A trailer for next summer's Transformers movie directed by Michael Bay is out. I'm really looking forward to it because I grew up on Transformers, however there are others out there in the nethers of the internet that are complaining about some of the minor liberties taken to bring the Transformers to life. Some character design changes have been made that really have some people upset. It started way back when they first announced the movie. People already started with talk like, "If they don't do it this way, it's going to be terrible." When Michael Bay was announced as the director, all the Bay haters came out of the woodwork. In my opinion, this is the best person in the world to direct this movie. If you're making a movie about cars that turn into giant robots while going 150 miles an hour, I don't want to see Martin Scorsese or some fancy pants arty guy. I want the guy who blows things up the best. The Transformers movie is custom made to suit Michael Bay's talents (which is probably why he's been wearing a t-shirt that says, "Big fucking robots are coming," while working.)

I think the guys my age have been spoiled by this recent fascination with our childhood. I remember the days when there were no Spider-Man movies, no X-Men movies, no Lord of the Rings movies, and the thought that someone would make a $100 million live action movie about our favorite toys was not to be entertained. My fellow 30-somethings I implore you, stop complaining. You should be on your knees thanking the deity of your choice that this movie is being made at all, rather than complaining that Optimus Prime has flames on his paint job.

Now, what I've read about the movie does hint at a problem that could bother me. In the cartoon, the robots were the stars, and we felt for them because they were humanized so much. Basically any time a human showed up, we lost interest. However, as Hollywood likes to do, they are putting all kinds of human characters and nonsense in this movie and there is a small chance that there may not even be that much footage featuring giant robots punching each other. I hope this is not the case, because in a Transformers movie, I don't give a shit about the people. Make me care about the plight of Optimus Prime, and that will suffice.

The Transformer in the picture above is Scorponok. He's a giant robot that turns into a giant scorpion. I'm not sure where this guy was when they handed out the "disguise" part of "robots in disguise" but a giant scorpion is no better camouflage. He might as well be a giant robot that turns into a different giant robot.

If this movie is successful, could a G.I. Joe movie be far behind? Thundercats? Voltron?

posted by Travis at 4:23 PM

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Sunday, December 17, 2006

There are times when our current situation really gets to me, and the pressure of being "the man of a house" weighs heavily. Amidst job searching, home repairing, HOA policing, insurance fighting, baby feeding, and wife supporting I can feel somewhat trodden upon. However, it is at these times that I get a glimpse of something that reminds me that I'm the richest man I know. Today I was able to capture one of those glimpses.

posted by Travis at 12:16 AM

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