Date: Saturday, July 7th 2007 9:36am CDT
Categories: Movie Related News,
Event News,
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Posted by: Raymond T. Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 54,290
The following is my, Raymond T.'s, account of June 25th, when I was invited to attend the dutch red carpet premiere of the
Transformers Movie.
June 25th I was invited to the Dutch red carpet premiere to the Transformers movie. This is my account of that day. I will try my best not to give away any spoilers.
I was not alone for the premiere of the movie I had waited the longest time for. Me and a couple of my friends were there by invitation of Hasbro themselves. Earlier this month, on June 10th, me and four of my buddies put together a Transformers convention in IJsselstein, The Netherlands called
Transformations. We worked closely together with Hasbro, to try and make this the best convention to date. I am proud to say that we did just that. Our target was set at 80 people, and predicted that there would be about 130 to 150 people attending. Not counting ourselves, the crew or people we had as our guests, we had 216 visitors! And beyond expectation most of the people decided to stay until the end.
As thank you for making this Transformers convention (for Dutch standards) a huge hit, the Transformations Team (consisting of Jasper, Hans, Godert (www.trypticon.nl), Rein and myself) was invited to be part of the official glamour premiere of Michael Bay's Transformers movie. The movie which we had fully tried to promote at our convention, where we had posters, flyers, standees and the trailer showing. In addition to the invite, Jasper was asked to be part of a small item about the Transformers movie for a Dutch TV news program called
'4 in het land', where he showed his collection and was filmed to walk over the, rather short, red carpet, with Godert.
The day which I had been waiting for since the first teaser one year ago. The day that I had been waiting for since first reporting the rumor and later confirming the report of the production of the movie, right here on www.Seibertron.com/news. And waiting for the day, since first joining the Don Murphy board (and being one of the first to register on the now popular message board) back in June of 2003. The day I had been dreaming of ever since I first saw Optimus Prime plummet towards Earth in the final part of the pilot three-parter back in the mid 80's. The Day was finally here, on June 25th 2007, in my hometown of Amsterdam.
But there seemed to be a little snag for me. I only got the invite two days in advance, and I was told to be there at 19:00, but I work until 20:00! Since I couldn't contact my boss, I would have to ask permission from the people I work with on the day. And wouldn't you know it. Of any day that things could go wrong, this was the day that everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. But after a short discussion, I was allowed to leave work earlier. The ATM at the library refused to make contact and completely broke down not much later. Internet failed. Paperwork seemed to stack up. And of course every Jack and Jill blew up that they couldn't use the facilities. One would try to pick fights, while the other would get upset with you because you can not be bribed. (If the internet is out, it will stay out no matter how much dough you want to put down.). But as hectic the day seemed to be and how violent some people seem to react, I was all smiles! I think I've never looked as much on my watch as during my work hours that day.
FINALLY! After seeing the minutes pass for the last couple of hours, it was finally time to get rid of Raymond the surveillance officer (yes at the library), and hello Raymond T. Transformers TransFanatic! Gone was my ponytail and bland blue shirt, and down came my hair and illuminous Decepticon T-shirt. Heart pumping, thoughts racing, the last countdown was about to start. As fast as the train could take my to my waiting friends, I tried my hardest to stay calm and not bug everyone in the cart with me with the glowing Decepticon logo on my chest.
Finally, I was at Pathe Arena. My personal grieve with the complex I was forced to set aside. The complex is one of two may be three places in Amsterdam you can have a glamour premiere, but this one has always been my least favorite. The building is all glass, its cold in its design,... To me as a movies fan the place really doesn't speak to me. Outside there is a square with a few shops and nothing else. Across from it is a concrete block of a flat building. And half of the surrounding are still under construction. It is big and spacious, but it’s also cold and empty. Not really my choice of locations for what I think could be the event of the year.
But as I enter the building, I am greeted with the familiar posters and other promotional works for the Transformers movie. I'm walking into the building with my Decepticon logo blinking, so needless to say that my friends quickly found me. The PR woman soon comes and greets us to explain what will be happening. The camera crew is already there for Jasper to see him take the big steps towards the screening room where the flickers on the screen will spark our imaginations and will silence the doubts we may have. We are directed to the outside to the very short red carpet. There two young ladies are walking up and down the path with the Optimus Prime voice changer helmets on. Chalk versions...
Jasper and the news crew do their thing, and I see him and Godert walk towards the end of the carpet and past the big poster construction of the movie. The crew flicks off the recording and are done for now. My cue to walk over the red carpet. It can't be more then 8 or 10 meters, so it doesn't really feel real. As a fan of movie (and if possible making movies). Something simple as "walking over the red carpet" means something for me. But it doesn't quite cut it when it’s litterly over in only a few steps. But with no complaints, I walk through the door to the inside of the complex. There we are greeted by two more Optimus Prime ladies, and are asked to follow a representative to the theater.
I quickly becomes clear that for the screening two theaters have been reserved. The big one, and a smaller one. On one hand you are sad to learn that you are not in the big screen room, where all the Dutch celebs will be seated. Having worked for TV shows in the past there were a few celebrities I knew from the past and haven't seen in a while, who I know that know me. So it would have been fun to see the movie with them and maybe catch up a bit. On the other hand, I have been told that people often keep talking during the movie at the screenings of premieres. Most celebs are really there to show their faces for the photographers and show the world that they still live. And often it is these types of things that some ever get to see each other again. So with that in mind I was glad to be at the smaller screening.
After the Optimus Prime ladies introduced the movie and wished us much viewing pleasure, silence was set. The lights dimmed. I could swear I could hear the hearts pounding of my friends next to me. The familiar voice of Optimus Prime booms through the darkened room. Then there it finally is, TRANSFORMERS! No build up to a story. You're swept into it from the very start. The suspense is building with what I know has to be Blackout. As the story starts to play out, I know this is what I have been waiting for after four years of posting on the Don Murphy board and posting all the updates in the news for that same amount of time. The first battle between the humans and this previously unknown Decepticon Transformer starts. And I already know it has been worth the wait, especially after realizing that the movie has not even been playing 15 minutes!
Yes. At points there are moments that the fanboy in me wants to speak up while watching the movie. Since when is Sparkplug named Ron, when we know his first name is William!? Optimus Prime would never say that! "He leaked his Lubricant!" LOL! But I am not just a fan of those robots in disguise. I am a fan of movies too. And for the first time, the two came together in an almost perfect blend. Rather then one long story that drags on and on, movie appears more like it is cut up and then strung together, which does give a nice fast pace to the movie. The story is not as worked out as I had hoped, but the visuals more than make up for that. Although sector seven is as hokey as its internet version, most of the rest of the movie just runs smoothly from beginning to end. There is a good balance between the serious and the less serious. As a fan of movies, I was completely entertained. One of the guys there went into the movie saying. "I am sure this is just a big budget poor man's Go-Bots movie. But I am here with friends, so who cares?" After the movie, the same guy was saying that this movie was definitely in his top 10 list of his all-time favorite movies". I had high hopes for the movie, and those hopes were definitely met.
When the movie ended and the credits rolled, people started to applaud! I've been to many movies, but it is not too often people applaud the screen after it is over! The little group we were discussed the movie as the credits rolled on, until military men dressed like certain scenes in the movie, came to collect us and lead us to the after party that was held across from the complex. There we had the chance to mingle with other people who saw the movie as well as some of the (Dutch) celebrities that had remained. I talked with some of the other fans, and overall everyone seemed to have enjoyed the movie a lot. The party lasted until midnight, and then the reality set in that the day was now really over.
It is still hard to believe that it was three years ago that I was in a heated chat with Don Murphy himself on his board why I think the Dinobots, or at least Grimlock, should have been in this movie. I still have not changed my mind. But I have always been in support for this movie, and the end result of it makes me proud that I was. Yes, we could go on and on about the designs, but for this movie it does work. And that I never doubted. Thank you for the experience to all involved in making this movie, from Michael Bay, Steven Spielberg, Tom DeSanto and Don Murphy, to the writers, to the designers, to the clean up crew... Everyone, for making this happen. Thanks for The Energon Pub on Seibertron.com and the DM Board for keeping the movie alive for the last four years. And thanks to Hasbro for giving a handful of fans the chance to experience something great as being something amazing!
Next stop TRANSFORMERS II: The Call Of Destiny!
Date: Monday, June 4th 2007 9:19pm CDT
Categories: Cartoon News,
Movie Related News,
Reviews,
Site Articles
Posted by: Hotrod |
Credit(s): Chris McFeely
Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 182,378
Our own Chris McFeely has stopped by. He has posted a review of Metrodome's THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE – ULTIMATE EDITION DVD. Here is his review:
THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE – ULTIMATE EDITION
Dir: Nelson Shin
Cert: PG
Starring: Judd Nelson, Leonard Nimoy, Robert Stack, Lionel Stander, Eric Idle, Orson Welles, Peter Cullen, Frank Welker
FEATURE
Yeah. It’s the movie. You know it, I know it. That’s not what we’re here for. Let’s move on.
VIDEO
THIS is what we’re here for.
This is Metrodome’s second shot at properly releasing the movie – leaving aside cheapie budget versions that have nothing about them worth speaking of, their previous effort was “Transformers: The Movie – Reconstructed,” which aimed to show every millimetre of footage that was animated by peeling aside the edges of the screen to reveal it. This resulted in a rather misjudged “curtained” image which was fine for widescreen-television owners, but shafted those with regular-size sets. Additionally, the image was taken from the original negative, but was inadvertently converted to NTSC before being converted to PAL, resulting in a badly interlaced image. The colour balance of the thing was all over the place, and the picture was very soft – I recall speaking fairly well of it when it came out, but time has opened my eyes to its flaws.
This “Ultimate Edition” of the film takes it cue from Sony’s 20th Anniversary release last year, which featured a newly-remastered widescreen version of the film, to replicate its original theatrical presentation. This time, Metrodome have succeeded in making a PAL transfer directly from the negative, resulting in smooth video (which, due to PAL speedup, runs a few minutes faster than viewers will be used to, and while the faster speed is not noticeable to my eyes or ears, the quality it brings with it is) that is sharper in Sony’s, with colours that I would describe as... “cooler,” but for the most part, more “correct” to my eyes. Most notably, of course, Hot Rod is no longer the bubblegum-pink of Sony’s version.
All I can do is echo the sentiments of all the other professional reviews that have compared the two, and say that this is the best that the movie has ever looked on DVD.
AUDIO
The audio for the Reconstructed DVD was also a bodge-job, thanks to Magno Sound, who were responsible for adding all those extra noises to the series DVD boxsets (from both Rhino and Metrodome), and did it again for the movie – on both the 5.1 and 2.0 audio tracks. For the Ultimate Edition, the Reconstructed audio was dissected with a fine-toothed comb, and while not every sound could be removed (otherwise it, uh, wouldn’t be 5.1), the most offensive, inappropriate offenders have been ganked the hell out of there. This includes, but is not limited to, those insufferable, overbearing “sizzling whipcracks” that were all over the place in the series, and the pop-gun banging of Prime’s gun. It’s still not QUITE perfect, mind you, because the levels seem not to have been modified following the removal of these sounds – consequently, the actual sound of Prime’s gun is very low.
There is, however, a completely unmolested 2.0 track to enjoy, with nary an extra zip or zap in sight. That’s how I’ll be watching it!
PACKAGING AND PACK-INS
The movie is available in both a single-disc and a two-disc version.
The single disc is packaged in a standard DVD case, with a rather artsy cover image that’s a paintbrushed version of the image of Optimus Prime that Andrew Wildman drew for the Season 1 box set. This version – I don’t have it, so I’m not 100% on this – does not have any extra features beyond the remastered picture and the two audio tracks. It is simply labelled as a “special edition.”
The two-disc set is the “Ultimate Edition.” It consists of a metal case, decorated with the above-mentioned illustration, which opens to reveal a standard DVD case with a different sleeve, bearing the original UK movie poster artwork. This is awesome. It’s nothing against Don Figueroa, but when I look at the Sony set, or the Australian release that he also provided a cover for, it just looks *wrong* to me to have this stylized, modern artwork appearing on the cover of a release of a twenty-year-old film. I’ve always preferred the use of the original poster artwork, be it US or UK, for releases of the movie, and this tin-and-case combo balances new and classic art in just the right way to keep me merry.
Depending on where you buy the two-disc set, there could be one of several different bonuses in store for you when you open the case. Buying it from Play.Com will net you a set of three postcards commemorating the different movie artwork – one displays the US poster, the second the UK poster, and the third the Ultimate Edition cover art. Snag it from HMV, and you’ll find that the sleeve is reversible, with the US artwork on the other side. Pick it up from Virgin, and there’s a set of art cards waiting for you, displaying various images from the film. Woolworths and Toys R US include posters with their versions, but I’ve not seen these, so I don’t know what they’re of.
The set comes with a sixteen-page booklet written by me (I assume this isn’t included with the single-disc version). It serves as an overview of the movie and the DVD, beginning with a personal introduction, then a discussion of the remastering of the video and audio, and a four page “essay” on the making of the movie, discussing the production, writing, animation, actors, soundtrack and distribution. After this, there’s a section on where the movie falls in the chronology of the series, summarising each of the seasons, ending with an explanation of what Scramble City is (it’s included as an extra feature), and thanks from me and Metrodome to various good chaps. In general, as with the commentary discussed below, my aim with the booklet was to put the information across in a clear and descriptive manner and without “familiarity,” if you know what I mean, so that newbies and nostalgics inspired to buy by the live-action movie can read it and understand it without being baffled by terminology or the tendency to take certain things as read, as hardcore fans do, while at the same time, discussing topics and trivia that not even regular online contributors may be aware of.
I also wrote a large selection of actor biographies/filmographies, but there wasn’t room in the booklet for them. I’m told they might appear on the website –
www.transformersdvd.com – at some point.
MENUS
After the copyright stuff at the start of the disc, the traditional Metrodome logo has been replaced with a Transformers logo, rendered like the live-action movie logo, as if it were tarnished metal (the same effect is employed on the DVD cover), which then “transforms”, like the logo in the LAM trailer, into the word “Metrodome.” This is cute. I like it. :)
The menus themselves are fairly simply affairs with clips of the movie running in the centre, and a lot of geometric shapes for buttons that are not *entirely* intuitive. They’re not stunningly attractive, but they are functional, and while not as intricate or impressive and Sony’s shifting design, I’ll take actual footage of the movie over Sony’s use of purse-grabbing Dreamwave art for reasons very similar to those discussed above over the cover.
EXTRAS
The meat and potatoes of it all.
DISC 1
This disc includes a feature-length audio commentary by me. It’s a pretty breathless experience, as I just had *so* much stuff laid out in my notes in front of me that I didn’t have time to let up anywhere. No slight against those that participated in the Sony commentary track, but I felt that it fell into the trap I discussed above – the tendency to be very “familiar”, talking not just about the movie, but Transformers as a whole, as if all the listeners are automatically informed about all of it, and will know what “Diaclone” is, and other such things that are not the province of Joe Public, with the presence of multiple commentators preventing them from dwelling on any one topic long enough to get really specific about it. I go out of my way to begin the whole affair by summarising the creation of the Transformers toyline, going through G.I. Joe, Henshin Cyborg, Microman, Diaclone and MicroChange, so that viewers will understand what I’m talking about when I refer to them, and I always make sure to clarify what characters I’m talking about by saying something like “Dirge, the blue cone-headed jet,” given how few of them are actually named in the film. It’s a very concentrated effort to make the commentary open to everyone, to not confuse those who aren’t as informed as fans on message boards, but at the same time, to include lots of obscure facts, trivia and anecdotes that will ensure that even informed fans get something out of it.
At least, uh, I hope. /: )
Next on the list is a familiar feature from the Reconstructed list of extras – a compare-and-contrast of the differences between the US and UK versions, offering clips of the opening, closing and Spike’s expletive. Twelve TV spots for the movie follow (in contrast to Sony’s eight), alongside the US theatrical trailer and the Japanese “trade trailer” with Diaclone Magnus. Both Sony and Metrodome include the “final title check” and “cinex check” reels, the former featuring the Superman-style flying text cast credits, and the latter featuring several animation effects, including a “clean open” version of Laserbeak’s approach to Cybertron, without text.
After that, there are a selection of character biographies – these appeared previously on the Reconstructed disc, and actually come from the Australian release, but whereas Reconstructed just literally cropped the screens of text and pasted them in, background and all, this version reproduces the text with a new design. Profiles included are for Arcee, Blurr, Hot Rod, Kup, Springer, Ultra Magnus, Brawn, Ironhide, Optimus Prime, Prowl, Ratchet, Wheeljack, Windcharger, Cyclonus, Galvatron, Scourge, Bombshell, Kickback, Megatron, Shrapnel, Skywarp, Starscream, Thundercracker and Unicron. The presence of so many unimportant characters, only included to give a sort of “book of the dead” side to the profiles, is sort of bothersome when characters like Wreck-Gar, Grimlock and Perceptor go unmentioned, as is the sweeping statement that Skywarp unequivocally became Cyclonus, or the *ridiculous* notion that one of Galvatron’s weaknesses is a “reliance on Unicron,” but overall, they’re as nice as they ever were.
The final extra on this disc is a rather nifty little trailer that Metrodome created to promote this DVD release.
DISC 2
As I haven’t mentioned it before, this would be a good time to point out that this disc features the original, fullscreen version of the film. It is an unremastered version, the same version included on those budget releases you can pick up for £2 in any store, hence it is entirely unremarkable – kinda dark, but watchable anyway, and certainly nicer looking that the fullscreen version on the Sony disc, where the colours are all *over* the place. What is notable is that is it the UK version of the film, with the opening text crawl, no swear and Caroli’s closing narration, thereby making both versions of the movie available in one set. Nice!
After this, the disc includes a 25-minute interview featurette with story consultant Flint Dille, then a 20-minute video of Peter Cullen’s Q&A session from… I don’t know what convention this is from, I’m afraid, but the video comes courtesy of Evantainment.Com. Both men talk about their history in the industry and their involvement in Transformers, coming across as likeable blokes, with Cullen getting emotional in a few spots.
The next feature is Scramble City, the big draw of which is that – unlike Sony’s version – it contains the original Japanese audio and subtitles, as well as a new commentary from me. The subs, it must be said, are “hard” subs, permanently on-screen, which cannot be turned off – I believe this is a rip of that bootleg that goes about. The subs are functional, conveying the action and intent decently, and thankfully, were already translated into English terminology, talkin’ about Optimus Prime, Autobots, Decepticons, etc, rather than Convoy, Cybertrons and Destrons. I don’t think they use an apostrophe correctly in all 30 minutes, though. VERY disappointingly, however, something has gone horribly wrong with the video. The individual disc I received of the episode during production of the DVD was of the same sort of quality as the version included on Sony’s – however, somewhere between that disc and the final release, the video has become washed out and greenish throughout, looking like a bad VHS dump. I mean, yeeeeah, audio and subs, but… what *happened*? I’m playing detective on this one right now…
Next on the list is the “Alternative and Deleted Footage” also seen on Sony’s disc – a lot of stunningly unremarkable footage that is either missing some luminous effects or small overlays, or not immediately distinguishable from the finished affair, and then the sole second or two of ACTUAL deleted footage that has been uncovered. This has no audio, so I provide some colour commentary, as Paul Hitchens did on the Sony disc... there is not a lot to say, so I try to spice it up by talking about how the luminous effects are created and such things.
The first theatrical trailer for the live-action movie is also included here, as opposed to the Mars Rover teaser on the Sony disc. After that, the animated storyboards feature on the Sony disc, courtesy of Paul Hitchens, put in an appearance here, with storyboard stills of Hot Rod and Daniel’s fishing sequence, the Decepticon attack on Autobot City and Optimus Prime and Megatron’s battle set to the audio of the finished sequences, as well as one “deleted scene,” when Magnus, Tracks, Sideswipe and Red Alert attack Devastator, and Red buys it. Also featured on the disc are the original movie script (the ACTUAL original script, featuring all the wacky stuff that didn’t get into the finished movie, not the transcript included on Reconstructed), and the “5.1 breakdown” I made singling out all the added noises from the Reconstructed audio. Beware of snideness!
OVERALL
The disc offers a superior video presentation to Sony’s, so that is a major plus to it. Beyond that, it really comes down to a battle of the extra features, and what is present and what is not. Metrodome’s version lacks some extras that Sony has, due to the dissolution of Sony BGM making their acquisition challenging, but features some of their own unique extras which Sony did not have. For starters, the Flint Dille, Nelson Shin and Susan Blu commentary is absent, as are the collection of featurettes with that trio, Jay Bacal and Tom Griffin – however, Dille was the only real reason to listen to the commentary, and he covers the same basic stuff in his interview (unique to Metrodome’s version), while the inclusion of a Peter Cullen segment is a worthy substitute for any featurette, given his complete absence from the Sony disc (also, I’m not afraid to mention that I culled a bunch of stuff out of the featurettes for use in the commentary, so a chunk of what was talked about in there is already covered on the set in some way). Sony also included some toy commercials and a gallery of production art that are not here, but Metrodome features the original script, more TV spots, audio and subs for Scramble City and two different versions of the movie. I don’t really think that any one selection of extras is particular better than the other – Sony has some good things Metrodome don’t, Metrodome has some good things Sony don’t. This one’s a judgement call for all y’all out there, but if you’re basing it on the video, then Metrodome wins.
Date: Thursday, May 24th 2007 3:22pm CDT
Categories: Movie Related News,
Toy News,
Digital Media News
Posted by: Raymond T. |
Credit(s): www.fantofan.jp
Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 76,680
Fan To Fan has put up more scans from Dengeki Hobby Magazine and Hobby Japan on their site. The following scans have been taken from their site.
MA-01 Optimus Prime - releasing early June. & MA-05 Protoform Optimus Prime - releasing early June.
MA-03 Bumblebee, MA-02 Ratchet and MA-04 Jazz
MA-06 Spyshot 6, MA-06 SpeedDial800 and MA-08 Longview
MD-01 Blackout, MD-02 Barricade, MD-03 Brawl, MD-04 Scorponok, MD-05 Protoform Starscream and MD-06 PowerupVT6.
Takara packaging
Basic Optimus Prime and Basic Starscream
Cyber-Stomping Figures, Optimus Prime and Bumblebee
Unleased figure: Bumblebee
Starscream-roll Blaster, Projector keychain, figure keychains, Optimus Potatomus, "Transformable" plush doll Optimus Prime and Bumblebee
Robot Heroes Optimus Prime vs Ravage, Rodimus vs Insecticon, Grimlock vs Shockwave, Mirage vs Starscream, Bumblebee vs Soundwave, Ultra Magnus vs Megatron.
EZ collection Bumblebee
Transformers Ultimate Guide
Transformers Music Label Soundwave Spark Blue and Sonic White ver.
size comparison picture with G1 Soundwave
Transformers Music Label Frenzy & Rumble
Transformers Music Label Convoy playing iPod speaker
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