An article by Seibertron board member, Skywarp-2
Well So after the SDCC 2009 Comicon, we learned from Tyrese Gibson, that Micheal Bay will indeed be returning to helm the 3rd installment of the transformers Franchise..
What can we as fans do to ensure that we have a 6 movie run??
Fan Pressure,Fan Pressure, great ideas, with more Fan pressure..
the problem has been, in the past say, with the 90's examples of ruination due to "Hollywood" and their views creeping into what is normally a great franchise.. I.E. the Original Tim Burton Batman Series..
arguably the replacement of Michael Keaton, and the director for Batman 3 was a bad stroke..the script writer had autonomy, and Michael Keaton declined to do the movie because of the horribly written script.. Had Warner Bros. had any guts, they would have listened to their director Tim Burton, got a new script and kept Michael Keaton for what would have been golden franchise movies there after.. instead it paved the way for George Clooney and Go Go Bat Ice Skates in Batman and Robin.. a Completely notorious flop. However, this little Hollywood lesson may have taught the industry that realism, and Practicality will no doubt win Over Movie goers in the end..this lesson though still stingy, paved the way for the recent Dark knight and Batman Begins flicks, So has Hollywood learned form these mistakes?
Take for example, movie franchises with a certain amount of Magic only last with that magic for a brief amount of time. Sitcoms like friends had magic, and it's time ended rightfully so, just as the Original Star Wars series Magic was held, and ended there after.. the Prequel series, though strong with Fanbase to a certain extent was no where as hailed Story and Acting wise, like the original. What is there to be learned by this?
Hollywood, and their executives have a recent history in the fantasy, comic Book, and sci-fi realm to now guide them to Box office success. This assumes they follow this example and don't repeat the mistakes of the past. I for one don't want to see a George Clooney campy version of Transformers in the future. However, I can see Jeremy Irons playing an evil scientist infected by Transformers technology and becoming a cyborg Doctor Arkevil, (Name change of course). The Live action Transformers Movie is what it is, gruff, alien and scrap metal like robots, with little or no in depth backside story to the bots themselves..Lots of action, and lots of Frustrating CGI fighting. Frustrating in that you get what looks like sneak peek shots of the robots battling in like 3 to 4 seconds, while you get 23 minutes of Shia Labeouf Saying "NO! Oh No!", and "No!" again..
So what can Hasbro, Paramount, Steve Spielberg, Michael Bay, Roberto Orci, and Alex Kurtzman learn from Hollywood's past?
Don't screw it up!
If we are going to move forwards with a franchise and expand into about 6 movies, effectively giving Michael Bay this Movie series as his "Star Wars" trilogy, then there should be some key story points and in depth ideas brought to the series..If you are going to do a trilogy, the what the 2nd Movie brings up is a cliffhanger for the last movie, and brings ideas and things into focus that will ultimately have a direct effect on the last of the trilogy..
For instance, the Star Wars New Hope movie sets up the premise, the characters, and the Universe in which we begin to learn about the force, the Empire, etc. In Return of the Jedi, we get more of a back story, the villains gain an upper hand, and our heroes are left in a precarious set of circumstance, and being split apart form each other. In return of the Jedi, family issues between Luke and his relationship to his father are resolved and we see the final death blow to the empire bringing the more adult acting characters and a graduation effect in the end.. Leia in her slave outfit presents a sort of womanhood in her appearance, no long timid and hidden. Luke has become a Jedi and masters his faith and belief, asserting himself and facing the emperor..
So these ideas and story plot points, simple Human emotional responses and evolutions in attitudes and experience give us a depth we would not otherwise have.
where have we gotten to?
The Biggest thing I can offer up is my own opinion. I am in no means a "polished writer" Nor am I a "seasoned Producer of cinema" But what I am is a fan of movies, and fantasy. I love a good Science Fiction series, and Giant sentient Robots is one of the top tiers of that realm of interest.
So how does the Writers and studio execs make this budding franchise work? Well if they decide to just go and do a 3rd movie, then it is up to the writers to finally put a closing statement on their storyline for the Transformers movie. in the first flick we had the battle for the Allspark. We learned that Cybertron was dying and that the Allspark is needed to revive their civilization. We learned that sector 7 was a secret government group that had been aware of the "Transformers/aliens" before the story took place with Sam and Mikaela. Megatron is awakened, a battle for the Allspark ensues, and Megatron gets the full brunt of the Allspark's power, in effect only leaving a shard, which Optimus Prime pulls from Megatron's chest. The Defeated Decepticons are dumped in the Marianna Trench and left for dead, with all the Autobots and Decepticons battle covered up by the military.
In the second film, we see a bit more of a back story develop, we learn of the Fallen. We learn that the council of Primes had once found a way to produce a specific type of radiation called Energon, which is a process where by they harvest a sun, and turn it into a black hole, and the resulting release of energy, they turn into Energon, which will maintain and keep their race from aging and eventually falling apart.. with the Allspark gone, the only power source they have left is also gone, and all hope for their race to survive and revive Cybertron is also gone. Megatron gets rebuilt and the shard from the first flick is stolen to revive him. The back story for the fallen is revealed, and we find out that the original Cybertronians were tribal like, and their language is older then the Decepticons and Autobots..The fallen is the 1st Decepticon which from his face is their Symbol. We also learn that Prime is the last Prime of their race, and the Matrix of leadership is nothing more then a power source key for their Sun harvesting Machine..but the Matrix is used to bring back Prime to life, and in the end we find out that Prime can combine with another Autobot's body and use that as temporary weaponry..We see Jetfire rip out his spark chamber, leaving a possibility his character could be rebuilt and return as a much younger Skyfire.
there was also some story progression with Sam and Mikaela, a relationship beginning to take shape, and a somewhat small history shown to exist..Sector 7 has been shut down, and replaced by a Joint US and Autobot task force called "Nest" which seek and hunt down Decepticons in an effort to defeat their threat and free Earth. A new "Obama" liaison and administration that Blames the Autobots for the war on Earth, and places the military at odds with the Defense Secretary.. a direct comment on current political events. Even Slyly adding into the movie the current President's name in a brief TV news cast soundbite in the movie..
Where we can go?
So where do they go from here? what story plots will they have to develop to bring the substance and the storyline full circle. I don't know the answer to that, but I do feel that as a story, the loose ends from the 2nd film and the 1st film should be tied up regardless of the directions the studio decides to dictate. As Writers, Orci and Kurtzman, are going to have to go back and review what they have created, and decide what is the end game for the trilogy? How do the loose ends developed in the story get tied up and make the package nice and neat going forward? If they have no more prospects of doing a movie past 3, then the last flick needs to finish off the story and bring the whole thing to a close..
What is the ultimate Goal for the Autobots? Restoration of Cybertron? Their past and history has been lost to the ravages of the war and time, as was the premise established in the 2nd movie. Even the Cybertronian language had been forgotten and was unreadable to many of their race. How does the interaction between the Humans and the robots proceed? The Studio and writers were right about 1 thing, that the "Human factor" is as important to the movie story, as is the CGI and Robots themselves. Much to angst of hardcore Transformers fans who have become accustomed to the Robots themselves as characters. Yet if you hearken back to the original 1984 transformers cartoon, what made it work was arguably the interaction between the world of Super Transforming Robots and that of the Earth. Spike and Sparkplug the father and son helping the Autobots in their war against the Decepticons. The nefarious plans of Doctor Arkevil and his threats of world Domination by using the Decepticons, in tern they use him for their own goals.
In the 1986 movie we shot forwards, and lost much of Spike and Bumblebees role int he series, replaced by Daniel his son, and evens till after that we moved into the 3rd series and lost the human factor almost all together. Which arguably killed the series coupled with a weak storyline and character development. No Prime and Megatron dichotomy existed between Rodimus Prime and Galvatron.
If the series is to progress beyond 3 films then there should be a story direction that grabs the public, and unnecessary deaths does not a good plot make. If the writers and the studio wish to see a long and successful franchise, then the story must become more indepth and focused on the Transformers Back story, and have a more aligned Human interaction. Transformers 3 should have the Decepticons emerging as the victors in the end and set up a cliff hanger for the continuation of the series, ultimately ending in War being won by the Autobots, and Cybertron restored to glory by the 6TH film.
So the 1st movie set up the premise, and brought us the beginnings of the war. The 2nd Flick brought us some back story, legend and a bit of Transformer history. It also brought us potential Human antagonists for the Autobots, and a human alliance that made you feel as if Epps and Lennox were buddies at arms with the Autobots.. A comradeship that was only briefly explored..that should be expanded on.
In the 3rd film, we should see the Megatron and Starscream interaction come to ahead, and even some betrayal by Megatron's Second in command. What ultimately happens in Transformers 3 should set up for a spike and climax to continue through Transformers 4 and then wind down in Transformers 5, and then close out and wrap up everything in Transformers 6. Assuming they go that far, if not then Transformers 3 should wrap up the loose ends from Transformers 1 and 2, and leave the audience with a sense of accomplishment, that the overall story for 1,2,and 3 is consistent and achieves what it had been set up to achieve..
Should Optimus Prime ultimately die? well that story has become part of the original Mythos, but why repeat the sins of the past like in the 1986 flick. It didn't do so well then, and why would you want to attempt to do that now..
Should Ultra Magnus be in the 3rd film? I say yes, bring on the full truck and Trailer combiner and make an awesome commander in waiting for the story, it will seem as if optimus as a great leader has always planned to train an apprentice for his role someday.. and great story plot and very human in appeal.
Should Rodimus Prime emerge? assuming they decide to go forward with 6 movies. Otherwise introducing new bots in the 3rd flick beyond what is already established would be confusing, especially if there are already bots like ratchet, sideswipe, etc..those characters need more development in the 3rd flick.. See I am conflicted on this idea, only because it didn't go over well in the original series with the whole rodimus replacement thingy. However, if the writers believe that Rodimus Prime in the live action movie can further the story as well maybe a New addition to the "Prime" Dynasty, then maybe it could work..Like for instance Optimus Prime using the Matrix begins to reform a council of Primes Beginning with Rodimus who is a great general, or Sentinel who is also a great leader in another sector of Space.. and they form a new council of Primes.. with Ultra Magnus waiting in the wings..
Should Unicron eventually show up in the movie series? I think that if they push forward with 6 total flicks that unicron could be done, but not as a full fledged planet..maybe a robotic monster that will drill down to t a planets core, and consume it leaving that world dead and hollow.. now that would work well. Or possibly a space swarm of robots seeking to convert all life into energy and it's swarm as a whole is called the Unicron..either way, I don't think a giant planetoid would serve the series well..though in CGI it would look awesome..
In summary of what I have written, it is basically up to the writers, and the studio to determine where they take this franchise form here.. ultimately my opinion is a drop of water in a bucket of ideas..but if Orci,a nd Kurtzman are to end this trilogy on a good note, then the toeing up the 1st 2 films and their plot wholes is a must to do in the 3rd flick.. and a resolution to the series is needed..maybe an opening for another 3 movies.. but most of the story needs to come to a final conclusion..
If they are indeed going to move forward on 6 movies, then they should NOT repeat the mistakes of the past.. do not let time relapse between the first 3 movies and the last 3 as they did with Star Wars.. and the director and major characters must remain the same.. if that formula gets reworked, it could have the opposite reaction to the fan and mass audience community..
Had Bryan Singer and the original Writers been involved in X-3 It would have fared better then to kill the franchise with major character mass killings..and cheesy dialogue. Just as they did with Batman series in the 1990's and so on..
change is good, but in some cases people become a fan of what they initially liked int he first place, and with movies, what works isn't always needed to be fixed..keeping a director, major actors, and writers is key to the success of movies that have the potential to live on as a franchise.. that is how popular sitcoms last so long. We tune in to watch what we are accustomed to seeing and are involved in their story..Once all the newness wears off, it is ultimately the story we become enamored with..
They have a chance if a 6 movie Franchise is planned and all participants are on board..but I hope that if we are to only get 3 movie, they tie everything up and leave us audience members with a satisfactory ending. Not like that Screwed up Ending to the Matrix Trilogy!
Well, if my little article was off base on anything I do apologize. This is just my opinion of the series, and what has come before. I may be in error on some things, but the bottom line of what I believe is this...Transformers 3 the Live action movie has potential, the franchise has the potential to succeed to 6 films. But with how Hollywood and it's "idea" machines work sometimes, that potential is wasted..My great hope is that Orci, Kurtzman, Bay, Spielberg, Paramount, and Hasbro have all learned from the history of the past movie franchises, and can move forward to make this series what it potentially may become, a great long lasting sci-fi ride into the world of the transformers!
Sincerely,
Skywarp-2
