Jan - Defend the Campus!!
From Transformers Wiki
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| "Jan - Defend the Campus!!" (Jan - Gakkō o Mamore!!) | ||||||
| Production company | Takara, Toei | |||||
| Airdate | 31 October 1989 | |||||
| Writer | Hajime Suzuki | |||||
| Director | Hiromichi Matano | |||||
| Animation studio | Toei | |||||
| Continuity | Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity | |||||
Laster and Holi build a personal mech for Jan, which receives its baptism of fire when the Dinoforce attack his school!
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Synopsis
Out in space, the Dinoforce work to repair the damaged hull of the Thunder Arrow while inside, Deathsaurus rages at Goryu and the Breastforce. He blames their incompetence for the failure of their recent mission, and when Leozack attempts to point out that it was actually the fault of Deathsaurus's miscalculations, he finds himself seized by the head and dangled off the ground. After a tense moment, Deathsaurus calms down and drops Leozack, instructing the Decepticons to focus their efforts on destroying Star Saber and Victory Leo. Goryu grins widely, chuckling to himself that he'll be able to show up Leozack with a new plan he has come up with...
While Star Saber is busy seeing Perceptor off as the scientist heads back into space, at the Shuttle Base, Jan and Holi are staggering through the halls with armfuls of mechanical parts. After refusing to tell the curious Wing and Waver what they're up to, they bring the parts to Laster, who is, at Jan's request, constructing a mech for the boy to pilot so that he can help the Autobots more than ever before. When Holi asks what Jan plans to name it, he informs him it's a secret.
The following morning, in the forest outside Jan's school, Illumina waits for Jan to arrive. She is shocked to see Jan's mech stomping up the hill and hides behind a tree, thinking the robot is a Decepticon, but when Jan pops the cockpit and reveals himself, she comes running up in delight. Illumina is not the only one surprised by this sight, however—hiding in the foliage nearby are Rairyu and Kakuryu, who have been spying on the school as part of Goryu's plan. After some confusing decision-making, they choose to go and report to their leader, while Illumina climbs aboard Jan's mech, and the pair head to school together. As one of the school's sisters closes the gate, Jan's mech comes leaping over the fence, much to the shock of the pupils and faculty. Illumina's friend Joyce is particularly suspicious of the pair's "morning drive," but admits that she thinks Jan has got a lot cooler.
In the hills around the school, Goryu prepares the Dinoforce to enact his "Plan For Me and By Me" plan that he came up with, but Kakuryu and Rairyu's report of a "new Autobot" makes him cautious, and the team decides to investigate first. Their "investigation" consists of shooting the living bejeezus out of it, which unfortunately happens just as Jan is giving Illumina, Joyce, Rami and Clump a ride. Jan dodges the Decepticon blast completely by accident, but Goryu is unfazed and decides to press ahead with his plan anyway, ordering the Dinoforce to attack the school in order to draw out Star Saber. Determined to save his friends even though his mech has no offensive weapons, Jan confronts the Decepticon dimwits in a desperate stand-off. With both sides unsure of what move to make, Jan eventually decides to try and lead them away from the school, just as Goryu decides to try and circle around him. The result is a bizarre high-speed sideways-shuffle by both parties, which ends with the Dinoforce tripping over each other as Jan high-tails it off the campus.
On the edge of the atmosphere, the returning Star Saber receives an SOS from Holi informing him of the attack on the school, and that Victory Leo has already headed out. Star Saber quickly joins Victory Leo en route, and the pair race to the school, arriving just as Goryu catches up to Jan's mech and is about to crush it. With Goryu's foot planted firmly on top of the mech, Star Saber and Victory Leo are unable to do anything as the Dinoforce open fire on them. Jan is able to turn the tide when he releases the only "weapon" his mech has: a barrage of smoke grenades that blinds Goryu, causing him to stumble backwards and set Jan and his friend free. With Star Saber and Victory Leo staring them down, the villains promptly combine into Dinoking, but the two Autobots follow suite and merge into Victory Saber. Although this would normally spell instant defeat for the Dinoforce, Dinoking has created a new weapon for himself: the mighty "Dinoblater Cannon", which he unleashes upon Victory Saber. Alas, the cannon is no match for Victory Saber's power, and he slices Dinoking back into the Dinoforce with his Saber Blade. As Victory Saber holds his blade aloft over the collapsed pile of Decepticons, Goryu rises and begs for mercy for his troops, offering to submit to Victory Saber's wrath if they are spared. At Kakuryu's urging, however, the rest of the Dinoforce seize Victory Saber's legs and throw themselves between Goryu and the Autobot, crying out to their leader to escape. After a moment, Victory Saber sheathes his sword and turns away, tells Goryu that he has been blessed with good troops, and to rest and heal for their next meeting.
As the sun sets over the school, while Victory Saber apologizes to Headmistress Mayville for the disturbance, Illumina tells Jan how cool she thinks he looked fighting the Decepticons. Blushing furiously, Jan asks Illumina if it would be okay for him to name his mech after her. Turning just as red, Illumina agrees... at which point Jan reveals that he had already painted the name on, peeling off a strip of paper to reveal the "Illumina II" logo on the mech's side. Joyce, however, thinks that the "Joyce II" would have been a much better name.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans |
|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"This time, our plan will be my "Plan For Me and By Me" plan that I came up with! I'm not about to change my precious plan just because an unfamiliar Autobot popped up!"
- —Goryu
"Why are you so secretive?"
"Because this is a secret!"
- —Waver and Holi
"OK, let's fire a missile at them and see what they're gonna do."
- —Goryu
"Surrender now, if you're clever!"
"Oh, darn it!"
- —Star Saber and Goryu
Notes
Animation or technical errors
- The "Illumina II" logo on the side of Jan's mech is a prominent whiff at English characters for style points, resulting in "Irumina II."
Continuity errors
- Jan's school, previously named Schwimmbam School in "Attack! Leozack", is now named Schwimmbad School. Presumably someone caught the spelling error from the previous episode, as Schwimmbad is an actual German word—it means "swimming pool". Oddly enough, the school doesn't appear to have a pool.
Transformers references
- Perceptor finally returns to join the main Autobot force in space, after having been on Earth since "Ginrai Dies!!" Oddly, Minerva and Wheeljack are not shown to go with him.
- Jan's classmates return after a prolonged absence from the screen. Illumina, Joyce and Rami haven't been seen in over two-dozen episodes, having last appeared in "Move Out! Rescue Team", while Clump was more recently featured in "Fight to the Death!! Antarctic Battle", only eight episodes ago.
Trivia
- There was a two-week break between the previous episode and this one when the series originally aired.
- Yet another episode that defers use of one of the show's stock title cards, presenting the title as white-text-on-black.
- This episode features the solitary appearance of Waver in robot mode in the whole dang series. In this episode, he is voiced by Shinobu Satouchi, whereas in his only previous speaking appearance, in "Fight to the Death!! Antarctic Battle", he was voiced by Yoshikazu Hirano.
- Breaking with the tradition of the last couple of episodes, Perceptor is referred to by name for the first time since he began appearing in Victory.
- That gun don't look like the toy in any way whatsoever.
Foreign localization
English
- Title: "Meekon Saves the School" (Omni Productions dub)
- Original airdate: December 22, 1991
- In the Japanese dialogue, Kakuryu and Gairyu discuss why their bosses are having a meeting. In the dub, Gairyu says he volunteered for repair duty rather than hang around while Deathsaurus was in a bad mood.
- The Narrator says Perceptor is returning to Micro and notes that Star Saber is acting as escort.
- The distance that the Dinoforce have to fire is inflated from 2500 metres to 3500.
- Illumina is named Mila in the dub, which doesn't match the name on Jan's mech, but Joyce actually refers to it as the "Irumina II" (see note below on the naming).
Spanish
- Title: "Marcos Salva la Escuela" ("Marcos Saves the School")
Home video releases
- DVD
2003 — Transformers: Victory — DVD Box 02 (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
2006 — The Takara Collection Vol 3 — Transformers: Victory (Metrodome)
2007 — Transformers — The Complete Takara Collection (Metrodome)
2008 — The Transformers: Victory (Madman Entertainment) — Optional Omni dub.
2009 — The Transformers: Japan Generation 1 — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment) — Optional Omni dub.
2012 — Transformers: The Japanese Collection (Shout! Factory)
2012 — Transformers Japanese Collection: Victory (Shout! Factory)
