Earthspark is generic children's TV that has already been done over and over. It's boring, pretentious and unoriginal.
It didn't need to be Transformers - it has a Transformers theme, it has some characters based on Transformers characters, that's about it. It's basically about kids with superpowers and their rather juvenile robotic companions which some magical relics thrown in.
What really derails this series is all of the virtue signalling and moralising and forcible attempts to reverse gender stereotypes, worrying over identity and roles, race, etc. The series is infused with it, it's obvious, it insults the intelligence of most people and it ruins what should be solid children's entertainment.
The Generation One cartoon of the 1980s set out to entertain kids - and promote the toys - that's no longer sufficient for those intent on the re-education of the next generation. While Generation One had gender stereotypes galore, which was the norm back then, my 9 year old can watch it and filter out some of the rather dated aspects and still find it far more enjoyable compared to this latest sterile offering.
As ever, so many previously "male" Transformers have yet again been re-gendered as female. This farce began in Cyberverse and it has advanced further here, with Skywarp, Thundercracker (I think?) and Frenzy as the latest victims that spring to mind.
It doesn't seem that it was enough to introduce new female Transformers such as Windblade - existing male ones have to be changed to female in order to tick boxes - and apparently without any explanation needed.
You have to suspend disbelief to imagine Megatron and Optimus Prime working together under the direction of a human agency. It was this aspect, among others, that ruined the Michael Bay films. There you had depthless Autobot or Decepticon characters, who barely uttered a line in the whole movie, who remained in the background while we had to suffer 2/3 of the movie being about the human characters' personal/family/love life struggles. With the human military directing the Autobots on their missions into some war zone.
In Earthspark you have this same skewed focus on the Malto family and the entirely implausible "Terrans", who are all just annoying silly cartoon characters who serve no real purpose.
The series follows the tired plot device of "generic young superhero academy", which has been done over and over again.
The Decepticons are a fragmented rogue element who appear to have no discernible objectives that I can see. They provide a lesser villain element for the aforementioned plot device - in that they don't need to have any real goals except to cause some minor trouble, through their own chaotic natures. The real villains, with the clear objectives, are the human ones.
The new Transformers called the "Terrans" have to choose their alt mode, learn to transform... and we are treated to these long drawn out self discovery and identity crisis dramas.
There is the transformer who is unable to decide on his alt mode, who is then reassured that it's ok to be unsure it...
I'm glad my kids got bored and stopped watching it a few episodes in.
It didn't need to be Transformers - it has a Transformers theme, it has some characters based on Transformers characters, that's about it. It's basically about kids with superpowers and their rather juvenile robotic companions which some magical relics thrown in.
What really derails this series is all of the virtue signalling and moralising and forcible attempts to reverse gender stereotypes, worrying over identity and roles, race, etc. The series is infused with it, it's obvious, it insults the intelligence of most people and it ruins what should be solid children's entertainment.
The Generation One cartoon of the 1980s set out to entertain kids - and promote the toys - that's no longer sufficient for those intent on the re-education of the next generation. While Generation One had gender stereotypes galore, which was the norm back then, my 9 year old can watch it and filter out some of the rather dated aspects and still find it far more enjoyable compared to this latest sterile offering.
As ever, so many previously "male" Transformers have yet again been re-gendered as female. This farce began in Cyberverse and it has advanced further here, with Skywarp, Thundercracker (I think?) and Frenzy as the latest victims that spring to mind.
It doesn't seem that it was enough to introduce new female Transformers such as Windblade - existing male ones have to be changed to female in order to tick boxes - and apparently without any explanation needed.
You have to suspend disbelief to imagine Megatron and Optimus Prime working together under the direction of a human agency. It was this aspect, among others, that ruined the Michael Bay films. There you had depthless Autobot or Decepticon characters, who barely uttered a line in the whole movie, who remained in the background while we had to suffer 2/3 of the movie being about the human characters' personal/family/love life struggles. With the human military directing the Autobots on their missions into some war zone.
In Earthspark you have this same skewed focus on the Malto family and the entirely implausible "Terrans", who are all just annoying silly cartoon characters who serve no real purpose.
The series follows the tired plot device of "generic young superhero academy", which has been done over and over again.
The Decepticons are a fragmented rogue element who appear to have no discernible objectives that I can see. They provide a lesser villain element for the aforementioned plot device - in that they don't need to have any real goals except to cause some minor trouble, through their own chaotic natures. The real villains, with the clear objectives, are the human ones.
The new Transformers called the "Terrans" have to choose their alt mode, learn to transform... and we are treated to these long drawn out self discovery and identity crisis dramas.
There is the transformer who is unable to decide on his alt mode, who is then reassured that it's ok to be unsure it...
I'm glad my kids got bored and stopped watching it a few episodes in.