The polarizing impact of 'Transformers'

A little social experiment I undertook this past weekend was to talk to a lot of friends that go back to the original days of the Transformers. Before the movie. The Hasbro days. The days when the guy who voiced Starscream was also Cobra Commander. You know who you are. Many purists don't have any interest in seeing the live-action version. They won't even give it the time of day. They're going to avoid it like the plague, no matter how well it does.

Conversely, dilettantes (most of whom under the age of 28) and fairweather fans are clamoring for advanced tickets for the movie, just happy to have one more topical thing to talk about around the water cooler. They don't see what a slap in the face of the original fans the big-budget version is. Bumblebee as a Camaro? Huh. I'm admittedly on the fence on this one.

Personally, I've never really been a big fan of derivative works. Movie remakes more often than not suck. As do most movie adaptations of books I've read. Or music samples. (Although, if Land of the Lost makes it to the Silver Screen, I'll give it the benefit of the doubt.)