Movies and TV Transformers Day - The TransFormers: The Movie 40th Anniversary & Optimus Prime: Awakening Recap/Review
Happy Transformers Day, everyone!
Well, actually, it's 12:20 as I finally sit down to write this, so the day is over. But I still hope it was happy for you!
Me? As you might have guessed, the bulk of my day was spent going to and seeing the 40th Anniversary edition of The Transformers: The Movie.
But before we get into that, here's a little about the day that was.
For starters, I don't know about anyone else, but showings of this movie are not exactly what I would call... "common", here in Toronto. My wife booked the tickets at Cineplex. It wasn't showing at our usual theatre, and we thought we had gotten tickets at the one across the street, but it turned out that we actually had tickets for a similarly-named venue an hour away in Scarborough. Whoops. Thank goodness for the LRT.
A cloudy day. Strangely suiting for what we're about to experience.
We got there just in time; I grabbed our seats while my wife grabbed our refreshments. Place was full, too. Not sure if it was packed, but I didn't see many free seats.
Overall, the movie was just as you know it. Well, at least if you watched the North American version. Maybe. That is to say, this is the "basic" version: no Star Wars crawl at the start talking over the most slapping version of the Transformers theme to ever exist (thank you, Lion), no "please come back, we're bringing Optimus back! Honest!" addition at the end.
I thought I saw something saying this release was in 4K, but if it was, I didn't notice. Or is that a special IMAX sort of deal? I'm not exactly a moviephile, I don't know. If it was 4K, I didn't notice the difference. And if it was, maybe the money spent doing that would have been put to better use doing some color corrections, like when there are two Frenzys going after Blaster's tower, or Starscream's recurring all-yellow nosecone.
Speaking of Starscream, I think he was the MVP of the showing I was at, drawing the most laughter for his lines, mishaps, and getting dunked on/dunking on Megatron.
There was one odd bit when we first go to see Daniel and Hot Rod fishing, in that the scene seemed rather blurry. It was back to normal pretty quickly, but I don't know if that was just our theatre, our showing, or something everyone will be experiencing (sound off if you saw Hot Blurr in the comments below!).
I can say one fear of mine was quickly allayed, as you might have guessed above: The soundtrack was intact.
Now, if you don't follow the forums (Shameful! But it's never too late to change!), let me fill you in. With all this "Apology Tour" stuff, including "The Reformatted Edition" of the soundtrack by "The Knights of Unicron" throughout the first half of the year, a thought occurred to me: What if they were planning to replace the original score with something more "modern" sounding that might also mean they wouldn't have to pay the same royalties to the original artists?
Thankfully, that was not the case at all. (Look, it's 2026, and there isn't a lot that companies won't do to save a buck at the expense of people these days. I don't think my fears were entirely unjustified.)
Everything was just as we remember it, and that's definitely good. A large part of experiencing this movie is the music, after all.
That said, I did find the sound mixing seemed to have the music a little lower than I'm used to. Maybe it was just the theatre setup?
Speaking of which, I feel I should add that this is my first time seeing this movie in a normal movie theatre (they were fine with everything from Sesame Street to Masters of the Universe to all three Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies, Super Mario Bros., and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, but for some reason, this was where my parents drew the line. You know, the one that actually mattered in the context of the TV show I was into at the time. Go figure). I've seen it in my home and others' countless times. I saw it in a vintage theatre accompanied by a performance by The Cybertronic Spree. Heck, I've even seen it on the big jumbotron screen at the Skydome following a Blue Jays win on their Transformers Day. But this is the first time I've seen it "as intended," more or less.
Okay, that's enough beating around the Stan Bush. Let's get to what you're probably really interested in: Optimus Prime: Awakening.
Strange thing: There were people actually getting up and leaving during the credits. The lights even came up. I... get the feeling that maybe this short wasn't promoted as well as it could have been.
Spoilers follow, so don't click if you don't want 'em.
Sheesh, had more to say than I realized. But then again, look at what I get out of five minute shorts, what else did I expect from 12?
As for the rest of the experience, we saw some fans there having a good time, including some fanciful dress and cosplay:
I hope I remembered to compliment his hat...
And of course, we had to get our picture taken with the movie poster:
Oh, and for those wondering: There was no merch to be had. None. I was apparently not the only one to ask, either, but they didn't get anything in for this.
All in all, a great time was had! If you've never seen The Transformers: The Movie before, this is the way to do it while you still can! And if you have? Well, it's still a great way to see it!
I mean, you've got better things to do tonight than die, right?
But what did you think? Did you check it out? Is it not showing in your area? Did you get into one of those fancy 4D showings that throttles your chair and blows air in your face? Feel free to talk about it here (but be sure to mark spoilers for Optimus Prime: Awakening!), or over in the "Transformers the Movie 40th Anniversary Tour" thread in our forums!
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