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It was not really a good episode, though the story could have served something interesting, instead of another Autobots vs Constructicons-turned-Decepticons fight. The idea of Bulkhead having some Constructicons as friends, telling that “they are just misprogrammed” and trying to kinda befriend them was good, but the fact that Dirt Boss was accidentally created and the thing with ruling the Earth through the oil was just a lame execution. Again, the writers miss every interesting part of a potentially good storyline and waste the 22 minutes with action only.

The biggest problem I’ve had with the episode was the reason of the Autobots’ fight against Lugnut. It almost took half of the episode, though the writing was mostly focusing on Bulkhead’s (failing) friendship with the Constructicons and the fact that the Headmaster returned in form of a new Transformer. I don’t even know anymore, why so much time was wasted with the fight Autobots vs. Lugnut – maybe just to tease an upcoming storyline with the Decepticons (and the very lame cliffhanger of a cloned Starscream flying away with Lugnut).

At least the episode brought Sumdac into the focus of the story. Since the season is probably handling the relationship between him and Sari, it is always good to have not just the Transformers in the story, and instead shows some humans involved in the action. Though the ending and his idea of saving the city felt too much like a cop-out (which is already usual for a show like this).

By the way: Again I ask myself why Detroit is still existing. The city must have been destroyed for hundreds of times already. And yeah, I didn’t like the episode much. I would wish for some more story and less action. The second season did that a couple of times, and it’s what I’m missing here. 4.5/10

Weight is pulling the rug out from under Sumdac

These Constructicons are mostly oil junkies

From now on I hate those three-parter of the show, since they don’t really have a story, and use all the over-the-top action the writers could find for 65 minutes. Similar to the other season openings, I barely could recognize a suitable story, which could entertain me, and similar to the other season openers, the action went from one scene to another, and after five minutes all of it is forgotten.

But I kinda liked the episode for an unexpected reason: Sari. During the first two seasons, her childish behavior and dubbing voice were annoying me like my parents, but here she got all the story the episode had. After last season’s good cliffhanger (remember: Sari found out she was a robot). And even for a kids show like this, the episode did some good things with the story, even bringing something of a mythology to the show. I was just missing more seriousness from it, like Sari questioning her whole life, instead of being pissed, because her father, a.k.a. her builder, lied to her the whole time. But when it came to Sari bein a real robot, a Cybertronian, and in the midst o her first battle, the series suddenly got a whole lot interesting. During 60 minutes, Sari got some character development, and stops being annoying – which is a good thing for the series.

Other than that, some of the action was really forgettable. Like the fight Headmaster vs. Autobots. I couldn’t remember anymore how the Headmaster got into the story (a long time ago I saw the second season), but it obviously wasn’t so important, since his story was over, before I could think about it. Moreover, half of the events in space, namely the first bits of the Decepticons vs. the Autobots, and the battle of the Space Bridge, didn’t bring much, since the episode introduced the transwarp (maybe the series did that earlier already, but I can’t remember). At least Omega Supreme was introduced nicely, as well as Starscream’s return as the actual supervillain, who even has to fight Megatron. I would wish that there would be more fights between the two enemies amongst the Decepticons – somehow Starscream’s hunger for power is missing.

And I kinda liked the flashbacks this time. I was surprised to see that the characters, this time Ratchet, get some development with their flashbacks. Though the whole scenery around the Autobots trying to bring out Omega Supreme, while Megatron is controlling him, could have been more thrilling. The part where Prowl went into the mainframe to find Omega in the circuits kinda reminded me of all the MATRIX and TRON movies, and could have been a nice tribute to those films, but the ending was a bit lame.

One more thing: I was wondering about it during the previous seasons, but Detroit has to be completely destroyed after all those battles. Or all the residents have to be moved to a different city. Maybe that’s the reason why the third season opener didn’t show any kind of Detroit residents, but it would be nice, when the writers mention this every now and then.

Well, it was a solid opener for the series, but too much action and less story kill the show. 6/10

Introducing: Sari-bot

Megaton in Omega's body is about to run over Detroit

The second season aired between April and July 2008 on the Cartoon Network

The Transformers Animated series continues to reinvent the venerable robot-action franchise in fresh and often inventive ways, as evidenced by the adventures compiled in its sophomore season. The action picks up directly after the conclusion of Season 1, during which the city of Detroit was leveled in a battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons. The cause of that fight, the AllSpark, source of life for all Transformers, was also destroyed, but all parties soon discover that the cube exists in fragmentary form in various locations around the globe. The recovery of these pieces naturally forms the crux of Season 2, though there is also the issue of The Key, the second greatest power in Transformers lore, and which currently resides in the precocious form of pre-teen Sari Sumdac. The Autobots must also concern themselves with protecting their precious human charge and worry about Starscream, who harbors both a fragment of the AllSpark in his body and a long-simmering grudge against both the Autobots and Decepticons.

Episode 01: The Elite Guard
I don’t know, it was a boring season opener. Last season’s cliffhanger phuf’d away, since the conclusion of it was predictable and shitty, the arrival of the Autobots’ elite guard was promising, but didn’t bring anything for anybody, except united forces to fight rogue machines, who got life from bits of the AllSpark, and I find it pretty ridiculous that Sari is the boss of her father’s company now – ehm, please what? I know, this is just an animated series and completely illogical for itself, but that is just plain idiotic. Well, fortunately she was fired at the end, so the story didn’t even start. The ending is so far interesting that it brought some mystery into Sari’s character, since she doesn’t have a birth certificate and stuff. I just hope that is an ongoing storyline throughout the season.
And the elite guard? Not only boring Autobot characters among them, but their voiceovers were annoying the shit out of me – and the score was partly killing my ears. Hopefully, Optimus and Sentinel will clash together in future episodes, since both are Primes and both want to be leaders and heroes on Earth.
I was hoping for a bit more than this boring episode. 5/10

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Thanks to Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg I am interested in this now. I loved the first movie and the second one is coming out in a few months. So I got the first season of the newest animated series, which is running on the Cartoon Network and I watched it. Sure, it is nothing like The Simpsons or Futurama, it is just a comic show for kids, who have nothing to do and watching television. Certainly I have absolutely no expectations, but nevertheless I watched all the 16 episodes of the first season.
Here are some words about every episode.

Episode 01-03: Transform and Roll Out Well, I hoped it would be more of a movie instead of three individual episodes, coupled in one 60 minute episode. But this wasn’t necessary. The first third was about the Transformers being in space, finding the AllSpark and jumping through one of the gates; the second third was about fighting against one of the failed experiments from Sari’s daddy Isaac; the last third was the fight against Starscream. It had some funny moments and I like the style of the series. Not too overdone, but the elements suited for little kids are there. 6/10

Episode 04: Home Is Where The Spark Is That was a nice episode. Okay, Sari is for an eight year old too girly and childish and jars on my nerves. But I can live with that. Megatron’s entry into the story happens in this episode (very early I have to say) and the action in the auto-parts shop was great. Except Bumblebee’s actions, they contradict with the logic.
But I can live with that, too. 6,5/10

Episode 05: Total Meltdown Hey, how about some logic in here? How could this guy melt anything, but this acid didn’t melt him? And why is Bumblebee such a nutjob? And why is there absolutely no story? Oh, I forgot, this is kids program. But a little bit characterization and a touch of story would be great. And I don’t like how famous the Autobots are. It would be better for them to live in secret after the happenings in the pilot. I knew I would have my difficulties with the show. 5/10

Episode 06: Blast from the Past Fire breathing dinosaurs, which are talking… cool. They are just Dinobots, dueling with the Autobots, created by Megatron and the Professor. I read the Dinobots were part of the Transformers universe, especially Grimlock with his sword of fire – great episode cliffhanger there. Maybe they are coming back. Bulkhead and Prowl are cute together, I see some characterization in there, very good as well. I liked it. 8/10

Episode 07: Thrill of the Hunt Actually a really cool episode. No annoying humans (finally no Sari, she gets on my nerves and finally no Professor Sumdac, because he seems too dumb for a professor), just simple Transformer action. So, we have two new Transformers we know about and with Ratchet we have a little sightseeing in the Autobot-Decepticon War – the whole flashback story was great, it gave some nice character moments for Ratchet. The rest was also pretty good, but the finale was a little bit too fast for me. Arcee seems nice, and a great storyline, too. Maybe she will be back in future episodes, because she seems necessary for the Decepticons… 8,5/10

Episode 08: Nanosec Good episode with Bumblebee in the center. His connection with the turbo boosters was funny at some points and finally he is growing with his actions. When the authors emphasize their character development, he will be much better in future episodes, so let’s see.
Nanosec as episode enemy was good, his connection with Megatron brought the main enemy back, after he was missing again for an episode; and the action was pretty good. 8/10

Episode 09: Along Came a Spider Blackarachnia – what a cool name. She reminded me of Venom, one of Spider-Man’s biggest enemies. Elita 1′s whole story, beginning with her transformation into the black widow along to the fight with Prime, was very interesting and I liked almost every second of it. Even the trick o’ treating put a smile on my face (it is Halloween in this episode). And Megatron is missing again, it seems he is only in every second episode. 8,5/10

Episode 10: Sound and Fury Pretty good episode. Soundwave gives a nice enemy and Bulkhead had some character developments. And what the heck was wrong with Professor Princess? Who was that chick, riding on a horse, firing stuffed animals with bombs in it – I rofl’d. But it is time for the Autobots to fear some real danger, because the conclusion of this one was too simple and easy written and I don’t like that. 7/10

Episode 11: Lost and Found Yeah, that’s what I wanted to see. Decepticons fight a duel with Autobots, Decepticons are destroyed, but still functioning for a later return. Blitzwing was cool, he sounded like he had an Austrian accent, he reminded me of Jay Leno spoofing Arnold Schwarzenegger. And finally Sari’s key gets more attention and the Autobots are aware of an incoming threat. Just the sequences in the ship were dumb. Why is the ship still intact after 50 years of being in ice cold water. And how did the water get out? 8/10

Episode 12: Survival of the Fittest Oh my god, Meltdown back, Cyrus back, the Dinobots back, Captain Fanzone with character developments and a great story with Sari being kidnapped – this is the best episode so far. I loved almost everything about the episode. The authors took some previous season arcs into this episode; Meltdown is by far a more better enemy than before and all the Dinobots can now transform. Just the “coolness” of Sari as prisoner was ludicrous. 8,5/10

Episode 13: Headmaster Boring episode. I didn’t like the enemy and the authors concentrated again to much on Bulkhead, who’s head miraculously can function without his whole body (oh please…). At least the joking lines by Headmaster were funny. And Bulkhead’s character development was nice (he likes art now, let’s see how long that will last), although boring, because from all the Transformers he gets the most time of characteristics. 4,5/10

Episode 14: Nature Calls This episode was so boring, I was bored. The story is lame, the sauna at the end was prepped pretty fast. It was not funny at all and Bumblebee got on my nerves, like in every second episode. This really looks like a filler to the finale. There was one episode left and no ideas for a decent story. 3/10

Episode 15-16: Megatron Rising The season finale was actually pretty good. Blackarachnia, Blitzwing, Starscream and Lugnut are back, a little bit from the Dinobots and a lot of action – what do you want more? And Megatron surely is a dangerous enemy for the Autobots, the dueling between Autobots and Decepticons was great. Furthermore the mentioning of the Elite Guard and the cliffhanger: Megatron not defeated and the Professor kidnapped by him. Some more answered questions would be nice. 7/10

Season average is 6,81. I don’t know when I will watch the second season (Cartoon Network is currently airing season three), because I don’t have it right now. But I am pretty sure I will watch it sometimes this year, maybe around the second movie or so.