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[Wheeljack539]

Ran into something interesting that some of us Transformers fans will likely find a fun find.

TF The Movie, like other movies, had a lot of changes from different drafts and changes in scenes that either cut it out, rewrote dialogue, or just couldn't finish.

One fan managed to put together how the movie could have been with not only the existing footage, but the storyboards between scenes that either had been cut and/or not animated but were meant to (as other scenes referenced those missing scenes in the background leaving fans scratching their heads).

For example, Cybertron had two moons that Unicron ate however after eating the second one Galvatron in anger called him out that they were his. In the scene however there was a third moon and fans wondered if there were either more moons or if it was plain inconsistency. It actually wasn't; Unicron eating the moons was not originally going to happen one after the other. The "third" moon in that scene was actually the second as it was to be eaten later in the film!

Other bits was that the Decepticon fight for leadership on board Astrotrain was not only longer but showed Starscream reveling in the chaos and keeping out of it. Or how during Starscream's coronation there had been that closeup that had Ramjet pointing his weapon at the viewer, when material shows that he raised it to subdue the Decepticons outright laughing at the Constructicons having their trumpets blown up.

There were a number of scenes that were moved back and forth and as a commentator noted the first half actually makes a lot more sense with everything in order and showing what was cut.

In five parts:









www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmCUZubRRUA

Also note the number of music/songs used that was meant for the movie or in prep for the movie.

 

[Dirk Benedict]

This is some true nerdcore shit. I wonder how many would appreciate something like this?

 

[ClanOfNone]

I was 10 when this came out and it was awesome. It was an "adult" version of Transformers, characters were actually killed, Spike was a grown-up that swears, it was great. Lil me didn't get that characters were killed to basically get parents to buy toys for the new characters that were introduced.

I still love it, and the GI Joe movie as well. The rockin 80's soundtrack sealed the deal.

 

[QSD]

I was 10 when this came out and it was awesome. It was an "adult" version of Transformers, characters were actually killed, Spike was a grown-up that swears, it was great. Lil me didn't get that characters were killed to basically get parents to buy toys for the new characters that were introduced.

I still love it, and the GI Joe movie as well. The rockin 80's soundtrack sealed the deal.

Yeah this was exactly how I experienced it. So many people write how they were shocked about characters dying etc but to me it just seemed a more awesome, adult take on TF, watched it so many times

 

[jufonuk]

This is some true nerdcore shit. I wonder how many would appreciate something like this?

I do

 

[Punished Miku]

Remains one of the best animated movies ever made.

 

[Ovek]

My most watched movie ever! I couldn't possibly tell you how many times I've seen this over the years.

 

[AJUMP23]

You got the TOUCH!

 

[yet_another_alt]

Still will never forgive Hot Rod for getting Optimus killed and stealing the Matrix from Ultra Magnus.

 

[thefool]

I loved hot rod so much. What a cool character

 

[jufonuk]

Still will never forgive Hot Rod for getting Optimus killed and stealing the Matrix from Ultra Magnus.

shut your whore mouth, he was trying to do his best to not get prime killed by uh getting him killed. as for Magnus he was a bitch, hotrod never planned any of this, you can't prove shit!!

 

[anthony2690]

Child me wasn't ready for Optimus Prime dying.

I sadly recorded over my VHS accidently as a child, with stupid monkey documentary.

I recently re-purchased & watched this on the Xbox recently it was literally 99p or £1.99, one or the other XD

 

[jufonuk]

Child me wasn't ready for Optimus Prime dying.

I sadly recorded over my VHS accidently as a child, with stupid monkey documentary.

I recently re-purchased & watched this on the Xbox recently it was literally 99p or £1.99, one or the other XD

was it the pan and scan 16:9 version?

 

[a multicultural team of v]

I was 10 when this came out and it was awesome. It was an "adult" version of Transformers, characters were actually killed, Spike was a grown-up that swears, it was great. Lil me didn't get that characters were killed to basically get parents to buy toys for the new characters that were introduced.

I still love it, and the GI Joe movie as well. The rockin 80's soundtrack sealed the deal.

See, I get how in reality it is true that killing the characters was done simply so that they can introduce a new line of toys..... but when has a new toy line ever been introduced in such a violent and traumatic fashion? The new Pokemon games don't have Team Rocket going to each previous gen Pokemon and shooting them in the head with a pistol. Just because it serves the purpose of ushering in a new set of toys doesn't take anything away from the way they did it.

 

[anthony2690]

was it the pan and scan 16:9 version?

I honestly have no idea, I don't think transformers movie ever had pan and scan.

Google gives me this:

TFTM.net - The Transformers: The Movie - Un-official Fansite

The Un-Official Fansite of The Transformers: The Movie. Released in 1986, the animated feature from Sunbow Entertainment features the voices of Orson Welles, Leonard Nimoy, and Judd Nelson.

www.cybernetspacecube.com

Regardless looks great on my TV & I really enjoyed my nostalgic rewatch

Xbox store listing has it down as a 2016 release though.

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

Baw Weep Granna Weep Ninny Bong

 

[jufonuk]

Baw Weep Granna Weep Ninny Bong

 

[ReBurn]

When Fathom Events brought this back to the theater last summer it was super awesome to see it on the big screen again.

 

[badblue]

This is some true nerdcore shit. I wonder how many would appreciate something like this?

 

[Werewolf Jones]

Cynical toy commercial: the movie.

 

[nush]

I sadly recorded over my VHS accidently as a child, with stupid monkey documentary.

You'd have had to put tape over the tab to record over it, unless it was already a home recording.

 

[BadBurger]

Cynical toy commercial: the movie.

Dude I watched that movie as a kid. My older siblings told me it was a fun movie. It's not a fun movie. It's not a vehicle to sell toys. It exists to rip young children from thier youth and invite them into the horrors of adulthood and reality.

I really hate that movie. It scars.

 

[anthony2690]

You'd have had to put tape over the tab to record over it, unless it was already a home recording.

It was a blue VHS tape, it had the proper box etc.

Oddly whenever I look up the tape online I don't see any blue VHS tapes.

I was very very young and didn't know what I was doing, usually my mum sorted it out for me.

Why would you have to put tape over the tab to record over?

 

[Wheeljack539]

It was a blue VHS tape, it had the proper box etc.

Oddly whenever I look up the tape online I don't see any blue VHS tapes.

I was very very young and didn't know what I was doing, usually my mum sorted it out for me.

Why would you have to put tape over the tab to record over?

For a VCR the tab was to block a poking mechaism the unit would deploy as it decided that a tape could be recorded based on the length of the poker. If the poker went passed the tab it meant the VHS could not be recorded with the opposite for recordable tapes. If the tab was missing and someone really needed to tape something they could find a way to block that insert (usually with some scotch tape) and make it recordable.

 

[nush]

Oddly whenever I look up the tape online I don't see any blue VHS tapes.

Could have been an ex-rental tape.

 

[Happosai]

Dude I watched that movie as a kid. My older siblings told me it was a fun movie. It's not a fun movie. It's not a vehicle to sell toys. It exists to rip young children from thier youth and invite them into the horrors of adulthood and reality.

I really hate that movie. It scars.

He Man, Transformers, G.I. Joe all the same. There's a round table interview out there where Don Bluth and Ralph Bakshi discussed how this format of cartoons based on commercialized figures was the 80's low point for animators.

 

[Wheeljack539]

He Man, Transformers, G.I. Joe all the same. There's a round table interview out there where Don Bluth and Ralph Bakshi discussed how this format of cartoons based on commercialized figures was the 80's low point for animators.

And yet it was a high point for us kids who rushed home from school to watch afternoon cartoons. Toy commercial or not they were a lot of fun to watch and talk about the next day at school.

 

[DragoonWalker]

Thanks, OP. I love fan restorations, fan cuts, and hybrids of the two. I mean, you always have the intact original, so there's no worry about "ruining" something. It's fun to experience what might have been, what could be, and what shouldn't be, and what nobody-else-thought-of-except-this-one-guy.

 

[BouncyFrag]

 

[Dirk Benedict]

Dude I watched that movie as a kid. My older siblings told me it was a fun movie. It's not a fun movie. It's not a vehicle to sell toys. It exists to rip young children from thier youth and invite them into the horrors of adulthood and reality.

I really hate that movie. It scars.

WTF. You're serious?

 

[badblue]

Cynical toy commercial: the movie.

 

[jufonuk]

Cynical toy commercial: the movie.

 

[jufonuk]

WTF. You're serious?

A giant planet sized bad guy who In the first moments eats a whole planet while you watch a lot of the inhabitants get sucked into the almost black hole strength maw. And you seen kids on the planet too
Megatron and the decepticons invade a space ship blowing prowl away who has smokes pit his mouth and a dead eyed stare
Then one of the original good guys gets killed.

Star scream has to shoot his own foot off to escape in one scene

Lots of auto bots get killed.

That’s in about the first half hour I reckon

I was half this is scary and this is like a grown up movie. Wow.

 

[Hayabusa83]

I love this movie. Every time I see Optimus jump into battle I get teary eyed. What resonates about Optimus is his nobility. It was a tough pill to swallow witnessing his death, but it was a hero's sacrifice.

This film and the 2007 live action adaptation for me are just spectacular.

 

[nush]

The worst thing about this movie is that the new characters fucking sucked, the toys of them were great quality though. Kupp sucked.

 

[ClanOfNone]

The worst thing about this movie is that the new characters fucking sucked, the toys of them were great quality though. Kupp sucked.

I liked Kupp, he was the crusty old man that has always lived inside me. Wheelie can die in a fire though.

 

[Kadve]

But is Rails and buff Kup present???

(edit, more pictures of this "early, early" draft here)

The very first Transformers The Movie script revealed at TFNation 2022

At TFNation 2022, Jim Sorenson and Chris McFeely hosted a panel giving details and showing off fanart interpretations of Ron Friedman's first...

www.tfw2005.com

 

[akimbo009]

The worst thing about this movie is that the new characters fucking sucked, the toys of them were great quality though. Kupp sucked.

Boo this man!

Nah they were great. The whole.movie was great. Saw it in the theaters when it came out and left in tears and elation. So many little touches that just blew my mind and opened the world way up.

 

[Happosai]

And yet it was a high point for us kids who rushed home from school to watch afternoon cartoons. Toy commercial or not they were a lot of fun to watch and talk about the next day at school.

Animation can become a subjective topic. Especially, when we talk about what we watched as children. The recut of this would have been nice to see back in the 80's with that grainier quality. I can appreciate certain classic titles but sometimes I feel we a viewing too much through the nostalgia lens rather than seeing these for all they were. For a kid, they don't know you're selling them something...well, there was always that one kid though. To adults that watched it today -- it's become a larger piece of nostalgia. I'm wishy-washy too and I'd give more credit to transformers than I ever would to He man or G.I. Joe in which the toy commercials had to run during commercial segments. He man which the whole purpose of the cartoon was to sell a toy that already existed. That's not really what animation was about but to many -- that too is their nostalgia.

 

[STARSBarry]

The worst thing about this movie is that the new characters fucking sucked, the toys of them were great quality though. Kupp sucked.

Kupp? Don't you mean shit piece?

 

[OmegaSupreme]

Cynical toy commercial: the movie.

Great though.

 

[Wheeljack539]

A giant planet sized bad guy who In the first moments eats a whole planet while you watch a lot of the inhabitants get sucked into the almost black hole strength maw. And you seen kids on the planet too
Megatron and the decepticons invade a spade shop blowing prowl away who has smoke pit his mout and a dead eyed stair
Then one of the original good guys gets killed.

Star scream has to shoot his own foot off to escape.

Lots of auto bots get killed.

That’s in about the first half hour an hour I reckon

I was half this is scary and this is like a grown up movie. Wow.

That first scene with Unicron was absolutely terrifying as a child. I was 7-8 when it came to VHS. It would be years before I could actually watch that first scene again, particularly that one brief part as debris is being sucked into Unicron's still closed maw and the scene is bathed in all red.

All these years later and I still have the occasional nightmare to this day.

Animation can become a subjective topic. Especially, when we talk about what we watched as children. The recut of this would have been nice to see back in the 80's with that grainier quality. I can appreciate certain classic titles but sometimes I feel we a viewing too much through the nostalgia lens rather than seeing these for all they were. For a kid, they don't know you're selling them something...well, there was always that one kid though. To adults that watched it today -- it's become a larger piece of nostalgia. I'm wishy-washy too and I'd give more credit to transformers than I ever would to He man or G.I. Joe in which the toy commercials had to run during commercial segments. He man which the whole purpose of the cartoon was to sell a toy that already existed. That's not really what animation was about but to many -- that too is their nostalgia.

I would mention that as much as I respect Bluth and Bakshi both of them primarily worked on movie level animation (such as Bluth for Disney prior to his own studio) and prior to the 80s cartoons had been the run of the mill yet still fun Hanna Barbara cartoons or along the lines of Scooby Doo with shows like Johnny Quest far and few in between.

 

[Happosai]

That first scene with Unicron was absolutely terrifying as a child. I was 7-8 when it came to VHS. It would be years before I could actually watch that first scene again, particularly that one brief part as debris is being sucked into Unicron's still closed maw and the scene is bathed in all red.

All these years later and I still have the occasional nightmare to this day.



I would mention that as much as I respect Bluth and Bakshi both of them primarily worked on movie level animation (such as Bluth for Disney prior to his own studio) and prior to the 80s cartoons had been the run of the mill yet still fun Hanna Barbara cartoons or along the lines of Scooby Doo with shows like Johnny Quest far and few in between.

Well, Transformers defined a whole generation in the 80's. You have many old folks (like me) who won't discuss the shows they watched growing up. I can see someone retracting if you're an adult man still watching Care Bears but Transformers was a bit of a turn away from Ruby-Spears, Rankin/Bass and Hanna-Barbera who were running fast food cartoons in the 80's or appendages to franchises they had moderate success with in the 60's/70's.

On the topic of how animation was being used to build out the toy market though and how many Saturday morning TV animators really hated their jobs (which many have talked about); this interview if you have the time sheds some lite on that. This was during the peak time of these shows and interesting that you get both Bluth & Bakshi in the same room to discuss that topic. Larry wasn't really on par with the two and eventually fell out of animation (the Tron guy).

 

[Burning Blade]

Cynical toy commercial: the movie.

Found the GoBot fans

 

[Brigandier]

The OST to this film is incredible.... The Unicron theme is so haunting.

I watched this movie so many times when I was a kid, The prime scene used to make me feel really sad though

I always thought that Rodimus should have fucked Galvatron up before throwing him through Unicron lol

 

[Dirk Benedict]

A giant planet sized bad guy who In the first moments eats a whole planet while you watch a lot of the inhabitants get sucked into the almost black hole strength maw. And you seen kids on the planet too
Megatron and the decepticons invade a space ship blowing prowl away who has smokes pit his mouth and a dead eyed stare
Then one of the original good guys gets killed.

Star scream has to shoot his own foot off to escape in one scene

Lots of auto bots get killed.

That’s in about the first half hour I reckon

I was half this is scary and this is like a grown up movie. Wow.

I can understand where some people are coming from, but unfortunately... I was shown Horror Movies when I was fucking YOUNG, so by the time this movie came out, I was somewhat desensitized to the violence in it along with a lot of other shit. I saw Hellraiser II when I was 7, FWIW. Made me want to learn more about the human anatomy, lol...

 

[jufonuk]

I can understand where some people are coming from, but unfortunately... I was shown Horror Movies when I was fucking YOUNG, so by the time this movie came out, I was somewhat desensitized to the violence in it along with a lot of other shit. I saw Hellraiser II when I was 7, FWIW. Made me want to learn more about the human anatomy, lol...

I was show nightmare on elm street at a younger than recommended age. I wanna say between 10-13. Lol

 

[wondermega]

A giant planet sized bad guy who In the first moments eats a whole planet while you watch a lot of the inhabitants get sucked into the almost black hole strength maw. And you seen kids on the planet too
Megatron and the decepticons invade a space ship blowing prowl away who has smokes pit his mouth and a dead eyed stare
Then one of the original good guys gets killed.

Star scream has to shoot his own foot off to escape in one scene

Lots of auto bots get killed.

That’s in about the first half hour I reckon

I was half this is scary and this is like a grown up movie. Wow.

Yeah, lots of movies deemed kiddie-friendly in the 80s contained many scenes that would be (at the very least) questionable now. I saw Superman 3 in the theater a few years prior and got physically ill because there were parts of it that were just disturbing as a little kid. I'm sure anyone who grew up in the 80s has their share of stories.

It's a bit different with Transformers since it's a straight-up cartoon, and it was certainly wild/unexpected to see them treat all these characters with out the usual kid gloves that were all over the regular daytime TV show. But you know what, it made it all the more memorable - I am pretty sure the majority of us were able to at the very least handle it, and notice that it's stayed with so many of us all these years later, is a testament to the fact that putting some "bite" in these films didn't really hurt anyone, but helped fuel our nostalgia all these years later. I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[jufonuk]

Yeah, lots of movies deemed kiddie-friendly in the 80s contained many scenes that would be (at the very least) questionable now. I saw Superman 3 in the theater a few years prior and got physically ill because there were parts of it that were just disturbing as a little kid. I'm sure anyone who grew up in the 80s has their share of stories.

It's a bit different with Transformers since it's a straight-up cartoon, and it was certainly wild/unexpected to see them treat all these characters with out the usual kid gloves that were all over the regular daytime TV show. But you know what, it made it all the more memorable - I am pretty sure the majority of us were able to at the very least handle it, and notice that it's stayed with so many of us all these years later, is a testament to the fact that putting some "bite" in these films didn't really hurt anyone, but helped fuel our nostalgia all these years later. I wouldn't have it any other way.

I think the cyborg lady scared the shit out of everyone. Lol

Also the animation quality of the film (TF) to my young mind it just looked so amazing. Still does. The shading etc.

 

[Swauny Jones]

God I remember seeing this in the theatres and 80% of the kids in attendance bawling their eyes out when Optimus died. Such a great movie and shocking moment as well. I remember there being so much animosity towards Hot Rod afterwards and the show just felt different trying to push him ahead as the leader. It did make for a really cool episode afterwards with Optimus returning and eventually dying like the Terminator as he went crashing towards the sun as well. Ahhh the memories man. The movie was a great advert for the next line of toys coming out though which some were pretty cool. Same with the GI Joe movie, those shows had me hooked as a kid