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2. Animated Menus. Yup, they are. The only real
animated menu is on the 4th "Special Features"
DVD. The 3 DVD's containing the original 16 episodes
have a 3D Cell-Shaded fly through of the "Ark",
into the Teletron 1 room, where we get our menu.
On the 3 episode DVD's, the choices are simply
Audio Setup, Play All, and Scene Selection. Each
DVD has a montage clip of the episodes contained
on that disc playing on the small screen in the
background. The "Special Features" DVD
also has the fly through of the "Ark",
however when the menu loads up, each screen on
the turnstile is a new menu. Flip to the next,
and the screen folds down and back into place,
the turnstile rotates, and the new screen folds
out and fills the screen with yet more options.
It's nothing major spectacular, but it captures
the feel of The Transformers perfectly.
Grade: A
3. Original Script from "Transport to Oblivion".
Now this is cool. Usually you won't see scripts
unless it's something like a Criterion Collection
or something similar. You won't see it being nominated
for any Academy Awards, but it's still a cool
little feature.
Grade: B+
4. Bumpers. These are the quick little 5 - 10
second animation's that played when going to,
and coming back from commercials. All of the American
ones from the first season are included, and there
are even some from 2nd, 3rd, and 4th season scattered
around. Also, quite a few of the Japanese bumpers
are included ... though from which seasons, I
couldn't tell ya. I kept watching them, seeing
very different backgrounds, and very different
Transformers ... couldn't tell you who they were.
Also, I busted out laughing at the Chibi Transformers
in one of the Japanese bumpers. That's against
all that is holy ... but it's funny non-the-less.
Grade: A
5. Animation Outtakes. I was honestly expecting
a little bit more from this. After watching Orphen,
and Kenshin, I've come to expect goofups, and
things like that from the voice actors. Granted,
this is a nearly 19 year old cartoon, but I still
wanted to hear some of those flops. What this
was, was more of a "what's wrong with this
picture" ... where colors were missing, or
wrong, or in some cases full characters were missing.
Kinda neat to see that stuff ... but at the same
time, you can see it in the episodes if you're
paying attention.
Grade: B-
6. Animation Slates & Tests. Well ... this
too wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I was
thinking more along the lines of pencil tests,
and motion tests. Instead, this consisted of ...
from what I could tell ... a lot of markers (the
Scene 1, Take 2 boards you see being used in movies),
and then very short clips of the actual scene.
There was one pencil drawing of Cybertron ...
but it was a scroll, so there wasn't any animation
other than the camera moving along the drawn image.
At times, I thought I was watching the Animation
Outtakes again ... and while watching the Outtakes,
at times I thought I was watching the slates and
tests again. They're not very distinguishable
from each other.
Grade: B-
7. Rhino Remastering Process. If there's one thing
to really be disappointed about, it's this. It's
simply scrolling text to explain how they go through
the remastering process. I wanted to see them
washing the film, and restoring the old copy,
enhancing the audio, and video as well... Text.
Don't get me wrong, the information provided is
pretty thorough ... but I would have much preferred
this be a video presentation. A "Behind the
scenes" documentary, so to speak.
Grade: C
8. Japanese Show Opening. After seeing it ...
I'm glad we got the ones we got! The Japanese
bumpers were more exciting to watch than the opening.
The opening was mainly just random Transformers
... transforming from robot to car, and then back
to robot. A few cuts of flashy explosions, and
a really annoying Japanese announcer. Way too
heavy usage of echo and reverb. Made me feel like
I was watching a really cheesy 80's Anime.
Oh wait ... I was!
You know ... I never knew Transformers was an
Anime until just a few years ago. When I was a
kid, I thought it was a 100% American show. Then
I saw Macross, and Robotech, and started to wonder
if Transformers was a part of the Mecha Anime's.
Cheesy or not, Transformers still kicks ass.
Grade: B
Overall, I was impressed with this presentation
of the DVD's and though some of the extras left
a little to be desired, I still have to say it
was well put together. Let's hope they give us
some more goodies for Season 2. This set comes
highly recommended. The 4 disc silver box set
(pictured above) is only about $1 more than buying
the 3 individual episode DVD's. If you buy the
individuals, you don't get any of the special
features. I made that mistake because I'm extremely
impatient, and when I couldn't find the box, I
bought the individuals (thinking the box set to
just be the 3 DVD's in one case). The very next
day I found the box, so I traded in the brand
new individuals (getting majorly screwed on the
price), and got the box for about $30 more than
it actually costs. My fault totally. Oh well ...
won't be making that same mistake twice.
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