Transformers One told the story how Optimus Prime became the leader of the Autobots and how Megatron became evil. On Cybertron, they were Orion Pax and D-16. Spoiler alert, but it’s a prequel and you’ve had some time to know Optimus and Megatron are enemies.
At the end of this prequel, D-16 accidentally shoots Orion when he takes the bullet for Sentinel Prime. D-16 didn’t mean to, but he makes the choice not to help Orion after that. He ends up hoisted by his own petard when Primus resurrects Orion as Optimus, but screenwriter Eric Pearson reveals on the new 4K UHD that earlier versions were just cold blooded.
“I turned in one version where D-16 intentionally shoots Sentinel Prime through Optimus’s chest,” Pearson says. “It’s like, ‘Can D-16 be that dark already that he’s like all right, well if my friend’s not gonna get out of the way, I’m so hardcore gone right now I’m going to shoot the bad guy through my friend’s chest and kick him off the ledge.’ That turned out to be too far.”
Director Josh Cooley acknowledges that Transformers One would always build to a tragic climax.
“From day one, this story was always going to be kind of a tragedy with these characters Orion Pax who eventually will become Optimus Prime and D16 who will become Megatron,” Cooley said.
Producer Mark Vahradian explained that discussions about the future of the live-action movies bore the seed of this prequel.
“We had always talked bout Optimus and Megatron as friends in the beginning, as brothers.,” Vahradian said W”e knew we could never make that movie in live action.”
The tragedy appealed to voice actors Brian Tyree Henry as D-16/Megatron and Chris Hemsworth as Orion Pax/Optimus Prime.
“I’m fascinated with origins, just to see the absolute beginning of Optimus and Megatron,” Henry said. “The fact that they were actually brothers, like really close, best friends and what unfolded and how they became who they are.”
Hemsworth added that Cooley impressed the depth of this story upon them.
“There was going to be epic visuals and the animation was going to be fantastic,” Hemsworth said. “But at the heart of it, he wanted to get down to what the point of the story was that we were telling which was about these two individuals, the journey of self-discovery, then about a friendship that unfortunately ends up in a space where the two of them become enemies.”
Those epic visuals now come home in this shiny, colorful animation. They also invade your living room with flyover surround effects.