Battle of the first robot, “Terminator” vs. “Transformers”

Jan 13, 2009 11:23 GMT  ·  By
A shot from the upcoming “Terminator: Salvation,” directed by McG and starring Christian Bale
   A shot from the upcoming “Terminator: Salvation,” directed by McG and starring Christian Bale

The summer of 2009 will bring us at least two major robot movies, and, at the same time, highly anticipated productions. “Terminator: Salvation” and “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” are not yet out of production and their respective directors, McG and Michael Bay, are already fighting over who is copying who. While Bay would think that it’s him who’s being ripped off, McG would like to strongly disagree.

It all began last week, when Michael Bay took a swing at the “Terminator” director in a post on his official website. In it, he was saying, in more or less words, that those movies that are trying to replicate the Transformer robots should better start looking somewhere else for inspiration. “We’ve seen the great year end movies, and watched the upcoming clips of the upcoming summer fare. We’ve seen certain movies coming out even try to duplicate Transformer size robots in their ads. Please, come on.” Bay wrote in what was interpreted as a direct attack at McG.

However, this is one director who will not let others drag his name through the mud. Even if the resemblance between the terminator machines called Harvesters, showed in “Terminator: Salvation” trailers, to Transformer robots has been pointed out by fans too, McG used a recent press conference to break it down to Bay: he did not invent giant robots, therefore, he cannot say his work is being replicated by other directors.

“It bothers me to tell you the truth. Ultimately, our large robots have nothing to do with the Transformers robots,” McG said. “I say with respect, giant robots have been the theme of film for a real long time. So we want to do everything we can to create separation.” he continued by explaining.

Moreover, even if the physical resemblance is there, that does not mean that one movie, or director, is shamelessly copying the other. “Our film’s about T-800s and the Marcus character and the Connor character, and this, that, and the other. So, to have people have a problem with that wouldn’t be working for us so we want to make sure there’s separation.” McG further explained.

Although this exchange of jabs took place with seemingly perfect composure, movie publications, not to mention millions of fans of both productions from all over the world, are already speaking of a T vs. T smackdown in 2009. Whether that be the case, stay tuned here.