Secrets of the Original Scripts - SEASON 3!
Chris McFeely
Or rather, it'll be back soon, when I've finished watching my advance
copies of the UK's season 3/4 DVD set. But this is just a little post
about what else the set contains in addition to all 33 scripts for
season 3/4.
As well as the scripts, there are two PDF files labelled "Cast List"
and "Synopsis."
First, the "Cast List."
Now, I got rather excited, thinking that "Cast List" was going to give
us an irrefutable list of voice actors for the characters... but, no,
that's not what it is. What is actually is simply a list of the
characters from nearly all the episodes, by episode. "More Than Meets
the Eye" is missing - more on that later. While not *fascinating,* it
does give us official spellings for LOADS of characters' names (not
EVERY entry lists human and incidental characters, but a LOT of them
do) and some of the entries do have interesting notes. For example, in
the entry for "Fire in the Sky," "Decepticon Workers" are listed in
the cast. They are noted has having no dialogue, but are specified to
"resemble Skywarp."
As you might suspect, Skyfire is listed as "Jetfire" throughout the
document.
The Peruvian girl from "Fire on the Mountain" is indeed listed as
"Luisa" in the cast.
It's Doctor "Arkeville."
Here's one that made me do an honest-to-goodness double-take - in the
cast list for "Countdown to Extincton," it lists, under the heading of
"Dinobots (both non-speaking roles)," two characters by the names
of... Tyrex and Bronton?! What's weirder is that the lists have
referred to all the five Dinobots by name previously...
Strangely, the entry for "Desertion of the Dinobots," Part Two, states
that the narrator is "NOT the same as regular narrator for the
series." But it was...
"Blaster Blues" gives Trailbreaker's name as "Trailblazer," like the
error in "A Prime Problem," though it's cast list gets it right.
Professor Haley from "Blaster Blues" is described as an "exaggerated
imitation of Carl Sagen."
Characters from "A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court": Nimue,
Sir Wigend, Sir Wulf, Sir Aethling, Beorht.
Another guard from "Auto-Bop" is listed as "Dag," in addition to
"Furg," who I mentioned in my script coverage of the episode.
"The Search for Alpha Trion"'s entry notes the existence of the two
other Female Autobots, but says nothing about them beyond the fact
that they don't speak.
Harold Edsel from "Hoist Goes Hollywood" is, as occasionally in the
script, misnamed "Harrison Edsel" here. The spelling of Carrie
Fishook's last name is confirmed.
The first part of "The Key to Vector Sigma" used to have a subtitle
too - the uninspired "Creation of the Stunticons."
"Five Faces of Darkness" is only listed as "Transformers mini-series,"
Day One, Day Two, etc.
It's "Skuxxoid."
The lists can't agree on Marissa's last name - they jump between
"Faireborn" and "Fairborne." How does Flint spell it, again?
While the script for "The Killing Jar" merely identifies Marissa's
father as "Civilian," the Cast List notes that he is, indeed, a "60
year old Flint."
Wreck-Gar's clown from the same episode is named "Lippo," not "Lobo,"
as I've seen around.
"Snake" from "Only Human," has a little paragraph about himself, and
it goes like this:
"A BUM in a ragged suit, floppy hat and torn gloves -- and COBRA
COMMANDER'S METAL MASK! We can see through his torn gloves that
<underlined> the skin of his fingers resembles that of a real snake!
</underlined> In fact, he <underlined> is </underlined> Cobra
Commander, 20 years later, after his presumed death and the fall of
Cobra."
The <underlined>'s are mine, 'cause I can't make underlines in plain
text. Now, this is interesting, because while "Only Human" appeared to
bear no regard to the fact that Cobra Commander was turned into a
snake in "G.I. Joe: The Movie" (he would, of course, be turned back
later, but not until after this episode was made, so the writer of
this episode wouldn't know about it), this note about his fingers
would imply that they WERE acknowledging it, after all. Like I say,
interesting.
The script for "Only Human" specifies that Snake has "COBRA
COMMANDER'S VOICE!!" Excitable. :)
According to the entry on "Call of the Primitives," Slugfest and
Overkill were originally named "Crunchback" and "Gouge." Doesn't say
which is which. It also lists Skylynx as "Sklynx/Dinoblast." None of
the other episodes list him like this.
Primacron's new energy being's name is spelled "Tornedron."
An interesting note on Primacron's Assitant, here given the name, "The
Oracle." He is: "The 'energy-force' of a former Transformer
'primitive'." Which explains his odd, monkey-like body, and also the
claim that Primacron built some Primitives - he must have been one of
them.
Incidentally, yeah, the first script I opened was "Call of the
Primitives" - unfortunately, no, it had absolutely nothing extra from
the assistant/oracle's history lesson to tell us anything more about
the Matrix. The only notable finding I got was that he refers to
himself as Primacron's "assistant," in speech marks, like he wasn't
really his assistant at all.
Next is "Synopsis" - a list of short summaries of almost all the
episodes. As with the Cast List, "More Than Meets the Eye" is missing,
as is "The Rebirth."
The absence of "More Than Meets the Eye" draws one's attention to the
production numbers on these summaries/lists/scripts. I noticed on
Season 2, Part 2 that the production number of on each script was
consistently one off, which is also consistent with Rhino (and
Metrodome)'s misnumbernig of season 2 - "Autobot Spike" is listed as
episode 16 when it is actually 17, and so it carries on. Well,
"Autobot Spike"'s production number, it turns out, actually IS 16. The
episode bearing production # 1 is, in fact, "Transport to Oblivion"
(presumably because MTMTE was a separately produced pilot). The rest
of season one works to this numbering system, ending with "Heavy Metal
War" as #13. Well, it seems that someone tried to adjust the numbering
for season two accounting for MTMTE, but screwed up - because the
numbering jumps from "Heavy Metal War" at #13 to "Autobot Spike" at 16
instead of 17. This error then affected the numbering of all
subsequent scripts!
Reet, that's your lot for now. I've got a lot of episodes to watch,
but once I'm done, it's back to "Five Faces" for more Secrets of the
Original Scripts!
Chris
Aaron F. Bourque
>Here's one that made me do an honest-to-goodness double-take
> - in the cast list for "Countdown to Extincton," it lists, under the
>heading of "Dinobots (both non-speaking roles)," two characters
>by the names of... Tyrex and Bronton?!
Tyrex is okay. But Bronton? No.
>The lists can't agree on Marissa's last name - they jump
>between "Faireborn" and "Fairborne." How does Flint spell it,
>again?
The former.
>According to the entry on "Call of the Primitives," Slugfest and
>Overkill were originally named "Crunchback" and "Gouge."
"Crunchback." That's almost clever. Gouge is so neutral, it's like
Super-Neutral. I'll bet there's a spa in Switzerland named Gouge.
> It also lists Skylynx as "Sklynx/Dinoblast."
Dinoblast? Eh . . ?
>An interesting note on Primacron's Assitant, here given the
>name, "The Oracle."
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Aaron "The Mad Whitaker" Bourque; HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
--
Women supposedly mature at a faster rate than men
If that is true, how come they live so much longer then . . ?
"We're nothing like God. Not only do we have limited powers,
but sometimes we're driven to become the devil himself."-ndw
Kil - Michael McCarthy
>The lists can't agree on Marissa's last name - they jump between
>"Faireborn" and "Fairborne." How does Flint spell it, again?
The way that looks wrong.
>According to the entry on "Call of the Primitives," Slugfest and
>Overkill were originally named "Crunchback" and "Gouge." Doesn't say
>which is which.
I'd guess Crunchback to be Slugfest, cause he's got the spikey plates on his
back and they could... um... crunch... things.... maybe.
Gouge? Why does that sound familiar? I think maybe it was the name of a
background character from "Corrosion of War Without End" or something...
>It also lists Skylynx as "Sklynx/Dinoblast." None of
>the other episodes list him like this.
His two components orginally had their own names, perhaps?
>Primacron's new energy being's name is spelled "Tornedron."
Bah, that looks dumb! I'm going to keep spelling it Tornitron anyway.
-Kil
----
Michael "Kil" McCarthy
The Kil File - http://hometown.aol.com/michaelmcc79/index.html
...except soda cans don't scream for mercy!
Aaron F. Bourque
>Chris McFeely wrote...
>>The lists can't agree on Marissa's last name - they jump
>>between "Faireborn" and "Fairborne." How does Flint spell it,
>>again?
>
>The way that looks wrong.
"But is oh-so-right!"
Heh heh heh.
>>Primacron's new energy being's name is spelled "Tornedron."
>
>Bah, that looks dumb! I'm going to keep spelling it Tornitron
>anyway.
Precisely why I go Defcon.
Aaron "The Mad Whitaker" Bourque
--
Onslaught Six
> Tyrex is okay.
*suddenly feels shades of BM T-Wrecks.*
Zobovor the Patently False
>For example, in the entry for "Fire in the Sky," "Decepticon Workers" are
>listed in the cast. They are noted has having no dialogue, but are specified
to
>"resemble Skywarp."
Strange that they would select Skywarp as the Decepticon-jet archetype and not,
say, Starscream.
>As you might suspect, Skyfire is listed as "Jetfire" throughout the
>document.
Not too surprising. :)
>Here's one that made me do an honest-to-goodness double-take - in the
>cast list for "Countdown to Extincton," it lists, under the heading of
>"Dinobots (both non-speaking roles)," two characters by the names
>of... Tyrex and Bronton?! What's weirder is that the lists have
>referred to all the five Dinobots by name previously...
Ugh. What horrible, horrible names. (Though, in a sick, twisted,
Derik-will-really-love-this way, it *does* lend new credence towards the idea
of T-Wrecks being a reincarnation of Grimlock.)
>Strangely, the entry for "Desertion of the Dinobots," Part Two, states
>that the narrator is "NOT the same as regular narrator for the
>series." But it was...
I think they're probably referring to the narrator from the historical disk
that Swoop and Spike and Carly are watching in the episode. They added that
note to differentiate the narrator character from Victor Caroli, I'm guessing.
>"Blaster Blues" gives Trailbreaker's name as "Trailblazer," like the
>error in "A Prime Problem," though it's cast list gets it right.
Seems like an awfully late episode for that to be a holdover name. I'd say
somebody was just misremembering the guy's name.
>Professor Haley from "Blaster Blues" is described as an "exaggerated
>imitation of Carl Sagen."
"Help, we're being attacked by Decepticons! Billions and billions of
Decepticons!"
>Characters from "A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court": Nimue,
>Sir Wigend, Sir Wulf, Sir Aethling, Beorht.
Wow, Nightwind was pretty close to the mark on most of these. She'll be
pleased. :)
>The lists can't agree on Marissa's last name - they jump between
>"Faireborn" and "Fairborne." How does Flint spell it, again?
"Faireborn" is the spelling on Flint's bio card.
>While the script for "The Killing Jar" merely identifies Marissa's
>father as "Civilian," the Cast List notes that he is, indeed, a "60
>year old Flint."
Hee hee.
>"Snake" from "Only Human," has a little paragraph about himself, and
>it goes like this:
>
>"A BUM in a ragged suit, floppy hat and torn gloves -- and COBRA
>COMMANDER'S METAL MASK! We can see through his torn gloves that
><underlined> the skin of his fingers resembles that of a real snake!
></underlined> In fact, he <underlined> is </underlined> Cobra
>Commander, 20 years later, after his presumed death and the fall of
>Cobra."
Wow, somebody really *was* just excited about this concept, weren't they? (I
wonder if the episode writers were aware of the plot for G.I. Joe: the Movie
when this episode was written?)
>According to the entry on "Call of the Primitives," Slugfest and
>Overkill were originally named "Crunchback" and "Gouge." Doesn't say
>which is which. It also lists Skylynx as "Sklynx/Dinoblast." None of
>the other episodes list him like this.
How completely bizarre. (Well, I guess it's not all *that* strange. There are
*lots* of toys that are originally solicited under names that eventually get
rejected. We're a lot more privy to this sort of information now than we used
to be, back in the days of G1, though, so it *is* strange to learn of alternate
names for G1 characters so many years down the road.)
Gouge is actually a really good name for Overkill, suggesting that he does some
really violent things with that horn on his head. Crunchback makes Slugfest
sound like a football player or something. (It's probably a more appropriate
name, given that Slugfest can't very well get into slugfests if he doesn't have
any fists to swing.)
>An interesting note on Primacron's Assitant, here given the name, "The
>Oracle."
This name actually popped up on a model sheet for the character I happened to
come across a while ago. I wonder why it wasn't used in the final episode?
Needless to say, this is fascinating stuff. Thanks very much for sharing, and
as always, please do keep it coming. :)
--
Zobovor
I use sarcasm and exaggeration of the facts for comic effect. My opinions do
not conform to reality. By replying to my posts, you agree to these
conditions.
http://members.aol.com/zobovor/
To e-mail me, chop that Mini-Con in half.
SteveD
three electrons together and said:
>Gouge is actually a really good name for Overkill, suggesting that he does some
>really violent things with that horn on his head. Crunchback makes Slugfest
>sound like a football player or something. (It's probably a more appropriate
>name, given that Slugfest can't very well get into slugfests if he doesn't have
>any fists to swing.)
I always associated it with bullets, in the same vein as Slugslinger.
However, I'm not entirely sure if Slugfest's vibrocannons were supposed
to shoot actual discrete projectiles. In this case, "Slugfest" (a whole
lotta bullets) matches the warzone-name feel of Overkill, whom he was
packaged with.
Perhaps Crunchback was a variation on "hunchback", which kinds of suits
a stegosaurian. It also draws attention to his chainsaw-plates, which
"Slugfest" doesn't, being more of a personality reference.
As a tangential point - are personality-based names (Jazz, Frenzy)
"better" than names based mostly on physical appearance (Hoist, Hook,
Cheetor)?
-SteveD
--
"Driver only carries $20 in Prowls." - Zob
David Minter
>>"Snake" from "Only Human," has a little paragraph about himself, and
>>it goes like this:
>>
>>"A BUM in a ragged suit, floppy hat and torn gloves -- and COBRA
>>COMMANDER'S METAL MASK! We can see through his torn gloves that
>><underlined> the skin of his fingers resembles that of a real snake!
>></underlined> In fact, he <underlined> is </underlined> Cobra
>>Commander, 20 years later, after his presumed death and the fall of
>>Cobra."
>
>Wow, somebody really *was* just excited about this concept, weren't they? (I
>wonder if the episode writers were aware of the plot for G.I. Joe: the Movie
>when this episode was written?)
Probably just coincidence. As a child watching the G.I. Joe
M.A.S.S. Device mini-series and hearing the way CC's voice was done,
the uncreative side of my mind :) which thought things were cool when
they weren't wondered if CC really was some kind of anthropomorphic
snake beneath the mask... and then went to write the story about it.
This was about 3 years before the movie came out, with an entirely
different reason why he was a snake. So, the Only Human writers
probably just had the idea he was always some kind of humanoid snake
underneath, and the movie's snake transformation just fit well with
it. Besides, at the time OH would have been written, wasn't the movie
a vastly different entity along the lines of The Most Dangerous Man
Alive? Because it was supposed to come before the TF movie's release?