TRANSFORMERS 3-PART PILOT EPISODE - Written by George Arthur Bloom CHALLENGE OF THE GOBOTS 5-PART PILOT EPISODE - Written by Tom Ruegger
In 1984, two TV cartoons about robots who could turn into vehicles (among other things) premiered in syndication, each with its own pilot mini-series, and pop culture has never been the same.
Transformers and Challenge of the GoBots are, in my opinion, the 1980s TV cartoons which hold up the best by far. With their huge casts, space-opera overtones, and universe-building scope, they were twin bolts of lightning in a bottle.
Far more than the glorified toy commercials their detractors have accused them of being, these shows have delighted kids and adults across generations. I hope to get down to the precise reasons for that as I look back at the first 65 episodes of Transformers, and all 65 episodes of GoBots. I also hope to resolve once and for all which of the two shows I like better, and why.
Unfortunately, only the first 35 episodes of GoBots are available at the moment, so this thread will remain incomplete until the final 30 are finally released (and hopefully the won't be a 3-year gap like there was between the DVD releases of the miniseries and the first volume of the regular series.)
I'll start, of course, with the pilots. And here, I have to say, the GoBots win by a nose. In addition to the extra breathing room provided by having 2 more installments than the Transformers pilot, the story is also better structured and less juvenile. Where the Transformers pilot gets off to a glorious start only to start meandering once the robots reach the planet Earth, the GoBots pilot is reasonably well thought-out, with stronger story beats. And it almost goes without saying that both pilots suffer from the plot holes and bad science typical of 80s TV adventure cartoons.
The GoBots also has a more clear-cut conflict between the heroic Guardians and the villainous Renegades, with the Guardians protecting the plaent Gobotron's ruling council and the Renegades wanting all the power for themselves, in order to rule like tyrants. Compare this to the set-up in Transformers, where it's never quite clear who exactly is in charge of the planet Cybertron, the heroic Autobots or the villainous Decepticons (although it's vaguely hinted that the Decepticons are, as we see Decepticon leader Megatron leaving Shockwave to take care of the planet, whereas we don't see the Autobots leave anyone behind.)
Having said all that, Transformers does come out better in several ways: the characters are more engaging, the voice acting much stronger, the animation fuller and less cartoonish, and the production design more imaginative.
To elaborate on some of the above points, compare the heroic robots' respective leaders: the Transformers' Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen, who has said he based Prime on his older brother, Larry, a fire chief) has far more gravitas and grit than the GoBots' bland and unimaginatively named Leader-1 (voiced by Lou Richards). There's also the matter of the other heroes -- the only other Guardians who get much screen time in either the mini-series or the ongoing series are the rugged lieutenant Turbo (voiced by Arthur Burghardt) and the surrogate kid brother figure Scooter (voiced by Frank Welker in that child-like voice that he has used elsewhere, and which some people find grating; I myself don't.) Compare these two to their Autobot counterparts, Ironhide (also voiced by Peter Cullen) and Bumblebee (voiced by Dan Gilvezan) -- Turbo, like Leader-1, comes off hopelessly bland, while Scooter comes off as a whining coward where Bumblebee can pretty much take care of himself, even if he does end up being saved by his elders a lot.
There's also the human element. In Transformers, humans are represented by the salt-of-the-earth oil rig worker Sparkplug (voiced by Chris Latta) and his plucky teenage son Spike (voiced by Corey Burton). Both are likeable and endearing. In GoBots, we have astronaut, wannabe action hero and Tom Selleck look-alike Matt Hunter (voiced by Morgan Paull), and his teenage proteges, Nick (a white boy voiced by Sparky Marcus in the pilot and Ike Eisenmann in the series) and A.J. (a black girl voiced by Leslie Speights). They are uninteresting and best, irritating at worst.
And finally, of course, the villains -- here it's a close call, but the Transformers come out ahead. Megatron (voiced by Frank Welker in his best raspy growl, with an unbeatable maniacal laugh), and his lieutnants, the creepily steadfast Soundwave (also voiced by Welker, aided by really cool vocal processing effects) and the conniving, traitorous Starscream (voiced by Chris Latta to the same wonderfully shrill effect as G.I. Joe arch-villain Cobra Commander, whose TV cartoon debuted one year earlier) are all gloriously over-the-top yet still utterly menacing. By comparison, the GoBots' Cy-Kill (voiced by Bernard Erhard) is merely an adequate arch-villain, and his dull-witted muscle Cop-Tur (voiced by Bob Holt, pretty much re-hashing his Grape Ape voice) is an utter buffoon. Oh, but then there's Cy-Kill's female first lieutenant, Crasher (spectacularly voiced by Marilyn Lightstone), a deliciously sadistic ball of wickedness. For a cartoon principally aimed at boys in the unenlightened 80s (though both shows always had lots of girl fans), the presence of both genders among Guardians and Renegades alike was refreshing and quite ahead of its time (though Transformers would eventually introduce female Autobots).
So there you have it. Both shows off to flawed but promising starts. Transformers would show 13 more episodes during the 1984 season, while the GoBots ongoing series wouldn't start until 1985. To make things easier to follow, I'm going to review the next two Transformers episodes as stand-alone reviews, and then go back to reviewing Transformers and GoBots alongside each other, one episode at a time.
Fasten your seat belts and ROLL OUT!
Last edited by Fanfic Lady; 10/18/1609:50 AM. Reason: Updating title
TRANSFORMERS: TRANSPORT TO OBLIVION - Written by Dick Robbins & Bryce Malek
In my opinion, the show was still finding its footing during its short first season. There seems to have been an effort to structure the season like an old-time black-and-white movie serial in 13 installments, but this has the unintended effect of making the individual episodes hard to distinguish from each other.
Compounding the disappointment in this, the first episode, is the lack of continuity from the end of the pilot, where the Autobots were about to return to Cybertron. Instead, they're still on Earth with no explanation. The lack of enough screentime for Cybertron would be a recurring problem during almost the entire first and second seasons of Transformers.
What this episode does do is introduce the very cool concept of the "Space Bridge", built on Earth by the Decepticons to transport matter to and from Cybertron.
TRANSFORMERS: ROLL FOR IT - Written by Douglas Booth
Despite some very inconsistent animation, this is a good episode showcasing another human supporting character, Chip Chase (voiced by Michael Horton), a boy genius in a wheelchair. The potential for audience manipulation based on Chip's condition is dangerously high, but the script wisely sidesteps that temptation.
Douglas Booth would write several episodes of both the first and second seasons of Transformers. In my opinion, Booth was hit-and-miss, but when he was good he was very good.
TRANSFORMERS: DIVIDE AND CONQUER - Written by Donald F. Glut
Despite a whopper of a plot hole where the Autobots are affected by acid rain but Chip is unharmed, this is in my opinion one of the strongest first season episodes. With Optimus Prime's life hanging in the balance after he's critically wounded in battle, it effectively taps into the primal (no pun intended) fear of losing a parental figure. Donald F. Glut, a prolific 80s and early 90s scripter who I think gets a bad rap, also does a good, refreshingly understated job with the Megatron/Starscream conflict, and the animation is mostly above average.
GOBOTS: TIME WARS - Written by Douglas Booth, from a story by Jeff Segal & Kelly Ward
With generally inferior characters and inferior animation to Transformers, GoBots episodes tend to live or die by the strength and scope of their plots. This one, a fairly cliched ride through the old villains-go-back-in-time-to-change-history-to-their-advantage trope, is not terrible, but it's not terribly good, either. It also sets a pattern of the episodes focusing on a trio each of Guardians (Leader-1, Turbo, and Scooter) and Renegades (Cy-Kill, Crasher, and Cop-Tur) while one cipher Guardian (in this case, Pathfinder) and one cipher Renegade (in this case, Buggyman) appear in supporting roles of little or no substance.
TRANSFORMERS: FIRE IN THE SKY - Written by Alfred A. Pegal
For me, this is the best episode of the first season. It has shades of gray in the moral conflict faced by Skyfire (voiced by Gregg Berger), an ancient Transformer super-warrior from a time before the Autobots and Decepticons chose factions. Adding to the pleasures, we find out that Starscream wasn't always a villain, and that he and Skyfire were once fellow scientists and friends back on Cybertron -- the first hint of the Transformers' rich backstory which will be further explored in future episodes. The animation is pristine and mostly error-free, although the climax and ending seem a bit rushed.
GOBOTS: IT'S THE THOUGHT THAT COUNTS - Written by Mark Zaslove
There are some strong points to this episode -- it's the first one to feature several characters from both sides of the conflict, and the plot, while familiar, is strong enough: one Guardian is brainwashed by the Renegades into becoming a saboteur. Unfortunately, there's two big problems: firstly, the Guardian turncoat is Scooter, who is so unlikable we don't really care what happens to him; secondly, there is a new and very unappealing human character introduced, purely as a plot device: his name is Clyde, and he's animated to look about 50 years old, which makes his brief flirting with A.J. disgustingly creepy. A decent action sequence at the climax, and the pleasure of hearing Welker, in the role of Guardian medic Rest-Q, use his Fred-from-Scooby-Doo voice, are not enough to fully redeem this one.
TRANSFORMERS: S.O.S. DINOBOTS - Written by Donald F. Glut
Introducing the first three of the titular Dinobots -- Grimlock the Tyrannosaur (voiced by Gregg Berger), Slag the Triceratops (voiced by Neil Ross), and Sludge the Brontosaur (voiced by Frank Welker) -- this is a fairly by-the-numbers episode kept afloat by generally good animation. It's easy to predict that the unstable, violent Dinobots will end up saving the other Autobots and redeem themselves, but it's fun enough viewing.
GOBOTS: TRIDENT'S TRIPLE THREAT - Written by David Schwartz, based on a story by Jeff Segal & Kelly Ward.
Decent animation (by Hanna-Barbera standards, anyway) and a decent premise (Trident is the Renegades' cyborg ally, an embittered scientist from a foreign power who helped design the high-tech device which the Renegades steal) combined with the debut of my favorite Guardian, the tough and spunky female Small Foot (voiced by B.J. Ward), make this the first satisfying done-in-one episode of the GoBots. It's worth noting that this is one of a handful of GoBots episodes released on VHS.
TRANSFORMERS: FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN - Written by Douglas Booth
Presumed dead only two episodes ago, Skyfire comes back just in time to help stop the Decepticons' usual antics, this time in South America. By far the best-looking episode of the first season -- for the first time, the action sequence pack a real punch -- but the excellent animation is at the service of a silly story with unfortunate Latin stereotypes. Adding insult to injury, this is the first, though sadly not the last, episode to focus on the Autobots Brawn (who I've always considered an unappealing little thug) and Windcharger (who I've always considered a hopeless nonentity). I do give the episode some credit for giving some much-needed face time to one of my favorite Decepticons, Thundercracker (voiced by John Stephenson).
GOBOTS: RENEGADE ALLIANCE - Written by Don Goodman, based on a story by Jeff Segal & Kelly Ward
A promising premise goes to ruin in this badly animated and slow-paced episode. The Renegades manipulate an alien warlord with an armada of drone ships into attacking Gobotron. Unfortunately for the viewers, the plot requires the warlord to be stupid, his drones look like something you'd find in a cereal box, and the expected big battle gets called off at the last second.
TRANSFORMERS: WAR OF THE DINOBOTS - Written by Donald F. Glut
A fairly routine episode enlivened considerably by some nice shades-of-grey characterization of the Dinobots. Megatron manipulates the first three Dinobots -- taking advantage of Grimlock's arrogance, Slag's hostility, and Sludge's stupidity -- into attacking Optimus Prime. And, of course, it just so happens that the next two Dinobots, the Stegosaur Snarl (voiced by Hal Rayle) and the Pteranadon Swoop (voiced by Michael Bell) are waiting in the wings to help save the day. Naturally, this being an 80s TV cartoon, the status quo is reset by the end, but the temporary ambivalence of the Dinobots is refreshing.
GOBOTS: CY-KILL'S CATACLYSMIC TRAP - Written by Peter Anderegg, based on a story by Jeff Segal, Kelly Ward, and Peter Anderegg.
This action-packed, lightning-paced, surprisingly well-animated cracker of an episode finds B.J. Ward doing double duty as both Small Foot and the Guardians' latest recruit, the arrogant and vain Snoop, who leads the Guardians into the titular trap on a distant planet where the Renegades have established a new base. In a way, Snoop is the best and worst thing about this episode -- on one hand, it's cool that she turns out to be a Renegade spy, and a villainess of the same caliber as Crasher; on the other hand, it's a bit disappointing that she turns out to be a Renegade spy, because in a series where most of the heroes tend to be insipid and boring, she might have livened things up had she stayed a Guardian. Still one of my favorite episodes of the whole GoBots series.
TRANSFORMERS: THE ULTIMATE DOOM (PART 1 OF 3) - Written by Larry Strauss, from a story by Douglas Booth
Unlike the pilot 3-parter, The Ultimate Doom has an ambitious, near-apocalyptic scope as the Decepticons conspire with their new human ally, Dr. Arkevill (voiced by Casey Kasem) to mentally enslave humanity (shades of the GoBots pilot) and to use a massive space bridge to bring Cybertron into Earth's orbit, creating natural disasters from which energy will be harvested. Although it's a mess in execution (having each installment scripted by a different writer doesn't help), it could have been a real guilty pleasure if the animation hadn't been done by Toei Studio's weakest unit. One of the Decepticons' mind-slaves is Sparkplug, and it's genuinely disturbing to see him actually hit and throttle Spike as he struggles to regain his free will. As with Divide and Conquer, The Ultimate Doom taps into some very human fears.
GOBOTS: SPEED IS OF THE ESSENCE - Written by Jina Bacaar, from a story by Jeff Segal & Kelly Ward
A rule of thumb with GoBots is: the bigger the cast, the more likely the episode is good. This one, in which an unconscious Turbo is rescued by two young men who use him to enter a car race, has an embarrassment of riches in the cast: plenty of both Small Foot and Crasher, a cameo by Snoop, the debut of my favorite male Guardian, Van Guard*, and so much more. Speed is of the Essence is not a perfect episode -- there's a few leaps of logic which stretch credibility too far, even by 80s TV robot adventure cartoon standards -- but it's a darn good one.
*I'm not sure why Van Guard is my favorite male Guardian, because he's just as lacking in personality as the others. I guess I just like his voice (by Ken Campbell) and his design.
TRANSFORMERS: THE ULTIMATE DOOM (PART 2 OF 3) - Written by Earl Kress, from a story by Douglas Booth
A rather pokey and meandering middle installment, serving mostly as set up for the big finale in the next episode. A lot of time is devoted to showing the destruction of both the Autobot and Decepticon bases, even though both will be quickly repaired after The Ultimate Doom ends.
GOBOTS: GENIUS AND SON - Written by John Loy and Eric Lewald
As if Nick and A.J. weren't annoying enough, now we get a grade-school-age brat to test our gag reflex. Said brat's father is a scientist at a space station blackmailed by the Renegades into giving them the weapon he invented. GoBots-by-numbers when the kid's offscreen, putrid when he is onscreen. It's worth noting, though, that after this episode, the two writers (working separately) would go on to script some of the best episodes of the series. We've all gotta start somewhere.
TRANSFORMERS: THE ULTIMATE DOOM (PART 3 OF 3) - Written by Leo D. Paur, from a story by Douglas Booth
The opening action sequences on Cybertron are spectacular, some of the series' best animation since Fire on the Mountain. Then, halfway through this installment, the animation units switch rather jarringly, and the story plods towards an underwhelming conclusion. At least Spike's reunion with the liberated Sparkplug is moving, although Corey Burton has claimed that Chris Latta played sick mind games with him while they were recording that scene.
GOBOTS: DAWN WORLD - Written by Donald F. Glut
Scooter and Nick are inexplicably on a dangerous deep space mission by themselves when they run afoul of the Renegades and crash-land on a planet of savage blue-skinned natives and giant swamp creatures. As silly and schlocky as it sounds, but at least it's fast-paced fun.
TRANSFORMERS: COUNTDOWN TO EXTINCTION - Written by Reed Robbins & Peter Salas
GOBOTS: NOVA BEAM - Written by Daniel Will-Harris, from a story by Jeff Segal & Kelly Ward
Coincidentally, both these episodes have thin premises which hinge on a protracted countdown to Earth's destruction. And since neither one of them is very good, I don't think they're worth reviewing separately.
TRANSFORMERS: A PLAGUE OF INSECTICONS - Written by Douglas Booth
The wonderfully creepy and treacherous Insecticons -- Shrapnel (voiced by Hal Rayle), Bombshell (voiced by Michael Bell), and Kickback (voiced by Clive Revill) -- make their debut in this well-written but badly-animated episode. It makes me wonder exactly how Toei Studios selected which units would work on which scripts -- the silly Fire on the Mountain gets the best animators, and this one gets the worst??
GOBOTS: FORCED ALLIANCE - Written by Douglas Booth, from a story by Jeff Segal & Kelly Ward
Does what it says on the tin. The Guardians and the Renegades must call a temporary truce and work together when they both crash-land on a planet of giant cyber-organic spiders. Double-crosses abound, of course, keeping the story unpredictable and always watchable despite lapses like Scooter using a holographic disguise with a spider body and a Scooter head!
TRANSFORMERS: THE HEAVY METAL WAR - Written by Donald F. Glut
The first season finale is, in my opinion, good but not great. Good in the sense that it introduces the Transformers' first and best combiner team, the Constructicons -- Scrapper (Michael Bell), Hook (Neil Ross), Scavenger (Don Messick), Mixmaster (Frank Welker), Long Haul (Gregg Berger), and Bonecrusher (Neil Ross), all of whom merge to form the mighty Devastator (Arthur Burghardt) -- as well as a lot of good character bits. Not so good in the sense that the seeming final defeat of the Decepticons at the end is underwhelming in its seeming arbitrariness. Indeed, the second season would do away with all vestiges of continuity in favor of self-contained done-in-ones and done-in-twos.
GOBOTS: INVASION FROM THE 21ST LEVEL (PART 1 OF 2) - Written by Lane Raichert, from a story by Jeff Segal & Kelly Ward
A very strong opening installment for the first multi-parter of the ongoing series, as the Renegades use a device to teleport monstrously powerful insectoids from another dimension into our dimension. The creatures are led by Queen Exor, who has an awesome voice (I'm not sure who it is, but I suspect it might be Jennifer Darling). Great cliffhanger as Exor takes control of the Renegade base, Rogue Star, and teleports in reinforcements.
TRANSFORMERS: AUTOBOT SPIKE - Written by Donald F. Glut
When Spike is badly injured after he and Bumblebee foolishly jump into the fray, the Autobots and Sparkplug decide to transfer his mind into a robot shell while his body recovers. Of course, this leads to disaster, and, of course, the Decepticons try to turn it to their advantage. Weird in a bad way, and more than a little creepy, this episode was a very strange choice for a season opener.
GOBOTS: INVASION FROM THE 21ST LEVEL (PART 2 OF 2) - Written by Lane Raichert
Queen Exor and her insectoids begin their conquest of the world, imprisoning humans as well as any GoBots unlucky enough to cross them. Compared to the first installment, this one's a mess, but at least it's a fast-moving, decently-animated mess...until the lame ending, where, for no given reason, Exor is unable to prevent herself from being transported back to her dimension, even though she did just that earlier in the story.
TRANSFORMERS: THE IMMOBILIZER - Written by Earl Kress
This episode is a good demonstration of what I feel is Transformers' greatest strength -- characterization so strong, it rises above pedestrian plotting. The McGuffin of the title is not very interesting, but Ironhide's crisis of confidence and feelings of obsolescence are very compelling, as is the new human character introduced here: Carly, a brave, if somewhat foolhardy, and super-smart college student who is also a stand-in for every Transformers fangirl.
GOBOTS: LOST ON GOBOTRON - Written by Eric Lewald, from a story by Jeff Segal, Kelly Ward, and Eric Lewald
A great idea -- the Guardians and their human allies being forced to interact with the Gobotron underclass -- ruined by weak execution. One problem with this episode is that it can't quite seem to decide what it wants to be: it's got both nauseatingly cute mutant urchins and vicious mutant gladiators, some of whom actually die. Another, bigger problem, is that the Guardians and the humans appear to have learned nothing by the end of the episode.
TRANSFORMERS: DINOBOT ISLAND (PART 1 OF 2) - Written by Donald F. Glut
A couple of Autobots accidentally discover an island that is literally out of time, and is inhabited by dinosaurs. Optimus Prime figures it would be a good place for the Dinobots to stay, at least temporarily. But the rich natural energy resources inevitably attract the Decepticons, who sink the Dinobots into a tar pit, and start draining the island's energy sources, causing the time-space continuum to unravel. There's also a bunch of new Transformers introduced, albeit many more Autobots than Decepticons, in ways that are cornier and more juvenile than usual for this show. Otherwise, it's not bad, although it's mostly set-up for Part 2, and it often feels padded.
GOBOTS: CY-KILL'S SHRINKING RAY - Written by Dale Kirby, from a story by Jeff Segal & Kelly Ward
The title pretty much says it all. And with the rule of thumb that robot cartoons are lame whenever giant kids mistake them for toys (see also Transformers' "Child's Play"), there's really nothing else to say, except: Don't watch this episode.
TRANSFORMERS: DINOBOT ISLAND (PART 2 OF 2) - Written by Donald F. Glut
The time-space warps unleash barbarians, cowboys, and pirates, and the Autobots must send them back to their respective times. Once that's done, they take the battle to Dinobot Island, where the Dinobots are freed the Decepticons flee, and the temporal status quo is restored. Better than Part 1, with decent animation and plenty of action, but once again it all feels just a bit too juvenile, as if the people making the show were talking down to their target audience of 10-to-11-year-olds. Happily, this is the exception and not the rule for most of the show's run.
GOBOTS: DOPPLEGANGER - Written by Antoni Zalewski, from a story by Jeff Segal & Kelly Ward
The Renegades create impostor versions of the Guardians in order to destroy their enemies from within. A great episode that kicks off with action aplenty and doesn't let up for a second. Also the best showcase for Small Foot of the show's entire run. And it's pretty awesome that, since the impostors don't have souls, we get to see them blow up real good! My only complaint would be that it might have been even better as a 2-parter, allowing more room for the kind of complex characterization that GoBots tended to avoid in favor of strong plots like this one.
TRANSFORMERS: TRAITOR - Written by George Hampton & Mike Moore
There is a rare case of dissention in the Autobot ranks as Cliffjumper suspects Mirage of being a Decepticon collaborator. The Decepticons are having their own problems with their typically shaky alliance with the Insecticons. Now THIS would have been a great choice for a Season Two opener -- exceptional animation, intricate plotting, and shades-of-gray characterization. I always had a soft spot for the reckless, hot-headed Cliffjumper (voiced by Casey Kasem), so I enjoy seeing a spotlight on him.
GOBOTS: THE QUEST FOR ROGUE STAR - Written by John Loy, from a story by John Loy, Jeff Segal, and Kelly Ward
The Guardians must use strategy to sabotage the Renegades' operations by sneaking aboard their enemies' colossal interstellar battleship headquarters, the Rogue Star. This is the best episode from the first half of this show's run, in my opinion. The plotting is tight, the action is plentiful, and the cast is larger than usual. Even the animation is actually rather good for what it is. And in an ironic stinger at the end, the Renegades actually deceive the Guardians into thinking that Rogue Star has been destroyed! Since the Renegades, despite their evilness, tend to be more compelling characters than the Guardians, this is almost pleasing!
TRANSFORMERS: ENTER THE NIGHTBIRD - Written by Sylvia Wilson and Richard Milton
A Japanese scientist invents the Nightbird, a female ninja robot, whom the Decepticons steal and reprogram to fight on their side. She proves capable of outfighting all the Autobots assembled on Earth, and she is only defeated when Megatron decides to make her his new first lieutenant, causing a jealous Starscream to shoot her in the back. Ninjas were a hot thing in 80s pop culture, so it was inevitable we'd see one here. That said, it's not a bad episode, although the reprogramming and the eventual capture and imprisonment of the Nightbird have unfortunate connotations, especially considering the episode was co-written by a woman.
GOBOTS: RENEGADE RAMPAGE (PART 1 OF 2) - Written by Karen Weingrod & Ken Cinnamon, from a story by Jeff Segal & Kelly Ward
Some nauseatingly saccharine magical elf-like creatures who live peacefully on a triangular planet (!) own a powerful three-piece amulet which is coveted by the Renegades. In the end, the Guardians and the elves see no recourse but to destroy the triangular planet, and hopefully the amulet and the Renegades with it. But the Guardians and the elves end up trapped within an amulet-generated force field just as the planet is about to explode...and this is such a weak episode it's hard to care about anything that happens; hard to believe someone thought this thin story was strong enough to be a two-parter.
TRANSFORMERS: CHANGING GEARS - Written by Larry Parr
Autobot Gears, a runty little grump, possesses a special circuit that the Decepticons need to power their latest super-weapon; losing that circuit causes him to become cheerfully subservient to the Decepticons. While I normally applaud the way that certain Autobots had spotlight episodes, a few of the choices were just bizarre -- such is the case here, with Gears so unlikable no matter what personality he's sporting that it's hard to get involved in the story. Good animation, though, showing once again how randomly the scripts were farmed out to Toei Studios' animation units.
GOBOTS: RENEGADE RAMPAGE (PART 2 OF 2) - Written by Karen Weingrod & Ken Cinnamon, from a story by Jeff Segal & Kelly Ward
If you really must know, the Guardians and the elves find a crack in the force field that they can squeeze through just before the planet explodes, leading to more meandering, padded escapades until the Renegades are defeated and the planet is magically restored. I think the word I'm looking for to describe this waste of ink, paint, and plastic is feckless.
TRANSFORMERS: A PRIME PROBLEM - Written by Bryce Malek & Dick Robbins
A far inferior variation on the great GoBots episode "Doppleganger". Here, the Decepticons create only one Autobot impostor, an Optimus Prime look-alike. The plot, such as it is, requires the other Autobots to be stupid, until the impostor finally reveals himself by being callous about Spike. Not the worst Transformers episode, but definitely one of the dullest.
GOBOTS: ULTRA ZOD - Written by Jim Bertges
The Renegades have taken a small industrial town hostage and forced the residents to build the latest model Zod, a giant and powerful but dull-witted beastial robot that the Renegades have been mass-producing for years to no avail. Of course, it so happens that A.J.'s aunt and uncle live in this town; that, combined with the Renegades chickening out at inappropriate times, and Ultra Zod being no smarter than the previous model AND having the exact same weak spot, assures viewer dissatisfaction.
TRANSFORMERS: ATLANTIS, ARISE! - Written by Douglas Booth
The Decepticons make an uneasy alliance with King Nergil (voiced by Wally Burr), ruler of the underwater city of Sub-Atlantica, and set off to conquer the world, starting with Washington, D.C. After many double-crosses, and some hilarious vandalizing of U.S. national landmarks, the Autobots and Dinobots win the battle, the Decepticons retreat, and King Nergil escapes after destroying his own kingdom. Despite playing fast and loose with the laws of physics and telepathy (more than usual for a cartoon, anyway), and despite a whopper of an animation error where Optimus Prime watches himself rush to save the Washington Monument, this episode is a blast, and one of my favorites of this season. The pace never lets up, and the animation is mostly gorgeous. I'm surprised that King Nergil never returned in a later episode.
GOBOTS: SENTINEL - Written by Donald F. Glut, from a story by Jeff Segal & Kelly Ward
Earth science creates Sentinel, a super-robot designed to help the Guardians patrol the planet. Unfortunately, Scooter's stupidity results in a glitch that turns Sentinel into a genocidal megalomaniac determined to wipe out all organic life. Far too dark a concept to be accommodated by an American-produced kids TV cartoon from the 80s, the episode just bumbles along until the lazy default ending for any cartoon with an invincible villain -- just have him leave Earth to wreak death and destruction elsewhere. Needless to say, the Guardians condone this, coming off very badly indeed.
TRANSFORMERS: ATTACK OF THE AUTOBOTS - Written by David Wise
The Decepticons turn most of the Autobots evil, though this being an 80s cartoon, the most evil thing they do is vandalize an Air Force base (with no human casualties, of course.) This episode is notable mostly for being the first written by David Wise, the most prolific writer of Season 2, and responsible for some of its best episodes (and a couple of its worst). This one is merely mediocre, with animation that's never better than just okay. It does have some nice character work for Bumblebee and Jazz, as the two Autobots spared the evil-izing. Bumblebee's faith in Optimus Prime's essential goodness is such that it's genuinely moving.
In which we finally learn what happened to the Decepticon ship from the pilot episode. Some explorers uncover said ship, and the Decepticons chase them away so that Megatron can upgrade his powers thanks to the ship's power source, the Heart of Cybertron. Megatron makes tinfoil of most of the Autobots, and the day is only saved when Perceptor (voiced by Paul Eiding), Bumblebee, and Brawn shrink themselves to make a "fantastic voyage" into Megatron's inner workings and disconnect the power source. Early on, Brawn comes off like even more of a jerk than usual, but at least the script doesn't bang us over the head with Important Lesson that Brawn must learn (namely, that a scientist like Perceptor has as much value to the Autobots as a warrior like Brawn.) And the animation is spectacular, possibly the best of the entire season.
GOBOTS: CRIME WAVE - Written by Francis Moss
Cy-Kill unites all the organized crime families in America, and working together, they take over the United States, but only for as long as it takes for the Guardians to foil their plans. A decent episode, but nothing about it particularly excites me. 80s action animation by numbers, if you will.
TRANSFORMERS: THE MASTER BUILDER - Written by David N. Gottlieb & Herb Englehardt
As much a spotlight on the Constructicons as it is on new Autobots Grapple and Hoist. The former sextet takes advantage of the latter pair so that a solar-energy-absorption tower designed by Grapple can become a reality -- with the Decepticons the sole beneficiaries, of course. Once the smoke has cleared, Optimus Prime forgives Grapple and Hoist a little too easily, but the rich characterization and typically excellent voice acting in this episode makes that flaw forgivable.
GOBOTS: AUTO-MADIC - Written by Mark Zaslove
The Renegades finally make a proactive move against the power of the Guardians' combiner robot, Courageous, by creating their own combiner robot. Unfortunately, the Renegades' scheme involves allying themselves with a heartless used-car salesman and his termagant wife, possibly the two most annoying human characters of the show's entire run. Adding insult to injury, the battle between the two combiners lasts less than one minute and is poorly executed.
TRANSFORMERS: THE INSECTICON SYNDROME - Written by Douglas Booth
The Decepticons once again ally themselves with the Insecticons, even though it's doomed to failure. This time, the Insecticons consume a super new experimental form of energy, and become so powerful that they turn on the Decepticons, necessitating a temporary alliance between Optimus Prime and Megatron. One of my all-time favorite episodes, I've watched it more than almost any other pre-movie episode. The animation is great, the Autobots are a nice mix of old and new, and the musical cues are used especially well.
GOBOTS: SCOOTER ENHANCED - Written by Mark Young, from a story by Jeff Segal & Kelly Ward
The title pretty much says it all. If you like Scooter (I do not), then you'll enjoy seeing him use his newly-installed weapons and talking in a fake cowboy twang. If you like Small Foot (I do), you'll cringe at how ineffectual she is here. Otherwise, it's mediocre.
TRANSFORMERS: DAY OF THE MACHINES - Written by David Wise
The Decepticons, their eyes on a fleet of oil tankers, reprogram a human-made super-computer, Torq III, to serve them. To get to Torq III, the Autobots must first overcome a squad of deadly drones. Once this is done, they foil the oil theft. This episode was a favorite of mine as a kid, because Hound, my favorite of the original 18 Autobots, helps save the day. But I have to admit it doesn't hold up very well, mainly because Wise's plotting is so busy yet so sloppy that there is little room for the show's usual saving grace of great character bits.
GOBOTS: TARNISHED IMAGE - Written by David Schwartz, from a story by Jeff Segal and Kelly Ward
The three main Renegades trick the three main Guardians into going off into deep space on a wild goose chase, then use holographic disguises to impersonate the three main Guardians and discredit them in the eyes of the humans. Unlike in this episode's Transformers counterpart, "Megatron's Master Plan", the Guardians aren't required by the plot to act like complete doofuses. Otherwise, it's strictly run-of-the-mill stuff.
TRANSFORMERS: MEGATRON'S MASTER PLAN (Part 1 of 2) - Written by Donald F. Glut
The Decepticons use disguises and deceit (including the manipulation of a crooked human politician) to discredit the Autobots and try to make themselves look heroic in the eyes of the humans. Apparently, the humans in the TF universe have very bad memories, because they conveniently forget all the mayhem and theft of energy resources that the Decepticons have committed. Even more painful for viewers in the normally stalwart Optimus Prime having to act stupid and submissive in the service of what passes for a plot. The Autobots are exiled to deep space, but once their ship has taken off, Megatron reprograms the ship via computer, setting a collision course with Earth's sun. To be continued...unfortunately.
GOBOTS: IN SEARCH OF ANCIENT GOBONAUTS - Written by Mark Young, from a story by Mark Young, Phil Harnage, Jeff Segal, and Kelly Ward
A promising premise -- an ancient evil GoBot is buried deep in South America -- comes up way short in execution. Dull, obvious, and slow paced, with a muddled attempt at Cy-Kill showing shades of grey. Somehow, this one really wowed me when I was a kid; I must have been in a generous mood that day.
TRANSFORMERS: MEGATRON'S MASTER PLAN (Part 2 of 2) - Written by Donald F. Glut
After the Autobots appear to be vaporized by the sun, the Decepticons reveal their true colors to the humans, leading to some major collateral damage followed by all humans being reduced to slave labor, the only halfway decent scenes in this whole sorry mess because it's hard not to feel that these gullible humans deserve it. Of course, the Autobots return hale and hearty and set the Decepticons retreating yet again after one of the dullest, most poorly choreographed large-scale battle scenes in the entire Transformers series. I can't quite decide whether or not this worse than the awful GoBots two-parter "Renegade Rampage".
GOBOTS: GAMEWORLD - Written by Michael Charles Hill
Given that he was the most consistently good writer to work on Transformers, it's disheartening that Hill's one GoBot script should be so cliche and humdrum. Basically, a group of Guardians and a group of Renegades are fighting each other in deep space when they're kidnapped by a powerful but stupid cosmic tyrant who forces them into gladiatorial combat. Weak designs and animation don't help any.
TRANSFORMERS: AUTO BERSERK - Written by Antoni Zalewski
One of the best episodes of the series' entire run. Red Alert (played by Michael Chain), the Autobots' Chief Security Officer, becomes even more paranoid than he already was after suffering an injury. He is then manipulated by Starscream, who has been abandoned by his fellow Decepticons, into breaking into the underground bunker where the Autobots have stored a super-weapon. Action and characterization are both plentiful, and the fact that Red Alert suffered his injury because his closest associate Inferno (played by Walker Edmiston) was placed in a damned-if-he-does-damned-if-he-doesn't situation makes it even better. A homoerotic final scene between the reconciled Red Alert and Inferno is the icing on the cake.
GOBOTS: WOLF IN THE FOLD - Written by Michael Reaves, from a story by Michael Reaves, Jeff Segal, and Kelly Ward
Does what it says on the tin -- there's a Renegade spy among the Guardians who is leaking sensitive information -- but, unfortunately, it doesn't do it very well. It's way too easy for the viewer to guess who the spy is, and when it turns out the Guardians were a step ahead of the Renegades the whole time, the whole story feels pointless.
TRANSFORMERS: CITY OF STEEL - Written by Douglas Booth
Infamous as the first of the Season 2 "Akom Trilogy" (episodes animated in Korea instead of Japan to cut costs, something which would unfortunately become more frequent in the series' post-movie era), this episode actually gets off to a promising start. The Decepticons invade New York City and quickly gain the upper hand by capturing Optimus Prime. Then they actually disassemble him! Unfortunately, from that point on, things get really goofy: a robot alligator in the sewers (no points for guessing what spare parts it's made of) and Devastator used for a lame King Kong homage. Ultimately forgettable.
GOBOTS: DEPTH CHARGE - Written by John Bates
It's a shame that Dive Dive (for those who need reminding, he's the Guardian who turns into a submarine) was only used in two episodes, because both of those episodes (the other is the previously reviewed "Cold Spell"), are way above average. This time around, the Renegades use an underwater fortress to capture cargo ships. Water Walk, this episode's Special Guest Renegade (he turns into a hydroplane) has a surprisingly cool voice and hints of an actual personality! And the Guardians actually come off as good strategists here! The only cringeworthy element is the pair of stereotypical South Pacific island natives who are only there as a plot device. Still, after the preceding string of mediocre-at-best episodes, this one's a tonic.
TRANSFORMERS: DESERTION OF THE DINOBOTS (Part 1 of 2) - Written by Earl Kress
This would have worked great as a done-in-one, but as a 2-parter it feels padded. The first installment is almost entirely setup, as Autobots and Decepticons alike begin to malfunction due to a lack on Earth of an element vital to them (leading to all sorts of amusing business, like Mirage assuming he's turned invisible when in fact he hasn't, and he gets clobbered). The Dinobots, who were built on Earth, are still fully functional, but they're on the outs with the Autobots, and Spike and Carly are forced to follow them to Cybertron. To its credit, the episode has a genuinely shocking cliffhanger where Shockwave appears to vaporize the humans just as they arrive on Cybertron.
GOBOTS: TRANSFER POINT - Written by Patrick Barry, from a story by Patrick Barry, Jeff Segal, and Kelly Ward
Old tropes like the alternate universe where everything is the reverse of our universe (i.e. the Guardians being evil and the Renegades being good) can be satisfying if there's a fresh spin on them. Unfortunately, this story is anything but fresh. Tired, turgid, unimaginative, and predictable, combined with some of the worst animation of the show's entire run, this episode is one of the low points of the series.
TRANSFORMERS: DESERTION OF THE DINOBOTS (Part 2 of 2) - Written by Earl Kress
Naturally, the cliffhanger turns out to be a red herring and only Carly's automobile is destroyed. She and Spike escape from Shockwave and get lost within the lower levels of Cybertron, where they meet up with Swoop, the only one of the Dinobots who hasn't been captured and reprogrammed to serve the Decepticons. This all sounds better than it is in its actual execution. There's plenty of nicely designed Cybertronian tech, and we get some of the Transformers backstory which will be expanded upon in future episodes. But the pace is so painfully sloooooooow that it's hard to stay engaged. I could also complain that Carly's ability to immediately master any kind of technology makes her a borderline Mary Sue, but I won't. Anyone who understands the psychology of a fangirl born before 1990 should be able to see where I'm coming from.
GOBOTS: STEAMER'S DEFECTION - Written by Drew Lawrence, based on a story by Jeff Segal, Kelly Ward, and Drew Lawrence
One of the positive aspects of this series was how the GoBots often changed sides, leaving the potential for shades of grey. Unfortunately, the general dearth of characterization often made it hard to care either way. That's why this episode is a pleasant exception. The title character, a Renegade named Steamer (he turns into a steamroller), feels the Renegades are going too far by endangering human lives, and defects to the Guardians. In a nice nod to realism, the Guardians don't immediately believe him, and he has to earn their trust. Bizarrely, Steamer wasn't an actual toy, he was created especially for the show, which underlines how underdeveloped most of the characters were. And, finally, I would be remiss not to point out that Steamer's name has inevitable toilet-humor connotations.
TRANSFORMERS: BLASTER BLUES - Written by Larry Strauss
Try as it may, this desperately unfocused episode doesn't even have the bare minimum plot foundation from which to hang its good-quality animation and well-executed action sequences. It doesn't help matters that the episode's nominal star, Blaster, comes off as an obnoxious twerp (he comes off better in some of the later episodes). And for those keeping track, the episode marks the debuts of Omega Supreme (voiced by Jack Angel in full Apache Chief from Super Friends mode), Astrotrain (also voiced by Angel), and Cosmos (voiced by Michael McConnohie.)
GOBOTS: THE GOBOT WHO CRIED RENEGADE - Written by Eric Lewald, from a story by Eric Lewald, Jeff Segal, and Kelly Ward
After a promising start with some decently executed action on Gobotron, this episode goes into a downward spiral as Scooter gets the spotlight yet again (you'd think the people producing the show would learn). Worse yet, this time around the other Guardians come off as stupid and brutish when Scooter unwittingly becomes the...well, read the title. And to add insult to injury, we get the latest annoying human ally of the Guardians, a young scientist named Billy. The reverse of the early Gobots episode "It's the Thought That Counts", which was excruciating until its decent action-packed ending.
TRANSFORMERS: A DECEPTICON RAIDER IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT - Written by Douglas Booth
Autobots Hoist & Warpath and Decepticons Starscream, Rumble, & Ravage accidentally time-travel to a land of knights and princesses and wizards. As a fan of these tropes and a fan of Starscream at his most over-the-top, I cut this episode a tiny bit of slack. But there's too much else that's just wrong: a little of Warpath goes a long way; the insipid princess falling in love with the "misguided" knight who kidnapped her is beyond creepy; and when Merlin finally appears, the best he can manage to conjure up is a handful of gunpowder.
GOBOTS: THE SEER - Written by Eric Lewald & Mark Edens
Hard to believe the same two writers would go on to write one of the best Gobots episodes, "The Third Column", because this one is just putrid. The title character, a blind boy with precognitive powers (real insensitive to call him a SEER) is the most nails-on-chalkboard human yet, and by the "happy ending", he's lost his precog powers and he's still blind. Plus, my favorite Guardian, Van Guard, ends up trapped in concrete and forgotten about by the other Guardians.
TRANSFORMERS: THE GOD GAMBIT - Written by Buzz Dixon
One of the most controversial episodes, due to the script's questioning of the institution of organized religion, using the inhabitants of a socially backward planet as a metaphor for the world we live in. It's worth noting that the writer is currently a born-again Christian, and I think it would be wrong to deny him the right to use his writing to wrestle with big questions. And either way, it's pretty damn gutsy for an 80s kids cartoon to take on such a topic. There's lots more to like here: the animation is exceptional, the warrior woman who leads the dissenters is an awesome character, Jazz gets arguably his best portrayal, and there's a cameo by my beloved Red Alert. The only thing about this episode that grates with me is that Astrotrain gets to lord it over Starscream, just because he was the newer toy.
GOBOTS: WHIZ KID - Written by Alfred A. Pegal
This episode certainly has its strong points: a big cast, and plentiful action and suspense. But it also has a fly in the ointment: the title character, an annoying tomboy techie who stupidly (albeit accidentally) helps the Renegades mind-control various Guardians. Thankfully, she's the last of the exponentially irritating humans on the show to be introduced.
The second of the three Akom episodes, and by far the best, though that's really not saying much. The always-engaging Constructicons get plenty of lines, which is a good thing. What's more problematic is that the Autobots basically perform mind-slavery on the Constructicons. Some might defend that as the heroes being unusually proactive and aggressive, and they'd have a point, but given the context of the whole season, and the upcoming revelations about the Constructicons in the episode "The Secret of Omega Supreme", I find the Autobots actions rather troubling, personally.
GOBOTS: RING OF FIRE - Written by Michael Humm, based on a story by Jeff Segal, Kelly Ward, and Michael Humm.
If a GoBots episode can't be saved by the rare occurrence of Small Foot saving Leader-1's metallic bacon, then it's pretty much a hopeless waste of time (to add insult to injury, her rescue of him occurs off-screen!) Even worse, it's padded with scenes of South Pacific natives which are so wrong on so many levels that they make the portrayal of the two natives in "Depth Charge" look enlightened by comparison. Luckily, the next episode is the first installment of the five-part "Gobotron Saga", which is a turning point, quality-wise, for the show.
GOBOTS: THE GOBOTRON SAGA (PARTS 1-5) - Written by John Loy and Peter Anderegg with Jeff Segal and Kelly Ward
This one is going to take some explaining. GoBots continuity can charitably be described as a mess, and while this epic episode is inarguably an above-average potboiler, it's also one of the worst continuity offenders. It seems rather obvious it's supposed to take place immediately after the 5-part pilot episode, yet it wasn't originally aired until more than halfway through the season. Far braver souls than I have tried to put the show's episodes into some kind of cohesive order, but I think life's too short. So I'll focus on the story instead -- overall, the script is not a patch on Transformers' Season 3 premiere "Five Faces of Darkness" (the "Citizen Kane" of 80s TV animation 5-parters), but it does an efficient job of showcasing the new toys without coming off as an overlong commercial. There's plenty of meat on the reasonably sturdy bones of the plot, in which the Renegades captured at the end of the pilot episode break out and conquer GoBotron, forcing the Guardians to regroup on Earth to counter-attack and liberate GoBotron. There's lots more characters than in the pilot episode, even though most of them still don't have much personality -- the positive standouts are the trio of monster Renegades Scorp, Vamp, and Pincher, who are never quite this scary or this much of a threat in other episodes; the negative standout, sad to say, is the female Guardian Sparky, whose personality constantly changes to suit the plot...thankfully, the show's creators obviously realized this and made my girl Small Foot the go-to female Guardian. We also get some interesting backstory on GoBotron, and we're introduced to the GoBots humanoid progenitors, the Last Engineer and the Master Renegade. Unfortunately, the Master Renegade, after initially coming off as a real bad-ass, has to turn stupid for the plot to work. Still, "The GoBotron Saga" has plenty of good action sequences, and, most importantly, it's never boring.
My personal #1 favorite episode of Transformers, showcasing my #1 personal favorite Autobot, Tracks (voiced by Michael McConnohie). It wasn't easy back in the day being a Transformers fangirl, because almost all the characters were identified as male. Some promising female Autobots were seen for only one episode, then never again, while Arcee, the only recurring female Autobot (who debuted in the animated movie between s2 and s3) only showed any real spunk in the Season 3 premiere, "Five Faces of Darkness", being bland and ineffectual most of the time. So Tracks -- effete and flamboyant, yet no less of a warrior for that -- was a godsend to me, the Ziggy Stardust of Autobots! And the story itself is pretty good, too, featuring lots of guest stars plus a reasonably sturdy plot involving the Decepticons financing a car theft ring for raw materials to turn into robot drones. There's also an engaging new human character, Raul (voiced by Michael Chain), a street punk with a heart of gold who ends up befriending tracks and aiding the Autobots. Obviously, the show's creators knew they had captured lightning in a bottle, as this is one of the few s2 episodes to have a sequel, "Auto-Bop", which I'll get to down the line.
TRANSFORMERS: THE AUTOBOT RUN - Written by Donald F. Glut
The last and least of the s2 Akom episodes, in which the Decepticons' device-of-the-week causes most of the Autobots to get stuck in their car forms. Even this episode's writer has nothing good to say about it.
TRANSFORMERS: THE GOLDEN LAGOON - Written by Dennis Marks
In the middle of an idyllic forest on Earth lies a pond filled with Electrum, a golden liquid that can make any robot invulnerable. Solid animation and wall-to-wall action keep this episode watchable, despite more and bigger plot holes than usual, and a ham-fisted, hypocritical hippie message at the end.
TRANSFORMERS: QUEST FOR SURVIVAL - Written by Reed Robbins & Peter Salas
Mindlessly vicious alien plants follow an Autobot deep-space expedition back to Earth, wreaking predictable havoc. As with this episode's immediate predecessor, good animation and good pacing keeps the story afloat, but it loses points for a terrible ending reminiscent of the GoBots episode "Sentinel" -- roughly, if Earth is threatened by a genocidal menace, just sent it to another corner of space to commit genocide there. Groan.
TRANSFORMERS: THE SECRET OF OMEGA SUPREME - Written by David Wise
One of the most well-written episodes of Transformers, it's also one of the worst-animated. I'm talking Akom-level bad animation. But the sturdy script and the exceptional voice acting still make this a cut above the rest. We learn the origins of Omega Supreme and the Constructicons, and the bitter enmity between the giant Autobot and the Decepticon combiner team. Shades of gray have rarely been grayer on the pre-movie Transformers than in this episode, and while the aforementioned characters are the stars, there's also great character work from Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen's voice is even more authoritative than usual) and fun cameos from Tracks, Beachcomber, and others. Only the hardest of hearts will fail to be moved by this episode, in my humble opinion.
TRANSFORMERS: CHILD'S PLAY - Written by Beth Bornstein
Absolutely vile. A rule of thumb with 80s TV cartoons is that any episode where the main characters either get shrunken or end up in a world of giants is totally lame. This one is no exception, in fact I'd call it Exhibit A. Possibly my least favorite of all 98 episodes.
GOBOTS: PACIFIC OVERTURES - Written by Jina Bacaar, from a story by Jina Bacaar, Jeff Segal, and Kelly Ward
Cy-Kill shocks everyone by proposing a peace treaty to the Guardians. Crasher gets lots of good lines as the naysaying counterpart to Cy-Kill, but otherwise this episode is a dud. Leader-1 is required by the plot to be a total doofus, and while it's obvious all along that Cy-Kill is playing the Guardians for fools (except for Turbo, who probably comes off better here than in any other episode), when his plan is finally revealed, it's predictable and lame.
TRANSFORMERS: THE GAMBLER - Written by Michael Charles Hill
There was no reason to expect an episode which picks up immediately where "Child's Play" left off to be anything more than forgettable, but this is truly a pleasant surprise. The group of Autobots returning to Earth from the planet of giants is captured by a cosmic wheeler-dealer named Bosh (voiced by John Stephenson) who ends up teaming with Smokescreen (voiced by Jack Angel) to try to replenish his supply of energy. There's lots of neat stuff here: a gambling planet, organic monster gladiators, an alien crime lord and his sniveling lackey, and a badass Autobot bounty hunter, Devcon (also voiced by John Stephenson). A good rather than great episode due mainly to the mediocre animation, but good nonetheless.
GOBOTS: DESTROY ALL GUARDIANS - Written by Donald F. Glut
The Renegades take control of Godzilla, Rodan, and Barugon analogs. A premise like that guarantees a good episode, right? Wrong. Mediocre animation and sloppy plotting do this one in from the start. If Cy-Kill were an arch-villain worth his salt, he'd have transported the monsters to GoBotron to wreak havoc; instead, he has them attack Tokyo -- yawn. The brief sequence of the Guardians' giant Power Warrior combiner battling the giant monsters is as close as this one has to any redeeming qualities.
GOBOTS: ESCAPE FROM ELBA - Written by Lee Yuro and Linda Yuro
The ne plus ultra of well-plotted, well-written GoBots episodes. It's not my sentimental favorite, but objectively it might be considered the series' best episode. The unusually proactive Guardians set a trap for Cy-Kill that actually works, the Renegades are utterly cunning both in deputy leader Fitor's plan to rescue Cy-Kill and in Cy-Kill's own efforts to escape imprisonment, the pace is good, the action is plentiful, and the animation is adequate. I believe every GoBot lover and GoBot hater alike should watch this episode, the former to reaffirm their love, the latter to reconsider their hate.
Despite its inane premise -- the Decepticons are using a trendy discotheque to hypnotize people into building something whose purpose remains unrevealed by the end -- this episode makes my personal Top 10 thanks to outstanding animation, voice acting, and characterization. A small cast -- Tracks, Blaster, Starscream, Soundwave, Tracks' street kid friend Raul, two friends of Raul's, and a cameo by Megatron -- insures that there's plenty of golden banter and everyone has a distinctive voice. Despite having been made in the 80s, its effortless, left-of-center charms are more in keeping with vintage Silver Age comics...and, come to think of it, 80s animation has always been my personal equivalent of The Silver Age of Comics. So it all adds up.
GOBOTS: FITOR TO THE FINISH - Written by Donald F. Glut, from a story by Jeff Segal, Kelly Ward, and Donald F. Glut
A very good episode which suffers only from the proximity of its airdate to "Escape from Elba", with which it shares plot similarities. Here, it's Fitor who is captured by the Guardians, leading Cy-Kill to take extreme measures to get back his most loyal lieutenant. Fitor's steadfast commitment to the Renegade cause, as twisted as it is, comes off as almost admirable, though it once again has the questionable effect of showing up the Guardians as the namby-pambies most of them usually are in this series.
TRANSFORMERS: PRIME TARGET - Written by Flint Dille & Buzz Dixon
Although it's always fun to see Optimus Prime strut his stuff as the ultimate good-guy bad-ass, surely there could have been a better way to showcase it than this goofy, badly animated variation on "The Most Dangerous Game." Here, a stereotypically pompous British big game hunter captures several Autobots to use as bait to lure his quarry, Optimus Prime, onto his trap-laden private compound. Dille and Dixon were both writers capable of much better ("Five Faces of Darkness" and "The God Gambit", respectively.)
GOBOTS: CLUTCH OF DOOM - Written by Eric Lewald, based on a story by Jeff Segal, Kelly Ward, and Eric Lewald
A human scientist invents a device which can compress millions of humans into a small globe. Predictably, the Renegades steal the device and use it to take the Earth's entire population hostage so that Cy-Kill can gain supreme power over Gobotron. Not so predictably, there is a genuinely shocking moment when Cy-Kill appears to destroy one of the globes, and another when Leader-1 appears to destroy the rest of the globes. Predictably again, this being an 80s cartoon, the destroyed globes were all fakes and the Earth's population is restored to normal by the end, and Gobotron's Council of Guardians is back in power by the end. Not a terrible episode, but not one with much of a point, either.
TRANSFORMERS: THE GIRL WHO LOVED POWERGLIDE - Written by David Wise
If "Child's Play" is the dumbest Transformers episode, this one is the most stridently offensive. Powerglide was a bad choice for a spotlight, as a little bit of this loud-mouthed glory hound always goes a long way in other episodes. And he comes off really badly here, especially when he actually swats away the title female character. This being kid's animation, she survives without a scratch, but the very act is unforgivable. Regarding her, this spoiled upper-middle-class heiress is truly a fingernails-on-chalkboard character who is more typical of human characters from GoBots than human characters from Transformers. I get the feeling that Wise and the story editors thought they were doing the robot-adventure-cartoon equivalent of a Golden Age screwball comedy, but the results are sickening.
GOBOTS: THE THIRD COLUMN - Written by Eric Lewald & Mark Edens
Near-unanimously regarded by GoBots fandom as one of the series' best episodes, this one spotlights a crafty Renegade named Zero, who converts into a Japanese WWII fighter plane, but thankfully does not have a stereotypical accent. Zero is of the opinion that he'd make a better leader than Cy-Kill, and looking at Cy-Kill's track record, it's hard to disagree with him. A few Renegades go off with Zero, who has hatched an elaborate master plan to pit Cy-Kill and Leader-1 against each other while GoBotron is thrown into chaos. And damned if Zero doesn't come close to succeeding -- the final shot of him laughing evilly to himself as he vows that we haven't seen the last of him is blood-chilling. Sadly, Zero only appears in one other episode, and it's in a flashback. Then, too, this episode sets the bar very high, so perhaps it's better there was no follow-up (outside of fan fiction, of course.)
TRANSFORMERS: TRIPLE TAKEOVER - Written by Larry Strauss
An odd duck of an episode, simultaneously more intense (a handful of Autobots get crushed by Blitzwing in tank form, and Blitzwing also threatens to splatter a human against a wall) and more juvenile (Blitzwing's and Astrotrain's separate campaigns to become Decepticon leader are utterly inane) than usual. What leaves an especially sour taste for me is when Megatron crushes Starscream's fingers and forces him to say, "I'm stupid." Did I mention that Starscream is my favorite Decepticon? Oh, and of course, the crushed Autobots get better by episode's end.
GOBOTS: A NEW SUIT FOR LEADER-1 - Written by Reed Robbins & Peter Salas
The Renegades actually succeed in turning Leader-1 evil and joining them, but the joke's on Cy-Kill when the now-egomaniacal Leader-1 usurps the Renegade leadership, so Cy-Kill reluctantly gives the Guardians the means to restore the status quo. Great idea, which would probably have been well-executed by a modern cartoon, but the potential implications would have been too dark for an 80s cartoon, so we're left with a rather "meh" episode.
TRANSFORMERS: SEA CHANGE - Written by Douglas Booth
Seaspray leads a small group of Autobots to a planet tyranically ruled by a robot who absorbs energy from its native humanoid inhabitants (and who turns out to answer to the Decepticons.) The natives have a secret wishing well that can transform them into mer-people among other things. Seaspray falls hard for the warrior woman Talaria, leader of the resistance. Widely derided by narrow-minded fanboys who find it all too girly or whatever, this is actually one of my favorite episodes. Seaspray is IMO one of the most adorable Autobots, what with his blue, white, and yellow color scheme and the "glub-glub" effect on his voice. The animation could be better for sure, but by this time Toei's best animators, designers, and storyboard artists had been put to work on the Transformers movie, and the look of the TV series suffered considerably.
GOBOTS: RENEGADE CARNIVAL - Written by Carla Conway
Robot adventure cartoons from the 80s rarely dabble into meta-commentary, but it's hard not to interpret Scooter's quip to Cy-Kill near the end, "This was your dumbest plan yet," as the writer throwing up her arms and giving up on what she already knows will not go down in history as the best GoBots script. For all that, I don't think it's that bad an episode. The animation's adequate, and there's some good action sequences. Even the inane premise -- the Renegades using a carnival as a front for evil activities -- pays off in one hilarious scene where Cop-Tur scares the piss out an obnoxious little boy who drops his ice-cream cone on him. More disappointing is the treatment of Myra the precognitive, who makes a surprisingly good first impression for a human character on GoBots, but ends up a damsel in distress.
TRANSFORMERS: HOIST GOES HOLLYWOOD - Written by Earl Kress
The last episode before the introduction of the new combiner teams, and it stinks. Viewers are given a toxic mixture of toothless show business satire, weak plotting, a spotlighted Autobot who works better in small doses, bad animation, and a jarring scene where Megatron pretty much disembowels Starscream (of course, he's none the worse for wear in future episodes.)
GOBOTS: THE GIFT - Written by Karen Willson and Chris Weber
The first of a loose trilogy of episodes where the opposing camps of GoBots find a near-omnipotent organic sentient in their midst, this one is the very definition of mediocrity. Even when the cosmic being basically dies at the end, there's no real reason given for us to care. Pure filler.
TRANSFORMERS: THE KEY TO VECTOR SIGMA (Part 1 of 2) - Written by David Wise
Megatron finally wises up to the fact that the Decepticons could use a few members who transform into cars and trucks, and so the Stunticons are born. But they need to have personalities imprinted on them by Cybertron's most powerful computer, Vector Sigma, located within the lower levels of the planet. The Autobots follow, but fail to stop the Decepticons from stealing the key to activate Vector Sigma from Alpha Trion. So they decide to even the odds by building some flying Autobots. Meanwhile, humans in the Transformers universe prove to be reliably stupid when the Stunticons attack a military base and are mistaken for Autobots. That's pretty much the whole first part of this lumbering, poorly animated two-parter -- pure set-up. Unfortunately, the payoff in the second part will be even worse.
GOBOTS: TERROR IN ATLANTIS - Written by Francis Moss, from a story by Jeff Segal, Kelly Ward, and Francis Moss
An embittered scientist leads an expedition of Guardians and humans to find the legendary lost continent of Atlantis, but he turns out to be working with the Renegades, who end up setting loose mythological monsters. Schlocky in a good way, with fast pacing that doesn't let you catch your breath long enough to linger over the plot holes, as well as some of the best animation of the show's entire run -- the colorful monsters in particular seem to have had extra time and care spent on them.
TRANSFORMERS: THE KEY TO VECTOR SIGMA (Part 2 of 2) - Written by David Wise
Alpha Trion sacrifices himself to re-activate Vector Sigma, allowing the Autobots to successfully imprint personalities on the Aerialbots -- there's Silverbolt (voice of Charlie Adler), the reluctant yet sensible leader, Slingshot (Rob Paulsen), a cocky loudmouthed jerk whose contempt for the humans they must protect is shared by the other three: Air Raid (also Rob Paulsen), Fireflight (Jeff MacKay), and Skydive (Laurie Faso), none of whom are particularly distinctive, although Air Raid will go on to have a couple of notable moments in Season 3. What kills this episode is not the inevitable confrontation between the Aerialbots and Stunticons, which has a satisfying surprise twist and could have been saved if the animation had been decent. No, what is to blame is a totally arbitrary development regarding the key to Vector Sigma: it turns organic matter to metal, and Megatron decides to turn the Earth metallic, one tree at a time (I kid you not.) All in all, a below-average two-parter.
GOBOTS: THE LAST MAGIC MAN - Written by Mark Young
The second and worst of the omnipotent humanoid trilogy, showcasing a stereotypical Native American shaman who seems to have been meant to be enigmatic and ambiguous, but ends up coming off as unsympathetic and downright stupid. Having Scooter be the one who becomes attached to him adds insult to injury.
TRANSFORMERS: MASQUERADE - Written by Donald F. Glut
An extremely schematic plot -- Megatron sends Stunticons to steal objects; Autobots capture Stunticons; Autobots use holographic disguises to impersonate Stunticons and learn what Megatron wanted the objects for -- that is partially redeemed by some nice touches. The latter include: stalwart Optimus Prime clashing with boastful Motormaster (voiced by Roger C. Carmel), the reaction of Dead End (the most interesting Stunticon by far, voiced by Philip L. Clarke) to Tracks's flying ability ("A flying car! How droll!"), and Starscream being one step ahead of Megatron for a change. Nothing spectacular, but fun enough viewing.
GOBOTS: BRAXIS GONE BONKERS - Written by Mark Zaslove, from a story by Steve DeKorte, Jeff Segal, and Kelly Ward
Dr. Braxis has been a recurring human character since the GoBots pilot episode, a scientist of questionable morals who keeps falling in and out with the Renegades. Even though Braxis is voiced by the great Rene Auberjonois (his voice acting as DeSaad in Super Friends was superlative), a little of this character goes a long way. So making him the focus of an episode is doomed to failure. Braxis's sanity appears to have gone past the point of no return since his last appearance, making him singularly obnoxious (and deeply unfunny, to boot.) Otherwise, the plotting is decent and the action sequences aren't bad at all, making this episode something of a missed opportunity.
TRANSFORMERS: TRANS-EUROPE EXPRESS - Written by David Wise
A charity marathon car race from France to Turkey includes a team of Autobots, who are there to protect the arrogant and selfish racer Augie Cahnay from the Decepticons, who covet the special metal his car's engine is made of. Megatron sics the Stunticons on the Autobots, leaving a great deal of wreckage and only Tracks, Bumblebee, and Bluestreak to save the day. At the end, it's Augie who saves the three Autobots through a near-fatal stunt, proving that he's not such a bad guy after all. Not a great episode, but a must-see for fans of Tracks and Bumblebee (I'm a fan of both characters.) Loses points for the Middle Eastern stereotypes in the early scenes, though.
GOBOTS: INSIDE JOB - Written by J. Larry Carroll, from a story by Jeff Segal, Kelly Ward, and J. Larry Carroll
Basically the GoBots version of the great Transformers episode "Microbots." Here, a Guardian shuttle in deep space has been invaded by shrunken Renegades, with intention to commit sabotage, so Leader-1, Turbo, and Van Guard shrink themselves and give chase through the ship's systems. Those scenes are decent enough, but the scenes of Scooter having to think fast when full-grown Renegades also board the ship are tedious and meandering. Overall, I find this episode unsatisfying.
Towards the end of Season 2, there were a scattered handful of episodes which anticipated (with varying degrees of success) the darker and more violent direction the series would take with Season 3. Here we have the Aerialbots tricked by the Decepticons into time-travelling nine million years into the past, the end of the Golden Age of Cybertron and the beginning of the Autobot-Decepticon War. There they save the life of a naïve young robot named Orion Pax, who is rebuilt into none other than Optimus Prime. Despite the bad storyboarding, designs, and animation, it's reasonably clever and satisfying, as long as you don't have any problems with Orion/Optimus acquiring instant gravitas and leadership skills as soon as he's rebuilt.
GOBOTS: ELEMENT OF DANGER - Written by Gordon Bressack
The last and, indisputably, the best of the omnipotent humanoid trilogy. This time around, the godlike being is Astral, a female alien (drawn to look rather sexy by 80s cartoon standards) who tricks Scooter into taking her place in the crystal which had been her Earthly prison. Once free, she demonstrates an infinite capacity for absorbing energy blasts, as well as flight, telekinesis, and so much more. She's not particularly likeable, but her regal haughtiness and unwillingness to suffer fools gives her a certain appeal (to certain viewers at least, and I include myself among them.)
TRANSFORMERS: COSMIC RUST - Written by Paul Davids
A suitably ominous and atmospheric opening, which shows a deep-space Decepticon mission gone wrong, promises more than the episode ultimately delivers. The Decepticons bring the "cosmic rust" of the title with them back to Earth. After kidnapping Perceptor and using a concoction of his to cure Megatron of the rust, they infect all of the Autobots with the rust. Very intense and dark for a while, but the unwritten rules of 80s TV dictate that the status quo must be restored by the end. Still quite shocking for its time, and certain scenes hold up well.
GOBOTS: MISSION GOBOTRON - Written by Eric Lewald, from a story by Jeff Segal, Kelly Ward, and Eric Lewald
A firm fan-favorite which I've always found somewhat overrated. While it's undeniable that the action sequences are plentiful, well-executed, and intense, the plot never quite comes together satisfactorily. It seems to have been meant as a grand finale for what turned out to be the only season of the show. However, the end result is basically an all-too-typical (if slightly above-average) Guardian-Renegade dust-up. One Guardian, the appropriately named Man O'War, insists that the Guardians can only defeat the Renegades by sinking to their level. Leader-1 disagrees, but his alternative plan pretty much adds up to baiting the Renegades at great risk to civilian GoBots, and the resolution relies on Cy-Kill being even more reckless and foolish that usual, which doesn't quite convince me. By the end, Man O'War has unconvincingly come around to Leader-1's way of thinking, and the Guardians act as if the war has reached some kind of turning point, but Cy-Kill and the Renegades have all escaped and regrouped at Rogue Star, vowing to get even. Disappointing, and it's understandable why a few more episodes aired after this one.
Complicated special-effects animation caused production delays on this episode...and it was not worth the wait. The offbeat episodes tended to be either brilliant or abysmal, and this one is most definitely the latter. The Decepticons create an annoying imp made of pure electrical energy (his entire vocabulary consists of the nonsensical title word) and sic him on the Autobots. Soon only a few Autobots are left standing, and they end up chasing the imp all over Japan. At the climax, he gets giant-sized, but sacrifices himself to stop the Decepticons' latest scheme. The Autobots get all drippy, saying they miss the little guy, and it turns out there's still a sentient piece of him bouncing around. Excruciatingly bad and deeply unfunny.
GOBOTS: "ET TU, CY-KILL!" - Written by Eric Lewald & Mark Edens, from a story by Jeff Segal, Kelly Ward, Eric Lewald, and Mark Edens.
A seemingly routine battle ends up triggering a flashback to when Cy-Kill was a Guardian (!) and the audience discovers how he ended up betraying the Guardians, as well as the origins of Crasher and Cop-Tur's loyalty to him, why Guardian Councilor Zeemon can't convert to vehicle mode, and how Turbo joined the Guardians. This is a good episode, but it would have been better if Cy-Kill had had a more definite character arc -- even as a Guardian, he is arrogant, greedy, and looking out mainly for himself. Still, the plot thread of a broken friendship between Leader-1 and Cy-Kill is effectively done, and the episode ends on a note of cautious hope.
TRANSFORMERS: STARSCREAM'S BRIGADE - Written by Michael Charles Hill
Exiled from the Decepticons, Starscream finally seizes the day and forms his own private army, the Combaticons: Onslaught (S. Marc Jordan), Swindle (Milt Jamin), Vortex (Johnny Haymer), Blast Off (also Milt Jamin), and Brawl (Tony Pope). Their objective, of course, is to gain Starscream the leadership of the Decepticons. If this episode doesn't come quite as close to perfection as the similarly themed GoBots episode "The Third Column", it's still very good. True, the animation and storyboarding could be better, and there are still traces of the juvenilia the series was trying to shed at this point (as I've claimed before, I think Transformers was the first American-produced cartoon that tried to mature along with its young audience.) But Starscream is exceptionally crafty here, and the Combaticons have the most vivid personalities of any of the new combiner teams.
GOBOTS: THE GOBOTS THAT TIME FORGOT - Written by John Loy
An exceptional episode, definitely in my personal Top Five. This is the only one where neither Cy-Kill nor Crasher nor Cop-Tur appear, and it's all the better for it. The plot, as good as the very best earlier episodes of GoBots, finds Scooter boldly if somewhat foolhardily deciding to investigate a mysterious S.O.S. from one of the lower levels of GoBotron. What he finds is an isolationist GoBot community, run by the tyrannical Gunnyr, who, along with his lieutenant Bug Bite, possesses the conversion ability denied the rest of the community. The signal has come from Dart, a rebellious member of the community whom Leader-1 and Turbo meet when they follow the trail left by Scooter, who is being held captive by Gunnyr until he convinces one of his captors, Ace, that there's a better world out there waiting for him. Basically, everything works here, from animation quality to story beats to action, but the most pleasant surprise is how rich in characterization this episode is -- even Scooter comes off well! More than any other episode, this late-in-the-series entry makes me wish there had been a second season of GoBots.
TRANSFORMERS: THE REVENGE OF BRUTICUS - Written by Larry Strauss
Even though it picks up exactly where "Starscream's Brigade" left off (Starscream and the Combaticons stranded on a distant asteroid), this storyline is not officially a two-parter. But either way, this is my favorite of the late-in-the-series episodes, and definitely in my overall Top Ten. For most of the running time, it's intense, action packed, breathlessly paced, surprisingly dark, and well-animated by the low standards of the later episodes. This time around, the Combaticons are dead set on exterminating Autobots and Decepticons and humans alike, giving it a welcome unpredictability. Only the ending, where the status quo is reset to where it was before "Starscream's Brigade", disappoints.
GOBOTS: THE SECRET OF HALLEY'S COMET - Written by Lane Raichert
By this late point in the series' run, the quality level was generally reasonable. Which makes this episode a glaring exception. Bad science, bad animation, bad pacing, and bad plotting all add up to a must-skip entry.
TRANSFORMERS: AERIAL ASSAULT - Written by Douglas Booth
A strictly by-the-numbers episode, with a similar plot to my favorite episode, "Make Tracks", but with the end results not coming even close. In place of NYC, we have a fictional Middle Eastern country where the Decepticons' human agents are stealing jet parts; in place of Raul, we have a very annoying street urchin boy (whose grating voice is performed by a female voice actor, Mona Marshall); and in place of Tracks, we have two of the Aerialbots. Bizarrely, this episode actually aired BEFORE "Starscream's Brigade"/"The Revenge of Bruticus", even though the Combaticons are in it. That little continuity blip is more interesting than anything about the episode itself.
GOBOTS: GUARDIAN ACADEMY - Written by Mark Young & Lane Raichert, from a story by Jeff Segal, Kelly Ward, Mark Young, and Lane Raichert
An all-around solid entry, with a refreshing emphasis on characterization. True, the Guardian in the spotlight, Tri-Trak, is a familiar character in genre fiction (the impulsive hothead who needs to learn to be a team player), but no less effective for that. As with the stronger GoBots episodes, the plot is strong: of the two teams of new Guardians being trained for active duty, one team always ends up in trouble because of Tri-Trak, while the other team are Renegade spies plotting to kidnap Zeemon, the head of the Guardian Council, at the graduation ceremony. For a change, Leader-1 gets it exactly right when he says at the end that being good at what you do does not always necessarily mean always going by the book. The only real flaw here is that Cy-Kill is obviously being voiced by someone other than Bernard Erhard, which is distracting yet forgivable.
And so, we come to both series' respective final episodes of the 1985 season:
TRANSFORMERS: B.O.T. - Written by Earl Kress
Three obnoxious high school whiz kids end up, through a series of contrivances too tedious to detail, building a little robot containing the personality circuits of the Combaticons' most aggressive and destructive member, Brawl. Inane, horribly inane, and played for laughs that never come, with the Combaticons downgraded from bad-asses to buffoons. A terrible way to close out not only Season 2 but the whole Phase One of Transformers.
GOBOTS: QUEST FOR NEW EARTH - Written by John Loy, from a story by Jeff Segal, Kelly Ward, and John Loy
A strong final entry for the series, unless you count the cheaply-produced movie "GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords" (I don't.) The loose ends involving the GoBots' humanoid progenitors, the noble Last Engineer and the evil Master Renegade, are neatly tied up as the Guardians foil the Renegades' attempt to sabotage the Earth's colonization of a deserted planet. This is especially refreshing since the Master Renegade had to turn stupid to be defeated back when he was introduced in the "GoBotron Saga" five-parter. Here, both humanoid characters come off exactly as they should, a stalwart hero and a despicable villain. True, the GoBots themselves take something of a backseat to them, but I think that's forgivable.
There you have it, a total of 130 episodes of some of the very finest in animated mechanical mayhem. As for my question when I began this thread, where I wondered which of the two series I would end up feeling more positive about by the end: it's Transformers by a mile. I've owned DVD copies of the entire Transformers series for over a decade now, and still enjoy more episodes of it overall than of the GoBots. Really, the only two advantages that GoBots would seem to have over Transformers are the closer-to-equal gender representation and the tendency for stronger plots. But those advantages are sunk beneath the weight of too many mediocre-to-bad filler episodes of GoBots, whereas even a lot of the weaker Transformers episodes have their redeeming qualities (character, character, character.)
I hope you've all enjoyed these reviews, and I also hope that now that the reviews are over, maybe more people might chime in with reminisces about both series.
And what I hope the most is that this thread has encouraged people to either revisit one or both of these series, or watch them for the first time.
Welcome back, been a while. I have decided to use both of my Transformers cartoon threads to post new profiles of the Transformers characters, picking up where Legion Worlder Kid Prime left off in this thread:
To bring a sense of closure to KP's profiles, here's my profile of the one character from what might be termed the "Phase One Transformers" whom KP did not do a profile of:
My profiles will more or less follow the same basic format as KP's, except that I am also listing each character's voice actor at the end. I also have a different style of writing than KP, which hopefully will not be too jarring.
Finally, I have decided to add a "Bonus Bite-Sized Profile" to the first 36 profiles, each one covering TF characters already profiled by KP, in the same order as in his thread. Just my way of adding my two cents/tuppence.
HOOK
Alliance: Decepticon
Function: Surgical Engineer
It has to be said up-front that Hook is, for all his faults, an extremely industrious 'bot, which is probably why (nominal) Constructicon leader Scrapper values him and the other four put up with him. He brings a perfectionistic precision to any job he does, even the smallest and least important jobs -- and he never hesitates to state how very proud he is of that fact. Because Hook is also arrogant, pompous, haughty, supercilious, and brutally frank. Borderline regal, I find Hook quite iconic (if a bit stereotypical) in his Quasi-Britishness, what with his unwavering stiff upper lip attitude (hence the plummy accent, delivered faultlessly by Hook's British-born/Canadian-and-American-raised voice actor, Neil Ross.) And, in one of many TF bits throughout the series' run which could be interpreted as coded LGBT references, his voice temporarily takes on a slight effeminacy in one scene from "The Master Builder" as he compliments Autobot Grapple (who is being played for a fool by his alleged new allies, the Constructicons, but they haven't yet shown their true colors at this point in the episode), on Grapple's abilities as a builder ("Fabulous.") Then, too, it could be argued that the stiff-upper-lip Brit stereotype is by its very nature coded to signify deeply repressed, and possibly unconventional, desires.
Hook's voice actor: NEIL ROSS (other notable voice acting roles: Keith, "Voltron (Lions)", Pidge, "Voltron (Lions)", Jeff, "Voltron (Vehicles)", Chip, "Voltron (Vehicles)", Shipwreck, "G.I. Joe", Dusty, "G.I. Joe", Buzzer, "G.I. Joe", Monkeywrench, "G.I. Joe", Leoric, "Visionaries", Ace McCloud, "Centurions", Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler, "Pryde of the X-Men", John Rambo, "Rambo: The Force of Freedom.")
BONUS:
OPTIMUS PRIME
Bite-Sized Profile: Tough enough that he need never advertise it. That, to me, is Optimus Prime, and the very best that any true warrior can be, in a nutshell. Totally secure about himself, ever-wise, compassionate, even tender when the need arises. But make no mistake, he is *the* most bad-ass of the Autobots, and woe to anyone, Decepticon or otherwise, who tries to deny any sentient being their basic freedoms on Prime's watch. I think it's also worth noting that Prime's voice actor, Peter Cullen, has been very forthcoming about how much an influence his late older brother Larry Cullen was on his characterization of Optimus Prime -- not only were Larry's life experiences as both a soldier (he saw combat in Vietnam), and later as a fire chief, invaluable inspiration to Peter, but also, right after Peter won the role of Optimus, Larry bluntly told him that only Hollywood heroes come on too strong, and real heroes known when to dial it down. The rest was history.
Optimus Prime's voice actor: PETER CULLEN (Other notable voice actor roles: Venger, "Dungeons & Dragons", Tank, "Challenge of the Gobots", Pincher, "Challenge of the Gobots", Commander Hawkins, "Voltron (Vehicles)", Royal Advisor Coran, "Voltron (Lions)", King Alfor, "Voltron (Lions)", The Offscreen Narrator, "Voltron (both 1984 series)" Cindarr, "Visionaries", The Red Skull, "Spider-Man (1981)", Felix Faust, "Super Friends/Galactic Guardians", Eeyore, "Winnie the Pooh," Monterey Jack, "Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers", Mario, "Saturday Supercade")
The Constructicons' team leader, sort of. Hook quite clearly deputized for him in the present-day scenes from the episode "The Secret of Omega Supreme," but Scrapper still had quite a presence in that episode, clearly relishing the taunting bon mots he spat out at Omega Supreme. Which leads me to conclude that Scrapper was feeling especially frustrated at that particular time, and realized that he needed a temporary break from the burden of leadership, to be just one of the 'bots for a short while. But I digress. And even so, taking charge seems to come naturally to Scrapper, because he can get quite bossy at times. Sneeringly contemptuous of humans, as recall the very first line he speaks, in his very first appearance, in the Season 1 finale episode "Heavy Metal War." ("*Rrrright*, stupid human! We drive *ourselves!*") Scrapper also tends to sound suspiciously like second-tier G.I. Joe villain Major Bludd with a sore throat (they do both have the same voice actor, Michael Bell.) Like Hook, his attitude often borders on the regal, which is probably another reason why Hook is Scrapper's designated Number One.
Scrapper's voice actor: MICHAEL BELL (Other notable voice acting roles: Lance, "Voltron (Lions)", Sven, "Voltron (Lions)", Krik, "Voltron (Vehicles)", Zan, "Super Friends", Duke, "G.I. Joe", Xamot, "G.I. Joe", Major Bludd, "G.I. Joe", Scrap-Iron, "G.I. Joe", Allstar Seaworthy, "Snorks", Plastic Man, "The Plastic Man Comedy Adventure Show", Grouchy Smurf, "The Smurfs", Handy Smurf, "The Smurfs")
BONUS:
MEGATRON
Bite-Sized Profile*: Unlike his arch-nemesis, Optimus Prime, whose backstory is well-documented, Megatron is a true 'bot of mystery. And I think it's better that way than if the series' writers had gone the cheap route of trying to explain what past traumas turned him into such a monster. OTOH, it could also be argued that Megatron is ultimately something of a generic OTT pantomime villain -- a blustery, pompous, bombastic, over-dramatic, overbearing bully whose bubble ends up being burst at seemingly every turn, and who never learns from his mistakes -- but for two important factors. One is the relish with which the great voice actor Frank Welker attacked the role of Megatron, arguably doing more for the character than the series' writers ever did (and, for the record, I feel exactly the same way about Megatron's & Welker's Gobots counterparts, Cy-Kill & Bernard Erhard.) The second, and most crucial, is what I consider two of the few genuinely good scenes in the overrated "Transformers: The Movie": first, when he brutally zaps a dying-but-defiant-to-the-end Ironhide, right after sneering, "Such noble nonsense", the other right after Optimus Prime's "One shall stand, one shall fall" challenge to him; no longer holding back as in the past, Megatron beats the grease out of Optimus Prime, and though Prime gives as good as he gets (and Hot Rod's impulsive stupidity is what really ends up getting Prime killed), these scenes firmly put to rest any doubts as to Megatron being a villain worth his salt. Appropriately, with nowhere for the character to be taken from there, a dying Megatron is reformatted by Unicron into Galvatron (my feelings about this are a whole other discussion, and I will address them if and when I do a Galvatron profile.)
Megatron's voice actor: FRANK WELKER (Other notable voice acting roles: Darkseid, "Super Friends/Super Powers/Galactic Guardians", Dr. Claw, "Inspector Gadget", Brain the dog, "Inspector Gadget", Zeemon, "Challenge of the Gobots", Scooter, "Challenge of the Gobots", Rest-Q, "Challenge of the Gobots", Blaster, "Challenge of the Gobots", Wild Bill, "G.I. Joe", Copperhead, "G.I. Joe", Torch, "G.I. Joe", Bobby Drake/Iceman, "Spider-Man & Amazing Friends", Dynomutt, "Dynomutt", Jabberjaw, "Jabberjaw", Hefty Smurf, "The Smurfs", Occy, "Snorks", Tooter, "Snorks", Grandpa Wentworth, "Snorks", Coily, "Saturday Supercade", Ugg, "Saturday Supercade", Wrongway, "Saturday Supercade", Ray Stantz, "The Real Ghostbusters", Slimer, "The Real Ghostbusters", Uni, "Dungeons & Dragons", Fred, "Scooby-Doo")
*Yes, I'll admit that one is a little too big to be called "bite-size." It kind of got out of my control. Mea culpa. I do love me a well-characterized villain, though.
I guess you're right, Lardy. I honesty didn't think about it much at the time. Except for a few favorite characters (and Hook *is* one of them), I tend not to put a lot of thought into selecting the images. Also, I'm not much of an image-hunter, as attested to by my numerous failed image searches I've posted about in the past.
Sorry if you felt let down, Lardy, but like I said, there's only a few favorites that I'd really go that extra mile for.
Hope that won't keep you from continuing to check out this thread, though. There's lot of fun stuff to come.
Nah, I just liked that first image and how it made me connect exactly which Constructicon he was. I was a casual fan of the original cartoon and was just at the age where I was (mostly!) over toys. It was difficult for me to follow Transformers and G.I. Joe, though I was interested in both, because they both ran either just as I got home from school or shortly afterward. Conflicts included naps, homework and VCR-taped episodes of soap operas my mom had me addicted to.
Soap operas rock! And forget Mr. Nobody's disdainful off-the-cuff remark in Grant Morrison's "Doom Patrol" run, Latin American soaps are the awesome-est!! IMHO, you don't even have to be fluent in Spanish to enjoy the best ones.
My TV animation viewing peak was from about age 12 to age 14. That's part of the reason why I consider the 1986 seasons of Transformers (the controversial Season 3) and G.I. Joe (Season 2) to be "my" seasons, because I came in while the earlier seasons and mini-series were already in reruns. The 1986 seasons (whose Ecuadorian premieres were delayed by roughly one year, give or take a month) were the ones where I got in at the ground floor. That alone made them special to me.
Also, and I've kind of already said this in the Post-Movie TF thread (where I do plan to post profiles of at least some of the characters introduced in the animated movie and in Season 3), but I think, in 20/20 hindsight, I was the perfect age for the Post-Movie direction. When I'd watch reruns of TF Seasons 1 and 2, I'd often grit my teeth and fidget, because the violence tended to be too soft-edged and the stories often felt too fluffy (I do now value many of those Pre-Movie episodes far more than I did at the time, Lardy, not unlike your own renewed appreciation for classically-styled vintage superhero comics.)
Then came Season 3, and I was all, HOLY SH*T!! Dark and moody futuristic space-opera settings; Galvatron the psychotic drama-queen violently blowing up an outer-space Earth outpost WITH HUMAN BEINGS STILL INSIDE OF IT; Galvy's Number One, Cyclonus, looking like the devil himself and exuding a similarly wicked charm; Springer the state-of-the-art Autobot bad-ass, with his take-no-bullsh*t attitude and his smart mouth; and action sequences which were quite viscerally violent by the standards of that time!! And although roughly half of the Post-Movie episodes were cheaply animated in Korea, plus the token female Autobot, Arcee, tended to come off as a cipher (she showed a lot more spunk in the 5-part Season 3 premiere, "Five Faces of Darkness" than in any later episodes, or, for that matter, the movie.), the scripts usually rose above the animation, and at least there *was* a recurring female Autobot, not like the first two seasons, where a potentially interesting band of female Autobots only appeared in *one* episode out of *sixty-five*, and were promptly forgotten about. Good times, though, good times!!
But by the time I was 16, and my parents and I moved to the States, I had already been over both cartoons and toys for a while, and I couldn't get into any of the then-current cartoons being offered (IIRC, the late 80s/early-90s Post-Toy-Cartoons/Pre-DCAU offerings were nothing special; I vaguely remember there being a lot of funny animals at that time, whom I'd turned my back on right around the time my age first went into double digits.) I did get into "Batman: The Animated Series" around the ages of 18-19, but that was really the last time I truly enjoyed an all-ages adventure cartoon. In recent years, I've gotten into a lot of anime, but only of long-past-their-first-run series, such as the original Gundam, and America's favorite one of the Gundam reboots, Gundam Wing. Love that GW theme song: "Just wild beat, communication..."
And for quite a while, I hungrily sought every DVD of 80s cartoons I could get my greedy little mitts on, until it became obvious that the only ones that had truly stood the test of time, for me personally at least, were Transformers and Gobots, and to a lesser extent, Voltron, Centurions, Dungeons & Dragons, and maybe a handful of others I'm forgetting ATM.
Yes, there's just *something extra-special* to me, a real je ne sais quoi, about alien robots who turn into cars, jets, beasts, what have you, and live only to blow up each other to bits over and over again. I've given up trying to rationalize it, I just know what I love.
Well, I was very into the GI Joe toys and comic book before the cartoon ever started. I remember being disappointed in how much cheesier the cartoon was than the comic, but I still found the cartoon decent at times. I stuck with the comic into the 20s and sometimes revisited it after the drop, like when they delved into Snake Eyes' background.
Transformers I discovered completely from the cartoon. I probably bought around the first maybe 6-10 issues of the comic but never liked it much. I never got the toys at all. But there's always been a germ of interest in the property as a whole.
I never saw the animated movie until over a decade and a half later (which made season 3-onward confusing to me) when my older son had us rent it. He's been interested in the various animated series lately and laments that the original is not available on Netflix.
Well, I was very into the GI Joe toys and comic book before the cartoon ever started.
Yeah, that was a little before my time. I must have been about 8 years old around then, and I was still all about funny animals and all manner of Hello Kitty and Snoopy merchandise. I didn't get into what might be called the "rough stuff" until about four years after that. Ah, the joys and sorrows of changing bodies and raging hormones...in a word, confusion. And anger, lots of anger. "But I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now..." So succinct, yet so true. Sing it again, Bob!! But I digress.
Originally Posted by Paladin
I remember being disappointed in how much cheesier the cartoon was than the comic, but I still found the cartoon decent at times.
The "G.I. Joe" cartoon...WHEW! Funnily enough, my friend Matt and I were enthusiastically, and sometimes sardonically, reminiscing about it just a few weeks ago, in a chatroom, for close to a hour. I could go on and on about its pros and cons for several times longer than that!
I first saw it at a much more impressionable age than you. My gateway episode was the 2-parter "The Synthoid Conspiracy", written by my heroine Christy Marx. It was perfect timing in hindsight, because Scarlett was the spotlighted star of that episode*, and it also had one of the show's creepiest, most visually trippy premises -- it's the one where Cobra creates synthetic clones of several high-ranking U.S. military men, as well as one of Duke, for the expected sinister purposes. When all the clones melt at the end, I was shocked and grossed out, but at the same time, I was *totally* sold! And, like I said, when Season 2 premiered several months later, I was an eager-beaver Joe recruit if there ever was one! But about 12 years ago, when I got the DVDs collecting the three opening mini-series and all of Season 1, I was *shocked* at how bad a lot of the episodes were! Not even "funny bad", just painfully demonstrated that a lot of what looked "realistic and serious" at the time looks ridiculous and silly with 20/20 hindsight.
At least some of the episodes that were good then are still good even now -- "Countdown for Zartan", another Christy Marx episode; "Memories of Mara", Buzz Dixon's 2-parter "The Traitor"; the aforementioned "The Synthoid Conspiracy", and a few others that have slipped my mind ATM.
I cut Season 2 a lot more slack because of its special place in my fangirl heart. And while some of the new characters were utter cheeseballs (I'm looking at you, Life-Line) and several scripts were just as lame as the earlier ones, there did seem to be a concerted effort to make the series at least *a little bit* more grounded than before. That was probably on Buzz Dixon's part; he'd story-edited the last few Season 1 episodes when they fell behind schedule, and he was promoted to sole story-editor for Season 2; Buzz had Real Life military experience, and I think he did manage to slip as much genuine grit and saltiness into the cartoon as he could get away with at that time. Oh, and Zarana, Zartan's spitfire of a little sister, was effin' *awesome*!! Her VA, Lisa Raggio, had to have been one of the most underrated talents in that field, doing at least a dozen different accents and dialects, each and every one priceless!!
Then "That Damned G.I. Joe Movie" ended up going DTV and pretty much killing the whole franchise, even though the comic book continued for a few more years. Not a good way for things to end, not good at all.
Originally Posted by Paladin
I stuck with the comic into the 20s and sometimes revisited it after the drop, like when they delved into Snake Eyes' background.
Heh. Yeah, of all the characters they dropped the ball with in the TV cartoon, Snake Eyes was Exhibit A. :rolleyes:
The comic book's writer, Larry Hama, once said half-seriously that Scarlett, Storm Shadow, and Snake-Eyes were his very own Krazy Kat, Ignatz Mouse, and Officer Pupp. Clearly, he had his priorities, and the cartoon's writers had very different ones. Apples and oranges, really, although upon reflection, what really made it inevitable that I'd favor the cartoon was the simple fact that by the time the cartoon reached Ecuador, about two years into the comic's run, there had been a moratorium on American comic books and assorted other imports placed by an idiot President named Leon Febres Cordero, who I could tell even as a grade-schooler was bad news for the country.
Originally Posted by Paladin
Transformers I discovered completely from the cartoon. I probably bought around the first maybe 6-10 issues of the comic but never liked it much. I never got the toys at all. But there's always been a germ of interest in the property as a whole.
I had quite a few of the toys. I had almost a complete set of the Autobot full-sized cars from both the 1984 and 1985 waves -- I think the only ones I was missing were Ratchet, Skids, and Bluestreak. I remember I also had the giant Autobot named Metroplex! *Metro-effin'-Plex!!* Can you tell I was a spoiled only child?
Kinda interesting, too, in hindsight, how garishly they were painted. Bright candy colors, almost girly in a few instances! That alone, to me, explains a *lot*.
I have never, *ever* liked *any* iteration of the TF comic books. IMO, Simon Furman, who wrote the UK stories almost from the start, and took over the US comic for its final two dozen issues, is one of *the* most overrated comic book writers who ever became a demi-star by writing a licensed toy comic. And don't get me started on the obnoxiously vocal, misogynistic and homophobic fanboys who live, eat, and breathe the TF comics, while regarding the cartoons, and the original in particular, as unworthy of giving even the time of day. Put it this way -- even when I found out a few years ago that Flint Dille, who wrote my beloved 5-part Season 3 cartoon episode "Five Faces of Darkness", was co-writing a TF comic mini-series, I *still* refused to read it!
Originally Posted by Paladin
I never saw the animated movie until over a decade and a half later (which made season 3-onward confusing to me) when my older son had us rent it. He's been interested in the various animated series lately and laments that the original is not available on Netflix.
I'll get into the animated movie in detail once I reach the profiles of the characters who were introduced in it, but in a nutshell, all the scenes I like, including the two I mentioned in my Megatron bite-sized (HA, who am I kidding?) profile, happen in the first 30 or so minutes.
Regarding your opinion that the Post-Movie episodes are confusing and hard to follow if you haven't already seen the animated movie, I guess I was a non-linear thinker even at age 12, because I didn't see the movie 'til I rented it on VHS in 1990, four years after it came and went (very quickly) in a handful of (mostly U.S.) theatres, but I hadn't had any problem following the Post-Movie episodes. Now that I'm thinking about it, by that time I was already so deeply into the TF cartoon mythos that I just filled in the blanks in my head (and, if I do say so myself, a lot of the stuff I came up with myself turned out to be better than the movie, but, like I said, I'll get to posting details about that at the proper time, and not before.)
Lastly, you've reminded me that one reason I've never gotten much into streaming any TV shows, other than the ones available on YouTube or at the various networks' own sites, is the way that the classics keep moving from one place to another, and often end up lying around unseen and unavailable for years on end! And some people still wonder why I'd rather spend money on DVDs than on streaming services?? :rolleyes: Your son has my full sympathies. And might I suggest saving up some money for the still-in-print TF cartoon DVDs? Just a thought.
*I always preferred Lady Jaye to Scarlett, though. Scarlett was the one who had rebelled against her mother's efforts to make her a proper Southern lady, preferring to roughhouse with her brothers, and who grew up into a total guy's girl...to the core. Lady Jaye didn't have any kind of backstory in the cartoon, or even (as far I'm aware) in the comics, but I've inferred for a long time, by reading between the lines, that she'd had a sophisticated upbringing and a good education, and she had originally gone to study at a fancy acting school, but decided that there was just too much fire within her for glorified make-pretend...yeah, one day I'm gonna write a Lady Jaye fanfic for sure.
Hm. I've mostly been a fan of the first few waves of the GI Joe characters, probably because that's when I was so into the toys. Once characters like Serpentor and Sgt. Slaughter were brought in, things definitely took a turn for the wonky and pretty much drew me out of the universe. The cartoon definitely impressed me with the smart and tough Lady Jaye and the swarthy and funny Shipwreck, among a few others. I think they were even among my last figure purchases as my yen for toys was facing its dying embers. But I'm still a Scarlett & Snake Eyes, etc. leaner at my core when I think about the property.
And back to the Constructicons--I've always thought that they were a little too cool to be Decepticons and should have been Autobots in my mind. Not that Decepticons lacked for coolness--their alternate forms were generally more impressive, overall--I guess it's because Autobots tended more often to be road vehicles than did Decepticons.It also might have been because of the initial ambiguity in their first appearance.
And it's not that Season Three was confusing to me exactly, but there was always that kind of mystical status of the never-seen movie and exactly what had happened to so many well-known characters, especially Optimus. Yeah, from the context and mentions, you knew that he and others were dead, but not having gotten to see it for myself, it was like having a big missing piece of the story that kind of left a vacuum in its wake.
Hm. I've mostly been a fan of the first few waves of the GI Joe characters, probably because that's when I was so into the toys. Once characters like Serpentor and Sgt. Slaughter were brought in, things definitely took a turn for the wonky and pretty much drew me out of the universe.
Fair enough. I do have to chuckle at the mention of Serpentor (whose voice actor, Dick Gautier, I pity because he's never going to live down that "Cobra-la-la-la" crap from the animated movie. But at least his solid VA work in TF s3 as Rodimus Prime, and his recurring live-action role as Hymie the Robot in the 60s classic "Get Smart", will always outweigh the bad.) Also, I once read an interview with Buzz Dixon where he basically said that Serpentor was totally forced on him by Hasbro, and that it killed the plot that he'd already intended for the s2 premiere, where the Joes and Cobra would both have sent small teams across the globe to hunt down the man who came up with the original philosophy which had ended up being twisted and perverted by Cobra into their evil manifesto. That would have been awesome.
Sgt. Slaughter (listed in the show's VA end credits under his real name, Bob Remus, interestingly enough), never bothered me that much, except for whenever he'd show super-human resilience. :rolleyes: But at least he was only seen about three or four more times after the 5-part Season 2 premiere, and I thought he was fun to watch in his OTT blowhard way (can anyone say the same about Serpentor?)
And, to reiterate, while I recognize Season 2's shortcomings, I still think there were plenty of nice character-driven touches to partially compensate (I'm thinking in particular of Beachhead's blunt, take-it-or-leave-it, hard-ass attitude, Leatherneck & Wetsuit's salty "Marines-versus-Navy-Seals" banter covering up their grudging mutual respect, and of the aforementioned Zarana, who actually ended up falling in love with one of the Joes, Mainframe, and he with her, although, sadly, that subplot was left unresolved when That Damned Movie killed off any hope of a third season.)
Originally Posted by Paladin
The cartoon definitely impressed me with the smart and tough Lady Jaye...
Glad to hear that. Though I already described in detail how j'adore the awesome Ms. Alison Hart-Burnett (Lady Jaye's real name, as given in her toy-package specs,) reading that part of your post has really made my morning. Thanks, Lardy.
Originally Posted by Paladin
...and the swarthy and funny Shipwreck, among a few others. I think they were even among my last figure purchases as my yen for toys was facing its dying embers.
Shipwreck was adorable, sort of a more articulate but equally good-hearted Popeye. And, although it's been mentioned a lot less in pop-culture discourse than I wish it was, his real name was Hector Delgado, which made him one of the first non-stereotypical Latin American characters in American pop-culture whose race was never brought up as an issue. BTW, Buzz Dixon has said more than once that his favorite Joe was Shipwreck.
Originally Posted by Paladin
But I'm still a Scarlett & Snake Eyes, etc. leaner at my core when I think about the property.
Again, fair enough. I just think it's a pity that most of the first wave of Joes, not unlike most of the first-wave Autobots in the TF cartoon, got shafted in their treatment in the Joe cartoon. Scarlett herself was one of the lucky few, and I think it bears mentioning that Dixon's predecessor as Joe showrunner, Steve Gerber (yes, *that* Steve Gerber), had to go toe-to-toe with Hasbro to keep both Duke and Scarlett on the show once Season 1 proper started, because Hasbro had already discontinued their toys by that point (and I'd imagine the same probably applies to most of the other first-wave Joes, though Gerber didn't mention any of the others.) I give Gerber a lot of credit for that.
Originally Posted by Paladin
And back to the Constructicons--I've always thought that they were a little too cool to be Decepticons and should have been Autobots in my mind. Not that Decepticons lacked for coolness--their alternate forms were generally more impressive, overall--I guess it's because Autobots tended more often to be road vehicles than did Decepticons.It also might have been because of the initial ambiguity in their first appearance.
Good observations, and I'll get a lot more into what you just described very soon in the remaining four Constructicon profiles. For the moment, I'll just mention that the Autobots' mind-enslaving of the Constructicons in the episode "The Core", while creepy and disturbing on the one hand, could be considered proactive and shades-of-gray on the other, and that it would indeed have been interesting if the Constructicons had changed sides for an extended period of time, just one of many instances across the TF cartoon's run where it had ideas that were too far ahead of their time to be accommodated by the all-episodes-as-stand-alones/status-quo-reset-at-the-end rules of 80s cartoons.
Originally Posted by Paladin
And it's not that Season Three was confusing to me exactly, but there was always that kind of mystical status of the never-seen movie and exactly what had happened to so many well-known characters, especially Optimus. Yeah, from the context and mentions, you knew that he and others were dead, but not having gotten to see it for myself, it was like having a big missing piece of the story that kind of left a vacuum in its wake.
I can see where you're coming from, but I personally felt gutted and let down, because I had built the movie up in my head as something far more sophisticated than what it turned out to be (and again, I'll get into the details just before the profiles move from this thread to the Post-Movie thread. A good place to get a taste of what's to come would be to re-read my Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan review, where I bring up the Transformers/Trek comparisons, and that era of the cartoon in particular, for a considerable portion of the post.)
If Morrissey had been born in the early-mid 70s instead of the late 50s, I think Bonecrusher would have been his favorite Transformer. Bonecrusher is a rough 'bot through and through. He's damn good at what he does, and he enjoys it maybe a little too much, especially when he strikes fear into the hearts of innocent humans and causes them to away from the collateral damage he creates, whether it's caused in the heat of battle, or simply from him tearing down a building without a care for safety measures. No doubt about it, Bonecrusher is destructive aggro personified. He's also wholly unsentimental, and downright hostile to displays of anything even resembling sentiment (recall the episode "The Core," where the Constructicons are about to embark on a mission they might not return from, and Scavenger tells the others words to the effect of "It's been nice knowing you," and Bonecrusher growls at him, "Don't get drippy.") Â And yet, I can't really bring myself to outright hate Bonecrusher. He's not really a bully, because bullies are driven by insecurity, confusion, sociopathy, and cowardice. Â Bonecrusher, OTOH, doesn't even know the meaning of words like "angst" or "neurosis." It's more like he just is what he is, and that's all that he is. Â But while Popeye's unambiguously on the side of the angels, Bonecrusher is not. Â I think it should also be noted that in the early part of the flashback from "The Secret of Omega Supreme", the pre-brainwash team of builder robots unaffiliated with either the Decepticons or the Autobots only numbers five. Then, after their forced conversion, they number six in all. Â Looking over the episode's footage carefully, with the help of the pause and slow-motion functions, I came to the (admittedly fan-wanky) conclusion that Bonecrusher, the meanest, most thuggish, and most brutal of the Constructicons, only joined the team after they had already been reprogrammed, and may have even already been a Decepticon sympathizer who did not require reprogramming. Â If the latter is the case, then Bonecrusher may have also been partly responsible for singling out the particular team of builders who were selected for the brainwash.
Bonecrusher's voice actor: NEIL ROSS (For other notable voice roles, see HOOK profile above.)
BONUS:
IRONHIDE
Bite-Sized Profile: Though his rank as Optimus Prime's Number One means that he often plays the Bad Cop to Prime's Good Cop, Ironhide's not quite as mean as he looks. Like his leader, he is secure enough in himself to be able to know when to hold back, and even when to be compassionate, though he's harder-shelled and much less demonstrative than Prime. One of my favorite archetypes (usually, but not exclusively, seen in the Western genre) is that of the ornery ol' cuss whose heart, despite the harshness that he's experienced for as long as he can remember, has secretly retained just enough softness for him to genuinely care about decent folk. And Ironhide, with his credible Southern drawl (as convincingly enunciated by Peter Cullen) reminds me of one of the best examples of that archetype, Woodrow Call, from prose novelist Larry McMurtry's "Lonesome Dove" saga, and particularly Tommy Lee Jones's portrayal of Call in the TV miniseries adaptation of the first novel (anyone else still remember when Jones was a solid, reliable character actor, before the movie-star fame from the success of "The Fugitive" movie turned him into a self-parody?)
Ironhide's voice actor: PETER CULLEN (For other notable voice roles, see OPTIMUS PRIME profile above)
And it's not that Season Three was confusing to me exactly, but there was always that kind of mystical status of the never-seen movie and exactly what had happened to so many well-known characters, especially Optimus. Yeah, from the context and mentions, you knew that he and others were dead, but not having gotten to see it for myself, it was like having a big missing piece of the story that kind of left a vacuum in its wake.
I can see where you're coming from, but I personally felt gutted and let down, because I had built the movie up in my head as something far more sophisticated than what it turned out to be (and again, I'll get into the details just before the profiles move from this thread to the Post-Movie thread. A good place to get a taste of what's to come would be to re-read my Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan review, where I bring up the Transformers/Trek comparisons, and that era of the cartoon in particular, for a considerable portion of the post.)
That. Exactly.
In my head it was built up to be the greatest thing ever. I mean, who at that age wouldn't be fascinated to know that there was a cartoon movie in which most of the characters you'd known had been either killed or altered beyond recognition?
Many kids, I think, have a fascination with morbidity as they try to comprehend the reality of death. To see that explored in some way in the media that has been built to entertain you is very alluring. Knowing characters had died in the X-Men, for example, is a significant element of what drew me to the book at the time along with there being a character, Wolverine, in their ranks who had few or no qualms about taking lives.
Maybe if I'd seen it as a kid, I'd feel differently, but as it happened, it's hard to see the animated Transformers movie as anything more than a cheesy letdown after all of that build-up in my head. But it still had a couple of powerful moments, so it easily ranks above the Michael Bay crap. (I think the only thing the Bay flicks ever did really well--besides retaining Peter Cullen as Optimus--was the sequence in the third film, I believe, in which a skyscraper in Chicago is attacked.)
Very well said, Lardy. TFTM is certainly better than the Bay-barf TF movies, but it still barely even *hints* at what could have been, if they'd stayed faithful to the character interactions which had been the TV cartoon's greatest strength.
I also take issue with some of the demi-stars who were part of the voice cast of TFTM. Now, Eric Idle as Wreck-Gar, I'm fine with that. Orson Welles, as Unicron, does his usual schtick acceptably enough. Lionel Stander as Kup and Robert Stack as Ultra Magnus don't really bother me, but I stand by my belief that their Season 3 successors, respectively John Stephenson and Jack Angel, outdid them thousandfold; Stephenson in particular really seemed to get into playing Kup -- his spotlight episode, "Chaos", is my comfort-food Season 3 episode.
But Judd Nelson as Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime sounds like he's got one eye on his paycheck and the other on his cocaine dealer. And, having been raised on Frank Welker's Season 3 psycho-drama-queen Galvatron, I fucking hated the glorified-Unicron-stooge, easily-defeated-by-Rodimus, boring and stiff TFTM Galvatron! None of the above is any reflection on the late, great Leonard Nimoy, who I feel was simply miscast; in fact, I'd have loved if Nimoy had instead been cast as Cyclonus, but then that would have necessitated the movie writers treating Cyclonus and Scourge as anything other than ciphers (for the record, I'd have also loved it if Oliver Reed had been cast as Scourge, and my dream choice for Galvatron would have been none other than Vincent Price!!)
The Constructicon who comes closest to being an easy-to-relate-to, frustrated everyman (every-'bot?) type. Â What human, or robot, or any other kind of sentient, hasn't felt undervalued and underappreciated at one time or another? Â All Long Haul ever wants is to take part in the actual building, like the other Constructicons. Â But since his vehicle mode is a dump truck, he gets stuck with all the dirty and boring work. Â Unfortunately, his constant griping and complaining, while understandable, can get as tedious, repetitive, and redundant as the songs of that so-called people's poet, Bruce Springsteen (whom, it should be noted, despite having had a bona-fide blue-collar upbringing, has never actually worked a day job in his entire life.) Â But that's a failing on the part of the show's writers, and either way, Long Haul serves a valuable function as both a Constructicon and a member of a vivid fictional ensemble of characters.
Long Haul's voice actor: GREGG BERGER (Other notable voice roles: Colonel Brekhov, leader of the Oktober Guard, "G.I. Joe", Spirit, "G.I. Joe", Firefly, "G.I. Joe", Odie, "Garfield")
More TF goodness coming within the week, as I wrap up the Constructicons profiles with SCAVENGER & MIXMASTER, and put in my two cents on PROWL and STARSCREAM!!
3 years, 9.5 months, and one switch to another Legion World ID later...
...I still love the original Transformers and GoBots TV series.
And while I'm afraid I'll jinx both shows' recent availability on DailyMotion by mentioning it here, I also feel duty-bound to do just that, so that people can either watch those classics for the first time, or get re-acquainted with them.
Finally, here's a bit of half-assed fangirl philosophy which I am going to share anyway because my ego is so tremendous:
"Challenge of the GoBots" is to "Transformers" as Ernie Bushmiller's "Nancy" is to Charles M. Schulz's "Peanuts."
To make it clear to those not versed in the late Mr. Bushmiller's work, the above statement is not an insult. And if you still don't believe me, no less a genius than Bill "Zippy the Pinhead" Griffith is working on a book about Mr. Bushmiller's life and art.
So much for those shows being "glorified toy commercials." Nyah-nyah!
As this thread's first post of 2020, I thought it'd be apropos to do a Top 20 list for each show.
So, I give you the 20 TF eps that I recommend most highly (in random order, not by rank), and the 20 Gobots eps likewise.
Transformers (Pre-Movie only)
AUTO BERSERK MAKE TRACKS AUTO-BOP THE SEARCH FOR ALPHA TRION THE INSECTICON SYNDROME WAR DAWN ATLANTIS, ARISE THE SECRET OF OMEGA SUPREME STARSCREAM'S BRIGADE THE REVENGE OF BRUTICUS COSMIC RUST THE IMMOBILIZER THE MASTER BUILDER SEA CHANGE THE GOD GAMBIT THE GOLDEN LAGOON DIVIDE AND CONQUER THE CORE TRAITOR MICROBOTS
Gobots
ESCAPE FROM ELBA THE GOBOTS THAT TIME FORGOT INVASION FROM THE 21ST LEVEL (Part 1 of 2) INVASION FROM THE 21ST LEVEL (Part 2 of 2) ELEMENT OF DANGER THE THIRD COLUMN THE QUEST FOR ROGUE STAR DOPPLEGANGER MISSION GOBOTRON ET TU, CY-KILL CY-KILL'S CATACLYSMIC TRAP SPEED IS OF THE ESSENCE GUARDIAN ACADEMY QUEST FOR NEW EARTH FITOR TO THE FINISH FORCED ALLIANCE DAWN WORLD TERROR IN ATLANTIS TRIDENT'S TRIPLE THREAT DEPTH CHARGE
Question for EDE and other fans of vintage radio drama:
Do you think the voice acting on Transformers is at the same level of quality? I ask because I've repeatedly said in more than one Transformers thread that, as crazy-perfectionistic as the show's voice director, Wally Burr, is alleged to have been, I think it's indisputable he got superlative results. Sometimes I'll watch one of the lesser Transformers episodes just because they have some great bits of voice acting.
I'm not sure how to make the comparison, as voice acting for animation is much different than audio drama, plus quality varied a lot even in the Golden Age of Radio.
But, yeah, I definitely think that Transformers had first rate voice acting overall.
Thanks, EDE. It's really something, how just about every show that Wally Burr voice-directed in the 80s had better voice acting than the rest. Even some of the 70s Hanna Barbera shows he worked on! I mean, "Dynomutt," and "Captain Caveman," and "Laff-A-Lympics" were not any better-written than the other HB shows, but the voices! Frank Welker & Gary Owens as Dynomutt & Blue Falcon, what chemistry they had! And then there's one of the last shows Burr did for HB, "Drak Pack," which I recall fondly and which is a favorite of Rockhopper Lad's. That one *was* better-written than the other HB shows (and...six degrees...one of the "Drak Pack" writers was future "Transformers" writer Douglas Booth.)
Great news! After being away from YouTube for many years, Transformers is back and, hopefully, here to stay!
Challenge of the GoBots is there, too, but they're charging $1.99 per episode, where Transformers is free (albeit with ads.)
Annfie to the rescue, though, because later on today I'll provide a list of the GoBots episodes that are worth spending a little bit of your money on. (No cheap jokes, please.)
Sigh. Turns out there's less than half of the 65 GoBots episodes available on YouTube. Ah, well, here's the ones out of that bunch that are worth the $1.99 per episode:
"Battle for GoBotron" (Pilot Mini-Series, Part 1)
"Target: Earth" (Pilot Mini-Series, Part 2)
"Conquest of Earth" (Pilot Mini-Series, Part 3)
"Earth Bound" (Pilot Mini-Series, Part 4)
"The Final Conflict" (Pilot Mini-Series, Part 5)
"Whiz Kid"
"Terror In Atlantis" (PERSONAL FAVORITE RECOMMENDATION)
"The Quest for Rogue Star" (PERSONAL EXTRA-SPECIAL FAVORITE RECOMMENDATION)
"Speed Is of the Essence" (PERSONAL EXTRA-SPECIAL FAVORITE RECOMMENDATION)
"Depth Charge" (PERSONAL FAVORITE RECOMMENDATION)
(And to prove what a mess this whole set-up is, only two of the five episodes that make up the second mini-series, "The GoBotron Saga," are available! Avoid those until the rest finally become available.)
So, today we find ourselves a full 2 months into 2024, and it only now occurs to me that just because the 40th anniversary of the first Transformers air date isn't until September 17th, it doesn't mean we need to wait until then to celebrate the anniversary.
Let's celebrate the whole franchise for the whole rest of the year!
A jokey reference to the Constructicons, which I just posted in the current Kill This Thread game, reminded me that I never got around to profiling Scavenger, Mixmaster, and Devastator.
RIP veteran voice actor Peter Reneday -- Grapple on Transformers and the Master Renegade on GoBots. He also played Mandrake the Magician on Defenders of the Earth and, in his most famous role, Master Splinter on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
And I happened to have re-watched Grapple's showcase episode, "The Master Builder," just a couple weeks ago.
I often fantasize about who would have voiced the Avengers if there had been an Avengers cartoon in the 80s -- I'd have cast Reneday as Thor.
Previous Thread
for Kid Prime.
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And anger, lots of anger. 
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