TV Show Info:
Writers: Various
Directors: Various
Cast: Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, Chris Latta, Corey Burton, John Stephenson, Dan Gilvezan, Casey Kasem, Michael Bell, Don Messick, Scatman Crothers
Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Shout! Factory
Release Info
Original Air Dates: September 17, 1984-December 29, 1984
DVD Box Set Release Date: June 16, 2009
Online Availability: Amazon for $19.99
I can’t tell you how excited I am to review the 25th Anniversary Edition of Transformers: The Complete First Season. I wasn’t sure we’d be receiving this DVD set, but lo and behold, here it is! I grew up with the Transformers. This was one of my favorite cartoons. I loved to watch this with my brother. We even had our own transformers Hasbro toys. I know we had Optimus Prime. He was always my favorite, but I was the younger kid, so I never got to be him!
Has it really been 25 years since the Transformers television series first aired? The show first debuted in September of 1984. At the time, I was three, almost four, years old! I loved this show so much. How cool is the thought of robots that can turn into cars, planes, and dinosaurs? While I never understood the point of transforming yourself into a gun, which I thought was pointless unless you had someone to shoot for you, the entire transforming process fascinated my little three year old brain.
The Transformers franchise is one of the biggest and most successful franchises having produced not only this hit television show (cartoon series), but also a successful, live action movie, multiple cartoon series’, a Hasbro toy line that is as popular now as it was in the 80s, and a variety of products from lunchboxes to clothing. Three decades (80s, 90s, 2000s) of children (and adults) have enjoyed the various Transformers incarnations, as they have graced their decade. Of course, it all began with the 1980s series my generation grew up watching.
I know I said it before, but I really can’t believe it has been 25 years since the show debuted. It’s good to know that Shout! Factory is planning to release a 25th Anniversary Complete Series Collection with all four seasons of Transformers later in 2009. This DVD set is more than enough to get me excited for the full series release. I don’t care if this show was designed for kids and the plot is somewhat simplistic. I have many happy memories of this show. For being simple, its entertaining and engaging with only occasional amounts of cheese. That’s what makes it the Transformers though and that’s what I love about it!
I must say that Shout! Factory has gone out of their way to make this 25th Anniversary Edition incredibly special. The peeps at Shout! Factory have researched the original series extensively. Apparently, some of the scenes from the past releases were excluded. The company made sure to include the laser blasts, other missing animation and Startscream has been remade into the whiny bi–…well…baby you always remember him being!
The Transformers: The Complete First Season Episode Guide
There were 16 episodes included in the first season of Transformers. These episodes are spread out across two discs. All of the episodes are around 23 minutes in length and include the “We’ll Be Right Back” messages that aired when the show debuted in the 1980s. These intros are so retro, but they make me giddy with memories of my childhood!
Here is the list of episodes, with a synopsis for each:
Disc One
“More Than Meets The Eye, Part I”
Original Air Date: September 17, 1984
The Transformers, who live on the planet Cybertron and are fighting a war between the good Autobots and the evil Decepticons, end up crashed on Earth on their quest to find a new energy source. When the Decepticons discover the new planet they’ve arrived on is abundant in energy, it’s up to the Autobots to stop them before they create the ultimate weapon and take over the world!
“More Than Meets The Eye, Part II”
Original Air Date: September 18, 1984
After a confrontation with the Decepticons that left the Autobots more than determined to stop them from their quest to steal the Earth’s energy, Optimus Prime and the rest of the Autobots meet two humans, Sparkplug and his son Spike. The men agree to help them because they know more about the Earth than the Autobots do. With the Autobots on their trail, Megatron decides to take over the Earth and steal its energy, by force, so he can build a ship and return to Cybertron with the new found energy.
Note: Some of the scenes at the Autobot’s base remind me of scenes in Michael Bay’s live action film, Transformers. I have to wonder if Bay was inspired by this episode!
“More Than Meets The Eye, Part III”
Original Air Date: September 19, 1984
After a fierce battle that left the Autobots defeated and Optimus Prime nearly unable to Transform, the Decepticons are able to create their ship. Despite being trapped within a rocky tomb, the Decepticons escape and resume their quest to take over the world. While all seems lost for the Autobots they have just one last chance to stop the Decepticons before they can return to Cybertron, and it all comes with the help of the whiny, wannabe Decepticon leader, Starscream.
“Transport To Oblivion”
Original Air Date: October 6, 1984
The Autobots believe they sent the Decepticons to the depths of the ocean floor, but Optimus Prime isn’t convinced they are completely gone. From their watery grave, the Decepticons get a message from Shockwave on Cybertron. The supply of energon cubes is incredibly low, so Megatron decides to come out of his underwater hideout to create a Space Bridge to transport energon cubes to Cybertron. Using a local plant and zapping a nearby city of its energy, the Autobots discover the Decepticons are alive, but when Bumblebee is captured and reprogrammed, the Autobots may be in more trouble than they anticipated.
“Roll For It”
Original Air Date: October 13, 1984
With Megatron stuck on Cybertron, Starscream decides he is the new leader of the Decepticons. Stoked by his newfound power, he crashes a plant where he tries to make energon cubes, before being foiled by the Autobots. Megatron returns to Earth to continue his plan of universal domination by stealing an anti-matter formula from a laboratory. With Starscream unwilling to trust Megatron, the Decepticons are split between who to follow, but when they work together to capture Chip, a man who has memorized the anti-matter formula, its up to the Autobots to save him.
“Divide & Conquer”
Original Air Date: October 20, 1984
Chip is helping factories to create weapons that can destroy the Decepticons. Starscream manages to invade a factory and steal its energy to fill energon cubes. Wanting his back patted by Megatron, Starscream delays returning and is attacked by Optimus Prime. The Decepticons manage to escape while Optimus is saving the humans and they believe he has been permanently deactivated. With Optimus believed to be out of the way, Megatron and the Decepticons believe they are free to continue their plan to take over the world.
“Fire In The Sky”
Original Air Date: December 8, 1984
Spike is excited to be having a snowball fight in the middle of July, but Prime sees this as a sign of trouble. He realizes the Earth’s heat is being drained from its core, dropping the temperature of the entire Earth. This can only mean one thing. The Decepticons are draining the heat from the Earth’s core, to make energon cubes. While draining the Earth, at the Arctic Circle, they discover a huge, frozen robot (Sky Fire), an Autobot from Starscream’s past that Megatron uses to turn into a Decepticon and take out the Autobots.
“S.O.S. Dinobots”
Original Air Date: October 27, 1984
When the Autobots experience several quakes they think the Decepticons might just be behind it. They end up finding dinosaur fossils and Spike tells the Autobots about these huge yet primitive creatures. The Autobots decide to create robot versions of dinosaurs, the Dinobots, to use them against the Decepticons. In the meantime, Megatron attacks a waterfall that produces energy. This is the next chapter in his quest to rule the world. With the Dinobots created, they seem like the perfect weapon, but when they turn on the Autobots Prime has more problems than he anticipated.
Disc Two
“Fire On The Mountain”
Original Air Date: December 22, 1984
The Decepticons find out about a mythical crystal that is full of so much power they hope to use it in a weapon. The weapon they seek to create will have enough power to destroy anything and everything that stand in its way. The Autobots find Sky Fire frozen in the ice and seek his help, in investigating activity at some previously abandoned temple ruins; the location of the crystal and the Decepticons.
“War Of The Dinobots”
Original Air Date: November 24, 1984
When the Decepticons are beaten by the Dinobots, Megatron blames Starscream. He and the rest of the Decepticons have no leadership ability nor strategy. Megatron sends Soundwave off to find out the Dinobots’ weaknesses. After discovering that they do have weaknesses (Slag is hostile, Grimlock is arrogant and Sludge is stupid), Megatron sets out to turn the Dinobots against the Autobots. To do so, he uses those weaknesses against them. This will allow Megatron to use an unstable meteorite for its power source.
“The Ultimate Doom, Part I”
Original Air Date: November 3, 1984
When a Maharajah converts his temple into a solar power station for his people, the Decepticons take it over. With the Decepticons having to take on the Autobots, and pulling out from the battle at the temple (much to Optimus’ suspicion), it gives them the perfect time to take Sparkplug prisoner. He’ll be used as a guinea pig by a crazy doctor that works with Megatron to make the humans slaves of the Decepticons.
“The Ultimate Doom, Part II”
Original Air Date: November 10, 1984
With Sparkplug a human slave of the Decepticons, it’s up to his son Spike to try and save him. The doctor has helped the Decepticons to create an army of human slaves who will help create energon cubes. In the meantime, Optimus has to choose between Earth and Cybertron, but his decision may destroy one of the planets and his friends on it. As Cybertron comes into the Earth’s orbit, it has the potential to destroy the Earth, something Megatron’s is hoping will happen. The energy from Cybertron in the orbit is enough to create enough energon cubes for the Decepticons to return to their home planet and take over.
“The Ultimate Doom, Part III”
Original Air Date: November 17, 1984
With Sparkplug having betrayed Spike by warning the Decepticons, the Autobots are in trouble on Cybertron. Spike promises to save his father, who is trying to fight the mind control of the doctor, though he isn’t entirely able to shake off the power of the microchip. With the Autobots attempting to foil the plan of Megatron and the Decepticons, it’s up to the Autobots and their human friends to try and fight to save both the Earth and Cybertron and protect life as we know it before its too late.
“Countdown To Extinction”
Original Air Date: December 1, 1984
With the aftermath of “The Ultimate Doom”, the Autobots must repair the Earth. With enough energy harnessed to knock Cybertron back out of the Earth’s orbit, the destroyed planet is able to be rebuilt. When Megatron returns to the Decepticon headquarters, he finds the Decepticons fighting amongst themselves. Starscream has taken over leadership of the group having left with the doctor to hatch his own destructive plan against the Earth. In the doctor’s lab, Starscream finds an exponential generator, which is the ultimate source of power. If disturbed it could destroy the Earth and all its inhabitants. Starscream alters the generator to release excessive amounts of energy, and when it does, it will destroy the Earth!
“A Plague Of Insecticons”
Original Air Date: December 29, 1984
In Demon Swamp (Bali), innocent humans encounter a weird breed of Transformers, the Insecticons. The insecticons are somehow affiliated with the Decepticons and they are attacking the humans on Bali. When the Autobots get an S.O.S. from Bali, they head to the island to find out what’s going on. It isn’t long before the Decepticons discover the Insecticons are evolved Decepticons that crashed on Earth before them and their entire purpose is to destroy, destroy, destroy!
“Heavy Metal War”
Original Air Date: December 15, 1984
At a construction site where there are energy discs to make heat and electricity, the Decepticons send the Constructicons to steal the discs. On top of the energy discs, they end up stealing a power converter in yet another plan by Megatron. The Decepticons create the Devastator who seeks to destroy the Autobots super computer, Teletraan-1. With Megatron and Optimus Prime going head to head in a duel, only one side can win! It’s up to Optimus to win in the name of good and hopefully defeat evil and Megatron with it.
Storyline/Plot: 
Replayability:
Acting:
Audio/Visual:
Compared to other releases, the animation for the episodes included in this Transformers: The Complete First Season (25th Anniversary Edition) set looks stunning. The episodes look nearly flawless. Shout! Factory restored the episodes, set at a 1.33:1 aspect ratio, to their original broadcast format. This includes everything you would have seen had you been watching this when it first aired in 1984.
Sure, the picture isn’t 100% perfect, but it almost is. I had trouble finding any flaws save for the occasional flickers of dirt and specks that are a natural part of the original source files. The colors are vibrant with realistic black tones and a vibrant color palette is used for everything from backgrounds to transformers body parts.
In the booklet that accompanies this set, Shout! Factory had this to say about their correction over previous DVD releases:
“Transformers DVDs released prior to out 25th Anniversary Edition were missing animation seen in the original broadcast. We did extensive research, found the discrepancies between the original broadcast masters and the restored masters used for the last DVD release, reinserted the correct animation, and color corrected it as best we could to match the shots before and after. But because a one-inch master tape simply can’t hold up to the quality of the restored masters, you may notice occasional shots – or even scenes – in some episodes that seem slightly softer than others, just take comfort in knowing that laser blasts have been reinserted, backgrounds have been corrected and Starscream is Starscream once again.”
The audio is excellent. It’s a new English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stero mix that was created from the original sound files. In previous releases, new effects and other sounds were added, ruining the mix. I prefer this 2.0 to any 5.1 version, which souped up a show that didn’t need anything added to it. The volume is consistent with great use of both the front and back speakers. The dialogue is crisp. The music/soundtrack is robust. The sound effects are realistic, memorable, and not overpowering.
The English track is the only audio track on this DVD. The only disappointing part is that there are no subtitles or closed captioning, so the hearing impaired have to miss out on this great set. This is the only area where Shout! Factory and this DVD set lose points.
Visual: 
Audio: 
Bonus Features:
There are some very nice bonuses included in this three-disc set. The third disc is reserved for the majority of bonuses. The bonuses start with some previews which show up at the beginning of Disc One. Before the menu there is a FBI Anti Piracy Warning and previews for Oban: Star Racers The Complete Series in two volumes and Mystery Science Theatre 3000: Vol. 14.
On Disc Three, the bonuses start with a featurette, “Triple Changer: From Toy To Comic To Screen.” This bonus is close to 20 minutes in length. This looks at Transformers and its franchise as a part of pop culture since its debut in the 80s. There are a variety of people who discuss the Transformers lasting appeal including Bob Budiansky, a comic book writer and the show’s executive producers Tom Griffin and Joe Bacal. This is a behind-the-scenes (making of, if you will) look at the series with original concept art included.
Next up is a series of Archived Transformer Hasbro Toy Commercials. These commercials are for Optimus Prime, Megatron, the Dinobots, the Insecticons, and G2 Optimus Prime. This is just a short feature, but boy does it bring back memories. I had some of these toys! There is a PSA, which were huge in the 80s. Apparently, the media thought us kids would listen to PSAs. This one is “Bumblebee: Running Away From Home,” which is exactly as it sounds and it encouraged kids not to run away from home.
There is a printable script for one of the season one episodes, “Transport To Oblivion”. You’ll have to pop the disc into your Computer DVD-ROM to access it. That’s all that’s available.
Bonus Features:
Bottom Line:
Shout! Factory has gone out of their way to present the first season of the Transformers television show exactly as it aired on television 25 years ago. This makes Transformers: The Complete First Season (25th Anniversary Edition) well worth the upgrade from past releases of the series. No other set can compare. For a show that is quarter of a century old, this show looks exceptional. Can you tell that I love this set? Do the right thing and buy Transformers: The Complete First Season (25th Anniversary Edition) for your children, husband/wife, and yourself! You won’t regret the purchase.
Overall Rating:
Technorati Tags: Transformers: The Complete First Season, 25th Anniversary Edition, Hasbro, Shout! Factory, Optimus Prime, 80s, cartoons, Megatron
Written by Dominick Evans – Visit Website
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Dominick is in his late 20s. He lives in Michigan with his life partner, Ashtyn, their 14 year old son Robert, and their Shih-Tzu, Oliver. Dominick is a writer and the head editor for both LI Kids and Literary Illusions. He enjoys composing music and is an aspiring director/screenwriter. In his free time he enjoys spending time with his family, playing and watching sports, playing video games, watching movies, and singing.
