The Transformers: The Movie brings out families

Saskatoon’s Landmark Cinemas increased showings

A VHS re-release of The Transformers: The Movie from 1995.

Sunday became my “Transformers Day” in Saskatoon.

Going by the show times that were originally announced for the 40^th anniversary showing for The Transformers: The Movie and juggling my work schedule, my plan was to see it today (Sunday). At first, the only Sunday showing was set for 10:20 a.m. at the Landmark Cinemas on the far east edge of the city. I live on the west side of Saskatoon, so the theatre that was showing the Transformers movie was one of the longest cross-city trips I could do.

Late Saturday night, I double checked the show times and noticed the Landmark Cinemas added more showings on Sunday including at 12:10 p.m. and 7:20 p.m. I saw in social media reaction from Transformers fans online that they were pleasantly surprised to be watching this movie in full theatres in various other communities.

In the local mainstream media outlets in Saskatoon and in numerous centres in Canada, there are pretty much no entertainment reporters or movie reviewers left. I had no idea what I would experience when I would head out to see this movie again in the theatre for the first time in 40 years.

For a quick history lesson about The Transformers: The Movie, it was produced with the budget of US$6-million, and it brought in US$5.9-million in its original 1986 box office run domestically to be considered a bomb. The Transformers: The Movie didn’t have many folks coming out for a repeat viewing due to the death of Optimus Prime, who was the heroic leader of the Autobots voiced by the late, great Peter Cullen - a product of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

A ticket for The Transformers: The Movie.

Back in 1986, it was not common to kill off main characters in animated series, and Optimus Prime is often remembered as the shocking first time this happened.

As the decades have gone on, The Transformers: The Movie developed a cult following with numerous physical media releases and various returns to theatres. The 40^th anniversary return has been dubbed “The Apology Tour” by Hasbro for killing off Optimus Prime in 1986.

It is followed by a 12-minute animated short called Optimus Prime: Awakening. That is the final time Cullen reprises his role as Optimus Prime.

The 40^th anniversary showing hit theatres this past Thursday with Cullen’s recent passing coming this past August 26 adding a new dimension to the experience. The voice acting great was the first and is destined to go down as the definitive voice of Optimus Prime.

When I arrived at the Landmark Cinemas at 12:05 p.m., I was surprised to see the parking lot in front of the theatre was pretty much full. The Transformers: The Movie was the only thing showing at the 10:20 a.m. and 12:10 p.m. time slots at that location.

The Landmark Cinemas in Saskatoon.

The people I saw at the theatre were like 95 per cent families. Lots of dads were coming with their kid or teenage sons, and lots of dads were coming with their kid or teenage daughters.

After I got out of my car in front of the parking lot at the Landmark Cinemas, I saw a dad getting out of a big pickup truck with two teenage daughters. By their appearance, they came from the rural area and likely came some distance as the daughters were putting comforter blankets away. The daughters gave off the vibes they were there doing something special with their dad.

When I walked into the theatre, the concession line was really long. It was filled with families hanging together in their family groups. There were a handful of geek/nerd types in the concession, but they were a really small minority.

I went to purchase my ticket to get into the showing, and I realized there were both a premier seat and a standard seat showing. The premier seat showing was sold out, so I got into the standard seat showing.

Classic animated Optimus Prime.

The theatre room I went into was packed. With family turnout, the majority of the folks in the standard seat room were young kids.

Right there, I was having flashbacks of seeing The Transformers: The Movie back in 1986. Back in 1986, I saw that film on the last day it was in theatres in Winnipeg thanks to my oldest sister taking me. While the repeat viewings weren’t happening at that time, the theatre had a decent crowd with a lot of kids in attendance when I went.

During the showing I went to at the Landmark Cinemas, you got the feeling everyone in the room had seen this movie at least two or three times. It did hit differently watching The Transformers: The Movie on the big screen, because you realized this was how this film was meant to be seen.

As the movie advanced on, there were a lot of times a voice in my head was mouthing all the characters’ lines. In my life, the only two movies I have likely seen more than The Transformers: The Movie are another 1986 release in Top Gun and Major League from 1989. At times, the lines from those flicks feel like they are burned into the memory.

Another thing it felt like I noticed watching The Transformers: The Movie this time around was how smoothly the film ran. The flow was noticeably better from my view compared to movies I have seen in theatre in recent years.

I was impressed to see most of the kids in the theatre were locked in watching the film from their seats. It kind of went against the preconceived notion that kids today have attention spans that are super short.

A promo photo of the late Peter Cullen.

I enjoyed the Optimus Prime: Awakening short. To me, the whole short was about Optimus Prime making his journey into the afterlife after dying in the 1986 movie.

On the crazy timing front, I thought it worked as a beautiful tribute to Cullen playing Optimus Prime and closing the book on that part of the history of the Transformers franchise. When Cullen was recording the lines for this short, I don’t think it was going through anyone’s mind that he would pass away shortly before this hit theatres. When the short ended, a tribute dedication was shown for Cullen.

I came away feeling good enough from this experience that I went down to 8^th Street Quentin’s Comics and Toys on 8^th Street in Saskatoon and picked up a couple of Transformers figures from the Studio 86 Series Line that is dedicated to The Transformers: The Movie.

I also attended the 7:20 p.m. showing in the premier seat theatre with my mom. She actually enjoyed the experience.

This time there were only about 50 per cent families in the crowd and a larger turnout from the geek/nerd crowd. It was still a great time.

This anniversary run for The Transformers: The Movie was originally supposed to wrap up on Monday in North America. The run at the Landmark Cinemas is running through to Wednesday.

An Optimus Prime from 1984.

At the moment, the film is set to show at 12:20 p.m. on Monday, at noon and 7:20 p.m. on Tuesday and at noon and 6:50 p.m. on Wednesday.

In my life, I was born eight years before Transformers made its debut in 1984 and most of my knowledge of the franchise’s story arc comes from the original Generation One line. 

It is pretty rudimentary of all the different iterations and story tellings that have occurred around the decades.

Thanks to life being busy, I am not able to consume and follow all the interpretations of Transformers as they come out. 

I have been able to see all the Michael Bay live action Transformers films along with the Transformers One animated picture.

When I went to the 40^th anniversary showing of The Transformers: The Movie, I realized there were a lot of folks similar to me in that way, and a number of people in my age group still have a fond place in their heart for the original 1986 animated movie. 

Yours truly at the Landmark Cinemas in Saskatoon.

To be able to share watching it in theatre with family was a priceless moment that was never conceived for the bucket list.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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