Steve Blum and Jeff Kline talk Rescue Bots & Transformers Prime

Transformers Prime and Rescue Bots Executive Producer Jeff Kline and voice actor supreme Steve Blum (Starscream, Heatwave) recently took part in a chat session with fans. This great and insightful chat session shed some light on a few cool elements of the series, including the answer to the question - are Transformers Prime and Transformers Rescue Bots in the same continuity?

We can proudly reveal, direct from Executive Producer Jeff Kline himself, yes, these two great shows are indeed in the same continuity! The creative team felt it was important that both shows share the same continuity - so when you see Optimus Prime in Rescue Bots, it means he has briefly taken a leave of absence from Jasper, Nevada.


Other questions covered include:

Guest stars
Jeff Kline says the team is pursuing their top choices for guest actors, to have them come in and do a spot where there is space in their schedules. There are a few guest voices coming up in Prime, and a couple in Rescue Bots too.
Jeff and Steve went on to say that their list of top choices for guest actors stems from people they want to work with, who they feel would be good with the group (Steve Blum commented that he's already got two of the people he really wanted to work with right there, Peter Cullen and Frank Welker)

How do you top the season 1 finale?
Jeff Kline - it is a big challenge going forward, though they feel they can and will top it with season 2. Jeff promises they will deliver on some expectations, while delivering some surprises on others. No specific clues though, the whole conversation was very spoiler free.

Will there be a Transformers Prime movie?
Jeff Kline - It is a real possibility, but it depends on a lot of things going right.
They did a showing of the season 1 finale at a local theatre and people were very impressed with how the series looked on the big screen. "And that was season 1" - sounds like there is even more jaw-dropping CGI in store for season 2!


We would like to thank Jeff Kline and Steve Blum for taking the time out to share this Q&A session with us.

Transformers Rescue Bots and Transformers Prime return to The Hub on Saturday 18 February - that's less than two weeks from now! Are you excited?

About Steve Blum

With literally hundreds of V/O credits to his name, Steve Blum is best known as the voice of "Spike Spiegel" from Cowboy Bebop, “Wolverine” from several incarnations of X-Men (animated movies, games, the Wolverine and the X-Men TV Series, The Super Hero Squad Show and X-Men Anime), “Orochimaru,” “Zabuza,” and others from Naruto, "Tom" (the robot host) from Cartoon Network’s Toonami, “Green Goblin” from the Spectacular Spiderman series, “Heatblast,” “Vilgax” and “Ghostfreak” from Ben 10, “Grayson Hunt” (Bulletstorm) “Grunt” (Mass Effect 2), “Tank Dempsey” (Call of Duty), “Killer Croc” from Arkham Asylum, “Oghren” (DragonAge),“Vincent Valentine” (Final Fantasy VII), “Leeron” (Guren Lagann), “Jamie” from Megas XLR, “Storm Troopers” and many others in most of the Star Wars games, “Boogoo,”“Sparky” and others from Disney’s Anime - Stitch, The voice of 7-11, dozens of Digimon and a gigantic list of other characters from Anime, Video Games, TV and Film.

Currently he’s working on the new super-charged CGI series Transformers: Prime, playing the sometimes delusional but always deadly Decepticon Starscream!! And coming soon as Heatwave on the brand new kid-friendly Transformers: Rescue Bots!

Check out more of Steve’s stuff at http://www.steveblumvoices.com/

or at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0089710/

About Jeff Kline

For the past 15 years, Jeff Kline has worked across numerous mediums and platforms as both writer and executive producer, and has been involved in over 40 animated and live-action series and pilots.   Currently, Kline is the executive producer and co-developer of the fully-CG series Transformers: Prime (along with partners Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci) and the animated G.I. Joe: Renegades. Both series are produced for The Hub, a television network for kids and their families, owned by Hasbro.  Hasbro recently signed Kline to a development and production deal, and he is set to premiere the new animated series , TRANSFORMERS RESCUE BOTS, in December 2011.

Previously, Kline has been involved in such hits as Jackie Chan Adventures (Kids WB), Men in Black: The Animated Series (Kids WB), Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles (Syndicated), the Emmy nominated Dragon Tales (PBS), and That Was Then (ABC). 

Kline began his television career as a Development Executive with tenures at NBC Entertainment, and nearly six years at Columbia Pictures Television before transitioning into writing and producing.

A graduate of Boston University, Kline also helped to start the ‘BU in LA’ industry exchange program, when he was a student at the University.  He guest lectures for the program and has also received their Distinguished Alumnae award.  In the spring of 2009, Kline taught at BU’s College of Communications

Kline currently splits his time between Los Angeles and Maine, where he resides with his family.