Transformers: Prime

[KnightBeat]

The All Spark claim that the new Transformers TV series for 2010/2011 is called Transformers: Prime and will star Jeffrey Combs as Ratchet.

[blueshift]

Surprising that we've not seen any figures for this line yet!

[Deleted]

Does anybody know what the characters of this new series will look like?

[KnightBeat]

I'm betting that the Autobots will be led by a red and blue robot. He'll probably have a mouth and faceplate.

[Nigel]

With Jeffrey Combs in it, they should call it Transformers Prime Directive.

[Deleted]

I was thinking that too but what I was getting at was how will the cartoon look like? Will it be in the same style as Animated or more in the line of CGI based Armada/Energon/Cybertron?

[Kingoji]

Apparently the series will be CG. But that doesn't mean like Energon/Cybertron, or even BW BM... we could actually get something of higher quality at last, like the TMNT movie or some such.

I'll keep dreamin' over here.

[legios]

Depends on how much money they throw at it, and what caliber of staff the animation studio has. On the one hand cheap CGI with poor direction would mean it would end up looking like Energon or somesuch. On the other hand there is nothing to stop it having the visual quality of something like Macross Frontier or Gundam 00.

Of course it likely won't have the budget per minute to lift it into the same bracket of animation quality as something like Flag or Yukikaze but we can dream...... :-)

Karl

[Deleted]

If its CG then it would be nice if it was more Pixar style CG. I hated the Cybertron CGI while the BW/BM CGI was a bit too Reboot-ish for my liking.

[Benn]

Personally I'd prefer a cel animation look with the CG done to add OOMPH to certain areas. I've just watched Evangelion 1.01, and that would be my ideal...

But back in the realms of the real world, I'm not keen on CG cartoons. They kinda died out in the late nineties, to be replaced by Flash animations, and I hope to hell the new show don't look like that...

[Bogatan]

I really don't care what kind of animation is used, just so long as it done by people who can animate and are given the time and money to do their job. Even flash can look good.

Based on the last 15 years I just hope its a western production team. BW, BM and Animated vs RID and AEC. On a pure animation level theres no contest.

Andy

[Benn]

From what I remember RiD was animated quite well. I suppose it's a case of whether anime flavour floats your boat...

[Bogatan]

RID was done well, but I don't think it was done on a big budget because the previous BW series bombed. They just got lucky with a company that could still make it look decent. On the other hand the AEC shows seem to have been done on the cheap as well and there it really shows.

Still I'd say America has a 100% rate for good TF cartoons since BW. Japan has a 25% success rate. Even if the two BW shows are added to the positive column its only 50%.

Andy

[The Doctor]

BW/BM were made in Canada, I think.

-Ralph

[Benn]

You could well be right.

Still, a TF series with a budget, animated in Japan and scripted in the west? Theres my ultimate TF show right there.

[Bogatan]

Feb 5, 2010 20:54:23 GMT The Doctor said:

BW/BM were made in Canada, I think.

-Ralph

Yeah Mainframe produced both, but I wasn't in the mood to type North American or Western for some reason.

Andy

[KnightBeat]

Surprisingly, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (of Alias and Fringe fame) have been revealed as executive producers of the new show. Expectations rising.

Source: TF@TheMoon

[The Doctor]

Fuck!

-Ralph

[Bogatan]

Stripped of Bay, their presence doesn't upset me. I've liked just about everything they've been involved with. Star Trek has really grown on me since my brother got the Bluray. They have mostly been working on peoples shows, but there have been enough shows for long enough that I don't think I dislike what they do.

Andy

[grahamthomson]

Sound promising so far.

All the non-Michael Bay things Berto And The Kurtzman have been involved in has been quite decent.

I hope the animation will be textured and not "cel-shaded".

[Deleted]

I'll give it a watch at some point but I haven't really enjoyed any of recent TF cartoons. You can shoot me down in flames if you want but I didn't really like Animated (although I enjoyed the comics) while my opinions of Armade/Energon/Cybertron are the same as almost everybody else's on this forum.

[KnightBeat]

Bumblebee's head revealed.

[Andy Turnbull]

Looks alright, slightly sleeker less fiddly take on the Movie aesthetic.

Andy

[Deleted]

www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/other-news-20/david-kaye-will-not-be-working-on-transformers-prime-169414/

David Kaye isn't in the show (PS my first front page post! yay!)

[Benn]

Peter Cullen is returning as Optimus Prime. Before the Bayformers this would be massive fangasm time, but now after seeing the preliminary Bumblebee design and having Ortzi and Kurtzman onboard.... I'm more than a little worried.

[Deleted]

www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2010-10-29-transformers29_VA_N.htm?csp=obinsite

"Optimus Prime
The leader of the Autobots and protector of humans is the biggest, strongest and smartest. He goes from big rig to his red-and-blue armored self. "We always saw Optimus as the noble knight who was there to protect and to carry on the code. The code extends as far back as to what it represented on Cybertron and the lineage he came from, which was protection of the race," Kurtzman says.

Megatron
The villainous Megatron, who seeks to conquer Earth, has acquired a rare element that allows him mastery over life itself. Kurtzman says Megatron "in many ways is a fallen hero. He is Lucifer. He is the one who used to be the angel. There is something compelling and also really tragic about that character." He sees Optimus and Megatron as "different sides of the same coin. That duality and that friction is what I think has made for a great relationship."

Cliffjumper
This Autobot "lives up to his name in that he is the fearless one, the guy who literally will leap before he looks," Kurtzman says. "His car form is very distinctive. There's a lot of character and specificity in his design of the car. It feels very true to his nature."

Starscream
This military fighter jet is Megatron's right-hand man. Starscream would rather sneak up on his victims than face them head-on, which makes him extra dangerous. He's an expert planner, which is one reason Megatron keeps him around. Starscream always shows respect to his general, but he's really just waiting for a chance to take command of the Decepticons himself."


Looks as if the writers phoned these in. Megatron's bio almost sours me to the whole show. I'll give Prime a shot but why do I get the feeling Prime is another missed opportunity?

[charlesrocketboy]

I dunno, "fallen hero" Megatron sounds interesting.

And, outside of the Exodus book, it's never been done before (and I don't intend to read Exodus).

[Gav]

I really like the 'fallen hero' aspect of Megatron's character. There's a lot of potential in there for interesting storylines. Hopefully they'll take advantage of this.

Prime's adherence to a 'code' could also be quite interesting, if they make something of the code itself - rather than being some vague guidelines we never actually see/hear about.

Starscream is Starscream as we know him, but I don't think that should ever change.

[Deleted]

Is this going to be shown over in the UK and if so, what channel?

[Jim]

(I don't know if I'm bumping the right thread, used the search to see if there was a catch-all for Prime...)

Charlotte has really gotten into this, it's her absolute favourite thing on Netflix at the moment. I went through the first season of Animated with her about 18 months ago, but (surprisingly to me) she much prefers this - one big reason is Arcee, it means a lot to her to have such a strong female character in the main cast, and she likes that she's blue rather than pink here. She also prefers CG to traditional animation at the moment, which is part of it, and she found Animated a bit too intense at times (especially the Lockdown / Arcee episode).

As a result this is the first time I've caught any of this show, and I'm really pleasantly surprised by it. I expected something pretty mediocre, but it's often very entertaining and well executed. I haven't seen as many as she has, maybe about 10 episodes, but there hasn't been anything I didn't enjoy. "Stronger, Faster" stood out and we've just watched a multi-parter in the second season where they are on parallel quests to pick up artifacts which was really good fun (again a Ratchet-centric episode, with Soundwave and Wheeljack, stood out for me).

This was nowhere near the top of my list of Transformers series to catch up on, but I'm really glad I've seen some of it now.