Rating: 
Summary: YES, but...
Review: I was pleased (excuse me, overally excited) about the Transformers being released on DVD. This DVD has excellent picture quality, sound effects (despite Rhino's tamperings), and the voices sound more crisp than ever. However, this DVD is not without its problems.During the remastering process, Rhino butchered several scenes, but to their credit over half of it was not that bad. The first few episodes were mostly good. The one that really urked me was their remastering of "Heavy Metal War," the final episode of the season and my personal favorite from said season. Most of it was reanimated (because of remastering errors, I suppose) and it looks downright HORRIBLE. I was devastated by this! What bothers me even more is why they didn't fix it, or replace the messed up scenes with the original broadcast masters? It might look odd, but it's better than watching an episode horribly skewed. Oh well. Overall, it's worth getting despite the aforementioned remastering problems. Let's just hope they don't screw up Season 2.
Rating: 
Summary: JUST AS GOOD AND WORTH EVERY SINGLE PENNY!!!
Review: This DVD is absolutely AWESOME!!! It brought back memories of my child hood and I was so happy to see that the last 2 episodes on the DVD's showed the introduction of the "Insecticons" and the "Constructicons". This is an absolute must for all Transformers fans and I can't wait for Season 2 to be released in November!!! The only problem is I think some of the artists were drunk when they wrote these cartoons because I see many many times where the Decepticon planes are colored wrong. For example, Starscream colored like Thundercracker or Skywarp or vice-versa but this is errors from when the shows originally where on TV, not from the DVD's. Overall it was worth every penny!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Season 1 Butchered
Review: Like all other fans of the series, I couldn't wait for this series to be released on dvd. I had been waiting years to get a great quality copy of the entire series. The stories that Rhino had released on vhs so far had been disappointing in that they failed to include the titles in most of the episodes, except for the stories from Season 1, because they never had titles in the first place. I figured that since this season didn't contain titles, there was no way Rhino could possibly screw this box set up. It turns out they [messed] these up even worse than the vhs releases. Many scenes have been changed(all for the worse), the color has been made extremely dark, to the point where you can't see what's happening in some scenes, there have been bad sound effects inserted, especially in the opening titles and commercial bumpers, there are characters transforming in reverse order, and many characters are not colored the right way(and no, these mistakes were not in the original broadcasts, there were some mistakes but there are many more here.) I don't think a full minute goes by in any of these episodes where there hasn't been a bad change made. I was especially dissappointed because I had always considered the first season to be the best, next to the movie. I don't understand why Rhino can't just release these episodes in their original format, they have to know that's what the old fans want, and it is the old fans, after all, who make up the majority of people buying these sets. All changing things around does is create more work for Rhino and infuriate fans. I can personally say that if Rhino releases Season 2 the same way, and especially if the episode titles are not included, I will return the set and just stick to watching them on vhs. What everyone who wants to see these episodes in their original form needs to do is go to rhino.com and plead with them to re-release this box set and use the original master tapes, no matter how "bad" they think the quality may be. The quality on my old vhs tapes from the 80's is actually better than the quality on this dvd set, at least the color is bright enough that you can see everything. Let's just hope that if Rhino gets enough requests, they will re-release this set in its original format.
Rating: 
Summary: Great transfer, but with a few errors
Review: While not the best production to bear the Marvel Productions or Sunbow Productions banner (that would be Dungeons & Dragons and G.I. Joe, respectively), Transformers is by far the most popular Marvel/Sunbow series. So, of course, Rhino knew they'd make a mint by releasing the first season on DVD in its entirety (*and* uncut, unlike the original FHE releases). Rhino did one better by restoring the series, going for the 35mm source, and the original vocal/sound effects tracks. While the sound is spot on (and actually better, as the "changes" reflect effects unearthed in the new mix), the 35mm masters are from the *first* take that Sunbow ordered. In essence, that source has errors that were corrected (or not, depending on the episode's budget) before airing. For the most part, Rhino has corrected these errors using alternative sources (including the suddenly very horrid-looking broadcast master), but they weren't perfect (and the bonus disc manages to catch them with their pants down)-there are additional moments where Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker are miscolored, for instance, and the disappearance of the Decepticon space cruiser in "More Than Meets the Eye", Part III. Rhino wanted the best quality possible, as evidenced by a few feats of digital editing where the 35mm master was only slighty "wrong". However, most have noticed the big issues with "Heavy Metal War", which has a huge host of "new" errors, while still covering up a lot of problems with the 35mm master (the last minute or so of the ep has a good 4 cuts to the broadcast master in order to cover up missing animation, for instance). However, since the ep features the first appearance of the Constructicons (plus a major battle between Optimus Prime and Megatron), we notice the errors that much more. The fact that the three affected scenes are the ones featuring Megatron's challenge of Prime, the power transfer sequence (which Rhino would have been better served by just using the broadcast master for the entire scene, save the few shots that weren't fixed by Sunbow in 1984), and the battle between Prime and Megatron makes it almost unbearable on some level. Rhino did a great job with the remastering process, even with their mistakes. Of course, Toei's mistakes in processing the animation (most of which are amazingly dumb, especially for such a high quality studio) and the lack of a 35mm master of the corrected episode don't make it any easier for Rhino. One not only hopes for an even better job from Rhino with season 2, one expects it, largely because the re-take budget dwindled to practically zero from that point on as Sunbow's workload increased almost sixfold (as evidenced by the whopping three distinct styles in the animation in Season 2). Regardless, if you like Transformers, you'll probably enjoy this box set.
Rating:
Summary: Brings Back the Days of Youth
Review: Ahhh... this is what Saturday Morning was all about when I was growing up. Great stories, great characters, great everything. This set is a must for any fan and to show to the kids of now. Pokemon indeed... this is a real cartoon kiddo. I can only hope some other cartoons will be making the appearance on DVD (Voltron?!, G.I. Joe?!). The 4th disc is packed with great features, each episode is just as it was on TV-complete with opening and closing credits, bumpers, recaps on multipart episodes. I sat down and watched everything in one day. Brought back the old times and made me want to go out and try to find some of my old transformers. Buy it if your a fan, even if you're not just try it out.
Rating:
Summary: Love the idea, it's finally here
Review: YEAH! Im fifteen and have always been facisnated by the transformers series I love them and am always looking for more classics like this one. Like I said before I love the transformers I had alot of the toys when I was like six or seven and have just always loved them. I guess it was the whole storyline about gigantic robots transforming into cars and planes and stuff that inspired alot of people to keep watching. The series was great but then they made a new one about the auto-bots transorming into animals and I didn't really care for that. I have always been waiting for a DVD boxed set and I'm thrilled to have found this, I hope they keep pushing on into the series. So to those who are doubting or thinking about buying this collection shouldn't have a second thought about it because this is truly "more than meets the eye". Happy to hear the legacy is still alive and keep them coming! See Ya Later!
Rating:
Summary: Great nostalgic trip--these are the REAL Transformers
Review: When I first heard that this DVD boxed-set had been released, I instantly planned on purchasing a copy of it. I was 6 years old when the Transformers first aired on television, and I was fascinated with them. Well it's been 18 years since I've seen those first episodes, and now I've finally gotten another chance! This set of DVDs took me on a nostalgic trip back to my childhood, where afternoon after-school television was an essential part of every young boy's life. I put the first DVD in my player, and after just a few seconds into the intro to the first episode, it felt like it was 1984 all over again. Good old Optimus Prime and Megatron, Autobots and Decepticons, good and evil, battling it out, just like old times. If you're a fan from back in the mid-80's, then you'll really appreciate this set. If you're a fan of current-day Transformers television series, like Transformers Armada, or if you like the previous Beast Wars series, Beast Machines series, and Robots In Disguise series, you really need to take a look at the Generation 1 series. Generation 1 is really what it's all about..it's the REAL Transformers series. All of the series since then don't even compare to the original. The episodes and Transformers characters that are part of Generation 1 are by far the best of any Transformers series. The same goes for the Generation 1 toys, but that's a different matter. There are some audio and coloring flaws and errors present on the DVDs, which many other people have already pointed out on this site. In retrospect to many of those other peoples' views on the errors and flaws, I think those mistakes can sometimes be quite amusing (Megatron's voice comes from Optimus Prime at least once, Starscream is colored like Skywarp and Thundercracker numerous times, Optimus Prime colored totally blue at least once). If you haven't seen these episodes in 18 years like I haven't, you probably won't even notice most of the less noticeable errors, and if you do notice them, you likely won't even care. It's just great to be able to watch these old episodes once again, and in chronological order. Go ahead and buy this set, you'll really enjoy it! Then get ready for the DVD set of the first half of Season 2, coming out on November 12, and the second half, scheduled to be released next April. Watching Season 1 again was very fun and entertaining, and I'll definitely be in line to buy the next two boxed sets as well! Another original animation error for you Transformer fans to watch for:
In the episode where Skyfire is first discovered under the ice by the Decepticons, scenes of past events prior to the war are shown in which Skyfire and Starscream are scientists that travel to Earth to explore. In these scenes, Starscream is already shown in an F-15 jet transformation mode. This could not be, because Starscream was not changed to a jet until after the Decepticons were revived after they crashed to Earth in the Ark, millions of years later. Also, should Skyfire resemble an Earth jet as well? Is this another error?
Rating:
Summary: Been waiting for this for years!
Review: Final its here! I hope they continue to release the next seasons in this fashion.
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as I remembered
Review: I was so excited when this came out, finally getting to watch one of my childhood favorites over again. Well like with most childhood favorites, it was'nt an adult favorite to me. I didnt like the lack of character development, plot, and I just got bored watching it. I think the only reason I used to watch this was because I liked the toys, I cant see what I saw in this series. Rhino did'nt do a good job of cutting out the "Now back to the Trans-formers" commercial notifiers. All negatives aside the sound quality is excellent in dolby 5.1 surround sound. If you still like the Trans-formers this ins'nt a bad deal, I just lost the love for the show.
Rating:
Summary: Transformers 1st Season is EXCELLENT!!
Review: This DVD is great. Seeing all the old characters is really amazing. I am so glad I purchased it. It is bringing back so many memories. Some names that I may have forgotten are being said on the DVD so I'll never forget them again. If you were a child in the 80s you will absolutely enjoy this purchase.
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