First off we would like to thank Paramount for
inviting us to their exclusive Transformers Movie footage screening
which took place today at the Oden West End in Leicester Square.
The event was organised by Paramount for key press and licensing
partners and attendance was invitation only. A lot of security
was in place to make sure that no footage was leaked out. This
including removing of all cameras and phones, metal detectors as well
as the event being filmed by at least two cameras.
The screening, consisted of the four uncut scene
previous shown in America at ShowWest and after the US Toy Fair.
The screening was kicked off with a few comments
by Lorenzo di Bonaventura, one of the producers on the Transformers
Movie, this seemed to come as a nice surprise to those in
attendance. Lorenzo joked that the movie was "not just
about the US military" although they would feature heavily in
the featured footage. He wanted to make it clear that the
scenes were still un-finished, some including non-rendered CGI
animation, they used raw footage and temporary music.
Interestingly though, he made no direct mention to the sound effects
specifically during Blackout's transformation sequence, during which
the original Generation One sound effect was used (although only in
mid-transformation). Although this was quiet cool to hear, it
really didn't seem to fit.
Lorenzo also noted that the four scene which would
be shown had not been picked because they were "there favourite
scenes" or "the most important", but purely as they
were the most complete.
We would estimate that there were over 400 people
in attendance ranging from Paramount employees, Hasbro UK, Titan
Books / Magazines, various journalist and other Transformers Movie
license holders. Simon Furman was also in attendance, as was
Steve White, one of Titans representative at the event. We'll
come back to product licensing at the end of the report.
Possible Spoilers - Scroll down quickly if
you do not want to read, there is more non-spoiler information at the
end.
As far as the the footage goes, it was the same
four scenes shown in America. Blackout's attack on the Qatar
base including him releasing Scorponok.
Sam Witwicky's light-hearted character building
scene with Mikaela in Bumblebee. This scene got a few laughs
showing Bumblebee changing the radio and breaking down. The
Bee-otch air freshener got a few 'pops' from the UK audience.
The third scene, another light-hearted scene,
focused around the Witwicky residence, with the Autobots larking
around in their back garden. This scene is where you first hear
the Autobots speak (in order - Optimus Prime, Iron Hide and Ratchet.
Bumblebee just beeped). The voices were partly synthesised and
reminded us a bit of Small Soldiers. It will be interesting to
see how the BBFC react to the sexual references and language in this
scene when it comes to the final rating of the film.
The fourth and final scene returned back to Qatar
and the aftermath of Blackout's attack. This is the famous
Scorponok vs the Marines scene, in which Scorponok looses the end of
his tail right at the end.
How Scorponok appears in this scene, and how he is
'ejected' by Blackout, is very reminiscent of the G1 cassettes, and
adds more fuel to the thoughts that Blackout was originally intended
to be Soundwave.
End of Spoilers
Back to licensing. We didn't get a
chance to speak to most of the people in attendance, as everyone ran
out at soon as the screening was over, however we do have a few bits
of new licensing information to report.
First up, Top Trumps have purchased a Transformers
Movie license and you can expect these to hit the shelves in the
summer. It will be interesting to see who appears on the cards,
as there are not enough on screen Transformers to make up a set.
On the Transformers apparel side, there are new
Transformers Movie tie-in T-shirts on the way, but with a
difference. These t-shirts have a light up panel on the front
which use different transitions to display the name of a Transformer
(we saw the Bumblebee and Barricade ones) or an image, such as the
outline of Optimus Prime's header the Autobot symbol. These
t-shirts got a lot of interested, most noticeably from Titan Book so
it could be that they will feature as prizes in a competition in the
new Transformers comic. The T-shirts will go on sale
on the 20th June, although we are not sure on the price point or who
will be selling them.
Don't forget to visit the official website at www.transformersmovie.com and that you can view all of the official movie images in our Transformers Movie official image gallery.
| Discuss: 
. But the scenes were spiked with
wit and exuberant popcorn energy. In one scene, John Turturro,
appearing as a mysterious, "Men in Black"-esque agent, savors the
line "Bingo! Take him and bake him!"
