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Peter Cullen Chosen to Voice Optimus Prime (Again)
Posted by
CowboyNeal
on Sat Jul 22, 2006 11:33 AM
from the roll-out dept.
from the roll-out dept.
bigdady92 writes "Yesterday at Comic-Con it was announced that the new voice for Transformers the Movie was to be Peter Cullen who will voice Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots. Peter Cullen was the voice of the original Optimus Prime. The lending of his voice to the cast in a quick 'intro' at Comic-con was greeted by unanimous cheer from the crowd. Many fans, internet boards, blogs were calling for the return of Cullen to voice his most famous and well-loved character Optimus Prime."
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Peter Cullen Chosen to Voice Optimus Prime (Again)
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Don't bother clicking the link, its a spam site (Score:3, Informative)
While the announcement, which was preceded by a taped greeting from director Michael Bay, wasn't as momentous as the much expected first look at the giant robots in action, it was almost as eagerely anticipated by the fans.
A vocal "greeting" by Optimus Prime himself announced that voice actor Peter Cullen, who played the character in the popular 1980s cartoon TV series, will voice Optimus Prime in nest summer's big -budget movie version.
The announcement was met with rousing applause from Comic-Con attendees. The fans have long desired that Cullen reprise the role he'd made famous on TV.
What about the movie theme song? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:What about the movie theme song? (Score:4, Funny)
Peter Cullen? Damn! (Score:1)
(http://enemiesblog.blogspot.com/ | Last Journal: Monday May 07 2007, @02:03PM)
Waste of time (Score:2, Insightful)
I Say good. (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://tsfraser.googlepages.com/index.html)
Re:I Say good. (Score:4, Insightful)
In exchange for your adult money.
KFG
Who cares? (Score:4, Insightful)
I recall reading recently that entertainment "news" is very popular with newspapers and TV stations because they don't have to have a reporter do any leg-work or research, just get a clip or parrot a quote from the celeb's agent.
These days, thanks to newspaper/radio/tv mergers, all the big wigs care about is profit margin. Entertainment "news" like "Britney marries again!" can be made to fill the same amount of time as a story about (gasp) some bill before the House of Representatives that takes a reporter, camera crew and van travelling to the statehouse, fact checking, interviewing a couple representatives etc. Guess which is cheaper, by far?
stuff that doesn't matter that much. (Score:5, Funny)
(Last Journal: Wednesday August 09 2006, @06:22PM)
We'll probably enjoy much more watching it dubbed by the same guy who dubbed the animated series!
something like:
"Sayonara, Optimus Roboto-sam! "
"Hasta luego, Señor Optimus Roboto!"
"Auf wiedersehn, Herr Optimus Roboter"
Re:stuff that doesn't matter that much. (Score:5, Informative)
The obvious (Score:2)
(http://killermookie.org/)
Best... news... EVAR! (Score:3, Insightful)
(http://thedevilsadvocate.org/)
1) It has a good and entertaining plot
2) It has stunning artistic quality in the visual effects
3) That peter cullen is optimus prime
You can argue til your blue in the face as to what the characters look like and the technology bullshit of disappearing parts or even including the dinobots. The appeal of the Transformers has always been about the characters. They weren't just cute toys, or an afternoon cartoon. The brilliance has always been about the characters. Who they were, what they did, as well as what they transformed into. It was the total package.
The total package includes Peter's voice. It's unmistakable, unduplicatable, and undeniably the best!
Supposed Set Photos (Score:2)
Notice how lame Optimus Prime looks with those flames.
Nice Jubblies though in the last pic.
The rapidly dropping quality of Hollywood (Score:4, Insightful)
But these days I taste none of that, its like people are desperatly trying to find certain storyline(s) for the sole purpose of making more money. First you've seen this behaviour happening on the 'superheroes' front where Marvel created movies from their several characters, even when there already was such a movie (Spiderman comes to mind). But even in those cases you're basicly making a movie from a phenomenon. The 'superheroes' saga has lasted for years and was enjoyed by millions of people, young and old alike.
However, IMO it started becoming a little ridiculous when you get movies from cartoons while the cartoon itself was already a phenomenon in itself. Take, for example, 'Masters of the Universe'. Whats even striking me more is that this series was originally launched with the idea of merchandize in the back of people's mind. Is that really a good starting point to make a movie from it ? Or what about the 'Flintstones' ? In my opinion thats an even worse movie since it doesn't even try to be a regular movie but mimicks all the cartoon effects, sometimes in a more than ridiculous manner.
In the end all of those movies don't pay attention to anything which made the whole thing great and basicly introduces the "directors liberty". You know; when a simply known fact from the original is twisted because "it matches the movie/story/scene/whatever better". You've seen this happening in many if not all movies. Narnia: The professor met the kids right after they left the closet. Hello; wasn't there some tour going? In the original BBC series they looked him up in his study. Master o/t Universe: In the end battle Skeletor rambles about getting the power to become God. Hello? Don't tell me that the whole "Master of the Universe" has already degraded to nothing more than a mere title? In the original Skeletor always tried to become the Master of the Universe. Inspector Gadget: Lets not even get into this one, when compared with the original it was just bad since nothing was adopted, not even the mystery behind Dr. Claw. Lord of the Rings: While not totally bad its plain out obvious that the story isn't exactly the most important anymore, its the special effects. Where previous cartoons totally focussed on story and passion these movies need the special effects for "massive battles". A pity IMO.
In all honosty the last example isn't fair since this isn't something which has been remade. It simply is the first real movie from the book, just like any other of its kind. But it does goes to show you that money is ruling supreme here. Being a big Transformers fan myself at the age of 36 (I stopped caring when we got Beast Wars and the Transformers Armada) and a big Evangelion fan (basicly I just like cartoons but these two are rather special IMO) I'm really not looking forward to the upcoming live movies. I'd rather see some television station doing a re-run of the original series, and I don't mean the horrible series where they started sticking the serie together with an awfully annoying cube animation.
Why can't we leave something great as great as it is and simply acknowledge its greatness by enjoying the original all over again?
Great news, but... (Score:3, Funny)
Transformers the movie. no.. the other one. (Score:2)
Discussing voices, who is going to be the voice of megatron? I sure hope Frank Welker will reprise the role.
The best choice possible. (Score:4, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Tuesday March 09 2004, @01:55AM)
Cullen voicing Prime will at least ensure that some elements of character's original personality will stay intact, and this is probably the selling point for me seeing the movie.
My grandfather loved John Wayne movies... (Score:3, Insightful)
And all that stuff.
And while I've never watched a John Wayne movie, I tip my hat to them despite how cheesy they may have been, because I loved and respected my grandfather and those movies were the ones we bought for him when he was suffering from cancer at the end of his days. He was in obvious pain, but he enjoyed them nonetheless.
Optimus Prime is the John Wayne of the generation who grew up in the 80s. Sure, there was Duke from GI Joe, but he was usurped in midstream by a general. There was Lion-o, but the Thundercats were too wierd for most kids to take seriously. There was He-Man, but he was never anything more than a bad Superman re-interpretation.
But Optimus, man... Optimus was a truck and an action figure all in one. And when he spoke, he did so with conviction on the side of right and he used his leadership to defeat those who would harm others. And even when he was wrong, he eventually did the right thing. I don't own any "toys" anymore. I mean, I have recreational objects that I use to unwind with, but nothing that a kid would understand or find interesting. Except one. My 20th anniversary edition Optimus sits proudly on my desk. The original toy looked little like the cartoon character. But this one? 60 bucks and it doesn't even matter... Optimus looks like he shoulda. He's a kickass poseable paperweight.
When Optimus died in the movie, I was a kid, and I was upset. Who was this Rodimus dude, and what did he do with our hero? See, even with the neat futuristic car and the neat flaming paint job, Hot Rod and Rodimus just weren't as cool. Didn't matter that he could fight Galvatron and kick some Swoop ass... he wasn't the hero. He wasn't the legend. And when Optimus came back, he died saving the universe again. And then he came back for more.
Children today will tell their kids about the time they saw Kobe Bryant score 81. They'll swear Duane Wade was the best ever. But they never saw Jordan play. They never watched Magic pass. But I never got to see Wilt in his heyday, or see Oscar Robertson average a triple double. They'll claim that LaDainian Tomlinson is the best RB to ever lace them up because of his fancy moves, but they never got a chance to watch Barry spin the way I never got a chance to see Jim Brown knock people over.
Everyone grows up and has their own legends to tell tales about. For the 80s bunch, Optimus Prime saved the day after school, and that's why so many love and respect the character to this day. And you can't have Optimus Prime without the deep, John Waynesy voice of Peter Cullen. Just wouldn't be right.
Doesn't matter... (Score:3, Insightful)
(http://mshiltonj.com/ | Last Journal: Tuesday July 26 2005, @09:43PM)
I thought for sure... (Score:1)
KARR! (Score:4, Informative)
AUTOBOTS TRANSFORM AND ROLL OUT! (Score:1)
The man is Eeyore (Score:4, Informative)
I think a billion little kids--not to mention most of their parents--would take issue with calling Optimus Prime his "most famous and well-loved character." Peter Cullen has voiced Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh for decades [imdb.com].
"Slow news day" (Score:1)
A Transformers movie? (Score:2)
(http://qntm.org/ | Last Journal: Saturday May 06 2006, @09:26AM)
Unicron (Score:1)
(http://www.sfsouthpaw.org/)
Well at least it wasn't Tom Cullen (Score:2)
(http://s87365085.onlinehome.us/ | Last Journal: Tuesday October 28 2003, @04:22PM)
Real life Optimus Prime (Score:2)
(Last Journal: Monday April 21 2003, @11:20AM)
"They razzed me for three months to no end," said Prime. "They really dug into me about it."
Oh, come on. (Score:1)
(http://davecheatham.com/)
A better info resource for those who care.... (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.transformersthemovie.com/ [transformersthemovie.com]
good news... (Score:3, Funny)
(http://tumbleweed.smugmug.com/)
Re:I'm sorry, but (Score:1)
Re:I'm sorry, but (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://tsfraser.googlepages.com/index.html)
As a child There were transformers but you never liked them much. You may have preferred He-Man, GI-Gjoe, or Something else.
When you were a child Transformers were either Non-Existant just starting but you were a little to old to like them much.
WHen you were a Kid Transformers were going out of style.
When Growing up you had Transformers and you liked them but you are trying so hard to be grown up you hide you wish to play with toys like you did as an adult.
I am an adult to. I am getting Married Have my own how, work a full time job which pays more then the national average. I am a responsible mature adult by all measurements. But heck I still like transformers I watch the DVDs yea in retrospec the cartoons were a little cheesy but still they were fun. What is there not to like about Robots turning into cars and back.
Re:I'm sorry, but (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:What a bunch of dorks. (Score:1)
(Last Journal: Friday June 11 2004, @11:15AM)
So, do you have anything else to say, or does it simply make you feel better to call other people dorks for liking things you don't?
Re:What's the appeal of Transformers? (Score:4, Informative)
On that note, my parents are fairly open-minded folks, and when my little-brother was 3, he really, really wanted a doll and a stroller. Now, my parents basically looked at eachother and said 'Well, why not? We're not ones to let cultural prejudices get in front of our kids happyness'. We have never, ever laughed so much as when he got it though. He threw out the doll and promptly ran out into the street to play racing cars with it. He crashed fairly often though, and the poor stroller really wasn't built for his abuse. He had to get a new one after a month or so :)
So? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Dammit... (Score:3, Funny)
(http://www.mithrandir.net/)
Re:What's the appeal of Transformers? (Score:4, Insightful)
What's not to like? I suppose you liked GI Joe or something? Pfft. Gritty quasi-realistic cartoon pitting US vs Them. 'Us'? 'U.S.'? same thing on GI Joe. Good guys = America, hoorah! bad guys = anyone who looks or acts differently than an American, except for Snake Eyes, b/c he'd kill you without hesitation if you questioned his loyalty to the US. But, then again, he is a ninja. They have real ultimate power. Don't cross a ninja. This one time, my cousin's classmate's younger brother's babysitter's sister was walking with her boyfriend, and his leg clipped a bush that a ninja was hiding in waiting for his adversary from a rival ninja clan, and the ninja jumped out and diced him right there! It was over before the babysitter's sister could scream! And then, just because he could the ninja cut off her right arm and left leg and jumped to the rooftops and dashed away to find a worthwhile foe! You don't mess with that kind of power. So, to answer your question, global warming is being caused by Ninjas killing Pirates, because there aren't enough worthwhile ninja foes, so the ninjas have started going after pirates.
Re:What's the appeal of Transformers? (Score:2)
(http://slashdot.org/)
Maybe I'm missing something.
Wasn't the line supposed to be "I don't get it"?
Re:What's the appeal of Transformers? (Score:5, Funny)
They're more than meets the eye.
Re:What's the appeal of Transformers? (Score:2)
(http://obsessivemathsfreak.org/ | Last Journal: Friday June 09 2006, @08:15PM)
The Knack.
Re:I'm sorry, but (Score:2, Troll)
Re:What a bunch of dorks. (Score:2)
We don't have anything better to do than get excited about a Transformers movie.
You don't have anything better to do than think about us getting excited about a Transformers movie.
I'd rather be me here.
Re:What's the appeal of Transformers? (Score:5, Insightful)
I think the first thing you're missing is that you didn't look at it through the eyes of an 8 year old. Yes, you're right,it was gimmicky and yes it was designed to market toys to kids. Nobody's kidding you about that. The toys were cool. Back then, you had GI Joes, Hot Wheels, and Star Wars. Transformers were new, and they were different. Heck, even my parents like getting me the toys because this was back in the day when die-cast metal was still being used. They would 'last' longer than my other toys. They were also intriguing because I had no problem transforming them, but my parents couldn't. Heh.
Then the movie came out. Oh man. That was a trip. The movie was MUCH larger than the TV series aspired to be. Not only did it add to the mythos of the Transformers, but it also featured a much stronger drama than we had seen on the small screen. Main characters died. That's a shock when you're 10 years old. Suddenly the battle for energon turned into a galaxy saving event, and many characters we loved paid the ultimate price for it.
Then there was the comic books. I cannot talk with authority about the quality of the comics because I never had the chance to read them. I did, however, catch up on the summary of them on Wikipedia and found that they had developed a rather strong sci-fi story around the existence of these machines. From a scifi point of view, there's a very interesting tale about how these guys came into being and their significance in the universe. I think a lot of people would agree with me that if this franchise were taken to an 'adult' level, something very rich could be made of it. Head on over to Wiki and you may see what I mean.
As for being memorable, the Transformers helped define a generation. It's hard to look at it today without experiencing it in your youth. Take any 25-30 year old, male or female, and mention the Transformers, and they'll go "oh.. yeah! I remember those!" After missing this, I can understand your point of view. It took a lot to make the Transformers popular.
I have to say, though, that I'm worried about the movie. This is one of those franchises that the fans will nitpick to death. Normally I wouldn't fear this too much because the hard-core fan base is usually pretty small, but considering who the movie is aimed at and how many people actually watched this cartoon, I'm not even sure there's a 'right' way to do it in order to make the fans happy. We've all got our own ideas about what it was that made the Transformers fantastic. Myself included. There are two details that I feel they should incorporate into this movie that, without them, I'll have a hard time accepting. I'm embarrased to admit this because it reveals me to be one of those obsessed detail-oriented nerds with all of the social charm of the Comic Store Guy in the Simpsons. But maybe it'll give you a little clue into why this movie is contraversial.
In the cartoon, the Transformers made a dinstinctive CHUK-CHUK-CHUK-CHUK sound when they transformed. In later attempts to revive the franchise (Beast Wars, for example...) they tossed the sound and made the transforming sequence slower. The reason for this change isn't a bad one. As mentioned before, the original cartoon was poorly animated. To simplify those shots, they transformed them quickly and dubbed in the sound. In the latter cartoons, the animation quality was higher, so they showed the more elaborate transforming sequence. Not a bad reason, right? Afterall, the fans want to see how these transformations work, right? This little difference, though, made the original Transformers seem more advanced and alien. Well... magical is a better word. The slower transform
Re:What a bunch of dorks. (Score:3, Insightful)
$5 says you creamed in your shorts over previews of Episode I, Matrix Reloaded, and Serenity. Even if I'm wrong about one of them, I'm still willing to bet you shouldn't be casting any stones.
Re:What's the appeal of Transformers? (Score:2)
Re:Indeed (Score:2)
Re:Hey Editors! (Score:2)
Re:What's the appeal of Transformers? (Score:2)
(http://www.mangaschool.com/ | Last Journal: Tuesday January 03 2006, @07:51AM)
Fixed it for you.
Mommy, what does 'jaded' mean?
Re:What's the appeal of Transformers? (Score:2)
(http://slashdot.org/)
You must be. Let me break it down for you:
A Transformer or Transportation Former is an intelligent machine that is able to "transform", reconfiguring itself into a common and innocuous form, such as a car, aircraft, or animal. The taglines "More Than Meets the Eye" and "Robots in Disguise" reflect this ability. Additionally, this "transformation" is often accompanied by a "Wa-a-a-a" sound, not unlike the sound the lead singer makes in the song "Down With the Sickness," although several octaves lower and somewhat more synthesized-sounding.
Now do you get it?