Transformers: Animated
Transformers: Animated is an American animated television series based on the Transformers toy line. It was produced by Cartoon Network Studios and Hasbro and animated by The Answer Studio, Mook Animation, and Studio 4°C. The series debuted on Cartoon Network on December 26, 2007, and ended on May 23, 2009. In Japan, the show debuted on April 3, 2010, on both TV Aichi and TV Tokyo.
The series has across three seasons, with many fanservice references to other Transformers shows.
The show's continuity is separate from any other previous Transformers continuities, despite using footage from the first series in its first episode as a historical film, and having many references to the other Transformers continuities in the Transformers franchise. The Japanese version of the cartoon was slightly rewritten to tie into Michael Bay's Transformers film series. Despite being a Cartoon Network original series, the show was aired on Nicktoons in the UK since February 2008, Jetix/Disney XD in the rest of Europe from September 10, 2008, and, finally, back in the U.S. on The Hub, now known as Discovery Family in high definition until 2014.
Synopsis
Pilot episodes
The series began with a pilot called "Transform and Roll Out!". Stellar-cycles after the Autobots won the great war for Cybertron against the Decepticons, an Autobot maintenance crew led by Optimus Prime and consisting of Ratchet, Bulkhead, Prowl, and Bumblebee discover the legendary Allspark buried on an asteroid. The Autobots take the Allspark back to their ship, but are soon confronted by a crew of Decepticons led by the notorious warlord Megatron and consisting of Blitzwing, Lugnut, Blackarachnia, and Starscream. Megatron attacks the Autobot ship and tries to retrieve the Allspark, but when an explosive planted on Megatron by the treacherous Starscream detonates, the ship crashes on Earth. The Autobots go into stasis to survive the crash, while the scattered remains of Megatron are discovered by a human scientist named Isaac Sumdac.In the futuristic year of 2050, Professor Issac Sumdac is the CEO of a robotics company known as Sumdac Systems, which is based in a futuristic version of Detroit. Optimus Prime and the Autobots awaken from stasis and defend the people of Detroit from a monster, resulting in them becoming local celebrities. They befriend Professor Sumdac's young daughter Sari, who teaches them about Earth customs, and whose security card is transformed into a supercharged key which possesses a fraction of the AllSpark's vast power. At the end of the pilot episodes, Starscream arrives on Earth and tries to take the all-powerful AllSpark for himself, but the Autobots successfully stop him and save the Earth once again.
Season one
The Autobots settle into their new home and learn about Earth culture and customs, all of the while defending Detroit from various threats. Megatron's disembodied head, which has been in Professor Sumdac's laboratory since the ship crashed, comes back online and manipulates Sumdac into building him a new body, pretending that he is an Autobot. Blitzwing and Lugnut arrive on Earth searching for Megatron, while Blackarachnia targets Optimus Prime, blaming him for her techno-organic mutation. New Transformers introduced in the first season include the Autobot Arcee, the Decepticon Soundwave, the bounty-hunter Lockdown, and the Dinobots Grimlock, Snarl, and Swoop. Several human villains are also introduced, including Nanosec, the Headmaster and Meltdown. The season ends with Megatron returning with a new body, and the AllSpark exploding into many fragments that scatter across Detroit.Season two
The Autobot Elite Guard members Ultra Magnus, Sentinel Prime, and Jazz arrive on Earth to retrieve the Allspark, only to learn of its destruction in the Season One finale. While Sentinel completely disbelieves Optimus's claims, Optimus and his team are eventually able to convince Magnus of Decepticon activity on Earth. The main theme for Season Two is the discovery of small fragments of the Allspark littered across the city, while the Decepticons work on building a space bridge back to Cybertron with the help of Issac Sumdac, who was kidnapped by Megatron in the previous season's finale. This is part of Megatron's plan to invade Cybertron from within, without the Autobots' awareness. New characters introduced in season 2 include the Autobots Omega Supreme, Wreck-Gar, Wasp and Blurr, the Decepticons Shockwave, Swindle, Mixmaster and Scrapper, the human villain Slo-Mo, and Starscream's army of clones Thundercracker, Ramjet, Skywarp, Sunstorm, and Slipstream. At the end of the season, the Decepticon Space Bridge is destroyed, but Megatron, Starscream, and Omega Supreme are sucked through and lost in deep space. Sari meanwhile, notices an injury that exposes mechanical components under her skin, revealing that she is not completely human.Season three
Sari is shocked and distraught over the revelation that she is a robot, and instantly assumes that her "father" had actually built her, refusing to believe Sumdac's claim that he discovered her as a small liquid metal body. Upon examining Sari, Ratchet discovers something quite jarring; Sari is essentially human, but also part Cybertronian. Prowl does some research and discovers that Professor Sumdac was in fact telling the truth, and deduces that Sari is a Cybertronian protoform that came into contact with Sumdac's genetic information. Sari later uses the great power from her Key to upgrade herself into an armored techno-organic teenage form that is far taller and much stronger; equipped with several weapons and superhuman abilities.Meanwhile, on Cybertron, Shockwave sabotages several Elite Guard operations in preparation for Megatron's return, unaware that Megatron and Starscream are lost in deep space, trying to gain control of Omega Supreme. Suspecting that the double-agent may be the escaped convict Wasp, Ultra Magnus sends Sentinel and Jazz back to Earth to find and apprehend Wasp, who has found his way to Earth to exact revenge on Bumblebee for framing him. Soundwave and Arcee reappear, with Soundwave being accompanied by minions Laserbeak and Ratbat. New characters introduced in season 3 include the Constructicon Dirt Boss, the Autobot scientist Perceptor, Prowl's mentor Yoketron, and the flying Elite Guard members Jetstorm and Jetfire.
In the two-part season finale, Jazz joins Optimus Prime's team on Earth, while Megatron and Starscream also find their way back to Earth, using information stored deep within Arcee's subconscious mind to create an army of Omega Supreme-sized robots in Lugnut's likeness. Optimus defeats Megatron with the aid of Ultra Magnus' Magnus Hammer and a "Wingblade" jetpack built by Professor Sumdac, Ratchet, and Sari while Prowl sacrifices his own vital Spark to reassemble most of the AllSpark, killing Starscream in the process, and destroy the "Lugnut Supremes". The Autobots return to Cybertron with the apprehended Decepticons, and are hailed as heroes upon arriving on their home world.
Cancelled fourth season
A fourth season was initially planned for, but was cancelled. According to The AllSpark Almanac II, The Complete AllSpark Almanac, and issue #71 of the Transformers Collectors' Club magazine, season four's main theme would have been the discovery of Energon deposits left by the Allspark across Detroit. Various ideas planned for the cancelled fourth season include:- Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Jazz and Ratchet returning to Earth along with new team member Ironhide, who would scan a pick-up truck vehicle mode resembling the live-action film version of the character while retaining elements from his Generation 1 counterpart.
- Sari remaining on Cybertron to discover more about her unique origins and the Cybertronian species while being educated by Arcee, and training in the Autobot boot camp under Kup alongside Nightbeat, an aspiring detective sharing Arcee's body-type; Hosehead, a Canadian-accented Autobot sharing Sentinel's body-type; and Siren, a sonic-mouthed Autobot who wears the common body-type employed by Bumblebee. These three young Autobots previously appeared in the follow-up story "The Return of Blurr", in which they helped Sari and Arcee with stopping an ancient Decepticon weapon named Kremzeek and restoring Blurr, who was compacted into a cube by Shockwave in the third season.
- Bulkhead also remaining in Cybertron to defend Energon farms from Decepticons such Strika's Team Chaar, who would acquire four new members: Mindwipe, a hypnotist capable of interacting with deceased Decepticons; Blot, who would turn from a monster-motif robot based on his Generation 1 Terrorcon counterpart's beast mode into a Cybertronian ground vehicle; Sky-Byte, a poet inspired by the Predacon from the 2001 Robots in Disguise anime who shares a body-type with Lugnut; and Dr. Scalpel, Oil Slick's partner who is heavily inspired by his Live-action counterpart from Revenge of the Fallen.
- Megatron reformatting into a new Triple-Changer body, with his new vehicle modes being a Cybertronian fighter jet and tank. An action figure was designed for Megatron's new body under the name "Marauder Megatron", but only a prototype exists. He would also have broken out of Trypticon Prison on Cybertron and relocate the city of Kaon to Earth, using the Energon deposits to build machinations that could threaten all life on the planet.
- Hot Shot, who made minor appearances in the third season, acquiring an Earth mode of a sports car. Like Megatron's Marauder body, an action figure was designed for Hot Shot's new body, but only a prototype exists.
- Optimus reformatting into a new "Powermaster" body in which he can combine with his trailer to be of equal power and stature to Megatron. Concept art for an action figure of this body mas been made, which also includes a Mini-Con that would plug into him.
- Blackarachnia returning with an army of Predacons, including Waspinator, new recruits Inferno and Antagony, and a failed clone experiment named Primal Major. She would also adopt a new color scheme heavily based on her Beast Wars counterpart. A flashback episode would reveal the circumstances of her siding with the Decepticons.
- Starscream would have been revived by Slipstream.
- Bulkhead and Sari entering a parallel universe with evil Autobots and heroic Decepticons.
- Minicons from Kaon disabling all the machinery in Detroit, with Ratchet and Captain Fanzone being the ones to stop them.
- The Autobot Cosmos, who made minor appearances in the third season, playing a major role as a messenger for Optimus and scanning a prop flying saucer from the set of a B-Movie.
- Slipstream leading her own team of Decepticons on Earth before ultimately becoming an ally to the Autobots.
- Lugnut, Blitzwing, Shockwave, Sunstorm, Ramjet, and the Stunticons, who were captured by Sideswipe and Cheetor in the follow-up comic "The Stunti-Con Job", would all take part in a spectacular prison break. Thundercracker, Skywarp, Soundwave, Laserbeak, and Meltdown would all return as well.
- Mixmaster and Dirt Boss returning, reuniting with Scrapper. Dirt Boss would put Scrapper, Mixmaster, and Skipjack-a new Constructicon cloned from the Autobot Erector-to work on a project called "Devastator". They would also battle the other Decepticons over control of the Energon deposits on Earth.
- The Decepticon Bludgeon appearing as a skeletal pirate-motif robot rather than having a skeletal samurai-motif.
- Sentinel creating the Powermaster weapon while fighting for his Magnus status and attempting to vanquish Megatron using the AllSpark.
- Prowl's ghost inhabiting AllSpark-powered Cybertronians-such as Wreck-Gar, Slipstream, and the Constructicons-and warning Optimus of the consequences of Sentinel's actions.
- A new group of human villains called S.T.E.A.M., who are against modern technology and use Steampunk-style weaponry.
- Bumblebee solving a mystery which sees himself, Bulkhead, Ironhide, and Sentinel, as well as Waspinator and Shockwave, being targeted.
- Rattletrap being targeted by Autobots and Decepticons alike while being stranded on Earth.
Return to The Hub
Characters
The main Autobots are Optimus Prime, Prowl, Ratchet, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee. The main Decepticon cast is made up of Megatron, Starscream, Blitzwing, Lugnut, and Blackarachnia. The main humans, or as the Transformers call them, "organics", are Professor Isaac Sumdac, Sari Sumdac, and Captain Fanzone.Comic adaptation
Transformers Animated was adapted into comics and published by IDW Publishing in 2008. The book used cartoon screen captures arranged in comic book style panels. In Japan, a manga adaptation titled Transformers Animated: The Cool was created by Naoto Tsushima and serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's Kerokero Ace magazine from March 26, 2010 to March 26, 2011.Locations
- Detroit: A futuristic city located in the state of Michigan. It is the main setting of the show and is where the Autobots live and fight crime.
- * Sumdac Tower: The largest tower in Detroit where Isaac Sumdac designs and tests his robot creations, which was also the resting place of Megatron's severed head before he was revived. Its appearance is that of a giant spark plug.
- * Abandoned Automobile Plant: The current headquarters of the Autobots. According to Sari, Isaac acquired the plant from a merger several years ago, and he was not aware of the plant itself being part of the merger.
- * Dino Drive: A theme park in 22nd-century Detroit that features displays of animatronic Dinosaurs, namely the Dinobots before the events of the episode, Blast from the Past.
- * Fossil Fuels: The city's oil refinery. Its logo is an parody of Sludge.
- * Wyatt Toy: A toy store. Its name is derived from the show's character designer, Derrick J. Wyatt.
- * Burger Bot: A fast food restaurant frequented by Sari and, later on, the Autobots. The restaurant's name is a parody of Burger King with the emphasis of it being run by robots. Unfortunately, it got destroyed by the Headmaster when he was battling Optimus in Starscream's body.
- * Tigatron Stadium: The city's baseball stadium where Prowl faces Lockdown in the episode "Five Servos of Doom". The stadium is a parody of the character Tigatron and is also a parody of the now-demolished Tiger Stadium.
- * Michigan Central Station
- Dinobot Island: Small isolated island in middle of Lake Erie where the Dinobots are living. It is also the location of Meltdown's laboratory.
- Carbon Mines: The site far from Detroit where Megatron's body ended up. During Season 2, Megatron uses it as his base of operation because the carbon protects him and his forces from detection. The Mines are later destroyed during the "A Bridge Too Close" 2-parter.
- Orion: the Autobots' ship, Orion, crippled by the Decepticon's attack and crash-landed in Lake Erie. Its main computer system has a female-voiced persona known as Teletraan I, which is the same name of the Autobot computer system in Generation 1. When Blitzwing and Lugnut arrived on Earth to search for Megatron and the Allspark, Ratchet and Sari used its weapon systems to battle the Decepticons. In part two of "Megatron Rising", the ship flew again, only to be shot down and crash into the crater mountainside of Dinobot Island. The emergency shuttle stored inside the ship was destroyed by Starscream in the episode "A Fistful of Energon". In "A Bridge Too Close, Part 2", it was revealed to be the vehicle form of Omega Supreme.
- The Nemesis, the Decepticons' Warship: Megatron's flagship, which dwarfs the Autobot ship in size and carried the stolen protoforms. On the verge of destruction, it was abandoned by all of the Decepticons except Starscream. He managed to survive and pilot its remains for fifty years until he eventually homed in on the Allspark on Earth. The ship later crash-landed on the moon. It still remained there, acting as Starscream's base of operations and holding his decoy army, until Megatron had parts of it torn down to build his Omega Supreme clones.
- Death's Head, Lockdown's Ship: A ship that is outfitted with hologram projectors to disguise it, and very powerful scanners. Lockdown travels the galaxy in this ship, and he stores many of his hunting trophies on board. It is named after the Transformers comic character Death's Head.
- The Steelhaven, the Cybertron Elite Guard's Ship: It is similar to the ship of Optimus Prime's crew, such as both being Omega Supremes, but this one is larger and light blue in color, Ultra Magnus and his team landed with this ship in Detroit. As of "Mission Accomplished", the ship and its crew has returned to space again to aid the other Autobots across the galaxy. There is a special prison module for the captive Decepticons in this ship. Ultra Magnus had put Starscream in this module when the latter had been arrested by Optimus Prime on Earth; but during the trip to Cybertron, Starscream managed to break out of prison.
- Cybertron: the home planet of the Transformers. In the first two seasons, it was seen in flashbacks but it is seen in more depth during Season 3.
- * The Metroplex: The Autobots' central headquarters on Cybertron, and the chambers to the Autobot High Council.
- * Fortress Maximus: the Elite Guard's base on Cybertron.
Production
Formerly known by the working title Transformers: Heroes, its new simplified title was designed to specifically distinguish it from the live-action film released in July 2007, months before the first episode aired. The series is distributed internationally by Entertainment Rights.
The show's supervising director is Matt Youngberg, with Cartoon Network vice-president Sam Register, who also created Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, as an executive producer and Vincent Aniceto as a line producer. Additionally, writer Marty Isenberg returned as the head writer for this series. Art director and lead character designer Derrick J. Wyatt created the controversial "brand new look" that this series introduces.
The first episode was due to be screened in full on November 3–4, 2007, at the NTFA Mini-Con, a Transformers convention in Arlöv, Sweden, but US toymaker Hasbro pulled their approval of the screening of the full episode, despite it being green-lighted by Hasbro Nordic at first. The episode had to be cut down to the first 11 minutes.
After the series' normal run began in January 2008, the first two seasons were aired nearly back-to-back, creating nearly a year-long delay in between the second and third seasons. The long-awaited final season finally premiered in North America on March 14, 2009, with a 90-minute special. After a lack of communication and much speculation, it was officially announced at BotCon 2009 that the series was over, at least in a televised format.
During the production of the show, voice actor David Kaye was living in Vancouver, Canada and flying to California once a week for nine months straight. This led him to a decision to move to California permanently.
A guidebook for the show, The Allspark Almanac, was released in 2009 and covers the first two seasons of the show. A second guidebook, The Allspark Almanac II, was released in the following year and covers the third and final season of the show. In March 2015, a compilation of the two almanacs, titled The Complete Allspark Almanac, was released. It contains all information from the previous almanacs, along with some differences and additions.
Japanese version
While Transformers Animated had aired and completed its run in many other territories, the release of the series in Japan had been delayed. However, on December 18, 2009, it was announced through the launch of the official website that Takara Tomy would be bringing the series to Japan come Spring 2010. Later, TV Aichi confirmed the exact date of broadcast, which was April 3, 2010, at 8:00AM on the TV Tokyo Network. The website had launched with very little content available, with a trailer and wallpaper of Optimus Prime, later with adding Bumblebee media.As with the movie when released in Japan, Takara Tomy is not renaming Optimus to Convoy as they have done in past properties. However, in a solicitation preview of the key chains, Bulkhead was renamed as Ironhide in toy version. The name change was done because this version the series has been rewritten to flow with the live-action Transformers film series, with Bulkhead being portrayed into a younger version of Ironhide while the show's Ironhide is renamed Armorhide. Human characters are also renamed like Nanosec into Speed King in the Japanese version. In addition, some of the episodes have been reordered, or removed, to fit with the change in story. Notably, the episodes focusing on the Constructicons have been omitted, likely due to the lack of toys based on the characters. Despite all these edits, little actually suggests a tie-in to the films, as the dub is mostly faithful to the original American broadcast; the only mention of Bulkhead's new identity as Ironhide is a toy biography stating that he is a weapons specialist.
In addition, the series features newly animated opening and ending sequences. The opening theme is "TRANSFORMERS EVO." performed by JAM Project, while the ending theme is "AXEL TRANSFORMERS" by Rey.
Cast
Main cast
- Jeff Bennett – Prowl, Ultra Magnus, Soundwave, Mixmaster, Grandus, Captain Fanzone, Angry Archer
- Corey Burton - Ratchet, Megatron, Shockwave, Ironhide, Spike Witwicky, Cyrus "The Colossus" Rhodes, Cyclonus, Brawn
- Bill Fagerbakke – Bulkhead, Hotshot, Master Disaster
- David Kaye – Optimus Prime, Grimlock, Lugnut, Highbrow, Cliffjumper, Warpath, Sparkplug Witwicky
- Tom Kenny – Starscream, Scrapper, Wasp/Waspinator, Jetfire, Skywarp, Sunstorm, Thundercracker, Ramjet, Rattletrap, Professor Isaac Sumdac, Tutor Bot
- Bumper Robinson – Bumblebee, Blitzwing, Blackout, Porter C. Powell, Sparkplug Witwicky
- Tara Strong – Sari Sumdac, Red Alert, Strika, Slipstream, Teletraan I, Mayor Edsel's Aide, Daniel, Carly, Slo-Mo, Receptionist Bot
- Cree Summer – Blackarachnia/Elita One
Additional voices
- Susan Blu – Arcee, Flareup
- Townsend Coleman – Sentinel Prime, Tracks
- Lance Henriksen – Lockdown
- Phil LaMarr – Jazz, Oil Slick, Omega Supreme, Jetstorm, Alpha Trion
- John Mariano – Dirt Boss, Sparkplug Witwicky
- John Moschitta, Jr. – Blurr
- Judd Nelson – Rodimus Prime
- Alexander Polinsky – Henry Masterson/Headmaster
- Brian Posehn – Nino Sexton/Nanosec
- Kevin Michael Richardson – Omega Supreme
- Kath Soucie – Professor Princess, Trisha
- Peter Stormare – Prometheus Black/Meltdown
- George Takei – Yoketron
- Fred Willard – Swindle
- "Weird Al" Yankovic – Wreck-Gar
Crew
- Susan Blu – Casting Director and Recording Director
- Marty Isenberg – Story Editor
- Matt Youngberg – Supervising Producer
- Sebastian Evans – Composer
Episodes
Home video releases
North America
The North American releases feature full-screen video and stereo sound in both English and Spanish.- Transform and Roll Out
- Season One
- Season Two
- Season Three and The Complete Series
United Kingdom
- Transform and Roll Out
- Volume One: Blast from the Past
- Volume Two: Lost and Found
- Volume Three: Megatron Rising
- Volume Four: Mission Accomplished
- Volume Five: Fistful of Energon
- Volume Six: Black Friday
Germany
- Transformieren und Abfahrt
- Volume Eins: Drachenkämpfer
- Volume Zwei: Die alten Waffen
- Volume Drei: Megatrons Auferstehung
- Volume Vier: Mission erfüllt
- Volume Fünf: Der doppelte Starscream
- Volume Sechs: Schwarzer Freitag
Japan