I only noticed now that Shockwave riding a sandworm is a homage to the sci-fi saga Dune, which had giant sandworms seen as divine creatures that only a chosen few could tame and ride. That makes the Driller concept a little cooler, but not that much IMO. I still consider it a waste of CGI and a needless addition to DOTM, which already had a major invasion and battle going on.
Maybe only loosely. But DUNE has been quite influential in sci-fi culture, and not that many features have giant sandworms tunneling about.
I mean... Yes and no. I see where you're coming from. Technically, it's seen more as a reference to the Dweller from the G1 cartoon.
I'm not sure "giant worm" is necessarily a Dune homage. That's like saying G1 Bumblebee is an homage to Disney's Herbie. Uhm.......
Please note that the Dweller is fairly obscure - even some hardcore fans have never heard of it. My personal guess is, given that Bay is, apparently, a big Godzilla fan, he asked Ehren Kruger to write some analogue to a kaiju in the film, thinking, at the time, this was the final Transformers film - or at least, the final film he was directing. Why they didn't use Trypticon is anybody's guess.
Oh sure, I can see the similarities but that doesn't make it a direct homage, usually homages are something deliberate. To be fair The Fallen was also pretty obscure until ROTF used him.
Yeah, probably not an homage to Dune. As TVTropes can attest (Sand Worm - TV Tropes) it's actually incredibly common in fiction.
I think it's a tribute to the dragon from Shrek. Except instead of getting wooed by Donkey, the Driller gets its many metal, CGI layers sliced by Prime!
I like that it brings one of Cybertron's wildlife to Earth, so I don't really find it a waste of CGI.
It's always possible that Bay or one of the writers liked Dune and worked it in as an homage. Or maybe they just borrowed that visual because they saw it in Dune and thought it was cool. People have called Cogman a C-3PO homage and Alice a Terminator homage. Some of the early Lockdown concepts were clearly inspired by Clint Eastwood. These filmmakers definitely take inspiration from things they like. The similarity between Driller and Dune could certainly be a coincidence, but I don't think it's out of the question that they took inspiration. On a personal level, I've never really cared for Driller (or at least its usage). I never really saw Shockwave as the sort of guy who would ride a giant worm into battle. He seems like the kind of guy who would build a giant worm and sent it into battle, while he chilled at the Decepticon base and piloted it remotely. I would have much preferred Driller be used that way.
I always thought the Driller looked like the Kraken from Pirates of the Caribbean. Not that I thought it was an homage.
