Throwback Thursday: Transformers The Movie( 1986)

 Transformers rolled out in 1984 and have been a hit ever since. Based on a semi-successful line of toys called Diaclone and Microman, Transformers was a collaboration between Hasbro and Japanese company Takara Tomy and was more popular than either company expected. A TV series was launched to support the line of toys and was a big hit with kids( and many adults). The brand gained so much traction that a movie was planned and in the summer of 1986 it hit theaters, and was a huge flop. Fortunately it gained a second life on home video and became a cult-classic and was eventually recognized as a great movie and one of the best representations of the Transformers to date. It is a surprisingly deep movie with some real emotional weight, fantastic animation and music, and it had great final performances from the great Orson Welles and Scatman Crothers. I really enjoy this movie and it is one of my brother's favorite movies of all time. The release of the Bumblebee movie trailer and the apparent new direction of the movie franchise brought back fond memories of the first time I saw Transformers. Lets dive into what makes it great and some of the behind the scenes information that make movies so interesting.

 I'll begin with the production of the movie. Hasbro budgeted 6 million dollars to produce the movie and decided to use the director of the Transformers T.V. show Nelson Shin and Toei animation( who also made the cartoon). The production budget of Transformers The Movie(6 million dollars, or 10 times what an episode cost) would lead to a marked increase in visual quality and fidelity and production was relatively quick to begin because of the studios experience with the license. This turned out to be a bit of a double-edged sword though as the studio had to both produce the movie and keep episodes of the show coming out as normal. In the end Hasbro had the final say on who would live or die and which characters to include, but other than that Shin was allowed to take the story in whatever direction he chose which was a pretty free hand for a licensed product and probably would never be done today. Eventually a highly polished multi-layered animation style was settled on and was so well done that it is still great by today's standards. This was a bit of a surprise as Toei had a bit of a bad reputation for cheap looking and rushed animation. Honestly the animation is beautiful and really helps immerse you in the story. The fights are given weight, the weapons and vehicles look great in action, and the characters all move realistically (for giant robots). The only real production problem for the movie was the juggling act the studio had to do to make the movie and show at the same time.

 The casting of Transformers was perfect. They included all of the voices( now iconic) from the show that everyone enjoyed and brought in some heavy hitting talent to fill in the roster. Some of the big names include Peter Cullen(Optimus), Judd Nelson(Hot Rod),Orson Welles(Unicron), Leonard Nimoy (Galvatron),Frank Welker( Megatron), and Scatman Crothers( Jazz). The voice talent in this movie is off the chart and I can't think of any bad performances. Contrary to popular myth Orson Welles was genuinely interested in the project and after reading the script was very enthusiastic about his role, he did not take the role just to cash in. One more actor I would like to note is Lionel Stander(Kup) who turns in a great and sarcastically funny performance.

 The soundtrack of this movie is great. It features a great collection of rock music and a great original theme by the band Lion. Even for people who haven't seen the movie the theme is instantly recognizable and many of the other tracks are beloved as well. One of the most famous songs is "The Touch"( Stan Bush) which was originally intended to be the main theme for the Stallone movie Cobra but was rejected. Other great tracks include "Instruments of Destruction", "Nothin's Gonna Stand in our Way", and "Dare to Be Stupid". The soundtrack only serves to magnify the epicness of this movie and makes the action scenes feel even more tense and exciting.

 This movie was a big hit when my Dad brought it home to show us as kids. We probably watched it at least two or three times a week for months. It made my brother eager to start collecting the toys and to watch the T.V. show( which was fortunately coming out on DVD alongside the movie). While I was going to elementary school I would meet my Mom and brother afterwards to go home and he would have a new Transformers toy (or any other similar robot toy) it seemed like everyday. I also collected some of the toys but I mostly enjoyed the movie and show. It does serve to illustrate that Hasbro was very on the money with the effect a good movie could have on a toy buying child. This movie is great, if you haven't seen it go watch it, and if you have I don't think you really need me to tell you to watch it again. I'll leave you with the theme and thanks for reading!