Transformers Prime - "One Shall Rise - Part One" - Talkback [10/01]

[The Huntsman]

Today @ 8:30 PM ET on The Hub

Last week's episode was a good one. Let's see if the three-part season finale can capitalize on that momentum.

In Part 1 of the three-part Season 1 finale, Earth has an outbreak of natural disasters, caused by Dark Energon.

[The Huntsman]

A small gripe, but... shouldn't the kids be concerned about their families when the entire world is being ripped apart? I don't believe Rafael and Miko have ever even acknowledged their families, but even assuming that the city in which they live was fine - which is a stretch, considering what we saw when June tried to drive home - Japan would probably be a ripe target for those natural disasters. I know this is a show about fighting robots, but I'd like for the kids to at least acknowledge that they have families and don't just live with the Autobots.

[Avengers]

Where to start

Well first let me say it was an amazing episode, every part about it was so amerced in the transformers lore that it really felt like the G1 cartoon, a lot more than anything else has in a long time

I love the explanation of unicron, how he simply became part of gravity and became a planet instead of being born one like in all other incarnations. I also love how he takes form through the metal dispurst throughout Earth and he is not just the planet (at least I am assuming.....and hoping) Also I loved the end which was similar to the last episode's end with Prime at the loosing end of a battle, one I am not sure he is getting out of (wouldn't be the first time he died ) Also the character reactions I thought were really good. June to Raph's near death and eventual understanding that they actually are the best protection for them. Raph to loosing Bumbelbee, that one sound of crying was all they needed to put and it was perfect. Megatron to his connection to Unicron I am not sure I liked his reaction. In the original show he was Unicron's minion and much like Sarscream he took any opportunity at mutiny so this whole you are my master is not my favorite thing for him to do but maybe it will develop so we will see. My favorite reaction though was Unicron's to Prime and his attempt at saving Earth, I thought he was going to fall for it, think Primus made his minions and beat him so now he has minions for revenge, but completely surprising me thought they were parasites which is a lot more like Megatron who is living off Unicron's blood like the humans, maybe he will have the same reaction when he finds out. The only episode downside I would say is that Unicron's design was really weird until he got his hands, when the real Unicron shows he better have hands and not the mace and sword thing.

Also did anyone notice Prime's comment when Uncron was about to kill him he said his death was inevitable, maybe it was just a random comment but I am thinking there is more to that prophecy than he told us

Also I liked mico in this episode, strong and assertive but just enough so she was not obnoxious, keep it like that and I will ever look back at old Mico

[The Huntsman]

Also did anyone notice Prime's comment when Uncron was about to kill him he said his death was inevitable, maybe it was just a random comment but I am thinking there is more to that prophecy than he told us

I believe he was referring directly to Unicron's comment about the line of Primus being extinguished. Optimus is the last Prime and I have to assume that they can't just create more ones, so he knows that it's only a matter of time until that happens. He's not going to live forever.

[Avengers]

I believe he was referring directly to Unicron's comment about the line of Primus being extinguished. Optimus is the last Prime and I have to assume that they can't just create more ones, so he knows that it's only a matter of time until that happens. He's not going to live forever.

Yeah I think Prime dies in every single Transformers show at some point, hell he even kicked it in beast wars and he was just a cameo!

but yeah I guess your probably right, I was just hoping for something a little more climactic I guess

[Bit Cloud]

A small gripe, but... shouldn't the kids be concerned about their families when the entire world is being ripped apart? I don't believe Rafael and Miko have ever even acknowledged their families, but even assuming that the city in which they live was fine - which is a stretch, considering what we saw when June tried to drive home - Japan would probably be a ripe target for those natural disasters. I know this is a show about fighting robots, but I'd like for the kids to at least acknowledge that they have families and don't just live with the Autobots.

I agree, Jack is only human character, whose home life we've seen(June mentioned that his dad left in one episode implying that his parents are divorced or at least seperated) and Jack unlike Miko and Raf has always acknowledged his last parent and if something was to happen to June, Jack and his story and development will be affected for the rest of the series. I was thinking too for a while, that the show needs to develop Raf and Miko's home life. I mean come on Raf almost died, you think after having a near death experience(the closest one yet) that he would want to see his family, Miko well as seen from the beginning doesn't want a normal life(who wants ride in a non transforming vehicle)and sees her time with the Autobots and being apart of something bigger and more better, it comes off at times as if she doesn't feel like her own family is good enough for her anymore. For the whole series so far Jack, Miko and Raf have been chosing the Autobots over their families, and I know they view the them as family as well, but come on show that the people that were in life before the Autobots entered the picture, still matter.

[G1Ravage]

Ugggggggggghhhhhhh...I forgot to record it. And it isn't replaying until October 8. Stupid Hub.

[HEATXZ]

Great episode :anime:
Unicron looks awesome in this show :anime:

[Dragnatek]

I did not see Unicron is Earth coming and it was an interesting twist. It does start to make sense why Earth was such an big sight for the Cybertronian war. Even though they did not know Unicron was the core of this planet Cybertronians were probably drawn to this planet for reasons they could not understand. That and maybe Unicron is even the cause of the natural energon deposits on this otherwise insignifigant world.

[ndb]

And all of a sudden, this show got extremely awesome!

[Dudley]

It's scary how intense things are getting in this show. I like how all the main good human characters are getting involved. And I like how June Darby reacted to all of this in a realistic fashion. The whole situation really feels like the end of the world, and I'm on pins and needles to see what would happen next.
Not too worried about Optimus dying. He'll get better if he does.

Also, I wouldn't be shocked that at the end of all this the whole world becomes aware of the Cybertronians existence.

[TheVileOne]

Basically making Unicron planet Earth and basically God itself is an interesting idea. At the same time, I wonder how they can really deal with it. It just seems like they write themselves into a corner with this idea. For example . . . if Unicron is Earth's dormant planet core, how can the Earth continue to sustain itself if Unicron is defeated or Unicron comes out? How do the Autobots fight all of planet Earth itself? How can they even hide in their own base which is also itself a part of Unicron?

And if Dark Energon is the blood of Unicron, does that make regular Energon the blood of Primus? I mean doesn't this basically mean the regular Energon on Earth is also a byproduct of Unicron, so why is that not dark as well?

The cybertronian heart beat sounds a lot like a human heart beat. How was Jack Darby able to differentiate the two? Had we ever heard a cybertronian heart beat before? I mean do the Cybertrons even have hearts? I figured a spark yes, but that's not really the same thing.

A lot of bold moves in this episode, but I wonder how they can actually logically follow it up now that it's out there.

[Lighthammer]

And if Dark Energon is the blood of Unicron, does that make regular Energon the blood of Primus? I mean doesn't this basically mean the regular Energon on Earth is also a byproduct of Unicron, so why is that not dark as well?

What I tend to suspect is its kind of like a refining process.

Dark Energon is to Energon as Unrefined Oil is to Refined Oil.

Or even another way of looking at it might be thinking about Dark Energon, Energon and "Light Energon" in the same way you might the PH Scale. Dark Energon is a base, Energon is water and "Light Energon" is an acid. Just like in terms of Acids and Bases, some creatures thrive on it and creatures who generally don't but can metabolise it can get a short term benefit out of it (Hello energy drinks!) depending on its content.

The cybertronian heart beat sounds a lot like a human heart beat. How was Jack Darby able to differentiate the two? Had we ever heard a cybertronian heart beat before? I mean do the Cybertrons even have hearts? I figured a spark yes, but that's not really the same thing.

I think what we're starting to find out is Cybertronians and Humans might have more in common then we think, particularly because Humans existence was directly influenced by a Cybertronian.

A lot of bold moves in this episode, but I wonder how they can actually logically follow it up now that it's out there.

Well, I think we're leading into some paradigm shifts here. For instance, in many transformer series, Earth is destroyed at some point. I'm really starting to think that that might end up being the season finale for this season or next season.

Beyond that I see Megatron turning into Galvatron soon, really soon. Maybe even next episode soon. If Hotrod had already appeared on the series, I would say the Matrix of Leadership was about to be passed too, but since its hard to consider Hotrod showing up in one episode and having the Matrix passed to him in the next episode, I don't think we can expect to see that happen for a while. Mid season at the EARLIEST. That being said, it is an interesting choice having Arcee in the series from the start.

Jack is going to be playing a role in this but its hard to envision what the role is. Its obvious they are building him up for something really big.

[Monte]

And if Dark Energon is the blood of Unicron, does that make regular Energon the blood of Primus? I mean doesn't this basically mean the regular Energon on Earth is also a byproduct of Unicron, so why is that not dark as well?

not certain, but i think it was said that the energon deposits on earth were hidden there by transformers themselves... This is also why megatron had some decepticons like sky quake sleeping on the planet because he was meant to guard the hidden energon.

[edit] ok found details about energon in this series
http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Energon_(fuel)#Aligned
has some added info about energon that comes from the war for cybertron games.

[Mr. Hypocrite]

Okay, so fighting Unicron usually means fighting something that's the size of a planet (what with being an actual planet and all) but still.......

THEY MADE HIM THE WHOLE FREAKING EARTH!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

Man. They are gonna need a lot of normal energon. Because the way I see it, the best way to put him back to sleep is to counter-act the dark energon that is his blood, with the normal stuff.

Or it would be, except there likely isn't anywhere near enough of it.

That being said, is this the first time Unicron has physically fought with a any incarnation of Optimus, cause that was pretty sweet.

[ABrown]

Basically making Unicron planet Earth and basically God itself is an interesting idea. At the same time, I wonder how they can really deal with it. It just seems like they write themselves into a corner with this idea. For example . . . if Unicron is Earth's dormant planet core, how can the Earth continue to sustain itself if Unicron is defeated or Unicron comes out? How do the Autobots fight all of planet Earth itself? How can they even hide in their own base which is also itself a part of Unicron?

That's true. The writers did kinda back themselves into a corner on this one. It'll be interesting to see what direction that they choose to go with to answer all of these questions. Regardless, this has been a truly outstanding couple of episodes in what I consider a very good first season.

[Chaos Yoshi Mage]

This episode was so high concept, I really can't say anything about it without seeing the other two parts. It's just to difficult to see how they are logically going to handle this...

[Gold Guy]

I really liked this episode, even if it wasn't quite as good as the last one. Wow, Unicron's role has been upped for this show.

I understand that Judy is acting in a realistic fashion, but I still felt the tiniest bit annoyed because Jack is right, the robots can protect Raph better than his parents can.

[ABrown]

I understand that Judy is acting in a realistic fashion, but I still felt the tiniest bit annoyed because Jack is right, the robots can protect Raph better than his parents can.

But if the kids aren't spending any time with the Autobots, odds are that they're not going to need any protecting.

[AlgeaX]

So I watched the five part pilot and then lost interest in Prime but I decided to give it another chance. I figure if the season finale doesn't blow me away, nothing will.

I actually kinda enjoyed this. I'm not a huge fan of the Primus/Unicron mythology in general but I thought this was a really clever take and the old hornhead. Making Unicron to Earth what Primus is to Cybertron means they can't just break out the Matrix and slag him. I'm genuinely curious to see where this goes.

And personally, I completely side with Jack's mom in this ep. These kids would never be in danger if the Autobots hadn't insisted on appointing themselves their babysitters. Yeah, Unicron's going to blow up the Earth but they're no safer at Autobot HQ then they would be anywhere else on the planet.

All and all though, a lot of my initial problems with this show remain. With the exception of Arcee and Ratchet, the Autobots are complete cyphers. The plot's certainly interesting but I can't help thinking how much better it would be if the 'bots were as fleshed out as the main casts of Beast Wars or Animated.

Plus the kids just feel superfluous. Jack's voiced by Josh Keaton so I'm willing to be lenient with him and Raf is just kinda there. Miko is annoying as Hell. I'm not against human characters in my tf fiction but they need to contribute something to the story. So far the only Prime human who I feel really brings something to the table is Silas.

On a more positive note, this show looks absolutely gorgeous on a purely visual level. I find the character designs, the animation and the general aesthetic really eye pleasing.

In short, I still have problems with the show but I think it may be on the verge of growing a beard.