I've recently gotten very engaged with the Beast Era shows and I'm now looking to buy both on DVD. I'm in the UK, so Beast Machines is covered, but if I want the whole of Beast Wars I'm going to need to import. From what I understand: The Australian Madman boxsets are Region 2, but has spotty extras and may be difficult to get hold of. The Rhino boxsets have the best extras, but are very expensive. The Shout! Factory boxsets are the easiest to get hold of, but I haven't heard much about what extras they contain. Can anyone who owns any of these boxsets give me a lowdown, and potentially direct me towards the best investment?
I went with the shout factory boxset. It had 3 making of documentaries and a prequel comic from Botcon 2006
As someone who owns both the original Rhino sets and the Shout set, I'd say go with the Rhino sets if you can find them in good shape. The set just has an overall better quality about it. The packaging is much better, they almost look like books and looks great on display, much better than the generic box that comes with the Shout set that stores two standard 4-disc DVD cases. I also like that the Rhino set has animated/interactive menus. Now don't get me wrong, I think Shout's use of the Takara character card art from the Japanese toys in the menus is pretty cool. But that fact they use art for characters that didn't appear in the show is kinda lame (Polar Claw, Bat Primal), they're also your standard point-n-click menus. It also doesn't help that they also used that same art for Season's 2 and 3 instead of using Transmetal/Fuzor art like they should have. It's safe to say they just copied and pasted the menus from season 1, and it just reeks of cheapness. I think the Shout release only has maybe one or two special features that the Rhino set doesn't. But lets be honest, how often are you going to watch those features? Some say the Shout set has better video quality, but I just recently rewatched the series twice. The Rhino set on the first run and the Shout set on the second, I can't say I noticed a difference in quality. Season 1of the Shout set uses a different End-Credits sequence, and Season 3 uses a slightly different intro than the Rhino set, but thats about it. I do find it disappointing that both season 1 sets use the shortened Fox Kids intro instead of the longer version the show had when it was originally in syndication. But really you can't go wrong with either set if you just want to watch and own the series.
I'll have to go back and check my DVDs, but I believe the source footage was 60Hz interlaced (approx. 30 frames per second, with two interlaced fields per frame, for effectively 60 frames per second). The Madman DVDs will almost certainly have gone through some kind of messy process to cram it into a 50Hz PAL format. I don't care to start an NTSC vs. PAL debate, but just to point out that converting from either one to the other is gross. If your TV and DVD player can handle Region 1 DVDs and 480i@60Hz, you should probably go with one of the North American sets.
I don't have either the Shout or Rhino releases of Beast Wars, but from the looks of things they seem to be of better quality than the two little DVD releases we had in the UK. Can you name any other volume 1 that starts off with the 3 part season 2 finale? XD
Go with Shout! Factory's version. It is slightly better quality, easier to obtain, and has more bonus features. The menus are alright, functional and do the job, I don't see the point of passing on the superior package because of menu interactivity.
I purchased seasons 2 and 3 boxset from the grocery store here for 4.99 I'm not a big fan so I never bothered to find season 1. That set I bought should be cheap....online
Thanks for the responses guys, looks like I'll be going with the Shout! Factory discs. RE The region debate, I think I confused Australian DVDs being PAL for Australian DVDs being Region 2... ...which is the standard in the UK! It's a shame that the series will likely never be released on Blu-Ray - it'd look gorgeous and I'm sure the source material is likely to be higher than 480p.
I ordered mine from eBay and I believe it is the SHOUT! one (has the comic). I'm not sure if it's the box or the previous owner but like the cases and the inside of the cardboard smell like a disgusting belly button. It's such an odd funk and it's super repulsive. When I was reviewing the show, I'd take out the disc I needed and then store the rest of them in a well vented area on the other side of the house. Currently, I've had a dryer sheet stuck down in the box for like five or six months and rarely touch the set. The funk just won't go away.
Nasty... Sounds like a previous owner issue, I don't know why but I've been encountering those kinds of issues a lot more recently with second hand toys.
Rhino's sets have the show in 5.1 audio, Shout!'s do not, so Rhino's releases are superior. The only problem is that the first disc to season one has audio issues in episode 1 and episode 5. On the other hand, I prefer Shout!'s packaging.
Very but everything else about it is in pristine condition. Not so much as a smudge on the disc's, so uh, win? maybe? no?