The Transformers: The Movie promo
From Transformers Wiki
Early in the production of The Transformers: The Movie, a promotional trailer was made to sell the project to potential investors.
| “ | A new motion picture will transform the summer of 1986 into an incredible adventure. | ” |
| —The promo's opening blurb. | ||
This trailer features a fair bit of test footage that was either changed or cut before the movie's release, together with a few lines of unique narration by Victor Caroli.
Contents |
Notable differences
- There are close-up shots of both of Unicron's pincers piercing Lithone's surface.
- Unicron's inner workings have a much more organic appearance to them.
- The Autobot shuttle is a slightly different design and colour scheme.
- When Kup tells his story about the Ick-Yak to the Dinobots, they are sitting around in robot mode.
- Kup's dialogue is from a different take to that which was used in the movie.
- Snarl is also prominently featured in this scene, despite being relegated to cameo status within the actual movie. However, this comes at the cost of Slag, who doesn't appear at all in this scene, as per the original script's description of "the four Dinobots".
- Arcee and Daniel are shown travelling in the same shuttlecraft as Hot Rod.
- What is shown of the Battle of Autobot City is a bit more energetic and violent than the final version.
- Ultra Magnus is drawn in his Diaclone colours.Y'all know me.
Still the same O.G. - Autobot City is mostly white.
- Ultra Magnus is drawn in his Diaclone colours.
- Rather than the Matrix of Leadership, Galvatron wears a glowing-pink wireframe around his neck, which may be the jar holding the Life Spark of Optimus Prime, which was in early versions of the script before being replaced by the Matrix in the final film.
- Galvatron falls inside Unicron as he transforms, only to suddenly reappear outside of him.
- Unicron in robot mode has an orange mohawk and is missing his facial hair.
In addition to the above points, there are a few lighting and sound effects featured that were changed for the movie's release.
Musically, the trailer is soundtracked with selections from James Horner's score to Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (specifically, the "Mind Meld", "Return to Vulcan" and "Bird of Prey Decloaks" cues). During the destruction of Lithone "Io" by Wendy Carlos is used, whilst "Losfer Words" by Iron Maiden is used during the Autobot city battle.
Japanese version
A slightly re-edited version of the trailer exists that features Japanese captions on screen. Apart from these captions, there is little difference between the two versions; the opening blurb has been removed (probably due to it being pointless in front of an audience that can't read English), and some of the blank footage between cuts has been trimmed down. An excerpt from an instrumental track by the legendary British metal band Iron Maiden, "Losfer Words (Big 'Orra)" (from their 1984 album Powerslave) is heard in this promo as well.
This version was available in Japan on the Transformers Hero Laserdisc. The laserdisc was widely bootlegged on VHS tape in the US.
Theatrical version
The promo was later cut down to around 90 seconds in length (from its original 4¼ minutes), re-cropped to fit a widescreen aspect ratio, and sent out to cinemas as the movie's first theatrical trailer.
This version is composed of the original opening blurb, a new flashy title card (which is so awesome that it is shown 2½ times by the time the trailer ends), a shorter version of the scene aboard the Autobot shuttle including the captions that introduce the new characters and their voice actors but omitting Kup's monologue, and the Battle of Autobot City sequence.
The theatrical version also differs from the original promo in that it is scored with a preliminary version of Vince DiCola's "Escape" (as later featured on Vince DiCola Presents: The Protoform Sessions), together with some brand new Victor Caroli narration.
Being a trailer, it is preceded by the perennial MPAA green screen and the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group logo, and ends with a promise that the movie will be "coming this summer to a theatre near you".
Home video releases
The different versions of the promotional trailer have been made available to the general public as a bonus feature on a few DVDs:
2002 — Transformers — Complete Original Series: Deluxe Edition (Sony Wonder) — The Japanese version.
2005 — Transformers: The Movie — Reconstructed (Metrodome) — The Japanese version.
2006 — Transformers: The Movie — 20th Anniversary Special Edition (Sony BMG) — The theatrical version.
2006 — Transformers: The Movie — 20th Anniversary Special Edition (Sony BMG) — The original version, but with commentary by Paul Hitchens in lieu of the audio track.
2007 — Transformers: The Movie — Ultimate Edition (Metrodome) — The Japanese version.