Rediscovering Season 3
Apr. 20th, 2009 05:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragoness_eAs mentioned previously, I've been re-watching Season 3 of the G1 Transformers cartoon lately. It's better than I remembered, and sadly under-appreciated by most.
I like the turn into Space Opera that the environment took. Instead of being stuck on Earth fighting Megatron over real and fantasy energy sources, the Transformers are on their home planet of Cybertron, or out in space; the enemies expand to include their former creators and slave-masters, the partially-cybernetic Quintessons. Indeed, the Quints are the real enemy of S3; Galvatron's Decepticons are just a side-show, and frequently pawns of the Quints. That may have been a mistake; I believe the abortive S4 got back to Decepticons as the main villains.
Considering that the script-writers obviously had to deal with "These are the new toys we're releasing, showcase them and phase out the others" directives, and varying adherence to the laws of physics by different writers ("Dark Awakening", humans will suffocate when the air in the shuttle runs out; "Surprise", apparently Daniel can breathe vacuum on an asteroid surface with no harm), there are some surprisingly good stories told. There are also great moments of "WTF were they thinking??"
I did not like insane!screechy!Galvatron as a Decepticon leader. He simply wasn't menacing the way Megatron was, or the way sane!Nimoy-Galvatron was. Cyclonus actually gets more screentime than Galvatron; perhaps the writers found him a more useful villain leader than the one-note unstable-lunatic!Galvatron. I certainly found him more interesting.
On the other hand, I would have liked somewhat less focus on the Unicronian triad and more exposure for the rest of the Decepticons. As noted, I don't like Galvatron, and although Scourge's personality is interesting, he's ugly to look at. The Sweeps have the triple penalty of no personality, ugly, and expendable red-shirts you can't care much about. That leaves Cyclonus, who, though he is interesting and nice-looking Transformer design, is saddled with the baggage of the other Unicronians. That may explain why I like him best when he's by himself, like in "The Killing Jar".
So for Decepticons, this leaves me grasping at fleeting appearances by others, such as Motormaster and Swindle colluding in "Webworld", the Combaticons causing trouble in "Chaos" and "Surprise", and of course the delightful Octane-centric episodes "A Thief in the Night" and "Starscream's Ghost". (What, you thought "Starscream's Ghost" was about Starscream? Wrong guess, it's really a buddy episode about Sandstorm and Octane, until it turns into a Starscream and Octane buddy episode. "A Thief in the Night" is a Trypticon and Octane buddy episode. Either way, they're about Octane, who has strange, strange friends).
In general, I like the Autobot cast in S3, especially Rodimus Prime, who is a much classier Prime than Optimus was. I wasn't a little kid traumatized by O.P.'s death in TF:TM; I started G1 as an adult without the need to hero-worship the lead good guy. I didn't resent Rodimus for replacing "my hero" Optimus Prime. If anything, I resented Optimus Prime for replacing Rodimus Prime for no good reason in "Return of Optimus Prime". In S1-2, Optimus Prime frequently trash-talks his enemies, behavior I associate with overblown professional wrestlers and e-peen waving twelve-year-olds on PvP MMORPGS. This is not a mental association that fits a heroic character very well. Rodimus Prime, on the other hand, may be a tad insensitive at times, but does not trash-talk, and tends to treat his enemies with respect--and will hold out the proverbial olive branch if his enemies show signs of behaving themselves. (Took in Octane, offered Blitzwing a place, released Scourge & Astrotrain after the mess with Starscream...)
On the other hand.. what were they thinking over at Sunbow when, after traumatizing a generation of kids with Optimus Prime's graphic death in TF:TM, they brought OP back as a zombie in "Dark Awakening" and killed him again? Can we say Nightmare Fuel?
Now that I'm less focused on Starscream (mentioned in a previous post), I must say that my favorite part of "Starscream's Ghost" is not the Starscream in the Crypt scenes, but Sandstorm and Octane's lunch at the spaceport diner. It is an engaging and hilarious scene: Octane and Sandstorm have stopped at this interstellar way station to have their ship refueled. There's a touch of realism: there's a queue for refuelling, and they'll have to wait for a bit before their ship can be serviced, so they stop at the space station diner for some energon. The diner has the feel of a busy truck-stop diner; there's other crews of all shapes and sizes, running in and out as their ship number is called on the loudspeakers. There are brawls, there are hasty departures ("Hurry up, that's our number. Is that guy with us?"), and there's Sandstorm and Octane having a deep conversation about the trouble Octane is in... wholly oblivious to the repeated assassination attempts by the incompetent Skuxxoid hired by Galvatron to do in Octane. At least until the Skuxxoid snaps in frustration and jumps on Octane's head and starts pounding on him with his fists, anyway.
It is a wonderfully done, pure science-fiction scene that, with a change in names and species of the two protagonists, could have been dropped into "Firefly" or "Star Trek" or a Star Wars movie. It's also hilarious. Finally, it's the one scene where cartoon-Octane shows the Decepticon underneath. It's subtle, the change in tone from "nice guy trying to talk his way out of violence" to the Decepticon when he grabs the Skuxxoid and says in a very Clint Eastwood-like menace-filled voice, "I want to know just one thing: who sent you?" and it's very effective.
p.s. Where's the Cyclonus/Ultra Magnus slash? There's a definite "Ballad of East and West" vibe between those two.
I like the turn into Space Opera that the environment took. Instead of being stuck on Earth fighting Megatron over real and fantasy energy sources, the Transformers are on their home planet of Cybertron, or out in space; the enemies expand to include their former creators and slave-masters, the partially-cybernetic Quintessons. Indeed, the Quints are the real enemy of S3; Galvatron's Decepticons are just a side-show, and frequently pawns of the Quints. That may have been a mistake; I believe the abortive S4 got back to Decepticons as the main villains.
Considering that the script-writers obviously had to deal with "These are the new toys we're releasing, showcase them and phase out the others" directives, and varying adherence to the laws of physics by different writers ("Dark Awakening", humans will suffocate when the air in the shuttle runs out; "Surprise", apparently Daniel can breathe vacuum on an asteroid surface with no harm), there are some surprisingly good stories told. There are also great moments of "WTF were they thinking??"
I did not like insane!screechy!Galvatron as a Decepticon leader. He simply wasn't menacing the way Megatron was, or the way sane!Nimoy-Galvatron was. Cyclonus actually gets more screentime than Galvatron; perhaps the writers found him a more useful villain leader than the one-note unstable-lunatic!Galvatron. I certainly found him more interesting.
On the other hand, I would have liked somewhat less focus on the Unicronian triad and more exposure for the rest of the Decepticons. As noted, I don't like Galvatron, and although Scourge's personality is interesting, he's ugly to look at. The Sweeps have the triple penalty of no personality, ugly, and expendable red-shirts you can't care much about. That leaves Cyclonus, who, though he is interesting and nice-looking Transformer design, is saddled with the baggage of the other Unicronians. That may explain why I like him best when he's by himself, like in "The Killing Jar".
So for Decepticons, this leaves me grasping at fleeting appearances by others, such as Motormaster and Swindle colluding in "Webworld", the Combaticons causing trouble in "Chaos" and "Surprise", and of course the delightful Octane-centric episodes "A Thief in the Night" and "Starscream's Ghost". (What, you thought "Starscream's Ghost" was about Starscream? Wrong guess, it's really a buddy episode about Sandstorm and Octane, until it turns into a Starscream and Octane buddy episode. "A Thief in the Night" is a Trypticon and Octane buddy episode. Either way, they're about Octane, who has strange, strange friends).
In general, I like the Autobot cast in S3, especially Rodimus Prime, who is a much classier Prime than Optimus was. I wasn't a little kid traumatized by O.P.'s death in TF:TM; I started G1 as an adult without the need to hero-worship the lead good guy. I didn't resent Rodimus for replacing "my hero" Optimus Prime. If anything, I resented Optimus Prime for replacing Rodimus Prime for no good reason in "Return of Optimus Prime". In S1-2, Optimus Prime frequently trash-talks his enemies, behavior I associate with overblown professional wrestlers and e-peen waving twelve-year-olds on PvP MMORPGS. This is not a mental association that fits a heroic character very well. Rodimus Prime, on the other hand, may be a tad insensitive at times, but does not trash-talk, and tends to treat his enemies with respect--and will hold out the proverbial olive branch if his enemies show signs of behaving themselves. (Took in Octane, offered Blitzwing a place, released Scourge & Astrotrain after the mess with Starscream...)
On the other hand.. what were they thinking over at Sunbow when, after traumatizing a generation of kids with Optimus Prime's graphic death in TF:TM, they brought OP back as a zombie in "Dark Awakening" and killed him again? Can we say Nightmare Fuel?
Now that I'm less focused on Starscream (mentioned in a previous post), I must say that my favorite part of "Starscream's Ghost" is not the Starscream in the Crypt scenes, but Sandstorm and Octane's lunch at the spaceport diner. It is an engaging and hilarious scene: Octane and Sandstorm have stopped at this interstellar way station to have their ship refueled. There's a touch of realism: there's a queue for refuelling, and they'll have to wait for a bit before their ship can be serviced, so they stop at the space station diner for some energon. The diner has the feel of a busy truck-stop diner; there's other crews of all shapes and sizes, running in and out as their ship number is called on the loudspeakers. There are brawls, there are hasty departures ("Hurry up, that's our number. Is that guy with us?"), and there's Sandstorm and Octane having a deep conversation about the trouble Octane is in... wholly oblivious to the repeated assassination attempts by the incompetent Skuxxoid hired by Galvatron to do in Octane. At least until the Skuxxoid snaps in frustration and jumps on Octane's head and starts pounding on him with his fists, anyway.
It is a wonderfully done, pure science-fiction scene that, with a change in names and species of the two protagonists, could have been dropped into "Firefly" or "Star Trek" or a Star Wars movie. It's also hilarious. Finally, it's the one scene where cartoon-Octane shows the Decepticon underneath. It's subtle, the change in tone from "nice guy trying to talk his way out of violence" to the Decepticon when he grabs the Skuxxoid and says in a very Clint Eastwood-like menace-filled voice, "I want to know just one thing: who sent you?" and it's very effective.
p.s. Where's the Cyclonus/Ultra Magnus slash? There's a definite "Ballad of East and West" vibe between those two.
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no subject
Date: 2009-04-21 03:22 pm (UTC)Childhood-rant aside, season three DID have a lot more sci-fi to it, and a larger scope for more interesting plot/character development, from Ultra Magnus forgetting his own birthday, Arcee(!), Roddy's burnout, Kup's ego-trip stories that were TRUE in some instances, Grimlock in an apron, and once I got a degree in Psychology, WebWorld had a whole new meaning. Had there not been such an uproar over Optimus' death, Season Four might not have been truncated to a Robot Roll Call and we might have gotten even better stories.
As for UM/Cyc slash, it's out there. I haven't written it, but I've seen it. Check the Padded Cell Slash Haven archives.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-22 02:32 am (UTC)Admittedly I'm speaking as someone who hasn't watched much of the G1 cartoon, but I do think it was a shame that the writers decided to nix Hot Rod/Rodimus as a leader - he seemed so much more interesting and flawed than Optimus. It gets boring when the good guys never have to struggle.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-12 10:40 am (UTC)I'm still not convinced that Galvatron's crazy, but then I'm comparing him to comics Galvatron, who was so ur-crazy he makes everyone look sane.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-12 11:40 am (UTC)More thoughts on this:
Date: 2009-05-13 03:51 am (UTC)I think they made a mistake doing that--G1 Megatron was a really good archvillain, what with the Evil Plan O' the Week, the menacing gravelly voice, the high charisma leadership of the other 'Cons, his raw power giving him "bad-ass" appeal. Then they go and throw that all away, to replace it with too many villains in season 3: the Quintessons, who were a different set of faces every time they showed up, but actually behind most of what went on, so they marginalized the Decepticons as villains, Galvatron and his Unicronians, and the rest of the Decepticons, who were even further marginalized by the Unicronians hogging what little villain time the Decepticons got.
Galvatron had the bad-ass factor, but the screechy voice, the insanity and the lack of charismatic leadership cancelled that out. Frothing lunatics aren't interesting archvillains--they just froth about until they take themselves out from Teh Crazy, or their formerly-loyal troops do it after being fed up with being punching bags.
Notice that Hasbro never did that again. (Caveat: I haven't seen any of RiD, might be an exception, but I suspect not). Beast Wars Megatron got upgrades, but no personality or name changes (And no voice changes, either!). AEC Megatron got upgraded and called 'Galvatron' once per series, and kept on acting like the same old Megatron with a new paintjob. IDW Galvatron is a totally separate person from IDW Megatron (And pretty interesting in his own right. Comes across more like a Rathenar-Galvatron than anything else). TFA Megatron hasn't changed much in the short run of the show. I have no idea what Dreamwave did with Megatron.