It's hard to believe it, perhaps, but it's true: TFTM came out 35 years ago today.

When you look back, it's hard to imagine anything that had a more profound impact on the fandom and its mythology to this day.

Beast Wars, maybe? Not sure, in all honesty. But many of the trends we see in terms of repeated story motifs, core characters, and other impacts on the TV series, the comics, and other media can be traced back to that day in August 1986.

Who else remembers seeing the film in theatres back in the day? There was also a brief Canadian and US theatre run back in the fall of 2018, meant to tie into the "Bumblebee" movie: it was targeted to fans like us, and played at indie houses. That was a great opportunity to see and hear the film again on the big screen, with the benefit of a similarly-scaled sound system.

Back in the 90s on this group, I remember TFTM being very polarizing for a lot of folks. I'd be interested in seeing how modern fans (i.e., those who came to the fandom through channels like the newer Netflix series) perceive it. Is it the same as a "modern" Trek fan trying to make sense of The Wrath of Khan?

Anyway, just didn't want this day to pass without some effort to mark it.

Hope everyone's doing well,

JB

On Sunday, August 8, 2021 at 1:53:37 PM UTC-6, Joseph Bardsley wrote:

> It's hard to believe it, perhaps, but it's true: TFTM came out 35 years ago today.

The 35th anniversary Blu-Ray release is out, too. It's a new 4K transfer that is reportedly better than the previous Blu-Ray release, for which they cranked up the contrast a bit too much. The new release is supposed to showcase a broader range of colors. Haven't gotten it yet, but if the Universe will kindly stop punching me in the face for a moment, maybe I'll have a spare twenty bucks and pick up a copy.
> Who else remembers seeing the film in theatres back in the day?

I must have seen it that August, because I'd already watched it by the time "Five Faces of Darkness" made its television debut in September. You couldn't escape the aggressive advertising campaign for the movie and all its many spoilers. "Does Prime die?" (Cut to footage of Prime falling back from Megatron's blasts.) "What is the secret of the monster planet?" (Cut to footage of Unicron's gigantic robotic hand emerging from his wrist. Real subtle.)

So, yeah, my mom took me to see it in the theater. She offered some initial commentary ("Even their city transforms? Seriously?") but she eventually piped down. She might have slept through it. I don't know.

Something else that they were really heavily advertising was the toys based on the movie characters. Those commercials totally drilled into my head the names of Hot Rod and Kup and Blurr and Cyclonus and Scourge. I was well acquinted with their existence ever before I saw the movie. (I know there are also commercials for Ultra Magnus, Springer/Wreck-Gar, the Sharkticons, etc. but my recollection was that they were played far, far less frequently.) The Hot Rod and friends commercial also had a blurb tacked to the end: "Rrrrrrodimus Prime! Nobody leads the Autobots like Rrrrrrodimus Prime!" So, that was pretty spoilery, too. I wonder if any kids from 1986 got to be surprised by the movie's events.

I did already own the Rodimus Prime toy by the time I saw the movie. I knew there was some kind of clear relationship between Rodimus and Hot Rod, based on the catalog photos, but I didn't quite know what it was. It bothered me that it was Hot Rod who had a starring role in the movie instead of Rodimus, because I owned his toy and wanted to see him on screen. Also, it bothered me that his fists were grey on-screen since the toy's hands were orange.

Because the movie had been advertised so heavily on television, there were a few scenes I got to know pretty well from the commercials. One of them was Jazz clutching the walls of Moon Base One as he was reacting to Unicron's approach. Since the animated footage was presented in the commercials without the film dialogue or sound, I always envisioned this as part of a larger scene where Jazz was lost underground, like in some kind of Cybertronic sewer system, and that there might have been the sound of water dripping in the background. I don't know why I interpreted the scene this way, but that's what I thought was happening.

So what shocked me more about the movie than anything else was Starscream's death. Prime's demise had been strongly hinted at, so it hadn't come as a huge surprise to me. It was shocking, certainly, and I cried, but part of me was mentally prepared for it. The advertising said nothing of Starscream's fate (and he was in the 1986 toy catalog), so him getting murdered was a total shock to me. He was one of the best, most charismatic Decepticon characters on the show. He's a delight to watch in a way that Cyclonus and Scourge just aren't. Killing him off does sort of make sense for his character arc, given his relationship with Megatron, but it's still an awful thing to do.

But, the movie did open my eyes to the idea that cartoon characters could be killed. All kids can sense that children's programming exists in this kind of safe, protective bubble. You know nothing ever seriously bad is ever going to happen to the characters. Big Bird isn't going to get hunted and killed by poachers. Gargamel isn't going to actually eat Papa Smurf. Scooby-Doo isn't going to get caught by the dog catcher and euthanized at the animal shelter. However, Transformers kind of turned this on its ear. Yes, characters like Optimus Prime and Starscream can absolutely die. War is real and people (robots) get hurt.

And what's more, the third season took these rules and ran with them. They didn't go back to the kinder, safer television rules. We saw Dirge and Ramjet blow up, on screen, in "Five Faces of Darkness." We watch Skyfire get destroyed in "Dark Awakening." Animation mistakes? Maybe. But because the movie introduced the idea of character deaths, they were no longer off the table in season three the way they were in seasons one and two. Making it a reality meant that character peril had a lot more gravitas. It was entirely possible that Springer getting dismantled by the elemental processing unit on planet Goo could have been his final episode. It was certainly within the realm of possibility that Wreck-Gar getting drained by the Dweller meant we'd never see him again. You no longer knew everybody would be okay.

And I think that's informed my perception of media. The lesson that the movie taught me was that characters deaths were grown-up and mature; impenetrable plot armor was Mister Rogers kiddie fare. I'm more accepting of stories where characters can die (Disney's The Black Hole; Star Wars) than stories in which characters are unkillable. The Walking Dead became one of my favorite shows as an adult, at least during the early seasons, because there were real stakes and nobody was safe. I'm sure this view has informed my own creative writing, especially the novels I've been writing lately. I don't let any of my characters wear plot armor and they tend to die with disturbing regularity. But, I suspect it all started with The Transformers: the Movie.

What else? I owned a copy of the official movie stickerbook by Panini. For those who don't know, the sticker book was a retelling of the movie with two-tone screen shots from the film, so you had to buy the sticker packs (sold separately, of course) to see the full-color scene. Some scenes were double- or quadruple-sized and required two or four individual stickers to complete the scene. The sticker book was also hilarious, at times, in its retelling of the movie. This is the source that identified Laserbeak as a Recordicon and describes Galvatron as transforming into a Galvagun.

I could talk about the movie and its effect on the franchise forever. It changed the toys we got (futuristic versus Earth-style) and it changed the cartoon (2006-era instead of 1986) and it changed the character focus (Rodimus and Galvatron, or conversely Magnus and Galvatron, instead of Optimus and Megatron). It changed things profoundly. You might even say it... transformed the franchise. But I won't, because that's a really obvious joke.

Zob (I really need to get that new 4K version)

Almost all the plot points were spoiled by promotional material and even
the toys themselves. The other thing besides Starscream's death that
they managed to keep quiet was Megatron=Galvatron.

I think enough has been written about how shocking it was to see all our
favorite characters casually killed off like they were Star Trek
redshirts. I was no exception to this.

But the thing that really bothered me was how light Decepticon
casualties were and how heavy the Autobots' were. Optimus dies, but
Megatron got to live on in a new more powerful form. It felt like the
bad guys won.

Something I recall was getting an intricate promotional flier in the
mail from Hasbro all about the movie. I've never seen any scans of it or
anyone talking about it in general. I remember some poster art and text
explaining the movie took place in 2005. There was a also a last-chance
a mail order offer for Optimus and Megatron, and perhaps others. I still
did not comprehend that the 1984 toyline would be discontinued.

They also said that your movie ticket will be stamped with a special
Autobot symbol that would be worth a whole bunch of robot points. This
did not happen. My Movie ticket looked like any old movie ticket.

On Tuesday, August 10, 2021 at 11:21:40 AM UTC-6, Travoltron wrote:

> Almost all the plot points were spoiled by promotional material and even
> the toys themselves. The other thing besides Starscream's death that
> they managed to keep quiet was Megatron=Galvatron.

I had seen the 1986 product catalog that describes Galvatron as one who "fights to lead the Decepticons," so I think I had a vague inkling that either he was Megatron, or that Megatron was getting replaced as leader. I also knew that Galvatron and Ultra Magnus were both City Commanders, but I think I was envisioning them being stationed at Metroplex and Trypticon and only being in charge of the robots who were actually stationed there.

You can tell that either Hasbro was confused as to what happened in the movie, or they were trying to keep it under wraps. In no universe does it make sense for Galvatron to be labeled as "City Commander." Or, for that matter, Rodimus Prime's tech specs function being "Protector."
That seems like a conscious effort to avoid letting kids know he was the new Autobot leader.
> But the thing that really bothered me was how light Decepticon
> casualties were and how heavy the Autobots' were. Optimus dies, but
> Megatron got to live on in a new more powerful form. It felt like the
> bad guys won.

There were never as many Decepticon troops to begin with, so there were arguably fewer disposable characters to work with. (They probably could have gotten away with killing off the Constructicons, given how infrequently they appeared after the movie.)

> Something I recall was getting an intricate promotional flier in the
> mail from Hasbro all about the movie. I've never seen any scans of it or
> anyone talking about it in general. I remember some poster art and text
> explaining the movie took place in 2005. There was a also a last-chance
> a mail order offer for Optimus and Megatron, and perhaps others. I still
> did not comprehend that the 1984 toyline would be discontinued.

I got something like that in the mail. Not sure if it's the same one you're talking about. It was decorated with a weird illustration that was like a cartoony, cel-animated version of the Transformers: the Movie poster. I'm pretty sure that's the source from which I learned that a "mystery Autobot" (Hot Rod) was the Chosen One destined to destroy Unicron. I might still have a piece of it, but I did cut off part of it to redeem one of the mail-order offers that was included. I'll have to look for it.

Zob (getting Transformers in the mail has always been fun)

>
> Who else remembers seeing the film in theatres back in the day? There was also a brief Canadian and US theatre run back in the fall of 2018, meant to tie into the "Bumblebee" movie: it was targeted to fans like us, and played at indie houses. That was a great opportunity to see and hear the film again on the big screen, with the benefit of a similarly-scaled sound system..

Fathom Events did a great job with the 2018 release; posters, trivia, exclusive look at Bumblebee, and an exclusive post-movie concert with Stan Bush (included on the new 4K Bluray). Best of all, they're bringing the movie back to cinemas next month!

https://www.fathomevents.com/events/Transformers-35th-Anniversary?date=2021-09-26
https://www.fathomevents.com/events/Transformers-35th-Anniversary?date=2021-09-28

And not new, but back in 2013, Vince DiCola released a great medley of themes from the soundtrack:

Preview: https://soundcloud.com/chris_huelsbeck/transformers-medley-2013
Purchase: https://chrishuelsbeck.bandcamp.com/track/transformers-medley-2013

Very cool! I have the DiCola medley, and really enjoy it. :)

Curious: any word, yet, on if these TFTM screenings will hit Canada (as they did in 2018?) It would be really super to take in a showing again.

JB

On Thursday, August 12, 2021 at 2:11:35 PM UTC-7, Codigo Postal wrote:
> >
> > Who else remembers seeing the film in theatres back in the day? There was also a brief Canadian and US theatre run back in the fall of 2018, meant to tie into the "Bumblebee" movie: it was targeted to fans like us, and played at indie houses. That was a great opportunity to see and hear the film again on the big screen, with the benefit of a similarly-scaled sound system.
> Fathom Events did a great job with the 2018 release; posters, trivia, exclusive look at Bumblebee, and an exclusive post-movie concert with Stan Bush (included on the new 4K Bluray). Best of all, they're bringing the movie back to cinemas next month!
>
> https://www.fathomevents.com/events/Transformers-35th-Anniversary?date=2021-09-26
> https://www.fathomevents.com/events/Transformers-35th-Anniversary?date=2021-09-28
>
> And not new, but back in 2013, Vince DiCola released a great medley of themes from the soundtrack:
>
> Preview: https://soundcloud.com/chris_huelsbeck/transformers-medley-2013
> Purchase: https://chrishuelsbeck.bandcamp.com/track/transformers-medley-2013