Transformers Do Blu

Paramount Home Entertainment has revealed the specs for the upcoming Blu-ray release of Michael Bay's blockbuster hit 'Transformers' (link to my review), due to hit store shelves on September 2nd.

On this two disc special edition, video will be presented in 2.35:1 1080p AVC and be accompanied by both a 5.1 PCM and 5.1 Dolby TrueHD lossless soundtracks.

Extras for the release are exhaustive, and include:

* Commentary: Commentary by Director Michael Bay
* Featurette: OUR WORLD:
* Featurette: The Story Sparks HD
* Featurette: Human Allies HD
* Featurette: I Fight Giant Robots HD
* Featurette: Battleground HD
* Featurette: THEIR WAR:
* Featurette: Rise of the Robots HD
* Featurette: Autobots Roll Out HD
* Featurette: Decepticons Strike HD
* Featurette: Inside the AllSpark HD
* Featurette: Transformers Tech Inspector (TBD) HD
* Trailers: TRAILERS (will play after the feature via a menu)
* Trailers: Iron Man Trailer HD
* Featurette: MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE
* Trailers: Transformers Teaser Trailer HD
* Trailers: Rise of the Autobots HD
* Other: Transformers H.U.D. (Heads Up Display)
* Other: BD-Live Features (TBD)
* Featurette: From Script to Sand: The Skorponok Desert Attack HD
* Featurette: Concepts HD
* Trailers: Trailers HD:
* Trailers: Teaser Trailer 1 HD
* Trailers: Theatrical Trailer 2 HD
* Trailers: Theatrical Trailer 4 HD
* Easter Eggs: EASTER EGGS:
* Easter Eggs: Michael Bay Cameo HD
* Easter Eggs: Girl in Dress HD
* Easter Eggs: Bay Bot HD
* Easter Eggs: Casting Mojo HD

Although no official announcement has been made by Paramount, Transformers is a prime candidate for the D-BOX Motion Code™ system! Jumper (Blu-ray) showcases the feature to dazzling effect.

Transformers is going to be a system seller this upcoming holiday season! You'll be able to pre-order Transformers from my Blu-ray Shop and support my blogging. Your support is very much appreciated and, most importantly, at no additional cost to yourself! Thank you.

Transforming Scribes

Dorling Kindersley (DK) and myself are offering one lucky reader a chance to win a copy of the terrific Transformers: The Movie Guide book, which sports an eye-catching lenticular hologram morphing from Autobot insignia to Optimus Prime.



This hardback book is a backstage pass to the "Transformers" movie. Get under the metal and discover more about the Robots in Disguise in this spectacular guide to the earth-stopping film.

Packed with incredible images, this book enables you to check out transport and locations from the Transformers universe and come face-to-mask with all your favourite characters from Optimus Prime to Megatron. Plus, get a fascinating insight into all the bots and take a serious look at their unstoppable powers (but keep your distance!).

To enter for a chance of winning this prize, please leave a comment. Good luck. Special thanks to DK for supplying the competition prize.

Explore the Star Wars galaxy through DK books.

About DK books
Since 1974, Dorling Kindersley has published an extensive range of internationally acclaimed titles in 51 languages for adults and children. As the UK's market leader in illustrated non-fiction, we pride ourselves on creating books that combine comprehensive information and superb design.

Over the years, as the world's leading family illustrated publisher, we have inspired and informed readers who find DK books to be educational, distinctive and of consistently high quality. We value this reputation and will continue to create reference titles that are, without question, exceptional.

Prime Time

I've bitten the bullet! Transformers Movie - Leader Optimus Prime is on order from Amazon.co.uk!

For thousands of years, Optimus Prime and his Autobots have travelled through space in search of the Allspark. For all that time, the Autobot leader has held one goal in mind - to protect the universe from the evil of Megatron. For this massive, metal warrior, nothing is more important than freedom; he will sacrifice all for its preservation. He has fought for centuries, modifying his body into an unstoppable war machine, preparing for that day he knows is coming when he and Megatron meet for one final battle!

Get ready to rule the universe with this awesome Optimus Prime figure that features Advanced Automorph Technology! This Transformers technology is designed to enhance vehicle-to-robot conversion with partially animated mechanical triggers that activate the final shift to battle mode. See armor slide to protect vital points! Flip down the Ion Blaster in robot mode to launch the projectile! And press the button in vehicle mode for electronic horn sounds and lights!

A World Transformed

It is a world Transformed. Where things are not what they seem. It is the world of The Transformers. A world of Heroic Autobots and Evil Decepticons.

I'll presage this review with the following caveats. Transformers are one of my all-time favourite toy lines (an admission made in many a previous post)! The notion of a live-action movie, directed by Michael Bay, left me apathetic. I really enjoyed The Island (2005)!

Knowing that this movie was going to be big on excess, I hadn't foreseen that the regular Pepsi, I'd purchased in the cinema foyer, would be super-sized too! Fellow Star Wars fans maybe interested to learn that a very cool Nintendo Wii redemption machine spouted sound effects and dialogue from our beloved saga! At first I thought I was hallucinating - RD-D2 beeps and Obi-Wan Kenobi intoned "Trust your feelings!"

Not since Jurassic Park (1993) has an audience (myself included) been so willingly caught up in movie mayhem - like osmosis. This happened during Saturday evening's showing of Transformers at the Odeon, Colchester. Incidentally, I watched Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) and For Your Eyes Only (1981) at this venue.

Unlike Steven Spielberg's deft (if no less commercial) decision to delay the dinosaur reveal in Jurassic Park for up to an hour. Michael Bay, aided and abetted by Spielberg's distrust of a generation exposed to instant gratification, thrusts us, tumbling, into the action!

Blackout, a monstrous Decepticon, and the first Transformer introduced, makes a bombastic entry; heralded by a cacophony of sonic booms that would delight even the most demanding fan of James Cameron tech noir. Keep your ears peeled for the classic Transformers transformation sound, taken from the original Marvel cartoon series, now amped-up to deafening levels and with no signs of distortion. This sent chills of excitement down my spine!

There's much to enjoy not least the attention to detail lavished on the Transformers, themselves, by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). Whether watching charismatic lead Sam Witwicky (played by Shia LaBeouf) whose empathy with Bumblebee, an Autobot scout, recounts Elliot's friendship with E.T. (1982) or an Autobot titan emerge from a suburban swimming pool and step over a young girl carrying a plush My Little Pony (another successful Hasbro franchise, which shared names with Transformers and G.I. Joe. For example, Beachcomber, Cosmos, and Seaspray were both My Little Ponies and Transformers characters, and Firefly was both a My Little Pony and a G.I. Joe character).

There's humour too! And laugh-out-loud you will! Sam Witwicky astride his mother's bicycle and pursued by Bumblebee, brought the house down and could have been taken from any number of popular Spielberg produced movies such as The Goonies (1985) or Explorers (1985). Frenzy (the original toy was an audio tape cassette and one of the earliest Transformers I owned), an impish switchblade endoskeleton of a Decepticon, delights in Gremlins (1984) mayhem, droid-like discourses and an homage to John Carpenter's The Thing (1982). Diagetic and non-diagetic sound is used to underscore the comedy too.

Enter Optimus Prime. Of all the Transformers, Optimus Prime is held in greatest reverence (on a personal note my late mother bought me the original Optimus Prime - as a surprise gift - whilst I was off, sick, from school in 1984). No longer a Freightliner Cab-over-engine. Prime's alternate mode, a Peterbilt 379, replete with stylish flame decals, reminded me of Kenner's M.A.S.K Rhino toy (Kenner merged with Hasbro in the early 90's). When he gracefully transforms into a gleaming god-like mecha I gulped and wiped tears from my eyes!

Advertising aplenty! A movie about toys wouldn't be ironic sans product placements! And Transformers is filled to the max with Hewlett Packard, Apple and endless eBay expositions.

Aside from the usual gripes levelled at Michael Bay - disorientating camera angles propelled by dizzying editing and jarring slow-mo, which culminates in a palpable sense of nausea (taking the roller coaster metaphor too literally). All-in-all Transformers transported me back to a galaxy, far, far away and left me smiling from ear-to-ear.

Birthday Bot

Today is my birthday and, whilst downloading new iTunes songs (thank you David and Michael for the most excellent iTunes Gift Certificate), I discovered this snippet of Apple Inc-related news. A new Convoy (AKA Optimus Prime) from Takara Tomy is on the way!

The Convoy is an ice white Apple iPod digital music player docking station with speakers, which is fully licensed by Apple Inc. The docking station can be transformed from the cab (with trailer) to a robot.

Convoy will be the same size as its Generation 1 variant and features a brand-new head sculpt. This is the second in the "Music Label" line.

Takara Tomy extends its co-branding franchise, beyond Apple Inc, with the new Transformers Sports Label series!



The new Sports Label series features 1/2 scale transforming Nike-branded shoes! These licensed items should be somewhere around 6" in length in shoe mode and it looks like they even have real laces connected to the top of the shoe. Convoy and Megatron are also each sporting a miniature pair of Nike Free 7.0 as a finishing touch.

Hope Hasbro decides to release these brand fusions in the UK and USA. Pretty please?