046 – The Transformers: The Movie 35th Anniversary!

Hey, this is Springer. I've got better things

to do tonight than die, like listening to the

Geekcast Radio Network. Transformers, the movie.

It is the year 2005, and a mysterious planet

threatens to devour the galaxy. Conceived in

the epic tradition of Star Wars, this spectacular

animated adventure stars Leonard Nimoy as Galvatron.

Robert Stack as Ultra Magnus. Judd Nelson as

Hot Rod. And Eric Idle as the junkie on Warrior

Wreck Guard. And at film's end, when the monstrous

planet Unicron, played by Orson Welles, reveals

its long -held secret by transforming into the

most gigantic robot ever, you'll know you have

been watching a movie that is destined to bring

back audiences again and again. In the summer

of 1986, the most exciting adventure in the universe

is on planet Earth. Transformers, the movie.

It's rough out there, kid. Holy crap, it's the

TFG1 podcast. That's right, folks. We're back,

and we are recording this August 8th, 2021. I

am, of course, TFG1 Mike. Joining me is TV's

Mr. Neil. Hello, sir. Oh, shit. What are we going

to do now? We're being sucked into it. Not even

Wheelie could save that trip. Can we sacrifice

Wheelie? So this is not technically the first

new episode of the TFG1 podcast because we've

had several episodes. We just haven't been, you

know, whatever. They've mainly been crossovers

with all things Transformers, but this is the

first new one that's dedicated to... The TFG1

feed. And we're here because, as I said, August

8th, 2021. It is now 35 years since Transformers,

or I should say The Transformers. I just like

calling it Transformers the movie. Everyone called

it that. It makes so much more. Like, I get it.

That's the name of the show. The show is The

Transformers. I understand that. But TTFTM just

doesn't sound right. I think they had to put

the the in there for trademark reasons. Maybe.

Because it's the logo, so they had to have it

in there. Right, yeah, absolutely. So we've done

celebratory things for this film for the last

13 years that the podcast has been around, the

last 12 years that the Geekcast Radio Network

has been around. There are several commentary

tracks that we've done for it over the years,

I think usually like... I think we did one once

the 20th anniversary, maybe the 25th. I know

the 30th. We did a commentary for it. We've done

all kinds of celebratory things for this animation

masterpiece. And now in 4K and Blu -ray Ultra

from Shout Factory. Well, this calls for a celebration.

Yes, yes, it does. Let me ask you, since you're

tech, even though we've been working together

for years now, you're technically new to this

specific podcast. And this is the podcast that

I started with way back when in 2008. What is

your experience with this movie from as a child

to now? Well, when I first saw it, my sister

took me to see the movie because I wasn't driving

yet. I was quite a number of years away from

that. And we went walking up to the theater and

there were duck footprints painted on the walkway

up to the theater for Howard the Duck. And we

just kind of laughed and said, no. Saw the Transformers

and was blown away by the awesome animation,

the soundtrack, all the shocking deaths that

happened in the movie. And, oh, my God, the swearing.

And then. I saw it once and then didn't see it

again until like the, I'll do the finger quotes,

season five with the Puppet Optimus Prime. And

then it was quite a number of years after that

because all I had was like a VHS copy of the

broadcast after that. And it was a number of

years after that before I even got the DVD. Never

saw, ever saw a VHS copy of it. I think it was

Rhino that put out the first DVD of it. I had

that for a number of years, and then I got the

20th anniversary, and that's the version that

I have to this day. I'm going to tell you right

now, you should, whether it's digitally or physically,

for physical media, you should invest in the

30th anniversary because it is the, outside of

the new 35th one, it is the best. Standard slash

high def slash whatever you want to call it.

It's the best version. I believe the color of

the 20th anniversary was a bit oversaturated

because it was at that time they were like, oh,

we could just crank up the colors and they didn't

realize they were ruining the film. Yes. Yes,

that's not good. Don't do that, folks. Don't

ruin the film. So somebody else got a hold of

it and said, no, that's not the way this is supposed

to look. Yeah. I mean, Hot Rod is pink, but he's

not that pink. He's magenta. Yes. Is what he

is. It's a combination. Well, maybe you can find

the, maybe you're better off purchasing it digitally,

but I'm looking at it. Oh, that's for the steel

book. The steelbook is $50 on Amazon. Oh, Jesus.

You just need the actual regular thing. But anyway,

yeah, I mean, it's... God, 35 years. I cannot

believe that it's been that long. Yeah. Man.

Yeah, I did not. I have seen this in theaters,

but I did not see this in theaters when it came

out. I was six years old at the time. I remember

seeing this in the format of season five with

Tommy and Power Master Optimus Prime and all

of that and thinking, oh, we like because I had

somehow I had skipped my childhood. And I honestly

don't remember if I've told this story before.

Right. I've been podcasting for 13 years, folks.

I can barely remember 13 minutes ago, let alone

13 years ago. I remember seeing Return of Optimus

Prime. I do not remember seeing Rebirth until

somewhere, I want to say somewhere between 90

and 92. Because I caught the VHS at a video store

or something. So I saw Return of Optimus Prime,

and then I saw Season 5, quote, unquote. And

I'm like, oh, well then. All right. I remember.

I'm sorry. No, go ahead. I'll get through this

really quick. So I remember, like, seeing the

Power Master Optimus Prime season. And then one

day I wake up, because I'm watching it anyway.

One day I wake up. And in my sleepy haze, I'm

like, what episode is this? I, this doesn't look

right. And then, and then I realized, you know,

Ironhide and Ratchet are getting murdered. I'm

like, it's the movie. So the next time I paid

attention to like how many episodes or what episode

order they were in. And then like, as soon as

I knew it was coming up, it was like record.

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And I remember after

I had seen it, I had always tried to, this was

somewhere around, like I said, somewhere at this

point when I was trying to do this, it was somewhere

between like 91 and 93. I had, as a kid, I fascinated

with audio and cassettes and LPs and records

and all that and everything else. But also as

a kid, I wanted, I've always been an audiophile

to the point where I need to listen to the stuff.

Obviously, I need to watch it, but I'm legally

blind. I was born with optic atrophy with nystigmatism.

So literally, as a kid in the 80s and 90s, I'm

sitting literally like five inches away from

it. My nose is almost to the TV screen, essentially,

kind of thing. And I've had glasses over the

years, and they work sometimes, and then sometimes

they don't work and whatever. But it's just one

of those things where... I'm an audiophile. So

as a kid, I tried to record via cassette recorder

the audio for this movie and never got a clean

cassette audio version of this because either

I coughed, I sneezed, my mom yelled at, like,

Mom, I'm trying to record the Transformers. I

just think, what? What'd you say? I didn't hear

you. What'd you say? I didn't hear you. You're

like, oh, goddamn, stop. I forget. I honestly

forget which episode. Oh, I think. Wow. Okay,

so we know there's cursing in the movie, and

the reason why the cursing in the movie is because

to get the PG rating at the time. Yada, yada,

yada, whatever. It's kind of funny in modern

perspective. You would think, considering everything

that's in modern movies now. Yeah. I had a there

was an episode of season three or it might have

been. I don't know. I was over at my aunt's house

one day and I'm watching it and watching it and

enjoying it and whatever. All of a sudden, one

of them says something and she's like, did that

robot just say ass? Oh, my God. Like, she's real.

Yeah. You know. And oh my God, you can't say

shit. You can't say, damn, if you said hell,

you're going to hell and whatever. And I'm like,

oh my God. Cause I know it wasn't the movie.

Cause it was, I want to say it was, and this

is so silly. Cause this was, I think this, this

would have been season two, not season three.

I think it was a prime problem or whichever one

where, where the illustrious Peter Cullen is

Optimus prime. Oh, a booby trap that actually

catches boobies. Oh. Yeah. Hey, at least the

Transformers wasn't as bad as the Simpsons when

the Simpsons came out. They're like, oh, the

parents groups back then. Oh, boy. Well, the

funny thing now is that. I'm not sure that the

casual swearing in this movie would even like

push it past the G nowadays, but I think the

violence would make it a hard R because there

were, there's like, there's some, there's some

robots getting slaughtered in this movie. Yes.

I mean, nobody's ripping off anybody's face,

but it's, you know, it's, it's kind of still

the same thing. I dig this movie. I've always

dug this movie. As of this recording, I've been

re -watching it throughout the day today on August

8th, 2021 to kind of, you know, celebrate the

day. And plus I'm preparing for the top 100 Transformers

characters countdown. So if I need cups, you

know, calling Hot Rod a Turbo Revan Young Punk,

I'm going to go to obviously where it is. It's

just one of those movies that I can, I don't

watch it all that often. I really don't. But

every now and then I get the itch to watch it.

And it's like, hmm. Like I said, I have the 30th

anniversary Shout Factory digital copy edition

on Vudu. And I'm like watching it today and I'm

like, oh, my God, this looks so good. I wish

this looked this good 35 years ago. And now it

can look this good, kind of thing, because Shout

Factory just released the 35th anniversary 4K

Blu -ray disc edition, and literally this release.

So the last release, the 30th anniversary, had

Livio Ramondelli on the art for the cover and

everything else. This time around they have Matt

Ferguson as the artist for the cover and everything

else. This version's all about Hot Rod and Galvatron.

It's all about Rodimus and Galvatron. The Blu

-ray disc is like the inside of the logo when

they transition at the beginning of the movie

and you go inside of the O, I think it's the

O in movie. It's the main disc. The widescreen

UHD disc is basically Hot Rod opening the Matrix.

It's a close -up on his. What I do like about

this 35th anniversary set, though, is the background

behind the discs and behind the little pouch

that they include with some art cards, which

is like Optimus about to say, you know, the famous

line, one shall stand. It's that scene where

he's standing there waiting for Megatron. One

card is... hot rod holding you know the matrix

choosing the right leader uh for once kind of

thing but the background of of the set of the

image that they have here is basically unicron

uh coming out of wherever he's coming out of

going towards uh i forget the name of that all

i remember is over this look look it's unicron

I forget what the name of the damn planet is.

The planet does have a name, but it's never mentioned

in the movie. It's in the comic, I know. Oh,

okay. Yeah, I think it's like Lithelon or something.

Yeah, something like that. No, man, I just, it's...

I can just sit here and watch, and I don't even

have to, I can just sit here, and I'll be writing,

like, I'm about to script part five of the top

100 character countdown for Transformers for

GCRN, so... I'm sitting here and I'm all of a

sudden I'm, I'm, you know, quoting Daniel and

spike. Oh, I don't have a gun. Use your XO suit.

I got to a point where I could, I could just

close my eyes and like basically play the movie

in my head because it was, it was such, it was

such a long period of time where I didn't have

access to the movie that once I had it, I like

watched it like almost constantly for like a

couple of years. And then I, I, reached a point

where i had seen the movie more times than i

had seen any episode so now it went from being

the rarest story that that g1 had to the one

that i saw the most yep yeah and now it's just

like i don't even need to watch this anymore

but it's always fun to go back and yeah and relive

the the awesomeness now back in i want to say

2018 is when it happened They did the first ever

one -night -only theatrical run since the original

release, I believe. And Karen and I went to that,

and it was based off of the 30th anniversary

release. Oh, it was so good to see it in the

theater. It was so good to just see this on a

big screen for once in my life. And I say that

because I know next month they're doing it again

for another one -night -only event. It's another

one of the Fathom Events things. And probably

what they've done is the same thing they did,

you know, two, three, however many, between last

year. I can't keep track of years anymore, folks.

uh back in 2018 i'm sure that was the 30th i'm

damn sure that was the 30th anniversary version

from shout and i'm sure that they'll use this

new 35th anniversary 4k blu -ray whatever it

is that they're going to use and i would like

to go but i don't have to go because i've already

seen it and if i really really want to watch

it i can just pull it up on on my computer and

just you know have that Private moment. After

all, I don't want to subject my... I have to

say it this way, folks. You've heard the story

in other podcasts. I don't want to subject my

ex -wife to more Transformers that she doesn't

care about. Which is fine. It's fine. We each

have our own things. It's okay. It's not that

big a deal. Why are you dragging me to see this

loud movie? Really? I mean, it is loud, but it's

not that loud. Well, it's like wall -to -wall

heavy metal. It's lots of explosions and screaming.

Very true. Yeah. So I'm watching it today, and

I'm like, wait a minute. How is that possible?

So I'm watching the final scene because I'm trying

to get – I was actually trying to get the screenshot,

which I did get it, and it's a screenshot that

I know you hate because you're not one of the

people that actually enjoy. Rodimus Prime's alt

mode, which is fine. That's whatever. Mr. Space,

Winnebago, whatever. I'm just waiting for Barf.

Ice cream truck. Yeah, I'm just waiting for Barf

and Lone Star to show up. But I'm watching the

final scene when he opens the Matrix. He opens

the Matrix. It destroys everything in Unicron.

We see Unicron's brain explode. See his brain

explode. and yet like five seconds later you

cannot destroy my destiny we know it was his

brain just a cluster of monitors and who are

they for anyway i don't i i want to assume that

it's his brain and i have not actively asked

flint and dilly or anyone i've not asked flint

i've not asked ron friedman or anybody about

it but what else would it be you you have to

show a planet you know you have to show this

giant transformer and how he is seeing things

without actually showing him at the forefront

of the movie yeah exactly you know him looking

into you know, his monitors or whatever he's

doing and, and seeing that the matrix is being

passed and letting, Oh no, it's going to get

me. And then of course, get us in some way to,

I'll never make it to Cybertron. Yeah. Or Astro

train. So again, I, it's a little nitpick thing.

It was just something I noticed today. Like I've

never really put too much thought into it, but

I'm like, wait a minute. yeah there's like a

lot of stuff in this movie that's really not

meant to be thought about like oh no the gravity

in space that doesn't make any sense and it's

like that i you know for a cartoon in the 80s

they weren't really thinking about what those

monitors represented they were just like we need

some sort of visual representation of what he's

thinking so we'll just draw this thing and that'll

be it and i think on my end it's more because

I almost did have my brain pop out of my head

two years ago. So, you know, it's that kind of

thing where since I started this podcast 13 years

ago, I found out that for the longest time, I

don't even remember when it started, but I've

always had headaches and always this and always

that. And I started to look into it and go to

doctors and whatever else and ended up at one

of the hospitals downtown Chicago at the time.

And, oh, yeah. You have hydrocephalus. And if

you don't have surgery like Monday, if this continues,

you're literally the doctor. The surgeon said

my brain was two inches away from popping out

of my skull. So that's why. Yeah. A lot of excess

fluid. A lot. Basically, you look into Tim Conway's

death. He died of hydrocephalus. So, yeah, I

was. And it happened at the same time that I

was about to go into surgery. And I'm like, yeah,

so anything with the brain nowadays, it gives

me extra heebie -jeebies kind of thing. Because

I'm like, I don't care who you are. I don't care

what kind of headache you have. I don't care

what caused it. Go get it checked out if it continues.

Because it could honestly be something that you

don't know. Anyway, yeah, Unicron's brain explodes.

He still talks. It's okay. I guess they had to

get one last line in before, sadly. Well, he

has many lines yet in the series. Well, not by

Orson. He doesn't. Well, no, but there were two

reasons why they weren't going to get Orson Welles

back. One, he's too expensive. And two, he was

dead. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

I don't mean to laugh. The man's death is not

a funny thing. Yeah. He was. I remember somebody

figured out how long after he recorded his lines

he died. It was a matter of days. Yeah, it was.

I've heard interviews with Flint Dilley. I've

heard interviews with Susan Blue and a couple

other people. They said it was less than a week.

Wow. From the time he finished recording to the

time that he actually died. And the only reason

they know this is because he was talking to his

publicist on the day. And they figured out what

day that was. Yeah. Yeah, it's very, very sad.

Yeah. What is your favorite scene in this film?

Oh, probably the rebirth of Megatron into Galvatron.

Just because it's such a cool animated scene.

It's such an 80s anime thing. Yes. Which is the

only good anime. It's all in the 80s. Which I

do count among it. Transformers, Inspector Gadget,

and all those. It's not just like Robotech. That's

a good scene. There's lots of good scenes in

this movie. I just love the animation in general

because it's their movie department they had

over in Japan that did it. That's why it was

a huge step up from the TV series. So yeah, but

that's got to be the one that's the best just

because it's such a dark scene, but it's also

really colorful and just really cool. And the

music's good. Oh, the music's amazing. Yeah,

that whole scene, I don't think you're collecting

action figures these days. If you are, I don't

ever hear. Okay, so anyway. I admire the new

action figures, but I'm like, I don't have money

for this. Right. Absolutely. That's fine. It's

not that big of a deal. But the point is, they

have these new red figures, robot -enhanced design.

They're essentially non -transforming figures,

and they are doing one based on Megatron's, basically

his transformation kind of thing. So he's all,

like, pinkish -purplish. and it's got the grid

design on half of its leg. Oh, that's awesome.

Yeah, I'll send you a link here in a little while.

I did a comic book cover based on that once.

Did a parody of it. Cool. Yeah. You know, this

movie, Transformers the movie, it's not what

I, it is and it isn't what I remembered as a

kid because as a kid I was really screwed up.

I want to say there was a version where Hot Rod

actually did get the Matrix first. And no, I'm

not thinking of a comic book or anything like

that and whatever. Somebody told me a weird story

when I was a kid, and obviously that's not true.

But anyway, instead of just handing it to Magnus,

he's like, no, mine. Mine. Yeah. And then they

just roll credits because that's the end of the

movie. Yeah. Yeah. My favorite scene, I have

to say, even though I always nowadays, and it's

only because of the people who actively are like,

Rodimus sucks. And when I say actively, I mean

like sometimes, not everybody, but sometimes.

Actively in my face about it. And I'm like okay

sure. That's your opinion great. You're wrong

but that's your opinion. Just like you know I'm

wrong on plenty of things. But I still have my

opinions. But it's one of those things where.

If I have to. Pick a scene. That was done so

well. Besides what you picked. I gotta say. Prime's

dismount from the ship. And his run to meet Megatron.

His whole. truck run. And he basically kills

all the Decepticons by himself. Yeah. It's like

by thrust, see insecticons, uh, you know, oh

man, I love, and it's not just because of Stan

Bush's, the touch, which, which is obviously

what plays there, but it just, that scene of,

you know, we, we saw Optimus for two whole seasons

be in action, but when this movie starts off,

he's, He's on Moonbase 1 basically being a...

He's basically the Nick Fury of Transformers.

He's basically directing everybody. That's fine.

Kind of thing. And I was like, oh, this is going

to be good. And I am fully in the camp of Optimus'

death is his own damn fault. You are so wrong.

So what was he supposed to do, Mike? Was he supposed

to just shoot Megatron in the face? Yes! That's

called a war crime. We have a Geneva Convention

that says you do not shoot a surrendering, unarmed

combatant. First of all... I know we're talking

about a movie, a cartoon movie about robots,

but there are... human beings who wrote this

movie who believed that and they're right. Yes.

Yes. But here, but the thing of it is, is he

had every opportunity, even when Megatron stabbed

him in the headlight, you know, when he stabs

him in the lower abdomen part and he's holding

it, you know, whatever. It's like he had every

opportunity to take out the Decepticon leader.

And there's even a line in the series where he's

like, We're the only ones that can stop them

or something. It's from, I forget which episode

it's from. Again, go ahead. But I'm talking about

like when he actually had a clean shot at Megatron.

He cannot shoot him in that moment. And besides,

correct me if I'm wrong, but Hot Rod has three

gun turrets on each arm. He sees Megatron going

for the gun. See, the problem is Optimus doesn't

see the gun. So he can't, morally, he cannot

shoot. Yeah. But Rodimus sees it. Or Hot Rod,

I'm sorry. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Why doesn't Hot

Rod just shoot him? Or even shout, hey, he's

got a gun, instead of running into the scene.

See, I was going to come in this like, actually,

Mike, it's a little ambiguous. It might be his

fault, might not. And then I was looking at him

like, no, actually, it is his fault. He could

have, Hot Rod could have shot at Megatron. and

stopped him, but instead he's like, wait, stop!

Well, yes, he did try to tackle him, kind of

thing. But I do think that it's more, the intent

is more of an ambiguity thing, that like, the

intent is that Hot Rod doesn't know how it would

have turned out if he hadn't done that. If maybe

he would have just let things go as they went.

Would Optimus still have died? He doesn't know.

So it's kind of this burden on his mind, but

it's really not to say that it's his fault. It's

just to say that he might be a cog in this thing

that caused Prime's death. And that's all it

really was ever meant to symbolize. I don't believe

this thing that Rodimus caused Prime to die,

but I do think that... especially in terms of

telling the story, it's a vital component of

the story that he has to bear something from

that scene. And I think there's a very real way

you could show that. Yeah. I think the problem

is with the whole scene though. Yeah. And the

reason why some people say that it's all Optimus's

death is all his own fault is because there's

a point in there where he actually goes away

and gets his rifle to come back. You don't leave

the battle. Like, if you have the upper hand,

you don't leave. Well, Megatron, he wasn't going

anywhere. He's laying face down. Yeah, that's

true. I don't know. It's a whole, and oh my god.

These people now. It's so weird what we argue

about when it comes to this movie. And I say

argue in a friendly kind of way, because honestly,

as you said, It's a cartoon made 35 years ago

with fictional characters. It's not the real

world here, folks. There's a thread on Twitter

of people trying to figure out what color Hot

Rod is supposed to be. I think from a production

point of view, I think, and preservation, I think

there is a... a valid reason to care about the

color. But I also think that the current version

has it right anyway. So it's like problem solved.

Yeah, and that's what I said. See, that's the

problem. So people are trying to use the, I guess,

the original. So apparently in the 20th anniversary

version, the Sony version, the widescreen, because

that came in widescreen and fullscreen, the widescreen

has one color. The full screen has another color.

One is magenta pink, sort of, and one is red.

I never noticed that. I think maybe because I

only watched one disc. Right, exactly. Yeah,

I know he's absolutely not supposed to be red.

I don't know why that happened. Yeah, he's not

supposed to be, like, red. Red until the very...

Okay, so, again, as I mentioned, I have the screenshot

of, you know, his final form. Right before Spike

and Daniel get inside of him. The back... You

know what I mean. I know. You snickered. The

back of him is kind of reddish thing, whereas

his front is still magenta -ish. But it's like,

really? And I even said to some of these people,

I'm like, look. This is from the 30th anniversary

edition, the Shout Factory edition, and I freaking

love Shout Factory. I don't ever remember seeing

this, but I took a screencap of the scene where

he is underwater trying to save Cup. It's the

scene where he's going to shoot at the squid

or the octopus or whatever. I assume it's a squid

because the squid uses ink to get away. He goes

to shoot. It's right before or right after you

see the fire. Yeah, I know. I can see the bubbles.

I can see the underwater bubbles in front of

him. And I'm like, that's amazing. It's just

the little things, I guess, folks. Yeah. It's

amazing what you can see in old movies that have

been transferred to the high definition. And

you're like, wow, that was impossible to see

in 480i on my old TV. Yeah. Like literally impossible.

Some things that pop up in old movies that you

didn't see before. I know there's stuff in King

Kong and Wizard of Oz that you absolutely could

not see on VHS. but on blu -ray it's like holy

shit yeah it's it's crazy it's really crazy and

i think that's great i think it's awesome i think

it's fun yeah uh and i just this movie well like

we already said it is so quotable we practically

know it by heart it's a movie that people that

It either brings people together or it forces

them onto opposite sides of certain things. Like,

you know, bottomless rules. You know, obviously

not everybody's going to agree with me. Some

people will. Well, I dislike him more in season

three. In the movie, he's fine. I think Transformers,

the movie, would have been an excellent finale.

That's what I'm saying. In season three, I'm

like, I don't think I like this guy anymore.

You know, I don't know. It's one of those things

where he's a young, growing leader. He doesn't

have, like, he didn't come with the Matrix MacGuffin

filled up with all millions of years of wisdom.

He emptied it, remember? Optimus did. He's like,

you are never getting this Matrix again. Couldn't

you leave a little bit more in there, Prime?

Nope. Nope. Gotta drain it all out. So many characters

in there. I'm really surprised going back today

and watching this. How many care besides the

new characters, like of the old characters, like,

and I know everyone's going to say, Oh, it's

just a sign. It is. It was to them. But again,

these writers and these story, uh, editor people

and, and everything, you know, they had to make

sense of a story for this kind of thing. And

they had to do this and they had to do that.

And they had to figure out, you know, it's kind

of like may the man rest in peace. Kind of like

when David Wise was talking about rebirth, where,

Rebirth initially was supposed to be five parts,

and then they're like, yeah, no, we don't have

enough money, cut it down to three. Oh, okay,

how am I going to fit 120 new characters into

three episodes? Oh, they each get like 5 .27

seconds on screen, so we know who they are. Whatever.

But this movie, man, I just... It's just so fun,

and so many 80s voice actors. now that movie

is kind of like a who's who of like who's died

in oh it's like every year i know it's like oh

someone else from the movie died yeah that's

that's not good um well i know time passes but

yeah it's just yeah i don't know something about

like the 80s you know when we're like nine or

ten or six. We don't like, we think it's just

going to be like this all the time. And like,

we don't realize just how finite, uh, life really

is. And then, you know, it's like, it's like,

wow. Like, you know, it's like all these people

that, uh, we thought would be around forever.

Like would just, they just disappear. Like Chris

Lada. I mean, he was one of the, not the first,

but one of the first people from this movie to,

uh, expire. Yes. And, of course, Roger C. Carmel

before him, and, of course, Orson Welles. But,

like, Chris Lauda's death was just, like, wow.

I don't know why that hit me so hard, but I was,

like, really surprised to hear when he died,

like, in the, what was it, like, 93, 94? Yeah,

it was 94, actually. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Your talk

here of all the deaths, of all the actual, sadly,

actor deaths. My God. Plus, we don't realize

just how old some of them were. Yeah. Scatman

Crothers. I never knew who he was. I knew him

as the voice of Hong Kong Fooey, but I didn't

know who he was until well after he died. Yeah.

I never saw The Shining. Yeah. No, it's wow.

Nearly half the cast is gone. Mm -hmm. Between

Scatman and, well, like we've already mentioned,

Orson Welles and Lada. Casey Kasem. Casey Kasem

and, oh, jeez, Stack. Stack is gone. Robert Stack,

yeah. Yeah, Robert Stack. Lionel Stander. Lionel

Stander. And again, as you said, I think Lionel

was pretty up there in age at the time. Oh, yeah.

But I look at this movie and I think, holy crap.

Oh, Leonard Nimoy. Freaking Galvatron. Galvatron

and Unicron are both gone. You know, just, oh,

my God. And the other Rodimus Prime. Yeah, he's

gone. Season three, he's gone. But I look at

this and I'm like. I enjoy this so much. And

all of those actors, even though to some of them,

like Leonard Nimoy, I bet this was, yes, I'm

sure he put everything he could into it. But

again, it's just a job. He wasn't already on

the show, or he wasn't this, or he wasn't that.

And I don't know, I can't speak for the guy.

Maybe one day I'll get an interview with his

son or something and ask him about it. if Leonard

ever said anything to Adam about this experience,

but it's just one of those things where even

though this was a job for them, not necessarily

to them, but a job for them to act out, what

they did, what they gave us, and the lasting

impression it's made on all of us. Anyone who

is old enough, I want to say from the age of

5 to 12, I want to say, because sometimes when

you're 13 and you forget which year a show came

out because, you know, you've been waking and

baking for the past two decades. Sorry, wrong

show. 83 Smith, 83, not 81. Anyway, it's just

one of those things where this touched us. Whether

we cried in our closets or whether we, you know,

oh, my God, Optimus. Again, this is one of those

early moments, early, you know, like you said,

it's one of those early things of teaching children

of the 80s that characters and people expire.

They die. We're not going to be here forever.

And, you know, I always anybody can say what

they want about Daniel in season three. Because

Daniel was an annoying little kid in season three.

He had one good line. Two heads are better than

one, Cyclonus. And that wasn't until Rebirth.

But anyway, you know, that moment at the end

of Prime's death scene when basically Daniel

buries his head in the robot's hand. That's a

good scene. Yeah, that's a scene that like, oh,

this affects. As a kid, you recognize that where

you're crying so hard that you're not even making

a sound, and it's something that only children

do. Yep. Absolutely. This movie, folks, Transformers

the movie, it's so good. It is so fun between,

like we said, all the animation stuff. The remastered

versions, the good versions of it now, the high

def versions, the Blu -rays, the 4Ks, the whatever.

Between that, the music, not just the music,

not just the Stan Bush or the... Kick -Ax or

Spectre General. What in the hell? I know they

were on Jericho's podcast saying that the record

label basically told them they had to change

their name. Yeah, it was some trademark issue.

Yeah, it was some trademark issue. Whatever.

Between them and obviously... The fact that Weird

Al has a song on the Transformers soundtrack?

Holy crap. And obviously... Mm hmm. Had they

ever like I don't ever remember hearing anything

else from them. I know that they probably did

other things back then. Well, the funny thing

about NRG is that, no, they never recorded anything

else in the 80s. Oh, my God. But like in the

early 2000s, they I don't know if they were still

together or if they got back together, but they

made an album. And it's oh, my God, it's around

here somewhere. And I forget the title of it.

I think it's called. It's some sort of Transformers

pun, but I don't remember the title of it. But

they recorded all the songs or some of the songs

they had written back in the 80s. And through

like a remixed version of, oh, God, I keep wanting

to say Symphony of Destruction. No, it's Instruments

of Destruction. Instruments of Destruction. It's

not Megadeth. Yeah, they threw on like a slight

remix of that song. And they put it out and I

think it's like limited to a thousand copies

or something. And I have one of them. So it's

around here somewhere. Wow. Yeah. Very cool.

Very cool. Yeah, absolutely. Love this. The Vince

DiCola score, I think, is what you're going for.

Well, no, both. I mean, both. But everyone talks

about the soundtrack album that came out, but

then there was a whole other album that came

out years later that was the Vince DiCola score.

Yeah, Entrada put it out, I want to say 2014.

Yeah, it was basically the 30th anniversary is

when that happened, and I have it. I had seen

two years after it released, I had seen, I had

gone to BotCon 2016 at the time, which was the

last BotCon. Louisville, Kentucky ruined BotCon,

folks. No, some people that work at BotCon ruined

BotCon. Anyway, I was only going to, they were

putting on, because in Louisville they have 4th

Street Live, which is basically this. open -air

venue that they can put stages in and do musical

acts and things like that, so it feels like you're

outside because it's open -air. It used to be

the Galleria Mall, and it used to be this giant

glass thing, and it still is glass. It's never

not been glass, but it's now all opened up and

everything else, so Stan and Vince were going

to put on a free concert one night before. It

was April 8th, 2016. So... Lady Wreck and I,

who's another frequenter of the Geek Cast Radio

Network, she and I went down there, and we saw

the Stan and Vince concert, because it's very

rare that Stan and Vince get together for a concert.

So we had to go see it, and they had copies of

the score on everything. CD, cassette, vinyl,

they had it on everything. I was like, damn,

where was this 30 years ago? But, you know, hey.

It works. It was fun. It was fun seeing Stan

and Vince live. And it's just another part of

that thing. You know, you're right. It's like

every little piece of that music, of that score,

of Vince's, like, just off the top of my head,

Closing In and Twisted Planet are two of my favorite

tracks that they did besides the tracks that

everybody knows, which is like the Death of Optimus

Prime and Autobot Decepticon Battle. But Closing

In is when they're chasing the Autobots, when

they're chasing them in the Revenge. And then

Twisted Planet is when they show up on – or not

show up, when they crash land on Quintessa. That

one in particular is a really good track. And

when it's in the movie, it's so buried in the

mix that you cannot hear it. So to actually get

a clean version of this, I'm like, I've never

heard this before. Because it's like – Because

when it starts, it starts with the shuttle just

flying away from the camera, and it's so loud

in the mix that you don't hear the music at all.

Yeah. Yeah, and I guess, I don't know, what else

do we want to say about this thing 35 years later?

It's an old movie. Yeah. Yeah. And something

else about the passage of time is that I remember

when I, in the eighties, when I was a kid, I

would look back at like TV shows that were made

in the sixties. And that was like, that seemed

like it was like an eon ago. Like, Oh, the sixties

were so long ago. This is the eighties. And now

the eighties are like twice as are like, it's

like twice as. as what the 60s were back then.

And it's like, yeah, it doesn't seem like it

was that long ago. And it feels like the 80s

are more relevant now today than they ever were.

Certainly more than the 60s were. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, it's just crazy. And it's crazy looking

back on when all of this happened, when it was

released, how old we all were at the time. And

here we are, 35 years later, still going back

to the well of all sparks of this film, this

franchise. And I've said this for 13 years now.

You can like any version you want. Transformers

is for everybody. We're all not going to have

the same likes. The fact that I prefer Rodimus.

I don't necessarily prefer him over Optimus.

I just... Optimus Prime, to me personally, was

never a father figure. Yes, he gave good advice.

Yes, he taught me lessons. But I never imprinted

on him as, oh, Optimus Prime's your daddy. No,

never did that. He kind of talks like people's

dad. He's like the man of meaningless platitudes.

That's how Optimus Prime talks. I think he said

something once that's like, there's a thin line

between being a hero and being a memory. He just

had those little one -liners that dads say. So

I think that's part of the reason why. Plus,

he just sounded like a dad. Yeah, he did. Like,

come sit on my knee, little man. You know, that

kind of shit. Yep. Unless you listen to him in

Knight Rider. Oh, no. Car. That's right. or in

the go box oh god you know it's so funny where

else peter cullen pops up like he's the voice

of nightstick in rebirth and i'm like oh my god

like look at me you i'm like oh my god is that

optimus prime i mean obviously he's playing a

completely different character but it's like

he plays a lot of characters in the rebirth i

was kind of surprised just how many times he

got cast Yeah, I remember Nightstick was kind

of he kind of had this old this old tiny voice

like, yeah, we're going to rub them out. I think

that's one of like two lines he said. Yeah. Oh,

it's just so funny. And yeah, what's funny about

the go bots in particular is that the go bots

were already over by the time this movie came

out. The go bots died before Optimus Prime did.

Oh, you know, it's even what's even worse is.

So, again, I'm going through the series, and

what's even worse is certain things that happen

to Optimus in the series. So, I was looking for

some Laserbeak stuff, because Laserbeak just

made the top 50 kind of thing. And, okay, where

am I going to get a good Laserbeak squawk from?

What scene? Oh, okay. I can... Grab this thing

where Peter Cullen says, Laserbeak, you tin -foiled

turkey. And I can then go get this other scene

where Laserbeak is actually, they're having to

work on Optimus something. I forget which. It's

the one where Laserbeak attacks him inside the

Ark. Yeah. And you see it super close up on his

chest as the attack basically destroys his entire

chest. I'm like, it's a good thing the Matrix

wasn't in there yet. Yeah. Kind of thing. And,

yeah, it's going to be crazy. All right, so I

want to make sure these are two different nights

or whatever. So Fathom Events, as I said, tickets

for this event aren't on sale yet. Okay, that's

fine. I just want to know when it is. Okay, they're

doing a two -night event, Sunday, September 26th,

and Tuesday, September 28th. of this year so

that's what they're doing uh celebration 35th

anniversary yada yada yada uh it's probably going

to be you know the same experience sort of i

mean obviously they're probably going to use

the like i said the new 4k edition 4k transfer

uh you know but it is what it is but yes folks

You, too, can go see Transformers The Movie live

in theaters Sunday, September 26th or Tuesday,

September 28th. Excellent. Yes, so we'll have

this link in the show notes. And, yeah, I mean,

you got a favorite line from the movie? Ooh,

I would really have to think about that. I don't

know. I don't know. I'd have to think about it.

I really don't have anything that jumps out at

me. But there's so much that jumps out. Yeah,

it's a very quotable movie. Not really a line,

but I guess I'll go with the scene that is when

they kind of quote or paraphrase from Of Mice

and Men with Grimlock. Yeah. With the petro -rabbits.

I'm like, ah, I see what you did there, movie.

Uh -huh. Actually, I know one, and my sister

laughed at this. It was the scene where the Dinobots

come crashing into the Save the Day in the courtroom

of the Quintessons, and Slag just kind of leans

over and looks at the one guard that's buried

under the door, and he goes, excuse me. Well,

that's because right before he went, excuse me.

Like, he burped as he came in the door. Oh, that

ruins the scene. Because I thought it was just,

like, him being sarcastic and courteous. No,

no. He burps when he walks in. I'll have to look

at that again. Oh, man. That whole scene, though.

That whole scene. From the time they crash in

to the... Oh, man. I have it somewhere on YouTube

or whatever. Maybe I'll embed it. It's basically,

it's the scene, you know. They've got more Sharktacons

than we do. You have photon charges. Well, let's

set up a demolition derby. And they go through

and the music kicks up and everything. And I'm

like, oh, God, this is just so good. And then,

of course, at the end, ha, ha, ha, ha, didn't

even bend a fender. No, but I mean, you know,

one shall stand, one shall fall. I thought you

were made of sternum stuff. I mean, there's all

kinds of lines. I think. I don't know if it's

just my inner child because it happens every

single time I watch it. I tear up at two moments

in this movie. Obviously, when Hot Rod wrestles

the Matrix away, kicks Galvatron out of Unicron's

ass, which I assume, I mean, we never really

see, which I just always assume because Grimlock

and them, anyway. So he's got the Matrix and,

you know, he's holding it up and he's doing the

whole thing. And you don't, as a kid, I never,

like, they killed Optimus. I assumed he was gone.

Never expected the ghost of Optimus. I never

expected Force Ghost Optimus Prime to show up.

Arise, Rodimus Prime. You're the daddy. No, no,

no, no, no, no. And then at the very end, because

it's famous last words that have been transferred

on to the new leader. And it's just so simple

and stupid. But, you know, it's Judd saying Autobots

transform and roll out. It's like you're never

going to hear really hear Optimus say those ever

again at that point at the end of that film.

Or so you thought. Or so you thought. It's the

only time they say it in the movie. Yes. First

they're going to bring him back as a zombie.

Controlled by the Quintessons or whomever the

hell controlled him. And then they're going to

go save him from the hate plague. But Transformers

the movie, it is what it is. It is awesome. It

is something that I go back to every now and

then. Obviously more recently now because of

this and because of the top 100 Transformers

characters countdown. I'm actually going to,

so again, as I mentioned earlier in the episode,

I had always wanted an audio recording. By God,

when the 20th anniversary came out, I made a

full -on 86 -minute audio recording of the film.

Now that the new versions are here, it's like,

oh, maybe I should update this. It's still all

the same audio, but still, hey, at least I'll

have a better version of it than I did X number

of years ago. All right, sir, where can the people

find you online? They can find me at RavingHipster

.com or Patreon .com slash Mr. Neal. That'll

take you to my, well, obviously take you to Patreon.

For $2 a month, you can get all my movie commentaries,

which we have a commentary of this very movie.

JT from Saskatoon joined me for it. And we have

a bunch of Star Wars commentaries and commentaries

of Netflix shows and just weird movies in general.

And I have a gaming podcast called The Gaming

Hipster, which is right here on the Geekcast

Radio Network. And you can also get a deluxe

version of it on the Patreon with pre -show stuff,

after -show stuff, stuff that's raunchy, so I

cut it out of the podcast. So you get a deluxe

version of the podcast if you give me your $2

a month. And for $20 a month, you can even tell

me what movie you want me to watch. which I'm

always amicable for that. Are you sure? Because

not anytime soon, but in the future, I may just

pay you $20 for a certain film. I'm probably

not going to like what I hear. It better not

be episode nine. Oh, no, no, no, no. Okay, good.

No, no, no. Something much better than that.

Oh, no. Oh, you already know. We argue about

it all the time. Anyway, sorry. Go ahead. Continue

the promoting. That's pretty much it. I have

a webcomic called Dacien at Dacien .com. D -A

-S -I -E -N .com. It has not updated in quite

some time. It's going through some revision at

the moment. I'm still waiting on the damn swimsuit

issue, damn it. Yeah, the swimsuit issue. It's

part of a larger collection of stories. I can't

put it out and have it be the only thing that

comes out. It has to be part of the big collection.

So that will be coming out at some point or another.

You do understand the point of a swimsuit issue,

right? It's a monthly magazine and it's once

a year that the swimsuit issue comes out. Yeah,

but that's just for Sports Illustrated. I can

put mine out anytime I want. I know, I know.

But anyway, there's that. I do... art commissions

for people. So if you want to pay me, you just,

uh, uh, hit me up on Twitter. I'm at, at TV's

Mr. Neil, uh, Mr. is abbreviated, uh, MR. Yeah.

So you, there's that. Um, I think that's, I think

that's the whole shebang at the moment. Oh, uh,

facebook .com slash raving dot hipster for the

Facebook. Yes. The Facebook just drop the, the,

Anyway, it's a bad social network joke, folks.

All right. I am at TFG1 Mike on Twitter. You

can also follow at Geekcast Radio and all the

other network's updates there. TFG1 Podcast is

going to be coming back soon -ish. I don't know

when exactly, but we have sort of a plan, I think.

I don't know. I've always had this plan of redoing

it right because the first time around. It was

really rough until about Episode 17. So Episode

17 is when we started Season 3, and Episode 17

is when I finally had full -on co -hosts join

me. But, yes, there are plans. Yes, I'm thankful

to everyone who has stuck around all these years,

and I'm sorry for all the old audio. I didn't

know any better back then. I've tried to learn

since then. Even though it usually takes me about

four hours to edit one episode. I go through

every second of audio. I have to. If I don't,

then she'll get left out. I'll say, I want to

put Rodimus saying this here. And then if I skip

it, then I... put anything there and it'll be

blank all right folks we're gonna get the heck

out of here as i said tfg1 is coming back soon

ish i know i've been promising that since 2014

but yes we are we have a plan sort of i just

have to flush it out a little more much like

people want to flush out wheelie are we sure

that wheelie just isn't a go bot You know, I

don't. If you look at the toy, it kind of looks

like one. Yeah, but I don't think he is. He's

slightly cooler than a GoBot. I guess he's better

than Scooter. Well, anybody's better than Scooter.

Hell, T -Bob is better than Scooter. Oh, God.

And I hate T -Bob. Anyway. Unleash the Transformers

geek in you, and we will catch you next time

here on the TFG1 podcast. Transform and roll

out. To all one.