Transformers HD-DVD Presentation And Luncheon With Peter Cullen

Posted by Jeffrey Harris on 10.16.2007

Paramount unveils their signature HD-DVD release of 2007. Plus lunch with Optimus Prime himself, Peter Cullen.

Paramount ushers in the HD-DVD era with the release of one of the biggest hits of the summer, Transformers as their signature HD-DVD title of the year. Coming out on DVD and HD-DVD on October 16th, Paramount showed how this new 2-disc set will revolutionize the HD-DVD format.

Chris Saito, VP of marketing at Paramount, introduced the proceedings. The producers of the HD-DVD set for Transformers, Annie Kaprelian and Jeff Radoycis, ran down the content of the discs as well as sampled video from the movie and the extras on discs 1 and 2 which included the following:

-The desert/Skorponok scene was shown in full. The picture and sound quality looked remarkable and almost lifelike.

-Those in attendance got to hear a snippet of Michael Bay's audio commentary on disc 1. The scene featured Shia LeBouf's character, Sam, running away from guard dogs before being saved by Bumblebee. Bay said poor Shia was nearly killed by the rather vicious dogs, but was fast enough to not get hurt.

-The DVD producers demonstrated the H.U.D. track for the disc. Basically this is a combination text and pop-up video commentary, featuring textual factoids on the movie's production, as well as picture-within-picture of the live on-set production to a screen-specific scene. Also when we see Autobots and Optimus Prime on screen for the first time, we see footage of Peter Cullen recording his lines in the booth.

-The producers than went into one of the more ambitious features of the HD-DVD technology and this release, the web enabled features and content. The web enabled features for this DVD will allow users to download content straight from the net onto your disc and player. Over 23,000 lines of code had to be made for the web features alone.

-The web enabled features will allow the following: custom toolbars, playlists, and "my clips" feature, and a profiler program. Fans can view a 3D gallery of the Transformers robots. These were made using the original ILM CG models for the transformers. There was a special Profiler feature for the web enabled content. This is a web feature that while you watch the movie adds movie fictional text factoids about the characters while watching the movie. Basically when Ratchet notes about Sam "wanting to mate" with Mikaela, the factoid pops up saying that Mikaela did as well after smelling Sam's pheromones. The factoids also provide more background and character profiles for the Autobot and Decepticon characters. It also has a GPS world map tracker that shows where the transformers or main characters are through points in the movie.

-A rundown of the Disc 2 extras as well as previews of the documentaries and featurettes. All of the extras on this set are presented in high definition video format. We got a preview of Our World which is a 4 part making of the Transformers production. There was some video of Steven Spielberg talking about his original experiences with the cartoon and toys, as well as Michael Bay being convinced by Hasbro to work on the movie after his initial reluctance to making a "toy movie". What would convince Bay was the edgier, darker look of the more recent comics for the franchise.

-Footage was shown from Their War, a featurette on the fan culture and origins of the Transformers toys and cartoon. This focused on clips of the original cartoon and toy commercials, and we get to hear from Hasbro about the creation of Transformers and where the toys came from. Just in case you didn't already know, the cartoon was essentially made as a toy commercial for transforming vehicle robot toys Hasbro got from the Japanese company, Takara.

-At the end of the presentation, the Iron Man theatrical trailer was shown and looked fantastic in HD quality. The trailer will be included at the end of the credits of the movie on the DVD set. Radoycis hinted that Iron Man could be their signature HD-DVD release in 2008, much like Transformers was this year.

-When asked about the competing BLU-RAY/HD-DVD technologies, Alan Bell (tech specialist for Paramount) said their main goal was to put something out that could play on all HD-DVD players, including the oldest ones. It was noted that BLU-RAY doesn't have this amount of accessibility at the moment.

-Any content downloaded for the web enabled features on this DVD will stay on your player until it gets full or the user decides to remove it.

-Privacy and user information issues regarding the downloadable content were brought up. Saito noted that information regarding the downloads are under the "opt in" policy. The DVD producers said this would not be a problem and made it out that user information would be secure.

Following the HD-DVD presentation, reporters were taken outside for a luncheon with Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus Prime in the original series and the new live action movie. Since this was a round table session, questions by myself will be designated with "TVO". Questions by other reporters will not.

"The Vile One": Are there any other shows or series you are working on at the moment?

Peter Cullen: Well we just finished a Winnie The Pooh movie, My Friends Tigger and Pooh (Cullen is the voice of Eeyore). Also the television series, My Friends Tigger and Pooh was picked up, and we did the original few, and now they're picked up for an entire series.

Is the process any different from recording a feature or series to when you originally did it?

PC: Yes. Back in the old days we used to do it together. We used to line up in front of microphones and the director. Today for the most part, given ISDN and accessibility to record people in their homes even, and in my case in a local studio by myself, so it has changed in that way. There's a lot to be said of the old days because of the mixing of characters and the outstanding hilarity it creates, basically 14 guys who are real, you know, . . . if I were to quote "muckrakers" you know? Just imagine us all in schools in different schools across the nation, imagine us as kids. The guys in the voice-over business – we were always the guys to get into trouble. We were always disrupting classes, we were always making people laugh because you can do voices you know. Impersonate the teacher. So when you look at 14 guys or how many there were when we recorded Transformers, that's gone. And I miss that part, I miss it somewhat. Although I must admit it's easier, and it's faster. And you can get more jobs because it used to take 3-4 hours to do one show.

Who would you consider the great voice actors of all time?

PC: That's a hard question. When you talk about animation, I have to go back to the old school the Mel Blanc's, the June Foray's, the great voice actors who applied their voices to outside of the film industry. The new breed today, there's some great, great names.

How many people come up to you on the street and want to talk about Transformers?

PC: Seldom, if ever.

Really?

PC: I'm not recognizable . . . I dunno whether or not I was supposed to wear a hat today, but they sent me a hat that said, "I am Optimus Prime." That's one of the perks of being in voice-over because nobody sees your face. And when I do the voice and get a reaction, with children, if I do Eeyore, they'll have a blank stare – And then I'll say (in Iyor's voice), "Hello, thanks for noticing me." And they go, "OOOOOHHH!!!" So I like that anonymity. And I've always kind of felt when I was a kid, I remember being disappointed of the physical look behind the voice. Because I always had my own imagined reflection of what that person looked like. And when I met that person it didn't come close. So I'm afraid that some child will have that same reaction to me.

How many more Transformers movies are you signed on to do as Optimus Prime?

PC: Well . . . hopefully and I've been led to believe that there's going to be two more that I know of.

What was it like to see the movie for the completed movie for the first time?

PC: I was at the premiere, and I've never been to one really before. I went to a Winnie The Pooh premiere once. We walked down the Pink carpet, and this was a blue carpet. So I was sucked into the energy and the nervousness, and the whole thing. Finally, when the movie came on, I wasn't in a relaxed state at all surrounded by other major, well-known celebrities. So I was never really comfortable through the whole thing. So I made it a point to see it again. I got a whole lot more out of it by seeing it in a relaxed state. . . . So my second time around seeing it, I thought it was fantastic. I mean I can't remember seeing a movie and then seeing it again thinking, "I don't remember seeing that." I didn't, it was overwhelming, you know. Whoa, and loud, right?

What was Michael Bay like as a director?

PC: He was wonderful. He's an exciting man to work. And even if you didn't know anything about him. He has a presence . . . and that presence alone is enough to energize you. But having known a little more about him than some other directors you haven't worked with before, he was generous, helpful, and productive in the sense that he could find a way of getting things out of me that I appreciated. Extremely relaxed, and I was very privileged because I can't imagine accomplishing the things he's accomplished by scope alone and in size. I would look at that and say, "Well that's insurmountable." So I have to admire him for that, because I'm in awe of that. And then you see him in action and you understand why. There's no nonsense, that brain is going all the time . . . it energizes. So it was a privilege. It was a pleasure. And it was always a joy.
TVO: What were your initial impressions when Optimus Prime died in the original movie?

PC: I was stunned. I was really disappointed more than anything else. Being a grunt, I'm a day laborer . . . and then to see you're getting killed off you know, all you see is car payments going off *he chuckles*. But you don't think about it, you just go on to the next job. When they did bring me back on two separate occasions, it was because of fanbase and parental uproar. I heard a story that some kid was not coming out of his closet, his room. He was so devastated.

TVO: I was devastated.

PC: You were?

TVO: I was.

PC: I wasn't aware then. And when I went into to do those shows I had no idea why they were bringing me back because we never got fan mail. We had no thermometer to judge this thing on. It's just a job.

TVO: I was four years old and I couldn't comprehend what had happened. But I was also wondering did they ever ask you about coming back for the other series before the movie?

PC: No, it's funny I wasn't aware of any of that popularity for Transformers had created until I went to my first convention in Rochester, New York . . . but that's when I found out. And my daughter was the one that said, "Dad you gotta go." And I said, "Why Claire, why?" And she said, "Because the kids in my class that said, ‘Your dad's Optimus Prime?!' and they go nuts!" I said, "You're kidding." She said, "No! You got to go!" I went, and I was really surprised. I was sitting down in front of 300-400 people and they started applauding when I opened my mouth and said, "Autobots." And they went *crowd roaring sound*, and I went "Whoa!" It startled me. To this day I still think of that, and I'm just amazed by it.

TVO: I love your work on the series, Voltron: Defender of The Universe. I recently watched the Voltron Collection Four DVD set, and the voice actors from the show talked about recording their lines for time. Was it difficult recording the lines for time on that show instead the usual ADR technique?

PC: No . . . We again worked as a group, ensemble and we started with a run through and then we would record from beginning to end. Then we would go back and fix things up. Which is pretty much the way people did things for years and years. That was the best part because there were so many good times doing that. Mike Bell is hysterical.

There's a trend in Hollywood to take big name stars and attach them to voices as characters (in movies like Transformers). Do you feel that's affected the overall voice over industry, or is it its own isolated thing?

PC: Well voice actors have asked, why do you do that? Then you have to analyze the production reasons for doing that. Is it star attraction? In my particular instance, Optimus Prime, it's almost a challenging argument to say here's a character that was made popular in the hearts and minds of generations and is the argument to be made that we will not risk our money, be guaranteed a star's name whose face we will never see, physically? Or do you go with the base that has made the noise out of the motion. In this case we won. I mean I won, over a big name sound. I hope they take a look at that in the future when they think of replacing the original character – and I hope they take that seriously because as we know in my case it's been enormously successful because of you guys you know. And they're starting to pay attention and . . . we won.

Do you feel possessive of the property (Transformers) or are you inspired by how it's constantly re-invisioned?

PC: That's a good question. I would say that if you do a character long you do develop a sense of possession to it. It does become a part of you, and you become aware of its popularity and how it's affected people. And in this general case, Optimus, I am personally attached that way. But I never get so attached I'll be injured – was hurt when I was replaced. It's hard enough to justify your day laborer attitude without being stomped on all the time but that's life. So I just avoid those areas where I'll be terribly disappointed, I just move on. As far as a lot of the other characters I've done, I hope to never go back to them again *he laughs*.

TVO: Is there a favorite piece of merchandise for a show you've worked on or a character you've played? Do fans ever send you merchandise?

PC: I have received tokens of appreciation from fans. And I think have one, my own Optimus Prime eighteen-wheeler. But over the years it got destroyed by children who had discovered and played with it. It's just gone, just remnants of memories. And I was presented with one from a fan, and I cherish that. Nobody's going to touch that. It was one of the original ones. The one the kids wrecked was plastic. The one I got was real cast die metal. I got a real collectors'—I appreciated that. There are a lot of great perks, you know?

TVO: I'm sorry to ask you this, but could you say, "One shall stand, one shall fall?"

PC: *In the Optimus Prime voice*, "One shall stand, one shall fall."

TVO: Thank you so much.

PC: I've really enjoyed you guys. Thank you for your interest. You're wonderful and I appreciate the compliment through interview every now and again. It's funny how a smile and compliment can make a person's day.

All those in attendance were given an Optimus Prime movie toy helmet along with the HD-DVD set for the Transformers movie, and an official movie poster. They came packaged in a big cardboard box that looked like the All-Spark cube.