Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots, has been regarded as one of fiction’s greatest heroes throughout his 40 years of fame. However, since the toy’s release, he has had a menacing rival – Megatron, leader of the Decepticons. Yet, throughout four decades of riveting battles, there has been an untold story behind these robots in disguise.
Transformers One, released in theaters on Sept. 20, is the latest movie in the multimedia Transformers franchise, which originates from the beloved 1984 lineup of transforming toys. The animated film follows how the company’s beloved characters became Transformers before the legendary conflict between the Autobots and Decepticons began. “Transformers One is the untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, better known as sworn enemies, but once were friends bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever,” the Transformers One official synopsis reads.
The film’s plot focuses on the doomed friendship between Optimus Prime and Megatron, known during the events of the film as Orion Pax and D-16. The inevitable falling out between the two makes each bonding moment between the two all the more impactful as the audience dreads the destined conflict. “The relationship between Optimus and Megatron is the thing that made me want to make the movie but also was my emotional core for making all my decisions on the film,” director Josh Cooley said in an interview with Wired.
The film features a star-studded cast, including Chris Hemsworth as Optimus Prime, Brian Tyree Henry as Megatron, Scarlett Johansson as Elita-1 and Keegan-Michael Key as B-127 (Bumblebee). Hemsworth drew inspiration from the iconic Optimus Prime voice actor Peter Cullen to voice a younger, less mature version of his character. “He would sort of contort his neck and his, you know, body, into a position. I used that a little bit, too. I did exactly that, I had to kinda squash my vocal chords into a certain position,” Hemsworth said in an interview with CBS News.
Paramount Animation partnered with the studio ILM to create the film’s 3D animation. The smooth and dynamic animation is put on full display during the signature transformation sequences, which are often overlooked in the franchise’s live-action films. “The live-action characters had a lot of cheating [for the transformations]. We’d move the panel and the whole hood would disappear and five different pieces would separate. But on this one, you get to see them transform properly, with no cheating, which is really exciting for the fans,” animation supervisor Stephen King said in an interview with IndieWire.
Great detail was put into the animation, as the character’s textures reflected their journeys. “Once both Optimus and Megatron transform, you’ll see sparkly speckles in the subsurface of the paint, which made them feel like showroom fresh cars. And then when they’re Optimus and Megatron at the end, they’re completely pristine and very shiny,” VFX supervisor Frazer Churchill said to IndieWire.
The characters’ designs harken back to the classic designs used in the original cartoon with simple shapes and eye-catching colors. The robot’s faces are more humanoid than the designs in the recent live-action films, which depict the characters with faces made up of sliding panels with a limited range of expression. “There was a lot of figuring out how to make our robots a little more human… The eyes still felt robotic, but had a lot of expression to them,” Cooley said in an interview with Empire.
Transformers One dives into the color world of Cybertron, the Transformers’ homeland, which is often referred to in the series’ lore, but is rarely explored. The film strikes a careful balance between elaborating upon lore and showing off its cast of legacy characters while including enough brand-new action and story beats to captivate fans both old and new.
