Heh. I didn’t realize a Transformers movie was coming out. I read the thread title and pictured a trailer house that morphed into a robot. “Double-Wide” would have been a great handle for him if he was an Autobot, “Meth-Lab” if a Decepticon. 
Giant robots. Action movie. Whaddaya need, a road map?
Well, there’s no quick way I can answer this. You’ve asked me to say why I would have asked the question I asked. This will require a small essay. You asked for it!
So, here goes.
Granted I was quite young at the time, but I don’t remember the original TV series as being reducible, even on a kid’s level, to the concepts “giant,” “robot,” and “action.”
That’s certainly not what appealed to me about it. What I liked was the action’s relationship to the backstory (or anyway the two or three different backstories that ended up getting retconned in over time.)
You see, I was the kid who loved the appendices to the Lord of the Rings trilogy far more than I loved the books themselves.
For some movies, it would be silly to try to appreciate a backstory. (For some reason, the first thing that comes to my mind here is the movie Independence Day. No backstory is needed here–“Scary aliens, action movie” pretty much is it. That’s the kind of story being told.) But for others, there’s something to appreciate in the backstory. The old Transformers TV series was one such production. I would naturally think the new movie will also be such a production.
Hence my question.
-FrL-
For some reason I feel a sudden urge to buy a Citroen.
Do the tranformers actually talk in the movie? From the trailer, it looks like they’re being treated more like big “animals.”
And…THE TRANSLATION!
Just saw it this morning as well … any movie which features a Camaro and a Mustang (a duo that almost single-handedly spawned the concept of automotive rivalry over forty years ago) that transform into giant robots and beat the crap out of one another is okay in my book! The last time I can recall a July 4th popcorn blockbuster of this scale was ‘Independence Day’ all those years ago. The trailer is just brimming with incredible effects shots.
The old “transforming” sound didn’t feature as heavily as it should have, though. I only remember hearing it two or three times, but there were probably a dozen transformations in the trailer. 
Uh, actually, it was a smart-ass-y reference to Barton Fink. But, thanks, I guess. 
As a Transformers movie, it’ll be horrible, what with the vehicles all being changed, the robots looking little if nothing like the original versions and, no doubt, probably a backstory that has nothing to do with what was shown on the series.
As a robot movie, it might be decent. But since it’s a Bay film, it’ll probably suck.
Doesn’t mean I won’t see it on as big a screen as I can, though.
You people are part of the problem. This is why $150 million pieces of shit keep getting greenlighted instead of intelligent movies.
I’m sure that we philistines can’t possibly appreciate your superior intellectual and artistic sensibilities. Nevertheless, please rest assured that when I see this movie on the big screen…perhaps repeatedly…I will take a moment out of my sheer joy to shed a single lonely tear for the horror that my enjoyment has inflicted on your delicate sense of aesthetics.
Not unless they completely drop the ball and completely ignore the backstory they’ve set up in the prequel comic (4 issues, published by IDW).
The prequel comic is the most like G1-TV any Transformers story has been since the first movie, save for IDW’s current main continuity books (and maybe Dreamworks, bur I never read those.). (I hated what I read of the G1 comics, so I wouldn’t know how much or little it feels like them.)
Not that they can’t screw it up, but slavishly adhering to 80s aesthetics does not make for a more accurate or respectful translation of the nature of the original.
And VCO3, yes, the bots talk. Save for Bumblebee, whose inability to speak is a character point that’s explained in the aforementioned prequel comic. Megatron destroyed his vocal apparatus while Bumblebee was keeping him busy so that the Autobots could launch the Allspark into space, hopefully out of the reach of Megatron and the Decepticons. Unfortunately for them, and even more unfortunately for us, Megatron was able to follow the Allspark (although he ended up out of energy and frozen beneath the arctic ice), and the other Cons (lead by Starscream, who’s as ambitious as ever) were able to follow him.
I’ll be sure to see it twice just to spite you. Three times if it sucks.
Get over yourself.
I’m glad to see that I’m not the only person who thinks backstory is important for a Transformers movie.
Where can I find this comic of which you speak? Or even better, where can I find a spoiler filled summary of this comic of which you speak?
-FrL-
Issue 4 just came out the week before last…it should still be possible to find the series on the shelves at your local comic shop.
A very general summary:
[spoiler]The Allspark is a mysterious artifact, the origins of which are unknown to the Cybertronians who worship it as the source of their life. The story starts in ‘The benevolent reign of Optimus Prime, and the auspices of Lord Protector Megatron’ - Prime and Megs are co-rulers, more or less. Megatron, though, isn’t satisfied with this arrangement, and builds an army - the Decepticons - and Cybertron is embroiled in a war over possession of the Allspark. The war rages on for some time, and the Autobots - or rather, Prime and a few of his most trusted aides and generals, come up with a plan - launch the Allspark beyond Megatron’s reach. As long as Megatron doesn’t have it, even if Cybertron is razed to the very atoms, the Cybertronian people can be reborn.
It’s Bumblebee who stages a desperate last stand to hold Megatron off while the All-Spark is launched from Cybertron. And, he does so, successfully (although he barely survives the attempt), but the 'Bots miscalculated - Megatron is able to follow the Allspark. To Earth.
Luckily, after a manner of speaking, Megatron expends a great deal of energy in the transit, and his skin is heated by entry into the atmosphere. So, his skin melts the arctic ice he’s landed on, and he’s powerless to escape it.
In 1897, he is unearthed by an explorer named Witwicky. Captain Witwicky briefly makes mental contact with Megatron, getting visions of the Allspark - which drives him slightly mad and causes him to suffer hysterical blindness.
An unnamed organization claims the inert body of Megatron - which they call the Mega-Man - and use it as the basis for…well, almost every important technological advance of the early 20th century.
They also, eventually, uncover the Allspark.
It’s about another century before more Cybertronians (which the organization refer to as Non-Biological Entities, or NBEs) arrive - the first we see are Bumblebee, Starscream, and Starscream’s immediate subordinates - disguised as a police cruiser, and a US army helicopter.
While the organization expect more NBEs to show up, they’re expecting them to be neither a) divided into two (or more) separate factions, or b) highly intelligent, and in the case of one faction, extraordinarily hostile.
The 'Cons, being wily, and, frankly, lazy, decide to let Bumblebee live and lead them to the Allspark, instead of killing him. After they do some major damage to both him and the organization.
Meanwhile, Captain Witwicky’s great-great-grandson (Sam, not Spike) gets hold of his things, including his glasses (which are implied to have an imprint of the Allspark on them). He doesn’t appreciate his inheritance, as he’d been hoping for money, or something he could sell for money to buy a car. I doubt he’s be much happier with it once he encounters Bumblebee, and gets caught up in the conflict between the Bots and the Cons.[/spoiler]
Thanks!
Why are they earth-style vehicles?
-FrL-
Blending in. The chopper, Blackout, refers to it as ‘local camouflage’ in issue 4, and in issue 3, we’re given a glimpse of Bumblebee choosing his camo form (a Camaro), as we’re shown one Camaro go by, then another, identical one (Bumblebee), pull onto the highway just behind it. (Actually, I just realized we also see Starscream choosing his in issue 4 when he shoots down a fighter jet just after touchdown - the violence made me not notice the jet was identical to Starscream’s camo mode.)
Nice. It all makes perfect sense, now.
LilShieste
Try that again; this time, consider making a point.