Bionicle: The Legend Reborn Pre-release talkback

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I didn't see a thread for this, and it seemed to be the right forum.

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Release: September 15, 2009​


This will be the 4th Bionicle film, and will be Direct-to-DVD. It is being produced by Tinseltown Studios, and is set to be released on September 15th.

The only known cast is Michael Dorn as Mata Nui and James Arnold Taylor as Berix.
 
For those not in the know:

Last time, On Bionicle: (MASSIVE SPOILERS)

Through a gigantic Xanatos Gambit involving dozens of people and backup plans as well as thousands of years, Makuta has effectively become the new god of the matoran universe, dethroning his Brother Mata Nui, and sealing his soul into the Mask of Life(As both were made by the Great Beings, the Protheans of the bionicle universe, makuta would not dare destroy them).

It was revealed that the matoran universe is actually a planet sized andriod, the true form of Mata Nui.

He was created to explore the universe, and as far as we know, find planets for colonization by the great beings, since their own planet, Spherus magna, is literally breaking apart at the seams due to centuries of warfare over Protodermis(plhebonium).

the online stories one can read at bioniclestory.com detail many of the adventures had by the bionicle gang between the time of the 3rd movie and this one, adding the series of Bionicle Legends books from scholastic, the story can be read in its entirety.

This brings us to bara Magna, the planet which mata nui(trapped in the mask of life, which is on the cover) has landed on which has its own share of heroes and villains already in the midst of a war.

Now Mata Nui has to create a new body for himself, gather an army, and build/get a spacecraft/fleet large and powerful enough to reclaim his throne and destroy his brother makuta.

However, the matoran, after learning the purpose of their entire lives, culture, and races is essentially "nanotech management" of Mata-Nui's functionality, may not want to exactly go back to how things were.
 
The Bionicle universe is highly fleshed out, though I'm personally turning away from that stuff (a keen interest in things like Gundam and Transformers mixed with too much free time via unemployment will do that). It'll be interesting to see how this goes over, since it's basically a soft retcon for the series- the past decade of continuity is still valid, but they're involving another level of the mythology where they can effectively start from scratch. Hopefully it's a bit less hokey than the previous films. I know LEGO are big on using the story to push decent values, but the previous trilogy often hurt itself by all sentimentality.
 
OH yeah, the movies are legendary for that in the fandom.

To this credit, I recommend the book series. Greg Farshtey, the Simon Furman of Bionicle, tried his best to make the movie material in the novelizations more to the tone of the book series, i.e. far less hokey and preachy.
 
I know my brother will be highly anticipating this. He happens to be a BIG fan of Bionicle... which can at times be a bit annoying since that's ALL he talks about. T_T

I really have no specific opinions on the movies except that a lot of them are really... well, corny. XD
 
I am a fan of bionicle as well, and fully agree. The movies DESTROY the real charachters in the books.

For example, you'd never know from jsut the movies that Vakama used the stability of Timespace as a bargaining chip with makuta to leave the matoran alone and not directly interfere with them on the island of mata-nui. It's because of him that Makuta didn`t just sic his army of Rahkshi on the amnesiac matoran in when they reached the island.
 
And I found that some of the voice acting was... weirdly cast. o.o I don't know, the tone of the comics just seemed far different.
 
Ah, Bionicle. I used to be really into it until they got to the second(?) arc that took place in the past where they said one of the villagers was a traitor. Story just kept getting more and more complicated.

Nice to see it's still going, though.
 
I think the movies have a clear learning curve, though that can only work around LEGO's mandate so far. I don't expect something produced by them to be dark and gritty, but the movies do seem to suffer from being like any other CGI kids production, seemingly made so parents can stick this on for 2 hours and know kids will be fine. The finale of the first one is especially cheesey...the big bad Makuta challenges our hero to a game of spot? I know kohli is a big part of the setting, but as a final battle it's just weak. Web of Shadows is helped by going to some darker places, such as Vakama's brief betrayal.
 
My brother and I were talking about this the other day. He is a big fan, though he thought the older movies were bad but he hopes this one is better due to direct involement with the book writer.

He told me about Michael Dorn being cast but didn't know who he was. So, I properly introduced him to Worf :D with a Star Trek:TNG marathon. Sadly, my brother is not a trekkie:sad:.

But for a toy line the story is surprisingly deep. I gotta give kudos Greg Farshtey, he does really good stories for what he has got to work with. Though to its credit the idea of combining Lego's constructibity with the action figure concept, especially articulation, was sheer brilliance. I could only imagine such a thing when I was growing up.

By the way , Rho, here is another voice actor for your list. James Arnold Taylor, ie Clone Wars Obi-Wan, from an interview a few months ago. http://www.legionsofgotham.org/TOONSbraveBTStaylorinterview.html
 
For a toyline Bionicle has this amazing complex universe, and there are actually some really great stories in there. Greg Farshtey is just a fantastic writer for this kind of thing. It was especially visible last year, how they've been able to incorporate so many characters in the mythology and weave and interconnect them together all with their own arcs. It's just really well done and there's a lot of meat to the whole thing. I've never bought the sets or anything (I think I was about 11 or 12 when it started) but I have followed the story and it's never really let me down.

The movies have been the weakest and hokiest representation of the franchise so far, but this movie is being done by a different company and everything so I'll definitely take a crack at it.
 
Interesting.. we're getting some more "big-name" voice actors..

(If your brother ever watched Cow+Chicken, Dalgrod, then tell him that Michael Dorn also played Weasel on the I am Weasel segment.)


I just wonder who James Arnold Taylor will play...


A few voice actors I'd like to see are Wendee Lee (Kiva in Megas XLR) as Kiina, David Gasman (William Dunbar, Jim Morales, and XANA, plus various other roles in Code Lyoko) as Berix, and Joe Pesci as Skrall. (Yeah, Joe Pesci isn't likely.)
 
He already knew the voice of Micheal Dorn but didn't know that he was Worf. Regardless of that, I still curious about the other voice actors. My brother and I agreed that after Beast Machines, the other two Bionicle movies, and Battlestar Galactica (which I haven't allowed him to watch yet) that Alessandro Juliani should definitly be on the human side of a robot vs. human fight:). My sister says a good dub actor, something about Death Note.
 
How about fancasting?

Mata Nui: Michael Dorn (confirmed)
Berix: James Arnold Taylor (confirmed)
Kiina: Wendee Lee
Gresh: Phil LaMarr
Skrall: Joe Pesci
Raanu: David Gasman
Tuma: Cle Bennett
Strakk: Samuel Jackson or Michael Dobson
Ackar: Bruce Campbell
Metus: Billy Mays
Tarix: Paul Bandey
Vorox: Frank Welker
Vastus: David DeLuise
 
Well, a partial cast list has been revealed. At least four have not been revealed, however.

Michael Dorn - Mata Nui
Jim Cummings - Ackar
Marla Sokoloff - Kiina
David Leisure - Metus
James Arnold Taylor - Berix
Mark Famiglietti - Gresh
Armin Shimerman - Raanu
Fred Tatasciore - Tuma
Jeff Glen Bennett - Strakk
 
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