The Energon Pub

I spotted that there was a free pre-screen of the Transformers movie at the IMAX theatre here in Chicago (at Navy Pier) earlier this week in the Chicago Tribune's RED EYE newspaper and I snagged a pair of tix. Ryan (Seibertron) and I headed there this evening and checked out the IMAX version. He is still headed home and I said I would post the notes here to share with all of you.

First off, there was no more than TWO MINUTES of extra footage, dialouge, etc. NONE of the footage contained new CG. I will list the new scenes in order of appearance.

1. Additional footage with Sam and Miles - (Placed right before arriving at the party on the lake with Sam's friend Miles) Sam arrives at Mile's house with his brand "new" ride. Miles lives on a hill, it looks something like San Francisco. They exchange a few words before jumping in and cutting to the next scene (original scene of Miles and Sam driving up to the lake party)

2. Extended cop interrogation scene - After the 50-cent line and Sam saying "Are you on drugs??" There is about a minute more of dialouge between the cop, Sam's dad, and Sam. There is another kid in the background with a mohawk being held for some other charge. The officer tells Sam's dad he needs to see a video to "get the message". It is the old "Don't do drugs" video of the girl swinging the frying pan around the kitchen. Sam grumbles that he gets the message and they are finally out of the police station. Here is a link to the video they make him watch! It's classic, especially if you are a Robot Chicken fan! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyXFN4ocN_o

3. Extra bits in the Sector Seven Escalade after being taken from Sam's house - After asking the kids about aliens, Simmons attaches some archaic looking device with a tube and eye attachment over Sam's right eye ball. A screen he is holding has a blown up view of Sam's eye. He is using this device to determine how truthful Sam is being. He calls him a liar again and detaches the device. Mikela then says her line about him being a mall cop. Then Simmons gives the line of "Criminals are hot..." but this dialouge is extended and he makes another comment about how he would know from his line of work but not from personal experience or something. Then the ticker goes crazy and Prime stops the car.

4. Hoover Dam briefing - Before Simmons talks about NBE's to everyone outside the dam, he has some lines about Area 51. "You guys have heard of Area 51?" "yeah" "Well this is Area 50!" then continue to NBE lines.

5. Pre AllSpark and "Energizer Bunny From Hell" extended scene - The dialouge "You're about to see our crown jewel..." is extended and the footage is completely different. They are outside of the office where they view the AllSpark from. Simmons goes on some rant about how all the presidents have been in this room since Hoover, and they are going to get the opportunity that only presidents have gotten. He names each president quickly and it is quite humorous. Calls our president "W". Then they go into the room and the scene continues as normal.

6. Rhonda's Pawn Shop revealed - This is the best of all the extra footage. Lennox is pleading with the owner of a pawn shop to give him the short-wave radios Eps uses to radio the Raptors. Lennox is doing a bad job and gets frustrated at which the robust pawn shop owner pulls a gun on him. He flatters the woman and she is charmed. She gives him the radios and the scene cuts back to the regular scene of Lennox handing the radios to Epps.

7. Extended IMAX Credits - I guess this counts? There is a static scene of IMAX Credits at the end of all the other credits.


Worth your time? The scenes are not, however the large scale of the screen and the sound was awesome. Prime's voice rumbled the room. We still know nothing of Barricade's fate and we still are left wondering if Starscream may have fired upon his commander in chief, Megatron.

Enjoy! Ryan will post this once he gets back to his place.

Thanks for the heads up.

I figured that Bay would not have cut any of the fancy CGI scenes/action shots. Too expensive.

Hm... I guess I won't go to see it for the extra scenes.

The sheer mass of the screen and sound has to be worth a ticket!

So... more stuff from the novelization/early script drafts is back in the finished film?

What about Prime acing Barricade after he's done with Bonecrusher?
Any chance of that?

I didn't care about the extra footage anyway, although they do seem enjoyable. I just wanna see this on Imax.

Paul and I both noticed that it seemed like some of the "night" scenes that had previously seemed "grainy" had been noticeably cleaned up. Scenes that come to mind real quick: Bumblebee's scene with Sam and Mikeala right after Bumblebee's battle with Barricade, the Bumblebee/Barricade car chase scene and the scene where Optimus hands Mikeala through Sam's bedroom window.

NebulanFree wrote:So... more stuff from the novelization/early script drafts is back in the finished film?

It's been a while since I've read the novel or the original script. I'd like to read both again once I own the DVD to see what made it, what changed, and what didn't make it. I remembered the Rhonda Pawn Shop scene from the original script (I can't remember offhand if it was in the novel version) but I don't recall the other mini-scenes or extensions at this time being in the novel or original script.

Michael Bay stated earlier this week that these extended IMAX scenes would not be on the DVD, though I'm now wondering if he just meant that they wouldn't be included in an extended version of the movie. It seems like the Rhonda Pawn Shop scene would be a PERFECT deleted scene to have on DVD. I had two good laughs during that short, unexpected scene. It was nice to have that comedic (light hearted?) moment to break up that scene a little bit.

NebulanFree wrote:What about Prime acing Barricade after he's done with Bonecrusher? Any chance of that?

Nope. There is NO additional footage of the robots in vehicle mode or robot mode (except for Classic Camaro Bumblebee with Sam and Miles). If you think about the movie's score, they could only add in scenes where there was a break in the score (basically scenes without music in the background). Paul pointed this out tonight while we were watching the movie. I've never thought about that when it comes to adding in deleted or extended scenes. Those scenes have to be able to fit where the score will allow.

Supreme Convoy wrote::BOT: Hm... I guess I won't go to see it for the extra scenes.

The sheer mass of the screen and sound has to be worth a ticket!

Yeah, if you guys want to see this movie, go simply for the IMAX experience. I was really glad that I got to see it for the 11th time on an IMAX screen. Next up, Chicago's famous "Brew & View" some time around October 1st.

Too time consuming. render time is 48 hours per frame, four months for TWO SECONDS, but thats basing it on One computer.

I believe that actress is Rachael Crook, or Cook? She was on the Teen movie with Freddy Prince Jr., as the ugly poor artist girl turn pretty..yup. I forget the name, well I'm watching this all extra stuff tommorrow, wish they had more transformation footage better thoug or what ever happen to Barricade...? Anyway, fun stuff.

Starscream wrote:
Worth your time? The scenes are not, however the large scale of the screen and the sound was awesome. Prime's voice rumbled the room. We still know nothing of Barricade's fate and we still are left wondering if Starscream may have fired upon his commander in chief, Megatron.

Enjoy! Ryan will post this once he gets back to his place.

what's with treating this like a big mystery...it never happened i still can't understand why this keeps being brought up like its a fact that hasn't been told yet...never took place on film or in any other media that relates to the movie....so it never happened

I still can't understand how you can't understand it

lilcarus wrote:

Starscream wrote:
Worth your time? The scenes are not, however the large scale of the screen and the sound was awesome. Prime's voice rumbled the room. We still know nothing of Barricade's fate and we still are left wondering if Starscream may have fired upon his commander in chief, Megatron.

Enjoy! Ryan will post this once he gets back to his place.

what's with treating this like a big mystery...it never happened i still can't understand why this keeps being brought up like its a fact that hasn't been told yet...never took place on film or in any other media that relates to the movie....so it never happened

Thanks for sharing the scenes with us Starscream and Seibs. Now I know I won't waste my money seeing this in IMAX for the extra scenes. That all sounds lame.

remember what they said With regards to Barricades death

Was it animated - Yes
Will we ever see it? - No

Reason being, it was felt that with ALL the Decepticons being killed there would be no continuity into a sequel.

Basically, the studio wants Barricade in Transformers 2, hence you will never see his death from Transformers 1, so stop asking for it.

That's it? These scene's are all humans and no TFs. Bloody Armada all over again...

Well, it's nice to see that I'm not really missing anything. I was pretty sure I'd be miffed about missing out on these, but since I've got the old script to compare...I can live. (And yes, the Rhonda scene is in the script)...

Seems like they tried to stick to Rogers' script as close as possible.

Thanks for the heads up. im going on 22nd

Im still tempted to see it at the IMAX in Melbourne. I can put up with more human bits I guess.

After reading that I think I'll save the $12-13.

I already saw it on IMAX when it came out this summer. It was their "Big Screen" format with an "enhanced" 35mm film. Same sound, same big screen. That was awesome and it was my second time seeing Transformers.

I think the new scenes would be cool to watch on dvd, but I'm not going to waste time and energy (my IMAX is 30-45 minutes away IF their is no traffic, and thats not even including the HELLISH construction in the area). I will be content to wait a couple weeks to get my dvd and be happy.

No extra bots= suck my left Allspark.

hmmmm.. there is no imax around here so i'd have to tak ea 2 hour train ride to get to one.. which isn't to bad.. day trip for the girlfriend and I to the big city, but id ont know now. Muh.. i guess i just wanted to see it on the imax screen.

i remember the rhonda gun scene from the first draft script, i always wondered why they added the 'masterbation' scene instead of the rhonda scene...

Dam extra footages are all humans!

It's been a few months since I've seen it, so I'll go experience it in IMAX whether the extra scenes are worth it or not.

damn i was hoping we get to find out what happened to Barricade

What will I do without you guys? thanks to you, I saved myself $11 from watching IMAX with this "new additional" footage.

These new footages with just all humans are definetly NOT worth seeing at all. Thank you Seibertron members!