Bumblebee: Transforming A Franchise

Discussion in 'Transformers News and Rumors' started by pie125, Oct 4, 2018.

  1. pie125

    pie125 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 1, 2011
    Posts:
    1,332
    News Credits:
    287
    Trophy Points:
    232
    Likes:
    +4,271
    Bumblebee: Transforming a Franchise
    Bumblebee: Transforming a Franchise
    Bumblebee screenwriter Christina Hodson on the Transformers franchise's new beginning.

    When Bumblebee comes out this December, it will mark many firsts for the Transformers franchise: It will be the first Transformers film to not be directed by Michael Bay. (Kubo and the Two Strings director Travis Knight will be behind the camera.) It will be the franchise’s first prequel. And it will be the first film in the series to be written by a woman.

    “I think it's a bit of a myth that action is for boys,” Bumblebee screenwriter Christina Hodson tells Den of Geek. As a half-Asian Brit growing up watching action movies, Hodson rarely saw main characters who looked like her in the genre’s sea of white, male protagonists in their 30s and 40s.

    “I always wanted to see me be the hero,” Hodson says. “I wanted to see me kick ass. I mean, not literally. I had no desire to be an actor, but I wanted to have those role models and those heroes. I think what's really fun is that [Bumblebee] is a big, cool, fun, action movie the boys are going to love, but girls love action, too, and this is a chance for girls to see themselves in the movie. Which I think is a really special and important thing.”

    Bumblebee is set in 1987, twenty years before the events of the first Transformers film. It stars True Grit’s Hailee Steinfeld as Charlie Watson, a teen girl living in a small California beach town who finds Bumblebee in the local junkyard.

    “Charlie is really our entry point into the movie. She doesn't know anything about Transformers,” says Hodson, calling Bumblebee “custom-made for people who are new to the franchise.” “But, of course, if you're a fan, you'll get wonderful little Easter eggs that you'll get to enjoy that other people won't.”

    The prequel film offers a chance to get to see the Bumblebee character, who Hodson admits has always been her favorite, in a new light.

    “This is really an origin story for Bumblebee,” she says, “but the character traits are all the same. They're all there. His loyalty, his kindness. He's fun-loving and really he's been the one who has always had that special bond with humans, whether it's Sam or someone else; that was something that I wanted to lean into a bit and see where and how that began.”

    Like the first Transformers film, which featured a friendship between Bumblebee and Sam as its emotional core, Bumblebee is all about the friendship between an Autobot and a human.

    “I had a really clear sense in my mind of who [Charlie] was as a person and what they would mean to each other,” she says. “That was always the North Star that guided everything.”

    Bumblebee hits theaters on December 21st, just in time for the holidays.

    “I think it will absolutely make a good Christmas movie,” she says. “It's a movie that everyone in the family can enjoy because it's got that wonder and that joy. It's a little bit sweet, it's a little bit sad, but it's also just fun and big and there's lots of great action … It's a good Christmas outing.”
     
    • Like Like x 22
    • News Credit News Credit x 1
  2. Windsweeper II

    Windsweeper II Banned

    Joined:
    Aug 26, 2015
    Posts:
    18,295
    News Credits:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    302
    Likes:
    +19,059
    Title should be:
    Bumblebee, keeping a franchise stagnating like an actionmaster.
     
    • Like Like x 6
  3. Mercutio

    Mercutio Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 14, 2012
    Posts:
    5,291
    News Credits:
    13
    Trophy Points:
    287
    Likes:
    +16,351
    Fixed that hopefully?
     
    • Like Like x 12
  4. NotRamjet97

    NotRamjet97 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 13, 2013
    Posts:
    10,232
    News Credits:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    277
    Likes:
    +2,694
    They are if you look past the Cybertron stuff.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  5. Windsweeper II

    Windsweeper II Banned

    Joined:
    Aug 26, 2015
    Posts:
    18,295
    News Credits:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    302
    Likes:
    +19,059
    Seeing as the movie is all 84 all the time, there is very little hope.
     
    • Like Like x 3
  6. Autobot Jamie

    Autobot Jamie Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2017
    Posts:
    187
    Trophy Points:
    112
    Likes:
    +225
    Interesting read. 
     
  7. Henriquedematos

    Henriquedematos Transformers make me want to be dead

    Joined:
    Aug 14, 2008
    Posts:
    503
    News Credits:
    11
    Trophy Points:
    262
    Likes:
    +471
    So, I'm guessing they're only going to decide on whether it's a prequel or a reboot after it comes out?
     
    • Like Like x 3
  8. Louise Belcher

    Louise Belcher Autobot loves Android

    Joined:
    Nov 23, 2015
    Posts:
    492
    News Credits:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    142
    Location:
    Israel
    Likes:
    +347
    Yeah, this movie will likely fail. It's not about the Transformers, it's E.T. with girl and yellow robot.

    P.S. notice this screenwriter narcissism and self-insert.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  9. jackgaughan

    jackgaughan Banned

    Joined:
    Jul 13, 2010
    Posts:
    8,573
    News Credits:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    287
    Likes:
    +6,661
    Who would've thought that a thread on TFW regarding an interview with a female Hollywood scriptwriter would have posts about evil SJWs and how this movie will fail because it isn't epic like Chuck Norris bacon for the win.
     
    • Like Like x 25
  10. Louise Belcher

    Louise Belcher Autobot loves Android

    Joined:
    Nov 23, 2015
    Posts:
    492
    News Credits:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    142
    Location:
    Israel
    Likes:
    +347
    I'm pretty sure it's her and probably approved by the marketing team.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  11. Dachande

    Dachande MULTI-QUOTE- USE IT. Super Mod

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2008
    Posts:
    52,184
    News Credits:
    21
    Trophy Points:
    467
    Location:
    South Central PA
    Likes:
    +144,038
    It's nice to see that those involved with the production, from writers to actors, are getting into the spirit of it. Yeah, they're supposed to talk it up, but some of the interviews make me believe that they do actually care.
    It's refreshing.
     
    • Like Like x 10
  12. User_96283

    User_96283 Banned

    Joined:
    Sep 10, 2011
    Posts:
    3,577
    Trophy Points:
    262
    Likes:
    +11,977
    For sure, they could set her up to talk about things that aren't really at the front of her mind for PR reasons. I hope so.

    That said, I saw the sneak peek where the director spoke about his love for the franchise and history and origins and it made me feel great knowing buddy is a real fan.
     
    Last edited: Oct 7, 2018
    • Like Like x 1
  13. Dachande

    Dachande MULTI-QUOTE- USE IT. Super Mod

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2008
    Posts:
    52,184
    News Credits:
    21
    Trophy Points:
    467
    Location:
    South Central PA
    Likes:
    +144,038
    My daughter and girlfriend both love action movies and we've all seen each TF movie in the theaters. They both dislike the last two, but are quite hyped for the Bumblebee movie.
    When I showed them the Cybertron shots of Shockwave and Soundwave they both gasped and got excited, so take that as you will.

    PS- love your avatar, man.
     
    • Like Like x 9
  14. User_96283

    User_96283 Banned

    Joined:
    Sep 10, 2011
    Posts:
    3,577
    Trophy Points:
    262
    Likes:
    +11,977
    Rock on dude! You're a lucky man. And I'm with them on that, when I saw the Cons on cybertron I def got insanely psyched coz this is something we have been waiting to see in live action form for so long.
    Thanks dude!
     
    • Like Like x 1
  15. Sablebot

    Sablebot #thinkitaintillegalyet

    Joined:
    Dec 8, 2006
    Posts:
    1,735
    Trophy Points:
    287
    Likes:
    +1,800
    I dig Charlie's characterization (from what I've read and seen in the trailers), I agree 99% with what Christina is saying, and I feel some sincerity in her words, as well as Travis'.

    Where I differ is, I'd like to see a Transformers film: A)written from the viewpoint of The Transformers themselves; B)that has
    well-written Female & Male Cybertronian & Human characters; C)that has no more cases of, "This character looks exactly like another character, but isn't", and other semantic wordplay games, and D)that doesn't reduce the Transformers to subordinates in their own film.

    While the last couple trailers have me feeling alot like that 6th-Grader I was in 1984, running top-speed off the schoolbus to watch the old-school cartoon, and while I'm cautiously optimistic, I still look forward to the day when all vestiges of the old Bay & Co. guard have no involvement whatsoever with this franchise. In the meanwhile, I'll keep creating my own characters, as well as primarily exploring alot of the other existing TF media. I wish Christina and Travis and Co. success.
     
    • Like Like x 9
  16. User_96283

    User_96283 Banned

    Joined:
    Sep 10, 2011
    Posts:
    3,577
    Trophy Points:
    262
    Likes:
    +11,977
    Oof. That's exactly the bs I don't want in my Transformers stuff. I have nothing to complain about in the actual footage of the movie we've seen in the trailers so far. I hope it stays that way once I see the full movie.
     
  17. NGW

    NGW Rawr

    Joined:
    Sep 4, 2006
    Posts:
    8,408
    News Credits:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    337
    Likes:
    +1,373
    I've no issues with Steinfeld as the lead, but are they really having to make this political for no damn good reason?
     
  18. GAUGE

    GAUGE Wargod ARTS

    Joined:
    Jun 21, 2006
    Posts:
    17,673
    News Credits:
    7
    Trophy Points:
    407
    Location:
    Phx, AZ
    Likes:
    +16,419
    Sorry, but knowing now she wrote the script that also means she's responsible for the most cringe-worthy thing in the entire trailer for happening too.

    Charlie - "I'm gonna call you Bumblebee. Because you sound like one and because you have a matching outfit" (or whatever) (I was too angry to recall it word for word)

    I'm all for pushing the Girl Power Agenda, But don't you dare claim a feeble human child gave Bumblebee his name. He has had that name for Billions Of Years. Long before humanity or, the "Girl Power Agenda" was even a thing. :lol 

    It's bad enough you literally turned him into nothing more than a glorified Robot Dog in this movie. (Because we can't have male robots being what they are supposed to be an all)

    But all that shit being said, yeah it looks like it still might (using the word very loosely) be a good watch. ...And just maybe, MAYBE, it'll save that shit-show that was the Bayverse.
     
    Last edited: Oct 7, 2018
  19. TheWarPathGuy

    TheWarPathGuy As cool as the earth is blue!

    Joined:
    Jul 21, 2018
    Posts:
    6,223
    Trophy Points:
    247
    Location:
    Illinois, Chicago
    Likes:
    +7,457
    Hope charile is not like the little girl in last knight.
     
    • Like Like x 5
  20. User_96283

    User_96283 Banned

    Joined:
    Sep 10, 2011
    Posts:
    3,577
    Trophy Points:
    262
    Likes:
    +11,977
    A way to approach the name thing could be the fact that to speak cybertronian and say their real names, it would be virtually impossible for a human to pronounce, so the cybertronians who got to earth just learnt English and sorta translated their names into English so they could be pronounced.
    If your joining the history of cybertron to the movie where Bumblebee already was called that, you can pretend that we heard those media with dubs and not their native language and bumblebee's name was used either for simplicity sake or that his actual cybertronian name actually sounds kinda like bumblebee anyway.
    Stretching, I know.
    Maybe I'm just so tired of the bayverse that I am willing to give this movie a few more breaks given what it's actually getting right.
     
    Last edited: Oct 7, 2018
    • Like Like x 5