Pacific Overtures
| |||||||||
| |||||||||
| "Pacific Overtures" | |||||||||
| Production code | 0142-8536 | ||||||||
| Production company | Hanna-Barbera | ||||||||
| Airdate | November 18, 1985 | ||||||||
| Written by | Kelly Ward, Jeff Segal, and Jina Bacarr | ||||||||
| Animation studio | Wang Film Productions | ||||||||
Peace in our time? Not if Turbo has anything to say about it!
Synopsis[edit | edit source]
Leader-1, Wrong Way, Turbo and Scooter find a secret Renegade base on Earth, guarded by Tank, Geeper-Creeper, Screw Head and BuggyMan. However the Renegades disappear mid-battle; above Cy-Kill and Crasher are observing the action - the disappearances are due to their new personal stealth devices. However, Cy-Kill then flies down and raises a white flag to Crasher's disgust and confusion, telling Leader-1 he wants to open peace talks. The Guardians suspect a trick but Cy-Kill is insistent, even preventing Crasher from shooting anyone. While wary, Leader-1 agrees to a peace conference with Cy-Kill. Turbo reacts furiously while Scooter continues work on a new stealth decoder. A preliminary conference is agreed, with Leader-1 guaranteeing the Renegades' safety while in GoBotolis. However, he orders the unhappy Turbo to stay away from the meeting. Hans-Cuff and Night Ranger patrol GoBotolis along with Crasher and Cop-Tur ahead of the talks but a suspicious Turbo sneaks past to get to the bottom of things. At the talks Cy-Kill agrees that Earth should be involved in the conference proper and agrees to release Guardian prisoners as an act of goodwill. Meanwhile Turbo is found and pursued by Scales; Hans-Cuff detects the intruders and is ordered to destroy them. Night Ranger then prepares to opens fire on Turbo.
Hans-Cuff realises who the intruder is but a furious Cy-Kill orders him destroyed, only for Leader-1 to spot Scales. Cy-Kill relents when Leader-1 suggests Scales would have to face the same penalty as Turbo, and the Renegade leader specifies the recalcitrant Guardian prove himself by taking part in the prisoner handover. The full conference is to take place in Vienna, with General Newcastle sending Matt, Nick and A.J. to help preparations. The UNECOM personnel concur with Turbo and Scooter that Cy-Kill is up to something. Leader-1 agrees it's possible but feels the chance of peace is worth the gamble; cross with Turbo's attitude he assigns Scooter to join him on the prisoner pick-up. Scooter for his part continues work on his stealth decoder, and when Cy-Kill hands the prisoners over it shows Tank, Geeper-Creeper and Screw Head are at the handover as well - but immediately burns out. Cy-Kill orders a stop to the fighting, planning to tell Leader-1 of Turbo's actions. Back at the Command Center Leader-1 castigates Turbo and Scooter, believing Cy-Kill was justified, and sends the pair to help set up the peace conference. Thruster arrives in Austria, with Crasher spotting Turbo, Scooter, Matt, Nick and A.J. crossing the Alps and causing an avalanche.
A furious Cy-Kill orders Cop-Tur and Crasher to rescue the group from the avalanche, saving them. They carry on to the conference, where Nick mucks around on a throne and inadvertently activates an ancient secret door, which Turbo follows with Matt, Nick and A.J. - only for the door to shut and trap them. Leader-1, Professor Von Joy and Newcastle arrive in the Command Center and are furious that Scooter's lost contact with Turbo. Meanwhile through peepholes out of the chamber Turbo and the humans spot Cy-Kill, Crasher, Cop-Tur and Dr. Go - who hands out personal stealth devices to his fellow Renegades and finally reveals his plan to use the conference to assassinate Leader-1 and Newcastle. With Matt and the kids backing him up Turbo is finally able to get Leader-1 to listen. The conference seemingly goes ahead and Cy-Kill signs a peace treaty, only to immediately destroy it and reveal his true plans before he, Crasher and Cop-Tur activate their stealth devices. The Guardians attempt to battle them but are unable to see the Renegades; Crasher soon takes Path Finder out and throws a chair at Leader-1 but then Scooter activates his repaired detector - revealing Screw Head, Tank, Scorp and Geeper-Creeper are present. His ruse foiled, Cy-Kill orders a retreat - but not before blasting the stealth decoder. Leader-1 apologises to Turbo for doubting him and proclaims his team-mates to be heroes, and that together they will defeat the Renegades - something Crasher believes to be unlikely.
Featured characters[edit | edit source]
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Guardians | Renegades | Humans |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Quotes[edit | edit source]
"I don't believe my optical receptors! Cy-Kill's giving up!"
- —Scooter hasn't been paying attention.
Notes[edit | edit source]
Continuity notes[edit | edit source]
- Cy-Kill mentions the Last Engineer in passing - one of the few times the character is mentioned in an episode he doesn't feature in.
- Turbo and Scooter cough from the fumes of Thruster landing.
- Gadgets and Powers:
- Cy-Kill carries a white flag with him and later uses a gigantic pen.
- Scooter's finished decoder clips onto the grey 'belt' on his chest.
Continuity errors[edit | edit source]
- Turbo was standing right next to Leader-1 when he agreed to consider Cy-Kill's peace proposal. But in the next scene he reacts as if he's hearing the news for the first time.
- Why do the Renegades sneak Scales of all Renegades into the GoBotolis talks? Why do they even bring anyone, seeing as they're not actually planning to do anything underhanded until the talks proper in Vienna?
- Similarly, why does Cy-Kill bother taking the three cloaked Renegades to the prisoner handover? Again, he's still playing it straight at that point, so why risk showing his hand?
- He also has Dr. Go hand out stealth devices smack in the middle of the conference building rather than - say - at any other point beforehand.
- Leader-1 seems genuinely furious with Turbo after the prisoner debacle, so it makes little sense to assign him to the peace conference itself instead of leaving him out of the process entirely.
- It's hard to believe that in a hundred years no-one has sat on that throne and activated the secret door. Or that once Turbo and friends are 'trapped' inside the chamber none of them try the obvious button that appears next to the (ancient but seemingly electronic) door that conveniently appears after they've overheard the Renegades' scheming.
- Turbo acts as if Dr. Go being in Vienna is suspicious in itself but the Renegade scientist is shown at the conference performing an equivalent function to Professor Von Joy.
- Only Cy-Kill, Crasher and Cop-Tur are shown to escape to Thruster. Then Crasher just steps out from behind a pillar in the palace to chuckle at the heroes speech before disappearing.
- Most gallingly, why does Cy-Kill retreat anyway? His destruction of Scooter's decoder means the Renegades can just go invisible again and carry on shooting everyone!
Animation and technical errors[edit | edit source]
- Van Guard and Dozer appear out of nowhere standing behind Turbo and Scooter at the prisoner pick-up. If they were supposed to BE the two Guardian prisoners Cy-Kill released, they were completely unrecognizable when seen in the prison pods minutes earlier.
- There's no way Turbo could fit through the door that Nick found.
Real-world references[edit | edit source]
- The episode is named for a 1976 musical, about characters adapting to a changing world just as Turbo is here.
- Leader-1 quotes Neville Chamberlain's infamous "Peace in our time!" speech. This is not the only similarity between the two.
- Vienna is actually researched; the talks themselves take place at an unnamed Schönbrunn Palace, complete with its' distinctive front balcony and an accurate take on the buildings behind it - possibly as it had featured in films like The Great Race, meaning references were easily available. While the episode fudges the interiors a lot of the scale many of the palace's huge halls probably could accommodate a standing GoBot.
Trivia[edit | edit source]
- In true eighties cartoon plot device fashion the incredibly useful personal stealth devices will never be seen or mentioned again.
- The drama is exaggerated to give a hook for the end of the first act of course but Night Ranger seems very ready to shoot Turbo. Perhaps he's frustrated at Turbo getting past him moments earlier by loudly walking a few feet behind him...
- Professor Von Joy reads a book on the journey to Earth.
- The Peace Treaty is, adorably, about ten words long.
- This episode offers a rare sighting of Dr. Go in battle - Professor Von Joy meanwhile just runs off.
- While it's not really an error considering the premise it's very strange that Zeemon isn't in this episode.
Home video releases[edit | edit source]
- DVD
2015 — Challenge of the GoBots — The Series, Volume Two (Warner Archive Collection)
