Anyway, The Transformers: The Movie is having a very limited run in theaters right now for the 40th anniversary of the film's 1986 release. Because of an accident of timing, it's also become something of a Peter Cullen farewell tour. (Which lands harder when you keep in mind that the initial marketing for the event leaned hard into "we're sorry about killing off Optimus Prime," hence The Apology Tour.

When I heard about this, I assumed the nearest theater showing it would be maybe an arthouse in Boston or something, well out of reach. Imagine my surprise when the dates were released and I discovered that it was, in fact, the Black Bear Cinema in Orono, in the shopping plaza just off the Interstate on Stillwater Avenue (formerly the Spotlight, when I was at UMaine). It played there for exactly one showing, which was tonight at 7 PM.

Heck yeah I was there. First time I've seen a movie in a theater since the first Avengers film in 2012.

When I got there, the ticket taker directed me to Theater 7, which I found interesting, since I only remember the Spotlight (as it was the last time I was there) having six theaters. The seats were plush electric recliners. An employee came in shortly before the show started and told us it was the first-ever showing in the new room. My butt was the first one that ever paid to be in that seat.

I was in the front row, which called for full recline. I had never watched a movie lying down before. It was an interesting experience.

As for the movie itself, well, I mean... it was The Transformers: The Movie. With the controversial-for-its-time "Oh shit!" left in (I think they deleted it from the home video versions, but I can't be arsed to dig out my Blu-ray and check). No big surprises there. I've probably seen the movie itself a hundred times--but never, I think, in a theater. If I got to it when it was originally in theaters, I can't remember it.

There was a new short after the credits, which I won't even pretend I understood. Optimus Prime's journey to the afterlife, maybe? It was very metaphorical. Also, it seems to contradict The Return of Optimus Prime. Kinda eerie that they recorded a short in which Optimus Prime confronts eternity as the last thing Peter Cullen ever voiced him in.

Anyway! A cool experience I'm glad I had. And there was a surprising number of people much younger than the movie itself there, which I wasn't expecting. I thought it'd be all nostalgic farts like me, but no! There were some actual kids, one of whom was wearing an "Autobots Forever" t-shirt.

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
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