9/11: Five Years Later

A slight change in normal Transformers posting. Its been five years. Wow, sometimes thats hard to believe. I hope your day goes well and for all the sadness for this day, I think hope should be the message.
7 Days In September
Changing of the Guards
Jon Stewart 9/20/01

Another Frontal Bumblebee Pic

seibertron.com has posted another image of Bumblebee robot used for filming that is one of the best pics taken of the yellow one so far. Thanks Julio M. for the link.

Tranformers Battle Scene Mock-Up Pics

Seibertron.com has posted two pics that appear to be mock-up of a battle scene between the Decepticons and Aubobots in downtown Los Angeles. The images show a possible cut-out robot views of Megatron, Frenzy, Starscream, Ratchet, Bumblebee, and Jazz to scale with the surrounding cars and building. Useful in determine what the scale of the Transformers will be to the average car and skyscraper (basically about 2-3 stories tall).


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Set Pics of Something Going Boom

"hatchetgirl" has posted some pics of Transformer sets in Los Angeles on flickr. Based on the leak script this is part of the ending of the film but exactly what is going on is up in the air. Still worth a look see for the curious. Might even want to call this a spoiler warning except don't know what it might be spoiling.

Click here for the pics.

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Even More Optimus Prime Pics

TFormers.com has posted two additional boards of the plans for the movie version of Optimus Prime. The pics are both a repeat of those released yesterday and additional images of Optimus with his gun. The status is listed as "work in progress" so possible that his final design could be different then what currently see. Also congrats to them for doing the watermark in a more logical manner.


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PVP Weighs in on Megatron

PVP, hilarious daily strip, gives their opinion on the Megatron designs and fan reaction. Click link or the below pic to make it large enough to read.

More Bumblebee Pics

Or at least a view of Bumblebee's tires. As he sits in a truck. Hey he is big though. And yellow. OK not terribly exciting but something to look at while debating whether you like those Optimus Prime pics.


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More Pics of Movie Optimus Prime

AICN.com has posted a front, back and face pics of Optimus Prime. These images are much clearer then the previously released pics. At first glance, I can't say I liked the design, but the more I look at them, the more I am digging them.



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AICN.com Shia LaBeouf Interview

AICN.com and MTV.com had a sit down with Transformers star Shia "Sam Witwicky" LaBeouf to discuss the movie. The MTV.com article was just a fluff piece to keep TF on everyone's mind. AICN.com article is a bit more in depth and much longer.

- "Megatron’s crutch now is that he's frozen. But it's modernized. You can't have a toy gun. You've got 9 year olds watching this movie and yes, we're creating mythology, but you can't make a toy gun your antihero and then have Hasbro go out and sell toy guns with the little yellow cap on it, you know? It'll look [f'ing] ridiculous to have Megatron with a yellow nose, you know what I mean? It'd look retarded."

Can't say I disagree with that. The reason why is its now illegal to make a realistic toy gun. As a result Megs can never be re-released stateside in his original form. Still, Megs frozen for most of the movie? Can't really say that warms the cockles of my heart.

- "The fact that it's a Razor, a plane that nobody's seen before, that the military is giving us... that nobody has filmed or seen. I mean, CNN has not seen this plane and we're filming it. It's cool. It gives it that edgy shit. People have seen guns before, but to make Megatron something that nobody's ever seen and make it an edgy presence..."

Does that mean that Megatron's Earth form will be the Razor? A military secret jet turned into a toy, isn't politics and Hollywood grand.

- "The engine of Sam, for the film, essentially he is the liaison between the robots and the humans. ...the reason Sam is able to communicate with the robots... It's not because he knows some [f'ing] alien language. Sam Whitwicky comes from a lineage of explorers. Captain Archibald Whitwicky was his great, great grandfather, a 19th Century Seaman, who, during a search, an exploration of the arctic circle, fell upon an ice cave. Fell into the ice cave and into a hand; the hand of Megatron. What he saw when he turned was an eye which burned a laser into his eyeglasses, which was a map of where the Energon Cube is being stored."

Still not sold on the "Energon Cube" name. Still on sold on selling a family heirloom on eBay. Still no idea why Megs land on earth in the late 1800s (and even though evil smart bad guy, gets trapped in ice) and its takes a hundred plus years later for rest to follow. I hope they explain either in this film or the next why the time lapse and other questions that gets raised in that scenario.

- Shia later describes the film as being nonstop, "There is no let-up and the only let up there will be is the humor of it. Even the romance is action-driven."

I take that as a good sign. Transformers should be all action. If they can get some character in there, all the better, but if they freeze everything and then poorly shoehorn in character, then why bother (the mistake Bay has made on his previous films). I am not looking for a diatribe on the human condition, just a highly entertaining popcorn flick worth watching again and again.

- "If you're not confused, you're not paying attention."

I just liked the phrase. But the gist is the film is so massive that the cast etc loose track of what is happening.

Above is really where most of the Transformers info was. The rest of the interview was mostly an ode to Michael "General Patton" Bays and how much work is it to do the film of the Transformers size. All in all, an interesting read which you read in it entirety here.

Ain't It Cool News Set Visit and Interviews

AICN.com has posted about a set visit by Quint. He previously visited the set several months ago when the shoot had just started. Once again it’s the Los Angeles, end of movie shoot that has been talked about in set visits by other sites. He was able to see a couple takes get filmed and sat down for an interview with various cast members. One thing though, the leaked February draft of the script is darn close to what they are using as the shooting script. They may have reworked some lines and maybe tweaked pacing but the main fight sequences and FX heavy parts, I think out of prep time necessity, most of the script was left mostly intact as written.

In the brief interview with Quint, Josh Duhamel claims to have been a TF fan as a kid, but I have my doubts based on the sum total of various interviews I have read. Not important but does make you wonder why bother to lie or at least exaggerate your interest. This is his chance to break out and join the movie big boys and leave his Las Vegas TV salary behind. Can't blame the man for being ambitious and the potentially certainly is there (if he chooses his projects carefully). Any case, I recommend he get someone to hook him up with some old eps, the cartoon movie, and a few toys. This way when on the promotional press tour next year, he will have some anecdotes to help sell his "childhood" interest in Transformers. He can then claim he still has some of those toys from his childhood and whatnot. Do a house tour and boom, instant props.

Michael Bay commented on his vehicle choice for Optimus Prime (which personally I don't see the problem), "The reason I went with the flames was to be able to define Prime's mid-section when he's a robot." The flames act as sort of the defacto grill/ribs for Prime while the long-nose truck was chosen for additional mass which I assume means he looks taller and a better match to Megatron. Additionally, the Skorpinok film opening sequence has been fully rendered. I am thinking that some of that will be used in the Thanksgiving trailer.

Bay also expressed that he is pleased with choice of Peter Cullen for the voice of Optimus Prime but that they plan on hiring actors to help create video reference for the animators to work with. He stressed it wasn't motion capture, and sounds to me more like how traditional cartoon animators, especially Disney, use to capture human expressions on their cartoons by often filming their voice actors while doing ADR and let the animators copy them as they saw fit or just using a mirror and so forth. Bay should pick of a few of the older Disney flicks and watch their making of bits to see how it was done.

The article picks on Megan Fox a bit (with reason I think, again based on sum of articles seen and read) and so I shall pass on the opportunity because she is hot and in our world that means everything (joking a little). Bay also expressed some concern over not having a bigger presence at the San Diego Comic-con, ala Spider-Man 3. Personally I don't think it mattered since the film is still a bit a ways and the true momentum doesn't really matter until about three months before opening cause of the ADD of the average consumer who don't even know what a comic-con is.

The article had no new information to reveal about the movie. It’s mostly just touches base with the set and gets a feel for things. Like AICN.com, I have high hopes for the movie and unlike most of fandom, I am mostly pleased with has come out about the movie. I hope the shooting script is more polished the February version as far a dialogue, humor and some of the setup. I also hope that this desire to emphasis the alien-ness of the Tranformers is lightened some. I understand where the Bay and co are going with it, but there is a reason Sci-Fi gives the aliens a touch of humanity visually. It’s not just to save money, its helps to create a connection (or disconnection) with the characters for the audience. Starscream and his sneer is a classic example. Show his face to anyone, fan or no fan, and once they see that smug sneer, they instantly know his character. The movie Megatron for instance, screams evil, but I am afraid that he will develop him into such an over the top evil that he becomes a characture. My point is to follow the Darth Vader and Sci-Fi Rule of Alien Characters - allow some humanity to leak out in words, actions AND visuals.

Full article here.