Live-action film series
| Live-action film series: | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transformers (2007) |
Revenge of the Fallen (2009) |
Dark of the Moon (2011) | ||
The live-action film series is an umbrella term that refers to the series of theatrical feature films directed by Michael Bay beginning in 2007, including the vast amount of ancillary fiction created for it.
The second film in the series, titled Revenge of the Fallen, was released on June 24, 2009. A third film, Dark of the Moon, is scheduled for release on June 29, 2011.[1]
TRANSFORMERS
Optimus Prime, heroic leader of the benevolent Autobots, describes in a voice-over the shutdown of the Transformers' home world, Cybertron. It was destroyed by the malevolent Decepticon leader Megatron in his quest to get hold of the All Spark. The Autobots want to find the All Spark so they can use it to rebuild Cybertron and end the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons, while the Decepticons want to use it to obliterate the Autobots and take over the universe. Megatron had managed to locate the All Spark on Earth, but crash-landed in the Arctic Circle and froze in the ice. After stumbling upon his frozen body in 1897, explorer Captain Archibald Witwicky accidentally activated Megatron's navigational system and his eye glasses were imprinted with the coordinates of the All Spark's location, an incident that left him blind and mentally unstable. Sector 7, a secret government organization created by President Herbert Hoover, discovered the All Spark in the Colorado River and built the Hoover Dam around it to mask its energy emissions. The still-frozen Megatron was moved into this facility and was used to advance human technology through reverse engineering.
In the present day, a group of Decepticons composed of Blackout, Scorponok, Frenzy, Barricade, Starscream, Brawl and Bonecrusher, have landed on Earth and assumed the disguise of Earth vehicles. Blackout and Scorponok attack the U.S. SOCCENT forward operations base in Qatar and try to hack into the U.S. Military network to find the location of Megatron and the All Spark. Their mission is thwarted when the base staff cuts the network cable connections. While Blackout destroys the rest of the base, Scorponok pursues a small group of survivors, led by Captain William Lennox and Sergeant Robert Epps, who have photographic evidence of the robots. Scorponok is eventually repelled and hides in the sand after the humans manage to call air support and damage his tail. During this battle, the military discovers the only effective weapons against the Decepticons' armor are high-heat sabot rounds.
After Blackout's failure, Frenzy infiltrates Air Force One to again hack into the military network, planting a computer virus. He finds the map imprinted on Captain Witwicky's glasses. While the Pentagon interferes with Frenzy's plan, he finds that Witwicky's descendant Sam Witwicky intends to sell the glasses on eBay. Frenzy and Barricade begin tracking Sam's location. Meanwhile, Sam unknowingly buys the Autobot scout Bumblebee (also on Earth disguised as a 1976 Camaro[3]) as his first car. After Bumblebee helps Sam woo his crush, Mikaela Banes, he leaves at night to transmit a homing signal to the rest of the Autobots. Sam pursues Bumblebee, thinking someone is stealing his car, but is shocked to find his car is actually a giant robot, which he regards as evil as first. Sam is arrested, and in the police station, tries to explain to the police officer what happened, but the apathetic and impassive officer assumes that he is hallucinating under the influence of drugs. When Bumblebee (in car mode) returns the following day, Sam flees, thinking the car is stalking him. While out, Barricade attacks Sam and ferociously interrogates him about his grandfather's glasses. Bumblebee saves Sam and Mikaela and engages Barricade in battle. During the fight, Mikaela severs Frenzy's head but he disguises himself as her cellphone and hides in her purse. They leave to meet with the rest of the Autobot team—Optimus Prime, Jazz, Ironhide, and Ratchet—who have landed on Earth and taken the forms of Earth vehicles as well. Sam, Mikaela, and the Autobots return to Sam's home and obtain the glasses; however, agents from Sector 7 arrive and take Sam and Mikaela into custody. The Autobots intervene, but Sector 7 captures Bumblebee and sends Sam and Mikaela away.
Sam and Mikaela are taken to Hoover Dam, as are Lennox and Epps, under Defense Secretary John Keller's orders. Frenzy sends an alert to the other Decepticons and sneaks into the technology system, freeing Megatron from his frozen state. Sam convinces the Sector 7 agents to release Bumblebee so that he can deliver the All Spark to Optimus. Frenzy's hacking has shut down government communications, but Keller and two hackers, Maggie and Glen, manage to establish a signal to the Air Force to support the Autobot-human convoy that has gone to nearby Mission City to hide the All Spark. The Decepticons attack; Bonecrusher, Frenzy, Jazz, Brawl, Barricade and Blackout are all killed during the ensuing battle. Sam, who was instructed to put the All Spark into Optimus' chest if Megatron prevailed (thereby destroying it and Optimus), instead rams the All Spark cube into Megatron's chest. The All Spark disintegrates, and its power obliterates Megatron. Optimus takes a fragment of the All Spark from Megatron's corpse, but admits that with its destruction, their home world Cybertron cannot be restored. The President orders the closure of Sector 7 and has the destroyed Megatron and other Decepticons dumped into the Laurentian Abyss. Lennox and Epps are reunited with their families, and Sam and Mikaela form a relationship. Optimus transmits a message to all surviving Autobots in space, telling them that they have a new home on Earth. During the credits, Starscream—the only surviving Decepticon besides Scorponok—escapes into space to tell the true leader of the Decepticons The Fallen of what has happened.
REVENGE OF THE FALLEN
Thousands of years before the events of the first film, the Dynasty of Primes travelled the galaxy to create Energon, creating sun-absorbing machines called Sun Harvesters, but only in uninhabited systems. However, one of their own was racially hatred towards the evolving mankind and tried to destroy them. The Dynasty stopped him and named him as The Fallen. Hiding away the Sun Harvester's key the Matrix of Leadership, the remaining Primes sacrificed their lives to guard it, creating the Tomb of the Primes.
Two years after the fight in Mission City, the Autobots have created NEST (Network Elements: Supporters and Transformers), a joint military organization from multiple countries, led by Optimus Prime, Major William Lennox and General Morshower. Whilst hunting Decepticons in Shanghai, Optimus takes down the large Demolishor and learns of the Fallen's return. Reporting to NEST's base in Diego Garcia, the Autobots are patronised by the US National Security Advisor Galloway for their actions, recalling the location of Megatron's corpse in the Laurentian Abyss and the presence of an Allspark shard in the base. Soundwave, Decepticon communications officer, eavesdrops on the conversation and deploys Ravage to retrieve the shard. The Constructicons, Ravage and the mad surgeon known as "The Doctor" dive into the Laurentian Abyss and resurrect Megatron, who flies to the Decepticon flagship Nemesis, where the Fallen rests. The Fallen instructs Megatron to kill Optimus and capture Sam Witwicky.
Sam is off to college, but beforehand finds a shard of the Allspark which unknown to him, uploads its knowledge into his mind. Sam gives the shard to his girlfriend Mikaela Banes for safekeeping, and leaves his guardian Bumblebee behind. At college, Sam meets his roommate Leo Spitz who runs a conspiracy website, and a girl named Alice who repeatedly flirts with Sam. Wheelie tries to steal Mikaela's shard but she catches him in the process. Sam experiences a flash of Cybertronian symbols in his mind, has a meltdown in class and starts graffiting the symbols all around his room. Alice arrives, revealing herself to be a Pretender and attacks Sam. Mikaela and Leo arrive, fleeing from the college whilst running over Alice. The Decepticons capture the trio, Scalpel attempting to remove Sam's brain until Optimus and Bumblebee arrive, Optimus getting into a triple way fight with Megatron, Starscream and Grindor. Grindor is killed, and Megatron then kills Optimus whilst Bumblebee and the twins Skids and Mudflap flee with the humans.
The Fallen reveals the Transformers' existence to mankind and asks them to surrender Sam to the Decepticons, whilst Sam's parents are kidnapped. Leo suggests they go to his online rival "RoboWarrior" for help, actually Agent Simmons from the now defunct Sector Seven. Simmons reveals the Transformers have existed on Earth for a millennia, and gets Wheelie to reveal a group of ancient Transformers live on Earth, known as the Seekers. They find the elderly Jetfire who teleports them to Egypt, revealing the history of the Transformers and sends them off to find the Matrix of Leadership. Following several clues, the group find the Tomb of the Primes in Petra. Simmons contacts Lennox who flies over with his troops and the Autobots. The Decepticons arrive and fight the Autobots. Sam's parents are used as bait to catch Sam but Bumblebee rescues them after destroying Ravage and Rampage. The Air Force arrive and carpet bomb the Decepticons, leaving only Megatron, Starscream and Devastator who digs up the Sun Harvester from inside a pyramid, before being destroyed by a secret railgun from a US Navy destroyer ship. Sam is mortally wounded by an attack from Megatron, but is revived by the spirits of the Primes.
Sam resurrects Optimus Prime, but the Fallen arrives and retrieves the Matrix to start up the Sun Harvester. Mortally wounded in the battle, Jetfire tears out his spark and commands the Autobots combine his parts with Optimus, giving him enough power to blow up the Sun Harvester, leave Megatron with half his face missing, and he then finally destroying the Fallen utterly. Starscream convinces a vengefuul Megatron to retreat. The film ends with Sam returning to college
Continuities
- See also: Movie continuity
The live-action film series is a continuity family, and as such includes all continuities concerning closely related characters and settings. TFWiki has identified three primary timelines for the series:
- The main movie timeline consisting of the films, novels, comic books and various other elements that don't contradict each other.
- The Titan Magazines movie timeline, which began tying into the larger film-based continuity by IDW but eventually gave up. This continuity also follows events in a splinter timeline where Megatron won the battle of Mission City.
- The Sector Seven ARG timeline where the film series is a fictionalization of real events.
- Micro-continuities also exist in the form of video games, some toy bios, and certain comic story threads that are incompatible with each other.
The Transcendent Technomorphs refer to this continuity family as the Tyran universal streams.
Footnotes
- ↑ [Official Transformers: Dark of the Moon website.]
