Dark Awakening (episode)

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Yeah, let this be how the kids remember their hero.
"Dark Awakening"
Production code	700-93
Season	3
No. in season	8
Production company	Sunbow Productions
Airdate	October 1, 1986
Written by	Antoni Zalewski
Animation studio	AKOM
Continuity	Generation 1 cartoon continuity
Watch this episode on YouTube

Optimus Prime is revived as a zombie by Quintessons.

Synopsis

Don't you hate when your stuff goes missing?

On the run from Galvatron, Rodimus Prime, Arcee, Ultra Magnus, Kup, Spike and Daniel try the old "detonate three-quarters of the ship" trick to lose their pursuers. What's left of the ship can't support human life for long, however, so they take refuge on board the nearby Autobot Mausoleum, an interstellar tomb containing many of their deceased comrades, most notably the venerated Optimus Prime.

While exploring by himself, Daniel is stuck in a dark room with robot corpses and gets appropriately creeped out... particularly when he sees what looks like the fully animated form of Optimus Prime. When he finds the others he swears he has seen Optimus Prime alive. To satisfy his curiosity and against the opinions of the other Autobots, Rodimus opens Prime's tomb, only to find it empty. However, they cannot investigate further because the Decepticons have followed them inside and attack them (turns out Galvatron has wised up to the detonate-three-quarters thing.) The fierce battle that follows appears lost for the Autobots, when suddenly they are saved by none other than Optimus Prime. With their ranks bolstered by the mighty warrior's firepower, they quickly drive the freaked out Decepticons into retreat.

Uh uh. Nope. Had it. Done with it.

The Autobots are amazed and confused at Prime's presence. Optimus can give them no explanation to his apparent resurrection, just the typical near-death experience of seeing darkness and then a light at the end of the tunnel. Rodimus Prime eagerly (too eagerly) returns the Matrix of Leadership to him, despite Prime's bizarre behavior and damaged appearance, and against the advice of Kup and Ultra Magnus. Without the Matrix inside him, Rodimus reverts to Hot Rod and declares, "Let's party!" Optimus evidently has other plans and attacks the Autobots and sets the auto-destruct sequence to the mausoleum ship. He then departs and leaves the others stranded.

After returning to Cybertron, Optimus informs the Autobots that Rodimus and the others were killed by the Quintessons. This puts everyone in a pretty bad mood (Springer swears vengeance - particularly for Arcee - while Grimlock spends at least a minute stomping and thumping his tail). Optimus re-assumes command and orders an all-out attack on a supposed Quintesson base.

Our budget only ran to six missiles.

Hot Rod and his group manage to escape, mere moments before the mausoleum ship plunges into a star and explodes. They return to Cybertron, but find nobody around but the Dinobots. Turns out most of the Autobots have left to attack the Quintessons. They pursue their friends in their own ship, but arrive to find the Autobot fleet already being decimated by Quintesson missile fire. Their frantic calls to stop the attack are dismissed by Optimus as Quintesson tricks.

Hot Rod and the others finally manage to board the lead ship, and the former Rodimus goes "Optimus hunting" after his zombified mentor. When the two meet, Optimus starts to pound on Hot Rod, but as he's kicking Hot Rod's tailpipe he begs Hot Rod to defeat him.

And that's for getting me killed!

Fighting against both Hot Rod and himself, Optimus flashes back to his own reanimation at the hands of the Quintessons, who stole his corpse and reanimated it with their own evil programming to lead all Autobots into a trap. Optimus is nothing more than a "robotic zombie", combined with "lingering remnants" of his personality and memories. Hot Rod puts up a brave fight in a moment of compassion trying to help Optimus, Hot Rod is physically overcome by Optimus, but the influence of the Matrix allows Prime to overcome the Quintessons' programming. Ending the fight, Optimus returns the Matrix to Hot Rod's chest cavity, restoring him to his status as Rodimus Prime. As Optimus Prime takes his leave, the other Autobots find their battered leader and inform him that the equally battered ship is being evacuated.

Optimus Prime takes control of the ship, and orders the Autobot fleet away from the Quintesson trap.

As the stunned Quintessons watch, the Autobot fleet escapes. Optimus's final act is to pilot the Autobot flagship into the trigger zone of the Quintesson trap; ensuring the safety of the retreating Autobot ships and craft. Closing the distance piloting the command ship, Optimus Prime suffers horrendous damage as the Quintessons bombard the ship with missile fire and explosions and flames erupt from various points in the command ship on top of the battle damage Optimus had incurred previously from his fight with Hot Rod; losing an arm namely.

With a massive explosion, the solar system is destroyed. As Kup bids his old friend farewell and the other Autobots mourn their lost leader a second time, Magnus remarks that the nova will be Optimus's memorial. Rodimus doubts he'll be the Autobot leader that Optimus Prime was, but vows to try.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Great. What'll Daniel and I do when the air runs out?"
"Basically you'll have two choices: suffocate, or smother."

—As Spike wonders about the limited oxygen for the first time in life in the Autobot life pod, Rodimus Prime takes "deadpan" to a whole new level.

"How convenient, Rodimus! We can lay your wreckage beside that of your mentor!"

—Galvatron wants to add insult to injury.

"Decepticons... leave this place... or die!"

— For just one brief chill-bump moment, Optimus Prime is back.

"Hey, he's here, he's back, and who cares how!"
"Must... complete... plan..." Optimus abruptly walks offscreen.
"Yeah! What's the plan?"

—Rodimus misses some critical clues from Optimus Prime's behavior.

Arcee: Sludge! Snarl! Oh, are we glad to see you.
Sludge: Me Sludge not glad to see you.
Snarl: You all dead! Rarrr!
Sludge: ...Maybe we dead.

—Arcee freaks out the Dinobots.

Kup: Where is everybody?
Sludge: All go smash Quintessons.
Ultra Magnus: Quintessons? What have Quintessons got to do with any of this?
Snarl: They kill you! Optimus Prime say so! ...Uh-oh. Something not right.

—The Dinobots start to comprehend that all is not well.

"This won't even be a war."
"Merely an exercise in... extermination."

—The Quintessons nonchalantly slaughter the Autobot fleet

"Not a game! ...Matrix makes me too strong!"
"Now there's a unique complaint!"

—Optimus Prime wails on Hot Rod, who takes it in stride

"Monsters... they made me a weapon, to destroy the very ones I loved in life. But you will save them... Rodimus Prime."

—Optimus Prime hands over the Matrix.

"I don't know if I'll ever be the leader that you were, but for sure... I'm gonna try. So long... Prime."

—Rodimus gives a eulogy in his own inimitable fashion.

Season 5

Tommy and Powermaster Optimus Prime meet in the barren wasteland where Tommy, apparently a reporter for Autobot City News, asks to interview Prime. Tommy asks for the inside scoop on how Prime came back from the dead. Prime recalls how it all began...

22 minutes later...

Tommy is furious, accusing Prime of dodging the question and not telling him how he really cheated death. Prime informs him that there's "more than meets the eye" to this story. In fact, the story has only just begun. Tommy stops him, as his recorder has run out of tape. Tommy and Prime then blast off into outer space to... go to the store to buy more tape. Okay.

Notes

Production information

• Dialogue recording: 29th May 1986
• This episode originally aired early in season 3, but was strategically re-aired in February 1987 to promote the broadcast of "The Return of Optimus Prime." The rerun featured new closing narration from Victor Caroli added to the final scene: "But is this really the end of Optimus Prime? Find out in tomorrow's exciting episode, 'The Return of Optimus Prime!'" Caroli's line replaced the original final line of the episode, delivered by Rodimus: "So long, Prime." The original version was released on VHS by Kid Rhino, but when the company released the episode on DVD, the altered ending was the only one included. Observing the frustration this caused among American fans, DVD consultant Chris McFeely helped ensure the restoration of the original ending for the Metrodome DVD release of the episode, with the alternate ending included as an easter egg. The original ending is also the version featured on the Shout! Factory DVD sets, but when Hasbro put the episode up on YouTube in 2021, the altered version was used.

Continuity notes

• Galvatron still has some degree of alliance with the Quintessons, despite their betrayal in "Five Faces of Darkness". (Of course, it's leading to another betrayal, as the Quintessons are presumably luring him and the Autobots to zombie Optimus's trap.)
• As an episode built around the events of the animated movie, Galvatron's order to examine the debris of the destroyed Autobot ship is almost certainly a callback to the last time he blew up an Autobot vessel from afar - he's wised up to the Autobots' "detonate three quarters of the ship" trick!
• Kup alludes to the Great War when Daniel asks about Optimus Prime's inclusion in the Mausoleum.
• The Autobot Mausoleum includes the Veil of Remembrance, a "memorial to the Autobot heroes whose chassis and servos rest here". Optimus Prime's tomb rested in a burial chamber on the other side of it.
• Besides Optimus, the interred Autobots whose names are read off by Daniel are Ironhide, Prowl, Ratchet, and Huffer. The first three were killed off in The Transformers: The Movie, all in the same scene, in fact. This is the first time we learn of Huffer's death, however. The absence of Brawn (also killed off in the same scene) has led to joking fandom speculation that he must have survived getting shot in the shoulder (bolstered by his and Huffer's animation-error appearance in "Carnage in C-Minor"). Wheeljack and Windcharger's bodies weren't even mentioned, despite their offscreen deaths in the movie.

• The dead Autobot that nearly squashes Daniel isn't Ironhide, but follows his general design pattern: rounded head helmet, boxy torso with a front window chest. The details are off, though, and of course he's got a totally different color scheme (mostly gray, with an olive green chest).
• Cyclonus pulls his gun out of thin air during the fight on the mausoleum; it simply appears in his hand in a flash of light, another instance supporting the fan-theories of "subspace" and the like.
• Arcee suffers an "exo-structure" wound.
• Springer reacts pointedly to the supposed death of Arcee, continuing the romantic overtones between them that first showed up back in "Five Faces of Darkness".
• The ship Optimus Prime takes command of is the Flagship of the Autobot Fleet, with the bridge being called its Command Center. Do we see the ship before or again? Iunno.
• The Quintessons propose and enact an "anticipatory snicker of triumph", recalling their celebratory chuckle from "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 3".
• Later, the Quintessons repeat the "perhaps we should seek some cover / no, place your faith in our defense systems" exchange from "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2".
• The Autobot fleet shown in this episode is weird. Character models for the Aerialbots, Powerglide, and Skyfire are used to pad out the fleet's ranks and many of these "ships" are shown getting annihilated by the Quintessons.
• The ship Hot Rod, Ultra Magnus, et al. take to get to the Autobot Flagship is an Interceptor called Intercept-One.
• Daniel wears his exosuit from the movie while aboard Intercept-One, which protects him from the vacuum of space when the ship gets blown up.

Real-world references

• Writer Antoni Zalewski recycled his own work for the opening scene of this episode, which is copied almost note-for-note from the 1985 "Ghost Ship" episode of The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians. The parallels include a pursuit through space, launching an escape pod ("We turned the cockpit into an escape ship just in time!"), right up to Spike's verbatim quote "It's the size of... Manhattan!"
• Star Wars sound effects:
  • The Star Wars effects are of a much higher fidelity of sound than the rest of the episode's effects, music and voiceovers, sitting higher in the mix and sounding rather out of place. Some are mixed to the point of being unidentifiable.
  • A long X-Wing whine - from the Rebel squads approaching the Death Star - is heard in the opening shot as the Autobot ship flies past camera.
  • As the Decepticons launch torpedos, sounds from one of the firefights on the Death Star can be heard.
  • The whine of Luke's X-Wing about to crash on Dagobah (a rare use of a sound effect from Empire) plays as the Mausoleum approaches the sun; the sound of branches hitting the fighter's canopy can still be heard.
  • Death Star superlaser as the Autobots escape from the Mausoleum.
  • X-Wing engine whine as the Quintesson asteroid-ship moves into firing position.

Animation and technical errors

Don't look at me either. I had my shot. I'm out.

• An AKOM episode. Watch for off-model characters including:
  • Rodimus and Galvatron are both consistently colored using outdated color models; Rodimus's shoulder indentations are red instead of white, his pelvis-windshield details are white instead of light burgundy, and his gun is red instead of black, while Galvatron has pale purple "underpants."
  • Movie characters have colored mouths, such as Ultra Magnus with a red mouth, Cyclonus with purple, Blurr with blue and Springer with green.
  • Optimus's running light rims are white, and the lights themselves are red, rather than vice versa; his backpack is white instead of red.
  • The top part of Ultra Magnus' back is sometimes colored grey when it should be red (such as when he shoots at Galvatron).
• Coloring errors:
  • In the first shot of the Decepticon mothership shooting at the Autobot shuttle, one of the two Sweeps flying alongside it is colored all white.
  • "They're getting away!" - Cyclonus's jet windows are colored white instead of orange.
  • As Rodimus delivers the "I'd hoped never to see it again" line, Kup's eyes are gray and the triangles below them blue, rather than the other way around.
  • Rodimus's eyes flash blue-gray-blue as he details the location of Optimus's tomb.
  • After driving the Decepticons off, Optimus walks up to the Autobots and the left side of his helmet is grey instead of blue.
  • Right after Optimus Prime shoots Hot Rod, Kup, Arcee, Daniel and Spike, the top of his helmet is colored gray.
  • As Optimus walks up to Hot Rod, his Autobot symbol is grey instead of red.
  • Just before Optimus' flashback, his crotch piece and lower legs are dark grey instead of blue.
  • When Rodimus tosses him, Optimus' face is entirely colored in blue. As he lands, the top of Optimus' helmet is grey.
• As the "torpedos" close in on the Autobot ship, it's suddenly no longer in the asteroid field, but in open space.
• The life pod's engine-roar sound effect flies past the camera long before the ship itself does.
• After they blow up the Autobot ship, a shot of the Decepticons flying shows their group to contain a 1984 Seeker design with Dirge's color-scheme. Thrust and Dirge are also flying alongside the ship - the first and only time they've been shown to be space flight capable. The Decepticon ship isn't all that much bigger than the Decepticons around it, either.
• As the Decepticon ship turns to intercept, the squad of Decepticons are no longer flying alongside it.
• The mausoleum first appears floating in empty open space, but as the Autobots approach it, it's suddenly got asteroids and a red sun nearby.
• As they approach the Mausoleum in their ship, the Autobots keep changing positions between shots. First Kup is up front on the right, then he's behind Rodimus on the left, then Rodimus is in the back right with Kup in front of him. Arcee moves from the front right to the back left, then back to the front right again.
  • Also during the approach, the seats at the front of the ship appear and disappear between shots.
    • Also during the approach, the large door with the Autobot symbol has a grey frame around it (with parts that overlap the right and left sides), but when it opens, the frame is gone.
• As he walks up behind Daniel, Optimus is supposed to be obscured by darkness - but since the animation portrays the scene as not really dark at all, Optimus simply appears out of thin air when Daniel turns the lights back on.
  • Also, he's covered with cobwebs, as if he's been standing immobile in one spot for ages, even though he was just walking around. Some of them even connect to the wall behind and above him! The cobwebs are gone in a closeup view in the very next shot. (Dare we even ask how there are spiders inside a Cybertronian tomb in space? What are they eating?)
• In that first closeup shot, Optimus has a much more damaged look (both his chest windows are broken, showing internal circuitry; his mouthplate is broken; and the overall look of the chest area is more worn out. For the remainder of the episode, he is drawn with the damaged look from the movie.
• After discovering Optimus's empty tomb, the Autobots are apparently supposed to be reacting to some sound, indicating the Decepticons' arrival - but there's no such sound. They just all turn at once in response to nothing.
• Rodimus is missing his spoiler after yelling "Take cover!"
• When Cyclonus shoots Arcee, the blast comes from WAY too low to be from the gun, coming instead from his third knuckle.
• When Optimus shoots at the Decepticons, Galvatron's Decepticon logo is missing its "eyes."
• Cyclonus steals Galvatron's cannon sound effect as he drags his wounded leader away.
• Ultra Magnus yells at the other Autobots to "Hold your fire, we've driven them off!" but they've already stopped shooting!
• After driving the Decepticons off, Spike is not in the shot, even though he was right next to Daniel earlier.
• After driving the Decepticons off, Optimus is still holding his gun, but when he asks about the Matrix, it's suddenly gone.
• Some weird shadows are drawn over Rodimus's face as he opens his chest to return the Matrix - but there's no light source shown to cause them.
• Layering problem: The flame pattern on Rodimus's chest opens sideways, leaving what appears to be a cavity in the same shape as the flame pattern - yet instead of reaching inside, Rodimus's hand reaches behind it to retrieve the Matrix!
• After Optimus shoots him, Hot Rod lands on what seems to be the exterior surface of a planet, rather than the hangar bay of the Mausoleum.
• Optimus's mouthplate often doesn't move when he speaks, as when he relates the supposed fate of Rodimus and the others to the Autobots. After the Matrix overrides the Quintessons' programming, it consistently moves when he speaks. If it was an intentional effect, however, it's thrown off by the fact that it does move when he first appears and threatens the Decepticons.
• As Springer comments on going after the Quintessons, his lip flap stops a bit before his words do.
• When boarding Ultra Magnus' "little improvisation," the camera shake isn't synced with the frames of animation, so it looks like there are two Arcees, Kups and Hot Rods.
• The Autobot fleet contains all sorts of strange stuff; see also Continuity Notes, above:
  • In the first pan shot: two Skydive, two Slingshots, an Air Raid, and lots of black-colored jets that may be various Aerialbot models.
  • In the fly-over shot, the (much smaller) fleet is entirely light gray ships, some loosely based on Broadside's jet mode, but mostly generic science fiction style.
  • As the Quintessons open fire, Skydive and two black jets are destroyed.
    • On board one of those ships, a generic Autobot with Dead End's color scheme - including a purple Autobot symbol - gets blown away, followed by two more generics based on Dead End and Scamper.
  • Next shot: Powerglide and Slingshot are destroyed. An all-white Skyfire, another Skyfire in Skydive's colore scheme, and a black jet are nearby.
  • After the commercial break: the same shot repeats, but this time the missiles fly in and past without hitting anybody.
  • Next shot: an all-white Skyfire with orange tailfins gets pummeled by missiles.
  • Next shot: several generic white jets are blown up.
  • Next shot: a generic white jet and Slingshot (again!) are destroyed. Two Skydives, two Air Raids, and someone in Powerglide's colors go untouched.
  • A moment later, Skydive and Air Raid are seen manning laser cannons to destroy the interceptor ship.
  • Four generic jets in white, gray and black are shown escaping at the end. In a second shot, two of them are loosely based on Skyfire's design.
  • In the final shot, the escaping ships include generic ship/jets with Skydive and Air Raid's color schemes.
• When Perceptor shouts "They're alive!", Blaster (with a white helmet) and Jazz - completely miscolored in light and dark blue - are standing in the background. The space behind Perceptor was totally empty in the previous shot.
• Not a glitch so much as a strange shortcut: the Quintessons' lines, "Perhaps we should seek some cover." and "No. Place your faith in our defense systems." are both recycled from "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2".
• As Hot Rod announces he's going "Optimus hunting," Wheelie is missing his Autobot symbol.
• "Optimus, front and center!" - Hot Rod is drawn as his Rodimus self for a couple of shots.
  • After Optimus returns the Matrix to him and walks off, Rodimus is still drawn as Hot Rod for the rest of the scene.
• When he puts Rodimus in the wrestling hold, Optimus' nose isn't drawn in.
• When Rodimus tosses him, Optimus clearly hits a display monitor (which doesn't break) in its upper left corner, but when he lands, he's way over on the right side of the console.
• Whatever the burbling thing that melts through Hot Rod's torso is, it's gone in the next shot - then back again, then gone for good in the following shots.
• When Optimus gives the Matrix back to Hot Rod, Hot Rod's door is made up of the entire yellow (flame) part of his chest. In "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4," the door was split in half and opened around the center of his chest.
• When Optimus is in control of the flagship and orders the other Autobots to return, he has his left arm again... and the hand colored wrong (red).
  • In the first shot of him on the bridge, the bridge design is completely different than the one shown at the start of the attack.
• As the Autobots watch the explosion, Ultra Magnus' (red) mouth is shown gaping open and not moving when he speaks; his eyes are connected together like a visor.

Continuity errors

Just in case you weren't clear that Prowl, Ratchet, etc. are dead - this episode goes and kills them even more dead.

• Galvatron's starship is shown to be perfectly intact here, despite being smashed by Unicron in the movie.
• Rodimus Prime and his crew were surprised to find the Autobot Mausoleum, suggesting they forgot where it was. Why didn't the Autobots just put the Mausoleum somewhere on Cybertron?
• Why are the tomb's light controls at human child level?
• Rodimus Prime states that Optimus has been dead "for years". While it's not always wise to take the flippant Rodimus at face value, Prime has actually been dead for a year at most. (The cartoon's timeframe is rarely made explicit, but "Five Faces of Darkness" was stated in narration to take place in 2005, while later episodes like "The Big Broadcast of 2006" indicate the series has moved on into 2006 as time has gone on. Also, Daniel hasn't visibly aged since Optimus died. This works better in Japan, though, where the series takes place in 2010.)
• It's never explained where Hot Rod and company obtained the ship that carries them away from the Mausoleum. Magnus just comments vaguely about "this little improvisation" in reference to the vessel.
• Optimus returns to Cybertron still beat to hell, fine. But... then he rushes everyone off into battle and nobody stops him to say, hey, get yourself to repair bay first?
• During the flashback to the Quintessons discussing Optimus Prime over his dead body, shouldn't the body still be grey (as it appeared after his death in the movie)? It's the usual colors instead.
• Kup tells Rodimus the ship is being blown to pieces, but it seems perfectly calm (until the Quintessons notice it's heading for the detonator and fire on it, of course).

Other trivia

• Interviews included in the 20th anniversary DVD release of The Transformers - The Movie reveal that this episode had already begun production at the time of the film's theatrical release, unaware of just how deeply the death of Optimus Prime would have ultimately affected the audience, or how such an episode might have compounded it.
• The Transformers 2010 story pages would run with this story's events, having the Quintessons analyze Optimus Prime's specifications and use them to build Gilthor.
• "Ask Vector Prime" would build off the original ending, giving us the splinter timeline of Primax 1086.01 Alpha.
• This is easily the most gruesome episode of the original cartoon, and perhaps the only one with a certifiable body count - even if you don't include the named character models that are shown.
• That sure is some chipper, happy, peppy, upbeat music that plays as Daniel walks about reading the names of the dead, opening tombs, and running into zombies!
• As of August 20, 2019, this episode is not included in the "Transformers: Season 3" lineup as featured in the Starz online streaming service for the United States. The episode numbers in the Starz lineup for Season 3 skip from #307 ("Chaos") to #309 ("Starscream's Ghost"), which appears out of order. The order and numbering of other episodes in the season have also been changed.

Foreign localization

French

• Title: "Sombre réveil" ("Dark Awakening")
• Original airdate: ?

• Concerning the European French dub:

• Arcee is dubbed by a man during this episode. Despite trying to lighten his voice, this is very disturbing to hear.
• Rodimus Prime's line "Well basically you'll have two choices: suffocate or smother" is dubbed by "Actually, you'll only have two solutions: suffocate or commit suicide". Wow.
• Daniel calls Ironhide "Irox", but he was called "Irok" during seasons 1 and 2.
• The Autobots call the Matrix la "Matrix", despite calling it la "Matrice" in previous episodes. However, "Matrix" was the term used in The Movie.
• Arcee's scream is missing as she gets hit by Cyclonus.
• For some reason, Optimus Prime calls Arcee "Archère" ("Archer"). Like for Wreck-Gar and Sky Lynx who also got made-up names in previous episodes, this name will never be used ever again.
• Before saying "This nova will be his memorial", Ultra Magnus adds "Do not cry" to Daniel.

German

• Title: "Das Erwachen im Dunkeln" ("The Awakening in the Dark")
• Original airdate: ?

• This was one of twelve episodes of the original cartoon released as audio adventures by the German company Karussell Musik und Video.

Italian

• Title (first dub): "Fantasmi dal passato" ("Ghosts from the Past")
• Original airdate: ?

• Spike talks about Manhattan using a past tense, making it look like it doesn't exists anymore.
• Hot Rod's name is never pronounced in this episode.

• Title (second dub): "Risveglio oscuro" ("Dark Awakening")
• Original airdate: ?

Japanese

• Title: コンボイの影 (Convoy no Kage, "Convoy's Shadow")
• Original airdate: January 9, 1987

• As Kup explains about the Autobot Mausoleum, he mentions the Unicron War instead of the Great War.

Mandarin

• Title: Wǔmiànguài de Guǐjì (五面怪的诡计, "Quintesson's Ruse")
• Original airdate: ?

Brazilian Portuguese

• Title: "Despertar Sombrio" ("Dark Awakening")
• Original airdate: ?

Home video releases

VHS

1988 — Transformers — Dark Awakening / Grimlock's New Brain (Tempo Video)
1990 — Transformers — Dark Awakening (Collins Video)
1990 — Transformers — Dark Awakening / Grimlock's New Brain (Abbey Home Entertainment)
1999 — The Original Transformers — Volume 2: Revenge of the Decepticons (Rhino Entertainment)

LaserDisc

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

DVD

2001 — The Transformers: 2010 — DVD Box (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
2003 — The Original Transformers — Season 3 Part 1 (Rhino Entertainment)
2003 — The Original Transformers — Season 3 Part 1: Vol. 2 (Rhino Entertainment)
2004 — Transformers — Season 3 and Season 4 (Metrodome)
2004 — Transformers — Collection 4: Series 3.1 (Madman Entertainment)
2004 — Transformers — Volume 15 (Déclic Images) — European 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)

External links

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