Transformers: Rescue Bots (cartoon)

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Let's see the Justice League top this lineup.

Transformers: Rescue Bots is a cartoon series that launched on The Hub on December 17, 2011 with a preview of the first two episodes, and the full season starting February 18, 2012. Unlike Prime, Rescue Bots is animated in Toon Boom Harmony (similar to a Flash cartoon), and aimed at a younger generation of Transformers fans. In terms of episode count, it is the second-longest Transformers cartoon, behind Generation 1. Unusual for a Transformers cartoon, it features no Decepticons. On January 22, 2016, the Hasbro Studios Shorts YouTube Channel uploaded a short clip confirming that a fourth season is coming soon

Story

“	A routine patrol with four Bots in stasis, Years later awoke in the strangest of places. Earth was their home now, and in addition, Optimus Prime gave them this mission!	”
—The theme song.

The Rescue Bots are a team of inexperienced Autobots primarily designed to serve as a rescue team on the battlefield. When their craft is drawn to Earth, Optimus Prime judges them as not ready to face the Decepticons, and instead stations them in the technologically advanced town of Griffin Rock, Maine located on an island off the east coast of America. There they must work undercover, posing as ordinary robots used as rescue vehicles by the island's "family of heroes", the Burns family. Team leader and team hothead Heatwave is paired with egotistical firefighter Kade Burns; rules pedant Chase is partnered with police chief Charlie Burns; nature-loving Boulder is paired with engineer Graham Burns, and height-fearing Blades has hotshot pilot Dani Burns for a partner.

The Rescue Bots must learn to work together, both with each other and their human partners, to help the people of Griffin Rock. Life on the island is far from ordinary—with the town a voluntary test-bed for new and advanced technology, the rescue team regularly has to cope with disasters and mishaps caused by previously untested technology. Though the Decepticon empire has yet to touch the island, it has its own villains: the devilishly-cunning Doctor Morocco makes life difficult with his MorBots and other hostile tech; Machiavellian business owner Madeline Pynch is primarily motivated by greed, particularly for the gold she knows lies beneath the island; and the petty criminals Myles and Evan who are adept at using the town's technology to steal from the townsfolk. Occasionally when things get really tough, Optimus Prime or Bumblebee will visit to lend a hand.

Cast

Autobots	Humans	Others
Rescue Bots Rescue Force Sigma-17 Heatwave (Steve Blum) Blades (Parvesh Cheena) Chase (D.C. Douglas) Boulder (Imari Williams) Rescue Force Recruits Salvage (Jason Marsden) Blurr (Max Mittelman) Others Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) Bumblebee (Nicole Dubuc) High Tide (Michael Bell) Servo Quickshadow (Alex Kingston)	Burns Family Chief Charlie Burns (Maurice LaMarche) Cody Burns (Elán Garfias) Kade Burns (Jason Marsden) Dani Burns (Lacey Chabert) Graham Burns (Shannon McKain) Woodrow Burns (Mark Hamill) Greene Family Doc Greene (LeVar Burton) Frankie Greene (Diamond White) Maura the Magnificent (Cree Summer) Professor Anna Baranova (Kath Soucie) Townspeople Mayor Luskey (Jeff Bennett) Huxley Prescott (Jeff Bennett) Mr. Harrison (D.C. Douglas) Mrs. Neederlander (Billie Hayes) Hayley (Danica McKellar) Mr. Alper (Steve Blum) Mr. Bunty (Steve Blum) Edgar Prewett Mr. Bufkin Mr. Perkins (Steve Blum) Milo (Jason Marsden) Mrs Luskey (Nicole Dubuc) Nancy Morrison Mr. Sharma (Parvesh Cheena) Captain Arthur Shaw (Maurice LaMarche) Mr. Pfeiffer Captain Wild (Steve Blum) Taylor (Roger Craig Smith) Carin (Nancy Linari) Billy (Jason Marsden) Timmy (Jason Marsden) Kyle Corey George Jimmy (Jason Marsden) Mr. Hunter (Maurice LaMarche) Jerry (Shannon McKain) Antagonists Dr. Thaddeus Morocco (Tim Curry/Greg Ellis) Madeline Pynch (Stacy Darrow) Evan (Robbie Daymond) Myles (Robbie Daymond) Don Priscilla Pynch (Katherine McNamara) Colonel Quint Quarry (Jim Cummings)	Robots Trex (LeVar Burton) Robo-Baby (Jason Marsden) Dither (LeVar Burton) MorBots (Maurice LaMarche) Pets Mister Pettypaws Edison Aristotle Poopsie

Episodes

For further information, see: List of Rescue Bots episodes

Season 1 (2011-2012)

1. Family of Heroes
2. Under Pressure
3. Hotshots
4. Flobsters on Parade
5. The Alien Invasion of Griffin Rock
6. Walk on the Wild Side
7. Cody on Patrol
8. Four Bots and a Baby
9. Christmas in July
10. Deep Trouble
11. Return of the Dino Bot
12. The Other Doctor
13. The Reign of Morocco
14. Small Blessings
15. The Griffin Rock Triangle
16. Rules and Regulations
17. The Lost Bell
18. Bumblebee to the Rescue
19. You've Been Squilshed
20. Countdown
21. The Haunting of Griffin Rock
22. Little White Lies
23. Shake Up
24. Rescue Boy
25. It's a Bot Time
26. Bot to the Future

Season 2 (2014)

1. Road Trip
2. Sky Forest
3. One for the Ages
4. Tip of the Iceberg
5. A Virtual Disaster
6. Spellbound
7. Prescott's Bots
8. Blame the Gremlins
9. Feed the Beast
10. What Lies Below
11. What Rises Above
12. Space Bots
13. The Island of Misfit Tech
14. The Vigilant Town
15. Buddy System
16. In Search of the Griffin's Nest
17. Bots and Robbers
18. Rescue Dog
19. Changes
20. The Riders of Midwinter
21. Movers and Shakers
22. Chief Woodrow
23. Odd Bot Out
24. The Griffin Rock Express
25. Double Villainy
26. Rise of the Heroes

Season 3 (2014-2015)

1. Land Before Prime
2. Big Game
3. Too Many Kades
4. Phantom of the Sea
5. Unfinished Business
6. No Place Like Dome
7. Bugs in the System
8. Switcheroo
9. Bot-Tastic Voyage
10. Quarry's Quarry
11. Did You See What I Thaw?
12. The Attack of Humungado
13. All Bots Great and Small
14. Time After Time
15. Pirates Ahoy
16. Turning the Tide
17. The Last of Morocco
18. The New Recruits
19. Rescue Bots Academy†
20. A New Hero
21. Four-Legged Hero
22. Endangered Species
23. More than Meets the Eye
24. I Have Heard the Robots Singing
25. Now and Then
26. Today and Forever

Season 4 (2016)

1. New Normal
2. Bridge Building
3. Arrivals
4. Plus One
5. Back to Virtual Reality
6. Vanishing Returns

† Clip show

Production

The series was developed by Nicole Dubuc, Brian Hohlfeld and Jeff Kline, who work as story editor, supervising producer and executive producer respectively. Dubuc and Hohlfeld, along with Greg Johnson, form the series writing team, though some of the episodes have had guest writers. Direction duties are rotated, with Frank Molieri as supervising director — Nathan Chew and Patrick Archibald were the directorial team on season 1 with Tim Maltby and Kevin Altieri replacing Archibald on season 2. Season 3 added Frank Squillace to the directing lineup. Ginny McSwain handles voice direction duties, while Therese Trujillo works as animation producer. Designers who have worked on the show include Shane Glines, Steve Jones, and Jeremy Tin (character designs), Jeremiah Regan (character/prop design), and Edgar Carlos (backgrounds).

So far, the show has changed animation studios every season. For the first season, the show was animated by Canadian firm Atomic Cartoons (Johnny Test, Spider-Man Unlimited) in Toon Boom Harmony. For season two, the animation work was taken over by Malaysian firm Vision Animation with Australian firm Moody Street Kids also working on the production. For season three, Canadian firm DHX Media (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Littlest Pet Shop, Pound Puppies) handled the animation, outsourcing the nitty-gritty work to Top Draw Animation. Music was provided for the first season by duo Starr Parodi and Jeff Eden Fair. For the second, Australian composer Christopher Elves took the musical reins.

Awards and nominations

2016 Annie Awards

• Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production For Preschool Children - "I Have Heard the Robots Singing"

Notes

• Jeff Kline stated that Rescue Bots and Prime occupy the same continuity, and do so because he felt two Transformers shows on the same network should share the same mythology. This is why Rescue Bots takes place on an island, so that it can exist in a relatively insulated bubble from the more dangerous plot elements of the older-skewing Prime.

• Rik Alvarez said in 2015 that Rescue Bots and Prime being in the same continuity was a studio decision, and not one Hasbro had expected.