Ask Orci: Nimoy Voicing A Transformers 2 Character?

Time for another summary of Transformers writer Roberto Orci's Q&A threads on the Don Murphy and TFW2005 forums. It is about two weeks worth of answers and covers early plans for Transformers I, mostly cryptic comments on Transformers 2 story lines, will the writers return for Transformers 3 and potential voice for The Fallen. My comments are in parenthesis.

Will Barricade's disappearance be explained in ROTF?
Explained is a very specific kinda word... implied may be more like it

Will you guys seriously rethink about staying on?
Time for fresh blood!

Just to be clear, what is your reason for not writing it? If the other main players comes back and they don't see a need for fresh blood, then why would you?
Not clear who is coming back yet, but the main reason we would move on is because we risk getting stale and comfortable. If you only sing one song for too long, you miss the opportunity to sing news songs. We'll see.
(It should be noted that Orci and Alex Kurtzman both indicated they would not return to write Transformers 2. TF3 is three years away so plenty of time to change their mind again. Honestly, usually this kind of talk in Hollywood translates to "how much will you pay me to return?" as don't want to appear to eager.)

who thought of the name for the movie? you, michael bay, alex, or someone else?
Alex.

how many fans do you think saw past Michael's "no Megatron" announcement? And second, is he aware that his comment about Megs only appearing in a flashback kind of contradicts Hugo Weaving's hint that the Allspark shard has something to do with Megatron's resurrection?
god love him
(Probably good idea to not answer directly.)

Did the fallen enslave the Egyptians to build the pyramids (which actually are space bridges)?
Hmm. Getting warm

Did the Egyptians seal the fallen within his own design?
Also very warm but not quite.

Did you ever intend for Blackout and Brawl to speak?
Yes.

Would you consider a giant battle in the Grand Canyon?
We actually had a giant battle in the Grand Canyon in the very first draft of the first movie.

Is there really still time to add stuff and how much stuff can be added at this point?
On the first movie, we were re-writing dialogue until about 2 weeks before release!

can you let us know how many Autobots can fly in the movie?
very few
(So basically 1 or more. My guess is only 1 and that is Jetfire.)

I know very early in development Mike Bay said that there would be a geriatric robot. Was it already set there and then that Jetfre would be that bot, or did you and the writers/Bay decide later that Jetfire would suit that type of character?
We decided Jetfire would fit after the idea came up to have a geriatric robot.

Would you consider this movie the "Empire Strikes Back" of the Transformer movie line (dark, feeling of hopelessness, crazy reveal/twists/turns)?
yes

Bay mentioned in passing that about 40 bots are in the movie. Sound about right or less/more?
sounds about right

Will The Fallen have any dialogue?
Yes.

Can you name the 3 scenes that were filmed in IMAX format?
Yes.
(The danger of asking closed questions.)

Will Prime survive the movie?
Prime's spirit can never die.
(Nice non-answer, no details but gives a sense of impending doom for Prime).

Did you decide to not have Megatron renamed Galvatron for the general audience?
yes.

Similarly, did you intend Sideways (Audi R8) to be Barricade?
We'll see

which of the 2 movies was more difficult to get along with the story.
Movie 1 was the hardest thing have ever worked on. Period. Nobody could imagine what it was, everyone thought it was just a silly cartoon or a toy commercial, the studio wasn't sure if the robots should talk, we had to come up with a story that would attract someone like Bay, and we had budgetary constraints that made it necessary to generate a significant human story which was counterintuitive to some Transfans. By the second movie, the paradigm of the franchise was clear.

what are your feelings towards the idea of Leonard Nimoy doing the voice of the Fallen?
Would love it. I actually talked to him about it, given the odd coincidence that he is Michael Bay's cousin through marriage, but fan outcry has also put Welker in the running.
(Who to support? Quite a conundrum for Transfans. Nimoy is the iconic Spock of Star Trek and part of Transformers past as the voice of Galvatron (and Unicron) for 1986's Transformers: The Movie while Welker is was the voice of Megatron, Galvatron, Soundwave and many others.)