The Transformers (TV series) (Johnsonverse)

The Transformers is an American animated television series which originally aired from September 17, 1984 to November 27, 2004 on WBC. The first of many series in the Transformers franchise, it was based upon Takara's Transformers toy line and depicts a war among giant robots that can transform into vehicles and other objects.
The series was produced by Johnson Television in association with Toei Animation. The series was supplemented by a feature film, The Transformers: The Movie (1986), taking place between the second and third seasons. 
The series was later shown in reruns on Sci-Fi Channel and currently on The Hub, the Boomerang Midnight Run and Toonami programming blocks on Cartoon Network, and the One for the Big Sprouts programming block on Sprout. It is also the first installment in the Generation 1 cartoon era.
==Production background ==
==Plot==
This series focuses on the Transformers, split into two warring factions: the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons as they crash land on Earth and continue their eons long conflict there.
==Broadcast history==
Season 	Episodes 	Originally aired 	Originally aired
Season 	Episodes 	First aired 	Last aired
1 	16 	September 17, 1984	December 15, 1984
2 	49 	September 23, 1985	January 9, 1986
Feature film	Feature film	August 8, 1986 	August 8, 1986
3 	30 	September 15, 1986	February 25, 1987
4 	30 	November 9, 1987 	April 30, 1988
5 	35 	September 10, 1988	April 22, 1989
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20 	20 	July 13, 2004 	November 27, 2004
===UK broadcast history===
*TV-AM (1984–1986?)
*Sky One (1988–1995)
*Fox Kids (1996–1997)
*Pop (2007–2009)
*Kix! (2008–2009)
*WBC Kids (2009-present)
===Pilot miniseries===
The three-part pilot miniseries (retroactively titled "More than Meets the Eye") first aired in the United States in September 1984. The story follows Optimus Prime's heroic Autobots and Megatron's evil Decepticons as they leave their metallic homeworld of Cybertron to search for new sources of energy to revitalize their war efforts, only to crash-land on Earth, where they remain entombed and offline for 4 million years. Awakening in the year of 1984, the Decepticons set about pillaging the energy sources of Earth, while the Autobots—aided by human father and son Sparkplug and Spike Witwicky—attempt to protect the new world on which they find themselves. The miniseries concludes with the Decepticons believed dead after their space cruiser is sent plunging into the ocean depths, while the Autobots prepare to return to Cybertron.
===Season 1===
The 13-episode first season, commissioned and produced before the pilot miniseries aired, was broadcast between October and December on Saturday mornings. Story-edited at Marvel Productions by Bryce Malek and Dick Robbins, the season begins with the revelation that the Decepticons have survived the events of the pilot and follows them as they set about constructing a "space bridge" to teleport resources back to Cybertron. A loose story arc centered on this technology spans the season, culminating in "The Ultimate Doom", a three-part episode in which the Decepticons teleport Cybertron itself into Earth's orbit. The paraplegic computer expert Chip Chase joins Spike and Sparkplug as a new human ally for the Autobots.
The season also introduced several new characters from the upcoming 1985 product line in advance of their toys' release including Jetfire, the Dinobots, the Insecticons and the first "combiner" team, the Constructicons, who are able to merge into a giant robot, Devastator, whose introduction was set alongside a climactic one-on-one duel between Optimus Prime and Megatron that served as a part of the season finale.
===Season 2===
Forty-nine further episodes were commissioned for the show's second season in 1985, bringing the total up to the "magic number" of 65 required to move the series into weekday broadcast syndication. Compared to the first season, Season 2's stories are more episodic, with many of them able to air in whatever order networks chose. Episodes would often spotlight individual characters or groups of characters as a means of promoting their toys and later in the season, the lore of the series would be expanded on as the history of Cybertron was discovered, and significant cartoon-original characters like Alpha Trion and the first female Transformer characters were introduced (the female Transformers characters, including Elita One, would get toys in 1986). A new recurring human cast member was also added in the form of Spike's girlfriend Carly.
Partway into the season, the remainder of the 1985 product line was introduced, mostly through the two-part episode "Dinobot Island." These new characters included new Autobot car and mini-vehicles, Decepticon jets, the giant Autobot sentinel Omega Supreme, and the Decepticon "Triple-Changers" Astrotrain and Blitzwing. To expand the line, however, Takara also licensed several toys from other companies, including their chief competitor, Bandai. In another episode, the Deluxe Autobots and Jumpstarters were introduced.
Toward the end of the season, the first 1986 product was introduced into the series: the Aerialbots, Stunticons, Protectobots and Combaticons.
===The Movie===
The gap between seasons two and three was bridged by The Transformers: The Movie, which was released to theaters in the summer of 1986. Set a year after the second season, the film featured the deaths of many characters, including Optimus Prime himself, all but three of the Autobot Cars (with Jazz, Wheeljack, and Trailbreaker being the only survivors), most of the 1984 Mini-Vehicles (with Bumblebee, Hornet, and Cliffjumper surviving), Buzzsaw, and Reflector, while Megatron, Thundercracker, Skywarp, and the Insecticons all became new characters, clearing away all the discontinued product from the 1984 and 1985 toy lines and introduced a new cast of the characters designed for the film, who were then made into toys for the 1986 range; the entire 1986 range was introduced during the film, except for Metroplex and Trypticon. Young Autobot Hot Rod used the power of the Autobot talisman known as the Matrix of Leadership to become the new Autobot leader Rodimus Prime and defeated the world-eating robot planet Unicron.
=== Season 3===
Season 3 picks up where the movie leaves off, with the Autobots now in control of Cybertron once more, working to restore their homeworld and serving as peacemakers for worlds all across the galaxy. The Decepticons, meanwhile, are in exile on the ruined world of Chaar, led now by Galvatron, who, following the movie, fell into a vat of plasma on the planet Thrull and had his logic circuits severely damaged, rendering him utterly insane. Interconnected episodes, running plot threads and small story arcs became more common in the series, including Octane's constant attempts to overthrow Galvatron, frequent battles between the giant Autobot and Decepticon cities of Metroplex and Trypticon and the threat to both sides posed by the alien Quintessons, introduced in the movie. This season also saw the debut of three new combiners: the Predacons, the Terrorcons, and the Technobots. This season saw story-editing duties transfer from Marvel Productions to Sunbow, overseen by Flint Dille, Marv Wolfman and Steve Gerber. The death of Optimus Prime proved a controversial move and did not sit well with the viewing audience, resulting in a letter-writing campaign that ultimately compelled Johnson to resurrect the Autobot leader in a two-part season finale called "The Return of Optimus Prime", which aired in March 1987. Optimus Prime was revived with help from a Quintesson during the threat of the Hate Plague.
===Season 4 (Headmasters)===
=== Season 5 (Masterforce) ===
=== Season 6 (Victory) ===
=== Season 7 (Zone) ===
=== Season 8 (Battlestars) ===
=== Season 9 (Operation Combinaton) ===
=== Seasons 10-12 (Generation 2) ===
=== Seasons 13-14 (Machine Wars) ===
=== Season 15 (Endgame) ===
=== Season 16 (2000) ===
=== Season 17 (Robots in Disguise) ===
=== Season 18 (Armada) ===
=== Season 19 (Energon) ===
=== Season 20 (Cybertron) ===
===Later developments===
===Supplemental sequences===
===Japanese States release===
===VHS, Betamax, and DVD releases===
====Region 1====
====Region 2====
====Region 4====
====Other releases====
==Legacy==
Category:Johnsonverse