Transformers: Prime Press Release from the Hub and Staff Q&A from Toonzone!

New Episode of Popular Series to Premiere February 11

02.07.2011– LOS ANGELES, Ca. – The Hub, a television network for kids and their families, will premiere its original half-hour, full CGI animated series “Transformers Prime” in its regular weekly time period with a new episode Friday, February 11 (6:30 p.m. ET).

The new animated series will feature archrivals the Autobots and Decepticons as they once again face-off in their epic rivalry for control of Earth. The all-new mini-series will feature iconic characters of the franchise, including Autobots Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, and the ominous Decepticon Megatron, as well as introducing new human characters to the action series.

The Hub, which rebranded from the former Discovery Kids on 10-10-10, is a joint venture of Discovery Communications and Hasbro, Inc., and is available to 61 million U.S. cable and satellite households.

“Transformers Prime” is produced for The Hub by Hasbro Studios. Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Jeff Kline are executive producers. Kurtzman and Orci served as co-writers and producers on the hit feature film Star Trek, and are currently co-writers and producers for the feature film Cowboys and Aliens from Dreamworks/Universal, set for release in summer 2011. Kline is also executive producer of The Hub animated series “G.I. Joe Renegades.”

The Hub is a multi-platform joint venture between Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) and Hasbro, Inc., (NASDAQ: HAS) with a goal of entertaining, enlightening, empowering and educating children and their families. The cable and satellite television network features original programming as well as content from Discovery's library of award-winning children's educational programming; from Hasbro's rich portfolio of entertainment and educational properties built during the past 90 years; and from leading third-party producers worldwide. The Hub lineup includes animated and live-action series, specials and game shows, and the network extends its content through a robust and engaging online presence at http://www.hubworld.com. The Hub rebranded from Discovery Kids on October 10, 2010, and reaches approximately 61 million U.S. households. The Hub logo and name are trademarks of Hub Television Networks, LLC. All rights reserved.

- Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman's aim for the series was to do things with the Transformers they did not get the chance to do with the movie. Another selling point was bringing back Frank Welker as Megatron, since Bob Orci campaigned for him to play the role in the movies (Megatron is voiced in the live-action Transformers movies by Hugo Weaving).

- Jeff Kline revealed there is a specific reason why Bumblebee cannot speak English. The reason will be revealed in season two, and off screen Bumblebee "is working toward trying to solve that for himself."

- Kline says that generally the staff will want to show more Decepticons than Autobots in order to always show the Autobots at a disadvantage, to "make their job that much harder." There will be more Autobots and Decepticon characters depicted in seasons one and two, but there is more of a limitation due to the budgeting for the CG rendering process in the builds of the characters. Each Transformers character requires three distinct computer builds: robot, vehicle, and transformation.

- With regard to the character deaths, Kline says, "When we kill a character, we kill a character." Kline assured Toonzone News that Cliffjumper is dead. Kline did leave the door open for the exploration of the possible romance between Cliffjumper and Arcee in flashbacks for future episodes, but would not say if Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson would return to voice the character.

- Bob Orci spoke more about his attraction to working on a Transformers series and the limitations of depicting the Transformers characters in the live-action movies. Bob wanted to show more about the Transformers mythology and history as well as just "hang out with them." Orci likes to stay between TV and movies because "they give you different satisfactions as a fan and as storytellers." Bob added that he would like to work with the Transformers Prime staff on other projects based on his experience working on Transformers Prime.

- Mike Vogel talked about the female appeal of the show -- especially through characters such as Arcee and Miko -- and noted that even boys enjoy characters like Arcee. Jeff Kline also spoke about the Japanese animation studio that works on the series, Polygon, being in love with the Miko character. According to Kline, the staff will give Polygon a fairly simple description of an action for Miko, and Polygon will give Miko even extra actions and animations. Bob Orci joked that it was simply "free labor."

- At one point in the season premiere, Soundwave uses a detachable drone unit, which according to Kline is an "homage" to Laserbeak. Kline would not confirm if the drone in the episode is Laserbeak though.

- Vogel confirmed there will be toys for the series and we will get news on the toy line "sooner than we may think."