Michael Bay: Destroying our childhoods? – Part 3
November 3, 2009 by Optimus Prime
Filed under Transformers Animated
Michael Bay didn’t destroy anyone’s childhood.
Transformers is and remains a product of the 80s, a glorified advertisement for the product they’re selling. As G.I. Joe was, as TMNT was, as Pokemon was, as Naruto is now. The product may change over time (toys to cards to comics) but there’s always a product attached to the show.
To say that Transformers was lacking in depth of story is to be ignorant of the show as it stands now. I’ve seen several episodes of the show recently and they do not hold up at all. The thing that makes them great is the memory of how great they were at the time. Even the much-heralded movie from 1986 doesn’t stand up to a repeat viewing, other than as a time capsule of “remember when this was cool?”
I personally was a huge Ninja Turtles fan growing up. I’ve been buying the DVDs of the old cartoon that they’ve been releasing, but I don’t watch them. I saw a few episodes and couldn’t believe I enjoyed it back then. But it’s not made for me as I am now. It was made for who I was when I was 12. I can’t fault the show for not growing with me, it was made for a certain time and a certain audience and both of those are now gone. All that remains is nostalgia.
This same argument showed itself when the new Star Wars movies came out. And the same idea applies, the attachment of nostalgia to something that was there already will cloud your judgment of the new something, no matter what. Show a 12 year old the new Star Wars movies now and they’ll love them. Show them the old trilogy and they’ll enjoy those too, as did everyone else at the time. You can’t blame Star Wars for you growing up, but it’s still entertaining for a certain audience.
You can’t blame Transformers for you growing up, but it’s still entertaining for a certain audience. Destroyed childhood or not, it made enough money that, in the end, there will be more. And with rumors of G.I Joe and Thundercats in the works, it’s something that’s not stopping anytime soon.
Get used to your shattered childhood.