As I sat with my young son on the couch watching the "plot" of our first episode of the new Transformers: Animated series unfold, I couldn't help but state the obvious.

Disney XD channel's Motorcity is set firmly in the future – things like robots, laser barrages, floating buildings and robodogs are dead giveaways – but there's plenty to the tone, theme and feel of the the half-hour cartoon, that echoes the past, too.