Transformers: The Original Movie

The original Tranformers series had nothing spectacular to its name, but I still enjoyed it in my youth.

I had the toys. I rented the videos.

When I found the original Transformer movie I thought I was in heaven ... until the hero of the entire series, on a show that had lasted for several seasons, died. Optimus Prime was always the true hero of the series, my favorite character, but the leader of the Autobots died.

If there is anything important about this movie it is that it doesn't shy away from killing the good guys, something young adults would not expect from a cartoon.

The cartoons were juvenile, the stories to simple to win awards, and all of it was based on a toy line, not much artistic creativity available there. Yet Transformers went on to be one of the more popular TV series in the 1980s.

The movie had much more happening than just Optimus Prime's demise. It was an epic story that would have never reached Television; good guys aren't supposed to die, and if they do, bring them back.

If you are not familiar with all the goings on of the Transformer series, all that is really essential in understanding the movie is the fact that two forces, the good Autobots and the evil Decipticons fighting over their home world of Cybertron. The leader of the Autobots is Optimus Prime; Megatron is the leader of the Decepticons

The fight spilled over into Earth, and set the stage for countless battles between these forces of good and evil. The main intent of the cartoon was to sell toys; the movie was a means to rejuvenate the line by killing off many central characters, thereby creating a new generation of Transformers toys.

In the movie, the main villain isn't the Decepticon leader Megatron, but a world destroying planet called Unicron.

Yet there still is the question of the final battle between Optimus Prime and Megatron, which has the most distinct and epic touch of any battle in the movie. Both Prime and Megatron fall, and Prime hands over the key to Autobot hope, the Matrix, to Ultra Magnus, another Autobot.

Unicron enlists the help of Megatron to destroy the Matrix, which Prime said would light the Autobots darkest hour.