One of the best episodes of Transformers parodies the classic zombie movie

Zombie robots? It could happen, and it often did in Transformers: Prime.

Because Transformers has been remade so many times over the past 40 years, new cartoons will sometimes use a central trick to stand out from the crowd. Animal Wars featured robots that turned into animals instead of vehicles. The 2003 anime series Transformers: Armada capitalized on the Pokemon craze and pitted the Autobots and Decepticons against each other over “Mini-Cons,” human-sized Transformers who could unlock great powers in bigger ones. “Transformers: Earthspark,” currently streaming, introduced a new group of characters called “Terrans,” who are Transformers created on Earth instead of the metal planet Cybertron.

Dark Energon was the gimmick for the 2010-2013 cartoon “Transformers: Prime”. “Energon” is the primary source of fuel for the Transformers and literally the lifeblood of their creator, Primus. Dark Energon (which glows sickly purple instead of crystal blue) is the blood of Primus’ shadow self, Unicron. Since Unicron can’t create life, only pervert it, Dark Energon can reanimate dead Transformers as wild monsters called “Terracons”—zombie robots again.

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Transformers: Prime kicked off with the five-part miniseries Darkness Rising, in which Megatron attempts to use Dark Energon to create an army of Terracons. To control them, Megatron imbues himself with a shard of matter, making him extremely powerful, but also (even more) messy. This storyline culminates in the Season 1 finale, “One Shall Rise,” where the Autobots and Decepticons must team up to stop Unicron from resurrecting himself.

Dark Energon continues to appear throughout the next two seasons of Transformers: Prime. In Flying Mind, he brings a Decepticon warship to life. In “Alpha/Omega”, Megatron forges a super-powerful sword (“Dark Starsaber”) from Dark Energon. Then in “Thirst”, Starscream and the Decepticon medic Knockout accidentally started the Terrorcon plague.

“Thirst” terracons are closer to vampires, even with nested lips a la vampire Reaper from “Blade II”. However, the basic setup is the 1985 zombie horror comedy Return of the Living Dead.

Since Transformers: Prime already relies on zombies, a tribute episode was inevitable. Since Darkness Rising was already playing the undead for horror, this tribute was chosen instead a shot from a famous comedy about zombies.

In Return of the Living Dead, the events of Night of the Living Dead kind of really happened. A military chemical called Trioxin spilled out and created zombies, but the plague was stopped. George Romero then took the idea of ​​resurrecting the dead to make a hit (changing the details to avoid a lawsuit) while triaxin was accidentally sent to a drug warehouse. One day, warehouse foreman Frank (James Curren) reveals trioxin to new boyfriend Freddy (Tom Matthews), only for them to release him and start a zombie plague.

Their attempts to contain the outbreak fail at every turn. To stab a zombie in the brain, which is what the movies tell about should make the undead just dead? Not working. (“You mean the movie lied?”) Throwing zombies into a crematorium? He contaminates the acid rain outside with trioxin, causing an outbreak to spread to a nearby cemetery.

Several sources, including Transformers wiki.previously noted how Thirst pays homage to Return of the Living Dead. It’s a sign that Terrorcons can’t be killed by typical zombie headshots either. Knockout apparently learns the same lesson as Freddy after watching horror movies at drive-in theaters: sometimes movies lie. As in The Return, Starscream and Knock Out refrain from alerting the proper authorities (in this case Megatron) until the situation is already out of control. Because when your The boss was a thirty-foot shark-faced robot with a huge gun in his right hand, you do you want him to know that you are so screwed?

Despite the funny romp, “Thirst” cannot and should not be watched separately. This is one of the final episodes of Transformers: Prime (episode 60 of 65), and in the latter is relatively self-contained before the final story arc begins. Even a few run-of-the-mill offers of exposition (like Knock Out to teach new viewers Dark Energon) fail to have the full impact.

Many subplots converge in “Thirst”. For example, in the season 1 episode “Stronger, Faster”, the Autobot medic Ratchet perfected a synthetic green form of Energon that functioned as a steroid. (Ratchet, voiced by Jeffrey Combs from “Re-Animator” playing with green liquid? (Someone on the Transformers: Prime writing team was a horror fan.)

Knock Out got their hands on Synthetic Energon at the end of Stronger, Faster, and it finally paid off here; the combination of “Synth-En” and Dark Energon is what creates the flash. However, The Thirst also shows the consequences of television’s continued operation beyond simply an increasing barrier to entry. Up to this point, the writers knew Starscream and Knock Out were the MVPs of the show, especially as a couple, so Thirst takes full advantage of that. Steve Blum’s range as Starscream was undeniable, turning him from scary to goofy on a dime and taking his voice up or down an octave. Darran Norris’ smooth and dashing performance as the possessed Knockout is what made the Decepticon doctor the show’s most popular character. (Knockout? More like breakthrough.)

Both Kons are cowardly, selfish, and hilarious, so watching them (fail) to deal with a disaster of their own making makes The Thirst one of the must-watch Transformers episodes.