The Energon Pub

Egyptian Theatre
6712 Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood, CA 90028 Map
Sat, Mar 7, 2015
7:30pm

Double Feature! Director & Crew Members In Person!

THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE / G.I. JOE: THE MOVIE
Presented by the American Cinematheque and Dammaged Goods
Discussion between films with TRANSFORMERS story consultant Flint Dille and G.I. JOE director Don Jurwich, story consultant Buzz Dixon and story board director Larry Houston.

THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE
1986, 84 min, USA, Dir: Nelson Shin

The hit animated television series (and action figure toy line) makes its first leap to the big screen! In the year 2005, Optimus Prime and his heroic Autobots struggle to defend their home planet Cybertron from the voracious Unicron (Orson Welles, in his final role) and defeat the evil Decepticons and their ruthless leader, Megatron. The all-star cast giving voice to these battling ’bots includes Judd Nelson, Leonard Nimoy, Robert Stack, Eric Idle, Scatman Crothers and Casey Kasem. Released between the series’ second and third seasons, THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE killed off several major characters and featured a heavy-metal soundtrack and anime style that gave it a slightly darker tone than the TV program - but it’s still intergalactic fun for kids of all ages.


G.I. JOE: THE MOVIE
1987, 93 min, Japan, USA, Dir: Don Jurwich

In this feature-length spinoff of the beloved 1980s TV show, the G.I. Joe soldiers join newest hero Flint (Don Johnson) to take on the evil forces of Cobra, whose ancient Lovecraftian history is revealed as a new enemy, Serpentor, enters the scene. Featuring many of the same cast members as THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE, with Wally Burr once again directing the voices of Frank Welker, Peter Cullen, Chris Latta, Michael Bell, Dan Gilvezan, Neil Ross, Corey Burton, Jack Angel and Gregg Berger. Also features Burgess Meredith and wrestler Sgt. Slaughter.
Trailer

Screening format: 35mm (THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE) and Blu-ray (G.I. JOE: THE MOVIE)

Black Bumblebee wrote:Who the heck wrote that description for GI Joe the movie? Flint is played by Don Johnson? Serpentor is a "new" enemy? Nothing about Cobra-La? Oi...

CrankyOldTruck wrote:Anywho... I'd still give non-vital parts of my anatomy to see this double feature but I do have to wonder why they went with original format for The Transformers and not the squeaky clean re-mastered version since they went Blu-Ray with GI Joe.

Supreme Convoy wrote:

CrankyOldTruck wrote:Anywho... I'd still give non-vital parts of my anatomy to see this double feature but I do have to wonder why they went with original format for The Transformers and not the squeaky clean re-mastered version since they went Blu-Ray with GI Joe.

American Cinematheque programs their screenings with as many film prints as possible. I've seen a lot of movies at the Egyptian like Lawrence of Arabia, Blade Runner, Vertigo and the Indiana Jones trilogy there and it's a different experience to watch movies on 35mm and 70mm prints.

They go out of their way to find these film prints. For the The Rock/Bad Boys double feature, they had to get the prints from Jerry Bruckheimer's personal collection (and those looked GREAT on the big screen).

Transformers was shown in theaters in 35mm, GI Joe was a video release only.

I'll be curious to see if they show Transformers in full frame or will they crop the projector for a wide screen look.

TR: Did your writing process change when you began scripting the movie as opposed to the TV show?

Flint Dille: Well, it did from the point of view that we knew this was going to be a very big movie. Of course, the purpose of the movie was not only to have something in theaters, but also to introduce next year's product line. Which meant that we had to first kill off the old product line to make way for the new toys.

TR: So Optimus Prime had to die?

FD: Exactly. We just didn't realize that it was going to bother anybody! :laughs: But I'd argue that had we not killed him, we wouldn't be talking about Transformers right now. Still, we didn't know the can of worms that we were opening when we wrote those scenes.

[...]

Topless Robot: The film world recently lost Leonard Nimoy, who voiced Galvatron in the Transformers animated feature. Can you talk about what he was like to work with?

Wally Burr: Very professional. Business-like. He came in and was ready to work. I asked him if I could give him the profile of what the show was about, to help get him up to speed. And he said "Go ahead." So I did. And when I finished with the full explanation, he said, "Okay, get your director and let's do this." :laughs: He didn't realize that I was the director! He must have thought I was a production assistant or somebody hired by the studio to hold his hand until he was ready to be used.

TR: What about Orson Welles? He came with quite a reputation, I imagine.

WB: With Mister Welles, I was intimidated in advance. Because if you've ever heard any of the outtake reels on him, he could be pretty tough. And he had a right to be! He could look at any script and say, instantly, I know what you need here. The problem was, he didn't want to be directed. But somebody had to coordinate the session, and that's what a voice director does. We coordinator of the cast. Otherwise, they'd overlap each other. The voice director keeps the characters straight, and so on. So I thought I was going to have a lot of problems with Mister Welles. And I did. At one point he was rather slow in his delivery, so I gently said "Mister Welles, this is sounding great. I'm wondering if I can ask you to pick up the tempo just a little bit." And he said, in that voice of his, "I'm reading this as rapidly as I possibly can. And furthermore, I'll do the slating from now on." Well, the voice director usually slates from the recording booth.

[...]

Topless Robot: You both voiced a number of different characters throughout the Transformers film. Did you have any particular favorites to play?

Neil Ross: Yes, I think so. My favorite was called Springer. He could turn into a helicopter at will, and he was just a good, fun, solid hero-type to play. He also didn't involve any throat ripping.

TR: Throat ripping?

NR: :speaks in a painfully scratchy voice: "That's when some of the characters sound like this!"