Transformers

For me, TRANSFORMERS is a cultural thing. It's larger than the '84 TV show and taps right into childhood. It's like the '89 Batman where I can't separate that period sentimentalism from the actual thing. I sit down and watch this, and I'm plugged back into the formative years. It's kinda funny to think of the show as an adult because it was the direct result of the early '80s FCC deregulation, paving the way for half-hour toy commercials as kids' programming. But that's the Lisa Simpson in my head talking. Hasbro's campaign worked, and I've been a fan for 30 years . . . even with the show's dodgy production values and toy line that was both overly complicated (I was constantly referring to the instruction manual) and inconsistent with the animated characters.

But the show worked its magic on me with a vengeance. And there are certainly bigger fans out there than myself. People who've spent years collecting the various iterations, series and live-action movies. But if we're talking the G1 stuff, I'm all over it. And there are other shows from that time that were better produced, but none that hit as precisely as this one. That link between TRANSFORMERS and being a kid is ironclad.

8/10

This is one of the most popular cartoons of the 80s. It was original and not follow the trend of Hanna-Barbera's copycat mysteries/adventure cartoons a decade earlier. Automobiles that become robot fighting machines,producers couldn't be more creative then that. It was all action which us kids grow into after watching Superfriends or Spiderman and the amazing friends. I remember collecting some of the action figures then giving them away after they became out-dated. Though still a classic and one of the best cartoons of that generation.

I love this series, it was a childhood favourite and I still am a fan of it. The animation is decent enough with the odd understandable inconsistency, with the robots wonderful to watch and the backgrounds and colours quite bold and fitting. The music is great, memorable while with an essence of complexity in some of the orchestration, the narrative is cool and does justice to some outstanding if simple story ideas. The writing is intelligent and humorous, in short enough to satisfy anybody who watches the show, and the characters are some of the memorable characters in a cartoon series for me, especially Megatron and Optimus Prime. This is helped hugely by a top notch vocal cast with Frank Welker and Peter Cullen born for their roles. All in all, an excellent cartoon that has something for everyone. 10/10 Bethany Cox

One of the best cartoons to come out in the 80's along with G.I. Joe and Visionaries.

This story is about two waring Robot factions, The Autobots (the good guys) lead by Optimus Prime, and The Decepticons (the evil nasty pieces of work) lead by the maniacal Megatron.

The show starts off with the Autobots leaving their home planet of Cybertron to find a new source of energy to win the war, having depleted their own planet of energy they set off in their space craft (known in the comics and the Beast Wars TV Series as The Ark) to find new sources of energy to help win the war and replenish there own planets energy supplies, but unknown to them The Decepticons already new about their plan and set off to follow them in their own space craft, The Decepticons ambush The Autobots in space and board there ship but the ship is caught in the magnetic pull of earths atmosphere and the ark crashes into a volcano and lies dormant for 4 million years, before an eruption re-activates the ships computer (teletraan I) which rebuilds and reactivates The Transformers giving them Human vehicles designs and the war starts all over again.

Along with "G.I. Joe", this was my one of my favorite cartoons as a kid. It deals with Optimus Prime and his Autobots in their never-ending battle with the evil Decepticons. Yes, the show was a commercial for the unending line of toys, trading cards, and other merchandise, but it was the best commercial EVER in my mind. The adventures were thrilling and I couldn't wait to watch it every day. The show was greatness personified until after the movie. Everything that came afterwords only tainted the memory more and more. Armada being the pinnacle of ass. However watching anything before the movie still remains pure gold and instantly takes me back to my wonderful childhood in the glorious '80's.

My Grade: A