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Short filmTranscript
00:10Transformers
00:11It's a robot
00:11Robots in cars, perfect
00:13They've toyed with us
00:14Stop lubricating the back
00:16Frequently terrified us
00:18And generally towered over us for years
00:21In a way it was kind of ahead of its time
00:23But how did a toy with an identity crisis
00:26Two toys in one
00:27Flip, flip, flip, it's a robot
00:28Like this
00:31From a far away place
00:33Nobody knew if it would work in the United States or not
00:35Somehow conspire to herald a new dawn
00:38And become a franchise for everyone
00:41These are real things that are exploding around you
00:43And those are real reactions
00:44The answer may surprise you
00:46Sequels and remakes, bunch of crap
00:48Because there's more to the story
00:51Of how a faltering toy line
00:53This is terrible, we gotta redesign everything
00:54That's called a disaster
00:56Halfway through the movie, every kid starts screaming and crying
00:59Hey we're killing the main character
01:01Hope nobody minds
01:02Manage to win the backing of a Hollywood titan
01:04Spielberg boiled it down to a boy in his car
01:07I bought a car for not to be an alien robot
01:10And overcome a few serious disadvantages
01:13Can robots act?
01:15It is time to talk
01:18With the help of a renegade director
01:20This fella ain't playing
01:22Action!
01:23He's like this conductor of chaos
01:25Lift him up again, do it again, do it again
01:26Why are we not shooting?
01:28You're f***ing my movie
01:29Come on, on camera, let's go
01:30He was shooting me like a supermodel
01:32My face is my warrant
01:34But he can be a real pain in the ass
01:36Dude, you can't abuse me, you're abusing me
01:37This is so overwhelming
01:39We call it Bayhem
01:40Who somehow created the Hollywood juggernaut
01:45That truly had steel balls
01:47You think like, oh these crazy artists
01:49They probably put the testicles on
01:50Nope, that was Michael's idea
01:51And needed them
01:53That's a real house
01:53And they blew it up
01:55Thousands of hours of work gone
01:57So it really was shit
01:58Raining down on me
01:59We actually can't transform the robots right now
02:01I don't think we're safe
02:02They thought it was maybe gonna be like Toy Story
02:05This is the real Toy Story
02:07Well this will be possibly one of the most groundbreaking
02:09Visual effects movies ever made
02:10About a bunch of bots
02:12Make sure that you can never mistake it for a guy in a suit
02:14Who pulled off the greatest transformation ever
02:18It was the complete polar opposite of what he told me to do
02:21From Megatron, this was like the Super Bowl
02:23It was, uh, harrowing
02:25Experience I'll never forget
02:26To Megabucks
02:28Fast cars, giant robots, guns
02:30What else do you need?
02:32On Icons Unearthed
02:34Transformers
02:35Transformers?
02:35Sounds like a terrible idea
03:08The Transformers you know
03:10Began in the shadow of a rising sun
03:13All the development work
03:14Was done in Japan
03:16With a name that sounded
03:18A bit like a miracle drug
03:20It was called Diaclone
03:21Japanese manufacturer Takara
03:23Had a miracle toy
03:25But it failed to translate in America
03:27And it never worked because there was no storyline
03:30Right, just some robots doing things
03:33The story was whatever you decided
03:35Speaking of storyline
03:37The tale of these Japanese giants in the U.S.
03:40Really begins with an American toy company
03:42Who was in need of its own transformation
03:45Mazematics from Hasbro
03:47Hasbro was a relatively small company
03:50We were looking to build the business more than just U.S. sales
03:55And this time looking to the future meant turning to the past
03:59Boy, oh boy, it's a Hasbro toy
04:01And rehabilitating an American classic
04:04G.I. Joe had run its course
04:07There were things going on in the world
04:09That could have caused people to think very differently
04:13About buying a product line that was based on military figures
04:18In other words, no one wanted to buy a toy soldier after the Vietnam War
04:22G.I. Joe was in need of a new mission
04:25Toy brands go through life cycles
04:27And the generals assigned to run it would be two admin
04:31Tom Griffin and Joe Bacall were the original team that worked on the Hasbro business
04:39They were kind of the conciliere of the president of Hasbro at that time
04:44Tom and Joe had formed their own agency to work with Hasbro and their marketing team
04:49Joe Bacall and Tom Griffin
04:52They made a presentation to Steve Hassenfeld
04:54And convinced him that it would be very, very opportunistic to bring G.I. Joe back
05:00The Griffin Bacall plan was revolutionary
05:03Deploy G.I. Joe to infiltrate television
05:07Tom Griffin and Joe Bacall were pioneers in the area of integrated marketing
05:14Okay, integrated marketing may sound like a keynote at a conference no one wants to go to
05:19An integrated marketing platform
05:21But this was actually an ingenious way to take inanimate figurines and give them a soul
05:27Griffin Bacall and Hasbro were about to hatch a plan that would revolutionize the childhoods of every kid who grew
05:33up in the 80s
05:34And the plan was to create characters and stories around the G.I. Joe toys
05:39All they needed was characters and stories
05:41They really did not know what they were going to do
05:44I mean, they had a photo of a soldier
05:46And they had the logo
05:47But that would all soon change
05:49The president of Marvel Comics, his name was Jim Galden
05:52He was at some charity event
05:54But he met Erwin Hassenfeld Sr.
05:57Hassenfeld told him that they were trying to revive G.I. Joe
06:00But they didn't know how they were going to do that yet
06:02And Galden said, why don't you let us do that?
06:05We have nothing but geniuses
06:06And the main genius was Jim Shooter
06:09Well, I'm Jim Shooter
06:10And after a while of writing for DC Comics
06:14I became editor of Marvel
06:17I was second in command
06:18And so Jim went about turning this generic G.I. Joe
06:22Into an action-packed comic filled with stories and characters
06:25So far, the plan was working
06:27But let's not forget
06:29The main plan here for Hasbro was to sell toys
06:32Which at that time wasn't as easy as you might think
06:35There were a tremendous number of regulations
06:37About how you can advertise a toy
06:39You couldn't have fully animated 30-second commercials for toys
06:46You had to show real kids playing with the real toys
06:49I love you, baby orange blossom
06:51But then somebody on the G.I. Joe team had an idea
06:55What if we make this an advertisement for the comic book?
06:58There were no regulations for advertising a comic book
07:02And so, with that little loophole
07:04Hasbro produced fully animated 30-second commercials
07:08G.I. Joe is big enough
07:10Which brought those G.I. Joe toys
07:12Oh, sorry, comic book characters
07:14To life
07:14And so, if you'll notice
07:16At the end of every G.I. Joe commercial
07:18There's one, like, second
07:20Where they show you a picture of the comic book
07:21And they say something like
07:22Follow the further adventures of G.I. Joe in Marvel Comics
07:25Every kid in America is going to see this commercial on TV
07:27They're going to know who G.I. Joe is
07:29They're going to want this book
07:30There'll be a bonus for all of us
07:32It was just the boost G.I. Joe needed
07:35Now that his boots were back on the ground
07:37Hasbro had big plans for G.I. Joe
07:40Sunbow was a wholly owned subsidiary of Griffin Bacall
07:43That focused on production of animated TV shows
07:47TV was all part of the Griffin Bacall master plan
07:51And Joe Bacall didn't have to look far for help
07:53Jay, of course, was indeed Joe's son
07:56Jay was very involved in Sunbow storyline development
08:00For the various animated series
08:02And ultimately, Jay got involved in creative development
08:05For the TV commercials as well
08:06Sunbow's plan was to take a humble working Joe
08:10There was no G.I. Joe
08:12It was just the little shrink-wrapped characters
08:13And turn him into a television star
08:16Showed me the toys
08:17Told me it was an action
08:19That was it
08:20By this man
08:21I have a chance to do something with toys, comics
08:24And I was thrilled
08:25Thrilled because Ron had been hired to write the G.I. Joe TV show
08:30Establishing the characters was what I did in G.I. Joe
08:33It really launched a whole different way
08:36Of trying to build a story
08:38Trying to build a product line
08:40People are volunteering to stand and fight against us
08:43Kids need to connect to a character
08:45That has been established as a someone
08:48G.I. Joe's reinvention had taught Hasbro a valuable lesson
08:52The most dangerous thing in the world is a green officer in the dark with a book of matches
08:56Uh, no
08:58That the TV shows help to create a basis of storyline and understanding of this world
09:06And to be able to set the stage for extensions from those storylines that you're watching
09:12In other words, toys
09:13That is how the toy business works
09:17Hasbro could duplicate the G.I. Joe formula and do the same for Transformers
09:22All they needed was the right vehicle
09:24There was a gentleman attending a toy trade show
09:27The toy that would change Hasbro's fortunes was indeed a vehicle
09:32It was found at
09:33A convention, basically
09:34And came to the attention of an entrepreneur, toy maker, and professional poker player
09:39By the name of Henry Ornstein
09:41Came across these toys that change from cars and trucks to robots
09:47Ornstein had discovered that miracle toy that sounded like a miracle drug
09:51It was called Diaclone
09:53He brought this concept to Hasbro
09:56And he really pushed the idea of getting Hasbro to take on what he thought was a very intriguing toy
10:02line
10:03Which Hasbro decided to do
10:05Hasbro could see the potential
10:07We thought the play pattern of a vehicle turning into a robot
10:11Was something that would really, really, really hit home for kids
10:16For the Transformers to hit home in America
10:19Hasbro needed the right deal
10:21The deal that was set up with Takara was that
10:24They were going to get a royalty rate
10:26And that they were also going to be able to do all of the manufacturing
10:30Because that was another profit center
10:32And a negotiation about high royalty
10:34And let me take, you know, some of the money from the manufacturing
10:37With a deal in place, there was still one lingering question
10:41You know, nobody knew if it would work in the United States or not
10:44We did a lot of research, you know, walking the stores
10:47To see whether there was anything similar
10:49There wasn't, right?
10:51Bondi was basically doing the same exact thing that we were with GoBots
10:56GoBots!
10:57We really wanted to beat GoBots
10:59The stakes were very high
11:01And time was of the essence
11:03The GoBot invasion has begun
11:06Toy company Hasbro was getting ready to launch their new toy line
11:10Two toys in one, plus the puzzle aspect
11:12Tom, Joe, Griffin, McCall, the agency
11:15Came up with the brand name Transformers
11:20The tagline
11:21But to beat the competition
11:25We really wanted to beat GoBots
11:27They needed a lot more
11:29Transformers was a great concept
11:30But to embellish that
11:31Hasbro came to Marvel to develop the toy into a storyline
11:34And why wouldn't they?
11:36Marvel Comics were masters of storylines
11:38And they had the perfect man for the job
11:41Jim Shooter
11:42He came up with this storyline
11:44Jim had plenty of experience writing stories that helped sell toys
11:48In fact, he was right in the middle of one when Hasbro came calling
11:52There was a company called Knickerbocker Toys
11:55Knickerbocker, toys that love you back
11:58They licensed some technology from Japan
12:00It was called the Mysterians
12:01The Mysterians were as mysterious as their name suggested
12:05And yet strangely familiar
12:07The Mysterians were these little cars that turned into robots
12:11Not only were the toys similar, but so was Knickerbocker's plan for marketing them
12:16So they said they had this property
12:18And would we be interested in doing a development on it?
12:21I decided to do it myself
12:24Because I was the only one who was dumb enough to work for free
12:26Jim set about creating a world for the Mysterians
12:30They loved it, but it seemed like something was wrong
12:33Something was
12:34Knickerbocker's own world had just come crashing down
12:37Well, it turned out that that day they had been acquired by Hasbro
12:40Because Hasbro had also licensed technology from Japan
12:45And they didn't want to have any competition
12:47The easiest thing for them to do was just buy a Knickerbocker
12:49Jim didn't know it at the time
12:51But all of his hard work was about to be transformed
12:54Two weeks later
12:56Literally right before his very eyes
12:59One of the big executives from Hasbro came into my office
13:02Takes out of the shopping bag this car
13:03Sets it on my desk
13:05And I said, well, that's cool
13:06He said, watch this
13:07And he flip, flip, flip, it's a robot
13:09He said, no backstory or story of any kind
13:11To go with this
13:12We're here for you to come up with a storyline for it
13:14Hasbro had come to the right place
13:17I said, yeah, we can do that
13:18What Jim meant was that he could do that almost from scratch
13:21They had the name Transformers
13:23They had Autobots and Decepticons
13:25Pretty much nothing else
13:26I thought, well, what if they have used up every single resource as a war
13:31You know, between the bad guys who want what's left
13:33And the good guys who want to preserve it
13:35The good guys now had a mission
13:37They board a spaceship
13:38And eventually it crash lands on Earth
13:42And then they wake up
13:43To land in America
13:44That was basically the setup
13:46And Hasbro?
13:47They loved it
13:48Every word of it
13:49Came off my secretary's typewriter
13:51But I wrote every word
13:52Well, not quite every word
13:54Jim's Transformers still needed names
13:57I didn't have time to think of names of the robots
14:00Well, who knows how to name robots?
14:02Oddly, Jim knew a guy
14:04Danny O'Neill, a Hall of Fame all-time great writer
14:07He said he didn't know quite what to do
14:10It seemed nobody quite knew
14:12I was like the fourth choice, the fifth choice
14:14Until Jim got to Bob Budiansky's desk
14:16He said, Bob, I have this property called Transformers
14:19I need 26 character bios and 24 names
14:23I need them by Monday
14:23Bob was given Danny O'Neill's strange list of robot names
14:27And got straight to work
14:29And so I said, yes, let me see if I can do this
14:31Bob kept only one of Danny's suggested names
14:34But it was a good one
14:36Optimus Prime, which is the head of the Autobots
14:39The main good guy
14:40Bob came up with a lot more than just names
14:42With just a few words
14:43He gave each bot a whole identity
14:46Developing a character in this case
14:48Was writing a paragraph
14:49You just had to put a few tweaks in there
14:50I had to make each character distinctive
14:52And give him interesting personality quirks
14:55As for the names, they just rolled off Bob's tongue
14:58I had a good sense for vocabulary
15:00I did crossword puzzles
15:01So I was able to pull words together
15:03And come up with things that meant something
15:06I came up with Thundercracker
15:07Skywarp
15:08Starscream
15:09All I was trying to do with that
15:11Was come up with something that sounded dangerous
15:13And come up with something about the heavens
15:15Something in the sky
15:17He was the second in command to Megatron
15:20Megatron
15:21The arch-rival head of the Decepticons
15:24A faithful name whose etymology was truly dystopian
15:27I thought it, you know, sounded dangerous
15:29Megaton was a very negative connotation about nuclear weaponry
15:33In fact, a little too negative for Hasbro
15:37They rejected Megatron
15:39I asked very gently
15:40What was the problem with Megatron?
15:43I said, well, we think it sounds too scary
15:45He's the head of the bad guys
15:46He's supposed to sound scary
15:49Like it was like, oh yeah, you're right
15:50Scary name, okay
15:51Yeah, we'll go with it
15:52So I saved Megatron
15:54But Bob couldn't save one idea he had
15:57That would have put Transformers ahead of its time
15:59I pitched at least one of the initial 26
16:02As a female Transformer
16:04Her name was Ratchet
16:06Ratchet was a Transformer that turned into an ambulance
16:09Ratchet's origins were a little cuckoo
16:12The movie that had come out a few, like maybe ten years earlier
16:14Called One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
16:15And there was a nurse, Ratchet
16:17Your hand is staining my window
16:19I pulled that nurse Ratchet idea into my development of Ratchet
16:22And I was quickly told, oh no, this is a boy's toy, no female characters
16:26The meeting was adjourned and the vote was closed
16:28The accepted wisdom at the time was that girl action figures didn't sell
16:33And by and large, they didn't
16:37The Transformers lacked a feminine touch
16:39But they now had a story, a mission, and thanks to Bob
16:42And boy, did I pick the right guy
16:44Characters with cool names, Hasbro was pumped
16:47They loved it and said, let's go
16:49The Transformers
16:51The first Transformers comic hit the shelves in May of 1984
16:55And I remember seeing the commercials for the comic books on TV
16:59And thinking, wow, if they could only do this on a weekly basis
17:03Marvel would just clean up
17:05In other words, the all-important TV integration
17:08Surely Marvel Productions was thinking the same way
17:11David DePatti ran Marvel Productions
17:13David DePatti, for reasons unknown to me, did not like the comic books
17:18He didn't want to know anything about the comics
17:19He didn't care about the comics
17:20If DePatti was a doubting David, he might have had his own personal reasons
17:25Marvel Productions was built on the shoulders of a company called DePatti Freeling
17:31Because Marvel had swallowed his company to create Marvel Productions
17:36DePatti Freeling was a small, independent production company
17:39David DePatti was president, and Fritz Freeling was his partner
17:42And now the formerly independent company with its own impressive legacy
17:46Chris Freeling created Sylvester and Tweety, Pink Panther, co-created Bugs Bunny
17:52Was merely another cog in the Marvel machine
17:55But he even refused to have the Marvel Productions logo share any resemblance to the Marvel logo
18:01It just said MP
18:02And he wouldn't have nothing about the company that identified it as being part of Marvel
18:08Like a Transformer toy, Hasbro's expectations started out small
18:12The forecast for the line was only a $10 million line
18:15And as we made the presentations, it kept creeping up and creeping up and creeping up
18:20And by the time we got ready to launch, that number was probably $50 or $60 million
18:25But no one had any idea what Transformers would become
18:29And we were worried because we knew that GoBots were ahead of us
18:33They wanted to make a certain window with both the animation and the comics
18:38Hasbro bet everything on Marvel to develop their toy robots into captivating characters
18:44But would it be enough to rise above GoBots?
18:47So there was a lot of pressure
18:49Hasbro couldn't wait to get the Transformers show on the air
18:52Because that would get Transformer toys off the shelves
18:55After all
18:56The goal is to sell toys
18:57Using TV shows to sell toys was clever
19:01But it was barely legal
19:02So how was the strategy even available to Transformers?
19:07Hot Wheels!
19:08In the 1960s, there was a Hot Wheels animated show
19:12To answer that, we need to go back to a show about toy cars that found itself in hot water
19:18The parents' group complained, saying this is basically a 30-minute commercial
19:23And the FCC gave a ruling that you cannot have a show based on a toy
19:27The Federal Communications Commission ruling was great for parents
19:31But sucked for kids
19:32But then
19:33In the late 70s, early 80s
19:35A blue wave hit America and changed everything
19:38The Smurfs came over from Belgium
19:41Just where did Baby Smurf come from, anyway?
19:44Hanna-Barbera said, if we could only make a TV show on this
19:48What do we do now, Papa Smurf?
19:50But that was illegal, right?
19:51And someone said, well, it's based on a comic book
19:54So you could tell the FCC, you're not doing it because of the toys
19:57You're doing it because of the comic book
19:59And the FCC fell for it
20:01Baby Smurf is back home to stay!
20:04That simple workaround opened up the entire animation industry
20:08Get in the ring!
20:09And it meant more opportunities for this gentleman
20:12I did a few freelance scripts at Ruby Spears
20:15For a long time, they had the edge of being the biggest TV animation studio
20:20And they might have been even bigger
20:22If they had jumped on an opportunity to make a certain show
20:25A certain toy company wanted to make
20:27Joe Ruby calls all the writers into his office
20:30Somebody at Hasbro had a suitcase that they opened up
20:33And it was filled with all of these toys
20:36Specifically, prototype Transformers fresh out of Tokyo
20:40And Joe said, nah, I got a better idea
20:42We're going to do a show about a teenage boy who turns into a car
20:45I'd like you to meet my computerized car
20:47Turbo Team
20:48The pleasure's mine
20:50That was Turbo Team
20:51They just wanted something that moved that they could put on TV
20:55Oh, brother
20:56Ruby Spears was out
20:59Hasbro needed a new producer to make a TV show to sell their toys
21:03The goal is to sell toys
21:04Marvel Productions was happy to take on Transformers
21:08They already had the story worked out
21:10It was pretty good for what it was
21:12It's the Autobots are escaping
21:13And the Decepticons chase them
21:16And that's how they all end up on Earth
21:18Earth must be a nice place to live
21:20Sound familiar?
21:21There were a lot of people that didn't even know we were involved
21:24It was the story Jim had created for the comics
21:27Some of the people at Marvel Productions only dealt with Sunbow
21:32And they thought that Sunbow created all this stuff
21:35I mean, they were told a lie
21:36And they believed it
21:37The head of Marvel Productions, David DePetty
21:39Liked Jim's ideas enough to take them
21:42But didn't like Jim enough to say thanks
21:44I thought my job was to make good comics
21:46And so we made good comics
21:48But David DePetty refused to talk to me
21:51With Jim's Transformers Bible as their touchstone
21:54Marvel Productions hired a veteran animator
21:56To direct a three-part series
21:58My name is Nelson Shin
22:00Nelson started as a newspaper cartoonist in South Korea
22:04And discovered animation by watching Popeye during the Korean War
22:08That's what I learned, my background
22:11Then I moved into San Francisco
22:14Where he worked on some American classics
22:17I animated Scooby-Doo
22:19Zoinks, you had to ask
22:21Dogs and cats
22:23I did a Pink Panther animation
22:27Nelson was charged with taking Jim Shooter's Transformers world
22:30Off the page and onto the screen
22:33You're finished, Megatron
22:35Easier said than done
22:37He asked me
22:38We gotta make a three, thirty minutes test
22:42Meanwhile, an ambitious young executive
22:45Had arrived at Marvel to replace DePetty
22:47David decided to retire
22:49And that's when they started to look for a CEO
22:52And if Marvel was looking for a leader
22:54They may have just found their prime candidate
22:57I was at Hanna-Barbera and I loved it
22:59Enter a trailblazing executive
23:01Destined to transform the Transformers
23:04In fact, she'd already done it with those little blue people
23:07We had a lot of successful shows, including Smurfs
23:09Yep, those same tiny blue trailblazers
23:12Who made it legal to turn toys into TV
23:15I met with Jim Galton
23:19He was the corporate head
23:21Jim asked me if I'd be interested in the job of president and CEO
23:25I agonized over the opportunity
23:27Because it was president and CEO
23:29And my secretary, she says
23:31Comfort doesn't mean growth
23:33And that's when I made the decision
23:35Margaret chose growth
23:37I had to hit the ground running
23:39And the new CEO of Marvel knew exactly what she wanted to run with
23:43When I joined Marvel
23:46And they were starting to work on the miniseries for Transformers
23:50That's how I fell in love with it
23:52Because I read what they had written
23:53All kids love the idea of transformation
23:55They can all envision them being transported
23:58Or transformed into something different and more powerful
24:01Use your imagination
24:04So I loved it
24:06But with the series already in production
24:08Margaret needed to find a home for it
24:10And fast
24:11There was no guarantee that Hasbro was going to buy
24:15An additional 52 or 65 episodes of Transformers
24:18So I pitched it to CBS, to Judy
24:20That's CBS VP of Children's Programming, Judy Price
24:24She sort of made a little fun of me
24:27That I drank the Kool-Aid so fast
24:29The Kool-Aid, it seemed, was not to the network's liking
24:32She says, I know you're going to be disappointed
24:35I don't see what you see in it
24:37I have something, a better choice
24:38I said, what?
24:39What's your better choice?
24:41Garbage Pail Kids
24:42Good morning, children
24:43I am here to tell you about the Garbage Pail Kids show
24:46But I said to Judy, you're making a big mistake
24:49I think it's terrible that they would put something like this on TV
24:52The Garbage Pail Kids lived up to their name
24:55Running just one season
24:56No TV network executive showed any interest at all
24:59In Transformers
25:00Hasbro would have to syndicate Transformers to get the show made
25:04Sunbow Productions, Griffin Bacall
25:07Hasbro financed everything
25:08And hired Marvel to create the shows
25:11Syndication came at a risk
25:13But it also gave Hasbro the power to roll out on their own terms
25:18So there's a big difference between network TV and syndication
25:21Having worked on network TV
25:22They do have a standards and practices department
25:24Which will like be very strong in telling you what you can and cannot do
25:29But when it came to syndication, those rules were a little more lax
25:33It was a lot easier to do most anything that you wanted to do
25:36The rules were sort of out the window
25:37The fate of Transformers now rested with a group of seasoned writers
25:41Margaret had nabbed from the competition
25:43When Margaret left Hanna-Barbera to go to Marvel Productions
25:47She took Dick and I with her
25:49We were the only staff writers at Marvel at that time
25:52Well, two writers, but it was a start
25:56At Marvel Productions, producer Nelson Shin
25:59Was creating the visual universe for Transformers almost from scratch
26:03They gave me one sheet, a drawing
26:07Nelson designed the entire look of the Transformers for the screen
26:11We spent so much time creating everything new
26:15And Nelson would pull inspiration from an idea he had while working on a minor space opera
26:21I did a Star Wars special effects
26:24Devising the look of the most recognizable laser in the galaxy
26:30Elegant weapon
26:31I taught bad guys, good guys
26:34The blade is a different color
26:37I used this idea into Transformers
26:40Where it helped to differentiate the Autobots from the Decepticons
26:44Autobot is used for orange color
26:48Autobots, stop them!
26:49And the Decepticons?
26:51The violet, violet color
26:53Let's call it purple, but this was only half the solution
26:56When they said, well, how do we just separate the Autobots from the Decepticons?
27:01Okay, here's a decision that still stands up today
27:04This one came from an idea Joe Bacall had while riding in a taxi to the airport
27:09And Joe said, well, weapons and planes are bad and cars and trucks are good
27:14Simple idea, complicated execution
27:16Especially when the whole thing hinges on the moment the Transformers do what the Transformers do best
27:23Autobots, transform!
27:24How to fold, make it transform
27:28Nelson's solution for that?
27:29To make it sound as good as it looked
27:31We're looking for transforming sound
27:39I walk, walk through the post-production one day
27:43I got it!
27:44It was a sound Nelson heard every day at Marvel Productions
27:48You know, you know that, the movie all along
27:50That's the editing device used by filmmakers since the 1920s
27:55But this guy is a pull, pull down, back and forth
27:57The sound of film pulled back and forth through the movieola
28:01That's the sound that we can use for Transformers
28:04Became the perfect up and down sound
28:07That would be mimicked by kids playing Transformers everywhere
28:11You know?
28:12From a nameless toy to a character with a name and personality
28:16The Transformers will really come to life
28:18At least you can still talk, old buddy
28:20It was a great group of voice actors
28:23They ranged from film and TV stars
28:26So I know one of my personal favorites was, um, it was jazz
28:28Because I could recognize Scatman Crothers was the voice for it
28:31North side of Cybertron's blacker than the inside of a drive shaft
28:35Optimus Prime, a Peter Cullen
28:37We must have courage, Huffer
28:39Kids loved the character Optimus Prime
28:42Optimus Prime wasn't just a superhero
28:44He was a real character
28:46Then there's Frank Welker, who was Megatron
28:49This place is magnificent! Unbelievable!
28:53It was really quite crowded in that studio
28:55I don't think they had the room for one more person
28:57As the Transformers miniseries began to take shape
29:00The alliance of stakeholders was coming apart at the seams
29:04When Griffin McCall saw how successful we were being
29:08As a sort of a creative source
29:10I think they were a little jealous, a little worried
29:12Instead of sending stuff directly to Hasbro
29:15We had to send it to Sunbow
29:17Who would tear our cover sheet off and put their cover sheet on
29:20Sunbow was taking credit for Jim's original work
29:23A lot of people there still believed
29:25Sunbow had written all of that foundation stuff
29:28It wasn't, it was mine
29:29To be fair, I think that they were trying to establish themselves
29:33As a production company, Sunbow, not just Griffin McCall, an agency
29:37So I think wherever possible they tried to reinforce their involvement
29:42Marvel had its own battles raging
29:44And Jim Shooter was taking the hits from Friendly Fire
29:48Lee Gunther, as long as he was there at Marvel Productions
29:51He called me stupid
29:52He said I didn't know what I was doing
29:54I made ugly stuff
29:55I said, Lee, I made this, I wrote that
29:57And he said, you're lying, Sunbow wrote it
29:59A challenge for the new young leader
30:01It was sort of a clearing of the air
30:04And Margaret just, no, no, he did, you know
30:07That's when I realized my job is to make sure that I give credit where it's due
30:13And now Margaret needed everyone to play nice
30:16Because Transformers had been given the green light to go to series
30:20They said, we want you to story edit 13 episodes of the Transformers
30:24Possibly more later
30:26For the man who first got the ball rolling at Marvel
30:29And with a rival already looming on the horizon
30:32For Jim, this was all or nothing
30:35If it falls on its face and the toy and the comic are not resonating
30:39Forget it, it's going to be over soon
30:42Transformers was a go for a full 13 episode series
30:46And Margaret's hand-picked writers were getting to work
30:49Marvel was already doing a three-part special
30:52They showed us the storyboards of that
30:54And they said, we want you to story edit 13 episodes
30:58But Bryce Malick had his work cut out for him
31:00I really didn't have much experience writing action-adventure
31:04Mostly children's shows
31:05And his first job was a big one
31:07The special had already introduced most of the concepts
31:10And we wrote a Bible
31:12Writing the book of Transformers
31:14The Bible was basically a description of what the show is
31:17This is what the Autobots want
31:18This is what the Decepticons want
31:20At last, total victory is within my grasp
31:24The newly hired TV writers were given their rules of engagement
31:28My name is Don Glute
31:29And I was one of the freelance writers on the Transformers
31:32We were told just to open our minds and do what we wanted to do
31:36Which surprisingly included no engagement with Marvel's comic book writers
31:41There were a lot of people that didn't even know we were involved
31:43Turning an already festering creative divide into a full-on standoff
31:48Margaret said, don't do anything that they're doing
31:52You just do what you want to do
31:53And I was confused
31:54I was like, well, why wouldn't we do what they were doing?
31:57It would make more sense
31:58Marvel Comics was consulted
32:00We're always trying to engage them without alienating our staff writers
32:05Picking up from the miniseries, Bryce and his team first had to pick Transformers up off the floor
32:10The ocean floor
32:11You don't have to worry about Megatron and all those Decepticons anymore
32:16At the end of the three-part series, I think the Decepticons end up at the bottom of the ocean
32:23And the Autobots fly home back to Cybertron
32:26Can I go back to Cybertron with you?
32:29A happy ending, but a terrible beginning
32:31That's not a show then
32:33You gotta bring them all back and like bring the Decepticons up
32:36So we wrote a pilot script
32:37Dick and I came up with a space bridge
32:39Our new intergalactic transport system
32:43Decepticons could take their energy cubes that they were like trying to get from Earth
32:47And instead of having to travel millions of miles back to Cybertron to take it with them
32:51We just had a way to transport that so they could stay on the planet Earth
32:55And have 13 episodes of Avengers
32:57Excellent
32:5813 episodes that were needed in little more than two months
33:03Transformers, we were really rushed
33:05Time makes all things possible
33:08Generally, we try to do a half an hour episode in a week
33:11That meant keeping it simple
33:13Once Starscream, we agree
33:15Decepticons were stealing energy from the Earth
33:18We'll suck this Earth planet dry
33:21And the Autobots took it upon themselves to stop them from doing that
33:25Autobots run for cover
33:28So we always had to write a story based on that
33:30We would either assign a writer or somebody invite writers to come pitch story ideas
33:36And just like years earlier with G.I. Joe
33:39Jay was very involved in storyline development
33:42Sunbow maintained their grip on the direction of the series
33:46We would send them to Sunbow
33:48And then Jay Bacall at Sunbow would usually let us know whether the premise was approved or whether it was
33:53rejected
33:54Adding to the pressure, Marvel's writers were being pushed in all directions
33:58The term that I heard was push product
34:02Marvel Productions hadn't lost sight of the mission
34:04The goal is to sell toys
34:06Except it was the other way around
34:09The product was pushing the writers
34:11Hasbro, they would create a schedule of different characters
34:14Different toy lines that they wanted to introduce on different episodes
34:17So they didn't want to just sell toys
34:20They wanted to sell specific toys
34:22And we knew which episodes wanted to feature which characters
34:25But then, a problem
34:27Eventually, they ran out of the Japanese toys that already existed
34:31And they were working with toy designers to come up with a whole bunch of new toys
34:34And they were an ocean away
34:36Because so much of the development was done by Takara in Tokyo
34:40The Takara team would show us products
34:43We'd try and figure out what price point we went on
34:45Which would kind of dictate the complexity
34:47Meanwhile, back in L.A., Bryce's team was trying to write a show
34:51Based on characters that existed on someone else's drawing board
34:54They never gave us any toys
34:56I didn't see any Transformers toys in the whole studio
34:59And that's like, what?
35:01Marvel Productions may have been starved for reference
35:04But over at Sunbow, it was a different story
35:07We would get these big boxes of toys every now and then
35:10You guys never wanted to share them with Marvel?
35:13No
35:15So at that point, they were just handing me model sheets
35:18Of what these characters looked like
35:19It was very siloed
35:20I only knew what I was let in on
35:23We would send them illustrations to Bob Budiansky
35:27Bob at Marvel Comics was in charge of naming the bots
35:31Creating identities based on their appearance
35:33I would turn in my character profiles and character names
35:36And once they were approved, whatever they did with them was up to Hasbro
35:41The system had become more integrated than your average Transformer
35:44There were new characters being introduced practically every show
35:48In fact, the Transformers universe was expanding so fast
35:51Marvel had to call Don Glute for backup
35:54He was also known by another name
35:56I was Dinosaur Don Glute
35:57He likes dinosaurs, he likes the Frankenstein monster
36:00And he likes the mummy
36:02As a young boy, he made his own animated dinosaur movies
36:07So you won't be surprised by what Dino Don came up with
36:11Allow me to introduce Grimlock, Slag, and Sludge
36:17All directions pointed the Transformers show back to its Japanese origins
36:21I base them on what I remember from the Japanese Godzilla films
36:26There's one, I think, where Rodan is pulling Godzilla by the tail
36:29And Godzilla is digging his way in the ground trying to get a hold, you know
36:33Well, I did that with Grimlock
36:35It all came from those Japanese movies
36:39While Don and the other writers were rapidly expanding the Transformers canon
36:43The morale at Marvel was shrinking
36:46Our creative staff, they felt underappreciated
36:50That Sunbow was using Marvel to build their own reputation
36:55There were times when there was a bit of a struggle between the companies
36:59And I'd have to step in and be a diplomat
37:02That's the nature of the beast
37:04In the trenches of Marvel, Bryce and his team had accomplished their mission
37:09We managed to write all 13 scripts within two months
37:13Which was really remarkable
37:15The Transformers show was on track to make its release date
37:18But so too would a rival robot world
37:21And their robots would get there first
37:25In the fall of 1984, Hasbro rolled out its newest toy line across the nation
37:32And there was more demand than stores could handle
37:35They're selling so well we can never keep them in stock
37:37We get about a thousand requests a day
37:39Hasbro was a marketing machine back then
37:41And in a stroke of marketing genius
37:43On September 17, 1984
37:46Hasbro tied its toy launch to the premiere of its Transformers syndicated cartoon
37:50The Transformers, robots in disguise
37:53The TV show wasn't just about robots in disguise
37:56It doubled as a clever marketing scheme to do one thing
37:59At the end of the day, the goal is to sell toys
38:03Hasbro hoped toy sales would spike if the cartoon was a rating smash
38:07Talking about television, the ratings tell the story, don't they?
38:11And if the ratings are good, you're going to keep making more shows
38:14More ratings, more shows, more toy sales
38:17Transformers
38:18But Hasbro had competition in the toy market
38:21The toy industry's newest craze
38:23And on TV, GoBots
38:28Even worse
38:30We've got big trouble
38:31GoBots landed on TV a full week before Transformers
38:35I didn't think it was as imaginative
38:37I didn't think the toys were as good
38:39You won't get another word out of me
38:40I quit
38:41GoBots made it to air first
38:44And it was beating Transformers in the ratings
38:48GoBots
38:49And lower ratings meant lower toy sales
38:54Hasbro executives issued new instructions for Marvel Productions
38:58Hasbro was just not happy with the ratings
39:01They just wanted to give it an edge
39:03No mercy!
39:06Marvel Productions supplied the creative team
39:08But Hasbro hired Sunbow to deliver the show as a toy commercial
39:12And they took control
39:13And Sunbow, they sort of took it over
39:16And continued it with even more toys and even more characters
39:19And a new producer, Flint Dilley
39:22We want better ratings and we want this show to have more edge to it
39:25Once they've served, their purpose shall exterminate them
39:29It is seeming a little bit like a kiddie show
39:31Insecticons seem to bug Megatron even more
39:36Despite less than stellar ratings for season one
39:38Hasbro had invested too much to give up on the Transformers TV show
39:43Sunbow got the green light for season two
39:46Lee Gunther said, we want you to do 49 more
39:4949 new episodes with Flint Dilley as an influential creative voice
39:53They're wondering, what's this guy doing coming in from Sunbow, changing everything
39:57It was just a very adversarial situation
39:59Hasbro was doubling down with a new creative mandate
40:03Get serious and sell toys
40:05They were going all in
40:07And we mean all in
40:09And the movies
40:10The Autobots and Decepticons were headed to the big screen
40:13A new age of peace and happiness
40:16And we were very excited
40:18Ron Friedman was hired to write a Transformers feature
40:21And work out how to scale up the story
40:23I need a universal enemy
40:25Which will compel these sworn enemies
40:27To join together to defeat it
40:29We're allies now
40:30Against a common foe
40:32But the Transformers movie needed something even bigger
40:34Bigger than anything they had planned for TV
40:37So they took a page out of Sunbow's other animated property, G.I. Joe
40:41We've had people get hurt
40:43But they're always better by the next episode
40:45So let's kill somebody in the movie
40:47They were planning to get rid of Duke
40:50Out of the toy line
40:51Die! No!
40:54People working on the Transformer movie
40:56They really liked it
40:57They thought it was great
40:58They said, well we got a bunch of characters
41:00We got to get rid of
41:01Because they're being taken out of the product line
41:03Right, it's all about toys
41:05Why don't we kill them off too?
41:06It was time for a change
41:08Just do your job
41:10And with GoBots in the top rating spot
41:13Kind of didn't help
41:14The Transformers team had to step it up
41:18I was really worried about the competition
41:19We really wanted to beat GoBots
41:22No more Optimus Prime
41:23But the way to do it was in the movie theaters
41:26It was decided that they were going to kill off these characters
41:30Transformers' top boss was in the crosshairs
41:33My biggest issue was Optimus Prime
41:36I mean, what?
42:06We really wanted to do it
42:06Like, it was the Two-Mine
42:06If you really wanted to go to the country
42:06Then you were trying to get rid of it
42:06Things that are like
42:06It's okay
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