So what are your picks for the top three essential and or best G1 episodes?

Please limit your picks to three and explain why you picked them.

If you want, give a 1-10 rating for story quality, significance to the TF universe, animation quality, voice work, character development, etc.

Let's hear 'em!

 

The Search for Alpha Trion: Why..well u get to see how Optimus was built and why he was made.

Call of The Primates: U get to see why Unicron was built and why.

Five face of Darkness part 3 or 4 : ( dont remebr witch one it is were Rodimus disconnect himself to go into the Matrix to find out how the Quintessons were and u even see how Megatron was made.

 

... I think you mean War Dawn not The Search for Alpha Trion.

War Dawn - You see the origins of Optimus Prime and it shows why the Decepticons are the Enemy.

Dark Awakenings - Rodimus finally accepts his role as leader of the Autobots.

Starscreams Brigade - Its just a fun episode to watch.

 

Call of The Primates - Not only was the story terrific, the animation is completely different from all the other G1's. You can tell that this is a true piece of Japanese animation. (Look at the detailing in Grimlock's head antenna.)

I don't know the exact titles, but I do remember ...
- The episode where Rodimus Prime is running from the Decepticons and docks on an Autobot grave ship.
- The episode where Metroplex and Trypicon lose their transforming cogs.

 

Burden Hardest to Bear - we finally get to see Rodimus come to terms with all his doubts and get ready to accept his destiny as leader of the Autobots.

War Dawn - mostly because I never saw this one when I was a kid, but had it described to me by my cousin. It became kind of this legendary great episode in my mind, and when I finally saw it I wasn't disappointed at all.

Desertion of the Dinobots part 2 - Probably our clearest look into Cybertron's history. Besides, even though I was a huge Dinobot fan, the only one I ever had was Swoop, and this was Swoop's episode.

 

city of steel.

aligator prime, gun arm tower, "i may only have one arm, but i can still roll"

'nuff said.

 

I tend to choose by the ep's that stick with me,The Ultimate Doom,1-3 great story, well writen, and Dark Awakenings, was awsome, that story to me will always be great, Prime brought back to life evil, and turning it around.

 

yeah , thx for the correction  

 

The Burdon Hardest to Bear - Rodimus finally accepts his role as leader, some great character stuff

War Dawn - the history between Megatron and Optimus, the "origin" of Optimus, plus the Aerialbots are one of the coolest and most fleshed-out combiner groups

Starcream's Brigade - everyone's favorite underdog Decepticon finally achives his goal of being leader...for about five seconds, plus the Combaticons rock

I'd also mention FFOD, but that's really 5 eps, not one. But if I had to pick one out of that 5 part epic, it'd be pt. 4 because that one has the origin of the TFs in it.

 

1. The Hate Plague trilogy -- Dark Awakenings and the Return of Optimus Prime 1 and 2. The Hate Plague was at once the most thrilling and "scary" of any episode sequence --EVERYBODY got infected except Prime. It was a fitting return for the ultimate good guy.

2. Call of the Primitives -- excellent animation and also a nice glimpse into the history of Unicron.

3. And who could leave out Grimlock's New Brain?

3.

 

This is really werid.... Season three is often herolded as the abused redheaded step child but you guys seem to be picking more season 3 eps than season 1 or 2!

 

War Dawn
Dark Awakening
Ghost in the Machine

I'm incredibly partial to the two season one 3-parters though, MTMTE and the Ultimate Doom, as they sort of encapsulated the entire appeal at the time.

Call of the Primitives has reallyreally nice animation, but I hate the story.

 

Masquerade - was just great to see Optimus and some of the Autobots pretending to be the Stunticons, and even combining into a fake Menasor. And Optimus and Motormaster playing chicken has to be one of the best scenes ever.

War Dawn - for the aforementioned reasons

The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 2 - Prime's big return, temporarily joining forces with Galvatron, kicking the crap out of Rodimus, and unleashing the power of the Matrix. Plus it's the only episode to feature The Touch  

 

1. Burden Hardest to Bear - Hot Rod finally accepting leadership

2. War Dawn - The origins of Optimus Prime

3. MTMTE Part 3 - Big fight between the Autobots and Decepticons with Prime's emotional cry "Megatron!" being the highlight!

 

--Call of the Primatives
The episode ruled minus the ending. Easily the best animated episode in G1 syndication. Every Transformer (minus Grimlock) dies in the blink of an eye. I would also recommend Rise of Atlantis if you're looking for good G1 animation.

--Heavy Metal War
One on one battle between Optimus Prime and Megatron. Constructicons battle the Dinobots. I wish this was a two parter. Good animation for its time...love how Megatron just lifts Optimus like the US economy on gas prices...!

--Starscream's Brigade
Excellent overall episode. Too much stuff to mention.

I know that you only said to mention 3, but I'd like to give an honorable mention to Webworld...seriously under-rated.

...

There was a scene in this episode where Spike and Carly finds a TON of Energon at Decepticon Headquarters, in the brink of Cybertron being 'out of energy'. It was never mentioned again, but one is to wonder where the series was going with that tidbit.

 

I just read this comment. About the only thing I can add is that Season 3 had its share of bad episodes; really bad episodes. Unfortunately, they shielded some of the good ones that was aired. Call of the Primatives, Dark Awakening, and the Return of Optimus Prime was probably the only ones to penetrate that stereotype. Beyond those, Dweller in the Depths was cool, Burden was cool, Webworld was excellent...that's a nice chunk of S3 once you look back on it, and there's more I didn't mention that others did on this thread.

PS: Carnage in C-Minor is still WHACK. Somebody failed a drug test or two making that episode...!

 

I have a lot of favourites, mostly in Season 3 because that’s the season I most clearly remember watching on TV during its first run, but here are three episodes I watch most often presented in no particular order.

Dark Awakening - Season 3

Why? Because whoever approved the script for this episode had bearings of chrome steel. It was one thing to kill Optimus Prime in The Movie and give him a touching death scene, but it's something far more daring to resurrect him as a decomposing zombie bent on killing all the Autobots!
That final shot of Optimus piloting the shuttle, mind in shambles, body crumbling away and half his face blown off haunts me to this day. Make no mistake, children do relate to giant robots and seeing Optimus in that condition is like going to the funeral of a loved one and seeing their body in the casket. It’s both sad and disturbing.
This episode single handedly displays how dark Season 3 could be as well as how mature the storylines had become. Not only does this episode have a non-linear storyline but it also has a not-so happy ending with just a glimmer of hope.
The animation, on the other hand, is not so great. If there were ever an opportunity to re-create some classic G1 episodes in Beast Wars style CGI this one would be my first choice.

Carnage in C-Minor - Season 3

I know, I know, people hate this episode with a passion to rival the heat of a thousand suns. Well, you know what? I don’t care.
Carnage in C-Minor is, to me, the most rewatchable episode G1 has to offer. The storyline is pure cheese, but that’s okay because it is still better than most cheesy 80’s cartoons and at least the premise is actually pretty sound (no pun intended… well, maybe a little).
The animation is one of the things most discussed in regards to this episode and I’ll happily agree this show has plenty of animation errors, but spotting the mistakes is all part of the fun.
Carnage in C-Minor has no more errors than any other G1 episode, they’re just more obvious than Starscream’s cockpit not being coloured in one shot or Optimus’ faceplate not moving when he is speaking.
In the plus column the colour in this episode is very rich and the characters look dynamic which is the one problem I have with Webworld. If Webworld had colouring as vibrant as this I’d easily add that episode to my top three, but it is held back by the washed-out look of the animation.. There may be plenty of colouring errors in this show, but what’s done right is done well.
In conclusion, Carnage in C-Minor is like an Ed Wood film. It’s certainly not good by mainstream standards but if one knows what they are in for and doesn’t take their cartoons too seriously it’s one of the most entertaining Transformers shows ever made.

Megatron’s Master Plan (Parts 1 & 2 counted as a single story) - Season 2

Had to include a classic G1 episode somewhere on this list.
Megatron’s Master Plan was hard to decide on. It was chosen not for its overall product, which kinda blends into the crowd of G1 episodes, but for the little pieces that make it so memorable.
For one thing this episode successfully shows how the majority of humans fear and mistrust Transformers, both Autobot and Decepticon, and how people can so easily be swayed by the media.
Another great aspect is how the Decepticons make full use of the disguise aspect of Transformers to kidnap Sean Burger (mmm… burger) and to fool the people into believing the Autobots are evil. The robots in disguise element is one that tends to be forgotten too easily so it’s always refreshing to see this staple of Transformers storytelling re-emerge.
The final aspect I wish to highlight is the Decepticon Sky Raiders attacking the city. It’s very rare (especially in today’s cartoons) to see Decepticons attacking a populated area, but I think it’s important to show how dangerous and how powerful the Decepticons are so as to understand what a threat they represent. Robots fighting in a jungle doesn’t have the same impact on the audience as a bunch of Decepticons firing on civilians and shattering windows with sonic booms.
I genuinely hope all these elements are used in the upcoming Transformers movie because these aspects are what make Transformers believable and dynamic when placed in the real world. They lend weight to an otherwise fantastic concept and help the viewer to suspend disbelief.

~Laine~

 

1) Starscream's Brigade. Fantastic episode, the Combaticons are pure cool, and as a child I loved the Stunticons (the only combiner team I had at the time). They part with them debating about wether they should intervene in the battle remains as one of my favourite TF memories.

2) The Revenge Of Bruticus. Again, a fantastic episode. I loved the bit with Bruticus taking on all the Cybertron drones. And it has megs + ops working together, and megs uses his uber-sneaky skills to keep bruticus. A nice evil ending.

3) Cosmic Rust. I remember been creeped the hell out after seeing Megatron's rusted hand for some reason.

 

1. 'Call of the Primatives'- fantastic animation, and although cheesy, I don't think the story was all that bad.

2. 'Grimlock's New Brain'- humorous, a good mix of characters, the Dinobots, and the introduction of 2 of my favorite merge teams, the Technobots and Terrorcons.

3. 'The Burden Hardest to Bear'- Lots of action, the story was excellent, and it showed the responsible side of Rodimus Prime and his struggle with his youth.

 

I just assumed it was sent there from Earth by Megatron.

And am I the only one who didn't like the major change in artistic style in Call of the Primatives? I keep hearing it called the best animation in G1, but I watch it and it just looks really weird and out of place.