Why Season 4 of Generation 1 has only 3 episodes?

Discussion in 'Transformers General Discussion' started by OmegaWolverine, Oct 13, 2012.

  1. OmegaWolverine

    OmegaWolverine Well-Known Member

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    How come season 4 of Generation 1 show has just 3 measly episodes as oppose to 20, 30 or 40 episodes? Why can't they end the show on a good note? The final episode (The Rebirth Part 3) the way it ended leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Then let the franchise continue with Transformers The Headmasters in Japan, that didn't jive well with me, NOT that I have anything against the Japanese.
    Did the People at Hasbro company lost their minds?
     
  2. Shockwave9227

    Shockwave9227 A real stand-up guy

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    I guess it got canned before it could continue. I don't even consider it a season, I think of it as the season 3 finale.
     
  3. agentofprime

    agentofprime Well-Known Member

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    If I remember correctly there was an interview with the writer of Rebirth on the last disk of the Rhino Season 3 part2 and season4 set. I think he said they just wanted a short series to show off the characters so they could sell toys. Also I think there were supposed to be more than 3 episodes but they cut the budget and had to make it 3 episodes.
     
  4. LightningBlade3

    LightningBlade3 Destined to be a Prime

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    To me, G1 ended at The Return of Optimus Prime Part 2. The ending to that was just perfect. Optimus came back, saved the universe, and even Galvatron stated, "There will be no more war Optimus Prime, you have earned Galvatron's trust." or something along those lines. Then it ended with "Autobots, transform and roll out." and that was just perfect.
     
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  5. flamepanther

    flamepanther Interested, but not really

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    I consider it a mercy killing.
     
  6. Rattrap Primal

    Rattrap Primal Geek Overlord, Botbot Collector

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    At the time of Rebirth, ratings where in the red by this point, mainly due to the absence of several main Fan Favorites from the first 2 seasons (Optimus, Megatron, Starscream, Wheeljack, Ironhide, Prowl, Ratchet, Kickback, Brawn, etc) since most of the early cast, save the Dinobots, Bumblebee, Soundwave where either confirmed dead or just not used. In those days, Hasbro didn't know how poplular some of their characters where, and when the movie jettisoned most of those same characters that fans loved (see, the Death of Optimus Prime in the movie) in favor of brand new characters, fans where turned off to the idea. Conversely, Japan was able to keep Transformers going far longer and even having Headmasters and Masterforce devoted to concepts introduced in Rebirth and the 1988 line of Pretenders and Powermasters. Also, the animation was all over the place in terms of quality (Ultimate Weapon and Call of the Primitives had the best art), while other episodes had spotty animation (done by Studio AKOM, not Toei Animation)

    Also, at that time, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles where picking up steam and kids where watching that

    Nowadays, the odds of different leader for the main factions are slim, as fans expect Optimus and Megatron to be the main leaders of the factions. (Meaniing, except for maybe Transformers Prime and Dark of the Moon killing off main characters, there will be no angry letters to Hasbro)
     
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  7. Transfotaku

    Transfotaku Transformer Otaku

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    This may come as a surprise to you, but...

    Hasbro is NOT Sunbow. They're different companies.

    Also, this may come as a surprise to you, but Hasbro has no control over what Takara did in Japan.

    This may also surprise you even more, but the 1980s was decades ago. It's time to move on and get over it.

    Rebirth was made, basically, so they could splice footage into commercials and sell a few toys (or try to). TFs weren't big anymore, so it didn't get a full season. Too bad. And with such a crappy set of episodes, BE GLAD they didn't get a full season of that.
     
  8. Rattrap Primal

    Rattrap Primal Geek Overlord, Botbot Collector

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    oh, and during Season 3, they made the Dinobots, the fan favorite powerhouses that made most Decepticons flee in terror, comic relief! How is that a good idea!?!
     
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  9. Nevermore

    Nevermore It's self-perpetuating a parahumanoidarianised!

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  10. Rodimus

    Rodimus The Prime Producer

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    Some of the hate spewed in this thread is repulsive. The fact of the matter is that Sunbow, Marvel, and Hasbro all had a falling out with certain things within their companies being reshuffled and thus they did not have a deal to continue the series as certain individuals were looking for more money. That and agentofprime is correct in that the Rebirth was supposed to be 5 parts but because of afor-mentioned budget cuts and internal issues, and the 3 part epsiode had to be rushed just to make it to the air at all.

    Here is the interview with the writer of the 3 part episode...
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVRk-sOMZ6Y

    You can see his dellema with how much he had to cut from the story and the quality he had to sacrifice to please Hasbro's want of just showing all bazilion toys they wanted to sell with only a few seconds of available screen time.
     
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  11. Stubot

    Stubot Banned

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    aye but when have the various shows & movies never been about selling toys


    i've yet to see one made that isn't
     
  12. Jamocha101

    Jamocha101 Well-Known Member

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    Things to tend to get cut short when they crash and burn.
     
  13. Bass X0

    Bass X0 Captain Commando

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    I thought 4.1 and 4.3 were quite fun to watch. Lot of action from the new guys.

    I don't know if the proposed five episodes would have continued after 4.3 or would have stretched the three episodes out across five episodes.

    Personally, I would have preferred they dubbed the Japanese Headmasters series with the music, sound effects and voices from Rebirth for as long as the budget would allow, even if it does end up incomplete. It wouldn't be a straight dub, it would attempt to feel more like the previous episodes with writing and characterisation. Nebulans and Nebulos would never have existed, even in the Marvel comic.
     
  14. Girl Pants

    Girl Pants Well-Known Member

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    It certainly would be a different world if Headmasters/Masterforce/Victory had gotten dubs on par with the voice acting in US G1. If nothing else, it would certainly make the characters of that era a lot less obscure and we'd probably get more homages to them now.
     
  15. NeilJam

    NeilJam Resident Audiophile

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    Season four was OK, it's just too bad they couldn't make the originally planned full five episodes. I figure it would have extended the story contained in those three rather than go on after the ending we got.

    I guess I just really liked the Headmasters and Targetmasters and appreciated seeing them animated, even for just a short time. Despite having lots of new characters crammed in for a short cameo advertisement, It still made for a decent ending for the series.
     
  16. Transfotaku

    Transfotaku Transformer Otaku

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  17. Backpack

    Backpack G1 forever.

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    They may call it a season, but it's really just a mini-series.
     
  18. Autovolt 127

    Autovolt 127 Get In The Titan, Prime!

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    I'm glad it ended their. I thought the Re-Birth was lame especially the nucleons and Daniel being Arcee's headmaster. :puke: 
     
  19. Transfotaku

    Transfotaku Transformer Otaku

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    They may call it a mini-series, but it's really just a painful and agonizingly long commercial.
     
  20. Boulder

    Boulder Rock Lord

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    Because I went to Junior High.

    Seriously, that's the reason. The audience that bought into Transformers at the time grew older and the younger kids went on to buy other products. It's one of the same reasons that we get a new series every few years. There's only a three to four year window to really capitalize on the action figure years of a child's development so they have to either replace or reinvent the product line. At the time, it was common to just replace a product. It wasn't until Beast Wars that it became apparent that it would make more sense (and ultimately cheaper) to reboot than to develop a new IP. Very few cartoon shows have lasted more than three or four years without some sort of reboot.