Transformers: Animated (2007– )

Stars:

David Kaye, Jeff Bennett, Bumper Robinson

1 nomination.

Cast

Series cast summary:
David Kaye	...	Optimus Prime (42 episodes, 2007-2009)
Jeff Bennett	...	Prowl (39 episodes, 2007-2009)
Bumper Robinson	...	Bumblebee (39 episodes, 2007-2009)
Bill Fagerbakke	...	Bulkhead (36 episodes, 2007-2009)
Tom Kenny	...	Isaac Sumdac (36 episodes, 2007-2009)
Corey Burton	...	Ratchet (35 episodes, 2007-2009)
Tara Strong	...	Sari Sumdac (34 episodes, 2007-2009)

Storyline

---

Plot Keywords:

22nd century | transformer | robot | transforming robot

---

Genres:

Animation | Action | Family | Sci-Fi

---

Details

Country:

USA Japan

Language:

English

Release Date:

2008 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Answer Studio, The, Cartoon Network Studios, Hasbro

Technical Specs

Runtime:

20 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Since a number of the people who worked on it had been fans of the franchise already, Transformers: Animated is famous for including many, many references and gags that only more hard-core Transformers fans can get. Besides the cartoon, the comics, the "Allspark Almanac" books, and even the websites dedicated to it are practically full of obvious and obscure references, citing not only Transformers trivia, but also details of other sci-fi franchises, and in some cases, mentioning famous Internet-going fans and unofficial fan terms too.

---

Connections

Version of The Transformers (1984)

User Reviews

Transformers Animated feels right! Tons of G1 fan service.

*For anyone who might not know, G1 refers to the original 1984-1986 transformers cartoon series.

I'm very glad I checked out this show. From the first moments it is very apparent that Transformers Animated is created by fans of G1 transformers, i was glued to the screen for the first eight episodes, and i'm eagerly waiting for more. In fact this show is so good compared to anything since G1, it should be called Transformers Resurrection! Let me tell you about some of the many good things: It feels right! and is obviously made by fans of G1 transformers and other 80s cartoons. It's entertaining from start to finish. The story has so far been good as it takes so much influence from G1, although it's a new story. The other transformers series after G1 has not been able too keep my attention for more than two minutes.

The cartoony style is nice, I love it but fans of a more "serious" style might not like it. The color schemes and the design of the bots are right. All of the robots (even the new ones) have one or more apparent and popular forefathers in G1. e.g. Ratchet = Ratchet with Kup's personality (old grumpy war hero). Prowl is obviously inspired by Kickback. Bulkhead reminds strongly of Hound etc. Optimus Prime here is a less whining version of Rodimus Prime (which in my humble opinion makes for more interesting character development than the original "Ronald Reagan" Optimus Prime).

The voices sounds very G1, and some of the voices are brilliant. Megatron's voice is convincing and starscream sounds like he used to do. He has got his screechy voice (and is plotting against megatron too). Ratchet's Kup voice is cool. One nice thing is that they have the original transformation sound and even starscreams lasers sound a lot like before.

It's great they built on the idea that the autobots are repair-bots, "ordinary people" who has to fight the decepticons, who are big and scary war-machines. It makes the autobots look even more heroic fighting a superior enemy.

One great thing is that the Decepticons are both humorous and wicked evil. (Maybe they got that idea from the excellent 2002 Masters of the Universe cartoon). They also fight amongst each other. I can't stop laughing when thinking of blitzwing talking with a German accent. (He's actually got three faces/voices). A funny Arnold Schwarzenegger imitation, a generally crazy voice and one talking in a superior manner like Michael Schumacher.

One thing the creators have to be praised about is apparently using Blot as basis for the character Lugnut. That truly shows some in depth understanding about G1 transformers! Me and my pals used to laugh at Blot's idiotic design as kids, some sort of big space-gorilla with cowboy boots!? Haha.

The annoying little girl is luckily not very annoying at all. She slightly reminds of the little girl in inspector gadget.

The music is also really nice except for the part "in DiSgUiSE!" in the intro, where the lead singer fails terribly in hitting the right note. Unbelievable someone would let that kind of blunder through! There are some not so great things about the show too that should be mentioned: The animation is pretty jerky (as always) and the quality varies quite much from scene to scene and episode to episode. There are too many cartoon "styles" mixed together. The robots look modern though paying homage to their old designs. Some human characters look like they're from inspector gadget although some statist human characters look like they're from MASK, and kids look like some sort of mix between the modern retro 50s look and manga. What a mess! Still it somehow manages to come out balanced and 80s looking enough not to ruin the whole thing.

Bumblebee dances a very thin line on being annoying, as in too "hip" and too "cool". However most of the time he's likable.

Worst thing to me is that they keep hiding the transformations and when they do show them it usually looks bad. Like they're too hard to draw properly. Sometimes it even looks like they're shapeshifting instead of transforming, and that looks terrible.

Overall however Transformers Animated has so many good elements, it comes out as highly enjoyable. I think most people growing up with G1 would enjoy this. To me it was the first truly enjoyable transformers -anything- since G1.