More Ask Orci Answers

Transformers, Star Trek, Fringe, Eagle Eye, etc writer Roberto Orci did a stop by his thread on the Don Murphy forums and covered a few topics about Transformers 2 including writing, editing, and being a fan boy.

would you say that di Bonaventura’s latest comment that there are “40-odd” robots is a gross exaggeration?
No.

Will the name "Spike" be uttered by anyone in TF2?
No.

if the decepticons are in fact mostly CGI, would that give you greater flexibility in terms of rewrites, or not? would it also mean that ILM can still tweak their designs even till now?
It does give us some freedom. We can even add a scene or two, if need be, which we are mulling over.

now that you've had chance to (hopefully!) devote more screen time to him, how do you feel about the character of Starscream?
He has a much more g1 feel, finally.

Are these scenes which add and help the plot? Serve the fanbase some fanboy goodness? Or are to help with the humor aspect?
Serve fan boy goodness. One of the scenes we're mulling over was Bay's idea, and he pitched it as, "you and the fans are gonna love this..."

Will the camera angles & editing be a bit more steady in TF2? In TF1, people often felt the scenes involving the actual Transformers, where too chopped up to get a clear idea of what's onscreen. I mean, imo the better martial arts movies employ static camera's and continuous editing ; not needing quick edit cuts and weird angles to hide any potential shortcoming. Similar principle would apply to Transformers onscreen, right?
Yes, quite often. (I second this, please end the constant redux of the Bourne movies style. Quantum of Solace's taking it to the nth degree to horrible effect should finally put that filming style to bed.)

do you consider yourself a fanboy and are there things that you get giddy and excited about seeing, that when Bay says "alright cool..lets do it" or when he suggests fanboyish ideas that you think to yourself... "fuck yeah...this is gonna be awesome" and do you have a backlog of fanboyish ideas sitting in the back of your mind incase a good opportunity arises?
I think I am half and half. When Bay pitches a cool idea, he can sometimes get my inner fan boy going, but my professional screenwriter mind has to remain critical and active. Weird balance. If I weren't in this profession, I would be all fan boy.