The Transformers: The Movie Still Has The Touch 40 Years Later

Courtesy of De Laurentiis Entertainment Group

Recently, Optimus Prime voice actor Peter Cullen passed away at the age of 85. Transformers fans mourned his passing, remembering all the movies, shows, and videos he voiced Optimus in. His passing happened right before the theatrical rerelease of The Transformers: The Movie, which is coming out on September 17 to celebrate the movie’s 40th anniversary. For many Transformers fans, this movie is a childhood classic, defined their childhoods, got them and their future children into Transformers, as well as broke the hearts of many 1980s kids. What makes The Transformers: The Movie a 1980s classic and, for some fans, the defining Transformers movie?

The Transformers: The Movie came out on August 8, 1986, directed by Nelson Shin and starring Peter Cullen and Frank Welker as Optimus Prime and Megatron, as well as Judd Nelson, Leonard Nimoy, Orson Welles, Lionel Stander, Robert Stack, and Eric Idle. The movie takes place 20 years into the future after the second season of The Transformers, when the Decepticons control Cybertron and unleash a deadly assault on Earth’s Autobot City. During this time, a monstrous, planet-sized Transformer named Unicron is devouring planets and heading for Cybertron. The Transformers: The Movie saw a major shift in tone from the first two seasons of The Transformers. In the movie, various characters from the first two seasons like Ironhide, Ratchet, Starscream, and even Optimus Prime himself, were killed off. Some characters who weren’t killed off had smaller roles. Megatron was turned into Galvatron, and other dying Decepticons were turned into new characters like Cyclonus and Scourge. New characters such as Hot Rod, Ultra Magnus, Kup, Arcee, and Springer were introduced and were the main characters of the movie. Hasbro wanted this to refresh the toy line by selling new Transformers toys.

For many young fans, it was a shock to see their favorite characters get killed off right away. For an animated movie geared towards kids, The Transformers: The Movie had some brutal deaths to fan favorite characters. There was even a scrapped scene that would have killed off more Seasons One and Two characters that never made the final cut. The death that hit fans the hardest was the death of Optimus Prime. Anyone who watched the movie would agree his death was the most emotional scene of the entire movie. His final words and passing the Matrix of Leadership to Ultra Magnus, mixed with the reactions of the characters beside him in his final moments, made it more emotional.

Screenwriter Ron Friedman, who also wrote for the show, was against killing Optimus Prime off, saying it wouldn’t work and fans saw him as the father of the Autobots, but Hasbro ignored him.

Hasbro underestimated how badly kids would handle Optimus Prime’s death. There were reports of fans leaving the theaters early in tears and a story of a boy who locked himself in his bedroom for days, heartbroken over the beloved character’s death. Before The Transformers: The Movie, Peter Cullen himself had no idea how popular Optimus Prime was. He never saw the hundreds of fan letters sent to the studio. Once Optimus died, several fans and even their parents wrote to Hasbro expressing their frustrations and sadness. Peter Cullen realized how many fans loved him as Optimus, and in the finale of Season Three of The Transformers, Optimus Prime was officially back, once again voiced by Peter Cullen.

The Transformers: The Movie originally got negative reviews when it first came out. Critics weren’t big on how dark the movie was, and many saw it as an hour and twenty-five minutes advertisement for new Transformers toys. Obviously, anyone not familiar with the show was confused and not fond of the mindless action taking place. Forty years later, The Transformers: The Movie is a beloved cult classic for Transformers fans and fans of 1980s movies.

Fans consider it a superior Transformers movie to the Michael Bay live-action movies, noting that the original 1986 movie focuses on Transformers and provides a ton of Autobots vs Decepticons action where fans criticize how much the Bay movies focused on the human characters and had jokes they felt had no place in those movies. The soundtrack, including songs from Stan Bush like The Touch and Dare, have been praised and later became staples in Transformers’ fan culture. The voice acting performances were praised, from Peter Cullen and Frank Welker to Judd Nelson, Leonard Nimoy, and Orson Welles. Orson Welles voicing Unicron was the last role he played, recording his lines right before his passing in 1985. Leonard Nimoy, the voice of Galvatron, would later voice Sentinel Prime in Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

The Transformers: The Movie starts darkly, introducing Unicron by having Unicron devour another planet. The movie sets up how dangerous and powerful this new enemy is. After the opening credits, it’s not too long until Megatron and his Decepticons kill Autobots and invade Autobot City. The action may be mindless, but for fans, it’s everything they want. The final fight between Optimus Prime and Megatron is brutal yet entertaining. Some moments feel like a Star Wars movie, such as when the Autobots are being chased by Galvatron in space and land on different planets. For all the death and violence, the movie still has a lot of fun and humor in it, many of which is provided by Grimlock and the Dinobots. Iconic moments in Transformers history take place in this movie, including Hot Rod becoming Rodimus Prime.

After The Transformers: The Movie, Season Three focused on Rodimus Prime and the new Autobots vs Galvatron and his Decepticons. Characters killed off in the movie stayed dead except for Optimus Prime, who was revived by the end of Season Three (although a few animation errors in certain episodes briefly showed certain dead characters). Characters who survived like Bumblebee, Soundwave, Grimlock, Blaster, and other characters, continued to appear in various episodes. Some characters from the first two seasons who weren’t in the movie either returned, like Warpath and the Aerialbots, or never appeared again. Some characters like Jazz and Cliffjumper, who survived, would appear later on in small, non-speaking roles, as Jazz’s voice actor, Scatman Crothers, passed away in 1986 and Cliffjumper’s voice actor, Casey Kasem, left the show due to being against the show’s offensive depiction of Arabs in Season Three.

Overall, The Transformers: The Movie defined the childhoods of several 1980s kids. To this day, fans consider it one of, if not the best Transformers movie made.  It’s no surprise if Transformers fans who are now adults show this movie to their kids and say this is the definitive Transformers movie. It has a terrific voice cast and terrific 1980s animation. It does sacrifice action for story at various times and makes creative decisions fans still disagree with. Still, the action is entertaining and shows that animation studios don’t always hold back. The soundtrack and score are pure 1980s-themed. It stinks that Hasbro thought the best way to sell new toys was to kill off classic characters. Luckily, they seemed to have learned their lesson forty years later in the various toy lines based on later shows, movies, comics, and video games where they don’t kill most of the characters off to bring in new ones. From September 17 to September 22, fans can relive the experience on the big screen in select theaters. A lot of the marketing for the rerelease is focused on the death of Optimus Prime. After the movie, fans will experience a short 12-minute Transformers movie called Optimus Prime: Awakening, where fans can watch one last project with Peter Cullen voicing Optimus Prime. Frank Welker will also voice Megatron in the short movie.

My final grade for The Transformers: The Movie is a B. It’s a classic that isn’t the greatest movie, but still a ton of fun to watch. For any Transformers fan out there that hasn’t seen this one, go check it out when it comes back to theaters in a couple of weeks.

What are your thoughts on The Transformers: The Movie? Let us know in the comments below.