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Transformers - Call of the Primitives
Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2018 11:30 pm
by ChrisTheLovableJerk
http://sfdebris.com/videos/animation/tr ... ss3e24.php
This is a pretty decent episode, and one of the best looking ones to boot (aside from undead Windcharger running by in the background and the weird pose Predaking is in when he combines towards the end)
Surprised he didn't bring that, or some of the other weird tidbits about this episode like it's the only cartoon appearance of Slugfest and Overkill, the Japanese version saying Primacron's assistant becomes Vector Sigma, etc...
Or the fact that Donald F. Glut, despite writing more episodes than anyone else (except maybe David Wise) hated the show.
Re: Transformers - Call of the Primitives
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2018 1:07 am
by chaos42
to be honest the origin story here is kinda weak. when they told the origin for future series making unicron a dark god of destruction while primus the one of creation that created the transformers worked a lot better i think
Re: Transformers - Call of the Primitives
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2018 1:47 am
by ChrisTheLovableJerk
chaos42 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 24, 2018 1:07 am
to be honest the origin story here is kinda weak. when they told the origin for future series making unicron a dark god of destruction while primus the one of creation that created the transformers worked a lot better i think
Yeah, it goes without saying that the backstory Furman developed for Unicron and his relation to the Transformers as a whole works far, far better than the story presented in CotP. I honestly don't think there's anyone who prefers this to be quite honest.
Re: Transformers - Call of the Primitives
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2018 2:55 am
by CMWaters
What I find interesting thinking about is is a comparison to a later two part episode.
Here, it's wisdom (albeit slightly crazed wisdom) that has has to be stopped from destroying everything.
Where later, in "The Return of Optimus Prime", it's wisdom that has to save the entire universe from madness.
Re: Transformers - Call of the Primitives
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2018 3:10 am
by G-Man
I really, really hate this episode, because I hate any throwaway episode that has high stakes. If the whole universe is in danger, it should be epic. Otherwise, you've just made every other episode seem low stakes by comparison. It's also a problem with "Forever is a Long Time Coming," where the time machine device could destroy everything. (It's also why I hate the TOS episode "The Alternative Factor"). It's also why I dislike much of Chris Claremont's output from the mid/late-2000s (haven't read anything by him since then) - of course, that has the added joy of "let's put the fact that the universe or even the multiverse is in danger out there, and then futz around ignoring it until the last few pages of the last issue of this story, at which point we just pull something out of our rear end and declare it solved."
And the end solution is just weak - Tornadron has an "off switch."
Re: Transformers - Call of the Primitives
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2018 3:32 am
by TheLibrarian
I remember hating this episode as a kid. I was a huge Wheeljack fan and S1 implied he created the Dinobots, and this completely retconned that. Being a weak episode that teamed up all the dumbest characters didn't help either. It's like if TNG's "Samaritan Snare" cut the Picard heart surgery plot short to double the number of Pakled scenes.
Re: Transformers - Call of the Primitives
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2018 3:38 am
by TheLibrarian
G-Man wrote: ↑Tue Jul 24, 2018 3:10 am
I really, really hate this episode, because I hate any throwaway episode that has high stakes. If the whole universe is in danger, it should be epic. Otherwise, you've just made every other episode seem low stakes by comparison...(It's also why I hate the TOS episode "The Alternative Factor").
Full agreement. About this episode and "The Alternative Factor". Almost every other episode of TOS Season 1 ranges from being a solid hour of television to an enduring classic of the genre. Even "Mudd's Women" at least introduces us to Harry Mudd. But "The Alternative Factor" is such a steaming turd of an episode. The most dull near-apocalypse centred around the most uninteresting guest character ever.
Re: Transformers - Call of the Primitives
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2018 3:39 am
by Fuzzy Necromancer
G-Man wrote: ↑Tue Jul 24, 2018 3:10 am
I really, really hate this episode, because I hate any throwaway episode that has high stakes. If the whole universe is in danger, it should be epic. Otherwise, you've just made every other episode seem low stakes by comparison. It's also a problem with "Forever is a Long Time Coming," where the time machine device could destroy everything. (It's also why I hate the TOS episode "The Alternative Factor"). It's also why I dislike much of Chris Claremont's output from the mid/late-2000s (haven't read anything by him since then) - of course, that has the added joy of "let's put the fact that the universe or even the multiverse is in danger out there, and then futz around ignoring it until the last few pages of the last issue of this story, at which point we just pull something out of our rear end and declare it solved."
And the end solution is just weak - Tornadron has an "off switch."
Your comment about high stakes is right on the money. It's why I have trouble enjoying Librarians without a strong beer.
Re: Transformers - Call of the Primitives
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2018 4:35 am
by Beastro
CMWaters wrote: ↑Tue Jul 24, 2018 2:55 am
What I find interesting thinking about is is a comparison to a later two part episode.
Here, it's wisdom (albeit slightly crazed wisdom) that has has to be stopped from destroying everything.
Where later, in "The Return of Optimus Prime", it's wisdom that has to save the entire universe from madness.
Intelligence and wisdom are not the same things.
This eisode revolves around the typical Mad Scientist archetype of an individual with a high amount of the former and little to none of the latter.
Re: Transformers - Call of the Primitives
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2018 7:23 am
by Nevix
"A master swordsman does not fear another master swordsman. He fears a rank amateur, because he cannot predict what the fool will do next."
At least he Dinobots went out as heroes. It is rumored that Grimlock still wanders the universe, defeating geniuses for the good of all, with his own brand of heroics.