This Thanksgiving week Radio Free Cybertron reaches into the archives for two interviews: Garry Chalk, the voice of Optimus Primal, and Transformers Animated story editor Marty Isenberg. Brian Kilby hosts, and JD Church and the Rewind crew take on the G1 episode Hoist Goes Hollywood. Rob Springer shares his take on Beast Hunters in RFC RTM1. Rob also launches Operation Beehive, a push to donate shelf-warming Bumblebees to children’s charities.
Transformers Rewind: Hoist Goes Hollywood
Spike and Carly drive Hoist into a movie shoot, and the director hires him on the spot. The other Autobots join, only to be sidelined by the human stars. Meanwhile the Decepticons hunt film of a Wheeljack device that Dirge crashed on the lot. Hoist fakes dropping Carly into flesh-eating lava to fool Megatron, and Wheeljack reveals the device never worked. The crew calls it convoluted and wacky, and loves it anyway. Highlights include the giant director’s chairs and Megatron abusing Starscream. They also note Carly being far smarter than Spike and the heavy push for the 1985 toys. Next week’s Rewind is the Headmasters episode Life Can Be Sacrificed for Peace on Earth.
Interview: Garry Chalk
In this 2009 interview, Garry Chalk talks about growing up in Southampton, England, and emigrating to Vancouver in 1957. He’s acted professionally since 1978, inspired by Robert Mitchum, Alec Guinness, Mel Blanc and Daws Butler. His first cartoon was Hiawatha in 1981, followed by Barbie and the Rockers, G.I. Joe, He-Man and Captain N, where King Hippo was a favorite. He voiced G2 toy commercials before Beast Wars, and calls Optimus Primal warm and human, with a sense of humor. Optimus Prime in Armada, Energon and Cybertron was harder, he says, because dubbing from Japanese forced clipped lines. He also talks about Freddy vs. Jason, Watchmen, I Still Dream of Jeannie and fan encounters. His view is that fans are just fans, and loving Transformers beats loving drugs, which led to RFC’s famous liner: “Transformers: it’s better than crack.”
RFC RTM1 with Rob Springer: Beast Hunters
Rob is happy with Beast Hunters as Prime season three, even if hopes of a Beast Wars continuation were just fantasy. He likes the Predacons coming to Earth and the Dungeons and Dragons feel of the redesigns, like spiky Bumblebee and Viking Bulkhead. The Kre-O Beast Hunters sets and Cyberverse figures appeal to him, as does the Year of the Snake Omega Supreme. He also looks forward to the free Transformers Legends card game for iPad.
Operation Beehive
Rob asks fans who can afford it to donate shelf-warming Bumblebees or other toys to children’s charities like Toys for Tots and Ronald McDonald House this holiday season. He wants RFC listeners to send photos of their donations.
Interview: Marty Isenberg
In this 2011 interview with Brian and JD, Marty Isenberg recalls getting into animation by temping in Margaret Loesch’s office at Fox Kids. With writing partner Bob Skir, he moved from Beetlejuice to Batman: The Animated Series, X-Men and Gargoyles. Mainframe’s Dan DiDio brought the pair to Beast Machines, which Marv Wolfman had developed. Isenberg knew little of Transformers and only later learned about Iacon and Vector Sigma. The show opened mid-battle because nobody could agree on the bridge from Beast Wars. He says Optimus Primal’s unlikable arc taught him to keep a lead heroic even when wrong, which shaped his Animated Optimus Prime. On Animated, having the writers, Matt Youngberg and Derrick J. Wyatt in one building, with Hasbro letting go creatively, made the difference. His favorites include the Wreck-Gar episode and Sentinel Prime, whom he calls an unrelenting jerk. Lockdown came from Hasbro and freelancer Andrew Robinson, finished by Lance Henriksen’s voice. His one regret is never getting season four, and he’d gladly write it. He’s working on G.I. Joe: Renegades plus unnamed Animated and Prime projects.
Radio Free Cybertron is the world's first and oldest toy and action figure podcast — broadcasting from the heart of the Transformers fan community since October 1999. What started as a scrappy fan show has grown into an institution, with nearly 1,000 episodes and over 25 years of coverage. Every week, host Brian Kilby and the RFC crew dig into the latest Transformers news, toy reveals, collecting, and everything hitting shelves from Hasbro, Takara, and beyond. No fluff, no hype — just informed, passionate collectors who have been doing this longer than anyone else on the planet. The original. The longest running. Till all are one.