Sometimes it's hard for us to let go of our youth. When I was younger I loved the Transformers (still do considering I'm watching Season One as I type this). I still collect some of the newer toys that strike my fancy, though the Generation 1 replicas are too expensive for me. In any case, I was out digging around on the Transformers website when I found a link to a movie website. It turns out that a live-action movie is in the works; scheduled for release on 7/4/2007.
I won’t say I didn’t feel a tingle of excitement, but it was quickly overshadowed by deep concern. Despite the success of some of the current comics-gone-movies, there are still a few that are gigantic stinkers. Okay, the Transformers weren’t exactly all that special. They were quite cheesy and as an adult I see the shows were glorified marketing mechanisms, but I digress.
When I was 11, the original Transformers movie was released. I remember busting my butt washing windows for cabbies to earn enough money to go see it. In all, I saw the movie numerous times in theaters. I had a video tape I wore to nothingness (I still have it, actually). I even recorded the audio so I could listen to the movie during family trips (we only had walkmans back then, not in-car DVD players these young whipper snappers have today).
The original movie was cool. I own it on DVD and still watch it from time to time. Of course, it was also another marketing mechanism by which they (Hasbro) swapped out all the old Transformers with new ones. If you watch the first few seasons, you’ll see Autobots and Decepticons take hit after hit. In the movie, they fall with one shot. Kinda obvious if you ask me. BUY NEW TOYS!!!
Going back to the new live-action movie, I hope they are able to come up with a screenplay that will cater to kids while not taking a giant poo on the original fans like me. Personally, I’d prefer to see the Gen 1 guys. It’s wishful thinking on my part, since it’ll most likely involve the newer versions of the characters.
Despite my misgivings, I know I’ll go see it. The good part is I’m older, so I don’t care about waiting like I did when I was a wee one.