I seem to remember that on its first airing, the three part miniseries had a scene after the Decepticon ship was shot down which showed Spike writing in his journal (or maybe dictating into his recorder) that the countries of the world were so grateful to the Autobots for driving off that threat that they were providing enough fuel for them to return to Cybertron, and that he was excited that we was being allowed to join them. When it aired again, it had been picked up as a full series and that last bit was cut out because the Transformers would now be staying on Earth to continue their war. I'm pretty sure I'm not misremembering this, although obviously it's a possibility. I just can't find any evidence of this scene ever existing. Can anyone confirm seeing this, and, better yet, does anyone actually have this clip?

 

Nope. Not misremembering. It's in there. Considering how the rest of the series went, the scene made no sense in the bigger picture, which is why they cut it, I'm guessing.

Odd that a cartoon riddled with errors was more concerned with continuity than 6 billion dollar flicks helmed by people who speak out of their rectums.

 

I figured it was there because at the time there were no plans to have more than three episodes and they wanted an ending. Once the series was picked up it had to go.

I'd love to see it. It would be nice to be an extra on a DVD somewhere. Maybe it doesn't even exist anymore, though. No one was thinking about extras on DVDs at the time so they might not have seen any need to keep it.

 

It is on the DVDs as well as here on this YouTube video:

 

Wow, great, thanks. I don't remember seeing that on my DVD.

 

SHOUT! Factory has the license now, IIRC. They're uncut and from the original masters, I believe.
You can get the full series on disc for about $50.00 or so, I believe. There was a Matrix boxset a few years back, I don't know what it goes for.

 

Mine were the silver boxed ones from many years ago.

 

Because a separately commissioned miniseries (4000 series production code) had to be written with beginning, middle and end. With the understanding that there may not be a full series or other kind of followup.

Transformers is only unique in that the full series that followed was rushed into production so it could start airing a month later. Normally the popularity of the mini spurred a full series to be ordered for the next TV season.

 

Interesting the fuel they'd provide would be compatible with an alien space ship but yeah, okay. Still interesting to see something like this, especially considering they planned it to last only 3 Episodes yet, it managed to be stretched out for reach 98. As a longtime fan, bits like this fascinate me.

 

Huh. I've always seen that end scene with them fueling up the Ark. The final shot is Megatron coming out of the Decepticon ship. I can't remember ever seeing the episode with it cut out.

I don't think I ever saw the episode until Season 2 was airing and when I got it on DVD I wasn't 'holy crap, new scene!'.

Even as a little kid, I just figured they were going to leave but then realized the Decepticons were still around so they stayed. The fact the humans were giving them energy also explains why they are never looking for power compared to the Cons.

 

There is a scene of Spike writing in a journal but that's not what he says in that scene. He's just describing what the Transformers are nothing about them returning to Cybertron.

 

You poor, poor man.  
The silver DVD sets are the Rhino ones, which are rife with extra animation errors, missing visual effects, and annoying added sound effects.
Get the Shout Factory DVDs, they actually cared about the material and restored the eps to what was actually broadcast (as best they could).

There's another scene of Spike writing in his journal at the end of MTMTE p3. I've seen the ep so many times I can quote it from memory:

Spike: [writing] "Because the Autobots stopped the Decepticons from stealing Earth's resources, the governments of the world have agreed to give Optimus Prime the energy he needs to revitalize Cybertron. It's probably the first time all the governments ever agreed on anything. Well, that's it from Earth. Next stop, Cybertron."
Optimus Prime: "Ready, Spike? It's almost time to blast off."
Spike: "I'll be right there Prime!" [writing] "One more thing: it sure is nice to not have to worry about Megatron and those Decepticons anymore..."
[cut to Megatron coming out of the crashed ship]

I honestly didn't know the ep was ever shown without this scene, though I guess I can understand why they took it out.

 

That concept always gets a laugh out of me.

Oh, and for the record, I assume that the ship was no longer capable of flight. That's why in the next episode we see them still on Earth.

 

I also thought it was interesting how easily the Decepticons were killed in that original miniseries, since I always gathered that the idea was there was no more Decepticon threat and therefore were returning to Cybertron. Considering they had just survived a crash and came to again four million years later, I hope they verified they were all dead and didn't just assume it was safe to leave.

 

Yeah, my personal headcanon reason is that they were preparing to go, and that's when the beginning of Transport to Oblivion occurs, necessitating their staying on Earth.  

But, I understand why they had that last journal scene in MTMTE p3. There was no guarantee the show would be picked up as an ongoing series, so they had to wrap it up neatly. This happened with a few other shows at the time; for example, there was a Robo Force pilot episode aired that also works as a stand-alone story, but it wasn't made into a series.

 

Here's a theory... You've been Mandella effected... cause the scene you're describing has never existed in this universe.

 

Dammit, I KNEW I shouldn't have walked through that portal...
Wait, when did Donald Trump become president??
Also, LOL at your quote of my text making it say "You poor poon"  

 

Yeah sorry about that my tablet keeps moving the curser while I'm typing. I usually try to fix it but some times it just gets worse.

Also yes unfprtunantly but we're not suppose to talk about that...

 

I don't recall that scene ever being cut - every viewing I've ever had of the original miniseries - the original broadcast, the reruns as part of the regular series, and all the video releases - had the scene intact.

It struck me as slightly odd that they never left, but it was never that big a deal. I just assumed that there was a problem they hadn't found and couldn't fix that kept the Ark grounded. They planned on leaving, but something prevented them. It might have been nice to have a line or two thrown into the first regular episode mentioning that the Ark turned out to no longer be flight-capable, but it isn't the end of the world.

 

The final shot is Megatron coming out of the ship and going to the surface. So even if the series never went beyond the miniseries, at least 1 con was alive.

At the end of season 1 (Heavy metal War) they again sort of gave a conclusion to the series with all the Decepticons falling into the lava. Even if Megatron did the come back up, give a threat, he sank back in so if no Season 2, kids could imagine they all melted.