Michael Bay should remake The Centurions

Michael Bay has departed from the Transformers franchise after many years and while some fans are celebrating this, I remain neutral. Partially because I think the films, while in some ways indeed a mess, weren't overall as bad as people make them to be and had in fact something to offer. Bay created with these films a formula of his own and tried to offer a blockbuster package that would attempt to check all the right boxes even if it didn't entirely work out. Point being, I think he had there something going and despite the struggles there was a market for it. Paramount will obviously continue to make more, they would be dumb to stop at this point, but what about Bay? After parting ways he lost a global franchise and last heard is said to be working on Time Salvager and Little America. Surely a break from such a big brand with so much publicity and pressure is something he would welcome. At least momentarily to work on something else for a change and cool down. But what about after that? Certainly, even if Bay didn't entirely enjoy doing Transformers for various reasons, he saw the potential. No doubt he would eventually want to return to be at the helm of something slightly smaller, more under control, yet similar in nature. Something that would share the key traits, yet presented a different take with new challenges and approach, and something where he could again take advantage of the technology that would drive it. The IP that will kickstart another chapter of his career in question?

The Centurions

Some of you might know this animated series, either you caught it during its original run in the 1980s or when it aired on Cartoon Network in the mid-1990s or Boomerang in mid-2000s. Some of you might be hearing about it the first time. Either way, after looking at the intro above, I think you will understand where I'm coming from. In short, this is Bay's Transformers and much more. It has a lot of things in common, yet at the same time is its own thing with a lot of things on top that set it apart and make it more contemporary, believable and grounded. It has it all:

• Near possible future (with added dystopian/cyberpunk elements that are trendy)
• Cyborgs (part man, part machine - which brings up various questions on its own)
• Three distinctive main heroes with different expertise (3 is a perfect number and each one is good at something else - water, land, air)
• Potential for more Centurions (last cartoon episodes include additional two; theoretically you can never run out and keep adding new ones similarly to the Transformers)
• Team work (they gotta work together)
• Explosions and tons of action (Bay is great at those)
• Technology (cyborgs, exoframes, weapons, teleport, lazers, etc.)
• Scientific elements (there were educational segments at end of each episode)
• One main antagonist (evil mad robo scientist) with cyborg sidekick
• Plethora of villain of the week characters and situations (chameleon, magician, dinosaurs)
• Dozens of locations (city which is based on NYC, space station, space, desert, ocean, island, arctic)
• Hot and smart woman (one regularly assists them as operator from space; everyone likes good female characters)
• Morphing (our heroes pretty much become one with their weapons thanks to their exosuits; basically Power Rangers on steroids)
• Battle Cry! (If people love "It's morphing time", they'll love "Power Xtreme")
• Colorful suits (like MMPR, these guys are colorful, kids love colors along with action mentioned above)
• 80s animated series (80s stuff is automatically cool)
• Merchandise (original had toys/action figures/comics)
• Big studio (series is owned by Warner Bros)
• Trilogy/spin-off material (you can't fit all of the above entirely into just one film, 65 episodes to work with)

I believe this an underrated, if not forgotten, gem from the 80s that is just waiting to be brought back. and I think Michael Bay given his experience and specialization is the right guy to do it. It could be his next big franchise. The material is there. It's just a matter of cleverly adapting it. I think he ought to do it, because it would be feel familiar to him and at the same time provide enough of a challenge. Take Transformers and Ninja Turtles, both on which Bay worked on, put them together and you get a rough idea what would be ahead of him. Would be combination of practical and CGI. I think we're at a point when it can be done. Yes, it probably wouldn't be cheap. Yes, there are plenty of other directors in Hollywood. Yes, Bay perhaps would need to step up his game in a way. Rupert Sanders for example would be better from world building perspective. But all in all I think Michael comes closest and I feel it would be a shame if Hollywood passed on this project.

I guess it's obvious I'm a fan of the show by now and maybe I'm naive or this post is full of holes like cheese. But it's been on my mind for months and I feel the need to put it out there for discussion.