.

.

Why I anxiously await his arrival at the Dallas Comic Con on May 21, Leonard Nimoy has slipped out of acting retirement a bit, at least long enough to lend his voice to one of the biggest movies of the summer. EW is reporting that the man behind STAR TREK‘s Mr. Spock will be providing the voice of Sentinel Prime, the predecessor of Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen) and one of the newest heroes in director Michael Bay’s TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON. Incidentally, he’s playing the character you see in the teaser trailer, crash-landed on the moon and discovered by the Apollo 11 astronauts in 1969. It’s said in the new movie, after being brought down to earth (how do they accomplish that exactly?) he disguises himself as a fire engine, and features prominently in the movie’s epic final battle in the streets of Chicago. In a way this is Nimoy coming full circle, as he previously voiced Galvatron in TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE (1986). The article notes that Michael Bay toyed with the idea of inviting him to play a voice in the second movie, TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN (2009), but didn’t know if he could pay the veteran actor enough to coax him into it.

“I was too scared to ask him. Plus, he’s married to Susan Bay, who’s a cousin of mine. So I had to be careful. I’ve met him at family functions. But he told me, ‘I would be honored. I’m glad to be back!’”

The last movie was heavily panned by critics (including myself), and even fans found it hard to revisit on home video. Bay has stated openly in interviews that the new installment will feature a stronger story, giving the robots more soul, even if they’re the villains of the piece.

“The robots have more character in this movie. Much more. You really understand their struggle, on both sides actually,”

Check out the cover to the April issue of Empire Magazine, which hits shelves this week. It features Sentinel Prime (in his fire engine body) and the franchise’s primary hero Optimus Prime.  As you can tell, Sentinel is a little… uh, bigger.  According to the magazine, who spoke with Michael Bay at his LA post-production studio, the director is calling this third outing the least “dorky” yet. He also added this 3rd film will have more gravitas and 3D worthy of the giant budget attached to it.  Let’s all hope!

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley was announced as the new unrealistically sexy love interest for Shia LaBeouf’s “Sam Witwicky” character.  Tyrese Gibson and Josh Duhamel are returning, and they’re joined by GREY’S ANATOMY’s “McDreamy” himself, Patrick Dempsey (didn’t he used to play “nerdy” guys?).  The story revolves around the Apollo 11 moon landing that took place on July 20, 1969 – which was of course a rather momentous occasion in United States history. But in the movies, we learn that the trip to the moon had a much different purpose, taking the astronauts to the dark side of the giant rock to inspect what appears to be a crashed spacecraft… and they only have 21 minutes to do it.

Personally, I loved the first movie. I found it to be an entertaining ride and it hit on all the right emotions. Was it perfect? Hardly, but it was fun. The second film just seemed like a mess from the start. The soul was gone, even though the impressive effects were ramped up. I actually want this third movie to be good, as I want the franchise to end well, or at least closer in spirit to the way it started. How about you? Are you excited about the new TRANSFORMERS film? Do you like Leonard Nimoy? Are you coming to the Dallas Comic Con? Tell us in the comments!

TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON opens July 1, 2011

Be Sociable, Share!

• 
•