The Supplements: What Goodies Are There?
Paramount has presented all of the bonus material from the HD DVD (and 2-disc DVD edition) on this two-disc Blu-ray Disc set (even the web-enabled features and PIP commentary feature). Before I share Dan’s comments about the bonus material from his review of the HD DVD edition, I’ll remark that it’s refreshing that Paramount has enabled users to migrate to the Blu-ray Disc edition without the fear of losing bonus content in the process. In order to maximize picture and sound quality of the feature presentation, just as with the HD DVD, Paramount has presented all of the bonus material not directly linked to the film’s play (like commentary) on a second disc. Regarding the bonus material on the DVD, it’s identical to what’s on the two high definition releases except in cases of interactivity (picture in picture) and web features.
Dan writes:
“We begin with a very fine feature-length commentary by director Michael Bay. He begins at the beginning, describing a telephone call from Steven Spielberg, inviting him to direct a toy movie. He describes his transformation from a skeptic to a true believer and signed on. He describes his relationship with the military, explaining his access to hardware that even surprised me. He’s very open and chatty, and it becomes extremely clear very quickly that this is one intense director. He talks about his cast and we learn about the audition process and Bay’s technique for motivating his players, particularly Megan Fox, a relatively new performer. He talks at length about the CGI and his collaboration with ILM and Digital Domain, a special effects house he purchased with some partners. We learn about his relationship with General Motors and Hasbro. We learn that he put so much faith in the film that he gave up his director’s fee in exchange for a backend deal - that worked out rather well. I enjoyed his anecdotes from the shoot. But the commentary ends with a bit too much of a self-congratulatory tone. Even though there’s some duplication with the material in the video supplements, this is a worthwhile track.
“Also on disc one, you’ll find Transformers H.U.D., which is a fine text trivia track that pops little factoids onto the screen throughout the film. There are also Web enabled features that regular readers know I can mention but not critique since I have no high speed Internet connection in my home theater. But frankly, I’m not sure you could want more than is found on disc two. Let me move on to the second disc. [David can access Web features on the Blu-ray Disc and he found that they are similar to a fun facts or pop-up trivia feature that displays text-based trivia about key scenes or characters while watching the film. The applet to run this feature took only seconds to download on his PS3 and played seamlessly while watching the film].
“I applaud Paramount for providing all the supplements in fine-looking 1.78:1 high definition video also compressed with the AVC video CODEC. Bravo.
“We begin with the Our World documentary (49:20 with the considerately provided Play All option); it’s divided into four sections: The Story Sparks; Human Allies; I Fight Giant Robots; and, Battleground.
“In the first section, we learn about Hasbro and the origins of the robotic characters. Executive producer Steven Spielberg appears to describe the origins of the film concept. Michael Bay was reluctant initially, but after attending Transformers School at Hasbro became convinced that the concept had merit. We’re taken through some concept art and learn that Bay transformed the script from a bit too campy to something dead serious. With the collaboration of the specialists at ILM who specialize in animatics, he planned his shoot.
“The next chapter puts the spotlight on casting and the principal actors. We enjoy lots of impressive behind the scenes footage. It’s exceptionally clear that Bay is a frantic and tireless director who runs a tight ship. He carries a megaphone and isn’t afraid to use it. This is one intense man. I guess I would be too if I were gambling a $150 million movie budget. He explains that he concentrated on making both the characters and the situations as real as possible. Bay also shares his thoughts about his performers. We learn and see that Megan Fox frequently had trouble keeping a straight face. She may be gorgeous but she’s not that experienced; with Bay pushing her buttons, she was very effective. The chapter goes through all the principal cast members.
“In the next chapter, Bay explains that he has an exceptionally good relationship with the military, has been able to access surprising locations, and was able to film the latest weapons systems. We see the actors going through training, learning how to take a building and handle their weapons. Bay has great respect for the military and uses military people to play military people. It’s also in this section that we learn how he emphasizes practical effects over CGI whenever possible.
“Battleground takes us to various locations: White Sands Missile Range, Hoover Dam, downtown Los Angeles, and Holloman Air Force Base among them. We see the huge set constructed for the Hoover interior. It was built where Howard Hughes fabricated the Spruce Goose. Impressive.
“Moving on to the next section, we begin with a documentary called Their War (1:05:07). And it, too, is organized into four chapters: Rise of the Robots; Autobots Roll Out; Decepticons Strike; and, Inside The Allspark.
“In the first, Spielberg kicks off the chapter with a few comments about his memories of playing with his children’s' Transformers toys. It’s here that we learn of the toys’ Japanese origins and how Hasbro bought the rights and created a story suitable for an animated TV show that was intended to sell their toys. It was a very clever business decision; the line has sold over $3 billion at retail since its introduction in the '80s. I had no idea. But the downside of such popularity are obsessive fan-geeks who are so invested in the series and characters that Bay’s reimagining provoked threats. Before principal photography was completed, much information was leaked to the Web, including designs and script. Bay had new technologies created for the alien home world and introduced new concepts. Some fans objected, which had a small influence on the film; other fans were simply threatening. It wasn’t until the film was released and proved to be so respectful of the characters that the threats stopped. We also learn of the evolution of the film. Hasbro affected the decision to stick with generation-one characters and corrected Optimus Prime’s appearance, giving it more of a Samurai-like look. The number or robots was limited by the budget, something that becomes even clearer in a later chapter.
“Peter Cullen voiced the TV character of Optimus Prime and he was brought back for the film. We also see Hugo Weaving providing the voice of Megatron. It’s here that the development of the robots is described. First, the production made foam robots as sculptures. From those, larger static structures were built at a cost of anywhere from $250 thousand to three quarter of a million dollars each. It cost $75,000 just to paint Bumblebee. There is a discussion about the cars and which vehicles were to be used in the film. It’s also here that we learn of the negotiations with automobile companies that yielded the winner: General Motors. So advanced were the cars during principal photography that the yellow Camero was a $500,000 hand-built preproduction prototype. All of the cars were highly jazzed up for the film and the featurette demonstrates how. GM also provided flood damaged cars to burn, crash, flip, crush, and mangle. Two hundred cars were destroyed in the making of this film. The featurette shows us how; for example, an amazing compressed air launcher catapulted a car into an L.A. building. Revealed are camera go-cart techniques. And it’s in this chapter that the huge highway chase is dissected, including some impressive physical effects, like a bus being ripped in half. Bay just pushes and pushes and pushes; it’s amazingly that there were no injuries.
“In the Decpticon chapter, we learn of the decision to have the evil robots transform to and from military vehicles. Among them is our country’s most advanced deployed fighter, the F-22 Raptor (StarScream takes that form); I'm still amazed that he was able to film them. The featurette moves through the various vehicles used for the robots. It also touches upon the filming of Ospreys, Warthogs, a C-130 gunship, and the F-117 Stealth fighter, which couldn't be filmed from certain angles for security reasons. It’s here that the important point is made that the film paid for all costs involving the military; none of the costs came out of taxpayers’ pockets.
“During Inside the Allspark, Bay mentions that he bought Digital Domain, a significant special effects house. Nonetheless, ILM did 75% of the CGI and Digital Domain only did 25%. We’re whisked to ILM with an aerial shot of the Presidio, its new home. Among the ILM programmers are remarkable Transformers collectors and fans. We learn more about the robot computer models; Optimus Prime had an astounding 10,108 parts, an all-time record for ILM CGI complexity. So complex are the robots that for three robots visible onscreen, it took thirty-eight hours to render each frame. ILM converted Bay to animatics; he’s now a big fan of them rather than storyboards. We learn how ILM was at the shoot to provide guidance. And it is here that another of my questions was answered. Martial arts fighters were taped for the ILM CG animators to help them program more organic movements; I was surprised that the robots weren't created using motion capture. There are discussions of imparting emotions through robotic facial expressions, creating impressive transformations, match moving, and subtle lighting effects, like reflections of the environment.
“These two documentaries are extremely through and complete. Very well done.
“Also in this section is Transformers Tech Inspector. It’s an interactive display of the various robots in high detail. You can rotate, select the part of the robot to view, and observe specific details. The only downside is that I couldn't see how to pause the rotation.
“The next section is called More Than Meets The Eye, also divided into different sections. From Script to Sand: The Skorponok Desert Attack (8:55) is an analysis and dissection of that sequence. Inspired by a comic book, complete 3D simulation as animatics were created as a first step. We join the crew as they scout Holloman AFB in Alamogordo, NM. The location had to be cleared of unexploded ordnance. We’re given a view of construction and a description of the village. We learn about how the pyrotechnics were accomplished.
“Next is Concepts (2:11), a series of artists renderings panned and zoomed and backed by music from the score.
“The trailers section includes Teaser 1 (1:52), Theatrical 2 (2:13), and Theatrical 4 (2:44).
“The supplements have their own set of subtitles: English, English SDH on the HD DVD, English Closed Captions on the DVD, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.
The 144-minute feature film is organized into twenty-three chapters.
Final Thoughts
An entertaining film comes to you new and improved on Blu-ray Disc with a newly optimized reference-setting video compression and lossless Dolby TrueHD audio presentation. With all the bonus material from the previous DVD and HD DVD editions carefully preserved, this Blu-ray Disc release is a win-win for the home theater community. Whether you’re buying Transformers for the first time in 1080p, or whether you’re upgrading from the HD DVD version to enjoy the lossless audio, this disc is an easy recommendation. Enjoy.
Here’s a note about the apparent duplicate Buy Guide. Our I.T. people are still hard at work on a large project and have not yet had the time to modify the underlying site database formatting code to accommodate the new 0-to-10 rating scales. So until they do, for HD on disc, I’ll insert this note and a Buy Guide at the end of the review text and leave the conventional 0-to-5 Buy Guide blank.
