"More Than Meets the Eye" part 2 Bloopers

SYNOPSIS FOR "MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE" PART 2
PLOT OVERSIGHTS	DIALOGUE AND SOUND EFFECTS
ANIMATION AND CONTINUITY	TRIVIA ANSWERS
GENERATION 2

TOTAL NUMBER OF BLOOPERS: 104
GREAT LINES:
MEGATRON: "Your knowledge is only overshadowed by your stupidity!"

TRIVIA QUESTIONS:

What is the energy capacity of Sherman Dam?
To what degree did the Decepticons boost the power output of the power plant?

NOTES:

One of the most frequently-asked questions about the series is, "Where does Optimus Prime's trailer go when he transforms?" For anyone who doesn't know, when Prime transforms to his robot mode, his truck trailer conveniently disappears. (Raksha once suggested that it follows Prime around like a puppy, perpetually just off-camera.)

One theory which might account for it is the subspace theory. While never explicitly explained in the series, it is generally accepted that each Transformer has access to an interdimensional compartment in which he can store his weapons and other auxiliary components. It is in this manner that Prime's trailer is stored, as well as the weapons of many other Transformers. (Sometimes. The series isn't exactly consistent in depicting weapons storage, and the theory doesn't seem to apply at all to Beast Wars.)

Supposedly, subspace also accounts for certain Transformers' ability to change size when they transform (such as Megatron, Soundwave, Blaster and Perceptor), but that creates a whole new set of problems (see Plot Oversights below).

The theory is not without supporting evidence, however. There are several specific examples in the series which depict subspace storage at work--"A Plague of Insecticons," "Blaster Blues," and "Dark Awakening" among them--which we will address shortly. In the meantime, you can read more about subspace in Steve Stonebraker's Transformers FAQ.

PLOT OVERSIGHTS: (17)

This is just a minor thing, but Optimus Prime tells Trailbreaker to activate his "force shield." In later episodes, they call it a forcefield.
I think it's great that Prime saved Spike and Sparkplug and all... But, er, what happened to the half-dozen or so other workers on the oil rig? Hope they're good swimmers!
Also, any sci-fi series that has humans dealing with an alien race poses the inevitable question... Are these Transformers speaking English, or do they have some kind of universal language processors? (Incidentally, we'll see in later episodes that the Transformers do not understand some alien languages.) Also, who gave these guys their Earth names, exactly? You can't tell me that there are bumblebees and hound dogs running around on Cybertron.
Does Soundwave lose weight when he transforms? After he changes to his tape deck mode in this episode, Spike notices him and lifts him without any trouble. Even if he has some kind of anti-gravity systems that kick in when he transforms, Spike still doesn't possess the kind of force necessary to overcome Soundwave's inertia; anti-gravity still wouldn't affect his mass. (My pet theory is that he actually weighs about two pounds when he's in robot mode, and has to use some kind of hypergravity drive just to keep from falling over in a strong wind...)
Mass and weight aside, exactly how does he shrink? The atoms can't simply squeeze closer together, because there's a limit to how close atoms can scrunch together (called Planck's constant) before all their electrons decide to mingle together, and--since the electrons' orbits are what makes up most of an object's volume--suddenly you have a Transformer who's roughly the size of the period at the end of this sentence. It's possible that he shunts some of his mass into subspace, but then we get into the problem of equal mass displacement, and all sorts of theoretical physics that make my head hurt. For now, we just have to accept the fact that Transformers defy the laws of physics as we know them. Let's move on, shall we...
There is a small compound right outside Autobot Headquarters, apparently a repair bay (it's where Ratchet was fixing Huffer, and Hound was recovering as he gave Prime his report on the energon cubes). The compound disappears after this episode, however.
Isn't it convenient that Teletraan I--a futuristic computer on a spaceship created millions of years ago on an alien world--has slots for audio cassette tapes?
After Spike discovers Soundwave inside Autobot Headquarters and sounds the alarm, Soundwave manages to escape, but Ravage is captured. How, then, does Soundwave relay the information gleaned from Teletraan I? Wasn't Ravage the one who had the data?
Closer examination of the scene reveals that once Ravage enters the computer, Soundwave transforms and begins recording data, presumably on another of his tapes. That begs the question, why did Ravage bother to access the computer at all? Also, when Soundwave does make his report, he plays back audio information in Teletraan I's voice. When he was making his recording, however, Teletraan I never spoke--it just displayed various images on its screen of Earth's resources. Soundwave never linked up to Teletraan himself, so how did he get this information?
How come Hound needs a face mask (presumably to... breathe?) when he ventures into the river, but Rumble, who is underwater creating tidal waves, doesn't need one?
At Sherman Dam, Optimus flies over to Megatron, who's standing on an extended plank. Megatron punches Optimus and causes him to fall, clinging to the edge of the platform. If Prime can fly, then why is he clinging helplessly to the plank?
After Starscream nearly destroys the energon cubes with his slingshot, Megatron orders the Decepticons to "help save the energon cubes--get them out of here! Follow me!" In the very next scene, he's battling Optimus Prime above the dam. Why did he yell "Follow me!" if he wasn't going anywhere?
Just as Transformers weigh less when they transform, it sure is a good thing that objects weigh less when they're underwater. Otherwise, Spike would never have been able to move the boulders trapping Hound and free him from the bottom of the river. (I assume you can sense the biting sarcasm in these words.)
If a couple of shots from Starscream's cannon depletes the Decepticons' energon reserves so much that they require two more energy raids... how long is their supply really going to last once they get back to Cybertron?¹
For that matter, if the ruby crystals of Burma can provide enough energy to power the entire planet of Cybertron, why would they even need to bother hitting the rocket base?¹
Inside the mines, when the Decepticons spot Sparkplug and Bumblebee, Thundercracker takes a full swing at Sparky, sending him flying through the air and colliding into the cavern wall, knocking his hard hat off. Why, exactly, doesn't he die right there--or at least crack a rib or three?
This episode marks the beginning of a disturbing trend for the Autobots, and Optimus Prime in particular--a long line of instances of complete disregard for human property. The Burma crystal mines are obviously a valuable resource for the Earth, so what does Prime do? He blows up the mines!
Wheeljack explains that his bomb will detonate in exactly sixty seconds, but later episodes will reveal that Transformers measure time in astro-seconds. (I understand that he might be converting the units to Earth time for Sparkplug's sake, but isn't it awfully convenient that it just happens to equal one Earth minute? On the other hand, maybe an astro-second is the same as a regular second...)

DIALOGUE AND SOUND EFFECTS: (8)

After Brawn frees Huffer from the oil rig, Huffer says, "Thanks, Brawn!" Then, Brawn says, "Let's take off!" in Huffer's voice.
After infiltrating Autobot Headquarters, Soundwave orders Ravage to "enter Teltran I." It's Teletraan I.
After Ravage attempts to escape and the Autobots are searching for him, the Autobots are yelling various things in the background:

"There he is!"--I suppose this could be Wheeljack, but it sounds more like Sparkplug. (The voice is Transformer-amplified, by the way.)
"Get him!"--Hound.
"Fire!"--Sideswipe's mouth is moving, but it's not Sideswipe's voice. Frank Welker delivers the line, but it doesn't sound like either of the Autobots (Trailbreaker or Mirage) he portrays in the pilot.
"It's too dark!"--Sparkplug again.
"Can't see him!"--Frank Welker again.

When Rumble emerges from the river and Spike asks what happened to Hound, Rumble gives Spike a good whack and it makes a clank sound. Does Spike have a metal plate in his body, or what? (Is anybody else beginning to think that maybe Spike is not quite human?)
In the mines, when Megatron is explaining his destiny to Soundwave, Soundwave's optic visor catches a glint of light, and it makes a noise like a wind-up toy. (Again, because we all know that in the Marvel universe, sources of light always make sounds.)
Wheeljack's voice has changed just since the last episode--he's developed a heavy Southern accent, especially when he says using his explosive on the Decepticons will "bury them forever!" The reason for this, incidentally, is that Sparkplug is in the same scene, and since the same voice actor (Chris Latta) is performing both characters, he's going out of his way to make the two characters sound different.
When Thundercracker and Skywarp are tossing Bumblebee around inside the mines, there is no sound effect when Bumblebee is thrown to the ground.
Then, while Skywarp says, "Let's give Megatron a little present," his upper torso is shaking as though he were laughing. I suppose it's possible for him to do this; it just looks weird.

ANIMATION AND CONTINUITY: (69)

When Huffer thanks Brawn for freeing him, Huffer's head is colored light purple (like the highlights on his body) instead of dark purple (like the rest of his body).
As Wheeljack offers to help Trailbreaker put out the fire around the oil rig, the green panel on his upper chest jumps. Also, he's missing his Autobot symbol.
Right before Jazz ejects his grappling hook from his right arm, his forearm glows orange for an instant. Could this be our first glimpse at the subspace theory at work--his hand being shunted into that interdimensional pocket and being replaced with his grappling winch?
When Spike delivers his trendy "Another planet? ...That's awesome!" line, Jazz's leg is in the background, but the front of it is colored light blue instead of grey.
In the scene where Prime considers that Spike and Sparkplug could be of some help to the Autobots, his eyes are inordinately large.
As Spike trots into Autobot Headquarters carrying Soundwave, he's wearing a green backpack, but in the very next scene, it's gone.
Once inside Autobot HQ, when Soundwave returns to robot mode, the stripes on his wrists are grey instead of red again.
Soundwave presses the eject button on his shoulder to summon Ravage. In the very next shot as the cassette door opens, however, Soundwave is no longer pressing the button.
When Ravage transforms to his jaguar mode, his guns are missing at first. They show up on his hips in the next scene.
As Soundwave orders Ravage to "enter Teltran I," he's missing those stripes on his wrists entirely.
When Ravage transforms to enter the computer, the guns on his hips glow pink for an instant, then disappear with a flash. There's subspace in action, folks!
When Spike is inside talking to Trailbreaker, at one point he gestures with his arm but his shadow does not correspond to his movement.
It's always struck me as peculiar that the Autobot ship is embedded inside the volcano at an angle, yet the interior of their headquarters is perfectly level. Wheeljack must have tiled the entire floor of the cavern or something.
Inside the repair bay compound, Ratchet has removed Huffer's arm, presumably to repair it. Funny thing is, it's not the same arm Huffer had caught in the oil derrick at the beginning of the episode!
When Hound leans down to talk to Spike about transforming, the "W" on his chest-mounted engine disappears.
As a demonstration of his hologram powers, Hound produces a semi-transparent illusion of a driver seated in his jeep mode. In later episodes, we'll see that his holograms appear solid. (Good thing, too. Otherwise, Hound wouldn't be able to fool anybody with those things. Maybe Hound made it look that way to illustrate that it was a hologram? Except, oddly enough, Spike seemed fooled by it until the Autobots explained what it was.)
When Hound and Spike are joyriding through the desert, in the scene where Hound drives over the dunes and directly away from the camera, his spare tire is entirely black. Somebody forgot his hubcap.
As Soundwave retreats and orders Ravage to eject, Soundwave is missing the panels on his upper legs.
When Gears and Hound transform to track Ravage, Gears fades from blue to red. I guess the animators "realized" he was red in truck mode (he isn't) and tried more of that cheatsy color fading to compensate. Suffice it to say, in the very next shot, he's blue again. Also, here's a curiosity that totally blows that subspace thing out of the water--Gears and Hound both store their guns in a compartment somewhere on their backs as they transform. (Do I need to mention that the Gears toy does not have a gun? Okay, I won't.)
Right after Optimus orders Gears to activate his infrared, Op takes a step and his right foot appears underneath Gears and overlaps a part of the rock in the foreground.
In two scenes with Soundwave playing back the data from Teletraan I in tape deck mode, his forearms are blue instead of grey. Also, they forgot to color the border around his cassette window yellow.
The yellow border is missing in a later scene, after he transforms back to robot mode.
When the Decepticons fly toward Sherman Dam, three Skywarps are among them. Also, a few moments later, that mysterious light purple jet is back.
As Megatron orders Soundwave to dispatch Rumble, Starscream's face is light grey instead of its usual dark grey.
When Soundwave orders Rumble to activate his pile drivers, Soundwave is missing the red stripes on his wrists again. (Hey, they're like Jazz's front bumper. They just get to me, is all.)
For some reason, when Megatron orders the Decepticons to the power plant, Reflector stays behind. He shows up later at the plant, however.
When Megatron informs Starscream, "Your knowledge is only overshadowed by your stupidity," Starscream's Decepticon symbols are missing its "eyes."
Ah, here's a variation on an old favorite! When Soundwave is producing energon cubes, those stripes on his wrists aren't drawn... but they colored the bottom part of his wrists red anyway! Wow. Also, as each Reflector robot takes turns catching the empty cubes, all three of them has a camera lens in his chest. Only one of them should.
When Ironhide and Bumblebee divert the tidal wave, a human in a pink dress calls out, "Thanks, neighbors!" in a male voice. I just thought I'd mention it.
In the scene where Optimus orders, "Autobots, to the power plant," he has no eyes! Also, one of his smokestacks is mounted on his back, instead of his shoulder.
Then, when the Autobot fly up in preparation to fire on the Decepticons at the power plant entrance, several of them are miscolored. They're drawn rather small and indistinctly in this scene, but it appears that Brawn is colored like Sunstreaker; Gears is colored like Brawn; and Windcharger is colored like Cliffjumper (there's also a normally-colored Cliffjumper in this scene).
When the Autobots fire on the Decepticons near the entrance, they knock over Starscream and a Reflector robot also colored like Starscream. Also, when the Autobots fly past them, Gears is colored like Trailbreaker.
In the next scene when the Decepticons are compressing the energon cubes, there are four Reflector robots and three Rumbles standing with the Decepticons. (Rumble, by the way, is still underwater causing the tidal waves at this point!)
Also in this scene, as Megatron gestures and orders, "Gather the energon cubes," his hand overlaps Thundercracker's wing, even though Thundercracker is upstage of him.
In the scene with the Autobots hovering in the air (looks more like they're pasted to the walls, but anyway...), Jazz is missing his symbol. It's still gone in a later scene.
During Megatron and Optimus Prime's battle on top of the dam, they each retract a hand to reveal a glowing weapon (Megatron's is some kind of energon mace). When it first pops out, the ball, chain, and handle are all glowing purple. In the next scene, the handle is solid grey. After that, it's glowing again. In the scene after that, the handle and chain are both grey. This trend continues throughout the fight.¹
Also, Megatron's fusion cannon has disappeared during the aforementioned battle. (What's really strange is, he flies off without it at the end of the fight!)
After the second commercial break, as Prime is washed away by the river, the inside of his smokestack is colored red. It should be grey.
As before, Jazz uses his grappling hook winch, but this time when he activates it, his forearm doesn't glow.
Is Huffer blind? He whines, "But we're not fighters like they are, Prime!" and he's looking directly forward, even though Prime is standing to his left.
There are ten Decepticon jets, in assorted blues and purples, filling energon cubes in the snow. Seriously, where did these guys all come from??
In the same scene, when Reflector is filling the large stack of transparent energon cubes, Soundwave is standing right behind them and his legs disappear an instant before the cubes are filled.
There are three more purple jets (as well as a turquoise-colored Rumble) flying out of a mine shaft in a later scene.
In the long shot of Soundwave and Megatron coming down the elevator platform, Soundwave is missing his Decepticon symbol. Also, in the foreground, the Reflector trio is filling their respective stacks of energon cubes in the exact same spot, over and over and over again...
When Megatron first spots Starscream testing the energon cubes, Starscream's shoulders are blue instead of grey.
There are two problems in the exchange between Megatron and Starscream that follows. In the medium shot of the two, Starscream's arms are way too short. (I don't normally comment on the way a character is drawn if there's nothing technically amiss, but the proportions are seriously off here.) In the long shot of the two, Screamer's missing the panels on his bottom legs and on his feet.
When Megs raises his arms and yells, "The difference is time, you fool!" part of his elbows are grey instead of red.
In another shot of Screamer and Megs ("Don't push me, Megatron...") the top of Starscream's chest is orange.
In the next scene, the blue and red buttons on Megatron's abdomen aren't colored in.
Soundwave's strike force is as follows: four Rumbles (in yellow, blue, orange, and turquoise); eight Reflector robots; and two other jets besides Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp.
To make part of an animation cel glow (like a laser blast or a robot's eyes), the animators usually paint that part of the cel black, and then go back and add a special reflective paint over top of it. The process is called backlighting. Anyway, as the Decepticons are filling energon cubes in the mine, the cubes are a pale pink instead of their usual glowing pink. In this case, I suspect that the animators either forgot to go back and add the backlighting, or opted not to (it's a fairly expensive process, as I understand it).
As Megatron relates his ultimate goals to Soundwave in the mine, in the close-up of Soundwave his neck is blue instead of grey.
Outside the mine, there's a scene of the Autobots where Bluestreak, seen from the rear, has a yellow head (colored like Bumblebee's). It's the same drawing used a few scenes back, but for some odd reason somebody took the time to re-color the cel.
As Prime is advising Sparkplug to get out if he has any problems during the mission, the bottom panel of Jazz's pelvis is light blue, when only the middle panel should be.
After Bumblebee drives up to the mine entrance, when he first returns to robot mode, his hands are yellow instead of black.
Bumblebee's not supposed to have a neck, as far as I can tell. Not only does he have one in a few scenes in the mines, but it changes in color from grey to yellow and back.
In the mines, as Sparkplug explains to Bumblebee the nature of the ruby crystals, Bumblebee's abdomen keeps flashing from black to yellow.
As Skywarp and Thundercracker are pushing the mine car, their middle chests (which, again, form the nose and cockpit in jet mode) are drawn as the same piece as their bodies. Also, their arm-mounted guns are missing. (Their guns are back when they run into Bumblebee.)
In the next scene with the Decepticons mining the crystals, Megatron's right hand is silver instead of black, and Starscream's face is light grey instead of dark grey.
When Megatron says, "This is the last load! Get ready to pull out!" he's missing his Decepticon symbol.
In the Plot Oversights (above) I mentioned Wheeljack's timer and how convenient it was that it measured time in Earth units. Well, he obviously wasn't just converting the units for Sparkplug's sake, because the timer's LED display is in arabic numerals.
When Skywarp and Thundercracker first meet up with Bumblebee and Sparkplug, Thundercracker's Decepticon symbols are just purple squares. Also, his left forearm is (ahem) jet black like Skywarp, while his left forearm is its usual light black.
When Sparkplug charges the jets, Skywarp is missing the panels on his feet.
As Jazz observes, "They oughta be outta there by now," his helmet and left hand are both white instead of black.
When Ironhide offers to investigate, his lower torso and upper legs are black instead of grey. Also in this scene, Bluestreak's head is black instead of grey.
As Prime delivers his "If I'm not back in five minutes" line, the stripes on the front of his chest are red. They should be grey.
When Thundercracker suggests they wrap up Bumblebee as a gift and then laughs, his neck is blue instead of light grey.
As Prime sends Roller into the mines, we briefly see a shot of the inside of Prime's cabin. There's an octagonal panel similar to the one seen in Wheeljack's cockpit in part 1, which blinked when he talked. Prime's just seems to light up at random intervals.
When Prime comes tumbling down the mountain, his smokestacks are missing.

GENERATION 2: (10)

In the recap of the previous episode, Megatron's fusion cannon makes a really wimpy laser gun noise.
When Optimus introduces himself to Spike and Sparkplug, some team symbols helpfully pop up in mid-air to illustrate the differences between Autobots and Decepticons. (I guess Hound was supplying the holograms?)
They added a window inset which makes it exceedingly obvious that Soundwave is eavesdropping when Trailbreaker explains transforming to Spike. This changes the feel of the entire scene--as though they were suggesting that Soundwave is attempting to discover the secrets of transforming (while he himself is transformed, mind you).
They dubbed in a new swoosh sound as Soundwave lunges for Spike. What was the point of this?
In the scene change from Soundwave retreating to Prime spotting him, the animation takes on a strange greenish hue while it's inside the computer window. I think the computer animators forgot to adjust their tint settings; once the window goes away, the colors of the scene are restored.
When Prime is dangling on the ledge inside the power plant and Megatron asks if he has any last words, when Prime says, "None you'd wanna hear, Megatron!" they used an inset of Prime's head. The problem is, they took it from a later scene when he's back outside, so it's got a blue sky background.
They also added a fizzling sound when Megatron steps on Prime's hand. (You get the distinct impression the sound effects editors were getting bored with this episode?)
The "green screen" effect happens again when Prime grabs Jazz's grappling cord.
At the end, during the preview for part 3, they sampled the sound effect of Hound creating the holographic rocket base and reused it for the scene of Prime being blasted out of the sky by the Decepticon space cruiser.
The voice credits are from "More Than Meets the Eye" this time, but still no mention of Frank Welker.

TRIVIA ANSWERS:

1,750,000 kilowatts.
Ten times its normal capacity.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
¹Parallax