« Transformers Animated ep 19 » « Transformers Animated (Japan) ep 18 »
Starscream refused to invoke his right to remain silent, so the Autobots decided to enforce it.
"Mission Accomplished"
Season	2
No. in season	3
Production company	Cartoon Network Studios
Airdate	April 26, 2008 (Canada) May 3, 2008 (USA)
Written by	Marsha Griffin
Directed by	Irineo Maramba Yoshio Chatani
Animation studio	Mook
Continuity	Animated cartoon continuity
Watch this episode on YouTube

Convinced there are no Decepticons left on Earth, the Elite Guard prepares to take Optimus Prime and his crew back to Cybertron, unaware of the increasing Decepticon activity taking place under their very noses.

Synopsis

The Autobot Ironhide sends a message to the Earth-based Autobots, revealing he is under attack from Decepticons and has already lost one space bridge. He requests backup, but the transmission is cut off. Ultra Magnus explains this is but one of many reports of rising Decepticon activity. Jazz thinks it is due to the rumours of Megatron's survival, and Sentinel can't resist an opportunity to make a snide comment about the source of those rumours: Optimus Prime. Magnus therefore decides that all Earth-bound Autobots will make preparations to leave the planet. When Optimus protests due to the presence of Decepticons on Earth, Ultra Magnus brushes him off, whilst Sentinel butts in with another tirade about putting Prime up for an inquiry (or a court-martial, as Optimus perceives it). Ultra Magnus tries to make his position clear; that in the long run, everyone is better off believing Megatron is dead. Putting forward the idea of the Decepticon leader surviving and the AllSpark being destroyed would cause panic among the Autobots and strengthen the resolve of the Decepticons. An outraged Optimus is forced into compliance.

Back at the factory, Sari is heartbroken by the idea of her friends being forced to leave Earth. The situation is made worse when Sentinel shows up. With his usual grace and tact, he tells Sari to belt up and officially inducts Optimus's team into the war effort. In the middle of insulting the "repair grunts", he makes a gesture of sorts to Optimus: Do as Ultra Magnus says, admit he's been lying, and Sentinel will use his connections to get Optimus's military career back on track, as thanks for the recent Headmaster incident. When Optimus tells him what to do with his offer, Sentinel places him under formal arrest.

Go to your happy place, Screamer.

On a garbage scow moving along the river, Starscream suddenly reactivates. Disorientated, he panics when he realises that not only can he not pick up any other Decepticon energy signatures, he can't even pick up his own! After a moment of shock, he recovers and gets his bearings: he's alive and still on Earth. Furious at Megatron's attempt on his life, he transforms and blasts off into the sky.

At the Decepticon base, Blitzwing and Lugnut successfully test out Professor Sumdac's new Decepticon signal dampener. Mildly impressed, Megatron quickly moves on, demanding the creation of a subspace communicator so he can contact his forces in space to cease their aimless attacks in favor of a coordinated assault. When Sumdac comments that Earth technology is too primitive to create a tachyon transmitter, Megatron smugly informs him that they will simply steal the required tech from the Elite Guard's ship. Meanwhile, the Autobots are trying to figure out what to do with Sari, so they take her to the most together human they know, Captain Fanzone—although they do point out that most of the humans they know are criminally insane, such as Meltdown and Nanosec.

It's not what it looks like.

While they handle that, Optimus is on the Elite Guard's ship, with Sentinel still trying to convince him to play ball. Optimus refuses to lie, while Sentinel says that confirming there are no Decepticons on Earth would merely confirm what their sensors are saying. While they argue, Lugnut and Blitzwing tunnel under the ship's shield and steal a tachyon transmitter. As they make their escape, they fail to notice Starscream tailing them back to base.

And so begins the greatest Transformers montage of all time.

As Lugnut presents his prize to Megatron, Starscream makes his presence known. What follows is a quick but decisive victory for Megatron, who simply slashes Starscream before blasting him point-blank. Lugnut checks to see if Starscream is still online, and finding no spark, helps Blitzwing toss his corpse into the river. After floating downstream, Starscream suddenly reactivates again. He realizes he lacks a spark and discovers he is being kept alive by a fragment of the AllSpark buried in his head, effectively making him immortal. Delighted, he declares the end of Megatron's era. As Megatron sends his message out to the Decepticons, Starscream attacks...and is promptly killed again. After a couple more fruitless attempts, he starts to wonder if he needs a new strategy. His fragment allows him to locate a second shard, and a plan begins to formulate...

Sentinel Prime: Totally owned. Again.

At the Elite Guard ship, Magnus presses Optimus Prime to cooperate, when Jazz reveals that he's discovered a sudden surge in AllSpark energy. Concluding that it's another shard, Magnus and Jazz go to retrieve it, while Sentinel is to remain and watch Optimus. As Sentinel moans, Optimus realizes that they had only found AllSpark shards before due to Sari's key. Doing a thermal scan, he discovers Starscream. Optimus tries to warn Ultra Magnus, but Sentinel threatens to put him in stasis cuffs if he tries to leave. Optimus is able to take down Sentinel and place him in the cuffs, then rolls out.

Meanwhile, Optimus' crew are watching Sari "interview" Captain Fanzone, who is not very fond of children, when Optimus contacts them and tells his team to meet him en route to the train.

As Starscream gloats about his plan to draw out Megatron and kill him in a massive explosion, Ultra Magnus and Jazz arrive, as do Megatron and Blitzwing. Megatron realizes that it's a trap set by Starscream, while Magnus and Jazz have trouble extracting the shard. An energy surge throws the Elite Guard off the train. Further ahead along the tracks, Optimus orders Prowl to sever the passenger cars from the main car, while Bumblebee takes Sari to use her key to remove the shard. They succeed, but the train still nearly crashes, only stopped because Ratchet uses his magnets from ahead while Bulkhead, anchored by Optimus Prime, grabs the rear of the train. High in the air, as Starscream fumes about the lost opportunity, Megatron appears, ready to beat him senseless.

On the ground, Ultra Magnus reprimands Optimus Prime, while Sentinel Prime arrives and accuses him of assault. Though Optimus defends his position, both Elite Guardsmen point out that there is no evidence of Decepticons—only for Starscream to crash into the ground mere meters away, causing Sentinel Prime to freak out at the sight of an actual Decepticon. Quickly coming back online, Starscream takes advantage of Magnus's momentary inattention to blast the Autobot leader into unconsciousness from point-blank range, taking the shard with him. The Autobots' attempts to take down Starscream fail, until Optimus comes up with a plan—although an intervention from Jazz is required to make Sentinel go along with it. Having Sentinel draw Starscream's attention, Optimus uses the stasis cuffs on the Decepticon, who is then taken to the Elite Guard ship—with his mouth riveted shut.

Ultra Magnus admits that Optimus Prime was right about there being Decepticons on Earth, and though Sentinel Prime brings up the assault and insubordination charges, Magnus still supports Optimus's actions. Magnus decides that Optimus Prime's crew will remain on Earth to locate the remaining AllSpark shards and capture the Decepticons, while the Elite Guard returns to Cybertron for Magnus to conduct the war effort. Sari is overjoyed that the Autobots are staying, but promises Captain Fanzone that they can still hang out.

Meanwhile, Megatron tells his minions to inform their double agent on Cybertron that the Decepticons have repledged their allegiance to him and are proceeding with their leader's plan to make coordinated strikes on the edge of the galaxy so as to draw the Autobots away from Cybertron. Once the space bridge technology is fully developed, Megatron's group will return to the defenseless Cybertron and conquer the planet from within...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"You dare strike ME, Megatron? After all my loyal stellar cycles of—wh-wu-wait, where is everybody? How did I get here? I'm not picking up any Decepticon energy signatures... not even my own. I'm too young to be offline!"

—On coming back from the dead, Starscream's speech-making tendencies outweigh his observational skills.

Starscream: Ahhh. If it isn't my old pal Megatron. And by old pal, I mean the piece of scum who tried to incinerate me into oblivion!
Megatron: Starscream... you're alive.
Starscream: What's the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost. Well, maybe you have!
[Starscream opens fire on Megatron, who simply picks up his sword and strikes Starscream with it]
Megatron: Is that the best you can do, Starscream? And to think you actually believed you could take over as leader of the Decepticons. You couldn't lead a parade.

—Starscream and Megatron get reacquainted again.

Thumbs up, soldier!

Fanzone: Why me?
Bumblebee: You're tops on the list of all the humans we know personally.
Bulkhead: Although, it is kind of a short list.
Prowl: And it does include Prometheus Black and Nanosec.
Bumblebee: But still, you're number one!

—The Autobots try to get Captain Fanzone to adopt Sari. They need to work on their sales pitch.

"Fellow Decepticons, take heed. Your leader, Megatron, still lives! Though we remain dispersed throughout the far reaches of the galaxy, exiled from our true home, we are all still Decepticons, united by a common purpose. The time has come for us to put aside our differences and act as one under my undisputed leadership. Only then can we cast off the shackles of Autobot oppression. Working together, we can raise up our glorious empire once more and crush all who stand in our way!"

—Megatron has a good speechwriter

"When are you going to get it through your thick processor? There are no Decepticons on this planet! So keep your audio unit shut or I'll do it for you." [brandishes stasis cuffs]
[beat] "I'd like to see you try, you worthless crankshaft!"
"THAT'S IT!" [ten seconds later] "You put me in stasis lock?!"

—Sentinel Prime, owned by Optimus Prime yet again.

"This day couldn't possibly get any worse!" [Megatron appears in front of him] "I stand corrected."
"STARSCREEEEEEAM!!!!!"
"Sorry, you must have me confused with some other harrier jet."

—Starscream and Megatron. We don't think he bought it, Screamer.

Sentinel: Optimus Prime, you are under arrest for assaulting an Elite Guard officer. Add that to the other charges against you, and you can kiss your career goodbye. Do you have anything to say for yourself?
Optimus: ...Incoming!
[Starscream crashes from high altitude into the ground.]
Sentinel: WHAT IS THAT THING?!
Optimus: Oh, that's right, you've never seen one up close. It's called...a Decepticon.

—Starscream crashes to Earth, freaks out Sentinel Prime, and gives Optimus Prime the proof he needs.

"Yeesh, Optimus, think you could have drawn that one out any longer?"
"You're welcome, Sentinel."

—Sentinel Prime and Optimus Prime, same old song and dance.

Notes

• This episode was first broadcast in Canada on April 26, one week before its United States premiere, and during the American premiere of the episode "The Return of the Headmaster".

Transformers references

• Much like his Generation 1 counterpart, Starscream is now immortal, only this time they actually explain why and leave him with a body.

Real-world references

• The episode's title refers to George W. Bush's infamous 2003 address during the invasion of Iraq, in which a banner reading "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" hung prominently behind the President.
• Starscream refers to his disguise as a Harrier Jet. Pity his model won't turn up for another hundred years or so.
• When Bumblebee and Sari jump onto the train, the bionic sound effect from The Six Million Dollar Man plays while they are in mid-air.

Animation or technical errors

• When Optimus stops Bumblebee from going after Sari when she learns they're leaving Earth, his crotch is missing all detail.
• When Starscream drops into Megatron's mountain base for the first time, the "glow" effect on his jet exhaust is misaligned for several seconds until he 'catches up' to it.
• Just before Prime activates the thermal scan of the cloud bank supposedly concealing Starscream, Starscream is already plainly visible on the viewscreen. If Starscream wasn't meant to be concealed, then it's a continuity error, as Prime wouldn't need a thermal scan to detect him, just a magnified visual, unless Starscream has a different heat signature than normal Harrier Jets.
• When Megatron comments on the success of Isaac Sumdac's Decepticon signal dampener, Blitzwing's wings disppear. This error is repeated in "A Fistful of Energon".
• When the screen scrolls to the side after Isaac Sumdac starts working on Megatron's body, Megatron's head is clearly too big for the body, and it's farther away.

Continuity errors

• Megatron shatters Starscream's yellow cockpit the first and fourth times he "kills" him in the episode, leaving his empty spark chamber visible. When Starscream pulls a Captain Jack, it is still missing. After he sees his reflection in the water the first time, and simply when they cut to a different angle on the fourth time, it is suddenly present and intact once more. (It's possible that's because of the miraculous powers of the AllSpark shard; if it can keep Starscream online, it surely can regenerate any damage he has taken.)
• The AllSpark shard Starscream recovers changes size constantly, from barely fitting into Starscream's hand, to small enough to fit into Optimus's palm with his hand closed.
• How did Sentinel get the stasis cuffs off?
• Captain Fanzone's wife is mentioned in "Total Meltdown", but she's neither seen nor mentioned here. A possible divorce, perhaps?
• When Optimus Prime puts the newly acquired fragment of the AllSpark into its housing, there are four shards total, even though only two have been recovered by the Autobots on-screen by this episode. It is possible that they located the additional fragments off-screen, as Optimus notes that, in the past, Sari's key had been the primary tool used to locate fragments of the AllSpark. Since this has only been done once before, it can be assumed they used the same technique to find those fragments.
• As Lugnut and Blitzwing tunnel under the force shield to the Elite Guard's ship, they leave a gigantic hole, which no one notices. And later on, the hole has mysteriously disappeared.
• When the Autobots stop the train, Sari is somehow not hurled forward off its roof by her own momentum, even though she is not restrained in any fashion.

Trivia

• Along with machines and lawyers, it seems Captain Fanzone doesn't like kids.
• It's not clear from the episode itself how Starscream ended up in the garbage scow, but according to The AllSpark Almanac the other Decepticons threw him in there.
• In the first interior shot of the Decepticons' hideout, we see the markings on the top of their computer station resemble the upper half of the Decepticon sigil, complete with glowing eyes.
• In his speech, Megatron goes on about how the Decepticons are united by a common purpose and need to put aside their differences, yet Megatron himself is beating the slag out of a fellow Decepticon for the duration of the speech. How ironic.
• Starscream is not just beaten up, but killed by Megatron five times in a single episode. Definitely a new record.
  • Yet any of the Decepticons don't seem to be interested about taking time to actually try to figure out just how Starscream keeps coming back even after seemingly extinguishing his spark or why his body doesn't turn grey like what's already been established to happen to a Transformer's corpse in this continuity, instead they just keep throwing his husk in the river over and over again.
• The Elite Guard does not come off very well in this episode: Ultra Magnus and Jazz fail to notice a large hole the size of a B2 bomber when leaving their ship, a tachyon transmitter gets ripped off their ship without them even noticing, Sentinel Prime freaks out at the mere sight of a Decepticon, and Ultra Magnus gets defeated by Starscream after only one shot. (To be fair, it was at point-blank range, right in the face.)
• Megatron mentions having a double agent on Cybertron. Who could it be?
• With this episode, all five of the Autobots from the live-action movie have appeared in Transformers: Animated.
• When Sentinel is trying to bribe Optimus, he says he could get Optimus re-instated in the Elite Guard, yet in the flashback in "Endgame, Part I", Optimus would be expelled from the Autobot Academy, and rendered permanently ineligible from joining the Elite Guard in the first place.
• Optimus Prime's crew has already proven to be smaller and less powerful than the Decepticons yet these Autobots are all that the great Autobot Supreme Commander could think of to leave behind on Earth to fight and capture the really powerful MEGATRON!? Sure, he left some stasis cuffs, but it's still a gross overestimation of their abilities. That plan is worse than movie Optimus Prime's.

Foreign localization

French

• Title: "Mission accomplie" ("Mission Accomplished")
• Original airdate: ???

German

• Title: "Mission erfüllt" ("Mission Fulfilled")
• Original airdate: 17 July 2008

Italian

• Title: "Missione Compiuta" ("Mission Complete")
• Original airdate: 31 January 2009

Spanish (Latin America)

• Title: "Misión Cumplida" ("Mission Accomplished")
• Original airdate: 27 September 2008

Japanese

• Title: "Bakuchin Kanryō!" (爆鎮完了!, "Blast-Extinguishing Complete!")^[1]
• Original airdate: 31 July 2010

• New stock footage of Prowl transforming has him delivering the "watch TV in a bright room" message, while Jazz does the intro.
• The scene where Sentinel tells Optimus to "Stand down" and having a temporarily feud with him and Jazz talking down both Primes are cut.
• In this Otoboto family segment, Hiroyuki and Tatsuya are demonstrating gameplay of Transformers Animated: The Chase and Transformers Animated: The Shooting. ...all to see who gets to eat a taiyaki.

Polish

• Title: "Misja wykonana" ("Mission Accomplished")
• Original airdate: ???

Portuguese

• Title: "Missão Cumprida" ("Mission Accomplished")
• Original airdate: ???

Home video releases

DVD

2009 — Transformers Animated — Season Two (Paramount) — English and Spanish audio.
2009 — Transformers Animated — Volume Four: Mission Accomplished (Paramount) — English and German audio.
2009 — Transformers Animated — Volume Four: Mission Accomplished (Paramount) — English and German audio.
2009 — Transformers Animated — Volume Vier: Mission Erfüllt (Paramount) — English and German audio.
2010 — Transformers Animated — Vol. 5 (Paramount) — Japanese audio only.
2014 — Transformers Animated — Season Two (Madman Entertainment)
2014 — Transformers Animated — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)

References