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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Live-action Transformers movie

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20:27 / 11.06.03

Just read on Teletext that there are rumours of a live-action Transformers movie. I found this link.

The fanboy in me is squealing in delight! Though, as with all rumours, a pinch of salt is needed. It may just be that someone has bought the option due to the current retro/80's fad which probably won't last.

21:02 / 11.06.03

The fanboy in you should've posted this in the Film forum, whie you were at it. Mods? Anybody?

23:47 / 11.06.03

this project is being produced by Don Murphy -- the infamous strongarm behind From Hell + "LXG"... not to mention the upcoming Mountains of Madness + Grant Morrison's Dreamworks deal.

it's not a fad, it's a comic freak who went to hollywood.

nedrichards is confused

07:20 / 12.06.03

LXG (from the trailers alone) is not the work of a comic freak. Unless it's a comic freak who happens to hate Alan Moore.

This Transformers madness has the potential to be the Tron of the 21st century. Indeed more Tron than Tron 2. Now I must run away before my hopes are innevitably dashed in a stylised martial arts sequence with big killer robots and swirly logos before every change of perspective.

07:37 / 12.06.03

A Transformers live-action movie?

... I've just made a mess in my pants.

09:21 / 12.06.03

I think they should follow the classic story. Ark crashes on earth. Boy finds VW Beetle. Beetle turns into robot. Something about a dam and energy. Fights happen. Actually its all really hazy!

The only thing I think they should change is the size changing of the Decepticons. Megatron should be a tank instead of a small gun. Soundwave could be a satellite dish or something. The planes would be fine. The robots should be in preportion to the size of what they transform into.

Knowing our luck we'll get some beast machines rubbish instead...

09:51 / 12.06.03

Sorry Moderators!

I thought this would be of more interest to Comics people than Film people.

nedrichards is confused

10:11 / 12.06.03

I like the idea about updating the transformers, although keeping the old 80's tape recorders and suchlike would have a great American Psycho style period piece feel.

Foust is SO authentic

11:00 / 12.06.03

Hey, step off Beast Wars! That was the only truly decent incarnation of Transformers ever.

Well, ok, I liked the movie as much as anyone else.

And a live action movie? I'm there! Boo-yah!

Matthew Fluxington

12:47 / 12.06.03

Chubby, wouldn't it make a lot more sense if the robots could mimic the form of any mechanical object that suited them at the time, rather than stick to a "Megatron can only turn into a handgun/Optimus Prime is a truck" tradition which only exists because of the toys? In a film, it may be better to focus on the fact that these are aliens who are disguising themselves on earth, and that's why they have to look like these common earth products. It never made sense to me that aliens on another planet just happened to look exactly like a 69 VW Beetle or an 80s boombox, you know?

13:10 / 12.06.03

They didn't. When the ship containing them 'woke' up, it sent out little spy-bots to record what the mechanical lifeforms on Earth looked like, and then revamped the Transformers so they could blend.

On their home planet they looked completely different... well.. not completely, but different anyway. Like really weird alien VW beetles!!

Matthew Fluxington

13:14 / 12.06.03

It still doesn't make sense for them to be restrict to only one form. They should play up the "robots in disguise" premise, rather than limit it to "robots in disguise, specifically as a truck."

13:20 / 12.06.03

I dunno, I always kind've dug the way you could actually see the way in which the robot transformed. That, even in their warrior mode, you could see the structure of it.

.. also, I guess it would have been difficult to make the toys otherwise.

13:58 / 12.06.03

This is going to be so good..

14:10 / 12.06.03

waxy dan hints at a good point there, Flux: allow them to change into anything at any time and you'd be forced into changing the design of their robot forms. Do that and watch the film flop miserably.

Regrettable Juvenilia

14:33 / 12.06.03

Yeah, and you'd lose all the stuff about form, function and personality - how the thing someone transforms into basically defines his role, and whether that compliments or clashes with his personality - which is at the heart of the Transformer ethos. Ahem.

I'm pretty wary about this news, I have to say.

Matthew Fluxington

16:12 / 12.06.03

So, basically: keep things the way they were in the cartoon/comics and make the whole thing seem hokey and silly, or try to have it make sense and remove one of the more interesting subtexts of those cartoons/comics.

This movie is going to suck really hard.

16:46 / 12.06.03

The best bit in the live action movie is when Megatron has fired the EMP weapon, rendering the Autobot retaliation force inoperable apart from Prime, who is immune due to the Matrix. Watching Prime take out the combined might of the Decepticons before a blistering showdown with his nemesis was the highlight of my life, all my childhood drea...

DUDES! THE FILM HASN@T EVEN STARTED PRODUCTION YET! THIS PROPHETIC REVIEWING THING IS STARTING TO GET REALLY OLD!

Matthew Fluxington

17:27 / 12.06.03

No really, I promise you that this movie will suck.

I'll be back in two years to say "I told you so."

17:54 / 12.06.03

More info here.

While I agree with Flux that this movie will probably be trash, I have to disagree about the vehicle shifting properties of the robots. This was a premise written solely to sell lots and lots of toys. When children were bored with buying the trucks and jets, the writers changed the robots into animals or "headmasters" or I think there were even "targetmasters" with little people that turned into guns for the robots. If the robots were able to just change into anything, then the Transformer toys and Transformer mugs and Transformer refrigerator message boards would lose that trickle down marketing niche. Look at how many food products now have pictures of The Hulk on them. Because, you know, my Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were flooded with gamma radiation and that's why I can buy four for the price of two now. Like Pokemon after it, I think the Transformer franchise is based on the physical toy product, not on the story or plot of the characters. This is why I predict that while the film will be trash, it will make oodles of money, because gobs of fanboys and fatbeards will flood the theaters to relive their lost childhood, no matter how atrocious the story is or pathetic the CGI is.

17:55 / 12.06.03

The damn link didn't post. Cut & Paste this then:

http://www.aintitcoolnews.com/display.cgi?id=15426

19:43 / 12.06.03

Initially, Pokemon wasn't a physical toy product. The "gotta catch 'em all" hook was a reflection of the player's ultimate aim, not a command to keep splashing cash. The collection aspect of the title was the plot.

As for this film, who knows? It's very unlikely to happen, but if elements of the UK plots find their way in it might stand a chance of being good.

By the way, Flux, weren't you going on about suspension of disbelief in one of the other comic-to-film threads? If so, you seem to be contradicting yourself here.

nedrichards is confused

19:49 / 12.06.03

My DVD of Transformers Headmasters is one of my most prized possessions, don't knock it. Also it's not just "form follows function" it's "!form follows function but with a choice way back in the distant past". You see it's also possible to be an *evil* tape recorder as well as using your lo-fi powers for good.

nedrichards is confused

20:13 / 12.06.03

Oh and Pokemon is still one of the finest games on the Game Boy. I treally is very good indeed, almost worthy of the whole hullabaloo that swept up around it.

07:51 / 13.06.03

At absolute worst, we get to see giant mecha knock each other about the place to some cheesy pop S-Club soundtrack. At best, we get a fun adventure movie. I think it'll come out alright. (Then again I kinda enjoyed the Power Rangers movie, so my taste may be in doubht)

The point about their transformations being limited to one form was half in regards to their appearance. As in , I do think Prime's big truck-chest looks rather funky. But also because I think any superhero is more interesting when their limitations are defined (why I think the Monarchy comic sucks donkey's balls). Also having Megatron being a big fucking cannon or a funky gun does say a lot about his character. Don't fuck with Megatron.

Of course this was based on what the manufacturer's wanted from the toy-range, but that doesn't mean it can't be used well by good writers.

... And Pokemon on the Gameboy is still better than most X-Box games because Nidoking would take Solid Snake any day of any week.

08:45 / 13.06.03

See live action transformers here Its pretty well done!

13:40 / 14.06.03

Yes, very interesting. A weblink that transforms into a DNS error message in disguise...

Will Grimlock be in it? This is the only question I want answered. You know, Grimlock. The robot that transformed into a T-rex (the dinosaur, you understand, not the band. Though a robot that transformed into Marc Bolan would be kind of cool.) Grimlock: who was played as really stupid in the cartoons and the American comics, but was, IIRC, actually quite intelligent but focused solely on conquest of his enemies in the Simon Furman stories over here. Grimlock. Grimlock Grimlock Grimlock. Grimlock.

Is he in it?

14:05 / 14.06.03

Yeah, Grimlock's in it. There's a bit halfway through where they locate an Autobot distress beacon from deep underground, where the Dinobots had been buried for hundreds of thousands of years along with Shockwave. Ratchet is sent to retrieve them (unware of the presense of the Decepticon, who is dispatched in one of the movie's standout effects scenes). They rejoin Prime just in time to help in the final battle.

Click here for the first draft of the script.

Professor Silly

15:27 / 14.06.03

Chubby P: I agree--make them to scale. The Decepticons could be huge and terrifying, while the Autobots are a bit more small and stealthy.

Flux: I agree--unless they get someone to write some convincing backstory as to why these different races of robots have fought a civil war over all these thousands of years (other than these robots are good and these are evil) any Transformers storyline will seem like a big pile of poop to adults. The new comics that have come out suck so bad I want to burn them all.

I know this will brand me a something undesirable to some, but I specifically remember that Grimlock had an intelligence of 10/10 according to the packaging. That puts him at par with Optimus and Megatron. The other Dinobots were down in the 3/10 to 4/10 range, which is why Grimlock was their leader.

This movie idea has so much potential, and I have such low expectations--it'll suck hard.

18:39 / 14.06.03

..any Transformers storyline will seem like a big pile of poop to adults.

Here's a shocking idea: how about - and you'd better prepare yourselves for this - they make a film for kids? Controversial, I know, what with the toys, comic and cartoon being so obviously aimed at adults.

Jebus...

Matthew Fluxington

03:41 / 15.06.03

But are little kids the real target demographic for this film?

08:56 / 15.06.03

Like reflect says, answering that requires an ability to see into the future that I don't possess. I doubt it very much, though. The release of the cartoon series on DVD is part of the disturbing nostalgia market that appears to have resurfaced; the news that a film's being considered can only be the result of that.

14:11 / 15.06.03

Yes...and that means the movie is likely to be, you know, ironic. And probably contain loads of in-jokes for hip pot-smoking twentysomethings who should be doing something with their lives...

God help us all.

14:13 / 15.06.03

That said, I am genuinely glad that Grimlock is in it, and vitally important in sorting everything out for Wimptimus Prime and the other characters.

Yes: I am part of the problem. I know.

08:38 / 16.06.03

Second attempt! Try this link for a live action transforming VW Beetle.

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