diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 4b3278bec0..2f71c97ebe 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -51,7 +51,10 @@ test: lint unit_test
 
 .PHONY: unit_test
 unit_test:
-	pytest -m "not sandbox_test" tests/flytekit/unit
+	# Skip tensorflow tests and run them with the necessary env var set so that a working (albeit slower)
+	# library is used to serialize/deserialize protobufs is used.
+	pytest -m "not sandbox_test" tests/flytekit/unit/ --ignore=tests/flytekit/unit/extras/tensorflow && \
+		PROTOCOL_BUFFERS_PYTHON_IMPLEMENTATION=python pytest tests/flytekit/unit/extras/tensorflow
 
 requirements-spark2.txt: export CUSTOM_COMPILE_COMMAND := make requirements-spark2.txt
 requirements-spark2.txt: requirements-spark2.in install-piptools
diff --git a/flytekit/__init__.py b/flytekit/__init__.py
index a18d476291..9a2ed7f180 100644
--- a/flytekit/__init__.py
+++ b/flytekit/__init__.py
@@ -154,7 +154,6 @@
    LiteralType
    BlobType
 """
-
 import sys
 from typing import Generator
 
diff --git a/flytekit/core/type_engine.py b/flytekit/core/type_engine.py
index 98969e41b3..35e2a3e39d 100644
--- a/flytekit/core/type_engine.py
+++ b/flytekit/core/type_engine.py
@@ -15,10 +15,10 @@
 
 from dataclasses_json import DataClassJsonMixin, dataclass_json
 from google.protobuf import json_format as _json_format
-from google.protobuf import reflection as _proto_reflection
 from google.protobuf import struct_pb2 as _struct
 from google.protobuf.json_format import MessageToDict as _MessageToDict
 from google.protobuf.json_format import ParseDict as _ParseDict
+from google.protobuf.message import Message
 from google.protobuf.struct_pb2 import Struct
 from marshmallow_enum import EnumField, LoadDumpOptions
 from marshmallow_jsonschema import JSONSchema
@@ -551,11 +551,11 @@ def guess_python_type(self, literal_type: LiteralType) -> Type[T]:
         raise ValueError(f"Dataclass transformer cannot reverse {literal_type}")
 
 
-class ProtobufTransformer(TypeTransformer[_proto_reflection.GeneratedProtocolMessageType]):
+class ProtobufTransformer(TypeTransformer[Message]):
     PB_FIELD_KEY = "pb_type"
 
     def __init__(self):
-        super().__init__("Protobuf-Transformer", _proto_reflection.GeneratedProtocolMessageType)
+        super().__init__("Protobuf-Transformer", Message)
 
     @staticmethod
     def tag(expected_python_type: Type[T]) -> str:
diff --git a/flytekit/extras/tensorflow/__init__.py b/flytekit/extras/tensorflow/__init__.py
index c42b1fd3d5..f51da24dae 100644
--- a/flytekit/extras/tensorflow/__init__.py
+++ b/flytekit/extras/tensorflow/__init__.py
@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@
     import tensorflow
 
     _tensorflow_installed = True
+except TypeError as e:
+    logger.warn(f"Unsupported version of tensorflow installed. Error message from protobuf library: {e}")
+    _tensorflow_installed = False
 except (ImportError, OSError):
     _tensorflow_installed = False