Back by popular demandAnother factor that lifted the Transformers to a higher level years ago was the human voices behind the animation. One unifying figure in the Transformers renaissance is Peter Cullen, who is part of both the franchise's past and present. Cullen is the voice of Optimus Prime in the new film and was the original voice of the mechanical hero from the 1984 cartoon.His smooth, fatherly delivery was the sound a generation of boys heard in their heads as they concocted their own backyard adventures. Then the Transformers animated film killed off Prime and others at their peak, cynically clearing the way for a new line of toys.Hasbro acknowledges that as a major blunder. Transformers diminished in popularity soon after, and though the toy line has continued over the years, with different designs and characters, it never came close to the same status until now.When Cullen heard about the new Transformers movie a few years ago, he was excited. quot;But I was also apprehensive. I'm used to not wanting things too much,quot; says Cullen, who also does ominous trailer narration and supplies the voice of Eeyore in new Winnie the Pooh cartoons.He credits getting the role again to the lobbying of fans online: quot;They made such a racket about it. That's when I began to really learn that Optimus Prime had been such a major part of their lives. God love 'em. If not for that, I probably would have been passed over.quot;Though Transformers has been mocked over the years as a glorified toy commercial, Cullen says the performers from the original series never saw it that way.Cullen imbued Prime with qualities that were very important to the actor personally, adding a layer to the role that, in keeping with the Transformers catchphrase, was quot;more than meets the eye.quot;As a stoic, stern but forgiving father figure to the little yellow rookie robot known as Bumblebee (a VW bug in its original incarnation, and a Chevy Camaro in the live-action film), Prime never lost his temper, and even in the heat of battle never lost his dignity or desire to preserve the lives on Earth.quot;It came from family members that I drew from, my brother, in particular. He was an officer in the Marine Corps fighting in Vietnam and was there longer than anybody should be in battle,quot; Cullen says. quot;He didn't talk much about his experiences, but the power inside of him as a person was undeniably a strength that I'd never seen when we were growing up. He had changed. He was my hero. So years later, when I had the opportunity to audition for Optimus Prime, I drew on my brother's persona. hellip; I wanted that sense of honor.quot;Megatron, on the other hand, the leader of the resource-plundering Decepticons, is practically the epitome of a bad parent mdash; quick to anger, judgmental, cruel mdash; which is why his second in command, the fighter jet Starscream, has always secretly plotted to usurp him.A line from the cartoon that is repeated in the movie says it all: quot;When he says, 'Starscream, you have failed me again hellip;' that's like the mantra heard from the bad father of every kid who ever struck out in baseball,quot; DeSanto says.The movie also takes family conflict to another new level, revealing that Prime and Megatron are brothers. quot;It's like Cain and Abel, all taking place in some other part of the galaxy,quot; Cullen says.He says the mythology is vital. Before anyone could breathe life into these characters, somebody had to explain who these alien machines were and why they looked like human vehicles.From toys to charactersAround 1983, the Hasbro toy company was holding the license to a Japanese series of toys mdash; little cars and trucks that could be twisted and turned like a puzzle until they took on the shape of a robot.There were various car-to-robot toy lines in Japan (the big supplier was the Takara Co.), but none of them had names or personalities (Optimus Prime was just Convoy), and there was no overarching mythology behind their origin.Jim Shooter was editor in chief at Marvel Comics, and Hasbro took the anonymous vehicles to him for a back story. quot;They figured that American kids want to know why the robot turns into a car or truck,quot; he recalled.Shooter came up with the mechanical world of Cybertron, which had been decimated by civil war. The heroic Autobots were designed as peaceful transport vehicles, but the villainous Decepticons were primarily weapons of war. (Megatron's machine form in the 1980s was a silver handgun. In the movie, he's an alien fighter craft but can form his arms into a cannon.)When the characters crash-landed on Earth, they rebuilt their bodies to serve as camouflage amid the machines of the human world. What they wanted, he said, came straight from the energy crisis of the 1970s mdash; fuel.quot;We found out what drives them drives them,quot; jokes Shooter, who recently wrote a new story for the Harbinger teen-superhero series from Valiant Comics.He credits former Marvel writer Bob Budiansky with creating many of the character names and personalities, which, in turn, became an effective marketing tool that helped change the toy industry.Toys R TopsThe toys also captured the imaginations of some heavyweight fans beyond 8- to 12-year-olds. Steven Spielberg, an executive producer of the live-action Transformers movie, gave the green light to the project, partly because of his own memories of his children and the toys.quot;I was not a kid, and I loved them,quot; Spielberg said when the movie was in pre-production. quot;I would buy Transformers toys for my kids, but then I would play with them in secret.quot;The transition from cartoon to live action was relatively smooth. Technology has improved to the point where the robots can appear photo-real, and though the actual transformations tested the limits of effects creator Industrial Light amp; Magic's resources mdash; Optimus Prime has 10,000 moving parts mdash; the film is budgeted at a relatively inexpensive $150 million.Armageddon filmmaker Michael Bay, whose action films such as Bad Boys and The Island are the equivalent of a big kid playing crash-up with full-sized cars, was brought in to direct, and a new line of playthings was devised to make kids covetous in the aisles of Toys R Us.A new Activision video game tie-in takes the play from the backyard to the digital realm, allowing gamers to act as both Autobots and Decepticons, protecting the Earth or destroying it as they war in city streets.But the tangible toys are still the centerpiece of the franchise. Hasbro's design director, Aaron Archer, says the film-related products take the Transformers back to their roots after tangents years ago such as Beast Wars, in which the robots changed into jungle animals.quot;We wanted people to be able to remember fondly the characters, even if it was fuzzy or hazy in their minds,quot; he says.The new Optimus Prime is no longer a simple flat-nose truck, but a much larger rig with many more complicated moving parts, sure to challenge the dexterity of the average tween-age boy.quot;We need to reinvent toys because it's like the fashion business. You can't just see the same thing constantly,quot; Archer says, and that evolution will continue. quot;Twenty years from now, I hope we're still talking about the next generation of kids getting into Transformers.quot;But the character of Prime remains the same mdash; honest, brave and careful with his great strength.Cullen is glad the movie didn't try to make Prime a cynical anti-hero. After hearing so many fond memories from fans over the years, Cullen says the character means more to him than a paycheck.quot;It's the same guy. Otherwise, I would have walked,quot; he says. quot;I owe it to the people that Optimus had such a great effect on all those years ago. If the character could not be fulfilled in that way, I would not have done it.quot;/>
