Golden Disk (Voyager)

DJ Meggy spins the hits.

The Golden Disk from the Voyager probe is a recurring object throughout the Beast Wars. It plays a major role in the escalation of the conflict between the Maximals and the Predacons and leads to the death of Dinobot. It is eventually destroyed, but the Predacon leader, Megatron, recovers one of the shards and shows a Cybertronian government agent a piece of a message that was enscripted into it by his former boss.

Fiction

Beast Wars cartoon continuity

Beast Wars cartoon

Sometime within roughly a decade of when the Transformers aboard the Ark awoke in the eruption of Mount St. Hilary, the humans of planet Earth launched a primitive robotic spacecraft to study the outer planets in their solar system. Attached to this spacecraft was a gold disk which contained information about Earth. Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons, acquired it at some point and encoded an additional message on the disk.

Megatron's message ordered any Decepticons who might, in the future, come across it to use transwarp technology to travel to the past The Agenda (Part 2) and use the Teletraan I codes encoded on the disk to access the Ark while its occupants were inert and kill Optimus Prime. This, in turn, would change history so that the Decepticons could win the Great War. The Agenda (Part III)

At some point between Decepticon Megatron adding his message to the disk and the beginning of the Beast Wars, the spacecraft holding the disk—or perhaps only the disk—fell into the hands of the Transformers. It was seemingly considered a precious artifact, even though the general population of Maximals had no idea what it really was (and even some Predacons—like the reformatted Decepticon Ravage—didn't have a clue). The Maximal Elders were presumably aware of the Disk's origin.

The group of Predacons led by Megatron stole the Golden Disk; Megatron claimed that the disk held the location of a vast store of energon, with which the Predacon commander believed he could reignite the Great War against the Maximals. Beast Wars (Part 1)

"Well look at that. I've actually talked till I'm blue in the face."

Dinobot broke into the Predacon base and stole the Golden Disk. He then climbed to a high peak where he pontificated to himself about the potential power the wielder of the Golden Disk could hold, and the potential danger that came with it. On a personal level, he felt that it could either confirm or destroy his own reason for being. He needed to believe himself the master of his own fate, and if history could not be changed, then he could only believe himself a deterministic pawn. He eventually decided that the most prudent thing to do with an item of infinite power was to shove it under a large rock. Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)

Later, he noticed that the Predacons had been setting up installations around their base in a pattern that matched the shape of one of the symbols on the disk. Realizing that Megatron still meant to alter history, Dinobot rejoined him to discover the truth of his own destiny. He led Megatron to the location of the Golden Disk and presented it to him. Shortly afterwards, Dinobot defected to the Maximals once again, but Megatron escaped with the Golden Disk. Maximal, No More

Not long afterwards, Megatron began testing history's mutability, discovering through the images contained in the disk that he had the power to alter the timeline. The Predacons attacked the valley from which humanity's ancestors would emerge, but Dinobot launched a one-man berserker attack on the Predacons, single-handedly defeating them and shattering the Golden Disk with his last bit of energy. Code of Hero

Megatron was captured by Covert Agent Ravage for violations of the Pax Cybertronia, but revealed that he still possessed a lone fragment of the Golden Disk, which contained a message encoded by the original Megatron. He played it for Ravage, convincing the former Decepticon to release the Predacon and join forces with him. The Agenda (Part 2)

Dreamwave Generation One continuity

"With this little bauble I will write a new chapter in the history of... Wait, this isn't... DAMN YOU, JOE NG!"

As a Predacon and Dinobot were building up their band of rebels, they infiltrated the Vector Sigma chamber. This irked Dinobot, who didn't understand why they were wasting time "raiding an old library". But his leader was enraptured by his find: A Golden Disk filled with information on individual Autobots and Decepticons, the history of Cybertron, details about other planets, and cutting-edge technology in the early 21st century. He said it was the key to his future, and after viewing it, he declared himself "Megatron". More than Meets the Eye #8

Theft of the Golden Disk

Megatron was tasked by his mentor Cryotek to retrieve a Data-Con that would reveal the location of the Golden Disk. Megatron pulled a double-cross on Cryotek, leaving him to the Maximal Command Security Force while he uncovered the Disk's location, and went to claim it for himself. Theft of the Golden Disk

Dawn of Future's Past

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Dawn of Future's Past

Hall of Fame bios

The Hall of Records was the site of the Golden Disk's theft. Waspinator's 2011 bio

War for Cybertron Trilogy cartoon

Though no one knew of its origin, the Golden Disk was eventually used by Megatron to record his memoirs throughout the war for Cybertron. Comprising of all his strategies, secrets, and the battles he fought, the record only responded to his unique energon signature. Kingdom episode 1 Megatron also chronicled his hunt for the AllSpark on Earth, Kingdom episode 3 including when he failed during an encounter with Optimus Prime, thereby losing the war. Kingdom episode 4 After killing Optimus Prime, Megatron lamented on the Golden Disk that they should have worked together, though shortly after he was found by Unicron and painfully reformatted into servitude as Galvatron. Kingdom episode 5

Using the Dead Universe to move through time and prevent his enslavement under Unicron, Kingdom episode 6 Galvatron traveled back to when Megatron entered the Dead Universe. After being found by Unicron, Galvatron attempted to turn over the Golden Disk in another desperate chance to change the past, but it disappeared as he did. Earthrise episode 5 In his proper time, Galvatron, with the Golden Disk in tow, passed by the Voyager spacecraft and swore to Unicron that he would find a way to break free from the Chaos Bringer's servitude. Kingdom episode 1

The Golden Disk eventually wound up in the possession of the Maximals. Kingdom episode 2 Galvatron manipulated Predacon Megatron and his band of Predacon thieves to steal the disk and take it to Megatron in the past, in the hopes that they could change time and avert his servitude to Unicron. Kingdom episode 6 Predacon Megatron later decrypted a few minutes of the Golden Disk and retraced the original Megatron's steps back to Earth Kingdom episode 1 but was chased by the Maximals aboard the Axalon, seeking to prevent. Kingdom episode 4

Following the Predacon's success, the original Megatron used the Disk to prepare his troops against an Autobot/Maximal assault but the foreknowledge proved for naught as his forces' unruliness allowed their foes to escape. Kingdom episode 2

Using the Golden Disk, Megatron began closing on the resting place of the Allspark Kingdom episode 3 and to later get the drop on Starscream's latest bout of treachery. Kingdom episode 4 Nonetheless, Starscream had managed to draw energon from Megatron allowing Blackarachnia to build a device that would read the Golden Disk via the spilled sample. Realizing Blackarachnia had duped him, Starscream stole the Disk reader and accessed its contents. As he laughed at seeing the record of Megatron being turned into Galvatron and enslaved by Unicron, the Chaos Bringer began speaking to Starscream through the Disk. Traumatized by what he'd heard, Starscream flew off to the Ark and gave the Golden Disk to Bumblebee, trusting the Autobot to make better use of its contents to save Cybertron. To Starscream's horror, Bumblebee proceeded to boldly shatter the Disk, preferring to confront the uncertainty of the future with courage. Kingdom episode 5

War for Cybertron Trilogy marketing material

Main article: Source:Golden Disk destinies

The Voyager Golden Disk held the power to change the universe forever. Kingdom webpage^[1] It carried three destinies each for the Ark, Blackarachnia, Dinobot, Megatron, and Optimus Prime, and only one for the otherworldly Unicron. Kingdom Golden Disk destinies

2021 Beast Wars comic

The Golden Disk was originally attached to an alien space probe. After making enough trips through time for the Disk to be saturated in unspace energy, the probe crashed on an asteroid in the Upsilonus Belt where it was found by Landquake who brought it to the Wheeljack Ministry of Science. The scientists quickly decoded the surface files of the Disk's planet of origin only to discover more heavily encrypted ones. After decrypting a single file, that revealed the location of a planet rich with energon, the scientists chose to downplay the significance of what they'd found. Disagreeing, Reptilion leaked word of the Disk to the Predacon separatist Galavar, hoping that the rogue could steal the Disk, decode it and deliver its contents to the whole of Cybertron. Maximals Strike Back, Part 1

Once the theft was complete, Galavar chose to rename himself "Megatron", showing off the relic to Tripredacus Council as he declared his defection. The separatists fled aboard a stolen warship which was engaged by the Axalon, both crafts crash landing on another world in another time. Savage Landing Part 1

Confirming the large bounty of energon to be had, Megatron devoted himself to decrypting the remainder of the Golden Disk's files to no avail. Savage Landing Part 2 After a battle with the Maximals who caused the crash, Megatron managed to decode another of the Disk's files, which turned out to be a message from his future self. Before he could hear anything of value, the file deleted itself as it was irreversibly corrupted. Pod Part 1

After welcoming Razorbeast into their ranks, the Maximals attacked the Darksyde to claim the Golden Disk, Maximals Strike Back, Part 1 interrupting Megatron's latest attempt to decode it. Leaving his chambers unguarded, Rattrap eventually snuck in and found the Disk. Maximals Strike Back, Part 2

Removing the Disk though caused Megatron's quarters to lockdown. As Rattrap waited for rescue, he copied the Disk's files before Optimus and Nyx saved him. As the three fled, Megatron trapped them in a force field. Unfazed, Optimus threatened to destroy the Golden Disk, highlighting the Darksyde's destroyed Transwarp Drive and bluffing that the Axalon was wired to self-destruct, making the Predacons unable to steal another version of it. Unwilling to lose the Disk, Megatron agreed to Primal's terms and released the Maximals. Maximals Strike Back, Part 3

When Megatron rematerialized following the death of the Vok, he reminded himself to record the warning on the Golden Disk so that his past self would see it. The End

Toys & Merchandise

Timelines (2006)

Golden Cyber Disk Key Power!

• Dawn of Future's Past

Most of the exclusive toys from BotCon 2006 come with a Golden Disk key. It is a redecoed Planet X Cyber Key. It is meant to represent the Golden Disk as it appears in "Dawn of Future's Past".

Robot Heroes (2008)

"Little bauble," indeed, yesss.

• Silverbolt vs Megatron

Transmetal Megatron comes with the disk in his tail-claw projector device.

Masterpiece

• Dinobot (Beast Wars) (2018)

Masterpiece Dinobot comes with the disk as an accessory.

War for Cybertron: Kingdom

• Autobot Ark (Titan Class, 2021)
  • Hasbro ID number: WFC-K30

Kingdom Autobot Ark comes with both the Vok and Voyager Golden Disks. Deviating from its cartoon appearance, the Vok disc features the Voyager disk's "Sounds of Earth" design on its rear, instead of more alien symbols. The accessories can only be wielded by several figures with poseable hands/open-palms.

• Terrorsaur (Golden Disk Collection, 2022)
  • Chapter 4: The Terrorfying [sic] Conclusion
  • Accessories: Golden Disk (Vok), blaster, arm blades

Kingdom Terrorsaur includes a Golden Disk, identical to the Vok disk from the Kingdom Autobot Ark (complete with the erroneous "Sounds of Earth" reverse design from the Voyager disc) but with darker paint. The product description refers to it as the Voyager Golden Disk,^[2] so maybe this time it's the Vok side which is in error?

ReAction

• Hyper Steel Megatron (2023)
  • Accessories: Golden Disk

This redeco of ReAction BW Megatron features translucent purple plastic and a new Voyager disk accessory. This piece was exclusive to Target.

Diamond Select

• Beast Wars Megatron (2023)

Produced by Diamond Select Toys, this "Milestone" statue depicts Beast Wars Megatron in his season 1 body, holding the Golden Disk. Designed by Mark Wong, only 1,000 pieces were produced, with an MSRP of $500. However, the statue never saw release.

Proceed on your way to oblivion. This item has been canceled, with no current plans for release.

Beast Wars Again

• Gyakushin no Taiketsu (Multi-pack, 2024)

Released as part of the Beast Wars Again line, the "Treacherous Showdown" (逆心の対決) set contains Tarans, Dinobot and an unpainted Voyager Golden Disk reused from Masterpiece Dinobot.

Notes

A giant statue outside the archives where it was stored includes a copy copies.

• In the show's production bible, the Golden Disk is responsible for "the original discovery of Earth by Cybertron", leading the Autobots and Decepticons to arrive to secure the planet's sources of energon. Megatron really has stolen the Disk to lead them to Earth for its energon! ^[3] As Bob Forward and Larry DiTillio were new to Transformers, they likely weren't aware this would have contradicted G1's backstory and once they became aware, the Disk's role was changed.

• "Fires of the Past" shows a statue of Optimus Prime holding two golden disks outside the Cybertron Archives. Neither the Optimus Prime statue nor the golden disks in its hands are mentioned in the script. However, writer Bob Skir suggested that they were either the disks from the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes, or that Optimus won them in the 2,395,989th Annual Cybertronian spelling bee.^[4]

The real Golden Disk

Ow -8 *..

The Golden Disk that appears in Beast Wars is based on a real object: In 1977, NASA launched two spacecraft called Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, which flew by our planetary system's four gas giants. (Jupiter and Saturn were visited by both craft, Uranus and Neptune only by Voyager 2.) The Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft which preceded them had carried copies of a plaque depicting human beings and showing the location of Earth with respect to several highly-visible pulsars. For the Voyager mission, a more sophisticated message was composed.

The "disk" consists of a cover or canister—on which a set of pictograms are found—and a phonograph record inside the canister. The record, titled "The Sounds of Earth", has a "data" portion and a sound portion. In the data portion are over a hundred encoded images including photographs of the Earth and its lifeforms, as well as drawings of human biology and reproduction. The audio portion includes sounds of natural environments on Earth, wildlife, human voices, and music. The pictograms on the record's cover explain how to play the disc and decode the images.

As portrayed in Beast Wars, the Golden Disk seems to be an amalgam of the cover and the record itself. It appears to be at least a few centimeters thick and has the cover's pictograms on one side, but the record grooves and title "The Sounds of Earth" on the other. The indication is that the cover is one-sided, and we are seeing the record through the empty rear, as later episodes would present the disc in its real-life, thin, record form.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Golden Disk (ゴールデンディスク Gōruden Disuku)

References

External links

• NASA's web site on the continuing Voyager mission
• The message on the actual disks