The Transformers (seasons 1 & 2)
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The Transformers is a animated television series created by Sunbow Productions and Hasbro, and was released in 1984. This show is based off of the Transformers toy-line, is the first installment of G1 Era of the Transformers series and is overall, the very first cartoon media to be based off of the Transformers series.
Plot
The three-part pilot miniseries (retroactively titled "More than Meets the Eye") first aired in the United States in September 1984. The story follows Optimus Prime's heroic Autobots and Megatron's evil Decepticons as they leave their metallic homeworld of Cybertron to search for new sources of energy to revitalize their war efforts, only to crash-land on Earth, where they remain entombed and offline for 4 million years. Awakening in the year of 1984, the Decepticons set about pillaging the energy sources of Earth, while the Autobots—aided by human father and son duo Sparkplug and Spike Witwicky—attempt to protect the new world on which they find themselves. The miniseries concludes with the Decepticons believed dead after their space cruiser is sent plunging into the ocean depths, while the Autobots prepare to return to Cybertron.
Season 1
The 13-episode first season, commissioned and produced before the pilot miniseries aired, was broadcast between October and December on Saturday mornings. Story-edited at Marvel Productions by Bryce Malek and Dick Robbins, the season begins with the revelation that the Decepticons have survived the events of the pilot and follows them as they set about constructing a "space bridge" to teleport resources back to Cybertron. A loose story arc centered on this technology spans the season, culminating in "The Ultimate Doom", a three-part episode in which the Decepticons teleport Cybertron itself into Earth's orbit. The paraplegic computer expert Chip Chase joins Spike and Sparkplug as a new human ally for the Autobots.
The season also introduced several new characters from the upcoming 1985 product line in advance of their toys' release including Skyfire, the Dinobots, the Insecticons and the first "combiner" team, the Constructicons, who are able to combine into a giant robot, Devastator, whose introduction was set alongside a climactic one-on-one duel between Optimus Prime and Megatron that served as a part of the season finale.
Season 2
Forty-nine further episodes were commissioned for the show's second season in 1985, bringing the total up to the "magic number" of 65 required to move the series into weekday broadcast syndication. Compared to the first season, Season 2's stories are more episodic, with many of them able to air in whatever order networks chose. Episodes would often spotlight individual characters or groups of characters as a means of promoting their toys and later in the season, the lore of the series would be expanded on as the history of Cybertron and origin of Optimus Prime were discovered and significant cartoon-original characters like Alpha Trion and the first female Transformer characters were introduced. A new recurring human cast member was also added in the form of Spike's girlfriend Carly.
Partway into the season, the remainder of the 1985 product line was introduced, mostly through the two-part episode "Dinobot Island." These new characters, like the first year cast, were largely derived from Takara's Diaclone and Microman lines, including new Autobot car and mini-vehicles and Decepticon jets and the giant Autobot sentinel Omega Supreme and Decepticon "Triple-Changers" Astrotrain and Blitzwing. To expand the line, however, Hasbro also licensed several toys from other companies, including Takara's Japanese competitor, Bandai. Legal complications that arose from incorporating the first of these, Skyfire, into the first season resulted in the character quickly being phased out early in Season 2 and meant that none of the other Bandai-derived characters featured in the series.
Toward the end of the season, the first 1986 product was introduced into the series: the Aerialbots, Stunticons, Protectobots and Combaticons, four combiner teams based on an unmade Diaclone line that was aborted in Japan in favor of importing the Transformers toy line itself. To promote these new toys even further in Japanese markets, a single Japanese-exclusive episode, Transformers: Scramble City, was released direct-to-video in spring of 1986.
Why These Seasons Are More Then Meets The Eye
- The idea behind the Transformers animated series is very creative, being based on the toy line of the same name from Hasbro, which itself was based on Takara's Diaclone and Microman toylines.
- Microman itself was based on Henshin Cyborg, a Japanese-exclusive rebranding of Hasbro's 12 inch GI Joe figures.
- Both the Autobots and Decepticons have exceptional designs and personalities, with some notable standouts being calm and caring warrior Optimus Prime, the groovy and musically gifted Blaster, the logical and loyal Shockwave,
- The series has a wonderful soundtrack, as written by Robert Walsh, Johnny Douglas, Anne Bryant, and Ford Kinder from Griffin-Bacal, the studio that produced the show.
- Some shots from the series look ahead of their time, as they were animated by the legendary animation studio Toei.
- Superb voice-acting, which popular voice cast such as Dan Gilvezan as Bumblebee, Frank Welker as Megatron, Chris Latta as Starscream, Scatman Crothers as Jazz, Casey Kasem as Cliffjumper and Teletraan 1, Gregg Berger as Grimlock and Skyfire, and most famously, Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime.
- Interesting plots, of which are both creative in their own way and put a new twist in the conflict between the Autobots and Decepticons.
- The show has a unique brand of humour, with some very funny standouts. (Amazing! A booby trap that actually captures boobies!)
- The action scenes are fast-paced and frantic.
- Later series introduce new characters, most of which being from the toyline, but some are completely original, like the fan favourites Nightbird and Elita-One.
- In some of the episode (mostly in Season 2), some characters will get their own spotlight and get a major role, given them character development.
- The series was adapted for the silver screen in 1986 with The Transformers: The Movie.
Bad Qualities
- Because the show as made to sell toys, starting with Season 2, characters randomly disappear and are often never seen nor mentioned after The Transformers: The Movie and Seasons 3 & 4.
- While fantastic, the animation can get a bit janky, and there are some noticeable errors. This becomes even more noticeable in Season 2, where animation studio AKOM is responsible for a handful of episodes. Their subpar work would continue into Seasons 3 & 4.
- There are a few dud episodes in the series, such as the much maligned B.O.T, which was the last episode of the series to be aired before the movie released.
- The last two seasons while alright, are much weaker than the first two, in terms of storytelling, characters and visuals.