On the (Dutch) Red Carpet Transformers Premiere

The following is my, Raymond T.'s, account of June 25th, when I was invited to attend the dutch red carpet premiere of the Transformers Movie.

June 25th I was invited to the Dutch red carpet premiere to the Transformers movie. This is my account of that day. I will try my best not to give away any spoilers.

I was not alone for the premiere of the movie I had waited the longest time for. Me and a couple of my friends were there by invitation of Hasbro themselves. Earlier this month, on June 10th, me and four of my buddies put together a Transformers convention in IJsselstein, The Netherlands called Transformations. We worked closely together with Hasbro, to try and make this the best convention to date. I am proud to say that we did just that. Our target was set at 80 people, and predicted that there would be about 130 to 150 people attending. Not counting ourselves, the crew or people we had as our guests, we had 216 visitors! And beyond expectation most of the people decided to stay until the end.

As thank you for making this Transformers convention (for Dutch standards) a huge hit, the Transformations Team (consisting of Jasper, Hans, Godert (www.trypticon.nl), Rein and myself) was invited to be part of the official glamour premiere of Michael Bay's Transformers movie. The movie which we had fully tried to promote at our convention, where we had posters, flyers, standees and the trailer showing. In addition to the invite, Jasper was asked to be part of a small item about the Transformers movie for a Dutch TV news program called '4 in het land', where he showed his collection and was filmed to walk over the, rather short, red carpet, with Godert.

The day which I had been waiting for since the first teaser one year ago. The day that I had been waiting for since first reporting the rumor and later confirming the report of the production of the movie, right here on www.Seibertron.com/news. And waiting for the day, since first joining the Don Murphy board (and being one of the first to register on the now popular message board) back in June of 2003. The day I had been dreaming of ever since I first saw Optimus Prime plummet towards Earth in the final part of the pilot three-parter back in the mid 80's. The Day was finally here, on June 25th 2007, in my hometown of Amsterdam.

But there seemed to be a little snag for me. I only got the invite two days in advance, and I was told to be there at 19:00, but I work until 20:00! Since I couldn't contact my boss, I would have to ask permission from the people I work with on the day. And wouldn't you know it. Of any day that things could go wrong, this was the day that everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. But after a short discussion, I was allowed to leave work earlier. The ATM at the library refused to make contact and completely broke down not much later. Internet failed. Paperwork seemed to stack up. And of course every Jack and Jill blew up that they couldn't use the facilities. One would try to pick fights, while the other would get upset with you because you can not be bribed. (If the internet is out, it will stay out no matter how much dough you want to put down.). But as hectic the day seemed to be and how violent some people seem to react, I was all smiles! I think I've never looked as much on my watch as during my work hours that day.

FINALLY! After seeing the minutes pass for the last couple of hours, it was finally time to get rid of Raymond the surveillance officer (yes at the library), and hello Raymond T. Transformers TransFanatic! Gone was my ponytail and bland blue shirt, and down came my hair and illuminous Decepticon T-shirt. Heart pumping, thoughts racing, the last countdown was about to start. As fast as the train could take my to my waiting friends, I tried my hardest to stay calm and not bug everyone in the cart with me with the glowing Decepticon logo on my chest.


Finally, I was at Pathe Arena. My personal grieve with the complex I was forced to set aside. The complex is one of two may be three places in Amsterdam you can have a glamour premiere, but this one has always been my least favorite. The building is all glass, its cold in its design,... To me as a movies fan the place really doesn't speak to me. Outside there is a square with a few shops and nothing else. Across from it is a concrete block of a flat building. And half of the surrounding are still under construction. It is big and spacious, but it’s also cold and empty. Not really my choice of locations for what I think could be the event of the year.


But as I enter the building, I am greeted with the familiar posters and other promotional works for the Transformers movie. I'm walking into the building with my Decepticon logo blinking, so needless to say that my friends quickly found me. The PR woman soon comes and greets us to explain what will be happening. The camera crew is already there for Jasper to see him take the big steps towards the screening room where the flickers on the screen will spark our imaginations and will silence the doubts we may have. We are directed to the outside to the very short red carpet. There two young ladies are walking up and down the path with the Optimus Prime voice changer helmets on. Chalk versions...


Jasper and the news crew do their thing, and I see him and Godert walk towards the end of the carpet and past the big poster construction of the movie. The crew flicks off the recording and are done for now. My cue to walk over the red carpet. It can't be more then 8 or 10 meters, so it doesn't really feel real. As a fan of movie (and if possible making movies). Something simple as "walking over the red carpet" means something for me. But it doesn't quite cut it when it’s litterly over in only a few steps. But with no complaints, I walk through the door to the inside of the complex. There we are greeted by two more Optimus Prime ladies, and are asked to follow a representative to the theater.


I quickly becomes clear that for the screening two theaters have been reserved. The big one, and a smaller one. On one hand you are sad to learn that you are not in the big screen room, where all the Dutch celebs will be seated. Having worked for TV shows in the past there were a few celebrities I knew from the past and haven't seen in a while, who I know that know me. So it would have been fun to see the movie with them and maybe catch up a bit. On the other hand, I have been told that people often keep talking during the movie at the screenings of premieres. Most celebs are really there to show their faces for the photographers and show the world that they still live. And often it is these types of things that some ever get to see each other again. So with that in mind I was glad to be at the smaller screening.


After the Optimus Prime ladies introduced the movie and wished us much viewing pleasure, silence was set. The lights dimmed. I could swear I could hear the hearts pounding of my friends next to me. The familiar voice of Optimus Prime booms through the darkened room. Then there it finally is, TRANSFORMERS! No build up to a story. You're swept into it from the very start. The suspense is building with what I know has to be Blackout. As the story starts to play out, I know this is what I have been waiting for after four years of posting on the Don Murphy board and posting all the updates in the news for that same amount of time. The first battle between the humans and this previously unknown Decepticon Transformer starts. And I already know it has been worth the wait, especially after realizing that the movie has not even been playing 15 minutes!


Yes. At points there are moments that the fanboy in me wants to speak up while watching the movie. Since when is Sparkplug named Ron, when we know his first name is William!? Optimus Prime would never say that! "He leaked his Lubricant!" LOL! But I am not just a fan of those robots in disguise. I am a fan of movies too. And for the first time, the two came together in an almost perfect blend. Rather then one long story that drags on and on, movie appears more like it is cut up and then strung together, which does give a nice fast pace to the movie. The story is not as worked out as I had hoped, but the visuals more than make up for that. Although sector seven is as hokey as its internet version, most of the rest of the movie just runs smoothly from beginning to end. There is a good balance between the serious and the less serious. As a fan of movies, I was completely entertained. One of the guys there went into the movie saying. "I am sure this is just a big budget poor man's Go-Bots movie. But I am here with friends, so who cares?" After the movie, the same guy was saying that this movie was definitely in his top 10 list of his all-time favorite movies". I had high hopes for the movie, and those hopes were definitely met.


When the movie ended and the credits rolled, people started to applaud! I've been to many movies, but it is not too often people applaud the screen after it is over! The little group we were discussed the movie as the credits rolled on, until military men dressed like certain scenes in the movie, came to collect us and lead us to the after party that was held across from the complex. There we had the chance to mingle with other people who saw the movie as well as some of the (Dutch) celebrities that had remained. I talked with some of the other fans, and overall everyone seemed to have enjoyed the movie a lot. The party lasted until midnight, and then the reality set in that the day was now really over.


It is still hard to believe that it was three years ago that I was in a heated chat with Don Murphy himself on his board why I think the Dinobots, or at least Grimlock, should have been in this movie. I still have not changed my mind. But I have always been in support for this movie, and the end result of it makes me proud that I was. Yes, we could go on and on about the designs, but for this movie it does work. And that I never doubted. Thank you for the experience to all involved in making this movie, from Michael Bay, Steven Spielberg, Tom DeSanto and Don Murphy, to the writers, to the designers, to the clean up crew... Everyone, for making this happen. Thanks for The Energon Pub on Seibertron.com and the DM Board for keeping the movie alive for the last four years. And thanks to Hasbro for giving a handful of fans the chance to experience something great as being something amazing!


Next stop TRANSFORMERS II: The Call Of Destiny!