Transformers – Season Two, Volume One (25th Anniversary Edition/Animation
Series/Shout! Factory DVD Set)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: D Episodes: B
No your
eyes aren’t fooling you Transformers has
returned to DVD with Season Two, Volume
One and the animated series is better than ever. After countless spin-offs, toys and
blockbuster films it is still the original animated series that deserves the
most praise. Not only did Transformers revolution animation in
the 1980’s, but it created solid groundwork for future generations to add on to
and build off of to create even more exciting projects. Transformer:
Season Two, Volume One is much like the Complete First Season (that was already released) in that it
continues to follow the insanely thin (but creative) premise of the Autobots
vs. the Decepticons; as they battle it out on modern planet earth.
Transformers was an animated series created
for no other reason than to sell toys (tons and tons of toys); so it is not
unreasonable to say that the show’s premise did not evolve much with time. Both Hasbro and the creative entities behind
the Transformers animated series
(smartly) figured it was easiest and most profitable to stick with a working
formula. The series continued to deliver
the same “smash em’ up” action, but this season managed to introduce a host of
new supporting characters; obviously with the intention that children would buy
the newest toys as well.
This
volume release consists of 28 great episodes in their original production
order; leaving a total of 21 episodes left for Season Two, Volume 2. The
episodes included on this set are as follows:
1. Autobot
Spike
2. The
Immobilizer
3. Dinobot Island, Part I
4. Dinobot Island, Part II
5. Traitor
6. Enter
the Nightbird
7. Changing
Gear
8. A
Prime Problem
9. Atlantis,
Arise
10. Attack
of the Autobots
11. Microbots
12. The
Master Builder
13. The
Insecticon Syndrome
14. Day
of the Machines
15. Megatron’s
Master Plan, Part I
16. Megatron’s
Master Plan, Part II
17. Auto
Berserk
18. City
of Steel
19. Desertion
of Dinobots, Part I
20. Desertion
of Dinobots, Part II
21. Blaster
Blues
22. A
Decepticon Raider in King Arthur’s Court
23. The
God Gambit
24. The
Core
25. Make
Tracks
26. The
Autobot Run
27. Golden
Lagoon
28. Quest
for Survival
The technical features on Transformers are the same as they were
in the First Season release; not
horrible, but not the best either. I
must say, however, that the series’ technical features have improved greatly
over their previous DVD release; getting rid of some but not all of the picture
and sound issues. As previously
mentioned, the number of inconsistencies appearing in the form of color mishaps
and video discrepancies on original Transformer
Series releases angered many fans and Shout!
Factory was taking no chances letting fans down this time around. Whereas the picture and sound are by no means
perfect, they are at least an improvement.
The video again is presented in a clean and clear 1.33 X 1 full screen
as it was originally aired. The image
has solid colors and better blacks, but dirt and debris still bring down the
picture’s quality and fans will notice it.
The sound is a Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Mix that gets the job done on
both sets; as nothing is fancy but everything can be heard clearly without any
additional noise.
Sadly there are no extras on this
set, but it is a nice trade off as the set is affordable and hopefully there is
more to come.
This is a great and classic series
that I highly recommend. It truly says
something about a series when 25 years later brand new audiences are still enjoying
it. There is certainly more than meets
the eyes.
-
Michael P. Dougherty II
