For longtime fans of The Transformers who grew up with the line since the Generation 1 days, The Transformers: The Movie will forever be a divisive film. On the one hand, it introduced new characters and essential elements into the mythos that have survived to this day. On the other hand, it unceremoniously killed off all the fan-favorite characters in a brutally visceral and traumatizing way, as evidenced by fan reactions to the death of the beloved Optimus Prime. With an eye for fairness and nostalgia, here are things that were great about and things that didn't work.
10 GREAT: ANIMATION
From its opening scenes, it was clear that the animation of The Transformers: The Movie was going to be beautiful and vibrant. Following the character designs of the television show, the film animators had more time to fill in the detail and render all fan-favorite characters more gloriously epic than they ever could before.
Perhaps this is most evident in the opening scene, where an incredibly striking yet ominous Unicron hurdles through space, about to devour an unsuspecting planet. The combination of color, detail, design and fluid movement was breathtaking and set a high standard the audience would enjoy for the rest of the film.
9 SUCKED: ANIMATION GLITCHES
Although the animation was beautifully rendered, that didn’t stop the film from having some of the same errors that plagued the television series. Granted, the snafus weren’t as pronounced as the infamous error-ridden Season 3 episode Carnage in C Minor, but there were enough to be mildly infuriating. For example, if Sunstreaker is with Kup in Autobot City, how can he be on Optimus Prime’s shuttle when he lands and then dead in Season 3? Most famously, although it is widely accepted that Thundercracker became Scourge, who exactly is Cyclonus? The popular theory wishes it to be Skywarp over Bombshell but the debate rages on due to these animation glitches!
8 GREAT: ACTION-PACKED
For a cartoon based on warring factions of transforming alien robots, The Transformers: The Movie didn’t skimp out on the action at all. Fully cognizant of their intended audience and their viewing desires, the writers crafted an action-packed story that saw the Transformers’ war manifested via individual vs individual and army vs army battles across Earth and Cybertron and any planet in between. The pulse-pounding battle of Autobot City was noticeably exceptional, topped off by the epic final battle between Optimus and Megatron. Moreover, the Autobot/Decepticon assault on Unicron at the end of the film was similarly exciting.
7 SUCKED: NO DEVELOPMENT OF NEW CHARACTERS
The Transformers: The Movie introduced a plethora of new Autobots and Decepticons to the franchise. Based on the wave of action figures due to be released that year, Hasbro intended for characters like Ultra Magnus, Rodimus Prime, and Cyclonus to replace the well-established classics like Optimus Prime, Ironhide, and Starscream.
Unfortunately, with so many characters to deal with on-screen, character development was hard to achieve for all the new faces. Minus some notable exceptions, it was difficult for audiences to become invested in characters they never knew beforehand, particularly when beloved ones were dying left and right on-screen.
6 GREAT: CELEBRITY VOICES
Celebrity casting may be all the rage in animation these days, but it was relatively obscure when The Transformers: The Movie was released. Securing the talents of notable Hollywood actors added to the texture of the characterization in this film, particularly in the case of Robert Stack/Ultra Magnus, Galvatron/Leonard Nimoy and Eric Idle/Wreck-Gar. Judd Nelson’s Hot Rod was serviceable, but pairing him with Lionel Stander’s Kup created a perfect duo and on-screen chemistry. Thankfully, the legendary Orson Welles was able to deliver an iconic performance as Unicron, albeit with some technical assistance due to health issues.
5 SUCKED: NO RESPECT TO ORIGINAL CHARACTERS
Although classic characters like Ironhide, Bumblebee, and Soundwave were in the film, their appearances were fleeting and almost perfunctory. Most of the 1984-1985 Autobots and Decepticons who did appear seemingly only did so only to be killed off, with some beloved characters having the indignity of having been done in offscreen. Granted, the directive from Hasbro was to kill off the previous characters to make way for the new ones in the toy line, but a modicum of respect for the characters that fans had grown to love would have been well-placed.
4 GREAT: DARING
Say what you want about the death toll on beloved characters, it took guts and daring to take the narrative leaps the film did. Granted, the impetus may have had more to do with marketing than thematics, but the writers managed to twist an entertaining yarn about war, destiny, leadership, and banding together against an oncoming disaster. Particularly interesting was seeing Ultra Magnus' ability to command effectively and decisively in a finite arena like Autobot City, but not being able to cope with things outside his box, like escaping the Decepticon attack by Galvatron in the shuttles.
Another compelling plotline was watching Hot Rod's ability to identify important steps the Autobots needed to enact and take the risks associated with leadership on his way to becoming Rodimus Prime. Moreover, it added elements such as the Matrix of Leadership and Unicron to the mythos, which have since become enduring across multiple versions of the series.
3 SUCKED: KILLED OPTIMUS PRIME
It would be an understatement to say that the bigwigs at Hasbro had no idea just how popular their Autobot leader was when they decided to put the kibosh on him. Aside from a visceral battle with Megatron that left many young fans scarred, the almost immediate backlash from parents and the effect on their ratings left little doubt they erred. Even Optimus Prime's resurrection at the end of the much-maligned Season 3 of the cartoon series did little to boost the show's dwindling popularity, and it was off the air in the western world shortly after.
2 GREAT: SCORE & SOUNDTRACK
Vince DiCola's score for the film is simultaneously pulse-pounding, haunting, and emotionally charged. Although the synthesizers are somewhat anachronistic, the score still hits the right chords, especially for scenes like Optimus' death or Megatron's transformation to Galvatron.
What seems much more dated is the film's soundtrack, which was emblematic of classic '80s heavy and glam metal. However, Stan Bush's "The Touch" and "Dare" still manages to get fans pumped and ready for action!
1 SUCKED: CHARACTER DESTINIES
The decimation of beloved characters was bad enough, but fans were left wondering what happened to others who didn't even appear in the theatrical release. For example, Shockwave's death at the hands of Unicron was only rumored following the end of the film. Moreover, Sparkplug was never mentioned in the film or subsequent series, leaving fans to wonder if he died and how.