The Girl Who Loved Powerglide

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He's just looking for a heaaaartbeeeaaaat...
"The Girl Who Loved Powerglide"
Production code	700-53
Season	2
No. in season	38
Production company	Sunbow Productions
Airdate	November 18, 1985
Written by	David Wise
Animation studio	Toei
Continuity	Generation 1 cartoon continuity
Watch this episode on YouTube

A newly orphaned debutante must protect her late father's work from Megatron. She finds Powerglide, and with him, safety... or perhaps... something more?

Synopsis

Scale doesn't matter, really.

One fine day at the skyscraper headquarters of Hybrid Technologies, the members of the board are gathered to celebrate the birthday of one Astoria Carlton-Ritz... their CEO. While the crusty board members complain about having to party, Astoria herself isn't too happy to be stuck with such a bunch of downers. However, the arrival and attack of the Conehead trio, Ramjet, Dirge, and Thrust, gives them all something much bigger to worry about.

Luckily, Powerglide just happens to be passing by, and observes the Coneheads attempting to kidnap Astoria. Powerglide successfully saves Astoria by having her grab on to a rope. He then proceeds to sweep through the city with her flying through the air at breakneck speed while clinging to a dangling rope with only her arm strength to keep Astoria from plummeting thousands of feet to her sure death. Powerglide eventually reels her up where she is stowed safely in his cockpit, amusingly with her large floppy purple hat still present.

After performing several evasive maneuvers that leave Astoria tumbling willy nilly around Powerglide's cabin, he manages to lose the Coneheads by ducking beneath an overpass. Powerglide introduces himself while they are waiting, but quickly finds himself rather put off by his overly gregarious human charge.

The duo manages to make it back to Sparkplug's workshop without any further mishap. Optimus Prime shares some pertinent information with Powerglide and Sparkplug and also reveals that the young heiress doesn't know about some of the ventures her company works on even though she is in charge of the company. Optimus Prime believes Megatron wants something from her so he orders Powerglide to escort her back to the Autobot Headquarters. On the way to the Ark, Astoria pipes up and says she is starving and wants to eat something.

Meantime in the Decepticon Base, Megatron is quite unhappy about the Coneheads' failure. He orders them to bring Astoria to him and this time without any failures.

Wrapping the wound can prevent the sands from getting in.

After sating her hunger with amusement park hot dogs, Astoria is quick to amuse herself by jumping on the merry-go-around, much to Powerglide's consternation and bemusement. Powerglide tries to get the flighty girl to leave, but it's too late—the Coneheads come back for Astoria. Powerglide fights them off with some trick shots, and manages to escape with Astoria. But the Coneheads soon catch up, and Powerglide is rammed by Ramjet. Powerglide's left arm and left wing are injured and he is forced to make a crash landing. The Coneheads bury him in a rock pile, and take Astoria prisoner.

Powerglide breaks out from beneath the debris and attempts to set off in pursuit of the Coneheads. Despite his determination, he collapses due to his injuries. Ratchet and Wheeljack eventually arrive to haul him back to Headquarters for repairs.

After Ratchet does some basic repairs on him, Powerglide refuses any further repairs and goes to see Optimus Prime. While Powerglide is discussing his options with Optimus Prime, Teletraan I notifies them that Sky Spy just detected an unusual atmospheric disturbance over the Northern Atlantic and the source is 10 miles above the sea level. Optimus Prime thinks it is possibly the Decepticons' suborbital station. Impulsively, Powerglide rushes out of the Ark and flies directly to the Sky Platform and consequently into the energy storm.

Powerglide crushes Astoria in a fit of rage.

Meanwhile, the Decepticons are interrogating Astoria about the energy formula left by her father. She claims that she knows nothing, so Megatron decides to use the psycho-probe in order to make her tell him about the formula. Seemingly cursed by Astoria's machine-jinxing aura, the psycho-probe keeps malfunctioning, provoking Megatron into such a rage that he eventually destroys the machine.

Hook reports that Powerglide is approaching the platform; the Decepticons go out to meet him. Megatron laughs at Powerglide and says he won't be able to break through the energy storm. But Astoria throws her necklace given by her father toward the energy-storm-generating tower and successfully destroys it. Not surprisingly, the necklace contains the energy formula.

The destroyed tower collapses the buildings on Sky Platform. The Sky Platform loses its control and starts to fall down. The Decepticons retreat to their headquarters. Both Powerglide and Astoria go into the control room. After a bit of a lover's tiff, Powerglide repairs the control panel, successfully slowing down the Sky Platform's descent and setting a new course. As the platform drops toward the ocean, the duo make good their escape.

The Decepticons return to base and congratulate themselves on their escape... only to find that the Sky Platform is falling directly onto their headquarters. Megatron orders the force fields to be activated, only for Soundwave to inform him they didn't install any. Megatron then yells at his crew as massive quantities of seawater rush into the base.

...And they will name their first child "Iron Man"!

Back safe in the city, Powerglide asks Astoria why Megatron was so keen on kidnapping Astoria. She tells him it was because of the energy formula hidden in her necklace. Much to the private glee of the Autobots present, Powerglide asks rather shyly whether he could look her up next time he comes to town. Astoria is very happy and kisses him before she scurries off to her limo and is carted off. The minute Astoria is out of earshot, everyone has a good-natured laugh at Powerglide's expense. Thoroughly embarrassed, Powerglide threatens the would-be teasers with a good boxing around the circuits before he stomps into the building.

Once Powerglide is out of sight of the other Autobots, he pauses to open his chest plate, showing a series of LEDs flashing in the form of a stylized heart.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Oh wow! He's tall, he's handsome, he's shiny. And he can fly!"
"Yeah, well there's a few things he can't do, you know."

—Astoria comments on Powerglide and Spike proceeds to drill a bolt into a hole.

"I guess me and machines don't get along too well."
"I can personally attest to that."

—Astoria and Powerglide

"Why does everything always happen to me?"

—Powerglide laments his lot in life.

"Get back here! I'm not done!"
"Is my wing fixed? Can I fly?"
"Well, yes, but—"
"Then you're done."

—Ratchet has a most unwilling patient in Powerglide

"You got any burgers in this joint?"
"Silence!"
"You guys are, like, the worst hosts!"

—Astoria and Soundwave

"Hey! Like, don't be so hostile, okay?"
"Tell me what you know!"
"All I know is that you're a complete and total, utter—"
"SILENCE!"

—Astoria and Megatron

"Subject's mind completely empty."

—Why in God's name didn't Soundwave just scan her mind himself?

"The psycho-probe will put 90,000 volts through your brain. It is an excruciating experience. Will you tell me what you know??"
"All this waiting around, that's what's excruciating. I mean, I'm starving, for cryin' out loud! When are you guys gonna feed me? That's what I wanna know. Your dumb machine, like, doesn't even work, and—"
"Enough!"

—Megatron wants Astoria just to shut up

"Energize the force fields!"
"What force fields?!"

—Megatron and Soundwave

"Attention, Decepticons! This is Megatron speaking. Your new orders are... er... clean up this mess!"

—Megatron tries to maintain a semblance of dignity as his base floods

"Ha, wow! Who would've believed it! Powerglide shot down by Cupid!"

—Sparkplug teases Powerglide after he is kissed by Astoria.

Notes

Production information

• First draft script: 6 June 1985

Continuity notes

• Gadgets and powers:
  • Powerglide once again uses a telescopic video camera. This time it comes out of his front laser gun barrel, however. How does that work?
  • Powerglide also has some means of tossing out a rope while in plane mode, and reeling it back in.
  • Dirge has his own version of Starscream's infamous boob bombs; he fires a pair of missiles from ducts just below his "boobs" (the rectangular "intakes" on his chest.)
  • Powerglide can deploy a human-sized parachute from his hand. Apparently it was not designed to be strapped onto the back, but rather the user is supposed to hang on to a baton sized handle for the entire descent. Powerglide clearly overestimates the gripping power of humans.
• Despite the fact that he has been seeing Carly for some time now, Spike unashamedly hits on Astoria, and promptly gets shot down for Powerglide. Hard. He had the same results with Nimue in "A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur’s Court", yet he doesn't seem to have learned his lesson.
• Similarly, Powerglide was shown in the previous episode to this one to have an attachment to Moonracer, which he seems to have completely forgotten about.

Real-world references

• Astoria's name comes from two famous upscale hotels, the Waldorf-Astoria and Ritz-Carlton.
• "It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to!", as announced by Astoria early in the episode, is a lyric from the 1963 Lesley Gore song, "It's My Party".
• Star Wars sound effects:
  • The slamming Death Star door is used to soundtrack Powerglide's closing bottom hatch.
  • An exploding X-Wing (maybe Red Leader crashing into the Death Star), is repurposed as Powerglide's engine noise as Astoria sends him spiraling out of control.
  • Truncated X-Wing diving whine as the Decepticons flee from the sky platform.

Animation and technical errors

• One of the party guests at the beginning of the episode uses the British expletive "bloody", but doesn't have much of a British accent.
• Coloring errors:
  • For just a frame or two, the top of Dirge's head turns blue instead of black as the Coneheads run to take off in pursuit of Powerglide.
  • Dirge's eyes go from bright red to dark red as he leans forward while being berated by Megatron.
  • Ramjet's face changes from dark gray to light gray as he delivers his "And we will GET the girl" line.
  • Astoria's necklace is the same yellow as her dress after Ramjet hits Powerglide.
  • "Don't be so hostile, okay?" Rumble's fists are gray instead of purple in this shot.
  • "Subject's mind... completely empty!" Soundwave is missing his yellow stripes, and his cheek guards and eject button are blue instead of gray.
  • "Computer error." Soundwave's shoulder cannon is missing its red stripe.
  • "He'll never make it through that energy storm" - Megatron is missing the red on his waist.
  • "Correction: problem is ours!" Rumble is colored like Bumblebee in this shot.
  • "What force fields?" Soundwave's face is colored the same blue as the rest of his head, and he's missing his wrist stripes.
  • As Astoria departs, Sparkplug has his hand on Spike's shoulder, but it's colored blue. The colorists seem to have gotten mixed up by Prime standing right behind Spike.
• The dialog doesn't quite seem to synch up with the events on-screen as Astoria wrecks all of Spike's equipment. Spike's "HEY!" doesn't correspond to any actual action, and Astoria continues speaking evenly and nonchalantly as she slams into a crane hard enough to knock an engine block loose.
• Ramjet's mouth doesn't move when he says "Please, let us try to find her again."
• Powerglide shoots a vending machine and blows a huge hole in it. This somehow causes a firehose-like torrent of soda to come shooting out of the machine.
• Powerglide's landing gears are all painted red when he lands after being rammed by Ramjet.
• Astoria totally has no legs as Thrust and Ramjet carry her off.

"Hop in guys, there's plenty of room."

• Scale is always goofy in this show, but robot mode Thrust and Ramjet are quite visibly smaller than jet mode Dirge as they load Astoria into his cockpit, even though they're all the same size. Meanwhile, Ratchet is big enough in vehicle mode to hold both Wheeljack, a sportscar, and Powerglide, a plane - who in turn, is large enough to ferry around Astoria.
• Wheeljack's ears don't flash during his "You will, you will..." lines.
• In the first close-up of Hook aboard the sky platform, he's drawn with two eyes instead of an optic visor.
• As Soundwave activates the psycho-probe for the second time, one of the console buttons is layered over his hand.
• As Megatron laughs at Powerglide, his voice is missing its metallic flange.
• When Powerglide releases his hug from Astoria after she saves him, it appears as if he roughly pushes her away, sending her on a death tumble off the platform.

Powerglide starts the drag race by throwing down his handkerchief.

• When Powerglide hands Astoria his bizarre little parachute, her torso is completely missing. The background smoke and clouds are also frozen in place and Powerglide's Insignia is missing.
• As they enter the control room, Astoria phases through the wall, and Powerglide's face disappears for a second.

Continuity errors

• Powerglide's cockpit interior is shown at a half-way point between a single-seater (as seen in "Dinobot Island Part 1") and a gigantic cabin ("Blaster Blues").
• Likewise, his hatch is shown to be on the side of his fuselage, rather than the bubble canopy.
• Superhuman Astoria:
  • With no seat restraints, Astoria should have been battered to pulp by all of Powerglide's maneuvering.
  • Both Powerglide and the Coneheads repeatedly manhandle Astoria's arms as through they were made of rubber.
  • Powerglide is actually quite abusive to the human he is charged with "saving" in this episode. Right after they meet, he throws her off his arm and onto the concrete so hard she bounces (thus answering one of the great mysteries of the ages.)
  • Then he apparently throws her out of the control room on the sky platform. But hey, that's what she gets for having to be told twice, right, Powerglide?
  • Astoria literally inhales the hotdog Powerglide gives her at the mini-amusement park. She chews(?) and swallows in under a second, something even Takeru Kobayashi would admire!
  • She seemed able to breathe quite comfortably while outside the platform despite the fact it was floating ten miles up.
  • It seems Astoria is also gifted with superhuman strength, as she is able to hold her own against the Coneheads, prevent Powerglide from taking her necklace, and rip a metal panel with her bare hands. Maybe Powerglide's abuse isn't as damaging as it appears.
• That is one tough merry-go-round, to be able to support a multi-ton metal robot. (But hey, it's totally worth it to see Powerglide riding a merry-go-round.)
• Astoria rips her dress to bandage Powerglide's arm wound from sand infection, but her dress is intact for the rest of the episode.
  • The dress bandage is shown as Powerglide dives for cover from the coneheads, but is missing from every subsequent scene.
• Why didn't Soundwave telepathically scan Astoria's mind like he scanned Chip Chase back in "Roll for It"? Surely, Astoria couldn't have jinxed that ability too!
• Astoria correctly deduces that throwing a metal object into the apex of the energy-storm-generating tower will disable it. Yet she then looks around the MECHANICAL ISLAND and notes she finds “nothing” metallic. At the very least, she is surrounded by metal panels, which she easily rips apart in the next scene.
• Speaking of which, said tower seems unbelievably fragile. A large necklace thrown by a human causes a massive explosion. For something so essential to the entire structure, Megatron sure skimped out on making it durable.

Trivia

• David Wise, the writer of this episode, recycled its characters, plot, and set pieces wholesale for his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) episode "Poor Little Rich Turtle". Yes, even down to replicating the romance sub-plot, the merry-go-round fight sequence, the brain-sucking torture sequence, and the climax where the villains' base gets hilariously damaged. Good ole David Wise.
• While every other DVD release of the Generation 1 cartoon by Metrodome had been awarded the "U" rating (the United Kingdom's equivalent to the American "G"), the opening line of this episode, in which a party-goer professes to feel "an absolutely bloody fool", earned the box set containing it a "PG" rating for "mild language"!
• Powerglide's first line in the episode seems to revolve around the notion that a top scientist can't be so young.
• This was one of twelve episodes of the original cartoon released as audio adventures by the German company Karussell Musik und Video.

Foreign localization

French

• Title: "La directrice" ("The directress")
• Original airdate:

• The annoying voice effect on the Transformers from previous episode is still present. Sometimes it is stronger, making for example Megatron and Ratchet sound particularly ridiculous at moments.
• Albert Augier is not present for that episode. Although Georges Atlas takes over Soundwave, the voice effect makes it difficult to recognize who dubs his other characters.
• The panic screams of the crowd are kept from the original version. At moments we can still hear English among the people.
• The entirety of the dialogs spoken in plane mode are missing from the dub in this episode. As much for Powerglide as for the Coneheads.
• Astoria's scream is missing as Powerglide is getting buried under rocks.
• Ratchet's line "Get him in, Wheeljack!" is missing.
• Megatron tells Astoria that the psycho-probe will put a discharge through her brain "that can be estimated around 90,000 energon-volts".
• Powerglide is among the characters whose name is often dodged. This episode makes that decision silly but here we go:

• "Powerglide's the name" is replaced by "Let's say I'm an Autobot".
• Astoria's line "What do you know about Powerglide?" is dubbed as "What do you know about the Autobot who saved me?".
• When Astoria screams "Powerglide!" after the latter was buried, it was dubbed as "Careful!". Girl, he is already under the rocks...
• After Hook's report about an incoming Autobot, Astoria's line "Powerglide!" is dubbed as "That must be him!".

German

• Title: "Das Mädchen, das sich in Powerglide verliebte" ("The Girl Who Fell in Love with Powerglide")
• Original airdate: June 23, 1989

Italian

• Title (dub 1): "Una ragazza terribile" ("A Terrible Girl")
• Original airdate: ?

• Megatron's line: «You are supposed to be the most powerful jets in the galaxy» is changed to: «We are the most perfect jets in the entire galaxy». Erm... you're not a jet, Megatron...
• Instead of saying that an Autobot is approaching, Hook says that "some Autobots" are approaching, despite being just Powerglide alone.

• Title (dub 2): "La ragazza che amava Powerglide" ("The Girl Who Loved Powerglide")
• Original airdate: ?

Japanese

• Title: "Reijō Yori Ai o Kome te" (令嬢より愛をこめて, "From Rich Girl with Love")
• Original airdate: March 21, 1986

• The title is, of course, a reference to the Japanese title of the James Bond movie "From Russia with Love" (ロシアより愛をこめて, Russia Yori Ai o Kome te).

Mandarin

• Title: "Ài-shang Huáxiángjī de Gūniang" (爱上滑翔机的姑娘, "The Girl Who Fell in Love with Powerglide")
• Original airdate: ?

Brazilian Portuguese

• Title: "A Garota que Amava Powerglide" ("The Girl Who Loved Powerglide")
• Original airdate: ?

Russian

• Title: "Devoushka, kotoraya lyubila Vetroreza" (Девушка, которая любила Ветрореза, "The Young Girl Who Loved Powerglide")
• Original airdate: ?

Toys inspired by this episode

(Hasbro version pictured)

(TakaraTomy version pictured)

• Universe Powerglide (Hasbro/Takara, 2008)

In what can only be described as one of the most hilarious homages in Transformers history, Universe Powerglide's chestplate can flip up to reveal the raised image of a heart.

Home video releases

VHS

1987 — Transformers — Heavy Metal Wars / The Girl Who Loved Powerglide (Tempo Video)
1988 — Transformers — Call of the Primitives / The Girl Who Loved Powerglide (Tempo Video)
1990 — Transformers — The Girl Who Loved Powerglide (Collins Video)
1990 — Transformers — Heavy Metal Wars / The Girl Who Loved Powerglide (Abbey Home Entertainment)

LaserDisc

1995 — Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers — Megatron Set (Takara) — Japanese audio only.
1999 — The Transformers — Decepticon Edition (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.

DVD

2001 — The Transformers — DVD Box 2 (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
2003 — The Original Transformers — Season 2 Part 2 (Rhino Entertainment)
2003 — The Original Transformers — Season 2 Part 2: Vol. 6 (Rhino Entertainment)
2004 — Transformers — Season 2 Part 2 (Metrodome)
2004 — Transformers — Collection 3: Series 2.2 (Madman Entertainment)
2004 — Transformers — Volume 12 (Déclic Images) — European French audio only.
2006 — Transformers — The Complete Generation One Collection (Metrodome)
2007 — The Transformers — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)
2007 — Transformers — Box-Set (3DVDs) (Flex Media) — German audio only.
2009 — Transformers — Volume 06: Stagione Due Parte Quarta (Medianetwork Communication) — English and Italian audio.
2009 — Transformers — Season Two: Part Two (Metrodome)
2009 — The Transformers — Complete Collection: Decepticon Edition (Madman Entertainment)
2009 — The Transformers — The Complete Series: 25th Anniversary "Matrix of Leadership" Collection (Shout! Factory)
2009 — The Transformers — Season Two, Volume Two: 25th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory)
2011 — The Transformers — The Complete Original Series (Shout! Factory)
2014 — The Transformers — Season Two, Volume Two: 30th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory)
2014 — Transformers — The Classic Animated Series (Metrodome)

External links

• Episode dialogue script
• Episode script
• Episode model sheets