Transformers Season 2 part 2

Director: Jay Bacal,
Starring: Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, Charles Adler, Jack Angel, Michael Bell, Gregg Berger, Arthur Burghardt, Corey Burton, Scatman Crothers, Dan Gilvezan, Casey Kasem, Chris Latta,

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DVD Review

In 1985, The Transformers were hitting their peak and after a successful 16 episodes in its first season, they came back with a whopping 49 episodes in their second. So big was it, that they have been released in two parts. This Transformers Season 2 Part 2 box set brings to us the remaining 25 episodes on the season that is commonly known as the one that really defined the Transformers mythos.

The Transformers: a race of robots from the planet Cybertron, who have crash-landed on Earth and have re-started a war between the heroic Autobots and evil Decepticons. They can transform into a variety of vehicles and weaponry to blend into earth’s surrounding and cause some serious damage to their opponents.

All the usual aesthetics are here, from the simple plots and highly developed characters that the TV show only hinted at, to the ever-developing cast and outrageous production errors. The Transformers show was never perfect and it shows here from the wrong voice dubbed to a character to animating the same guy twice. Even through some truly unforgivable mistakes, you can disregard them because of some truly wonderful stories that are given to us.

Part Two begins to give us more of a background to how these robots in disguise are created and about their home planet of Cybertron, in episodes like The Key to Vector Sigma and The Search for Alpha Trion. We also get treated to the debut of the ever-controversial female Autobots. In part one at lot of the new cast seemed to just show up with out any explanation, part two shows us the creation and development of several new teams of robots, the much-loved combiners, which included Aerialbots, Stunticons and Combaticons. The introduction of new characters however does not mean that the all the old favourites have been forgotten, far from it. Main Characters like Megatron, Optimus Prime, Starscream and Soundwave are still very much centre stage.

The stories may be aimed at a younger generation, and it shows with episodes like Child’s Play where some of the Transformers are trapped in an alien child’s bedroom as his toys, but majority seemed to have survived the test of time. There is still a bit of ‘the child’ in all of us and if you were ever a fan of the Transformers TV show then you can relive your childhood here. Unfortunately it’s unlikely to convert any new fans, not with the new adaptations for the current youth, which is a shame because with the original Transformers still popular after 20 years, they are missing out on some really classic stuff.

Special Features

Once again Metrodome have opted for the same style of packaging as part one, also cementing a house style that will remain through subsequent releases. Part Two comes in a very nice silver card box that surrounds three separate DVD boxes containing one disc each, named Volumes 4-6. The silver outer box contains the purple Decepticons insignia, which opposes the red Autobots one from the first part. The individual boxes each hold separate covers drawn by comic book artist Lee Sullivan and are exclusive to this box set. Each disc plays nine episodes except Volume 6, which plays seven and holds the extra features. The extra features on this disc aren’t really anything special, and are similar to the first part with a quiz, Character Profiles, Fan Art Gallery and Postcards.

Where Part Two excels in comparison to Part One is the inclusion of an exclusive new mini-comic, and although the story is not linked to any of the episodes or the current wave of comics being published, it does however give the fans something they thought they would never see. In it’s twelve full-colour and illustrated pages, the comic titled “The Beast Within” does leave the reader wanting more and with high hopes of a follow up to be included with Season 3.

J.D. Lafrance

J.D. is a freelance writer who is currently doing research for a book on the films of Michael Mann. He likes reading anything written by Jack Kerouac, James Ellroy, J.D. Salinger, Harlan Ellison or Thomas Pynchon. J.D. is currently addicted to the T.V. series 24 and enjoys drinking a lot of Sprite. This is not a blatant plug for the beverage but if they ever decided to give him a lifetime supply he certainly wouldn’t turn them down.
view all DVD reviews by JD Lafrance

 

Rating: 77%

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