EDIT: As I have done to a lesser degree for the previous Transformers cartoons, I will be providing FULL schedule coverage for Transformers: Animated. All future episodes will be announced in this thread, along with "new" or "repeat" indicators, and all schedule updates or changes will be reported here. Check for the latest posts in the thread for the most accurate and recent schedule news.

 

Since "Transformers: Animated" premieres tonight as a television movie on Cartoon Network, I thought this was as good a time as any to start the official series discussion thread.

 

Instead of having General Discussion bombarded with tiny topics about every detail of the show, let's try to focus our "Animated" series conversations in here. It will keep the boards tidy, and will help to keep the conversations moving.

 

Some topics to kick off our discussion with before the movie airs in a few hours:

 

1) Are you looking forward to the new Transformers series? If so, what draws you most to the newest incarnation?

2) The series is receiving almost universal praise for its voice cast. Which voice actors are you most looking forward to hearing?

3) The series is being written in the United States by "Beast Machines" scribe Marty Isenberg. How does this strike you, and do you think having the series created by Cartoon Network in the U.S. will be a nice change from the past few series?

 

I'm sure there will be lots of talk and speculation once the series begins later tonight, so here's to a new era of Transformers television!

Thank you for posting this. :)

 

I was unsure if the premiere was tonight or not... so I guess I had better get my VCR ready!

1) Are you looking forward to the new Transformers series? If so, what draws you most to the newest incarnation?

I am. I'm generally drawn to any reinvention of the franchise, not because I just hate G1 that much, but I really enjoy seeing the concept challenged, if that makes sense. Everything I've seen from the cartoon and toyline I think shows real promise, although I've always been partial to the "animated" look since B:TAS premiered. Plus, I think the more simple style of the artistic design is the perfect compliment to Bay's uber-complex Transformers, and I look forward to having both side-by-side for the next couple of years.

 

2) The series is receiving almost universal praise for its voice cast. Which voice actors are you most looking forward to hearing?

Weird Al and all the original returning G1 cast (Blurr, Arcee, and I think Shockwave).

 

3) The series is being written in the United States by "Beast Machines" scribe Marty Isenberg. How does this strike you, and do you think having the series created by Cartoon Network in the U.S. will be a nice change from the past few series?

I think it's cool. My main issues with Beast Machines came from it's concept (the organic past of Cybertron and it's ultimate techno-organic fate), not the execution of said concept, and I think that the same writers working with a concept I enjoy (which Animated seems to be) can make for an excellent cartoon.

WEIRD AL!!!! 4 LIFE!!!!!

 

On topic though, I am interested in seeing how this pans out, I haven't watched any of the toons (A/E/C) since Beast Machines; which as Hobbes mentioned had poor conceptualization but very good execution on the storytelling side of things.

 

I am very excited about the toys on the other hand. I just think it's great that they're trying to get back to the: the transformation being the gimmick. I was initially worried as to how well they would represent both modes (not that cartoon accuracy is really that important, I'm primarily a G1 fan), but from the protos I've seen, it worked out superbly.

1) What draws me to the new incarnations are the TOYS - which should be out before the show. We've all seen pics of the prototypes. I've heard that Hasbro has intentionally delayed the release of the figures for several months after the show. Does anyone else think this totally sucks balls?!?

 

2) The new Megatron sounds really awesome - in many ways, even better than David Kaye's Beast Wars/Machines Megatron. For one thing, he can sustain a consistent British accent! (as much as I love Kaye's Megatron voice, the inconsistency in the accent was my biggest gripe)

 

3) I like Beast Machines, so I'm looking forward to see how Marty Isenberg handles this. Having said that, I recognise that Beast Machines had its flaws - but a lot of that was to do with character continuity discrepancies with Beast Wars and the unorthodox direction that Skir, Isenberg et al decided to take with the plot - which while I don't inherently object to, did really box in continuity. The main flaw with rebuilding Cybertron as a technorganic world is that it's hard to continue off that and take the story back to a more orthodox/traditional setting without using some shameless plot device to re-rebuild Cybertron as a machine world but yet somehow justifying that within the pre-established premise of Beast Machines. BM effectively stuck the G1/G2/BW/BM continuity into a dead end. TF Animated is a fresh new series - afaik free of direct ties to any other pre-existing canon that the writer would be bound to as with Beast Machines. And from the looks of it they're not intending on taking it on such an unorthodox path as they did with Beast Machines. And also importantly, it seems to also be primarily marketed at kids - which is important. Another flaw with Beast Machines was that it was too adult-oriented... not the greatest thing for advertising a children's toy line (of course, the toy line had some problems too, but that's not the writer's fault).

David Kaye's portrayal of Megatron in Beast Wars/Beast Machines is, in my opinion, the greatest Transformers performance of all time, followed closely by Peter Cullen's Prime. Transformers: Animated combines the best of both worlds for me- Kaye AS Prime. It should prove to be very interesting.

 

As for Corey Burton's Megatron, from what we've seen of him, his voice is evil and dramatic. It's something completely new for the character, and I think it's going to work very well. I think, however, that Tom Kenney's Starscream is going to steal the show.

Anyone know if this is going to be on iTunes??

How does one watch this if they dont have a TV??

^cartoonnetwork.com? I don't know if they have anything set up on the site to watch their programming on-line or not, otherwise there's always a pirate* network somewhere that can help you.

 

 

*I've said it before, and will again, I do not support or condone piracy.

2) The new Megatron sounds really awesome - in many ways, even better than David Kaye's Beast Wars/Machines Megatron. For one thing, he can sustain a consistent British accent! (as much as I love Kaye's Megatron voice, the inconsistency in the accent was my biggest gripe)

Once again the Commodore steps up to the mark

 

there is no such thing as a British accent, Great Britain is made up of England, Scotland and Wales. Each of these countries has a variety of accents on their own, England especially.

 

i see what you mean though, this Megatron seems more calm, as if nothing can touch him. It'll be interesting to see how he later deals with Starscream.

 

Good old Corey Burton, ilook forward to hearing him voice Shockwave again (and Brawn if he ever makes an appearence)

Wow, I had forgotten about that movie tonight! DVR'd! Thanks!