Transformers out on DVD

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2007-10-23 12:05am

DPDarkPrimus wrote:
Enigma wrote:
Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Specifically, Bay thought he sounded too old for the role/design of the character.
And Peter Cullen isn't? Bah! This is a slight damper on my enjoyment of the movie.
Bay thought that Welker wasn't the right fit for the movie Megatron. I agree.

I don't see what difference it makes. I thought that none of the Decepticons exhibited any real personality whatsoever in their voices, and you could have thrown anyone into those jobs.

The only voice that really mattered was Optimus Prime. Rebecca said that his voice was a major component of her enjoyment of the movie, and I have to agree. He has the perfect giant-robot hero voice. Everyone else could have been replaced with no real effect on the movie.

NeoGoomba · Post by **NeoGoomba** » 2007-10-23 12:09am

Darth Wong wrote: I don't see what difference it makes. I thought that none of the Decepticons exhibited any real personality whatsoever in their voices, and you could have thrown anyone into those jobs.

Yeah, they did a poor job with the other Transformers. Even the one Decepticon who NEEDED a quality voice actor, Megatron, was given crap lines. I think the bulk of what he said was sneers and growls and yelling rather than straight up dialogue. If he had been given a few more lines, or a monologue or two, maybe Welker/Weaving would have been a bigger issue.

FSTargetDrone · Post by **FSTargetDrone** » 2007-10-23 12:32am

Darth Wong wrote:
FSTargetDrone wrote:I'm disappointed there was just the one commentary. I was hoping for at least one from other members of the production team, FX team, whatnot. Seems like there's more to talk about than 2 hours of Bay congratulating himself on making the movie.
Can you blame the guy? He's finally redeemed himself after Bad Boys II and Pearl Harbour.

Never say any of the Bad Boys movies and we don't need to rehash the monstrosity that is Pearl Harbor, but I really have to say I enjoyed Transformers immensely. I saw it 3 times in the theaters which is a record for me and aside from a few elements I wish were never in the finished product (Jazz' "urban" personality and the shrinking Cube o'wonder of delights), I had a heck of a lot of fun with it.

Anyway, if you haven't heard the commentary, Bay isn't shy about going on (and on) about how he took a pay cut to help the movie get made, that he's a hardcase on the set and a bunch of other gems. I can't remember the last time I heard a commentary where the speaker talked about himself so much!

NeoGoomba wrote:Yeah, they did a poor job with the other Transformers. Even the one Decepticon who NEEDED a quality voice actor, Megatron, was given crap lines. I think the bulk of what he said was sneers and growls and yelling rather than straight up dialogue. If he had been given a few more lines, or a monologue or two, maybe Welker/Weaving would have been a bigger issue.

I may be in the minority here, being that I'm neutral at worst on most of theother voices aside from Optimus' (which was perfect), but I thought Bumblebee had a cool (eventual) voice, though it really didn't fit with all of his dancing around earlier. Not a huge problem for me, though. Funny thing is, when I first saw the movie, Bumblebee sounded like a young James Earl Jones to me!

Davis 51 · Post by **Davis 51** » 2007-10-23 12:34am

While I would have preferred Welker for nostalgias sake, I have to admit that even though there were only 8 lines, Weaving didn't do a bad job.

Incidentally, I heard Peter Cullen narrating a commercial for some Toonami movie yesterday, and I walked in thinking someone was watching Transformers. Shows how much his voice is literally ingrained into the image of Optimus Prime.

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2007-10-23 01:24am

Nitram and I watched it today, and something jumped out at us that I don't think was brought up before. I remember there was a big debate when the movie came out about the 'feral 'bots' (the Nokia, the XBox, the Coke Machine, and the Blazer), and why they were so destructive. I recall some of the suggestions -- "Megs used the AllSpark last, so it makes Decepticons" or "Humans don't know how to control it". But it's much much simpler than that.

Nitram: No wonder all the new 'Bots the All-Spark creates are homicidal, all modern Earth tech was based on Megatron.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2007-10-23 01:30am

That's a cool idea, but it implies that Megatron's behaviour is a direct result of his underlying technology rather than any individualistic personality.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2007-10-23 01:34am

Didn't we already debate the Allspark Transformers to death in the older movie thread?

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2007-10-23 02:11am

Darth Wong wrote:That's a cool idea, but it implies that Megatron's behaviour is a direct result of his underlying technology rather than any individualistic personality.

And if the novelization is right, and that bit of dialogue is to be taken literally, then Optimus and Megatron are brothers. Should they then not also have the same underlying technology?

Of course, "brothers" in Cybetronian lifeforms may be something different. I'm inclined to just think that it's because the process to create the feral bots was not what should be used to create more transformers.

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2007-10-23 04:35am

Whatever happened to the simple "they're feral and attack anything that moves" explanation?

General Deathdealer · Post by **General Deathdealer** » 2007-10-23 06:30am

DPDarkPrimus wrote: But there is a huge amount of dialouge by Bumblebee, and it is Mark Ryan doing the lines, so if you want to know what he might sound like in TF2, it's definitely worth checking out.

He had some lines at the end of the movie. He sounded like he was talking with a British accent. He almost sounded like the Perceptor (the one that transforms into a microscope) from the original series.

Post by **Vympel** » 2007-10-23 10:04am

I updated my video card drivers the other day. The result is that my players on this PC are fucked, so screencaps look like arse. They're really pixellated, - heck PowerDVD barely worked before (I don't know why) - can anyone recommend a superior player for taking screencaps?

Post by **Gandalf** » 2007-10-23 10:19am

VLC Media Player is pretty good for screencaps, it's what I use.

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2007-10-23 10:38am

So, it seems like Sam is an only child. So where'd he get that girl's bike from? He seemed to pull it from his house, so why would it have been in there?

VF5SS · Post by **VF5SS** » 2007-10-23 11:00am

He said it was his mom's bike.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2007-10-23 02:07pm

General Deathdealer wrote:
DPDarkPrimus wrote: But there is a huge amount of dialouge by Bumblebee, and it is Mark Ryan doing the lines, so if you want to know what he might sound like in TF2, it's definitely worth checking out.
He had some lines at the end of the movie. He sounded like he was talking with a British accent. He almost sounded like the Perceptor (the one that transforms into a microscope) from the original series.

Yeah, he had two lines, but you don't get that good of an impression of how he talks from such a bit part.

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2007-10-23 10:57pm

Watching it on a small screen is definitely different. The emotional points are a bit lessened, but the action is easier to follow.

It also does allow you to see how carefully everything is framed. Check out the shot where Megatron kneels and fires his cannon at Optimus. He's in the top left corner of the screen, but by kneeling down you can see him completely. The action is a lot easier to make out.

Basically a lot of it is in the background or not centered on the screen, but you can still see it.

Oh, and I see they changed it to Demolisher in that one scene now.

And Michael Bay totally cribbed that circling shot with Keller and company fighting Frenzy from the director of Bad Boys 2.

Davis 51 · Post by **Davis 51** » 2007-10-23 11:05pm

Oh, and I see they changed it to Demolisher in that one scene now.

I'm sorry, but what the hell are you talking about? Who was changed to Demolisher? When?

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2007-10-23 11:19pm

Davis 51 wrote:
Oh, and I see they changed it to Demolisher in that one scene now.
I'm sorry, but what the hell are you talking about? Who was changed to Demolisher? When?

During the Decepticon rollout, the subtitle for the tank used to be Brawl. They changed it to Demolisher for the DVD.

Enigma · Post by **Enigma** » 2007-10-23 11:22pm

neoolong wrote:
Davis 51 wrote:
Oh, and I see they changed it to Demolisher in that one scene now.
I'm sorry, but what the hell are you talking about? Who was changed to Demolisher? When?
During the Decepticon rollout, the subtitle for the tank used to be Brawl. They changed it to Demolisher for the DVD.

You mean Devestator?

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2007-10-23 11:25pm

Yes. Close enough.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2007-10-23 11:26pm

No, the theatrical version of the film identified him as Devastator, while in merchandise he was called Brawl.

I suppose they settled on Demolisher so they could free up "Devastator" for the Constructicon gestalt in the sequel.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2007-10-23 11:27pm

Ghetto Edit: Okay, never mind...

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2007-10-23 11:27pm

Gah, I think I got confused with the toy. That'll teach me not to watch the movie for the first time at 1 in the morning.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2007-10-23 11:31pm

neoolong wrote: And Michael Bay totally cribbed that circling shot with Keller and company fighting Frenzy from the director of Bad Boys 2.

Are you being ironic?

FSTargetDrone · Post by **FSTargetDrone** » 2007-10-23 11:32pm

Here's a cropped pic grabbed from my DVD for No Confusion Theater.