Tuesday, March 13, 2012

The Ark Addendum - Auto-Berserk

Just got back to the states last night, and boy are my eyes tired!  Actually, I went to bed at a normal time, 11:00 PM, but that was after being up for 9 extra hours due to the time zone.  (It's kind of a surreal experience to leave Heathrow airport in the afternoon, then fly for 10.5 hours against the rotation of the Earth and have it be daylight the whole time.)  So, now it's 2:00 PM and I'm struggling to stay away.  And what better way to occupy my synapses than with some blogging?

Last week I did the Autobot Bunker from Auto-Berserk, so this week I finish off the episode with the landscapes that I have.  I think it's kinda fun that an episode of Transformers could effortlessly bounce from city to forest to canyons to bunkers and back, all in 22 minutes. 

Auto-Berserk also features a scene that's a pet peeve of mine.  The Autobots go looking for Red Alert and find a Lamborghini fire-chief car... but it's not him.  Really, how likely is that?  (That said, Italy really does have some Lamborghini police cars, but they're mostly for show/recruiting purposes.) 

9 comments:

Hans said...

Heh, the pet peeve I have with this episode is that at one point the Autobots close their eyes and have to cough due to the thick smoke inside the bunker... they ARE robots, right? :)

Sleep well! :)

D.M said...

Well they got to keep their optics clean and ventilation system unclogged so they don't overheat. :P

What bugs me is the tunnel drone scene. Red Alert blows up the lock as if to open the gate and... nothing. It's just forgotten what he has just done. AND THEN WHEN STARSCREAM WANTS TO BLAST THE GATE, Red Alert goes "No! You'll activate the alarm!". EVEN THOUGH HE HAS JUST FIRED A SHOT! ARGH!!!!

I get a feeling they were supposed to take out Red Alert blasting the lock bit because if you take it out you really won't miss a thing.

Mark Baker-Wright said...

"The Autobots go looking for Red Alert and find a Lamborghini fire-chief car... but it's not him. Really, how likely is that?"

In the universe of the Transformers cartoons, fire departments have opulent funding, and all fire chiefs drive Lambos. And off-screen, all teachers are driving Ferraris. ;)

Jimtron said...

To be fair, Flint over in G.I. Joe drives a Jaguar E-Type. He's a Warrant Officer - 2. In 1985, he'd have made about $1,500 a month. Pricey cars for a non-com.

Mark Baker-Wright said...

Gotta love a world in which our civil servants are well-paid! :)

Anonymous said...

They totally cheated the audience on that one, because they made the vehicle they pursued 'sparking', like they showed Red doing through out the show.

Also for whatever reason they've shown Transformers 'breathing', gurgling, coughing or gasping a couple times in different episodes. Weird but true.

D.M said...

@Anonymous

According to the script, it was Red Alert. However, the chase wasn't executed quite well so we don't really get how Autobots lost the track of him.

Only Seaspray gurgled. And more of a voice mannerism.

Anonymous said...

Yes, exactly. The way it was cut together, the vehicle swerved right next to the building that was on fire. The Wiki describes it better:

"The Autobots are right behind Red, then in the very next shot, they're pulling up to the burning building. With the not-Red Alert fire chief's car in plain sight the whole time, Hoist says "Oh no!" as if they've lost sight of Red, only for Ironhide to chime in "I see 'im!" a second later."

Not that it really matters, but Wheeljack gurgled in 'Atlantis, Arise!'. I wouldn't count Seaspray's voice mannerism's either.

Felicity Walker said...

I love that “Auto Berserk” has urban landscapes and lush vegatation! Too many episodes are set in a desert or somewhere else in the middle of nowhere.

I think the word “variety” may be in there one too many times in “large variety number and variety of.” :-)