After years of the Michael Bay Transformers movies (plus Bumblebee and last year's Rise Of The Beasts), it's time to turn back the clock to the earlier days of the heroes — and villains — of Cybertron. The Robots before they were In Disguise. Make way for Transformers One, a new animated entry in the canon, directed by Toy Story 4's Josh Cooley.
Transformers One centres on Orion Pax, the future Optimus Prime (here voiced by Chris Hemsworth) and Brian Tyree Henry's D-16, the 'bot who will one day be known as Megatron. As even the most entry-level Transformers fan will know, the pair become sworn enemies – but here they, along with B-127 (Bumblebee, voiced with typically chatty style by Keegan-Michael Key) and Elita (Scarlett Johansson), are friends who will have to embrace their destiny to save their home planet, all the while unaware that one of them will one day strive to dominate it.
The scope and scale here is suitably epic — those who've seen the 1986 Transformers: The Movie will feel at home here — and the tone is certainly skewing younger than most of the Bay films. Still, it's a welcome change, even if it's still weird to hear someone other than Peter Cullen voice Optimus on the big screen. But if you're going to swap out a voiceover legend, you might as well hire a god.
We'll see if this take on the characters is truly more than meets the eye when Transformers One lands in cinemas on 11 October.