Transformers the Movie - Live Action

[Hucklebubba]

A couple of new rumors I've picked up hither and thither:


The Good

Peter Cullen's reprisal as the voice of Optimus Prime has been confirmed. So sayeth IMDb.

Frank Welker, who single-handedly voiced about a third of the characters in the original cartoon, most notably Megatron, has also been rumored to be on board.


The (arguably) Bad

Bumblebee will be making an appearance, but as a new Camaro rather than a Beetle. (I wouldn't be surprised if quite a few of the characters are reformatted into rolling advertisement.)

This will no doubt incense Bumblebee fans. Me, I don't care that much one way or the other, and/or am of the opinion that maybe Bumblebee fans need to be incensed.

It also looks as though Optimus Prime will be taking the form of a fire truck. Ergh.

Okay, granted, the Robots in Disguise Optimus Prime was easily the coolest Transformers toy ever during its time, and the Cybertron incarnation--also fire truck-esque--is very nifty as well (I believe I referred to it as being the most Japanese-y Prime yet), but at the end of the day, Optimus was and always will be a cab-over freighter. Non-negotiable.

[Al]

hucklebubba said:

It also looks as though Optimus Prime will be taking the form of a fire truck. Ergh.

I've never been a real Transformers fan (I only knew as much as I needed to in order to hold my own at recess), but a firetruck would be lame. A friend of mine was all geeked out the other day because he read that Prime was going to be a same model of big rig his dad used to drive.

Al

[Hucklebubba]

Okay, turns out Ratchet is the one being a fire truck. Or maybe there are no fire trucks. The rumor mill is a fickle mistress.

[Head Mutant]

I just hope that Michael Bay realizes that, above all, Transformers fans demand that the *ronk-ronk-ronk* transforming sound from the cartoon be included in the movie transformations.

[ronzo]

The original cartoon series was craptacular, and I mean that with sincerest affection and loving nostalgia.

Seriously, go back and watch it now. It's horrible. They were half-hour commercials for really great toys.

That said, I fully expect this movie to be a steaming pile of (highly stylized) craptasticness. It's going to be horrible, but in that really good way.

I'll be there to see it, but I hope it's really, really bad and not just mediocre. If it doesn't take itself too seriously, I think it'll be all right.

[deusdragonexx]

Honestly, I think if this movie takes itself seriously, it could be really good. Now, I know I'm drawing water from a different well here, but look at X-Men. It approached an arguably laughable subject with tact and made it a comparable film. Now, Transformers is just plain laughable, so I don't expect it to break new ground or anything, but if it weren't a tongue-in-cheek parody of its original subject material (see: Starsky and Hutch) then it could be really decent.

[Hucklebubba]

I predict that the film will essentially be a "grown-up" adaptation of the cartoon, in that it will have graduated from a half-hour toy commercial to a two-hour car commercial.

[StarOpal]

A rather boring behind the scenes from Access Hollywood.

Out of context, it looks a bit like Maximum Overdrive...

video.accesshollywood.com/v/?linkId=25436

[Hucklebubba]

Arise, old thread.

New TF Movie trailer, this time with something like actual content.

He who increases knowledge of the TF movie, increases sorrow.

Which is another way of saying that I find what I can see of the robot designs to be just this side of deplorable.

Yes, I'm one of those geeks.

[deusdragonexx]

Gah! I'm *not* one of those geeks. I think the new designs are not only really, really badass, but also necessary for a 21st Century movie adaptation of a line of 20th Century toys. Looking at it from a film perspective, the new designs are totally perfect. Looking at it from a geek perspective (and don't tell me about being a geek. My best friend and I made paper Transformers to play with in Kindergarten [my favorite was Bumblebee...don't laugh]) the new designs are freakin' sweet to look at.

[Hucklebubba]

Again with the bumping.

Check out this promotional site for the TF movie! It's the bee's knees!

www.sectorseven.org

Enter "NBETWO" as your login to access said site, and then click on the little bug thingies at the bottom and you might be rewarded with video clips featuring painful dialogue slobbered out by sub-Wing Commander cutscene quality actors!

My tummy hurts.

[TheLuckyOne]

Another new trailer is out:

Click on "Exclusive Trailer"

Pros:
-As Justin will be pleased to note, the "transforming" noise is used, at least once.
-That F-22 looks pretty sweet.

Cons:
-They still look all art deco and gangly, instead of powerful.
-Optimus Prime has a mouth?
-I just learned Hugo Weaving is voicing Megatron. I love Hugo Weaving. I love him as Agent Smith. I love him as Elrond. I love him as V. But Hugo Weaving is not Megatron. Megatron is raspy voiced, not smooth as silk.

Also, no one has said anything about reanimating Chris Latta's corpse to voice Starscream. You know the technology is there.

-D

[coccatino]

theluckyone said:

Also, no one has said anything about reanimating Chris Latta's corpse to voice Starscream. You know the technology is there.

HAHAHAHAHA!

[deusdragonexx]

Wow. The movie has been out for about four days now, and no one has bothered to mention it. That's quite....something. Am I to take that as no one enjoyed it?

Speaking as a fan of the toys and old cartoon (Gen 1 please), I have to say that this was the closest thing to sexual release without sex ever. I was completely giddy while watching Optimus Prime transform for the first time. I was 6 years old again. And to hear the hatred behind that simple word as Megatron said it. "Prime." Whew. I'll tell you, my jaw was in a constant state of 'in my lap' during the movie.

However, speaking as a fan of good film, man this movie had some problems. The script. Oh the script. I know it is a movie about the transforming alien robots of an 80s TV show, but that script could have been less cheesy. And the editing could have been better. The film could have been a few minutes longer without much problem. That way we could have had smoother transitions so as to not have the audience scratching their collective heads. There were several times during both times I watched the movie that I was like "Ok, who's fighting who, here?" It was as if someone wasn't quite fluent in the language of films.

Megan Fox. Pretty hot, but with the acting skills to rival Keanu Reaves in the last two Matrix films. She was kinda cardboard. But she certainly was something to look at.

Bumblebee....totally badass.

Thoughts?

[sirgallahad2]

I didn't like how you FINALLY get to see bumblebee and some decepticon finally start to duke it out... and it cuts to the awkward teen-age dude and token hot chick running away from the "jar jar binks" look-alike robot. They beat up Jar Jar, and the big duke-a-roo fight is OVER. I didn't pay 8 bucks to watch teenagers fight a little robot. I paid 8 bucks to watch big honkin 40 foot tall robots knock the living bejesus out of eachother. Other than that, it was a pretty cool movie.