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Revision as of 04:32, 31 May 2006
| The Transformers: The Movie | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Nelson Shin |
| Written by | Ron Friedman |
| Produced by | Joe Bacal |
| Starring | Judd Nelson Orson Welles Leonard Nimoy Robert Stack |
Release dates | August 8, 1986 |
Running time | 84 min. |
| Language | English |
The Transformers: The Movie is an animated feature film based on the popular television series The Transformers. It was released in North America on August 8 1986, and in Japan on August 9 1989 (although early promotional materials titled Transformers the Movie: Apocalypse! Matrix Forever [1] had promised a Summer 1987 Japanese release).
The film was directed by Nelson Shin, who produced the original Transformers television series, and features the voices of Eric Idle, Judd Nelson, Orson Welles (in his final role), Leonard Nimoy, Casey Kasem, Robert Stack, John Moschitta, Peter Cullen, and Frank Welker.
The story takes place 20 years subsequent to events of the TV series' second season and serves to bridge into the third season. Set to a hard-driving rock music soundtrack, the movie has a decidedly darker tone than the television series, with visuals running closer to Japanese animé styling, and Decepticon villains are more menacing, killing without hesitation. The film features several grand battles in which a handful of major characters meet their end. The film’s tagline was: "Beyond Good. Beyond Evil. Beyond Your Wildest Imagination."
Synopsis
Somewhere in the cosmic night, metal facets gleam darkly by roiling starfire as a space-roaming artificial planet called Unicron emerges from parts unknown, unstoppable in its path, grinding an entire doomed world to shrapnel within its terrifying maw to feed an unrelenting appetite for energy...
The year is 2005. The evil Decepticons control the Transformers' homeworld of Cybertron. At a secret refuge on one of the planet's moons, the Autobots ready themselves for an offensive strike against their Decepticon foes, preparing a supply shuttle for launch to Earth while keeping close correspondence with Bumblebee and their human friend, Spike, stationed on a second moon base. Their transmission is intercepted by the Decepticons, who soon move to brutally ambush the shuttle en route to Earth, killing its crew, intending to use the ship to infiltrate Autobot City undetected.
On Earth, Spike's son, Daniel, and a spirited young Autobot named Hot Rod race to greet the homecoming craft, noticing its damaged exterior from afar and spotting Decepticons aboard prior to its landing. The Decepticon raiders descend for the attack as Autobot City transforms itself to defensive mode, but the outnumbered Autobots fare poorly against the swarming enemy, radioing for assistance from Optimus Prime back at Cybertron's moon base even while the Constructicon giant, Devastator, effects his namesake by laying siege to much of the Autobot stronghold amid mounting casualties.
As dawn breaks over the ravaged city, Optimus Prime and the Dinobot cavalry arrive at last to successfully repel the Decepticon invaders. Optimus faces down Megatron in a final battle that leaves both combatants mortally wounded. The expelled Decepticons retreat with Megatron and their other war-wounded loaded aboard Astrotrain for transport back to Cybertron.
Later, laying in critical condition in the company of saddened friends and sensing his imminent end, Optimus Prime calls on a trusted compatriot, Ultra Magnus, to assume the mantle of command as bestowed with the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, a metal-shelled radiating orb that Optimus extracts from the heart of his chassis before slipping coldly into death.
Elsewhere, shortage of fuel in the spacefaring Astrotrain prompts the Decepticons to eject the dead weight of their injured — including the protesting Megatron — leaving the remaining Decepticons to bicker among themselves for group supremacy.
Drifting aimlessly in the abyss of space, the discarded Decepticon castoffs are met by the bellowing voice of Unicron, who offers to repair their broken bodies on condition that they find Ultra Magnus and destroy the threat of the Matrix of Leadership. Tortured into accepting, Megatron is remade as Galvatron, with his underlings fashioned anew into Cyclonus, Scourge and a host of Sweeps. Unicron also provides them a craft with which they shortly return to Cybertron to rally the other Decepticons, and Galvatron puts a conclusive end to Starscream's untenable disloyalty.
The Autobots on Earth are alerted as Unicron consumes Cybertron's two moons — and Jazz, Cliffjumper, Bumblebee and Spike along with them. Galvatron is ordered to Earth, leading the Decepticons in another assault on the decimated Autobot City, where the beleaguered Autobots are split into two parties, fleeing for Cybertron aboard twin shuttles. Hot Rod, Kup and the Dinobots are shot down over the planet Quintessa, while Ultra Magnus and company use a decoy manoeuvre to evade their Decepticon pursuers, setting down on the planet of Junk for repairs.
Captured by Quintessa guardsmen, Hot Rod and Kup are subjected to a twisted trial by Quintesson executioners, rescued only by the arrival of the Dinobots, who shortly convince the Sharkticon guards to rebel against their Quintesson oppressors. With help from the Dinobots' new ally, Wheelie, the group locate a ship and depart for the planet of Junk.
Meanwhile, the Autobots sidelined on Junk are found out and hunted by Galvatron, who blasts Ultra Magnus to pieces before stealing away with the Matrix. The remaining Autobots are harassed by hostile Junkion natives, led by Wreck-Gar, until Hot Rod's party touches down to befriend them. The new Junkion allies are able to restore Ultra Magnus to working order and volunteer a vessel to join the fight against Unicron.
With renewed defiance, Galvatron attempts to subjugate Unicron using the Matrix but discovers he is unable to activate its power. Unicron transforms into a planet-sized robot and swallows Galvatron whole before turning his attention violently to Cybertron. Decepticon defenders scramble to counter his wrath even as the Autobot team reaches the scene, crashing their ship through the giant's eye, soon finding themselves separated within the bowels of the world-devouring monster.
Inside, Daniel locates his father and other Autobot captives, narrowly saving them from an acid digestion vat. Elsewhere, Hot Rod meets Galvatron in single combat: locked in Galvatron's stranglehold, Hot Rod manages to secure his grip on the Matrix, awakening its power to be reborn as Rodimus Prime, casting Galvatron aside with ease and unleashing an energy tempest from within the Matrix that tears away at Unicron's mechanized innards. The Autobots race to escape as Unicron is destroyed in a climactic explosion.
Regrouping on Cybertron, the victorious Autobots declare the beginning of a new age of peace. Above, the decapitated head of Unicron swings into orbit to become the planet's ominous new satellite.
Cast
| A c t o r | R o l e | |
| Michael Bell | Prowl, Scrapper, Swoop, Junkion, Bombshell (voice) | |
| Gregg Berger | Grimlock (voice) | |
| Susan Blu | Arcee (voice) | |
| Corey Burton | Spike, Brawn, Shockwave (voice) | |
| Roger C. Carmel | Cyclonus, Quintesson Leader (voice) | |
| Victor Caroli | Narrator (voice) | |
| Scatman Crothers | Jazz (voice) | |
| Peter Cullen | Optimus Prime, Ironhide (voice) | |
| Paul Eiding | Perceptor (voice) | |
| Dan Gilvezan | Bumblebee (voice) | |
| Eric Idle | Wreck-Gar (voice) | |
| Stan Jones | Scourge (voice) | |
| Chris Latta | Starscream, Wheeljack (voice) | |
| David Mendenhall | Daniel (voice) | |
| John Moschitta | Blurr (voice) | |
| Judd Nelson | Hot Rod, Rodimus Prime (voice) | |
| Leonard Nimoy | Galvatron (voice) | |
| Neil Ross | Bonecrusher, Hook, Springer, Slag (voice) | |
| Robert Stack | Ultra Magnus (voice) | |
| Lionel Stander | Kup (voice) | |
| Frank Welker | Megatron, Soundwave, Rumble, Frenzy, Laserbeak, Wheelie, Junkion (voice) | |
| Orson Welles | Unicron (voice) |
New Characters
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Autobots
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Decepticons |
Other
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Movie Casualties
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Autobots
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Decepticons
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Continuity Problems
Autobot Deaths
In the season three episode Dark Awakening, Huffer is listed among the war fatalities, yet his death was not depicted in the movie itself. Huffer was last seen helping to reposition a road barricade which Hot Rod plows through while racing to Autobot City. From within the city, as Arcee watches Hot Rod approach, she expresses concern that if he doesn’t arrive before the city transforms to defensive mode, he’ll be trapped outside to face the attacking Decepticons; by Hot Rod's hurried arrival, it may be assumed that Huffer, left vulnerable outside, became a casualty of Decepticon fire.
The characters Prowl and Wheeljack, who died in the movie, later made appearances in the Japanese series Transformers: Headmasters and Transformers: Victory, respectively. Prowl’s appearance, at least, can be considered an animation error — even in the Japanese dub of Dark Awakening, he is listed among the dead. Wheeljack's posthumous presence is harder to explain since he plays an important role in his brief Victory appearance, assisting Perceptor in rebuilding God Ginrai into Victory Leo, although it is worth noting that his personality is different and he is voiced by a different actor. The movie's late arrival in Japan is often blamed for these glitches since the Japanese animators and writers may consequently not have had full knowledge of still-active characters; in Wheeljack's case, this may have been compounded by the fact that the movie's original storyboards featured Smokescreen's dead body in place of Wheeljack's, while Wheeljack was portrayed alive and well in other scenes. These instances have contributed to the popular rumor that the movie is not part of Japanese continuity, but this is entirely untrue.
Additionally, the movie's storyboards include sequences depicting the death of Red Alert, shot in the back by Scavenger (in a scene that also features Tracks and Sideswipe, who also do not appear in the finished movie), Trailbreaker's corpse, and a potentially fatal attack by Megatron on Mirage.
Brawn’s death is disputed among fans: although one of the strongest Autobots, in the movie, he is rapidly dispensed by a single piercing shot to the shoulder. An appearance in the post-movie episode Carnage in C-Minor has inspired ongoing debate as to whether the character is truly dead: the episode shows Brawn, a miscoloured Huffer and Bonecrusher fighting together against a weapon built by Galvatron.
The movie's depiction of characters falling so readily to laser blasts is inconsistent with the resilience they exhibit in the television series, where Transformers are often shown to sustain multiple shots without consequence. Moreover, where Prime and Brawn are felled by only a scattering of shots, Ultra Magnus is seen literally blown to pieces and then repaired to mint condition in short order.
Decepticon "Reformatting" Questions
It is unclear exactly which Decepticons become which characters when Unicron rebuilds them. The script does not specify by name and the animation is open to some interpretation: Thundercracker is shown becoming Scourge (the only uncontested transformation), with Kickback and Shrapnel remade as Sweeps, while Bombshell and Skywarp seem to become dual Cyclonus figures. (The two jets later appear in a crowd scene at Starscream's coronation, but this is disregarded as an animation error.)
While Bombshell stands dominant in foreground frame of the scene, Unicron refers to the pair as "Cyclonus and his armada" — a dialogue carry-over from the original script in which Cyclonus was to have multiples, an idea that was abandoned after this scene, as the second Cyclonus seemingly vanishes to be replaced by a third Sweep. (The only instance of multiple Cyclonus figures appearing afterwards was in the episode Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5.) Profiles included in the R2 and R4 DVD releases of the movie claim that Cyclonus is Skywarp, but said material was written by fans and cannot be taken as canon.
Further confusion arises regarding the role of the Insecticons: despite their apparent reformatting by Unicron, the characters continue to make appearances in a small number of post-movie episodes, and Shrapnel even appears later in the movie itself as designated by the script. This has led to speculation that the figure transformed by Unicron may have been a duplicate given that the Insecticons are known to possess a cloning ability (...although more likely, this was a simple production oversight). Throughout the third season, the number of Sweeps increases without explanation, perhaps suggesting that the reformatted Insecticon characters retained their cloning talent.
Another debate concerns how much of Megatron's original personality is retained by Galvatron. Before his insanity sets in, Galvatron is not especially dissimilar to Megatron and has memory of Starscream's betrayal; yet Galvatron habitually refers to Megatron in the third person: "I shall crush you just as Megatron crushed Prime!" In the Five Faces of Darkness story arc, Cyclonus is adamant in making a distinction between Galvatron and Megatron, whereas Astrotrain more plainly regards them as one and the same. Likewise, Optimus Prime does not differentiate when returning at the close of the third season, claiming to "know Galvatron only too well," despite having had only one past encounter with him (under Quintesson control in a zombified state, no less).
In the Marvel Comics series, meanwhile, Galvatron is shown to possess memories of his time as Megatron but behaves markedly different in all other respects. Galvatron's insanity in the comics is declared to be not of his own making, instead created as a result of Megatron's irrepressible madness boiling up from the tiny remaining kernel of his being. In an attempt to purge himself of this internal conflict, Galvatron initially seeks to destroy Megatron but later comes to realize that their coexisting personalities are inextricably connected.
Critical response
The film brought in only $5,849,647 (USD) in ticket sales, including domestic box office numbers. It was not considered a success, leading Hasbro to withhold the theatrical release of its anticipated G.I. Joe: The Movie (instead released directly to video) while other projects in planning, like the Jem and the Holograms feature, were discontinued.
The film was received poorly by critics, garnering the lowest possible rating in popular reference catalogues (such as Mick Martin & Marsha Porter’s Video Movie Guide, and Leonard Maltin’s guide), and was criticized for espoused grief it caused younger viewers with its dark tone and the death of favorite characters like Optimus Prime. However, it has since accumulated something of a cult following both within and outside Transformers fandom, and in 2005, was named one of the top ten best animated movies in a list provided by IGN. Several animation critics now applaud the gritty realism of the war concept in the movie.
David Mendenhall, who played Daniel, was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Exceptional Young Actors in Animation — Series, Specials or Feature Film.
Notes
- This was Orson Welles’ last film. Rumours have claimed that he died on set before all his dialogue could be recorded, leaving Leonard Nimoy as a replacement for the final few lines, but voice director Wally Burr refutes the claim, later confirmed by Susan Blu, who voiced Arcee in the movie. (This was not, however, Welles’ last film in order of release; Henry Jaglom’s Valentine’s Day, containing footage of Welles, was released a year later.)
- Welles hated the film. Shortly before he died, he told his biographer, Barbara Leaming, that he had spent the day "playing a toy" in a movie about toys who "do horrible things to each other." He could not remember the name of the film and referred to it as a movie about a line of toys from Japan.
- During the scene where Unicron engulfs Moonbase One, Spike worriedly exclaims, "Oh, shit! What are we gonna do now?" This line has been removed on most subsequent releases, and was sometimes considered an urban legend. It was restored on the 2002 DVD release by Rhino Entertaiment and 2001 release by Maverick Entertainment.
- The UK version of the film features Star Wars-esque scrolling text and narration at the beginning of the film replacing the cast credits, and an additional closing narration assuring viewers that "Optimus Prime will return." The Japanese version of the movie also includes these additions, as well as featuring each character's name briefly at the bottom the screen when they first appear, a typical practice in Japanese cinema.
- The credits list several characters that either did not appear, or did not speak, in the finished film — namely Prowl, Gears, Inferno and Dirge. Most of these lines can be seen in the original script (save Inferno’s), but it is unknown if they survived to the animation stage.
- Originally co-produced by Dino de Laurentiis’s company, the film's opening logos featured the insignia for De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG). This logo does not appear in the Rhino DVD version, which instead begins with the Sunbow and Marvel logos that had originally followed the De Laurentiis logo.
- Many second-season characters do not appear in the movie. It has often been claimed that they did not exist, or that their animation models had not been completed, at the time the movie was scripted. While this may be true for the Aerialbots, Stunticons, and other combiners, it is certainly not true for the majority of Autobots absent from the film, since all the second-season Decepticons are present and the film's storyboards indicate deleted appearances of some missing Autobots, such as Tracks and Red Alert.
- The movie was being produced by Sunbow/Marvel simultaneous to G.I. Joe: The Movie. The writers of the G.I. Joe film asked for permission from Hasbro to kill a character, Duke. To their surprise, Hasbro not only approved the request but "insisted" that the writers of Transformers: The Movie adopt the same fate for Optimus Prime. [1] However, Optimus Prime's death sparked some controversy which later caused the writers to make changes so that Duke simply ended up in a coma. [2]
- A Unicron toy was designed but the prototype was poorly received by test audiences. A Unicron toy would not be released to the general public until 2004, under the Transformers: Armada toyline.
- There is no true widescreen version of Transformers: The Movie. Animation cels acquired by collectors substantiate that the film was animated in 4:3 "full-screen" format, which was then vertically cropped to widescreen dimensions for theatrical showings. This practice was frequent with animated films during the 70s and 80s, including those from Disney.
- The song “The Touch” was later covered in the film Boogie Nights.
- Although the cartoon and comic book stories by Marvel Comics were normally kept unrelated, the movie linked the two in the UK comic series, where it was portrayed as the eventual future of the comic's timeline. The direction the comic took afterwards pertaining to the origin of Unicron once again diverged from events depicted in the cartoon: a disruption to the fabric of spacetime caused by actions of Galvatron was explained to have altered the timeline, with the "movie future" becoming an alternate potential chronology for the comics, while a story in the U.S. title saw Unicron attacking Cybertron and being destroyed in the present day.
- The design of the Matrix was inspired by a thermonuclear bomb.[3]
Commercial releases
On September 5, 2005, Metrodome Distribution released a remastered DVD entitled Transformers: The Movie Reconstructed. Returning to the original negative of the film, Metrodome have reconstructed the picture image, adjusting and shrinking it to reveal the additional footage perpetually hidden by overscan, as well as remastering the video quality. Some complaint arose from the fact that this exposed areas of unfinished animation (as these parts of the frame were not truly intended to be seen). This negative publicity was worsened by Magno Sound’s 5.1 audio remix, which, like those done for the Transformers season boxsets, contained many new sounds not in the original version, and Magno’s subsequent untrue claims that they had always been present. Notably, the DVD also included the first subtitled episode of the Japanese-exclusive series, Transformers: Headmasters, which is being released in a DVD boxset in its entirety for the first time anywhere in the west (UK) on September 26 2005.
The film was also released on DVD by Rhino Entertainment in North America and Maverick in the UK, both in 2001. Metrodome had previously licensed out The Movie to Prism Leisure to release a budget version in June 2003. Metrodome also have plans to release a 20th Anniversary Edition in 2006.
Soundtracks
In 1987, the official soundtrack was released in the USA.
Track listing:
- “The Touch” (Performed by Stan Bush) (Produced by Richie Wise)
- “Instruments of Destruction” (Performed by N.R.G.) Template:Fn (Produced by Ernie Burns)
- “The Death of Optimus Prime” (Performed by Vince DiCola) (Produced by Vince DiCola and Ed Fruge)
- “Dare” (Performed by Stan Bush)
- “Nothin’s Gonna Stand in Our Way” (Performed by Spectre General) Template:Fn
- “The Transformers (Theme)” (Performed by Lion) (Produced by Richie Wise) Template:Fn
- “Escape” (Performed by Vince DiCola) (Produced by Vince DiCola and Ed Fruge)
- “Hunger” (Performed By Spectre General) Template:Fn
- “Autobot/Decepticon Battle” (Performed by Vince DiCola) (Produced by Vince DiCola and Ed Fruge)
- “Dare to Be Stupid” (Performed by “Weird Al” Yankovic)
In 1997, 3H Enterprises released an album titled ’Til All Are One, which features the score of the film. It was released on two CDs. In 2001, 3H also released Lighting Their Darkest Hour, which featured the instrumental score; The Protoform Sessions, featuring early demos, outtakes, and alternate themes linked with narration by original composer Vince Dicola; and Artistic Transformations, featuring ten instrumental themes from the movie interpretted for solo piano.
- Template:Fnb "Spectre General" was credited on the soundtrack album under its original name, Kick Axe. The producers of the film thought the name "Kick Axe" sounded "too threatening," so they listed them as "Spectre General" instead. The band was not notified about the change.
- Template:Fnb The original recorded version of Instruments of Destruction had slightly different lyrics than the one that ended up being used. The words "foreplay", "torture", and "seduction" were deemed offensive and were replaced with "fortune", "torment" and "eruption" respectively. Power-metal band N.R.G. has since been reborn as Damn Cheetah, with a first album release titled 'Primal.
- Template:Fnb Unicron is mispronounced "Unicorn" in the theme song.
External links
- The Transformers: The Movie fan site
- Template:Bcdb
- Transformers: The Movie at IMDb
- Transformers Movie Mistakes Database
- Hundreds of Transformers Movie screen captures
- Storyboards from Transformers The Movie not included on the DVD