which do you prefer? What context do you want it to work in.. IE; Spark = personality and Hard Drive = Memories etc...

Is the term "hard drive" ever used in G1? I doubt it, since most PCs didn't even have hard drives at that point. (Plus it would have been called a "hard disk" back then. )

But if you're saying, "do you prefer the G1 concept of robot life or the BW/BM one?", then I'd say I prefer G1 -- at least as far as the new movie goes -- as long as you're actually talking about fully inorganic machines. The whole "spark" thing worked in BW/BM because of the techno-organic theme that ran throughout both series. But when you're dealing with cars and jets and stuff, all the spiritual / metaphysical stuff can just add clutter IMO.

Neither.

i want them to be sentient... for their emotions to be more than just programming. I don't necessarily want "souls" per say but i definatly want there to be a sense of "lifeness" to them.

This thread has been answered by the man himself.. no sparks in the first movie (see Don Murphy thread)

Sparks yes, hard drives no. Reason? GAME OVER OPTIMUS PRIME!

Although I would go the step further and say that I really don't care if they ever dive into the metaphysical in TF shows or movies again.

There are so many other stories that could be done about sentient machines that to bring the concept of robotic souls into it would be a bit too much to deal with.

But that's just my opinion. But since I'm rarely in the majority when it comes to stuff like this, I'm sure others will differ.

ok my beef with a spark is that it is not a soul, meaning with all spark snatching that megs did, transplanting them in bodies at will, then erasing memories. that is not a definition of a soul.

Sparks allow a being to never die, as long as there is a willing receptical. I need transformers to DIE and STAY DEAD.... no spark transplanting no reformatting, I want this guy DEAD! I want his family DEAD! I want his house burned to the ground! I want to go there in the middle of the night and piss on his ashes!

...sorry, drifted into quoting the Untouchables at the end there, but you get my idea

I'm not to big on the idea of sparks cause they always come back. I prefer when a TF is damaged bad enough, all data is lost and therefore the being dies. If they cannot be killed, then it removes the fear of the individual and the show wouldn't have any suspense.

well, the concept of a spark still allows a character to die, look at Dinobot. it was just Starscream who couldn't, and that was just a follow-up to the G1 stories in season 3. The spark I think was more of an attempt to in a sense humanize the transformers, in a sense, making their life and death even that much more dramatic. and allowing the fans to more easily identify with the characters.
and if by "not being able to die" you mean just stasis lock, then it was Furman, I think, who introduced that into the original Marvel comic, with no reference to sparks. transformers were simply damaged to the point were they had to be put into a kind of "sleep mode".
personally, I'm for the idea of something like sparks, because then the transformers are really more than just intelligent robots, they're actual life forms, actual individuals, who can't simply be reprogrammed for a different purpose (unlike how it was carried off in Beast Wars). I think that idea, that the transformers are more than machines, is something that really makes them unique to science fiction, and that seems to be the stance that the writers of the new comics had been taking. it was refreshing to me.

I like it the way Oneday sumed it up...

I want them to have Sparks or something to the equivalent of an energy source that grants them the emotions and such, making them more than Intelligent Robots with sentient programming...cause what then stops an eraser virus from qiping Prime clean and then reprogramming him into a Decepticon when he is in 'sleep mode'...not much really...so...I know there could be all kinds of anti-virus stuff and whatnot protection...but come on...I hope they have more than just programming.

Wait.. first movie?? There's gonna be more than one?? Sorry, I'm a little behind here..

Down with some kind of soul for robots.. weither it be sparks or not. The way I saw sparks, it was more like the combustion flame that kept the machine running. The heart of it if you will.. but I don't think it contains a Transformer's soul.. that's in the data tracks.. you can't disbute Dinobot downloading his memories aside for whatever the reason in Bad Spark..

No sparks! The last thing the movies need is metaphysics/religion messing things up and leaving people scratching their heads.

I'd like to see 'em as the "mind" of the bot. Not a soul, per se, but the part that contains the emotions. Not spiritual, no "all sparks join the matrix," but more, "If you're shot in the spark, you die." The idea of memories on a hard drive makes them seem less alive.

I like the concept of sparks best, as it makes them more alive, in a sense. I personaly see the spark as more than just the heart that keeps the machine alive. The closewst thing to describe it would be the soul - it is the core essence of a transformer, it's life and basic character. However, the core character can be changed through spark manipulation/sparkwashing. (A difficult process only achieved three times - by Starscream on Skyfire in G1; by the Predacon Trio on Hook in RiD; and in its most dangerous way by Megatron on Jet Storm/Silverbolt, Thrust/Waspinator, and Tankor/Rhinox in BM.)

That said, I believe, like others, that sparks (or whatever it is) shouldn't be a major focus in the first movie. Perhaps just mention it in passing. Allow it to be reserved for later, or just left in passing comments.

It makes sense that the same structure that contains memories would also contain personality, "life", etc.

G1 got along just fine without sparks. The movies will, too.

They DO have hard drives. They're just called "Memory Banks"!!!!

Spark Drives

I only want Sparks in the movie(s) if they plan on having Primus otherwise leave then out.

I think it's more the abuse of Sparks in Energon that turned me off on the idea, though I admit it was never all that appealing to me to begin with. Not so much that robots can't have 'souls', but lotsa other stuff that's off topic and ranty and thus I'll refrain from speaking here just doesn't mesh well with me.

That all aside, I think it was Energon that went with the Spark overkill. I mean, okay, being blown up to bits as in Beast Wars, fine, seemed that as long as you had the head, just plop them in the CR Chamber and it's fine.

But in Energon, Demolisher was VAPORIZED, and was brought back in a 20 second sequence where Megs was apparently trying to hypnotize Demolisher into not freaking out when he finds out he's gone from a tank to a dumptruck.

Then there was Inferno, who died as an Autobot, after falling into the SUN, and was brought back 2 eps later, none the worst for wear and fully purged of any infestations. Jeepers, why not just shoot the guy when he was in Autobot mode and give him a new body? Saves all that character development time.

It's one thing to be all smashed up, pronounced dead, then be rebuilt by an evil ancient race who apparently know more about the workings of your race than your own 'cause they were supposedly your creators. But it's another thing to be atomized and brought back in a matter of seconds as a matter of whim.

It takes away the tension y'know? Granted Energon is supposed to be a kiddy show.

Sparks are part of the mythology arent they? i mean without them theyre just machines

Sparks should be used in the movie but only to a minimal extent as it may get to confusing for most viewers/critics who then hate the movie because they have to think about it later on.

MTMTE got along just fine in delivering the idea of sentient artificial life. No sparks were needed. True, artificial intelligence becoming something more than the sum of its parts is a common theme in science fiction, but getting into souls or "sparks" smells of metaphysics, and ain't that, like, the opposite of robots?

i prefer to think of sparks as the true form of the tf's, ie, incorporal energy beings who inhabit mechanical bodies that allow them to interact with the physical world.

both,....personaly i like the idea of the spark, but also the idea of each transformer having an onboard computer seperate from their being. as was the case in beast wars.