More Than Meets the Eye
If you've kept up with my blog, and there are probably one or two of you who have, then you know that I am a big fan of Transformers. The classic television series, the 1986 animated movie, and even Beast Wars have been my favorite incarnations, but the toys top everything else. They make up a large part of my collection, aside from the Star Wars figures, and they also have the distinct honor of being the only toys that I open without exception. (I mean, what's the point of buying Transformers toys if NOT to transform them?) So you can imagine my excitement when I heard that Director Michael Bay was interested in making a live action Transformers movie, with a little help from some relatively unknown producer named Steven Spielberg! The image above was taken at Comic-Con in San Diego last year, meant to be a bit of a tease for all the geeks. The truck itself was never revealed, but that was enough to get my ol' heart pumpin' a mile a minute.
(And also caused a few over-zealous fans to steal the infamous PRIME-1 license plate, not once, but twice!) The movie is scheduled for a July 4th, 2007 release date, which co-incidently is also the same day that the Fantastic 4 sequel is supposed to open, but it has already been causing an uproar among the fandom of Cybertron. First of all, there is some disappointment at the fact that the makers of the film seem unwilling to use the original voice actors from the television series in the movie. 
Second of all, the central core group of Transformers is supposedly limited to 5 chatacters on either side (Autobot or Decepticon), which would mean that a great deal of the characters we've grown to love will not be making their big screen debut this time around. (Just as long as I see Jazz, Bumblebee, Ironhide, Optimus, Megatron, Starscream, and Soundwave, I'll be a happy camper!) 
And lastly, the alternate vehicle forms for most of the Transformers might be altered. I can see where you would update them to make them fit better into our contemporary world, but it's gonna hurt not to be able to see Megatron in his classic gun mode while Starscream uses him to frag some Autobots. This is a massive undertaking, so it is understood that some corners need to be cut, and some sacrifices must be made, but these are also characters that are beloved by a large group of people, so every little cut made hurts us as well. 
One good thing that I know will come of this is the brand new line of merchandise that will undoubtedly be released in conjunction with the film. Hopefully they will be able to merge the timelessness of the characters we grew up with, and the streamlined style of the more modern vehicles. (Much like Meister (Jazz) was fused with my favorite, a Mazda RX-8 as part of the Alternators line!) So far I have not heard much on the vehicle modes, but I hear that preliminary designs are awesome. Let's just see how much of that finds its way onto the big screen.
If you've kept up with my blog, and there are probably one or two of you who have, then you know that I am a big fan of Transformers. The classic television series, the 1986 animated movie, and even Beast Wars have been my favorite incarnations, but the toys top everything else. They make up a large part of my collection, aside from the Star Wars figures, and they also have the distinct honor of being the only toys that I open without exception. (I mean, what's the point of buying Transformers toys if NOT to transform them?) So you can imagine my excitement when I heard that Director Michael Bay was interested in making a live action Transformers movie, with a little help from some relatively unknown producer named Steven Spielberg! The image above was taken at Comic-Con in San Diego last year, meant to be a bit of a tease for all the geeks. The truck itself was never revealed, but that was enough to get my ol' heart pumpin' a mile a minute.
(And also caused a few over-zealous fans to steal the infamous PRIME-1 license plate, not once, but twice!) The movie is scheduled for a July 4th, 2007 release date, which co-incidently is also the same day that the Fantastic 4 sequel is supposed to open, but it has already been causing an uproar among the fandom of Cybertron. First of all, there is some disappointment at the fact that the makers of the film seem unwilling to use the original voice actors from the television series in the movie. 
Second of all, the central core group of Transformers is supposedly limited to 5 chatacters on either side (Autobot or Decepticon), which would mean that a great deal of the characters we've grown to love will not be making their big screen debut this time around. (Just as long as I see Jazz, Bumblebee, Ironhide, Optimus, Megatron, Starscream, and Soundwave, I'll be a happy camper!) 
And lastly, the alternate vehicle forms for most of the Transformers might be altered. I can see where you would update them to make them fit better into our contemporary world, but it's gonna hurt not to be able to see Megatron in his classic gun mode while Starscream uses him to frag some Autobots. This is a massive undertaking, so it is understood that some corners need to be cut, and some sacrifices must be made, but these are also characters that are beloved by a large group of people, so every little cut made hurts us as well. 
One good thing that I know will come of this is the brand new line of merchandise that will undoubtedly be released in conjunction with the film. Hopefully they will be able to merge the timelessness of the characters we grew up with, and the streamlined style of the more modern vehicles. (Much like Meister (Jazz) was fused with my favorite, a Mazda RX-8 as part of the Alternators line!) So far I have not heard much on the vehicle modes, but I hear that preliminary designs are awesome. Let's just see how much of that finds its way onto the big screen.
No comments:
Post a Comment