Official Script Discussion

[terry78]

I picture the Dane Cook cameo being the instance where he says, "holy ****, that robot is in disguise." Imagine him saying that.

 

[Kanon]

Spoiler

Who else on here hopes that Megatron secretly survives, and or is rebuilt for the sequel? I thought it'd be cool if he'd lose some of his nanometal in the underwater explosion, and had to be shorter in the next film . . . same height as Prime . . . Explanation for his survivor could be that he had other robot's sparks stored elsewhere in his body, and You get the picture.

Spoiler

Galvatron

 

[CFlash]

Spoiler

Galvatron

Too soon. It would be ridiculous if they did that. Maybe in a third movie if there was ever one. People stopped watching the cartoon exactly for that reason. It'd be idiotic to do that in a "Middle Chapter" movie today.

 

[roach]

i'd rather have Shockwave come to earth instead of Galvatron

 

[CFlash]

i'd rather have Shockwave come to earth instead of Galvatron

Yup. If there is a sequel, it's practically a must.

But, Megatron needs to be around in some form (weakened or something). If they don't include Megatron they're missing out on an important and interesting part of the story (Not that they care).

 

[roach]

Shockwave comes to earth with his army of Decepticons(Soundwave, Astrotrain, Insectacons)....during a battle on Cybertron Ultra Magnus steals a rocket to search for Prime...his squad is composed of Mirage, Hound, Prowl, Blaster and WheelJack

 

[CFlash]

Shockwave comes to earth with his army of Decepticons(Soundwave, Astrotrain, Insectacons)....during a battle on Cybertron Ultra Magnus steals a rocket to search for Prime...his squad is composed of Mirage, Hound, Prowl, Blaster and WheelJack

Cool.
Personally, I'd rather see the army be Soundwave and the rest of Jets (Thundercracker and Skywarp)... with their unique personalities intact. As for the autobots I'd love Bumblebee (the real one... the little guy) to be part of the force. t:

 

[roach]

Cool.
Personally, I'd rather see the army be Soundwave and the rest of Jets (Thundercracker and Skywarp)... with their unique personalities intact. As for the autobots I'd love Bumblebee (the real one... the little guy) to be part of the force. t:

I was thinking of having the other jets in it but i dont want to be redundant...the Ultra Magnus force would come to earth and team up with Prime's team

 

[j3rivram]

Could someone PM me the link to the script?
Thanks in advance!

 

[Golgo-13]

Spoiler

Who else on here hopes that Megatron secretly survives, and or is rebuilt for the sequel? I thought it'd be cool if he'd lose some of his nanometal in the underwater explosion, and had to be shorter in the next film . . . same height as Prime . . . Explanation for his survivor could be that he had other robot's sparks stored elsewhere in his body, and You get the picture.

I agree. And that will most likely be the case, as he's considered a MAIN charcater. The explaination for his surviving? It is a known fact through the comics, and the cartoon that Megatron is indestructable, remember!

 

[cryptic name]

I picture the Dane Cook cameo being the instance where he says, "holy ****, that robot is in disguise." Imagine him saying that.

that's what i was thinking

 

[Hotwire]

For all those new guys who want the script handed to them. Here's the link.

http://rapidshare.de/files/30975152/primedirectivebman02_1_.28.06.pdf.html
here

 

[Avangarde]

Shockwave comes to earth with his army of Decepticons(Soundwave, Astrotrain, Insectacons)....during a battle on Cybertron Ultra Magnus steals a rocket to search for Prime...his squad is composed of Mirage, Hound, Prowl, Blaster and WheelJack

Thats not a bad idea, although personally Ultra Magnus shouldn't be brought in, just make it Prowl was left incharge and has the command (he was Primes 2nd in command in the comics and cartoon) of the other Autobots that were left behind.

 

[Substance D]

can see the sequals playing out like this:

starscream escapes, sends out his own beacon and gathers all the scattered decepticons, and plans a counter attack on the autobots.

new autobots have already begun arriving on earth. optimus and the bots from the first movie are at home on earth, and have begun building their own city in a remote area.

the next part can go either way:

1. megatron is not dead, and resurfaces. he once again takes control of the decepticons (much to starscream's dissapointment). the decepticons begin building a spacebridge, that will allow quicker transportation of troops to earth, or some kind of new superweapon that could destroy all of earth. the movie would deal with the autobots trying to win the starbridge, prevent the destruction of earth, etc etc. or maybe shockwave comes thru the starbridge at the end to challlenge megatron.

2. megatron is dead for much of the movie. starscream orders the decepticons to build the spacebridge, thinking it will allow them an advantage over the autobots. instead, shockwave comes through with his own forces, takes command and is the new enemy for the movie. movie 3 would be megatron resurfacing, fighting shockwave for control over the decepticons, or possibly teaming up with the autobots to battle shockwave.

 

[CFlash]

can see the sequals playing out like this:

starscream escapes, sends out his own beacon and gathers all the scattered decepticons, and plans a counter attack on the autobots.

new autobots have already begun arriving on earth. optimus and the bots from the first movie are at home on earth, and have begun building their own city in a remote area.

the next part can go either way:

1. megatron is not dead, and resurfaces. he once again takes control of the decepticons (much to starscream's dissapointment). the decepticons begin building a spacebridge, that will allow quicker transportation of troops to earth, or some kind of new superweapon that could destroy all of earth. the movie would deal with the autobots trying to win the starbridge, prevent the destruction of earth, etc etc. or maybe shockwave comes thru the starbridge at the end to challlenge megatron.

2. megatron is dead for much of the movie. starscream orders the decepticons to build the spacebridge, thinking it will allow them an advantage over the autobots. instead, shockwave comes through with his own forces, takes command and is the new enemy for the movie. movie 3 would be megatron resurfacing, fighting shockwave for control over the decepticons, or possibly teaming up with the autobots to battle shockwave.

Not bad. I like #2 A LOT. In fact, it's the perfect sequel IMHO. But...

1) why would the Decepticons want to destroy Earth?
2) Why exactly are they fighting over again? Control of the Allspark?
3) What do they use for Energy (solar power, nuclear power, Magic, what?).

Logic Hole: Why can't the Autobots just move their battle over to Venus instead of endangering humans in their skirmish with the Decepticons. Why the heck do the Decepticons care about humans anyway or THIS planet since the whole "natural resources" underlying plot of Transformers is NOT in these movies.

 

[cryptic name]

they followed the all spark here.

 

[Golgo-13]

2. megatron is dead for much of the movie. starscream orders the decepticons to build the spacebridge, thinking it will allow them an advantage over the autobots. instead, shockwave comes through with his own forces, takes command and is the new enemy for the movie. movie 3 would be megatron resurfacing, fighting shockwave for control over the decepticons, or possibly teaming up with the autobots to battle shockwave.

I don't think it would be a good idea to make Megatron, yet again, absent from the majority of the 2nd movie. Good ideas otherwise.

 

[CFlash]

OK, so I finally took the time to read the script. I figured what the heck? Ya'll have spilled all the beans anyway.

(SPOILER ALERT)
(I'm not using tags because this is The Script Thread!)

Overall Impression:
It's worse than I feared. I'm not an expert at reviewing scripts, but man was that thing trite. I dare say The Carwash of Doom was better (fans will get the reference). I'm not kidding.

What I liked:

1. Bumblebee not talking actually seems to work well in the movie. It's cute, but not as "Herbie-ish" as I was expecting. It makes you feel more for him (which is necessary considering he's an absolute baddass warlord otherwise-- see gripe [edit] #10 below)
2. Optimus is Optimus all the way. They got him SPOT-ON!!!
3. Spike seems loveable. I liked him a lot.
4. Starscream is badass (but his partners ARE missed).
5. Action seems good. Typical Michael Bay. Not really thought-provoking but probably fun to watch. Some of the action scenes sound implausible (Prime climbing a building like King Kong)... it'll be interesting to see how the CGI guys work it out.

What I hated:

1. It is literally more like that classic "Invaders from Mars" b-movie (Boy witnesses aliens come down from sky -> Military swarms at the end of the movie) than "Transformers." I got no sense of wonder, mystery, and awe that the "Ancient Spaceship" buried in the mountain for millions of years gave me when I was a kid. A truly great and thought-provoking sci-fi plot device-- GONE! They now fall to Earth (in present time) in individual Metal Balls. Are you kidding me? Metal Balls? Is that a joke?
2. Optimus/Megatron brothers??? I don't recall them ever being brothers back in the day. It comes off as a lame attempt to add some subtext to the movie. In typical "Pearl Harbor" fashion, it's artificial and forced. It really means nothing in the movie. Did I skip a paragraph where they explain what it means to be a "brother" to a robot? Do they have parents?
3. The nanometal thing gives them an organic sort of quality that IMHO they should not have. Granted, this would be a nitpick were it not for...
4. The scene where Bumblebee MORPHS from an old Camaro into a 2007 Camaro is downright cheese. It's a more-corny rip off of stuff we saw in Stephen King's Christine, Viper (the TV Show), Batman 89 (when the Batmobile goes into lock down mode). It's also very much of a rip-off of a scene in Terminator! The script writers actually wrote "b*tchin" as a comment to the reader after they describe Bumblebee reshaping himself.
5. Apparently they can regenerate everything but vocal chords? Yah OK. (I'm still confused as to why Bumblebee can't verbalize using the radio speaker he uses to play songs... I guess it's some sort of brain damage... his SoundBlaster card is broken I guess). Ultimately, it's cute. Stupid... but cute.
6. In TRANSFORMERS, originally, it was a BIG DEAL to change your alt-mode. It took the processing power and reformatting abilities of a supercomputer to do it. Now they can do it AT WILL? I guess some would say this is the equivalent of Spidey's artificial webbing. I can see that. But, to me it's more like the equivalent of leaving out Cerebro from X-Men.
7. Nowhere does it mention where they get their energy from. Maybe they have quantum singularities built-in them that give them limitless power? That's cool I guess... but it's NOT "Transformers." No way, no how. The natural resources-to-energon thing is even more relevant TODAY! Why leave it out?
8. Starscream is badass... but his cohorts ARE MISSED. Every (EVERY!) scene he is in there seems to be a hole. I kept expecting two more jets to fly alongside him. It's a mental impulse that only fans will feel.
9. What everyone has said is correct: the "other" Autobots have NO PERSONALITY. Jazz is NOT Jazz. And he goes out like a punk!
10. Contrary to what some of the defenders say, Bumblebee is NOT an "underdog" in the movie. He kicks Brawl's butt and he's actually badass. He loses his legs at one point... but that and his old war wounds (vocal chords) only makes him come off more as IRONHIDE (old war dog) than weak little Bumblebee.

Oh yeah... We hear "Autobots… Roll Out!"...... as a subtitle! Now that's satire!

Conclusion:

The script is vapid. There is no Father/Son relationship subtext (Spike/Sparkplug) that was always everpresent in Transformers. No hint of a topical subtext (war? natural resources? oil? famine? natural disasters?) that the original cartoon/comic touched upon ever so lightly. It is COMPLETE FLUFF... mindless escapism at its utter best. Not science-fiction. It takes a lot to make something actually dumber than its "silly" afterschool cartoon source. They've done it.

 

[Substance D]

theres a little father son stuff at the beginning where ron (?) installs some values upon spike. spike later repeats this to optimus after he saves the day. it was touching.

 

[CFlash]

theres a little father son stuff at the beginning where ron (?) installs some values upon spike. spike later repeats this to optimus after he saves the day. it was touching.

Sorta like "With great power comes great responsibility." ???
It's been done. And it's handled nowhere near as well or as touching in this movie. Spider-man this movie is not (in any way). It's funny, because while Pearl Harbor screamed "I wanna be Titanic," this movie screams "Who the f* is Sam Raimi and when did he get better than me?"

 

[Substance D]

oh well. u gotta remember this is sort of like the first story arc, where everything is introduced. the first few eps of the show didn't develope the characters that well, that came later on. this movie is just the set up.

 

[JMadisonIV]

*edit*

nevermind, I found it.

 

[Golgo-13]

OK, so I finally took the time to read the script. I figured what the heck? Ya'll have spilled all the beans anyway.

(SPOILER ALERT)
(I'm not using tags because this is The Script Thread!)

Overall Impression:
It's worse than I feared. I'm not an expert at reviewing scripts, but man was that thing trite. I dare say The Carwash of Doom was better (fans will get the reference). I'm not kidding.

What I liked:

1. Bumblebee not talking actually seems to work well in the movie. It's cute, but not as "Herbie-ish" as I was expecting. It makes you feel more for him (which is necessary considering he's an absolute baddass warlord otherwise-- see gripe [edit] #10 below)
2. Optimus is Optimus all the way. They got him SPOT-ON!!!
3. Spike seems loveable. I liked him a lot.
4. Starscream is badass (but his partners ARE missed).
5. Action seems good. Typical Michael Bay. Not really thought-provoking but probably fun to watch. Some of the action scenes sound implausible (Prime climbing a building like King Kong)... it'll be interesting to see how the CGI guys work it out.

What I hated:

1. It is literally more like that classic "Invaders from Mars" b-movie (Boy witnesses aliens come down from sky -> Military swarms at the end of the movie) than "Transformers." I got no sense of wonder, mystery, and awe that the "Ancient Spaceship" buried in the mountain for millions of years gave me when I was a kid. A truly great and thought-provoking sci-fi plot device-- GONE! They now fall to Earth (in present time) in individual Metal Balls. Are you kidding me? Metal Balls? Is that a joke?
2. Optimus/Megatron brothers??? I don't recall them ever being brothers back in the day. It comes off as a lame attempt to add some subtext to the movie. In typical "Pearl Harbor" fashion, it's artificial and forced. It really means nothing in the movie. Did I skip a paragraph where they explain what it means to be a "brother" to a robot? Do they have parents?
3. The nanometal thing gives them an organic sort of quality that IMHO they should not have. Granted, this would be a nitpick were it not for...
4. The scene where Bumblebee MORPHS from an old Camaro into a 2007 Camaro is downright cheese. It's a more-corny rip off of stuff we saw in Stephen King's Christine, Viper (the TV Show), Batman 89 (when the Batmobile goes into lock down mode). It's also very much of a rip-off of a scene in Terminator! The script writers actually wrote "b*tchin" as a comment to the reader after they describe Bumblebee reshaping himself.
5. Apparently they can regenerate everything but vocal chords? Yah OK. (I'm still confused as to why Bumblebee can't verbalize using the radio speaker he uses to play songs... I guess it's some sort of brain damage... his SoundBlaster card is broken I guess). Ultimately, it's cute. Stupid... but cute.
6. In TRANSFORMERS, originally, it was a BIG DEAL to change your alt-mode. It took the processing power and reformatting abilities of a supercomputer to do it. Now they can do it AT WILL? I guess some would say this is the equivalent of Spidey's artificial webbing. I can see that. But, to me it's more like the equivalent of leaving out Cerebro from X-Men.
7. Nowhere does it mention where they get their energy from. Maybe they have quantum singularities built-in them that give them limitless power? That's cool I guess... but it's NOT "Transformers." No way, no how. The natural resources-to-energon thing is even more relevant TODAY! Why leave it out?
8. Starscream is badass... but his cohorts ARE MISSED. Every (EVERY!) scene he is in there seems to be a hole. I kept expecting two more jets to fly alongside him. It's a mental impulse that only fans will feel.
9. What everyone has said is correct: the "other" Autobots have NO PERSONALITY. Jazz is NOT Jazz. And he goes out like a punk!
10. Contrary to what some of the defenders say, Bumblebee is NOT an "underdog" in the movie. He kicks Brawl's butt and he's actually badass. He loses his legs at one point... but that and his old war wounds (vocal chords) only makes him come off more as IRONHIDE (old war dog) than weak little Bumblebee.

Oh yeah... We hear "Autobots… Roll Out!"...... as a subtitle! Now that's satire!

Conclusion:

The script is vapid. There is no Father/Son relationship subtext (Spike/Sparkplug) that was always everpresent in Transformers. No hint of a topical subtext (war? natural resources? oil? famine? natural disasters?) that the original cartoon/comic touched upon ever so lightly. It is COMPLETE FLUFF... mindless escapism at its utter best. Not science-fiction. It takes a lot to make something actually dumber than its "silly" afterschool cartoon source. They've done it.

This is probably the best post of this entire thread. You were basically spot on on every comment you made..i commend you. I really, really hate the whole 'They can morph at will thing' it sucks, also the way they arrive on earth in the terminator type balls/pods or whatever.

I think the biggest mistake that Bay and Co left out of this entire script was the absense of the Ark/Teletran 1. If this aspect of their arrival on earth had been left intact, i think the rest of the movie (with the present script as it is) would have fell into place nicely.

 

[Deceptibot123]

Alright. I LOVED the script, but am I the only one who is dissappointed that they took Soundwave out of the movie? I absolutely enjoyed his role in the script. Come one, how are they gonna make Frenzy disguise himself after killing the gaurds. Besides, a deciticon that is actually Human-Sized would be perfect for the whole fight with Sam and Mikaela. Just my thoughts, but just wondering, who else agrees with me? Frenzy just doesn't belong in the movie, and Soundwave is perfect for the part that's written for him.

 

[CFlash]

Alright. I LOVED the script, but am I the only one who is dissappointed that they took Soundwave out of the movie? I absolutely enjoyed his role in the script. Come one, how are they gonna make Frenzy disguise himself after killing the gaurds. Besides, a deciticon that is actually Human-Sized would be perfect for the whole fight with Sam and Mikaela. Just my thoughts, but just wondering, who else agrees with me? Frenzy just doesn't belong in the movie, and Soundwave is perfect for the part that's written for him.

They didn't so much as take out Soundwave as rename the character in the movie to a more fitting name... Frenzy. It makes total sense.