Rating: 
Summary: SEASON AFTER THE MOVIE
Review: OKAY SEASON HERE HAD SOME BAD EPISODES ON THIS LIKE CARNAGE IN CMINOR BUT SOME GREAT EPISODES LIKE 5 FACES OF DARKNESS 1-5.GET THIS SEASON TO COMPLETE YOUR TRANSFORMER SET
Rating: 
Summary: DASHEIK'S 2 CENTS: I LOVE THE TRANSFORMERS
Review: Rhino, if you are reading, we want to see PETER CULLEN, FRANK WELKER AND CHRIS LATTA NOW!! I loved seeing interviews with Flint Dille and Buzz Dixon. Now it is time for the greatest voices in the business. For you new fans, that's Optimus Prime, Megetron and Starscream (A.K.A. Cobra Commander). "We're Cold Slither. You'll be joining us soon. A band of vipers playing our tune." Remember that song?
Rating: 
Summary: It's All True. Get it Anyway
Review: Transformers Season 3 Part 1... what is there to say? Everyone has mentioned already the incredibly inconsistent animation from episode to episode, the continuity errors of various characters e.g., how can the Constructicons have built Megatron when they themselves were introduced as Earth creations etc.,Galvatron is totally insane... it's all true. But get this DVD anyway. Why? Several reasons. Firstly, there are some really great episodes that now, as an "adult" I see are very original story ideas- the relationship between Cyclonus and Galvatron, for example, in the episode Web World is increidbly rich and subtle. How does one measure loyalty? What is betrayal? What is the Decepticon Cause without the leader of the Decepticons? The balance between sanity and lunacy that Galvatron perpetually walks is also, in retrospect, far more interesting now than when I was a boy. The Killing Jar is another great example (albeit a heavy handed one) of modern day relevance as it examines the warrior mentality and the thin line between [homeland] security and conquest. Another great reason to get this box set is that the famous episode Carnage in C Minor is on it, and that's gotta be the most ridiculous script ever written. And to see it so poorly executed is (on a completely different scale) as entertaining as it is painful. But my most favorite part about this box set has got to be in the bonus materials. The segment they do on A Taste of Botcon/OTFCC has a little tiny interview called "The Girl from Botcon" which in itself is a short and sweet interview about a now infamous question asked at the 2002 Botcon, but on a larger scale also demystifyies the stigma attached to "Convention heads". I got a genuine sense of family and friendship from the documentary that kind of made me proud to share in such a rich culture and history. It really is very sweet. And the girl's cute too ;) So yes. It's all true. Get it anyway.
Rating: 
Summary: G1's Darkest Hour
Review: These episodes of "The Transformers" ran from 1986 to 1987. I'm not too familiar with all of the aspects of the series. There are some white spots on the picture, but this is understandable considering the age of the original master tapes. An original audio track is finally provided, so we can listen to the audio in its original mono instead of the stereo tracks with the added sound effects that Rhino created for the Seasons 1 and 2 sets. The extras are nice (including 5 "...and knowing is half the battle" PSAs done by the TFs made for air during Season 2 but which went unaired and unseen until now), but there aren't enough. Even though they include all of the character profile segments at the end of the episodes, they also have them for view separately - but not all of them, which makes no sense. I wanted more interviews. I wanted the scripts. I wanted Year 3 toy commercials. Now onto the actual story. The first 16 of the 30 episodes of Season 3 are in this set. They're presented in original air order, not production order. Most of the characters aren't developed beyond stereotypes. Season 3 is generally considered to be the weakest season of the G1 series by Transformers fans, though some fans disagree and consider Season 3 to be their favorite. The animation quality is worse than Seasons 1 and 2. A lot of characters were killed off in the Movie and were replaced by generally unlikeable characters. Rodimus Prime is a poor substitute for Optimus Prime, though some fans prefer a flawed Autobot leader. Galvatron, despite being cool in the Movie, is a wimp in Season 3. His thought circuits must have been fried, because he's deranged in Season 3. Megatron was a far cooler villain than this poser. With the Autobots finally in control of Cybertron (which the Movie failed to explain), Season 3 is more space-oriented with less episodes taking place on Earth than in Seasons 1 and 2. While this makes the series more epic, it loses the human touch, which makes it seem cold and distant. There's a greater female presence in Season 3 with the additions of Arcee and Marissa Fairbourne to the series, but it's a shame that Carly turned into a wimp. Grimlock's back, unfortunately. I hate him. Wheelie is annoying, too, but Spike's son, Daniel, isn't. Robots are finally able to be destroyed in Season 3. "Dark Awakening" features a brief return of Optimus Prime before his final return at the end of Season 3, but they put the later airing on this set - with the narrator's voice-over instead of Rodimus Prime, which not only ruins the mood but references an episode that isn't even on this set. Still, this is an entertaining cartoon series and worth the purchase, even though it'll probably be cheesier than you remember from childhood. For those of you that missed it when it was on TV, this is your chance to see it.
Rating:
Summary: THE classic 80s cartoon series! ...Rhino has learned!
Review: PICTURE QUALITY (4/5 STARS)
The overall image quality has definetly been improved: brighter colours and very sharp images. Nearly no mistakes, at least this counts for the remastering process... some intro sequences and a few scenes within the episodes are unsharp, simply not remastered but most of the work is done great. SOUND QUALITY (5/5 STARS)
They have learned!! At last an option for the "Original Broadcast Soundtrack". Everything is done good so far I can see, additional soundeffects only in the 5.1 and 2.0 mixes. EXTRAS (2/5 STARS)
They really could have included so much more! What about the toy commecial spots? They are hardly to find and in bad shape if you find them. Scanned images of the toy catalogs is great but findable all over the Internet. They really used up everything in the first boxset it seems! SPECIAL/UNIQUE ON THIS DVD RELEASE:
- all new transfer from the original 35mm negative
- Dolby Digital 5.1 remix & Dolby Stereo & Original Broadcast Soundtrack
- 2 limited-edition cels of Transformers characters (limited?? just to the availability of this boxset LOL!) COMMENT:
One reviewer mentioned that the episodes are not in order, actually THEY ARE IN ORDER in terms of their air date. This boxset has 3 discs, not 4 (Amazon made an error here). Rhino has bungled the episode listing on their homepage. HERE IS THE CORRECT EPISODE LISTING FOR THIS BOXSET: D i s c 1 :
Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1
Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2
Five Faces of Darkness, Part 3
Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4
Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5
The Killing Jar
Chaos D i s c 2 :
Dark Awakening
Surprise Party
Madman's Paradise
Webworld
Carnage In C-Minor
Forever Is a Long Time Coming
Fight or Flee D i s c 3 :
Thief In the Night
Starscream's Ghost
EXTRAS The only additional thing I can write about here is season 3 itself. It is still G1 and for fans a must-have! But there are so many errors in the scripts/voices/animation that most of the episodes are just bad. At least episodes like "Fight or Flee" and "Webworld" are actually worth buying the boxset!
Rating:
Summary: Mixed feelings as the series takes a turn
Review: This boxed set hits me with a mixed feeling. On one hand, it's Transformers the way I remember it. On the other hand, it was the downswing of the series. Season 3 starts out with a 5 part mini-series that takes place right after the movie. The Decepticons are in very poor shape after losing the war, and the Quintessons, (the 5-faced robots introduced in the movie) are revealed to be the creators of all Transformers. They try to play both sides against the middle to take back over for themselves. The animation in Season 3 is more riddled with mistakes than the first two. The wrong person is talking a great deal of the time, characters killed in the movie keep showing up in the background, and characters often appear out of place. These problems were present in the original series, but I thought I'd point them out. The opening 5 part mini-series had it's own opening sequence that was different from the rest of series 3. For some reason, only parts 3 and 5 in the mini-series have this opening. The episode Dark Awakening is also the later edited version that set up for "tomorrows episode" of the Return of Optimus Prime. Prett silly to include this instead of the original version, since this episode won't appear until toward the end of the next boxed set. This could have been a two disc set and saved us money. The third disc is mostly a waste...containing only two episodes and several "special features". Most of the special features are more Botcon convention garbage that I complained about in the earlier boxed sets. Big waste of time. Why not include original commercials for the toys and/or series or outtakes or something? We don't care to see this stuff. The story isn't what it used to be, but isn't really all that bad. It's just not what the first two seasons were, and seems way too rushed. Galvatron's battle at the end of the movie left him a little messed up in the head, so he has periodic bouts of insanity. Rodimus Prime is nowhere near the leader Optimus Prime was, and he and the other Autobots seem to know it. Neither of these interesting plotlines, however, is really ever explored like it should have been. The only reason I got this set was to help complete my collection. Overall the episodes, though rushed and full of mistakes, aren't all that bad, they lack the personality of the original two seasons. Rhino's special features still lack anything interesting, and I really hope the final boxed set will contain some bonus features that are actually worth watching. Overall, worth getting for completist purposes, but keep in mind that this was where the series began to fall from grace...and it does show through at times.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I bought the TF boxsets of Season 1, Season 2 Pt.1 and Season 2 Pt.2, so naturally I bought Season 3 Pt.1. Even as a collector and lifelong fan of TF, I gotta admit that this has got to be the worst season ever. Apparently for Season 3 and Season 4, the animators just didn't care anymore, neither did the writers. Very very very very poor animation, too many inconsistancies to mention, and some of the worst dialogue ever. There are some episodes where Ultra Magnus is big enough to pick up Constructicons in both hands, where you see a combiner the same size as a regular TF, where their heads sometimes look like bobbleheads, where the colors are completely screwed around, and where the voices are nowhere close to be applied to the proper characters. Brutal. Unless you have already bought the first 3 boxsets, avoid this one (as well as Season 3 Pt.2 / Season 4) and save your money. BTW, Amazon's description is incorrect. This boxset is 3 discs, not 4.
Rating:
Summary: Season 4 has been out for a while.
Review: Those of you are waiting for the season 4 box set to be released are in for a dissapointment. It was only 3 episodes and was released before the season 1 box set was. It is called transformers heros rebirth. It was made to promote the head masters toy line. It left all of us transformers fans without any closure. In japan the 4th season had many more episodes and a different story line. More transformers died like galvitron, sound wave and blaster killed each other, were rebuilt and renamed. I've never seen them and hear the animation is not very good, but the american cartoon wasn't the best animation either.
If rhino does relese the japan version over here it will have to either have subtitles or new voice dubs which will sound different than the originals. Rhino may re-release the season 4 disk with extras, but considering the weak extras in the box sets now it may not be worth another purchase. I'm saving my money for the awsome reissue toys takara has been putting out for the past couple years. The best thing that could happen but never will, is a new cartoon that takes off where the american version ended. All transformers cartoons after the first generation suck bad and have no real nostolgic effect that the originals do.
Update: The 3 head masters episodes will be included in season 3 part 2,season 4.
Rating:
Summary: Finally a Transformers DVD set worth buying!
Review: Well Rhino finally made a Transformers DVD set where you can listen to the original audio instead of there 5.1 dolby digital! You should buy this Transformers season 3 part 1 DVD set just for that! I personally am not a big fan of Rhino's work on these Transformers DVD Sets with there digital remastering making the colors very bright and transformers painted wrong colors! If that does not make you MAD then there 5.1 dolby digital will! I don't know why they could not have just left the original episodes alone and just put them on DVD?? We as Transformers fans should not let this company trash our beloved cartoon. after the job they did on the season 1 dvd box set, season 2 was not bad just the 5.1 dolby digital kind of ruined it. But it looks like fans have spoken! they finally have the option to listen to the original audio! Now if only they had another option where you could watch the original broadcast instead of there remastering process we might have something. Season 3 was one of my favorites more darker theme and kind of got away from the silly stuff from season 2. I give this set 5 Stars just because of the audio option and I like this set over the others! Buy it! Maybe if enough people speak up they will finally make these the way they should be.
Rating:
Summary: The Darker Side of the Transformers Series
Review: Aa a long time fan of the Transformers I can honestly say this box set has a flavor unmatched by the others. While I (like many many others) miss the rivalry of Optimus Prime and Megatron along with the other classic Autobots and Decepticons......the more sinister plots and sense of impending doom in the Third Season is halmark. Trust me.......you won't be disappointed.
I can hardly wait for Part 2.
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