25th Anniversary of the original Transformers Movie in Australia

[griffin]

That's right, 25 years ago today, the original (and for some, the best) Transformers Movie was released to Theatres in Australia.

Many of the new fans who were only drawn into Transformers with the live-action movies in the last four years, wouldn't even know that the first Transformers Movie was released 21 years before Michael Bay's first one was released.
Are you one of those people? Or have never seen it yet? Head on down to a DVD store today during the Boxing day sales and see if they have a copy. Or, borrow a copy if you know someone who has one.
Then watch it today, or sometime soon, and let us know what you think - compared to what you know so far about Transformers.

For those of you with a copy on hand, and you have a couple hours free over this long weekend, give it a re-watching, and head on over to the Flashback Review topic here to tell us what you think of it now, and what you thought of it the first time you saw it.


What is the Original Transformers Movie all about (for those whom have never seen it)?

It was the Ultimate Movie for the Ultimate Action Figure franchise of the eighties. A toyline that has outlasted all other Action Figure toylines, continuously released for 27 years now... which would make it the longest running Action Figure toyline in the (western) world.
Relive the Movie that starred all the classic characters kids grew up with 25 years ago - Optimus Prime, Megatron, Starscream, Bumblebee, Ironhide, Soundwave, Prowl, Jazz, Ratchet, Shockwave, Grimlock and the Dinobots, just to name a few.
While introducing us to a whole new generation of characters that would live on to this day, like Unicron, Galvatron, Rodimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Blurr, Cyclonus, Scourge, Kup, Hotrod, Wreck-Gar, Springer and Arcee.
Witness these characters being brought to life by a plethora of big name Celebrities of that decade, including:
- Leonard Nimoy (Spock from Star Trek and the voice of Sentinel Prime in the 2011 Transformers Movie) as Galvatron,
- Judd Nelson (from various 80s films including the Breakfast Club) as Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime,
- Robert Stack (from Unsolved Mysteries) as Ultra Magnus,
- Eric Idle (from Monty Python) as Wreck Gar,
- John Moschitta (one-time world record holder of the fastest talker) as Blurr,
- Peter Cullen (the voice of the Live Action Movies Optimus Prime) as the original Optimus Prime,
- Frank Welker (the man of a million voices in the Movie industry) as Megatron, Soundwave, and several others,
- Lionel Stander (from Hart to Hart) as Kup,
- and Orson Welles (in his final ever movie role) as Unicron.

It was an animation style that was more visually detailed than other animation movies of the time, and was given an Eighties rock music soundtrack that lives up to its era.
The Movie featured songs from the Legendary inspirational rocker Stan Bush (The Touch, Dare), Heavy Metal group Spectre General/Kick Axe (Hunger, Nothing's Gonna Stand in Our Way), Comedian Weird Al Yankovic (Dare to be Stupid), Lion (Transformers Theme), NRG (Instruments of Destruction), and score music by the very talented Vince DiCola.

Rent or buy a copy today to see what all the fuss is about, and begin to understand where so much of inspiration and direction of Transformers since then, has come from. Not to mention seeing where the ongoing dedication of the fans was borne, ultimately leading to a popularity within the franchise to warrant 3 big-budget, live-action Movies in the last 4 years.


As for a bit of a history lesson for those unfamiliar... Production began soon after the launch of the Transformers toyline in 1984, which was bigger than expected by Hasbro. The Original Transformers Movie was planned to be one of Hasbro's three big-budget animated films in 1986to cash in on the surge of success of their mid-80s toy brands. Utilising more detailed animation styles, mature story themes, a notable soundtrack, and big name celebrities as voices for characters, Transformers, GIJoe and My Little Pony were all commissioned for a 1986 release.
Unfortunately for Hasbro, this new direction was probably a little premature, as these brands were relatively new (Transformers only had 2 seasons of the cartoon by the time the Movie was released in 1986), and fans were still fresh and young. They hadn't grown tired of the main characters, and more importantly, their heroes yet. It was too early to have a complete "changing of the guard", which is exactly what the Transformers Movie did, and to a lesser extent, the GIJoe Movie.
The negative impact of these changes on the brand and its new fans, resulted in such poor box-office returns for the Transformers and Pony Movies, that Hasbro scrapped it's theatrical release of the GIJoe movie, releasing it direct to Video the following year.

The Transformers Movie saw its theatrical release in America August 8th 1986, but didn't make its way to Australian theatres until December 26th that year.

The Transformers Movie was originally panned by critics, as a loud, violent, extended toy commercial... and who are we kidding, that's pretty much what it was. However, it wasn't aimed at adults, who were the people reviewing it. It was aimed at kids, whom many did enjoy it. Just not as many as was hoped, as it bombed at the box-office for not being "young" enough in its visual & audio styling, or its story themes. The small number of fans who did enjoy it though, gave the original movie a cult status, making its popularity endure to this day, 25 years later.


I have tried a couple times to get theatres here interested in having the Movie screened here, even as a one-off anniversary deal, but none have been interested. So this will have to be the next best thing. And maybe make this an annual "Transformers Day" tradition (if it generates enough interest).
Maybe if anyone else can get a theatre to play it in the next few weeks, or even get a radio station to play any of the songs from the Soundtrack to commemorate its 25th Anniversary here (and to get more of the mainstream public exposed to the "classic" Transformers movie in some way), post it here so that other fans can see or hear it too.

[Cat]

It'd be a bit hard for a cinema to show it now, wouldn't it?

Where would they source a print, and who knows what state the original print is in (was IT restored for the 25th release, I wonder?)

Nice idea, but is it even possible?

[VERT]

Wow I actually saw it at the cinema on boxing day 25 years ago! Time goes to fast. Might watch it today

[griffin]

It'd be a bit hard for a cinema to show it now, wouldn't it?

Where would they source a print, and who knows what state the original print is in (was IT restored for the 25th release, I wonder?)

Nice idea, but is it even possible?

The Australian National Film Archive may have a copy... but these days, Gold Class theatres screen special events like the State of Origin, which would suggest that they can also hook up a DVD player (or already do with their special functions feature of private booking of Gold Class theatres). Plus, as Tetsuwan has mentioned recently, Theatres are going digital with USB sticks instead of Film Prints, so if you can get a copy on a USB (in whatever format they require), you should be able to show it on any screen in the multiplex.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

It'd be a bit hard for a cinema to show it now, wouldn't it?

Where would they source a print, and who knows what state the original print is in (was IT restored for the 25th release, I wonder?)

Nice idea, but is it even possible?

Its possible enough. I am sure if enough interest was generated a print could be found, afterall, I know that the Rocky Horror Picture show can still be found on film.

Plus it is easy enough now to knock up a dvd/bluray set up onn the cinema screen. I set it up on the big screen for the WA Revenge of the Fallen meet, it was pretty awesome.

I believe the Bluray release and the metrodome release especially used the original film as a source (mainly becuase they 'restored' the left and right sides) , I suspect the same film as well, since you can see the same scratch on it in the same place. Just a shame that the Blu-ray release copped the image to make it widescreen. Artificially widescreen. Sigh, I can't watch that version because of that!

[VERT]

Yeah but the Rocky Horror show has never really stopped screening. Has it?

[Demonac]

The Astor in Melbourne specializes in screening older movies.

http://astortheatre.com.au/

[5FDP]

I watch this every year on Xmas day. It's a tradition that I have been upholding since the 80's - either on TV, rental VHS, or DVD (now).

BTW - There was an extremely limited release in cinemas a couple years back (in the US) so a re-release is possible.

[Cat]

Its possible enough. I am sure if enough interest was generated a print could be found, afterall, I know that the Rocky Horror Picture show can still be found on film.

Plus it is easy enough now to knock up a dvd/bluray set up onn the cinema screen. I set it up on the big screen for the WA Revenge of the Fallen meet, it was pretty awesome.

I believe the Bluray release and the metrodome release especially used the original film as a source (mainly becuase they 'restored' the left and right sides) , I suspect the same film as well, since you can see the same scratch on it in the same place. Just a shame that the Blu-ray release copped the image to make it widescreen. Artificially widescreen. Sigh, I can't watch that version because of that!

Ah. Interesting on the restoration, thanks for the info.

And yeah, I don't think that 'Rocky Horror' is the best example, as it's been playing regularly at quite a few theatres since release.

I've always been too scared to go to a cinema showing of it, though.


EDIT: Actually, I wonder how many versions of the '86 movie still exist as an original print. There were quite a few different cuts for different countries, would be interested to know how many are still in salvagable form.

[griffin]

I had an idea, and added it to the first posting -

Maybe if anyone else can get a theatre to play it in the next few weeks, or even get a radio station to play any of the songs from the Soundtrack to commemorate its 25th Anniversary here (and to get more of the mainstream public exposed to the "classic" Transformers movie in some way), post it here so that other fans can see or hear it too.