Spark (episode)
From Transformers Wiki
| The name or term "Spark" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Spark (disambiguation). |
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 Which Spark? | ||||||
| "Spark" (Combination Spark no Chikara) "The Combination Spark's Power" | ||||||
| Production company | TV Tokyo, NAS | |||||
| Airdate | 17 December, 2004 (Japanese) March 19, 2005 (Canada) May 31, 2005 (USA) | |||||
| Writer | Akira Okeya | |||||
| Director | Kei'ichirō Kawaguchi | |||||
| Animation studio | Actas, Studio A-CAT (3D) | |||||
| Continuity | Unicron Trilogy | |||||
Expanded to enormous proportions, Optimus and Galvatron wage their final battle in space and on Jungle Planet.
Contents |
Synopsis
Super-sized Galvatron flies off into space, followed by his loyal troops, who wonder where he's heading. The Autobots attack, and a melee ensues. Optimus and Rodimus wonder where Galvatron is heading, but suspect he's being led to the same place that they are. Optimus tells Rodimus to take over leadership if he doesn't return from the upcoming final struggle with Galvatron.
The Omnicons continue feeding Super Energon stars into Primus, who's slowly coming out of sleep mode. The Omnicons have depleted their reserves.
Optimus and Omega recombine and attack Galvatron, hitting him in the nosecone. But Prime splits off from Omega, saying that this battle is solely between him and Galvatron. He begins powering up, attacking as a glowing ball of light. His arms emerge, super-sized, and hurl Galvatron away. He emerges enlarged, the same size as his nemesis. The two titans battle, and Optimus bashes Galvatron to the surface of Jungle Planet.
Optimus follows, and they face off, preparing for the final battle. As Galvatron prepares himself, his eyes regain their greenish tint. Troops from both sides scramble to reinforce their respective leaders. Meanwhile, having remained on Cybertron, the ancient Energon guardians squabble and prepare to finally settle the score.
Optimus and Galvatron battle. Prime throws Galvatron away, then rocks back. And forth. And back. And forth. And back. (Yes, I counted.) They continue to battle; Optimus orders his troops to stay out of it, and Starscream likewise holds back the Decepticons from helping. Galvatron runs Optimus through with his sword, but takes a blow at the same time; both fall. But Prime rises and continues whaling on him.
On Cybertron, Scorponok is out for a stroll, when he realizes that Galvatron is in trouble. But Ironhide appears and says he'll have to get through him first.
Superion takes on Bruticus and Constructicon together. When they get him down, he launches his limbs, which pin Constructicon Maximus to a wall. Superion's central component charges Constructicon and strikes his spark, killing him, but laser blasts from Bruticus destroy Superion Maximus's limbs before he can recombine.
Galvatron and Prime continue fighting, with a notable lack of quips and taunts from both combatants. As Jetfire approaches the battle, Kicker says that he senses Unicron... within both of them.
Kicker senses this.
No really, the Unicron orb still exists.
Kicker orders Jetfire into space, to destroy Unicron.
Bruticus crushes what's left of Superion, until a shot from out of the blue destroys one of Bruticus's arms. Superion briefly sees a vision of his deceased brother... and then leaps, merges with Constructicon Maximus's abandoned limbs, and counterattacks. He strikes his fellow guardian in the chest, triggering a huge explosion.
Kicker and Jetfire continue flying into space (where the Unicron orb still exists). Kicker abruptly orders Jetfire to leave him, as he can sense things more clearly when he's alone.
Prime and Galvatron struggle on. Galvatron refuses Optimus's offer to become an Autobot, saying that the power he gained from Unicron is still growing. He explodes his old form, replacing it with one even bigger. Optimus follows suite, vanishing in a flash of light and reappearing in his "Optimus Supreme" form, now with his Prime Force drones attached, without actually having to combine with Omega Supreme to do so.
Prime and Galvatron are still fighting. As Galvatron begins to gain the upper hand, Optimus uses his Spark of Combination to seize Galvatron's Unicron energy. Both titans dissolve, returned to their normal size... and Galvatron realizes Optimus planned this all along.
Galvatron leaves to go destroy Unicron, promising to return for Optimus. The Decepticons follow. The Autobots tend to Prime.
Kicker senses something, and finds what he's looking for: the Unicron orb! The... apple-sized Unicron orb. Kicker realizes that this tiny orb, barely bigger than his fist, is all that remains of Unicron. Kicker is furious at the waste of time, and raises the Energon Saber to destroy the orb, as the watching Alpha Q implores him not to do it.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"I can't explain it, Kicker, but I got a bad feeling something big's about to happen. It's a good thing I powered up. But no matter what happens, we gotta remain calm and cool."
"I hope you know I'm going along with you, Jetfire."
- —With only two episodes left in the series, Jetfire and Kicker struggle to resolve all the critical plot points.
Bruticus Maximus: "The time has come to back our fearless leader."
Constructicon Maximus: "Sorry, Bruticus, but I'm not hanging around with you."
Bruticus Maximus: "So! Are you planning on deserting the great Galvatron?"
Superion Maximus: "Oh, would you two please quit bickering!"
Constructicon Maximus: "Stop it, Superion! Since when are you the boss of me? Now run along and find someone who cares!"
Bruticus Maximus: "I suggest we forget our differences and back up Galvatron."
Superion Maximus: "Grrr. Let's DO it!" [attacks]
- —WHAT DO YOU DOING!!!
"Feast your eyes on the new and improved emperor of the dark side! MY NAME IS GALVATRON!"
"Huh. Ya don't say?"
- —Galvatron's power becomes greater and greater! Optimus Prime doesn't care!
"Don't worry, Jetfire. I'm not alone. You see, ever since I was a kid, I've felt I had a special purpose. And that's to bring peace, once and for all, to the universe."
- —Kicker isn't one to make small plans.
Notes
Lost in translation
While the dub doesn't openly get anything drastically wrong, its constant mangling of dialogue into stilted nonsense really obfuscates the most important concept at play in this episode: both Galvatron and Optimus Prime have been overcome by the essence of Unicron, with Unicron having actively taken possession of Galvatron to use as a new body, and Prime having drawn on the power of Unicron that exists within him and all Transformers. Prime's plan is to engage Galvatron in battle on the gamble that the Decepticon leader's hatred of Prime will allow him to overcome Unicron's influence (which it does). The character's eyes switch back and forth from their normal colors to green-tinted, the latter reflecting Unicronian possession (a key moment occurs when Galvatron's eyes turn back to normal, he comments on how much he hates Optimus Prime, and his eyes then turn green again), but it's fairly obvious that the English scriptwriters didn't understand this, since the dubbed characters constantly talk as normal, unaffected, regardless of what color their eyes are.
- In Super Link, Optimus tells Rodimus that he's being drawn to the same place that Galvatron is. The dub flubs it, having Optimus say "I suspect he's being drawn to the same place we are", as if it's come up before, and as if anyone besides Optimus himself feels the pull of Unicron.
- The point of Kicker and Jetfire's first conversation (dub version quoted above) is supposed to be Kicker announcing that he's going into space. The dub transmogrifies it into random sentences.
- Galvatron's "I loathe you": dub addition.
- Rodimus's "This is insane": dub addition.
- The dub butchers the conversation between the combiners (dub version quoted above.) The gist of it is supposed to be: Bruticus and Construction say they must go help their leader, and therefore have no time for Superion. They then rib Superion, asking if he shouldn't be off saving his own master; Superion says he has no master, and that Prime is his friend. The other two reply that they've never been able to stand that kind of babble, and that at least Galvatron destroyed Superion's brother (providing a tie-in to his appearance later in the episode.)
- Arcee reports that Galvatron and Optimus are heading to Jungle Planet... long after they've already landed there. In Super Link, she reports that they've crashed there.
- Snow Cat's inexplicable declaration that "Besides, I wouldn't want to hurt Optimus!" is a dub flub. He's supposed to be saying that he doesn't want to be attacked by the two combatants.
- In Super Link, Superion Maximus makes a comment to the effect of "I'm borrowing these!" as he takes Constructicon Maximus's limbs. The line isn't present in the dub, making the rapidly-animated scene even more confusing.
- In the dub, Optimus says he can't allow Unicron to exist anymore, then very randomly tells Galvatron that he could get out of his predicament by becoming an Autobot. He's supposed to be saying that he will overcome Unicron's power within him, and that Galvatron should be able to do the same, if he's strong-willed enough. Optimus's challenge then angers Galvatron enough for him to break through Unicron's control.
- Kicker's ridiculous "I must bring peace to the universe" speech is supposed to be him saying that he is not alone because he has the wishes of his friends for peace in the universe with him. ...Okay, either way it's a bunch of ridiculous wiffle, but still.
- Kicker isn't mad because his time was wasted; he's mad because... well, y'know. Because it's Unicron.
Pain count
- "Uh?": 9
- Stock footage: none! Even a combination sequence is actually animated within the context of the scene—maybe a first for the series.
- Listen up: 1
- It's time to: 2
- We've gotta: 1
- Let's do it/this: 3
- Are you serious: 2
- Come on: 2
- That's impossible: 1
- Not if I can help it: 1
- We're counting on you: 1
Animation and technical errors
- The opening pan of Galvatron's giant jet mode is supposed to be fantastically impressive. Except—rather than actually animate the jet in motion- the animators have dragged a still image of the jet seen from the side across the frame—removing all depth or parallax from the scene and (due to the unfortunate alignment of two yellow sections at that angle) making it almost impossible to figure out what you're actually seeing until they cut to the wide shot.
- Superion Maximus's first line of dialog is, essentially, in Starscream's voice.
- When Superion Maximus steals Constructicon Maximus's limbs to defeat Bruticus Maximus, Superion has Steamhammer's shovel. The weirdness of this is increased by the fact that the character model of Steamhammer as Constructicon Maximus's torso frequently omits the shovel.
- Optimus and Galvatron's hand-drawn fight doesn't flow quite as well in Energon as it does in Super Link due to unfinished animation at times.
Continuity errors
- After all this time, just four little laser blasts - one from each finger - destroy all four of Superion Maximus's limbs? Why has this never worked before?!?
- When striking the final blow against Bruticus, Superion cries out "Power link!" Shouldn't that be reserved for when he combines with the limbs?
- Omega Supreme makes an appearance while he is powerlinked to Optimus Prime.
Trivia
- In a small, rare attention to detail for the series, after Bruticus Maximus' arm is destroyed, his severed hand remains clenched around Superion's core robot and falls to the ground when he transforms.
- That huge explosion? That's Bruticus Maximus dying. They forgot to mention that.
- A rough surface texturing is used to indicate Galvatron and Optimus's Unicron-empowered inflated sizes, while flashes of green in their eye lighting further indicate the Unicron infection.
- It's not exactly an error, but the fade-cut away from Ironhide and Scorponok charging at each other is strangely abrupt. In Super Link, it's a commercial cut.
- If the "limb" robots of the Maximus combiner teams are actual individuals (with personalities and such), then Superion Maximus's appropriation of Constructicon Maximus's limbs for his own use is a violation of their free will, and quite creepy. ("Fortunately", Energon never shows the limbs in robot mode or suggests they have any personality of their own.)
- Galvatron gets the hand-drawn animation upgrade as he shows off his new, even-bigger body. Prime does too a moment later. Can you imagine what that fight would have been like without it?
- Even after growing to their colossal forms that would easily dwarf Unicron himself, Prime and Galvatron are still within Jungle Planet's atmosphere. Apparently Jungle Planet is the size of a small star.
- During Prime and Galvatron's fight, a rare instance of Omega's extending right arm gimmick is used (it's among the unfinished animations in the English version, but still barely visible).
- How do you defeat Unicron's raw essence? Hit it with a sword!
Foreign localization
Italian
- Title: "Alla ricerca di Unicron" ("Looking for Unicron")
- "The same place we are" is changed to "the same place we are heading to" which... is still wrong!
- Arcee states that Optimus and Galvatron landed on Jungle Planet instead of saying that they are going there.
- "Besides, I wouldn't want to hurt Optimus!" is changed to "By the way, do you have some fresh oil to drink?".
Home video releases
- DVD
2005 — Transformer: Super Link — Volume 013 (Interchannel) — Japanese audio only.
2008 — Transformers: Energon — The Ultimate Collection (Paramount)
2014 — Transformers: Energon — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)
