Transformers (cartoon series)

This article covers the animated series The Transformers ; for other meanings see Transformers .

Television series
German title	Transformers
Original title	The Transformers
Country of production	United States Japan ( animation , seasons 1–3) South Korea ( animation , seasons 2–4) Philippines ( animation , season 2)
original language	English (AE)
Year (s)	1984-1987
Episodes	98 in 4 seasons ( list )
genre	Action , adventure , science fiction
music	Robert J. Walsh Johnny Douglas
First broadcast	September 17, 1984 (USA)
German-language first broadcast	April 7, 1989 on RTL
synchronization

Transformers (original title: The Transformers ; today, in retrospect, also known as Transformers: Generation One or Generation 1 ) is an American animated series based on the Transformers toy series by the American manufacturer Hasbro and originally designed as an advertising medium for it was.

The series was produced by Sunbow Productions and Marvel Productions, an offshoot of the comic book publisher Marvel Comics , which was also involved in developing the background of the series. The scripts for the series were written in the United States, the animation was originally taken over by the Japanese studio Toei Animation , but increasingly by the Korean studio Akom in later seasons .

In the United States, the series was originally broadcast on television in four seasons from 1984 to 1987, while in Germany a dubbed version was only shown on television from 1989. In the United States and a few other countries, the series was also released entirely on DVD , but not all episodes are available in Germany.

Emergence

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, American toy manufacturers began looking for new ways to market their products. After the comic book publisher Marvel Comics began to publish comic series in 1979 based on the toy series Micronauts by the company Mego and Rom The Space Knight by the company Parker Brothers (now part of Hasbro ), other manufacturers jumped on the bandwagon as well as cartoons whose main purpose was also to market toy series of the same name.

At that time there were still strict restrictions in the United States on the broadcasting of television programs whose main purpose was product advertising (so-called "program-length commercials"). The toy manufacturers therefore also had comics produced based on the respective toys, and without further ado declared the cartoon series to be advertising for the comics. In the case of Mattels , this was an animated series for Masters of the Universe (from 1983) with an associated comic series from DC Comics , while Hasbro, together with the advertising agency Griffin Bacal and Marvel Comics, gave the GI Joe toy series a general overhaul under the title GI Joe: A Real American Hero broadcast as an animated series on television from 1983. Then in 1984 the Federal Communications Commission lifted restrictions on television commercials.

In 1983, Hasbro's employees discovered new types of toys from the Japanese manufacturer Takara (now Takara Tomy ) at a toy fair in Japan , which were released as part of the Diaclone and New Microman: Micro Change toy series : toy robots that can be easily moved into cars, airplanes and other technical devices let transform. Hasbro then acquired a license from Takara to sell the toys outside of Japan.

At Griffin Bacal's suggestion, the Diaclone and Micro Change figures were merged into a new series called The Transformers , the pilots of the toys were removed and the robots themselves declared the main characters and grouped as "Autobots" (good) and "Decepticons" (evil) classified. The Marvel editors Jim Shooter, Dennis O'Neil and Bob Budiansky, in turn, developed a backstory that made living robots from the planet Cybertron out of the "Transformers", and gave the individual characters names and personalities.

While Hasbro was preparing the toys for publication on the American market, Marvel developed a comic series for advertising purposes, and Marvel Productions, which was owned by Marvel, and Sunbow Productions, which was then owned by Griffin Bacal (later bought by TV-Loonland), developed an animated series following the example of GI Joe . The comic and cartoon series were independent of one another in terms of content, despite a similar initial story, and later developed in different directions. Although the main focus of the plot was supposed to be on the robots, the series also introduced some recurring human characters that didn't have toys. There were also some Transformers in the series that were specially invented for the cartoon series and were not based on existing toy figures.

For the animated series (as well as the Marvel comic series), the appearance of the toy robots has been revised, simplified and, in many cases, more closely adapted to human body proportions. Many robots, which as toys often had visors or face masks, were given human-like faces for the cartoon series. In some cases this meant that the cartoon characters hardly looked like their toy counterparts. The color scheme did not always match the toys either.

The series at a glance

Pilot film

The three-part pilot, written by George Arthur Bloom, was first broadcast on American television from September 17-19, 1984, and was later subsequently named "More Than Meets The Eye". Almost all of the Transformers toy figures from 1984 appear in the pilot. Unlike later Transformers cartoon series, the original series was not broadcast on one of the major US networks , but on so-called " Syndication " television. The Japanese studio Toei Animation was responsible for the animation .

The plot of the pilot begins on the planet Cybertron, whose inhabitants, living robots with the ability to transform themselves into various vehicles and other forms of machines, are fighting a civil war. When the energy reserves are running low, some Autobots set off under the command of Optimus Prime with a spaceship on an exploration mission into space. However, Megatron and his Decepticons take up chase and board the Autobot spaceship. As a result of the battle, the ship crashes on a nearby planet, Earth, and digs deep into a volcano.

Four million years later, in 1984, the volcano erupted and Teletraan I, the spaceship's computer, came back to life. Due to damage, however, he is no longer able to differentiate between friend and foe, which is why he repairs both the Autobots and the Decepticons and equips them with new forms of transformation adapted to life on earth. Immediately the Decepticons begin to plunder the energy sources of the earth. In an attempt to stop them, the Autobots befriend the human Sparkplug Witwicky and his teenage son Spike. With the help of the two, the Autobots finally succeed in preventing the Decepticons from returning to Cybertron with a large amount of stolen energon (the Transformers' preferred form of energy).

The Marvel comic series and the computer-animated Beast Wars series broadcast ten years later , which refers to the comic series, give the spaceship the name Ark , in English "Arche", while the volcano is called the fictional "Mount St. Hilary" in the US state of Oregon is identified, based on the real existing Mount St. Helens , which with its eruption in 1980 forms the template for the fictional volcano in the Transformers series. In the animated series, neither the spaceship nor the volcano are ever named, and the state in which the spaceship that has been converted into Autobot headquarters is never named is never named. The oil crises of 1973 and 1979 served as inspiration for the Decepticons' sustained efforts to plunder the earth's energy sources during the first two seasons of the series .

First season

Before the pilot film was even broadcast, a season with 13 further episodes was commissioned (in retrospect, the pilot film is counted as the first season, which makes a total of 16 episodes). The first episode was broadcast on American television on October 6, 1984, the last on December 19, 1984. Episodes were written by Douglas Booth, Donald F. Glut , Alfred A. Pega, Leo D. Paur, Bryce Malek, Dick Robbins , Reed Robbins and Peter Salas, however, the names of the authors in the first season were not assigned to individual episodes, but only mentioned together on a standard board in the credits. Toei did the animation of the episodes again.

In terms of content, the consequences mostly tell of Megatron's new plans to plunder the energy sources of the earth and destroy the Autobots, which the Autobots can thwart each time. Some of the episodes are specifically designed to introduce new characters to promote the toys that were released in the United States in 1985. Specifically, these are the Dinobots, which can transform into mechanical dinosaurs ; also Skyfire, which is based on the toy figure "Jetfire", but had to be revised for the cartoon series for legal reasons; the Insecticons, which can transform into mechanical insects ; and the Constructicons, six construction vehicles that can be put together to form a super robot called Devastator.

Other elements that will be introduced at the beginning of the first season are the space bridge, a kind of dimensional portal that enables a quick connection between Earth and Cybertron, as well as another human ally of the Autobots, the highly intelligent Chip Chase, who relies on a wheelchair is. Spike Witwicky also has a close friendship with the young Autobot Bumblebee in the first two seasons.

Second season

The second season first aired from September 23, 1985 to January 9, 1986 and comprised a total of 49 episodes. The scripts for the individual episodes came from Donald F. Glut, Larry Parr, Douglas Booth, David Wise, Earl Kress, Dick Robbins and Bryce Malek, among others. 39 of the episodes were again animated by Toei, the remaining ten episodes came from the Korean studio Akom and a Filipino studio. Akom's founder and owner, Nelson Shin , was also one of the producers of the Transformers cartoon series.

In terms of content, many episodes of the season tell again about different plans of Megatron, but in the second season some episodes also play in space and on other planets, where the Transformers meet other aliens. Many of the toy characters that Hasbro re-launched in 1985 appear in the animated series without any explanation, while a few others receive a special introductory episode. The Autobot Omega Supreme even receives a base story of origin. In some episodes, too, individual characters, mostly Autobots, are brought into focus.

In later episodes of the season, the first toy figures from 1986 will be presented, including the new teams of Aerialbots, Stunticons, Protectobots and Combaticons, which, like the Constructicons, can each combine to form a super robot. The episode "War Dawn" also presents a story of origin for Optimus Prime, previously known as "Orion Pax".

In addition to Transformers, which are based on existing toy figures, there are also some Transformers in the second season that were specially invented for the cartoon series. This includes an Autobot bounty hunter named Devcon, the wise old Autobot Alpha Trion and the "female" Autobots Chromia, Moonracer, Firestar and Elita One, the latter presented as friend Optimus Prime. Spike also gets a friend named Carly in the second season, who, like Chip Chase, has technical knowledge.

For the second season, five so-called “Public Service Announcements” were produced, short clips with everyday lessons, as they were also used in other series of the time such as Masters of the Universe , GI Joe , MASK or Inspector Gadget , usually at the end of the respective episode. In the case of the Transformers series, however, the clips were ultimately never used for television broadcasting, but were only made available to the public years later on various DVD releases as bonus material.

Motion picture

→ Main article: Transformers - The Battle for Cybertron

During the production of the first season, Hasbro was already planning a cartoon about the Transformers. This should pursue the goal of getting the old (toy) figures out of the way and introducing new (toy) figures. The screenplay was by Ron Friedman, the animation again by Toei, directed by Nelson Shin.

The film premiered in American cinemas on August 8, 1986 under the original title The Transformers: The Movie , but despite the engagement of well-known speakers such as Orson Welles , Eric Idle or Leonard Nimoy , the film developed into a huge commercial flop and ended up being less popular than $ 6 million.

In terms of content, the film takes place in 2005, 19 years after the end of the second season of the cartoon series. The Decepticons have captured Cybertron, while the Autobots have built a city on Earth, Autobot City, and are planning to retake their homeworld. During the course of the film, Optimus Prime is killed, Megatron is transformed into Galvatron by the world eater Unicron, and a young Autobot named Hot Rod is transformed into the new Autobot leader Rodimus Prime from the "Matrix of Leadership", a powerful artifact of the Autobots . Many Transformers are also killed, especially those whose toy figures have been on the market since 1984, while newly introduced characters move into the focus of the plot. Spike Witwicky, one of the Autobots' human allies from the first two seasons, appears in the film as an adult, and his son Daniel is new.

Third season

The third season was broadcast from September 1, 1986, comprised a total of 30 episodes and began with the five-part series "The five faces of darkness" written by Flint Dille, which continues the plot of the film. In 2005, Rodimus Prime leads the Autobots who took control of Cybertron as a result of the events of the movie, while Galvatron leads the Decepticons who have built a new base on the uninhabited planet Chaar. The Quintessons, introduced in the movie, are revealed in a flashback as the creators of the Transformers, whose creations once rebelled against their masters. In the further course of the season, which takes place more often than the second season instead of on earth in space and on other planets, many new (toy) figures are introduced again. In contrast to his predecessor Optimus Prime, the new Autobot leader Rodimus Prime is often portrayed as insecure and overwhelmed by his new responsibilities, while Galvatron, in contrast to the portrayal in the film, is now insane as a result of an involuntary plasma bath. In addition to the adult Spike Witwicky, his wife Carly (who was Spike's girlfriend in the second season) and their son Daniel, another recurring human supporting character of the third season is Marissa Faireborn, who works for the Earth Defense Command. Her father, who can be seen briefly in the episode "The Pull of the Black Hole", is an aged version of Flint from the animated series GI Joe , while the mother, never shown , is said to be Flint's former teammate Lady Jaye. In two episodes a certain "Abdul Fakkadi" appears, who is based on Muammar al-Gaddafi and ruler of the fictional Arab country "Carbombya" (eng. "Car bomb" = car bomb ) and who works several times with the Decepticons. This meant that the Lebanese - Druze -stämmige Casey Kasem , who was during the first two seasons, among others, the spokesman for the Autobots Bluestreak and Cliff Jumper and the Autobot computer Teletraan I, due to him as a one-sided clichéd negatively perceived representation of Arabs got out of the series. In the course of the five-part series "The Five Faces of Darkness", the volcano, including the former Autobot spaceship headquarters including Teletraan I, is destroyed by the gigantic Decepticon Trypticon, and the Autobots now use the Teletraan II computer (voiced by Frank Welker), which located in Autobot City.

In contrast to the first two seasons, which had a larger number of recurring writers, the scripts of the third season were often written by newcomers, who often wrote only a few episodes, including Michael Charles Hill, Paul Davids, Michael Reaves , Gerry Conway , Len Wein , Diane Duane and Paul Dini . Toei was only responsible for the animation of 13 episodes this time, the remaining episodes came from the Korean studio Akom, owned by Nelson Shin, one of the producers of the series, with the exception of the episode "The Mysterious Oracle", which was animated by the Tokyo Movie Shinsha studio .

Optimus Prime, who died in the movie, was allowed to return as a “zombie” in the episode “The Awakening in the Dark”, only to sacrifice his life again at the end, just regained his senses. However, this was not enough for the young fans of the series, who bombarded Hasbro with letters and phone calls since the film and called for a return of Optimus Prime. So the third season finally ended with the two-parter "The Return of Optimus Prime", written by Marv Wolfman, Cherie Wilkerson and Michael Charles Hill (Part 2), which first aired on February 24th and 25th, 1987 and the end of " Dark Awakening ”so that Optimus Prime can come back to life and replace Rodimus Prime as the leader of the Autobots. On later television broadcasts, "Dark Awakening" was moved from the middle of the season to the end and provided with an additional voice-over at the end, which should indicate the continuation in the next episode.

Fourth season

During the preparation of the fourth season, Hasbro decided to no longer fund the animated series. The exact reasons for this are not yet known. So it happened that the fourth season only comprised three episodes, which introduced almost all of the new toy figures from 1987.

The three-part series "The Rebirth", written by David Wise and animated by Akom, was first broadcast from November 9-11, 1987. The Autobots and Decepticons, many of them newly introduced characters, end up on the planet Nebulos, where the Decepticons ally with the tyrannical Hive, while the Autobots form an alliance with the opponents of the Hive. On both sides, the human-like Nebulans join forces with the Transformers and form so-called “Headmasters” and “Targetmasters”, with the Nebulans serving as heads or weapons for the Transformers. In the end there is a fight between the gigantic Autobot headmaster Fortress Maximus (commanded by Spike Witwicky) and his Decepticon counterpart Scorponok, which ends with a renewed victory for the Autobots and a new "golden age" for the planet Cybertron. Optimus Prime and Galvatron continue to appear, but most of the time they are not the focus of the plot.

"Fifth" season

After the end of the fourth season, no new episodes were produced, but the series was still repeated. Officially there was still a "fifth" season, which was broadcast from 1988 to 1989 and consisted of a repetition of the pilot film and some episodes of the third and fourth seasons as well as the movie The Transformers: The Movie , which was divided into five "episodes" . In contrast to previous broadcasts, the episodes of the "fifth" season have been given a new opening credits, in which a puppet version of the "Powermaster" toy figure from Optimus Prime talks to a human boy named Tommy Kennedy (played by Jason Jansen) and initiates the respective episode.

Publication in other countries

Japan

Although the original toy figures came from Japan and the animation initially came from the Japanese studio Toei, the Japanese toy manufacturer Takara initially had nothing to do with the production of the series.

However, given the success of the Transformers toys in the United States, Takara decided in 1984 to discontinue Diaclone and Micro Change . From 1985, the toys appeared in Japan under the name Transformers . The animated series has been dubbed into Japanese, and the first two seasons were first released from July 1, 1985 to November 7, 1986 under the title Tatakae! Cho Robot Seimeitei Transformer ( Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers ) aired on Japanese TV. The Japanese broadcast often deviated from the broadcast order of the US episodes, and some additional summary episodes were cut together from existing episodes, while two original episodes were left out and only appeared on video later.

The feature film was not originally shown in Japan and was only released on video and laser disc in 1989 . For this, an original video animation with the title Scramble City Hatsudō Hen ( Scramble City: Mobilization ) was released exclusively in Japan in April 1986 , in which the "Combiner" teams are the focus.

The third season of the series was in turn in Japan from November 14, 1986 to June 26, 1987 under the title Tatakae! Cho Robot Seimeitei Transformer aired in 2010 , with the dubbing moving the action (which takes place in the original version in 2005) to 2010.

The fourth US season was never on television in Japan, but the three-part "The Rebirth" was dubbed into Japanese and released on Laserdisc and later on DVD. Instead, Takara had his own Transformers cartoon series with the titles Transformers: The Headmasters , Transformers: Chojin Masterforce ( Super God Masterforce ) and Transformers: Victory produced from 1987 , which were again animated by Toei.

Germany

In Germany, the series was available for households with cable television in 1985 in the original English version, which was broadcast on the Sky Channel, which was then based in the Netherlands , until it was replaced by Eurosport in the cable network.

A synchronized German-language version of the series, however, was only broadcast on RTL plus from April 7, 1989 . However, RTL did not stick to the original sequence, but began with the episode "Der Alptraumplanet" from the third US season, followed by the finale of the third season, the two-parter "The Return of Optimus Prime", and the three-parter "Die Wiedergeburt" , which was the fourth season in the United States. Thereafter, RTL broadcast a total of two episodes from the first, four from the second US season and another episode from the third US season.

From October 1989 to January 1990 a second block followed with 13 more episodes, this time all from the third US season. From June to November 1990 ten episodes from the third US season were broadcast, starting with the five-part "The Five Faces of Darkness", which was the start of the third season in the United States. The other three episodes of the third US season finally aired in February 1992, the last new episode aired on February 29, 1992.

A total of 39 of the 98 US episodes were broadcast, of which only six were from the first two US seasons, while the third and fourth US seasons were completely. The pilot of the series was not shown.

The movie The Transformers: The Movie was never shown in theaters in Germany, but was only broadcast on RTL in 1994 as part of the Transformers: Generation 2 series.

synchronization

Polyband GmbH from Munich was responsible for the German synchronization. The dialogue book for the series was written by Oliver Grimm and Dirk Salomon , while Theo Partisch took over the dubbing.

role	US voice actor	EN voice actor	Appearance
Autobots
Optimus Prime	Peter Cullen	Willi Roebke	Season 1 to 4
		Hans-Rainer Müller	" Awakening in the dark "
Rodimus Prime	Dick Gautier	Thomas Rau	season 3
Blaster	Buster Jones	Werner Abrolat	" Dangerous Hypnosis Power "
		Holger Schwiers	" The five faces of darkness, part 1 to 5 ", " Grimlock's new brain "
		Peter Musäus	" Eternity takes a long time "
		Thomas Rau	" The Birthday Party ", " The Red Wizard ", " The Ghost in the Robot ", " The Carnage in Cis-Mol ", " The Secret of the Quintessons "
		Hans-Rainer Müller	" The Hyperspace Program "
Blurr	John Moschitta	Bernd Simon	Season 3 & 4
Bumblebee	Dan Gilvezan	Hans-Rainer Müller	Season 1 to 3
Gold bow	Dan Gilvezan	Franz Rudnick	Season 3 & 4
Grimlock	Gregg Berger	Gernot Duda	season 3
Hoist	Michael Chain	Imo Heite	" Hoist goes to the movie "
Hot rod	Dick Gautier	Franz Rudnick	" The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 2 " & " The Rebirth, Part 1 "
		Peter Musäus	" The rebirth, part 2 & 3 "
jazz	Scatman Crothers	Reinhard Brock	Season 1 & 2
Kup	John Stephenson	Ulrich Bernsdorff	" The Five Faces of Darkness, Parts 1 to 5 ", " Moloch of the Deep ", " Grimlock's New Brain ", " The Return of Optimus Prime, Parts 1 & 2 " & " The Rebirth, Part 1 "
		Walter von Hauff	" Awakening in the Dark ", " Eternity Takes Long ", " The Ghost of Starscream " & " The Ghost in the Robot "
		Holger Schwiers	" The Hyperspace Program "
		Imo Heite	" If you don't fight you will die "
Perceptor	Paul Eiding	Reinhard Brock	season 3
Powerglide	Paul Eiding	Peter Musäus	" The girl who fell in love with Powerglide "
		Bernd Simon	" Hoist goes to the movie "
		Reinhard Brock	" The five faces of darkness, part 5 "
		Hans-Rainer Müller	" The ghost in the robot "
Prowl	Michael Bell	Hans-Rainer Müller	" The Space Bridge "
		Ulrich Bernsdorf	" The Secret Anti-Matter Formula "
Sandstorm	Jerry Houser	Bernd Simon	" If you don't fight you will die "
		Imo Heite	" The Ghost of Starscream "
Teletraan I	Casey Kasem	Bernd Simon	" The Space Bridge "
		Peter Musäus	" The Secret Anti-Matter Formula "
		Imo Heite	" Dangerous Hypnosis Power "
		Wolfgang Mascher	" The girl who fell in love with Powerglide "
Teletraan II	Frank Welker	Gerhard Acktun	" Like a thief in the night "
		Reinhard Brock	" Grimlock's New Brain "
Ultra Magnus	Jack Angel	Holger Schwiers	" The five faces of darkness, part 1 - 5 ", " The suction of the black hole ", " The Moloch of the Deep ", " Only one person ", " Grimlock's new brain ", " The mysterious oracle ", " Nijika, die Sky dancer "," the burden of responsibility "
		Fritz von Hardenberg	" Awakening in the dark ," " The Birthday Party ", " Ghost of the Robot ," " Galvatron drehgt by ", " The carnage in C sharp minor ," " The Secret of Quintessons ", " The transformation module ," " The Hyper Space Program " " If you don't fight you will die "
		Peter Musäus	" The Nightmare Planet "
		Wolfgang Mascher	" The Return of Optimus Prime, Parts 1 & 2 " & " The Rebirth, Part 1 "
		Peter Musäus	" The rebirth, part 2 & 3 "
Wheeljack	Chris Latta	Ulrich Bernsdorf	" The Secret Anti-Matter Formula "
		Hans-Rainer Müller	season 2
Decepticons
Megatron	Frank Welker	Gernot Duda	Season 1 & 2
Galvatron	Frank Welker	Gerd Wiedenhofen	Season 3 & 4
Astrotrain	Jack Angel	Gerd Wiedenhofen	" Hoist goes to the movie "
		Christoph Lindert	" Deadly Crystals "
		Gernot Duda	" The Hyperspace Program "
		Holger Schwiers	" The burden of responsibility "
Cyclonus	Roger C. Carmel	Hans-Rainer Müller	Season 3, " The Rebirth, Parts 2 & 3 "
		Imo Heite	" The pull of the black hole "
		Franz Rudnick	" The rebirth, part 1 "
Octane	Beau Weaver	Thomas Rau	" The five faces of darkness, part 4 "
		Holger Schwiers	" The Ghost of Starscream " & " Like a Thief in the Night "
Rumble	Frank Welker	Ulrich Bernsdorf	" The Secret Anti-Matter Formula "
		Bernd Simon	" The girl who fell in love with Powerglide ", " Hoist goes to the movie "
Scourge	Stan Jones	Holger Schwiers	" The Five Faces of Darkness, Parts 1 to 5 ", " The Hyperspace Program ", " If You Don't Fight You Will Die ", " The Moloch Of The Deep ", " Grimlock's New Brain ", " The Burden of Responsibility "
		Thomas Rau	" Awakening in the Dark ", " The Birthday Party ", " The Rebirth, Part 1 - 3 "
		Gernot Duda	" The Ghost of Starscream ", " The Ghost in the Robot "
		Reinhard Brock	" The Secret of the Quintessons "
Soundwave	Frank Welker	Michael Rüth	Season 1 & 2
		Gerhard Acktun	" Galvatron is freaking out "
		Bernd Simon	" The Carnage in C Sharp Minor ", " The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1 "
Starscream	Chris Latta	Bernd Simon	Season 1 to 3
Trypticon	Brad Garrett	Christoph Lindert	" The Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4 & 5 "
		Gernot Duda	" Like a thief in the night ", " The transformation module "
Humans and aliens
Chip Chase	Michael Horton	Clemens Kleiber	" The Secret Anti-Matter Formula " & " Who's the Fastest Autobot? "
Daniel Witwicky	David Mendenhall	Inez Günther	" Awakening in the Dark ", " The Birthday Party " & " The Red Wizard "
Old Snake (Cobra Commander)	Chris Latta	Bernd Simon	" Only human "
Lord Zarak	Stan Jones	Walter Reichelt	" The rebirth, part 1 to 3 "
Sparkplug Witwicky	Chris Latta	Gert Wiedenhofen	" The Space Bridge ", " The Girl Who Fell In Love With Power Links "
Spike Witwicky	Corey Burton	Wolfgang Mascher	Season 1 to 4
		Gerhard Acktun	" The five faces of darkness, part 1 to 5 ", " The secret of the Quintesson " & " The transformation module "

New edition (generation 2)

→ Main article: Transformers: Generation 2

After Hasbro discontinued the Transformers toy series in the United States in 1990 (in Europe, including Germany, however, this was continued with new figures), a new edition was tried from 1993 under the title Transformers: Generation 2 . The animated series of the same name were episodes of the original series, which were slightly revised with computer effects and new sound effects. The order of the episodes differed from the order of the original series. A total of 52 revised episodes were broadcast in two seasons from 1993 to 1994.

The Generation 2 series was also broadcast on RTL in Germany . Unlike in the United States, first the movie was here at the start of The Transformers: The Movie shown, which was until then never seen in Germany and dubbed version for the first time on 24 April 1994 under the title Transformers - The War for Cybertron was broadcast . In contrast to the case of the original series, this time RTL stuck to the US order when broadcasting the episodes, but only 26 episodes were shown from April 30 to October 22, 1994. Some of the episodes had been left out when the original series was broadcast on RTL, while others had already been seen before. However, since the synchronization of the Generation 2 series, like that of the cinema, differed from the synchronization of the original series, some episodes are available in two different synchronized versions. These episodes also received different German titles than when they were originally broadcast.

Publication on video and DVD

right

In 2000, the German TV-Loonland AG took over the worldwide rights to all Sunbow productions, including the Transformers series, through the acquisition of Sony Wonder . It wasn't until 2008 that Hasbro managed to acquire the sole rights to series such as Transformers and GI Joe for a total of 7 million US dollars .

In the United States and Great Britain

In the United States, some episodes of the Family Home Entertainment series were released on VHS and Betamax from 1984 . Twelve numbered video cassettes contained all 16 episodes of the first season including the pilot film and two episodes from the second season, the movie, the opening five-part of the third season, "Five Faces of Darkness", and the two-part finale of the third season, " The Return of Optimus Prime ".

While the movie has been reissued several times over the years (e.g. 1987 in Great Britain by the Video Gems label, 1991 in the United States by Avid Home Entertainment, 1999 again in the United States by Kid Rhino, followed in 2000 by a DVD release, and 2001 in Great Britain by Maverick Entertainment on both VHS and DVD), the series episodes were not for sale for a long time.

After Pioneer LDC released the series on DVD in 2001 in Japan in three collection boxes , Kid Rhino followed suit in the United States and released the series in five collection boxes on DVD from 2003 onwards. However, the Rhino version was based on unfinished master tapes, which is why the episodes contain animation errors that were fixed at the time for television broadcasting. The Rhino episodes also have additional sound effects that were previously not heard in any other version.

In Great Britain from 2001 to 2002 Maverick released the first season on three single DVDs and as a collection box, and the five-part "Five Faces of Darkness" and the three-part "The Rebirth" appeared on DVD. From 2003 to 2004, the Metrodome label then released the complete series on DVD, both in four individual boxes and as a complete set. Both the video and the audio track were based on the Rhino version. Metrodome has reissued the film twice so far, in 2005 under the title Transformers: The Movie - Reconstructed and in 2007 as Transformers: The Movie: Ultimate Edition , in the latter case also on Blu-ray Disc for the first time . In 2009 Metrodome started a new edition of the series.

In the United States, Sony BMG reissued the movie in 2006 for the 20th anniversary as The Transformers: The Movie 20th Anniversary Special Edition DVD . A release of the series was also planned, but ultimately failed due to the dissolution of the Sony BMG label.

In 2008, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Transformers, a new edition of the original toy figure from Optimus Prime was released in the United States, which included a new edition of the first issue of the Marvel comic series and a DVD with a new edition of the pilot of the cartoon series. In 2009 a new edition of the series was published by the Shout label ! Factory , both as single boxes and as complete boxes. The video track was corrected to correct the additional errors of the Rhino version, and the audio track also came out without the additional sound effects of the Rhino version.

In Germany

In Germany, the first six episodes broadcast by RTL were published in 1989 by Polyband itself on VHS.

In 2004 the label Flex Media released some episodes on DVD, on the one hand a box with two DVDs with a total of six episodes, on the other hand a box with three DVDs with a total of 11 episodes. The order of the episodes followed neither the order of the US series nor the broadcast sequence on RTL, in addition, the episodes were based on the original master tapes of the dubbing studio Polyband and did not have an English-language soundtrack. In total, only 17 of the 39 episodes broadcast by RTL were released on DVD. In 2007 Flex Media relaunched the boxes.

The movie was released on DVD in 2004 by Best Entertainment / Carol Media under the simple title Transformers and reissued in 2006 under the label "Great Movies". The film was completely re-dubbed for the DVD version because the RTL dubbed version from 1994 could not be found. Unlike in the case of the series boxes, there was also an English soundtrack here.

Episode list

→ Main article : Transformers / Episode List

literature

• Transformers Generations, ISBN 978-4766938005 (Japanese)
• Transformers Generations Deluxe, ISBN 978-4813010944 (jJapanese)
• Jim Sorenson, Bill Foster: Transformers: The Ark - A Complete Compendium of Character Designs, ISBN 978-1600100802 (English)
• Pablo Hidalgo: Transformers Vault: The Complete Transformers Universe - Showcasing Rare Collectibles and Memorabilia, ISBN 978-0810998681 (English)
• Dan Gilvezan: Bumblebee & Me: Life as a G1 Transformer, ISBN 978-1467929561 (English)

Web links

• The Transformers in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• English-language fansite with extensive production details and interviews with several of those involved
• Fan page for the Transformers series with episode lists

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Official announcement of the DVD re-release by Shout! Factory , TV Shows on DVD, May 28, 2009. Retrieved April 16, 2011.
2. ↑ Interview with the former Hasbro employee George Dunsay  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Thetransformers.de, January 1, 2007. Retrieved August 31, 2009.  
3. ^ Dwight Jon Zimmerman: "The Transformers", in: Marvel Age # 17, March 1984. Reproduced on Electric-Escape.net ( Memento June 6, 2007 in the Internet Archive ). Archived version. Retrieved September 6, 2009.
4. ↑ Original production bible for the cartoon series , TFArchive.com. Retrieved August 31, 2009.
5. ↑ List of cartoons animated by Toei, including the exact number of episodes animated by Toei ( Memento from January 6, 2003 in the Internet Archive ), Toei official website (in Japanese).
6. ↑ Interview with production manager Paul Davids ( Memento of the original from July 4, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , The Cybertron Chronicle, March 9, 2002. Retrieved August 31, 2009. 
7. ↑ ^{a b} Interview with Nelson Shin , CNN Talk Asia, November 9, 2007. Retrieved September 3, 2009.
8. ↑ The Transformers: The Movie at Box Office Mojo. Retrieved August 31, 2009.
9. ↑ Interview with script coordinator Flint Dille on DVD The Transformers: The Movie 20th Anniversary Special Edition , Sony BMG, published in November 2006.
10. ^ Casey Kasem: "Arab Defamation in the Media: Its Consequences and Solutions", Americans for Middle East Understanding, December 1990. Arab Defamation in the Media: Its Consequences and Solutions ( Memento of May 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on November 13, 2011.
11. ↑ Lane Crockett: Hasbro Can't Toy with Optimus Prime. "Transformer" Hero Brought Back to Life , The Shreveport Times, March 28, 1987. Reproduced on Electric-Escape.net ( Memento December 28, 2007 on the Internet Archive ).
12. ↑ Press release from TV Loonland about the acquisition of Sony Wonder  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , October 2, 2000. Retrieved September 2, 2009.  
13. ↑ David Lambert, “Transformers - Hasbro Pays US $ 7 Million to Reacquire Distro Rights to Transformers, GI Joe & Others!” TV Shows on DVD, May 14, 2008. Retrieved September 2, 2009.