'Transformers' returning to TV

New York -- Cartoon Network Studios and Hasbro Inc. announced in New York that they are co-producing a new animated "Transformers" TV series set.

The companies said the January premier will be aimed at building on the excitement created by the "Transformers" movie set to open July 13 and the film's DVD release in the fall, Hollywood Reporter said Monday.

There have been three other "Transformers" series on Cartoon Network and eight altogether in the past 23 years. However, this is the first one Hasbro has co-produced with Cartoon Network rather than it's Japanese partner, Takara, the newspaper said.

"We've used the basic Transformers and characters as a springboard, but then we're pretty much reimagining the whole thing," said Bob Higgins, senior vice president for programming and development at Cartoon Network. "What we're doing with it is basically turning it into a superheroes story. We're really excited that we're able to take this decades-old property and hopefully turn it into something that kids haven't seen or expected from a Transformers series before."

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Copyright 2007 by United Press International.