Fandom Summaries: Transformers (all series), 2007: Part I
Subject: Fandom Summaries - Transformers (Live-Action Movies), 2007
Decided randomly that I'd describe the fandoms I'm interested in, and maybe get people hooked on them too. Hoping to get this done on a bi-weekly basis.
Cut text: Today’s fandom, to start off, is of course Transformers, focusing on the first live-action movie
I don't even remember why I was interested in the first movie three years ago. It was summer, the movie was in theaters, and my parents and I were driving from Texas to California. We stopped while in Arizona to watch the movie - unfortunately not in IMAX, and I haven't seen that version yet, though I want to find those scenes.
I promptly devoted the rest of that road trip, and possibly some time after (the timeline's fuzzy here, I may be remembering this wrong), writing Mary-Sue fic blatantly based off someone else's work. (That's back when I was semi-obsessed with Lance from Pokemon, though I've never actually seen any episodes with him in them until this year). Thankfully, those stories will not be seeing the light of day except to be edited and posted as parodies.
Somewhere along the way I found ante_luce's work, and got hooked on Prowl/Jazz slash (the icon I'm using for this post is of her OC Hunter as a toaster, as a homage to her first fic. If anyone's interested in reading it, it's findable via clicking on the "Hunter Green" tag on her page). I was also introduced to G1 via her work, and despite watching less than ten episodes of the original series, fell in love with various characters via fanfiction. (Really - choose pretty much any series, find fanfic involving it, and read a lot of them. Eventually, you'll get a sense of the series without having to watch/read any of the source material. That also means that you run the risk of using fanon as canon, but oh well.)
My main Transformers fanfic at the moment is, of course, the massive 1984 Cybertronian AU, usually shortened to the 1984 AU or the trilogy of trilogies (hence the title of my journal). It started out as only one fic, with chapters based off of a series of bunnies (which can be found at my main fic reference post; it should be the first one on my journal). Somewhere along the line it expanded into nine parts, with three arcs grouped together. Hence, the World/Earth/Cybertron series.
A good deal of this fic is actually still in the planning stages (i.e. the Cybertron trilogy and Earth III until the next Transformers movie comes out). World II is the section of World which spawned everything, and as it stands right now it needs a lot of rewriting to fit into the series as a whole.
Speaking of which, the whole Seeker-obsession thing stems completely and totally from sanjuno's Nine Rings of Vos. I've tried to credit everything that I can to her, but the fact remains that nearly everything of the Seeker-centric portion of my fic is influenced by her writing, and as such I am apologizing for any plagarism I may have committed or will commit in the future. If you find any, please let me know, and I will rewrite the section and/or ask for permission to use the concept(s) in question.
The thing about the 1984 AU is that it NEVER STOPS GROWING. Ideas keep popping up that would fit really well into the AU (which is a major reason of why it's so long right now). It certainly hasn't distracted me from writing other fics, though - if anything, writing other fics is challenging what I have planned for the AU right now. *glares at Prowl/Starscream/Jazz trine-bunny*
*looks at what was written*
*coughs*
Anyway, back to the actual summary part of the post.
The plot of the 2007 Transformers live-action movie can be summed up as thus. Spoilers below. Note that it’s all based off what I remember, so parts may be jumbled and confused when compared to the actual events depicted in the movie.
Before time began . . . there was . . . the Cube.
So the movie goes. It's Peter Cullen voicing Optimus Prime, as he did in G1, and I have to say, his voice fits "leader" perfectly. He goes on to explain the basic purpose of existence for the film's MacGuffin All Spark, which is also apparently known as the Cube. (Weird name to give to something you hold in extremely high esteem, in my opinion, but whatever enables the plot, I suppose.)
I don't remember which comes next in order of appearance in the movie, but it seems like they're happening pretty much concurrently, so it should be fine to mix up the order. And I'm pretty sure this part happens first.
A group of soldiers is inside an helicopter, headed for the U.S. SOCCENT (short for United States Special Operations Command Central) base in Qatar. Along the way, they talk about alligator meat, not being able to speak Spanish, looking forward to a flat beer and a baseball team which I don't remember playing at a park I don't remember. One of the men talks about looking forward to holding his baby girl for the first time; the rest of the men make the requisite teasing remarks and fake vomiting motions. They're clearly comfortable with each other, and the teasing is good-natured.
They arrive, settle into base life comfortably. It's clear that they've been there before - the captain of the group, William Lennox (the guy who wants to hold his baby girl, or Josh Duhamel if you go off actor names) is clearly friends with a local boy bay the name of Mahfouz. Some time after landing (and presumably after completing the requisite evil of loads of paperwork), Lennox goes to a computer inside a tent, where his wife and baby girl wait for him onscreen. (No, there is not any husband/wife "happy time" in a sexual sense; there is "happy time" of the lovey-dovey-laughter-may-be-farting variety. To understand this reference, keep reading. You'll know it when you see it.) They talk, they're happy, Lennox proceeds to melt into a figurative puddle of goo over his daughter.
Outside the tent, an unidentified helicopter enters SOCCENT airspace. The guys on duty send off two F-22s to get pictures of the helicopter and escort it to base. In taking the pictures and relaying the ID number/whatever-the-number-is to the main command center, they discover that . . .
*dramatic pause*
The helicopter bears the number of a similar helicopter - same make, same build - which was shot down some time before.
Of course, the tech on duty's triple-checked the number - apparently a friend of his was on that particular downed helicopter. (Minor spoilers here, for Wrecker fans - the helicopter isn't Springer. It's someone else, which is a good thing, as the next scene will prove.)
The helicopter, escorted by the F-22s, lands at the base.
The screen of the teleconference computer goes fuzzy.
Lennox, confused, goes through the time-honored method of fixing anything mechanical and whacks the side of the monitor a few times, telling his wife that if she can hear him, he loves her and will be home soon.
(It's really sad, how much of this movie I have memorized, and yet I still don't remember which part comes first in plot developments.)
The guy in charge of the base (leaving out rank 'cause I'm not too good with figuring out that sort of thing from chevrons) states through a loudspeaker system that the helicopter pilot needs to power down his engines and step out, or risk being killed: "MH-53 pilot, power down. Have your crew step out or we will kill you." All this time, soldiers are rushing into position on the tarmac, some in standard combat gear, others wielding machine guns mounted on cars.
The blades slow down, and there’s hope of them all getting out of this alive. The blades stop.
Then the top helicopter blades rise up and rotate so that the tips of all the top blades are pointed towards the helicopter’s tail.
It is now that the helicopter transforms, slow, drawn-out, most likely going for the most shock factor possible. Soldiers are firing wildly, starting seconds after the first distinct succession of sounds (the transformation sound for G1 geeks).
What follows is best described as Michael Bay Moment #1. A wave of some sort of energy shatters the glass windows of the tower where the guy in charge is standing, along with knocking over a good deal of guys.
The guy who’s most likely Lennox’s second-in-command (hereby shortened to SIC to save time) runs through the rows of tanks, screaming that they’re under attack.
The now-transformed helicopter proceeds to wreak havoc with unprecedented energy weapons, sending tanks flying as though they were no lighter than a paperback novel (which, equivalently, is entirely possible, I suppose, though something like a five-year-old child may be a better description). Lennox regroups with his team, leading them away, and taking into custody Mahfouz on the way. They get cornered by the helicopter, the SIC, named Epps (note that his last name isn’t spelled Eppes, so a Numb3rs crossover is hindered slightly), decides that they need an image and decides to be a suicidal idiot and run out with a thermal imager in hand - and no other type of weaponry beyond possibly some knives and a handgun or two, not that they’ll do much against a giant robot - to take a picture.
The helicopter (now referred to as a heli) looks down at him. A barrel rotates out from a compartment in its chest.
Freaking out, Epps struggles to his feet.
A sudden flare of light distorts the next view that we have - it’s of the robot’s POV. As the light clears, the humans scramble away.
A compartment hidden behind the rotor blades (I hope that’s the right terminology) opens up, ejecting another mechanoid from the heli’s body. This newcomer to the melee immediately burrows into the ground and sets off in pursuit of the humans.
The helicopter is next seen walking across the tarmac, blasting things left and right. A group of men is running on the tarmac - presumably but not necessarily Lennox’s team. The heli blasts the plane sitting on the tarmac.
It’s mass chaos, explosions cascading all over the base courtesy of who we’ll later learn is the Decepticon designated Blackout, and for action-centric geeks, it’s heaven.
The last thing we see of the military base is bright white light engulfing the base, someone screaming-
And then a bell rings.
Parts Two and Three will be covering the rest of this movie
RotF and personal speculation/musings on the series and movie 3 will be in the appropriately labeled post
In other random news, the concept conveyed in the Nickelback video Savin' Me is highly interesting. *nudges towards middle of idea horde*