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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."
Will Lion reunite one more time for this project? otherwise this film would be a waste of time.
I am guessing you are one of the following.
As a child There were transformers but you never liked them much. You may have preferred He-Man, GI-Gjoe, or Something else.
When you were a child Transformers were either Non-Existant just starting but you were a little to old to like them much.
WHen you were a Kid Transformers were going out of style.
When Growing up you had Transformers and you liked them but you are trying so hard to be grown up you hide you wish to play with toys like you did as an adult.
I am an adult to. I am getting Married Have my own how, work a full time job which pays more then the national average. I am a responsible mature adult by all measurements. But heck I still like transformers I watch the DVDs yea in retrospec the cartoons were a little cheesy but still they were fun. What is there not to like about Robots turning into cars and back.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
What about the slashdotters that are not american, you insensitve clod!?
We'll probably enjoy much more watching it dubbed by the same guy who dubbed the animated series!
something like:
"Sayonara, Optimus Roboto-sam! "
"Hasta luego, Señor Optimus Roboto!"
"Auf wiedersehn, Herr Optimus Roboter"
What is best in life? To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you and to hear the lamentations of their women.
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.
What's so special about transformers?
They're more than meets the eye.
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?
Part of the goal in the movie is to regain nostalgia of when we were kids . . .
In exchange for your adult money.
KFG
"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
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