Power to Burn!
From Transformers Wiki
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 This is easier with Constructicons. | |||||||||
| "Power to Burn!" (Hatsudō! Double Matrix) "Activate! Double Matrix" | |||||||||
| Production company | TV Tokyo, NAS, Studio Gallop | ||||||||
| Airdate | 11 October 2000 (Japanese) October 19, 2001 (English) | ||||||||
| Written by | Tadashi Hayakawa (Japanese) Tom Wyner (English) | ||||||||
| Director | Yoshiaki Tsutsui | ||||||||
| Animation studio | Studio Gallop | ||||||||
Scourge wants a team up
Ultra Magnus turns him down
A big fight ensues
Contents |
Synopsis
Optimus, T-AI and Koji puzzle over how the Autobot Brothers were able to super-charge and, on reviewing footage of the incident, realise that the power came from Ultra Magnus.
Meanwhile Scourge tells Megatron that he is going to try to persuade Ultra Magnus to join them and help them defeat Optimus. Megatron is impressed (having apparently forgotten that they just tried that).
T-AI contacts Side Burn, eventually managing to jolt him out of daydreaming about red sports cars, and asks him to be on the lookout for Magnus. The Autobot is soon distracted by the appearance of Kelly in yet another red sports car, but finds himself unexpectedly powering up. Prowl, coming up behind him, suggests this means Ultra Magnus must be near, and sure enough they spot a familiar car carrier up ahead. Magnus is not happy to see the two brothers, and speeds ahead, soon sighting Scourge.
The Decepticon lures Magnus to a clearing and proposes they join forces to destroy both Optimus and Megatron. Magnus turns him down, and the Commandos promptly appear, ready to fight, with Side Burn and Prowl quickly joining in as well. Annoyed, Magnus leaves the pair to it. The Commandos form Ruination, and the two brothers power up, with Side Burn contacting T-AI for backup.
As X-Brawn joins the fight by kicking Ruination in the head, Side Burn and Prowl both unexpectedly power down, suddenly as weak as kittens. Magnus witnesses what's happening and regrets leaving the two brothers to the Decepticons, but before he can intercede, Optimus arrives. The Autobot leader proceeds to distract the Decepticons while X-Brawn helps his brothers to safety. Ruination separates and the Decepticons begin a concentrated attack on Prime, who attempts to shoot down as many of their missiles as he can. Magnus rejoins the fight.
It's not long before Megatron turns up with Sky-Byte and the Predacon trio and attack Optimus as well. After the Autobot leader gives a stirring speech about how good will prevail, he combines with Magnus into Omega Prime and shrugs off a full salvo of all the firepower the Decepticons and Predacons can muster. After a brief amount of return fire, Megatron calls a retreat, and Optimus thanks Magnus for his help. The Autobot brothers speculate that next time Magnus just might join the Autobot team.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Predacons | Humans |
|---|---|---|
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Quotes
Side Burn: [eyes twitching and bulging] Hey, Ultra Magnus! I'm glad we found you. I wanted to thank you for that power burst you gave me. I'm handling great, got lots of acceleration and dude, I'm a whole lot faster than I ever was before! The way I'm feeling now, nobody's gonna catch me!
Ultra Magnus: Stay away from me!
- —And the lesson here is: even when you're an Autobot, people find you less approachable when you're clearly on crack.
"We can destroy both Megatron and Optimus and fulfill our destinies. Will you join me?"
- —Scourge channels Darth Vader.
X-Brawn: Don't worry, little brother. I just got to this hoedown and I'm raring to dance with these boys.
Scourge: Sorry, the first dance goes to Side Burn. I want to see him kick up his heels!
- —Scourge is really getting the hang of this "banter" thing.
"Power wielded by incompetence leads to nothing but self-destruction."
- —Scourge channels Yoda.
Optimus: As long as our circuits flow with faith and justice will prevail, you cannot win!
Slapper: Yuck! Disgusting! We should destroy him just for that!
- —Slapper doesn't appreciate corny dialog.
Notes
Differences with Car Robots
- The whole 45-second clip from the previous episode, played as a video recording for Koji by Optimus Prime, is added for the Robots in Disguise episode. The two shots of Koji that bookend this sequence are a continuous shot in Car Robots, and involve him asking not about the Autobot Brothers becoming supercharged, but about Optimus's Energon Matrix.
- The rest of the conversation that follows is the same in spirit between the two versions, but re-framed for Robots in Disguise to be about the unique nature of the Matrix and the possibility that Magnus is sharing its energy with Prime, where Car Robots is able to talk about how it appears God Magnus has an Energon Matrix of his own. However, Car Robots will never actually explore this story thread; the later recap episode "Gelshark's Blues" features narration from Magnus that confirms he does have his own Energon Matrix, but the air of mystery with which the idea was introduced (how does Magnus have an Energon Matrix and not know about it?) is never followed up on.
- When Side Burn is cruising along, Robots in Disguise adds a gag that involves T-AI calling his name, and him not hearing her because he's caught up in his own thoughts. In Car Robots, she doesn't speak until she appears on his internal monitor. As such, the dialogue after their conversation is also different; in Robots in Disguise it reflects the gag, with T-AI telling him to check his audio and him apologizing, while in Car Robots, Side Burn observes to himself that Optimus is worried about Ultra Magnus, and that he too would like to find him to express his thanks for the power boost.
- Robots in Disguise cuts out some anime "shock" reaction effects when Side Burn supercharges.
- Prowl's observation that Side Burn has supercharged because Ultra Magnus is nearby is an invention for Robots in Disguise; in Car Robots, he's just commenting on Side Burn's sudden change, which has simply occurred because of the young 'bot's lack of control over his new power.
- When Side Burn and Prowl find Ultra Magnus, Robots in Disguise changes the dialogue so that he detects them right away; in Car Robots, he's still lost in thought over the mysterious supercharging incident. This change shapes what happens next: when Prowl reports to Optimus and the brothers are told to keep their distance, Robots in Disguise has Prowl tell him that Magnus has scanned them already, while in Car Robots, Prowl has to embarrassedly report that Side Burn has started talking to Magnus already. Robots in Disguise cuts a short scene of an anime "sweat drop" effect appears over Prowl as he delivers this information.
- Robots in Disguise makes a series of video edits to Side Burn and Magnus's conversation, shortening four separate shots: the initial shot of Side Burn pulling up alongside Magnus and thanking him (removing a line from Car Robots in which Magnus notes he never intended to give them the power boost), the subsequent shot of Side Burn and Magnus's heads on Magnus's monitor, the rear angle shot as Side Burn pulls up beside Magnus a second time, and the top-down view of both 'bots as they alongside one another. The end result is that the scene, from the moment Side Burn pulls up until it cuts to commercial, runs for 1:14, compared to the 1:29 it ran for in Car Robots. Said cut-to-commercial take the place of a scene transition in Car Robots.
- Magnus is a bit less standoffish in Car Robots, as he and Side Burn talk about what it's like to be a younger brother; after Side Burn tells him that Optimus is worried about him, Magnus remarks that even Side Burn's own elder brothers probably worry about him when he's off on his own. This is the remark that prompts Side Burn to nearly swerve off the road in surprise; in Robots in Disguise, this is changed to a non-sequiter steering accident, which he covers with a simple "Whoopsie!"
- Similarly, in Car Robots, Magnus thinks that if Prime is worried about him, it's because he thinks he might join up with the Predacons, while in Robots in Disguise, this is changed to Magnus thinking Prime is worried about him taking the Matrix and assuming his position as Autobot leader.
- When Prowl tracks Scourge and Magnus, Robots in Disguise omits a line he has in Car Robots about how his radar is more powerful after his supercharging.
- When Scourge tells Magnus to forget about Megatron, and to join forces with him specifically, his follow up line is thought to himself in Car Robots, but spoken aloud to Magnus in Robots in Disguise. The second half of Magnus and Scourge's conversation is also completely changed between versions, save for Magnus's refusal to join forces. In Robots in Disguise, Magnus's primary point is that Prime is his to deal with, and Scourge retorts that if he could defeat Prime, he would have done so already. Car Robots, on the other hand, focuses on Scourge's newly-introduced treacherous intentions: when questioned on them by Magnus, Scourge explains that he is a "Decepticon with the face of a Prime", but that in reality, he is neither of these things, and owes no loyalty to either ideal as a result.
- After X-Brawn arrives, the Robots in Disguise dialogue for Scourge makes it sound as if this is the first time he is seeing their powered-up forms, when he saw them last episode. In Car Robots, he merely thinks to himself on what a bad situation it is.
- When Robots in Disguise returns from its middle-of-the-episode commercial break, it begins with a shot of Magnus watching the battle from nearby, moved to before the panning shot of Ruination holding Side Burn aloft instead of after, as it was in Car Robots.
- In Robots in Disguise, Prime encourages Scourge to beat a retreat, and Scourge naturally refuses, followed by a bit of waffling from both parties that says little. In Car Robots, on the other hand, Prime is actually calling Scourge out, and when Scourge asks if he wants a one-on-one battle, Prime informs him that, nope, he'll be fighting alone, but that Scourge can call as many Decepticons to help him as he wants. Phew, Prime's hardcore in this one!
- As such, at the start of the conversation in Robots in Disguise, where Prime tells X-Brawn and Side Burn to handle Ruination while he deals with Scourge, in Car Robots, he tells X-Brawn to get his brothers to his repair bay while he handles the two villains.
- Robots in Disguise extends the attack from Scourge's battle station slightly, repeating footage of the base opening fire and of Prime trying to shoot down some of the projectiles twice (!), and of the bombs dropping around Side Burn.
- When Magnus re-enters the fray, in Car Robots, Scourge briefly thinks he might be returning to join forces with him. After Magnus makes clear that is not the case, and Optimus rises in the background, Scourge's next line is directed at Magnus in Robots in Disguise ("You're going to take us all on by yourself?") but at Optimus in Car Robots ("You can still stand?") before he vows to destroy them both.
- The Predacon trio grumble about Scourge still being Megatron's favourite in Robots in Disguise; that's basically their sentiment in Car Robots too, but they express it by pointing out amongst themselves that actually, Scourge was in a tough spot until Megatron turned up and isn't actually worthy of the praise Megatron is giving him.
- A good illustration of the East-West cultural gap: while the Predacons laugh at how "corny" Optimus's speech is in Robots in Disguise, in Car Robots, their reaction is more akin to squeeing at how cool it is. After Prime is done, Robots in Disguise has them continue to deride his speechification, while in Car Robots, it has worked on them, and they've lost the will to fight—which is why they don't take part in the battle after this.
- After Omega Prime is formed, the Predacons simply remark that things have gone wrong and it would be a good idea to leave in Robots in Disguise, but in Car Robots, as they're playing a "spectator" role after "losing the will to fight", they instead offer up peanut-gallery-style commentary on the power of Omega Prime's special weapons.
Animation errors/technical glitches
- In one shot, when Scourge is fighting Prowl, his sword is colored black instead of pink.
Continuity errors
- When Optimus, T-AI and Koji are reviewing the events of their last battle, the footage seen on the viewscreen is lifted directly from "The Two Faces of Ultra Magnus", except X-Brawn's line "What the bejillickers?" has been replaced with "What in tarnation's going on?". The new line can probably be seen as an improvement, by virtue of "tarnation" actually being a real word.
- Scourge reacts with surprise at the Autobot brothers' power up, apparently having completely forgotten the events of the previous episode.
- Optimus and Magnus, both have always been able to easily deal with Scourge and the Decepticon Commandos, even Ruination, on their own. Now however, they seem to be losing their touch. Getting lazier by the minute because they know they could always call on one another and merge?
Trivia
- For some inexplicable reason, this episode aired on Fox Kids on the Friday before the preceding episode, "The Two Faces of Ultra Magnus", would make its Saturday morning debut the very next day.
- Optimus's concerns about his death spelling destruction for the Matrix suggests that the Robots in Disguise Matrix is tethered to its holder's lifeforce, unlike the original The Transformers cartoon incarnation of the artifact. Guess they don't make Matrices like they used to...
Foreign localization
Italian
- Title: "Energia da bruciare" ("Energy to burn")
- X-Brawn's line: "Howdy, Prime!" is changed to: "Howdy, Ultra Magnus!". WHAT?!
Portuguese
- Title: "Uma Força Extra" ("An Extra Force")
Home video releases
- DVD
2001 — Transformers: Car Robots — Vol. 7 (Pony Canyon) — Japanese audio only.
2005 — Transformers: Robots in Disguise — Three-Disc Box Set: Part 2 of 2 (Maximum Entertainment)
2007 — Transformers: Robots in Disguise — Season Two (Maximum Entertainment)
2007 — Transformers: Robots in Disguise — Ultimate Collection (Maximum Entertainment)
