Should the movie series change directors?

[Beast_Wars_Superior]

I don't think Bay needs to be replaced. However, I do think Spielberg needs to have an active role in the third film, like he did in the first. Bay is spot on for the huge action scenes that the franchise requires, but they need to bring back Spielberg to refine the in-between stuff.

[GoktimusPrime]

I think it's fair to say that overall I've been fairly supportive of Michael Bay and his role as director for the Transformers movie franchise. However two things have recently elicited me to reconsider my opinion of Director Bay.

#1: ROTF DVD special features and audio commentary. It seems to me that Bay really isn't taking the Transformers franchise as seriously as he could be and is willing to sacrifice the integrity of the story/movie just for the sake of making it "fun" (in a juvenile sense).

#2: I recently purchased Star Trek on DVD. The movie was written by the same writers as Transformers (Kurtzman & Orci) but with a different director (J.J. Abrams); and what a huge difference that seems to have made. Now I'm one of those "Star Wars is so much better than Star Trek" kind of nerds, but in spite of all that I really liked the Star Trek film and have even bought the DVD! Watching the special features I could see that Abrams really cared about the Trek franchise and wanted to do it justice with his film, which like Bay's Transformers films, is a new continuity (Transformers is a continuity reboot and Trek is a continuity splinter).

So it's got me wondering... would Transformers be better with a different director who genuinely cared about Transformers?

Michael Bay has openly admitted that before he was hired to direct Transformers he did not like the franchise, and that when Steven Spielberg asked him to direct he hung up on him. Hasbro since put him through what Bay calls "Transformers school," but I don't know how much "Transformers education" would make him truly care about the franchise. I am now wondering if it wasn't enough.

Now to be fair, Star Trek didn't succeed purely because of the director. It was pointed out that one of the writers (Roberto Orci) is a massive Trekker himself, so that would immediately make him a better writer for Trek over Transformers. Orci knows Trek lore back to front like most of us know Transformers lore. But I don't think he knows all that much about Transformers. Both Orci and Kurtzman have said that their experience of Transformers before the movie was just watching the G1 cartoon as kids... a fairly superficial level of understanding (certainly compared to Orci's knowledge of Trek).

Bay has described fans like ourselves as "Transformers head geeks" who know Transformers lore inside out... but do they have any such "head geeks" on their creative team? I am beginning to think that this is why Star Trek was a better movie; because they had a head geek as one of their writers!

So I think that if they want to make Transformers 3 a better movie, then what they need to do is recruit the assistance of a head geek! That's what Bob Forward and Larry DiTillio did with Beast Wars, recruiting the aide of fans like Benson Yee, James Hooks etc. They knew nothing about Transformers before writing the show and enlisted the help of fans to educate and guide them.

Does Transformers need to change director? Not necessarily. Michael Bay still brings a lot of good things to the table for Transformers, as eloquently pointed out by Jhiaxus in post #39; but I do think that the movie franchise would greatly benefit from directly enlisting the assistance of someone who has thorough and in-depth knowledge of Transformers lore and act as a story consultant. Of course, Bay needs to be willing to accept feedback from a story consultant and not simply fob off any undesirable suggestions as "kill-joy" (which is how he describes people who criticise his infantile humour). (-_-)

[5FDP]

I'd love to see James Cameron directing Transformers. In fact, when it was first announced that they were going ahead with a live action Transformers movie (back in '02), there was a petition by the fans to get James Cameron on board.

David Wise should write the story in conjunction with Simon Furman.

Hey... I can dream.

[Prime_217]

I don't think Bay needs to be replaced. However, I do think Spielberg needs to have an active role in the third film, like he did in the first. Bay is spot on for the huge action scenes that the franchise requires, but they need to bring back Spielberg to refine the in-between stuff.

^^^ THIS

[Robzy]

I remember Bay saying (back when he was first asked to direct Transformers) that he was forced to sit down and watch TF:TM. He said he couldn't watch it - he thought it was crap and after 15 minutes he wanted to put a gun to his head!!

Well, I can hardly believe that this same person can than think that ROTF is "better"! I mean, seriously, there's more character development in the first 30 minutes of TF:TM then there is in the whole boring 2 1/2 hours of ROTF. Even the "action" scenes are laborious to watch... and the so called "comedy"... well, let's not even start on that one.

I agree with Goktimus - Bay doesn't take Transformers seriously at all! And he seems like he doesn't respect or like people (ie fans) who do!

[SMHFConvoy]

Geez just change the GODDAMN director. I'm so sick of hearing what the man thinks of TF. Obviously he hates it. I hate the 1st movie (2007) because I decided to listen to Bay's commentary. Here's a news flash he's a wind bag who claims that he invented the protoform in TF. Why are we evening discussing this TF2 was a rotting, pustle ridden limb in dire need of amputation.

I don't care that the character design is busy or that the bots aren't blocky. What I want is a TF movie that is a decent story, shot well, the audience can tell which characters are which, characters who turn up for a reason not just to fill the screen and can be enjoyed without resorting to juvenile jokes that stereotype people.

[AussieJason]

Geez just change the GODDAMN director. I'm so sick of hearing what the man thinks of TF. Obviously he hates it. I hate the 1st movie (2007) because I decided to listen to Bay's commentary. Here's a news flash he's a wind bag who claims that he invented the protoform in TF. Why are we evening discussing this TF2 was a rotting, pustle ridden limb in dire need of amputation.

I don't care that the character design is busy or that the bots aren't blocky. What I want is a TF movie that is a decent story, shot well, the audience can tell which characters are which, characters who turn up for a reason not just to fill the screen and can be enjoyed without resorting to juvenile jokes that stereotype people.

My thoughts exactly. For TF3 why not have a director who wants to be involved, instead of one who was convinced to ?

[kup]

The way I feel about Bay's attitude is that he hates the franchise and in turn us.

He has ridiculed Transformers and made fun of the fans almost any chance he gets so that speaks volumes on his attitude. I personally feel that he 'injects' the bad humor, characters and butchers the scripts on purpose in an attempt to further ridicule the fans because he knows that it doesn't matter if he has a Transformer dancing in a tutu, people will still go to watch by the masses bringing back a massive box office success.

Bay has repeatedly proven to be an egotistic jerk and antagonistic as well as an arrogant preak so I am inclined to believe the above based on his own behaviour and work.

[Lord_Zed]

That's going a bit to far. I can't imagine why he'd bother working on the film and making these despised allterations if he hated the franchise. He'd just do a half assed job, or hire some lackey to do it.

I can't really buy this Bay Hates Transformers conspiracy theory.

He is arrogant and egotistical though, of that there's no doubt. Though I'd be more inclined to say the atitude he displays toward the franchise in interviews and commentaries is more likely due wanting to always potray himself as some sort of mega cool director dude, he probaly has nightmares about being called a nerd. Much like all the big Hollywood stars when they get cast for these films (and not just TF's, the other franchise's too) Just seem to laugh off thier role as a bit of fun, or try to redirect the conversation to some other movie they've been working on.