- Written by Flint Dille
- Directed by Andy Kim and Ray Lee
- September 15, 1986 to September 19, 1986
- Syndication
Episode Voice Cast
- Narrator-Victor Caroli
- Silverbolt, Guardian Prime-Charlie Adler
- Ultra Magnus, Astrotrain, Ramjet, Sentinel Prime, Quintesson Judge #3, Sweep-Jack Angel
- Carly Witwicky-Arlene Banas
- Scrapper, Primon-Michael Bell
- Grimlock, Long Haul-Gregg Berger
- Arcee, Marissa Fairborne, Woman-Susan Blu
- Spike Witwicky, Prime Nova-Corey Burton
- Cyclonus, Motormaster, Quintesson Judge #2, Unicron-Roger C. Carmel
- Dead End, Tantrum, Zeta Prime, Abdul Fakkadi-Philip L. Clarke
- Menasor, Quintesson Judge #1, Judge Deliberata, Sharkticon-Regis Cordic
- Optimus Prime-Peter Cullen
- Metroplex, Predaking, Dirge-Bud Davis
- Perceptor-Paul Eiding
- Drag Strip-Ron Gans
- Trypticon-Brad Garrett
- Rodimus Prime, Sweep-Dick Gautier
- Blitzwing, Trooper Sullivan, Man-Ed Gilbert
- Swindle, Vortex-Johnny Haymer
- Blast Off-Milton James
- Blaster-Buster Jones
- Sky Lynx-Aron Kincaid
- Razorclaw-Joe Leahy
- Fireflight-Jeff MacKay
- Daniel Witwicky-David Mendenhall
- Blurr-John Moschitta Jr.
- Warpath, Breakdown-Alan Oppenheimer
- Slingshot-Rob Paulsen
- Wreck-Gar-Tony Pope
- Pipes, Skuxxoid, Sweep-Hal Rayle
- Springer, Bonecrusher, Announcer-Neil Ross
- Tailgate-Ted Schwartz
- Kup, Outpost Officer-John Stephenson
- Galvatron, Wheelie, Soundwave, Laserbeak, Rumble, Mixmaster, Sharkticon, Sweep, Computer-Frank Welker
A mysterious attack reveals a new enemy that is a threat from the distant past to all Transformers.
Five Faces of Darkness is a direct sequel to The Transformers: The Movie. It begins with the Autobots firmly in control of Cybertron and playing peacemaker to the galaxy as exemplified by them holding an interstellar Olympics that serves as the first point of contact between the Autobots and a new threat. The problem being any kid that saw the movie realized who the villains were that they repeatedly showed in well-defined silhouettes. They tried for mystery but fell flat.
The Transformers: The Movie wiped the board of all discontinued toys. This season opener shook things up a bit more by introducing a new threat-the Quintessons. Though seen previously in the movie, this basically explained their hostility towards machines as them being the creators of both Autobots and Decepticons. I remember 11-year-old me being quite shocked by this.
We also got the bare minimum of a Megatron origin by showing his creation at the hands of what looked like the Constructicons. Some have argued that messed with the continuity since it was previously stated the Constructicons were corrupted by Megatron. I argue that since these were descendants of mass-produced robots, the robots we see in the flashback were no different than that Rodimus look alike we get in the very same flashback. Similar design but not the same characters.
Often characters just showed up in the series as if they were always there. “Those guys the viewers never saw but we did.” Such was the case with Blitzwing. Aside from the tidbit about Megatron, we get in a moment the indication that Blitzwing is old enough to have some vague impression of the Quintessons making him older than Kup.
Something felt goofier about this. You could even use the word ‘juvenile’. This is a world built around transforming robots who have a history that goes back before that of the human race but it just felt simplistic. Not unwatchably simplistic, but not as good as what came before. What it did well was introduce multiple ongoing dynamics as well as a few new characters. The Predacons’ rivalry with Sky Lynx was featured prominently here as if it had been a long-term thing. Galvatron’s general instability was overtly used.
Marissa Fairborne was probably the weakest of the new characters. An original creation for the series much like Spike and so many other humans. She was just so stiff and rather generic but it was clear we were going to be seeing her more often. Carly, who did little in her few seconds here, was much better done when introduced in Season Two.
Something new to the series was at the minimum romantic tension between Springer and Arcee though that was apparent in the film where both were introduced. I say they were a couple by kept it (poorly) on the DL. Why? No idea.
I have seen the question asked (and it was a serious debate in school) on if the Decepticons (or even Autobots) knew Galvatron and Megatron were one in the same. Starscream got it in the movie before he was killed but beyond that there was some real question. A casual line indicates at least the Decepticons knew this. I am guessing a regular mention of this was prohibited since these were really just toy commercials and they were pushing the new line.
After being transformed by the Matrix all we saw Rodimus do was toss Galvatron through the side of Unicron. By being chosen he was the default Autobot leader, but we never saw his style until here. And it came off a bit as disinterested. Admittedly, they couldn’t do Optimus Prime 2.0, but they did something almost a polar opposite. We went from space dad who took charge to a character whose attitude was ‘whatever’.
The foundation of this plot is that the Quintessons have decided to take this moment to reclaim Cybertron. The attack on the space Olympics is to get subjects to study. They have noted a change in the Autobots-and being that they use data to determine their next course of action-they must understand how they have changed. An interesting idea used before and since though I have no idea what that change was. They claim it is self-sacrifice but that has always been present in the Autobots. We even see it in the Matrix flashbacks!
Until this viewing, I did not realize they inserted a joke that you probably couldn’t do today unless you were Achmed the Dead Terrorist. After the opening attack the Autobots are tracking down some Decepticons and find them being hidden in a Middle Eastern nation called Carbomya. Sound it out. Never even registered until I watched it for this discussion.
The story felt like it moved a little slower than some other The Transformers episodes. There was certainly enough to make this five episodes or more but very little was actually used. Maybe it was pacing issues created by the poor animation. The animation for not only this episode but for the whole season is infamously bad though the series was never very high end. Proportions are inconsistent. Movement is stiff. Even by the questionable standards of the 60s and 70s this was very rough.
Five Faces of Darkness packs in an origin story, new alliances, and new characters in a season premiere that while slow was not too bad. I would love to see an edited version that trimmed some of the fat and maybe used AI to smooth out the rough spots. Anywho, G1 fans will enjoy.
Warren Watched A Movie 