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Sunday, September 23, 2007

TRANSFORMERS 2 coming the summer of 2009! Plus: My wish-list for the sequel


According to Michael Bay's blog, he and Steven Spielberg have scheduled the summer of 2009 for the release of Transformers 2.

Sweet!

'Course we knew this was going to happen anyway, but it looks like we'll be seeing them giant battlin' robots a year earlier than previously expected.

And since every other fan of Transformers has already said what they want in the sequel, here's my personal list of things I'm hoping that this second Transformers movie will have:

- More Transformers!
The first movie was a great setup for the series and introduction to the concept. I think that's why the number of Transformers that we saw was relatively limited. The next chapter should be able to expand the cast of both Autobots and Decepticons significantly.

- Give the Transformers more screen time
A lot of people complained about how much of Transformers was focused on the humans, compared to how much was focused on the Transformers themselves. The 2007 movie was a lot about how we as Earthlings come to know about the Transformers and their war. Part 2 should provide more opportunity to explore the Transformers themselves.

- Steve Jablonsky once again composing the score
Like you thought that I of all people would not mention that one :-P

- A more world-wide conflict
Let's see the Decepticons wreck havoc all over the globe. So we'll need a way for the Autobots to reach all of those trouble spots (maybe that aircraft carrier Transformer we've heard that Bay wants to put in the sequel?).

- Bring on the Dinobots!
You read it here first: Grimlock will be the big hero of the 2009 summer movie season. Maybe early in the movie we'll get to see five Autobot protoforms crashing on Jurassic Park...

- Other well-known voices for the Transformers
Say it with me: "Christopher Lloyd is Wheeljack." Obviously Peter Cullen should return (as should Hugo Weaving, if they bring back Megatron somehow). I also think that Frank Welker should be offered a role too, in honor of all the work that he did for the original cartoon. But there's great potential for a lot of famous voices to help bring the Transformers to life. How about... Mark Hamill as Thundercracker?

- A MASSIVE air battle between human military and the flying Decepticons
One of the best - and scariest - scenes in Transformers was toward the end of the movie, when Starscream was "playing" with the Air Force jets. He kept switching back and forth from his F-22 Raptor mode to his biped form as he tore the human fighters out of the sky. I would love to see another fight like that, only this time between the Air Force and Starscream leading an entire squadron of airborne Decepticons. Remember the air battles in Independence Day? Imagine something of that scale in a Transformers movie.

- Getting to see Transformer spacecraft
I can accept how Optimus and his crew arrived on Earth... but how are they going to get off of it? They gotta have a ship orbiting somewhere and the literature has established that anyway.

- Keep emphasizing the otherworldly nature of the Transformers
The 2007 movie in my opinion was the finest continuity of the Transformers franchise, in that for the first time it established the Transformers as a distinctly alien race. Things like the Decepticons doing their "roll call" in their native language were really nice touches. We should see more of that.

- No more references to "masturbation" or other lewd "humor"!
That one line was the worst part of the 2007 Transformers movie, for so many reasons. It wasn't needed. At all. Hopefully this will remain the one low point of the movie series.

- Arcee
Yes, chalk me up as one of the fans who want to see her make an appearance. We know that Arcee was planned at one point to be in the first movie, that there were CGI models made of her even. A female Transformer would be quite an intriguing addition to the film franchise.

- No "mass-shifting"!
Yes, I know that there is a massive demand for Soundwave and I would like to see him too. But in the movies he should be handled realistically. Having a 30-foot robot shrink down into a portable cassette player may be allowed to slide in the comics or cartoons, but it's going to be hard to believe in a live-action movie.

- Likewise, caution with the "gestalts"
They're gonna appear sometime or another 'cuz they're too popular: the "combiners". They're the "special teams" of Transformers that merge into larger robots. But have you ever thought about how ridiculous some of those would be in real life? I mean, Menasor would have tiny arms and legs compared to the rest of his body: whoever heard of a Transformer with a glandular problem? But I think if the producers are careful, a live-action gestalt could work fine.

What else should we like to see in Transformers 2? :-)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

More Transformers: Agree. Should be at least a dozen on each side. I'm okay with background characters, but anyone significant should get a few lines of dialogue or at least be standing in the background from the beginning. Bonecrusher & Brawl/Devastator coming *out of nowhere* to join the end fight in Transformers 1 was really lame.

More Robot Screen Time: Very much agree.

Steve Jablonksy's Score: Sorry, I'm afraid I didn't even notice the music in T1.

Worldwide Conflict: Depends on the story. I could settle for a national or even state-centric threat. More concerned about improved dialogue and character development; the threat is secondary.

Dinobots: I'm leaning toward agree, but it depends on how they introduce them.

Massive Air Battle: Depends on how it's directed. If Michael Bay chooses to shake the camera wildly again, it probably won't matter. I couldn't tell what was going on half the time in the first movie. So, air battle, ground battle, water batter, space battle, it doesn't matter. If I see nothing but blurs flash across the screen again, I'll just get honked off again.

Transporter Spacecraft: Yes!!! In fact I hope they explain that that's how they got here the first time... That a ship was parked near Jupiter and shot the Transformers out of a tube or something. I don't buy the concept that Transformers travel light years across the galaxy by turning themselves into tear-shaped, metal comets.

Otherworldy Nature: Sure.

No More Lewd Humor: The masturbation comment was slightly humorous but also unnecessary and not in keeping with Transformers being partially for kids. I did, however, like the mother's reaction to Mikaela being in her son's room.

Arcee: No strong opinion.

No Mass Shifting: I agree in respect to Soundwave and am skeptical about what they could make his alternate form without M.S. I don't like M.S. either, but I also believe they should be consistent. If the Transformers can't M.S., that stupid All Spark shouldn't either. If they introduced the Insecticons, I'd be okay with them being swarms of tiny robots.

Gestalts/Combiners: Granted, they'd have to do a good job making it seem believable, but I love combiners. Combiners were almost half of the TF toys I had as a kid. The best ones are obviously the Combaticons and the Constructicons, and they've already introduced Brawl and Bonecrusher. Aerialbots and Protectibots would be okay if they're cooler than their toy counterparts. Don't care much for the Stunticons. Never had them as a kid, but the Predicons looked cool.

My Wish List:
* Jetfire! :) Perhaps also Ravage.
* Combaticons and/or Constructicons
* At least one more racecar or sports car Autobot
* A Starscream robot-mode makeover
* An Earth-based vehicle mode for Megatron
* Seeing more of Cybertron
* No more hackers or campy gov/military people
* No more Skorponok or Frenzy
* No more bodily fluid jokes
* No Hot Rod, Springer, Kup, Blurr, Wheelie, Wreck-Gar, Galvatron, Cyclonus, Scourge, or Sweeps
* Way less shaky-cam
* Most importantly (and I know you'll disagree), a new director and new script writers

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Previously posted here: http://www.xanga.com/Slimer22gb

at /601548207/transformers-and-a-look-ahead-to-transformers-2.html

Here's what my ideal storyline for the next Transformers film would entail.

Transformers 2

A huge spaceship called the Ark is headed for Earth. On board are many of the remaining Autobots, answering the call of Optimus Prime. Close behind, Starscream is on-board a Decepticon ship, filled with Decepticons such as Soundwave, among others. As the Ark approaches Earth, the Decepticons damage the ship and it crash lands on the side of a volcanic mountain in a desert region of the United States.

The Decepticons are under the "leadership" of Starscream, returning to Earth to seek revenge. However, Soundwave double crosses Starscream, and finds a way to bring the ship into the Ocean, where Megatron awaits. It is there, under the water, that the Decepticons build a base of operations.

Sam and Mikaela start out the movie having married between films. That takes care of any possibility of a Will Turner/Elizabeth Swann type love story, plus it takes out the "will they/won't they" and leaves room for more of what we're all there to see anyway: TRANSFORMERS.

Meanwhile, Optimus leads the Autobots to the crash site of the downed Ark where they form a headquarters.

In the desert lives a boy that already feels like he's been outcast from society. People look at him differently. Living in the desert, he's become great with computers, and wishes he could live a "normal" life. His name is Chip Chase, a young computer genius that is confined to a wheelchair. When one of the Autobots is in trouble near by, he is able to come to their aide, and eventually comes to help them out at their base. No longer the outcast, he is one of many that people now admire, the perfect teammate for the Autobots. (In the original animated series, Prowl's "battle computer" is damaged in a fight with Decepticons. He then goes online to seek help from the Autobots or from Teletran 1, the computer system in the Ark. He, instead, communicates with Chip, who gives him a hand.)

Without the All-Spark Cube, the Decepticons have a new goal: Energon. They'll take it from wherever they can. And the Autobots have to stop them from getting too much of it, or they'll be able to construct a new All-Spark Cube.

Anonymous said...

LuminousSpecter, I like that idea. It sounds "oddly" familiar. ;) Hmmm. But, I do like it very much.

Matt said...

I want the story to focus on the Transformers. That's what every giant robot series is about - the giant robots! Thus, that's why I think they should take out the humans, or put them at a minimum, and focus on the Transformers.

Anonymous said...

i hope Arcee Hot Rod and Soundwave are in the 2009 movie.