Transformers & Star Wars: Are These Iconic Franchises Running Out of Steam?

[00:00:04] Speaker A: What up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the Night Gem Report. I'm your host, Pablo. And joining me as always, this is Mister Brian Schulz. Brian, Transformers one. Brian, everybody. I've seen the rotten tomatoes scores. Everybody's talking about this movie is good, right? Then you send me, you send me the show notes and you say, Transformers one is doing well with critics, but not at the box office. Brian. So it begs to ask the question, what's going on, Brian? What is happening? Is the, is the IP, Brian, not as favored anymore? Because we've been doing transformers for this long already, right? And they just, it's just not. People are looking for the next thing, right? It could be people wanting to move on. We got this Voltron, we got these thundercats, we got this other stuff happening, and Transformers is just not it anymore. What are your thoughts, Brian? What do you, what do you think is going on at the box office with Transformers when we happen to get decent films and yet still there's no interest, perhaps? [00:01:19] Speaker B: Okay, so there's two different points here. One is transformers, one as a product, and then there's Transformers IP in general. I'm very pleased to report I love Transformers. One didn't, like, loved Transformers. I was really impressed what they accomplished in this film. My kid loved it. My wife loved it. [00:01:44] Speaker A: Wow. [00:01:46] Speaker B: I'm happy to. I talking to a friend today who was a Transformers friend, hadn't seen it yet. He was like, would you go see it again with me? I was like, absolutely. Like, I'll go tomorrow. [00:01:54] Speaker A: Wow. [00:01:55] Speaker B: That's the good news. Bad news is this film fell short of the lowest tracking numbers that were out, and it's about to be obliterated by the wild robot worldwide next week. Which means this movie is certainly going to lose money come and go. I have hope it will find a second life on tv because it is legitimately good. Like, it is worth checking out. And if you miss it in the theater, like, rent it, watch it, stream it on Paramount plus or wherever you can get it, like, you will not be disappointed with your hour and 40 minutes. But I do think it begs the question in light of how this was much better than rise of the beasts of, but it begs the question of just how relevant transformers are in general. Like, is this an eighties icon cartoon that's kind of had its moment in the sun? Yeah, and maybe we saw the peak commercially with the Michael Bay films, love him or hate them, and we're just never getting back there again. [00:02:58] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't think so. [00:03:03] Speaker B: There is a feel of that. I think part of it, too, is, like I asked, you know, I asked my kid, my kid's almost ten, right? So she's in a sweet spot. And she's grown up because she's mine. She's grown up with all this stuff. She loves all of it she has seen. So here's the other thing. If you go on Tubi, they have all of the generation one, all five seasons for free. [00:03:26] Speaker A: Oh, nice. [00:03:29] Speaker B: So my kid has watched the first two seasons, which are like the original cast, the pre movie. She's probably watched every episode three times by now. She likes it. Even though she looks at it and makes fun of the old animation and the mistakes and silliness, she really likes the characters and the basics of the story. So when she went to this movie, she got everything. There are a lot of nods to the original cartoon. There are lines and little nods to the movie. She understood all of it, okay? And therefore, she was pointing at the screen. She's like, dad, like, she's like, look over there. Like, that's wheeljack hiding in the background. Like, she got all that. I don't think most kids her age would notice any of it, because they just haven't grown up on transformers. And I don't think their parents, even if they watch transformers, have really given that to their kids. It's been supplanted by the Paw Patrol or Disney something else, which is a shame, because this is legitimately, really well done. Like, the animation is really good. It's different than you've seen. They found. Paramount did a really nice job of finding a style for this film. [00:04:44] Speaker A: Okay. [00:04:45] Speaker B: Looks very tactile, considering it is animated, but it's definitely not live action. It doesn't look silly at any point. And the characters, the writing's not bad. Like, there's real emotion. When you see Optimus and Megatron starting to diverge from being best friends and finding these different paths in the world that leads them to their first conflict with each other. It's better done than I thought they could do it. Interesting, right down to. Honestly, I was skeptical when they were like, Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry are going to be the voices of these characters, but to their credit, both of them evolve their voices as the characters evolve to. When you get to the end, Hemsworth is not channeling Peter Cullen, but he definitely changes his inflection. And he sounds more like Optimus prime. And Brian Tyree Henry sounds more vengeful and rageful as Megatron. And the best one is actually all spoiled it's not. It's fine. Is Starscream. They show a scene of why Starscream's voice is raspy the way it was in the cartoon. And Steve Buscemi, who's doing the voice of Starscream, that changes his voice to where you're like, oh, that actually sounds a little bit like generation one. Sounds starscream. So I highly recommend if you, you have a child, I recommend you go see it. Is it a five star film? No, but it's a solid four for me. And I'm like, I. In the Transformers world, we've been given a lot of garbage, quite honestly, on big. On the big screen. So to get something that was legitimately start to finish, satisfying. Yeah, I am. I will defend this movie to nines. [00:06:38] Speaker A: So what's your star rating for? [00:06:40] Speaker B: I think it's a solid four. And, like, I beg paramount because I don't think the box office is going to justify them doing a sequel, even though I think. I think this movie, this story arc is tailor made for a trilogy they did. This was an origin film. They leave it perfectly set up for you to see the war on Cybertron, which you kind of really haven't seen on a grand scale, which would be number two. And. And they could basically, number three, they could bring it to earth and basically redo the pilot of the cartoon and end it. [00:07:15] Speaker A: That would be cool. [00:07:16] Speaker B: It's right there. Like, this is set up to go in three brilliant films. If they wanted to do it. I beg them. If they don't get a chance because the box office isn't there, put it on Paramount plus and make it a tv show. Do it because the animation would be great. I don't think they could get the voices back, and that's fine. You could change the voices again. But I would love to see this iteration of the characters carried through, especially with the way this movie leaves you, because so many of the classic characters are either teased or introduced by the end. [00:07:51] Speaker A: I think you do something similar with. I think you put. I think you try to relive those, certainly like X Men 97, put those tv shows like the transformers and have kids watch them. And with the success of. Well, the. I guess the success with critics and fans who have seen the film and have praised it the way they have, will definitely go back for another movie if they go that route, Brian. And I think when it's released on the streamers, it perhaps will pick up that second wind and give the executives what they want, which is an audience so that they can sell a possible second film and know that perhaps they'll have a better feeling and chance of knowing that they'll do better on the second one if they continue down this road. [00:08:52] Speaker B: The other thing, I mean, you know, if we're thinking just purely commercially, I thought the design, because the designs of these were, I thought very. They honored the generation one tradition very well without simply remaking. Exactly note for note those characters, they should be able to sell some toys off of this. Unless this ip is just so dead, the kids won't pick them up anymore. But. Cause you can still find plenty of transformers. There's actually too many transformers toys on the shelves, and they're poorly made. I gotta be honest. I have spent time trying to get my kidde Transformers toys, and we have a few, but compared to the ones I had, which were mostly metal growing up, they are not well made today. And they're very annoying in a lot of cases, to actually transform. So I thought this movie opened the door for, like, you could actually have some really good fun toys off of this, which might also breed interest. But it'll be a shame if this is a one and done. It really will be like, I'll be sad if this doesn't go anywhere because they did a nice, they did a nice job, and everyone affiliated should be proud of what they, what they accomplished. [00:09:54] Speaker A: All right, cool. I'm definitely gonna go see it, uh, this week or next week with, uh, I'll probably take my youngest if. I'm definitely taking my oldest son, because he's been wanting to see what, see this, and I just didn't give it that much helping. And all this word about this being fantastic and you, brian, uh, really liking it as well. I not liking it. Loving it. I have to take a look at it. [00:10:21] Speaker B: But it goes to the broader question, though, like, do you think, I mean, you and I have been finally getting Voltron. We're excited about it. We're getting Thundercats. We're excited about it. But is that era of television just not saleable? Any, because none of the GI Joe stuff ever really worked. Now, granted, none of it was really good, right? But that hasn't really taken off. They're trying to cross over in live action now. Transformers and GI Joe, we're skeptical of that. You know, he man, we're questioning the relevance, but it kind of feels like all the stuff from our childhood, we still love it, but does anyone else still, does a broader audience really want to see adaptations from that era? Because it doesn't seem like any of those are really, really selling. I mean, the biggest seller was probably Barbie, and I don't really count that as necessarily just the eight. It wasn't really an eighties cartoon. So I don't know, it's just that era is not carrying over. [00:11:16] Speaker A: I think this is just a moment of inspiration due to the success of Mario Brothers bringing old ip back and having a hell of a success with it and seeing what else can they do? What haven't they done? And they haven't done Voltron. They haven't done these other ones that done the cast that there's a bunch that they haven't done. I'm still waiting for Jon Hamm and Space Ghost. I'm still waiting for that. That's easy right there. That's easy money. A comedy. You kidding me? So there's possibilities, Brian, and I think, again, with the success of Super Mario Brothers, and they've been just, there's been announcements of other stuff, so I think they're just shooting their shot, I think, with what they got. [00:12:12] Speaker B: But Mario is at the advantage of living on through video games. So I would argue that the generations that came after know the Mario world, and I would argue that as it went, 3D went to Switch, it has found new audiences. Zelda is the same way. Right. There's a reason they keep making that that continues to cross generations. And I think that movie could be phenomenally successful. There have been a ton of. They're always making Transformers series, but I gotta be honest, I checked out a few of them with my kid just to see. I thought they were all pretty bad. The ones that I saw, I've heard some are better. I haven't taken the time to watch every one of them, but when I watched a few of them, I mean, call me crotchety old man in the rocking chair on the porch, but I was like, none of these hold a candle to G. One. Like, not even close. [00:13:01] Speaker A: Yeah. That's why I stopped watching after G. When I stopped watching, I just saw the Transformer movie. You got the touch. I saw that one, and there's nothing. There's been nothing after that that I've been wanting to watch, other than Michael Bay's first Transformers, which I thought was great. [00:13:19] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:13:20] Speaker A: And then the horribleness that came after that, you know, I just couldn't do it anymore. And Bumble Bumblebee was a good movie, but not again. Nobody really came out. Yeah, I think it's just. [00:13:31] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a great example of. I feel like if. If Transformers last night, age of extinction, if those movies had not happened, my theory is Bumblebee probably would have done better. I think by the time that movie came, people were so tired of the Bay verse that they were like, they almost missed. And because this bumblebee basically looked pretty much the same as from that one, I think people were just like, this is another Michael Bay movie. And they didn't realize that it was actually a much more thoughtful film, which I thought they were smart to try this as, like, a higher end animated production. But then Rise of the Beast might have maybe Rise of the Beast ruined it for them, because, like, that was disappointing, did disappointing, and then this comes out a year later, and people are like, I don't need another transformers anything. [00:14:28] Speaker A: That's it. They're done with it. Yeah, but let us know in the comment section below what you guys think of. Did you see Transformers one? Let us know in the comment section below. Brian, before we end this, let's real quick talk about another Ridley state of the franchise. [00:14:47] Speaker B: Discussion. [00:14:48] Speaker A: Are we done? Are we done? I think so. Brian, you have to do, people can't move past the Skywalkers. And if you move past the Skywalkers, what story are you telling? If you're not giving us, you're not going to give us Darth Vader again. We're not going to. We're not going to see these people ever again unless they reboot. Right, and do something. Whatever, Brian, but nobody cares. And now this Daisy Ridley movie, Star wars film, continuing on her saga, her lie of being a skywalker. I read an article where Kathleen is Kennedy. Kathleen Kennedy is writing notes on the script, and it's like, didn't she approve? Acolyte? Isn't this. Isn't this her? You know what I'm saying? It's like, isn't she in charge of Lucasfilm? Brian, what's going on? [00:15:49] Speaker B: Well, I know if people go back to our old shows, you will find comments from us saying when they announced this movie, and then they were like, no, it's happening. And they confirmed it. They're fast tracking. I remember, I know we said it. Until this movie is up on the screen, do not count on it happening. And sure enough, it's been delayed indefinitely. So on hold. It was supposed to remember, it was supposed to shoot this year. That was what we were being told. And I was just. Was like, I'm not that stupid. Sure enough, it's not being shot this year. The person who's supposed to be writing it, Stephen Knight, now he has a much more. He has a much more tangible project. He's the creator of PE Blinders. Very good. Netflix BBC crime series with Cillian Murphy that is getting its movie to kind of wrap up the series. He's the writer and director. A writer and director, I believe, of that he's gonna go do that, because that's actually gonna happen. And he's left this script behind. [00:17:00] Speaker A: Damon Lindelof, just like Destin, Daniel Crenn moved on to Spider man four. [00:17:05] Speaker B: Damon Lindeloft was supposedly writing this for a while. He's now working on lanterns. Funny how that keeps happening in Kathleen Kennedy's world. This is not happening. It's not. You know, and the report that you're referring to saying that all of the script drafts have been submitted, and Kathleen Kennedy's had notes upon notes, which, I mean, she's the producer. You're gonna have notes. But, like, the idea is that she's kind of meddling a lot in this. There was also a rumor. Now they're saying the director's still attached. Charmaine obit Chennoy. There was a rumor she had been fired. I do not see this project happening. I think it loses money for sure if it does. I think there's too many ways to lose. I think it loses from the standpoint of, why are we getting a Jedi Academy movie that's not Luke Skywalker's Jedi academy. It's, you know, to your point, like, why are we continuing the saga of a trilogy nobody liked by the time we left it? [00:18:11] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:18:12] Speaker B: And then there's the whole. You can get into the whole, you know, again, you do a Jedi, right? Yeah. [00:18:20] Speaker A: If you do a loose Skywalker Jedi academy with. With Sebastian Stan. Right. Let's say you were to do that hypothetically. You got that by the end of that film or two films, whatever, you have something to break away from and continue the story if it's dope, which I would assume it would be. Right. Because right now, there's nothing to really be excited for other than an attempt to resurrect a franchise, Brian. That is, dare I say, dying. That's tough. [00:19:05] Speaker B: And they're doing this Mando Grogu movie. I think that will be a hope. Yeah, I think that one will happen, but I think it'll be success. I don't think it's gonna be, you know, a billion five move mandalorian art. Mandalorian tv audiences were down, drop, were dropping pretty, you know, meaningfully in this. In. As in the third season. And a lot of people didn't like the third season. [00:19:30] Speaker A: Yeah. Because they were over it. Over the. This grogu evolution, if you like. I'm telling you, a lack of evolution. Yes, exactly. If, if he ain't talking in this next joint, Brian, I'm sorry, I gotta hear some dialogue. That's it. You know what I'm saying? I don't want these new upgrades to him. Nope. I want to see him use the Force and really maybe, or maybe not struggle with that. To me, that's more of an intriguing story with that character. [00:20:03] Speaker B: But this goes to the, like, who's asking for this? Please tell me. Like, really, like. And I understand that you could say, like, oh, you know, we heard the met. We heard, you know, the director's take of, like, you know, we need to have, you know, kind of the female Star wars take. And, like, I'm sorry, but I feel like you are, you are alienating as much of the audience as you're embracing when you lead with that on the title card. Yeah, and we went through it. If we include this in the umbrella of the female led action superhero discussion, we went through how tough that's been, how difficult a road that's been to pull off in Hollywood. And I'm not saying that's all right and fair. I'm just that those are the facts. Like, you know, a box office through, through history. [00:20:59] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:21:00] Speaker B: I do not think there was a mass of support or outcry for this character to be given a continuation. And it feels like they're doing it for the wrong reasons. And it feels like they're doing it almost to, like, go back and retcon and make amends for whatever the fans felt about Rise of Skywalker. I'm like, that's a mistake. That, that almost never works. [00:21:27] Speaker A: I don't think the only thing that we do know is that Kathleen, gotta go. That's what we know. [00:21:34] Speaker B: You know, that. Well, we agree on that. I think one of the chat, as I've thought about it, one of the challenges is that George Pichter and that, that probably is one of the, like, elephants in the room that, like, she was his handpicked successor. Now, I would argue part of the reason you buy control of the ip from him is so that you don't have to do factor when you want to push her out. But, yeah. [00:22:00] Speaker A: Yeah. And the only hope, I guess, people have is Dave Filoni and. [00:22:09] Speaker B: But Filoni. [00:22:10] Speaker A: As a Filoni, who's the other guy? [00:22:13] Speaker B: Favreau. [00:22:14] Speaker A: Favreau, yeah, John Favreau. [00:22:16] Speaker B: But Filoni as a big screen architect, completely unproven. Completely unproven. No, I mean, we've talked about, even in the tv landscape where he's gotten a little inconsistent, he's generally good. But, like, Ahsoka Mando, like, up and down. There's up and down in there. Like, that's not like, you know, hey, this is going. Mando Grogu's automatic critical darling and commercial monster. [00:22:45] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:22:48] Speaker B: If Avro's not really showing that he wants to, like, direct a ton of these. [00:22:54] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. I think the only way those guys get to do something like this and really enjoy this is that it's. If they have complete control right now, they're under the, you know, they can't do anything. What they can do what they want. They have to follow some instructions in order for them to get things out. And I don't think for them, they're past that already and want to do what they want, what they think is going to be dope. Well, yeah, I guess Jon has definitely proven it. [00:23:32] Speaker B: You know, it's so funny. Like, the further we get from the acolyte and, you know, I'll never rewatch it, but it makes me angry because I feel like there was a pretty easy opportunity there that they just lit on fire. [00:23:54] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:23:55] Speaker B: Like, I'm sorry. Like, I. I will. I will. I will always ride for Star wars kung fu as an idea. And once we saw the show, the show the centered on the wrong character. Full stop. Manny Jacinto's character is the character that should have been the lead of that show. [00:24:24] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:24:25] Speaker B: Amanda Stenberg's character did not belong in that show. Wrong character. Manny just said, when you see him for those brief moments where he's fighting, the one episode where he's able to talk and really talk about his motivations, that's the show. And if you couldn't realize that in the writer's room with the director's chair, you're an idiot. I'm sorry. You're an idiot. Because it was so blatant. Which means if you overrode that to do all the other stuff, that gets back to the, why are you doing this? Are you doing this to make a great Star wars show? Are you doing this for other reasons? [00:25:04] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:25:05] Speaker B: And I think this show's only legacy will be that it was all about the other reasons. [00:25:09] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Let us know in the conversation below what you guys think of this Star wars franchise and where this, I mean, we can all say safely say that this obviously is not gonna. This movie with Daisy Ridley and the continuation of her story is not gonna continue, continue. [00:25:32] Speaker B: And if it happens, it will be a setback to the cause, not a. [00:25:37] Speaker A: Hell, I don't know if they're gonna take right now, for them, is too risky. That is more risky for them to do that than to try to do an acolyte. Season two. [00:25:51] Speaker B: I mean, Ewan McGregor is telling everyone he wants more Obi Wan. They don't seem to want to give him more Obi Wan, but he's telling everyone he wants to do more Obi wanna. His hand is up. [00:26:00] Speaker A: They. They missed that opportunity right there. [00:26:03] Speaker B: I know. Again, right? It's a story of the universe. You go through it, it's like there's a world where some of this stuff is pretty good, and we're pretty happy and having a different conversation. [00:26:13] Speaker A: Yeah. Let us know in the comment section below what you guys think of all this. Star wars, uh, transformers one. What's happening with these franchises? Because are there being laid to rest? Because they can't squeeze. There's no more juice to squeeze. The juice is over. But let us know in the comment section below what you guys think, and we'll see you next time on the Niger report. The show goes on.