The Autobots and Decepticons continue the war for control of the territory in 2005. Megatron’s troops have conquered Cybertron, but the Autobots are ready to change that. In a large-scale conflict, old heroes will fall and new ones will rise, while the planet – the demon Unicron will approach their home world.

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Since 1984, the popularity of the Transformers brand has been gaining momentum with space speed. Toys, comics, and then the animated series … all of these representatives of the brand were successful. And by 1986 the main trump card of the brand, represented by the animated series, had become one of the highest-rated projects in the television network. Not wanting to stop there, the creators are beginning to prepare a full-length cartoon, which will be a connecting link between seasons 2 and 3 of the animated series. However, they are making several significant changes to the project, which cause conflicting reactions from both viewers and critics …

The Movie takes place 21 years after the events of the first season, in 2005.

A lot has changed. Now people are already well aware of the transforming aliens. In return for using the Earth as their stronghold, the Autobots share their tech with humans. achievements and provide them with protection from the attacks of the Decepticons. (We will learn more about this in the third season. Here you can only guess about it)) Spike Witwicky has matured and he has a son. Some of the Autobots and Decepticons who had weight in the war had already left the scene. And the main difference between where the second season of the animated series ended and the Movie begins is that Megatron won. Over the past 21 years, he has recaptured Cybertron from the Autobots and is preparing to inflict a crushing blow on them. However, Prime’s forces are fortifying themselves on the Cybertron Moons, intending to retake their home from the enemy. However, both sides are unaware that a planet is approaching their planet – the demon Unicron, which absorbs all equal space objects on its way …

The Movie has become noticeably darker and more serious than the animated series was. The very first scene with the destruction of the planet Leaton suggests that there will be no such childishness as in the animated series. Subsequent events, including the attack on the shuttle and the battle in Autobot City (and there and there, several key characters in the animated series met their death), only confirm this. Now the fighting between the Autobots and the Decepticons cannot be described as a gamble, with a very rare hit and no casualties on both sides. Although the Decepticons continue to resemble a gang of scoundrels in many ways, they, like Megatron, are now really cruel and will deal with any enemy that gets in the way. Foul Starscream is now moving from words to action … But the biggest change lay ahead for the viewer …

… The death of Optimus Prime shocked the public in 1986. Nobody thought that the main character of the already cult children’s animated series could not only die, but also die when no one expects it – in the middle of the film. Fans of the animated series, in the face of animation lovers, took Prime’s death for granted, while parents believed that this plot move would have a catastrophic effect on their children. Many critics felt the same way. In some ways, they were right, as many children, having taken the events too close to their hearts, locked themselves in their rooms or threw tantrums … All this had a terrible effect on the distribution of the film and its box office. Although the main reason for the modest collection of TF the Movie was the unequal competition in the face of James Cameron’s fantastic action movie Aliens, which, despite the solid R rating, viewers of absolutely all ages tried to get.

In general, Transformers: the Movie was the first American animation project related to television, where one of the main characters died, and the storyline underwent major changes. (Although such things have already taken place in Japan) It was he who gave the impetus for the American animated series to acquire a more serious attitude. And it was at his expense that shows such as Exosquad and the X-men were later made.

What makes this cartoon stand out is that it is extremely dynamic. There is practically no extra scene here, everything is an integral part of the storyline. However, this is exactly the case when the creators went too far with the superdrive, for the sake of the action, trimming the key plot details, and leaving many topics unsolved. Take Unicron, for example.

In the Marvel comics, its origin was as follows: the Supreme Being created two deities – Unicron (evil) and Primus (good). In the battle that took place between them, Primus emerged victorious, and Unicron went to wander to the far corners of the Universe. Over time, Primus evolved into the techno-organic planet we know as Cybertron. But Primus knew that a second battle would have to take place between him and Unicron, so he left the Matrix of Supremacy, with the help of which the creatures inhabiting him would have to destroy Unicron.

Here we are not told not a word about it (although Marvel studios worked closely with their comic book writers) We are simply told that there is such a thing as the Matrix, which is passed down to the heads of the Autobots from generation to generation. And that this Matrix will “light up the darkest hour” and help the Autobot become the boss. And about Unicron here we know in general at a minimum. Well, the planet is a demon, well, with a mechanical component, well, it has a mind. ALL. It wasn’t enough.

Of course, in the third season, they tried to develop the idea of ​​the origin of Unicron and the rest (the Call of the Primitives series), at odds with the history of the Marvel comics, but I think it looked faded there. And in the version of the origin of Transformers, in the animated series and comics, there were big differences.

As for the animation in the Movie, (made in a comic style, from ToeI), it was made for its time, at a high level, greatly surpassing the animated series. The most beautiful scenes in terms of animation are the destruction of the planet Leiton, the birth of Galvatron and the transformation of Unicron. However, the remastering of the image in 2001 was not always beneficial, as some drawings, due to excessive clarity, began to look too pockmarked and angular.

Uncharacteristic for a full-length cartoon can be called the presence of two main characters in it at once (one might say, the same with the villains) And if at the beginning everything is clear with the protagonist and antagonist (Optimus Prime vs. Megatron), then after the death of Prime, it becomes more difficult. The viewer himself can choose a new protagonist. It could be Ultra Magnus and Hot Rod, and Springer … However, he will only know how correct his choice is at the end, when he sees the one who opened the Matrix.

The composer for the Movie was Vince DiCola, who had previously written the soundtrack for the feature film Rocky IV. He decided to move away from the boring symphonic soundtrack of Johnny Douglas, which was in the animated series, and completely switch to a dynamic techno soundtrack, with catchy themes. In addition to the background music, the Movie featured a rock soundtrack performed by Stan Bush, Specter General, N.R.G. and others. In fact, 50% of the success depends on the music in this film, because in many scenes here it is she who adds drive, drama or ominousness. Let us recall at least the song “Touch”, which served as the main theme of the film and gave the scene of the last battle between Optimus and Megatron and the very mood that she needed.

By the way, later the song “Touch” was used in a 1997 film Boogy Nights.

The creators seriously approached the issue of voice acting for the cartoon, inviting the main roles, except for all the actors involved in the sound of the animated series and celebrities. The legendary Orson Welles voiced Unicron (and this was his last film role). Although, as expected, he did not take the project too seriously. About his participation in the project, he only said: “I play the planet, and I scare someone there, whose name is something.” Star Trek star Leonard Nimoy voiced Galvatron, and Monty Python member Robert Stack spoke for the commander of the Autobot City – Ultra Magnus.

Despite the fact that the text of the cartoon, as in the animated series, still suffered greatly from cliches and delirium of some dialogues, it was less childish here than there. And what is most surprising is that during the entire Movie, no one has ever mentioned the fate of the Universe, the salvation of the world or power over it.

In general, surprisingly, both belligerents are busy here only with solving their own problems. Nobody cuts to the resources of the earth, does not want to exterminate organic life (including humanity), etc. Throughout the film, the Autobots and the Decepticons are busy fighting among themselves and saving their world. Not ours. And what is most striking is that the tape essentially lacks a happy ending. At the end of the film, Optimus will not be resurrected, Cybertron will not recover, the Decepticons will not calm down. Everything rests only on the optimism of the new leader.

When you watch this cartoon, one gets the impression that the authors wanted more freedom, wanted to make a cruel and NOT a family cartoon, but already fearing that they had crossed the bar of what was permitted, they did not get what they wanted. After all, since they went on the path of change (a sharp change in the alignment of forces and atmosphere, bad guys as winners, death of the main characters), they could well turn this cartoon into a full-fledged anime answer, making it completely serious, tough and reduce the level of stupidity.

It turned out not quite like this: the first half (down to what happened at the coronation) can be called something like an American anime, with seeds of cruelty (Forget about some logical bugs), the second is a fix for everything that was done in the first half, reintroducing Transformers into the mainstream of children’s cartoon. Why was it necessary to insert scenes with good dinosaurs (Dinobots) who did not want to fly away from the meat grinder, but who were suddenly thirsty to “listen to the story”, why were such moments as the scene with the repair of Magnus needed (well, the OP and all the dead were not fixed so much) or that frank “Drunkenness” that took place almost the entire last attack of Unicron (I still did not understand why he, instead of simply devouring the planet, began to turn into a huge monster, and also, instead of crumbling the Matrix into dust, why did he swallow it ) Although some moments of gloom were visible in the second half (What are the reprisals of the Quintessons “Into the Pit to the Sharkticons!” But everything could have turned out differently.

In principle, this “duplicity” is the main drawback of TF the Movie. But nevertheless, this 20-year-old full-length cartoon, like the animated series, will give odds to the film directed by Michael Bay. Comparisons cannot be avoided.

Judge for yourself. There is a tragedy here (even now, when watching the fading eyes of Prime, I really feel sorry for him) There is real action here (storming Autobot City or Murder at the coronation look much tougher and more convincing than all the chaotic and full of special effects “action” in the city, which presented Michael Bay), all robots look expressive and colorful characters (Bay’s transformers were used as secondary blanks, akin to scenery), there is absolutely no pathos here, there is an excellent soundtrack and non-standard plot moves (the same idea with a change of characters and the death of the main character in the middle of the film ). The only thing that it is very inferior to the Bey film is that there are too few people, and too many robots. Bay is the opposite: too many people and too few robots.

And so this children’s cartoon turns out to be more serious and diverse than the ‘adult’ film of Michael Bay, which claims to be MEGA – the blockbuster of the year. What does it mean? And so that TF the Movie 1986 is better than TF the Movie 2007. And, unlike the animated series, (which, although it had a number of advantages, but was too childish), I can revise it with a clear conscience for nostalgia.

Info Blu-ray
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265 (74.5 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Audio
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0

Subtitles
English SDH, Spanish.