You and me both. I kept seeing Prowl's death when I tried to sleep as a kid.

Reconstructed? Clarify...

 

It takes the full prints and various film stock sizes and puts them together for a slightly bigger viewing area, so you can see a little more at the edges of the screen, including in a few places where the cell painting goes off the edge of the image. The aspect ratio of the image changes constantly in small ways throughout the film. The images have also been cleaned up a bit so there's more detail. The only downside is some bits seem slightly greeny (mostly space stuff) and a few other colours seem a bit 'off' (I think Hot Rod's colour was one issue). If memory serves there were also a few odd sound changes as well (Optimus' blaster).
But after having seen the normal version of the movie so many times it makes for a nice change.  

Here's some examples:
Review: Transformers: The Movie - Reconstructed (UK - DVD) - DVDActive

 

You need it on your mobile device to have it accessible at all times  

 

I know, right? Having more than 5 TF characters with speaking roles on screen at the same time is so boring. Who really needs that now?

The old cartoon also had too many characters, their planet is dead, there shouldn't be too many on either side, right?

 

I would but I don't have any kind of phone that plays movies. Never felt like joining the smartphone crowd. Instead I shall just have to stare into the middle distance and remember the movie and then smile and nod my head and go 'Ohhh yeeah...'.  

 

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me that people that would rip on TF:TM, for the most part, would be the same kind of people that would rip on the original Star Wars trilogy.

 

This thread title caught my attention! LOL!
I never thought there would be a movie that I hated more than the 1986 movie. But then Micheal Bay came along, but that's another story for another day.

My main problem with the 1986 movie is that they killed off nearly every beloved character and didn't think this was a problem? Perhaps someone watching for the first time now wouldn't have an issue, perhaps those who were older when it debuted didn't have any concerns, but being a small child of the 80's I can say this movie ruined Transformers for me and my friends at the time.

Oh well, back to Vehicon hunting.

 

Nope.

I think it's helpful to remember that some of us were THERE for the '86 movie, are big G1 fans, and still have to admit that the '86 movie is just not very good. Star Wars is also a sort of retro-genre film that has a lot of nostalgia wrapped up in peoples' opinions of it... but comparing it qualitatively to TFTM '86 is pointless. Star Wars is just waaaaay better, by any objective measure.

I have no problem nurturing a nostalgic attachment to things from one's youth... but I think it's good to keep it in perspective. There are certain things I love about the movie, but it's really mediocre and often awkward. I totally understand why it is so beloved in the fandom, but at the same time, I think that it is also VERY overrated.

For the record, I love Star Wars (but I'm not a Star Wars "fan") and the original 60's Star Trek. In the case of Trek though... I can acknowledge that the series was pure cheese (wherein lays much of its appeal).  

zmog

 

I thought the first third of the movie was solid, but the pacing of the last 2/3 of the movie hurts in considerably. Once the characters seperate onto other planets it really stops the momentum of the movie.

 

Yeah, I shouldn't have implied that was the case for everyone in this thread, but I wouldn't be too surprised if some people who prefer TF Prime and Bayformers to G1 and TF:TM might also prefer the SW Prequels to the originals. I realize a LOT of it has to do with age and nostalgia.

Of course, YMMV.

 

Very much this.

Also, I don't know if this was brought up yet or not, but TFTM was certainly of a higher caliber in terms of the quality of what went into it. The Animation is much more smoother and dynamic, the soundtrack is legendary and a great time capsule of classic 80's hair music, there are some high-profile VA's behind some of the new characters (Unicron himself being voiced by none other than Orson Welles, the last voice acting he did before his death IIRC), and compared to the last episode of the cartoon at the time; B.O.T., TFTM was a masterpiece. Plus, for a little kid, seeing childhood heroes like the Autobots appear on the silver screen instead of the TV set must have really been something that can never be captured again...at least until Optimus died. Nostalgia is more or less what keeps the movie popular in this day in age than the actual content of the movie, that's for sure, but considering nostalgia is what resurrected the DMC-12 DeLorean from obscurity into a pop culture icon, it's not exactly something to underestimate.

 

I still enjoy it to this day. The biggest issue I have with it is the sound, which is terrible on all the DVD and blu-ray releases, and they can't fix the audio levels problem. But I think the animation, story and music is still fantastic. It appears to be a toy commercial if you just choose to look at it on the surface, but if you choose to look deeper, it's a great coming of age story, as well as a very inspirational tale teaching us that it's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog. Some people don't want to be inspired though, but I think people who are passionate can see the message that most miss.

 

The '86 movie is what got me back into Transformers! When I was in high school, around '97/'98, I rented the VHS after many TF-free years. The brutal violence and occasional cuss word dropped my jaw. The animation was better than anything else done in G1. After that, I finally gave Beast Wars a chance and discovered how good it really was.

In fact, if it wasn't for the '86 movie, I doubt I would have gotten a Decepticon symbol as my first tattoo!!

So sure, it's not a great movie, but it's by far the best example of the G1 cartoon.

BTW, am I the only one who cried the first time OP died?

 

No, I'm right there with you. It's not easy watching your childhood hero die.

 

The animation really was something else for The Transformers back then.

 

I say we reboot it.

 

its not my favored but it was good for its time and it did flowed the G1 story. i cant watch g1 back to back like i can udders TF shows but, it did start TF, so give respect for it is the father of TF and watch it evrey now and agen

 

Nope. I was 7 at the time.
(even now when I'm really tired or sad, when that scene comes up I can get weepy eyed, but no tears)

It was hard on me, as I was raised that heroes don't die; they can get hurt, but they'll come back to win...

Examples:
-season 1 and 2 eps
-Luke and Han in ESB, I was 3 when I saw it, saw RotJ later that year.
-Looney Tunes
-GI Joe eps

 

The opening poster died? Hm. I did not cry.

 

As sad as it was seeing some of the heroes and villains die it became that much more real to me. Something that no cartoon was doing at that time. Killing off heros and putting them in real danger. Something I never liked about the original cartton series. That’s why I loved season 3 so much and Rodimus Primes role.
Even when Season 3 showed the tomb where the Autobots I remember loving seeing the names of the dead Autobots on the “tombstones”. Good times.