Transformers - The Movie

Meanwhile Galvatron returns to Unicron and presents the Matrix, saying that he now has what he most fears. Galvatron tells Unicron to obey him or taste his wrath, and desperately tries to open up the Matrix, but he can't. Unicron, fed up with Galvatron's disobedience, starts his lengthy transformation process...
 

...and turns into the largest robot ever seen. After telling Galvatron that he considered sparing Cybertron at first, he will now destroy it before his eyes and flies towards it...
 

and starts his assault on the planet by smashing part of it under one of his hands. With the sudden ruckus happening Shockwave^[1] orders all Decepticons to scramble and soon Unicron is met with Cybertron's defenses, but they don't seem to do any damage to him.
 

Seeing that the planet he worked so hard for to take is in danger of being destroyed for ever, Galvatron transformers into his space cannon mode and starts to blast Unicron's head, but Unicron picks him up and eats him^[2], sending him tumbling down deep inside Unicron. As this is happening, the Autobots and Junkions arrive in their ships.
 

On the Quintesson ship, Hot Rod, Kup, Springer, Arcee and Daniel can only watch on at the huge robot which is attacking Cybertron, and even old timer Kup has never seen anything like it before. Daniel asks what's happened to his father and Hot Rod says that's what they're going to find out, and despite Unicron noticing both ships and blasting them with blue flame, Hot Rod manages to pilot the ship straight through Unicron's left eye, managing to actually injure him.
 

The Autobots fall out of the Quintesson ship and most of them land safely, apart from Hot Rod who lands on the side of a spike. The other Autobots can't rest for long though as lots of claws appear and try to grab the Autobots, who are forced to run off. Meanwhile Hot Rod falls off the spike and lands deeper inside Unicron.
 

Hot Rod climbs back up and then walks around and sees an area which is glowing blue, and then sees the Matrix. But Galvatron still has a hold of it and tells Hot Rod that the Matrix is useless as it cannot be opened, although Hot Rod says that's because no Decepticon could ever open it. Galvatron suggests that they team up to take on Unicron, but then Unicron threatens Galvatron, saying that he'll destroy him unless he destroys Hot Rod.
 

Not wanting to die, Galvatron shoots off a couple of blasts at Hot Rod, who manages to run away before any of them hit him. Galvatron looks on and starts to hunt for him, saying that he lacks even Prime's courage.
 

Back outside Autobot and Decepticon alike fight against Unicron, who is crushing part of Cybertron underfoot and taking pot shots at the Dinobots with blue lasers from his working eye. The Dinobots evade his attacks and rip part of his back open, but they are eventually forced to retreat after he nearly crushes them with one of his hands.
 

Inside Unicron again Springer and the others are still running when Daniel falls over. The Autobots fire upon the many claws which are still after them and Arcee shoots out part of a wall, which releases a lot of water everywhere, sweeping up Daniel and the Autobots and splitting them up.
 

Daniel eventually gets out of the newly created pool of water and arrives at a acid pit where lots of captured robots are behind dropped into and destroyed. He sees Spike and the other Autobots from Moonbase 1 and 2 and wonders how on Earth he can save them when Spike tells him to use his exo-suit to blast the cover of the acid pit so they can land on it. Daniel fires, but Spike and the others are dropped. Was he too late?
 

Of course he wasn't, you can have the deaths of robots, but humans? No way. Way to go Daniel, you saved them, word bling bling. And as an added bonus, it means Jazz, Cliffjumper and Bumblebee all survive the movie too, so happy days all round.
 

Galvatron finds Hot Rod and the two start to fight each other, and at first Hot Rod has the upper hand thanks to him smashing Galvatron in the face and then running him over in his car mode, but when Hot Rod tries to do the same thing again Galvatron is ready for him and...
 

...grabs onto him, flips him over and as this happens Hot Rod transforms back to robot mode. Galvatron grabs Hot Rod's neck and attempts to rip his head off.
 

Outside again the battle against Unicron also seems to be over, with Unicron grabbing onto the Junkion ship and crushing it, and then tossing it out into space.
 

Hot Rod is nearly dead, and Galvatron rubs it in about how weak Autobots are, but then Hot Rod grabs the Matrix which begins to shine brightly in his hands. He then kicks Galvatron away...
 

Raising the Matrix above his head, Hot Rod hears the words "arise, Rodimus Prime" as the Matrix bound Optimus Prime tells him what to do. Rodimus Prime is a bigger, more powerful version of Hot Rod who can transform into a large truck as we'll see in a few minutes. Galvatron can't believe what's just happened and shoots at Rodimus, managing to knock the Matrix out of his hands.
 

Rodimus tells Galvatron that it's "the end of the road" and with that runs up and despite Galvatron's best efforts to fight back by trying to punch him, Rodimus picks him up and then throws Galvatron straight at one of Unicron's walls, which he crashes through and flies uncontrollably through space.
 

Taking hold of the Matrix once more, Rodimus tells it to light their darkest hour and proceeds to finally open up the Matrix, creating a massive burst of energy which travels throughout Unicron.
 

The power of the Matrix begins to destroy Unicron, by simply blowing up everything inside his body. Unicron himself can only watch as his own body begins to malfunction and explode, and one of his legs falls off as everything begins to crumble.
 

Springer, Kup and Arcee are still fighting the claws, but they soon all explode and they then run into Spike and the others. Springer orders everyone to get out but they then see someone running towards them...
 

...it's Rodimus Prime, who tells the Autobots to transform and roll out. Rodimus transforms and gives Spike and Daniel a lift, and then he leads the Autobots towards Unicron's other eye, which he then smashes out of.
 

Now with no working eyes at all and his entire body exploding, Unicron floats away from Cybertron and says that they cannot change his destiny, but it's too late for him as his head explodes off his shoulders and spins away, followed by his entire body exploding.
 

Later on the battered Cybertron, the Autobots have reclaimed the planet and Rodimus Prime appears before the other Autobots, saying that this marks the end of the wars and that they will head towards a new age of peace and happiness. He then says "'till all are one" as the other Autobots make a pact with their new friend Wreck-Gar.
 

The last part of the movie shows us that Unicron's head now serves as a new moon for Cybertron. Whilst this battle is over, the adventures of the Transformers will continue and the greatest Autobot of all time, Optimus Prime, will return.

The part where Unicron transforms was animated quite a bit before the part where he attacks Cybertron. This explains why Unicron has two different head designs in the movie:


^[1]Shockwave was meant to die at this part in the original script. After he says his line, Unicron grabs the tower Shockwave is in, crushes it (killing Shockwave in the process) and then after ripping the tower of the ground, he throws it into space. Whilst this never made it into the film, Shockwave never officially appears in the cartoon series again.

Ultra Magnus, Blurr and Wheelie all seem to vanish after the two ships take off, but they're supposedly on the Junkion ship with Perceptor. You can at least see Ultra Magnus' arm in one shot:

All of these missing characters are back in the final group shot at the end of the film however.

^[2]If you think it's daft that Unicron eats the Matrix carrying Galvatron, the original script had Unicron actually trying to tear Galvatron in two by biting him, but missing by a fraction. This didn't make it into the final film though so it's kind of stupid.

Originally, Unicron was meant to split the Junkion ship into two pieces, but the Junkions repair both sides and get them to work as two independant ships.

It's possible the Autobot Beachcomber was destroyed in the movie.

Briefly, you can see a robot who looks a lot like him and has his colour scheme in front of Spike in the acid pit scene. This robot is not saved however, but since Beachcomber later appears in an episode of season 3, it must just be a generic robot. I hope.

Let's have a look at the credits, shall we?

Michael Bell is credited for doing Prowl's voice, but Prowl never actually speaks in the film. Prowl did have a line in the original script though.


Bud Davis is credited with Dirge, but Dirge doesn't speak in the movie either, although again, Dirge did have a line in a previous version of the script. What's more bizarre is that Walker Edmiston is credited with doing Inferno's voice...but Inferno wasn't even in the movie! Look a bit more down to see that Don Messick is credited with Gear's voice, and whilst Gears did get the briefest of cameos, he never speaks.

For quite a while people believed that Starscream returns when a load of Decepticon fighters attack Unicron, but:

The jet mode is different than what Starscream's used to look like, although the colours are similar.