IGN: ...during the panel you talked about warning others involved in the movie about the way Mudflap and Skids were portrayed in Transformers 2 and how it was going to be received. When you lose a battle like that, do you try and stop from going on every message board to defend yourself? The projects you work on are group efforts, but obviously a lot of people online don't always realize that when they see your name as writers.
Orci: Yeah, you've got to take responsibility for everything. We're all in it together and it's a harmony. It's a joint venture. And a lot of things will be expressed that way.
IGN: Why did you decide not to do Transformers 3?
Kurtzman: I think it was largely a matter of the fact that we have a couple other movies on their feet and some television things happening now, and didn't feel we could responsibly do it and give it what it needed. Cowboys & Aliens is a very full time job right now and we should be focusing on that, because it took awhile to get it on its feet.
Orci: And the second one we didn't think we could responsibly do, and that's why we were so happy to team up with Ehren Kruger, who was amazing. This time, I think even teaming up with him, we wouldn't be able to give him what would be fair. And it's really a matter of time, but again, the best idea should win, and they need an idea now. We don't have one right now, so…
IGN: Mudflap and Skids became such a controversial focal point of the second movie. Have you resigned yourself to the fact that people are going to ask you about them for a long time to come?
Orci: Yeah. I think… Michael [Bay]'s spoken about this. His intentions certainly weren't to insult anybody or anything like that. When you get in with comedians and you're doing voiceovers and you're improvising and you're mixing and matching lines, you don't always see how it's going to turn out. So certainly there was no bad intention I think on anybody's part.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Transformers Writers Talk Twins, Not Doing TF3
In a new interview from IGN, Transformers: ROTF writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman talk aobut their long writing careers that began back in the Xena and Hercules days all the way to their curent projects such as Fringe and the sequel to Star Trek. Below are the Transformers relevant portions, click here to read the entire interview.
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I just finished watching it on DVD for a second time.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I don't think anything's really wrong with the portayal of the twins. I think their dialogue is pretty funny, albeit offbeat and goofy. It brings a little humor into the mix and I kind of like that.
I DID however wanted to see more screentime of Ironhide and the others. Not even 1 mere minute of some team dialogue with Ironhide, Ratchet, Arcee, Jolt, and Sideswipe after Optimus died?
"well if that don't fry my circuitry!" -Ironhide
ReplyDeleteOkay... I just don't get it. Why is everyone so offended by the twins. I teach at a middle school in SC. That is how many of the student (unfortunate I know) talk. White and black. It's just the way it is. If they don't want to be portrayed in a negative light than stop talking like that.
ReplyDeleteI don't see anyone getting upset that Jetfire was scottish. Is that accent not offensive to the Scotts?
You know what? I am offended that all of the other actors, robots, and computer voices spoke with my accent. The accent of normal, educated American who doesn't want to sound ignorant. I think they should apologize to me.
Personally, I think the twins were a stupid addition to the movie. Cheap comic relief. But I will have to say that they were certainly very funny. I laughed every time they were on screen. Mostly because I knew people that sounded just like them.
Why is it when a white guy makes a movie with stereotypical black cleches, that it is wrong and offensive? But when Spike Lee makes a film with the same themes, it is billed as his latest masterpiece.
The Twins really weren't that bad... As other's have said... I don't see what the big deal is about them. They're clearly young, immature, robots. Probably the two youngest members of the team. They're clumsy, careless, and down right goofy.
ReplyDeleteThey're are so many instances in the film to show they're immaturity... that you really can't take the characters seriously. I mean... one, if not both, made ninja references. Which is something I often do when I try to be funny.
White boys try to act black all the time. These days the lines are blurred. Whose to say he was specifically making fun of blacks? It could easily be argued that he was making fun of whites for trying to "act black". It's all just stupid and foolish.
So what you guys are saying is that Acting like black people is stupid and funny ? ....so what does that make real black people ?
ReplyDeleteAnd dont kid yourself with that the twins were so cute BS. There are many steriotypes in all sorts of movies , there arent many movies that show these stereotypes to be illiterate and dumb
Well, I'm not justifying anything.
ReplyDeleteThey were clearly kids who are stupid and goofy. What else is there to explain? Kids should act like adults? Oh c'mon... I was a kid once and *I* acted stupid and goofy, probably said a few racist remarks myself! I was a kid!
Did you want to see wholesome American kids with bright and shiny smiles and then break out into a musical song and dance like Mickey Mouse club? This is not Newsies.
I hate Skids and Mudflap - I suspected 2 years ago when their concept art leaked online, that we'd see a New Millenium Minstrel show - the only thing missing were the burnt cork and big red lips.
ReplyDeleteTo those of you who just can't fathom why some of us have a right to be pissed off, let me put the shoe on the other foot: what if Skids and Mudflap were named Yehudie and K#@!, wore yarmulkes, had Hasidic locks, and walked around, mumbling, were very stingy, and kept saying, "Oy Vey!"??? Would you understand then? Bay certainly wouldn't get away with that shit - Stephen Spielberg, the ADL, B'nai Brith, and many of Hollywood's upper crust would roast his ass - and RIGHTFULLY so. Or better yet, look at old film characters like Mantan Moreland, Amos N' Andy, and then look at some similar images today, and you'll see that not much has changed.
Then again, that's why I make MY OWN TRANSFORMERS CHARACTERS and STORIES to counteract all that Hambone, Step N' Fetchit, Yassa Boss, Shuck n' Jive, New Millenium Minstrel show, Skids N' Mudflap BULL$%#!
aka Sablebot
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I'm a 37 year old educated, professional, African-American man and I wasn't offended by the twins at all. I thought they were funny. Animated characters based on real human cultures or ethnic groups will always offend some people and as I said, it's their right to be offended if they want to be.
ReplyDeleteThat racism thing is so overblown. The twins were annoying, not racist. People need to lighten up.
ReplyDeleteTo the Anonymous poster who asked what if the shoe were on the other foot and Skids and Mudflap were named "Yehudie and K#@!"...etc, your argument doesn't hold water. Skids and Mudflap are not common slang terms for black people and there was nothing in their behavior that said "Hey, look at me. I'm acting black." I've said it before and I'll say it again and again, only those who view the world in racist terms saw Skids and Mudflap as black characters. The rest us saw two bots who were either annoying or funny, and are scratching our heads at those who see anything more.
ReplyDeleteI keep waiting for PETA to object to the way Ravage was killed.
ReplyDeleteThere are too many people in the U.S. that have turned into a bunch of pansies. Stop being offended by the twins... did your daddy not hug you enough you fragile spineless sack of jello?
ReplyDeleteThe voice actor was black and took some creative liberties in the character. Move on with your fragile life....
^^ To the above anonymous, your mother is a fat whore....but make sure you don't respond or say anything, or you will be a pansy.
ReplyDeleteits a shame for orci and kurtzman not to come back, i would love to see them complete the trilogy before moving on
ReplyDelete1)To Anonymous at 10/25/09 4:56PM:
ReplyDeleteWhere the ^%&$ do you get off commenting on my family situation? You don't know me Homie, or my family situation to be QUALIFIED enough to comment on it. Maybe you and your Dad had some ole' twisted Oedipus Rex-thing going on. . .Hmmmmm. . . .. As far as "being pansies", so I guess, once again, if Skids and Mudflap were making fun of Jewish People of Caucasian descent, and then the ADL, B'nai Brith and several Jewish people of Caucasian descent RIGHTFULLY GOT PISSED OFF, then you'd call them pansies, too? Wow! By your "logic" (or LACK THEREOF), I guess there's not such sense in a sensible comparison. I guess you say the same thing when people are taught about the WWII holocaust, right? !!!! Hmmmmm. . . . . .
2) To Anonymous at 10/25/09 1:13am
Only to a DUMBASS does my argument not hold water - I stated my point clearly and you know DAMN WELL that if Skids and Mudflap were portrayed like that, then there would be ONE HELL of a backlash and Michael Bay would not have gotten away with that shit! As far as the names Skids and Mudflap, I don't give a damn about their names as their names do not denote ethnic stereotypes: it was their CHARACTERIZATIONS and BEHAVIOR that was offensive, and as far as "Look at Me, I'm acting Black", let me remind of something:
a)Gold Teeth - that's a STEREOTYPE associated with Black people;
b)I'ma pop a cap in yo' ass - that's SLANG associated with Black people;
c)We don't do much readin' - again, a RACIST stereotype associated with Black people implying that Black people don't read much;
d)The way that Skids and Mudflap were bumbling, shuffling, shuck and jive, always fighting, and inconsequential to the story - that's some old, played-out Stephin Fetchit Mantan Moreland shit revamped with a New Millenium metal paintjob and Robot body, this time, represented as Two Stupid-Ass Autobots.
Watch some of those old racist minstrelesque films and TV shows and tell me you don't see a thread between THEN AND NOW, and then you can come on here and HONESTLY tell me that what I said, as YOU put it, "doesn't hold water"? What I said holds A HELL OF A LOT OF WATER, jack! Read and SEE for yourself the history of media images of non-white people especially and try to talk that nonsense again!You honestly can't!
Only to a person WHO FAILS TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT RACISM EXISTS sees Skids and Mudflap as anything but Anti-Black Minstrels in Metal bodies.
aka Sablebot