From The TV IV

This is about the original Transformers show. For other Transformers shows, see Transformers franchise

The Transformers cartoon series was created as a promotional tie-in for Hasbro's toyline of the same name. The series was developed by Marvel Productions, who had at the time just finished developing G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. Marvel Productions produced the show under contract from Sunbow Productions, the television arm of Hasbro's advertising firm, Griffin Bacal. Voice work was done at Wally Burr Recording.

The series began with a three episode miniseries titled "More Than Meets The Eye", much as G.I. Joe had begun as a miniseries. Shortly, productions of Transformers went into full gear and the series ran for three full seasons, plus a three-episode fourth "season". Some episodes were later repackaged with live-action introductions and bumpers; this set of episodes is sometimes referred to by fans as "season five".

The series deals with extraterrestrial robots -- "Transformers" -- who, in the first episode, stranded on Earth. These robots come from a planet called Cybertron, and have the amazing ability to reconfigure their body parts into two or more different shapes or "modes". For example, many of the characters have a humanoid mode and can also transform to look like cars or airplanes. The Transformers are divided into two factions: the "Autobots", who wish to live peacefully with other lifeforms, and the "Decepticons" who wish to conquer other worlds and acquire large reserves of energy and other resources for their own use. Naturally, this puts the factions into conflict and most episodes of the cartoon deal with the Autobots trying to stop the Decepticons from stealing energy, harming humans, and the like.

Between seasons two and three, in the summer of 1986, a feature film called Transformers: The Movie was released. In this film most of the major characters from the first two seasons were killed, and a new cast of characters was introduced. Season three of the cartoon deals with these new characters, although there were some holdovers from the first two years.

When the Transformers franchise began, it and this cartoon were simply called Transformers. In 1993, Hasbro revived the Transformers franchise under the name Transformers: Generation Two. Immediately, fans began to refer to the original series as "Generation One" or "G1" in order to differentiate the two. Eventually, this fan-created term began appearing in some materials produced by Hasbro and Takara (the Japanese toy company with which Hasbro co-creates Transformers).

Contents 1 Cast 2 Seasons 3 In-Depth 4 DVD Releases 5 External Sites

[edit] Cast

Actor	Character	Duration
Main Cast
Peter Cullen	Optimus Prime	1	2	3	4
	Ironhide	1	2
Frank Welker	Megatron	1	2
	Galvatron			3	4
	Soundwave	1	2	3	4
	Frenzy	1	2	3	4
	Mirage	1	2
	Mixmaster	1	2	3	4
	Ravage	1	2	3
	Rumble	1	2
	Skywarp	1	2
Chris Latta	Wheeljack	1	2
	Starscream	1	2	3
	Sparkplug Witwicky	1	2
Dan Gilvezan	Bumblebee	1	2	3	4
Casey Kasem
Michael Bell	Prowl	1	2
	Sideswipe	1	2
	Swoop	1	2	3	4
	Scrapper	1	2	3	4
Scatman Crothers	Jazz	1	2
Don Messick
Ken Sansom	Hound	1	2
John Stephenson	Thundercracker	1	2
	Windcharger	1	2
	Kup			3	4
Gregg Berger	Grimlock	1	2	3	4
	Jetfire	1	2
Hal Rayle	Shrapnel	1	2	3	4
	Snarl	1	2	3	4
Buster Jones
Jack Angel	Astrotrain	1	2	3	4
	Ramjet	1	2
	Cyclonus			3	4
	Ultra Magnus			3	4
Paul Eiding	Perceptor	1	2	3	4
Corey Burton	Spike Witwicky	1	2	3	4
	Brawn	1	2
	Sunstreaker	1	2
	Shockwave	1	2
Richard Gautier
John Moschitta, Jr.
Neil Ross	Hook	1	2
	Slag	1	2	3	4
	Springer			3	4
Clive Revill	Kickback	1	2	3	4
Ed Gilbert
Stan Jones
Susan Blu	Arcee			3	4
David Mendenhall	Daniel Witwicky			3	4

[edit] Seasons

Season	Premiere	Finale	#
syndication
Season One	September 17, 1984	December 29, 1984	16
Season Two	September 23, 1985	January 9, 1986	49
Season Three	September 15, 1986	February 25, 1987	30
Season Four	November 9, 1987	November 11, 1987	3
Feature Film
Transformers: The Movie	July 11, 1986

[edit] In-Depth

• At a Glance: Additional information about the series

[edit] DVD Releases

Title	Release Date	#
Season Sets
The Complete First Season	April 23, 2002	4	purchase
Season 2 Part 1	November 26, 2002	4	purchase
Season 2 Part 2	April 22, 2003	4	purchase
Season 3 Part 1	October 14, 2003	4	purchase
Season 3 Part 2 & Season 4	March 9, 2004	3	purchase

[edit] External Sites

• The Cybertron Chronicle
• Transformers Voice Actors