"Five Faces of Darkness" part 2 Bloopers

TOTAL NUMBER OF BLOOPERS:  58

GREAT LINES:

QUINTESSON:  "You are the Autobot called Kup.  You are Cybertron's chief of security."
KUP:  "Nah, my name's Teaspoon, and I'm Cybertron's chief dishwasher."

TRIVIA QUESTIONS:  

1. What two football teams did Spike mention?
2. What did the Quintesson say the probability was that the Autobot rescue expedition had arrived?

NOTES:

• In the recap for part 1, the animators spliced together the last scene of Unicron's head from the movie with the scene from part 1 of Cyclonus stepping into his eye socket.  The effect is almost seamless--nicely done!

PLOT OVERSIGHTS:  (11)

• This is just a minor point, but according to paleontologists, the T. rex wasn't able to reach his own head with those tiny little forearms.  And yet, Grimlock manages to stuff a Decepticon's gun into his mouth with them, cover his eyes with them when the rockaroid approaches, and grind his knuckles into his eyes when he cries.  Must be more of that faulty dinosaur skeleton assembly (see "S.O.S. Dinobots").
• In the movie, the Quintessons seemed to consist of their leader, a bailiff, a gatekeeper, and one five-faced judge.  In this episode there are now three thrones for three judges, and no sign of the leader (the Aliens reject).  Where'd he go?
• One wonders why the Quintessons ordered Spike's abduction if the Quints were never planning on interrogating him.
• When Rodimus believes he is dying, he moans, "My time... in the light... is short..." and Arcee responds, "That's what Optimus Prime said when he was dying!"  Erm, no it wasn't!  Prime's words were, "Do not grieve... soon, I shall be one with the Matrix."  I think Arcee was just rubbing in the fact that Springer didn't bother to show up when Optimus was dying.
• Speaking of which, in the movie, Optimus Prime entered the Matrix because he was dying.  Apparently, an Autobot leader continues to exist within the Matrix after he dies and passes it on.  So why did Rodimus Prime enter the Matrix if he was, for all intents and purposes, merely knocked unconscious?
• Does anyone else find it odd that Kup never mentions his prior encounter with the Quintessons?  This coming from the Autobot who usually jumps at the chance to bring up something even remotely familiar?²  (Unless, of course, the poor guy is beyond senile and just makes those stories up as he goes along...)
• I find it questionable that Rodimus knows that the name of the planet he and Kup were shot down over was Quintessa.  In the movie, they were running from Galvatron when their ship was destroyed; I doubt they had time to check their star charts!    
• Also, why are the remains of Hot Rod and Kup's shuttle floating in space near Quintessa?   In the movie, their ship limped along until it crashed on Quintessa (we did not see the actual crash on camera, but the last scene with the ship intact shows it smashing into part of the planet's surface).
• The Sharkticons certainly are sluggish in this episode.  In the movie, they immediately pounced upon any robots thrown into their waters, but in this episode they all doggy-paddle around Magnus, Kup, and Spike, occasionally growling.  Maybe the Quintessons should have put the Autobots' trial at the top of the docket.
• This episode begins to explain why the Quintessons were putting robots on trial in the movie: they are punishing those who stole Cybertron from them.  It makes sense, then, that Kranix and Arblus, from planet Lithone, were ruled innocent--they didn't have anything to do with Cybertron's theft.  What's strange is that in the movie, Hot Rod and Kup were also ruled innocent.  Didn't the Quintessons recognize them as Cybertronians?  (I mean, they still ordered their executions and all, but still...)
• When the rockaroid nears Quintessa, one of the Quintessons is holding a device that tells him that Rodimus is aboard.  Presumably, the Autobots rigged the ship to emit some kind of false energy signature to confuse the Quintessons.  My point is, this means there must be Autobot detectors, right?  So why don't Decepticon detectors exist, as Outback asserts in the last episode?
• The Quintessons' estimate of the Autobots arrival time was accurate "to within plus or minus five minutes."  Strange, that these otherworldly creatures use Earth time units.
• After the Quintessons call Spike's bluff and sentence Judge Deliberata to death, Ultra Magnus frees him from the Sharkticon pits when the Autobots escape from it.  At first, I thought Magnus--being the noble Autobot that he is--was saving the Quintesson from being messily devoured.  When the Sharkticons open fire, however, Magnus turns around and uses the poor little Quintesson as a shield!

DIALOGUE AND SOUND EFFECTS:  (6)

• Here's an odd one.  In the recap of the last episode, Rodimus Prime has a different voice!  Apparently, someone else (who sounds a lot more like Judd Nelson) was originally cast to play the character, but finally the role was given to Dick "Serpentor" Gautier instead.  By this time, recording for part 1 must have already been completed, and somebody just forgot to re-record the dialogue from the recap.
• After Rodimus and Grimlock are knocked to the ground by the Decepticons' blasts, Grimlock says, "Me, Grimlock, no hurt!" without moving his mouth.
• After Rodimus determines where Quintessa is, Arcee says, "I'll radio the coordinants to our assault force."  What, exactly, are coordinants?  (She obviously means "coordinates.")
• On Quintessa, when Spike says there's "still something I don't get" and raises his arm in protest, water comes dripping off his arm, but there's no sloshing sound effect.
• When the Quintessons accuse the Autobots of theft and Magnus says, "You're confusing us with Decepticons," Kup's mouth moves instead.
• As the Quintesson concludes that without the Matrix, "the entire Autobot population will plunge into despair and chaos," he changes faces but there's no characteristic clicky sound.
• This isn't so much a blooper as a pet peeve.  When Broadside arrives and shoots at the Sharkticons' gun emplacement, his lasers sound just like the ones from War of the Worlds.  Would it have killed them to use a sound effect that wasn't so instantly recognizable from another source?

ANIMATION AND CONTINUITY:  (41)

• The opening footage of Rodimus and Grimlock tumbling down the ledge was taken from part 1.  (There's an interesting parallel here with the beginning of "More Than Meets the Eye" part 3 with Optimus Prime tumbling down the mountain.  I'm sure it's also completely coincidental.)
• In this episode, Rodimus' gun is grey; in the last episode it was maroon like Rodimus himself.
• As Grimlock starts firing on the Decepticons, Rumble and Soundwave are the same height.  (I guess Rumble's been taking his vitamins.)
• When the Decepticons charge en masse, isn't it amazing that they all manage to keep in step?  Betcha didn't know Soundwave was a drum major in high school, didja?  (Or maybe the animators just used the same animation sequence for each robot and just changes their designs.  Note how every one of them has the same-shaped head, body, and legs.)
• Also in this scene, there are three Decepticons present who are colored like Breakdown, Soundwave, and Rumble.  If they are supposed to be those characters, they're drawn really badly.  (More likely than not, the animators just drew some Decepticons that don't exist, and the colorists tried desperately to compensate for this "mistake."  Personally, I would have invented new color schemes for them; that way they could simply be generic Decepticons who got kicked off of Cybertron after the movie.)
• When the Decepticons begin pummeling Rodimus with the butts of their guns, Soundwave's backpack is grey instead of blue.  (I suppose I should also mention that the aforementioned gun butts don't belong to any known Decepticons.)
• After the rockaroid appears, Drag Strip is missing part of his nose.  Also, Breakdown's got connected goggles instead of separate eyes, and they're blue instead of yellow.
• As the rockaroid claws grab Rodimus and Grimlock, the bottoms of Grim's feet are yellow (like his toes) instead of grey.
• When Cyclonus takes a few pot shots at the rockaroid and then lowers his gun, his cockpit windows are purple instead of orange.  Then as he turns back to the Decepticons, he nonchalantly chucks his gun on the ground!
• When Arcee is scanning Rodimus' injuries on the asteroid, Springer's Autobot symbol is green.²
• When Rodimus' eyes first start glowing (in itself a feeble attempt to duplicate Optimus Prime's death, but it doesn't work for me), he has a Hot Rod face.  
• Rodimus' neck is red instead of grey during his entire "death scene."  
• I was wondering why Springer and Arcee didn’t turn Rodimus on his back so he could pass on the Matrix.   My question was answered after the first commercial break when Rodimus is, in fact, suddenly turned over on his back.
• What's up with the floating arabic numerals inside the Matrix?  
• When Rodimus recovers and tries to sit up, he doesn't bend at all.  Apparently, he's either got levitational powers, or he has a Detachable Torso™.
• On Quintessa, after Ultra Magnus transforms and Spike and Kup run off, the components the front of Magnus' trailer (which form the tops of his shoulders) are blue instead of white.
• After Deliberata accepts his fate and tells the others to open the pit, Kup is missing the bags under his eyes.  (We'll call this "toy design" Kup, even though the toy does actually have the optical luggage.)
• After the Autobots are dumped into the pit and Kup raises his arm, the water around his arm doesn't ripple.
• When the Quintessons open the window to the Sharkticon pits, explaining that they just "like to watch," the entire window, which is in the foreground, shifts significantly several times.
• Galvatron's another one of the characters who's got an alternate color model.  In this episode, the ring around his neck is purple instead of grey; his neck is black instead of grey; and when he first appears, he has a red cross on his abdomen instead of four red squares.  (Apparently, Akom--the animators that produced this episode--have a different color model for Galvatron than the movie animators did.¹)
• As Cyclonus climbs back out of the plasma after Galvatron has knocked him into it, Cyclonus' Decepticon symbol disappears for one frame.
• On the rockaroid, Arcee and Rodimus both have their "toy designs" (Arcee's shoulder pads are on backwards, and Rodimus' shoulders are curved at the top instead of angled off).
• When Spike asks what crime he and the Autobots committed, the water in the Sharkticon pit isn't rippling again.
• Sometimes Quintessons change faces when they're talking, even in mid-sentence.  Well, when the Quint orders the Sharkticons to carry out the executions, he fades from one face to another.  (No clicky sound, either.)
• When the Quint notices the rockaroid approaching, "as we predicted," he's missing the spots just below his faces and above his tentacles.
• When Galvatron attacks the Sweeps, he begins firing purple shots from his cannon.  When his blasts hit the first two Sweeps, however, the blasts are blue.
• When Scourge explains to Galvatron that "I have learned your lesson," the bottom triangles on Cyclonus' Decepticon symbol are missing² and the panel on his torso is light purple instead of orange.
• Later, when Galvatron transforms to destroy Thraal, he appears to insert his fusion cannon into his back, and the orange barrel comes out of his body for his cannon mode.  In the movie, the cannon just popped off his arm and attached to the front of his cannon mode.  (That's what the toy basically does, by the way.)
• Also, when Galvatron blasts Thraal, the clouds and haze swirling around the planet vanish an instant before the planet explodes.²
• Only four Sweeps (including Scourge) depart from Thraal with Galvatron.  I know there are only supposed to be five including Scourge, but in the last episode there were six of the little buggers. Did Galvatron kill one of them?
• When Springer arrives over Quintessa, Arcee is carrying yet another different gun.  (You get the feeling yet that her character model was never supplied with one?  Ironic, since she is a gunner...)
• In the scene where Arcee fires, Rodimus is missing his symbol, and the side of Springer's cockpit is red instead of light blue.
• When the Quintesson says to his brothers, "Now we must escape," his moustache turns from black to light blue.
• As the Autobots continue to fend off the Sharkticons and Magnus indicates that he wouldn't wager on their success, the rippling water surrounding one of the Sharkticons overlap's Magnus' gun.
• When Springer hoists the Autobots out of the water and Magnus grabs onto him, the component on the top of Mag's shoulder is blue instead of white, while his actual shoulder is white instead of blue.  Also, his arm is attached to his body by said component, not by his shoulder.
• Rodimus has a Hot Rod face again when Arcee explains that they don't actually have an escape ship.
• Inside Broadside, Air Raid and Fireflight are seen from behind, and both are colored like Skydive (who, by the way, is prominently featured in the foreground).
• After we see the Quintesson cruiser escape Quintessa, in a scene from the inside of the ship, the stars outside the window aren't moving.  Also in this scene, the Quintesson in the middle has a gray forehead, when it should be blue-green.
• Silverbolt ordered Slingshot to retrieve the Autobots, but Silverbolt himself ends up doing it.  (Guess Slingshot didn't feel like saving them?)  Silverbolt, incidentally, is never shown returning to Broadside!  (For that matter, there's no evidence of Judge Deliberata boarding Silverbolt, either.)
• And speaking of Silverbolt, he is extremely large when the Autobots board him.  Based on his size in jet mode, if he didn't shrink at all when he transformed back to robot form, I estimate he'd be about the size of Metroplex!
• The footage of Quintessa's explosion is the same animation used when Rodimus had a vision in the Matrix.

TRIVIA ANSWERS:

1. The Bears and the Lunar Colony.
2. 86%.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

¹Frank Gerratana
²Parallax

©1999 Inspiration Studios