This author is old enough to remember the death of Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen), the leader of the heroic Autobots in Nelson Shin's 1986 animated sci-fi epic "The Transformers: The Movie." Coming in the middle of a successful run on television, "The Movie" aimed to expand the series into a full-blown space opera, complete with interplanetary settings, all-new characters, and a massive mechanical cosmic deity played by Orson Welles (his final work before his death in October of 1985). Many fans of the TV series -- and they were legion -- flocked to theaters to see their favorite transforming robot characters wail on each other in a cinematic context.
It should be recalled that "The Transformers" was one of many 1980s TV shows that functioned explicitly as an advertising exercise. The Transformers were gimmicky toys -- puzzles that could be manipulated from robot shapes into cars and back --...
It should be recalled that "The Transformers" was one of many 1980s TV shows that functioned explicitly as an advertising exercise. The Transformers were gimmicky toys -- puzzles that could be manipulated from robot shapes into cars and back --...
- 9/11/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
David H. DePatie, the the animation producer who, along with partner Friz Freleng created one of the most enduring and recognizable cartoon characters of the last century in the Pink Panther, died Sept. 23 of natural causes in Gig Harbor, Washington. He was 91.
His death was announced in a Seattle Times obituary.
In addition to the Pink Panther, which started as part of the main title credits for Blake Edwards’ 1963 heist comedy starring Peter Sellars before spinning off into its own cartoon shorts throughout the ’60s and ’70s, DePatie-Freleng Enterprises generated such instantly identifiable characters as StarKist Tuna’s Charlie Tuna, the cartoon versions of Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman for the opening credits of I Dream of Jeannie, and such children’s staples as The Ant and the Aardvark; Roland and Rattfink and Tijuana Toads, Here Comes the Grump, What’s New Mr. Magoo, Return to the Planet of the Apes,...
His death was announced in a Seattle Times obituary.
In addition to the Pink Panther, which started as part of the main title credits for Blake Edwards’ 1963 heist comedy starring Peter Sellars before spinning off into its own cartoon shorts throughout the ’60s and ’70s, DePatie-Freleng Enterprises generated such instantly identifiable characters as StarKist Tuna’s Charlie Tuna, the cartoon versions of Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman for the opening credits of I Dream of Jeannie, and such children’s staples as The Ant and the Aardvark; Roland and Rattfink and Tijuana Toads, Here Comes the Grump, What’s New Mr. Magoo, Return to the Planet of the Apes,...
- 10/14/2021
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Ryan Lambie Dec 20, 2018
It's always a good time to look back at the utter strangeness of Transformers: The Movie.
The following contains spoilers for Transformers: The Movie. Just thought we should mention it.
The shadow of death hung like a black curtain over Transformers: The Movie. Thanks to an edict handed down by the powers that be at Hasbro, pretty much every toy in the original Transformers 1984 line was wiped out in the course of the film's events; and by the time the noble Autobot leader Optimus Prime died at the hands of Megatron towards the end of the first act, a generation of youngsters were scarred for life.
In retrospect, Hasbro's cold business decision - to wipe out one generation of toys in order to replace them with new ones - resulted in a far more effective movie. As well as a feature-length toy commercial, Transformers: The Movie wound...
It's always a good time to look back at the utter strangeness of Transformers: The Movie.
The following contains spoilers for Transformers: The Movie. Just thought we should mention it.
The shadow of death hung like a black curtain over Transformers: The Movie. Thanks to an edict handed down by the powers that be at Hasbro, pretty much every toy in the original Transformers 1984 line was wiped out in the course of the film's events; and by the time the noble Autobot leader Optimus Prime died at the hands of Megatron towards the end of the first act, a generation of youngsters were scarred for life.
In retrospect, Hasbro's cold business decision - to wipe out one generation of toys in order to replace them with new ones - resulted in a far more effective movie. As well as a feature-length toy commercial, Transformers: The Movie wound...
- 11/30/2016
- Den of Geek
Ryan Lambie Nov 30, 2016
With a 30th anniversary Blu-ray out soon, Ryan takes a timely look back at the quirky, dark, superbly animated Transformers: The Movie...
Nb: The following contains spoilers for Transformers: The Movie. Just thought we should mention it.
See related Close To The Enemy episode 3 review Close To The Enemy episode 2 review Close To The Enemy episode 1 review
The shadow of death hung like a black curtain over Transformers: The Movie. Thanks to an edict handed down by the powers that be at Hasbro, pretty much every toy in the original Transformers 1984 line was wiped out in the course of the film's events; and by the time the noble Autobot leader Optimus Prime died at the hands of Megatron towards the end of the first act, a generation of youngsters were scarred for life.
In retrospect, Hasbro's cold business decision - to wipe out one generation of toys...
With a 30th anniversary Blu-ray out soon, Ryan takes a timely look back at the quirky, dark, superbly animated Transformers: The Movie...
Nb: The following contains spoilers for Transformers: The Movie. Just thought we should mention it.
See related Close To The Enemy episode 3 review Close To The Enemy episode 2 review Close To The Enemy episode 1 review
The shadow of death hung like a black curtain over Transformers: The Movie. Thanks to an edict handed down by the powers that be at Hasbro, pretty much every toy in the original Transformers 1984 line was wiped out in the course of the film's events; and by the time the noble Autobot leader Optimus Prime died at the hands of Megatron towards the end of the first act, a generation of youngsters were scarred for life.
In retrospect, Hasbro's cold business decision - to wipe out one generation of toys...
- 11/29/2016
- Den of Geek
Morning, Daily Deaders! In today’s Horror Highlights, fans of “The Caped Crusader” may be interested in the photos and release details for Tweeterhead’s Batman ’66 “Noir” variant maquette. Also: a bonus features Blu-ray clip and trailer from Shout! Factory’s The Transformers: The Movie Blu-ray and a look at preview pages and cover art for issue #30 of Dark Horse’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 10 comic book series.
Tweeterhead’s Batman (1966) Noir Variant Maquette Photos & Release Details: From Tweeterhead: “Announcing our first 66 Batman Variant!!
We will begin Pre-Selling our Batman ’66 “Noir” Variant next Wednesday, August 17th. We were given the chance to make these Super limited edition maquettes featuring our original Batman maquette with Black Cape, Cowl, Boots, Briefs, and Gloves.
This piece is limited to just 100 hand-numbered pieces and will retail for $199.99. This Batman Maquette does Not include the computer half of the base like the original did.
Tweeterhead’s Batman (1966) Noir Variant Maquette Photos & Release Details: From Tweeterhead: “Announcing our first 66 Batman Variant!!
We will begin Pre-Selling our Batman ’66 “Noir” Variant next Wednesday, August 17th. We were given the chance to make these Super limited edition maquettes featuring our original Batman maquette with Black Cape, Cowl, Boots, Briefs, and Gloves.
This piece is limited to just 100 hand-numbered pieces and will retail for $199.99. This Batman Maquette does Not include the computer half of the base like the original did.
- 8/13/2016
- by Tamika Jones
- DailyDead
This week marked the 30th anniversary of the best toy commercial ever released to theaters, Transformers: The Movie. Jabbing aside, the film does use a classic hero’s-journey story to great effect, portraying an epic battle between good and evil. Look no further than the film’s director Nelson Shin and writers Flint Dille and and Ron Friedman to see that while Hasbro’s intent may have been more capitalistic, the creative types were interested in making an authentic slam-bang, sci-fi adventure with some gravitas. Flickering Myth ran an exhaustive piece earlier this week featuring quotes from Shin, Dille, and Friedman proving this further.
According to Flickering Myth, the first draft of Transformers: The Movie from Dille was titled Transformers: The Secret Of Cybertron and featured Optimus Prime on a quest into the innerspace of the Transformer’s home planet to find the origins of the Autobots and Decepticons.
According to Flickering Myth, the first draft of Transformers: The Movie from Dille was titled Transformers: The Secret Of Cybertron and featured Optimus Prime on a quest into the innerspace of the Transformer’s home planet to find the origins of the Autobots and Decepticons.
- 8/12/2016
- by Mike Vanderbilt
- avclub.com
In my mind, the original 1986 Transformers: The Movie is the best Transformers movie ever made. I don’t care what anyone says. I loved that film, even though they killed off half of my favorite characters within the first 30 minutes. When I was a kid I was lucky enough to see it on the big screen at a special screening for some of the cast and crew members. I’ll never forget that experience. The movie just oozes '80s awesomeness.
I’m excited to report that Shout! Factory and Hasbro Studio are teaming up to release a special Blu-ray and DVD to celebrate the film’s 30th anniversary. I seriously can’t believe that it’s been 30 freakin’ years!
The 30th Anniversary Edition will feature some bonus content and collectible packaging. The film boasts an impressive voice cast that included Orson Welles in his final role as Unicron, Peter Cullen,...
I’m excited to report that Shout! Factory and Hasbro Studio are teaming up to release a special Blu-ray and DVD to celebrate the film’s 30th anniversary. I seriously can’t believe that it’s been 30 freakin’ years!
The 30th Anniversary Edition will feature some bonus content and collectible packaging. The film boasts an impressive voice cast that included Orson Welles in his final role as Unicron, Peter Cullen,...
- 6/10/2016
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
Shout! Factory, a multi-platform media company, and Hasbro Studios announced a strategic distribution collaboration to bring the iconic animated feature, Transformers – The Movie to the home entertainment marketplace in the U.S. and Canada. This full-length animated adventure boasts the voice talent of Orson Welles in his final role and an all-star voice cast that includes Peter Cullen, Eric Idle, Casey Kasem, Judd Nelson, Leonard Nimoy, Robert Stack and Frank Welker. The announcement was made today by Shout! Factory’s founders Richard Foos, Bob Emmer and Garson Foos; and Hasbro’s Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer Stephen Davis.
The multi-year alliance provides Shout! Factory with exclusive home entertainment packaged media (Blu-ray and DVD) and select digital rights to Hasbro’s Transformers – The Movie for home entertainment releases in North America. In honor of the 30thanniversary of Transformers – The Movie, this beloved animated feature will be newly remastered and...
The multi-year alliance provides Shout! Factory with exclusive home entertainment packaged media (Blu-ray and DVD) and select digital rights to Hasbro’s Transformers – The Movie for home entertainment releases in North America. In honor of the 30thanniversary of Transformers – The Movie, this beloved animated feature will be newly remastered and...
- 6/9/2016
- by Kellvin Chavez
- LRMonline.com
We all know George Lucas has a penchant for tweaking the visual look of the Star Wars universe. But did you know the tendency dates all the way back to 1977? If you get deep enough into the story of how “Star Wars: A New Hope” came to be, you discover the lightsabers were originally meant to be a practical effect. When it became apparent the technology just wasn’t up to the task yet, Nelson Shin was brought in to create an animated glowing effect. During an interview with CNN, Shin said: “ [the lightsabers] look[ed] like a fluorescent tube” Which is exactly what they Still looked like when the trailer was cut in 1977. At some point between the trailer and the May 25, 1977 opening, Lucas added the color to the lightsabers and the rest was Sith history. Check out the whole trailer below! Bonus trivia! Practical limitations would come into play again...
- 2/12/2015
- by Donna Dickens
- Hitfix
Michael Bay's big-scale Transformers blockbusters might be hugely popular with today's cinemagoers, but for film fans of a certain generation there'll always be a special place in their hearts for 1986's Transformers: The Movie.
A big screen spinoff from the animated TV series, the film was epic when seen for the first time by young eyes. Spanning from the Cybertron to Earth, via the far reaches of space and a planet-eating villain voiced by Orson Welles! Describing it as a classic might be a stretch but this was an exciting war movie that taught us about loss and the fist-pumping stadium rock majesty that is Stan Bush's 'The Touch'.
Digital Spy takes a look back at 9 bits of trivia from Transformers: The Movie.
1. It was hard to hold back the tears when Optimus Prime bit the dust in Transformers's brutal Battle of Autobot City. The passing of...
A big screen spinoff from the animated TV series, the film was epic when seen for the first time by young eyes. Spanning from the Cybertron to Earth, via the far reaches of space and a planet-eating villain voiced by Orson Welles! Describing it as a classic might be a stretch but this was an exciting war movie that taught us about loss and the fist-pumping stadium rock majesty that is Stan Bush's 'The Touch'.
Digital Spy takes a look back at 9 bits of trivia from Transformers: The Movie.
1. It was hard to hold back the tears when Optimus Prime bit the dust in Transformers's brutal Battle of Autobot City. The passing of...
- 7/7/2014
- Digital Spy
Michael Bay's big-scale Transformers blockbusters might be hugely popular with today's cinemagoers, but for film fans of a certain generation there'll always be a special place in their hearts for 1986's Transformers: The Movie.
A big screen spinoff from the animated TV series, the film was epic when seen for the first time by young eyes. Spanning from the Cybertron to Earth, via the far reaches of space and a planet-eating villain voiced by Orson Welles! Describing it as a classic might be a stretch but this was an exciting war movie that taught us about loss and the fist-pumping stadium rock majesty that is Stan Bush's 'The Touch'.
Digital Spy takes a look back at 9 bits of trivia from Transformers: The Movie.
1. It was hard to hold back the tears when Optimus Prime bit the dust in Transformers's brutal Battle of Autobot City. The passing of...
A big screen spinoff from the animated TV series, the film was epic when seen for the first time by young eyes. Spanning from the Cybertron to Earth, via the far reaches of space and a planet-eating villain voiced by Orson Welles! Describing it as a classic might be a stretch but this was an exciting war movie that taught us about loss and the fist-pumping stadium rock majesty that is Stan Bush's 'The Touch'.
Digital Spy takes a look back at 9 bits of trivia from Transformers: The Movie.
1. It was hard to hold back the tears when Optimus Prime bit the dust in Transformers's brutal Battle of Autobot City. The passing of...
- 7/7/2014
- Digital Spy
There are definitely bigger fans of The Transformers out there than I. Even though I born in their heyday I never gave them a lot of thought. I never watched the show. I never had any of the toys. I never wanted to be Optimus Prime for Halloween. However, I do recall seeing the 1986 movie at some point. I suppose I must have liked it enough that when a special edition was released to coincide with Michael Bay’s first Transformers flick…I bought it. I watched it once and stuck it back on the shelf, where it’s sat untouched since then. With last weekend’s release of Transformers: Age of Extinction I thought this would be a good time to revisit what is still probably the best Transformers film. So join me as I sit down to re-watch The Transformers: The Movie.
The first thing I noticed is...
The first thing I noticed is...
- 7/1/2014
- by Kevin Fraser
- City of Films
Filming is about to commence on Star Wars: Episode VII, Jj Abrams's hotly-anticipated sequel that picks up the story 30 years after the events of Return of the Jedi.
With almost 40 years of history - encompassing films, TV, comic books, video games and novels - there's a wealth of interesting facts and information about the vast universe hatched by George Lucas.
Here are ten fast facts we've discovered from a galaxy far, far away…
1. Inspired by the swashbuckling Flash Gordon adventures that began in the '30s, a young George Lucas initially wanted to bring that serial to the big screen, but found the rights to the character difficult to untangle. From there he began to fashion his own space epic - a project that would eventually become the Star Wars we know and love.
However, things could have been a lot different as Lucas's first draft script was...
With almost 40 years of history - encompassing films, TV, comic books, video games and novels - there's a wealth of interesting facts and information about the vast universe hatched by George Lucas.
Here are ten fast facts we've discovered from a galaxy far, far away…
1. Inspired by the swashbuckling Flash Gordon adventures that began in the '30s, a young George Lucas initially wanted to bring that serial to the big screen, but found the rights to the character difficult to untangle. From there he began to fashion his own space epic - a project that would eventually become the Star Wars we know and love.
However, things could have been a lot different as Lucas's first draft script was...
- 4/8/2014
- Digital Spy
From Nelson Shin, director of the original Transformers: The Movie, comes Future Fighters, a Mechs-in-space extravaganza that even includes Darth Maul himself, Ray Park.
The teaser after the break was created to gather interest and the project is now listed as "in production" with a release date of 2011. To give you a sense of where it's all headed, we've also included some artwork after the break.
Synopsis:
In the 22nd Century the darkest region of space lies in the hearts of men." The fate of all humanity rests with a small clutch of brave soldiers, and their sophisticated intra-stellar fighting machines, as they must defend the free solar system from a sinister invading force, in order to fight... for their future. But when allies become enemies and enemies become allies, battle-lines and allegiances are blurred as humanity races to save itself... from its own utter destruction.
Check out the goods...
The teaser after the break was created to gather interest and the project is now listed as "in production" with a release date of 2011. To give you a sense of where it's all headed, we've also included some artwork after the break.
Synopsis:
In the 22nd Century the darkest region of space lies in the hearts of men." The fate of all humanity rests with a small clutch of brave soldiers, and their sophisticated intra-stellar fighting machines, as they must defend the free solar system from a sinister invading force, in order to fight... for their future. But when allies become enemies and enemies become allies, battle-lines and allegiances are blurred as humanity races to save itself... from its own utter destruction.
Check out the goods...
- 1/5/2011
- QuietEarth.us
With the resurgence of movies based on toys in recent years, it was high time to reach into the past and dust off the hidden gem that started it all. Many people who grew up watching the “Transformers” television show will remember that in 1986 Hasbro released a full length animated feature film called “The Transformers: The Movie.” This film contains a fairly predictable “Transformers” plot, meaning it’s convoluted and features loads of meaningless action and prolonged fighting. Awesome.
The movie begins with a cold open: the “camera” casually flies us through the quiet beauties of outer space. Planets, stars, galaxies and celestial debris float peacefully and gracefully through the great black expanse. We gradually close in on a small Death Star-like planet bustling with all sorts of alien robotic life forms. Suddenly, a giant spherical machine, known as Unicron, targets the planet and without warning begins to suck it in like a vacuum,...
The movie begins with a cold open: the “camera” casually flies us through the quiet beauties of outer space. Planets, stars, galaxies and celestial debris float peacefully and gracefully through the great black expanse. We gradually close in on a small Death Star-like planet bustling with all sorts of alien robotic life forms. Suddenly, a giant spherical machine, known as Unicron, targets the planet and without warning begins to suck it in like a vacuum,...
- 9/5/2010
- by Greg Kita
- The Moving Arts Journal
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