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Ricky Church celebrates 35 years of Transformers…

For children of the 1980s, there was an abundance of great cartoons that became beloved franchises, some of which continue to this day such as G.I. Joe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Voltron. One franchise which remains popular revolves around two groups of robotic aliens locked in an eternal war that has come to Earth. Oh, and those robots can take the shape of almost any vehicle or object, making them more than meets the eye. This series was The Transformers.

The other week marked The Transformers‘ 35th anniversary of the first part of the ‘More Than Meets The Eye’ miniseries that launched what has become known as Generation 1. For the past three-and-a-half- decades, Transformers has had many iterations through other animated series, comics, video games, web-series and live-action films, but there is something special about Generation 1 that has helped the franchise endure for so long, especially for something that was essentially a half-hour toy commercial for the vast Transformers toyline.

A civil war raged on the planet Cybertron between two factions, the Autobots and Decepticons. With Cybertron’s resources growing scarce due to the war, the Autobots, led by the heroic Optimus Prime, searched space for more energon, but were ambushed by Megatron and his Decepticons. Crash landing on a pre-historic Earth, the factions are in stasis for four million years and wake up in 1984, immediately renewing their war with Earth caught in the middle. With their human allies, Optimus and the Autobots continued to thwart Megatron’s conquest throughout the universe.

The Transformers was a pretty unique cartoon for its time not just for its concept of robots changing into various vehicles, but for its behind-the-scenes background. The toyline was in development before the show was with no kind of story for who these toys were or their purpose. It was the show, in combination with Marvel Comics’ Transformers series, which decided much of the franchise’s mythology and characters. Unlike most other cartoons, Transformers was produced in a very rushed schedule in order to keep up with the toyline and introduce new characters who would be hitting shelves soon after their debut episode. This made animation errors a fairly regular occurrence in every episode, whether it was from a character being miscoloured, the wrong sound effect being used or even characters audio getting mixed up with another! So why, when its purpose was to sell toys and had a multitude of errors, did Transformers make such a lasting impact?

Despite the series’ corniness and its not-so-subtle aim to sell toys, at its heart Generation 1 told some pretty good stories that focused on its characters and had strong messages of unity and leadership. A lot of episodes delved into the themes of war and its cost, such as ‘The Golden Lagoon’ where despite the Autobots’ victory over the Decepticons, their battle destroyed a beautiful valley, or how several new Autobots become enamoured with Megatron in ‘War Dawn’. Though it dealt with these topics lightly, the fact Transformers took those opportunities to be more than a toy commercial was a big step forward. The Marvel comics at the time treated the subject matter far more seriously than the cartoon, but it would later transfer over to other series like Beast Wars, Transformers Prime and IDW’s comic continuities, helping elevate Transformers to more than an extended commercial. It’s been a sticking point many fans have had with Michael Bay’s live-action films as they’ve typically drifted away from the core of G1 in favour of Bay’s more bombastic and lewd style. It’s one reason why the soft-reboot Bumblebee from Travis Knight was so well received by fans for bringing the franchise back to a more traditional G1 feel, a fact Transformers voice actors Peter Cullen and Frank Welker are satisfied Hasbro and Paramount are finally doing.

The success of the Generation 1 cartoon wasn’t just due to the popularity of the toyline, but also to the characters and the work of the show’s voice cast. Transformers‘ quality with its cast was a bit higher than most cartoons of the 80s with the vocal cast putting a tremendous amount of work into their performances. Many toys of the characters became popular simply because of how they sounded, such as Soundwave’s deep monotone, Starscream’s high-pitched whine or Jazz’s smooth-talking. As is common with most cartoons, the Transformers cast would often play multiple characters, some voicing up to half a dozen or more roles. It is a testament to them that, for the most part, each Autobot or Decepticon had their own unique voice. Of course, there are two voices that stand out the most when fans think of Generation 1 and it should come as no surprise that they are the leaders of their respective factions, Optimus Prime and Megatron as voiced by Peter Cullen and Frank Welker.

Optimus Prime is the face of the Transformers and one of the 80’s most significant cartoon heroes. Cullen provided a great amount of gravitas to the role, delivering lines like “Freedom is the right of all sentient beings”, “There’s a thin line between being a hero and a memory” or, famously, “One shall stand, one shall fall” with an air of authority most cartoon heroes didn’t have. It speaks to the character how Cullen based his voice for Prime off his own brother, Larry Cullen, a veteran of the United States Marine Corps who served in Vietnam. Cullen’s personal connection to Prime reinforced just how much of a heroic character the Autobot leader is. Optimus was always wise and compassionate with a deep moral centre, but was also never one to shy away from a fight when there was no other option. Cullen’s performance has proven to be so vital to the franchise that when Michael Bay began production on the first live-action Transformers film, fans petitioned Cullen reprise the role, the first time he would have voiced Optimus in 20 years. Despite that, Bay ridiculously had Cullen audition for the very role he originated. Even still, Cullen’s return as Optimus Prime was celebrated and allowed him to reprise the role once again in Transformers Prime, several web-series and video games.

Meanwhile, among the memorable 80’s cartoon villains such as G.I. Joe‘s Cobra Commander or Ninja Turtles‘ Shredder, Megatron is almost in a class of his own. He is cold, calculating and deadly with nearly everything he says a threat. He has so much clout he can turn into a gun and have his underlings fire for him, but that never stopped him getting his own hands dirty on several occasions. Welker’s performance elevated him to one of the best and most feared villains of the 80s with his raspy voice and cackling laughter. On paper, Megatron could have been pretty one-note and while his objectives remained simple and never changed, Megatron was imbued with plenty of traits to separate him from the pack. Though he rejoiced in his evilness, Megatron was also practical, allying with Optimus Prime on some rare occasions out of self-preservation. He could even be somewhat charming to humans or some of the more naive bots when he needed to be. Welker captured the various sides to Megatron in a captivating way, making him one of the greatest villains in that era of animation.

The format of the series is pretty interesting in itself. Season one followed a fairly serialized story with some episodes feeding off what came before. With the growing toyline, though, the second season mostly featured self-contained stories that introduced new bots to the franchise (acting almost like they had been there the entire time), but had a lot of character-driven plots. The second season also saw the introduction of many elements that have become staples of the franchise no matter which iteration. From Cybertron’s supercomputer and core Vector Sigma, Optimus Prime’s origins as Orion Pax or both factions gaining combiners, the second season laid the groundwork for a lot of the franchise’s mythology.

Of course, the real game changer to both the series and the franchise as a whole was Transformers: The Movie, the first time the franchise was brought to the big screen in a full-length animated feature. Taking place between seasons two and three, Transformers: The Movie effectively reshuffled the deck after the film killed off the majority of season one and two’s cast within the first 20 minutes, introducing a host of new Autobots, Decepticons and other characters. Ironically, due to the scarcity of Transformers episodes on video in the late 80s and early 90s Transformers: The Movie was the most readily available piece of media for fans to watch, making it for some the first time they’d ever seen Transformers.

Much like the second season, it is also responsible for introducing several important elements to the franchise like the planet-eating transformer Unicron, the Matrix of Leadership, Megatron’s reformation into Galvatron and, most importantly, the death of Optimus Prime. Prime’s death was a transformative moment for the series and backfired immensely as a lot of parents complained they had to console their children over his death. The resulting furor and lack of interest in the third season prompted the show to resurrect Prime at the end of the season and reclaim his position as Autobot leader. Since then, there has rarely been a Transformers show or film that hasn’t killed and resurrected Prime. Whether it is for 5 minutes or a few episodes, Prime is sure to die and come back.

Transformers has seen many series come and go over the last 35 years, but the franchise wouldn’t be anywhere without the success of Generation 1. It may be of its time, but from its voice cast to its themes The Transformers helped define a generation – no pun intended – and set the groundwork for other cartoons to follow.

Ricky Church – Follow me on Twitter for more movie news and nerd talk.