DVD Review: Transfomers: The Complete First Season

With Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen hitting theaters this summer, it’s only fitting that the Shout! Factory release The Transformers: The Complete First Season, the original Saturday morning cartoon series celebrating its 25th-year anniversary. And why not? The first season set the bar for the transforming-robot phenomenon, creating one of the largest toy/cartoon/comic/movie franchises in history. Get ready to transform and roll with The Transformers, a series that proves to be more than meets the eye!

The general storyline for the 16 episodes of The Transformers can be best summarized by the show’s nostalgia-inducing and downright catchy theme song. “Transformers! More than meets the eye! Transformers! Autobots wage their battle to destroy

the evil forces of the Decepticons! Transformers! Robots in disguise! Transformers!” That’s the nuts and bolts of the show. Good and bad robots (Autobots and Decepticons, respectfully) from the planet Cybertron battle each other on Earth after crash-landing here over four million years ago. The Decepticons’ mission is to steal the Earth’s energy and place it into Engergon Cubes to take back to their home planet. The Autobots, having formed an alliance with humans, do everything they can to stop the Decepticons, and the battle between the two wages on throughout the season. The basic storyline can get repetitive, but if you properly space out the episodes (and don’t knock out the whole season in one sitting) the repetitiveness shouldn’t affect you.

Optimus Prime, Megatron, Bumblebee, Starscream, and even the Autobots’ human counterparts Sparkplug and Spike star in the first season, with appearances by the Autobot-made Dinobots and the evil Insectibots. These new robot breeds were nice additions to the show, and made it easy to see how the series captivated audiences across the board. A cool toy that simultaneously spawned a cool show, The Transformers mastered the marketing technique of introducing new characters when new additions to the toy line became available. But instead of being an extravagant gimmick, the show was more complex, layered, and better than you’d expect.

The DVD has new special features not found on the previously released DVDs of the series, as well as never-before-seen animation sequences restored and digitally remastered. Included in the special features is a documentary of how The Transformers was created and how it went from toys to comics to the small screen. The bonus disc also includes original Transformers toy commercials, a Public Service Announcement from Bumblebee, a downloadable script of one of the season’s episodes, and a cool magnet of the Autobots symbol, perfectly sized to slap on the front of your car.

While there were plenty of special features, I was a bit disappointed with the self-promoting end-all be-all documentary, mostly because I wanted more insights into how The Transformers became the phenomenon it became, and where the franchise went after the first season. However, as a documentary on just the first season, it’s a decent feature detailing the background of how the toys, the comics, and the show meshed together. Being a product of the ’80s myself, the original toy commercials were an enjoyable step into the past, even with the odd blurred-out faces of the kids selling the products, as was the PSA of Bumblebee reminding me that “knowing is half the battle.”

If you’re a fan of The Transformers in any way, shape, or form, then I’d highly recommend picking up The Complete First Season of The Transformers on DVD. Every episode is rich in color and looks amazing in their remastery, and then there’s that incredibly catchy theme song that you just can’t shake. While a 5.1 audio soundtrack would have been welcomed, the 2.0 stereo mix is triumphant in its transfer and sounds better than it has before. The first season offers a special glimpse into the origins of The Transformers, introduces iconic characters to The Transformers universe, and will likely get your pumped for Transformers: Rise of the Fallen. While the special features could have been better, the three-disc set is still a quality buy and a worthy addition to your DVD collection.

Transform and roll out with The Transformers: The Complete First Season, available June 16 from the Shout! Factory.