Screenwriter John Rogers gives some info about the movie.

Comics, cartoons, movies and fan stuff.
User avatar
Civ
Posts: 4330
Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2003 12:10 am
Location: Pennsylvania

Screenwriter John Rogers gives some info about the movie.

Post by Civ »

Well guys and girls, I hope I'm not stepping on Nevermore's toes or anything, but I was paying a visit to Seibertron's newsboard when I saw this. I wasn't sure if this counted as speculation or rumor since it is an actual writer for the movie, so if this thread isn't where it's suppose to be, I apologize in advance. I also looked through the message boards and I didn't see this posted anywhere else, but I'm human and I do make mistakes so I'm sorry if this has already been mentioned.

Now, on to the news. John Rogers has given some info about the movie at the link provided above. For those who have a slow connection, here it is.

From Seibertron's Alex_Kingdom who got it from DonMurphy.net, TFormers.com:
Screenwriter of the up coming new Transfomers Movie John Rogers has posted for the first time on Don Murphy Message Board. He talks about Spielberg, Furman, hints at characters, Decepticon shapeshifters, Human characters and talks about size-shifting.

Now, to throw you ravenous jackals some marrow. What little marrow I can without ticking off the powers-that-be. Some random stuff, with a few obscure clues for you to chew over:

Yes, Mr. Spielberg is very involved in the movie. He pitched out a couple very cool ideas during the development of the story. It's a huge frikkin' honor to be working for him, and know he takes this project very seriously.

G1. G1. G1. Period. Finito.

Size-shifting is an integral part of the movie, but basically on a scale that'll allow the transformations from earth-disguise vehicle forms to robot to make sense. Some of the power-scales of the Transformer megaweaponry here in my Simon Furman-penned guide sitting next to my computer would be a little ridiculous in a live-action movie. But I want big robots. You want big robots. We'll have some very big robots. And they will fight. I'm writing big-robot-fights. There are some days my job couldn't get cooler.

Ark? Check. Cybertron? Check. Energon Matrix? Check plus, actually. Think more about what it means in the greater sense of Transformer identity and sentience. We won't mention Primus, but that points you in the direction of why the Autobots and Decepticons want it, more than just a leadership squabble. As in: "Spark."

As to who's showing up -- If you want real, well-defined characters, we need to spend more time on the personalities of each Transformer as a charcter. Autobot faction, Decepticon faction, and humans, they all need to come across as real, um, "people." So, much like the X-Men model, a tight focus on a few leads, with an expansion in the possible second and third movie to a bigger roster.

Having said that, why wouldn't I want a cool shapeshifting spy Decepticon? Although, you know, cassettes are so passe ... I think he'd adapt a bit more ...

Freedom IS the right of every sentient being.

Who's the coolest two-seater high octane brother? I'm asking you.

And one small change -- from ambulance to fire truck. Fire truck's more interesting on-screen and to watch transform, and they're both emblematic of his personality, so I think you guys will forgive me. Or at least, I'm asking you to right now.

(this is representative of the only changes we're allowing in the movie from mythology. When we change something, we have to keep the spirit of the original intact. Don't worry, Tom and Don are breathing down my neck constantly ...)

Witwicky -- check. Witiwicky girlfriend -- modified check. Human characters in general -- like most of you have noted, not exactly the strongest factor in the original cartoon. So a lot of new ones, but they'll be vaguely familiar to fans.

No little kid sidekicks.

There will be Easter Eggs.

Some of the Decepticons don't seem that bright. Some are an absolute scream.

Megatron as a gun -- not going to happen, for the stated reasons. Alternate forms of 'Bots than just the two ... could be.

Well, that ought to keep you busy arguing among yourselves for a while. I'll check back in later this month, see ho things are going.

Thanks for all the support and interest,

john


There's another link on Seibertron that leads to the Don Murphy message boards. Apparently the big changes will be to Ratchet, Ravage, and Megatron. Megatron was pretty much expected. Ratchet will be a fire truck and I can hear a lot of hardcore G1'ers saying, "but it should be Inferno!!!!11!!!" I wonder if this will spawn an "AMBLANCE NOT FIRE TRUKK" chant? Ravage will apparently get a new form as well since cassettes are outdated, but we don't know what that is yet.

Comments?
Image
Thanks, Zeeks! Great job! :up:
User avatar
Denyer
Posts: 33033
Joined: Sun Sep 17, 2000 4:00 am
Location: Perfidious Albion
Contact:

Post by Denyer »

Nah, Inferno doesn't actually do much in the early original stuff...

I hope they don't make TFs easy prey to humans.

Sounds as if they've gone with the "creation matrix" side of the matrix. Good.
User avatar
Nevermore
Posts: 10697
Joined: Wed Aug 28, 2002 10:30 pm
Location: Autobase Germany
Contact:

Post by Nevermore »

One more addition:
Originally written by John Rogers
Oh, and coxy ...

Missed one of your questions.

"2.on a scale of 1-10 , predict how dark this movie will be?"

Decepticons think humans are ... squishy. Enough said.
Looking for a complete Energon Sky Shadow (from Superion Maximus).
Offering: Binaltech Hound, Swindle, Ravage (Corvette), Skids.
Can buy in stores: Robot Heroes Tigatron/Inferno, Ricochet/Predaking.
User avatar
Scarrita
Protoform
Posts: 1770
Joined: Tue Jun 25, 2002 10:19 pm
Location: What? No! We can't stop here! This is bat country!

Post by Scarrita »

Squishy... :smokin:
Image
Faith is deciding to allow yourself to believe
something your intellect would otherwise cause
you to reject -- otherwise there's no need for faith.
User avatar
Halfshell
Posts: 19167
Joined: Sat Sep 16, 2000 4:00 am
Location: Don't complain to me. I don't care.
Contact:

Post by Halfshell »

If Grimlock says the word "stubbies" followed by "puttup" then this will be the greatest movie in the history of forever. Regardless of quality of plot, acting or effects.
Image
Cliffjumper
Posts: 32206
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2001 5:00 am

Post by Cliffjumper »

Ratchet's now a Gobot, named Nine-11?
User avatar
RID Scourge
Posts: 13262
Joined: Sun Apr 22, 2001 4:00 am
Location: In ur newz forum. Reading ur newz!

Post by RID Scourge »

I'm wondering if he'll still be their medic. That'd be an odd alt mode for him if that's the case.
User avatar
Brimstone
Protoform
Posts: 1172
Joined: Fri Jul 23, 2004 7:31 pm
Location: Houston, TX

Post by Brimstone »

"Coolest two-seater high octane brother"? Who is he hinting at here?

And although I don't so much have a problem with Rachet being a fire truck...I will agree that it doesn't quite fit the role of "medic" as well as an ambulance does. That plus the fact that the character Inferno already exists...it just seems like an odd decision. <shrugs>
-Tobin Melroy
aka Arek Brimstone

"Can't wait for election day,
Wouldn't miss the occupation corporations rule the day." - Pearl Jam, "Undone"
Image
User avatar
Thundercracker
Protoform
Posts: 563
Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2001 4:57 am
Location: STL

Post by Thundercracker »

Originally posted by Brimstone
"Coolest two-seater high octane brother"? Who is he hinting at here?


hes hingting between sideswipe and sunstreaker...wanting the fans to choose who they want to see in the movie more
Image
The Futon, it's a couch that turns into a bed....the most disappointing transformer of all.
Screamwaves7

Post by Screamwaves7 »

I'm with Denyer, I didn't really like G1 Inferno that much. Now, if they made him more like Inferno II from Beast Wars, that would be freckin sweet.


"For the Royalty!!"
Ghirox

Post by Ghirox »

No Sondwave and no cassette ... i hope they preserve their role, and not only the name ...

mass shfting .. will work?

no Kids ..well, good; IMO

Matrix .. questions are surfacing .. why the Matrix is no Earth? Look like the Matrix beeing a sort of source for the spark of the TF, but this type of artifact must stay on Seibertron to create new TF .. i doubt that a sort of the RID story (Fortress lost on Earth) will work for the Creation Matrix ....
User avatar
Civ
Posts: 4330
Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2003 12:10 am
Location: Pennsylvania

Post by Civ »

Found some more news from John Rogers over at Seibertron. This was posted by someone called Sideshow Sideswipe and his source was twf2005.com. You can read the original article here.
John Rogers stopped by the Don Murphy message board again to reveal some more information about the Summer 2006 transformers movie.

"I posted, what, yesterday? And already 10 PAGES of responses? I promised my self not to come back too often, but when somebody told me, I had to see for myself. You guys are amazing.

Okay, last post for a while. I'll check back in when the script is done. in the meantime, I'll address some randomly selected questions from those 10 pages.

1.) Specific design stuff like eye color, etc., will be determined by the Hasbro and concept art humans. Not my gig. But I'm meeting with the toy folk this week, and have been told they have some very strict guidelines, and interesting ideas.

2.) No, Witwicky isn't gay. Err, wow. The "kind of" meant that you'll recognize the girlfriend's character name, but she doesn't start out as his girfriend.

3.)There's no "Autobots=american cars, Decepticons=foreign models" paradigm. There is a big difference between the two, however ...

4) The TF's are being chosen because of their personalities. That's more important to the process of treating them like real characters than the alt-forms to me. Of course, I could be wrong. I probably am wrong. But to paraphrase Ash: "Good. Bad. I'm the one with the word processor."

95% of the TF's are like 95% of the originals, no worries. But like no yellow spandex and organic webshooters, some stuff just looks better on film. That's why it's film.

5.)Enough from you cassette playa-hata's out there.

6.)Modern day setting.

7.) No Triple-Changers -- that "more than one Alt-form" was a reference to something else.

8.) You'll see other countries.

9.) [fanboy joking tone] Maybe it's me, but Megatron doesn't need to become a wee little gun because he's Megatron, intergalactic kicker of @sses, and he doesn't hide from no stinking humans [/end fanboy joking tone].

10.) The guy who changed his name to Optimus Prime: Seriously. You just scared the hell out of me.

Peace out, and remember, the entire movie will be centered around Chorostop.

Psych.

John"
Is it just me or was Rogers' busting on fanboys pretty damn funny?
Image
Thanks, Zeeks! Great job! :up:
User avatar
Grimlock2983
Protoform
Posts: 218
Joined: Fri Sep 13, 2002 12:59 am
Location: Berkeley, CA

Post by Grimlock2983 »

While I do enjoy when they mock them, I almost feel like Don and John are pandering to them a little much. One of the problems I had with the G1 Volume 2 comic were all the "easter eggs," sometimes things like that distract form the plot.
Blaster: "Grimlock, look over there!"

Grimlock: "You think Grimlock stupid, fall for trick."

Blaster: "Well, yes and no. Yes, I think you're stupid. But no, it's not a trick."

*Decepticons attack while Blaster and Grimlock battle for leadersihp of the Autobots, Issue #41*
User avatar
Random Sweep
Protoform
Posts: 1222
Joined: Tue Jan 06, 2004 5:03 am
Location: Under the Banner

Post by Random Sweep »

I am not huge on Ratchet being a firetruck, but it is not that big a deal. best just to try and enjoy the movie for what it is ( or I guess in this case, will be )
Image
User avatar
Nevermore
Posts: 10697
Joined: Wed Aug 28, 2002 10:30 pm
Location: Autobase Germany
Contact:

Post by Nevermore »

Originally posted by Civ
Found some more news from John Rogers over at Seibertron. This was posted by someone called Sideshow Sideswipe and his source was twf2005.com. You can read the original article here.


Not wanting to undermine your desire to credit the site where you found it at, but "Seibertron quoting 2005" without ANY link to the ORIGINAL source is lacking. :)

Here's the link:
http://donmurphy.net/board/showthread.p ... enumber=10
Looking for a complete Energon Sky Shadow (from Superion Maximus).
Offering: Binaltech Hound, Swindle, Ravage (Corvette), Skids.
Can buy in stores: Robot Heroes Tigatron/Inferno, Ricochet/Predaking.
Whirl's Rear Rotor

Post by Whirl's Rear Rotor »

Could the "Coolest High-Octane Brother" remark possibly mean Jazz? You know, in the Shaft sense of brother? If he's working on personalities, Jazz has a much more defined personality than the Lamborghini brothers - it'd make a more sensible choice. And I think more people who only have a vague recollection of the cartoon would remember Jazz. Personally, I'd rather see him than either of the Lambos.
User avatar
Denyer
Posts: 33033
Joined: Sun Sep 17, 2000 4:00 am
Location: Perfidious Albion
Contact:

Post by Denyer »

Incidentally, I think Inferno is pretty cool... I just doubt the movie is going to be based on Legacy Of Unicron or US G2.
User avatar
Brimstone
Protoform
Posts: 1172
Joined: Fri Jul 23, 2004 7:31 pm
Location: Houston, TX

Post by Brimstone »

Originally posted by Whirl's Rear Rotor
Could the "Coolest High-Octane Brother" remark possibly mean Jazz? You know, in the Shaft sense of brother? If he's working on personalities, Jazz has a much more defined personality than the Lamborghini brothers - it'd make a more sensible choice. And I think more people who only have a vague recollection of the cartoon would remember Jazz. Personally, I'd rather see him than either of the Lambos.
Me too...mostly because he's the second in command guy. I know there's probably been a lot of speculation...but if I had to choose based on personalities for the 6 characters or so I'd think Rachet (medic), Ironhide (war hero), Wheeljack (mechanic), Jazz (2nd-in-command), Prowl (security), and then of course Prime. :)

It does seem rather odd that they'd only do one of the lamborghini brothers...they really never had much of a personality of their own...it seemed like it was just always "them." Know what I mean?

But...I think Sideswipe would be the better choice for the first movie, then introduce Sunstreaker in the second (show the nice guy first...then give him conflict by having his jerk of a brother show up and push him around). :)
-Tobin Melroy
aka Arek Brimstone

"Can't wait for election day,
Wouldn't miss the occupation corporations rule the day." - Pearl Jam, "Undone"
Image
User avatar
stoltobot
Protoform
Posts: 87
Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2002 6:46 am
Location: Nagoya, Japan
Contact:

Post by stoltobot »

Things are starting to sound heaps better desu ne? These guys seem to be bending over backwards for the fans now. Every time I read something it just seems to get better. As for a two seat high octane 'brother', the only two seater I know of 'colour' (color to you yanks) is Jazz. As for Hasbro's 'interesting' ideas, we can only be optimistic.

Creation/energon/whatever matrix forever! 'Til all are bums.
________
Easy Vape
User avatar
Civ
Posts: 4330
Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2003 12:10 am
Location: Pennsylvania

Post by Civ »

Jazz would also make the most sense. His personality was very laid back and he really liked earth culture. It would make sense to pick him since he's the one that most casual movie go'ers (most likely non-TF fans) would most likely relate to the best.
Image
Thanks, Zeeks! Great job! :up:
Post Reply