A new Transformers animated series, known as Transformers: Animated, will debut on the Cartoon Network this fall, just a couple of months after the appearance of the blockbuster live action Transformers movie debuts over the July 4th weekend (see 'Best in Shows 2007, Part 2').  The 26-episode Transformers: Animated will be the first North American designed Transformers series since Transformers: Beast Machines, the CGI series that was produced by Canada's Mainframe Entertainment. 

 

Beast Machines co-writer Marty Isenberg is functioning as the editor/chief writer for the new Transformers: Animated series -- something that hardcore Transformers fans will not be too happy about (Isenberg's Beast Machines co-writer Robert Skir once had to cancel a convention appearance due to death threats from irate fans).  Matt Youngberg (Teen Titans, The Batman) will be the new series' supervising director while Derrick Wyatt (Teen Titans, Legion of Superheroes) is providing the character designs and Cartoon Network VP Sam Register will produce.

 

Little is known about the new series except for the fact that it will take place in a future era during which humans and robots both inhabit the Earth.  Optimus Prime (supposedly now a fire truck) and Megatron will be featured in the new series, which reportedly features a brand new look for the long-lived Transformers characters.