More Ask Orci Q&As

Roberto Orci has returned to TFW2005's Orci Q&A Thread and provided some comments Transformers 2. The questions run all over the place from the Superbowl trailer, story beats, and characters like Jolt the Volt. As usual my comments are in parenthesis. Thanks to Gregory for the heads-up.

if you could choose any Transformers for TF3, who would they be (Transformers from TF1 and ROTF don’t count) and why?
Unicron. For scale's sake. (Keep in mind this is an off the cuff answer, not "proof" of what TF3 will be about. There doesn't even exist a TF3 script at this time.)

what are you working on right now? Writing bot lines for the voice actors? How's the film shaping up? Looking good? Has your mind been blown?
Bay has been kind enough to show us some scenes so we can have a second chance at some of the dialogue now that we know what footage we have. I think it is going well, but there is still much work to do between now and June. But Michael hit it out of the park again.

what do you think us fans will be most pleased with in the sequel?
I think the fans will like the seriousness with which the Transformers mythology is treated, and the closer characterizations of some of the main Transformers.

Will it be as revealing as the trailer for the first film? Is it going to give away lots of money shots?
There are so many "money" shots in this movie that a 20 minute trailer couldn't give them all away.

was the Chevy Volt TF kind of shoved into the film by GM and not really in the script?
Yes, we had to figure it out last minute, but everything was running at a hectic pace because of the writer's strike. It was no problem, though, because the Volt is truly unique, and actually fit well onto our existing Autobot team. (Never understood why GM tried to deny this as clearly their 2010 car marketing stragedy hinges on the Volt.)

do you have any idea if the Super Bowl trailer is going to be a 30 sec one or possibly a 60 to 90 sec one?
Don't know if that's been decided yet. We have both lengths ready to go! (Considering every 30 seconds costs $3 million, that is going to be one expensive trialer).

I know you mentioned that all the Decepticons will be military vehicles. Will any of the Autobots be a military vehicle?
I meant, in the first movie, we decided they would all be military vehicles. A Little more variety this time. (The Audi, Constructicons, etc already indicate that the Decepticons are not all military this time.)

out of all the scenes you've seen would you say the Decepticons have good enough screen time?
i don't know yet, but it's looking like yes.

Is there something worth mentioning that this second movie is lacking or weaker than the first one?
might be a few minutes longer, which in our minds is a weakness. You may not agree. (As long as the extra time is Transformer related and not human characters related, length is good.)

I'm almost positive about this but, did Michael request more detail and realism than before for all robots?
Yes. ILM, as a result of all the R&D of the first movie is able to do much more this time in terms of detail and movement. (So basically be prepared to be even more impressed.)

when will the actors go into the studios and do some recording
Doing it little by little. Already had a few sessions.

What made you want to put a pretender in this movie.
You'll see. It fits the story.

How late into production was the Chevy Volt/Jolt added? Was it during filming, or right after the strike when you guys had to jam out a script? And... since he was added so late, does he fit organically into the movie?
No, we put him in before production started, during the mad dash to get a shooting draft ready. But we always knew we WANTED to put him in from early on when we saw the design and realized it was a truly unique car. We just had to convince Michael that he could fit organically into the team and be as cool as the others. (Yeah I really can't argue that the Volt is a neat looking car, the only question is will it be a neat Transformer.)