Do Not get me wrong, I love Transformers. The original animated series of the 80s was one of the most influential of its time, spawning a multimedia and product franchise 25 years and running. However, "classic appeal" and "i remember this from my good ol childhood days" seem to easily cloud a viewer's mind and initiate a kind of "selective memory".
I have had so many people tell me that Transformers is like the greatest animated series ever. Good it may be, definitely influential, successful , but "greatest ever"?
No way
Inconsistency is the order of the day when it comes to Transformers, and it shows in everything from the writing, to the animation.(I believe that would be the fault of having too many different writers and animation directors working on the same show). I shall start with the writing. There are many episodes that are a straight forward "good vs evil" formula; bland, generic and overly juvenile with little underlying themes beyond "good triumphs over evil". On the other hand, there are episodes with excellent writing which bring in emotionally charged inter-character drama(The Ultimate Doom), morals, and even social/political satire(Big Broadcast of 2006). Thankfully, the "bad" episodes are outshone by the better ones making the overall viewing experience a pleasant one for a Saturday morning cartoon of its time.
Next we come to the animation, once again as inconsistent as ever. There are some really terrible looking episodes with very obvious animation errors. Characters appear and disappear for no reason, they change color in between scenes, sound effects sometime don't sync well......my list could go on. Episodes with a higher amount of art detail(additional metallic shine or shadows) tend to suffer from a lack of character animation and numerous animation short cuts. When the animation does go back to a comparatively smoother frame rate and character movements, the level of detail drops dramatically to the point of characters having no additional detail other than a flat color application. On good point about the animation is the the characters are always in motion. Unlike most Japanese anime where characters stand stock still in a set pose during a lull in the action or a conversation, the characters in Transformers are a lot more expressive. Mouth movements are synced to the pronunciation of words, hand gestures are use to accentuate expression and emotions are clearly presented even on the less human looking robot faces.
The action scenes, one of the most harped on aspect of the series by many hardcore fans, are actually quite boring save for a few. Most action scenes just involve the two sides shooting at each other and rarely hitting anything or burly brawls with little choreography other than "I hit you then you hit me" synced(or rather out-of-synced) with some rather dull sound effects and sometimes an out of place musical cue. One-on-one duels fare a little better with some awesomely storyboarded scenes here and there(see the dam fight in Episode 2 or the duel in "Heavy Metal War").
The only consistent thing about the entire show was the voice acting. Everyone of the voice actors(and a few actresses) deliver their lines splendidly and professionally; giving a surprisingly wide range of emotions to the robots. And even though many of the actors had to play multiple roles, each voice is so unique that it is near impossible to tell if it was actually the same actor playing both robots in that conversation. Thanks to this, every character would grow on you after a while. Very likable and easy to relate to, the characters and the interplay between them are what really carries the entire show.
Despite its inconsistency, Transformers delivers many engaging and entertaining episodes. Everyone who watches it will have something to like about it. The best episodes easily make up for all the bad ones.
5/10 for its sometimes simplistic story
5/10 for inconsistent animation
10/10 for well developed, fully emoted and beautifully written characters
Comes to a good 7/10 on a whole
Though far from being "the best ever", Transformers is a true classic in every sense.
I have had so many people tell me that Transformers is like the greatest animated series ever. Good it may be, definitely influential, successful , but "greatest ever"?
No way
Inconsistency is the order of the day when it comes to Transformers, and it shows in everything from the writing, to the animation.(I believe that would be the fault of having too many different writers and animation directors working on the same show). I shall start with the writing. There are many episodes that are a straight forward "good vs evil" formula; bland, generic and overly juvenile with little underlying themes beyond "good triumphs over evil". On the other hand, there are episodes with excellent writing which bring in emotionally charged inter-character drama(The Ultimate Doom), morals, and even social/political satire(Big Broadcast of 2006). Thankfully, the "bad" episodes are outshone by the better ones making the overall viewing experience a pleasant one for a Saturday morning cartoon of its time.
Next we come to the animation, once again as inconsistent as ever. There are some really terrible looking episodes with very obvious animation errors. Characters appear and disappear for no reason, they change color in between scenes, sound effects sometime don't sync well......my list could go on. Episodes with a higher amount of art detail(additional metallic shine or shadows) tend to suffer from a lack of character animation and numerous animation short cuts. When the animation does go back to a comparatively smoother frame rate and character movements, the level of detail drops dramatically to the point of characters having no additional detail other than a flat color application. On good point about the animation is the the characters are always in motion. Unlike most Japanese anime where characters stand stock still in a set pose during a lull in the action or a conversation, the characters in Transformers are a lot more expressive. Mouth movements are synced to the pronunciation of words, hand gestures are use to accentuate expression and emotions are clearly presented even on the less human looking robot faces.
The action scenes, one of the most harped on aspect of the series by many hardcore fans, are actually quite boring save for a few. Most action scenes just involve the two sides shooting at each other and rarely hitting anything or burly brawls with little choreography other than "I hit you then you hit me" synced(or rather out-of-synced) with some rather dull sound effects and sometimes an out of place musical cue. One-on-one duels fare a little better with some awesomely storyboarded scenes here and there(see the dam fight in Episode 2 or the duel in "Heavy Metal War").
The only consistent thing about the entire show was the voice acting. Everyone of the voice actors(and a few actresses) deliver their lines splendidly and professionally; giving a surprisingly wide range of emotions to the robots. And even though many of the actors had to play multiple roles, each voice is so unique that it is near impossible to tell if it was actually the same actor playing both robots in that conversation. Thanks to this, every character would grow on you after a while. Very likable and easy to relate to, the characters and the interplay between them are what really carries the entire show.
Despite its inconsistency, Transformers delivers many engaging and entertaining episodes. Everyone who watches it will have something to like about it. The best episodes easily make up for all the bad ones.
5/10 for its sometimes simplistic story
5/10 for inconsistent animation
10/10 for well developed, fully emoted and beautifully written characters
Comes to a good 7/10 on a whole
Though far from being "the best ever", Transformers is a true classic in every sense.