Call of the Primitives

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Prim and Proper
"Call of the Primitives"
Production code	700-112
Season	3
No. in season	26
Production company	Sunbow Productions
Airdate	November 18, 1986
Written by	Donald F. Glut
Directed by	Eiji Suganuma
Animation studio	Toei, Studio Look (See Notes)
Continuity	Generation 1 cartoon continuity
Watch this episode on YouTube

All Transformers with animal modes are summoned to battle a being called Tornedron, the little brother of Unicron.

Synopsis

They're not dead! Dead is gray. This is white.

In an ancient-looking laboratory, a sinister voice describes the process of creation as he brings an energy creature into being: first feeding off flame, then an energon cube, growing in size and power. "Tornedron" is more than his creator could have hoped; he flies forth into the universe, as his creator gloats that he will succeed where "the other" failed. Touching a comet, Tornedron leaves it dark and bereft of energy. Soon, it attacks Cybertron. The Autobots attack it, but it simply drains their energy from them. The creature's creator is pleased with him, saying he's done better than his predecessor, Unicron.

Ravage, why are you running away?

On Earth's Moon, Rodimus Prime is leading a rather badly outnumbered group of Autobots against the Decepticons. However, the Dinobots, Predacons, Terrorcons, Sky Lynx, Trypticon, and the animal-form Mini-Cassettes are all summoned by a mysterious voice. They stop fighting and board Trypticon, who—with Sky Lynx alongside him—rockets off into space, leaving behind a puzzled Rodimus and an infuriated Galvatron. As the Decepticons take off in pursuit, Tornedron arrives and drains the energy from the Moon - and the remaining Autobots along with it. Galvatron's Decepticons in space are next, followed by the entire planet Earth.

Aboard Trypticon, it doesn't take long for tempers to flare after Headstrong picks a fight with the Dinobots by insulting Grimlock. Sludge suggests they stomp him. The Preds stick with their teammate and fight the Dinobots, and the Terrorcons decide to fight everyone. At Sky Lynx's suggestion, Trypticon shakes his passengers up a bit to put an end to the squabbling. The group arrives on an ancient planet near the center of the galaxy. After touching down, Sky Lynx assumes command of the group, despite the objections of Razorclaw and Hun-Gurrr. Finding a cave, they encounter a strange entity. He explains that he summoned the Primitives, all animal-based Transformers, to come to fight Tornedron, the energy being who was created by Primacron. The entity, who was once Primacron's assistant, explains how Primacron created Unicron but was nearly destroyed by his creation. After Unicron's defeat, Primacron created Tornedron as a replacement. Primacron's assistant hopes that the Primitives' simple instincts will allow them to defeat Primacron's complex plans.

How bright are all these guys? Well, the freaking Terrorcons were the first and only ones to figure out that shooting the energy creature doesn't work and to try something else. So, not real bright.

Suddenly, Tornedron arrives and drains Trypticon of his energy. Trypticon crashes, and Grimlock is believed destroyed. Sky Lynx attacks, only to have his energy drained as well. Slag leads the Dinobots in retreat, while the other Primitives split up, believing that Tornedron can't catch up to all of them if they go separate ways. Unfortunately, they prove to be wrong, as Tornedron separates into four parts to track them all down. He easily dispatches the Mini-Cassettes, chewing on Ratbat in the process. Headstrong declares that it would be better to fight and die, and the Predacons form Predaking, only to have their energy sucked away as well. The Terrorcons try to fight back, but are also drained. The Dinobots ambush Tornedron, but they too are dispatched. Declaring victory against the Primitives, Primacron orders Tornedron to return home back to his lab. Unknown to Tornedron and Primacron, however, Grimlock has survived his impact from Trypticon, and he secretly follows them.

Two scoops of raisins.

At his base, Primacron is having trouble controlling Tornedron, ordering him to stop. Tornedron refuses to take any more orders and declares that he intends to feed on Primacron, and that all of Primacron's failsafes have failed, realizing that Tornedron is rebelling against him. Grimlock breaks into Primacron's lab to find that Primacron is a tiny little monkey-like alien... thing. Grimlock grabs Primacron and orders him to reverse his damage, but Primacron declares that he's tried everything. Grimlock fixes things easily: He throws the reverse switch, which reverses Tornedron's energy polarity, destroying Tornedron and restoring the life energy to the drained Transformers and planets of the galaxy. In celebration, Grimlock destroys Primacron's lab, declaring it the "smartest" thing he's ever done.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

Whoops, my barn door's open.

"What's with the Dinobots?"
"I'd say they're losing their minds... if they had any to lose!"

—Rodimus Prime and Springer

"Save your ammunition, Autobots! Superior forces are taking over."
"Well, well, Commander Modesty's here!"

—Sky Lynx and Springer, as Sky Lynx arrives to save the day.

Sky Lynx: "I'm tracking the waves to the center of the galaxy. Even my advanced technology can't pinpoint the exact destination."
Grimlock: "Me Grimlock not know where I go!"
Headstrong: "That's not surprisin'. Grimlock don't know nothin'!"

— With this crew, it doesn't take much to get a brawl going.

"Now remember, before you do anything, think, 'Is this what Sky Lynx would do in my position?', and you will not go far wrong."

—Sky Lynx's sensible instructions to the rest of the Primitives.

So how's that whole 'rue the day' thing workin' out for ya there, Sky Lynx?

"Suffer my rage, monster! I will show you no mercy! You will rue the day you crossed Sky—aaahhh!"

—Sky Lynx's righteous fury at the deaths of Trypticon and Grimlock.

Ramhorn: Sky Lynx is destroyed! Who will lead us now?
Slag: I, Slag, lead Dinobots away, till I get better idea.
Hun-Gurrr: Best idea yet! We run too!

—Strategy is not their strong suit.

He is power. He is fear. He is awe-inspiring might. He is... dead in about 5 seconds.

Headstrong: I detest fleeing! I would rather die fighting!
Razorclaw: He is right! Predacons, unite!
[The Predacons combine.]
Predaking: Tornedron... face Predaking! To the end!

—The Predacons decide that it is better to fight and die than live with the knowledge that they ran.

"Grimlock here to save universe!"

—Grimlock has an elegantly simple mission statement

"[chuckles] "You are creator?"
"Unfortunately... yes."
"Grimlock laugh at little wimp who cause big trouble!"

—Grimlock, about to give Primacron a wedgie.

Give me Grimlock your lunch money.

Grimlock: Grimlock saved universe! Oh, Grimlock hero!! [Grimlock stomps in victory, causing the place to begin to collapse]
Primacron: Stop it! You stupid—!
Grimlock: Why you call Grimlock stupid?
Primacron: You've ruined my lab!
Grimlock: Me Grimlock think that is smartest thing I ever done!

—You know, that probably is the smartest thing he's ever done.

Notes

Production information

• Final script: 22 September 1986

Continuity notes

Grimlock laugh at little wimp who cause big trouble! Unfortunately, so did the audience.

Me Grimlock like 'cons Cajun style!

• We get our first official origin story for Unicron, painting him as the creation of an obsessive scientist guy. It's... a bit lackluster, especially considering the demi-god nature of the character depicted in the contemporaneous Marvel UK comics. That god-style origin would carry over into the Marvel US comics in 1989, and later media would use it almost exclusively, quietly ignoring poor Primacron.
• Primacron's assistant is an enigma. What is supposed to be his essence leaving his body is rather inexplicably portrayed looking just like the Matrix of Leadership. (This might be explained as the artist recognizing and replicating the object that killed Unicron at the end of the movie, but not knowing it had any deeper connection to the Autobots.)
• "Sweeps 6 and 7" identify themselves at the start of the moon battle, the only time any Sweeps had any sort of individual designation. Fun Publications would later produce toys of these characters.
• The rollcall of known Primitives isn't quite complete, omitting Laserbeak and Buzzsaw. Instead, Soundwave unleashes two new cassette Decepticons: Slugfest and Overkill... who are then never seen again. Gee.
• When Grimlock uses his flame breath on the Predacons and Terrorcons, they start to cough... cause that's what you do when you're being hit with fire reaching several hundred degrees.
• This is the first and only time in the cartoon Swoop fires his wing blasters.
• This episode seems to resolidify the Dinobots' position as freakishly powerful (which took a beating in Season 3), as Grimlock alone seems to be a match for three Terrorcons and two Predacons, and the only Autobot sent flying is Swoop, who takes a blast to the chest early on.
• Gadgets and powers:
  • Grimlock can fly in T. rex mode! All his past flying has been done in robot mode, apart from some falling-with-style back in Transformers: The Movie.
  • Trypticon fires a laser from his head-mounted gun at Tornedron that takes the form of a series of energy rings. This MIGHT be a visual reference to the "hypno-beam" his bio traditionally claims he wields, however if it is meant to hypnotize Tornedron, it fails miserably.
• This episode marks the last appearance of the Dinobots, Trypticon, Ravage, Jazz (he is seen running by in the background during the red alert on Cybertron), and Unicron in the western cartoon... bummer.
• Neither the Moon nor Earth are mentioned by name. Nor do we see anything to suggest what happens when the entire planet - and every human being on it - is drained of energy; we may surmise that it's non-fatal.

Real-world references

• Star Wars sound effects:
  • Millennium Falcon engine burst as Trypticon launches into the moon battle, then again as Sky Lynx takes off to answer the call.
  • Death Star superlaser as Galvatron & co. take off after Trypticon.
  • Lightsaber ignition as Tornedron takes off from Earth.
  • Seeker ball bolts as Tornedron starts his attack on Trypticon.
  • TIE Fighter roar from Swoop as the Dinobots flee.
  • Lightsabers slashing equipment and sparking as Tornedron takes down the cassette crew, and as he approaches the Terrorcons and Dinobots.

Animation and technical errors

"Call of the Primitives" is renowned for its highly stylized and often very detailed artwork. Many fans regard it as head and shoulders above every other episode in the series (admittedly not a terribly high bar). More objectively, it is one of the least error-prone episodes of the entire show:

• Rodimus's gun doesn't have the usual Prime rifle sound effect.
• In the second overhead shot of the Autobots during the opening battle, Rodimus is missing his (freakin' huge) spoiler.
• When we first see him, Wheelie is missing his Autobot logo.
• When Blades, Slingshot and Wheelie open fire on Tornedron, the first shots are fired before they even raise their weapons.
• As Tornedron, in the form of a giant bug, steps over the bodies of Blades, Slingshot and Wheelie, its glowing aura is on a lower cel than their bodies, making it appear to pass under them, despite the fact they're lying on the ground.

"Look alive, people! Uh, no offense, Windcharger."

• Windcharger is seen running around on Cybertron, despite having been killed in The Transformers: The Movie. But hey, that happens all the time.
• When the Dinobots are being summoned, Sludge is referred to as Sweep. In the script, Sweep #6 is given dialogue indicating he hears the call, too: Sweep #6: Someone from -- "up there"! It is unknown whether Donald F. Glut assumed that Sweep(s) would hear the call because they're "Primitives" due to being mostly recycled Insecticons, or because they're creations of Unicron (and thus by extension, creations of Primacron). The animation paired with this line focuses on Swoop and when Galvatron later pursues the "deserters" only Cyclonus and Soundwave are with him. No word on why the Oracle (as it's called in the script), or the writer for that matter, forgot to mention Sludge specifically.
• Galvatron's sporting a red Decepticon insignia when he calls in Trypticon.
• When Ravage and the other animal Mini-Cassettes eject from Soundwave, Cyclonus is shown several heads taller than Galvatron and Soundwave. While some scale guides do show him as larger than the average Transformer (reflecting his original role as Galvatron's transport), the cartoon generally shows him about the same height as Galvatron.
• Not necessarily an error, but more of a misinterpretation of their character models, Slugfest and Overkills' robot modes are drawn without their weapons attached. A lot of the season three and four character models showcased the characters without their weapons/accessories attached to better show off the details that would be hidden by them. Instead they featured dotted lines that pointed towards the places that they should be placed on the body (examples of this can be found with the Technobots and Sixshot). This appears to have resulted in the pair being depicted as if their weapon placements were optional, unlike the previous Mini-Cassettes that appeared in the show.
• Grimlock's whole neck is supposed to be gold, but the back of it is gray in several shots.
• As Sky Lynx tracks the signal, we see waves of energy expanding out towards him. In the next shot, they're flowing out from him.
• As the Predacons start firing on the Dinobots while inside Trypticon, one of the glowing effects doesn't quite match up with Headstrong's horn as it should (he moves his horn to the right position a moment later).

Pictured: wrong sound effect.

• Some of the Decepticon Primitives' lasers have the sound effect of Galvatron's cannon. So does Trypticon's laser later on.
• When the Decepticon Primitives back away declaring that Sky Lynx has died, their walking animation is reversed as they move, as if they were walking forward rather than backstepping.
• When the Primitives rush to peer over the cliff that Grimlock falls off of, they slide statically into the frame.
• When Sky Lynx tells the Dinobots to find the "alien" a star can be seen on his leg.
• When Tornedron drains Predaking's power and fall over, the Predacons transform back to robot mode... but the image of Predaking is still there, layered beneath them.
• When Grimlock gets out from under Trypticon, his forearms are huge and his chest looks more boxy than usual.
• Restoring the energy to the Moon also appears to rearrange all the craters.
• When Rodimus' team is restored, Rodimus is lying face up (he was face down), Ultra Magnus' shins are blue instead of white, and Blaster's chest is missing its detailing, switches and Autobot logo.

Continuity errors

• Sky Lynx asks Grimlock if he's all right as he's falling down a cliff.

Other errors

• When Slag declares he will lead the Dinobots due to Grimlock's apparent death, he refers to himself as "I, Slag" as opposed to his usual "Me, Slag".

Trivia

Where am I from?

• The art style in this episode is very different from all others in the Generation 1 series, with highly stylized "anime-like" character models and proportions. Exactly which studio animated it has long been a subject of speculation by fans, with Tokyo Movie Shinsha and Ashi Productions both being suspects. At last, in 2020, the episode's director Eiji Suganuma explained that it had, in fact, been contracted to regular Transformers animation studio Toei, who then—as was common—sub-contracted the work (at least in part) to Studio Look. They, in turn, employed students from vocational school known as the International Animation Institute.^[1]
• In the past, it's been popularly claimed that the characters models seen in this episode were those designed by Studio OX and used in their TV Magazine work, but they're not; they're simply more stylized versions of the standard animation models, lacking the additional toyetic touches and copious mecha-greeblies found in the OX designs. However, the money shot of the combined Predaking was animated by Shin Matsuo, who was a member of Studio OX, and brought much of their artistic aesthetic to the standard animation models.^[2]

Foreign localization

French

• Title: "L'appel des primitifs" (Canadian French, European French DVD, "Call of the Primitives")
• Original airdate: ?

German

• Title: "Das geheimnisvolle Orakel" ("The Mysterious Oracle")
• Original airdate: ?

Italian

• Title (first dub): "Tornedron"
• Original airdate: ?

• At the beginning of the episode the line: «Sweeps Six and Seven» is mysteriously dubbed in English (although "sweeps" apparently becomes "sweep").

• Title (second dub): "La chiamata dei primitivi" ("Call of the Primitives")
• Original airdate: ?

"Eject—operation: Understudy."

Japanese

• Title: "Genshi no Yobigoe" (原始の呼び声, "Primeval Call")
• Original airdate: June 5, 1987

• Episode preview art published in TV Magazine inexplicably displays Slugfest and Overkill as if they were the stars of the episode.
• A "Secret Files of Teletraan II" segment unique to Japan was attached to the end of this episode. The segment focuses on the Combaticons. It replaces the original "Secret Files" segment focusing on the Mini-Cassettes used in the Western broadcast. That segment was never used in the Japanese broadcast of the series.
• Upon approaching the ancient planet of the Oracle, Sky Lynx's original English line of "And unless I'm wrong, which is, of course, extremely unlikely, we are being called to a very ancient and sacred place," was localized as "Moreover, it feels like we are being called by a voice from the past, as if we're traveling to a hidden world from the past."^[3][4] This created an implication not originally found in the English version, that the Primitives had actually traveled back in time during their trip to said planet.
  • In 2007, this implication became the foundation of a massive retcon that saw the character of Primus brought into the Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity by combining several originally-unrelated characters and concepts to create a long, convoluted history for this new version of Primus. With the Oracle's planet now being set in the past, that enabled the planet to be an ancient, pre-metallic version of Cybertron itself, in alignment with how Beast Machines would later declare Cybertron to have originally been an organic planet that was terraformed into the metallic world of the present.
  • Likewise, this retcon also declared the Oracle to be Primus himself, based on the fact that an object strongly resembling the Matrix of Leadership was seen rising from the Oracle's simian body after being blasted by Unicron. With this object taken literally as the Matrix itself, the Oracle (within the Matrix) would flee from Primacron's lab and take up residence within the organic planet that would later become Cybertron, and call the Primitives from the future to tell them how to defeat Tornedron. The Quintessons would later find this planet, terraform it into Cybertron, and trap the Oracle/Primus within Vector Sigma (who, by total coincidence, happened to also share the same Japanese voice actor as the Oracle), tying all of these plot threads together along with the Beast Machines Oracle and the Beast Wars Neo depiction of Vector Sigma. Phew!
• However, while the scene of the Primitives following the Oracle's summoning rings to his ancient planet was reinterpreted as time travel, the fact that they also encounter Tornedron and Primacron while still on the same planet means that both of them had somehow also traveled back in time to specifically follow the Primitives to the distant past, and that Tornedron also somehow traveled back to the present when he undid all of his prior handiwork after Grimlock reversed his energy polarity, and that the Primitives and Primacron were all subsequently sent back to the present after the episode ends, and boy, that is a lot of assumptions to be made for this Primus retcon to work.

Mandarin

• Title: "Zhìzūn Tàijūn" (至尊太君, "Supreme Great Lord")
• Original airdate: ?

Home video releases

VHS

1988 — Transformers — Call of the Primitives / The Girl Who Loved Powerglide (Tempo Video)
1989 — Transformers — Fight or Flee / Call of the Primitives (Tempo Video)
1992 — Transformers — Super Video (Tempo Video)

LaserDisc

1999 — The Transformers: 2010 (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.

DVD

2001 — The Transformers: 2010 — DVD Box (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
2004 — The Original Transformers — Season 3 Part 2 & Season 4 (Rhino Entertainment)
2004 — Transformers — Season 3 and Season 4 (Metrodome)
2004 — Transformers — Collection 5: Series 3.2 (Madman Entertainment)
2005 — Transformers — Volume 22 (Déclic Images) — Canadian French audio only.
2006 — Transformers — The Complete Generation One Collection (Metrodome)
2006 — The Best of The Transformers (Madman Entertainment)
2007 — Transformers — The Classic Episodes (Metrodome)
2007 — The Transformers — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)
2009 — Transformers — Season's Three & Four [sic] (Metrodome)
2009 — The Transformers — Complete Collection: Decepticon Edition (Madman Entertainment)
2009 — The Transformers — The Complete Series: 25th Anniversary "Matrix of Leadership" Collection (Shout! Factory)
2010 — The Transformers — Seasons Three & Four: 25th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory)
2011 — The Transformers — The Complete Original Series (Shout! Factory)
2014 — The Transformers — Seasons Three & Four: 30th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory)
2014 — Transformers — The Classic Animated Series (Metrodome)

References

External links

• Episode dialogue script