The Energon Pub

Now that you've seen the rest, who's the best?

It's the king of all things funkadelic here with a question for y'all. Even though I think this is going to be a landslide, I gotta know... Now that everyone and they grandma saw the Transformers movie, which one was better? Transformers The Movie made in 1986 (I think) Or Michael Bay's Transformer movie. I know it's hard to compare the two but I gotta know...

P.S. This is the first time I've done this Im' kinda new...
So chill on my mystakes, ya dig?

bays transformers movie

2007 way better than cartoon 1986 version

Michael Bay's Transformers was by far the BEST Transformers movie.

They're different mediums so I don't think its fair to compare.

Jawnee wrote:They're different mediums so I don't think its fair to compare.

Right, right.

1986 was animated, but it was the definite classic. Optimus Prime's original designs. The original crew including more added ones. And they didn't need to explain much. Bay's on the other hand, got plenty more hype and support. Probably the best CGI I've seen so far, mixed with the most intense action, and not like the classic TF many of us have known to love, but it's still glaringly obvious that it's Transformers.

Which one? It's down to opinion, but a landslide majority will say 2007. I say it's the best one too mainly because it wasn't a box office flop and that it showed how Transformers would really be in real-life situations such as this one.

They both ruled!

I enjoy both, but I'd have to go with the 2007 movie. I loved the 1986 version, but when people who know nothing of Transformers see it, it usually leaves them cold. The reason, I think, is that a lot of the movie relies on you knowing the characters from the first two seasons of the show. A person who didn't watch Ironhide, Ratchet, Prowl, etc. has no attachment to their death. Also, I think the big problem with the movie was having Hot Rod directly involved with Prime's death. They could have handled the guilt angle without him stepping in and causing Prime to lose the fight. It's not really shocking that a lot of folks don't like Roddy too much. =p

Let's just say that if I was alive when the '86 movie came out, I would have been so depressed. Kill off Prime WTF?! Hopefully that wasn't a spoiler haha.

Honestly, I can't definitely pick one over the other.

Its also intention behind the different movies that will alter the opinions of the viewer. The cartoon version screams "TOY COMMERCIAL", whereas the 2007 one is a lot wider in its scope. I took a friend from work to it and she loved it, but half way through she asked "Is BB a bad guy? I'm pretty sure he was evil in the cartoons?" Followed quickly with the comment "Isn't megatron supposed to be a dinosaur?"

I liked the 86 version for different reasons, but Bay's work is just fantastic, I have to say I love that more.

Bay's vision of Transformers is pretty cool. I will go with it this time round.

I like both. The music in the cartoon was crap though.

2007.

Reason?

Prime. Doesn't. Die.

this is a hard one....i actually kinda want to say that the 86 movie was better....only reason being that a lot more happened in it. the 2007 version is definetly still very good, one of my favorite movies to date..right under the matrix

both are good, but I'm gonna side with the '86 movie. My dad took me for my 10th birthday so I'm kind of partial, but it's awesome b/c so many characters die, it had a great story, there's Spike's cursing-always funny, and most importantly they incorporated nearly all the Transformers out at the time -lines and screentime, minus Jetfire and a few others. I guess I'm old school, but nothing's wrong with that.

Fun topic. I prefer the '86 to the '07 myself, but I decided, in the sake of fairness to break the two movies down by category and see how they fared.

1) Acting: Shia has fantastic timing, and shows real range in his performance. Tyrese and Duhamel both give passable performances. Since Peter Cullen is in both films, he cancels himself out. Welker, Nimoy, Welles, Nelson and the rest of the VA crew all make for an outstanding ensemble group, but no one person stands out.

Verdict: I give the nod to '86 by a hair, but only because of the overall quality of the cast wins out versus the fantastic work by Shia and the really listless performances of Fox, Turturro and Voight. (0-1)

2) FX/ Technical: '86 animation didn't really improve on quality over the TV show. Bay's FX sets a new industry standard.

Verdict: 2007, hand's down. (1-1)

3) Direction: Love it or hate it, Bay's signature style is all over the 2007 version, giving us frenetic action and a breakneck pace. The '86 version, other than a few memorable sequences (the birth of Galvatron, for one) doesn't set itself apart from other cartoon films from the same era.

Verdict: Bay wins, 2007 (2-1)

4) Cinematography: This is a tough one. Without analyzing each movie, frame by frame, it comes down to epic shots. Prime's transformation or Unicron's transformation? Bonecrusher through a bus or Unicron's hand shredding Cybertron?

Verdict: Cinematography is based on camera decision and lighting. While certainly a safer choice, '86 edges out a win here, beating out Bay's tendency for quick, erratic cuts and sometimes confusing, hard-to-follow action sequences. (2-2)

5) Story/ Screenplay
'86 has a story of hidden potential realized, with war, death and devastation. It takes a huge risk by murdering huge swaths of beloved characters, and introduces a pivotal building block in TF mythology. '07 has a...well, it started out with a boy, his car, his granddad, some glasses, a frozen botcicle and a ...wait, why did Sam get arrested again? Oh, and there's this cube, and if it gets in my chest...

Verdict: '86, far and away. Heroes get deaths in this one, and they mean something, not some poor "Aww, Jazz". There's not one scene in '86 that doesn't further the overall story (even Daniel's lame suit-training scene serves a purpose). (3-2)

6) Soundtrack/ Score
Stan Bush, rock on. Every Transfan knows the Touch. And boy did we get to hear a lot of it in the '86 movie. '07, while mostly unassuming, was professional, slick, and helped drive the movie without detracting from it. Any good soundtrack knows just where to accent, and when to be silent and let the action speak for itself.

Verdict: '07. the soundtrack is pretty good, but it should win simply by virtue that whoever did the soundtrack editing for the '86 movie should be drug out into the street and beaten.

After 6 rounds, it's tied 3-3. Which brings us to, the intangible round of:

7) X-factor (or Cool vs. Cringe)
'86 has that awful scene where Arcee teaches Daniel to use the suit. And then they dance around on Junkion. Yuck. As for cool, '86 TF doesn't add any wow factor. Unicron is bigger. That's it. Compared to '07, where almost every scene where there are bots on screen is amazing. My jaw dropped a couple times. Bay has tons more cringe worthy sequences (BB pee, dog pee, ghetto hacker cousin getting tackled a la COPS, Indian call center guy, etc, etc).

Verdict: In '86, TF was just a toy thing. It was cringe worthy to mainstream America from the moment if it's inception. Despite all it's shortcomings (and many more cringe inducing scenes) the '07 movie has made Transformers cool in the eyes of the general populace. The first time Prime transforms on the big screen, larger than life, you believe it, now matter how cynically you've received the movie. '86 nearly killed TF's; '07 has brought it to new, and unimagined heights.

'07, in a landslide here.

Final verdict: '07 wins the tie-breaker by being as much a cultural event as it is a movie, and two of the categories (Acting & Cinematography) might easily go in either direction. Bay and Co win the battle of the Transformers, 4-3.

80's

I loved the transformers themselves in 2007 one, they were awesome, but the movie itself, mostly due to all the people, really ruined it for me and wasn't all that good to me overall.

already been said, but you can't compare an animated movie to a live action movie anyway. Besides, this year's movie is more of an origin story and they are making sequels, whereas, the cartoon movie was a one shot deal pretty much. Both are good in their own ways.

The 86 movie had its bright spots, Optimus vs. Megs or Unicron transforming but the 2007 movie blew my mind when I saw it the first time and Prime didn't die.

2007 FTW!

The 86 movie will ALWAYS be a classic to me, eventhough after the scene where Galvatron kills Starscream, i pretty much loose interest.

That being said, i think Bay's TF is overall better.

I'll never forgive the 86 movie for killing Prowl, Ratchet (I mean why? Why?), Ironhide (Why?), Wheeljack, Brawn, Starscream (WHY?) and Optimus Prime. Oh yeah...why? Just to sell new toys?!?! WTF! You can't just have these guys survive battle after battle then POOF! suddenly they can be killed so easily! Now, I'm not a hater of Hot Rod/Rodimus, but I'd rather have all of those other characters still alive. And Wheelie. WHEELIE!!! I'm sorry, I've gone on a crazy person's rant. I pretend the movie never happened. I read my IDW comics and revel in that these classic characters AREN'T DEAD!

No contest.

2007's is the clear winner.

I bought the 1986 version (anniversary set) for the special features, plus I wanted to see what the "corrected" version would look like.

All it did was put a shinecoat on a bucket of sh*t.

I'll keep it for the special features, not to mention that it looks like it might become rare. (Best Buy apparently pulled it from their shelves and won't sell it due to a recall or something.) But I can't watch it.

I watched it once, all the way through on the new DVD and it was just jaw droppingly awful. (I enjoyed the 25 minute DVD that came with the Classics Megatron/Optimus 2-pack. I kid you not.)

I tried showing the movie to my girlfriend and she got sleepy halfway through and when it was over...she apologized for falling asleep on me and said "It was good, just didn't keep my attention. Well...alright. I'll be honest. It was stupid and really, really boring. Can we put in season one?"

She went to see the 2007 version and it kept her attention from beginning to end. She adores (and I mean *ADORES*) Bumblebee. Oh she went on and on and on about him.

When I asked her about all of it (the G1 series, the movie, this movie, etc) and got her reply, I was surprised. This is what she said: "Well, the cartoon's fun. It's dumb, but it's bright and colorful, plus it's cheesy fun. The first movie is bad, wrapped in crap, covered in more bad. This movie? Oh...I almost pissed myself. It was so cool!"

And she still doesn't get TFs all that much. She gets the basic gist of it, likes some of the toys, but she's by no means a fan or collector. The 2007 movie has changed that. She wants a Bumblebee like...yesterday.

1986 Movie has got the BEST storyline and character development.
Old characters can be taken for granted. But a plethoria of new characters got very good character development, tightly knit to the whole storyline. (Ex. Hod rod, Kup, Springer, Galvatron, Unicron, Cyclonus, Wreckgar, Daniel, etc. Heck, even Kranix got a good one.)

2007 Movie has got the BEST ever graphics and special effects.
Period.

I wouldn't debate about the robot/car designs. Because i like both G1 and movie design.