Transformers the Movie - Transforms from questionable motion picture to rose tinted nostalgia and back!
http://www.rabroad.net/blog/blogs/3...on-picture-to-rose-tinted-nostalgia-and-back/
Blog Talkback: Transformers the Movie - Transforms from questionable motion picture to rose tinted nostalgia and back!
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Transformers the Movie - Transforms from questionable motion picture to rose tinted nostalgia and back!
http://www.rabroad.net/blog/blogs/3...on-picture-to-rose-tinted-nostalgia-and-back/
anitasdame
New member
I'm don't know if I'm in the miniority or what. When it comes to the original Transformers movie, I still love everything about it, even 25 years after it was created. And I think that I'm able to be pretty objective about it. I'll watch episodes of the original Transformers series, and I don't think that it's necessarily the greatest thing ever created. There are episodes that I find myself just completely unable to sit through. But when it comes to the movie, I find it to be just absolutely spectaclar.
I love everything about the movie. I think it had an outstand vocal cast, with some great celebrities providing their voices for the movie. I think that the animation is wonderful, better than any episode featured in the series. Finally, I think that the story is terrific as well. I just fail to see where people find faults in the movie. I mean granted, there's some errors in the movie. But for me at least, they don't take away anything from the movie.
I love everything about the movie. I think it had an outstand vocal cast, with some great celebrities providing their voices for the movie. I think that the animation is wonderful, better than any episode featured in the series. Finally, I think that the story is terrific as well. I just fail to see where people find faults in the movie. I mean granted, there's some errors in the movie. But for me at least, they don't take away anything from the movie.
I for one have long since felt the G1 series to be highly over rated. Sure i liked it as a kid but it doesn't really hold up. Frankly I feel like Beast Wars and Animated to both be better series . Transformers prime though still needs some work.
As for the bay movies. Its not a bad thing for transformers to become mainstream; the problem is that is them becoming mainstream for all the wrong reasons. The bay films are largely popular for the mere action spectacular; lots of high end CGI and special effects and watching giant robots fight. They don't care about characters, story, or writing, just the fighting. Hell the movies even have trouble remembering who the main characters are supposed to be and instead focus on an utterly unlikable human.
When it comes to fans of certain genres and franchises we would love for them to become more mainstream. But we want them to become mainstream for similar reasons we came to love it. In a sense its less like their are more fans being added to the genre and more like the genre compromised itself to appeal to a different audience
Frankly i think a good adaption does not need to be 100% faithful, but it needs to remain true to the spirit of its source. Take for instance Lord of the Rings... sure some fans of the book attack the film for not being 100% faithful, but the films in of themselves were very well put together and written well. Many fans of the films went on to read the books. In essence though they may not have been 100% faithful they generated a genuine interest in Tolkien's works. I don't see Bay's transformers films doing the same. People like those films for high action and high end CGI; something that tv shows, comics and what not can't match
As for the bay movies. Its not a bad thing for transformers to become mainstream; the problem is that is them becoming mainstream for all the wrong reasons. The bay films are largely popular for the mere action spectacular; lots of high end CGI and special effects and watching giant robots fight. They don't care about characters, story, or writing, just the fighting. Hell the movies even have trouble remembering who the main characters are supposed to be and instead focus on an utterly unlikable human.
When it comes to fans of certain genres and franchises we would love for them to become more mainstream. But we want them to become mainstream for similar reasons we came to love it. In a sense its less like their are more fans being added to the genre and more like the genre compromised itself to appeal to a different audience
Frankly i think a good adaption does not need to be 100% faithful, but it needs to remain true to the spirit of its source. Take for instance Lord of the Rings... sure some fans of the book attack the film for not being 100% faithful, but the films in of themselves were very well put together and written well. Many fans of the films went on to read the books. In essence though they may not have been 100% faithful they generated a genuine interest in Tolkien's works. I don't see Bay's transformers films doing the same. People like those films for high action and high end CGI; something that tv shows, comics and what not can't match
Turkish Guy With A Turban
New member
I'm only a very recent Transformers fan, so I didn't grow up with this movie. I only caught this film a few months back. My feelings for this flick was that it left me with a big smile. Not because it had quality - Lord, no. The movie is cheesy, bad, and has the usual 80s straightforward good and evil plot. Rodimus is the only character who has any sense of character development while the others are just one-notes with their own gimmick, Daniel is about as useless as a "squishy human" can be, at one point the Autobots just get up and dance for no reason with the Junkions, and those rock ballads are as corny as they are awesome.
And you know? I kinda sorta like it. I mean, I know it's not a masterpiece, it will never be one, and it's laughable on how ridiculous the film is, but I think this is just one of those things where I try not to think of a deeper plot than what we got. It set out to do what it wanted to do: advertise more toys. Whether they did a good job of it or not is something I am not yet qualify to judge (I'm still watching all the G1 episodes - don't blame me, this thing had close to a 100 episodes!) It has its epic moments and goodie for it, but I appreciate it purely because it makes me feel like a kid. And I think that alone is worth the purchase on DVD (if I can find a cheap copy, being out-of-print makes it harder to find it. >
And you know? I kinda sorta like it. I mean, I know it's not a masterpiece, it will never be one, and it's laughable on how ridiculous the film is, but I think this is just one of those things where I try not to think of a deeper plot than what we got. It set out to do what it wanted to do: advertise more toys. Whether they did a good job of it or not is something I am not yet qualify to judge (I'm still watching all the G1 episodes - don't blame me, this thing had close to a 100 episodes!) It has its epic moments and goodie for it, but I appreciate it purely because it makes me feel like a kid. And I think that alone is worth the purchase on DVD (if I can find a cheap copy, being out-of-print makes it harder to find it. >
One thing I want to make clear is that I'm not trashing the movie. With this and the shorter piece on the live action ones, I was aiming to address what I see as two extremes of audience reaction and people making excuses. So with this one, I was firmly targetting the 'G1 is best because it was the first!' crowd. I do think some of the criticisms I listed hold true, but generally I myself was speaking from a slightly extreme end of the scale in writing it. It's certainly got more charm for me then most toy based movies I could think of.
I have mixed feeling when it comes to the 1986 Transformers movie. I was 10 when I saw it in theaters (so I was actually dead center in the target demographic) and remember being shocked by the death and destruction taking place on screen. Being that it was so different in tone from the TV show, I can honestly say it was not what I expected.
I wouldn't see the the film again until about 1997 when I picked up a VHS copy from the Pittsburgh Comic Book convention. Then 21 years old I was actually really impressed with the movie after watching it. Not because of the aforementioned death and destruction though, but because the movie featured some of the best traditional animation you will see from that time. Though Akira would come soon after, Transformers has some of the most detailed and ambitious animation from that decade. True the story has many problems (most of which are well detailed in this blog post) but some part of me still finds the artistry of this film so enjoyable that ultimately I have to admit I like the movie (strangely enough I find the stories behind Bay's live-action Transformers films so deplorable, I hate the movies despite his impressive special effects, go figure).
I wouldn't see the the film again until about 1997 when I picked up a VHS copy from the Pittsburgh Comic Book convention. Then 21 years old I was actually really impressed with the movie after watching it. Not because of the aforementioned death and destruction though, but because the movie featured some of the best traditional animation you will see from that time. Though Akira would come soon after, Transformers has some of the most detailed and ambitious animation from that decade. True the story has many problems (most of which are well detailed in this blog post) but some part of me still finds the artistry of this film so enjoyable that ultimately I have to admit I like the movie (strangely enough I find the stories behind Bay's live-action Transformers films so deplorable, I hate the movies despite his impressive special effects, go figure).
IWannaGoHome
New member
I would suggest that bringing Optimus Prime back from the dead is basically tantamount to an admission that they screwed up and went a bit overkill with the movie. I think they definitely underestimated just what they had built. To an extent at least it's a shame, because if they'd been more moderate about it maybe there wouldn't have been the backlash that caused Duke to not die in G.I. Joe the Movie.
I think what the movie does merit credit for is expanding Transformers. Some fans might worship all things G1, but the truth of it is that the movie expanded it from a goofy and at times very poor 80s cartoon to suddenly be this sweeping--albeit undeniably goofy--sci-fi epic where Cybertron is at stake and the enemy is the closest thing the Transformers seem to have to the devil. It might be silly but it's also ambitious relative to the cartoon and to the 80s. The idea that it's the holy grail of transformers is treated with rightful skepticism, though. I'd be more comfy calling it a seminal event.
Despite the likes of "Dare To be Stupid" I'd still watch the movie instead of RotF and probably the third movie. Not because they're too mainstream but because how Bay chose to portray things just doesn't take with me. I used to worry that the trilogy would set a new standard for Transformers, but not so much now. I think that if they were going to have a decisively negative and/or shallow impact that would have occurred with Transformers Prime, but it hasn't. TF cartoons are going to be just fine.
I think what the movie does merit credit for is expanding Transformers. Some fans might worship all things G1, but the truth of it is that the movie expanded it from a goofy and at times very poor 80s cartoon to suddenly be this sweeping--albeit undeniably goofy--sci-fi epic where Cybertron is at stake and the enemy is the closest thing the Transformers seem to have to the devil. It might be silly but it's also ambitious relative to the cartoon and to the 80s. The idea that it's the holy grail of transformers is treated with rightful skepticism, though. I'd be more comfy calling it a seminal event.
Despite the likes of "Dare To be Stupid" I'd still watch the movie instead of RotF and probably the third movie. Not because they're too mainstream but because how Bay chose to portray things just doesn't take with me. I used to worry that the trilogy would set a new standard for Transformers, but not so much now. I think that if they were going to have a decisively negative and/or shallow impact that would have occurred with Transformers Prime, but it hasn't. TF cartoons are going to be just fine.
Transformers The Movie was odd for me, as I didn't really love it until I revisited it in college, so I don't really know if it counts as nostalgia. When I was a kid, all that really stuck out to me was Optimus and a bunch of my favorites dying while my surviving favorites like Bumblebee were pushed aside for Hot Rod and Co. I still enjoyed it but due to the downsides, it sort of got lost in my mental shuffle of awesome animated memories. As I rewatched it in college, it really started clicking with me for the first time. All of the fun hair metal, bombastic action scenes and the general insanity of the whole thing just made it a really enjoyable experience for me. I can barely even watch most episodes of the original series at this point but I can pretty much pop in the movie anytime (it does help a little more if I already picked up some chinese).
I'll say this: it still has, to me, the single best fight between Optimus and Megatron in the entire franchise.
Admittedly, when I saw it as a kid, I didn't really watch all that much of G1, so the deaths of the characters didn't affect me that much, even Optimus, who's one major scene is just so awesome.
Now, the weird thing is, I saw it years later and hated it. But for whatever reason, I saw it again a few years after that and it became my favorite animated action movie ever. I just love all the set pieces, the dynamic transformations, the soundtrack. Even Daniel and Wheelie didn't bother me that much. Though even as a kid, Hot Rod was more my perspective character than Daniel.
I guess that's the thing about it compared to the Bay films for me: the Bay films are more or less standard alien invasion films with the twist that some of the aliens are heroes. This...I honestly can't think of anything like it.
Though I really, really love Animated, too.
Admittedly, when I saw it as a kid, I didn't really watch all that much of G1, so the deaths of the characters didn't affect me that much, even Optimus, who's one major scene is just so awesome.
Now, the weird thing is, I saw it years later and hated it. But for whatever reason, I saw it again a few years after that and it became my favorite animated action movie ever. I just love all the set pieces, the dynamic transformations, the soundtrack. Even Daniel and Wheelie didn't bother me that much. Though even as a kid, Hot Rod was more my perspective character than Daniel.
I guess that's the thing about it compared to the Bay films for me: the Bay films are more or less standard alien invasion films with the twist that some of the aliens are heroes. This...I honestly can't think of anything like it.
Though I really, really love Animated, too.
danny_salas89
New member
This movie really is 80s cheese to the max (I would argue that few movies IN GENERAL represents the 80s quite as much as Transformers), but a lot of critics underrate just how impressive this movie is technically. This really is a mech fan's dream come true when it comes to robots crunching each other in fetishistic detail. There are scenes where there's just a TON of little details animating all at once. How painstaking do you think it was to animate all those Unicron scenes--setting aside the incredible transformation sequence (complete with all the Transformers on him scurrying about while he's transforming) but every time he turns his suction thing on and all those scraps of metal go flying into him...the animators practically drew in every nut and bolt possible flying into his gob. I am not even sure if the most fetishistic Gundam action scenes have topped it in terms of sheer detailed mecha animation. Maybe 0083 is the only one that matches it in terms of fetishistic detail and fluidity, but even that series sometimes cut frames at times. (I haven't seen enough of Gundam Unicorn to comment on that)
How many times did I use the word "fetishistic" in the above paragraph? I can think of no other word to describe Transformers the Movie. It's pure robot fan service. Big robots, small robots, humans in robot suits, planet sized robots, fembots, robots with five faces,...this movie has every robot you could ever want.
And the amazing thing is it's visually coherent too. This is ridiculously detailed action yet you know exactly what was happening, too, unlike the highly edited Bay films, which are only sometimes visually coherent.
How many times did I use the word "fetishistic" in the above paragraph? I can think of no other word to describe Transformers the Movie. It's pure robot fan service. Big robots, small robots, humans in robot suits, planet sized robots, fembots, robots with five faces,...this movie has every robot you could ever want.
And the amazing thing is it's visually coherent too. This is ridiculously detailed action yet you know exactly what was happening, too, unlike the highly edited Bay films, which are only sometimes visually coherent.