History of The Transformers: The Movie | 1986 | Controversy & Optimus Prime's Death

foreign you've seen this image you know what it means you know what happens right before and you know what happens right after it's a warm summer back in 1986 and children across the globe have filed into movie theaters with their friends and family to witness what is potentially the biggest robot spectacle to date at that time after 90 minutes they'll leave feeling a mixture of shock ah potentially some anger and definitely some sadness you see the Transformers movie was promised as something beyond our wildest imagination but what fans didn't expect was all the questions and mental system overload coming out of it who is this crazy Planet eating monster why is the Matrix so important who are all these new characters and most importantly did you have to kill off all of our favorites but before we even get to the movie theater we need to rewind the clock back a little and see how we got to this point in the first place so strap yourselves in for the complete history of the Transformers the movie [Applause] [Music] [Applause] while it's easy to look back at the 1986 Transformers animated film with fond memories and think of it as a high watermark for the franchise during its initial run this was not always the case the film made a meager amount by Hollywood standards reported to be under 6 million dollars barely breaking even compared to its budget that said it would see a bit of a boost in later sales via videotape DVD and Blu-ray as it moved into the realm of becoming a cult classic either way it's a far cry from the multi-billions that the later live-action franchise series would make even if many followers of the franchise consider it the absolute best Transformers film ever made now why is this what has to wonder how the movie went from being a borderline box office bomb at least relative to expectations to being heralded as must-watch viewing that some of us have actually lost count of the number of times that we've seen it to understand this we need to wind the clock back to 1984 when Hasbro would import the Takara base diet clone and microchange toy lines into Western markets naturally an ongoing animated cartoon was to follow beginning in September of 1984 the Transformers would see two full-length seasons on television aimed at selling toys to the young male demographic in parallel with Hasbro's already popular GI Joe military based franchise it is noteworthy that the animated cartoon was light-hearted while teaching good morals to Children the portrayal of each character was creatively executed and everyone had their favorites underdogs the root for cool tough guys to be impressed by and even some characters that you'd have a love-hate relationship with it's safe to say that we had an attachment to not just the brand itself but to the ensemble cast of characters presented in the cartoon toy line and also the ongoing comic series published by Marvel simply put the death of a significant character wasn't even considered and when death was even hinted at there'd be a return of that character in some form or another such that they still continued to play a part in the show as such children were attached to characters such as Ironhide prowl Starscream and of course Optimus Prime let me say that again children were attached to characters such as Ironhide prowl Starscream and of course Optimus Prime and as we follow the time lapse from 1984 to 1985 and then from 1985 through to 1986 you can probably tell where this is headed [Music] flash forward to the summer of 86 perhaps you're there sitting in the theater or if you didn't get a chance perhaps you watched it on VHS DVD or Blu-ray sometime later in storyline we jump from the mid-1980s where the Animated Series left off previously to what was then considered a distant future in the year of 2005. the film does a good job to build up some Intrigue by introducing us to Unicron who is in the midst of devouring a planet to begin the story and we race through a rocketing opening theme song before we find out the Decepticons have conquered the Transformers home planet of Cybertron and the Autobots are stationed on two moon bases orbiting the planet at this point you're still largely in the presence of the original cast of characters so other than the intensity of the prior opening scene with Unicron not too much seems to be out of place I will point out though that the tone and dialogue seem to be darker than what we had become used to previously one thing you'll notice is that with few exceptions the old cast primarily consists of characters who were released in the 1984 toy line and also characters who appeared in the 1984 TV series who would receive a toy line release in 1985. a lot of characters who were solely released in 1985 in both toy and animated form are absent from the screen the reason for this is that the development of the film actually began as far back as late 1984 and the script was finalized in the early part of 1985. hence why despite the large cast that you did see on screen there's still a lot of omissions credit to the film are to Nelson Shin is director Ron Friedman as writer and Flint Dilly as a story consultant it's been mentioned in the past that the script originally presented by Friedman varied significantly from the final product that we got on screen and that the end goal was a wholesale change of the Transformers cast so that Hasbro could sell new toys onto door shelves and by extension sunbook produce an animated third season centered around this revised cast the All-Star voice cast includes leading Hollywood names such as Leonard Nimoy Robert Stack and of course Orson Welles joining the existing cast that included Peter Collard Frank Welker Scatman crawlers and others production and development does take a few twists and turns such as the decision to change Ultra magnus's color pattern from one depicting his original diaclone colors to the more familiar colors we've come to know him for and on the topic of Ultra Magnus Optimus Prime in storyline had set the shuttle to Earth containing some of his trusted Inner Circle namely Ironhide ratchet prowl and Brawn are sent to Autobot City where Ultra Magnus is in command except these Autobots never make it there at least not alive Megatron and the Decepticons Ambush the shuttle kill the four Autobots in brutal Fashion on board and slip by the city's early warning system so that Ultra Magnus and the earth-based Autobots are unable to prepare in advance for the surprise attack it's an all-out onslaught as hot rod with Spike's young son Daniel race back to Autobot City to join in the fight to help Magnus cup blur RC Springer and the others however it's clear that the Autobots are completely outmatched and it takes a last minute call for help from Blaster to the autobot moon bases to request reinforcements to give the Autobots some semblance of Hope in this fight the darker tone sees both sides taking levels of damage unseen before in the cartoon series right away you'll note that the intensity of the fighting is ramped up beyond what we are used to the Constructicons merge for the kill forming Devastator completely unchallenged for a period of time and wreaking havoc on Autobot City and while Springer clearly states that he has better things to do at night than die Autobot City is left largely in Ruins during this battle and remember what I said about the portion of the 1985 Transformers cast that was left off of the movie script well watching this film one can't help but wonder why the other combiners and larger Autobots are not there to challenge Devastator while not explained in the film a much later 2000s era IDW publishing comic based off the film shows that these characters are entangled in a battle back at the autobot Arc so it's a retcon that works on some levels I suppose that said Optimus Prime in the Dinobots do receive blaster's distress signal and the dynobots dispatch from Prime shuttle before it can even land and they fight Devastator to a standoff it's at this point that Optimus Prime utters his famous line and Peter Cullen says it best Megatron Must Be Stopped no matter the cost the leader of the Autobots makes his courageous charge through the Decepticon ranks straight for Megatron as Stan bush is now iconic the touch song plays in the background and while Optimus makes it clear that one shall stand one shall fall it turns out that both leaders fell in this battle but Prime has turned the tide and the Decepticons were forced into a retreat and it's at this point that we come back to the controversial moment that is still talked about to this day Megatron is mortally wounded after the battle left for dead by Starscream even if sound wave loyal as ever carries his Fallen leader as Astrotrain transports the Decepticons out of Autobot City the Autobots mourn in a climactic scene where Optimus Prime passes The Matrix of leadership to Ultra Magnus before optimus's body turns dark and he dies in a manner leaving children stunned and their hearts broken it's known that writer Ron Friedman protested the death of Optimus also in a 2018 toys that made his episode centering on the Transformers voice actor Peter Cullen was just as stunned as audiences when he flipped through the script and learned of the death though the intent was to give Optimus a hero's death the the same way as John Wayne had in the Alamo back in 1960 nevertheless before we can even begin to process the death of Optimus it turns out that the Matrix which contains the wisdom of the ages for the autobots and serves as its most precious artifact is being pursued by Unicron after Starscream dispatches Megatron and other badly damaged Decepticons into deep space Unicron summons Megatron and after some one-sided negotiations reformats the former Decepticon leader into Galvatron skywarp and the insecticon bombshell are formatted into cyclonus and is Armada though who becomes who varies depending on who you ask Thundercracker and the other insecticons become Scourge and the sweeps in here completes the initial Decepticon refresh and overhaul for the 1986 toy lineup Megatron exacts revenge on Starscream by blasting him and crumbling him to dust and morbid execution literally just minutes after Optimus Prime's death the Autobots back on Earth blast off into space pursued by Galvatron who has now rallied the Decepticons to his cause cup hot rod and the Dinobots find themselves crash landed on the planet of quintessa where they meet with wheelie it's a vicious battle with the sharkticons with some great humor by the Dinobots before these Autobots escape quintessa to Rally with the other Autobots meanwhile the rest of our Good Guys led by Ultra Magnus find themselves on the planet of junk where Ultra Magnus himself is unable to unleash the power of the Matrix when Galvatron confronts him whether or not Magnus can't open it because he simply isn't the chosen one or whether this moment just doesn't qualify as The autobot's Darkest Hour as per the prophecy told by Optimus is Up For Debate Galvatron snatches The Matrix while having Ultra Magnus terminated in the process though the junkyard's revive Ultra Magnus and the Autobots meet with hot rod and the others taking the junkyards with them for a final showdown with Unicron throughout this set of sequences we do get some feel-good moments as well as some music by Weird Al Yankovic as well as some great catchphrases that are still iconic to this day [Music] Galvatron takes the Matrix over to Unicron and plans to betray him of course Galvatron can't open the Matrix either because he's a Decepticon and in an act of anger Unicron begins his complex transformation sequence and we see him in robot mode for the first time as he attempts to ravage the Transformers home world of Cybertron the Autobots in two shuttles race to stop Unicron and hot rod Pilots one shuttle through unicron's eye eventually finding himself within and the inside Unicron and it's at this point the movie reaches its climax with hot rods now epic one-on-one Showdown with Galvatron before Unicron can destroy Cybertron Galvatron attempts to choke the life out of hot rod who places His Hands On The Matrix opening it for the first time that we've seen on screen finally lighting The autobots's Darkest Hour Stan Bush's epic music plays again in the background Unicron is destroyed and spy and some surviving Autobots rally with his son Daniel and others then the Autobots find themselves back on Cybertron with their new leader the power of the Matrix at their side and the defeat of both Unicron and the Decepticons on top of all that the Autobots have now taken back their home World the movie draws to a close with unicron's head orbiting space setting up the next season as the band Lions the Transformers theme song plays over the end credits foreign there's a lot to unpack at the movie's conclusion over the decades the movie has become known for several things an epic music score by Vince dicola a rock-filled soundtrack that completely shifts the tone of the franchise for the length of this film including two great songs by Stan Bush character deaths deaths and more deaths happen there's the introduction of new characters and even some cursing which was edited out for some home releases ultimately though it's clear that upon its initial release the Transformers wouldn't get the same repeat viewing in theaters that other similarly branded films would get it's obvious in many ways that it was just a lot for a young viewer to digest imagine being a small child and attempting to process the intense battles dark overtones multiple character deaths and the new direction of the toy line all in one sitting it's notable as well that 1986 would be a year in which Hasbro would largely use its own tooling and relied on zakara's previously existing tooling a lot less to add to this Optimus Prime's death was so poorly received that an earlier script for the GI Joe movie was to feature the death of GI Joe field leader Duke this was changed later hopefully to thwart the same backlash that the Transformers film received the film's lackluster performance at the box office was also a large reason for the GI Joe animated film going straight to Home Video rather than being shown in theaters on the subject of Optimus though he wouldn't stay dead for that long yes it may have seemed like an eternity for children at that age but just months later he would tease a return in the episode titled dark Awakening which occurred partway through season 3 before he returned permanently in the two-parter episode titled the return of Optimus Prime in early 1987. it's clear that the voices of the masses were heard here and that it was an obvious choice to bring him back to this day the loss of Optimus Prime probably made him more precious to us as fans of the franchise losing the father figure and role model was on some level traumatizing for children yeah the movie has its flaws namely the blink and you'll miss it inclusion of the Dinobot snarl who was absent for most of the Dinobot scenes the lack of explanation for the Decepticons Conquering the Autobots home planet of Cybertron after season 2 was another issue and also how some Autobots seem to be in two places at once there's also how the junkyards were able to bring Ultra Magnus back to life out of nowhere and also why Optimus Prime chose Ultra Magnus to be the Matrix Bearer though it has been suggested that Ultra Magnus was previously the dock worker known as Dion prior to reconstruction just as Optimus Prime had been previously called Orion Pax for all its imperfections the 1986 Transformers animated film has become the repeat viewing experience that it was always meant to be and hopefully you enjoyed this stroll down memory lane fans have become appreciative of this movie for its more mature storytelling which is fitting for those of us who aren't getting any younger and are aging along with this franchise and this Epic movie if you're watching this video you probably have your own favorite memories of the Transformers movie and if so be sure to State it in the comments below and with that let's transform and roll out into the next video till all are one R1 [Music]

Channel: Toy Kennections

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Id: o_QAi1aGWt4

Length: 17min 8sec (1028 seconds)

Published: Fri May 05 2023