EP 54: TRANSFORM... AND ROLL OUT

Yeah, very much so.

I mean, I can remember, because obviously he's massively significant to...

The whole Transformers fan base, just because of him voicing the cartoons, But then when he started doing the live-action movies, because originally he wasn't going to be the voice of the live-action movies.

Yeah.

I think they were thinking, because it was a Hollywood movie, they wanted a big-name actor.

So they got Hugo Weaving as Megatron.

And I think they were talking to George Clooney.

I remember there being talk that George Clooney was going to be the voice of Optimus Prime, just because he's got a...

Big voice.

Yeah.

Which

would have been great, but there was a campaign, wasn't there?

No, it's got to be Peter Callan.

No one else could possibly do it.

Yeah.

I mean, it is that thing of, you know, you sort of underestimate the power of the fan base or the weight of the fan base at your peril, really, because...

I think the movies got a lot of traction with fans because it was Peter Cullen voicing Optimus Prime.

So whatever he looked like in the Bayverse, it was still that voice that the fans knew and loved.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, very much so.

I mean, because we went to the press screening, didn't we, of the first Michael Bay Transformers movie, and there was that incredible moment where Eventually when Optimus Prime appears and he just kind of leans down towards Spike, isn't it?

Yes.

Yeah.

And he just, I don't know what his actual line is, but he's like, I am Optimus Prime.

And everybody just went,

what?