So, I'm taking a break from my rewrite of "Dark Of The Moon", but that doesn't mean I'm done making critiques regarding the film itself. And thanks to a nifty little fan poll I've posted on Twitter recently (please follow; link here), I've learned that at least one of you guys want to see me break down as to why Sentinel Prime's plan in the film is easily the single dumbest evil scheme in the films.
Which, given the other moronic evil schemes that the films had presented both before and after Sentinel's, is saying quite a bit. Recall, for example, that the main villains' scheme in "The Last Knight" involved moving Cybertron to Earth in order to steal Merlin's staff so that the robot tentacle lady can drain the planet dry and rule Cybertron. That plan was asinine and needlessly convoluted, but at least someone could follow it enough despite not actually give a shit about whether the villain succeeds or not. Regardless of such, I can easily say with a straight face that Sentinel's plan is somehow even dumber.
And as the title implies, I can easily give you three reasons as to why. These are in no particular order; they just have to simply showcase the logical hiccups that come about via Sentinel's methods.
With all of that out of the way, let's begin.
1. Transporting Cybertron to Earth.
As revealed (by Patrick Dempsey and not the actual villains) in the end of the second act, Sentinel's grand scheme is use the Space Bridge Pillars to transport Cybertron itself into Earth's orbit so that they can enslave humanity to rebuild his home.
Frieza, would you mind?
Ignoring the human involvement for a second, why does Sentinel go through the trouble of using the Pillars of transporting a whole fucking planet to Earth? Why didn't he simply just open a portal to Cybertron and transport humans through it on the Decepticons ships? Hell, wouldn't teleporting Cybertron directly into the Earth's orbit result in the Earth being torn apart by the gravitational stress, thus rendering Sentinel's scheme entirely worthless?
And don't give me the excuse that "it's based on the old cartoon, what did you expect?", because not only is the framing device entirely different, but that wasn't the reason Cybertron was brought to Earth in the cartoon. In the original series three part episode "The Ultimate Doom", Megatron uses the Space Bridge to bring Cybertron to Earth, just as Sentinel is doing. However, Megatron knew that the two planets being that close to each other would cause insane gravitational stress, and was planning on using the energy output caused by that stress to fill up an insane amount of Energon cubes. He could've cared less that the Earth was destroyed, as ruling a fully restored Cybertron was his main goal the entire series. Sentinel, on the other hand, wants the humans that inhabit that the planet that would, if this film followed any form of logical reasoning, would die when the Earth is torn apart.
Also, Cybertron in the original cartoon was smaller than the Earth, probably no bigger than the moon, and yet the gravitational stress caused by it's arrival was already insane. In "Dark Of The Moon", Cybertron is fucking MASSIVE compared to the Earth, but there is no sign of gravitational stress; it should've destroyed the Earth after being in it's orbit for a few seconds! When a cartoon from 1980's that was intended for children solely to sell toys does a better job at following science than a multi-million dollar movie in the 21st century, you know something's gone wrong.
2. Using humans to fix Cybertron.
This is the part of the plan I was ignoring until now, but I think this is what ultimately makes Sentinel's plan falls apart at the seams; if he wants to rebuild Cybertron, WHY WOULD HE ENTRUST THAT TO HUMAN BEINGS?! Not only are they a noticeably smaller species than Cybertronians, but they wouldn't even know how to rebuild a planet much bigger than Earth and one made for fucking robots, nonetheless! And even IF you're banking on them having the skills to fix a robot planet, how do you know that a planet with a different orbital cycle and atmosphere could accommodate a species that needs to survive on oxygen?!
And even IF we accept that humans could survive on Cybertron and have the skills to fix a robot planet, WHY ARE YOU LAUNCHING AN INVASION FORCE TO WIPE OUT A CITY OF 2.7 MILLION PEOPLE?! I understand setting up a base of operations, but killing a huge chunk of the slave labour force while doing so?! Why did you do that?! How does that benefit your plan in any way?!
Hell, you wouldn't even need a slave force at all; just drain the planet of it's resources and use the Pillars to transport them to Cybertron instead. Optimus did say earlier that the Pillars were designed to transport refugees and resources, so it wouldn't be a surprise if Sentinel's plan was to transport said resources to fix Cybertron. Instead, they went with the route that makes the main villain look like an incompetent imbecile.
Again, I think back to how "The Ultimate Doom" handled this much better than the film did. Humans were used in that episode as a slave force, that much is true, but not to rebuild the planet; instead, they were under the mind control of the human villain, Dr Arkeville, who was working with the Decepticons in order to mine the Earth of it's natural resources and transport them to Cybertron. Notice the difference? One is under mind control, the other is being enforced without any form of restraint. Which one sounds more plausible?
3. The betrayal makes no sense.
This was a point that Bobsheaux made in his review of "Dark Of The Moon" (watch here, incidentally; he's legitimately funny and talented), but it is a sentiment that suddenly made me realise just how preposterous this whole scheme was from the outset. As shown throughout the third act, Sentinel is able to order the Decepticons around at any given whim. He is basically at the front line of the final battle and even before then, he was able to push Megatron around and has the most control over the plan to the tiniest detail. All of this stemmed from Sentinel making the deal with Megatron in order to end this war, but all of it went to Sentinel's favour by the end.
Hey Eddie Murphy, what does that mean to you?
Couldn't have put it better myself. By making this deal with Megatron, Sentinel was able to single-singlehandedly end the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons on his own terms, with Megatron clearly getting the short end of the stick as he otherwise had no involvement with Sentinel using or inventing the Pillars, nor could he have known if Sentinel had just decided to go behind his back and tell the Autobots of the deal. Therefore, Sentinel Prime had literally no reason to betray the Autobots.
And this what makes the plan collapse in upon itself; if Sentinel had simply told the Autobots of the deal he made with Megatron, then they could've had the advantage over the Decepticons and put a war to a stop using the Pillars. No need for an invasion force, or a nonsensical betrayal that leaves the population of a city decimated; just tell the Autobots and N.E.S.T of the plan so that they can foil the Decepticons at every turn.
How to fix it:
If they really wanted to go through with the idea of Sentinel being the bad guy, then they easily could've had him be a former Prime who was disgraced and banished from Cybertron for being a radical extremist who wanted to "purify" his home of anything he deemed as imperfect. Thus, there is more of an ample reason for Optimus and Megatron to call a temporary truce as Sentinel poses a threat to them both. Sentinel would instead be using his Pillars to bring Cybertron to Earth as a means of destroying the place that Optimus calls home as a means of revenge, while also summoning an army that he had made during his exile so that he can nab two birds with one stone; destroy a planet full of lesser life forms and rule Cybertron in Optimus' absence.
There. A much more believable scheme that still has Sentinel Prime as the main antagonist while also allowing the team-up that the film tried to pull at the last second. This way, we also don't have to worry about Optimus being a blood hungry maniac or Megatron being a slave to someone else.
And I think I've gone on long enough about the reasons as to why Sentinel Prime's scheme was easily the dumbest plan in all of the movies. I rest my case.
If you liked what you read, please be sure to share on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc. I would also appreciate it if you followed me on Twitter; @MediaHood23. Also check my practically dead YouTube channel; Media Hood Reviews.
So until next time; this is Callum Lewis, the Media Hood, signing off!
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