Transformers: Dark Awakening

[Trinary]

You know, as horrifying as Optimis' half-ruined zombie face is, I suppose we should be grateful Chuck didn't show the scene where the corpse of an Autobot that looks a LOT like Iron Hide falls out of his tomb and nearly CRUSHES Daniel.

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/File:DarkAwakeni ... utobot.jpg

Thanks for keeping it classy, Hasbro!

...Please tell me Chuck's gonna review The Return of Optimus Prime...

[Rocketboy1313]

I like it.

I dream of a future where more cartoon shows have the courage to kill the hero and then bring him back as a grim visage monstrosity.

[MyUserName]

I was around eleven or twelve when this episode hit, am not bothering to look up the actual airdate. But I can remember all kinds of feels watching this. For someone who grew up on the show, it was definitely involving and emotional. As an adult, I still rather like this episode as it is very much an emotional journey that would have meant so much more if they made Season 3 more about Rodimus's development into the hero that Prime was.

I also can't help but wonder about the reaction if a popular children's franchise tried to pull this sort of thing in today's world.

[Beastro]

Thanks for keeping it classy, Hasbro!

It was classy, old folk-tail classy in that it, inadvertently or not, brought a brutal sense of honesty to a child's cartoon series that was what originally lay behind old children's stories.

IMO, it's this willingness to do this kind of thing is what separated Transformers from other cartoons of the 80s and why the movie has become such a landmark of the 80s in childhood memories and pop culture while other series-to-movie movies have faded away like one would have expected all of them to.

I do wish there'd been another long period set between the movie and Season 3 like there was between Season 2 and the movie, to allow the mausoleum to fade into obscurity and give it a sense of something legendary genuinely forgotten that was rediscovered like the Ark was in Beasties.

I can't wait for Chuck to get to Web World and Fight or Flee, the latter of which was so refreshing to see pacifism criticized in a cartoon when it always gets a blanket pass in so many.

I also can't help but wonder about the reaction if a popular children's franchise tried to pull this sort of thing in today's world.

It actually makes me dislike The Return of Optimus Prime and Rebirth after liking the former as a kid when a friend taped it and lent to me years after the show had ended. This should have been it for Optimus that highlighted all the more the loss of the character that was still a hero even when he was a literal ghost of himself.

[MyUserName]

Thanks for keeping it classy, Hasbro!

It was classy, old folk-tail classy in that it, inadvertently or not, brought a brutal sense of honesty to a child's cartoon series that was what originally lay behind old children's stories.

IMO, it's this willingness to do this kind of thing is what separated Transformers from other cartoons of the 80s and why the movie has become such a landmark of the 80s in childhood memories and pop culture while other series-to-movie movies have faded away like one would have expected all of them to.

I do wish there'd been another long period set between the movie and Season 3 like there was between Season 2 and the movie, to allow the mausoleum to fade into obscurity and give it a sense of something legendary genuinely forgotten that was rediscovered like the Ark was in Beasties.

I can't wait for Chuck to get to Web World and Fight or Flee, the latter of which was so refreshing to see pacifism criticized in a cartoon when it always gets a blanket pass in so many.

I also can't help but wonder about the reaction if a popular children's franchise tried to pull this sort of thing in today's world.

It actually makes me dislike The Return of Optimus Prime and Rebirth after liking the former as a kid when a friend taped it and lent to me years after the show had ended. This should have been it for Optimus that highlighted all the more the loss of the character that was still a hero even when he was a literal ghost of himself.

Agreed on both points. Though the GI Joe Cartoon and even the movie did have moments where the writers were able to slip some pretty dark themes past Broadcast Standards and Practices. In fact, this was a thing that was fun to watch for at the time, shows that came on during the children's viewing block but were definitely marketed and/or written with a more mature mindset, or could at least have a few episodes where more character driven and mature themes could be discussed.

As for Rebirth/Return of Optimus Prime... I am kind of a fan of Return, it definitely had it's moments. But as a story overall it's pretty weak, and I would have preferred the writers going for a deeper story arc with Rodimus continuing to grow and struggle with the responsibility, we got a few episodes and moments where he stepped up, but there was no real arc.

[Beastro]

In fact, this was a thing that was fun to watch for at the time, shows that came on during the children's viewing block but were definitely marketed and/or written with a more mature mindset, or could at least have a few episodes where more character driven and mature themes could be discussed.

The other was a real sense of the people behind Joe and Transformers having a good deal of fun thinking up things to put in for shows that really didn't have much in the way of a coherent overarching plot because both couldn't be what they were: two shows about two powers each in straight up wars that would be too brutal an complex to be be shown.

Revisiting both (I'd really like to track down the old DIC Joe one day since it was more of mine and had the killer intro song), I felt that sense of creative adventure and fun that felt like adults thinking up silly plots they'd play to if they were kids dicking around around with their action figures.

Even with an episode of BOT, hearing Chuck's recap you can hear the amusement in his voice, even if it's just an adult looking back on a kids show seeing the humour made up by other adults trying to amuse kids.

[MyUserName]

Eh, while the plots and ideas could be pretty fun in that respect, I liked shows that actually could put in some character or story. I think it was Robotech that did that to me. Yes, one can look back now and accuse it of being a dumbing down of three anime series, but at the time it blew my mind in huge ways, and I always wondered where were the concerned parents when Rick Hunter, (Hikaru in the Japanese) and Minmei were living together, as a couple, for a time.

I think this is where GI Joe succeeded a bit more, the writers had an easier time applying character to a story since it was more grounded, the GI Joe comic also outlasted transformers by virtue of Larry Hama actually having a military background, as opposed to initial writer, Bob Budiansky, just being dictated to by hasbro what toys to promote in the next issue. Incidentally I think this is also the reason the Japanese series enjoyed more success and had a longer and more quality run. If you want mecha done right, call in Japanese studios and just stay the hell out of their way.

Back to the show, Not that GI Joe couldn't get every bit as Bat Guano insane as transformers Season 2 & 3. I also remember an episode where Lady J was kidnapped after visibly disrobing in a dressing room, and Baronness in a hot tub, then she was forced to wear that two piece bikini for the entire episode. You can't tell me that the animators and writers for that episode weren't all male and just amusing themselves on that one. And how can we forget the Cold Slither episode? Or the episode where Cobra Commander has a High Powered laser and uses it to etch his face onto the moon. Just... man. That is some Hideo Kojima/Metal Gear Solid level of insanity right there.

[Independent George]

As mentioned in the movie thread, the Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers was by far my favorite of the 80s cartoon series. Each of the main characters would get the spotlight in the series, and each had some seriously messed up things in their pasts.

And the Scarecrow gave me freaking nightmares for years.

[AlucardNoir]

On the one hand I want to comment: Transformers Zombies in disguise.... on the other, there's this nagging feeling in the back of my head that keeps on whispering: Megatron was resurrected, Starscream was a ghost, Optimus Prime and Primal were resurrected as well; this was an outlier. And yet, I can't help but think I've seen Transformers zombies at other points in the series long history.

[Cheerilee]

I do wish there'd been another long period set between the movie and Season 3 like there was between Season 2 and the movie, to allow the mausoleum to fade into obscurity and give it a sense of something legendary genuinely forgotten that was rediscovered like the Ark was in Beasties.

I think the easiest solution would be to have the Autobots knowing exactly that they were near the mausoleum, but being very reluctant to transgress upon such sacred ground (only landing there due to the urgency of their situation).

It would also lead into the destruction of the mausoleum being everything the Autobots didn't want to cause by making a stop there during a battle.

On the one hand I want to comment: Transformers Zombies in disguise.... on the other, there's this nagging feeling in the back of my head that keeps on whispering: Megatron was resurrected, Starscream was a ghost, Optimus Prime and Primal were resurrected as well; this was an outlier. And yet, I can't help but think I've seen Transformers zombies at other points in the series long history.

Dinobot from Beast Wars pretty much came back as a Zombie, and eventually regained his soul.

Transformers Prime has zombies all over the place due to Dark Energon (Cliffjumper and Skyquake in particular, to say nothing of the zombie armies Megatron raised).