Fails the Bechdel test
The Transformers: The Movie
1986. Directed by Nelson Shin, written by Ron Friedman.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
The film has at least two women characters. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 0 out of 3.
The film
This theatrical movie based on the television series (which was also based on a popular multiform robot toyline) did not impress very well at the box office. The movie takes place in 2005, twenty years after the television series, and chronicles the efforts of the heroic Autobots to defend their homeworld Cybertron from the evil Decepticons. Despite the invasion, the Autobots are determined to retake their homeworld and head for Autobot City on Earth for supplies. The Decepticons hijack and commandeer their ship, resulting in a fierce battle before a hideous menace heads their way. That hideous menace is the colossal demon known as Unicron, who has been ready to consume any massive planet that stands in its way. The only thing that can stop Unicron is the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, which is possessed by the Autobots and which the Decepticons, through Unicron's orders, plan to take away from them.
- Released
- 08 Aug 1986
- Genres
- Animation, Action, Adventure
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 7.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 43 / 100
- Awards
- 2 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Hot Rod 89 lines, man
- Kup 64 lines, man
- Daniel 42 lines, man
- Galvatron 39 lines, man
- Ultra Magnus 39 lines, man
- Megatron 36 lines, man
- Springer 35 lines, man
- Grimlock 27 lines, man
- Unicron 25 lines, man
- Starscream 22 lines, man
Full cast, 33 people
- Judd Nelson as Hot Rod / Rodimus Prime (voice)
- Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime / Ironhide (voice)
- Frank Welker as Soundwave / Megatron / Rumble / Frenzy / Wheelie (voice)
- Leonard Nimoy as Galvatron (voice)
- Orson Welles as Unicron (voice)
- Casey Kasem as Cliffjumper (voice)
- Dan Gilvezan as Bumblebee (voice)
- Scatman Crothers as Jazz (voice)
- Susan Blu as Arcee (voice)
- Eric Idle as Wreck-Gar (voice)
- Robert Stack as Ultra Magnus (voice)
- Norman Alden as Kranix (voice)
- Jack Angel as Astrotrain (voice)
- Michael Bell as Prowl / Scrapper / Swoop / Junkion (voice)
- Gregg Berger as Grimlock (voice)
- Lionel Stander as Kup (voice)
- John Moschitta Jr. as Blurr (voice)
- Buster Jones as Blaster (voice)
- Bud Davis as Dirge (voice)
- Walker Edmiston as Inferno (voice)
- Paul Eiding as Perceptor (voice)
- Neil Ross as Bonecrusher / Hook / Springer / Slag (voice)
- Corey Burton as Spike / Brawn / Shockwave (voice)
- Roger C. Carmel as Cyclonus / Quintesson Leader (voice)
- Arthur Burghardt as Devastator (voice)
- Don Messick as Gears (voice)
- Ed Gilbert as Blitzwing (voice)
- Clive Revill as Kickback (voice)
- Hal Rayle as Shrapnel (voice)
- David Mendenhall as Daniel (voice)
- Victor Caroli as Narrator (voice)
- Stan Jones as Scourge (voice)
- Christopher Collins as Starscream / Laserbeak (voice)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 60
Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.
Show the numbers
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 2 | 0 | 15 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 7 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 67 |
| 7 to 8 | 3 | 42 |
| 9 to 10 | 1 | 49 |
| 11 to 12 | 0 | 21 |
| 13 to 14 | 0 | 56 |
| 15 to 16 | 3 | 53 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 7 |
| 19 to 20 | 0 | 20 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 6 |
| 23 to 24 | 1 | 63 |
| 25 to 26 | 4 | 20 |
| 27 to 28 | 0 | 12 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 50 |
| 31 to 32 | 2 | 65 |
| 33 to 34 | 1 | 54 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 4 |
| 37 to 38 | 0 | 3 |
| 39 to 40 | 0 | 3 |
| 41 to 42 | 0 | 1 |
| 43 to 44 | 1 | 4 |
| 45 to 46 | 0 | 16 |
| 47 to 48 | 2 | 22 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 4 |
| 51 to 52 | 0 | 7 |
| 53 to 54 | 0 | 0 |
| 55 to 56 | 0 | 0 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 5 |
| 59 to 60 | 0 | 1 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 3 are women's.
18 lines from women, 677 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
1 women and 30 men in the cast. 2 women and 70 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 131 of 731.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 130 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 3% of the words (213), men 97% (6,550).
Exhibit D: the test the other way
Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
1
Two men
68
Exhibit E: behind the camera
1 of the 16 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 4% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Nelson Shin (man)
- Written by
- Ron Friedman (man)
- Produced by
- Joe Bacal (gender not listed), Tom Griffin (man)
- Shot by
- Masatoshi Fukui (man)
- Edited by
- David Hankins (man), Steven C. Brown (man), Ivan Bilancio (man), Shinichi Fukumitsu (man), Shinji Shimizu (man), Susan L. Vovsi (gender not listed)
- Music by
- Vince DiCola (man)
- Production design by
- Floro Dery (gender not listed)
- Cast by
- Carol Dudley (gender not listed), Reuben Cannon (man), Barbara Harris (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
0 women, 12 men, 12 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 16 men, 6 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 8 men, 5 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 5 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 0 men, 4 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 38 on average. Men: 49 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Susan Blu 38
Men
Judd Nelson 26, Dan Gilvezan 35, Frank Welker 40, Eric Idle 43, Peter Cullen 45, Casey Kasem 54, Leonard Nimoy 55, Orson Welles 71, Scatman Crothers 76
Exhibit G: the money
It made 1.7 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $6 million
- Box office
- $10 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 60 scenes and 731 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
