Well, the Los Angeles trip is over. As I’m writing this I’m on my plane flying home. Have I mentioned I HATE flying and have a severe fear of heights?
Anyway guys, here are some of my quick thoughts and accounts of what happened yesterday (Saturday) at the Transformers set visit. I’ll expand a lot more in Monday’s and Wednesday’s Audio Editions.
THE SET
– There were about 15 of us from the online media there (it’s funny to be called “online media”. I just run a little blog). There were guys there from MTV.Com, iFilm.com, JoBlo, Latino Review, IGN, CHUD, Wizard Magazine, IESB, Sci-Fi.Com and a few others. They all seemed like a good bunch of guys… that honestly… I just didn’t fit in with. But I’ll talk about that more later.
– The movie was being shot on a street in downtown Los Angeles. It was one of the final scenes of the movie where a big battle was going on.
– We were on set for 7 hours
– Whenever they started shooting a scene they would first fire off these loud and smelly green smoke bombs
– All the Autobot vehicles where there except for Optimus Prime. THEY LOOK SO FRICKING WICKED UP CLOSE AND IN REAL LIFE!!! Ironhide and Wratchet are HUGE.
– Jazz is a Pontiac Solstice… and looks slick as hell
– A couple of girls were walking around with these green tipped 25 ft. sticks representing where transformed robots were standing so the cast knew where to look.
– There were about 300 extras on set. Their job was mostly just to run around looking panicked and screaming as if Giant Robots were blowing everything up.
– Michael Bay had a great T-Shirt on. On the back of it was an Autobot symbol… and on the front were the words “GIANT FUCKING ROBOTS ARE COMING“. I really want one of these shirts.
– There were areas of the street that were made up to look as if something big had popped out from under the pavement. Giant mounds of pavement with wrecked cars on top of them.
– All of the main cast were there, and we got to privately talk to each one of them.
– The set was total mayhem. hundreds of people running around, crew moving cameras, repositioning lights, and a HUGE crane mounted camera, a Taxi car stunt, about 20 military guys, some cool small military vehicles… it was crazy.
THE INTERVIEWS
– First of all, Michael Bay was amazingly friendly. He didn’t have time to come to our set up interview room… so what he did was just take a few minutes whenever he had the chance right there on set to come over to us and chat right there on the street. Honestly, the guy looked like a little kid on Christmas morning… he was having an insane amount of fun, and you could tell it the whole day.
– Bay didn’t give too much of anything away. He’s still trying to be as secretive as possible about the whole project
– Bay’s main personal area, where he had all his monitors and his seat set up… was only about 7 feet from where I was standing. At one point he was watching some footage from another day’s shoot with all the audio in it. he made sure to play it at full volume so i could hear it… but the monitors were facing the opposite direction from me. I could easily tell it was a scene with a Decepticon chasing Spike… it sounded amazing. Then Bay looks up at me with this grin and look on his face that basically said “Oh man, I bet you wish you could see what I’m looking at right now”. BASTARD!!!
– All the cast were legitimately loving this job. You could see it on their faces all day. I totally expect an actor to say crap like “Oh yeah, this movie is going to be really good”… they’re SUPPOSED to say that. But with these guys it was different. I could tell they LOVED it, where having a huge blast with it, and honestly knew they were a part of something really special. Some of the words used all the time were “Big, Huge, Massive” and mostly “This is going to be something you have never seen before, and you just won’t believe your eyes”.
– We talked with just about every Producer on the project except for Spielberg. Including Don Murphy, Tom DeSanto and Lorenzo di Bonaventura.
– The producers said Hasbro had final say on all the character designs. I HATE that.
– One of the producers told us that no humans get killed, and there is no blood. I HATE HATE HATE THAT!!! I don’t give a fuck that no one was ever killed in the cartoon show. Screw the purists! This is supposed to be more real. I’m really disappointed in hearing that.
– There is a love story in the movie. I HATE that. Love story = screen time taken away from Autobots and Decepticons kicking the crap out of each other. That’s stupid. I know they’re trying to appeal more to women… but come on.
– Megan Fox, the actress who plays Spike’s love interest is HOT ALL HELL. When she came in our interview room, everyone had to take a tenth of a second to recompose themselves. I mean… WOW! Sadly, she also didn’t strike me as all that bright.
– None of the producers seemed at all concerned at any of the negative fan reaction to the images.
– I was able to grab one of the producers later and asked him privately how he felt about the fan reaction. His response was “It’s like a child who throws a tantrum because he thinks he’s getting something he won’t like on Christmas… but I’m the parent who knows that when they open that box they’re going to be blown away”.
– Don Murphy said the original idea was to do a G.I. Joe movie… but then the US invaded Iraq and they scrapped the idea. Hasbro then approached him with the Transformers idea.
– Every Studio said “NO” to the Transformers when Murphy was pitching it… until some of the younger junior execs at those studios heard that their companies turned the project down, then went to their older bosses and said “no no no no… we HAVE to do the Transformers”. Then suddenly they had a bunch of studios come back to them and say “we are interested after all”.
– Soundwave was in the first few concepts, but they realized he just didn’t fit the story. If there is a sequel, Soundwave will DEFINITELY be in it.
– This was funny… while we were interviewing Tyrese Gibson, Michael Bay used his megaphone from across the street and yelled “Tyrese is full of shit and the biggest bullshitter in Hollywood”. He just repeated that once or twice while Tyrese was trying to give us an answer.
– Don Murphy told me “We’d be crazy not to get Frank (The original voice of Megatron) back for this”. But the decision isn’t his.
– Josh Duhamel (The star of the TV show Las Vagas) said the best quote of the day as far as I’m concerned: “Make no mistake, this is the Robot’s movie… not ours“.
So there you have it guys… just some messy assorted notes on a 7 hour day being typed on a plane without any snakes. I’ll give more details and go into everything a little deeper in the Audio Editions this week. Overall I had an AMAZING trip… but it’s good to be home.
UPDATE!!!!
Sorry guys… I was looking over my notes again… the producer never said no one dies… he just said there was no blood… and whenever vehicles crash we see people get out. My bad. But interpret that as you will.
Transformers looks class. Great read, thanks.
Thanks 123 adware
God site. Thanks!
Speaking of horrible transformer abortions, some idiots have started a petition against the movie:
http://www.blackpitchpress.com/choice
(Apparently Bumblebee was to have an “abortion” scene.)
Any truth to these rumors? I suspect it’s some script detail
that got blown out of proportion.
Well, I have just spent the best part of 30 mins reading all these comments and fuken hell, I’m dreading this movie. I’m scared to look at the ‘Megatron’ pix now. As a MASSIVE fan of 80’s Transformers, I had deliberately cut myself off from reading/viewing anything to do with this film so as not to ruin my experience of it at the cinema. I curse the day I ‘gave in’ and read up on it today ‘cos it sounds so awful that I fear Its gona make the Phantom Menace look like The Empire Strikes Back!!!!
When I first heard about the movie a while back, I had no illusions that it would be an all time great – I knew deep down that it would be a tame kiddies movie with too many ideas fukd with for a devout fan like myself – but, having said all that, I intended to do what I did with Aliens Vs Predator… i.e. Go into the cinema, quickly getting past the fact that the movie was a piece of shit and then relaxed as I treated it as nothing more than an unfortunate bit of mildly entertaining fun. But from the sound of things, I don’t even think I can employ that philosophy to this desecration of what was a big part of my childhood and nostalgic adulthood – like millions of other guys now in their 20s/early 30s. How many won’t go and see it for the same reasons as me? Thousands, tens of thousands perhaps? Alternatively, if it was a shit film story-wise but looked amazing with minimal design changes, I’d prob still go see it more than once!
My dream would have been to set the movie in 1984, filled with lots of obvious, nostalgic and even cringe-worthy 80s imagery and sounds – giving the movie and added aesthetic quality that would have been at worst, interesting viewing. Keeping it in the 80s would have eliminated 90% of any desire or reason to change the appearance of the Transformers themselves.
Sure, lots of little things would have to change, improve or be solved… like Prime’s vanishing trailer or the fact that some bots have the abilty to shrink to any size etc etc
Indeed, I think many small changes or improvements would have been 100% necessary.
Even if it meant Megatron and Shockwave transforming into some kind of large mobile weapons. Soundwave would be more tricky, but alternatively, he could have no earth form but instead transform into some kind of large Cybertronian communications device that would be manned by small bots who transformed into some kind of rectangular information disks that still ejected from him. – all that I could handle easily.
As for the updated road vehicles..ok change some to present day ones, but even in the here-and-now I still see a lot of the early 80’s vehicles around – I traveled from Scotland to California last year and must have witnessed (in one afternoon) dozens and dozens of those old Optimus Prime style trucks (are they called Mack trucks?) I saw fuken shitloads of 30+ year old Volkswagen Beetles, Jeeps and 911 Porches!!!! As for fighter planes, the US and Japan still have hundreds of F-15 strike planes in active service which greatly outnumber much newer aircraft like F-22 Interceptors!!!
Michael Bay aint the worst Hollywood director I ever saw but why has Speilberg got such a hard-on for him!?!?… I wish Steven loved Transformers as much as he claimed and had directed the thing himself, cos even if he made the same visual changes, you can bet your fuken ass that it would be a better film than anything Bay could churn out. Avoiding obvious directors like Cameron or Scott, I would love to have had a Hong Kong director in the chair for this one – John Woo perhaps? and also get get some of the action choreographers from Hard Boiled, The Killer and Crouching Tiger etc to get working with talented storyboard/concept artists to dream up some mouth-watering, exciting, slick, intelligent action sequences!!!
I fear we will get a Michael Bay-Bash-Fest, devoid of finesse with shaky, disorientating camera work flashing all over the place at point-blank range and the bots engaging in WWE style fighting thats hard to see anyway ‘cos of the aforementioned erratic, overly close-up style of filming we see in many of Bay’s fight scenes.
Fuk! I could type and type till I dehydrate!!! but I realise this post is way too fuken huge already…sorry guys, it was a big deal for me reading all your posts that reveal a sad, sad, disrespectful treatment of a fantastic, image-rich institutuion that is Transformers – so much potential going to waste…it should be easy to make this film great. The amazing imagery and basic plot behind Transformers would have taken care of itself and would have made the job of making this movie so easy with nothing more than a good budget and people behind the scenes who understand what Transformers means to millions of big kids like me out there!!!!
*THIS* is my Optimus Prime! http://www.ohgizmo.com/2006/03/30/beautifu…rime/#more-1458
Please count me as one more person who won’t be seeing Michael Bay’s Transformers in theatres when it comes out.
I refuse to give my money to something that I don’t beleive in , and this film is most definitely *not* my Transformers. Perhaps they’ll be a whole new generation of pre-teen boys’ Transformers, but they’ll never be mine. I realize the price of one movie ticket is virtually meaningless at the end of the day, but it’s the principle of the thing.
I will not support this film, and I hope other like-minded people feel the same way.
Anyone who *does* like what they see so far are – of course – entitled to their opinions, and I will not be making any attempts to change their minds. I just wanted to “stand and be counted”.
Thanks for the space.
you know what, im sorry but i’ve seen pictures of what they look like,especially bumblebee,and they all look gay! except for prime, he looked alright,but i mean come on, we still have vw beetles running around and i’m sure that the air force still uses f-15’s,and all the other cars i saw in the 80’s cartoon i still see around today, and their robot mode looks even gayer. maybe they should just stay in vehical mode the whole movie,i was pumped when i first heard about this movie, but now after all the pictures, i have serious doubts,especially since you can’t get chris latta back to do starscream(cause he died)no one else will do a whiny weasly backstabbing decepticon like him.
Hey everyone, Inspite of changes that have disappointed us Transformers fans, I disagree with those who claim this isn’t a Transformers movie basically because the consensus about Megatron’s apperance is mostly a negative from the looks of it. This is still a Transformers movie no matter what. Why? Because inspite of changes all of this is still related to the transformers characters itself. Like he may not quite look like Megatron, but his personality so far and colour doe’s represent his Generation 1 self for example. Let’s not forget that Starscream is himself but with a face that isn’t his and with an ugly body. For whatever other character I don’t know that is messed up I can’t say anything about them. Oh and if anyone ask’s me, Optimus Prime having blue flame’s is no big deal. I do think him having no attached trailer isn’t a good thing but I can over look that.
-Saad
Cool.
Nver thought you were an asshole.
Just passionate.
Just to let you know how similar we are…
I ve been married for 8 years, and in that time, I have ammassed over 2000 DVD’s (2156 to be exact) – (I’m not bragging, I realize how much of a loser that makes me) but in those 8 years, including the 2 we dated, I have never been able to make her understand or appreciate how passionate I am about movies or 80’s nostalgia. If I had a nickel for every time she gave me hell about my DVD and wireless internet bills I’d have enough to pay for all my DVDs and internet usage. She goes and sees them with me, but she has no desire to debate the pros and cons with me. Her finger pointed towards the notebook or the telephone is usualy all I get.
i guess my problem is this…if that picture came out and you didn;t know it was a transformers movie you would never guess it was. I would think it was from guyver or that fucking anime thing cameron has talked about make neonevengilion or whatever it si called.
For me this is not transformers.
that banner up above..thats transformers…..
campea take the megatron stills and make a new banner with that … leave the transformers name of it and no one would know what the fuck it is supposed to be…
transformers to me are the classic G1 transformers from the cartton. it isn;t about having a limited vision as you put it on the audio edition…..it is about hollywood yet again taking something cool and changing a lot of what makes it cool in the first place.
the transformer look is iconic..it is for me anyway and these desgins fail to get me excited. they turn me off.
it isn’t just because they have changed it…I hate that style of robot..that anime giant robot style. I have never liked it and now megatron has transformed into one. It is ugly and way too complicated …far too busy..I prefer it to be simple..I think it is totally over done….it doesn’t look evil to me…just silly.
this is my last post on this page I promise.
oh i have nothing but distain for everything you post. you disgust me.
I jest of course…
I have absolutely no hard feelings for you at all….the same thing applies here…if everyone just came here and agreed it would be fucking boring. I love getting into this shit with people as my wife and friends really don’t give a shit about of this stuff so I have no one to vent too.I like the fact that you have good answers for all of my bullshit and I have to keep struggling to come up with comebacks…..
I know exactly where you are coming from and I feel like a bit of an asshole to be kind of raining on peoples parades here…..I want to love this film. i am not being a hater for no reason…
I want negatron to be a gun and i want him to transform with the classic transformers sound and jump into starscreams hand to be used as a gun….physics and size ratios be damned…
I want optimus prime to have a magical trailer that appears and disappears at will…..
i literally want a direct cartoon to film translation….I know I am never going to get that so I was prepared for a few changes but megatron was too much for me…the hick flame job on optimus was the first sign…I fucking hate that but what can i do … the only thing i can and not go to the film. vote with your feet. it won;t make a lick of difference as the film will be huge I have no doubt…i don;t think it is going to beat every opening record but it will make cash…but they won’t make any of mine.
Well…
I didnt realize he went that far.
Ok, hes an asshole, and that was kind of pathetic on his part.
You know how it is when you love something so much you just want other people to love it too, so its a sucess.
Thats how I am with the transformers. Maybe I like it too much and its making me behave a little aggressively towards people who put it down.
Listen man, weve been on the same side for a lot of issues. Heck, I even quoted you on one issue. The time you asked John if he only wanted people to come here and agree with him. I loved that quote. I’ve made my peace with the fact that you dont like design and I respect your opinion. To be honest, Ive always respected your right to not like it, I just wanted you to change your mind and be able to enjoy the movie.
Sorry about the silliness.
No hard feelings?
at peace …at peace…i am very drunk when I post here…drunk and angry…
come on jay…it was fucking hilarious..the guy is sitting there..a successful hollywood producer e mailing shitheads like me who just so happened to not enjoy his film. he is incredibly insecure…
I am not the only person he did that too either. I am not pissed at the guy I find him hilarious….how tall is he because he seems to suffer from serious short man syndrome. if you are going to go into the entertainment business you have to have thicker skin than that. I am not pissed at the guy I find it amusing…he must have a really low self opinion and it made me pity him. It was a post about transformers when it was announced that don murphy had the rights. All I said was that thats great and that I hope it turns out as good as league of gentlemen. Sarcasm was implied…hardly that harsh..just a little joke because extraordinary league was a complete and utter failure……and then he sends me e mail after e mail calling me a loser….he even sent me box office reports from around the world to try and show me how successful the film was. like I gave a shit. it could have knocked titanic of the top and it would still be shit…to me. The guy is fucking pathetic.those are not the actions of a secure man at piece with himself..those are the actions of a high school loser who has finally made it yet can’t let go of all the abuse he has taken over the years….
I am not saying that my opinion is final and you are all wrong …I am just saying that FOR ME everything about this film stinks. I see a huge failure on the horizon and I will revel in it.
if everything I have seen or heard sounds bad to me why would I waste my time with it.
I love transformers….and I am bummed out that the film isn’t for me but fuck it.
all your opinion alfie, and your entiltled to them.
And if you would like to scan a few of my posts from the past you will notice that I dont agree with campea very often.
The HALO issue was just one of the arguments I have had with John.
Why dont you chastise Stuart for championing your opinion?
Oh wait! Thats because he AGREED with you! I get it now Alfie. No harm done. I see that you are only condescending to people who disagree with you.
No one has any question about why you dont like the Megatron design.
Its because it looks nothing like the classic 80’s design. We all get that. No one is saying you dont have the right to dislike it. No one is saying you are WRONG. All anyone is saying is wait and see. You might be surprised at the final product. Dont deny yourself the opportunity. Let go of your hate, young Skywalker.
I love the Transformers. I like Bay as a director for the most part. I dont dislike Josh Duhamel. I havent seen him in anything. I didnt see Tad Hamilton and I dont watch Vegas. So how can I have a bad opinion of him? Tyrese… well, that was a bit of a letdown, but its not a deal breaker. So dont feel sorry for me. I get to go see a Transformers movie with friends and have a great time. Feel sorry for yourself, you’re the one living in bitter, angry, disapointed land. I’m a happy hopeful guy, you’re the one thats going to deny yourself even the possibility of enjoying the Transformers movie.
“would he mind”
I guess he, like all of us, would take it on a case by case basis. How can anyone answer a question like that with an all encompassing statement. You, me, john… we would all examine the change, make assesments and decide on that one particular point whether we like it or not.
“Everything about the film looks awful”
everything meaning the preliminary toy designs and a few pictures of parked cars. Gosh! You’re right Alfie, How could I be so foolish as to not judge a movie to be a horrible waste based on concept toy designs and parked cars.
This coming from a guy who went on AICN and admittedly insulted the man and his work and then gets pissed at him for insulting you back. Just because he is a Hollywood producer doesnt mean he should just have to take insults from random guys on the internet. I know how the talkbackers on AICN post, so dont try to say you didnt intentionally insult the man and his work.
I just hate to see you deny yourself even the possibility of liking this movie Alfie. I hope you do see it and I hope you like it, not so I can say “I told you so” because I’m not that kind of guy, but because I really want you to be able to see something that makes you happy. I dont know about you but I’ve been waiting on a live action transformers movie for 22 years, so there is no way in hell I would let the reasons you have stop me from going to see this flick and at least giving it a chance.
you do like the new megatron. A hell of a lot of people don’t. Deal with it.
My point is oh wise protector of campea opinions is that the way I feel about megatron changing is exactly the same way campea felt about burtons superman plans.
I am not saying that if john felt one way about superman he has to feel that way about this. I am not being the opinion police i am trying to make him understand why i hate the changes as much as I do.
John seems to think the look of a character is not important and I am merely asking him if other drastic changes were made to other pop culture characters would he mind…..thats all..
I actaully feel a bit sorry for you guys because I have no doubt in my mind you guys are going to wlak out disappointed with this film. All of a sudden Michael Bay is going to learn how to tell a great story?? you guys are setting yourselves up for a major letdown as everything about this film so far looks awful….
Transformers –
Starring Tad Hamilton and Tyrese
Directed by Michael Bay
Sounds awesome!!
Have a good time!!!
oh and one last thing…a few weeks ago darren connelly claimed transformers were a comic first?? no they weren’t.
thats been bugging for a few weeks and I just remembered now.
For christs sake alfie.
Dont Go!
I’m sure your local theatre will appreaciate not having to listen to you complain about how much Megatron doesnt look like Megatron while they are all trying to enjoy the movie.
John, along with a lot of other people, like the Megatron design. You dont. Deal with it!
John didnt like the Burton Superman design. He does like the Megatron design. Deal with it! One has absolutely nothing to do with the other. Just because he didnt like them changing Superman has no bearing on whether or not he can like a change in Megatron. Why does he have to give you a reason that you APPROVE of? Who made you the grand decider of whose opinion is acceptable? Give me a break!
thank you stuart because I thought I was alone in finding that argument a bit on the weak side.
megatron is hugely important to transformers and to me this is the exact same thing. Megatron is iconic in the realm of transformers. He is the decepticon leader. The only other chartacter as important as him is Optimus Prime.
why you won’t answer the question though. ignore everything else i have said and give a me a yes or no answer – If burtons superman had gona ahead and he had looked like he did in those desigsn we saw would you have been happy with that?
I have a whole bunch of comics with megatron looking like megatron..I have several toys, box sets of dvds plus the feature cartoon that contain megatron looking like, well, megatron. these span over 22 years.
The entire look of the transformers is iconic. you know a transformer when you see one.
again as I have been saying all along it isn’t just that they have changed him slightly…a change i can handle…..a complete revamp to a point where he in no way looks like the character he is based on is crap to me….
hang on a minute….oh I am so sorry…i just got it…I get it now and I love it…ROBOTS IN DISGUISE!!!! thats a fucking great disguise because no one for a minute will believe he is a fucking transformer…..
would you be happy if in spider-man 3 when we see venom he is bright blue and made of glistening neon crystals??? or say nolans joker doesn’t have a white face in face he has a black face with white lips like the black and white minstrel show?
Hey there Joey,
What part of that sounds like shit?!?! Just so there isn’t any confusion… Spike isn’t trying to sell the Energon Cube on eBay… he’s just trying to sell his granfather’s glasses. He doesn’t realized that etched on them is a map to the Energon cube (How the map got on the glasses is explained in the begining of the movie).
Found this on Sci Fi Wire:
The film will offer background about the origin of the war between the Autobots and Decepticons. The plot will be set in motion when 18-year-old Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) discovers his grandfather’s pair of century-old glasses, improbably laser-etched with a map and information about the location of a key artifact, the “Energon” cube, which he then tries to sell on eBay. The movie will follow five separate storylines, which will all converge with a final battle between the Autobots and Decepticons, starting at Hoover Dam and ending in an American city that looks a lot like Los Angeles.
Did you here about any of this during your set visit John? Cause this sounds to me like total shit.
Hey Stuart,
John never said he wasnt AN important one, he said he wasnt the MOST important one. That little change makes a huge difference.
People either like things or they dont. Its instincual. Its something that either appeals to you or it doesnt. Like cars. Some guys swear by 60’s and 70’s era muscle cars. Some guys live and die by rice rockets. Are either of them wrong? Are either of them right?
No. Because its their own opinion based on what they personally think looks good or doesnt.
Stop trying to belittle someone else’s opinion by saying they only have it because of some stupid reason like Paramount sending him on a trip. Thats weak and ridiculous. That would be like me saying the only reason that you dont like it is because Hasbro didnt send you a bunch of free ones on Christmas of ’86. Both are weak arguments.
Comparing this to Superman is stupid too. Two completely seperate situations. One situation has nothing to do with the other. Because someone didnt like change in one situation doesnt mean he’s not allowed to like any change in any situation ever in his life.
Hey Chisox,
You said:
“I guarantee you the people who came up with the transformers concept in the 80’s are not involved”
I can 100% tell you that this isn’t true. And that a couple of the guys invovled with the TV show are indeed consultants on the film.
Cheers!
~John
It’s very obvious what’s happening here. They are definitely trying to introduce a new toy line. They should have released this concept earlier to erase the shock and awe. Now it’s probably to late to start work on a more acceptable model of Megatron. I don’t know about others but for me and my buddies Megaton look is definitely a strike against this film. It already had a strike when Michael Bay came on board so it’s got one more to go before it strikes our in my book. I am hoping Bay can surprise me though and I definitely will be there July 4 because the curiosity is killing me.
This is what happens when people run companies who know nothing about art and only care about making money flex their muscles. I guarantee you the people who came up with the transformers concept in the 80’s are not involved with this company now.
To me it should be common sense not to fuck with Megatron. If you want to introduce a new toy makeup a character to do that. It’s like casting a black actor to play Kingpin and arrogantly think people won’t notice. This isn’t like previous decades were propaganda was stuffed down peoples throat and they accepted it. This is 2006 people are more informed, more opinionated and more demanding of a better entertainment product for their money.
That’s the worst attempt to try and dispell a valid arguement ever. Sorry man, but it is.
Hundreds of characters and Megatron isn’t even and important one? Gimme a break. What was in the water at Paramount on Saturday? :(
This makes me a sad panda.
Oh Alfie… Sigh… I’ll repeat what I said earlier:
“And dude… quit trying to compare this situation to Superman. A one character frainchise that has already had multiple live action and comic and cartoon movies and TV shows that have all established him and iconizized him. One Character.
This is a totally new medium for The Transformers and Megatron… a franchise with HUNDREDS of characters of which he isn’t even the most important one. They are 2 completely differnt situations with 2 totally different criteria. If you can’t see that… then wow.”
You’re trying to force feed a square peg into a round hole with an inacqurate Superman comparison. The two are totally different situations. You might as well ask is i think they should do a lone ranger movie with Silver as a black horse instead of a white one.
If you want to draw comparisons… at least try to pick ones where the situations are even remotely similar.
would you be happy if superman had been in a black robotic type costume?
yes or no?
Because Alfie… what your keep refusing to acknowledge is that a dozen things go into who and what a character is… the “look” is just one of them.
Michael Bay – I hate his films. I always give him a chance as he can direct spectacle and everytime i leave one of his films I feel like I just ate mcdonalds and swear i won;t do it again.
It would be so bad if he wasn;t so entirely humourless about hid films. he takes himself way to seriously for the cheesy movies he delivers. he thinks he is an important film maker. watch his interviews. the guy is a terrible story teller.
Don Murphy – This guy is one of the biggest jerks around. Gop have alook around hias posts on other websites and see how he handles himself and criticism. He is a complete idiot and everything he touches is dreadful aside from apt pupil. I once posted something on AICN about his work and he e mailed me himself calling me a pathetic loser and that I needed to get out of my moms basement. he also informed that he had lunch with lee tamahori and that they both laughed at what a loser I was. Why on earth I would give a shit is beyond and for a holylwood producer i thought he might have better things to do with his time. This was before tamahori was arrested for prostitution and now it all makes sense as to why murphy was with him.
Megatron – obviously you all get the point. I hate the design. I despise it.
I swear to you that I will not see this film in the cinema. I don;t know how I can prove it to you but trust me. I don’t want to give these pricks my money.
I pray this film is a disaster critically and commercially and that its failure takes murphy and bay down with it.I have never prayed for a film to fail before. I am not one these internet haters who hates everything. I want eveyrthing I see to be awesome. I pay to see it so i always hope it is good but everything about this project reeks to me. The casting (tad hamilton and tyrese) the film makers behind it and the designs.
The flames on prime were the first sign to me that this film was heade din a direction I would not like and so far everything else is proving my feelings to be correct.
I hope you are all happy with it next year and have a great time but we all talk about hollywood idiocy and to me this film smells like that and I don’t want to give them my money.
One thing I can say that i am sure you will believe is that I sure as hell won’t be buying the megatron action figure!
…transformers have a look that is iconic….you know it is a transformer as soon as you see it…this megatron looks so totally bland and devoid of any transformer charm. It doesn’t look evil or scary ..it just looks bland. completely run of the mill.
again I ask why bother calling him megatron. why not just make him a completely new character….
and dont stop posting, dude.
I’m really enjoying the conversation.
I dont think either of us is going to change the others mind on the design issue, but like John said…”debate is good”
How can you say that without knowing the story or without having seen a single frame of film?
“lost me completely” and “I wont see it” are rash statements made to emphasize your point of view. They are not truthful statements. You are saying them to try to prove how much you hate the design of Megatron. “See! I’m not even going to go see the movie! Thats how much I hate his look!”
I dont believe for one minute that you are actually not going to see this movie in the theatres. I know you are going to say “I dont care what you believe” but I dont. You expect me to believe that you are so closed minded that after seeing one preliminary shot of Megatron, you are not going to see this on the big screen. You are OK with all the other character designs. You havent seen one frame of finished film. You have no idea what he or any of the other transformers are going to look like in their fully rendered, in motion CGI form. You are a lifelong Transformers fan. And yet still you expect me to believe you wont see this at the theatre.
How can you say that this is a generic changebots movie when you are only pissed at the design of ONE character. Do all the other guys not count? Is Megatron’s faithful to the 80’s cartoon design the only parameter that has to be met in order for it to be called a transfomers movie? If the failing in ONE of the characters physical design, not the character himself, not who he is as a sentient being or his personality, but the look only of ONE of the characters is all it takes to make you write this movie off then you dont love the transformers… not the way I do anyway.
“Murphy, Bay, Megatron”
Murphy: Are you kidding me? You’re going to hate and boycott a movie because of the producer? Weak and ridiculous.
Bay: Ok. The guy made a couple movies that you didnt like, but you have to admit the guy knows how to shoot action. Robot on robot destruction… isnt that what we all most want to see. Anyway, I think if we were all to be truly honest with ourselves, truly honest, we all think of Armageddon as a guilty pleasure. Pearl Harbor… ya got me there, but I dont blame Bay for that one, I blame the script. You have to admit that the attack scene was spectacular. He does great spectacle and if there ever was a movie that was made for great spectacle, its the transformers.
Megatron: Fine. You dont like the design. But to say you are going to boycott a film based on one character design makes you sound like a petulant child. the kind of kid that would take his bat and ball home if you didnt let him win.
Besides, we all need to support this film when it comes to the theatres, because if you dont, thats a guarantee that you will NEVER see the Megatron that you think is so important.
As for me, I wouldnt be willing to sacrifice seeing more transformers movies because of one design flaw. But then, I dont see the flaw, so what do I know.
I just don’t think it is unreasonable for me to be fucked off that they have ruined my favorite character.
is that so bad. look at the megatron on your banner up above.
iconic.
you know what that is as soon as you see it…
this thing they have come up with could come from any genric sci fi thing…there is nothing about that screams transformers…..
especially a character as well loved and as important as megatron.
this film is “changebots” and his character is M.I.N.O.
Megatron in name only.
I also heard that peter cullen has been sacked…and larry the cable guy is doing optimus voice now…..they thought that would be more in keeping with the fucking trashy flame job he has.
fuck this film.
I won;t post about it again. I promise.
They have lost my ten bucks and have definitely lost the 500 hundred or so dollars I would have spent on the figures…..
the thing is I don’t think he looks badder or wicked-er…I think it looks lame and stupid. I am not against changee being made to suit live action but that to me is a hideous monstrosity. it hurts my eyes to looks at it….i don’t mind prime having being a long nose truck…I can live with that….but is he had all of a sudden been a fucking alien jet with hundreds of fiddly looking spikes and shit sticking out from all over him with the predators face I would be pissed…..
i won’t be there july 4th. they have lost me completely….the film is a joke. murphy, bay, megatron to me is has become an absolutel joke and I won’t see it.
I love transformers…not generic changebots.
I’ll be there at the video store early october to rent it as they rush release it to dvd to try and salvage some money from the BOMB they unleashed into cinemas….
off subject but i was just in a video store today and saw superman posters…that is quick.
of course Hasbro is thinking about selling toys… they’re a toy manufacturer. Their whole purpose for being is to sell toys, but that has nothing to do with the design of Megatron.
If it was just about selling toys and not having to do with servicing the story then why is he the only one that has been changed so drastically? Why not take the same route with all the other transformers too?
Wait a minute. They have changed all the other transformers. Enough to warrant new toys for all of them. Why not just make some subtle changes to Megatron too? Well… since your argument that it is just to sell toys has been blown out of the water by the fact that they could have just changed him slightly like they did with everyone else and still sell new toys of him, then why…?
To service the story being told.
Let go of your hard-on from 20 years ago and embrace the newer, badder, wicked-er Megatron. He’s still gonna be the same bad ass mother f–ker you knew and loved on the inside… he’s just gonna be wearing a new suit.
He’ll be waiting for ya in your local theatre on july the 4th. You bring the popcorn and he’ll bring the mayhem. Enjoy.
oh I have said time and time again we are never going to agree on this…..
neither of us are right and neither of us are wrong.
John is happy to see the transformers be totally ruined and i’m not.
thats all;)
I’m just glad he’s not a gorrila.
Arguments about whose opinion is right or wrong are fun.
Futile… but fun none the less.
I keep revealing the only bugging me is that he doesn’t look like the ’80s version???? uumm yeah I keep revealing it because that is my whole point….I aint trying to hide it.
I wouldn’t mind tweaks or alterations to fit live action but to completely change it likle that to me is horseshit.
…it isn’t the only reason though…..
I don’t like the anime “guyver” style robot….I don’t like the power rangers either and that is the shit that enters my head when I look at it. I don’t think transformers…..
you see there is a character in from the 80’s cartoon t.v. show, feature length cartoon movie and also from the series of best selling toys called megatron.
he is iconic to a lot of people……
he has been completely barstadised….
I don’t hate that he doesn’t look identical to the ’80’s version. I hate that he is so completely different that it might as well have a new name and be a completely different character…much the way you hated the superman designs.it is the exact same thing john no matter how you spin it…
you talk about his character definiton as if this is some deep masterpiece…..this is the transformers…for me a huge part of my love for them is based around what they looked like….I love the idea behind the whole story but I loved what they looked like.
to me the new design is devoid of personality and character and has been made just to look evil and badass.
oh and it also rips off predator.
at least they could have tried to have been original but no they have just made a generic looking evil robot that could be placed in any number of japanese flicks.
when you picture transformers in your head you don’t picture that do you.
so why not just make up your own original idea based around robots that look like that. w
hy take transformers WHICH IS AN ICONIC PROPERTY FOR A HELL OF A LOT OF PEOPLE and make such drastic changes to one of the main characters.
and you can have your opinions but to say megatron isn’t the most important character is silly as well. why do you think they are keeoping his name?? because he is hugely important to transformers..people fucking love megatron. I do. He is my favorite character and they have totally fucked him. completely. but why should I be surprised?? don murphy has a history of fucking up good properties and bay is one of the worst directors knwon to man.
and yes john I am limiting my scope. I am limiting it to the fact that there was a character in the 80’s cartoon on which this film is based called megatron who LOOKS NOTHING LIKE THE FUCKING ABORTION THEY ARE USING FOR THIS. that is hardly an unreasonable expectation john…to expect a feature film vbersion of your favorite character to in some way actually look like the character.
oh and john if you think hasbro are not thinking about toy sales and toy sales only you are nuts. of course they are….it aint a conspiracyt theory ..its a fact.
…the cartoon was at the end of the day just a giant toy ad….but a fucking great one….and one that worked because I had fucking loads of them.
You keep relevealing that the only thing that is really bugging you is the fact that it doesnt look like the 80’s cartoon versoin of him:
“i cannot for the life of me understand how you think that design looks good…it isn’t a slight change it is a completely different character.”
And dude… quit trying to compare this situation to Superman. A one character frainchise that has already had multiple live action and comic and cartoon movies and TV show that have all established him and iconizized him. One Character.
This is a totally new medium for The Transformers and Megatron… a franchise with HUNDREDS of characters of which he isn’t even the most important one. They are 2 completely differnt situations with 2 totally different criteria. If you can’t see that… then wow.
And how is this NOT Megatron. You are a smart guy… but you’re looking at this with such a limited scope that’s totally under you. Who Megatron is isn’t exclusivley defined (nor even primarily defined) by what he looks like. It’s way more than that.
As for your wild consiracy theory that it’s all just about selling the toys… I won’t even touch that. It’s pure unbased speculation… which is fair enough… so I’m not going to argue with you about it.
~John
that doesn’t defeat my argument at all.
they want a new megatron so they can market and sell a hwole new toy. if you have just bought one of theses rerelased megatrons chances are you won’t buy the same figure next year for the film.
it is about selling toys. it has nothing to do with the servicing the story.
I don’t mind changes……
i agree that making megatron a handgun would be a bit silly in a live action film but they have changed him to a point where in no way is that megatron at all they have kept nothging of the original character so i don’t see why they are bothering calling him megatron.
i understand that primes probably won’t have a magical trailer which appears and disappears at will although I would have loved it if they did….
i cannot for the life of me understand how you think that design looks good…it isn’t a slight change it is a completely different character. again john i go back to your article about burtons superman and that bothered you yet this doesn’t???i don;t get it.
OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!! 10 months and a week to go!!! The anticipation….Someone strap me down!!!
Awesome that you got to go, John , and welcome home. What an experience it must’ve been. Truely wish I could’ve joined you (or replaced you! LOL). It seems that everyone is having fun, and they know that they’re part of something bigger than themselves. It’s awesome that Josh Duhamel is a classy, humble guy too. He’ll go far in Hollywood.
As for the “love story” that you think is a waste, I don’t think it’s going to be that bad, for the simple reason that the portrayal is of a younger couple, so it’ll probably revolve around a small buildup and the reason Spike joins the fight (other than the fact he owns Bumble Bee). Probably not too much else.
Oh, and PLEASE tell me you didn’t see Anthony Anderson on set… I don’t mind the guy as a comic, but don’t see him fitting into the TF story at all (I really hope his role is a small, tiny one).
Really glad you had a great time on set, and next time, jump the barrier and steal the short off Bay directly…Or ask him when The Movie Blog can start selling the things… I want one, and my $30 is ready!!!
I should update myself here. When I said:
“All the people out there that you’re refering too have no idea what this movie is, or is going to be about, or how it unfolds”
I’m one of those people as well. So all I can go on is the design.. and it looks wicked.
You just defeated your own argument Alfie,
If all they wanted to do was sell new toys… then they would amke 100% sure make something all the little sheep would like and “baaaa” for.
All the people out there that you’re refering too have no idea what this movie is, or is going to be about, or how it unfolds. Forgive me if I don’t jump on the “popular opinion” band wagon.
:P
~john
that is it exactly. all this shit about the changes being made to serve the story….give me a break.that is total bullshit studio spin…
it is about making new toys to sell.
that is it.
I just don’t understand why they are bothering calling him megatron. is it just to prey on nostalgia so people hear megatron is in it….
go look around the net…even sites that have nothing to do with film are talking about how fucking terrible the new look is.
at a publicity standpoint this is not good for the film at all. response to the new look megatron is overwhelmingluy negative….but this is the internet so that can hardly be counted as there is a lot more hate out there than love for film stuff it seems but so far everyone I know who has seen it is saying the same shit I am “what in the fuck???”
To me the Superman/Batman/Spider-Man debate sums it up.
There are ways and means and times to be faithful to what has gone before and ways and means and times you can stray from canon all the while hitting a middle ground to keep the majority happy.
It seems to me that the Transformers team have strayed very very far from that mark.
Logic and realism can dictate a lot of these in translation. Wanton change for change’s sake smacks of something going on.
Most likely Hasbro wanting a new toyline, hence why they get final sign-off on a bunch of machines that vary from looking quite similar to G1 to looking nothing like. Can’t clash with our “Classic/Ultimate/Collectors” G1 toys we just released recently now, eh?
“GIANT FUCKING ROBOTS ARE COMING” I WANT THAT SHIRT.
I’ve got to say, the online draft of the Transformers script that I read was a hulking piece of shit.
o.k. john you ask why he has to look like megatron …
we could ask why are the bothering calling him megatron when they have completely changed his look…not tweaked it or slightly updated it…he is completely unrecognizible and that fucks me off.
And save the purist shit…I am not a purist….I just fucking love transformers and don’t understand why megatron needed to be so drastically changed to a point where he is does not in any resemble the megatron from the property this film is based on.
..I don’t mind them slightly changing stuff like bumblebee not being a VW and the make of primes truck (although I think the flames look stupid…not film ruining just stupid) but that isn’t megatron….it isn’t. they might as well give him another name.
why couldn’t superman have been wearing that black robotic suit in burtons version of superman??
Even websites that are not about movies are posting these pictures of megatron and saying “what the fuck?”
bays films are empty. they are childrens story books….with giant simple text and bright pretty pictures….And this could be such a greast film but with him at the helm it will be a forgettable piece of throwaway summer junk. which is not going to break any opening weekend records….not with the sunner looking like it does…shrek 3, pirates 3, spidey 3, harry potter ….there is no way in hell it will beat any records…..
but as you say campea debate is good…that is the whole popint of these boards and on this matter we obviously are never going to see eye to eye.
Alright, I dont’ really care about any of this, but i’ll throw in my two cents.
The problem with the major character redesigns is this:
The orginal cartoon characters (which were meant for 12 year olds) were so one dimensional that the only thing seperating them from eachother was how they look. Gun = bad. Red white and blue truck = America. You’ll never get that in the film because it’s impossible to keep the simplicity of the cartoon without alienating a modern audience. This is why the movie just doesn’t work outside of being typical modern action cliche with giant robots. The only thing “Transformers” about it is the name, and there’s a reason for it. It doesn’t work.
Jay C.
http://www.filjunk.com
http://www.thedocumentaryblog.com
I guess you were talking to John about the eye in the teaser poster because I never said that.
Great debate going on here though. Love it.
Its a little hard to understand what your trying to say but I think I got the gist if it:
You were harping on the robot mode, not the alt mode –
I know, but the alt mode completely affects the robot mode. It completely decides what the robot mode looks like.
Would Optimus have the double windows on his chest in his cybertronian robot mode if he wasnt an 18 wheeler in his alt mode?
“what I was harping about, was the robot mode, and how indestinguishable it really is from the classics”
– indestinguishable means you cant tell the two things apart. I believe, from your previous posts, your main complaint is that it doesnt look anything like the classics, so maybe that was just a typo or maybe I’m reading it wrong.
Yes, I did post the early design thing. I think maybe some other people did too, but you are not wrong about me doing it.
I know the facial features will probably not change. Hell, I dont think anything on megatron will change throughout the whole movie. I’m fine with that. As I’ve said, I like the design and to be honest the face is my favorite part.
Now let me ask you a question.
If the character of Megatron as described in this movie has the opinion that humans are pions who deserve nothing more than to be used for his gains or crushed under his foot like the ants he thinks we are, why would he change his Cybertronian-given face to more resemble a human face. That would be totally out of character in this movie that is stiving for a more realistic approach to the story of the transformers.
Yellow Spandex –
I think wolverine is an excellent example to prove my point. Hugh Jackman couldnt be anymore different from the wolverine in the comics if he tried. Comic – 5’3″ runt, ugly, hairy, stocky with big muscles, yellow and blue spandex. Movie – Well over 6′, lanky strong frame with average muculature, good looking, black leather. Thats pretty far removed but I think we can all agree that now we couldnt imagine anyone else playng wolverine. You know why that is? He nailed the character so perfectly.
I think clothing is an excellent metaphor for the alt mode. The alt mode is the “clothing” that they use to fit in and as I said earlier, the alt mode completely determines what the robot mode looks like. Megatron, in this first movie, has no desire or need to “fit in”, so take from that what you will. Maybe in future movies he will need to “fit in” to acomplish his goals and therefore he will adopt a more classic look. I dont care if he ever does because I love this look.
if I missed the point of any of this let me know. I meant no disrespect.
John this is some of the most comprehensive coverage I’ve seen on Transformers. Awesome stuff, thanks.
i suppose when you say
spoiler: cybertronian version… you forgot to mention that facial features and gimmicks wouldn’t change right? also x-men while good had stayed true to alot of looks, not the yellow spandex, but of course that is a bad comparison, see clothing can’t be related to the transformers, unless you are talking about just the alt mode– the jet i said was fine, just that it does take away from starscream– made more sense to have hime be a giant ass fusion cannon, if you WANTED a cybertronian alt mode– what i was harping about, was the robot mode, and how indestinguishable it really is from the classics, unline the other autobots from the movie(starscream also suffers this same crappy fate) however, and i hope you posted this, i forgot to re-read it, but these are perlimanary looks now, as the designers are looking to revamp the character in a sense.. hope you posted that :) also, remember a while back ago, when you got excited at the poster for TF, and said oooh that’s megatron.. well… guess it wasn’t– told ya it was the autobot logo.. just with an eye– again i do hope that you pop in the murphy boards–you can get great info there.
John,
There are reasons I come to your blog everyday, and you just made me one of your biggest fans.
Dude, thank you for this update and going out of your way to provide your readers what it was like for you on the set of Transformers.
-diskjokk
Don’t be so angry with this love story in a Sci-Fi. I was expecting it. They put a love story in everything. There is no need to get mad. Just stay home, not in the theatre.
“WOW! Sadly, she also didn’t strike me as all that bright.”
I LOLed pretty hard on that one John. Good to hear you had a great time.
Hey John!
You forgot about the disappearing wheels.
Man, how stupid would that look in photoreal CGI?
Hey Lion,
Bryan singer had never read an X-Men comic before he was offered X-Men. Christopher Nolan didnt live and die by Batman comics before he made Batman Begins, and Ang Lee wasnt a life-long Hulk freak before he directed that flick. They all had a base knowledge of the characters existence and learned what they needed to learn, changed what they needed to change and made a couple of really great movies. I personally didnt care for the Hulk that much but I included him because you said you liked it. I’m not comparing all these directors to Bay, just the point behind the comparison. I.E: their knowledge and devotion to the characters leading up to them directing their respective films.
And again, you are reffering to the classic “earth version” of himself. Not trying to give anything away but what we are seeing might, just might, be his –
– spoiler –
Cybertronian version.
maybe we should bring up the VAMPIRE MEGATRON… for those that are clueless sorry, but that’s all i’ll say.
In my opinion, the main thing that makes Megatron who he is is his character and personality, and from what I’ve read, they’ve nailed it. Thay have nailed who Megatron is.
Let me ask you a question, do you think Megatron looked like an Earth pistol or tank when he was on Cybertron without ever having scanned any of those things. Why would he look like your version of a transformer or Earths version of a robot if he had never scanned anything. I’m trying not to give anything away, but think about that.
I loved Armageddon, thoroughly enjoyed Bad Boys 1 and really liked The Island. From my feelings on those movies I have decided that I believe Bay is the right person to direct this movie. I think we can all agree that one of the biggest, if not the biggest, things that we all want to see in this movie would be giant robot mayhem. Bay can certainly deliver that to us. I t wasnt Bay’s fault that the script to Pearl Harbour was horrible. I dont think we have to worry about an over blown, drawn out, horribly plotted and developed script in this movie.
Be patient and give it a chance dude! I think you’re gonna be surprised how well the character of Megatron comes across in this movie. Be hopeful, not hateful.
Hey Campea!
Love the trigger dick and the magic trailer comments.
I was laughing my butt off.
campea… i ask you… why not?
rather go with the devil i know, then with the devil i don’t know–it’s not that i want the same megatron, but hell a similar one wouldn’t hurt-hell had they gone with the original look in someway you would not be complaining, you’d probably state that the character looks classic and will keep the fans happy, not once did you bash the prime look, and that looked pretty close to the original, im by no means an extreme purist, but i don’t forget what this movie was suppose….NO.. IS based on and that is G1, otherwise, they wouldn’t have the line up be G1 or the bots closely ressemble the originals, or even have the original line up, so i don’t see how this can stray so far, leave the far off straying for a sequel, the first movie should be a reminder, a re-animation* of sorts, not a complete reinvention, i get realism, but in realism you tend to screw up the story,wanna know why? CAUSE realistically TRANSFORMERS don’t exist but only in toys! so you can screw with reality and get away with it, if you tell the story right… megatron should show some ressemblance to his classic self, you guys already have new looking decepticons, give us a break already and just make a good movie with SIMILAR not COPIES of the classic transformers– and since when is BAY the design major– all he knows is how to shoot a pic, not to decide on what’s the best looking transformer, especially seeing as he wasn’t a fan or someone who even studied the story– he has zero perspective on the subject– and blank pages should again, be left for the sequels. the hulk gambled with manipulating the story far from the comic and it didn’t turn out profitable– or as profitable as it could have– funny as it was, they did keep to a close design as to the hulk –except his height.. see ppl complain about these changes early, noone listened,and.. flop—**btw i liked the hulk, but only cause, it had a serious tone, and it was the closest incarnation as i ever seen– but it just fell short, sorta like..SUPERMAN did.
Dude I know its not John Knoll. It’s Scott Farrar. Check out my comment on your last LA report ;)
Too bad anyway though. I’d think the visual effects would be the star of the movie no? I can see why they’d be busy though.
Hey Lion,
You raise a question for me that I’ve been meaning to ask but always forget to. Here is the question.
For all of you who think Megatron should look like he does in the cartoon… my question is… Why? Why does he have to look anything like the Megatron from the cartoon for the movie to work in your opinion?
I’m not being sarcastic. I am sincerely and honestly asking.
Cheers.
Oh… and Henrik… no, I didn’t get to meet the ILM guys… they were way too busy. And besides, it wasn’t John Knoll. :(
John did you get to meet the ILM guys or not?
I confess I know very little about The Transformers and so far I haven’t really cared about the movie. I never watched the TV Show so I just haven’t understood all of the hype.
But having looked at those pics of Megatron that were posted, i’m now getting really exicted for seeing the movie. I can’t stop staring at those evil eyes!!
campea when reffering to megs as in boxy and cartoony don’t compare him to the toy — the cartoon was a good version– this trigger in his crotch only came from the toy– and NO — for the most part fans accept the NO GUN thing– we would’ve loved A TANK alt mode– which serves PERFECTLY– but ok he’s a JET– sorta takes away from starscream, no big deal— except he looks nothing like megatron, just a robo that’s been shredded….shredded.. that’s it– THE SHREDDER!! sorry that looks more cartoony– btw can you explain how is it that ironhide and the others might have mouths– cartoony still?
megatron shouldn’t exactly look like his old self, but he shouldn’t have to look that different either, it should be a nice blend—- you should come to the murphy boards and talk there, that way we wouldn’t get snippets of your view, and we can actually go full on to properly debate this. NOONE really wants the full on cartoon– we just want a proper adaptation, nothing more nothing less- and this movie is far from a proper adaptation… well that is it was, until fans outraged–i would’ve dissaproved if they kept arcee in the first and had all decepticons but starscream die in it— with no lines, and have the decepticons also be drones. give me a break.
Damn Megan Fox is in this movie!!!! I did not know that
well atleast there will also be some good eye candy in this film aside from the robots themselves lol
Oh god Alfie,
Fine… let’s have Megatron be this ridiculously box shaped thing on screen that transforms into a little gun with moving human lips and a square torso and a trigger in his crotch. We’ll make sure he never shoots any humans, never does anything about Starscream constanting ploting against him and whose big grand plan for universal domination is haresting a hydro plant for energon cubes.
Because anything that doesn’t line up with the above… isn’t Megatron.
But hey… why stop there!?! Unless Optimus has a trailer that magically appears and disappears whenever he transforms… then it isn’t Optimus Prime. Unless Ironhide sounds like a bad John Wayne impersonation, then it isn’t Ironhide. Unless Starscream has the voice of Cobra Commander, much like a shrill 5 year old child… then it isn’t Starscream. Unless Bumblebee transforms into an outdated car that hasn’t even been produced for years… then it’s not Bumblebee.
It’s called adaptation. Out of the 13 Transofrmers in this film, they’ve decided to do a total 100% do-over (just for the looks) on just one of them. Give them a break and take the purist hand cuffs off them
Fine… you don’t like the new design. Ok. fair enough. You’re entitled to that opinion. But please spare us the Purist zealousy of “It’s not Megatron”. Because from everything I’ve seen, heard and read… it is going to be more Megatron than any hand held pistol could portray on a big screen in Photo real 3D. In my opinion, this physical form will facilitate the spirit of the character in a photo real live action film far better than the old design would.
And as totally wrong as you always are :P The debate is good dude.
Cheers.
~John
hahahaha you do crack me up campea…
the nice tidy box of what i have decided looks like a transformer???I didn’t decide what they look like – this film is based on the transformers isn’t it??? because I could swear there was a cartoon series that is the basis for this film and in was a character called megatron and he looked FUCKING NOTHING LIKE THE GODAWFUL THING LEAKED LAST WEEK……
the tidy box you speak of is called the fucking transformers…and it is filled with episodes and toys from the fucking thing these pricks are currently raping……I have decided what a transformer looks like based on what transformers look like. especially megatron.
why is he called megatron??? he looks nothing like megatron….
this is EXACTLY the same thing as the burton superman designs you hated so much …EXACTLY the same.
if they said megatron is not in the film but the villain is a new character we have created called “bigevilpredatorbot” i would be pissed that megatron is not in the film but at least they hadn’t fucked him up…
THAT ISN’T MEGATRON.
I love this site campea by the way….I love the audio edition as well just want you to know that….we seem to always be at loggerheads over shit but I am glad to see you getting to go on cool shit like this trip…good for you….
did you meet don murphy?? god that guy is a shit head…..what was he like in person? I only know him through the abusive e mails he sent me when I dared post a comment on AICN that suggested the extraordinary league of gentlemen was crap.for a “hollywood” producer he really lets the internet sites get to him….
Damn, Campea! You’re a lucky bastard! Ok, not as lucky as getting a chance to see that scene Bay was watching, LOL!
Well, I can understand everyone concerning about the love story/lack of human carnage (shit, I have that concern too). But, overall, I am going to kick some ass to get in on Independence Day!
BRING IT ON!!!
(also; PLEASE DON’T SUCK!)
P.S.
Did you see any cameras pointing at you? If yes, pray that you’ll be on the extra features !-)
Hey Alfie,
If all you want is everything to fit nice and tidy in your litle box of what you’ve decided “looks” like a transformer… then ok.
Shockwave never looked much like a traditional transformer either… but he ended up being one of the most popular.
The design is brilliant. Perfect design for what the story calls Megatron to be. That’s my opinion. It’s totally fair that you have a different one.
Jay I am not bitter or offended by anything you have said.
The lack of a bady count doesn;t upeset me that much it just seems like a cop out to get a nice safe rating…..
the main thing for me is that I just find it amazing that you guys are so convinced that bay the guy behind pearl harbor(one of the most offensive movies ever made), bad boys 1 and 2, armageddon etc etc is going to deliver a great film….I just don’t get where your optimism comes from….the guy is great action set piecve director but his filsm heartless and souless pieces of junk.
one question for you campea…does the megatron design look like a transformer? when you picture transformers in your head is that what you picture? yes or no?
its a no isn’t?? that fucking monstrosity is fucking hideous.
Sorry about the puppy and the bitter at life thing. They ere uncalled for.
You can hate what you’ve heard or seen about this flick if you want to, I just dont understand it.
Dude, this totally sounds like when I was on the set of “Ass Monkeys Gone Wild,” a low budget porn movie filmed in Zanzibar.
Alfie,
1: Hasbro has final say on character design. That means the physical design. That is nothing like the control Bungie has over HALO.
2: Love story. Like Darthmuppet said, it’s handled very well in the script and is in no way overpowering. Regardless, I dont mind there being a male – female connection of some sort in the movie.
3: No human casualties – Really? That bothers you?? Are you so bitter and angry at life in general that the only way you can enjoy an action movie is if people die. Nobody dies in the cartoon and yet you enjoyed that. From what you’ve said you seem to be awfully angry at the producers for changing the look of the characters, in fact I’d say that since you are now reffering to the movie as the “changebots” there must not be much in the movie that you think is holding true to the original series. And yet, here they are holding true to an aspect of the original series and it pisses you off too. Plus, like Darthmuppet said, there “is some onscreen death”. If you still feel the need to have death on the brain to enjoy this movie, go strangle a puppy before you leave for the theatre.
You seem like you’ve already decided to hate this movie based on a few pictures and the fact that a boy and a girl may form a small and non-overpowering connection. Thats silly and unreasonable in my opinion. But Hey, if you wanna hate it, be my guest. I’m gonna do my best to enjoy the shit out of it, because nothing so far has made me think otherwise.
As far as the no bloody death thing goes, maybe he was just meaning no onscreen human deaths, because in the version that Darth and I read
— SPOILER —
people die.
Now…I’m curious….
HOW MANY EXTRAS?
And why wasn’t John Campea one of them?
:)
Hope you have a decent flight back, John.
As for the “love story”…I don’t think it will detract from the film, it’s not like this film ABC aired on the network last night, “Pearl Harbor”, directed by….
Whoops. Nevermind….
Transformers over GI Joe…hmmm…interesting. Funny thing, despite not being a huge T fan (you know where my loyalties lie) I have to cowboy up.
GOOD CALL!
Heh heh
Alfie, you have to stop putting words in my mouth.
I never said Hasbro had ANY creative control over the film. All I said was that they had final OK on the character design. That’s a far cry from story and creative control.
The Megatron design looks amazing.
BUt yes… the existence of a love story concerns me… and lack of human carnage dusturbs me too.
Alfie… have you read the script yet? Trust me… the problems that you addressed are actually handled pretty well. The whole love story thing isn’t handled the way you’re thinking. I actually found the parts with the “love story” to be some of the funniest parts of the script. Hell, I even laughed out loud during several of the so called “love scenes”. This isn’t going to be a sappy love story by any strecth of the imagination. If they keep the love story the way it’s written in the script then most of us former geeks(what am I saying… I’m still a geek and proud of it) are really going to be able to relate to it.
Also… like I said in my post just above… there may not be any human casualities, but there most certainly is some onscreen Death in there.
Just be patient and have faith man.
Awesome! Glad you had a good time! I’d have done just about anything to have been there!
I’m not all that concerned with the love story element… it’s handled fairly well in the script. As long as the actors can pull it off, then I really don’t have a problem with it.
I’m also not too worried about Hasbro having final say on the Robot designs. If the designs that they had final say on are the ones that we’ve already seen and they have already approved them… then I think they did us right in that department.
I’m not all that excited about the “no humans dying” thing, but I think I can live with that… at least there is “some” death in the film… even if it’s not human death.
All in all, I still think we’re in for one hell of a ride next summer! I can’t fucking wait!
the three concerns he has though are fucking huge….
for one he has railed on halo for bungie having to much creative control and it turns out this film has pretty much the exact same deal. Hasbro a complete film making outsider has creative control over the characters. Stupid.
A love story. Need I say anything else?
“before we go into to battle for the fate of mankind against giant overly complicated looking changebots…I have to say….I love you…kiss me”
fuck that shit…why have a fucking love story….too get girls interested and thats why because the film makers no full well that this film is a film mainly for guys. not only guys i am sure there are girls who like transformers but when I grew up I didn’t know too many girels who had collections of transformers toys…so they throw in a lame love line so they can have a handsome guy kiss someone in the trailer too try and get girls into to see it. It will be a plotline that is not needed and is just dumb.
No humans dying is another terrible idea. you don’t have to have graphic violence but not having anyone die is silly.
so these giant robots will fight and battle all over L.A….they are battling army troops too and not a single casaulty?? ridiculous…..absolutely ridiculous. that is a decision totally made for children…this film will be as PG as you can get…..terrible…
add to this the stupid megatron….
I see a disaster on hand….
and I will never refer to as the transformers again..this film is “changebots” from now on.
John you dork don’t post how no one is going die in the movie. at least put a spoiler warning in the post!
Anyway sounded like you had great time.
Not oblivious. Just choosing to focus on the positive.
John’s concerns:
Hasbro having final say in character designs
No humans getting killed
Love story
Thats three points out of this huge post. Seems to me that the majority of it was positive. Hence, thats where my focus is.
yes…please go indepth about the other sites there….
has this trip raised your already huge expectations or has it tempered them a bit?
Oh and the not fitting comment with the other web sites – you must expand on this on the next ‘cast.
Good thing I am not giddy about this movie, the other posts are intriguing for their obliviousness to your concerns about the movie.
Good deal, man. Glad you had fun.
You’ve got me even more excited, if thats possible.
By the way, I can deal with a small amount of “love story” when its Megan Fox on screen. Whoooo-Wee! That chick is supa-fine!
Sounds you had a blast. I can’t wait to see Ratchet and Ironhide, you make them sound better then a child talking about Disneyland.
And it sounds like everyone is having a great time which is always good on set.
I was on some boards and oh man people are bitching. Honestly I love all the looks except for Starscream but in an interview it started it was just an early prototype.
I alway thought they would get Megen or someone else to play Carly. I guess with every film you have some sort of love story. No one dying is a shame indeed….But I don’t care about people dying, I care about robots kicking the shit out of each other.
I am glad you had a good trip …sounds like a blast..looking forward to hearing the monday show….
however…your story for me was juts more bad news about the content of this film…the more and more I hear the more I accept that this film just isnt for me…..oh well…..
oh the reason studios said no will be because of don murphy being attached. he is a fucking idiot with a anger problem. he is also a big crybabay who gets into message board fights wiht fucking internet movie geeks who dare criticise his films….he is a fucking idiot.
*trembling trembling trembling from excitement*
jesus christ john, u made me more excited about this movie with that ‘messy assorted notes on a 7 hour day’ than all the hype ever created in this site or any others. u know the feeling u get when u meet someone of the opposite (or same ) sex that u really like… i’m feeling it.
Sounds like you came away suitably awestruck about the magic of film making but less than happy about the direction and/or heading the movie is undertaking.
Monday’s show should be very interesting.