I just read this Star Wars article about how Simon Pegg, himself an accomplished screen writer, has been giving advice to Abrams about Star Wars. Being a fan of Simon Pegg's work for over 15 years, and seeing throughout that time how much of a Star Wars fanatic he is (you Lando!), I find this news extremely encouraging. It can only mean good things for Star Wars 7. Meanwhile in Transformers, a new team of writers have been assembled to plan out the future of the MovieVerse, with a mixed reception from the people around here. So what person or people, putting a word into the ear of Bay or another new director and perhaps touching up or re-writing scripts, would give you a similar confidence about Transformer 5?
I think the difference is a fairly large one of the producers, director, and studio on Star Wars are open to idea of nostalgia can be a powerful force. Yes it's cool that they are taking some advise from the talented Simon Pegg but even without him it seems like Disney was onto the idea of how can we make original Star Wars excited enough to generate mega buzz for us. With Transformers it seems like the producers, director, and the Paramount don't like old fans even a little bit. They will cash in on nostalgia only with names. Just look at how Paramount made a big deal about how they were going to get advise from Larry Hama for GI Joe 2 only to have the movie feel nothing like the Marvel comics run of GI Joe. To get something like the next Star Wars movie we need more than a Simon Pegg we need people in the positions of power at Paramount to say we need to better than throwing the baby out with the bath water.
We need a Kevin Feige, which appears to be Goldsman's function. As for a Simon Pegg-type fan input guy, I'd summon probably a group consisting of DiTillio and Forward, Wyatt, Isenberg, Roberts, Barber, and maybe Scott. Granted they're all only experienced with working on different mediums but I would certainly like their input. They're all relatively talented writers and artist with some good experience with the brand (if nothing else, Barber did the terrific DOTM prequel comics which did an amazing job bringing order to the movie timeline). At the same time I'm glad the movies have been doing things differently in areas. To me, Transformers: Devastation is an example of when G1 nostalgia goes too far. Nothing about that game looks appealing to me, and it's largely because the G1 fan service feels obnoxious and in your face. Who wants to bet that we'll get 86 quotes in there? I like that Bayfilms don't stick to exactly what came before, but they still maintain a decent level of homage to the brand. Sideswipe's design is largely unique but has a vague physical resemblance to the G1 character. Optimus has little touches like the Energon axe, the chest windows. And Lockdown was an evolution of the Animated character. I mean, I wouldn't want a movie series where everything is pretty much the same as G1. The core story is intact, two factions battling over resources, but it's still it's own thing. And I fear that if they brought on someone like Pegg, we'd have a 2 and a half hour movie where the characters quote G1, the designs are all ripped straight from G1 (kinda like the ROTF DLC which admittedly was still pretty cool), etc. I say tap Wyatt and the others because their work with Transformers has them stepping outside the box. Roberts, Barber and Scott have forged a universe where Megatron has genuinely defected to the Autobots, the war is over, and the main antagonists are morally grey characters and outside threats. Wyatt and Isenberg helped make a world that was absolutely oozing in references to everything from the movies to Friendship Is Magic, but still was wholly original. DiTillio and Forward created a series whose plot twists, story arcs and mysteries are still debated twenty years later. They've given us the best of Transformers, and the best to me means that it's it's own thing but still pays tribute to the past in a way that's not overt or hamfisted. They're the kind of people whose input I want on these upcoming films, not the people who want to see the same thing over and over again.
James Cameron for director. Not cos of that totally predictable, old story wearing CGI gloss lipstick Avatar. Just cos of Terminator 2 and Aliens.
