Transformers Earthspark

[Pinwig]

You know, I thought I'd watched all of this now but I have absolutely no memory of anything past episode 10. I was hoping I'd posted about it here to jog my memory.

[duffism1981]

Episodes 11 to 18 are also on BBC Iplayer.

[primenova]

Do you think we are getting a series 3 or Hasbro scrap it after series 2 & this years toys. They dot seem to be taking up shop area when Legacy takes up the space instead & the 2nd lot Movie 7 toys

[primenova]

I wonder when bbc are going to finish showing series 1?

[primenova]

BBC showing end of series 1 this week & next week at 1700

[duffism1981]

I just checked by chance and episodes 19-26 are finally on the BBC IPlayer

[primenova]

Just waiting for when series 2 shows up. Might be next year before BBC show it all

[Nigel]

Mar 7, 2024 18:54:17 GMT duffism1981 said:

I just checked by chance and episodes 19-26 are finally on the BBC IPlayer

I've noticed that they're on Netflix too.

[primenova]

So it was renewed for series 2 Feb 2023 then we heard nothing more after that. Seems US have got the next DVD for series 1 we might get sometime next year, but hard to find the one with just the 10 episodes on anyway

[primenova]

Series 2 in US soon - no UK dates. Then looks like it is being cancelled

[primenova]

Sky box says 2.1 aired 27/5/24

on nickelodon 1500 weekdays next week ep2.1-5

[Toph]

Started on S2 tonight, but spent the last week rewatching S1.

Not about S2, but spoilered for anyone who hasn't made it to the end of S1

SPOILER: Click to show

I do so wish they left Twitch permanently damaged.
S1 did so great at showing the consequences of war... Characters left with trauma, characters left disabled.
The battle with Mandroid leaving Twitch disabled and disfigured would have made such a compelling arc for her.
Would have also given her a unique and special way to bond with her mom.

(Very minor) S2 Spoilers

SPOILER: Click to show

Only two episodes in, but I find myself deeply dissatisfy. Gone are all the complex interactions of the first season, replaced entirely with action and a magical macguffin quest.
One of the best things about S1 was that it wasn't shy about war being horrible and traumatic. Those who lived it often had deep scars, externally and internally. While those who only knew it from the outside, treated it like a kids game.
Now a new war is building, while the characters act like a typical kids action show.
The maltos are less like typical kids, exploring their world and what their culture means to them, and are now behaving like a typical superhero team.

[Benn]

I haven't been able to finish season 1, only half way through it, but the first ep of S2 was on YouTube so I gave it a spin and... yeah.

Something is off about it. Even the animation isn't as nice, it's pretty stiff and... yeah. Not sure what's the deal here.

[Toph]

Finished the published half of S2 some time ago, and it never particularly impressed me.

If this was the show we got from the start? I'd have enjoyed it, and while I'd not call it bad, I definitely wouldn't say it's anything more than mediocre kid's fare.

But S1 is the single most impressive season of Transformers. Strong enough that it instantly ranks with BW and TFA. And another season or two as strong as the first, and it'd have usurped them both.

Meanwhile I'd not even feel S2 is as good as Cyberverse, once that show finally got cranking.
Better than NuRiD which I wasn't even able to watch.
I don't seek out Rescue Bots, but when I do watch it, I find it very charming. TFP was dull as dishwater, but I could still sit through an episode.

So I guess S2 ranks somewhere around Rescue Bots, for me?
Still leagues less boring than TFP.

[Philip Ayres]

Kid at next table over from us in the Thai tonight was watching Earthspark on his phone and had a Bumblebee toy

[Benn]

Yay!

[Llama God]

Slowly working my way through season 2, and the fact that I'm only up to episode 4 so far is just a testament of how much the show has fallen off a cliff. The change of both the writing and animation staff is painfully obvious - it's nowhere near up to the quality of season 1. It feels so slow and so cheap now. I'll finish watch the season, because of course I will, but only out of obligation...

SPOILER: Click to show

The worst thing to happen in the season so far, which just went to prove how cheaply it's being made now, was Schloder's appearance in the carnival/Cosmos episode - he doesn't have any lines! For a character who had a very well defined personality this is pretty unforgiveable. Sure, they clearly couldn't be bothered to pay for the voice actor, but it really, really cheapened things.

[The Doctor]

So is S2 made by completey different people now? It is essentially a different show but with the same name?

I might give it a go then.

-Ralph

[legios]

Continuing my slow watch of Earthspark S1 this evening with 1.19 - the Grimlock-the-mentor episode that is a bit of a Jawbreaker spotlight.

Really liked this take on Grimlock - a powerhouse warrior with a towering rage that he has learned to harness and control to give him the strength to protect, and a mentor who tries to pass on the lessons he has learned to young warriors so they can benefit from his pain. Some similar archetypal features to Zavala from Destiny, and an interesting way to go with a Grimlock. Very different to the "Grimlock Smash" bruiser of the Sunbow show.

I'm savouring the one season of Earthspark that is on Netflix, and I think that is to its benefit - it does work nicely as a traditional episode-a-week kids show I find.

It is also doing a nice job of being a refreshing breeze over the idea of Transformers. In much the same way as I felt that Prodigy blew away the funk of fan-service that S3 of Picard had left over Star Trek Spinoffs for me, Earthspark is the gust of something different that reminds my of the things I enjoy about Transformers.

Karl

[Llama God]

Yeah, Earthspark Season 1 really is great for doing that.

(Season 2 spoilers ahead:)

SPOILER: Click to show

Which makes it a shame then that season 2 is so... mediocre. And cheap. Finally finished it yesterday, and even watching it through the fog of covid didn't make it seem more exciting. The constituent components are still in place from season 1, but it's all so workmanlike and by the numbers. Yes, there's the standard episodes where one of the young malto(bots) learns a lesson, but it's by the numbers, and could be any kids' TV show. There's no spark to any of it, with all of the interesting and quirky dynamics from the previous season gone. The family's still in place, but all of the warmth and fun is gone because the writing just isn't there. The interesting new takes on existing characters? Gone in place of standard character tropes. And the animation... Well remember that attack on the GHOST base that everyone was raving about from the first season? There's nothing like that. Not even close. It's all just standard, by the numbers, and flat. Very disappointing.

[The Doctor]

I tried S1 and it was crap. If S2 is so different I'll give it a go if it pops up on Iplayer.

-Ralph

[primenova]

I expect that the 2b,c,d are going to be the following number of episodes. 7,6,3

[primenova]

so season 2 is just 10 episodes then season 3 8 so season 4 last 8. I'll check if series 2 been on bbc yet

[Toph]

So "season 3" has been a fair bit more solid.
I mean it still suffers from all the same problems, but the individual episodes have been stronger. Still have two more to go, but so far only the drive in episode has been a stinker.

SPOILER: Click to show

They actually made the hate plague kinda scary, with a couple genuine "holy s**t" moments

[primenova]

series 3 on nick weekends only 7:30 1 on today 2/11/24. All 8 on par+

netflix only have series 1. 1-26
bbc - 1-26 also but have shown series 2 but not on iplayer no 3 yet

[Toph]

The "Season 3 finale" was a pretty solid action episode. Very enjoyable popcorn fair.

But, like all of the second season, it lacks any real emotional weight, and didn't do anything to earn the "feels" it was trying to capture.

On a side note, I really need to stop the patronizing quotation of "Season 3," because the way this played out, it reads as more of a proper seasonal story arc. Not completely , but it feels more separate than the Season 1 segments did.
I kinda feel like they may have been told far enough in advance that the final season was going to be sold as three separate seasons, that they could accommodate that into their writing.