Hidden (Cybertron)
From Transformers Wiki
| This article is about the Cybertron episode. For the IDW comic story, see Hidden (G1). |
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| "Hidden" (Chikyū de no Kurashikata, Oshiemasu) "A Lesson in Living on Earth" | |||||||||
| Production company | TV Aichi, We've, Tōkyū Agency | ||||||||
| Airdate | January 29, 2005 (Japanese) July 2, 2005 (English) | ||||||||
| Writer | Manabu Ishikawa | ||||||||
| Director | Jun'ichi Watanabe | ||||||||
| Animation studio | GONZO | ||||||||
| Continuity | Unicron Trilogy cartoon continuity | ||||||||
The Autobots learn that being robots in disguise is more complicated than they thought.
Contents |
Synopsis
At sea, Bud is riding aboard one of two Autobots who have taken on colorful submarine alternate modes. He declares this to be totally awesome, until a ship from the real Navy shows up, and the crew demands that the two Autobots identify themselves. When they don't respond, the Navy prepares to fire on them, and the Autobots dive beneath the waves to escape the danger (much more energetically than a real sub could). The captain of the ship decides to pretend the whole thing never happened.
In a suburban parking lot, Coby is attempting to teach an assortment of sports car Autobots how to behave like real Earth cars, including parallel parking. Unfortunately, the hot-rodding Autobots' tendency to show off draws a crowd of spectators who begin admiring the cars, and Coby begins extemporizing about how he designed them. A police officer then points out that the cars aren't street legal, so Coby quickly declares that they're not real cars, but actually voice-activated remote-controlled cars. A quick demonstration of the cars' remarkable abilities (e.g., dancing) befuddles the officer, and Coby escapes in one of the cars.
Deep in the desert, an old man driving a truck stops at a red traffic light. He comments to himself that there's no conceivable need for a light here, and a disembodied voice tells him to not even think about running the light. It then turns green, and the same voice tells him he can go. Well and truly freaked, he speeds away. Lori comes out from behind a rock, and advises the traffic light—actually an Autobot in disguise—that traffic lights don't usually talk.
Later, back at the Autobots' base, Jetfire admonishes the kids that they need to pick the Autobots' altmodes a little more carefully, since they don't want to call attention to themselves. The kids begin to squabble among themselves over who screwed up worst, while the exasperated Jetfire leaves to join the other Autobots in the command center, where they are teleconferencing with Red Alert. From his position on a remote station, Red Alert is about to initiate an attempt to collapse the universe-devouring black hole in on itself with a gravitron grid, thus ending the threat to Cybertron. Jetfire gripes about how unhelpful the kids have been, but Hot Shot tells him to give them a chance, and they all turn their attention to Red Alert's efforts. Alas, the power of the black hole is too much for the graviton grid, and Vector Prime again states that the only real solution is to find the Cyber Planet Keys. The Autobots are skeptical, but Red Alert speaks up on Vector Prime's behalf, and the team decides to make the search for the Keys their top priority.
Jetfire meets with the kids again, and discovers that they're now buckling down and discussing the practical aspects of hiding the Autobots on Earth. His new feeling of reassurance is quickly shunted aside by Scattorshot, who informs him that he has just picked up some Air Force transmissions regarding an unidentified bogey. Scattorshot identifies it as Thundercracker, and Jetfire quickly speeds into action with Optimus Prime and Vector Prime to save the two military planes that have tried to engage the Decepticon. Jetfire swoops in to protect the planes, shielding them from 'Cracker's missiles with his body. For a moment, he appears to be destroyed, but then he emerges from the explosion, and instinctively summons his Cyber Key for the first time. His powered-up attack easily disposes of Thundercracker's next salvo, and Vector Prime opens a dimension gate to teleport the Air Force planes to the Bermuda Triangle, well beyond Thundercracker's reach. Thundercracker flees, and Jetfire pursues him, clashing in an aerial, vehicle mode duel that Jetfire is winning, until Scattorshot shoots Thundercracker down.
Optimus Prime, meanwhile, is confronted by Megatron and Starscream, and laid out by a swipe of the Decepticon leader's arm. As Optimus and Vector Prime demand the return of the Planet Map, Megatron just stands there looking smug and refuses. Optimus hurls Starscream aside and switches to Super Mode, but as he charges towards Megatron, Starscream slashes him across the back. His heart burning, Optimus summons his own Cyber Key for the first time and knocks Starscream down with a double cannon blast. Megatron still refuses to surrender the map and trades a few punches with Optimus, but when Autobot reinforcements arrive, Megatron declares it's time to leave. He brags about having already located the first Cyber Planet Key, then warps away with Starscream.
One of the Air Force pilots reports in to his superior officer about their strange encounter with giant robots. The officer doesn't seem particularly surprised, and seems to know about Transformers. He tells the pilot that everything about his encounter is classified.
Back at the Autobot base, Coby is setting the refugees up with sensible, inconspicuous altmodes, Bud is providing them with templates for holographic drivers, and Lori is teaching them the traffic laws. Jetfire comments that this may work out after all.
And, deep in space, Megatron stares down at Velocitron, the Speed Planet, location of the first Cyber Planet Key...
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans |
|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"But... I never got a chance to ask him where I could get one of those."
- —The friendly neighborhood police officer, after Coby makes his getaway in one of those supercool cars.
"I'm supposed to do this all day long?"
"Either that, or go home and get sucked into a black hole."
"That's a good point."
- —Signal Lancer and Lori discuss the upside of being a traffic light.
"That's way better than a square dance for cars in a parking lot!"
"Ha! Shows what you know! They were break-dancing!"
- —Lori and Coby
"Unidentified flying object? Is it an Autobot or a Decepticon? Can you tell who it is?"
"Just a second... good guy, bad guy, good guy, bad guy... bad guy! It's Thundercracker!"
- —Jetfire and Scattorshot
"You're a stone-cold fool, Jetfire."
"Coming from you, that's a compliment."
"Tell you what. Here's another little something coming from me!"
[Launches missiles.]
- —Thundercracker and Jetfire
"Is that going to happen every time we need extra power? Vector Prime?"
"Perhaps."
"I hope so! That was amazing!"
- —Optimus Prime, Vector Prime, and Jetfire discuss the amazing benefits of Cyber Keys. Most notably, Deus Ex Machina.
"You're nothing better than a common thief."
"Soon enough I'll be ruler of the Universe! I care not what vermin like you think of me."
- —Optimus Prime and Megatron
"It's classified. Top secret. If you tell anyone, the only flying you'll do... is at an amusement park. Got it?"
"Yes sir. But, what was that thing, anyway?"
"It's classified. Top secret."
"Yes sir. I know. But, what was that thing, anyway?"
"It was nothing at all, pilot, understand?"
"Yes sir! I do."
- —The mysterious government agent gives an Air Force pilot his orders...and us painful Energon flashbacks.
"I'm going to teach you guys all the traffic laws. We're going to start with traffic lights, okay? So, what do you do when you see this color?"
[Green light.]
"You go!"
"And this color?"
[Red light.]
"You go less!"
"Very funny. Come on..."
- —Lori and assorted unnamed Autobots
Notes
Differences with Galaxy Force
- In Cybertron, the cop who inspects the Autobot cars tells Coby that the drafting fins on the cars make them illegal to drive on the road. In Galaxy Force, on the other hand, he suspects them of being stolen. As Coby denies it, Galaxy Force also sees him backpedal on his previous claim of designing them, as he states they're new on the market.
- While the Autobots remain unsure of whether to follow Vector Prime's plan in both versions of the show, Galaxy Force puts a little more emphasis on the fact that the Autobots are not entirely convinced that the Cyber Planet Keys even exist. During Optimus and Megatron's battle towards the end of the episode, Megatron even questions why Prime wants the map back if he doesn't believe in the Keys.
- In a small change, Galaxy Force has the pilots that engage Thundercracker note that he has not responded to their hails. Cybertron makes it appear they're shooting at him without attempting contact!
Animation and/or technical glitches
- How are those Blurr-like cars moving around upright when their wheels aren't touching the ground? Shouldn't their back ends be throwing up sparks and scraping asphalt?
- At 7:14, Jetfire's yellow cheek-vent is visibly clipping into his dark green collar.
- At 14:14, when Megatron and Starscream appear, Megatron and Vector Prime are both missing their feet. Maybe they left them on the ground.
- At 17:11 and 17:18, Optimus's ear-fins clip into his backpack. Those dramatic poses are nothing but trouble.
- Lori calls the Transformers "Cybertonian" instead of "Cybertronian"
Continuity errors
- One of the Air Force pilots asks how Thundercracker got behind them, when he's clearly still in front of them.
- Vector Prime says that Jetfire's Cyber Key came without him needing to call it forth, before the key actually arrives.
Transformers references
- The Autobot cars under Coby's watch all use the bodyform of Cybertron Blurr, and one of them has his color scheme. Whether or not this is Blurr is a loaded question; check out the character's article for an in-depth examination.
Trivia
- With the first two episodes of the series having been skipped over when Cybertron debuted on American television, this episode was the first aired, dropping viewers right into the middle of things with no explanation in what must surely be one of the most fumble-fingered launches of a television program ever.
- Let's face it. The scene in the parking lot is terribly silly on many levels.
- While it's quixotic to expect the physics of the universe-devouring black hole to make much sense, it may be worth pointing out that making a black hole "collapse in on itself" is redundant, and could actually make the problem worse.
- The two Air Force jets are very similar in model to Thundercracker himself, but in a basic gray color scheme. However, the model of fighter jet is of Russian make, while the pilots are American.
- When Optimus charges Megatron, then spins and falls down, it's really unclear why he fell.
- Did Megatron come to Earth just to brag about possessing the Map and finding the first Key? Why?
- A blocking issue: At 18:20, part of Optimus's face is hidden by the fire engine light bar on his shoulder. It looks very odd, and a slightly different angle would have solved the problem.
- When Signal Lancer (as he will later be named) switches his light colors, and when Lori teaches the Autobots the rules of the road, the green traffic light is blue. As you will be aware if you watch much anime, however, this is not actually a mistake. This color conundrum is an odd Japanese cultural tic based on the fact that for a large portion of the language's history, they used the same word, "ao" (青), for both blue and green. Although a separate word meaning green has since been established in the language (midori 緑), "ao" is still widely used to describe both shades of blue and green: the blue sky can be "ao", but so is a green traffic light. As a befuddling consequence of this quirk of language, illustrations of traffic lights, be they in driving manuals or animated cartoons about robots from space, are actually colored blue, despite the fact that the real, tangible physical traffic lights on streets in Japan are actually green. You get all that? Okay, now forget it and go play outside, or something. Life's too short, man.
- Speaking of Signal Lancer, this is his first appearance!
- This episode was packaged in-disc with toys from the line such as Hot Shot and Longrack.
Foreign localization
Italian
- Title: "In incognita" ("Undercover")
- Lori doesn't misname cybertronians as "cybertonians".
- In Italian the plural of "Bermuda" should be "Bermude", but in the dub of this series (even in later episodes) they use "Bermuda" even in plural form. Okay...
Home video releases
- VHS
2005 — Transformers: Cybertron — A New Beginning (Paramount)
2006 — Transformers: Cybertron — A New Beginning (Paramount)
2006 — Transformers: Cybertron — A New Beginning (Paramount)
- DVD
2005 — Transformers: Galaxy Force — Vol. 01 (Victor Entertainment) — Japanese audio only.
2005 — Transformers: Cybertron — A New Beginning (Paramount)
2006 — Transformers: Cybertron — A New Beginning (Paramount)
2006 — Transformers: Cybertron — A New Beginning (Paramount)
2008 — Transformers: Cybertron — The Ultimate Collection (Paramount)
2014 — Transformers: Cybertron — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)
