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Post by CkRtech on Jul 4, 2007 17:55:36 GMT -5
Opening theme (non Transformers-related) brought to you by my Nintendo Entertainment System. 23:50 minutes 8.18 MB I didn't cover quite everything.... Just Transformers (right-click to save)
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Post by Destro on Jul 4, 2007 22:58:35 GMT -5
I really liked the film, but it definitely had its flaws: I'd give it a solid 3 out of four stars. I thought bee's lubricant leaking was a bit over the top as well..the rest (the finger, etc.) is standard movie fare imo. Autobots stereotyped as soldiers? Didn't really see that..ironhide, sure, but other than him..not really. I think 'bee, being the bot to connect w/ humans, it made sense that, at least in the first movie, he was the main bot w/ the most screen time (hopefully in the next film he'll take a backseat to prime). 'Bee didn't sound like wreckgar at all; the emotion appeal of him was great (eye contact, physical presence, song selection etc.). The whole "song voice" idea worked much better than I thought it would, and seeing him dragged away by the gov't agents was a great emotional moment. I wanted more screen time/lines for the 'cons, so I can see that point; next movie should (hopefully) be better. W/ the little time they had, they were characterized well (Megs' comment to ss, ss possibly being one of the jets firing on Megatron..I did think that frenzy was great, otoh). I think this movie had as much plot and characterization as most tf cartoons, minus bw; maybe bay and co. thought we had something against such things. To be fair, though, hasn't that always been the plot? Autobots fight decepticons w/o a whole lot of background to explain it, other than 'bots are good and cons are bad (w/ Unicron thrown in as a handy plot device when the writers have run out of ideas)? The problem w/ tf's is that their isn't a real good plot (except for in bw, maybe bm, and the comics, from what I've heard)..so, just following canon, I can see why bay and co. might have some problems making a plot (bay being the director of course didn't help either..). As for unaccounted-for tf's, I hope the next movie will clear that up. The young programmers were hired by the gov't bc they knew that stuff..c'mon, they were doing their job..I can see your point, but it seems a "picking nits" type of point. Wow, you seemed to give it a fairly high rating for something you didn't like.. I think you were looking for something that simply wasn't going to be there: I mean, you don't go to mcdonald's for a steak; it's a summer action flick, so it's not gonna have a magnificent plot and characterization. I do think the plot and characterization could've been better, but given the source material (unless you count comics), there wasn't much to go by. For me, the action was great (I agree about the jerkiness at times), the comedy was great, the plot/characterization was subpar; pretty much what I'd expect from a film about giant robots.
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Post by CkRtech on Jul 4, 2007 23:11:58 GMT -5
I think that was the whole point - Not that I was looking for something that wasn't there - I even said at the start of the show that it was "pretty much what I expected" - but basically I figured that modernizing it and bringing it to the big screen would bring it a lot more up to date than what we ended up getting on the screen.
Spiderman 3 was a summer action flick, but it also had drama, characters and a plot to go with it.
I also maintain for the record that Beast Wars isn't as good as you make it out to be. All the TF series have just not been able to reach a nice level of development yet. I expect it from the movies. We are getting more movies, so we will see how things go.
I expect better things from the second Transformers film.
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Post by Destro on Jul 4, 2007 23:22:38 GMT -5
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't spiderman have a better (ie more complex/fleshed out) origin story, at least when comparing it to the tf cartoons? I think that's what helped that franchise along w/ batman, x-men, etc. What would bay and co. really have to go by? I don't think they should (or could) create an entirely new tf mythos..
I too expect the second film to be more about bots and have a better story.
Speculation: Who do you guys want to lead the cons in the next film? Megatron simply revived, Megatron turned to Galvatron, Starscream, other?
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Post by CkRtech on Jul 5, 2007 0:22:48 GMT -5
I hope for reinforcements from both sides - including Soundwave (whatever incarnation they have) + Rumble + Laserbeak.
I want to see more of Megatron, myself because I don't believe we got enough of him in the first film. That said, I wouldn't mind getting Starscream to lead for the early half of the movie. They repair Megatron in the new underwater headquarters. Starscream says that his day will come and then we get Megatron to drop the classic, "never....NEVER!!!" on him. Heh.
As for the origin story part of things - The origin itself doesn't have to be too detailed, but I would have liked to see more development. The development of a character doesn't have to only be based on the past.
I wouldn't mind if they created a new TF mythos if they pulled it off right. The more time that goes on, the harder it is going to be since each TF series has essentially been a derivation of the original. Maybe you know some details on the new cartoon? That might be able to take things in a new direction (topic for a different thread though, I suppose)
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Post by Raggletag on Jul 5, 2007 22:24:17 GMT -5
That was a fun listen, Chris. I'm with you on just about all fronts. I think the movie relied too heavily on the the special effects (which were great aside from the camera direction), with not enough emphasis on story and the character development of the Transformers themselves. Heck, the Autobots didn't even show up till the middle, and most of the 'cons not till the end! What really saved it for me was the humor and certain stand-out action scenes. Not TOO bad for a first outing I guess. I keep thinking though how much cooler the movie would've been if it had the actual G1 character designs in it. I'd easily bump my rating up to a solid 3 stars.
TFs I'd like to see in the sequel: Soundwave, Wheeljack, Shockwave, and Mirage. And again, I hope they bring the character designs back to the drawing board for the sequel and make them closer to the spirit of G1.
Oh, and I loved the NES Ducktales theme at the beginning of the show! I'm not a big fan of D Tales, but I'll be d**ned if that rendition of the themesong isn't catchy as all get-out!
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Post by CkRtech on Jul 5, 2007 23:38:42 GMT -5
Hehehe. Man. With my return to NES collecting, I stumbled upon that song once again & was like "dang...I have to just flat out put this song in a show or something. They really got that theme NAILED on that NES soundchip back in the day."
I wasn't too big into Ducktales, myself. (I was Tailspin, Dark Wing Duck, and a little Rescue Rangers)
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Post by Bear on Jul 8, 2007 8:28:18 GMT -5
It ws good to hear a new show. Mrs. Bear thinks its hilariouse that I can name not only the song but that it came from NES ;D
I really do agree with you on all your points. I just din't care if Jazz died because I didn't know him. They made Josh Duhmals character so rememberable I would have felt pretty bad to see him get squashed.
Anybody remember the movie Robot Jocks (I think) It was basically humans that controled big fighting robots. To me the Transformers was just a big budget update of the movie. To me the movie was good for what it was. A summer blockbuster action flick, but it does not have a place in my Transformers heart.
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