Paramount is doing something a little interesting with its latest entry into the headache-inducing world of Decepticons and Autobots: It’s making it for kids. Transformers One, the animated prequel, takes a step away from the Michael Bay universe that generated seven movies, including last year’s Rise Of The Beasts, offering a Transformers movie that looks totally unlike what’s come before. This isn’t X-Men ‘97. This looks like a brand-new flavor of Transformers. Applying the Spider-Verse style and humor the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles wore so well last year, Transformers One hopes to bring some levity to the series. The movie is a prequel, focusing on a young Autobot named Orion Pax (voiced by Chris Hemsworth), a proto Optimus Prime, and his worrywart buddy D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry), Prime’s future foe Megatron. One sees the Autobots get their powers, transforming them from mere robots to robots in disguise. Earlier today, director Josh Cooley (Toy Story 4) brought his crew of rookie Autobots to Hall H. Joined on stage by Hemsworth, Henry, and Keegan-Michael Key, who plays baby Bumblebee, Cooley gave fans an introduction to the series’ Big Bang via some new footage. Anchored by colorful animation, Transformers One is easily the most promising Transformers movie in years, if not ever. During the panel, Cooley, Hemsworthy, and Henrey set up the plot of the movie, which essentially sees Orion and D-16 go from best friends to arch enemies. “It’s heartbreaking when they break up,” Cooley said. The whole plot is set up in the latest action-heavy, humor-lite trailer.After several clips, which teased Scarlett Johansson's character Alita and Laurence Fishburne's Alpha Trion, Cooley got to the question on everyone's mind: Please, for the love of god, who the fuck is Steve Buscemi playing in Transformers One? He's playing Starscream, Megatron's right-hand bot. Cooley, a self-proclaimed "huge Big Lebowski fan, said Buscemi was their first choice for the Decepticon.Transformers One opens nationwide on September 20.
