Travis Knight Discusses Bumblebee's Continuity with Bay Films, Alf and More
Monday, January 14th, 2019 7:55PM CST
Categories: Movie Related News, InterviewsPosted by: william-james88 Views: 37,614
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Please note, the transcript is a slightly edited version of what was said, for ease of reading.
Was it important to bring sector 7 back in because it was a nice little running thing for this
Yeah, we wanted to have a foot in each world. There is the last 10 years of Transformers movies, directed by Michael Bay, which have a ton of mythology and also the original wave of Transformers which had its own mythology and its sometimes connected and sometimes not with the films and so I wanted to have a foot in each world. So we're paying tribute to the last 10 years of live-action films but also a foot in the origins of these things where we can pay tribute to the initial wave of Comics and cartoons. So sector 7 was something that he evolved out of Michael's films. It was a secret society that hunts Transformers and there is a lot of subtle nods to the stuff that Michael has done. Even if you have never seen a Transformers film you can watch Bumblebee and nothing else matters but for those were fans of the live-action series or the cartoons there are a ton of layers and easter eggs and sector 7 is one of them including agent Simmons who is a young John Turturro who becomes one of the heavies later in the series.
Witn John Cena I wanted an actor who was physically formidable and who had layers of menace and aggression and when necessary humor and pathos. For me because I had seen him as a comedic actor, I had never seen him do what we ask him to do in this movie. I was incredibly impressed by what he was able to bring to the movie and he was a real joy to work with.
Regarding the Michael Bay films, were there points of cannon and that you had to stick to? Did you feel constricted that you have to meet certain things or not contradict certain things?
Yes, there is always concern with that although I think that continuity is certainly not a huge priority of Michael's. He prioritizes other things like incredible visuals and spectacle and fun. But even within the films themselves as much as I enjoyed them there are inconsistencies, so with this film if you're going to be consistent with one thing you'll be inconsistent with another thing. But it was important that I had a degree of continuity and wanting to tell a self contained story that was not necessarily bound by a decade of mythology, which was a little bit tricky. We had to simplify it. I wanted to make sure that an audience could come to the film watch it from beginning to end and have a good time, get all the information and all the fun they can get out of it. But at the same time someone who is a Transformers fan can get other layers of entertainment. But yes there were definitely things you couldn't play around with (editor's note, see Megatron article for examples) and there were other things that we could take some liberties with.
Everyone in this reality seems to really like Alf so is that a personal favorite?
Yes that is absolutely me, nobody else cares about Alf, that was me, that was me putting Alf in there.
Alf is amazing and ALF stands for "alien life form" so it's a nod to Bumblbebee and his origins as well.
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Posted by Lucky Logician on January 14th, 2019 @ 8:13pm CST
Yeah. Thanks for official confirmation of what we all knew.Travis Knight wrote:I think that continuity is certainly not a huge priority of Michael's.
There. I fixed that for ya.Travis Knight wrote:He prioritizes other things like and spectacle and ass shots.
Posted by jtanimator on January 14th, 2019 @ 8:33pm CST
can we all give Mr. Knight a round of applause for that alone?
Posted by Ig89ninja on January 14th, 2019 @ 8:48pm CST
jtanimator wrote:okay, FINALLY an official executive of sorts who is associated with the Transformers films ADMITS that there's NO respect for continuity in the bayverse. He said it very politely, witch is to be expected, but he did, indeed, admit it.
can we all give Mr. Knight a round of applause for that alone?
Posted by william-james88 on January 14th, 2019 @ 9:12pm CST
jtanimator wrote:okay, FINALLY an official executive of sorts who is associated with the Transformers films ADMITS that there's NO respect for continuity in the bayverse. He said it very politely, witch is to be expected, but he did, indeed, admit it.
can we all give Mr. Knight a round of applause for that alone?
But that confirms that Bumblebee can still be within the Bayverse even though lots of things contradict that. So anyone who was hoping for a reboot is shit out of luck.
Posted by Sabrblade on January 14th, 2019 @ 9:35pm CST
Ehren Kruger likewise said that years ago in an interview regarding Age of Extinction.jtanimator wrote:okay, FINALLY an official executive of sorts who is associated with the Transformers films ADMITS that there's NO respect for continuity in the bayverse. He said it very politely, witch is to be expected, but he did, indeed, admit it.
can we all give Mr. Knight a round of applause for that alone?
Posted by Deadput on January 15th, 2019 @ 4:50am CST
william-james88 wrote:jtanimator wrote:okay, FINALLY an official executive of sorts who is associated with the Transformers films ADMITS that there's NO respect for continuity in the bayverse. He said it very politely, witch is to be expected, but he did, indeed, admit it.
can we all give Mr. Knight a round of applause for that alone?
But that confirms that Bumblebee can still be within the Bayverse even though lots of things contradict that. So anyone who was hoping for a reboot is **** out of luck.
Ah joy that's fantastic, let's see how that pans out for them.
Because screw good story telling, or competent decision making in favor of attempting to try to make quick bucks with generic soulless action movies in a decision that everybody except Paramount knows would just result in flops.
Cyberverse is going to be the golden standard because "oh it's just a toy commercial so we don't have to try to make a good story that makes sense."
Can't wait for Transformers in God damn Rome because someone actually proposed and wrote a script for this in the writing room and thought that would be a good idea that could somehow work or a Beast Wars movie which doesn't have enough run time to do the series justice and will probably just star Optimus Prime and Bumblebee anyways.
Posted by ZeroWolf on January 15th, 2019 @ 6:28am CST
Deadput wrote:william-james88 wrote:jtanimator wrote:okay, FINALLY an official executive of sorts who is associated with the Transformers films ADMITS that there's NO respect for continuity in the bayverse. He said it very politely, witch is to be expected, but he did, indeed, admit it.
can we all give Mr. Knight a round of applause for that alone?
But that confirms that Bumblebee can still be within the Bayverse even though lots of things contradict that. So anyone who was hoping for a reboot is **** out of luck.
Ah joy that's fantastic, let's see how that pans out for them.
Because screw good story telling, or competent decision making in favor of attempting to try to make quick bucks with generic soulless action movies in a decision that everybody except Paramount knows would just result in flops.
Cyberverse is going to be the golden standard because "oh it's just a toy commercial so we don't have to try to make a good story that makes sense."
Can't wait for Transformers in God damn Rome because someone actually proposed and wrote a script for this in the writing room and thought that would be a good idea that could somehow work or a Beast Wars movie which doesn't have enough run time to do the series justice and will probably just star Optimus Prime and Bumblebee anyways.
Cyberverse is actually good though...
Why are you writing off the idea that we can have good films within the live action timeline? All you need is a good story to tell. Why not wait and see what the next one brings. They will be a reboot soon enough anyway. Also if armada, Energon and Cybertron can be connected despite only a few characters retaining looks then bee is fine with the others on that front.
Posted by Rodimus Knight on January 15th, 2019 @ 7:23am CST
On a side note, about the comments for the Cyberverce cartoon. It's a pretty decent cartoon, with a decent story. It's not the greatest, but it's certainly not the worse series to come out. Mostly, it's just a fun show to watch.
Posted by william-james88 on January 15th, 2019 @ 7:47am CST
Rodimus Knight wrote:I don't really understand why he keeps telling us it's connected to the bayverse. He should just let it sit as is. The sad thing is, it gives a lot of fans hope for live action movies.
I dont unerstand whats bad or sad about any of this. Also, he is only telling us beause he is asked. There is an interesting story here, where someone has accomplished to create a new experience for fans while still being within a universe some fans hate. This is a better spinoff than the Star Wars universe could ever hope for, cinematically.
Posted by Nexus Knight on January 15th, 2019 @ 8:20am CST
Rodimus Knight wrote:I don't really understand why he keeps telling us it's connected to the bayverse. He should just let it sit as is. The sad thing is, it gives a lot of fans hope for live action movies.
On a side note, about the comments for the Cyberverce cartoon. It's a pretty decent cartoon, with a decent story. It's not the greatest, but it's certainly not the worse series to come out. Mostly, it's just a fun show to watch.
Eh, it's his right has an artist to have his work be the way he wants it. Most weren't happy with how Micheal Bay wanted his art (we have to call it art, because definition of art), but it was still HIS art. It turned out the way he wanted. Knight's the same. It may look different to us, but we aren't the artist. He'll probably insist that making Bumblebee in the movieverse was a good idea until he dies.
Sidenote: I loved Cyberverse. It was cute, quirky, and kinda unique. Can't wait to see what Chapter Two brings.
Posted by o.supreme on January 15th, 2019 @ 9:11am CST
ZeroWolf wrote:Cyberverse is actually good though...
Opinion...not fact...
Posted by Deadput on January 15th, 2019 @ 9:25am CST
Mostly the badly execute dialogue getting to me since voice acting is probably one of the most important things to me, you could have the greatest written story in the world but if it had the worse voice acting then I wouldn't be able to sit through.
Not looking for something dark or edgy at all but I kinda wanted something on the quality of Beast Wars or Animated, I know Cyberverse is not the worse story in Transformers cartoons but we have gotten much better in the past.
Posted by Sabrblade on January 15th, 2019 @ 9:30am CST
If that's all you've seen, you're way behind on the good stuff.Deadput wrote:I'll be honest my Cyberverse comment was based off what I saw from the first 6-7 episodes which weren't awful but they weren't anything outstanding either to me.
Give Episode 10 a standalone watch. It one of the best (if not the best) episodes of the Chapter.
Posted by william-james88 on January 15th, 2019 @ 9:44am CST
Sabrblade wrote:If that's all you've seen, you're way behind on the good stuff.Deadput wrote:I'll be honest my Cyberverse comment was based off what I saw from the first 6-7 episodes which weren't awful but they weren't anything outstanding either to me.
Give Episode 10 a standalone watch. It one of the best (if not the best) episodes of the Chapter.
Thats the one where Shockwave just straight up attempts to destroy all of humanity in one fell swoop right? I love that episode. No nonsense, just blatant anihilation.
Episode 10 is also a fun watch if someone wants to know what this show can do.
Posted by Sabrblade on January 15th, 2019 @ 9:47am CST
Nnnnnnoooo?william-james88 wrote:Sabrblade wrote:If that's all you've seen, you're way behind on the good stuff.Deadput wrote:I'll be honest my Cyberverse comment was based off what I saw from the first 6-7 episodes which weren't awful but they weren't anything outstanding either to me.
Give Episode 10 a standalone watch. It one of the best (if not the best) episodes of the Chapter.
Thats the one where Shockwave just straight up attempts to destroy all of humanity in one fell swoop right? I love that episode. No nonsense, just blatant anihilation.
Episode 10 is also a fun watch if someone wants to know what this show can do.S
Posted by william-james88 on January 15th, 2019 @ 9:58am CST
Sabrblade wrote:Nnnnnnoooo?william-james88 wrote:Sabrblade wrote:If that's all you've seen, you're way behind on the good stuff.Deadput wrote:I'll be honest my Cyberverse comment was based off what I saw from the first 6-7 episodes which weren't awful but they weren't anything outstanding either to me.
Give Episode 10 a standalone watch. It one of the best (if not the best) episodes of the Chapter.
Thats the one where Shockwave just straight up attempts to destroy all of humanity in one fell swoop right? I love that episode. No nonsense, just blatant anihilation.
Episode 10 is also a fun watch if someone wants to know what this show can do.S
Sorry, brain fart, for some reason I read epsode 16.
Regarding that, everyone should watch episode 16
Posted by Burn on January 15th, 2019 @ 2:37pm CST
STAFF WHO SHOULD KNOW BETTER INCLUDED
Posted by Stryker P28 on January 17th, 2019 @ 12:09pm CST
Posted by Dinobot4ever on January 17th, 2019 @ 6:30pm CST
Rodimus Knight wrote:I don't really understand why he keeps telling us it's connected to the bayverse. He should just let it sit as is.
Most likely because Paramount and Bay himself are telling him to do so. Everyone now realizes this is how a live-action Transformers movie should have been made … with a coherent story line, emotional involvement for the audience, character development, and no cannon stomping (or in as much as Bumblebee isn't already somewhat shackled by the Bayformers movies). It is an effort to legitimize those Bayformers movies in light of what Bumblebee has wrought in acclaim (both critics and movie-goers) and homage to the source material. Both of these are quite lacking in the Bayformers movies. Remember there are media sales, Transformers figures, merchandise, etc., etc. to come from Bayformers movies. Everyone involved doesn't want to marginalize, minimize, or flat out abandon those movies. Money is at stake.
I suspect if Knight were allowed to speak freely, he would "just let it sit as is." He knows he did the franchise justice with what he directed and what Christina Hodson wrote.
I have watched Bumblebee three times now and I genuinely hope Paramount continues in this same approach to the franchise. Knight and Hodson are more than welcome to continue as long as they wish as well. I see real hope for the live-action franchise now. This after a long period of disappointment and frustration watching my beloved Transformers suffer at the hands of these train wrecks since 2007.
Posted by Dinobot4ever on January 17th, 2019 @ 6:56pm CST
Ig89ninja wrote:jtanimator wrote:okay, FINALLY an official executive of sorts who is associated with the Transformers films ADMITS that there's NO respect for continuity in the bayverse. He said it very politely, witch is to be expected, but he did, indeed, admit it.
can we all give Mr. Knight a round of applause for that alone?
I'll second this and add a few more
Posted by Rodimus Prime on January 17th, 2019 @ 7:32pm CST
That's a matter of opinion. I liked both Rogue One and Solo better than Bumblebee.william-james88 wrote:This is a better spinoff than the Star Wars universe could ever hope for, cinematically.
Posted by Nemesis Maximo on January 17th, 2019 @ 8:20pm CST
Rodimus Prime wrote:That's a matter of opinion. I liked both Rogue One and Solo better than Bumblebee.william-james88 wrote:This is a better spinoff than the Star Wars universe could ever hope for, cinematically.
I’m with ya on that Roddy!
Posted by Deadput on January 18th, 2019 @ 4:02am CST
Posted by o.supreme on January 18th, 2019 @ 9:45am CST
Deadput wrote:I liked Rogue one better then Bumblebee and would love to see something similar to it with say The Wreckers, but I liked Bee a tad more then Solo, I enjoyed it but I got more emotional impact out of Bee then Solo.
Agreed. In fact I'd say Rogue One is the single best thing to come of the whole Disney/SW era. If we could turn the clocks back to 2012, and STOP the sale of Lucasfilm, Rogue One would be the only thing I regret losing. Solo to me was bland. Never thought I'd be seeing a SW film for the first time on Netflix (just last week)...but here we are. BB was way better than Solo IMHO, but Rogue One was amazing. It felt like an EU novel translated to cinema, which is Ironic since Disney mercilessly killed the EU.
Posted by Wheeljack84 on January 19th, 2019 @ 9:54pm CST
Posted by Deadput on January 20th, 2019 @ 10:49pm CST
Wheeljack84 wrote:Bumblebee was good but in no way spectacular. it's just that fans are so used to the garbage and dross of the Bay films, this seems like a masterpiece by comparison. Decent movie. A step in the right direction at least.
Sometimes a film just needs to be good, not a masterpiece.
Posted by Wheeljack84 on January 21st, 2019 @ 11:09am CST
Deadput wrote:Wheeljack84 wrote:Bumblebee was good but in no way spectacular. it's just that fans are so used to the garbage and dross of the Bay films, this seems like a masterpiece by comparison. Decent movie. A step in the right direction at least.
Sometimes a film just needs to be good, not a masterpiece.
That's fine and all, but even Bumblebee had its flaws. The robots were still fairly minor characters.
Posted by william-james88 on January 21st, 2019 @ 2:50pm CST
Wheeljack84 wrote:Deadput wrote:Wheeljack84 wrote:Bumblebee was good but in no way spectacular. it's just that fans are so used to the garbage and dross of the Bay films, this seems like a masterpiece by comparison. Decent movie. A step in the right direction at least.
Sometimes a film just needs to be good, not a masterpiece.
That's fine and all, but even Bumblebee had its flaws. The robots were still fairly minor characters.
I would greatly disagree with that. Bumblebee felt as much a main character as Hailey. And the main villains were the decepticons.
Posted by Wheeljack84 on January 21st, 2019 @ 3:30pm CST
william-james88 wrote:Wheeljack84 wrote:Deadput wrote:Wheeljack84 wrote:Bumblebee was good but in no way spectacular. it's just that fans are so used to the garbage and dross of the Bay films, this seems like a masterpiece by comparison. Decent movie. A step in the right direction at least.
Sometimes a film just needs to be good, not a masterpiece.
That's fine and all, but even Bumblebee had its flaws. The robots were still fairly minor characters.
I would greatly disagree with that. Bumblebee felt as much a main character as Hailey. And the main villains were the decepticons.
Bumblebee was stuck as a child-like mute through most of the film. There were two main Decepticons who were fairly two-dimensional. You can disagree and all, but to me, the robots are always second fiddle to the humans in these films. Bumblebee didn't do much to change that.
Posted by Deadput on January 21st, 2019 @ 8:13pm CST
They just wont, that's life.
Posted by Sabrblade on January 21st, 2019 @ 10:17pm CST
He was as much the main focus of the movie as E.T. was in his own movie.Wheeljack84 wrote:Bumblebee was stuck as a child-like mute through most of the film.
"Two-dimensional" is a significant improvement over all of the many one-dimensional Decepticon villains we got in the first five films. Only Laserbeak ever came the closest to matching Shatter and Dropkick in how much personality they had. We saw plenty of subtlety and charisma in Shatter and Dropkick as characters rather than as props. Sure, there was no character development for them, but they were never going to be deep, complex, three-dimensional characters who learn life-changing lessons and gain wisdom from their experiences, because this was never going to be that kind of movie. Nor are we ever likely to get that kind of a movie from a Transformers film at this point due to the current nature of the Transformers film-making industry.Wheeljack84 wrote:There were two main Decepticons who were fairly two-dimensional.
Bumblebee was never going to change that. All it was going to do was to give us better characterized robots to complement the human cast, as opposed to the previous films' mistreating the robots as either one-dimensional monsters and psychopaths.Wheeljack84 wrote:You can disagree and all, but to me, the robots are always second fiddle to the humans in these films. Bumblebee didn't do much to change that.
Posted by william-james88 on January 21st, 2019 @ 11:05pm CST
Posted by ThunderThruster on February 1st, 2019 @ 4:42pm CST
As for the prqeuel/reboot debate, I think they've left themselves to spin it which ever they choose dependent on how well it does at the box office. ie (and my opinion) if it does badly hey can claim it's the prequel of a decaying film set. If it does well, hail it as a (soft?) reboot for any future films.