron adds to the list, "Dewey", does not appear to be a real individual.
• "I think I can, I think I can," Crumplezone chants in vain as he tackles Savage Claw Mode Optimus Prime, the iconic quote from The Little Engine That Could.
• Starscream's line, "Careful with that ice!", might be a reference to the 1968 instrumental song "Careful with That Axe, Eugene" by Pink Floyd.

Trivia

• Galaxy Force debuts its third opening sequence with this episode.
• For the first time in Cybertron, Jungle Planet is referred to with the alternate name of "Beast Planet". Henceforth, the show will alternate back and forth between using these names right up until the end of the series.
• Ryan Hirakida returns to voice Bud, having been absent since "Hero".

Home video releases

DVD

2005 — Transformers: Galaxy Force — Vol. 05 (Victor Entertainment) — Japanese audio only.
2008 — Transformers: Cybertron — The Ultimate Collection (Paramount)
2014 — Transformers: Cybertron — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)