Why did 1980?s Transformers cartoons episodes set years so close to that current year
 

One of my housemates was playing a video of the old G1 episodes, and the narrator mentioned 2005 which was 16 years ago. Why?

Re: Why did 1980?s Transformers cartoons episodes set years so close to that current
 

Because that was the year in the show.
Has nothing to do with current year.
This show came out in the 80s so its future in the show.

Re: Why did 1980?s Transformers cartoons episodes set years so close to that current
 

The idea of a childrens show being watched decades after it finished airing was ridiculous back then.

Re: Why did 1980?s Transformers cartoons episodes set years so close to that current
 

They didn't do this for the current year.
In episode 'Starscream's Brigade', they showed a year from decades ago to show the history.
Then when they came back to present they didn't caption a particular year, but instead wrote 'Present Day'.

2005 was different.
Season 2's present audience year was 1985-1986.
The movie was set 19 years in the future, so they specifically stated "It is the year 2005".
...or "It was" in the Optimus Prime TV dub.

Future viewings were actually important.
For some reason, if you surpassed some magic number of episodes, like 90, then there were bigger chances of the show being rerun in syndication.

However, the actual Content of the show (including dates) was not affected by this.

Interesting question! Cool to relive this incredible show! :)

Re: Why did 1980?s Transformers cartoons episodes set years so close to that current
 

I would have thought it was to simply advance the show while also removing unwanted human characters without killing them off. Nobody asks where Chip went, it was just accepted that he moved on quietly over the years. It also allows for Spike to stay in the show while introducing his kid. Human characters, especially kids, are important in a kids show as the surrogate that you live vicariously through.

Re: Why did 1980?s Transformers cartoons episodes set years so close to that current
 

The ?unofficial? number of episodes was actually 65, which is why the producers behind the G1 show pushed season 2 to have 49 episodes after season 1 had just 16. Networks liked a show to have a solid number of episodes to air in syndication on weekdays so that they wouldn?t have to air reruns every three weeks.

But I think Saundowaivu was probably referring to the idea that in the 80s, companies probably weren?t thinking ahead too far ahead with regards to home media releases (just imagine how many VHS tapes it would have taken to hold the entire series) and obviously not streaming shows 35 years later on an internet that didn?t exist yet

Re: Why did 1980?s Transformers cartoons episodes set years so close to that current
 

I thought maybe that was season three where the narrator mentioned the year 2005. Star Trek did the same thing as far as future year speculative fiction because they said the eugenics wars were supposed to have happened in the 90’s, and they didn’t. It was my housemate who got the Transformers cartoons and was watching them in his room to entertain himself. I did a search for Transformers cartoons with my remote and saw that there was a season three and a little bit of a season four of those cartoons.