The Transformers
More than Meets the Eye!
The Transformers (1984-1987)
Seasons: 4,
episodes: 95
Episode runtime: 22 min
Average rating:
7.9/10
34 256
Production
Status
Completed
Scenario
Composer
Johnny Douglas
Producer
Lee Gunther
Actors
Peter Cullen
Optimus Prime / Streetwise / Nightstick / Slugslinger / Wingspan
Frank Welker
Megatron (voice) / Soundwave (voice)
Jack Angel
Ultra Magnus / Cyclonus (voice)
Corey Burton
Spike Witwicky (voice)
Susan Blu
Arcee (voice)
Hal Rayle
Snarl / Shrapnel / Pipes
Casey Kasem
Cliffjumper / Bluestreak / Teletraan 1
Dan Gilvezan
Bumblebee (voice)
Short description
The Transformers is the first animated television series in the Transformers franchise. The series depicts a war among giant robots that can transform into vehicles and other objects.
Seasons
| Season | Episodes | Release date | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | 1984-10-06 | 7.2 | |
| 49 | 1985-09-23 | 6.8 | |
| 30 | 1986-09-14 | 6.6 | |
| 3 | 1987-11-09 | 7.5 |
What's left behind the scenes
- The writers decided that the Decepticons should be able to fly in robot form, while the Autobots would only move across the surface. Their reasoning was as follows: in the early 1980s, not all children (referring, of course, to children as the audience) had flown on planes, so the concept of being in the sky would seem alien to most viewers. This state of affairs was intended to strengthen the viewers' perception of the Decepticons as negative characters. It was also decided that in the rare cases where the Autobots needed to fly in robot form, they would be aided by various gadgets, such as jetpacks.
- According to the writers of the first season, the storyline involving Starscream's constant attempts to overthrow Megatron was added to the series due to certain plot nuances in the film 'The Transformers: The Movie' (Nelson Shin, 1986). In the first three episodes of the television series, Starscream is depicted as an ordinary Decepticon soldier. However, when the writers were shown the script for the feature film early in the first season, they began inserting attempts to overthrow Megatron into the plot to explain the backstabbing scene in the movie.
- Omega Supreme was originally intended to be named Fortress Maximus, but that name was ultimately given to a character who appears on screen in the finale of the 4th season.
- In the early stages of the project, Bumblebee was named Goldbug. He was also called Goldbug after being restored in the third season.
- In the first episode of the first season, 'More Than Meets the Eye: Part 1,' an orange Autobot in the form of a truck crane appears on screen. It is logical to assume that this is an early version of Grapple, an Autobot from the second season.
- No new episodes appeared in the fifth season. It consisted of 15 old episodes from previous seasons and the 1986 feature-length animated movie 'The Transformers', split into five parts. In each episode, Optimus Prime meets a human named Tommy Kennedy and tells him a story about the Transformers.
- As Bob Budiansky recounted, Hasbro only had issues with the character names he came up with once. He once thought of the word 'Highbeams' and decided to use it as the name for one of the Autobots, but someone at Hasbro from Chicago pointed out that in local slang, the word referred to certain parts of the female anatomy—something Budiansky, naturally, had no idea about.
- As Dan Gilvezan, the voice of Bumblebee, later claimed in his autobiography, Wally Barr's recording studio was so tiny that voice actors had to wait their turn outside. Scatman Crothers (who voiced Jazz) would bring his guitar to work and entertain the waiting voice actors with songs.
- Wally Barr would fill in for voice actors who, for whatever reason, were unable to make it to the studio.
- In one of his online interviews, Bob Budiansky mentioned that he came up with the name for one of the characters while watching Miloš Forman's drama 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' (1975), simply by slightly altering the surname of the nurse played by Louise Fletcher in Forman's film.
- The Transformers who eventually became Predacons started as positive characters known as Anibots. Their names were Simba, Clamp, Tamp, Shriek, and Pardo. They were originally intended to appear in Nelson Shin's sci-fi animated film 'The Transformers: The Movie' (1986); however, the script underwent several revisions, resulting in the Anibots turning into Predacons and eventually disappearing from the plot entirely. They only appeared on screen in the project's third season.
- Bob Budiansky, who was tasked with naming the toys produced by Hasbro, came up with alternative names for the characters. Starscream, who was silver in vehicle mode, was given the name 'Silver Snake' by Budiansky. This name was never used and only survived in Budiansky's remaining notes.
- So many mistakes were made in the animation that some of them later had to be explained. For example, viewers were informed that certain types of energy, objects, abilities, and events are capable of altering reality, leading to contradictions in the space-time continuum on a multidimensional level—that is, across multiple dimensions simultaneously.
- The Autobot Spike Witwicky owes his name to a real person.
- Two Autobots—Bluestreak and Prowl—transform into Datsun sports cars.
- One of the characters was initially going to be named 'Blow-Out,' which refers to a tire blowout. This is precisely the kind of misfortune that constantly happens to him.
- The name of the Autobots' spaceship, 'The Ark' (translated as 'Auntie' in Russian), has its roots in the comics. It is never actually mentioned on screen.
- The plot of the third season introduced Abdul Fakadi, the president of a fictional country. This was a reference to the current global political situation. The surname of the fictional president is an anagram of the name of the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. It is claimed that voice actor Casey Kasem (who was himself of Libyan descent) objected to this. It ended with Kasem leaving the project altogether. According to screenwriter Flint Dille, before leaving, Kasem tried to get Dille fired.
- When Optimus Prime switches to robot mode, his rear section rolls back and disappears from view, while the cab becomes the robot itself. What happens to the rear section afterward remains unknown. Conversely, when Optimus Prime transforms into a car, his torso becomes the cab, and the rear section appears out of nowhere and connects to the body.
- At Hasbro, the name Megatron was initially rejected for being too scary. Bob Budiansky, who was responsible for naming the characters, responded by stating that Megatron is a villain, so a 'scary' name is perfectly appropriate for him.
- Optimus Prime's return to the screen after the movie was not planned, but the public was outraged by this (which the producers did not expect at all), and Optimus Prime, voiced by Peter Cullen, returned.
- At Frank Welker's request, Megatron's lines were always recorded at the very end of the studio session, as he had to strain his vocal cords significantly, after which he could no longer voice the other characters.
- Screenwriter Donald F. Glut admitted in 2001 that he did not enjoy working on the "Transformers" series (1984-1987) because everything was done in a rush. He was given less than a full working day to write a script, and he often had to give the animators the very first—meaning early and raw—version of the script. In 2007, he stated that he actually hated the project and only worked on it for financial reasons. Regardless, it was Glut who wrote the scripts for some of the most popular episodes, and he was the second most productive writer on the project after David Wise.
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