transformers magazine article

The film that I am going to talk about is the animated film of transformers from 1986. The film was produced by Joe Bacal and Tom Griffith and was directed by Nelson Shin. The movie was released on August 8^th 1986 and had a budget of £6 million. The running time was about 84 minutes. In the film different music artists contributed into make a soundtrack for this film, the artists that I know that were involved was Stan Bush and Lion.  

The plot for this film is that at the start of the film, the audience is introduced to the character and main villain Unicron. A cybernetic planet that survives by consuming other planets. This then leads through the opening credits (the music for the opening credits for the film was a rock version of the transformers them produced and performed by a band called lion.), on the next scene we see the transformers home planet known as cybertron which has been taking over by the decepticons, the audience are then introduced to other transformers such as megatron, starscream and soundwave. The next scene is much the same except we are introduced to the autobots, which are lead, by the most iconic transformer Optimus Prime. The next scene starts off a bit slow but it gradually gets faster, in this scene we are introduced to another autobot going by the name of Hot Rod (who later becomes Rodimus Prime at the end of the film), the scene starts to get faster when the decepticons decide to attack autobot city on earth, this then leads to the first major confrontation which is megatron vs Optimus Prime but due to hot rods foolish actions the fight leads to death of Optimus prime but the birth of Galvatron. The next of the film is more of a manhunt mainly because now because the audience is now introduced to Galvatron, the autobots are being hunted by this new transformer so the autobot matrix of leadership, so this results in the autobots being separated into different groups but they are on different planets but soon they are reunited Where they face unicron in person. Whilst some of the autobots try to find some of their companions, the autobot hot rod faces Galvatron alone for the matrix of leadership. Hot rod defeats Galvatron by throwing him out of unicron and opens the matrix of leadership to light the autobots darkest hour and so he becomes Rodimus prime the new leader of the Autobots, he then opens the matrix that destroys unicron from the inside. The final scene shows all of the surviving transformers on cybertron talking about a new beginning and a new chapter and that’s the end of the film.

The codes and conventions for this transformers film is basically using Hollywood conventions, what I mean by this is that Hollywood uses a common idea in this film and that is basically showing Earth being attacked by aliens and the hero’s (the Auto-bots) fighting the bad guys (the Decepticons).  Other codes and conventions used in this film is the good guys and the bad guys in the film, the good guy of the film would be Optimus Prime and the bad guy would be Megatron. 

This film was created in 1986, but when people watched tis film the narrator said that the transformers film was set in the year 2005, 20 years after the last television series of the generation 1 transformers, so you could say that the film was different episodes put into one so that after people have watched the film and if there was another series of transformers then some events would make sense to the audience. 

I would not say that getting the film to be set in a different time is not really a typical idea of all superhero movies, I mean there are some movies that are set in the future or the past, the movies that I have watched that are set in the future would have been films like Judge Dread, Robocop and The Terminator. But with the terminator film it starts off with the film showing the audience the future which is basically humans going to war against the machines. Some films start of in the future but then get set in the past, examples of films like this would be Men in Black 3 and yet again The terminator.

In this transformers film there are a total of 18 Autobots, they are Optimus prime, hot rod/Rodimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Springer, Arcee, Kup, Wheelie, Blur, Blaster, Perceptor, Grimlock, Slag, Swoop, Jazz, Cliff Jumper, Bumblebee, Ironhide, and Brawn.

The total of Decepticons for this film is also 18, they are megatron/ galvatron, Cyclonus, Starscream, Sound wave, Frenzy, Rumble, Devastator, Bone crusher, Hook, Scavenger, Scrapper, Shock Wave, Astro train, Blitz wing, Kick back, Shrapnel.

The Autobots are voiced as followed

Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen)

Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime (Judd Nelson)

Ultra Magnus (Robert Stack)

The decepticons are voiced as followed

Megatron (Frank Welker)

Galvatron (Leonard Nimoy)

Star scream (Chris Latta)

The style and theme of the transformers film is an action, a bit of emotional scenes too. The film is much like the series and it shows non-stop action but when you watch the film for the first time you have different emotions that you would not have got from the television series, I mean there is no doubt that the viewers would have been very upset in the scene where Optimus prime dies this is because you don’t expect that to happen, you expect him to be the main character that will survive in the film, the people watching the film would have been surprised and shocked because in the film we see other iconic transformers like Iron hide being destroyed by Megatron so that makes you think that is there is another series of transformers would they return to the franchise and series. In superhero films the killing of a main character or an iconic character rarely happens but I suppose doing this is more of a last resort to keep the story rolling and making sense to the audience as the film continues. Other things to notice with this film is that it is different to the live action film of transformers is that the 1986 film sticks to the boundaries of the television series mainly because this films was like a super long episode of transformers that would relate to the next series and would also have references to the next series. Basically what I am saying is that if there was another series of transformers then any events that happened in that series would relate to the film. But the live action film is different mainly because each of those films have separate story lines to them.

The next thing that I want to talk about this film is the props used in the film, now in my opinion there is now point of really talking about this because the transformers film is just an animated film just like the television series, but if you think about it props may have been used to create the sounds in the film. For example the sound for the explosive hitting devastator may have been created using fireworks or for the sound of the rockets may have been created by a flamethrower or something I am unsure.

But because I am talking about the animated transformers film and not the live action film that was made in 2007 by Michael Bay, I think that it is important to talk about the items in the film or better yet the transformers franchise. The item that I want to discuss is the Auto-bot matrix of leadership, this is significant to talk about because in the overall plot the matrix is used to show a new leader of the autobots has risen or as Optimus Prime puts it in the film “an autobot shall rise from our ranks, and use the power of the matrix to light our darkest hour.” (This quote was taken from the scene where Optimus Prime dies), when you hear Optimus say this it sort of gives away the ending of the film. When you watch the other 3 transformers films that were directed by Michael bay the films don’t really have an important item to use in each of the films (tell a lie) the first live action film that was made in 2007 did focus around a certain object and that is the all-spark, the all-spark is basically the transformers life source so you can compare this version of the film to the 1986 version of the film. But the second transformers film Revenge of the fallen, it is quite similar to the 1986 film mainly because this film features the Matrix of leadership also. But the only difference is that this version of the matrix can resurrect the transformers, an example of this is when the audience sees Optimus Prime coming back to life in Revenge of the fallen and the resurrection of Sentinal Prime in the third film Dark of the moon. So in conclusion to this, the Matrix of leadership is an important item in the transformers film because this item keeps the story going and is an iconic item used in the transformers universe.

When watching the transformers film over and over again I have noticed that there are sub-plots used in this film, the sub-plots in this film show the Auto-bots being separated and landing on different planets, with these sub-plots used in the film the audience is introduced to new characters such as Wheelie. The other sub-plots used in the movie also help’s the transformers and the audience by giving background information on who unicron is. 

Films like Green Lantern, Men in black do feature aliens in their films, but most films tend not to use aliens mainly because the director wants to keep the story more realistic so it appeals to the audience. But in the transformers film they get there power or ability to transform from something called a T-cog, this cog allows the transformers to transform. Other powers that the transformers have is that they can scan different vehicles so they can copy every aspect of that vehicle so they can transform.  

The narrative for this film is a linear narrative because the film sequence are in chronological order so they are working towards an end. The film does supports Todorov's theory of narrative so the equilibrium is the autobots on earth and getting on with each other. The disruption is when the decepticons attack the autobot city on earth. The realisation of the disruption is when the transformer leave earth to find salvation. To repair the equilibrium the autobots must destroy Unicron. The restoration of equilibrium is when the autobots re-claim Cybertron as their home. 

The target audience for this film would be for kids and would have a U certificate, The age range for this film would be from 6-15, this film has a simple narrative to follow, like every other superhero film, this film is watched by kids because of the characters which are one dimentional and easy to follow their development. The locations would be earth, space, cybertron (which is a fictional planet), this would apply to the target audience because of other films like Superman, Green lantern they have similar settings and this is what the target audience is expecting. There is lots of action through out the film and this would keep the target audience interested. The dialogue in this film is very simple and easy to follow for the target audience to understand. 

In my opinion the transformers film is like any other superhero film because the codes and conventions that are used through out the movie such as the plot, location and dialogue is much the same as any other super hero film like Superman, Green Lantern.