Transformers One – A Review

Take that, Aligned Continuity!

Eligible for Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Movie in the Dragon Awards

Even in the desert that is modern Hollywood, occasional gems can and do appear. Transformers One is such a gem, a love letter to fans of the franchise and a good entrance point to the series for newcomers. Drawing inspiration primarily from the Aligned Continuity – an attempt by Hasbro to develop a “single origin” for the franchise’s many series in 2010 – Transformers One ably avoids repeating the biggest flaws in this area.

For those who do not know, the fan-named Aligned Continuity took a few very bad turns when it was conceived and released. These were on display primarily in the novel Transformers: Exodus, which had the Transformers’ race divided into castes and stagnating as a result. The biggest problem with the premise was not the caste system itself, but the fact that it made the future Autobots the proponents of this oppressive system and thus the oppressors of the forthcoming Decepticons, which is really not something you want to do if you are telling a story about heroic transforming vehicles fighting their evil counterparts.

Hasbro thought it was a good idea at the time, though, and used it for their IDW comics and the animated series Transformers Prime. Transformers One fixes this error by (a) making the future Autobots the majority of those discriminated against via the caste system and (b) having the original Thirteen Primes betrayed and murdered to enable the enactment of the caste system at all. This betrayal comes from outside the Thirteen Primes’ number, which is important to note.

In the original Aligned Continuity, Megatronus Prime was the Satan stand-in for the Transformers’ race. One of the facepalm-worthy decisions in the Aligned stories that Hasbro made was to have no one see underground gladiator D-16, who began calling himself Megatron after this Not-Satan character, was probably going to be a problem down the line. They just somehow thought he was a nobody who would be easy to appease and shoo off.

Transformers One ably sidesteps this patently obvious problem, which not only avoided foreshadowing D-16’s transformation into Megatron, it made more sense than what happened in the original Aligned Continuity. And so from a worldbuilding standpoint, the movie is already ahead of the game. It reverses or erases the bad from the Aligned Continuity while incorporating the best from various Transformers series across decades.

When one considers the nods to various Transformers series across time, the movie becomes even better as an homage to the franchise’s roots. When the film starts it pays tribute to the Japanese series known in the English dub as Transformers: Cybertron, which did not go unnoticed by this fan. Other fans discovered the theme music for Transformers Prime included in the climactic moment of the film, and there were many, many callbacks to the original series as well as the 1986 movie in Transformers One.

Frankly, if you love Transformers, this movie was intended to make you very happy from beginning to end. The writers and animators put their all into making this movie a film which would please fans from beginning to end. It does not have everything that a Transformers fan would want in it due to its short runtime, but it has a LOT crammed into that runtime all the same. They did their best with what they had and it shows.

But how did the characters fare? The trailers for this film highlighted the humor, and neither Peter Cullen nor Frank Welker returned to play either of the main characters. For those who know Mr. Cullen has wanted to star in an Optimus Prime origin film, casting Chris Hemsworth seemed rather insulting. Did the actors manage the job with grace, or is this another Hasbro disaster?

Personally, I would say that Hemsworth nailed the role of Orion Pax, if not precisely Optimus Prime. While I first got to know the Autobot leader when Gary Chalk had the role, I have become accustomed to Peter Cullen’s performance over time. Hemsworth cannot compete with either man, in part because he has to work hard on suppressing his native Australian accent to prevent it from slipping out. It takes energy that he could otherwise put into his lines to do that, and close listeners can practically hear him fighting it to deliver his lines in a more American manner than he normally speaks.

Despite this limitation, Hemsworth’s acting carried him through and he very ably brought Orion Pax to life. Orion is perfect Paladin material, thinking of others first and himself last (if at all). His humorous scenes in the movie do not degrade his character but show that he is still young and, thus, still finding his footing. No one is perfect – not even a Paladin or a paragon – particularly when he is just starting out. Seeing Orion missing his cues, grappling with despair, and figuring out on the fly how to get out of a situation he has thrown himself into is not just fun, it is in-character. Optimus had to get that ability to think on his feet from somewhere, after all. Why not from dodging the guards meant to keep him (and others) out of the Iacon archives?

For his part, Brian Tyree Henry plays D-16 and later, Megatron, to a T. He makes a very good contrast with Hemworth’s upbeat Orion Pax as well; Orion believes in Primus, in the Matrix of Leadership, and in just causes. But D-16 believes in a fallible person: the erstwhile Sentinel Prime. This in turn means that D-16 believes the caste system which Sentinel instituted is just and right, thus making the abuse heaped on him and the other cogless miners something to be borne with subservience because it is “how the world works.” It is, at base, “for their own good” and they should simply accept it no matter what anyone thinks of it.

Yet we see flashes of D-16’s desire to be other than a cogless nobody constantly being picked on. However, those flashes are greedy and a sign of his lust for power, making him a direct contrast with Orion. Where Orion thinks of others first, D-16 tends to think of what he wants (or deserves) before working forward from there. He therefore takes betrayal as a personal affront more than a wrong that needs to be righted for the benefit of everyone.

Nowhere is this more blatant than when they learn the truth about the caste system and their “beloved leader.” Orion is thinking out loud about how to fix the problem while D-16 is lamenting his fallen idols – Megatronus Prime and Sentinel. He initially sets out a just program for dealing with Sentinel, but that justice vanishes the longer D-16 ruminates on the depth of betrayal he feels from the supposed Prime. Combine that growing hatred with his ability to suddenly be the one on top making others bow, and it is not difficult to see how and why D-16 becomes the monster Tranformers fans know, love, and rightly fear.

Writers who hope to avoid the twin traps of metaknowledge and “mystery boxes” that go nowhere would do well to watch the movie. If they are fans of the series, they will definitely appreciate the skill with which it was made and the will appreciate the love that went into this movie! That is perhaps the biggest mark in Transformers One’s favor: it was made by fans, for fans.

Do not let the trailers’ emphasis on comedy fool you – the movie is NOT simply for laughs. While some of the humor may have been overkill it is not the point of the story, just flavor added to it. So if you want a good summer movie to watch (and, perhaps, to vote for in the Dragon Awards), go borrow or buy Transformers One now! You will not regret it!