Galvatron!

As Alpha Q observes, the Decepticons have captured planet Cybertron. Aboard the Miranda II, the Autobots plan their next move: Kicker and Arcee, who are unaffected by the energon gas, will go to the planet's surface and shut off the gas grid.

On the planet's surface, Kicker, Rad, and Dr. Jones hide from a searching Cruellock drone. Later, they meet up with Miranda, who's prepared dinner, and report that the Decepticons have taken over the control room. The humans plan to reach Primus, if Optimus Prime hasn't already contacted him... but dinner comes first.

In the control room, Starscream suspects they haven't wiped out all the planet's Autobots yet. Six Shot offers to finish the job, prompting the old crew to comment on how much he's cozying up to Galvatron. Galvatron wonders about the benefits of the Super Energon; Six Shot tells him it can move the entire planet anywhere Galvatron wishes. Galvatron orders Cybertron moved to Alpha Q's planet, not caring that the absence of a sun will spell its doom regardless.

No girls, uh, Autobots allowed.

The humans' dinner is interrupted by earthquake activity as the planet begins to move. Elsewhere, Wing Saber reassures the hiding population that Optimus is on the way.

The Autobots observe as the planet begins to move toward the space bridge, propelled by a portion of the energon grid. Six Shot spots the Miranda II on his scope, and fires at it with the grid. Kicker is knocked loose from the ship's hull, and is saved by Superion Maximus.

Galvatron is furious at Six Shot for taking independent activity, and violently berates him. The old crew gets in a "toldja so", before the Decepticons go to attack the ship up close. The Autobots prepare to defend themselves, starting with landing the ship, but the Decepticons arrive before they can begin to set down.

This is probably on a demotivator somewhere.

The various Transformers go toe to toe on the ship's hull; Prime faces off with Galvatron single-handed, while Cliffjumper continues to work on landing the ship. Below, Six Shot is angry over his rebuke, especially since he has a clear shot at the ship; eventually he decides he can't wait any more, and fires. A massive beam tears through the ship, which begins falling. Various Omnicons are knocked out of the holding bays. As the ship enters the atmosphere, the energon gas begins overwhelming the Autobots. Furious that someone stole his thunder, Galvatron demands to know if Six Shot was responsible for the attack on the ship; Six Shot defiantly confirms that he was.

The Decepticons clear out. The Autobots evacuate the Miranda II, but notice Prime is missing. Prime reaches the bridge, and finds Cliffjumper still struggling to keep it from a full crash. He finally discovers that the Decepticons' weakest point is on Earth, and authorizes Kicker to launch. Kicker and the Omnicons deploy. Prime orders all engines to full, in one last gambit. The ship is unable to pull out of its descent. Omega and Superion rescue Prime and Cliffjumper. Prime salutes the ship as it falls.

Insert witty comment about iron lady.

Kicker somehow makes planetfall aboard Arcee, who drives down the energon towers, while the Omnicons deploy energon fields to cushion their fall. The assembled Omnicons witness the final plunge of the Miranda II, which lands in a final explosion and cloud of smoke.

Galvatron storms into the control center and begins bashing Six Shot around. Six Shot says that one day Galvatron will need him, and gets a fist to the face. Galvatron leaves, saying that Optimus Prime isn't Six Shot's only enemy now.

Arcee and Kicker reflect that the crashed, ruined hulk of the Miranda II, projecting from the landscape like a stalk, is like a beacon of strength.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans	Others
Jetfire (5) Skyblast (6) Hot Shot (7) Rodimus (8) Arcee (9) Optimus Prime (10) Cliffjumper (11) Landmine (13) Ironhide (14) Superion Maximus (15) Strongarm (16) Wing Saber (30) Omega Supreme (33)	Battle Ravage (1) Scorponok (3) Divebomb (4) Cruellock (17) Galvatron (22) Starscream (23) Six Shot (24) Demolishor (25) Snow Cat (26) Mirage (27) Constructicon Maximus (31) Bruticus Maximus (32)	Kicker Jones (12) Sally Jones (18) Brian Jones (19) Rad White (20) Miranda Jones (21)	Alpha Q (2) (voice only) Primus (28) Unicron (29)

Quotes

"What are you whining about? You're both soldiers and you'll do as you're told! Is that understood?!"
"Yes sir! Uh, I mean, ma'am."

—Arcee gives a "pep talk" to Strongarm, who goes on to make a sweet recovery.

"And here I thought you'd be happy to have a home-cooked meal, Rad! Even if my wife made it. Get it? Wahahaha!"

—Dr. Jones casually insults his wife even though she's sitting right in front of him.

"It's getting too dangerous, Kicker. I say we bail!"
"Relax, Arcee. This ship was named after my mom, and trust me — it can take more than you think."

—Kicker makes his own "Yo Mamma" jokes.

"A day without exercise is like a day without sunshine!"

—Rodimus before he punches Starscream's face in

Notes

Lost in translation

So far, nothing in the dub has explained why the Decepticons can just hang out in the energon gas, while the Autobots find it deadly. The Super Link version hints at an explanation, when Alpha Q refers to it as Decepticon-colored gas.
Jetfire's plan is supposed to include a point about finding a location with a weak Decepticon signal. Prime repeats this point a moment later. The dub omits this.
Starscream's warning to Galvatron originally includes an apparent mention of Primus as a possible threat, which is omitted from the dub. Oddly, this episode's dub doesn't omit Primus elsewhere.
The dub largely omits a running gag of nobody being able to remember Six Shot's name, instead referring to him as "little brother". As a result, in the dub, Six Shot randomly spouts the line "I've earned the name Six Shot!" for no reason.
In the same scene, the dub randomly has Demolishor saying that "we end up the bait" when nobody has mentioned a trap. It's a dub flub.
Prime's order to sit tight as Cybertron begins moving is a dub flub. He's supposed to be ordering his team to hurry and get their plan into motion.
Prime's explanation that Miranda II's energon grid wouldn't be effective at that range is in clear defiance of previous episodes' events. It's a dub flub; Prime is supposed to be pointing out that the grid would react with the energon gas coating Cybertron.
The dub fails to have Optimus agree with Omega that there's no need to combine, and that drawing Galvatron out is their main objective.
The dub has ~~Downshift~~ Cliffjumper identify the Omnicons as "backup troops". They're supposed to be the infiltration team.
It's not terribly important, but Mirage's "turbine missile" (which isn't even a missile, but a laser) is amusingly mistranslated as a "flying missile attack".
As he leaves the Miranda II's hull, Galvatron tells Prime that the gas will finish him. In Super Link, it's the exact opposite—he tells Prime not to die here, presumably so he can have a more dramatic final battle later.
A number of subsequent shots in the dub are missing the green gas overlay.
In a dub flub that makes complete hash of the scene, as the ship falls into the atmosphere, ~~Downshift~~ Cliffjumper declares that "the Decepticons' weakest point is on planet Earth." He's supposed to be telling Kicker that they've arrived over the weakest point in the Decepticons' patrol and defense patterns, and thus the optimal point for the insertion team to deploy. Between this nonsense and earlier dub screwups, it's not really clear just what Kicker's group is even doing.
Prime's final salute to the ship is silent in Super Link; the dub inserts a little speech.
Kicker and Arcee's bizarre "beacon of strength" comments are dub alterations. Originally, Arcee just comments that the crashed ship is strong, and has created a splendid landmark, a gathering point for their surviving comrades.

Pain count

"Uh?": 8
Stock footage: 2
We can do this: 1
It's time to: 1
Let's do it: 1

Continuity errors

Jetfire refers to Arcee as an "Omnibot" instead of an Omnicon.
After a few episodes without this mistake, Cliffjumper (now recolored as the Beachcomber toy) is again referred to as Downshift.
Galvatron calls for Shadowhawk, but standard Divebomb drones respond.

Trivia

People fall out of the Miranda II's open cargo bay several times when the ship is jolted or moves suddenly. They should put in a guardrail. Or close the doors. Or use the observation bay like they do in every other episode whose plot doesn't require them to fall into space.

Foreign localization

Italian

Title: "Abbattuti!" ("Demolished!")

Multiple lines in this episode are corrected compared to the English dub to make more sense.
Megatron says "Terrorcons" instead of "Shadowhawk".

Home video releases

All releases listed are in English audio unless otherwise noted.

DVD

2005 — Transformer: Super Link — Volume 011 (Interchannel) — Japanese audio only.
2008 — Transformers: Energon — The Ultimate Collection (Paramount)
2014 — Transformers: Energon — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)