A more modern, expansive sound was sought for the film, and the producers found their perfect match in Vince DiCola, a session musician and film composer who had rose to prominence writing songs for Sylvester Stallone's Staying Alive (1983) (including the Frank Stallone cult classic "Far from Over") and scoring Stallone's Rocky IV in 1985 (the only one of six Rocky films not to feature a score by Bill Conti). The original Transformers theme is something of a kids' classic, an ingenious summary of the entire toy line ("Transformers/Robots in disguise!/Transformers/More than meets the eye!"). (The most traumatizing loss for many kids was that of Optimus Prime, whose stunning death early in the film was a flashpoint for Transformers fans everywhere.) They were introduced, however, at the expense of several major characters, who perished in the feature film and did not come back for the next season of the show. ![]() The team behind the toys were anxious to inject some new blood, and they introduced several new characters into the mix (most notably the massive new villain, Unicron, the last voice-over work of Orson Welles). ![]() But The Transformers: The Movie was a different animal than your usual cartoon cash-in. Spurred by the success of the small-screen show, in 1986 a feature-length film was released. The toys were an instant hit upon release in 1984, and the show was one of the most-enjoyed cartoons among the Saturday-morning market. In a particular stroke of genius back on Earth, a cartoon was simultaneously created for the Transformers as the toys arrived on shelves, guaranteeing a media blitz. Along with some human allies and other types of robots, the Transformers' war was waged for the enjoyment of young boys everywhere. Unfortunately, a civil war between the peaceful Autobots (led by the heroic Optimus Prime) and the villainous Decepticons (controlled by the power-hungry Megatron) spilled beyond Cybertron and across the galaxy. In turn, they created the fictional, futuristic world of Cybertron, where these car/robot hybrids hailed from. Realizing the immense crossover potential in America, Hasbro licensed several of the characters and hired a team of writers, including former Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter and comic writers Dennis O'Neil and Bob Budiansky, to flesh out a story for the toys. ![]() They had released two separate, popular lines of action toys in the East called Micro Change and Diaclone, which featured humanoid robots that could turn into seemingly ordinary vehicles and household objects. Like many quirky icons of pop culture, the Transformers mythology begins in Japan, with a company called Takara Toys. While it remains to be seen - at least by this author - if the new film is any worse than the abhorrent Revenge of the Fallen from 2009 (which featured an enemy with a crotch made of wrecking balls, hereafter referred to as "Decepticles"), it did provoke some thoughts on the lengthy history of the first Transformers film, released some 25 years ago, and the lengthy list of albums that have been released to commemorate it.Īt the end of this post, one shall stand and one shall fall - so pull up a chair, maximize your Energon cubes and read about some of the most endearingly silly music to come from a soundtrack of the '80s! The series' third installment, Dark of the Moon, features Autobots and Decepticons yet again pummeling each other into scrap metal with the fate of the Earth at stake. That crunching, crashing sound you hear is another Transformers movie rolling out into theaters.
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