Cartoon Network and Hasbro Roll Out New Transformers Series

[Megagents]

There’s MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE when Cartoon Network premieres a 90-minute feature presentation of Transformers Animated Special: “Transform and Roll Out" on Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2007 at 8 p.m. (ET, PT). The adventure begins when OPTIMUS PRIME and his small crew of AUTOBOTS come into possession of the ALLSPARK, a powerful Cybertronian artifact that attracts the attention of their long-forgotten enemies, the DECEPTICONS, and sends them crashing to a strange and distant planet known as Earth.

The special kicks off the brand new series, Transformers Animated, set to premiere on Cartoon Network Saturday, Jan. 5, 2008 at 10:30 a.m. (ET, PT). Taking place on Earth in the near future in Detroit, the series begins when the alien TRANSFORMERS are thrust into a world populated by humans and automatons. As visitors to Earth, the TRANSFORMERS --OPTIMUS PRIME, BUMBLEBEE, PROWL, BULKHEAD and RATCHET-- work in the human world, interacting with the ‘natives’ in exciting and humorous ways. Following the AUTOBOTS across the galaxy to their new home is the megalomaniacal MEGATRON and his army of ruthless DECEPTICONS, a brutal race of war-mongering robots who seek to use the ALLSPARK as their ultimate weapon of destruction.

The AUTOBOTS unlikely guide through Earth society is a brash, energetic 8-year-old girl named Sari Sumdac, the adopted daughter of a robotics magnate. Setting the AUTOBOTS up with their headquarters in an old abandoned auto plant on the outskirts of town, Sari not only becomes an “honorary AUTOBOT” by enlightening them on such mysteries of Earth life like megamalls, junk food and basic hanging out, but also becomes a vital team member in their adventures. And even more importantly, the ALLSPARK endows Sari with a very special power, one the DECEPTICONS would love to get their hands on—not to mention the ALLSPARK itself.

Transformers Animated is jointly developed by Cartoon Network and Hasbro, Inc. and is co-produced by Cartoon Network Studios. Matt Youngberg (Teen Titans, The Batman) is supervising director, Derrick Wyatt (Teen Titans) is the character designer and Sam Register (Ben 10, Teen Titans) serves as executive producer of the series. Marty Isenberg (Danny Phantom., X-Men, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) acts as head writer.

Hasbro and HPG, its licensing division, will expand the action-packed Transformers Animated series through toys, games, licensed merchandise and promotions around the world.

Hasbro (NYSE:HAS) is a worldwide leader in children’s and family leisure time entertainment products and services, including the design, manufacture and marketing of games and toys ranging from traditional to high tech. Both internationally and in the U.S., its PLAYSKOOL, TONKA, MILTON BRADLEY, PARKER BROTHERS, TIGER and WIZARDS OF THE COAST brands and products provide the highest quality and most recognizable play experiences in the world.

Cartoon Network (CartoonNetwork.com), currently seen in more than 91 million U.S. homes and 160 countries around the world, is Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.’s ad-supported cable service offering the best in original, acquired and classic animated entertainment for kids and families. Overnight from 11 p.m.-6 a.m. (ET, PT) Sunday-Thursday, Cartoon Network shares its channel space with Adult Swim, a late-night destination showcasing original and acquired animation for young adults 18-34.

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, creates and programs branded news, entertainment, animation and young adult media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world.

Source: TV For Kids

[eddievalient]

I'm looking forward to this. I enjoyed the movie so I'm interested in seeing what they do with a series now. I'll be taping the premiere cause like most animated shows, the feature version of the pilot will likely only be run once before being split up. It happened with Armada and the newest He-Man series (the pilots for both of which I also have taped somewhere) and it seems to be a standard thing.

Rant: I will never understand why a feature length program gets split up on dvds. Take Talespin as a fr'instance: Plunder and Lightning was originally run as a feature and had some additional scenes that were removed from the subsequent split broadcast due to time constraints. They should have put the feature version on the dvd instead of the split up version but they didn't, so unless someone has it taped somewhere, no one today will ever know what those extra scenes were. It's a bit frustrating. Okay, rant over.

[eddievalient]

Just watched the premiere and I gotta say, they did good. The animation, writing and acting are all excellent. My two favorite characters, Bumblebee and Starscream, both had some good moments, Starscream especially. It was great to see the writers make him into a real villain instead of just a whining wannabe (my biggest criticism of G1, which I otherwise think is cool). In many ways, I think the new series is better than the original one, which is saying something since G1 has been my favorite Transformers series for a long time. I am seriously looking forward to seeing more, but I suspect I'll have to wait a few weeks for them to reair the pilot in three parts.