Carnage in C-Minor

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Hey, what is that awful noise? Okay, let me straighten him out!
"Carnage in C-Minor"
Production code	700-102
Season	3
No. in season	17
Production company	Sunbow Productions
Airdate	October 14, 1986
Written by	Buzz Dixon
Animation studio	AKOM
Continuity	Generation 1 cartoon continuity
Watch this episode on YouTube

Several Autobots and Decepticons battle over a planet whose civilization revolves around music and whose inhabitants can use sound as a powerful weapon.

Synopsis

Die, Atlas!

The Decepticons are building engines into the side of a comet in order to alter its course and crash it on top of Metroplex. As they fire up the engines, a group of Autobots close in, led there by Perceptor. The Autobots attack, much to Galvatron's dismay. The Constructicons form Devastator, who is promptly flattened when Broadside drops on him in ship mode. In the ensuing battle, the engines are destroyed, and the comet is sent hurtling towards a small planet, which Perceptor reports is inhabited.

The Autobots attempt unsuccessfully to stop the comet before Galvatron again orders his men to engage their foe. While Galvatron and Ultra Magnus are grappling, waves of sound energy destroy the comet and cause both groups of Transformers to plummet to the planet's surface. In a nearby city, three aliens are having a disagreement. One of them, Allegra, storms out, saying that she's going to her retreat.

The Transformers recover from their crash, wondering what hit them. Soundwave describes it as the most perfect harmony ever, but Galvatron is more interested in its destructive power. Broadside breaks up the discussion by punching Galvatron, and the fight resumes. As the Constructicons form Devastator again, Perceptor blows the giant apart with one shot from his cannon. Galvatron and Soundwave depart in search of the source of the harmony they heard earlier, but Ultra Magnus spots them leaving and takes Broadside and Blaster in pursuit. Perceptor reflects that unless the trio are swift, there might not be much of them left.

"I now pronounce you bot and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Broadside swiftly passes the two Decepticons and overflies the city, which Blaster realises is laid out like a musical harmony. Magnus and Blaster meet with Basso Profundo, leader of the planet Eurythma, but Basso refuses to help them, believing that the harmony is all his people need to protect themselves. He drops a hint that Allegra might be able to help them, a fact overheard by Galvatron and Soundwave, who are spying outside. As the three Autobots go in search of Allegra, the Decepticons drop a bridge on them. To make sure, Galvatron blasts the wreckage, and the pair fly off to find Allegra.

Basso watches the two Decepticons leave, and fellow Eurythman Zebop Skandana uses a harmony to help the Autobots out of the rubble. Blaster realises that Zebop was creating part of the harmony which originally blew the Autobots out of space, and Zebop says he's sympathetic to their cause and will help them find Allegra.

Galvatron loved going to the opera. He always showed his appreciation by blowing the theater to kingdom come afterwards.

The two Decepticons meet Allegra, offering to help her overthrow Basso in return for the secret of the harmony. She obliges and Soundwave records it, but to Galvatron's rage, it turns out that she is only one part of the harmony; Basso and Zebop make up the other two thirds. Still, when the Autobots arrive with Zebop, Soundwave is testing the part of the harmony he has by destroying a rock. The Autobots set up an ambush, but Zebop is so distressed by the fact that Allegra is working with the Decepticons that he gives away their position. Galvatron starts firing, and Zebop takes refuge in Ultra Magnus's cab. Soundwave begins battering the Autobots with the harmony. When Zebop counters with his part of the harmony, Soundwave promptly records it and uses the resulting two-thirds of the harmony to devastating effect.

Alas, poor Zebop. We knew him we- Wait. No, we didn't.

With the Autobots apparently gone, Galvatron terminates the alliance with Allegra. She attempts to attack them with her part of the harmony, but Soundwave retaliates, knocking her out. The Autobots climb out of their hole in time to prevent Galvatron from terminating the Eurythman, but during the resulting fight, Blaster and Soundwave struggle and accidentally fall on Zebop. Galvatron grabs his minion and departs, leaving Allegra cradling Zebop in her arms. Though the Autobots believe he's had it, Allegra uses a harmony to revive him. The Autobots leave for the city.

Back at the landing site, the rest of the Autobots and Decepticons are still fighting. Hot Spot voices his hope that Magnus, Blaster and Broadside hurry. The Eurythmans have spotted the battle, and Basso uses an amplifier to direct a destructive harmony at it. Defensor is forced to disassemble, but the two factions fight on. Basso is depressed, and his aide points out he needs Allegra and Zebop to complete the harmony. Arriving, Soundwave begins playing two-thirds of the harmony, shaking the city and provoking Basso into using the third part again, which Soundwave promptly records. He is subsequently able to use the complete harmonic weapon to attack the city. Pleased, Galvatron announces their next targets are Metroplex and then Cybertron.

Soundwave finds himself too big to fly through the rings in the Training Stage.

Ultra Magnus's party arrives back at the city to find it devastated and their fellow Autobots badly damaged. The Eurythmans are able to repair Perceptor and the Protectobots with a harmony, and the Autobots set off for Earth.

Galvatron and Soundwave attack Metroplex with the harmony, but the Autobots soon arrive with the three Eurythmans, who nullify Soundwave's weapon with anti-sound. Blaster grabs Soundwave and uses his buttons to erase the harmony from Soundwave's tapes. Despite Galvatron raging that he hasn't ordered a retreat, the Decepticons flee anyway. The Autobots return the Eurythmans to their world, where Ultra Magnus tells them they need to learn to live in harmony.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"What was that?!"
"That was heaven. The purest, most vibrant, most perfect harmony I've ever heard."

—Galvatron and Soundwave wonder what hit them, to the latter's monotoned enjoyment.

"You! Because of you, I got blasted out of space. DO YOU REALIZE WHAT THAT DID TO MY PAINT JOB?!"

—Broadside, right before he sucker-punches Galvatron

"Broadside! Blaster! Galvatron and Soundwave went to find the weapon that knocked us out of space!"
"Weapon? That was no weapon. That was harmonic bliss! A musical kiss!"
"Whatever."

—Ultra Magnus, who doesn't have any soul, and Blaster, who does.

"Blaster, you picking up anything?"
"Yeah, yeah! Beauty like you wouldn't believe, Broadside. Sweet soul music. It's their art, their commerce, their philosophy, their whole—uh-oh, bummer. Galvatron and Soundwave are here."

—Broadside and Blaster get their vibes harshed.

"I don't wanna see your ugly face, just the button that says 'ERASE'!"
"My tapes! You've erased my tapes!"

—Blaster destroys Soundwave's tapes, to the Decepticon's monotoned horror.

Notes

"Carnage in C-Minor" is perhaps the most famously error-laden episode in the series, and a regular contender among fans for "worst G1 episode". Even by the cartoon's own low standards, the art and animation are of poor quality, while the sheer volume of animation errors — many of them glaringly obvious — is almost unmatched. Add to that the irritating sing-song speech and shrilly modulated voices of the alien protagonists, and you've got an episode that is pretty widely loathed. Despite all this, the actual script and plot are certainly not the weakest to grace the cartoon series — certainly not at level of, say, "B.O.T.".

Real-world references

• Galvatron's plan to smash Metroplex with a comet is based on the popular sci-fi idea of "kinetic bombardment". The trope would see use in an issue of IDW's 2010 ongoing series.
• The Decepticons are said to be working in an Oort cloud, referring to the swarm of comets and proto-planet stuff believed to be orbiting the sun far beyond Pluto (not the Oort cloud, however, since it's close to the alien planet Eurythma — which raises the question of why the Decepticons didn't pick a comet in Earth's own solar system instead.)
• The Eurythman characters' names are all music-related puns. Allegra is named after either the Italian operetta and opera composer Salvatore Allegra or Italian tempo marking "allegro", while Basso Profundo is derived from the singing style basso profondo. While these are all related to classical music, Zebop Skandana is named after popular music guitarist Carlos Santana and his 1981 album Zebop!... and the difference shows.
• Eurythma was possibly named after the popular '80s band The Eurythmics.
• Star Wars sound effects:
  • Millennium Falcon engine burst as Broadside takes off after the Decepticons.
  • X-Wing whine and Death Star superlaser as Galvatron and Soundwave take off after burying the Autobots, again as the Autobots pursue them back to the city, and again as the Decepticons depart for Earth.

Animation or technical glitches

This episode ensured that no kid would ever, ever, ever want Broadside's toy.

• Like much of Season 3, this episode was animated by AKOM, using their usual incorrect character models:
  • Galvatron is consistently colored using an outdated color model that gives him pale purple "underpants".
  • Throughout the entire episode, Broadside is drawn using his pre-final robot and jet mode character models. On the other hand, his aircraft carrier mode is actually that of his final model colored like the pre-final version with a purple Autobot insignia.
  • Soundwave's head crest is supposed to be the same blue as his body, but its lines and/or triangle randomly turn grey throughout the episode. His back piece is also grey when it should be blue, and his hands are colored black instead of blue.
  • Magnus's gun is blue instead of white. Remarkably, he doesn't have a colored mouth like AKOM gives him in so many other episodes.
• Other episode-wide errors:
  • The Transformation sound effects are frequently cut off.
  • Soundwave's face plate doesn't move when he speaks for most of this episode.
  • The harmony's effects are rarely consistent from scene to scene. Sometimes it's a ray or beam; other times it's a whispy wave or radiating circle of light. Sometimes it's actually sung; other times it's shown as a sort of telepathic ray. When Galvatron attacks the Autobots with it at the running battle, it's a green woobery line moving backwards through the air.
• Freeze-frame-o-vision:
  • Bonecrusher pulls the engine activation lever with a serial freeze-frame effect, as if it were some great epic act.
  • The comet's explosion is likewise "animated" with successive freeze-frames.
  • Metroplex's transformation to battle station mode is also done this way.
• Grimlock is drawn with a mouth as he and the others fly toward the comet.
• An Autobot of made-up model is shown approaching the comet to Magnus's right, where Grimlock had been a couple of shots prior.
• Two more generic Autobots are shown alongside Magnus as they come into view above the Decepticons. Only Galvatron, Soundwave and Bonecrusher are shown on the comet, but more Decepticons will appear out of nowhere as the battle rolls on.
• In that same shot, Galvatron and Soundwave are facing away from the engine; in the next shot, as they react to the first shots, they're facing towards it.
• Combiner issues:
  • Superion is consistently shown as the same size as the other Autobots; he should be twice as large even without any size changing.
  • Devastator is exactly the same size as Soundwave as they return fire on the approaching Autobots.
  • Devastator is shown firing alongside Soundwave in the first salvos of the comet battle; a moment later, the Constructicons are shown combining into Devastator.
  • When the Constructicons form Devastator for the second time, the first shot shows Scavenger (not Scrapper) and Mixmaster forming the legs, Bonecrusher forming the pelvis, and Long Haul forming the torso. The second shot shows Bonecrusher and Scavenger forming the arms and Hook forming the upper torso. This means that Scrapper, the Constructicon leader, didn't contribute to Devastator, but two Bonecrushers and Scavengers did, and seven Constructicons formed Devastator.
  • Devastator doesn't just de-combine when Perceptor shoots him — he actually explodes into a bunch of little pieces!
  • When the Protectobots are combined as Defensor, Hot Spot (Defensor's torso) is fighting alongside his combined self!
• Ultra Magnus has Optimus Prime's rifle sound effect as he dives toward the comet.

AKOM, it's really simple. Dead guys don't get to fight. Because they're dead. You know what 'dead' is, right?

'ey you! Get back in mah belleh!

• Appearing/disappearing robots: The cast fluctuates so much it's almost impossible to tell who's actually supposed to be there. Autobots routinely appear for only a shot or two; it's hard to know if the appearances were scripted or not.
  • Grimlock vanishes after the first couple of shots.
  • Cyclonus appears for one shot, firing alongside Soundwave and Bonecrusher, and is never seen again.
  • In the episode's most infamous shot, Brawn and Huffer (who should both be dead) show up alive and well. And it seems Bonecrusher has switched sides, as he's helping them shoot at the giant Decepticon rocket engine he just helped build! (Huffer's orange is so dark it appears red, to boot.)
  • Hot Spot suddenly appears after the rocket explodes.
  • In one shot, only four Transformers are shown falling out of the sky; a second shot shows six or seven. Eight are shown in the subsequent crater; there should be at least half a dozen more.
  • Perceptor and Hot Spot seem to be the only ones left fighting once Broadside and company depart.
  • Hot Spot abruptly replaces Broadside for several shots during the end of the battle at Allegra's retreat.
  • Soundwave appears alongside the Constructicons for several shots during the ongoing firefight; at this point he's still running around with Galvatron.
  • Defensor suddenly appears in the battle as Basso Profundo uses the harmonic amplifier on the Transformers. He separates into his components, who then show up in several more shots, so it's clearly a scripted appearance. (And as noted elsewhere, Hot Spot — his torso — is standing right next to him!)
• Galvatron sees Magnus flying right at him... then transforms to cannon mode and turns the other way.
• During or after the ensuing cloud-obscured struggle, Galvatron returns to robot mode, but no transformation sound is heard.
• When the engine explodes, it vanishes without a trace, leaving only a smooth metal platform behind — no debris, no crater, no damage.
• As observed by Perceptor, the comet seems to have a tiny moon following it! We also get Perceptor's microscope-vision before he's actually transformed.

"Hail Caesar!"
"Hail Thaethar."

• While the Autobots are shooting at the meteor, they are so badly drawn that they appear to have only one leg each, left arms starting from the elbows, and enormous heads...and Superion and Broadside (whose hugeness was a plot point just a couple of shots ago) are tiny. Perceptor's also drawn with a visor instead of single eyes.
• In a subsequent shot, the Autobots' lasers aren't actually reaching the comet they're firing at.
• "They thwarted me" — Soundwave's head crest is colored as though it were his face! The result is that he looks like an excited guy with a gaping-open mouth and the biggest chin strap this side of Animated. Mixmaster also appears to have stolen Leadfoot's goggles and beard.
• Sudden starry night:
  • When he picks up Galvatron, Broadside has starry night sky behind him in his closeup shot, but dusky clouds in the wide shots.
  • Perceptor has night sky behind him in the same scene.
  • Magnus gets random night sky as he asks about finding "the bandleader".
  • Starry night as Galvatron drops and dismisses Allegra.
  • Starry night as Superion prepares to tackle Galvatron.
• When Bonecrusher orders the formation of Devastator, he's wearing an Autobot insignia. See also the continuity error below.
• After Devastator gets blown apart by Perceptor, there are two Long Hauls firing at the Autobots, one with a malformed face.

'Kids, did I ever tell you the story of how I met your mother?'

• After watching Galvatron and Soundwave leave, Ultra Magnus dispatches Hook and Scrapper—by picking them up in his hands and bashing them together. Magnus is supposed to be big, but not that big. (It's possible that the animators used the toys for reference, unaware that the cartoon scale traditionally doesn't match the toys' scale in this case.)
• Blaster's voice is missing its usual modulation.
• Perceptor and Hot Spot seem to jump all over the place as they fight:
  • They're beside each other in the crater as Perceptor takes out Devastator.
  • A tiny Superion takes Hot Spot's place in a subsequent shot.
  • Then Hot Spot is by himself as he turns and fires.
  • Then Perceptor is back beside him as he continues firing.
  • Then they turn and jump into the crater they were already in.
  • The pair run from the firefight (not transform and drive, but run)... then suddenly are standing still, rising up as though from a crouch.
• As Broadside overtakes the Decepticons, Blaster and Ultra Magnus aren't shown.
• As they approach the city, Blaster and Magnus have gone from hanging onto the back edges of Broadside's wings to hanging onto the (much more logical) front edges.
  • In the same shot, Blaster's torso — hidden by the wing — has to be about twice as long as his legs to actually connect to them.
  • And Magnus's mouth doesn't move as he delivers his lines.
• As Blaster and Ultra Magnus talk to Basso, Blaster is Magnus's height in closeup shots but (correctly) shorter than him in the long shots.
• As Galvatron shoots the bridge, his cannon has the usual Decepticon laser sound effect rather than its own sound effect.
• Broadside's eyes are yellow when he gets up from under the rubble on the bridge.
• Allegra is waving her arms around for several seconds before Galvatron walks in on her. It's not clear if she's supposed to be singing — in which case the vocals are completely missing — or if she's supposed to be playing music from the device in front of her, in which case she would be playing the show's own background music! Either way, it seems like a total non-sequitur when Galvatron walks in and says "Very impressive!"

"Very impressive arm-waving!"

• When Galvatron and Soundwave first talk to Allegra, Soundwave has eyes rather than a visor, and his face is colored blue instead of grey.
  • As he receives the first part of the haromony, his "nose" goes up so high into his visor that it appears as separate eyes again.
• Allegra goes from standing up (in bold defiance) to casually laying down in the span of two shots.

"Very impressive shrinking!"

• Soundwave has a purple Autobot insignia after recording Allegra's harmony section.
• Soundwave successively shrinks through this scene — at first he's the same height as Galvatron, then he's a head shorter, then only comes up to Galvatron's waist when Galvatron picks him up.
• After learning that they only have one third of the harmony, a recycled shot makes Galvatron look quite happy as he snarls in angry frustration.
• "Everybody's a critic" — Broadside is missing the passengers who are supposed to be hanging onto his wings.
• "I'm not so sure this is a good idea anymore" — Soundwave is missing his Decepticon symbol, and his headcrest comes down so far it separates his visor.
• Blaster is drawn delivering Broadside's line about "scorch-marks on top of everything else".
• The open parts of Magnus's trailer are misdrawn, making the entire trailer appear solid.
• Many of Magnus's white truck parts are colored light gray.

Remember that shot a while back, where Broadside was twice as tall as Magnus in robot mode?

• A wide shot of Magnus advancing against the harmony has Blaster and Broadside at human scale, shorter — much shorter — than Magnus's truck mode.
• Allegra reacts to being grabbed by Galvatron a couple of seconds before it actually happens.
• While singing his harmony, Zebop goes from inside Magnus's cab to outside between shots.
  • After Magnus frees himself from the pit a moment later, Zebop jumps out of the cab again.
• After Soundwave blasts the Autobots into the ground, he transforms and walks toward the edge of the frame — but disappears before leaving the frame.
• While Soundwave and Blaster are fighting, Soundwave's grunts are unprocessed, making him sound like Dr. Claw.
• Galvatron has the standard Decepticon laser sound effect as he blasts Magnus, rather than his own signature sound.
• The script presumably calls for Zebop to move Allegra to safety; instead, the animation shows him putting her down and standing right over her, as Blaster and Soundwave fall on what would seem to be both of them.
• Blue face on Soundwave after he and Blaster fall on Zebop.
• When Blaster explains that the Eurythmans use the harmony even for healing, Ultra Magnus is the one mouthing the words; Magnus also has a visor instead of eyes.
• Our first shot of the still-going battle features lasers being fired at a forest, with nobody from either side in view.
• Hot Spot has consistently had a faceplate till now, but as he asks Perceptor about the other Autobots, he's suddenly got a mouth.
• When Perceptor gets shot, he grunts in a voice like that of Ultra Magnus.
• The running battle is in a forest, but when Galvatron and Soundwave intervene it's suddenly in the city.
• When Galvatron orders Soundwave to play the harmonics on Earth, Soundwave's tape deck door is the same color as his body (it should be light blue).

It's his little shoulder-angel.

• When Soundwave plays the harmonics to disrupt Metroplex, the waves are shown emanating from Galvatron's head! We then pan over to Metroplex, who is hardly any bigger than the two Decepticons.
• Metroplex does a sort of malformed half-transformation out of battle station mode, then stops; a shot later he's in robot mode with no additional animation or sound.
• "Autobots! Impossible!" — Galvatron's mouth doesn't move.
• Soundwave suddenly has a Decepticon symbol on his back as he dances struggles with Blaster.
• As Blaster flies off after erasing Soundwave's tapes, a cel-layering error causes him to appear smaller than Soundwave's head!
• As the Decepticons retreat, Blaster is shown flying away (again!) behind two Constructicons.
• "The Decepticons won't be back" — Magnus's eyes change size and shape between successive shots.

...And all this is overlooking the frequently malformed bodies, incorrect proportions, minor coloring foul-ups, and just generally poor artwork that marks the whole episode.

Continuity errors

• Flying Autobots:
  • The entire Autobot assault force flies through space to the comet. As usual, no rocket packs are in evidence, nor are they mentioned. Only Superion and Grimlock are usually capable of robot mode flight.
  • Despite this, Blaster and Magnus have to hang on to Broadside to fly after the Decepticons once they're on the planet.
  • Despite this, they both take off alongside Broadside after Allegra heals Zebop, and are seen flying along on Earth too. Blaster even has a whole fight sequence with Soundwave while floating in the air.
• The Decepticons all fly away from the comet as the rocket activates. As the Autobots approach, they're back alongside it — well, three of them, anyway.
• Anyone bothered that this "sonic weapon" was used to destroy a comet IN SPACE?
• Bonecrusher is shown ordering the Constructicons to combine. Scrapper is supposed to be their leader. Granted, it's in line with Mixmaster giving the orders back in "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5".
• Since when does Perceptor pack enough firepower to blast the once-invincible Devastator to pieces?
  • Likewise, how come one little shot from the Constructicons knocks Superion apart?
• Much like the Season 2 episode "Kremzeek!", once characters start hanging on to another character to get around, the script seems to forget that there's any other way for them to travel. Blaster and Magnus ride around on Broadside's wings for the rest of the episode, and even poor Zebop has to do so once he joins them!

"No."
"What did he say?"
"He said 'no'."

• Despite the aliens' dialog being in perfectly understandable English (or Galactic Standard or whatever), because they say everything in a sing-song rhythm, apparently none of the Transformers except Blaster and Soundwave can understand them, and the two tape decks spend a large (and annoying) amount of time translating Eurythman to "non-sing-song" for everyone else — at times repeating the same lines word-for-word.
  • Blaster also somehow extrapolates quite a bit of information from short lines like "This is your war, not ours."
• At one point Hot Spot states the Autobots are "outnumbered two to one", but even excluding oddities like Brawn and Huffer, the Autobots actually seen in this episode outnumber the Decepticons. See also Appearing/Disappearing Robots, above.
• "Soundwave, are you getting this?" "I am... I am!" "Never mind that. Did you get the harmony?" Did a line get dropped?
• Superhuman aliens:
  • Allegra is still in Galvatron's hands when Magnus shoots him in the back, causing Galvatron to drop her from what looks like a height of 30 or 40 feet. Despite this, she's up and running about a moment later.
  • It's an animation error, not a scripted one, but she seems to survive being smushed by two Transformers just fine.
• When the Decepticons reach Earth, they pass Autobot City (in the usual lush valley) to reach Metroplex, who seems to be hanging out in a barren desert for no reason.
• The Autobots (Scamper, anyway) don't notice the Decepticons till they're literally already there and firing at them. Nobody noticed the Decepticons fly to Earth? What happened to the Earth Defense Command satellites?
• Why does Soundwave even have an 'erase' option? Better hope his tapes had their copy-protection tabs removed!

Trivia

• Galvatron is weirdly chummy with Soundwave throughout the episode, never once abusing him in the ways he ordinarily treats his lieutenants. They're even briefly shown holding hands while flying! Perhaps there might be some lingering fondness from the formers previous life coming through?
• This was one of several episodes subjected to the MSTF treatment at BotCon 1999.
• Ask Vector Prime identified the Eurythmic Harmony as an especially potent source of time-space anomalies. This retroactively means that every single "error" that occurred in this episode actually happened.
• This episode marks the only time Broadside is shown in jet mode in the US cartoon. Further, the model that was used is actually his pre-final model which had previously only been used in the 1986 Triple Changer commercial. His final jet mode model wouldn't actually be used until The Headmasters cartoon.

Foreign localization

French

• Title (European French broadcast): ?
• Title (Canadian French broadcast and European French DVD release): "Massacre en do mineur" ("Massacre in C-Minor")
• Original airdate: ?

• Concerning the European French dub:

• Galvatron calls Metroplex "Métropolésie". That is the first and the last time this name is used in the cartoon.
• Once again, a lot of battle grunts and screams are recovered from the original version.
• The Eurythmans talk normally, the singing side was removed. However, their harmonies were recovered from the original version.
• Before Allegra sings for Galvatron and Soundwave, the cut to recover the original version was made too soon, we can hear the ending of the English voice actress' "harmonyyyyy!".
• Despite being called "Zebop" in the rest of the episode, Allegra calls him "Zebob" when telling the Decepticons about him.
• The dialogue between Broadside and Blaster as they approach the island is missing.
• After falling on Zebop, Blaster's "Zebop!" is dubbed by a satisfied "My dear Zebop!", which sounds pretty weird.
• The voice actors did not fall in the trap of the animation error where Ultra Magnus moves the lips when Blaster is talking. Like in English, it's indeed Blaster's voice actor who delivers his line.
• Soundwave's line "My tapes! You've erased my tapes!" is dubbed by "Oh no, I can't believe it! I was so happy! And he erased everything!".
• Despite the final joke about living in harmony also working in French, Blaster does not comment it, his line was replaced by "I sing too out of tune, I wouldn't live with them!".
• Name-dodging:

• Ultra Magnus' phrase "Ah, very good Perceptor, and that comet can serve as their prison" is dubbed by "Yes, you were not wrong. I hope that this way we will manage to surprise them".
• Bonecrusher's line "Constructicons! Form Devastator!" is replaced by "Quickly, regroup! We will have more strength by forming a single robot, let's hurry!".
• Galvatron saying "Soundwave! Soundwave!" is dubbed by "Ah, they are too many! They are resisting us!".
• Broadside's line "Blaster, you picking up anything?" is dubbed by "Maybe you can show us the way".
• Galvatron's "Soundwave, are you getting this?" is replaced by "Go, record this! And I advise you not to miss". Soundwave's answer "I am. I am" is dubbed by "Yeah, do not worry, we'll record this".
• Later, Galvatron's "Soundwave!" about the second harmony is dubbed by "Listen to this!" Record it!". Of course, the next "Soundwave" is missing too.
• Again, his "Soundwave!" about the third harmony is dubbed by "No but listen to this!".
• Ultra Magnus does not name Perceptor when telling him "It's a long story, I'll tell you on the way back to Earth".
• Galvatron's "Soundwave! The harmonics now!" is dubbed by "Come on, go ahead! Quickly play the magic harmonies!".

German

• Title: "Das Gemetzel in Cis-Moll" ("The Slaughter in Cis-Minor")
• Original airdate: ?

Italian

• Title (first dub): "Sinfonia mortale" ("Deadly Symphony")
• Original airdate: ?

• Ultra Magnus's line: «I told you: they use their harmonies for everything, even healing!» is voiced by Blaster and Galvatron's actor, Angelo Nicotra. The fact that, immediately after, he talks again with his usual voice makes the scene pretty odd.

• Title (second dub): "Massacro in do minore" ("Carnage in C-Minor")
• Original airdate: ?

Japanese

• Title: "音楽惑星の挑戦" (Ongaku Wakusei no Chōsen, "Challenge of the Music Planet")
• Original airdate: February 20, 1987

Mandarin

• Title: "C Xiǎodiào Dàtúshā " (C小调大屠杀, "The Slaughter in C-Minor")
• Original airdate: ?

Brazilian Portuguese

• Title: ?
• Original airdate: ?

• This episode's original translated title is currently lost due to a glitch in the only known surviving copy of the audio track.

Home video releases

VHS

1989 — Transformers — Carnage in C Minor / The Ultimate Weapon (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 19 (Déclic Images) — European French audio only.
2006 — Transformers — The Complete Generation One Collection (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)

External links

• IMDb's page for this episode
• Episode dialogue script