Popularity =/= Quality

 

Exactly. See my sig quote for my feelings on that matter.

However, I will add that while I'm not an Animated evangelist, nor particularly enamoured of the style of the show, it is more sharply written and more "for the fans" than any TF show in recent memory. Comparable to Beast Wars, and certainly much stronger out of the gate than that show was.

Now all this bearing in mind that I didn't think Beast Wars was all that either. Transformers shows are rarely particularly good. G1 holds up mainly due to the low standards of the time... and only just.

zmog

 

Thanks, and I agree completely about Animated's visual style. It was forgivable because of the writing, and it made more cool toys, but I'd prefer something more realistic for the next series. Also, Beast Wars certainly declined near the end of the last season. I'm finding myself unable to finish watching "Master Blaster" or anything past that point.

 

Yeah... not to be a dick or anything, but I think Beast Wars is tremendously overrated, and the amount of praise it receives in the fandom is mainly an indicator of just how low our standards seem to be.

I'll be the first to admit that the original G1 series was mostly pretty bad, though it definitely stood out among the series of the time as something special. It's saved in large part by being a fresh concept with a large cast characters, and some great voice talent. Also the music and sound effects work was a cut above.

Beast Wars certainly had sharper writing than anything before or after... but I still have a hard time watching it. The drama tends to be flat, the stories awkward, and the comedy ranges from clever, to painfully lame. The music and sound effects are almost unbearably annoying. The humourous character interactions, small movie references, and the moments of winking fanwankery (a new phenomenon for TF fans at the time) are the real strengths.

I think that these are also the qualities that sell Animated. There are some cute pop-culture references, lots of oldschool fan references, and some nice character dynamics (Ratchet being a fave)... but the tone of the storylines is pretty inconsistent. Sometimes the cartoony style works for it, sometimes against, but it can't be denied that the toys developed for the show possessed an unparalleled engineering flair and were something new for the franchise.

That said, I would like to see something more realistic for the next series. And maybe a stronger drama-to-lightheartedness ratio. I think it's a misstep to assume that kids only like funny stuff. Kids love serious action stories too. I know that as a kid, I found ostentatious comic-relief as distracting as I do today.

But then, it's hard to say. Maybe times have changed. Back then, action-adventure was a much bigger part of the scene. Lots of space opera, lots of melodrama... imported anime shows like VOLTRON, toy properties like ROBOTIX and (most improbably) INHUMANOIDS... they all hinged on danger, high-stakes, peril, etc... no goofy antics. Things like Marvel's GIJOE comic series, and ROBOTECH were some of my faves, and in those instances, death was a legitimate part of the plot, and comedy was realistic and contextual, rather than facile gag set-ups and pratfalls.

zmog

 

I like Transformers, robots that turn into other things then back again - so if they show me cool looking stock footage i'm never gonna complain.

All I want is the original transformation noise and a nice story arc.

 

True. Thats enough for me. One other thing is the animation style. Its not been quite right recently.  

 

After too many stupid throwaway episodes, I turned off the sound AND the animation. The writing was great... like once every five episodes or so. Clever dialogue is a fine thing, but when it comes from characters who only occasionally do anything, I don't think that constitutes very good writing for a modern action/adventure cartoon. Too often it was more like a TransFormers sitcom.

 

a series called g1 redone would be good
though would never happen

 

I don't know if I mentioned this, but my aim/hope is to have an awesome Transformers show soon w/ awesome seiyuu. At least have prolific seiyuu when Revenge gets Japanese dubbed. The first live movie seiyuu (save Tessho Genda) were a joke. And there were a handful of known seiyuu in Galaxy Force.

 

Um, zero1? Could you maybe type that again, but replacing "seiyuu" with an actual English word for the benefit of those of us who don't speak Japanese? You may have just hit on the key for a perfect TF show but I wouldn't know.

 

a tv-MA transformers show would be cool.
starscream- "if id been calling the shots we would have destroyed the autobots eons ago!"
megatron- "shut the f**k up starscream! how many times do i have to tell your b*tch @ss that only a select few ever lead!"


....that may be going too far

 

Redone? No. Thats not necessary.
G1 is the largest TF story arc ever. Why it was nixed I will never know (of course it had a long life in Japan after the Headmasters were involved - bad english voice acting or no english dubbing at all keep them from my DVD collection).
Generation after generation of kids all love the original G1 series. It has a draw and a spark that the other series sorely miss. Perhaps it can't be replicated, perhaps it can only be experienced once, but every incarnation and reboot since G1 failed to grab me.
The problem is that they reinvent them all the time. The back stories, the timeline, or even fully reboot them with every new toy line instead of drawing on the G1 arcs.
Much, if not all, of the TF incarnations could have been integrated into follow-on seasons of G1.

 

Beast wars is in continuity with G1

 

I'm upset that Animated will not continue. I really don't want the whole Autobots coming to Earth story again. It's kinda like Spider-Man. They must have made a good few incarnations over the past 10 years, just to retell the same story over and over. I want a story to keep on going. Animated was a show that felt wasn't done.

 

When a story spends so much time not feeling like it's trying to get anywhere anyway, I'm not sure that's the one to expect to get "done". Maybe next time.

 

Apparently so, but, unfortunately I didn't get into the show. It was too different, granted thats why most people like it and its still better than Energon/Cybertron/etc, etc,..., but like I said, its missing the spark I got with G1.

I know what you mean - retreaded material gets dull. The latest CG series was awesome and for some reason it was canned, despite rave reviews and strong ratings.

 

Who knows when the next series will come?

 

Hells Yes!

This would be great for Classicsverse.

It would be cool, but never happen, like Transtec will never happen. 

 

I hope it's not a badly dubbed anime/cgi thing like energon. Personally, as much as I'd like Animated to continue, you know they wouldn't do a good job of it. When, in the last 25 years has a Transformer's TV series sequal been above mediocre?

I hope they do something new and Original.

MTL

 

I use japanese terms (in which you don't have to speak japanese) to respect the country where it originated from. (ex: Autobot=Cybertron) Sure G1 came from America, but the designs and toys came from Japan. Japan even proceeded further w/ the G1 storyline whereas in America it halted in Rebirth. Also, I feel I'm not cheated in accuracy and quality whenever it comes to Takara figures. (ex: Micron Legend Hot Rod) I'm just hoping most people can see this but I do respect Hasbro by all means.