Trivia for
The Transformers: The Movie (1986) More at IMDbPro »

• This film is considered the "bridge" between the second and third seasons of the cartoon, as several third-season characters are introduced here and several first-season characters are killed or altered (e.g. Megatron to Galvatron).
  
  
• Orson Welles died in 1985 sparking rumors that Leonard Nimoy took over and provided the voice for Unicron. However, actress Susan Blu (Arcee) has since confirmed that Welles completed the voice over work before he died.
  
  
• Many of the second season characters (Stunticons, Aerialbots, etc.) do not appear in the movie because they did not exist at the time the movie was written. However, they all suddenly appear in the post-movie episodes.
  
  
• Two Cyclonus-style robots are created in the movie; one from Bombshell (Insecticon) and one from Skywarp (Decepticon jet). Many fans have speculated which one became the "real" Cyclonus. Cyclonus was (apparently) originally intended to have many duplicates under his command ("and his armada..."), like Scourge and his Sweeps. However, only one duplicate was created on-screen and was never seen again after that shot. This has led fans to write fanfics about a character called "Armada".
  
  
• The film takes place 20 years after the end of the tv series' second season.
  
  
• The sound of Galvatron's arm-mounted laser cannon firing is a modified version of the sound of Megatron's fusion cannon.
  
  
• Almost all of the new characters that appear in the Movie were newly designed. The Hasbro toys were based on the Movie's character designs. The exception was Ultra Magnus, who already had a toy in the Japanese "Diaclone" line. His character model was based on the toy, and given new colors.
  
  
• Originally, Ultra Magnus was dismembered by the Sweeps (his arms and legs were ripped from his body). This was changed a scene of his being blasted to death. However, the shot of the Sweeps firing at Magnus shows them using continuous beams (almost as if they were ropes of energy), instead of laser blasts they are seen using in the rest of the movie.
  
  
• The movie was being produced by the same company, and at the same time, as G.I. Joe: The Movie (1987) (V). It had been agreed that both movies would suffer the loss of the lead heroes, Optimus Prime and Duke. Production had begun on G.I. Joe first, and was thus expected to be released first. During the production of the two films, G.I. Joe was held up while Transformers finished production. Release dates were changed and Transformers got theatrical release in 1986. Optimus Prime's death sparked some controversy and caused the writers to change Duke's death to a coma. G.I. Joe never got to the theaters, and was released to video instead. Had G.I. Joe been released first, Optimus Prime might have survived.
  
  
• Of the original 18 Autobots featured in the first episode "More than Meets the Eye", 15 are seen in the movie. Mirage, Trailbreaker, and Sideswipe do not appear although they were all scripted to appear in three separate scenes on Earth.
  
  
• Some pre-movie characters have very short cameos: Huffer, Hound, Sunstreaker, and Snarl.
  
  
• Officially this was Orson Welles's final film.
  
  
• Grimlock's line to Kup, "Tell Grimlock about petro-rabbits" is a reference to John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" in which Lenny continuously asks George to "Tell me about the rabbits."
  
  
• Although a toy was not released until 2003, an action figure of Unicron was designed, but the prototype had flimsy arms and a faulty voice-chip, and was scrapped.
  
  
• The movie kills off many of the original characters: Optimus Prime, Ironhide, Ratchet, Prowl, Brawn, Wheeljack, Windcharger, Megatron, Starscream, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Shrapnel, Kickback and Bombshell are all casualties, and it is learned in the third season that Huffer also died at some point off-camera during the movie.
  
  
• Two other characters were scripted to die in the film as well, but the scenes were not animated. During the attack on Autobot City by Devastator, Ultra Magnus attacks, accompanied by Sideswipe, Tracks and Red Alert, and Red Alert is killed by a cannon blast. Also, towards the end of the movie when Shockwave is frantically calling for the Decepticons to engage Unicron, Unicron's hand was supposed to have been seen crushing Shockwave's citadel. The way the movie was released, after Shockwave calls "Scramble!", Unicron's hand comes down and smashes a good part of the planet's surface, and Shockwave is never seen again.
  
  
• Several other characters had non-speaking cameos, including Bluestreak, Grapple and Gears.
  
  
• The last film with Scatman Crothers before his death.
  
  
• The negatives for the matted wide-screen version of the movie were either destroyed or lost, and for a time only the VHS full-screen version of the movie remained. The North Carolina School of the Filmmaking in Winston-Salem North Carolina carries a print of the movie assembled from different reels of other prints of the movie found in their archives. The pieced-together print is in good condition. It should be noted that this wide-screen version of the movie was achieved by "matting down" the original full-screen animation, essentially chopping off the top and bottom.
  
  
• The band who sings the songs on the soundtrack called "Nothin's Gonna Stand In Our Way" and "Hunger" is listed on the soundtrack credits as Spectre General, but the band's name is actually Kick Axe. When the soundtrack was being assembled, they thought the name "Kick Axe" sounded too threatening, so they listed them as "Spectre General". The band was not notified about the change.
  
  
• Orson Welles was said to have hated the movie. When asked about his role, not only could not remember his character's name, but he described his role as "a big toy who attacks a bunch of smaller toys".
  
  
• Both Nelson Shin (director) and Flint Dille (story consultant) has confirmed that, due to his failing health, Orson Welles had much difficulty recording all his dialogue for the film and all his recorded lines also included labored breathing and heavy wheezing. Shin considered all of Welles' recorded lines to be unusable but decided to put the recordings through a voice synthesizer to give Welles' voice a clearer, more ominous tone. According to Shin, Unicron's on-screen voice is not the "true" Orson Welles but instead, an enhanced, synthesized version of his voice.
  
  
• In the sequence where Unicron views Ultra Magnus receiving the Autobot Matrix from a dying Optimus Prime, he becomes enraged and screams out. The sound effect used for this scream effect was originally used for The Hulk in The Incredible Hulk Animated Series (1982), which like The Transformers: The Movie, is another Marvel Productions property.
  
  
• During the climax of the autobot city battle, Megatron uses what looks like a lightsaber rip off to wound Optimus prime. Director Nelson Shin actually designed the lightsabers for Star Wars (1977).
  
  
• Cast member Leonard Nimoy is related by marriage to Michael Bay, director of Transformers (2007).
  
  
• Leonard Nimoy and Frank Welker share the role of Megatron/Galvatron. Nimoy is best know for playing Spock in Star Trek. Welker voiced the young Spock in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), which Nimoy also directed.
  
  
• The lyrics of the song "Instruments of Destruction" were slightly changed because they were deemed inappropriate.
  
  
• In the Japanese trailer of the film, the footage of Galvatron during the transformation of Unicron is slightly different: instead of Unicron dropping Galvatron in his mouth, he falls down a 'trapdoor' on Unicron. The scene where Kup tells the Dinobots the story about the the thick dust of Alpha-9 is also different. And more footage is shown.
  
  
• At the beginning of the movie when the Autobots are taking off in their ship, Optimus Prime orders "Cliffjumper commence countdown". The voice of Cliffjumper was that of Casey Kasem who was the host of America's Top 40 Countdown for many years. This was obviously a little joke by the writers.
  
  
• Spike originally said "Oh s*** what are we going to do now" in the theatrical release when he and Bumblebee realized that blowing up the moon didn't affect Unicron. "Oh s***" had been put in the theatrical release to guarantee a PG rating as G rated movies could not be played as often during the day as PG, PG-13 or R rated movies back then. The line however had been taken out of every VHS or DVD until the 20th anniversary DVD because no company would release it with the line intact. For the 20th anniversary the producers put it back in.
  
  

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