TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE – 30th Anniversary!
More Than Meets The Eye Pre-Show – 7:00pm
Transformers: The Movie – 8:00pm
PLUS! A post-film Q&A with surviving Transformers from the war for Cybertron – local robots in disguise, the Cybertronic Spree! http://rock.thecybertronicspree.com/
1986’s ambitious Transformers: The Movie blasts into space with the pummeling theme song by Lion, introducing the planet-eating-planet named Unicron (Orson Welles in his final film!) en route to the Transformers’ home planet of Cybertron and devouring every planet-like thing in its path! Meanwhile, the heroic Autobots and evil Decepticons continue their eternal war on Earth, climaxing with Autobot leader Optimus Prime rolling into battle (to the glorious accompaniment of Stan Bush’s “The Touch”), only to be mortally wounded alongside arch-nemesis Megatron, passing on the Matrix of Leadership with his dying breath. And oh man, that’s just Act One!
Transformers: The Movie was the centerpiece of toymaker Hasbro’s ambitious, failed gamble to exploit their franchises at the box office, included My Little Pony: The Movie (a bomb), G.I. Joe: The Movie (direct-to-video) and Jem (cancelled). The film was a major leap from the TV show, with a more sophisticated story, the use of a swear word (!), a greatly increased animation budget, plus voice work from Leonard Nimoy, Eric Idle, Judd Nelson, Orson Welles (who died before the film’s release), and Scatman Crothers (who died soon after the film’s release). The film left an unshakable imprint on young minds of the 1980s, and is responsible in part for steering North American moviegoers towards the hyper-intensity of Japanese cybernetic anime. Meanwhile, a LOT of beloved Transformers died in the making of this film, mercilessly killed off to make way for new toy products! Cold, bottom line indifference collides with creative excellence to create an entertainingly grim, apocalyptic tale of war and wonder in the 1980s arms race aesthetic. You’ve got the touch – you’ve got the power!
Come early for a classic Transformers pre-show and a cameo appearance from Bumblebee, Rumble, a Quintesson (and more?) from Cybertronian rockers, The Cybertronic Spree!
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