I'm curious to find out if the new G1 DVD's are better than the Rhino versions. In particular, I'm hoping that some of the animation errors were fixed. For example, in Heavy Metal War Megatron teleports out of the way of a boulder thrown by Prime. However, in the Rhino DVDs he never disappears and the boulder goes right on top of him. Also, Starscream appears to be colored as Skywarp several times. Anyway, before I buy the complete series I need to know if these and other errors are fixed. I look forward to hearing some of your reviews.
While there are already a few threads on this release, I feel compelled to post this again. This is the absolute weakest animation release I have ever purchased. EVER! I have anime and cartoon series from the 70's through today and have never been this unsatisfied by a release. It looks and sounds just like the Rhino releases. The animation errors remain. Archival toy commercials?? Give me a break. If Shout! Factory thinks two crappy commercials that look like they were copied from a worn out VHS tape (one of which they couldn't even pay the original child actors, so they blurred out their faces. Zombie TF playing kids, FTL!) and one G2 Optimus commercial is archival then they are sorely mistaken. Not to mention it has one PSA. ONE!! I can't even express how disappointed I am with this release and if I had any hand at all in it's conception, implementation and finalization I would quit my job and never work in the entertainment industry again.
Are you aware that the original broadcast version also had animation errors, and do you know very well which errors on the Rhino DVDs were not in the broadcast version? Because looking from your posts you seem to be very emotionally judging against the extras which we already know ahead of time were going to be on this particular season set, as if we were "deceived." We knew that these were going to be the commercials on this season set, and it's not inconceivable that if they have other PSAs that they would be spread out among the other sets. Remember, when Transformers came out animation-wise it was far from perfect and long time fans had to deal with the existing animation errors up until the new ones that popped up in the Rhino DVDs due to their using pre-broadcast workprint film elements.
I really didn't buy it for the supposed error correction nor am I aware of which ones were corrected. I simply noticed errors a plenty when I watched it today. I have always been satisfied with the Rhino versions and only purchased this release with the hope that the extras were worth the price of admission. I was wrong. IMO, this release is only for those who do not already have the Rhino releases. And I never stated or implied that Shout! Factory deceived anyone. But I can tell you that 3 poorly transferred commercials (the Insecticons commercial even has the old VCR 'tracking' bars running accross it) is not archival and I'm pretty sure the 'rare' Bumblebee PSA is on one of the Rhino seasons. I'd have to double check.
You would be correct. At least one of the few PSAs ever made was included on one of the Rhino sets. As for the condition of the commercials, the producer of this set warned us ahead of time that this was the condition they were going to be in and that the kids' faces would probably be blurred out. He explains that and why on the Transformers thread on Shout! Factory's message board.
Buy it today and there is a lots of rhino errors left in in the episodes of a plague of insecticons and ultimate doom part 3:YouTube - TV vs Rhino - A Plague of Insecticons and YouTube - TV vs RHINO - The ultimate doom - part 3
Some info from Brian ( shout factory forum ) :The second run of S1 sets will have corrected discs. And we'll have some for replacements for those that need it. Looks like people who have purchased the complete series set will get the corrected episodes .Brian :http://www.shoutfactory.com/community/1551/thread.aspx
Excellent news. It's a shame to hear about the mistakes, but good to know they'll be dealt with very promptly. I hope these will be corrected for the complete series sets in time before they're sent out.
It'll be interesting to see how they go about replacing the discs. I hope I don't have to pay to ship it to them before they ship me a replacement.
I absolutly enjoy this DVD release ... why you say? Because it's cheaper than the stupid Rhino ones. The Rhino releases are overpriced to the point that I can vomit while thinking about it so I never even touched them. I'm happy with this. Feels like going back home after school to watch the show like when I was a kid.
