'Transformers: EarthSpark' Review: AutoBots Roll Out On Paramount+ And Nickelodeon

 

    Transformers: EarthSpark brings the long-running Transformers franchise to Nickelodeon and Paramount+. In its nearly 40 years, Transformers cartoons have first run in syndication, on Fox Kids, Hub Network, Discovery Family, go90, and two separate stints at Cartoon Network. However, the franchise does remain dual-stationed, as its most recent home is also still its home: Netflix, where the War for Cybertron trilogy was released, is also the home of Transformers: BotBots, a preschool-aimed series that just premiered in March. As for EarthSpark, 10 episodes were released on Paramount+ on Thursday, November 11, with Nickelodeon, Nicktoons, and Nick Pluto airing the two-part premiere the same day. The series was developed by Dale Malinowski, Ant Ward, and franchise regular Nicole Dubuc, with Ward, Dubuc, and Ciro Nieli as executive producers. Glen Murakami is a supervising producer. It stars Sydney Mikayla, Zion Broadnax, Kathreen Khavari, Zeno Robinson, Benni Latham, Jon Jon Briones, Alan Tudyk, Danny Pudi, Rory McCann, Cissy Jones, and Diedrich Bader.

    The humans of the series are the Malto family, 13-year-old Robby (Mikayla) and 9-year-old Morgan (Broadnax), and their parents Dot (Latham) and Alex (Briones), who have just moved to Witwicky, Pennsylvania from Philadelphia. They're a black and Hispanic family. Dot is a park ranger, which means this was the second Hasbro series in two years to have a park ranger parent in an at least partially-Hispanic family. In Power Rangers Dino Fury, Warden Garcia was originally written as a Sheriff but was changed in the wake of the increased awareness of police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement. One has to wonder if such a creative decision has similar origins. It turns out this new job was created by GHOST, an agency that the Autobots are working with to investigate a rising threat in the area. Optimus Prime (Tudyk) found GHOST in the days following the war and allied with them as they had the resources to keep the planet safe, including a location at which to work. In these early episodes, Mo and Robby squabble from time to time as siblings do, but came to its first major head in “Classified”. It’s resolved pretty well and they get along much better after.

    This series takes place many years after the civil war between Autobots and Decepticons. The kids come across a cave where they inadvertently create a new kind of Cybertronian. Being Earth-born Cybertronians, they’re called Terrans, and the two here, Twitch (Khavari) and Thrash (Robinson) are emotionally bonded to them by the cyber-sleeves the kids are bestowed. And Robby and Mo know exactly what Transformers are because their father is a college professor with a PhD. in Cybertronian history. It’s as if because Earth became the battleground of that civil war, first contact was already kind of handled. The three sides settle peacefully following Optimus’s destruction of the “space bridge”, and they mutually learned from one another.   

    The Transformers are even a media franchise in-universe as there are comic books about them, which was reminiscent of Into the Spider-Verse but built on fact instead of speculation. Twitch and Thrash use them to learn about their kind. They are initially considered new best friends but are quickly considered family, even by Mr. and Mrs. Malto within a few episodes once they’re revealed. So instead of a boy and his robot, it’s a family that happens to have robots. Like if we followed the Mitchells from The Mitchells vs. The Machines as they learned to live a more mundane life with Deborahbot 5000 and Eric.

    The old favorites you’d expect are here too. The story of the war is told through a style reminiscent of the G1 series, and it turns out Dot partook, losing a leg in the process. Twitch got her vehicle mode, a drone, from Wheeljack. Megatron (McCann) became an Autobot to end the war and is not only very trusting of Optimus Prime’s decisions, but Dot’s ally, which is weird, but somewhat understandable if he was able to submit in such a manner. Even from just the first episode, the dynamics between characters are already intriguing, between the parents and kids, and the family and the bots, and as Dot learns more about her new assignment. Elita-1 (Jones) is Optimus’s second-in-command but her role hasn’t been so explored through episode five.

    The villain is Dr. Meridian (Bader), who in the two-part premiere “Secret Legacy” kidnaps Twitch and Thrash while disguised as a GHOST agent. Because he designates them as Cybertronus terrans, they name him Mandroid. He hates it, just as he does all Cybertronians. He wants to wipe them all out. Bumblebee (Pudi) shows up at the end of it, just as the first conflict with Mandroid ends. So the following episode “Moo-ving In” is all about his role in mentoring Twitch and Thrash. He also learns to ease up on his stricter training and have fun every once in a while, adopting a mindset most open to leisure. “House Rules” is not only a rules episode, but definitely a “When people show you who they are, believe them the first time” episode, when Thrash meets Swindle, a Decepticon who suddenly he thinks might be good, but it was all a ruse, as he was one of the Decepticons working with Mandroid in the premiere. The end of “Classified” reveals GHOST detains several Decepticons in its facilities.

    Through five episodes, there are no lemons. Transformers: EarthSpark is fun for any age, and watching all ten that are available as of writing is highly recommended. Despite these ten also ending with a two-parter, there are still 16 episodes left in the first season. There really hasn't been a bad Transformers series for this target demo in quite a while if ever, and this show certainly doesn’t break the streak. The art style feels Camp Cretaceous-y but still looks pretty good, and the voice work is pretty great. With plenty more to come and hopefully even more after, stick around, there's more to meet the eye.