If you’re a Transformers fan like me, you might’ve been disappointed by the redesign of the characters in the 2007 movie. I very much was. I was willing to accept some redesign, to be more modern, and in a few cases, to be more practical (like with Megatron and Soundwave). But the movie took it way too far.
To give you a taste of how it could’ve looked, I present this video clip. It’s the fight scene between Megatron and Optimus Prime, the one with the famous quote of “One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall”. This starts as the original cartoon and switches into 3D CGI.
CGI rendering of G1 Transformers clip
[Update: 7/8/11]
Apparently Hasbro took the video down off their site, for whatever reasons. But it’s still on YouTube:
A fan took this video and replace the audio with music from the original G1 cartoon series, which makes it even better:
It’s not the highest of CGI quality (due to budget and time, I’m sure), but it shows that the characters in the live-action movie could’ve been made closer to the originals and still looked good, especially with a high-dollar budget. So why did Michael Bay and crew decide to totally change the design? The new look for the Transformers in the movie didn’t have much personality, as they all looked too similar and generic.
Until someone does a live-action Transformers movie RIGHT, I’ll always wonder what might’ve been…
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Kri'
Oh – for shame! I, too, will always be disappointed by the live-action TS movie (I don’t own the DVD – that’s saying something) .
Beppo
I didn’t get the DVD, either. Actually, it was given to me for Christmas, and I took it back to get something else. I was so disappointed in the movie. If they had made it with an original story and new characters, it wouldn’t have been so bad, but they had to take some awesome characters and make them generic. I tell ya, some directors and producers just don’t get it.
If an existing franchise is being remade into a movie, it should be done by people who are FANS of the ORIGINAL series. Transformers is popular because it was a great story, not because of “a boy and his car” (as one of the directors described it) and not because of expensive special effects.
getreal
the redesigns were necessary, not just to be modern, but to make the transformations plausible. quit being a crybaby fanboy and judge the movie for what it is rather than comparing it from the start to some perfect fantasy movie in your head.
Beppo
When a movie is a continuation of an existing franchise, you expect it to have certain similarities. And when you get excited about the movie and how awesome it could potentially be, it’s disappointing when they change everything for the worse. I’m not against some change and modernizing of it, but they should make it better. They made the characters devoid of personality (which was the greatest thing about the series), and their looks are generic and too similar to each other, and they’re incompetent, and a teenage boy saves the day against high-tech fighting machines.
Judging it by what it is, it was lame. I liked Men in Black and Independence Day much better, in the same realm. The first fighting at the base was cool, but the story and “acting” was lame. Thus I was disappointed.
beth baslen
so ummmm yeah random is good but this random no.. im not saying its horrible but it could have a little more depth
bumblebee
I think this is the best Harry Potter movie yet, much darker than the previous ones
Devon
yeah chill the **** out, theres a reason the blocky **** wasnt brought back to life, it sucked, you cant expect newer generations to fall in love with the classics, maybe youre just afraid of change ****
Devondouch
Yeah are you even a TF fan to start with? Your a total dip*?!#, swear words can’t even describe your BS mentality enough. The original post sums it ALL up for exactly the farce it turned out to be. Bay screwed up the designs and there is NO EXCUSE, there is no argument, it is what it is. Your lame “get with the times” crap simply does not apply. You get with the times and face the reality of a situation. It’s cringe worthy every time seeing the Bay design, he did not do a great series justice.
Thomas Wayne
Yeah, chill out, there’s a reason the crappy new CGI movies sucked, the characters weren’t brought back to life; you can’t expect older generations (like Michael Bay) to fall in love with the classics; maybe they’re just in love with change, and thus ruined what could’ve been a great movie.
Did anyone else notice how the previous commenter cussed folks out (on a humor blog, even) and yet told them they need to chill? The irony is not lost on me.
Mr. Destructo
I dig the way Devon used the snappy, all-lower-case, wacky-punctuation, misspelled-words style. Fresh, exciting.
bren
i don’t care what anyone says, transformers had some the of best cgi i ever seen in a movie, the robots looked so real, i felt i could reach in the screen and touch them, i’m glad they didn’t make them look so cartooney like the cartoon, if they had looked exactly how they looked in the cartoon, the movie would have been cheesy…, so i’m glad the put their own spin on how the characters should look all the while staying true to the original characters from the cartoon, i was very happy with the transformers movie, i loved it
Thomas Wayne
I don’t think anyone would argue about the quality of the CGI effects. It looked sharp. Now if only the Transformers had been distinctive looking and recognizable like the original (even with a modernized design), and especially if they would’ve had personality like the G1 (original) characters did, and the story had actually revolved around the Transformers’ civil war (which is the whole premise of the franchise), then the movie might’ve been good.
It’s the story and character development (of the robots) that made the movie siphon — not the graphics.
And I don’t see how the movie stayed true to the original characters, other than the names and colors…
Knows Whats Right
YOU’RE A *&#%$ *&#%!!!!!!!! TRANSFORMERS LIVE ACTION MOVIES ARE BETTER THAN WHAT YOUR SORRY *%& *#%$ THINKS!!!!!! YOU”RE A DISGRACE TO THE MODERN DAY WORLD AND GRAPHICS!!!!!!!!!
Knows Whats Right
ALL YOU $%#&$ FAT-&#$%@ WHO DISAGREE WITH THE LIVE ACTION CGI!!!!! YOU HAVE NO SENSE OF NEW TASTE!!! ALL YOU &*%$#@ DO IS LIE IN YOUR BABY BEDS THINKING THAT THE CLASSIC IS ALWAYS GONNA STAY #$%&*@ TRUE!!!!!!!! NOW MATTER WHAT YOU SAY THAT COMES FROM YA’LL DISGRACEFULL DIRTY MINDS, YOU’LL NEVER SEE ANOTHER TRANSFORMERS MOVIE WITH BETTER GRAPHICS!!!!!!
#$%^&* #$&%*@#!!! THE LIVE ACTION MOVIES ARE THE BEST!!!!! @#$% ALL YA’LL WHO DISAGREE WITH ME!!! @#$% YA!!!! #$% YA! @#$% YA>>> @#$% YA>>> @#$% Ya…. @#$% all of ya!!!!!!!!!
Important Linguist
Thank you for your persuasive all-caps, expletive-filled rants. Almost you persuaded me to change my stance. Perhaps if you had used more cuss words and included a few more typos, I would have been more receiving of your point-of-view. Oh, and if you could throw in a few more personal insults, too — that really helps persuade your audience to consider your argument.
Kri'
Just saw part 3 in the theater… still feel the same. In fact, all 3 were the same movie and didn’t live up to their source material. Period.
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