New Transformers Series Coming to Cartoon Networkhttp://tv.ign.com/articles/799/799046p1.htmlJune 25, 2007 - With their first live action movie about to premiere, the Transformers are set to also return to the small screen in the coming year. The new series, titled Transformers Animated, will air on the Cartoon Network. While the cable station has aired other Transformers series in the past, this will be the first time Transformers toy creators Hasbro are co-producing a series with the US based Cartoon Network, rather than Takara, the Japanese toy and production partner on previous Transformers projects.
In a move that will certainly raise the eyebrows of longtime Transformers fans, the series is intended as a very different take on the concept, with the heroic Autobots serving as a sort of superhero team that face threats from evil humans most of the time, rather than constantly fighting their longtime enemies, the Decepticons.
The Hollywood Reporter says the plan is to give the robots "more human qualities" on the series, to allow for kids to better identify with them. Cartoon Network's Bob Higgins tells Cartoon Network "We've used the basic Transformers and characters as a springboard, but then we're pretty much reimagining the whole thing. What we're doing with it is basically turning it into a superheroes story. We're really excited that we're able to take this decades-old property and hopefully turn it into something that kids haven't seen or expected from a Transformers series before."
26 episodes will be produced initially, along with a 90-minute special that will launch the series. The staff of the series includes supervising director Matt Youngberg (Teen Titans / The Batman), executive producer Sam Register (Ben 10 / Teen Titans), character designs by Derrick Wyatt (Teen Titans), and head writer Marty Isenberg (X-Men / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). After preproduction is completed at Cartoon Network Studios, Animation will be done by Japanese studio Mook.
The series will premiere in early 2008, and the inevitable Hasbro toyline for Transformers Animated will launch in March.