Transformers: One - New Animated Prequel coming September 20th, 2024 - New Toy Official Images!

LordGigaIce

Another babka?
Citizen
That's what it was originally going to be. The scene was even filmed with the reveal being Sector Seven. But Steven Caple Jr. felt that the test screenings of the scene didn't get a big enough reaction from test audiences. Then, when they got the idea to try swapping the Sector Seven reveal out with a G.I. Joe reveal, that netted a bigger audience reaction from later test screenings.
That's unfortunate.
 

CoffeeHorse

Exhausted, but still standing.
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
I really want to see the test cut of that movie. It doesn't really sound better than what we got, but it does sound interesting.

I maintain that any cut that makes it as far as test screenings ought to be released at some point.
 

Sabrblade

Continuity Nutcase
Citizen
I really want to see the test cut of that movie. It doesn't really sound better than what we got, but it does sound interesting.

I maintain that any cut that makes it as far as test screenings ought to be released at some point.
#ReleaseTheTransitCut
 

lastmaximal

Administrator
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
See, my sequel idea was just to take a page from Empire Strikes Back and split up the established character relationships

I like a lot about this. I should have gone for something similar (a harder pivot) rather than trying to rehab ROTB and keep as much from it as I could. Although I tend to be of the mind that Charlie should get to ride off into the sunset, this handles re-involving her fairly well (and who am I kidding, I wouldn't turn down having the character back).
 

lastmaximal

Administrator
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
AOE did that first, ending with Optimus taking the Seed into space and him sending a warning message to the Creators, declaring that he's coming for them. That, plus Optimus and the Dinobots being knights whom the Creators sent Lockdown to capture, were set up to be explored further in the next movie.

Then the next movie happened and turned out to be TLK instead of a proper sequel.

Damn, they even took being Poochie from Hot Rod to give to Optimus.

At the time I did wonder if they could use the Seed to revive Cybertron somehow. Then when Quintessa became a thing I wondered if she could contribute to that. Nope!

That's what it was originally going to be. The scene was even filmed with the reveal being Sector Seven. But Steven Caple Jr. felt that the test screenings of the scene didn't get a big enough reaction from test audiences. Then, when they got the idea to try swapping the Sector Seven reveal out with a G.I. Joe reveal, that netted a bigger audience reaction from later test screenings.

Why am I not surprised that fanservice won the day again, all else be damned.
 

CoffeeHorse

Exhausted, but still standing.
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
I wonder how we'd view AOE today if any of its plot threads went anywhere. It set up so much. The Seed. The Creators. The Knights. Megatron being back with the name Galvatron. Prime flying into space for some reason. It also seemingly brought Cade's story to a close, with him seeming to get his life back.

The only thing TLK kept was Prime being in space for some reason. Everything else was gone. Not even handwaved away. Just gone with a whole new history swapped in.
 

LBD "Nytetrayn"

Broke the Matrix
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
The '86 movie will always hold a place in my heart and be one of my favorites of all time, but it is far from a well animated and written movie. If you are not a Transformers fan, you'd probably think it was dribble.
Really?

I mean, it's not Golden Era Disney quality animation or anything, but "far from a well animated movie"?
 

Undead Scottsman

Well-known member
Citizen
The story is trash, but there's a reason the franchise and fandom still quotes that movie incessantly: iconic lines read by a top tier voice cast.

And while the animation sometimes has some rough spots, it looks good to fantastic for most of the movie.

There's plenty to ding that movie for, but the animation is not one of them.
 

CoffeeHorse

Exhausted, but still standing.
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
If they still had that much animation budget left over then I'm even more annoyed that so many little scenes didn't make the cut.
 

LBD "Nytetrayn"

Broke the Matrix
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
The story is trash
This seems... harsh?

Like, I'm not saying it's original -- Hero's Journey and all of that -- or was ever going to win an Academy Award, even if the entire rest of the movie industry all got the flu that year, but... it seems perfectly serviceable?

Especially for a grittier extended Saturday morning cartoon (that was later cut up into an actual Saturday morning cartoon).

I dunno, I'm sure there are tons of criticisms to be leveled at it -- Macguffin we're only hearing about for the first time after two years that's of GREAT importance, it's nothing particularly deep -- but at worst, it seems fine?

Like, it feels like it meets the bare minimum of what it needed to do in service of what they were trying to do at the time, at least. It doesn't reinvent the wheel or anything, but given most of the cast use regular wheels anyway, it gets the job done?
 

LordGigaIce

Another babka?
Citizen
Yeah the '86 movie's story is a serviceable hero's journey that's not particularly shy about ripping off Star Wars here and there (the most popular version of that narrative at the time), and the stuff about killing off the main cast just for the sake of selling new toys certainly wasn't done from a place of artistic integrity. And as you said, introducing the Matrix as having been Important The Whole Time Trust Us Guys isn't great, but I'd still say it's good for what it is.
 

Undead Scottsman

Well-known member
Citizen
It's pretty bad, but that's mostly wrapped up in being one of the most crass toy commercials in history. The first 25 minutes is just an excuse to murder off the existing toys so the new toys can take over, and kinda doesn't have a lot to do with the main plot of Unicron. (Or, conversely, the Unicron plot takes over the existing autobot/decepticon plot)

Then the movie faffs about for like 30 minutes to introduce MORE toys and characters that aren't even important to that plot.

When we finally get back that plot,it's resolved in like ten minutes due to MacGuffin.

The dialog isn't bad and is well voice acted, the animation and action is great, and the music is fantastic.

But the actual story is mostly garbo. Like the first 25 minutes, sans Unicron, makes kind of a metal capstone to the cartoon, despite being tonally inconsistent to the show, but it's an overly long way of clearing out the cast and getting the Matrix in position to eventually wind up in Hot Rod's hands.

Even Hot Rod's hero's journey is half-assed. We see glimmers of greatness (Like him apparently being a skilled enough medic to repair Kup, or when he negotiates with the Junkions, remembering the universal greeting) but it's very light because there's 50,000 other things going on because we need to show off Wreck-Gar and Wheelie and the Sharkticons, and also the Dinobots are still on shelves so let's give them an extended sequence of literally wandering around lost.

Make no mistake, I find that movie near and dear to my heart, but even for the time it has a terrible, terrible plot.

But also who cares, the movie is a 90 minute hair metal fever dream. It gets by without a good story.
 


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