Transformers: What the Soundtrack Could Have Been 

Autobots leitmotif: epic horns and heroic strings Decepticons leitmotif: epic villain choir with strings Sam’s leitmotif: *BONGOS INTENSIFIES*

The reason for the autobot leitmotif playing during the navy scene is that it’s not the autobot’s, it’s the good guys, and Michael Bay really likes the military.

I got kinda nostalgic hearing this music, those movies made 8 year old me very happy

Me watching this having zero musical understanding: Ah yes, melody.

The only music i remember from transformers is linkin park

Steve Jablonsky did nothing wrong

My opinion: the series went downhill after Dark of the Moon.

I actually think it makes perfect sense for that sad track to be called Optimus, and here’s why: every time we hear that theme, it’s playing after a character has had to make some sort of sacrifice. It plays when Optimus has to choose to let Bumblebee get captured because he can’t rescue him without hurting anyone. Then it plays again when Optimus has to choose to go after the Allspark instead of saving Bee, not realizing the two are in the same place. We hear it when Sam is about to try and get the Allspark to the helicopter, knowing that he could die. And then we hear it after Sam saved Optimus and killed Megatron, but destroyed the Allspark in the process. The reason the title of Optimus makes sense is that this leitmotif is tied to one of Optimus Prime’s key character traits: sacrifice, whether it be sacrificing yourself, or sacrificing the choice you want to make for what you know has to be done for the greater good.

you resisted 39 seconds before saying leitmotif! proud of you!

Honestly, the Transformers I & II soundtracks have filled the ranks of my reading playlist for nearly a decade, and they’re absolutely fantastic for that. Heroic or sad, always uncomplicated and not too distracting. The way they’re used in the movies is absolutely nonsensical though

This sounds crazy, tbh but this series went downhill when Shia left.

The scene where the little girl asks Optimus if he’s the Tooth Fairy is always my favorite part. It’s just perfect with the musical piece in the background.

*I ATE THE WHOLE PLATE*

It's such a shame that Transformers didn't live up to its full-music potential. If done correctly, Transformers could have rivaled Star Wars in terms of its leitmotif-usage.

Its kind of like the last two movies don’t belong in the series

Well, here's the thing. Jablonsky is known for creating themes ahead of time prior to compositing the full soundtrack. Meaning: he probably had the track "Optimus" already made for Optimus, but Michael Bay had it designated for sad scenes. Then, it happened that in DotM, Michael wanted something fresh and darker, so Jablonsky had to rework and start some other things from scratch, and it made it more accurate.

Wagner: let's have a leitmotif for every character Transformers: ok but how about we take two leitmotifs for one character and use a bunch of others mostly at random?

I’m sorry but the music is 10/10 there’s no changing it.

Sideways: When you think of the movie to transformers you probably think of Arrival to Earth Me: L I N K I N P A R K

Sam’s leitmotif sounds like “human music”

Damn, give this dude an orchestra and he will turn any movie into a blockbuster

It seems like Optimus is more of a sadmotif than a leitmotif...

It's actually very funny that Sideways mentioned Optimus's theme sounded sad, because any die-hard Optimus fan or Transformers fan (like myself) will reply some variation of: "Yep. That's our depressed and mentally unstable Bayverse boi."

Problem with "bad" film soundtracks is, that they often are good music which gives you the right feeling, but they're not used as leitmotif in the right way

damn you really watched all 5 of these for one video... i respect that

“...You probably think of arrival to earth...” *Thinking of Arrival To Earth since the video started* Me: How did he...I...But...okay then....

"Sir, We're out of soundtrack for this part..." "You just play Optimus"

You missed the best musical moment in the series: during Arrival to Earth when the music cuts and choir music starts playing, letting us know- before we actually see him in recognizable Peterbilt form- that Big Daddy Optimus has arrived.

I'd pay to watch a film called Sam And The Adventures Of His Magical Car tbh

A part of "Optimus" was used in Age of Extinction during the scene where Marky Mark tries to convince Optimus to not lose faith in humanity.

Bumblebee being captured by humans in TF1: “Oh no! I don’t wanna hurt these creatures! I can’t do anything Im helpless!” Bumblebee being captured by humans in BUMBLEBEE: *”Imma wreck these bitches up!”*

Most of the themes use the "Arrival to Earth" sample. They're just modified to be there own theme. I love the transformers score. I listen to it damn near everyday.

All that and they never played the actual transformers theme

I commented this before so I'll just briefly rundown what the confusing leitmotives actually mean. "Optimus" - theme for Autobot & Human relationship, named after the hoover dam scene/possible original thematic idea. Reduced, film version of the track "Optimus" - this only contains slow choir and strings. Plays in the hoover dam scene, and "Arrival to Earth". It's inverted when Megatron dies in the 1st film as Optimus calls him his brother. It shows up again in the 2nd movie as a full leitmotif for Optimus himself, and plays in descending chords when he dies. It also shows up briefly in 3, 4, and 5. "The AllSpark/Bumblebee" - represents the characters' journeys throughout the films. Plays for these 2 tracks as they're integral to the journey. "Arrival to Earth" - the relation the Autobots have in Earth (arriving/leaving/saving) "Prime" - represents the title it's based on. Relates to the Autobots & Humans leitmotif as the Primes are directly connected to that concept. The rest of the themes in the series are pretty accurate, but this should clear up any confusion on the first 2 film's themes.

I feel like that the theming for "Optimus" and how it was used in those sad scenes was more during the scenes that show examples of self-sacrifice. Scenes like Bumblebee catching Sam and Mikayla yet getting caught by Sector 7, or Sam running the rooftops are when those characters are putting themselves at risk, which is the kind of attribute that Optimus or any Prime should have. I feel like maybe they were trying to find a way to build this them and Prime to put the two together, but it just didn't work. Music talk aside, I remember being a teen and loving the first two movies endlessly. The first one I genuinely believe is a solid film, the second one is more of a guilty pleasure. The third and fourth films are where I got really disappointed with how they used the series. I personally think 4 was the worst one as a real betrayal of Optimus' character. I haven't seen TLK as of yet but I want to see BumbleBee, since I hear it's significantly better than the last few.

Sideways: who’s up for a philosophical debate about music? Me: slowly raises hand...sees no one else is raising hand...puts hand down

Lindsay Ellis - Auteur theory EveryFrameAPainting - What is Bayhem Patrick H Williams - Understanding Michael Bay And now to complete it all Sideways - Transformers

Dark of the Moon is in my opinion the best soundtrack out of the first three films with megatrons theme and the badass sentinal prime and im just a messenger tracks were amazing and lastly shockwave and drillers theme is one of the most haunting ost's in a good way

"It could have been amazing, but just fell short" Pretty much sums up the entire Transformers franchise. Hopefully, in 10 years or so, it will be time to reboot them and they'll do it better.

The real sin is that they didn’t add in “dare” or “you got the touch” playing on a radio somewhere in any of the movies as a reference to the cartoon movie

I unabashedly love the Autobots theme. I have since I first heard it opening night in 2007 and I got chills when I heard it again in The Last Knight.

There’s a lot wrong with the transformers movie. The soundtrack wasn’t one of them

Me: ima watch some gaming vids RU-vid: how about the soundtrack for transformers? Me: ok

I haven't watched these movies in ages and didn't realize it until now, but the lighting is atrocious

what I find interesting that out of all the things people can find to complain about with the Transformers movies, most people don't complain about the music. It may not make sense from movie to movie, but it's not "bad" music.

These themes kind of represent, well “themes”, environments and the groups of people in those environments, rather than specific characters. Every time the Sam “theme” plays for example it’s when he’s living a relatively normal life (which is always about to go to shit) with his parents or friends. It’s not really catered to a specific character, more to contents of the scene as a whole.

As someone who has no idea about music but loves movie soundtracks I can say I absolutely love the transformers movies. Yes they could have changed many things but I still get goosebumps when I rewatch one of the movies. There aren't many movie soundtracks that give you that hard to explain epic feeling like Transformers do.

Lol. It’s ironic because while the Decepticons are literally treated like nothing and are barely characters or resembling who they were in the original lore, Jablonsky gave each of them their own unique themes. The Decepticons and Megatron had their own themes in the first film. The Fallen has his own theme (that was barely used) in the second film. Sentinel Prime, Shockwave, and even Megatron each had their own unique themes. Lockdown had a very specific theme. And the soundtrack for the 5th film.... just the music in general was shit. No one had a theme.

Why is the RU-vid community suddenly fascinated in an academic perspective on these movies? I've never seen a single film in the franchise, yet I still watch all of these videos anyway. Lol

is this a reupload or do i have a deja vu? i thought i saw this video already O.o

10:04 the soundtrack that plays in the shuttle scene is called “There Is No Plan”.

Sorry but the best transformers score is still angry birds: Transformers

They played Arrival to Earth in a sad way bc they’re leaving Earth, and it returns in the final fight scene bc everyone thought they were gone and they were really still on Earth. It’s more of an Autobts arriving to wherever than just Earth specifically

The only moment this whole series give me chills.. When optimus prime slowly transform at front of sam, and when they arrived to earth.. That music was soo beautifully correct

I would say that sad "optimus" track represents a good-bye, or a sad parting. In each of those clips someone is going/being taken away supposedly with no return

The music in the forest Battle is Perfect

When I think about Transformers I think about “Transformers! More than meets the eye!”

The movies are not that great, but you gotta admit, the have some damn good soundtracks and sound effects...

I love that “Arrival to Earth” was reused for the “Till All Are One” track for Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. Hearing it in theaters again literally made me tear up

Transformers 2007 has an insanely good score. It's just thoughtlessly thrown into the film.

4:42 Uh, Beethoven's 5th Symphony?

Nostalgia hits me whenever I hear 'Arrival To Earth' and watch the Autobots' first appear. Literally goosebumps. Side note: i barely remember the music from the last two films, lol.

I actually find it quite interesting how the music seems to "die out" in Age of Extinction. I mean, just considering the title alone, it would kind of make sense. I agree that the music is a little bit all over the place and random at times, but personally, I feel it makes sense that the only themes to 'survive' the 'extinction' are "Optimus," "Prime" and the "sad theme." Someone in the comment section pointed out that the "sad theme" is actually the "sacrifice" theme, because it is played after everytime a character has to make a sacrifice of some sorts and I like that those themes don't go 'extinct.' and ofcourse Arrival to Earth bcoz that's just simply iconic and is the one theme connecting the autobots to this little planet.

These are not leitmotifs, they're just melodies. Leitmotifs represent characters, these tunes just represent moods.

Seems to me like the “Optimus” motif represents loss. At least in the first few films it seems to always play when someone is separated/dying, or there’s otherwise fear of not seeing them again.

How I like to see it is that each piece of music tells its own story. For example, I believe that the track "Optimus" not only represents him, but also the years of suffering and loss he has endured as a leader so that is why it's a sad song. I could go through all of the music tracks (even TFP and Bumblebee) but I don't feel like typing an essay.

Well technically the autobots leaving is called “there is no plan”

Nobody: English Teachers during a movie:

I’ve seen these movies so much that I know practically all the leitmotifs. Idek what the main theme is anymore 😂

The soundtrack for Transformers is great. Arrival to earth, atuobots, deception, bumblebee. They’re all great.

Sideways: When you think of music from Transformers you probably think of Rival To Earth Me, the person who's 90% of watched media is animated: _The Transformers! More than meets the eye, Autobots waged in battle to destroy! the evil! forces of! The Decepeticons! The Transformers! Robots in disguise~ The Transformers! More than meets the eye, the Transformers!_

The score is probably one of the best thing from these films

I became a fan of the Transformers in 2006. That Christmas, the first teaser trailer came out. Although I’ve hated the movies for a LOT of reasons, the Score was never one of them. It was always something that I really liked, and Jablonsky’s work always had me wanting more. But, I’m no musician, and I was intrigued to see/hear what you had to say. I was very impressed. You make a lot of very good arguments, and there’s plenty to unpack & think about. Great Job! You Good Sir, Just Earned Yourself Sub!

I haven't even seen any of the transformers films but I just have to watch every sideways video

Random theory from seeing all the scenes with the Optimus track: It is the theme that plays in scenarios when the heroes might yell Optimus's name?

Really had a good time with this video! Thanks for your work

Well, I think that sad motif is like a "No Sacrifice, No Victory" theme (and that sentence is related to Optimus). I really enjoy these scores, the fifth film has some really orchestral theme that is beautiful. Pretty sure the fourth film was meant to be a Reboot... But the idea was recycled for the fifth.

Watching it again just to hear you say "leitmotif"

I must say. Your videos have been hella informational and fun to listen to cause it shows how what all is needed to make a film work. For the transformers theme arrival to Earth and the auto bots theme are the ones that stick out to me when I think of it, but when it comes to unforgettable moments that one goes to the decepticons theme in the first movie and lock downs theme in 4, and punch slide repeat cause I love that scene a lot for the dope in sync moments with the gun ships.

Dude steve jablonsky did one of my favourite film scores with Dark of The Moon. The fight will be your own is beautiful. But ive always seen the full arrival to earth segment as the theme, including the Autobots part.

Honestly, nothing about this music confused me.If the music catches the mood, I'm good...plain and simple.

When does Spiderverse soundtrack review come out.

The music went to shit after the third movie, I knew something didn't feel right about the soundtrack of 4 and I didn't even bother watch 5.

Sideways: You can hear the same motif here here and here. Me: These don’t sound the same to me

You should make something about the DOOM 2016 soundtrack.

“When you think of the music to Transformers you probably think of ‘Arrival to Earth,” No, I think of The Touch.

Oh, how I’ve missed you Sideways, I do hope you are doing well wherever you are, your analysis was and still is the greatest

I love how you went in depth with the music and I love the soundtracks

I always thought that the “Optimus” theme was more of a “call to action” kind of piece. While it rarely plays during scenes with Optimus himself, the theme pops up during moments that evoke the thought of the things Optimus stands for, sort of a “what would HE want me to do, what would HE do in this situation, HE would never support this”, kind of thing. Whenever the letimotif played for Sam, I interpreted the Optimus theme as a sort of siren call for making tough choices (which are practically synonymous with any Autobot adventure).

Also, if these movies haven't tarnished your enjoyment of giant robots, I'd love to hear your analysis of the Pacific Rim score. I've listened to it myself more times than I'd care to admit, but I've picked up on individual leitmotifs for Mako, Pentecost, Hannibal Chau (Ron Perlman's character), and Newt, as well as individual leitmotifs for all the Jaegers, and a single leitmotif for the Kaiju, which I've interpreted as musically representing the hive-mind they have. And that's not even counting the main theme. Granted, that's all from listening to the score on its own, I've had trouble hearing the leitmotifs over the SFX and dialogue outside of a few key moments.

That was actually a really well done video essay on the Transformers music score, gg man. As a long time fan I never actually noticed any of these things and just kinda rode along with the hype (although I will admit since the 4th the quality decline was pretty prevalent :/), but you really opened my eyes to a lot of things, cheers man, take ma damn sub 😤

Only thing that I have to dispute is that in the second movie, Optimus’s theme does play in reference to Optimus, in almost every scene you showed. It plays when they were sad, because they were mourning him. It plays with the plane that was holding his body. Those musical moments fit as far as I’m concerned. And yes, the 4th one was supposed to be a soft reboot.

The Autobot leitmotif likely appears over that scene showing the military preparing for action to associate the Autobots (the forces of good) with the US military. These movies (or the early ones, at least) have an underlying theme of glorifying the US military to a degree. Which makes sense, as the US military will only loan it's vehicles for use in your movie if it portrays them in a positive light. Otherwise, you'd have to pay out the ass to get access to said vehicles, and the budget for these movies are already bloated enough. Either that, or they just thought it sounded cool over that part, I dunno.

reupload?

The first film laying a foundation that the sequels fail to build upon successfully is a major theme with the Transformers movies.

Great video! My only rebuttal is that #5 is supposed to feel like a new chapter, so that's why they wrote a bunch of new music, but other that that, really good points! It's really nice to see an analysis of this series from a different perspective

11:50 I agree after the third film they start completely rewriting the music but one thing that does return is an action motif from #3 called "Battle". Its built into a lot of the action soundtracks of the movie and sort of turns into Age of Extinction's theme. It then disappears in the 5th movie actually.

Episodes 1-3 were the only watchable ones. 4 and 5 felt like a complete disconnect from the rest of the series.

The Score for Transformers is (mostly) amazing. It fills me with so much nostalgia, especially Arrival to Earth.

Interestingly, the track “Soccent Attack” is kind of a more developed version of the deception theme, and even features a sort of melody at the beginning. A melody which sounds like it could be an inverse to that of the autobots theme. And yet for whatever reason it’s never used again