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Fellow Seibertronian ZhGingaah was able to attend the London premiere for Transformers: The Last Knight, meaning that we now have a full review for the movie! The spoilers are clearly marked out in the piece, and there is a buffer zone in this news write-up, but if you'd rather avoid them altogether, we have a separate discussion thread for non-spoiler movie discussion right here in the Energon Pub!
Also included below is a recording of the initial Michael Bay comments at the event, some images of the crowd, cast and set-up - in addition the ones already seen here - and at the very end, some spoilerrific listicles of likes, dislikes and WTF moments. Check it all out below, and let us now what you think once you've seen the movie for yourselves!
Well, that's (not) just Prime...
'Transformers: The Last Knight', then; Michael Bay's (really-this-time-honest) last hurrah, Mark Wahlberg's (self-professed) last instalment, possibly (please Primus, let it be) the last time we need to stage one of these interventions.
Yeah, this movie is 'that guy' - they 'am what they am', they're not afraid to make a song and dance about it, they simply will not be ignored and they're not changing (transforming?) for anyone. So every few years when they put on a big number, all of us long-term friends jump in and try to sort this guy out, calm 'em down a little...
Having started off with the best of intentions in 2007, two years later we're telling them to knock it off with the hyperactive humans whose contribution to plot forwarding is inversely proportional to their screen-time; we're also having to tell them to not say 'scrotum' in front of the children.
Another couple of years and once again, we're trying to get them to ease off on the vacuous humans taking up valuable minutes. We convince them to take their time with their next big production, have another year at it, 'work that rich thirty year old mythology, baby, yeah'! Oh. Underage sex references, transformium and Chinese product placement... Right. That's it. You're on your...
Oh. Okay. Big Imax 3D screen - great balls of fire over the Paramount logo. Dark Ages England. Indistinguishable from magic... Right, okay this isn't bad, this is... is that really Stanley Tucci?! I'm not sur.....HOLY FRIGGIN' NORA, IS THE CINEMA MOVING?! THIS IS INTENSE!! WOOOOOOH!!
And we're suck(er)ed in... again.
To be fair though, what TLK gets absolutely right is getting the Transformers on screen (at the same time as the core human cast) pretty much right from the get-go. Whilst clearly set in 'The Bayverse', the first 40 minutes or so kinda have the feel of an extended G1 cartoon episode... and I mean that in the best possible way.
While previous movies gave us a tease and then put most of the bots back in their playbox for half an hour or more, here we're quickly introduced to our 'character of the week', Isabela Moner's Izabella, and within minutes we see (and hear!) from all these new toys (er, 'important characters') including Sqweeks (who isn't annoying and if kids find him cute, fine), Barricade, Megatron, Steelbane (not name-checked), Drift and Hound. Oh and Bumblebee; yes, of course everyone's favourite peg-warmer is there...
And just like a G1 episode, Megatron's got a kerrrazy plan for some McGuffin or other, he's taking advantage of our human pals Morshower and Lennox (or is he? - *wink wink*) and... did... did you just see that? Did Megatron just do Suicide Squad? Is this film taking the proverbial? (The answer to that, given that one of Vivian Wembley's family is apparently played by the actress who brought Martha Wayne to life in another DCU 'classic', is yes. Yes it is!)
Like it or not, Bay's movies pretty much always have a 'humorous' element to them. It's a coping mechanism for the audience, I guess - a counterbalance to all the death and destruction and MORE ASPLOSIONS!! And we can all do the bitching and moaning thing or we can accept that, for better or worse, this is what you're gonna get in a Transformers movie. Except this time, it's ever so subtly different; your mileage may vary, but I genuinely found this movie to be quite self-deprecating!
The Suicide Squad 'thing' - you could write it off as a rip-off, or crap homage. But the Martha thing makes me think that someone's poking fun here. We all love Steve Jablonsky's incredible scores on these films, right? But haven't we heard 'Arrival To Earth' more than enough by now? Oh, not like this, we haven't! (Properly funny meta-gag!) There's so much tongue in cheek - Vivian shouting from inside Hot Rod 'at least tell me I've been abducted by one of the famous ones' (because who'd want to be kidnapped by Drench, amirite?)! Cogman doing... well, pretty much anything! You and I already know it - a 'British' accent (aka an erudite English form of Received Pronunciation) lets you get away with blue bloody murder...
...which Anthony Hopkins and Jim 'Downton Abbey' Carter do. Apparently part-scripted, part-improv, these two are just nuts. They can deliver all these ridiculous lines and still give it 'the Shakespeare' bit and make it sound like the end of days is upon us, all hope is lost but by jingo we're going to have a jolly good time while we stiff upper lip it out, what what! Cogman is the standout new character in this film - loyal servant and sociopathic crazybot in equal measure, he's as much of a split personality as TLK is itself.
And that's the rub - when it's being silly, TLK is good fun. When it (finally!) embraces the deep mythos of Transformers and attempts to induct all these 'popcorn-blockbuster-watchers' ever deeper into the world of Cybertron and all that, things become little more than perfunctory. Full disclosure - I love Peter Cullen as Optimus, even as Bayverse Optimus, but Dark of The Moon remains the only Transformers movie where he's been around for the whole thing (faked death aside - ooh, hashtag spoilers from 2011 there), and annoyingly he's not had any 'decent' dialogue since the first half of DOTM - most of AOE was expositional or 'out of character' (a debate for another time) and despite being in SOOO many trailers, he really doesn't figure until the last half, maybe third, of TLK.
Frank Welker gets possibly the better deal - Megatron gets to swan around being a nasty piece of work, the 'Izy rescuing Sqweeks' scene from the trailers shows his disdain for 'lower' forms of life, we even get a 'Decepticons, retreat!' for the fanboys. But his time playing off against Cullen's Prime is limited again, sadly. That said, there's one interaction between the pair that's hugely reminiscent of TF:TM (1986)... but no, not what you're thinking. It's a nice nod and if you're anything like me, you'll be cursing (even more of) the choices made by the writers of AOE. What could / should have been...
So by now you're thinking 'I've read a thousand words and I can't tell if you really liked it or not, lad'! To be brutally honest, I'm not sure either... no, that's not quite fair. As an 'Imax 3D experience', this was f-bomb-ing epic. Say what you want about Michael Bay and some of his choices, edits (there was a lot filmed and then cut for this film apparently) and sense of humour, but (ready the stock phrase for launch) his action sequences are absolutely phenomenal.
And as has generally been the case with each film, the scope of the effects have gotten bigger each time but Bay's also learned / chosen to reign the camerawork in as time's gone on - there's less crazy-breakneck panning and swivelling, there's some really nice occasional use of slo-mo to let you really see everything in all that glorious ultra high definition glory - it's why I can't quite remember all the nerdy bits you want to know (even though I wouldn't tell you all of them even if I could), you're just too busy taking in the spectacle. Is that style over substance? I guess, but if you can do style over substance in the best possible way, this 'film' does. Did I say film? Meh... I suppose it is, just about. It's really a thrill ride with some substance.
The 'substance' that is there is presented in time honoured fashion - Event brings McGuffin to Earth, heroes and villains battle for McGuffin leading to further McGuffin leading to final showdown. So far, so formulaic. Now for the science part - pay attention... and here we be getting spoilery a bit, so brace yourselves...
BIGGER SPOILERS FROM HERE
...right, you with me?
Transformers: Prime then. You watched it didn't you? Whaddaya mean, no?! It's the best TF series there's been (TF:A and BW fans can save that row for another day). Anyway, if you're not familiar with it, this'll all be new to you. If you are a Prime aficionado, and particularly if you're enough of an 'Aligned' continuity fan to have a copy of 'The Covenant of Primus' book / bible / massive insignia thing, then some of what's glimpsed in TLK will make sense. I say some, because to quote Optimus from G1's 'The Rebirth', 'every answer lead to a bigger question'.
We meet Quintessa, who I'm almost certain (three days time might prove me a liar here) refers to herself as 'the Prime of Life'. Now, that chimes very much with what we know of Quintus, one of the fabled Thirteen Primes, the first Transformers directly descended from Primus. The Thirteen were always meant to be 'omniversal' in TF fiction so that raises questions when Quintessa claims to be 'Optimus' creator'. I mean, you can interpret that in a few ways - literally (she might be, if Optimus isn't a 'Thirteen' Prime here), metaphorically (as the 'life-giving' portion of Primus, perhaps Quintus is responsible for all the Primes coming into being), or in a 'Hey, the writers just smacked out any old tosh' way again.
There's lots of other unanswered questions too - how and why did the Knights end up stuck on Earth? Sure, when you know what you know at film's end, you can start trying to hypothesise myriad reasons for the scenario we find our bots in, but it's not fully explained. Given how much expositional dialogue there is and how it (as per usual) starts to feel far too quickly rattled off by the end, that's not a great thing for those of trying to reconcile this series into something approaching a salient narrative - to be fair, if this writers’ room really is trying as hard as I think they are (but they don't want to overload and already bat-shit mental mainstream blockbuster), I think these spin-off movies and animated prequels and what not could actually be a lot of fun. But that doesn't help us in the here and now...
And where do the Dinobots disappear to again? And what's the point of Jerrod Carmichael's Jimmy? I mean, he's not terrible by any means, he's just kinda there, you wouldn't really miss him if he wasn't. Same can almost be said for Izzy, but she at least gives Mark Wahlberg the surrogate dad thing to do and they can both riff on the 'no sacrifice, no victory' thing that is very much back front and centre here.
Whilst I'm talking about fleshlings, I'd say this core cast is probably the tightest and most entertaining we've had in the series - Wahlberg, Haddock, Hopkins and Carter are all very good, Moner is perfectly cute in her scenes without going full Wesley Crusher to give the young'uns in the crowd their one to root for, Lennox and Morshower getting the best of the supporting roles, even if it's mostly exposition. For British TV fans, there's cameos from the likes of Rebecca Front (The Thick of it, Lewis) and IMDB swears Mrs Doyle from Father Ted was in there (one for the 2D re-watch or Bluray there) but Tony Hale (Arrested Development, Veep, Chuck) was hugely irritating as the NASA JPL guy - the (thankfully) brief scenes there are really quite irritating when they pop up and are pretty pointless in the grand scheme of things.
John Turturro is there as Seymour Simmons again too. On a payphone. From Cuba. Because. Because... John Turturro. I think. I mean, it's kinda cute that they recognise that Simmons had this all semi-sussed (somehow) from right back in the day... equally, I think they just wanted him to say scrotum again. Twice. Don't worry, it's not Devastator's. Or his. No, I think in a film that graphically destroys the star harvester pyramid from ROTF, crunches the ark from DOTM and describes the remains of Chicago and wherever else got trashed by the Decepticons as a 'no go area', it's a less than subtle suggestion that for the most part, the writers room want to wipe the slate clean, say 'bollocks' to much of what has gone before and go on to tell new stories off the back of this one. Yes, it unequivocally sets up a sequel. Yes, it's pretty obvious what they're going to have to deal with. And oh yes, there is a mid-credits sequence, so don't move too soon...
That's a lot of not a lot there isn't it? My 'review'. The film too, if you're being harsh. To be honest, this is the film AOE should have been - if you could somehow have had Cade save Optimus at the end of DOTM instead of taking a whole film over it, Lockdown appear and disappear at the start of this one with Optimus immediately setting off to find his creator, we wouldn't be missing much really.
The performances by the majority of the on-screen and voice over casts lift this to a higher level than the other sequels - if you concede that they all do pretty much the same thing in terms of story construction, this one (world-building issues and foibles notwithstanding) probably does it with the most style and panache. You know Bay makes shit blow up good, the car chases are fun, the scenery’s beautiful, the final set pieces are stupidly grand as they have to be.
The one possibly controversial conceit at the heart of this story, concerning Optimus... I enjoyed the pay off. For my money, it was a(nother) nice G1 Season 3 nod. Equally, knowing how some have bitched about a certain element of these movies for ten years now, I can understand if more than a few people really don't care for it - you'll know when you see it. For my money, it was preferable to (yet another) McGuffin.
Summary
In summary then, for those of you who perhaps wisely just scrolled down here and ignored all the ramblings - for better or worse, it's a Michael Bay Transformers movie, what the frigg were you expecting?! It is perhaps the best since the original. It is certainly the most spectacular to look at and the IMAX 3D thing certainly is not just marketing bollocks (there's that scrotum again), it really was astonishing. It is NOT (on its own) a jump forward in storytelling and mythology for this series - it DOES lay some massive groundwork but that NEEDS to built upon for this to have been truly worth all the hullaballoo. Harsh but fair, I'd have liked a bit more to love but there's less to hate than in previous outings. Go see it and don't think about it too hard til you've had time to rest your weary senses!
THINGS I LIKED:
The Autobot crew hiding out together - some nice character moments there. I love Crosshairs! And Wheelie's still kicking!
The opening Autobot+Human v Decepticon fight in the abandoned town. Sweet transformations and some fun ass-kickings.
Barricade getting a bit of chat! The con chat fizzles out quickly, but it's fun while it lasts.
The 'water fight' is stunnining. Opening scene in Arthurian times is also staggeringly good.
Cogman is a top lil bastard and I want to see him again. And his organ.
THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE:
Some of Quintessa's CGI looked a bit off - most of the film is AAA+, so that's annoying.
Too many dangly threads that need to be sussed 'next time'.
Why the Knights Temenos pretty much appeared outta nowhere - how hard could it be to find and keep stashed prior to now?!
The apparently simplicity with which Quintessa is dealt with. Sure, we don't need more McGuffins but it was all a little 'yeah, okay then'.
'Infernocus' who I think had a different name pretty much comes and goes. Meh. But the fact Quintessa has a combiner? Maybe Nexus Prime is about too...
No mention of Solus Prime, The Forge, Well of All Sparks etc.
SUPER SPOILERS:
Quintessa calls herself 'The Prime of Life', hitherto known in other continuities as Quintus Prime.
But is she really?! The Knights denounce her as Quintessa The Deceiver!
For being taken in by Quintessa, The Knights pass judgemnt on Optimus - "The sentence is death!" A nice nod to the Quintesson scenes in TFTM!
Christened 'Nemesis Prime', Quintessa's sway over Optimus is broken by Bumblebee finally activating his own voice after all these years, just as Nemesis is about to execute him.
The encroaching doom seen in the trailers is indeed Cybertron, under the control of Quintessa.
The horn you see on Earth in the trailers... not the Knights Temenos. *wink*
Yeah, you do see more than one horn... *wink*
Stonehenge is the access point to the power at the Earth's core... and what is down there. *wink*
That's not the Forge of Solus Prime we see Bumblebee waving about... at least, it isn't named as such and although it appears after the Knights scene, I don't know for sure if that's where he acquired it.
Cade is indeed The Last Knight... for what that's worth. It is in fact Vivian who is the most important character here.
Yes, wink wink, Prime fans, Earth is Unicron. Named and everything. And very much a thing going forward...
Gemma Chan who voices Quintessa also appears on screen. *Big Wink* (Get your Covenant of Primus out!)
SUPER SPOILERY WTFS:
If Vivian hadn't retrieved 'the staff' - then what? Maybe a 'Prime' like Optimus can get round that problem if he was one of The Thirteen / A knight (there's definitely a statue of a 'knight' that looks very like him... Like I said, they could start to create a satisfying story with this, but it could all be so much ROTF nonsense if they're not careful...
I like the whole 'Witwiccan' thing... but does this mean Shia / Sam and the clan are dead if Vivian is the last surviving descendant of Merlin? Maybe I misheard some of that bit...
Would Cybertron have become Unicron if the transfer had completed? Is Quintessa a Prime, an agent of Unicron, actually The Creator or what?
We don't see the techno-organic 'Quintessons' from AOE. But if Quintessa did create them, maybe they will be coming in TF6?
Spoiler Warning! The contents of this review may, and likely will, spoil significant parts of this book, and possibly others in the IDW Transformers meta-series. "Trade paperback only" readers should wander away now! This is your one and only warning.
Synopsis and Credits
ALL HAIL OPTIMUS part 4! It's all-out war as OPTIMUS PRIME's forces move on GALVATRON's DECEPTICONS—with Earth caught in the middle! Unusual alliances have formed… and secrets will be revealed.
Story
The story of All Hail Optimus continues with this week's release of The Transformers #53 from IDW Publishing, otherwise known as the book just about every Transformers fan is still calling Robots in Disguise. We join our heroes, I guess, back on Earth where they just did a thing and got attacked by humans and Prime lost an arm or something. Oh, and then he blackmailed some peace seeking Decepticons into joining what amounts to an Optimus Prime led invasion force using some wicked, cunning, downright messed up appeal to Soundwave's more logical side. That part of issue number 52 last month was really good, so I was excited to dive into this next chapter.
Still a fascinating pivot.
The story of Optimus Prime's descent to the dark side of The Force has been really fascinating to witness. While I still foresee some shenanigans on the horizon with a certain police car, if I go with the benefit of the doubt and Prime's head isn't being messed with (this book hasn't earned this benefit over the years, but I'm feeling generous) the subtlety of the character work has been pulled off pretty brilliantly. The normally consistent Optimus has become quite unpredictable, with each new move feeling more desperate even if the end goal is probably as ambiguously defined to this character as it is to readers.
A far less interesting pivot.
On the other hand, we have the leader of our "bad guys" for this arc in Galvatron. Galvatron has been a character in IDW that has been all over the place literally and figuratively. Right now, he feels about as inconsistent as ever. The wise, cunning, eugenics-endorsing guardian of Primus' will (albeit a possibly twisted version of it) has, for reasons I honestly cannot figure out, become an "80's Cartoon Supervillain" to borrow the words of your regular comics reviewer, Dr. Va'al.
Galvatron has gone from Beast Machines Megatron mixed with Armada Galvatron, with the full on David Kaye voice accompaniment, to the bizarre, shrill voiced G1 Season 3 version of the character with a higher pitched Frank Welker madman voice. It's been a quick pivot that is hard to follow and it's been one of the most disappointing aspects of this arc thus far. Sometimes there are shades of it all being a ruse, like during the excellent fight scene with Arcee earlier in the arc, but trust me when I say that really goes out the window in this chapter. See: Cobra Commander Level Cheesy Plan.
Please, make it end.
This book is in dire need of a bad guy with motivation, and he's standing right there making me want to punch him in the face. Just by standing there. I legitimately dislike this character. I read every issue of The Transformers rooting for him to die in the worst way possible. That has little to do with this exact issue of the book, but the fact that he's in there taking up space while the plot wanders in odd directions around him reeks of either poor planning or plans changed by someone in an office in Rhode Island.
Seeds of intrigue, perhaps?
There definitely is some planning going on, with characters that we know will be front and center in the Titans Return toyline (and presumably, story arc) getting some choice moments in this issue as well. Barber manages to get these characters in through smart, unobtrusive methods that a non-toy collector reader won't be caught off guard by. Yes, Mindwipe is around and yes, he's getting a toy soon but were he not, I don't think I'd read the book any differently.
While the majority of the Synergon™ is strong in this book, there are some moments towards the end (including the last page) that warrant mention, though I'll stop short of spoiling them. I'll just mention that I was interested in getting some official canon to go behind some more recent Transformers toy releases, this looked like it was going to deliver, but I ended up with disappointment instead.
Stay tuned next time for more Wacky Races!
Just like some members of Optimus' crew, this book alternates between serious and cartoonish, dramatic and funny, and even has a plot that advances forwards and backwards. I honestly can't say that the plot of this arc feels like it's moved forward much at all, and it's really falling victim to the trade paperback format pitfalls that IDW had previously done a tremendous job at avoiding. The glacial pace of progress continues to be just that for this part of the larger story, whether that feeling is intentional or not.
Art
The art is handled in this issue by Priscilla Tramontano with colors by Josh Burcham and letters by series regular Tom B. Long, and it's definitely a highlight of this issue.
Maybe they just want to report about your silver arm?
From wisely used effects like those found in this panel, to purposeful stylistic differences in the pencils/inks based on the environment in which the action takes place (more on this shortly), the book has a style that is sure to please a majority of Transformers fans. It alternates between serious detail and cartoon-like sketchiness freely, and in some cases you may not even notice the jumps.
There was one case where I was first jarred by the changing depiction of certain characters from panel to panel, and that was with the Combiner characters once they go underwater. Initially, I thought this was just a product of deadlines being a thing that exists, with art that just had to get done at some point, and I was disappointed. Later, I thought this may have been a stylistic choice meant to evoke the original Transformers cartoon series. Upon investigating that train of thought further, I noticed that all of the details in the underwater scenes are more "cartoon-like", for better or worse. At least it's consistent with this, even if I'd prefer some more detail. It seems to fit with the back and forth tonal nature of this issue as well, so that's another thing going for it.
One great, moody page
Burcham's colors lend more to the tone of the story than perhaps the words themselves in this issue, with multiple instances where he takes what could be more instances of inconsistency and makes them a harmonious, fun to look at product. Between work here and on Sins of the Wreckers, comics fans continue to get a look at a colorist at the top of his game.
Final Thoughts
While the plot's overall direction and progress disappointed me, with this issue ending at a point of rising action just like the last countless many issues of this series, the art and many of the character beats pick this issue up from a potentially boring place.
Why not Zoidberg Tidal Whale?
That said, this book needs to resolve some plot threads soon, and find a more consistent voice. Solicits make me think it's going somewhere at long last, but I've been fooled by those plenty of times before. The more cartoon-styled look is not on accident, as the story reads like a Saturday morning show in many parts as well. I don't mind that, and it's a ton of fun, but what happens when this book wants me to take it seriously again? There are points within this issue where that seems to be the case, but it's a difficult, almost jarring shift in mood. That's probably intentional, and while I appreciate the inherent goofy side of Transformers and like the fun ways this issue uses that side, this feels like a weird place in an arc that was almost all serious business up to this point for that to come into the picture.
I'm conflicted by this issue, as there are parts I love and parts my eyes will just wander over when I pick up my physical copy this afternoon. I'll give this two different ones since different readers will likely find very different levels of appreciation of The Transformers #53
For readers looking for drama and serious plot advancement:
. and 1/2 - out of
For readers that like a fun tone interspersed with a looser overall plot:
Seibertron.com's review of Transformers Dark of the Moon: A Fan Perspective
Dark Side of the Moon
I saw Transformers Dark of the Moon tonight. I am not a professional reviewer. In fact, I strongly dislike writing reviews of any sort. Yet from time-to-time I am strongly inclined to share my thoughts in hopes that some of you might want to hear what the owner of one of the largest Transformers fansites has to say. So without further ado, here's what I've been writing for the past 5 hours.
First and foremost, if you don't want to read any spoilers, just stop reading this review. I don't hold back anything in my reviews. It's all here that I was able to jot down since midnight. If you want to be spoiled, please be my guest and read on ...
I'll cut to the chase right off the bat before I go into comments that only us Seibertronians will enjoy reading. If you're looking for the next Academy Award winner or Oscar winner for best picture, go see something else so we don't have to hear you complain about Transformers Dark of the Moon. If you are just looking for a great, fun summer blockbuster with TONS of action, lots of special effects, a pretty girl, some very cool cars (and robots too), and destruction galore -- you should, without a doubt, see this film. If you're a Transformers fan, then this is 100% required watching in my book.
Is this the best film in the world? No. Is it another very enjoyable summer blockbuster? Of course it is. Are there some problems with the storytelling? Yep. But hey … it's Transformers, it's not Revenge of the Fallen, and it was a fun couple of hours watching exciting craziness unfold before my very 3d weary eyes. While Transformers Dark of the Moon didn't surpass the first Transformers film from Michael Bay, it was better than Revenge of the Fallen. However, it shared some of the same flaws from which the previous movie suffered.
As I have said for the past four or five years, I think Michael Bay was the perfect person to be the director of the first Transformers live action film franchise. I liked some of his previous movies such as Bad Boys and Armageddon. Michael Bay is well known for delivering what he promises. He makes larger than life fun movies that appeal to a very large audience. I truly believe that it was his vision that helped introduce our beloved Transformers to people not as passionate about them as are we. The Transformers are a toy line that have overcome many obstacles over the years and have reached the point of becoming a household name and a billion dollar film franchise.
The special effects were absolutely truly amazing. I hope nothing I say in this fanboy "review" plays down the fact that this movie is an amazing feat of technology. The destruction of Chicago is an incredible technological achievement. It looked like they destroyed the city. And it wasn't far away or brief shots like Battle: Los Angeles. It was complex digitally animated (?) extremely detailed and extremely believable mass destruction bestowed upon the city I've called home for the past 9 years. It was truly amazing to see what they did to this city. The Transformers themselves seemed to be more detailed, but in a good way. I didn't have much difficulty telling who was who, even when they were fighting. There even seemed to be some improvements to the facial expressions on some of the robots. There was a moment with Optimus Prime's face that I remember seeing that I thought, hey that's cool that they got him to make that face, and the same with Ratchet in another scene. Academy Award winning movie or not, I think the special effects teams on this movie should get all sorts of awards. Kudos to all of the people who worked on special effects for this film.
If you wish to read the rest of my thoughts, simply highlight all of the text below by using your mouse, touchpad or by clicking "ctrl" + "a" on your keyboard to highlight all of the text.
Houston, we have a problem
A lot of the problems I had with this film was the fact that there was just too much going on. You shouldn't have to read the novel adaptation to understand what exactly was happening during the film. I think the overall story was good. It just needed to be tightened up, and some time that was given to other scenes could have been used to develop some of the characters.
Speaking of characterization, the Transformers continue to serve more as plot devices than actual characters that you know and love. There are few scenes which show the Transformers interacting on their own without humans and many of them get little character development. I love the Transformers characters, I've grown up with them, but without the bond that I have with these characters through three decades of reading the comics, watching the cartoons, and collecting the toys, I don't understand how the general movie going audience is supposed to have a bond with these characters (aside from Optimus Prime and maybe Bumblebee). It is my hope that now that the general world wide audience has been well introduced to the concept of the Transformers brand, that we can movie into a film franchise where the story can be told more from the Transformers' perspective(s) and less from the humans'.
The Chernobyl scene seemed like the they went through a lot of trouble for us, and the Autobots, to find out that the humans had a piece, or pieces, from the Ark on the moon. I get that they were trying to show us that the Russians had tried to harness the power, which caused the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, but it just came across as really forced to me and a very unnecessary scene.
Human Characters and Actors
Overall, the acting was pretty good. I don't recall thinking that anyone had any overly cheesy lines, or poor acting. The only one that really stood out to me was John Duhamel's Lennox. I wasn't a big fan of him in ROTF and I had much the same feeling about him in DOTM. It might have nothing to do with his character and is just how the writers are depicting him. I liked him in the first movie, and I've liked him in other movies that I've seen him in. Tyrese Gibson's Epps was better portrayed in DOTM than ROTF. Shia was much the same … I liked him in all three movies. I think he's a good actor. As much as I love John Turturro's "Agent" Simmons, I just felt his involvement was either too forced or unnecessary. I felt like he didn't really bring anything to the story. Yeah, he wrote a book, yeah, Bill O'Reilly interviewing Simmons because of his new book was entertaining, but not needed. If you felt his involvement was forced in ROTF, you'll definitely feel that way here.
The ever so beautiful Rosie Huntington-Whitely filled her role, and her tight dresses, perfectly. The Transformers film franchise triumphantly shows the world that all you need is some pretty t-and-a to play the out-of-his-league love interest for Sam Witwicky which could've continued to have been played by Megan Fox had she been able to keep her mouth shut. As a fan, I was happy to have Rosie onboard as Carly, who was the love interest of Spike Witwicky in the original 1980s animated cartoon series. I could've done without the gratuitous underwear/butt shot as she was walking up the stairs. Nice to look at in a men's magazine, just 100% unnecessary in a Transformers flick especially in the first ten minutes or so (though I'm sure many would argue that it's the same demographic).
I was both surprised and disappointed at how small John Malkovich's "Bruce Brazos" role was. His eccentric character went unused through the second half of the film. I thought that he and Patrick Dempsey were miscast and should have had the other's role. Malkovich could've played a perfect live action Dr. Arkeville, which would have been a very nice nod to the Transformers mythos. He even looked the part in my book. It would've even fit in perfectly with the whole "humans working for the Decepticons" plot. Patrick Dempsey's "Dylan Gould" was quite the villain surprisingly. Dempsey was definitely "McBadAss" in this film, and not so "McDreamy".
While I always enjoy the onscreen presence of Sam's parents (played by Kevin Dunn and Julie White), I felt the inclusion of Ron and Judy Witwicky was completely unnecessary for the story. Their roles were merely there for the comedic inconvenience and embarrassment that they cause their son.
Pleasant surprise "cameos": real-life Buzz Aldrin, Nixon, JFK, President Obama, and Fox News' Bill O'Reilly.
Toned Down Humor – Smaller Funny Bits
The sexual humor that many found offensive in the previous two films was significantly reduced in this movie. No more lubricating jokes, no more masturbation jokes, no more boxer jokes, no dog humping, no robot humping, no racially degrading comments. There was an oral sex innuendo from Carly to Sam, and a comment from Sam's mom about him being well-endowed, and a brief comment from Brains about Carly's panties or underwear drawer or something, but all of those comments were fairly brief and didn't seem to distract from what else was happening in the scene.
There were no words like "pussy" or "bitch" in this movie, which made me feel a little squeamish in ROTF. Either Wheelie or Brains says "dickhead" if I recall correctly, but it seemed rather appropriate.
The Sound of Music and the Music of Sound
Steve Jablonsky's music score for DOTM continued to please me. Nothing struck me as out-of-place, but at the same time nothing caught my attention emotionally like "The Arrival" from the first film's score. I was glad the "corny" music from the first and second film (cue the music from when Sam arrived at the lake in the first movie) was absent from the third. I'm looking forward to purchasing Jablonsky's score when it becomes available on CD. Linkin Park's "Iridescent" was present in the film if I recall correctly, and I think the Goo Goo Dolls "All That You Are" is as well.
The sound quality of the film seemed great. I don't recall my ears hurting nor do I feel like I was ever having difficulty understanding anything. I don't recall a G1 transformation sound, hopefully someone catches one and can point it out. No complaints here from me about the audio.
Cartoon References or Coincidence
Several elements of Dark of the Moon reminded me of the fan-favorite three part cartoon "The Ultimate Doom". In that story, the Decepticons enslave mind-controlled humans and bring Cybertron into Earth's orbit via a space bridge. In Dark of the Moon, fearful or deceived humans are working for the Decepticons who want to bring Cybertron to Earth in order to use our planet's resources to repower their homeplanet. Very similar concepts.
One other similar concept that seemed pulled from the cartoons, was the Autobots' exile from Earth. While this scene seemed huge, and the Autobot shuttle looked magnificent, I couldn't help but feel that Megatron's Master Plan pulled this exile concept off better somehow … or at least with more emotional attachment. The whole scene should've felt more powerful in my opinion.
Transformers Characters
My personal favorite character, Soundwave, is still Frank Welker's Dr Claw voice minus the voice processing we all know and love from the original cartoon. Soundwave was one of Megatron's right hand "bots", standing by his side during what will be a very memorable on screen moment that had all three big time Decepticons in the same scene standing side-by-side (Megatron, Starscream, and Soundwave). While I was initially disappointed to hear that he transformed into a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG in DOTM, his role as Decepticon spy was served just as well by going undercover posing as Carly's car, which her Decepticon loving boss gave her as a "gift". His robot mode looked awesome and he has an awesome moment battling the Autobots before he gets slagged.
Laserbeak speaks, to which I feel indifferent about it. I kept having moments of nostalgia from the Japanese version of the original Transformers cartoons when Laserbeak and Ravage would speak. He's a cool little character that really kicks some butt in this film (albeit mostly humans, more about that later). He transforms into a multitude of objects in the movie. It'd be neat to see Hasbro come up with some other toy versions of Laserbeak. He even transformed into a small human sized red Bumblebee-looking robot to pose as a playmate to a daughter of one of his victims. There was an awesome nostalgic moment when Laserbeak rested/landed upon Soundwave's right arm. While he doesn't look exactly like the Laserbeak of old, I think this is a great representation of this character in live action form.
Mirage was named Dino (pronounced "dee-no"), who looked very awesome. I mean, what Transformers fan doesn't love having an Autobot that transforms into a sexy, red Ferrari 458 Italia? Sucked seeing him share onscreen time with Sideswipe, who's basically the same character, when a red sports car should have been Sideswipe all along.
Wheeljack was named Q (Cue? Que?), who was a very disappointing addition to the Autobot roster. It wasn't so much the characterization (or lack thereof; who's onscreen role could've easily been given to the Autobot weapons specialist Ironhide), but the head design basically looked like a robotic skull with Albert Einstein's facial features and hair. I'm assuming they were trying to convey that this is an Autobot scientist or a really smart Transformer, but I'd like to think that most of the movie going audience is above having things shoved in their faces like that. The original Wheeljack has such a unique head design that it was a shame to not see that translate to the big screen. If you didn't like him either, don't worry, Soundwave executes him later in the film during a rather tense moment when it seems like all is lost to the Autobots.
For as big of a deal as it seems everyone has made about the Autobot subgroup known as the "Wreckers" (Leadfoot, Roadbuster, and Topspin), they really had minor roles for the most part. They were part of the crew working alongside the humans on the Autobots ship which they were exiled in, and the other major part they had was going with Bumblebee into the city when they ripped apart a Decepticon pilot who had crashed, and saving Optimus Prime when he got tangled in some wires after battling the Driller that was attacking the falling skyscraper Sam and the other humans were trapped in. I didn't think I'd like how Leadfoot looked onscreen, but he was easily one of my favorite product placements in the film. While I couldn't pinpoint any connection with the Wreckers voices, I can assure all of you that they did NOT have redneck voices which was a huge relief to me.
Ratchet was in it considerably more than ROTF, however he still had few lines. Same voice actor as far as I could tell from the first film. He also seemed to have a modified face, but I'd have to get another look at it. He was with Optimus when they went to the Ark.
Sideswipe had at least one line, perhaps more. I felt like his onscreen time was replaced with that of Mirage Dino.
Sentinel Prime, voiced by Star Trek's Leonary Nimoy (who also voice Galvatron in the 1986 animated Transformers film), was one of the few Transformers to receive some characterization. His character underwent a harsh transformation from being Optimus Prime's predecessor and hero to being one of the major antagonists in the film. His ideals seemed to align more with that of Megatron and his Decepticons than with the heroic Autobots. He seemed far more concerned with saving the Cybertronian race and planet, which seems like all movie Megatron has wanted. There was no foreshadowing of Sentinel's betrayal. After bringing Sentinel back online, there was a nice moment where Optimus tried to give the Matrix to Sentinel, but oddly Sentinel declined. It seems like if he was inevitably going to betray the Autobots, that he should have taken the Matrix. His death at the end of the movie was very fitting, though I think it sucked seeing the heroic Optimus Prime killing his Autobot mentor.
Sentinel's betrayal wasn't the moment that I wasn't expecting. It was how Sentinel viciously attacked the Autobots, and killed Ironhide! I didn't see that coming. I hadn't even heard any rumors of that happening. It was the only moment during the film that I was shocked at. I was especially shocked since Hasbro has heavily promoted Ironhide by having at least five toys of this character available at retail by the release date of the film.
Still no voice for Bumblebee! If you're wondering why he's holding his hands up to his head in the trailer, it's not because the sound is too loud … it's because his holding his hands up before he's almost executed by Soundwave and the Decepticons. Very tense, cool scene.
Shockwave's character was a waste to me. He looked awesome. He looked evil. But without even a full line (he said something at the Chernobyl scene but I think it was just "Optimus Prime" or something very basic), there was zero characterization. He could've just been another drone for all we know, well, a drone leading other drones. I was hoping for just a couple of lines to Megatron about something being logical or illogical, something that says that this is the character we've known and loved over the past 27 years. He was killed during the Chicago battle.
I wasn't sure what to make of Starscream in this film. His character had been reduced to the worst traits of Starscream. Cowardly, whiny (?). He had two moments in the film that should have been more monumental and awe-inspiring … when he single handedly takes out the exiled Autobots' shuttle and when he takes on the sky divers by the Willis tower in the skies over Chicago. One of my favorite scenes in the Transformers film franchise is in the first movie during the final battle when Starscream takes on the other F-22 Raptors going back and forth between his robot mode and jet mode. That scene is one of the best uses of their ability to transform in the film. I was waiting for that "wow, that's so cool" moment to hit me with either of those scenes but that moment never happened.
The rumors about the cowardly villain Starscream meeting his maker were unfortunately true. Thankfully, he didn't get taken down singlehandedly by one of Epps buddies, which was the rumor we heard last summer. Disappointingly, he was taken down by Sam, who used a grappling hook device given to him by Q. Sam used the weapon to attach the hook to one of Starscream's eyes, which damages it. Starscream is ranting about his eyes and not being able to see. All I kept thinking during this scene is … can't Transformers "see" without their eyes. Seriously … how else would they "see" when they're in their vehicle modes if they didn't have alternative methods to see? If Starscream had just transformed into jet mode, would he have been able to "see" again? Starscream deserves a much better death scene than this. Fortunately, we have his far superior death courtesy of Galvatron in the 1986 film.
Ever wonder what happened to my favorite police car Decepticon Barricade? He went M.I.A., literally, during the final quarter of the first film, was M.I.A. for the entirety of ROTF, but finally makes a miraculous return during the Chicago battle scene. I was very happy to see him return. If I saw correctly, it looks like he received an update or two to his character model. It'd be nice to see some comparison shots of this. My happiness at Barricade's return lasted only momentarily as he was destroyed shortly thereafter.
Skids and Mudflap were indeed missing from the film. I didn't even see them as additional robots during the scene where the Autobots were exiled from Earth. I didn't miss them though I do think they would have served as great cannon fodder.
Optimus Prime gets the movie version of his battle axe that reminded me of the axe he had during the Hoover dam battle against Megatron in a G1 "More Than Meets The Eye" cartoon episode.
Megatron says something to the affect of "what would you be without me" to which Optimus replies "Let's find out." and he proceeds to kill Megatron.
Random Scenes and Thoughts
The scene on the highway en route to Chicago turned out very cool. You might remember this as the scene where the infamous accident happened last summer in Hammond, Indiana that left Gabriela Cedillo, an extra in the film, permanently brain damaged and paralyzed. I meant to see if there was any mention of her in the credits, I'll have to look again tomorrow night. The "Dreads" were a very cool group of Decepticons. I really like their overall look, which is odd because I'm not a big fan of dreadlocks. Their unified and unique look just really stands out to me. I wasn't sure what to make of their "Mexican stand-off" with Ironhide and Sideswipe, but they seemed pretty cool in my book.
I felt confused as to why the Decepticons space bridged to Washington, D.C. then proceed to travel to invade Chicago. Why not either space bridge directly to Chicago or invade D.C. instead? The D.C. scene did give us a nice moment at the Lincoln Memorial where Megatron blows off President Lincoln's head, and the proceeds to remove Lincoln's statue so that Megatron could sit in his chair. One of the Decepticons scans a WM garbage truck after arriving in DC (I want this Transformer!).
Lots of humans get killed in this film. The Decepticons have a weapon that just kind of vaporizes a human after it blasts apart. In one scene, we see a human skull roll toward someone's foot after they were killed. Pretty graphic and intense. Not something I'd recommend for the kiddies to see.
I felt very uncomfortable when the Wreckers tore apart a Decepticon pilot. I just kept thinking "Autobots wouldn't do that!" Kind of reminded me of some of the Abu Ghraib situation a few years back.
The Autobot ship did indeed look awesome. Massive. They missed the opportunity to call the ship something like "Omega Supreme", maybe Hasbro will give us an Omega Supreme toy out of it just yet, but I wouldn't count on it. Someone in the film mentions that there are 9 Autobots, but I can't 11 if you count Wheelie and Brains (Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Ratchet, Sideswipe, Topspin, Roadbuster, Leadfoot, Dino, and Que) who were aboard the ship if I recall correctly. The shuttle scene was a good scene, it just seemed to lack the emotion that such an important scene should have … especially when Starscream takes out the ship after it launches and apparently kills all of the Autobots aboard.
The whole Cybertron coming to Earth plot seemed a little much to me for the general movie going audience to understand. Without showing the full planet of Cybertron in DOTM, it seemed like it was a lot to ask people to understand that "Cybertron", the Transformers planet which much of the audience has never seen before, was being transported to our orbit. As a fan, I had a very difficult time seeing the large object that was coming through the space bridge portal as Cybertron. It seemed so unmonumental and so unnecessary to a Decepticon invasion of Earth that I felt distracted by that entire plot element (though it's what united Sentinel with Megatron). In addition, I couldn't tell what Cybertron's fate was. It looked as if Cybertron had imploded upon itself when the space bridge was destroyed yet without any dialogue in the film or concern from any of the Transformers, it's fate was left uncertain to me.
After seeing more of the same storytelling problems from ROTF creep into DOTM, I can't help but feel that it's time for Michael Bay, Shia, and the rest of the crew to move onto other projects and make way for some new, fresh ideas to brought into the life of the Transformers films. I'd like to see what someone else can do with the Transformers now that they have proven that it's a successful toy-to-film franchise. I'd also like to see what other types of films Michael Bay wants to make as I can't believe that he would want to be best known for making the Transformers films. I think the movies are very entertaining films for what they are. No one claimed these would, or should, be Oscar award winning movies. The people who have worked on these films have done an amazing job, considering the source material started out as a toy line so many years ago.
No need to stay until the very end of the credits.
Honorable 3D Mention
Why no mention from me about 3D yet? To be blunt: I'm not a fan of 3D. Not at all. I see it for what it is … a ploy to give people something special at the theater that they can't get elsewhere and to make it more difficult for the bootleg "market". I'm looking forward to seeing DOTM in good ol' fashioned 2D. When I watch a 3D movie, I feel like I'm staring at those posters that doctor offices had back in the early 90s where you have to cross your eyes to see the hidden image in the picture. I also can't stand wearing glasses in the theater. It's just not my thing. Did this movie seem like a technical achievement in the 3D field? I can't judge that as I haven't seen any other movie in 3D except for James Cameron's Avatar.
3D doesn't make me feel like I'm part of the movie at all, if anything, it makes me feel disjointed from the film because of how many times I notice the "3D" layers. It's extremely distracting and I don't recall ever thinking when viewing a 2D movie that I wished it had been in 3D. I keep thinking of that Best Buy "buy back" commercial where the girl is calling the guy a "silly head" because he bought a 3D TV instead of a 4D TV. I'm hoping 4D gets here soon because I can't stand this very "forced" 3D craze.
I hope someone important in the movie industry read my thoughts about 3D.
Meet The Press
I wanted to take a moment to personally thank Paramount for hooking me up with a Press pass for tonight's show at the AMC River East in downtown Chicago. I had the pleasure of meeting famed movie critic Roger Ebert this evening, who sat directly behind my wife at tonight's showing. It was a great experience and quite an honor. It was also a very fitting moment since Roger Ebert had mentioned Seibertron.com in his explanation about his review of Revenge of the Fallen.
On a personal note, I think I'd prefer seeing a movie like DOTM with a regular audience any day. The press guys didn't laugh or gasp or anything during the movie. Either they thought DOTM sucked or they were all way too busy writing down notes on their pads of paper. To me, a big part of going opening night for a movie, or even some time during the opening week, is to catch the buzz that radiates through a movie theater that is excited about a film. I think it's unfortunate that the press people didn't get to experience this movie with the regular movie going audience. I'm looking forward to seeing DOTM on Tuesday night with family and friends and people from Seibertron.com who I know will be geeked and excited about seeing this film ... and are there to have fun and have a great time.
Wrap-Up
So you might be wondering exactly what I thought of this movie and what my recommendations are. I know I picked apart a lot of the movie above. I'm very, very passionate about Transformers. I'm also very protective of how we, the fans, see our Transformers. I just want our experience to be shared by everyone else. I want people to know why we like and love these Transformers characters. I gave it a 4 out of 5 on my Netflix account just now. If it wasn't a Transformers flick, I'd give it a 3 out of 5 mainly due to feeling that the story was confusing at times or incoherent. The special effects and technical achievements in this film were simply amazing … stunning even! They should win awards left and right for what pulled off with Chicago and for making huge leaps with the computer animation for the robots which continue to look better and better.
As I said at the beginning of this review, if you're a Transformers fan, you've got to go see this film so that you can tell the rest of us what you think about it. Don't base whether or not you see this movie based on my review. It's a fun movie. Go see it. You be the judge and tell us what you think after you see it.
So where to begin telling you about Transformers Prime? In less than two short days, many of you will get to experience what I've already watched about a half dozen times. Earlier this week on Monday morning, an unexpected package arrived from The Hub via UPS. I quickly opened up the package and was surprised to see that they had sent me an advance copy of the first two episodes of Transformers Prime.
I quickly got to work writing extremely lengthy and detailed summaries of the first two episodes. I wasn't sure who my review would be competing against so I decided to do summaries instead of a review first in case everyone and their robo-brother did reviews. I figured detailed summaries would be least likely by everyone. My instinct was correct. If you missed the spoilerific summaries I posted earlier this week, you can check them out by clicking on the following links.
Much to my surprise, I really liked the show. I'm not sure what I was expecting. To be honest, I've had Transformers Prime on my mind's back burner. I've been so busy with keeping up with galleries on Seibertron.com that I hadn't really given "Prime" much thought other than making sure news was getting posted about it when necessary. Prior to seeing the show, I would never have believed what my reaction would have been. To sum up my thoughts about Transformers Prime, let me put it like this in terms that Seibertronians will understand loud and clear -- "Prime is like the love child of Beast Wars and the Live Action Films". Basically everything I like about both of those series seems to be here, except without the senseless and cheesy humor.
On November 24th, weekly entertainment trade magazine Variety posted a review of "Transformers Prime". I was hesitant to read what they wrote initially, but after getting through the first paragraph or two I realized that they liked it as well. Their review wasn't quite what I was expecting from a mainstream magazine. I thought for sure that my Transformers warped mind was making me watch the show through rose-colored glasses. Nope -- they liked it and even summed up several of my thoughts.
Variety wrote:As no-brainers go, a Transformers TV show on the Hub -- welding Hasbro's popular toy line into its cable co-venture with Discovery -- ranks down there with making a sequel to the first movie. Yet the product of that assembly line, "Transformers Prime," proves unexpectedly sharp -- better than the movies (admittedly damnation with faint praise), thanks to the arresting CGI animation, which proves especially well-suited to rendering shiny robots and their vehicular alter egos. There's nothing more than meets the eye here, but what does appear is a plenty entertaining addition to this well-oiled moneymaking machine.
Having read such a positive review from Variety, I felt more encouraged to state how much I liked Transformers Prime. The voice acting is superb, the animation looks incredible and uniquely stylized (even if the human animation models are lacking something), the musical score was beautiful, and the aggressive story below me away.
The first two episodes were serious, sophisticated, rather dark and contained various mature themes -- something I was not expecting at all, especially after the somewhat misleading character trailers that The Hub recently rolled out. This show is definitely not geared toward the younger kids like Transformers Animated was. I don't even know what previous series Transformers Prime is most like. I think I'll need to view a few more episodes to decide. I'll tell you what it's not like ... it doesn't have the kiddie feel to it like Animated, it's extremely coherent and not dumbed-down or poorly dubbed like the Unicron Trilogy, it's not simplified or hyperactive like RID, it's not a whiny complaining misguided hippie like Beast Machines, it's not like Beast Wars despite being the closest thing I could compare Prime to, and it doesn't come across like a toy commercial like G1 does at times (sacrilegious, I know).
Transformers Prime doesn't waste any time. Something major happens in the first third of the first episode that I don't think anyone was expecting. I can't wait to see if the second episode truly ended what happened or if there's more than meets the eye awaiting us. I'm still shocked at what happened, especially in the second episode. Crazy!
Knowing that an army of you Seibertronians will be here on Friday evening posting your reviews in this topic, I'll keep the rest of this review to a minimum. Here are some of my final thoughts that I want to share with you to tide all of you over until Friday afternoon when Transformers Prime debuts.
It's in widescreen, though (unfortunately) most of us won't get to watch it in widescreen because most of our Cable companies haven't started airing The Hub in HD yet. Here's hoping for a quick release of this show on DVD, or at least when the toys inevitably come out.
This show has an actual musical score along the lines of the music from the live action Transformers films. It's complex, not repetitive, and it always seems completely appropriate for the scene. Beast Wars suffered greatly in this department whereas it seems to be one of Prime's greatest strengths.
The voice acting is superb in my book. I was pretty geeked about Peter Cullen and Frank Welker reprising their rightful roles as Optimus Prime and Megatron respectively. The rest of the voices seemed appropriately cast. None of the voices seem out-of-place. Everything seems natural. It definitely feels like the animation was done to the voice acting instead of the other way around, which was one of Beast Wars greatest strengths.
The kids weren't as annoying as I had expected. I'm one of those fans that understands the purpose of having humans in the Transformers cartoons. Without humans, there'd be little point to Transformers being "robots in disguise". They're a necessary evil and, in this case, they're handled fairly well. The show is about the Transformers and not the kids -- there seems to be little confusion about that.
"Prime" is dark at times -- some themes that might not be appropriate or suitable for young children. They might even be getting away with some of what happened in the first two episodes because what occurred happened to "robots" and not humans and because it's airing on a cable channel half-owned by the same people who own the Transformers (*ahem* that'd be Hasbro folks). If you question whether or not the show is dark, just ask yourself this ... has the word "cadaver" ever been used in an episode of Transformers before?
The overall mood of the show, or at the very least the first two episodes, is far more serious than we've seen in a long time. I guess this is what makes me keep thinking of Beast Wars. But not all of Beast Wars. Think "The Trigger", "Dark Voyage", "Law of the Jungle", "Other Voices", "Other Visits", and "Code of Hero". Not on an epic scale like Other Voices or a heart-wrenching scale like Code of Hero, but in its own unique way.
The animation has grown on me. There are some things that I don't like. This might be the show's weakest link and one of its greatest strengths. The backgrounds, the complexity of each scene, the transformations, the alternate modes, and the Transformers robots themselves all look incredible. Yet at the same time, I get this feeling like I'm watching the cut scenes in a video game. Something's not quite right and I can't pinpoint it. For the most part though, the show looks incredible. I really like the overall style of the animation even though I have a few issues with it. It is definitely unique, as unique as the style of Transformers Animated is and the style of the live action Transformers films.
Speaking of transformations, they're very fluid -- more along the lines of the live action films. To be honest, I really had to think about this because none of the transformations really stood out to me -- but that's actually a good thing because it means they didn't waste a lot of time forcing the transformations upon you. It just happened and the show went on.
As I've said before, War For Cybertron/Exodus and Transformers Prime are a "forced" continuity meaning that they weren't originally intended to be the same continuity despite what Hasbro tells us. There are a few things that contradict what's already been established in the WFC universe, not to mention a flash back scene in Transformers Prime that uses the Prime animation models and not anything that looks like the WFC designs. I'll consider them the same continuity to humor everyone but they're as forced together as Transformers Cybertron was forced into the Unicron Trilogy.
And now for my thoughts on the characters ...
Optimus Prime - he's basically the same as his movie counterpart. As much as I love Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime, I sometimes feel that he takes the role a little too serious. Everything always seems so epic and heavy with him voicing Optimus. Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm just looking for something to complain about like a typical fan boy. Or maybe he does need to loosen up a little bit.
Megatron - I'm not usually on the Frank Welker-voicing-Megatron bandwagon like many fans are. Every time I've heard him do his "Megatron" voice in recent years, I kind of cringe. His recent Megatron voice is definitely not his G1 Megatron voice, whether it's him or how it's vocoded I don't know. So I was a little reluctant about him reprising the role of Megatron. His voice at the end of the first episode is like his recent Megatron voice that I don't particularly like. However, his voice in the 2nd episode is unlike any other Welker/Megatron voice I've heard before. It's unique to this character and very appropriate. This Megatron is EVIL, a true villain, something that has been missing from Megatron for a very long time. Sometimes I wonder what the difference is between Megatron and Optimus because we rarely get to see Megatron be evil. You do in Transformers Prime and that's why this Megatron has got me wondering if this could be my favorite Megatron since the Beast Wars Megatron.
Arcee - She's a pretty major character in the first two episodes that gets a lot of screen time. She's the bridge that basically brings the humans into the Transformers storyline. She's a very serious Arcee. This isn't your Headmasters "secretary" Arcee or Susan Blu's Animated Arcee. This is an Arcee with an attitude. Not IDW's Furmanized Arcee, but definitely more of a serious warrior Arcee
Starscream - not a wuss. Voice is different than previous incarnations. More like the first live action film than the second. It's unique and not the "screaming" high pitched voice either. I wasn't quite sure what to think of it at first. I liked it, but I just kept thinking that it's not a voice for Starscream. I was sold pretty quickly on it when I saw Starscream being a complete badass in the first episode when he does something we haven't seen in a Transformers cartoon in a really long time (if ever). Give this Starscream a chance. He might just give previous Starscream incarnations a run for their money.
Ratchet - Jeffrey Combs does an incredible job with this really fun character. This might be the best rendition of Ratchet to date. Picture a cross between G1 cartoon, comic, and Transformers Animated Ratchets -- and the best of each to boot. He's not fond of the human kids, has a sense of humor, grumbles, complains, and still gets the job done. I'm rooting for a Starscream versus Ratchet battle, they both might be worthy of revisiting Simon Furman's Marvel Comics battle between these two characters.
Soundwave - Megatron's here because of him basically, no thanks to Starscream, but we really don't find out too much about him. We don't even really hear him speak, he just plays back a recording of something Arcee said. Hopefully he's more than just a drone.
Bumblebee - more-or-less like his movie counterpart with some added bits from his Animated self. He can't talk, which is one of my few complaints about the show, especially with no explanation about why he can't speak other than via beeps and boops, which Raf can oddly understand. He surprisingly didn't get as much screen time as Arcee did, which I thought was a little odd. I'm sure he'll get his moment in the spotlight in the near future though.
Bulkhead - basically like his Animated character, but without the goofy clumsiness. All muscle it seems. Voice is similar but different. Lots of fun potential with him. Minimal screen time but enough to get a taste of him.
Cliffjumper - seems like a cool character. Not sure that they needed to bring in a Hollywood name to do his voice. His design is one of my favorites in this show. Definitely a risk taker. He was portrayed very well in IDW's Transformers Prime comic and his characterization carried over to the cartoon show.
"Transformers Prime" Production Credits:
Produced By Hasbro Studios
Executive Producers:
Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Jeff Kline are executive producers. Kurtzman and Orci served as co-writers of the feature films "Transformers," "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and "Star Trek." Kline was also executive producer of the animated series "Jackie Chan Adventures."
Main cast:
Optimus Prime - Peter Cullen
Arcee - Sumalee Montano
Ratchet - Jeffrey Combs
Bulkhead - Kevin Michael Richardson
Megatron - Frank Welker
Jack - Josh Keaton
Miko - Tania Gunadi
Raf - Andy Pessoa
Starscream - Steve Blum
Agent Fowler - Ernie Hudson
June Darby - Markie Post
Well, that's it for me for tonight. Please make sure you stop by to share your thoughts after you watch Transformers Prime. I look forward to hearing what other Seibertronians think of this show.
Hitting on all the fine points and comparisons between previous releases of the Generation 1 series cartoons, this informative review is a must read for any Seibertronian considering buying the set.
Without further ado, here's the review:
I originally set my San Diego Comic-Con 2009 budget to $300 on merchandise. Last year’s budget was around the same price so I figured it was a good number. However, on the first hour on the floor I destroyed that budget. I saw the Transformers and GI Joe boxsets for $150 and $155 respectively. A number of thoughts went through my mind as I stared at these beautiful looking DVDs.
"I can save money on shipping now and pick these up."
"I already have the Rhino sets. Hell, I just paid $140 to get Season 2 Part 2 and Season 3 Part 2/Season 4. Do I really want to double dip?"
"Where the hell am I going to put these?"
"OCD collector Supreme Convoy needs these."
"Shiny!"
The Shout employee wanders over to me and says they include a GI Joe poster and Megatron poster signed by Frank Welker with purchase at San Diego. Needless to say, I gave him my credit card immediately. Of course, I had to increase the budget during Comic-Con as the weekend went on.
On to the set ...
Video & Audio
The video quality is practically identical to the Rhino release. I couldn’t spot any differences between the two. However, Shout didn’t include the extra sound effects that Rhino made for the previous release. While this didn’t necessarily bother me, Shout does a great job on presenting what the cartoon would’ve been like during the 80’s without any artificial alterations.
The greatest improvement that Shout made is the simple menu screens. Rhino had a complicated menu screen when you wanted to pick individual episodes where you slowly had to move the cursor to start the episode. With the Shout release, all you have to do is go down a list and pick an episode.
Packaging
I absolute love how the box pulls open like the actual Matrix of Leadership. The set includes a souvenir book and magnets with the Autobot and Decepticon logos. The souvenir book is a bit misleading. It’s mostly an episode listing for the entire series; it also includes bios for characters like Optimus Prime and Megatron. These bonus items aren’t exactly a draw for me.
Though for $5 more, the GI Joe complete boxset is made of metal and plastic and includes a dogtag flashdrive with two comics on it (the comics are very brief but the flashdrive itself is pretty neat!). That set is classier looking and feels more durable. I’m concerned about damaging the cardboard Matrix box. Though there is a charm to opening the Matrix box like Rodimus Prime
Bonus Features
For me the highlight of Shout’s release are the documentaries, each running about 30 minutes:
1. Triple Changer: From Toy to Comic to Screen - The Origins of The Transformers
2. The Combiner: Forming The Transformers Animated Series
3. The Headmasters: Voicing The Robots in Disguise
4. The Autobots, The Decepticons & The Fans
5. Into the Creation Matrix: A Conversation with Bob Budiansky
The documentaries are fascinating and go into details that I don’t believe have been covered before in either the Rhino DVD’s or even Michael Bay’s Transformers bonus features. We learn things such as a Hasbro executive’s son named the toyline Transformers and created the Autobot and Decepticon fraction names. The documentary even goes into how the Marvel Comics did the heavy lifting on the Transformers back story. Bob Budiansky even presents original documents and treatments he used to create profiles such as Starscream and Megatron.
While the Rhino sets has interviews from different actors and creators, they always felt like the filmmakers took out the interview tapes and edited down to 10 minutes. It’s serviceable but doesn’t go too in depth and frankly boring to watch. Shout Factory has created compelling documentaries that are entertaining yet informative.
The most bizarre thing is that commercials for the toyline blur out the child actors. I suppose Shout could not secure the likeness rights to those children. It’s a bit distracting while watching the commercials but I’m sure you can find those easily on YouTube. (Note: I also did not realize that the faces were blurred out on Sony’s release of Transformers: The Movie).
The voice actor roundtable doesn’t include Peter Cullen but it’s still pretty fun. It’s great when the actors go on a tangent and talk about other things such as old time radio shows and the process on voice acting.
The greatest bonus materials for me? The original scripts! The DVD includes PDFs of the Transformers series bible, scripts, and and dialogue scripts. For someone who wants to know the pre-production side of a cartoon, this is an incredible look!
Of course, I love the Transformers fans documentary ... mostly because it features Seibertron.com and my screen name is featured for a few seconds
Closing Thoughts
My main focus while tearing through the boxset was to look at the brand new extras and check out the quality on the episodes. I didn’t really feel the need to review the series as a whole because most of us have seen them all. Though in my case, I still haven’t seen a handful of them so it’s a treat to watch them and feel like a kid again.
Once I’m completely through watching the series, I will be jealous of the people that have never seen the original Transformers cartoon and will watch it for the first time through this set.
Since the video and audio qualities are almost identical to the Rhino release, this would be a cautious purchase for those that already own them. I went in wanting the extras and actual Matrix box. For those who never owned the Rhino DVDs and want a better deal, I believe the individual season sets might be cheaper to purchase as opposed to the Matrix boxset. Even though I love the GI Joe box better, this packaging is still excellent and will look spectacular on a collector’s shelf amongst toys. I highly recommend the Shout's Transformers sets and the Matrix set for the hardcore fans.
Seibertron.com, your Ultimate Transformers Resource!
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.
The multi media site IGN.com has compiled a top 25 list of movie titles they think deserve a DVD update. The 1986 release of Transformers: The Movie ranked 18th on this list.
"Another childhood favorite debuted on DVD several years ago only to enjoy substandard treatment and zero extras. Extras wish list: restored picture and sound, including Spike's controversial use of the word 'sh*t'; commentary by cast and crew, including Leonard Nimoy and Frank Welker (the voice of Megatron); concept art; advertising and commercials, including for the toys; music video for "The Touch;" Easter Egg of Dirk Diggler singing "The Touch".
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