TVSquad

With childhood animated icons such as Transformers and G.I.Joe getting the movie treatment (sadly done by Michael Bay), Atom Films put together an animated montage of hypothetical '80s characters (cartoon and otherwise) if they were redone by current directors. I think the sketch would have a little more impact if they did it live-action for each segment rather than animated, but I could be in the minority opinion.

I'm not sure which one is my favorite. The Smurfs done by Peter Jackson is certainly up there. Teddy Ruxpin by Wes Anderson is also a hoot. There are a few that aren't mentioned in the video that I think should have been mentioned:

• Strawberry Shortcake
• Rainbow Brite
• Gummi Bears
• The Snorks

Which franchises have I forgotten? And which directors do you think can cover these franchises? Which directors would piss on the memory of them and utterly obliterate them?

Video is after the jump.

While the first Transformers movie was, in my opinion, several different kinds of suck, I give props to Michael Bay and company for doing one good move (and quite possibly the only one) with regards to the sequel. Frank Welker will be doing the voice of Soundwave. For those who are unaware, Welker did the voice of the same character in the 1980's cartoon. He'll be joining Peter Cullen (the voice of Optimus Prime) as one of the only two voices from that series that is involved with the movie franchise.

While I have less hope for the sequel then I did for the original, I do recall Soundwave's eerie metallic voice back when I used to watch that cartoon, and cannot help but think that it would be appropriate for a giant robot bad guy in any series about giant robots. Now if only Michael Bay would make other good decisions to go along this one and not continue to screw up one of my favorite childhood icons.

Both Toon Zone and ICv2 have written of a supposed Entertainment Tonight report that there will be a sequel to the recently-released Transformers movie (which has already been a line of toys, several animated TV series, a comic book and a feature-length animated film).

However, my scan of the ET site has not brought up anything of the sort, and while a couple articles from other sites do allude to the possibility of a sequel, I see nothing that could be construed as an official announcement.