"Don't worry, Grapple. We all make mistakes."
"Not me. Not like this!"
Introduction
I've attempted to analyze several times over the
years exactly what it is that I find so fascinating about documenting bloopers,
and I've never been able to pinpoint it. Part of it, naturally, stems
from my love of trivia—no sense in restricting that only to what the
creators did right, when this page clearly demonstrates there's a plethora
of information regarding what they did wrong. I also do it to set the
record straight on some of the details, since the number of inconsistencies
within these shows sometimes makes it difficult to tell where the truth ends
and the mistakes begin. (I still can't tell sometimes, honestly.)
More than anything else, though, I do this because I get a kick out
of it.
My intent, by the way, is not to tear apart these
episodes, but rather to celebrate them. Nobody is a bigger fan of the
Transformers cartoon shows than me, and analyzing the details of the episodes
is one of the ways in which I am able to enjoy them. Sure, I'm perfectly
capable of just sitting back, suspending disbelief, and watching the show
without picking it to pieces. I also take great pleasure in discovering
new things about these show; this just happens to extend to the mistakes
as well.
Documenting a comprehensive list of bloopers for
a given episode is rather time-consuming. It sometimes takes me several
days to jot down all the notes, monopolizing the TV and DVD player, and a
couple more days to get it all typed up. Since I wanted to address
a bunch more G1 episodes than I'd done so far and also wanted to sink my
teeth into other shows as well, I decided to write up mini-bloopers.
They're not nearly as comprehensive, but they do still address all
the major gaffes in a given episode. (I'll go back and finish them
as I make my way back through the episodes.)
Submissions
I get more e-mail about the bloopers section of
the ZMFTS than any other part of the site. If you found a blooper I
didn't catch, feel free to write to me about it. (The Transformers:
the Movie really has been done to death, though. Can we please
move on?) If I agree that it's a valid blooper, I'll add it to
the site and credit you for it as soon as it's convenient for me to do so.
It's possible that I won't see it as a blooper at all, though. Don't
take it personally if I disagree; I just have my own ideas of what does and
does not constitute a genuine blooper. Remember that the mini-bloopers
are not meant to be a comprehensive list of errors. Send me submissions
for those if you like, but keep in mind that the chances are very good that
I already know about that particular blooper, but felt it wasn't significant
enough to add right now.
By the way, just because it's possible to justify
a blooper with some creative explanation doesn't mean that it shouldn't be
listed here. I mean, just about every mistake can be rationalized
away if you try hard enough. For this reason, I'm not particularly
interested in arguments that what I've listed on these pages might not actually
be mistakes. My job is to document this stuff; if you want to justify
them in your mind, be my guest. I'm not looking for No-Prizes,
guys.
Categories
Bloopers are broken down into six categories and
are listed chronologically within each category. The number after each
heading indicates the number of bloopers in that category. Each blooper
falls into one of the following categories:
-
Plot Oversights and Changed Premises:
Anything having to do with the content of the script itself,
including the storyline, information contained in dialogue, etc.
Sound Effects and Dialogue: Any blooper relating to
the mechanics of the soundtrack, including background music, voice amplification,
sound effects, and voice acting.
Animation and Continuity: Drawing, coloring, and animating mistakes
all fall under this category.
Cartoonisms: A sub-category focusing on the impossible physics
and scenes that could have only come from an animated series that
knows it's a cartoon.
Junkionisms: My attempts to identify all of the pop culture and
TV references from the show. Many of them are from Wreck-Gar and his
happy little band, but not all of them.
Alternate Versions: This is a catch-all category for episodes
in which more than one version exists. This includes edits that were
made when the episodes aired on the Sci-Fi Channel, when they were revamped
for Transformers: Generation 2, and changed made when they were released
to video or DVD.
I've also included some trivia questions for the
die-hard Transformers fan; some of the best lines (and cheesiest lines) from
the episodes; and some notes about the episodes themselves that I thought
were noteworthy, but not necessarily mistakes. Pertinent screen shots
and .wave files will be included where relevant. One day, once I've
finished the original series, I may consider documenting the bloopers from
later shows like Beast Wars, Beast Machines, and Robots in
Disguise. (Don't hold your breath waiting, though.)
Episodes
Season One (1984)
-
1.
"More Than Meets
the Eye" part 1 (84)
2. "More
Than Meets the Eye" part 2 (104)
3. "More
Than Meets the Eye" part 3 (85)
4. "Transport to
Oblivion" (83)
5. "Roll for It"
(115)
6. "Divide and Conquer"
7. "Fire in the Sky"
8. "S.O.S. Dinobots"
9. "Fire on the Mountain"
10. "War of the Dinobots"
11. "The Ultimate Doom" part 1
12. "The Ultimate Doom" part 2
13. "The Ultimate Doom" part 3
14. "Countdown to Extinction"
15. "A Plague of Insecticons"
16. "Heavy Metal War"
Season Two (1985)
-
17. "Autobot Spike"
18. "Changing Gears"
19. "City of Steel"
(134)
20. "Attack of the Autobots"
21. "Traitor!"
22. "The Immobilizer"
23. "The Autobot Run"
24. "Atlantis, Arise!"
25. "Day of the Machines"
26. "Enter the Nightbird"
27. "A Prime Problem"
(62)
28. "The Core"
29. "The Insecticon Syndrome
30. "Dinobot Island" part 1
31. "Dinobot Island" part 2
32. "The Master Builders"
33. "Auto Berserk"
34. "Microbots"
35. "Megatron's Master Plan" part 1
36. "Megatron's Master Plan" part 2
37. "Desertion of the Dinobots" part 1
38. "Desertion of the Dinobots" part 2
39. "Blaster Blues"
40. "A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court"
41. "The Golden Lagoon"
42. "The God Gambit"
43. "Make Tracks"
44. "Child's Play"
45. "Quest for Survival"
46. "The Secret of Omega Supreme"
47. "The Gambler"
48. "Kremzeek!"
49. "Sea Change"
50. "Triple Takeover"
51. "Prime Target"
52. "Auto-Bop"
53. "The Search for Alpha Trion"
54. "The Girl Who Loved Powerglide"
55. "Hoist Goes Hollywood"
56. "The Key to Vector Sigma" part 1
57. "The Key to Vector Sigma" part 2
58. "Aerial Assault"
59. "War Dawn"
60. "Trans-Europe Express"
61. "Cosmic Rust"
62. "Starscream's Brigade"
63. "The Revenge of Bruticus"
64. "Masquerade"
65. "B.O.T."
The
Transformers: the Movie (273)
Season Three (1986-87)
-
66.
"Five Faces of
Darkness" part 1 (109)
67. "Five Faces
of Darkness" part 2 (58)
68. "Five Faces
of Darkness" part 3 (75)
69. "Five Faces
of Darkness" part 4 (74)
70. "Five Faces
of Darkness" part 5 (91)
71. "The Killing Jar"
72. "Chaos"
73. "Dark Awakening"
74. "Forever
is a Long Time Coming" (26+)
75. "Starscream's Ghost"
(25)
76. "Thief in the Night"
(16+)
77. "Surprise Party"
(20)
78. "Madman's Paradise"
(20+)
79. "Nightmare Planet"
(27+)
80. "Ghost in the
Machine" (50)
81. "Webworld"
82. "Carnage in
C-Minor" (90)
83. "The Big Broadcast of 2006"
84. "The Quintesson Journal"
85. "The Ultimate Weapon"
86. "Fight or Flee"
87. "The Dweller in the
Depths" (39)
88. "Only Human" (54)
89. "Money is Everything"
(42)
90. "Grimlock's New
Brain" (64)
91. "Call of the
Primitives" (49)
92. "The Face of the
Nijika" (39)
93. "The Burden Hardest
to Bear" (58)
94. "The Return
of Optimus Prime" part 1 (108)
95. "The Return
of Optimus Prime" part 2 (99)
Season Four (1987)
-
66.
"The Rebirth" part 1 (102)
67. "The Rebirth" part 2
(79)
68. "The Rebirth" part 3
(104)
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