Transformers Recent GM Debate in the news

[CFlash]

Anyone keeping up with the GM debate in the news?
- http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2006/0...with-bloggers/
- http://www.autoblog.com/2006/06/14/thomas-friedman-talks-back-to-gm

Bay signed an "exclusive" deal with GM... and they're (by some accounts) the most enviromentally unfriendly car companies. Plus, the star robot of the movie is now a gas guzzler. I know I'm the only hippie here who will miss the environmental themes of the Original Transformers, but anyone else here see a bit of irony here?

 

[Boiiinng]

Yeah, that's one of the main things I was hoping would remain was the energy themes, especially during these times. Oh well.

 

[Mr-Scorpio]

agggh.......just cause they look like a gas guzzler, doesnt mean they are enviromentally unfriendly....They are robots from another planet, dont worry they run on energon, not petroleum.....

Energon is Enviromentally friendly, unless your megatron who suxs it from the enviroment, buts that a whole other issue.



________________________________________________
Perhaps the "Lost" Island is really Area 51 ????????

 

[CFlash]

agggh.......just cause they look like a gas guzzler, doesnt mean they are enviromentally unfriendly....They are robots from another planet, dont worry they run on energon, not petroleum.....

Energon is Enviromentally friendly, unless your megatron who suxs it from the enviroment, buts that a whole other issue.

Sure. But, it's a "symbolism" issue. Anyone can write a sci-fi story that says a gas-guzzlin' V8 hot-rod draws less energy than a toaster. It doesn't make it true.

Symbolism, bro. Symbolism.


P.S.
And, in the original Transformers story that's exactly what they did; SUCK Energon from Earth's natural resources..... that was the whole impetus of the story. So, NO, Energon is not "environmentally friendly"... quite the OPPOSITE! Where the hell did you get the idea that Energon was "environmentally friendly?"

 

[anubiscomplex]

agggh.......just cause they look like a gas guzzler, doesnt mean they are enviromentally unfriendly....

FYI...
Camaro = Gass Guzzler
GM = KIng of Gas Guzzlers

..and yes, these are issues that coincide with the TF personas like Bumblebee and Prime. If you change this, why even make a movie..I mean really..Jazz, Bumblebee, GM?

 

[Boiiinng]

agggh.......just cause they look like a gas guzzler, doesnt mean they are enviromentally unfriendly....They are robots from another planet, dont worry they run on energon, not petroleum.....

Energon is Enviromentally friendly, unless your megatron who suxs it from the enviroment, buts that a whole other issue.

Well, we've heard that Energon will be the new Matrix and has something to do with creating the Transformers, not powering them.

 

[WalkingDead]

Well, we've heard that Energon will be the new Matrix and has something to do with creating the Transformers, not powering them.

That also depends on if "Energon Cube" sticks as a name. Right now, it seems more like a placeholder, since they can't call it the Matrix or Creation Matrix. I believe in the long run, the name will be changed into something more suitable.

 

[CFlash]

That also depends on if "Energon Cube" sticks as a name. Right now, it seems more like a placeholder, since they can't call it the Matrix or Creation Matrix. I believe in the long run, the name will be changed into something more suitable.

You're quite the "optimus." I wouldn't be surprised if "Energon Cube" sticks. What reason do we have to believe that it won't? Bay is on record as saying some of the names for the secondary Decept characters will change... but that's it.

FYI...

Camaro = Gass Guzzler

GM = KIng of Gas Guzzlers

..and yes, these are issues that coincide with the TF personas like Bumblebee and Prime. If you change this, why even make a movie..I mean really..Jazz, Bumblebee, GM?

I wholeheartedly agree.
In terms of symbolism this movies seems (from what we know) totally whacked.

 

[ComicKoryn]

I'm guessing they went with Energon Cube because they didn't want people to think they were using the word "Matrix" to rip on the Matrix Trilogy.

 

[WalkingDead]

I'm guessing they went with Energon Cube because they didn't want people to think they were using the word "Matrix" to rip on the Matrix Trilogy.

That's been said on record. They don't want anything to tie into the Matrix movies at all. And an object called the Matrix that has such a major impact on the Transformers and something that could even make Hot Rod become "the one"...it just doesn't work for the movie's marketability, particularly for the younger audience.

So Energon Cube for now stands as the Creation Matrix's name/new interpretation. I don't like the name, but it is a good tie-in to the original G1 stories...meaning there is a reference for it from the original stories.

 

[Boiiinng]

The problem is, there's really no need to have anything involved with creating the Transformers. Who cares about their origins, this is about their confrontations with humans on Earth.

 

[WalkingDead]

The problem is, there's really no need to have anything involved with creating the Transformers. Who cares about their origins, this is about their confrontations with humans on Earth.

Yes...But you have to have a reason why they'd want to be on Earth. If they are looking for the Cube/Matrix, then that gives them the reason to be here. With that said, then they can explore the confrontations with humans.

 

[CFlash]

Yes...But you have to have a reason why they'd want to be on Earth. If they are looking for the Cube/Matrix, then that gives them the reason to be here. With that said, then they can explore the confrontations with humans.

A better reason would be that they're here to harvest the various Fossil Fuels on the planet (oil, coal, nat gas) because those are the energy sources they're most compatible with or otherwise prefer for whatever reason.

 

[WalkingDead]

A better reason would be that they're here to harvest the various Fossil Fuels on the planet (oil, coal, nat gas) because those are the energy sources they're most compatible with or otherwise prefer for whatever reason.

And that could also be a reason...we don't know.

Don't forget CFlash...
The TF's didn't come here by choice, they crash landed on Earth. It just so happened Earth was rich with resources to allow the Decepticons to try to get back to Cybertron. So I doubt they'd make them come here by choice in this movie as well, but they might.

 

[ComicKoryn]

they're going to have the Autobots fighting the Decepticons for the coveted beach front property once belonging to Brangelina.

 

[CFlash]

And that could also be a reason...we don't know.

Don't forget CFlash...
The TF's didn't come here by choice, they crash landed on Earth. It just so happened Earth was rich with resources to allow the Decepticons to try to get back to Cybertron. So I doubt they'd make them come here by choice in this movie as well, but they might.

It was one of those literary irony things. The Ark set out to find sources of energy. It just so happened that it crashed on a planet full of it.

 

[WalkingDead]

It was one of those literary irony things. The Ark set out to find sources of energy. It just so happened that it crashed on a planet full of it.

Yes it was for the cartoon.

The comic...not so much, cause the Ark was sent out to clear a path for Cybertron to move through in that huge asteroid field. A lot less environmentally-affecting plotline.

 

[CFlash]

Yes it was for the cartoon.

The comic...not so much, cause the Ark was sent out to clear a path for Cybertron to move through in that huge asteroid field. A lot less environmentally-affecting plotline.

Whatever the case- and you're right- by the end of Issue #1 it was all about energy with Bumblebee about to go kaput from a suger low.

 

[ragdus]

I'm a bit lost. What's the exclusive deal? I did a quick google search but didn't turn anything up right away.

 

[WalkingDead]

I'm a bit lost. What's the exclusive deal? I did a quick google search but didn't turn anything up right away.

Supposedly, Hasbro, the movie producers, and Paramount made a deal with General Motors to use their cars, trucks, and vans in the movie exclusively.

Which would give them access to all their major companies and the cars and trucks built by those companies...Chevrolet, GMC, Hummer, Saturn, Pontiac, Buick, and Cadillac (who are all owned by GM).

 

[ragdus]

well since we already have seen a ford mustang decepticon, i don't know to what extent that's true...

 

[CFlash]

Supposedly, Hasbro, the movie producers, and Paramount made a deal with General Motors to use their cars, trucks, and vans in the movie exclusively.

Which would give them access to all their major companies and the cars and trucks built by those companies...Chevrolet, GMC, Hummer, Saturn, Pontiac, Buick, and Cadillac (who are all owned by GM).

It was apparently all about $$$. GM paid to have their cars featured complete with their logos. They also provided cars for free... which the moviemakers would have had to buy otherwise.

AFAIK, a moviemaker can use whatever car(s) they damn well please in a movie. They just can't prominantly display the manufacturer's logo. In this movie, it is a case of product placement and cost-cutting.

It also somewhat debunks the "VW wouldn't let us use a beetle" excuse. It's not clear if using a car that looks like VW Beetle sans the VW logo is in any way illegal.

 

[ragdus]

It is illegal if VW said they want no likeness of their vehicle portrayed whatsoever, sans logo or not.

 

[CFlash]

It is illegal if VW said they want no likeness of their vehicle portrayed whatsoever, sans logo or not.

Statute or Court case precedent that makes it "illegal" please?

If that were true movies wouldn't be made at all. You wouldn't be able use the Empire State Building as a backdrop in a movie... hell, you wouldn't be able to put on a berret in a movie unless Kangol said you could.

VW could definately sue... and the studio may not want to deal with that. But chances are VW would lose. Just like Mattel lost their case against Aqua over the song "Barbie Girl."

 

[ragdus]

except in regular movies you don't make and sell toy replicas of the cars used, like they're going to do with transformers. thus they don't profit from the use of those vehicles and/or their designs.

do we have to argue every point of every thread?