The Transformers: The Movie (U.S. movie)

Just like other animated feature films, Transformers: The Movie featured an all-star cast of famous actors and celebrities: Leonard Nimoy (Spock in Star Trek), Judd Nelson (John Bender in The Breakfast Club), Robert Stack (Elliott Ness in The Untouchables), Eric Idle (from Monty Python), Lionel Stander (Max in Hart to Hart), John Moschitta Jr. (Guinness Book of World Records holder for World's Fastest Talker), and Orson Welles (Citizen Kane).

This was the last film Orson Welles worked on before he died. For some time it was speculated that he died before he finished the film, however, it was recently revealed that he did finish all his lines beore his passing.

To this day it is unknown how Orson Welles was cast to be Unicron.

Due to numerous reasons (including continuity issues), Transformers: The Movie wasn't released in Japan until 1989.

The first Japanese trailer for the movie features scenes not included in the actual film, including Ultra Magnus in his original Diaclone Powered Convoy colors and an extended version of Unicron's transformation sequence.

Because of production differences (it was animated in Japan at the same time the TV series was being produced in the U.S.), the movie has irregularities with the Autobot and Decepticon rosters. Omega Supreme and combiner teams like the Aerialbots, Stunticons, Protectobots and Combaticons do not appear in the movie.

Animation Error: When Ultra Magnus opens his chest armor to insert the Matrix of Leadership, the Matrix is already drawn inside his chest.

Spectre General, the rock band behind the songs "Nothin's Gonna Stand in Our Way" and "Hunger," is actually known as Kick Axe. During the production of the soundtrack, the producers thought the name Kick Axe was too threatening; as a result, the band was credited as Spectre General - even without the band's consent.

This was also the last film Scatman Crothers (Jazz) worked on before he died.

The deaths of Optimus Prime and several Autobots in the movie were marketing ploys by Hasbro to introduce new Autobots in place of the fallen heroes. Hasbro also attempted this on G.I. Joe: The Movie by having Duke killed by Serpentor. However, due to the negative backlash from both Transformers and G.I. Joe fans, the ending had additional dialogue inserted, saying Duke came out of his coma.

Since the release of the film, singer/songwriter Stan Bush has been an integral part of the Transformers fandom. His songs "Dare" and "The Touch" have been performed live by Bush at nearly every BotCon event. "The Touch" was remade by Mark Wahlberg in the 1997 cult classic film Boogie Nights.

With the exception of Ultra Magnus, all the new Autobots (Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime, Kup, Arcee, Blurr, Springer and Wheelie) and Decepticons (Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge), along with Wreck-Gar and the Sharkticons, were made for the movie from scratch. Ultra Magnus was a repaint of Powered Convoy from the Diaclone toy line.

Because Transformers: The Movie flopped at the box office (earning $5,849,647 in ticket sales), Hasbro and Sunbow halted plans to release G.I. Joe: The Movie theatrically and opted to send it directly to video instead. A Jem and the Holograms theatrical release was also planned, but eventually cancelled as a result of the poor box office performances of Transformers and My Little Pony: The Movie.

The original recording of "Instruments of Destruction" by NRG had different lyrics from the one featured in the movie soundtrack. For the movie, the words "foreplay," "torture" and "seduction" were replaced with "fortune," "torment" and "eruption." Not too long after the movie's release, the band NRG changed their name to Damn Cheetah.

Michael Bell was credited as the voice of Prowl, despite the fact that Prowl had no dialogue in the film.

During its theatrical run, Transformers: The Movie sparked outrage from parents not only due to its violence level, but because of the mild profanity in the dialogue. In the scene where Unicron attacks Moon Base 2, Spike yells the S-word when he and Bumblebee discover that the explosion does no harm to Unicron. During the scene where Ultra Magnus attempts to open the Matrix of Leadership, he utters, "Damn it!" before he is shot down.

The original UK, Japanese and international releases of the film replaced the opening credits with an introduction crawl reminiscent of Star Wars and the classic Flash Gordon serials.

Despite surviving at the end of the movie, Cliffjumper and Bluestreak stopped appearing on the TV series due to voice actor Casey Kasem's falling out with the staff. The episode "Thief in the Night" centered around a fictional country called Carbombya. Kasem, who was of Lebanese descent, was offended by the anti-Arab overtones of the episode. In effect, not only were Cliffjumper and Bluestreak written out of the series, Teletraan I (also voiced by Kasem) was destroyed and replaced by Teletraan II (voiced by Frank Welker).

In 2008, more than 20 years after this film, Susan Blu, John Moschitta Jr. and Judd Nelson reprised their roles as Arcee, Blurr and Rodimus, respectively, on Transformers: Animated. "Weird Al" Yankovic, who recorded the song "Dare to Be Stupid" for the film, went on to play Wreck-Gar in Transformers: Animated as well.

Optimus Prime's line, "One shall stand, one shall fall," was reused in the 2007 live-action film.

Kup's story of the Petrorabbits is a reference to the John Steinbeck novel Of Mice and Men.

Stan Bush's song "The Touch" was inspired by a line spoken by Louis Gossett Jr. in the 1985 film Iron Eagle. Prior to its use in this film, the song was originally written for the Sylvester Stallone film Cobra.