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Independence Day for Transformers Live Action
An anonymous reader writes "Transformers, the long-planned, live-action movie based on the robot-morphing cartoon, comic and toy franchise, will roll into theaters July 4, 2007, DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures announced Wednesday.
Michael Bay (The Island, The Rock) will direct;
Steven Spielberg will executive produce.
"
I love Transformers. Therefore, I could care less about the movie, because there already *was* a TV show and a movie. I like new ideas, not infinate interpretations on a theme.
"Old man yells at systemd"
"It will be GREAT," Murphy continued, "and then we will make sequel after sequel. There is no doubt that this is true."
I wasn't aware that a movie being GREAT was a prerequesite for sequels. In fact, why even bother to *plan* on sequels when they aren't necessary?
Why not spend all the time you can being true to the original intent derived from the cartoon and making sure that *this* movie doesn't get the raving piss-poor reviews that Fantastic Four did (people going to see it on opening weekend doesn't mean it's good folks).
Just make the movie and let the market decide whether a sequel is necessary. We're not talking about a story that deserves sequels (like LOTR) either.
Just because it was a serial cartoon doesn't mean the movie has to be.
The article gives short shrift to the animated 1986 "Transformers: The Movie," calling it "little-loved". Personally, I thought it was great... am I the only one?
AHHHH FUCK NOOOOOOOO...
DO they not remember the Live Action done when the original transforms was aired on Television on Fox..
I thought it was so bad and cheesy when I was a kid, how can they possibly make it work??
Here we go with another Super Mario Brothers grade train wreck.
the movie hasn't even gone through pre-production and people are already extolling/condemning the movie.
Can't we at least wait until there's something a bit more concrete before warring over it?
The Blaster Master Fighting for Truth, Justice, and Evil Pie since 1979
Maybe he's already done his Academy Award bid picture for that year and he's looking for his cash a big ole movie check picture?
Not sure that this'll be big money maker though. I mean, I liked the transformers way way way back but come on, that was like...... aww shit I feel old now.
I am not in anyway affiliated with Max Cannon
Let's hope it's not another AI flop. Seriously though, cool concept, but I'm curious as to how they're going to pull it off "live action"
Are you somehow trying to infer that the reason that AI "flopped" was because of the actors not successfully pulling off acting like the director's vision of humanlike robots?
If that's what you meant, I'm sorry to inform you that you are absolutely wrong. The actors did an incredible job of staying true of the vision of humanlike robots. The rest of the story, in typical Kubrikish fashion, was probably less than enthralling for 90% of the viewers because they expect non-stop-action to keep them "entertained". Rather than paying attention to the beauty of the movie and the hard work those actors put in they were bored by long stretches of quiet time and scenes that required thought.
AI was an excellent movie in those regards and should be watched again by you, and anyone else who thinks otherwise, you might see something you didn't the first time... Perhaps you were only regurgitating what you heard in the media around the release date though?
I was a huge fan of the transformers in the early 80's. It was a great block of cartoons. There was He-Man, then Transformers, and then GI Joe (which I thought was weak). Oh, and for a couple years, they had Robotech, which was awesome, followed by Voltron. Talk about good cartoons, I don't think even Thundercats could dethrone those cartoons. Nothing good today like those cartoons.
Back to the Transformers. The new series stunk. It was not true to the old one. I don't think I even saw Megatron, at least not the way I remembered him. He was fairly smart back in the 80's, not crazy like starscream. The new series has no thought in it, that is why i dislike it. It is just like one thoughtless attack after another, no strategy.
And what happened to the robot that replaced Optimus Prime, when he died, I remember this robot was stuck inside a comet or astroid, and he had to be found.
Oh, and bring back the big mega robot, that is combined by 5 smaller ones, the green one that is all the construction machines that form a big robot.
Please, please, please, get this movie right. It will be a delight for all of us who watched the original series. Put most of the money in the script, something really good. I would rather have an awesome story and so-so graphics than a bad story and million dollar graphics.
Rosco: "If brains were gunpowder, Enos couldn't blow his nose."
What, Michael Bay isn't scary enough?
At least it isn't Paul W.S. Anderson or Uwe Boll.. The other members of the axis of stinkbombs...
The only reason that AI was a _box_office_ flop is that the morons in the world (the majority) when they heard it was a "Science Fiction" movie were expecting guns, shooting, robots killing robots, robots killing humans, explosions, implosions...
AI was an excellent movie, it's not an action movie, perhaps that's part of the reason it's an excellent movie.
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But the cartoon sucked. Always sucked.
OK, let's review...
Transformers was aired in 1984. Cartoons (anime or otherwise) with good storylines were rare, if not unique. After all, what was the competition?
He-man? Voltron? Mazinger Z (pfft) ?
Transformers was written for young, gullible kids. Yes, it was also made to sell toys, but what difference does it make with other cartoons of today?
Anyway, it was a show about good vs. evil. And the evil characters were REALLY evil. I loved the way Megatron planned the destruction of the autobots, he was evil, and i just loved that (well actually i hated him, but you get the point). We rarely see characters like him today. And remember, in 1984, kids weren't aware of conspiracies, and intensive drama was definitely taboo. We were children! We didn't have to worry about terrorism, drugs, or our best friend committing suicide. We just wanted to play, have fun, and watch some TV.
Call me naive, but it was a show perfectly adapted for our young, innocent mindsets. And we loved it.
Instead we had a fairy tale that took place in the future, so it was 'Science Fiction.'
So in addition to disappointing those who wanted a popcorn click, it disappointed those who were looking for something more then a retelling of pinocchio with androids.
The end was pure Spielberg that's for sure. To me, the end should have been with David down at the bottom of the ocean staring at the "blue fairy" for ever...caught in a loop.
Camera pulls out. Screen Goes black. Directed by Steven Spielberg.
No aliens, no cloned mother. Ambiguous ending.
"Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
Yep, I can bet I'm gonna burn a lot of karma on this one.
:)
*transforms into an industrial strength flamethrower and proceeds to turn you into a slashdot burger*
It wasn't just a cheesy SatAM cartoon designed as a half-hour long toy advertisement. It was a Cheesy SatAM cartoon with the greatest action cartoon character of all time, Optimus Prime designed as a half-hour long advertisement for really fuckin' cool toys. You're a slashdotter you can get understand really fuckin' cool toys can't you?
"All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"
Not to mention, in the same universe, thousands of Americans die from guns every year, and they are still barely controlled. But yeah, lets not have them in cartoons, just in case some kids don't realise they are dangerous.
Go figure...
J.
(A Brit)
You're only jealous cos the little penguins are talking to me.