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Peter Cullen Chosen to Voice Optimus Prime (Again)
bigdady92 writes "Yesterday at Comic-Con it was announced that the new voice for Transformers the Movie was to be Peter Cullen who will voice Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots. Peter Cullen was the voice of the original Optimus Prime. The lending of his voice to the cast in a quick 'intro' at Comic-con was greeted by unanimous cheer from the crowd. Many fans, internet boards, blogs were calling for the return of Cullen to voice his most famous and well-loved character Optimus Prime."
What a waste of time that show was (on G4). The only thing we got out of it about Transformers is that Optimus Prime is 32' tall and that Peter Cullen is doing the voice. That, and there won't be any actual CGI of them until January or so. Basically it means its going to be a while until we get a real trailer like we were lead to believe they'd be showing.
"On a scale from 1 to 10, people are stupid"
Part of the goal in the movie is to regain nostalgia of when we were kids, no doubly it will be different in a lot of aspects. Just having The Voice of Optimus Prime make us feel at home. His voice was perfect of Optimus Prime, Was a Good Guys Voice but with authority, Other voices could make him seem Either to Pansy and Mean and heartless.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
I recall reading recently that entertainment "news" is very popular with newspapers and TV stations because they don't have to have a reporter do any leg-work or research, just get a clip or parrot a quote from the celeb's agent.
These days, thanks to newspaper/radio/tv mergers, all the big wigs care about is profit margin. Entertainment "news" like "Britney marries again!" can be made to fill the same amount of time as a story about (gasp) some bill before the House of Representatives that takes a reporter, camera crew and van travelling to the statehouse, fact checking, interviewing a couple representatives etc. Guess which is cheaper, by far?
Please help metamoderate.
Just because you're not a kid anymore doesn't mean you shouldn't have fun either.
I can't speak for everyone else, but I happen to like robots, automobiles and electronics. Transformers is a trifecta of all that is interesting to me and the plot happens to revolve around an epic battle of good vs evil, and sometimes good & evil vs greater evil, all with really amazing transformations of these sentient robots into normal everyday human objects.
What's not to like? I suppose you liked GI Joe or something? Pfft. Gritty quasi-realistic cartoon pitting US vs Them. 'Us'? 'U.S.'? same thing on GI Joe. Good guys = America, hoorah! bad guys = anyone who looks or acts differently than an American, except for Snake Eyes, b/c he'd kill you without hesitation if you questioned his loyalty to the US. But, then again, he is a ninja. They have real ultimate power. Don't cross a ninja. This one time, my cousin's classmate's younger brother's babysitter's sister was walking with her boyfriend, and his leg clipped a bush that a ninja was hiding in waiting for his adversary from a rival ninja clan, and the ninja jumped out and diced him right there! It was over before the babysitter's sister could scream! And then, just because he could the ninja cut off her right arm and left leg and jumped to the rooftops and dashed away to find a worthwhile foe! You don't mess with that kind of power. So, to answer your question, global warming is being caused by Ninjas killing Pirates, because there aren't enough worthwhile ninja foes, so the ninjas have started going after pirates.
At this point and time, I'm only worried about three things in any transformers movie remake:
1) It has a good and entertaining plot
2) It has stunning artistic quality in the visual effects
3) That peter cullen is optimus prime
You can argue til your blue in the face as to what the characters look like and the technology bullshit of disappearing parts or even including the dinobots. The appeal of the Transformers has always been about the characters. They weren't just cute toys, or an afternoon cartoon. The brilliance has always been about the characters. Who they were, what they did, as well as what they transformed into. It was the total package.
The total package includes Peter's voice. It's unmistakable, unduplicatable, and undeniably the best!
"All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"
Granted; a lot (if not most) movies were made after some author wrote a book which was picked up by a director who eventually made it into a movie. All in all it used to be one (or more) people who wanted to get a story out. Actually create something enjoyable by the masses.
But these days I taste none of that, its like people are desperatly trying to find certain storyline(s) for the sole purpose of making more money. First you've seen this behaviour happening on the 'superheroes' front where Marvel created movies from their several characters, even when there already was such a movie (Spiderman comes to mind). But even in those cases you're basicly making a movie from a phenomenon. The 'superheroes' saga has lasted for years and was enjoyed by millions of people, young and old alike.
However, IMO it started becoming a little ridiculous when you get movies from cartoons while the cartoon itself was already a phenomenon in itself. Take, for example, 'Masters of the Universe'. Whats even striking me more is that this series was originally launched with the idea of merchandize in the back of people's mind. Is that really a good starting point to make a movie from it ? Or what about the 'Flintstones' ? In my opinion thats an even worse movie since it doesn't even try to be a regular movie but mimicks all the cartoon effects, sometimes in a more than ridiculous manner.
In the end all of those movies don't pay attention to anything which made the whole thing great and basicly introduces the "directors liberty". You know; when a simply known fact from the original is twisted because "it matches the movie/story/scene/whatever better". You've seen this happening in many if not all movies. Narnia: The professor met the kids right after they left the closet. Hello; wasn't there some tour going? In the original BBC series they looked him up in his study. Master o/t Universe: In the end battle Skeletor rambles about getting the power to become God. Hello? Don't tell me that the whole "Master of the Universe" has already degraded to nothing more than a mere title? In the original Skeletor always tried to become the Master of the Universe. Inspector Gadget: Lets not even get into this one, when compared with the original it was just bad since nothing was adopted, not even the mystery behind Dr. Claw. Lord of the Rings: While not totally bad its plain out obvious that the story isn't exactly the most important anymore, its the special effects. Where previous cartoons totally focussed on story and passion these movies need the special effects for "massive battles". A pity IMO.
In all honosty the last example isn't fair since this isn't something which has been remade. It simply is the first real movie from the book, just like any other of its kind. But it does goes to show you that money is ruling supreme here. Being a big Transformers fan myself at the age of 36 (I stopped caring when we got Beast Wars and the Transformers Armada) and a big Evangelion fan (basicly I just like cartoons but these two are rather special IMO) I'm really not looking forward to the upcoming live movies. I'd rather see some television station doing a re-run of the original series, and I don't mean the horrible series where they started sticking the serie together with an awfully annoying cube animation.
Why can't we leave something great as great as it is and simply acknowledge its greatness by enjoying the original all over again?
I was a wee bit old for Transformers. I used to watch occassionally, and assumed that the TV programmes were simply adverts for the merchandise. I can't see that I was really wrong. The production values were true cheese.
I was a little dismayed seeing some of the "creative" changes that Bay seemed to be applying to this film. I can handle Optimus Prime being a long-nose truck, mainly because in some iterations of the franchise (i.e. Armada), he does appear that way. However, the decision to paint him with flames, as well as making Bumblebee a Camero, indicated to me that Bay had no regard for the original personalities of the Transformers. Basically he just wanted to make everything be "eXXXXXtreeeme" as possible.
Cullen voicing Prime will at least ensure that some elements of character's original personality will stay intact, and this is probably the selling point for me seeing the movie.
"You spoony bard!" -Tellah
How can you NOT like the transformers? I wasnt too excited when this project was first accounced, (another hollywood bludgeoning of an icon from my childhood) but this is promising.
Before I start, I respect anyone who has any "Transformers"(tm). As a toy, it was a cool idea, and on top of that helped to boost hand eye co-ordination. And as a collectors item, I don't know their value but they came out after the great starwars bonanza, where *those* suckers were more valuable than baseball cards.
But as a story... I think I might be missing something. I know nothing other than the afternoon cartoon. Now don't get me wrong, I was big on Japanese animation by this point in my life. I had already went out of my way to watch Star Blazers and Robotec and I was expecting another interesting epic. But with all kids programing airing was sporadic at best, so if there was a bigger story arc I didn't know about it. The first set get repeated into the ground with no real means of finding out when the new season was going to arive, let alone which season was which, and when it finally came to town, my half hearted interest started to fade, then came along a new series of characters followed by the flood of new toys associated with them which killed my suspencion of disbelief and I began to see it for what it was, one long commercial for overpriced toys. Parents went out of their way to get their children Arialbots which IIRC were crap, not only proportionatly smaller than the prior generation but were as simple as the Go-bots. And by this point in my life I had better things to do, either that or walking home from school took long enough that I missed the wonderful cartoon hour, that wonderful hour for those fortunate enough to be close enough to home from school to catch. Not to speak of the fact that VCRs were still new to the home and catching them in their proper order was unlikely.
So... "How can you NOT like the transformers?", there wasn't much of a plot in the cartoon that I noticed, but rather two sets of robots stuck on earth making pointless raids always resulting in a stalemate.
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
He loved the way the Duke always came out on top. Loved the way Wayne's characters acted and lead and showed men how to be men.
And all that stuff.
And while I've never watched a John Wayne movie, I tip my hat to them despite how cheesy they may have been, because I loved and respected my grandfather and those movies were the ones we bought for him when he was suffering from cancer at the end of his days. He was in obvious pain, but he enjoyed them nonetheless.
Optimus Prime is the John Wayne of the generation who grew up in the 80s. Sure, there was Duke from GI Joe, but he was usurped in midstream by a general. There was Lion-o, but the Thundercats were too wierd for most kids to take seriously. There was He-Man, but he was never anything more than a bad Superman re-interpretation.
But Optimus, man... Optimus was a truck and an action figure all in one. And when he spoke, he did so with conviction on the side of right and he used his leadership to defeat those who would harm others. And even when he was wrong, he eventually did the right thing. I don't own any "toys" anymore. I mean, I have recreational objects that I use to unwind with, but nothing that a kid would understand or find interesting. Except one. My 20th anniversary edition Optimus sits proudly on my desk. The original toy looked little like the cartoon character. But this one? 60 bucks and it doesn't even matter... Optimus looks like he shoulda. He's a kickass poseable paperweight.
When Optimus died in the movie, I was a kid, and I was upset. Who was this Rodimus dude, and what did he do with our hero? See, even with the neat futuristic car and the neat flaming paint job, Hot Rod and Rodimus just weren't as cool. Didn't matter that he could fight Galvatron and kick some Swoop ass... he wasn't the hero. He wasn't the legend. And when Optimus came back, he died saving the universe again. And then he came back for more.
Children today will tell their kids about the time they saw Kobe Bryant score 81. They'll swear Duane Wade was the best ever. But they never saw Jordan play. They never watched Magic pass. But I never got to see Wilt in his heyday, or see Oscar Robertson average a triple double. They'll claim that LaDainian Tomlinson is the best RB to ever lace them up because of his fancy moves, but they never got a chance to watch Barry spin the way I never got a chance to see Jim Brown knock people over.
Everyone grows up and has their own legends to tell tales about. For the 80s bunch, Optimus Prime saved the day after school, and that's why so many love and respect the character to this day. And you can't have Optimus Prime without the deep, John Waynesy voice of Peter Cullen. Just wouldn't be right.
With Michael Bay running the show, the movie will still suck.
Software Wars
Compare the number, placement, and obtrusiveness (ESPECIALLY when they serve up these fscking annoying flash-based ones!!!) of the ads on IGN, add in the ads-disguised-as-content links to ebay, amazon, pricegrabber, and such; and compare all that to the ads on, for example.... Google.
It may be a bit of an exaggeration to describe IGN as a full-out spam site. But the AC does have a point.
cya,
john
Imagine all the people...
"I don't get it. What's so special about transformers? I remember as kid it just another gimmicky, poorly animated cartoon show designed to market little robot cars and other toys. There was certainly nothing memorable the show that would create a fan following, I don't think. Maybe I'm missing something."
I think the first thing you're missing is that you didn't look at it through the eyes of an 8 year old. Yes, you're right,it was gimmicky and yes it was designed to market toys to kids. Nobody's kidding you about that. The toys were cool. Back then, you had GI Joes, Hot Wheels, and Star Wars. Transformers were new, and they were different. Heck, even my parents like getting me the toys because this was back in the day when die-cast metal was still being used. They would 'last' longer than my other toys. They were also intriguing because I had no problem transforming them, but my parents couldn't. Heh.
Then the movie came out. Oh man. That was a trip. The movie was MUCH larger than the TV series aspired to be. Not only did it add to the mythos of the Transformers, but it also featured a much stronger drama than we had seen on the small screen. Main characters died. That's a shock when you're 10 years old. Suddenly the battle for energon turned into a galaxy saving event, and many characters we loved paid the ultimate price for it.
Then there was the comic books. I cannot talk with authority about the quality of the comics because I never had the chance to read them. I did, however, catch up on the summary of them on Wikipedia and found that they had developed a rather strong sci-fi story around the existence of these machines. From a scifi point of view, there's a very interesting tale about how these guys came into being and their significance in the universe. I think a lot of people would agree with me that if this franchise were taken to an 'adult' level, something very rich could be made of it. Head on over to Wiki and you may see what I mean.
As for being memorable, the Transformers helped define a generation. It's hard to look at it today without experiencing it in your youth. Take any 25-30 year old, male or female, and mention the Transformers, and they'll go "oh.. yeah! I remember those!" After missing this, I can understand your point of view. It took a lot to make the Transformers popular.
I have to say, though, that I'm worried about the movie. This is one of those franchises that the fans will nitpick to death. Normally I wouldn't fear this too much because the hard-core fan base is usually pretty small, but considering who the movie is aimed at and how many people actually watched this cartoon, I'm not even sure there's a 'right' way to do it in order to make the fans happy. We've all got our own ideas about what it was that made the Transformers fantastic. Myself included. There are two details that I feel they should incorporate into this movie that, without them, I'll have a hard time accepting. I'm embarrased to admit this because it reveals me to be one of those obsessed detail-oriented nerds with all of the social charm of the Comic Store Guy in the Simpsons. But maybe it'll give you a little clue into why this movie is contraversial.
In the cartoon, the Transformers made a dinstinctive CHUK-CHUK-CHUK-CHUK sound when they transformed. In later attempts to revive the franchise (Beast Wars, for example...) they tossed the sound and made the transforming sequence slower. The reason for this change isn't a bad one. As mentioned before, the original cartoon was poorly animated. To simplify those shots, they transformed them quickly and dubbed in the sound. In the latter cartoons, the animation quality was higher, so they showed the more elaborate transforming sequence. Not a bad reason, right? Afterall, the fans want to see how these transformations work, right? This little difference, though, made the original Transformers seem more advanced and alien. Well... magical is a better word. The slower transform
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
"You heard me. I can't believe all of these losers. Its a freaking kiddie cartoon."
$5 says you creamed in your shorts over previews of Episode I, Matrix Reloaded, and Serenity. Even if I'm wrong about one of them, I'm still willing to bet you shouldn't be casting any stones.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
There's more than you can buy.
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