"Five Faces of Darkness" part 3 Bloopers

TOTAL NUMBER OF BLOOPERS:  75

GREAT LINES:

QUINTESSON 1:  "It is a day so long in coming that I am uncertain how to celebrate it."
QUINTESSON 2:  "Perhaps... a quiet chuckle."
QUINTESSON 1:  "Very well, then.  Let us... chuckle."
QUINTESSONS:  "Heh heh heh heh."

TRIVIA QUESTIONS:

1. What is the complete name of planet Goo?
2. According to Blurr, what were the chances that his ship was defective?

NOTES:

• This episode has a bit of animation that I always enjoy.  When Blurr and Wheelie are on the shuttle, an image of Galvatron appears on their monitor.  As Blurr and Wheelie watch the screen, Galvatron turns and fires at them, and suddenly part of the ship explodes behind them.

PLOT OVERSIGHTS: (7)

• After their escape ship (read: Broadside) explodes, the Autobots are sent tumbling helplessly through space.  Why don't Springer and the Aerialbots transform and scoop up the other Autobots?
• A newly-established premise in this episode is that Earth Defense Command has outposts on planet Mars.  I realize that the Autobots helped set up the defense program, but it still seems unlikely that we would have people there 20 years after this episode was made (only seven years to go at the time of this writing... think they can do it?).  Besides, why waste the time an energy on such a strategically unimportant piece of red rock?
• For that matter, does Captain Marissa Faireborn just sit in her ship in full EDC gear, waiting for someone to send her on a mission?¹  Now that's job dedication.
• When the Quintessons are discussing their options in destroying the Autobots, one of them indicates that "there is only one way"--to join with the Decepticons.  Obviously that wasn't the case, if the Trans-Organics ("The Dweller in the Depths"), Torkulon therapists ("Webworld"), and the nightmares of Danny Witwicky ("Nightmare Planet") are any indication...
• Why did Judge Deliberata's face fall off after the Autobots crashed (squished) on planet Goo?  It seems to be a plot contrivance so Kup can toss his detached face back into the goo, but it's completely pointless because later on, Kup is dragging him along the planet by his tentacles and his face has found its way back to his body.
• So, about this janitorial machine on Goo--it's actually programmed to seek out moving objects?  How often do you see garbage that moves of its own volition?  What kind of psycho programmed this thing??¹
• Why is Blitzwing the only Transformer who recognizes the Quintessons?  There's a strong indication that Kup, for example, has been around for a very long time.  Why didn't he recognize the Quints when he was put on trial in the movie?  Why did Rodimus practically have to kill himself just to find out who the Quintessons were?  Are the Transformers ashamed of their origins, or do they just have incredibly lousy long-term memories?  

DIALOGUE AND SOUND EFFECTS: (14)

• As the episode opens, Rodimus Prime says, "Autobots, let's get outta here!" just as he did at the end of the last episode, but it's a different inflection.  Obviously he didn't think he sounded manly (mechly?) enough the first time, so he said it twice.
• When Blurr is complaining about the scenery on the way to Earth, if you listen carefully, you can hear him say:  "And here we are.  And where's here?  Earth's solar system, that's where here is--where here is.  Anyway, you'd think we would have seen some scenery on the way..."  In other words, they stopped the dialogue track to create an artificial pause, rewound it just a bit, and restarted it.  (This one is tough to hear because it almost sounds like he could be saying, "Earth's solar system, that's where here is.  If 'here' was anywhere, you'd think we would have seen some scenery on the way...")
• As Blurr is explaining to Wheelie what Jupiter is, Wheelie responds, "Planet I know, but Decepticons follow!" in a really horrendous voice (well, more so than usual).  Not only is it not Frank Welker, it's not even a close approximation of his Wheelie dialect--he sounds more like Mr. Bill.  Wheelie's voice returns to normal for his next line.
• When Wheelie ejects against Blurr's advice, Blurr admonishes, "Oh, you never listen, do you?" and his voice is not amplified.
• After Blurr and Wheelie are pursued by Galvatron and the Sweeps into the storm of Jupiter, there's a low voice going "Nooooo!  Oh nooooo!" that doesn't belong to any of the characters.  It sounds a bit like Unicron, actually.
• Shortly after the Autobots land (plop) on Goo, a completely different voice actor delivers one of Rodimus Prime's lines--it's the same guy who did Rodimus' lines during the recap at the beginning of part 2.  I guess this was another line they forgot to re-record when they switched voice actors.
• When the Autobots spot the elemental processing unit and wonder what it is, Silverbolt says, "I'll fly over and see" without moving his mouth.
• After the Quintessons arrive on Chaar, none of their voices are electronically amplified.
• Underground, as the Decepticons consider the Quintessons' arrival, Swindles says, "They wanna make a deal with us!" but they draw Blitzwing speaking instead (Swindle isn't even in the shot).  Dead End concurs, "One of us has to go out there," but this time it's Breakdown who's moving his mouth.
• Kup's voice isn't amplified either when he delivers the line, "Forget everything I ever told you about heroism!  Run!"  His voice remains this way for the rest of the episode.
• For that matter, neither is Swindle's voice after Motormaster says the Quints' plan sounds too good to be true and Swindle responds, "That means it probably is.  What do we do for you?"  (You get the feeling somebody was asleep at the flanging knob during this recording session?)
• When the Quintessons ask the Decepticons to destroy the Autobots, in the cacophony of Decepticon outcries you can hear Swindle say, "C'mon, you gotta be kidding!" and Motormaster saying, "We'd do that anyway!"  The problem is, Motormaster, Swindle, and Drag Strip all mouth these two lines in unison.
• Onslaught's voice isn't amplified either when he counters, "Look, how do we attack them on Cybertron?..."  (This one I can explain, at least.  Steve Bulin was voicing the EDC officer who warned Blurr of the Decepticons' arrival, and I guess they never switched his Transformers Voice Changer back on.  I can't, um, speak for the other voice actors though.)
• Wheelie's got the horribly twisted Mutant Smurf voice again for the rest of the scene on Jupiter's moon Io.  ("Wheelie okay.  Blurr, what do you say?")  This strained, whiny voice almost makes me grateful for his original voice!

ANIMATION AND CONTINUITY: (51)

• At the end of part 2, we see an Autobot escape ship that is almost certainly Broadside (who will be showcased in "Carnage in C-Minor").  Although he does not speak and never transforms, this vehicle is identical to his jet mode in his TFU profile and his appearance in "Carnage."  The problem, then, comes in this episode when this vehicle is destroyed when it's hit with debris from Quintessa's explosion!
• Also, it sure is a good thing Spike is suddenly wearing a space suit when he and the Autobots are thrown into space.  He wasn't wearing one on Quintessa.
• When one of the Sweeps comments that the plasma from Thraal  must have fried Galvatron's circuits, his lips are dark blue (like his beard) instead of grey, and in place of his Decepticon symbol there's just a blue square.
• On the shuttle, as Blurr is hitting the controls, totally oblivious to Galvatron's presence on the viewscreen, a panel on the back of his head flashes from grey to blue and back.  (Also, I'd just like to point out that he types just like yours truly--using just his index fingers!)
• After Blurr contacts the Earth Defense Command base, in the close-up, Blurr is missing the yellow square on his forehead.
• Check out the zombies manning the EDC base!  Their eyeballs are completely white!
• When Galvatron orders the Sweeps to attack the space station, he's missing the little red squares on the top of his shoulder components.
• As Galvatron transforms, his cannon flies off his arm, then the cannon--or a different cannon altogether--extends from his body.  
• I giggle every time I see Trooper Sullivan get blown into space.  It's not his getting sucked into a vacuum that's funny--it's when he activates his handheld communicator and holds it up to his helmeted face... in space, mind you... and proceeds to talk into it.
• When Galvatron declares, "Now for some sport!", the center spire on his helmet is gray instead of purple.
• Blurr and Wheelie's shuttle is white with a red side panel when Galvatron spots it.  It shouldn't have the red panel at all--I can only assume the colorists thought it was Skyfire or something (understandable, since Skyfire is so prominently featured in this episode... grumble...)
• When Blaster first contacts Mars, his forehead is red instead of gray.
• As we first see Captain Marissa Faireborn, an insignia on her shoulder reads "DC."  Shouldn't that be "EDC," as in "Earth Defense Command"?
• When Wheelie shoots down the Sweep inside the storms of Jupiter, Wheelie's symbol is just a red square.
• The Sweep that gets hit, by the way, has no symbol at all.
• When Galvatron tells the falling Sweep, "Please meet your end with dignity," he's got what I can only describe as "Megatron eyebrows."  It's rather creepy, actually--somehow I just can't picture Megatron letting one of his own troops fall to his doom.
• When Galvatron transforms to blast the center of the storm cone, this time his cannon pops off his arm and attaches itself to the front of his cannon mode.
• When Cyclonus, Bunny-Eared King of Exposition, announces "The storm cone is going to erupt!" the panels on his abdomen and torso are purple instead of orange.
• When we first see the Quintesson ship in this episode, the cockpit located near the front of the ship is rotating along with the rest of the ship.  In the movie, the cockpit stayed stationary (rightfully so) while the rest of the ship spun on an axis.  Hope those Quints don't get space sick, or Springer will make them walk home.
• This is a comparatively minor point, but when the Quintesson decides to form an alliance with the Decepticons, he's tilting his head.  This is the only time I can remember a Quintesson's head moving independently from its body.
• Planet Goo has some strange gravity.  When Rodimus falls toward the planet, he disappears; then reappears closer to the planet; is suddenly farther away from the planet again; then he finally falls.
• Silverbolt's symbol isn't colored in when he falls to the planet.  Furthermore, Silverbolt doesn't land anywhere near Rodimus in this scene, but in the next scene he and Rodimus are right next to each other as they start to stand up.¹
• Supposedly, a being can move through the goo on the planet, but not get free from it.  Yet when Rodimus first lands, he easily extracts both his hands from the gunk.  Later, Kup plucks Judge Deliberata's psychic severed head from the goo effortlessly.  (Akom:  "Oh, you mean we were supposed to read the script?"  Sheesh...)
• When the Autobots first spot the janitorial machine, Ultra Magnus has connected goggles instead of separate eyes.
• As Blurr's transformations are going haywire, his symbol is just a red square.  (This sort of glitch really bugs me.  Were the storyboard artists too lazy to draw the symbol, or were the clean-up guys too ignorant to realize he's supposed to have an insignia?)
• Then, when he crashes on Io, his forearms actually detach from his body as he returns to robot mode.  Suffice it to say, that's not part of his normal transformation sequence.
• Back on Goo, when Rodimus shoots the janitorial machine, his gun is red again.
• When Springer transforms to helicopter mode and struggles to escape the icky sticky goo, one of his landing skis flashes from yellow to green.
• When Kup says, "I've seen a lot of brave Autobots do a lot of brave things in my time..." he's missing the bags under his eyes.  Also in this scene, Spike is suddenly missing his space suit¹ and Arcee's shoulder pads are on backwards.  (It's more of that Toy Design Syndrome, folks.  Of course, technically speaking, Arcee never got a toy... but I've seen images of the Takara prototype, and the shoulder pads were, indeed, on backwards.)
• When the Quintesson balks at the impossibilityness (hey, it's a word) of Rodimus' self-sacrifice and Rod responds, "How would you know?" Magnus has got much smaller eyes than usual, and the Quintesson has got an orange moustache instead of black.
• After this scene, we cut to an establishing shot of what's supposed to be Chaar... but they use a drawing of planet Goo instead!
• On Chaar, when the Decepticons are munching energon, Scrapper is colored like Scavenger.
• We see this scene again a little bit later, with an interesting twist.  The beam of energy one of the Quintessons is riding on only moves when Mixmaster raises his arm.  (Evidently Mixy and the Quint were on the same animation cel.)
• When Swindle asks, between mouthsful of energon, what the Quints want out of the Decepticons, Drag Strip's head is yellow.  It should be purple with yellow side panels.
• As the Quintesson responds, "Destroy the Autobots," his green skull face (the "Face of Death," as they call it in the Quintessons historical overview) is colored like the face that's usually got that orange starfish on his forehead (the one that Roger C. Carmel usually does the voice for).
• When Onslaught protests, he tilts his head forward, but part of the side of his helmet remains stationary--the animators apparently thought it was part of his backpack.
• In the very next scene, Bruticus is standing with the Combaticons.  (Akom animator:  "Hmm, just for fun let's draw all these 'Combaticon' guys together...  Well, all six of these model sheets say 'Combaticon' on them, so...")  Also, the Combaticons shift rather pointlessly in this scene.  It's like the animators didn't want it to look like these guys were standing in one place for very long, so they shuffled a couple of them around every few seconds.  The only problem is that a couple of them are kneeling, making it highly difficult for them to just scooch over a few inches to the right.  Luckily, the animators tried to distract us from this strangeness by coloring Brawl's face plate grey instead of dark red and the sides of Blast Off's helmet pink instead of black.
• When the Quintesson urges the Decepticons to act quickly, the guy on the right (with the orange starfish forehead) is missing his mouth!
• After Blitzwing confronts the Quintessons, as we pan over to the Quints, each of them has not one, but two energy beams for a moment.
• When Motormaster suggests voting to determine the Decepticons course of action, Fireflight (that's right, the Aerialbot) can be clearly seen among the 'Cons.  I'm sure there's an interesting story behind that one.
• As Motormaster stands up, Soundwave's optic visor is colored wrong--somebody though the space in between his eyes and face plate was actually his visor, and colored it red.  
• When Galvatron asks, "This is the planet my Decepticons now inhabit?" his Decepticon symbol is missing the triangle in its "forehead."
• When Galvatron arrives on Chaar, there is a Sweep colored like Swindle, and another colored like Soundwave.  (Let's sing the "Lazy Animators Song," everybody!  La-zee an-i-mators, la-zee ani-ma-tors...)
• As Galvatron and his entourage approach the buildings on Chaar, the buildings begin moving toward the camera while the Decepticons remain fixed on the screen.  In other words, the Decepticons fly closer to the planet, then start flying backwards!
• When Galvatron asks where his troops are and Cyclonus responds, "Er, you post an interesting question, my lord," he's got his "toy" design--his wings are swept back, and he has a little square goatee.  Galvatron (well, his knee) has his "toy" design as well--he's got round kneecaps instead of hexagonal ones.
• When Blitzwing first spots Galvatron, Blitzwing has a tongue.  Then, when Galvatron greets him, Blitzwing has developed some extra lines on his face.  (I almost wonder if this was on purpose--the animators trying to make him look old enough to actually remember the Quintessons, possibly?  Then I look at the above list and laugh.)
• After Blitzwing tells Galvatron the Decepticons have left, when Galv responds, "Without me?  Who leads them?" the panel on his upper chest is red.  It should just be purple.  
• When Blurr and Wheelie awaken on Io, they both have their "toy" designs.  (Yep, somebody definitely broke out the wrong character models for this episode.)  Wheelie's arms are rounder, and Blurr's suddenly got large, rounded components on his forearms and he's missing those huge knee pads.  Just compare the scene on Io to their appearances in the movie and you'll see what I mean.)
• Rodimus and Magnus both clearly step out of the goo ass they look for the forcefield generator.  Also in this scene, Magnus has--yep, you guessed it!--his "toy" design!  The only differences here are the differently-shaped missile launchers and the really puny gun.  Rodimus is in toy mode too, if you look at his shoulders.
• When Kup explains shutting off the goo to Rodimus, part of Magnus' arm keeps flashing from white to red.  Also, Kup has his "toy" design (again, lack of bags under the eyes, and a different belt).
• When the Decepticons attack Goo, there's a scene with Astrotrain, Soundwave, Shockwave colored like Long Haul, and Starscream colored entirely grey (because he's dead, you see).
• Shock Haul also appears in a later scene that also includes Shrapnel.
• The Autobots spend the last 10 seconds or so of the episode watching the entire Decepticon army open fire on them and they just... stand there.

TRIVIA ANSWERS:

1. Goo #8739 B.
2. One in three trillion, six hundred and seventy-seven.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

¹ Parallax

©1999 Inspiration Studios