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Transformers: The Complete First Season (25th Anniversary Edition)
R1 - America - Shout! Factory Review written by and copyright: Anthony Arrigo (27th December 2009). |
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The Show
 I’ll bet no one would have ever imagined that a Japanese toy line from the early 80’s would eventually go on to spawn two of the most financially successful theatrical films of all-time. I am, of course, referring to the "Transformers" brand and the two feature films it has led to, “Transformers” (2007) and “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” (2009). But many of the films’ fans may not have even been around when they made their debut on television screens across the country in 1984. That was the year when “The Transformers” (1984-1987) launched as a cartoon series. "The Transformers" originally began life as two different Japanese toy lines, Micro Change and Diaclone, which were bought by Hasbro during a toy show in Tokyo back in 1983. Hasbro had their own design team re-tool the figures, leading to the creation of both the Autobots (good guys) and the Decepticons (bad guys). Once they had the toy line cemented, and it enjoyed considerable success, Hasbro used their ties with Marvel Comics, who had previously worked with them on "G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero," to produce a comic series for the "Transformers." Once again, thanks to the popularity of comic books in the 80’s, the series was a huge success. After that, the only other place left for the "Transformers" to conquer was television. And, so, in 1984 the series debuted to an audience of hungry kids across the nation. The first season of the show introduces us to the "Transformers," both Autobots and Decepticons, and the world they inhabit on Cybertron. During an escape from the dying planet, the Autobots and Decepticons lose control of the ship they are piloting, causing them to crash land on Earth. Cut to 4 million years later, and a volcanic eruption reenergizes the buried vessel. Megatron (Frank Welker) and Starscream (Chris Latta) reawaken the remaining Decepticons and scavenge the surrounding area looking for energy to bring back to Cybertron to create “the ultimate weapon”. However, Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) has also been re-energized, and he awakens the remaining Autobots in an effort to stop Megatron and preserve peace on Earth. I was always more of a “He Man and the Masters of the Universe” (1983-1985) kid myself, but I did enjoy some episodes of “The Transformers” like everyone else my age. Watching this first season brought back some great memories of sitting in front of a massive CRT television set, my eyes glued to the screen for hours a day. The animation, score, voice acting, and (above my head at the time) occasional adult innuendo show how much stronger cartoons were back in those days than what is presented to children now. I haven’t seen an episode of the show in over 20 years, but I am familiar with the live-action films, so it was cool to be able to revisit this series and hear Peter Cullen voicing Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobot team. It was a nice touch by Michael Bay to cast him in the feature film, as Cullen has a very seasoned, authoritative tone that lends itself incredibly well to Prime’s nature. Megatron, however, sounds far better here as voiced by Frank Welker than he did in the films, where Hugo Weaving took over the role. There is a malicious hiss in his voice in the cartoon series that is sorely lacking from the films. Welker is a master voice artist, having done work for countless feature films, animated films and cartoon series. In fact, he’s even ranked as one of the all-time stars at the box office based solely on the revenue films he has participated in have generated. This first season set introduces us to a good portion of the Autobots and Decepticons, as well as some of the more popular offshoots, namely, the Dinobots and the Insecticons. The latter half of this season features both heavily. The first two seasons of the television series focused on all four separate groups, but after the feature animated film, “Transformers: The Movie” (1986), the third season began to introduce some new characters. I know it’s difficult to work in, but I’d love to see the Dinobots make a feature-film appearance in a future "Transformers" film, though I don’t know exactly how they’d make that work. But they are a great addition to the universe that Hasbro created. One thing that surprised me about the series is how much I enjoyed the score. I had forgotten how cool the synth-heavy electronic score for the original series was. Anne Bryant, who wrote the main theme, had also worked on a number of popular 80’s cartoon series. I’m glad that they went with a score that matches the overall tone of the series, and not just something generic and uninspired in an assumption that kids wouldn’t care. Shout Factory get some bonus points here for including the original bumpers that came before and after the commercial break as they were shown on television. Though they do get a little old after the first couple of times, it’s still a nice touch to have them included here. It’s a minor detail like this that shows their commitment to bringing the show to its fan in the most complete way possible. “The Complete First Season” of “The Transformers” contains the following episodes spread out over 2 discs: - “More Than Meets the Eye, Part 1” - “More Than Meets the Eye, Part 2” - “More Than Meets the Eye, Part 3” - “Transport to Oblivion” - “Roll For It” - “Divide and Conquer” - “Fire in the Sky” - “S.O.S. Dinobots” - “Fire on the Mountain” - “War of the Dinobots” - “The Ultimate Doom, Part 1” - “The Ultimate Doom, Part 2” - “The Ultimate Doom, Part 3” - “Countdown to Extinction” - “A Plague of Insecticons” - “Heavy Metal War”
Video
Each of the show’s episodes is presented in the original 1.33:1 full-frame aspect ratio. For an 80’s cartoon series, this looks very solid. According to the press release, the episodes have all been restored to their original broadcast versions, and they look very good. Colors are a bit muted at times, and there are some specks and scratches that appear frequently, but nothing that makes watching the show any less great. Those of us who watched cartoons in the 80’s will enjoy the fact that, while each episode does look considerably cleaner and more defined than ever before, they aren’t all so polished that it looks waxy or unnatural. Animation lines look sharp and black; there is no bleeding of colors to be seen. This is a fantastic clean-up job for a series that is now 25 (!) years old.
Audio
Audio is adequate, but never impressive. The newly-created English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track sounds clean. There is little in terms of directionality or dynamic range, but this is a kids’ cartoon show, a far cry from the bombastic feature-length films. There are no hisses, pop or cracks during dialogue or scenes of action. That fact alone is enough to keep me happy with this presentation. There are no optional subtitles.
Extras
There’s not a whole lot in the way of extras for this inaugural season offering. We get a rather short featurette, some original vintage Hasbro toy commercials, a public service announcement, a printable script and a couple of bonus trailers. I’m surprised that, given the enormous success of the two theatrical films, they didn’t pile on the bonus stuff heavily. A few commentary tracks would have been a nice addition, at the least. DISC ONE: Includes bonus trailers for: - "Oban: Star Racers" runs for 1 minute and 6 seconds. - "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Vol. XIV" runs for 1 minute and 5 seconds. DISC TWO: There are no extras on this disc. DISC THREE: “Triple Changer: From Toy to Comic to Screen” is a featurette which runs for 19 minutes and 53 seconds. The creative teams behind the creation of the "Transformers" talk about the natural transition from starting off as a toy, moving into the printed world of comic books and, finally, the popular television show. There was a savvy marketing team in place, as well as the lead designers, who knew how to make the product as widespread as possible, and it certainly worked. There are original commercials available for the following: - “Optimus Prime and Megatron” runs for 30 seconds. - “Insecticons and Dinobots” runs for 28 seconds. - “G2 Optimus Prime” runs for 32 seconds. All of the commercials are presented in rather poor VHS-level quality and, amusingly, the faces of the children who star in the ads have been digitally blurred. A public service announcement is available for the following: - “Bumblebee: Running Away from Home” runs for 31 seconds. Man, watching stuff like this again sure makes me miss the cartoons of the 80’s. Finally, there is a printable script for the episode “Transport to Oblivion”. You just have to insert the DVD into a computer drive and look for the .PDF file.
Packaging
The 3-disc set comes housed in a shiny side-loading slipcover, with the 3 discs housed inside slimline cases. The set also includes a well-done booklet with episode descriptions, and an Autobots logo magnet.
Overall
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