One of the best Transformers series parodied zombie movie classics

Robot zombies? It could happen, and it often did in “Transformers: Prime.”

Because “Transformers” has been remade so many times over the past 40 years, the new cartoons will sometimes use a central gimmick to stand out from the crowd. “Beast Wars” featured robots that turned into animals instead of vehicles. The 2003 anime series “Transformers: Armada” cashed in on the “Pokémon” craze, pitting the Autobots and Decepticons against each other over “Mini-Cons,” human-sized Transformers that could unlock great powers in larger ones. “Transformers: Earthspark,” currently airing, introduces a new batch of characters called “Terrans,” which are Transformers created on Earth instead of the metal planet Cybertron.

2010-2013 for the 2010 cartoon “Transformers: Prime” the trick was Dark Energon. “Energon” is the main source of fuel for transformers and the lifeblood of their creator, Primus. Dark Energon (which glows a sickly purple instead of crystal blue) is Primus' shadow unicron blood. Since Unicron can't create life, only distort it, Dark Energon can reanimate dead Transformers into feral monsters called “terrorcons”—again, zombie robots.

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“Transformers: Prime” began with the five-part miniseries “Darkness Rising,” in which Megatron attempts to use Dark Energon to create an army of Terrorcon. In order to control them, Megatron imbues himself with particle matter, making him extremely powerful but also (even more) unstable. This storyline culminates in the season 1 finale, “One Shall Rise”, where the Autobots and Decepticons must work together to prevent Unicron from being resurrected.

Dark Energon continues to pop throughout the next two seasons of “Transformers: Prime.” In Flying Mind, it brings the Decepticons warship to life. In “Alpha/Omega”, Megatron forges a super-powered sword (“Dark Star Saber”) from Dark Energon. Then in “Thirst”, Starscream and Decepticon medic Knock Out accidentally summon a Terrorcon plague.

“Thirst” Terrorkons are closer to vampires, they even have nested mouths a la The Reaper vampires from “Blade II”. However, the basic setup is the 1985 zombie horror comedy Return of the Living Dead.

With “Transformers: Prime” already leaning towards zombies, a direct homage episode was inevitable. Since “Darkness Rising” already played undead for horror, this tribute chose pull from the famous zombie comedy.

In “Return of the Living Dead” the events of “Night of the Living Dead” actually took place. A military-developed chemical called Trioxin spilled and created zombies, but the plague was contained. George Romero then used the idea of ​​the resurrection of the dead to make a hit movie (changing the details to avoid a lawsuit), while Trioxin was accidentally sent to a medical supply warehouse. One day, warehouse foreman Frank (James Curran) shows Trioxin to the new guy Freddy (Tom Matthews) to release it and start a zombie plague.

Their attempts to contain the outbreak fail at every turn. The zombie stabbing in the brain that the movies tell us about should make undead just dead? Not working. (“You mean the movie lied?!”) Dump a zombie in a crematorium? It contaminates the acid rain storm outside with Trioxin, causing an outbreak that spreads to a nearby cemetery.

Several sources including Transformers Wikihave previously noted how “Thirst” pays homage to “Return of the Living Dead.” The telltale sign is that terrorists can't be killed with typical zombie killing shots either. Knock Out, apparently having watched horror movies in drive-in theaters, learns the same thing as Freddy: sometimes movies lie. Similar to The Return, Starscream and Knock Out refrain from alerting the relevant authorities (in this case, Megatron) until the situation has already been resolved. After all, if yours the boss was a thirty foot tall robot with the face of a shark with a huge gun on his right hand, you do you want him to know you're messed up like this?

Although “Thirst” is entertaining, it cannot and should not be viewed in isolation. It is one of the last episodes of “Transformers: Prime” (episode 60 of 65) and to the last relatively independent one before the final story arc begins. Even a few sentences of exposition (eg Knock Out to get new viewers to Dark Energon) can't quite make the difference.

Many subplots converge in “thirst” as well. For example, in the Season 1 episode “Stronger, Faster”, Autobot medic Ratchet refined a synthetic form of green-colored Energon that acted as a steroid. (Sprauder, 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 “Stranger, Faster” and it finally pays off here; Combining “Synth-En” and Dark Energon creates an outbreak. However, “Thirst” also shows the lingering effects of television beyond an ever-higher barrier to entry. So far the writers knew Starscream and Knock Out were the MVPs of the show, especially when they were paired up, so Thirst takes full advantage of that. Steve Bloom's range as Starscream was undeniable, taking him from terrifying to silly and lowering or raising his voice an octave along the way. Darran Norris' smooth and smart performance as the self-absorbed Knock Out is what made the Decepticon doctor the show's most popular character as well. (Knock Out? More like Breakout.)

Both cons are cowardly, selfish, and hilarious, so watching (unable to) deal with self-inflicted disaster makes The Thirst one of the must-see episodes of Transformers.