Transformers: Dark of the Moon (film)

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"Of my friend, I can only say this: of all the souls I have encountered, he was the most... human."

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Production info Production companies Hasbro Films di Bonaventura Pictures Distributor Paramount Pictures Release date June 29, 2011 Written by Ehren Kruger Directed by Michael Bay Edited by Roger Barton William Goldenberg Joel Negron Cinematography by Amir Mokri Music by Steve Jablonsky Producer(s) Lorenzo di Bonaventura Tom DeSanto Don Murphy Ian Bryce Executive producer(s) Steven Spielberg Continuity Live-action film series Running time 154 minutes Budget $195 million Box office $1.124 billion

Transformers: Dark of the Moon is the third film in the live-action film series. It was released in 3D and IMAX at 9PM on June 28, 2011^[1] and in wide release on June 29, 2011^[2] in the United States, and between June 29 and July 1 for other markets.

The film is set three years after the events of Revenge of the Fallen. The Autobots continue to work for NEST, but no longer in secret, and for the goal of keeping peace between humans by taking out volatile overseas political targets. But after discovering a strange artifact during a mission in Chernobyl, it becomes apparent to Optimus Prime that the United States government has been less than forthright with them.

And SCENE!

“	Aw, shit, I seen this one. It's the one where Spock goes nuts.	”
—Wheelie, Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Main cast 3 Quotes 4 Continuity notes 5 Errors 5.1 Filming, animation and technical errors 5.2 Astronomical and historical errors 5.3 Geographic discontinuities 5.4 Continuity errors 6 Transformers references 7 Real-world references 8 Other editions 9 Prequel material 10 Adaptations 11 Sequels 12 Soundtrack 13 Score 14 Home video releases 14.1 Additional Information 15 Theatrical posters 16 Reception 16.1 Awards and recognition 17 Technical details 18 Production staff 18.1 Visual effects 18.2 Locations department 19 Development details 19.1 Cast and crew signing on 19.2 Writing and production 19.3 Sponsors and partners 19.3.1 Hasbro 19.3.2 US military and NASA 19.3.3 General Motors and other car manufacturers 19.3.4 Other product placement 19.4 Changes before, during and after production 19.5 Leaks and disinformation 20 Notes 20.1 Foreign names 21 External links 22 References 23 External links

Synopsis

In the distant past, during the later days of the Cybertronian civil war, Sentinel Prime attempted to leave the planet with groundbreaking technology on board the Ark. However, his ship was shot down by the Decepticons and, after being sent hurling through space for a while, eventually crashed on the Earth's moon in 1961. The crash is noticed by the humans on Earth, leading to the Space Race under President John F. Kennedy. Landing on the Moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin use several minutes of radio silence to investigate the spaceship and discover that Mankind is not alone in space.

In the present day, the Autobots are still part of NEST, cooperating with the US Armed Forces. They have also begun to help humanity in its local conflicts, as Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Que, and Dino destroy an illegal Iranian nuclear facility. On a mission to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, a NEST team led by Lt. Col. Lennox, Optimus Prime and Ratchet discovers an unknown alien fuel cell which had led to the Chernobyl disaster. While trying to secure the cell, they are attacked by the Decepticon Shockwave and his "pet", the Driller, who are eventually forced to retreat by Optimus Prime. Meanwhile, Laserbeak kills Alexi Voskhod, who had called NEST to Chernobyl and was secretly working for him. After securing the fuel cell and identifying it as part of the Ark, Optimus Prime is angry at the humans for not following through with their agreement of sharing all known information relating to Cybertron and its inhabitants. Despite this, he eventually informs his allies and Charlotte Mearing, the Director of National Intelligence, about the space bridge technology the Ark contains. Together with Ratchet, Optimus travels to the Moon, where they find Sentinel Prime inside the ship. Retrieving him along with four pillars of the space bridge and the accompanying control pillar, they return to Earth, where Optimus uses the Matrix of Leadership to reactivate Sentinel Prime. In Africa, Decepticon leader Megatron (still recovering from wounds suffered in Egypt) meets with his lieutenants Starscream and Soundwave. Upon learning that the Autobots have recovered Sentinel and the pillars, Megatron orders Soundwave and Laserbeak to terminate their "loose ends".

Meanwhile, Sam Witwicky, the Autobots' human friend, is suffering from everyday problems. Even though President Barack Obama has awarded him a medal for saving the Earth twice, Sam has trouble finding a job. Together with his new girlfriend Carly Spencer, whom he had met in the White House (after his former girlfriend Mikaela had left him), he also gives the stranded Autobots Wheelie and Brains a home. After a long search, he finally finds a position as a mail carrier at a telecommunication company named Accuretta Systems. From his colleague, Jerry Wang, he learns about a conspiracy by humans who collaborate with the Decepticons. Before Jerry can tell Sam more, however, he is killed by Laserbeak.

Locked out of participating in the investigation by Mearing, Sam turns to Seymour Simmons for help. Simmons, who has become a millionaire as a writer, and his aide, Dutch, help Sam find out that the Soviets have taken photos of Decepticons removing hundreds of space bridge pillars out of the Ark even before Apollo 11 had landed on the Moon. Sam and Simmons conclude that the Decepticons had left Sentinel Prime behind on purpose, knowing that only he would be able to activate the space bridge, and only Optimus Prime could reactivate him. Sam is able to warn the Autobots in time so they can protect Sentinel from a Decepticon attack and escort him back to the NEST headquarters. Upon arriving there, however, Sentinel Prime betrays them, revealing that he made a deal with Megatron to ensure Cybertron's survival. After killing Ironhide and most of the NEST soldiers, Sentinel claims the remaining pillars and escapes. The other Autobots track him down to Washington, D.C., but before Optimus can stop him, Sentinel activates a space bridge to the Moon. The portal allows dozens of Decepticon troops which had remained hidden under the Moon's surface to reach Earth, forcing the Autobots to retreat.

In the meantime, Sam is worried about Carly and searches for her. He finds her with her employer, Dylan Gould, who reveals to Sam that he not only arranged for Sam to get a job with Accuretta, but is also a collaborator with the Decepticons. At their request, his father had used his influence to ensure that NASA would not conduct any more missions to the Moon. When Sam and Carly attempt to flee, they discover Carly's car is a disguise for Soundwave, who takes her captive. Dylan instructs Sam to ask Optimus Prime about the Autobots' strategy, otherwise Carly will die. To ensure that Sam will not try to warn the Autobots, he attaches a Decepticon disguised as a watch on Sam's wrist, and it taps into his nervous system.

Meanwhile, Sentinel Prime has given Mankind an ultimatum to exile the Autobots from Earth, since he is only trying to save Cybertron, or so he claims. The US government promptly passes a bill to this effect. Before the Autobots leave Earth aboard their spaceship, the Xantium, Sam asks Optimus about his plan. Optimus replies that there is no plan, and Mankind is on its own now. With all Autobots on board, the Xantium takes off, but is promptly intercepted by Starscream, who had waited in Earth's orbit. With the Xantium destroyed, the Decepticons believe the Autobots to be dead and let Sam go.

With the Autobots out of the way, the Decepticons conquer Chicago, kill most of its population and set up the control pillar for the space bridge inside the city, placing the other pillars around the world. Dylan informs Carly that the Decepticons do not intend to return to Cybertron; instead, they want to transport Cybertron into Earth's orbit, because Earth not only has the necessary resources, but also six billion slaves to rebuild the Transformers' home planet.

Sam decides to go to Chicago, where Dylan has taken Carly. Former NEST soldier Robert Epps, who now works for NASA, accompanies him, together with other former NEST members. Upon arrival in Chicago, they are promptly attacked by the Decepticons, but are rescued by Optimus Prime and the other Autobots. Having never intended to leave Earth, they had hidden themselves inside a modified rocket booster that was jettisoned before Starscream destroyed the Xantium.

The Autobots and the humans soldiers make their way to the skyscraper where Dylan is located in order to destroy the space bridge's control pillar. Sam and Bumblebee rescue Carly, killing Laserbeak in the process, during which they find a damaged UAV and alert the military to the Decepticons plans. Due to another attack by a team of Decepticons led by Shockwave, the team is separated once more. While the Autobots battle the Decepticons, Epps and his team try to destroy the pillar from another skyscraper. However, they are attacked by Shockwave and the Driller, who brings the skyscraper crashing down. Optimus Prime comes to their aid and destroys the Driller, but is shot by Shockwave and becomes trapped in crane cables.

In the meantime, Lennox and the rest of NEST have managed to make their way into the city using wingsuits, and with Lennox's help, Sam destroys Starscream using weapons provided to him by the Autobot scientist Que. Meanwhile, the Decepticons have captured several Autobots, but Dylan convinces them not to keep prisoners and kill them all. Barricade executes Que, and Soundwave moves to kill Bumblebee next, but the Autobots Wheelie and Brains have managed to make one of the Decepticons' ships crash, thereby distracting Soundwave long enough for Bumblebee and the other Autobots to get free. Bumblebee overpowers and kills Soundwave. NEST soldiers and US Marines snipe the Decepticons. Autobots and Tanks roll in and ambush the Decepticons. Optimus Prime returns and massacres a large group of Decepticons. He then kills Shockwave and uses the Decepticon's arm cannon to topple over the space bridge's control pillar, deactivating the bridge.

Optimus Prime then confronts Sentinel Prime and the two engage in a ferocious battle of Student vs Master. Carly stumbles across Megatron outside the main battle zone. Having previously witnessed a violent argument between Sentinel Prime and Megatron, she appeals to his pride and makes him realize that he will never be able to rule over Cybertron as long as Sentinel is alive. Meanwhile, after a long fight, Sentinel gains the upper hand over Optimus and severs his right arm. However, before he can execute his former pupil, an infuriated Megatron attacks Sentinel and severely damages him, declaring that Earth is his planet to rule. Megatron realized how far he had fallen in power within the past few years, and has decided to once again take his rightful place at the top of the command chain. Meanwhile, Dylan manages to reactivate the toppled pillar, but is attacked by Sam, who hurls him against the pillar, killing him. Subsequently, Bumblebee destroys the pillar for good, thus destroying the space bridge and, presumably, Cybertron with it. Seeing this, Megatron half-heartedly offers Optimus Prime a truce on the condition that he will remain in charge of the Decepticons, mockingly saying that they would be nothing without each other. Realizing that the offer is less than sincere, Optimus refuses and attacks Megatron, decapitating him with an axe. The weakened Sentinel Prime tries to excuse his actions, but Optimus, claiming Sentinel "betrayed himself," executes the treacherous Prime with Megatron's shotgun.

With the battle over, Sam and Carly are reunited, and Simmons takes an opportunity to kiss Mearing, who he still has feelings for, and she has him arrested. With their home planet now forever beyond reach, and the forces of the Decepticons destroyed, the remaining Autobots finally accept Earth as their new home, as Optimus Prime states that the Autobots will always be here, to protect the Earth and all who live on it.

Main cast

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Mirage and Wheeljack, known by those names in the toyline and essentially all supporting media, are respectively named "Dino" and "Que" in the film. While Dino is simply credited as such, Que is listed in the credits as "Que/Wheeljack".
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Skids and Mudflap only appear during the convoy scene at the beginning of the film.
3. ↑ Roadbuster is listed as "Roadbuster/Amp" in the credits, a reference to his car mode's sponsor. His name is not used in the film, but he is called "Roadbuster" in the toyline and supporting media.
4. ↑ Leadfoot is listed in the film's end credits as "Leadfoot/Target", a reference to his car mode's sponsor. His name is not spoken in the film, but he is called "Leadfoot" in the toyline and the supporting media.
5. ↑ Barricade doesn't technically speak in the movie, an editing gaffe as he kicks Que around before executing him sees Soundwave's voice (provided by Frank Welker) coming out of his mouth for the scene.
6. ↑ Repeatedly referred to as the "Watch-bot" (proper noun) in the Transformers: Dark of the Moon: The Junior Novel
7. ↑ During the highway battle scene where Crowbar flips over a sign, recycled screams and grunts from Jimmie Wood's Bonecrusher performance in Transformers can be heard.

Quotes

Mission Control: We are not alone after all, are we?
Buzz Aldrin: No, sir. We are not alone.

—Buzz Aldrin makes history, and raises the hackles of conspiracy theorists.

Dino: "He's in a bad mood. He's not talking to anybody today."
Mearing: "What is this, the silent treatment?"
Ironhide: "We've seen that and this is not that."
Que: "Definitely not."
Ironhide: "This is worse. Prime! Make something of yourself! (Ironhide taps Optimus's roof) He's pissed."

—Ironhide discusses Optimus Prime's foul mood.

"Who wants some chicken dinner now, bitch? Huh? 'Cause somebody messed with the wrong Wang today!"

—Jerry Wang, being crazy. But also awesome.

"The thing about Russians is, they never like to talk. Gonna take a little of the 'international language.'" <Doorman opens sliding hatch> "Do svidaniya."
"That means 'goodbye!'" <closes hatch>

—Simmons tries to reason with a Russian, to no avail.

"It's a Cyrillic alphabet; it's like all the buttons you never push on a calculator!"

—Dutch tries to translate Russian, also to no avail.

"Woah! Little Mexican standoff we got here!"

-Sideswipe, talking to Ironhide and the Dreads.

"Class dismissed."

—Ironhide, after dispatching the Dreads.

"What you must realize, my Autobot brothers, is that we were never going to win the war. For the sake of our planet's survival, a deal had to be made...with Megatron."

—Sentinel Prime reveals his treachery.

"Here we are. Fight us now."

—Megatron, pulling the evil overlord cliché on us while sitting atop the Lincoln Memorial

"If you go in this building, that's if she's even still alive, there's no way you're going to reach her!"
"What do you suggest I do?!"
"...it's over. I'm sorry, but it's over."

—Robert Epps tells Sam Witwicky that they've run out of plans.

"We will kill them all."

—Optimus Prime offers an alternative plan.

"They got my trailer. I need that flight tech!"

—Optimus Prime, valiantly selling toys.

"I bring you Cybertron, your home! and still you choose humanity."
"You are the one who taught me freedom is everyone's right."

—Sentinel VS Optimus Prime.

"Your Decepticons are finally conquering this planet, and yet their leader won't be you."
"IT WILL BE ME! It will always be me!
"In any minute now, you'll be nothing but Sentinel's bitch."

—Carly Spencer tells Megatron that if he's going to be the Starscream, he should act like it.

"Who would you be without me, Prime?"
"Time to find out."

—Megatron and Optimus Prime exchange pre-fight banter one last time.

"Optimus. All I ever wanted...was the survival of our race. You must see why I had to betray you..."
"You didn't betray me. You betrayed yourself..."

—Optimus Prime's final exchange with Sentinel Prime before effectively double-tapping him.

"In any war, there are calms between storms. There will be days when we lose faith. Days when our allies turn against us... but the day will never come that we forsake this planet and its people."

—Optimus Prime's closing narration, which predicts what will happen to them years later.

Continuity notes

• Sam has since graduated from college, being three months out of school, and is currently looking for a job. Since the events of Revenge of the Fallen, Sam and Mikaela had broke up (despite having to spend an entire film of Sam needing to say the L-word). Prior to the events of this film, he started a relationship with Carly Spencer.
• Megatron's camp is full of salvaged artifacts from the previous film, along with several Decepticon corpses laying around the area. While most are unrecognizable, one of them is a headless Long Haul; his head was presumably used to create Igor. Megatron's new right hand appears to be salvaged from a fallen Decepticon, as the matching left hand can be seen laying around the campsite.
• The Wreckers, according to Charlotte Mearing arrived on Earth aboard the Xantium and brought the second wave of Autobots with them. The Wreckers were not seen in Revenge of the Fallen, which is given an in-universe explanation that their bloodthirsty attitudes mean they are usually confined to base.
• Barricade makes a surprising return during the final battle in Chicago, last seen driving alongside Bonecrusher on the highway before the latter engaged the Autobot Leader in the first film.
• Megatron is still critically wounded after the final battle of Revenge of the Fallen, notably still missing half of his head.
• Optimus Prime's main moral compass that "freedom is the right of all sentient beings", is revealed to have been taught to him by his predecessor and mentor, Sentinel Prime.
• Introduced in the second film, Optimus uses The Matrix of Leadership to revive Sentinel Prime, having retrieved it from the remains of the Star Harvester sometime following the climax of the second film. In the same previous film, Megatron had suspected the Matrix could be used to revive Optimus and was proven right when Sam succeeded, a fact Megatron exploits in his master plan enacted this film.
• Sentinel Prime was first mentioned in the previous film, by Sam Witwicky during one of his many Allspark induced exposition dump.
• In the previous film, Theodore Galloway asked Optimus that if humanity asked the Autobots to leave whether they'd cooperate, and Optimus promised to do so. This film sees them seemingly comply with such demands, only to reveal themselves to have stayed behind anyway to defeat the Decepticons.
• Ironhide no longer has his cannons, having lost them in the final battle of the previous film.

Errors

Filming, animation and technical errors

• When Sam is holding Brains in his hand after catching him spying on him and Carly, there is a short shot in which Sam is briefly seen in the background, holding nothing in hand, Brains is missing. In the next shot, Brains is back in the hand.
• After killing Ironhide, while Sentinel Prime is storming the NEST base, Sentinel Prime, Ironhide and most likely Bumblebee are all missing in a short shot in which we see two cars projected by an explosion, supposed to be a result of one of Sentinel's gun shots.
• Ironhide in alt-form appears in a short shot among the Autobots in Chicago, riding ahead of Optimus, at 01:43:21-01:43:22, but after that he disappears completely.

Astronomical and historical errors

• The Moon does not rotate with respect to Earth, and Mare Tranquillitatis is near the middle of the near side. Therefore, Tranquility Base could never be described as being on the far side, and Earth is never as close to the horizon as shown in the movie.
• The Apollo 11 Command/Service Module is seen flying to the Moon without the Lunar Module. The Lunar Module is attached when the vehicle is orbiting the Moon, however.
• When the modern day site of the Apollo 11 landing is seen, the ascent module (the cabin Buzz and Neil flew back to orbit in) is still there.
• In real life, Apollo 11 did not land on the far side of the Moon. Tranquility Base is on the near side of the Moon.
• One of the directors of NASA says that all six Apollo missions recovered parts of the Ark but this not possible as the six missions all had different landing sites which were all a significant distance apart.
• Cybertron is apparently several times the size of Earth, yet the characters talk of bringing it "into Earth's atmosphere"; at that size, it would be more like bringing Earth into Cybertron's atmosphere, but see below for the problem with that.
• The Space Bridge starts to bring Cybertron amazingly close to Earth - less than one Earth-diameter away. Assuming Cybertron's mass is proportional to its size, Cybertron's gravitational field would tear the Earth apart at that distance.

Geographic discontinuities

• The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is shown to be located inside of, or at least right next to the abandoned city of Pripyat, and the human characters access it through nearby buildings. In reality, the power plant is situated on the outskirts of the city. Even worse, Alexi Voskhod explicitly says that the entrance leads through a school. Who builds a school right next to a nuclear power plant?
• Furthermore, Pripyat's infamous Ferris wheel as shown in the movie is not only the wrong model (the real one's passenger cabins have canopies), but the real one is also located in an open field far away from any buildings.^[3] But hey, at least it's the right color!
• Also, why exactly is the Sputnik mission case inside the Chernobyl reactor building? Did the Soviets never bother to discard the packaging of their toy after starting to play with it?
• When Megatron transforms for the first time, he's in a grassy savannah. In the next shot, he's standing in the middle of a desert... and in the establishing shot of the Decepticon camp, it's back in the savannah.
• Mount Kilimanjaro is seen in the background of many of the scenes in Namibia; in reality, the mountain is located in Tanzania, more than three thousand kilometers away.

• In a fairly common cinematic contrivance, the film depicts multiple skyscrapers in the background of many scenes set in Washington, D.C., while the real-life city has no skyscrapers.
• Also, Washington, D.C. almost entirely lacks old industrial buildings that could be converted into lofts, and likewise doesn't have the kind of densely urban streets that Sam is shown to live on.
• NEST Headquarters, supposedly in Washington, is actually Chicago's abandoned Main Post Office.
• Likewise, Dylan's auto collection museum, also set in (land-locked) Washington, is actually the Milwaukee Art Museum. Lake Michigan is even visible through the windows!
• When Optimus Prime (using his jetpack) gets himself caught in wires below an under-construction building, that building bears a striking resemblance to the China Central Television Headquarters in Beijing, China... a far shot from Chicago. Since construction for the CCTV building was finished in 2008, long before Dark of the Moon was even conceived, this appears to be an intentional instance of a "cool building" being inserted just for the sake of it.

Continuity errors

• Like in Revenge of the Fallen, Ironhide sports his license plate from the first movie, "4PCI382", on his robot mode chest, but doesn't have a license plate in vehicle mode. (According to set photos, his license plate in vehicle mode is mostly black, with a NEST logo on it.)
• Speaking of inconsistencies between robot and vehicle mode: Bumblebee's updated Chevrolet Camaro alternate mode no longer has pinstripes bordering his black racing stripes, but the CG robot model still has the pinstripes.

• Soundwave has kibble from his Mercedes alternate mode while he is in Africa, but his chest has only a blank grille. The Mercedes star is only added to his chest from the scene where he reveals himself to be Carly's car onward. This is most likely a deliberate choice made to avoid spoiling the plot twist.
• After Megatron pulls out his shotgun for the first time, he holsters it on the right side of his back. In the next scene it is on his left side.
• In the highway battle scene with the Dreads, Crowbar smashes into some traffic signs and knocks them over. In the next shot when the other two Dreads use them as ramps, the angle at which the signs fell has changed. After Hatchet and Crankcase transform, the signs revert into their original position.
• Also in the highway battle, Bumblebee enhances only his front wheels to evade Hatchet, yet in the next shot he's fully in Stealth Force mode.
• When Hatchet is killed by Bumblebee and Dino, the last shot shows him being thrown onto a car (using footage recycled from Michael Bay's 2005 film The Island, as elaborated on below), with Dino's grappling hook cables still attached to Hatchet, which would imply that Dino is still in robot mode at this point. However, the very next shot shows Dino in the far background, driving behind Bumblebee in vehicle mode.
• Immediately after crashing into Ironhide, two of Crowbar's hair strands fall to the ground, but he has all six strands from the next shot onwards.
• During Ironhide and Sideswipe's "Mexican standoff" with Crankcase and Crowbar, all combatants drop their firearms, but when Ironhide is speared, his guns are on his back again. They disappear in subsequent shots.
• In addition, the spear impaled in Ironhide disappears when he shoots Crowbar, only to reappear in subsequent shots.
• Despite being captured by Soundwave in her evening gown, Carly is somehow able to change into more convenient clothes (but still wearing high heels!) after arriving at Dylan's place, and has yet another outfit following the attack on Chicago the following day. Not only that, she changes her earrings, too!
• When the Autobots are boarding the Xantium, Simmons mentions that nine Autobots are leaving. Former Decepticons Wheelie and Brains apparently don't count. Poor little guys!
• The Wreckers claim they had been hiding inside a rocket booster that was jettisoned from the Xantium before Starscream destroyed it. The boosters are only seen to be detached after Starscream destroys the ship, after it has barely taken off from the ground.
• Though it's a standard action movie contrivance, it sure is convenient that the glass windows inside skyscrapers are extremely fragile when needed, and glass shards are as dangerous as bread crumbs so nobody suffers a single cut from sliding across them.
• Shortly after everyone jumps through the window and starts sliding down, a downwards shot of the building shows all of the windows behind them are intact.
• As everyone tumbles through a lower floor of the building, Stone is shown to fall right through and out the other side with a collection of office furniture, but not long after is back with Epps's squad.
• Despite the Decepticons taking over Chicago and killing a whole bunch of people, there seem to be a lot of people continuing to go about their daily lives. The skyscraper Epps's team goes into to launch a rocket from still seems to have plenty of office workers in it when the Driller attacks it. When Sam's being thrown around on the end of the grapple glove rope while fighting Starscream, he crashes through a wall into a dry-cleaning business where a woman appears to be calmly hanging up a shirt. Did they all just not get the memo?
• The sequence beginning with Sam, Carly, Epps and the rest of the soldiers jumping out of the windows of the tilted skyscraper is one giant continuity headache: First they jump out of the windows, then slide down several stories, then the camera angle changes and they're sliding down several more stories, and then a wide shot shows the top of the skyscraper from an angle where the characters cannot be seen, then slowly pans around and eventually shows them all sliding down from one of the topmosts floors all over again! Eventually, they crash back into one of the lowest floors near the break. After the Driller has toppled the top portion of the skyscraper over, the group is again shown to escape from one one of the topmost floors to the neighboring building!
• Though it is Barricade who kicks and shoves Que along before executing him, the voice heard is Soundwave's. Presumably, this was an artifact of the early alternate version of the scene, in which Soundwave was to kill Dino, and they just re-used the audio.
• While fighting the Autobots at the end of the film, Sentinel Prime's cape disappears for a brief scene before reappearing on his back when the camera angle changes.
• When Sam and Dylan are fighting, the clock behind them changes to different times every shot. It starts at 00:40, then 02:25, 00:15 and 11:00 in the following shots.
• When Sam and Carly are reunited after the final battle, Carly's hands keep changing the position on every cut, sometimes on Sam's neck, sometimes on his shoulders.
• Not intentional: Skids and Mudflap appear for a brief few seconds in the film. This leaves questions as to what happened to them. They weren't seen departing from Earth or taking part in the Chicago battle.
• It's said that four Autobots were captured by the Decepticons in Chicago, but actually five Autobots were captured. (Unless this observation was made before Bumblebee arrived after saving Sam and Lennox)
• When Que is about to be executed, the "cardboard head on a stick" prop used for Dino during the shooting of the movie (a common method used for the movies to give the actors something to react to) can be spotted in the final edit of the film,^[4] possibly a leftover from an earlier draft of the script where Soundwave mocked Bumblebee with Dino's disembodied head.

Transformers references

In addition to recurring elements from the previous films, Dark of the Moon bases a number of elements on previous versions of the Transformers mythos, including plot elements based on older stories, something fairly rare in the other two movies:

• New characters Shockwave and Laserbeak are heavily based upon their Generation 1 counterparts. Que is derived from G1 character Wheeljack. Sentinel Prime is the name of Optimus's predecessor in many continuities, and in this instance, he continues his predecessor's legacy of being a giant jerk.

• "Carly" was the name of Spike Witwicky's girlfriend and eventual wife in the original cartoon.

• The Ark gets its name from the Autobots' crashed spaceship in the Marvel Transformers comics.

• The Xantium is the name of the Wreckers' spaceship in the IDW Publishing's Transformers comics.

• Roadbuster and Topspin being members of the Wreckers recalls their original G1 counterparts being likewise part of the Wreckers.

• Optimus's new trailer is based on the trailer that his Generation 1 counterpart hauled around, including its ability to open up into a weapons base.

• Optimus now carries the Matrix around in his chest as he has in past incarnations.

• The corrosive end met by Ironhide comes at the hands of Cosmic Rust, the oxidizing pathogen that first appeared in the Generation 1 cartoon episode of the same name. Though not named in the film, its identity is made clear by production artwork by Josh Nizzi which labels Sentinel Prime's gun a "Cosmic Rust gun".

• Megatron removing Abraham Lincoln from his chair at the Lincoln Memorial and then sitting in it is a scene taken directly from the Generation 1 cartoon episode, "Atlantis, Arise!", and the Decepticon ending for Transformers The Game (sort of).

• The idea of bringing Cybertron to Earth via space bridge and enslaving humans was the plot of the Generation 1 multi-part episode "The Ultimate Doom".

• Likewise, the idea of an influential and powerful human joining forces with the Decepticons, resulting in the Autobots being exiled from Earth by the government via a spacecraft, only for that spacecraft to be destroyed, was the plot behind another Generation 1 cartoon multi-part episode, "Megatron's Master Plan."

• Megatron's first line - a weary "All hail Megatron" - is the title of IDW's direction-changing comic maxi-series, which had just wrapped up when production on the film was beginning.

• When the worker at Accureta Systems is trying to make the photocopier work, it beeps the "more than meets the eye" refrain from the original cartoon's theme song.

• The transformation noise can be heard at the end of the film when Bumblebee transforms to robot mode, the final onscreen transformation, just as it was heard during Blackout's transformation, which was also the first onscreen transformation in the first film.

• The technique of shooting at a skyscraper until it breaks in half and the top falls horizontally on other buildings has been done by another Megatron in another city.

Real-world references

• When Brains and Wheelie are watching Star Trek: The Original Series, the screen features Mr. Spock, portrayed by Leonard Nimoy—who voices Sentinel Prime. Wheelie comments that it is "the one where Spock goes nuts," which foreshadows Sentinel's heel turn. The episode itself is the famous TOS episode "Amok Time", although for some inexplicable reason, the first of the two clips shown on-screen is mirrored.
• Sentinel Prime says "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." The voice actor said the same line in the 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan as Mr. Spock. However, in that movie, Nimoy's character dies a hero.
• To finish the Spock trifecta, when Bumblebee says his goodbyes to Sam, he uses a clip of Leonard Nimoy, as Spock, saying "I will always be your friend," another line from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
• Dutch and his fake girlfriend's name, "India", are a reference to Dutch India.
• Que's name is a reference to Q from James Bond novels and films. Que also gives weapons to NEST soldiers while explaining the advantages and abilities for the weapons much like Q does for James Bond.
• When Bumblebee brings forth "rings" for Sam and Carly, he "hums" the Wedding March (or, more correctly, the Bridal Chorus from Richard Wagner's 1850 opera Lohengrin).
• Before Sentinel gets attacked by Megatron, he says "There can only be one", a popular misquote of the line "There can be only one" from the film Highlander. Sentinel is also modeled after one of the film's lead stars Sean Connery.

Other editions

• The version of the film available for streaming on Star+ cuts all scenes where humans are desintegrated to the bone by the Decepticons. As a result, the initial invasion of Chicago is cut significantly short.

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Prequel material

• Transformers: Sector 7

A five-issue limited mini-series chronicling the foundation of Sector 7 leading up to Ghosts of Yesterday.

• Transformers: Foundation

A four-issue limited mini-series set during the events of Defiance telling the events that lead-up to the original Movie Prequel.

• Transformers: Rising Storm

A four-issue limited mini-series set after Nefarious cronicling Shockwave's arrival and the task given to him by Megatron.

• Cyberglyphics pack-in comics

A six-issue miniseries by IDW, produced in cooperation with Target, available only in printed form as pack-in material with a small Target-exclusive range of toys, following Space Case's encounters with the Autobots and the Decepticons and leads up to Rising Storm.

• Transformers: Convergence

A four-part prose story exclusive to the individual issues of IDW Publishing's Dark of the Moon comic adaptation, chronicles both the Simmons lineage in the aftermath of Sector 7 and Soundwave's activites on Earth, tying the remaining loose ends and setting the stage for Dark of the Moon.

• Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Xbox 360/PS3)

A video game developed by High Moon Studios for Xbox 360 & PS3.

• Transformers: Dark of the Moon: Stealth Force Edition

A Wii & 3DS port of the game developed by Behaviour Interactive focusing only on Stealth Force.

• Transformers: Dark of the Moon: Autobots/Decepticons

A Nintendo DS port of the game also developed by Behaviour Interactive, with each factions separated in two titles.

• Transformers (Titan Magazine)

A monthly title by Titan in the UK (another rebranding of their existing comic).

• Transformers Classified

A prequel novel trilogy in the same vein as Ghosts of Yesterday and The veiled Threat that was published after the movie, composed by Switching Gears, Battle Mountain & Satellite of Doom, later published together as Transformers Classified: The Complete Mission it cronicles how the Autobots & Decepticons fight against each other on Earth in the aftermath of The Fallen's death.

Adaptations

• Transformers: Dark of the Moon

The novelization of the film by Peter David.

• Transformers: Dark of the Moon Movie Adaptation

IDW Publishing's comic adaptation of the movie.

Children's adaptations

• Transformers: Dark of the Moon: The Junior Novel

The movie novelization for kids.

Sequels

Main articles: Transformers: Age of Extinction (film), Transformers: The Last Knight (film), and Bumblebee (film)

Soundtrack

Main article: Dark of the Moon: The Album

Score

Main article: Dark of the Moon: The Score

Home video releases

Main article: Transformers: Dark of the Moon (film)/home video

Transformers: Dark of the Moon was released on DVD, Blu-Ray, and Digital Download on September 30, 2011, followed by the 2-Disc Special Edition in December.^[5]

Additional Information

• Close Captions in English
• Audio Description as Audio Description in English ^[6]

Theatrical posters

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Reception

On June 23, 2011, the world premiere of Dark of the Moon was held in Moscow, Russia, with band Linkin Park performing a concert that included their title song for the movie, "Iridescent".

The official release date was moved up from July 1 to June 29 to allow breathing room between its release and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. On June 28, 2011, the film was released in 3D and IMAX in the US.

The film received mixed reviews from the critical reception, who praised the visual effects, action sequences, musical score, voice acting, and use of 3D, while criticizing the runtime, storyline, the performances of Shia LaBeouf and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, and screenplay. Dark of the Moon was considered at least an improvement from Revenge of the Fallen, receiving a tomatometer score of 35% and an audience score of 55% on Rotten Tomatoes.^[7]

Dark of the Moon launched with nearly 10,000 copies in 4011 theaters nationwide. On its opening day, the movie earned $37.3 million, making not only for the best opening day of 2011 up to that point, but also ranking as the sixth most successful opening on a Wednesday ever, while at the same time ranking well behind Revenge of the Fallen, with $60 million on its opening day (also a Wednesday).^[8] (Of course, a lot of the print material still listed the release date as July 1st, the following Friday.)

On August 2, it crossed the $1 billion mark in worldwide gross, just under 5 weeks after its release, landing it in the #9 spot for worldwide gross of all time.^[9] Of that, $338 million came from the US. It is currently one of two Paramount pictures to have made the $1 billion mark, the other being its sequel. (While Titanic also made over $1 billion worldwide, it was only a Paramount movie domestically, where it made "only" $620 million.)

Dark of the Moon ended its theatrical run in the #4 spot for highest worldwide gross of all time.

Upon its' release, the Transformers fanbase generally had a warmer reception to the film over its' predecessor, with praise going to the action, score, and particularly Leonard Nimoy's performance and role as Sentinel Prime. Several moments in the film caused no shortage of discussion, with Optimus Prime's more ruthless, violent actions (Peter Cullen himself disliked the "we will kill them all" line) and the handling of the deaths of major franchise characters being notable sore spots for the film's detractors. Over a decade since its' release, Dark of the Moon still retains the warmest reception to a Bay film outside of the first film, though those more ambivalent towards the series don't consider it that different from the lesser films.

Awards and recognition

Dark of the Moon was nominated for three Academy Awards, in the categories of Best Visual Effects, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing, losing all to Hugo.^[10]

On February 25, 2012, it was announced that Transformers: Dark of the Moon was nominated for eight Golden Raspberry Awards. Unlike Revenge of the Fallen, however, it did not receive the awards for Worst Picture, Worst Screenplay, & Worst Director, losing all of its nominations to Jack & Jill.^[11]

Technical details

Length: 154 minutes Audio: Dolby Digital / DTS / SDDS
Content Rating:

Production staff

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Visual effects

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Locations department

Development details

Cast and crew signing on

On May 30, 2007, a month before the official release of Transformers, DreamWorks announced that two sequels were already being planned.^[13] On March 16, 2009, over three months before the premiere of Revenge of the Fallen, Paramount announced the third movie for July 1, 2011.^[14] Director Michael Bay promptly backpedaled, as he had intended for the third Transformers movie to be released in 2012.^[15] He officially changed his mind in October 2009, agreeing to the release date set by Paramount.^[16]

Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, two of the previous two movies' screenwriters, had already announced in March 2009 that they would not return for a third part.^[17] In September 2009, their Revenge co-writer Ehren Kruger was confirmed as the screenwriter of Transformers 3.^[18] Kruger had already impressed both director Michael Bay and Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner with his knowledge of Transformers mythology prior to working on Revenge.^[19]

In an interview with Wonderland magazine in September 2009, Megan Fox, the main female star of the previous two movies, discussed the harsh conditions on the sets and compared director Michael Bay to Adolf Hitler.^[20] Bay initially played down the affair and still welcomed Fox back for the third installment a month later.^[16] Even though Fox was still spotted on the Transformers 3 set in May 2010,^[21] Paramount announced a few weeks later that she wouldn't return for a third movie after all.^[22] Still that same month, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley was confirmed to replace her as the lead female actress.^[23] Her character's name was confirmed as "Carly" by Nelson Lauren, the webmaster of Michael Bay's official website, in July 2010.^[24] In 2011, Michael Bay finally confirmed in an interview with GQ magazine that it had been Steven Spielberg, executive producer of the Transformers movies, who had urged him to fire Fox following the Hitler comparison.^[25] In a later interview, however, he claimed this statement had been taken out of context.^[26]

In March 2010, Oscar winners John Malkovich and Frances McDormand as well as comedian Ken Jeong were confirmed having signed on for supporting roles.^[27]

In April 2010, Kevin Dunn and Julie White were confirmed to return as Sam Witwicky's parents.^[28]

In May 2010, Paramount confirmed that Patrick Dempsey was cast in Transformers 3 to play Mikaela Banes' boss (this was before Megan Fox was fired from the production).^[29]

In July 2010, Nelson Lauren confirmed that former American footballer Lester Speight would play a soldier in the movie.^[30]

Leonard Nimoy was confirmed as the voice actor for Sentinel Prime in March 2011.^[31] Nimoy, who had previously voiced Galvatron in 1986's The Transformers: The Movie and was married to Michael Bay's cousin Susan, had previously been under consideration for The Fallen's voice in Revenge of the Fallen, but Bay had been hesitant for fear of offending his relative with the relatively low pay allotted to voice actors.^[32] Even though Nimoy openly asked Bay to simply give him a call,^[33] it ultimately never worked out, and The Fallen was voiced by Tony Todd instead. For Dark of the Moon, Bay finally overcame his anxiety and hired Nimoy, who accepted the offer.^[34] In return, screenwriter Ehren Kruger included several nods to Nimoy's well-known character as Mr. Spock from Star Trek in the movie.^[35] Dark of the Moon would be Nimoy's final performance in the Transformers franchise before his death in early 2015.

Writing and production

After having defended the almost universally critically panned Revenge of the Fallen for a long time, Michael Bay finally acknowledged flaws of the script, but blamed the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike prior to the movie for many problems. As a definite error, he singled out the "dork comedy", which he promised to avoid with Dark of the Moon.^[36]

Principal shooting began in May 2010. Shooting locations included Chicago (and nearby East Chicago and Gary Indiana), Moscow,^[37] the Kennedy Space Center in Florida,^[38] Milwaukee (Wisconsin),^[39] Detroit,^[40] Washington, D.C.^[41] and Angkor Wat in Cambodia.^[42]

For the scene where Lennox and his soldier jump out of a V-22 Osprey using wingsuits, Michael Bay used real parachutists and thus avoided unnecessary CG effects. In fact, he had been inspired for this scene in the first place by watching the parachutists in their wingsuits on television^[43] and wrote the scene with the intention of using the parachutists in the movie.^[36]

For the Apollo 11 moon landing mission in the flashback sequence at the beginning of the movie, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are played by actors Don Jeanes and Cory Tucker, respectively. In the present day timeline, Aldrin himself appears briefly as his own older self.^[44]

Over 500 cars were destroyed in the making of Dark of the Moon, all of them damaged property from insurance companies intended for destruction.^[26]

Two accidents happened during shooting: In September 2010, while shooting in East Chicago, Indiana, a female extra was severely injured when a stunt scene went wrong, leaving her with permanent brain damage, the left side of her body paralyzed and her left eye stitched shut. Paramount was subsequently sued for damages by the victim's family.^[45] She was eventually granted an $18.5 million settlement in May 2012.^[46] As a consequence, part of the scene of the car chase battle in Washington, D.C. (which would have included the shoot that had led to the accident) was instead "borrowed" from Michael Bay's 2005 film The Island.^[47] While shooting in Washington, D.C., in October 2010, one of the Chevrolet Camaro prop cars that served as Bumblebee's alternate mode crashed into a Metropolitan Police SUV. Nobody was seriously injured this time, though Bumblebee sustained severe front-end damage.^[48] Hasbro would later "commemorate" this latter event with the Toys"R"Us exclusive Cyberverse "Cybertronian Warriors Pack". Fans, meanwhile, joked that the SUV was Barricade getting revenge.

Another (brief) instance of recycled footage occurs during the Chicago battle: When the Navy fires several Tomahawks at the Decepticons, the mission control room scene was previously used to depict the interior of the USS Kidd in Revenge of the Fallen. The most obvious similarity is the same operator saying "Target acquired" both times.^[49]

Dark of the Moon is the first of the Transformers movies to be released in 3D. Despite early considerations to shoot the movie in 2D and convert it into 3D later, Michael Bay ultimately shot 60% of the film in native 3D, another 15% were done digitally, and the rest was shot in 2D and converted later. James Cameron assisted Michael Bay with the 3D effects. The movie's budget amounted to $195 million, which is about the same budget Revenge of the Fallen had. About $30 million went into the 3D effects.^[50]

Sponsors and partners

Hasbro

Hasbro, licensor of the Transformers brand, hoped that the third movie would once again boost toy sales, after profits had dropped in the first quarter of 2011.^[51] For the second quarter of 2011, Hasbro reported a net revenue growth of 23 percent to $908.5 million, citing brands such as Transformers and Beyblade as the main sources of the increased income.^[52]

US military and NASA

Like the previous two movies, Dark of the Moon featured real military personnel as extras, supported by the United States Department of Defense.^[41] Shooting locations were Hurlburt Field and Edwards Air Force Base.^[53]

In addition, Dark of the Moon was also supported by NASA, and NASA employees appear as extras in the movie as well.^[54]

General Motors and other car manufacturers

General Motors once again provided several vehicles. All recurring Autobots retain their alternate modes from Revenge of the Fallen despite some minor tweaks, such as Sideswipe now being a convertible, and Bumblebee now sporting a rear spoiler. Once again, the cooperation was mutual, with General Motors using Bumblebee for TV commercials. The first of those, aired during the 2011 Super Bowl, also revealed some minor tweaks to Bumblebee's robot mode.^[55][56] According to Chevrolet, the Transformers movies notably affect car sales, as about ten percent of all Camaros sold in the preceding year were yellow, twice as many as with other models.^[57]

New additions for Dark of the Moon are a Ferrari 458 Italia and a Mercedes-Benz E550 as Autobots (Dino and Que, respectively) and a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG as a Decepticon (Soundwave). In the movie, both Autobots sport names which aren't recycled from existing Hasbro toys. In the Ferrari's case, the reason for this is that Hasbro's greatest competitor, Mattel, has an exclusive license for Ferrari toys.^[58][59] "Dino" is named in reference to Alfredo "Dino" Ferrari, as per Ferrari's request. The Mercedes-Benz E550, meanwhile, was specifically customized for the movie.^[60] "Que" is named in homage to Q from James Bond. A Maybach 62S Landaulet is also featured in the movie, albeit not as a Transformer, but merely as a regular car used by Seymour Simmons and his assistant Dutch.

Unlike Optimus Prime, whose alternate mode was not licensed for any of the three movies, the Rosenbauer Panther 6x6 airport fire truck used for Sentinel Prime was officially provided by the Rosenbauer International AG and entirely repainted specifically for the film, at a cost of thousands of dollars, as real-world aircraft fire-fighting vehicles are required by FAA regulations to have a much lighter color scheme, which didn't appeal to director Michael Bay.^[61]

Since the heavily armed Chevrolet Impalas that serve as the Wreckers' alternate modes are directly based on existing NASCAR race cars, the prop versions of Roadbuster, Leadfoot, and Topspin made an appearance at 2011 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 20, four month before the movie's release, appearing both off the track as display cars, and on the track, participating in the ceremonial first lap.^[62] Director Michael Bay, actor Josh Duhamel and actress Rosie Huntington-Whiteley also attended the event, and during the television broadcast of the race, a new Dark of the Moon television spot was aired.

Other product placement

As always, various companies have their products and names prominently displayed throughout the movie, such as Northrop Grumman, CNN, Fox News, Cisco and Superfund.^[63] Paper manufacturer Double A also cooperated with Paramount and even had Michael Bay direct a commercial that features scenes from Dark of the Moon, notably Laserbeak.^[64] Of particular note is the large number of Chinese brands such as Lenovo, Yili Shuhua Milk, Metersbonwe Mtee shirts and TCL HDTV screens.^[65][66]

For Nokia, the product placement turned out to be dated by the time the movie came out, as a mobile phone featured in the movie ran on Symbian, despite Nokia mostly dropping Symbian as an operating system due to their recent partnership with Microsoft.^[67]

Changes before, during and after production

• In an interview with the Los Angeles Times in June 2009, Michael Bay suggested that Ramon Rodriguez would reprise his role as Leo Spitz from Revenge of the Fallen for the third movie.^[68]

• As stated above, Megan Fox was originally intended to reprise her role as Mikaela Banes from the previous two movies. She was still spotted on the Dark of the Moon set during the previsualization stage in May 2010,^[21] but was fired from the production shortly afterwards due to a falling out with director Michael Bay. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's character of Carly Spencer was written in as a replacement, though the fact that her part was originally written for Mikaela still shows in some parts: For example, Carly is overseeing Dylan's car collection, which could be viewed as an extension of Mikaela's history with working with cars. Furthermore, Sam and Carly not only have Wheelie (who had been previously "domesticated" by Mikaela) as a "pet", but also her dog Bonecrusher (played by Michael Bay's eponymous real-life dog).

• In January 2010, actor James Avery claimed in an interview that he would be playing a new Autobot named "Silverbolt".^[69] In June 2010, representatives of James Avery, responding to a bizarre rumor that he had passed away, confirmed that the actor was indeed alive and would be playing Silverbolt in Transformers 3.^[70] Despite this, neither Avery nor Silverbolt ultimately appear in Dark of the Moon.

• In January 2011, an Idaho newspaper^[71] announced voice actor Bill Fagerbakke as the voice of a "Chevy Impala stock car" that would appear in Dark of the Moon (presumably meaning one of the three Wreckers, who share that base altmode). Why Fagerbakke did not end up voicing any of the Wreckers in the final cut of the film is unknown.

• Shockwave's original voice actor, Corey Burton, expressed that he had no interest in voicing him for Dark of the Moon, explaining "[I] have practically no interest in that kind of mega-budget movie enterprise involvement" and that the inspiration for his Shockwave voice, David Warner, was rumored to have been considered.^[72] In the end, Shockwave's almost-entirely-wordless-snarl-based role would have been something of a waste of Warner; the role ultimately went to Frank Welker. There's a nice touch of symmetry in the casting, with Welker taking over a Burton-originated role not long after Burton took on a Welker-originated character in Animated Megatron.

• In an earlier draft of the movie's script, Megatron is sincere when he offers Optimus Prime a truce at the end. Optimus accepts, and Megatron and the remaining Decepticons leave Earth to rebuild Cybertron. This ending is used for the novelization and the comic adaptation. According to Michael Bay's website administrator Nelson, the ending was changed because the studio didn't want the adaptations to share the same ending with the film.^[73]

• Furthermore, it was originally supposed to be Mirage/"Dino" rather than Wheeljack/"Que" who would have been executed by Soundwave in Chicago. This version made it into the comic adaptation and the junior novelization.

• Another scrapped death for Mirage is seen in the novelization, in which he's decapitated by Starscream. His severed head is subsequently used by Soundwave to mock the Autobots before they are executed.

• A scrapped death for Wheeljack/"Que" involved the Autobot being run off of a Chicago street and into a river by the Driller, where he would have been torn to pieces by Decepticon troopers lying in wait in the river.

• The Twins, Skids and Mudflap, were originally supposed to return for Dark of the Moon, and to die at the hands of Sentinel Prime shortly after Ironhide. Even though General Motors provided two Chevrolet Sparks to serve as their alternate modes^[74] which were still spotted on the set as late as October 2010,^[75] the two were mostly edited out of the final movie (their vehicle modes can barely be glimpsed in a few brief shots). Michael Bay even went so far as to offer a $25,000 reward for anyone who would see the Twins "perform" in the movie.^[76] In the novelization and the comic adaptation, Skids and Mudflap still appear.

• Another plot point that was apparently dropped was an anti-Autobot sentiment among the human populace. Graffiti with a crossed out Autobot logo with the words "go home" below it showed up in several set photos.^[77][78] In the movie, Congress instantly passes a law exiling the Autobots from Earth following Sentinel Prime's ultimatum.

• Early working names included "Ultra Magnus" for Sentinel Prime,^[79] "Enzo" (after Enzo Ferrari)^[80] and "Rush" for Mirage/"Dino", "Warpath" for both Roadbuster and Topspin, "Tempest" for Topspin, "Flash" for Leadfoot, "Dreadwind" for Crankcase, "Hooligan" for Crowbar, "Dirtbag" for Hatchet, "Blitzwing" for Shockwave, "Breakdown" for Soundwave's new vehicular design, "Colossus" for the Driller,^[81] "Buzzard" for Laserbeak, "Undermine" for Igor and "Steeljaw" for Wheeljack/"Que". However, it's quite possible a few of these were code names used to keep character identities a secret during production as images of Megatron's new cloak obscured face refer to the character as "Cyclonus".^[82]

• Roadbuster was originally intended to have Jeff Gordon's #24 DuPont-sponsored Chevrolet Impala as his alternate mode, rather than Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s #88 Impala sponsored by AMP Energy.^[81]

• Que/Wheeljack's head was once considered to be based on Christopher Lloyd's Doc Brown from Back to the Future, rather than Albert Einstein.^[82]

• The Wreckers were originally intended to have a robot pet dog, whose working names also included "Warpath".^[81] Hasbro released a toy of the dog with the Human Alliance version of Leadfoot, named "Steeljaw".

• Megatron was originally supposed to appear in his Revenge of the Fallen form.^[83]

• In an interview with MTV.com, actors Shia LaBeouf and John Malkovich hinted at some smaller scenes that were cut from the final edit of the movie. In addition to some ad-libbing by the actors, one scene would have featured Malkovich's character, Bruce Brazos, attempting to get Carly's phone number.^[84]

• In the original announcement trailer for Dark of the Moon that was released in December 2010, the opening scene that featured Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin investigate the Ark on the moon had Sentinel Prime sport a gold and silver color scheme. For the final movie, his base color was changed to red, his left shoulder was lowered, his facial expression was changed to look more droopy, and the whole scene was given a considerable blue tint.

• Similar to the announcement trailer, the Super Bowl spot also features footage that contains unfinished CG effects. Most notably, the shot that depicts Optimus Prime, equipped with his flight pack, swooping down on the Decepticons before starting his epic rampage on the ground was changed by the time the first full trailer was released: Optimus himself and the first M1 Abrams Decepticon are both rescaled and moved to different positions on-screen; a Decepticon using the same body-type as Blackout and Grindor is removed entirely; and a Decepticon using the same body-type as Long Haul, as well as other generics, are added. The final movie uses pretty much the same version as seen in the trailer.

Leaks and disinformation

The movie's title, then "Transformers: The Dark of the Moon", was first discovered on October 6, 2010 via listings for childrens' books on Amazon. The title was further confirmed by a whois check for "www.transformersdarkofthemoonmovie.com".^[85] On October 31, the official website for all three movies, transformersmovie.com, was updated to show the Transformers: Dark of the Moon logo as well as international release dates.

Shockwave was heavily touted as the new main villain, no doubt in an attempt to conceal Sentinel Prime's unexpected betrayal halfway through the movie. A piece of information that commonly popped up in media coverage was the claim that Shockwave was the ruler of Cybertron while the other Autobots and Decepticons were duking it out on Earth.^[86] The last bit could be written off as a case of Chinese whispers: Shockwave got announced as the villain for Dark of the Moon, mainstream media (such as USA Today^[87]) who aren't versed in Transformers lore looked up the character, found out about his Generation 1 namesake's role in the cartoon, included it as a piece of trivia to show they did their research, and then the trivia note got picked up as gospel by other media. Nevertheless, it was included in the official plot summary by Paramount's German branch (which also claimed that Shockwave was the robot discovered inside the Ark as seen in the trailer).^[88]

Michael Bay and other official parties tried really hard to suppress the plot twist of the silver Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG given to Carly by Dylan turning out to be the new alternate mode of Soundwave. After the Mercedes had been spotted on the set, with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley exiting it,^[89] the first hint that it was more than meets the eye came with the trailer for the video game, which showed Soundwave's robot mode with car kibble such as wheels that heavily resembled those of the Mercedes. In addition, issue 2 of Transformers: Rising Storm depicted Soundwave's robot mode not only with car kibble, but with a Mercedes star on his chest, yet in issue 3, he appeared in his Revenge of the Fallen design again. Despite this, director Michael Bay insisted that the Mercedes was simply Carly's car, claiming that "Mercedes would never let us make their car into a bad Decepticon. Car company's [sic] really frown on that. I can't say what the game company and comics do that's their own thing. They don't have the same constraints movies do. It's Carly's car."^[90] On April 19, 2011, an event for promoting the Spider-Man: Edge of Time and Transformers: Dark of the Moon video games was held in London. As part of this, High Moon Studios released promotional stills from the Dark of the Moon game, one of which depicted Soundwave's new robot mode, again with Mercedes parts. However, a news embargo was enforced on the attending press, which was broken by South African video game site egamer.^[91] The site was soon asked to take down the article and images, as were various Transformers fan sites that had reported on the article and mirrored the images. On May 2, 2011, Hasbro's official Transformers website was given a massive overhaul, including the addition of the new Vector Sigma database. The entry for Soundwave initially identified his alternate mode as a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, but was soon changed to "satellite". On May 3, 2011, the embargo for the video game article and promotional stills was finally lifted, allowing sites to freely show the image of Soundwave's new robot mode.

On May 5, 2011, six days before the trade paperback collection's official release, preview pages from IDW's Dark of the Moon comic adaptation were discovered at Amazon. Through some bizarre system error, several dozen pages were made available, which included the major plot twist of Sentinel Prime showing his true colors and killing Ironhide. Unsurprisingly, this discovery was quickly posted on several major Transformers fan sites, often without a spoiler warning. The fact that, even without this leak, the trade paperback of the comic adaptation was released well over a month before the film's theatrical release probably didn't help matters either.

Notes

• A 126-page script for the movie was leaked in December 2009,^[92] causing much discussion among the fandom. It was later confirmed as fake.^[93]
• When word hit that Megan Fox was off the picture, Heidi Montag put an "audition" for her part on YouTube. Sir Ben Kingsley and Ashton Kutcher made fun of her, because life is rad.
• Several concepts that had been established by the first movie were (more or less) dropped with Dark of the Moon in favor for a more traditional, Generation 1-esque approach:
  • In the 2007 movie, the Autobots arrive on Earth in "Protoform" entry modes (which was subsequently used as the basis for the Decepticons' arrival in Planetfall). Prior to the release of the movie, screenwriter Roberto Orci defended this choice over the use of a spaceship such as the Ark by asking why "aliens who moonlight as vehicles need other vehicles to travel".^[94] He somewhat changed his mind after the movie had been released, however.^[95] After the Decepticons' ship, the Nemesis, had made an appearance in Revenge of the Fallen, Dark of the Moon not only introduces the movieverse version of the Ark, but also reveals that all the new Autobots who have been on Earth since before Revenge of the Fallen had arrived in their own spaceship, the Xantium, making the notion of individual Transformers traveling through space as "comets" an exception rather than the rule. Age of Extinction would also later depict the Autobots as stranded on Earth after the destruction of the Xantium in this film, further pointing towards the "comet" transportation as an abandoned concept. The Last Knight would also show this idea when the Autobots again declare themselves stranded, as they don't know where the Knight Ship is, only being able to finally go home after they acquired it.
  • Furthermore, Dark of the Moon largely abandons the idea of Transformers having all their weapons integrated into their bodies in favor of more traditional, separate weapons. For example, Optimus Prime, who had blades and hooks emerging from his forearms in the previous two movies now stores all his weapons (including an axe) as accessories inside his trailer (though he still carries some on his person). Also, Ironhide, whose cannons were previously affixed to his arms, now sports handheld firearms instead. Even Megatron, whose fusion cannon previously grew out of his arms, now has a hand-held shotgun. Though it can be argued that Optimus still has his swords in his arms during the Chicago battle, and both Ironhide and Megatron lost their integrated weapons in the previous film, the general change is still noticeable. The only ones who still seem to have the same converting arm cannons as in the previous movies are Bumblebee, Ratchet, and Starscream.
• Another change from the previous movies (though not rooted in Generation 1) is that Transformers that take damage in battle now spill a red liquid that is very obviously meant to resemble human blood.
• Bumblebee finally achieves a certain consistency between his two primary modes: Ever since his upgrade to a modern Camaro in Transformers (2007), his license plate had alternated between "900 STRA" in vehicle mode and "4NZZ 454" in robot mode. Dark of the Moon finally uses "900 STRA" for the robot mode as well. Hasbro's toys, which had previously favored the CG robot model's "4NZZ 454" (barring the occasional "4NZZZ 454" flub), follow suit.
• Speaking of license plates: Dutch's Maybach 62S Landaulet sports a German license plate, "S MM 6201", registered in the city of Stuttgart. In reality, that plate is registered to the manufacturer and used for promotional photos.^[96]
• Michael Bay's private Gulfstream Aerospace G-1159A jet (registration number N4500X) has a cameo in the movie as Charlotte Mearing's plane.
• For eleven years, Dark of the Moon held the record for the biggest Independence Day opening weekend at $115.9 million. And then, an animated movie starring Steve Carell with yellow henchmen on his side beat it by earning $128 million.^[97]

Foreign names

• Japanese: Transformers/Darkside Moon (トランスフォーマー/ダークサイド・ムーン Toransufōmā Dākusaido Mūn)
• Arabic: Almtahawilun: Aljanib Almuzlim Lilqamar (المتحولون: الجانب المظلم للقمر, "Transformers: The Dark Side of the Moon")
• Cantonese: (變形金剛: 黑月降臨, "Transformers: The Arrival of the Black Moon")
• Croatian: Transformeri: Tamna strana Mjeseca ("Transformers: The Dark Side of the Moon")
• Czech: Transformers 3
• Finnish: Transformers: Kuun pimeä puoli ("Transformers: The Dark Side of the Moon")
• French: Transformers 3 : La Face cachée de la Lune ("Transformers 3: The Hidden Side of the Moon")
• German: Transformers 3
• Greek: Transformers 3
• Hebrew: Rvvvtrkm 3. Flt hrch (רובוטריקים 3: אפלת הירח, "Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon")
• Hindi: Traansaphormars: Chaand ka Andhera (ट्राँसफॉर्मर्स: चांद का अंधेरा, "Transformers: Darkness of the Moon")
• Hungarian: Transformers 3
• Italian: Transformers 3
• Korean: Teulaenseupomeo 3 (트랜스포머 3, "Transformers 3")
• Latvian: Transformeri 3: Mēness no otras puses ("Transformers 3: The Moon on the Other Side")
• Lithuanian: Transformeriai: tamsioji Mėnulio pusė ("Transformers: The Dark Side of the Moon")
• Mandarin: Biànxíng Jīngāng 3 (Taiwan, 變形金剛３, "Transformers 3"), Biànxíng Jīngāng: Yuè Hēi zhī Shí (China, 变形金刚：月黑之时, "Transformers: When the Moon Becomes Black")
• Polish: Transformers 3
• Portuguese: Transformers: O Lado Oculto da Lua (Brazil, "Transformers: The Hidden Side of the Moon"), Transformers 3 (Portugal)
• Romanian: Transformers: Fața ascunsă a Lunii ("Transformers: The Hidden Face of the Moon")
• Russian: Transformery 3: Tjomnaja storona Luny (Трансформеры 3: Тёмная сторона Луны, "Transformers 3: The Dark Side of the Moon")
• Serbian: Transformers 3: Tama Meseca ("Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon")
• Spanish: Transformers: El Lado Oscuro de la Luna (Latin American, "Transformers: The Dark Side of the Moon"), Transformers 3 (Spain)
• Swedish: Transformers 3
• Tamil: Ṭirāṉsḥpārmas: Ṭārk op ti mūṉ (டிரான்ஸ்ஃபார்மஸ்: டார்க் ஒப் தி மூன், "Transformers: Dark of the Moon")
• Thai: Thrāns̄̒ fxr̒m me xr̒s̄ 3 (ทรานส์ฟอร์มเมอร์ส 3, "Transformers 3")
• Turkish: Transformers: Ayın Karanlık Yüzü ("Transformers: The Dark Side of the Moon")
• Ukrainian: Transformery: Temnyy bik Misyatsya (Трансформери: Темний бік Місяця, "Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon")

External links

• Transformersmovie.com
• Dark of the Moon at IMDB.com
• Dark of the Moon film on Wikipedia
• Dark of the Moon on RottenTomatoes.com

References

External links

• Official Transformers: Dark of the Moon website
• Trailers.Apple.com Transformers: Dark of the Moon page
• Designer portfolios: Josh Nizzi, Warren Manser, Joel Chang, The Aaron Sims Company (at Concept Art World), Wesley Burt (at Concept Art World), Massive Black, George Hull