tracid,
if you haven't seen the original movie, you absolutely need to. just remember there was no cgi/computer aided animation... but the story is amazing and the soundtrack was very memorable.....also the cast of voices was amazing too...leonard nimoy, casey cason, orson wells, eric idle even -- but that is something that is generational i suppose...i got into transformers at a very influential part of my life, so it means more to me to reflect back on those things
as far as the original series, i wouldn't say go run out and see it right away, but if you want to know the background of the transformers, you should see them...it's 4 seasons worth (but the 4th was a short season)