Transport to Oblivion

It's been a long time since I have taken a look at the classic animated series. I left off with More Than Meets the Eye (Part 3), so I will pick up with Transport to Oblivion. This was the fourth episode of the original series, and technically the first episode of season one's true syndicated run. The first three episodes were a pilot to promote the toys and possibly give rise to the animated series. This episode would be the first official episode of the planned series.

Transport to Oblivion picks up shortly after the defeat of the Decepticons. While the Autobots are confident that the Decepticons are gone, Optimus Prime is still cautious. His caution is accurate as the Decepticons' space cruiser survived its crash into the ocean. The Decepticons have now rebuilt it into a new headquarters, which remained as their permanent base of operations throughout the first and second seasons. Shockwave manages to contact Megatron on Earth, which confirms that Cybertron still exists since the two forces left four million years prior. Shockwave then informs Megatron of their new Space Bridge technology. The Decepticons then attack a solar power station to acquire energon cubes to send to Cybertron. The Autobots repel them although Ironhide is injured.

The Decepticons complete their new Space Bridge on Earth in a river bed in the desert. Bumblebee and Spike had been spying on the Decepticons, and they are captured. Megatron then alters Bumblebee's memory circuits in order to lure the Autobots into a trap. Spike is held prisoner and will be the one forced to test the Space Bridge. Bumblebee returns to the Ark to inform his comrades that Spike was captured. The alterations to his memory circuits leads Bumblebee to believe that Spike and the Space Bridge are inside of a cave. The Autobots arrive at the cave only to be ambushed by the Decepticons. After a battle, Megatron seals the Autobots inside and then returns to the river bed to test the Space Bridge. Ratchet restores Bumblebee's memory, and after the Autobots escape, they head to the river bed.

They arrive to find that Spike is trapped inside a small shuttle to travel over bridge. Optimus Prime and Bumblebee save Spike, and Megatron attempts to get the energon cubes into the Space Bridge. The Autobots open fire, driving Megatron into the bridge where he disappears. Starscream declares that Megatron is dead and he is the new leader. While the Autobots celebrate, Megatron arrives on Cybertron. When Shockwave asks what happened, Megatron says that he will be avenged and will defeat the Autobots.

Outside of the pilot, Heavy Metal War, The Ultimate Doom saga, and Roll For It, this is one of my favorite episodes from season one. The animation is top notch (it dropped in quality after Roll For It for the rest of season one). The story line is also fun as we see the return of Shockwave and first tests of the Space Bridge. Over all, I don't have really any thing negative to say about this episode. There were next to no errors minus some miscoloring on Prime's arm at the power station. The only big error was that at the end of More Than Meets the Eye, the Autobots were provided energy from the world's governments to revitalize Cybertron, and they had apparently repaired the Ark. As this episode opens, all of this is discarded as if it had never happened. This was a great episode to officially start off the series' syndicated run. Be sure to check out the version from Shout Factory! as all of the dumb stock sound effects added by Rhino have been removed. It is available on DVD for a cheap price at Amazon, and the entire first season can be downloaded from the iTunes Store.