Transformers: Ghosts of Yesterday
Encyclopedia
Transformers: Ghosts of Yesterday, is a prequel
novel to the Michael Bay
Transformers film. It was written by Alan Dean Foster
, based on a story by David Cian.
organization known as Sector 7. The ship was built by examining and reverse engineering the frozen remains of the Transformer Megatron. Sent into space at the same time as Apollo 11
to hide its trail, the ship is sent to orbit the far side of Jupiter
to look for any more alien activity. However, the ship falls into a wormhole
that was apparently accidentally created by them due to a slingshot around the sun and emerges in an unknown part of the galaxy - where it is not alone.
The Ark
and the Nemesis arrive, intrigued by the ship's Cybertronian design. Starscream
leads the Decepticons on an attack as the humans flee. Bumblebee
pursues them, as does Starscream, who hopes to annihilate the ship - and any traces of Megatron with it. Putting Bumblebee to flight, Starscream communicates with Ghost-1, pretending to be benevolent. Scanning their computers, he learns of the existence of the Allspark and Megatron and decides to string them along by telling them of the war. He hopes to provoke them into firing on the "evil" Autobots, who will destroy them. Optimus Prime
arrives, having fought off Blackout
's attack in orbit, saving Bumblebee from giant rock-chewing worms. They encounter Starscream and Ghost-1, who fire on them, burying them in the cave with more worms.
The humans, meanwhile, have become suspicious of Starscream's intentions, noting differences in the behaviors of his and Prime's. When their ship sinks into a sinkhole, Starscream betrays them and leaves them for dead. When Prime and Bumblebee cross paths with the ship underground, the Autobots communicate with the humans, who tell them of the in-stasis Megatron. Knowing that Megatron would decimate their people if he reactivated, Prime vowed to see the humans return to Earth to warn it. They eventually free themselves and head back into orbit, where a full-scale assault by the Decepticons is under way. Despite the Autobots' courage, they are outnumbered. Captain Walker of Ghost-1 makes the decision that they cannot flee, since doing so would lead the Decepticons straight to Earth. The wormhole eventually collapses as they prepare their attack on Starscream, which leaves them stranded. They fire on Starscream as he and Bonecrusher
prepare to finish off Prime. Starscream annihilates them in retaliation and retreats, severely wounded. Prime laments their sacrifice, but had already begun to suspect that the Allspark was the reason Megatron went to Earth. Knowing that Starscream would seek Earth merely for revenge on the humans injuring him, Prime resolves to locate Earth before the Decepticons do.
On Earth, a different crisis unfolds. An order has come through to transport the frozen "Ice Man" from the Arctic to a place of safe keeping somewhere near the West Coast of the United States, to be studied more concretely. The convoy carrying him is sabotaged and derailed by a Soviet
spy, who indicates a KGB
assault will take place to recover Megatron. A more immediate problem presents itself when it is revealed that Megatron is thawing out. As the weather worsens and the Russian attack begins, Megatron reanimates. Lieutenant Colonel Nolan and Colonel Thomas Kinnear, both of them seasoned and fine commanders from Sector 7, managed to stop the disorientated Decepticon leader by first driving a snow truck into him, then freezing him once more with liquid Nitrogen even as he killed them both. The soldiers, under the command of the tenacious and resilient officer Lieutenant Jenson, fought off the Russian attack with the aid of a squad of Army Rangers, then resolve to complete Megatron's transportation.
to the Hoover dam
is undertaken in 1969 (concurrent with the Apollo 11
moon mission) — however both the movie and prequel comic series state that Megatron was relocated in the mid-late 1930s. To further complicate the issue, the prequel and the movie conflict, as the movie states Megatron was moved and cryo-frozen in 1934, yet construction on the dam was not completed until 1935 (and the prequel comic shows the interior of the Dam in 1935, with Megatron clearly not present and characters discussing his then-upcoming move to the Dam).
Also, the Decepticons are depicted in the novel as traveling in a spacecraft, but the movie and Target-exclusive prequel comic included with the DVD shows the Decepticons traveling to Earth as protoforms. This is later explained in the IDW comics in that the Decepticons left their ship on Mars and traveled to Earth as protoforms.
Prequel
A prequel is a work that supplements a previously completed one, and has an earlier time setting.The widely recognized term was a 20th-century neologism, and a portmanteau from pre- and sequel...
novel to the Michael Bay
Michael Bay
Michael Benjamin Bay is an American film director and producer. He is known for directing high-budget action films characterized by their fast edits, stylistic visuals and substantial practical special effects...
Transformers film. It was written by Alan Dean Foster
Alan Dean Foster
Alan Dean Foster is an American author of fantasy and science fiction. He currently resides in Prescott, Arizona, with his wife, and is also known for his novelizations of film scripts...
, based on a story by David Cian.
Plot summary
The story is set in 1969 and details the account of a top secret space ship called Ghost-1, built by the AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
organization known as Sector 7. The ship was built by examining and reverse engineering the frozen remains of the Transformer Megatron. Sent into space at the same time as Apollo 11
Apollo 11
In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
to hide its trail, the ship is sent to orbit the far side of Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
to look for any more alien activity. However, the ship falls into a wormhole
Wormhole
In physics, a wormhole is a hypothetical topological feature of spacetime that would be, fundamentally, a "shortcut" through spacetime. For a simple visual explanation of a wormhole, consider spacetime visualized as a two-dimensional surface. If this surface is folded along a third dimension, it...
that was apparently accidentally created by them due to a slingshot around the sun and emerges in an unknown part of the galaxy - where it is not alone.
The Ark
Ark (Transformers)
The Ark is an Autobot spacecraft in the Transformers Universe. It has appeared as a central fixture of the Transformers storyline ever since its creation, as the Autobots main method of transport to Earth and as a base once they arrive....
and the Nemesis arrive, intrigued by the ship's Cybertronian design. Starscream
Starscream (Transformers)
Starscream is a fictional character in the Transformers franchise. He is one of the most prolific characters in the Transformers fictional work, appearing in almost all incarnations of the story. Starscream is usually portrayed with the same characterization...
leads the Decepticons on an attack as the humans flee. Bumblebee
Bumblebee (Transformers)
Bumblebee is the name of several fictional characters from the various Transformers universes. In most incarnations, Bumblebee is a small, yellow Autobot with the altmode of a compact car.- Transformers: Generation 1 :...
pursues them, as does Starscream, who hopes to annihilate the ship - and any traces of Megatron with it. Putting Bumblebee to flight, Starscream communicates with Ghost-1, pretending to be benevolent. Scanning their computers, he learns of the existence of the Allspark and Megatron and decides to string them along by telling them of the war. He hopes to provoke them into firing on the "evil" Autobots, who will destroy them. Optimus Prime
Optimus Prime
Optimus Prime is a fictional character from the Transformers franchise. Prime is the leader of the autobots, a faction of transforming robots from the planet Cybertron. The autobots are constantly waging war against a rival faction of transforming robots called Decepticons...
arrives, having fought off Blackout
Blackout (Transformers)
Blackout is the name of several different fictional characters in the various Transformers universes.-Transformers: Generation 1:Blackout was one of a team of two Micromaster Combiners. They came with a Gepard air defense vehicle that could transform to a base...
's attack in orbit, saving Bumblebee from giant rock-chewing worms. They encounter Starscream and Ghost-1, who fire on them, burying them in the cave with more worms.
The humans, meanwhile, have become suspicious of Starscream's intentions, noting differences in the behaviors of his and Prime's. When their ship sinks into a sinkhole, Starscream betrays them and leaves them for dead. When Prime and Bumblebee cross paths with the ship underground, the Autobots communicate with the humans, who tell them of the in-stasis Megatron. Knowing that Megatron would decimate their people if he reactivated, Prime vowed to see the humans return to Earth to warn it. They eventually free themselves and head back into orbit, where a full-scale assault by the Decepticons is under way. Despite the Autobots' courage, they are outnumbered. Captain Walker of Ghost-1 makes the decision that they cannot flee, since doing so would lead the Decepticons straight to Earth. The wormhole eventually collapses as they prepare their attack on Starscream, which leaves them stranded. They fire on Starscream as he and Bonecrusher
Bonecrusher (Transformers)
Bonecrusher is the name of several fictional characters in the various Transformers universes.-Transformers: Generation 1:Bonecrusher is a member of the Constructicons. He is a brawler by nature and specialises in demolitions work...
prepare to finish off Prime. Starscream annihilates them in retaliation and retreats, severely wounded. Prime laments their sacrifice, but had already begun to suspect that the Allspark was the reason Megatron went to Earth. Knowing that Starscream would seek Earth merely for revenge on the humans injuring him, Prime resolves to locate Earth before the Decepticons do.
On Earth, a different crisis unfolds. An order has come through to transport the frozen "Ice Man" from the Arctic to a place of safe keeping somewhere near the West Coast of the United States, to be studied more concretely. The convoy carrying him is sabotaged and derailed by a Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
spy, who indicates a KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
assault will take place to recover Megatron. A more immediate problem presents itself when it is revealed that Megatron is thawing out. As the weather worsens and the Russian attack begins, Megatron reanimates. Lieutenant Colonel Nolan and Colonel Thomas Kinnear, both of them seasoned and fine commanders from Sector 7, managed to stop the disorientated Decepticon leader by first driving a snow truck into him, then freezing him once more with liquid Nitrogen even as he killed them both. The soldiers, under the command of the tenacious and resilient officer Lieutenant Jenson, fought off the Russian attack with the aid of a squad of Army Rangers, then resolve to complete Megatron's transportation.
Possible discrepancies
The mission to move Megatron from the ArcticArctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
to the Hoover dam
Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam, once known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the US states of Arizona and Nevada. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President...
is undertaken in 1969 (concurrent with the Apollo 11
Apollo 11
In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
moon mission) — however both the movie and prequel comic series state that Megatron was relocated in the mid-late 1930s. To further complicate the issue, the prequel and the movie conflict, as the movie states Megatron was moved and cryo-frozen in 1934, yet construction on the dam was not completed until 1935 (and the prequel comic shows the interior of the Dam in 1935, with Megatron clearly not present and characters discussing his then-upcoming move to the Dam).
Also, the Decepticons are depicted in the novel as traveling in a spacecraft, but the movie and Target-exclusive prequel comic included with the DVD shows the Decepticons traveling to Earth as protoforms. This is later explained in the IDW comics in that the Decepticons left their ship on Mars and traveled to Earth as protoforms.