Transformers 40th Anniversary Event

The Transformers 40th Anniversary Event was a theatrical event held on May 15, 18, and 19, 2024 and distributed by Trafalgar Releasing. In addition to screening the first four episodes of the 1984 The Transformers cartoon, the main feature was a table read of "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1," performed by members of the original cast and other Transformers alumni. A plethora of Transformers commercials and an exclusive clip for the second season of Transformers: EarthSpark was also shown.

40 YEARS. ONE LEGACY.press release

"More than Meets the Eye, Part 1" table read

The cast opened by discussing the legacy of Transformers, intercut with previous footage of them and clips from the cartoon (with a Teletraan 1-themed border) before introducing themselves and their major roles. Within a similar Teletraan 1 border, the episode played on the left and the actors' performance played on the right, with their role labelled underneath (with red or purple coloration). In front of them were toys of the characters they play.

Actors reprising their roles from the original episode included:

• Michael Bell: Prowl
• Peter Cullen: Ironhide, Optimus Prime
• Dan Gilvezan: Bumblebee
• Frank Welker: Megatron, Mirage, Rumble, Skywarp, Soundwave

Actors replacing performers from the original episode included:

• Gregg Berger:
  • Cliffjumper (replacing Casey Kasem)
  • Human Powerplant Worker #1 (replacing Corey Burton)
  • Spike Witwicky (replacing Corey Burton)
  • Human Powerplant Worker #2 (replacing Peter Cullen)
  • Narrator (replacing Victor Caroli)
• Paul Eiding:
  • Hound (replacing Ken Sansom)
  • Ratchet (replacing Don Messick)
  • Teletraan 1 (replacing Casey Kasem)
  • Thundercracker (replacing John Stephenson)
• Dan Gilvezan: Shockwave (replacing Corey Burton)
• Arif S. Kinchen: Jazz (replacing Scatman Crothers)
• Frank Todaro (replacing Chris Latta in all roles):
  • Reflector
  • Sparkplug Witwicky
  • Starscream
  • Wheeljack

Starscream's character model was erroneously used for what was intended to be a generic grunt who ambushes Wheeljack and Bumblebee early in the episode. The table read captions list the Starscream lookalike's name as "Decepticon Leader", and his voice is provided by Gregg Berger. According to the wiki page for this episode, this character's voice was originally provided by Dan Gilvezan.

Additionally, Gilvezan provides the voice of an offscreen coworker of Sparkplug's (listed as "Crewman #1") during the Decepticon assault on the oil rig.

After the read, a series of bloopers were played, intercut with Dan Gilvezan and Michael Bell reflecting.

Trivia

"Starscream, only a select few ever read."

• While Eiding, Berger, Kinchen, and Todaro were not originally in "More Than Meets The Eye, Part 1", all have a preexisting history with the Transformers franchise. Eiding and Berger were both in The Transformers in other roles, Eiding being most notable for his role as Perceptor and Berger for his role as Grimlock. Kinchen had previously played Jazz in the 2015 Robots in Disguise cartoon, while Todaro is perhaps best known for voicing Starscream in the Prime Wars and War for Cybertron trilogies.
• Vintage G1 Blaster and Retro Skywarp were placed in front of Kinchen, despite him not playing either and Blaster not even appearing in the first season! Retro Laserbeak was also incorrectly placed in front of Welker, though that is likely because he plays Soundwave.
  • Kinchen now owns that Blaster figure that was shown in front of him, it was a gift from Hasbro.
• Two of Welker's readings have slight errors: Megatron's line, "Starscream, only a select few ever leave [lead]" and Soundwave's line, "We can concentrate the energy into Energon tubes [cubes] and store them in the new space cruiser."
• Jazz's line, "All systems go!", is not redubbed.
• Soundwave's lines, "Proceed, Thundercracker" and "Autobots are set to launch Megatron" are not redubbed.
• Ravage's animal effects are not redubbed.
• The commercial bumpers do not have narration.

Other episodes

"More than Meets the Eye, Part 2," "More than Meets the Eye, Part 3," and "Transport to Oblivion," played immediately after the table read, with the Teletraan 1 border and without the title sequence. Humorously, the end credits were sped up. Less humorously, these episodes used the lower quality Rhino Entertainment releases. The showing ended with the "Don't run away from home" public service announcement, followed by a memoriam for Scatman Crothers, Casey Kasem, Don Messick, Ken Sansom, John Stephenson, and Chris Latta.

International releases

Italy

The Italian version of the event lacked most of the pre-show commercials, with only the EarthSpark preview being shown. The first episode, the other segments involving the cast, and the PSA were shown in English with subtitles, while the other episodes received a brand new dub.

Germany

In Germany viewers were shown the Earthspark preview and the first episode script-reading with the cast and the PSA. The three other episodes received a brand-new German dub, too.

France

The event took place for 2 days instead of 3 (May 18th and 19th) in a few selected cinemas. The script reading with the original cast was screened with subtitles. The other episodes were screened in the original version with subtitles, rather than recovering one of the two French dubs or re-dubbing them as was the case in certain European countries. The Earthspark preview was apparently not shown.

Trivia

• The existence of this event was revealed by Event Cinemas Australia on March 31, three days ahead of the official reveal.
• Megatron is drawn in the event poster with a gray cannon, which is coincidentally an animation error in "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1."
• Theater showtimes named the event as "Transformers: 40th Anniversary Event."
• Hasbro Pulse ran a giveaway for two tickets to the event, along with a HasLab Deathsaurus.
• Beverage cups and popcorn buckets, with 1984 The Transformers package art, were sold at Regal and Cinemark theaters.
• Unfortunately, Crothers's name is misspelled as "Scattman Crothers." The screen also misspelled Bluestreak's name as "Bluestreaker," and misattributed Huffer to Sansom instead of Stephenson. Furthermore, Sansom and Latta were not credited for Hound and Sparkplug, respectively.

External links

"Transformers Generation 1 S01 E01: Table Read!" on YouTube