Courtesy of a tip from fellow Seibertronian Supreme Convoy, we have news of a double bill being offered by the Los Angeles American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre, featuring the The Movie of our favourite franchise and its twin cousin: The Transformers and G.I. Joe! The screenings also features a Q&A with directors, storyboard artists and consultants - you can find more information below, and if you're in the area, buy tickets here.
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)
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...
Visit http://www.youtube.com/user/Pepsimus to see the latest episodes of The War Within animated, adapted from the comic of the same name. Episodes 1 & 2 complete!
Motto:""Experience,lad... you should learn to appreciate it!""
Weapon: Old-Style Musket Laser
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...
Yeah, no kidding. Don Johnson voiced the part of Lt. Falcon and a quick jump to IMDB would have made sure that screw up hadn't happened. I remembered it from back in '87 so I had no use for such a resource but anyone in a news capacity should have verified their stuff before making the report.
But back in 1987 Serpentor WAS actually a fairly new addition to the head of the Cobra organization so I'll give them that little slip but it did seem silly to mention Burgess Meredith without crediting the Cobra-La part he played if for no other reason than to make the fan boys sqee just a teeny bit.
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 Blue-Ray with GI Joe.
I'm a cigar chomping, Energon guzzling, crotchety old bot that's tough as nails, two days older than dirt, can out grouch Ironhide, out-complain Huffer, leave Bluestreak speechless with a single glare and make Grimlock back down in a stare-off. If you're nice, and extremely lucky, I may only tell you to go blow it out your exhaust pipe!
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.
Motto:""Experience,lad... you should learn to appreciate it!""
Weapon: Old-Style Musket Laser
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.
Well, after hearing what they go through for some of there previous runs that just ups the cool factor a few notches. I much more enjoy the enhanced version but then I've got 3 formats to choose from. I still have the original VHS from way back, the first release of the DVD and the 25th Anniversary 2 disc remastered set.
Makes total sense too about the Joe movie since I had forgotten that that was indeed a straight-to-tv feature and never saw the big screen treatment. Probably a good thing considering that, while having some great animation for its time, they didn't dial down the "cheesiness" any so it still had the saturday morning cartoon feel to it. Would not have gone over well in the theater considering how high the bar was set by The Transformers Movie.
I'm a cigar chomping, Energon guzzling, crotchety old bot that's tough as nails, two days older than dirt, can out grouch Ironhide, out-complain Huffer, leave Bluestreak speechless with a single glare and make Grimlock back down in a stare-off. If you're nice, and extremely lucky, I may only tell you to go blow it out your exhaust pipe!
I went last night and it was AMAZING. I've seen these movies countless times but it was great to see both of them with an audience. People cheered and laughed all at the right parts that you'd expected them to: "The Touch," Sgt. Slaughter's appearance, "He's gone into a coma!," "You're an idiot, Starscream," The Transformers titles appearing on screen.
But the audience went BANANAS over the GI Joe opening sequence. That was worth the ticket price alone.
The Transformers 35mm print looked crisp, which is a nice plus. Great event.
With the current flurry of screenings across the US of the 1986 Transformers movie, and the unfortunate news of the passing of actor Leonard Nimoy, it's unsurprising that we hear more from the people involved in its creation, from a cast, crew and other perspectives! Entertainment website Topless Robot has posted a list of ten major points to come out of the Q&A session during the event in LA (which you can also watch for yourself via the embedded clip below!), ranging from Flint Dille, voice director Wally Burr and voice actors Neil Ross and Michael Bell. Check out some of it below, and the full piece here!
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!"
Motto:"Can't do a job halfway. What's worth doing is worth doing well, I say."
Weapon: Saber Blade
Always a pleasure to hear these kinds of stories.
"When there's gold feathers, punch behind you!!"
Shadowman wrote:This is Sabrblade we're talking about. His ability to store trivial information about TV shows is downright superhuman.
Caelus wrote:My wife pointed out something interesting about the prehistoric Predacons. I said that everyone was complaining because transforming for them mostly consisted of them just standing up-right. She essentially said, 'So? That's what our ancestors did.'
[ Click to attempt signal recovery... ]
