The Transformers Season One
SCORE: 79
I can barely believe it has been 25 years since The Transformers came out in America. Shout Factory is teaming up with Hasbro to release The Transformers Season One on DVD. This package contains the first sixteen cartoons from the 1980’s. I remember this cartoon from when I was a child. Megatron, Optimus Prime, Starscream, Devastator, the Dinobots and many more appear on this three disc set. The first two discs are set aside for the television shows, and the last one has the bonus features on it.
I remember there was a lot of controversy surrounding The Transformers in the 1980’s. I remember being shocked with how many violent acts were contained within an average cartoon. The thing I realize 25 years later is the robots were getting repaired, and most of the shots missed. The Transforming effects were good for the time, but have not withstood the test of time.
The Transformers Season One is a show of contrasts. The Autobots are generally well behaved, and always helping out others. The Decepticons call others fools, stupid, and are very selfish. A big theme of the show is gathering resources from earth in order to revitalize their home planet of Cybertron. As an adult I noticed that Cybertron was ravaged thanks to years of war. This message is very subtle though.
Sixteen episodes is more in a season than a lot of current cartoons put in their seasons. There are a few interesting extras like the archived toy commercials, and Public Service Announcement. The quality of these are not the greatest though. I really like the Triple Changer Feature that gave a lot of behind the scenes to the origins of The Transformers in the United States.
I ran into no issues navigating the menu screens of The Transformers Season One. They are laid out in a way that exhibits an intelligent design. The only quibble I have is having to wait for the main menu screen to go through its animations before a selection can be made. I enjoyed watching these cartoons from my youth. My own children are a different story. They were not impressed with this show. They like the current Transformers Animated cartoon, but thought this one was not as good.
The Autobots are all about
doing the right thing, and stopping the evil Decepticons. Honor, saving
those in need, and rebuilding are some of the messages they send. The
Decepticons teach people to be impatience, selfish, and ruthless. I
appreciate the degrees of separation between the good and bad guys.
Violence is used to solve problems, but the Autobots are rarely the
initiators of it.
- Paul
Graphics: 73%
Sound: 79%
Replay/Extras: 80%
Gameplay: 87%
Family Friendly Factor: 78%
System: DVD
Publisher: Shout Factory
Rating: 'NR'
for Not Rated
Want more info on this
product,
or the company that made this product?
Set web browser to:
Link
Got a question, comment,
or a concern regarding this
review?
Email them to:
pbury@familyfriendlygaming.com