Call of the Primitives

Transformers - "Call of the Primitives" 1/3

Transformers - "Call of the Primitives" 2/3

Transformers - "Call of the Primitives" 3/3

Call of the Primitives was one of the episodes that has greatly divided the Transformers fans. Many people praise the episode for a completely different take and anime type design from the rest of the third season, while others loathed how the episode poorly reveals the origins of Unicron.

After the Transformers movie was released, the people in charge of the cartoon cut the animation cost of the show in half. Another Korean studio, AKOM, took over most of the season, giving the show a cheap appearance with dozens of animation errors in every episode. Strangely enough, this episode was broadcasted during the tail end of the third season, and it stood out from most of the season because of the smooth animation and style. The episode looks amazing; too bad the story was badly written. How can the writers give one of the coolest villains on the show and movie a terrible origin story?

Anyway, a top-notch Japanese studio did the animation for only this episode. It further shows the major differences in Korean and Japanese styles of animation. I’ve read that perhaps Toei did the animation for this episode, but I’m not certain. (Can anyone confirm this?) Some say that it was same people that did the animation on the movie, but I don’t believe so. The destruction of Unicron is different in the flashback scene.

Check the episode out for yourself, and compare it to another third season episode, Transformers - "The Five Faces of Darkness" (1) 1/3.

It’s ashamed they didn’t stick with this style for the rest of the season.

(Note: AKOM would later improve their work and become a huge Korean animation studio for more Adult-centered shows such as Batman TAS, and The Simpsons.)

Animation Grade: A-

Story Grade: D+

Look at more photos here. http://seibertron.com/cartoons/episode.php?cartoon_id=131

don't take my word for it, watch the episode.

________________________________________________The style is completely different, but still cool.