Title:
Transformers: Animated - "Transform
and Roll Out" & “Home is
Where the Spark Is”
Starring
The Voices Of: David Kaye, Bumper Robinson, Bill Fagerbakke, Jeff Bennett, Corey Burton,
Tara Strong, Lance Henrikson, and Tom Kenny
Executive
Producer: Sam Register
Supervising
Director: Matt Youngberg
Head
Writer: Marty Isenberg
Character
Designer: Derrick Wyatt
Running
Time: 68 minutes without commercials (Collectively)
Media:
Cartoon Network Original Series (NTSC DVD Screener)
Series
Premiere: Saturday,
January 5, 2008 at 10:30 a.m. (ET, PT)
Network:
Cartoon Network (Check your local cable/satellite listings for channel)
TV
Rating: Not Available At The Time Of Review
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Set
on Earth in the near future in Detroit, the series begins when the alien
TRANSFORMERS are thrust into a world populated by humans and automatons.
As visitors to Earth, the TRANSFORMERS—OPTIMUS PRIME, BUMBLEBEE, PROWL,
BULKHEAD and RATCHET—work in the human world, interacting with the
“natives” in exciting and humorous ways.
Following the AUTOBOTS across the galaxy to their new home is the
megalomaniacal MEGATRON and his army of ruthless DECEPTICONS, a brutal race of war-mongering robots who seek to use the ALLSPARK
as their ultimate weapon of destruction!
The
AUTOBOTS’ unlikely guide through Earth society is a brash, energetic
8-year-old girl named Sari Sumdac, the adopted daughter of a robotics magnate. Setting the AUTOBOTS up with their headquarters in an old
abandoned auto plant on the outskirts of town, Sari not only becomes an
“honorary AUTOBOT” by enlightening them on mysteries of Earth life such as
megamalls, holovision, hoverboards, junk food, and basic hanging out, but she
also becomes a vital component of the team in their adventures. For the ALLSPARK endows Sari with a very special power, one
the DECEPTICONS would love to get their hands on—not to mention the ALLSPARK
itself.
What
I really liked about the new Transformers
animated series, which is not a continuation of the Michael Bay feature film
blockbuster and is not a continuation of previous series, though it pays homage
to the 1980s animated series, is that it is drawn beautifully, it captures the
drama the feature film had, and for lack of a better expression, a humanizes the
robots a bit. Remember these are sentient beings with a culture all there own.
Some characters like Captain Fanzone seemed to look out of place and since this
is a mix of American and Japanese animation sensibilities, the look of the
character of SARI
SUMDAC looked
almost freakish. In trying to make her cute, she’s annoying to look at and
hear. The series has an episodic story arc that I like too. I screened the
animated special, which premiered on December 26, 2007 as well as the series
premiere which will debut in it’s regular timeslot beginning Saturday,
January 5, 2008 at 10:30 a.m. (ET, PT) on Cartoon Network.
©
Copyright 2008 By Mark Rivera – The Brooklyn Critic
All Rights Reserved.