'TRANSFORMERS: ANIMATED' debuts December 26
Veterans of "Beast Machines" and "Teen Titans" have worked closely with Hasbro to create a funky new style for the Transformers animation reboot.
Transformers Animated is the umbrella title given to the new Transformers toy, cartoon and comic line for 2008. Kicking that off at the end of '07 is the new Cartoon Network series that mixes anime and Western animation techniques.
To run the show, executive producer Sam Register ("Teen Titans") handpicked Matt Youngberg (Supervising Director), Derrick Wyatt (Art Director) and "Transformers: Beast Machines" veteran Marty Isenberg (Story Editor).
"Derrick’s [character] designs are what sold me on doing the show," Isenberg told Newarama's STEVE FRITZ. "The faces are expressive, you can tell who’s who, merely by the silhouettes, and most importantly, they’re fun!"
In the opening story of "T:A", the young Optimus Prime (voiced by David Kaye) leads his Autobot repair team--including Bumblebee (Bumper Robinson), Prowl (Jeff Glen Bennett), Ratchet (Corey Burton) and Bulkhead (Bill Fagerbakke)--in their search for the AllSpark. Cue the introduction of the exiled Decepticons, led by Megatron (Burton again) and Starscream (Tom Kenny). When Starscream's sabotage goes awry, Megatron and the Autobots crash-land on Earth--Megatron on a farm where a young boy named Sumdac (Kenny once more) finds his wrecked parts, the Autobots on the bottom of Lake Erie, just outside of Detroit.
A half-century later Sumdac has rebuilt Detroit into the robot manufacturing capital of the world, and the inventor keeps Megatron’s head in a secret room. It's at this point that we meet Sumdac’s daughter, Sari (Tara Strong), who is integral to the series, due in part to her encounter with the AllSpark.
The series includes bits and pieces from just about every other version, including Generation 1, "Beast Wars", "Beast Machines", and Michael Bay's feature film.
"The live action movie references were largely coincidence, since I never saw a script or knew anything about the movie until I saw it a week before it opened," said Isenberg. "Some of it was merely taking things that work well, story-wise, that have worked well in previous incarnations of Transformers. Of course, we like to throw in lots of nods to G1 for the fans, but mostly for ourselves."
Based on his viewing of the pilot movie and first episode, columnist Fritz decided he liked the new series. "Fans of Isenberg’s work should remember the man can put together intricate and well-conceived story arcs. Yes, I don’t truly cotton to Wyatt’s character design, it’s too round and loose for me, but it doesn’t offend me either. The voice cast is truly up to the job though, and I can’t wait to see what characters are introduced as the show moves through its first 26 episodes."
"Transformers: Animated" makes its debut on Cartoon Network on Wednesday, December 26 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. CN will then premiere four episodes of the new series in January. All episodes currently are scheduled to air at 10:30 a.m. (ET/PT), beginning Saturday, January 5. You can visit the Official CN site at www.transformersanimated.com.
[Larger versions of the images can be found at www.comicscontinuum.com.]