The Transformers: The Movie



The Transformers: The Movie is a 1986 American animated science fiction action adventure film based on the animated TV series by the same name. It was released in North America on August 8, 1986 and in the UK on December 5, 1986.

The film was co-produced and directed by Nelson Shin, who also produced the original Transformers television series, and features the voices of Eric Idle, Judd Nelson, Leonard Nimoy, Casey Kasem, Robert Stack, Lionel Stander, John Moschitta, Jr., Peter Cullen and Frank Welker. It also marked the final roles for both Orson Welles, who died the year before its release, and Scatman Crothers, who died months after its release.

The story takes place in 2005, 20 years after the events of the TV series' second season and serves to bridge into the third season. After the death of Optimus Prime during a devastating assault on Autobot City, the remaining Autobots are pursued by Galvatron, the regenerated form of Megatron and servant of Unicron, a planet-devouring Transformer who sets out to consume Cybertron. Set to a soundtrack of synth-based incidental music and hard-driving metal music, composed by Vince DiCola, the film has a decidedly darker tone than the television series, with detailed visuals in Toei Animation's typical anime film styling, and Decepticon villains that are more menacing, killing without hesitation. The film features several grand battles in which a handful of major characters meet their end.

The film's tagline was: "Beyond good. Beyond evil. Beyond your wildest imagination."

Plot
In 2005, the war between the Autobots and Decepticons has culminated in the Decepticons conquering their home planet Cybertron, while the Autobots operate from its two moons preparing a counter-offensive. Optimus Prime sends an Autobot shuttle to Earth's Autobot City for Energon supplies, but the Decepticons, led by Megatron, commandeer the ship and kill the crew, consisting of Ironhide, Ratchet, Prowl and Brawn. Travelling to Earth, the Decepticons attack Autobot City, slaughtering many Autobots and leaving only a small group alive including Hot Rod, Kup, Ultra Magnus, Arcee, Springer, Blurr, Perceptor, Blaster, and the human Daniel Witwicky. The next day, Optimus and the Dinobots arrive as reinforcements. Optimus single-handedly defeats the Decepticons and engages Megatron in a climactic battle that leaves both of them mortally wounded. On his death bed, Optimus passes the Matrix of Leadership to Ultra Magnus, informing him that its power will light the Autobots' darkest hour, and dies.

Elsewhere, the Decepticons jettison their wounded from Astrotrain, including Megatron at the hands of his treacherous second-in-command Starscream. The wounded are found by Unicron, a gigantic sentient cyber-planet who consumes other planets. Unicron offers Megatron a new body in exchange for destroying the Matrix, which has the ability to destroy him. Megatron agrees and is converted into Galvatron, gaining new troops from the other Decepticons present. Going to Cybertron, Galvatron crashes Starscream's coronation as Decepticon commander and destroys him, before travelling to Autobot City to eliminate Ultra Magnus. The surviving Autobots escape in separate shuttles which are damaged by the Decepticons and crash land on different planets.

Hot Rod and Kup are taken prisoner by the Quintessons, multi-faced tyrants who hold kangaroo courts and execute prisoners by feeding them to the Sharkticons. Hot Rod and Kup learn of Unicron from Kranix, a survivor of Lithone – a planet devoured by Unicron. After Kranix is executed, Hot Rod and Kup escape their own trial, aided by the arrival of the Dinobots and the small Autobot Wheelie, who helps them find a ship to leave the planet. The other Autobots land on the Junk Planet, where Galvatron kills Ultra Magnus and seizes the Matrix, intending on using it to control Unicron. The Autobots reunite and befriend the local Junkions, led by Wreck-Gar, who then rebuild Magnus. Learning Galvatron has the Matrix, the Autobots and Junkions fly to Cybertron, which Unicron, discovered to be a gigantic Transformer also now in robot form, begins to destroy.

The Autobots crash their spaceship through Unicron's eye but are separated. Daniel rescues his father Spike and Jazz, Bumblebee, and Cliffjumper from being devoured. Hot Rod confronts Galvatron, who tries to form an alliance, but is forced into attacking Hot Rod by Unicron. Hot Rod obtains the Matrix, which converts him into Rodimus Prime, the Autobot that Optimus said would light their darkest hour. Rodimus tosses Galvatron into space and uses the Matrix's power to destroy Unicron from the inside. The Autobots celebrate the end of the war and the retaking of Cybertron, while Unicron's head begins to orbit the planet.

Production
The film was budgeted at $6 million, six times greater than the budget used to create 90 minutes of the regular cartoon series. Nelson Shin's team of almost one hundred personnel normally took three months to make one episode of the series, so, despite the extra budget, faced considerable time constraints in making the film whilst also continuing production on the TV series at the same time. According to Shin, the decisions on which characters to include or kill off were made by Hasbro. "They created the story using characters that could best be merchandised for the film. Only with that consideration could I have freedom to change the storyline." Shin also came up with the concept of the Transformers changing color when they died: "When Optimus Prime died, I changed his color from red and blue into grey to show the spirit was gone from his body."

The Transformers: The Movie was the final film to which Orson Welles contributed. Welles was in declining health during production. Shortly before he died, he told his biographer, Barbara Leaming, "You know what I did this morning? I played the voice of a toy." He elaborated, "I play a planet. I menace somebody called Something-or-other. Then I'm destroyed. My plan to destroy Whoever-it-is is thwarted and I tear myself apart on the screen." According to director Nelson Shin, Welles had been pleased to accept the role after reading the script and had expressed an admiration for animated films. The voicework for The Transformers: The Movie was the last film project he worked on; his last voice session was on October 5, 1985, and five days later, Welles died of a heart attack.

Music
Stan Bush's song "The Touch", which prominently featured in the film, was originally written for the Sylvester Stallone film Cobra. The song later appeared again for the Transformers franchise, along with a remixed version for the 2012 game Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. The film also feature other well known songs including "Instruments of Destruction" by NRG, Stan Bush's song "Dare", and also two songs by Spectre General, "Nothin's Gonna Stand in Our Way", and "Hunger". The Transformers theme song for the film was performed by the band Lion.

Character deaths
Among the confirmed Autobots shown dead on screen are Optimus Prime, Ironhide, Prowl, Ratchet, Brawn, Windcharger, and Wheeljack.

A substantial number of Autobots from the first two seasons of the show do not appear after the film, leaving their fates uncertain.

Aside from Starscream, there are virtually no permanent Decepticon deaths in the film, and the few that died were not killed by Autobots. Most of the Decepticons who were dead or dying are rebuilt by Unicron, and while Galvatron makes a few references implying he has Megatron's memories, it is less clear with Cyclonus and Scourge, as Bombshell or Skywarp and Thundercracker (who became Scourge), are depicted as having grave markers in a subterranean Decepticon crypt on Cybertron in the episode "Starscream's Ghost". Shockwave's death was scripted but cut from the finished film; it was reinstated for IDW Publishing's adaptation of the feature, printed in 2006. However, a rather different-colored Shockwave makes a couple of appearances in the season premiere sequel "Five Faces of Darkness". Mirage was originally supposed to be killed by Megatron in the original script. while Trailbreaker's lifeless corpse was meant to be seen as the Deception's retreat from the battle but both scenes were later cut. Dirge, Thrust, and Ramjet were seen being killed by Unicron on-screen but appeared in later episodes. One of the Sweeps did die by the hands of Grimlock's fire breath attack over Autobot City but it is unclear which character died. One of the intentions of the film was to rid the Transformers cartoon universe of the majority of characters from Seasons 1 and 2. Story consultant Flint Dille elaborated:

In the next season (3), we were going to have all these new characters, and people are going to be wondering what happened to the old characters that they liked so much. What we knew, in a business sense, is that they had been discontinued, because they were the 1984/1985 (toy)line – but, we needed to tie them off. So, we had this one scene where the Autobots basically had to run through a gauntlet of Decepticons. Which basically wiped out the entire '84 product line in one massive "charge of the light brigade". So, whoever wasn't discontinued, stumbled to the end. That scene didn't make it into the finished movie. But if you think kids were locking themselves in the bedroom over Optimus Prime, basically in that scene they would've seen their entire toy collection wiped out.

The film was produced by Sunbow/Marvel simultaneously with G.I. Joe: The Movie. The writers of G.I. Joe: The Movie film asked for permission from Hasbro to kill the Duke character. Hasbro not only approved the request but insisted that the writers of The Transformers: The Movie adopt the same fate for Optimus Prime. However, Optimus' death sparked much controversy and incurred so much backlash that it caused the writers of G.I. Joe to make changes so that Duke simply ended up in a coma from which he eventually awoke.

Optimus Prime's death in the Transformers universe would be relatively short lived. Due to the negative reaction concerning Optimus Prime's death, the staff of the television series went back into production to create the two part episode "The Return of Optimus Prime", which aired on February 24 and 25, 1987, and replaced The Face of the Nijika as the final episode of the third season of the series which aired nearly four months before. The story, which concerns Optimus Prime being brought back to life to help combat a hate virus that threatens the entire universe, was promoted every day on the series in the two-week period before the episodes premiered.

Box office
The film was released on 990 screens in the United States and grossed $1,778,559 on its opening weekend. It opened in 14th place behind About Last Night which had been in theaters for six weeks at the time. The film's final box office gross was $5,849,647 which made it the 99th highest-grossing movie of 1986. Hasbro lost US$10 million on the combined poor performance of this, and their previous collaboration with De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG), My Little Pony: The Movie. It also forced the producers of these films to make G.I. Joe: The Movie a direct-to-video release instead of theatrical, as well as scrap a Jem film then in development. However, Transformers has become a cult classic.

Home media
Although the trailer describes the film as "spectacular widescreen action", the film was animated in 4:3 "fullscreen" format. The feature was vertically cropped to widescreen dimensions for theatrical showings and released in fullscreen on home video and DVD. The 20th anniversary DVD released by Sony in 2006 features remastered video, and includes both the fullscreen and widescreen versions of the film.

The UK version, as well as the 1999 Rhino Films VHS release, feature scrolling text and narration at the beginning of the film replacing the cast credits, and an additional closing narration assuring viewers that "Optimus Prime will return."

The film was originally released in 1987 on VHS, Betamax, and LaserDisc in North America by Family Home Entertainment.

The film was first released on DVD in 2000 by Rhino Entertainment and distributed exclusively in Canada by Seville Pictures. This version restored Spike's "Ah, shit!" line. Also, viewers of Rhino's DVD could instantly access the line in the movie as one of the chapters on the DVD was titled "Swear Word".

Metrodome Distribution released an Ultimate Edition of The Transformers: The Movie DVD in June 2007 (a month prior to the release of the live-action Transformers film) in the UK (Region 2). The extras include many of the extras that were contained on the "Remastered" edition of the film on the first disc, with fan commentary serving as the only addition besides a fan-made Transformers trailer. The second disc contains interviews with Peter Cullen and Flint Dille. "Scramble City" is also included as an extra.

Shout! Factory released a 30th anniversary edition of the movie on Blu-ray and DVD on September 13, 2016. The release contains separate discs for widescreen and full-screen formats.

Reception
The Transformers: The Movie received mixed reviews and currently has 55% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes with 11 of only 20 counted reviews giving it a "rotten" rating. The film has an average rating of 5 out of 10.

Caryn James of the New York Times described the film by stating, "While all this action may captivate young children, the animation is not spectacular enough to dazzle adults, and the Transformers have few truly human elements to lure parents along, even when their voices are supplied by well-known actors."

The film has developed a more positive legacy in recent years, particularly among older fans of the franchise who prefer it to the modern live-action Transformers movies due to the characters, voice cast, action, and soundtrack.

"Though a modest film compared with Michael Bay's (2007 Transformers), the original Transformers is the better film," wrote John Swansburg of Slate. "[T]here's nothing even approaching the original's narrative depth. The good guys beat the bad guys, and no one we care about is harmed in the process—the movie hasn't succeeded in making us care about anyone."

Gabe Toro of CINEMABLEND wrote in 2014: "...Transformers: The Movie otherwise provides the sort of chase-heavy thrills that comes from robots that can become cars. Contrast that with Michael Bay's vision, where the robots basically abandon their transforming skills to have endless, violent punch-outs that annihilate cities. Bay's films show the action as a junkyard orgy. The '86 offering slows down to allow for actors like Leonard Nimoy and, yes, even Orson Welles to give actual performances. Fans of Michael Bay's Transformers movies are free to enjoy them. But they'll never top the gravity and excitement of The Transformers: The Movie."

"[N]ostalgia is a funny thing: for many of us in the 30-and-over Transformers fan club, that first movie was an integral part of our childhood. The hell with what the reviews said — the O.G. Transformers movie rocked our collective worlds," Kashann Kilson wrote for Inverse in 2015. "We still love the original so much today, part of the fun of watching Bay’s explosion-fests is being able to wave our canes at the youngsters and wax poetic about how back in our day, Hollywood knew how to make a real movie about giant, alien robot warriors."

Merchandise
A Unicron figure was designed, but was never produced due to cost concerns, flimsy arms, and a faulty voice chip.