Without wading into the whole "AOE was great screw the haters/AOE sucked screw Michael Bay" thing that always goes round in circles, wanted to explore this side of it...whether you are for some or all of the movies or against them, I think perhaps we can all agree that commentary and so much of the discussion, from critics to casual fans to this board, is all about Bay. Part of that is undoubtedly his own doing, his ego is such that he wants to be in the spotlight and have his name and things he likes splattered all over everything.

But fact is, Bay was recruited into this franchise. And Steven Spielberg, himself recognized as one of the great filmmakers of the modern era, was a big part of that recruitment - hell he was the one who asked Bay to do it. Spielberg signed on as an exec producer supposedly *because he was a fan of the franchise* and had a vision for what could make it a great movie. He had, on some level, some inspiration about the whole thing. He nurtured the "boy and his car" thing and whether you like the premise or hate it, it was very clear in the first movie that he had an inspired creative stamp he wanted put on the movie. He recruited a director in Bay who was *not* a fan of the franchise, was reluctant at first to do it, to come in and put Spielberg's own inspiration and creative vision on screen. The result for the first movie was something rather unique. Yes it was a Bay movie, but there were elements of the Spielberg style and his vision that were firmly entrenched there too, and it made for a different tone than we've seen since.

Since that time, WHERE has Spielberg's inspiration been? Where have his contributions been? To what degree has he actually cared about the production? The only thing I remember hearing him chiming in on the last 3 movies is that he wanted Wheeljack/Que to look like Albert Einstein. Umm, OK. The guy is regarded as one of the finest directors in cinema history. If he had any inspiration or passion for this franchise left in him, wouldn't that shine through? Even a director whose ego's as big as Michael Bay's is gonna want to collaborate and get input from someone the caliber of Spielberg.

I truly feel like Spielberg only ever really had inspiration for "Transformers" as one movie, the "boy and his car" fairy tale, and beyond that he did not really ever have a larger story to tell. As a result, you have Bay and various writers, most lately Kruger, out there carrying the weight of the franchise on their own - and taking the media and critic bashings squarely on their own. Is Bay at times repetitive in the things he does, and does his background as a "non-Transformers guy" sometimes shine through? Yes it does. He is what he is and makes no apologies. But rather than take that as a reason to start a nationwide Bay-bashing fest every few years when another movie in this saga comes out, perhaps instead we should be asking the legendary writer/director who recruited Bay and who was supposedly an inspired Transformers fan, 'Hey, where the hell did YOU go? Weren't you passionate about this project? Don't you have any themes you want Bay and Kruger to put into these new movies the way you wanted the "boy and his car" story put into the first one? Where's YOUR creative vision?"

 

He probably saw what they did with the first movie, said "Nope." and then only let himself be tangentially connected to the sequels.

 

Honestly, I was really surprised when they first announced that they were going to make a sequel because I thought the first movie had a nice, definitive ending. I wasn't a fan of Transformers until I saw the movie, so I had no idea what else they could do since they killed off the only villain non-Transformers fans knew about. I think the first movie is a good one-off.

 

Spielberg doesnt care anymore.

 

Here's the extent of Spielberg's involvement with the Transformers sequels.

Bay: "Hey Steve, check out the movie I made!"
Spielberg: "Okay."
*2 and a half hours later*
Spielberg: "That's cool. High five, bro."
*1 high five later*
Bay: "Thanks. Should I cut anything down?"
Spielberg: "I don't care. Do what you want. I'm going to bathe in money."
Bay: "Okay, cool. See ya."

 

Real footage of Spielberg after being held accountable.

Caspa Gilito - Scrooge.mpg - YouTube

Seriously no snark involved, but how old were you when the first was released? You had to have been young. I just can't believe an adult would be surprised that a movie that made nearly $400 mil domestic gotta a sequel, especially a franchise meant to sell toys of all things.

 

It's because Steven Spielberg no longer has any hands-on involvement in this franchise due to Dreamworks having stopped funding and distributing the movies after RotF.

Spielberg's involvement in this franchise is through Dreamworks, a production company he co-owns. Dreamworks co-funded the first two films with Paramount but not the third and fourth. Considering the amount of money they were putting into the first film and it was a risky franchise to gamble on it's only nature Spielberg would be heavily involved to insure the film would be a success. When the 1st film proved to be a success he left Bay in charge of the 2nd film to do it how he wanted and Spielberg remained a consultant giving feedback in some of the screenings. It was also around this time Dreamworks partnership with Paramount ended so Spielberg was literally walking out the door on the franchise as RotF was getting ready to be released in theaters.

Even though the partnership ended Spielberg still get's credited and still receives a portion of profits since he was one of the original creators of the live action franchise. You could say his role and relationship to the franchise is equal to Matt Groening's is to The Simpsons and Futurama - He influences the direction the movies go in but the product is ultimately in other peoples hand to decide. He's still kept to date on what the current and future plans are for the franchise but at the end of the day its just a paycheck for him now.

 

Noticed how the trailers didn't even mention his name this time.

 

I like Bay, and if I ever get the pleasure to meet him one day, I would without a doubt shake his hand and say "Thank you, Michael Bay!".

Now onto the post; sometimes I wonder what the sequels would be like if Spielberg was still involved. It's a shame he left. But I applause Bay for sticking by his franchise and taking all the hate. I wouldnt be able to handle it, I would get pissed off that people are hating me for not following G1. Yes the writing is quite bad, but it doesn't bother me.

 

I agree. The first film had Spielberg's charm and I really want that back.

 

I forgot Spielberg was even involved with Transformers   What does he even do as a "producer"?

 

Provide some infrastructure, rake in the cash.  

 

Actually, if I recall correctly, when they announced that TF4 and Pain & Gain were greenlit together Michael Bay specifically mentioned that he'd been working with Spielberg to figure out where they wanted to take the franchise from there and that they'd come up with some really cool story ideas together.

And, even before that, there was Spielberg's involvement in the whole Megan Fox fiasco for the third film.

He's still around and involved, no doubt about it.

I'm assuming HE'S the one who finally convinced Bay to bring in the Dinobots, for instance. Especially considering how long he's been trying to get Jurassic Park 4 up-and-running and how long it's been since JP3, it only makes sense to test the waters of the modern movie market and get people excited about dinosaurs again by throwing into the mix of an already wildly successful franchise he's behind.

I've also wondered if TF:AoE isn't the reason JP4 got pushed back. Otherwise he basically would've been competing with himself this summer and potentially flooding the market with too many dinosaur films all of a sudden.

Anyway, like I said...it sounds like he's definitely still involved beyond a simple sit-back-and-rake-in-the-dough capacity.

 

I was about 11 or 12. At the time, they just didn't make big budget movie franchises out of properties like that. I was surprised they even made one movie. I didn't know anything about Transformers until after the movie, but I just couldn't imagine where they would go with the story at the time because all the Decepticons (except Starscream) were dead including Megatron. I didn't know that there was more to the Transformers lore that could be mined and used in the movies.

 

Spielberg is too busy counting his Star Wars money to care since Lucas has to send him a check every year. 2.5% of all EP4 ANH Profits.

 

He didn't leave. It just seems like he's involved less.

 

Okay, yeah, your original statement makes a lot of sense given your age. The movie and it's sequels weren't a surprise for adults, maybe it's massive success. I truly meant no offensive about your original statement, just found it interesting. Though you're about it being the toy line based to become massively successful. I actually never thought about it from that perspective. Being 27 at the tike and a lifelong fan, my 0erspective was the property as a whole, and lumped it into the comic/geek era of movie making we're currently in.

 

How exactly?

 

This ^

I believe their are noteable moments in the first film that are due to Spielberg such as a practical Optimus and Bumblebee used in varying scenes. Spielberg pushed for practical effects I believe and his touches are present in the 'Arrival To Earth' scene especially with Optimus appearing out the smoke/fog.

It was also Spielbergs idea to do the 'boy and his car' story which Bay latched onto and sadly over-used. In truth Spielberg's idea to do a 'boy and his car' story led to Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman deciding to write the movie...

After that we don't see much of the moments I specifically can notice as being Spielberg influenced - though luckily it is Spielberg we can attribute to the firing of Megan Fox;

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...an-Fox-fired-Transformers-Hitler-comment.html

 

I think the longer the series has gone on, Spielberg has fallen back to more of a 'silent consultant' at times.

Word was on MIB3, his name was just attached, and he wasn't as largely involved at the beginning (word was he really loved the little alien in the one guy's head in the first film, and they stretched out that scene at his insistence).

I figure producers can offer ideas, but being Executive Producer is almost like being a big-name star but with producer perks.

Or as they joked in that one episode of Tiny Toons: "And some guy who does nothing but put his name on the thing!"