Series re-watch
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — The Transformers
TwoThousandOneMark — 12 years ago(April 24, 2013 06:33 PM)
Alright, 5 months of slowly going through the entire G1 dvd collection. I was 6yrs old in 1984 so needless to say this was utter nostalgia.
Simply I'm going to throw down my subjective good & not so good reactions to each season while also mentioning the movie which serves as the bridge between G1 eras. All from my adult pov lol
S1 A+ 3 stars: 1.Optimus, 2.Skywarp (wow, did not see that side of him as a kid lol), 3.Mirage.- Optimus Prime & Megatron carry the season perfectly. Autobot & Decepticon characterizations were spot on including the Dinobots, Insecticons, & Constructicons- each superb additions to the season.
- Love that while select mini story arcs are presented, there is always continual logic - when something important happened in season 1, it was always acknowledged the very next episode at least.
- 22 minute run times sacrificed finer storytelling. While the plot premises were presented nicely & patiently, & the payoffs were consistent, the show seemed to hit a rushed zone every single (standalone) episode.
- Megatron's grand plan to build a super weapon to defeat the Autobots began to get repetitive. Thankfully they used the likes of Skywarp, Shockwave, & other prominent personalities to keep things fresh.
S2 A- 3 stars: 1.Combiners, 2.Tracks 3.Astrotrain (tremendous addition, fits right in alongside Soundwave & Shockwave in significance, even if it is partially due to his being the only cosmic Decepticon mode of transportation).
- New entertaining characters without having to kill off any old ones to make room lol. The likes of the triple changers, Omega Supreme, & all of the combiner teams (except Protectobots who were rushed) given ample screen time for characterization was great.
- While occasional brutal side stories, there were some highlights- namely Tracks with Raul who impressed me a lot this time (as a kid I hated some of the noobs having their own episodes). Tracks would've fit right in the movie & season 3.
- A few terribly regrettable side stories- namely Powerglide & Seaspray's romances. At least Beachcomber's timid nature worked well in 'The Golden Lagoon'. The Autobot Minibots were frankly scene stealers & not in a good way.
- Sad to see the series begin wedging & rushing new characters for screen time (not to mention the lack of origin story- I guess they were on Cybertron during season 1). Also a bit weird traveling around the galaxy to other planets, foreshadowing season 3's environs.
Movie A- 3 stars: 1.Optimus Prime (his death arguably fated G1's legacy to its now infinite appeal), 2.Galvatron, 3.Starscream.
- Unicron was a nice evil jolt to the franchise. Gave the series much welcome gravitas. Coincide that with Prime's death & it's one for the books.
- Megatron becoming Galvatron is by far the coolest G1 scene of them all.
- New Autobots were way too green to care about. Movie's 2nd half is challenging(?) with new characters everywhere, it takes nearly all of S3 to wrap the head around who means what & why.
- Immense shame that several significant Autobots weren't merely evolved into new bodies like Megatron's posse the new characters might've felt more accessible that way.
S3 A 3 stars: 1.Ultra Magnus, 2.Cyclonus, 3.Rodimus Prime (holy moly, not being a kid I didn't feel the need to despise him anymore lol).
- Most of the season has some of the more concise episodes of the entire series- & that's saying a lot.
- The movie's chaotic'ness became a lot more clear to mind after a bunch of S3's exposition. Most of the lead Autobots including Rodimus grew on me- not least of all their dialogue was way ahead of season 1 & 2's time Autobots having little patience & Decepticons trading barbs, kept things entertaining.
- Outer space environs took some life out of the show not to mention the Earth set episodes were kinda silly at times. Chunks of rock as planets, Galvatron neutered on Char, Quintessons doing anything they wanted- S3 seemed at times rather aimless.
- A few moments & episodes where things were completely carried away with abstract. Some of the worst animation errors of the series- including the opening 5 parter showing characters who died in the preceding movie lol.
S4 A-
- Optimus Prime back in command although realistically a bit 'off' from last we saw before his 'death' & that's actually a great acknowledgment of canon storytelling.
- Great one liners (Galvy calling the Cons out as morons was amazing) & action sequences. Nothing held back.
- Nicely bookended the entire G1 cartoon's macro arc of replenishing Cybertron to full energy generation Optimus back in the saddle Spike being in the midst from the show's first days til' the last
- While the Headmasters & Targetmasters were nowhere near the disappointing disaster as a kid back in the day, I still have zero idea who any of the new Transformers names are- 20-30 new characters to learn in 3 episodes? lol yeah, try again.
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TwoThousandOneMark — 12 years ago(April 25, 2013 03:15 PM)
I never got into them. Not least of all, I was growing out of Transformers (& toys in general) as a kid towards NES.
I want to add a shoutout to www.tfarchive.com where I visited for post-viewing episode recaps, to help wrap my brain around what I'd just watched. -
EmperorGalvatron — 12 years ago(April 27, 2013 12:29 AM)
Just to say quickly the Protectobots were rushed, as the other Combiners had gotten origin/introduction stories.
Season 3 animation was pretty bad. There are some good ones though.
I agree there were too many characters thrown at you in S4. It was a little much. Though I suspect we would've gotten to know them if the series continued.
I don't see why Hot Rod didn't retain some maturity after Optimus returned since he seemed to accept the mantle of leadership in the episodes just prior. It was cool seeing Optimus and Magnus together since they were said go be old friends. -
TwoThousandOneMark — 12 years ago(April 27, 2013 04:18 AM)
Subjectively I liked that Hot Rod was just another warrior again, full circle from the movie. However yes, I do agree that it was a bit strange to reset his character after that full movie & S3, he had some very good S3 moments.
Optimus & Magnus being so brotherly more than made up for that in S4 so I'll never complain. -
Enigmatic-Ocean — 12 years ago(May 02, 2013 02:42 PM)
This is a good idea. I think after next week (when I have time)I will go back and watch the entire show from start to finish + the Japanese shows and post my thoughts too. Excellent insight from the original poster.
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe -
TwoThousandOneMark — 12 years ago(May 03, 2013 01:23 PM)
Give yourself a couple months for complete re-watch, lest you start to feel burn out lol.
My strategy was a couple weeks binging alternated with a couple weeks off some of the more filler episodes are tougher to digest all in a row.
I suppose I had a carrot on a stick with S3 & S4 as I literally hadn't watched those since their original air dates. I was pretty curious to see what drugs Hasbro thought us kids were supposed to be on to accept them. (I've never bothered watching online/youtube)
As for the dvds, while I'd picked up season 1 in 2009, I never went all in for the rest, until this past winter - amazon has them relatively cheap.- the special feature interviews help to frame each season, & movie, alongside a re-watch.
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BladePuppet — 10 years ago(July 18, 2015 12:35 PM)
I'm watching G1 as an adult again for the first time and it seems like everything Rachet says when he's repairing Autobots in season 1 sounds like hilariously creepy sexual innuendo.
"When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." -
residentevil6901 — 9 years ago(January 07, 2017 12:18 PM)
Season 1 & 2 are incredible, the movie is cool but sucks because they killed off all the original characters when they didn't need to. All they had to do was start a 2nd TV series set in the future that would come on after the original show. I would've loved that but I was devastated when they killed off all my favorites just to introduce new toys which ended up killing off the series. When season 3 came out I tried to watch it but thought it sucked in comparison to season 1 & 2. The only thing cool about it was how more episodes took place on Cybertron and in outer space. If I'm going to watch the seasons 8 to 9 times out of 10 I'm going to watch the first two and only season 3 & 4 once out of 10.