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Transformers Season 3 Part 1 Boxed Set

Transformers Season 3 Part 1 Boxed Set

List Price: $49.95
Your Price: $39.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The first part of an underrated season
Review: Thanks in part to the notorious death count in Transformers: The Movie (among other things), The Transformers' third season was met with a resounding thud by children of the '80s. However, time and wisdom have revealed that the third season was, in fact, one of the best written years of animation in recent history, with episodes like "The Killing Jar", "Webworld", "The Big Broadcast of 2006", "Only Human", and "The Face of Nijika" tackling some advanced themes, and excellently, at that.

The problem is, Season 3 was a problematic year to produce. Scatman Crothers (the voice of Jazz) died before the year began, and Casey Kasem and Don Messick left (the former because of his displeasure with the country of Carbombya and it's leader, Abdul Fakhaddi, a rip on some of the Middle Eastern rulers of the time). Roger C. Carmel (voice of Cyclonus, Motormaster, Bruticus, and others) would die before "The Return of Optimus Prime" was recorded. And, thanks to the stretched resources at Sunbow (with a season of Jem, a season of G.I. Joe, The Inhumanoids, and G.I. Joe: The Movie all in production), the re-take budget dwindled to zero, and results were rushed (with The Transformers succumbing to a glaringly inconsistent look in its third year).

In typical Rhino fashion, the episodes have been given a total overhaul, looking and sounding better than ever (except the recaps, which are unrestored). Extras are a bit light this time around, with the obligatory look at the most recent Botcon, as well as three of the trailers from Season 3, and 5 PSAs that I totally don't remember (and play exactly like the famous G.I. Joe PSAs). However, there are some anomalies: The episode-specific opening for "Five Faces of Darkness" is only present at the start of Parts III and V, and is noticeably unrestored. Also unrestored is the Marvel/Sunbow logo at the end of each episode. Additionally, "Dark Awakening" ends with the tacked-on narration that was used to hype "The Return of Optimus Prime" when it premeired in February of 1987. As with past sets, there are a couple of re-takes not properly inserted, but overall, the episodes are as aired. And, as others have complained, the order is not the one posted on the TF websites-it's the correct order as dictated by series continuity. Finally, the master for "Thief in the Night" seems to have been seriously damaged, as there are heavy streaks throughout (and therefore pretty much impossible to restore).

Despite these complaints, this set is another excellent effort for Rhino, and is not to be missed by Transformers fans.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Transformers Season Three
Review: Transformers Season Three! I love both G.I. Joe and Transformers. This was and still is an excellent show. Every DVD Set of Transformers so far have been SWEET! This one could be better, though. The things I would improve are:1.Put them in order, they had all of the other seasons in oder, why not this one? 2. Put the episodes on FOUR discs. 3. What's w/ the PSAs, I don't think they were ever on before, are they trying to copy G.I. Joe? It's really cool without those. Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Kup, Arcee, Blurr, Springer,Sky Lynx Galvatron, Cyclonus, Scourge are just some of the awesome characters that were introduced in Season Three. The episodes should be:
1. Five Faces of Darkness Parts 1-5
2. The Killing Jar
3. Chaos
4.Dark Awakening
5. Forever is a Long Time Coming
6. Starscream's Ghost
7. Thief in the Night
8. Surprise Party
9. Madman's Paradise
10.Nightmare Planet
11. Ghost in the Machine (very nice episode:D)
12.Webworld. PLEASE try and redo it, and if possible, release both sets at the same time. They're the last Orginal Transformers Cartoon. Part Two should have: Carnage in C-Minor-The Burden Hardest to Bear, and The Return of Optimus Prime, and Rebirth. I also want G.I. Joe on DVD in time for the holidays. Yo Joe! Transform and Roll Out!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: I was betrayed
Review: Being very young at the time and a major fan of the series, I was very upset after seeing the movie and witnessing the end of my favorite characters. Seeing as how I was in the age group that the toy line was targeted at, I think there were major repercussions felt. Optimus Prime and Starscream were my favority characters. Add to this the fact that there were "movie" voices and personalities not carried to season 3, I felt alienated from something that was a former obsession. Galvatron and Rodimus Prime had not only professional actors for the movie were also powerful leaders as well in the big battle. Somehow they lost their greatness when the season started. I just couldn't connect with the show anymore during season 3 and lost nearly all interest in the toys after the show went off the air eventhough they continued to make them for a couple of years after that.

I never saw the entire season as the show was cancelled in my area after only about a dozen episodes of the season. It was only a few weeks ago I learned they had resurrected Optimus Prime! So I am going to buy the whole season so I can see how it ended.

I just got my copy today and inside it says season 4 will be released with the 2nd half of season 3. I never saw those episodes either.

Hats off to Amazon for speedy shipping and excellent service!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Season 3 Part 1-A Mixed Bag
Review: Well, it's here-the season 3 boxset. I'll just start by getting the gripes out of the way: (1)The episodes seem to be in no particular chronological order. With the exception of Five Faces Of Darkness (The very first S3 episodes), Rhino seemed to be not very concerned about trying to get these in order- It appears they just went by the production and episode numbers, which I think is also why you have episode numbers like 102 and 106, when the original series only had 98 episodes in it, and when the series was on television they ran the episodes out of order as well, so I think this is why they are like this on the box set. (2) Picture Quality and Animation Errors- Some people have complained about the picture quality of the S3 DVD's. I don't think it's that bad-definitely better than the old VHS copies I've seen. Possibly Rhino really dropped the ball on this one, or the S3 master tapes were really that messed up, that this is all they could do, and 98% of the animation errors in this season I distinctly remember from when the series aired on TV, and I think Rhino may have actually fixed some of them, like no Thundercracker or Shockwave showing up, just their designs with different colors. (3) The episode 'Dark Awakening' showing up on this boxset. It annoys me as well, but see gripe #1 for why this is.
Now, for the part I really want to get to: This boxset is great! S3 had some really good storylines/plots! There are a few episodes that didn't-'Surprise Party', 'Madman's Paradise' and 'Carnage In C-Minor'. Aside from these, the other episodes build the characters of Rodimus Prime, Galvatron, Kup, Ultra Magnus, Cyclonus, and many others but also, we start to get into the history of the Transformers and their roots ('The Five Faces of Darkness', 'Forever Is A Long Time Coming'). I always admired this season for making it different from the first two, like watching Galvatrons' descent into his own insanity and Rodimus Primes' struggle with being thrust suddenly into a position and responsiblity that he was not ready to handle. even the bad episodes I mentioned earlier still have a certain charm to them-as terrible an episode as it is, I think 'Carnage In C-Minor' is absolutely hilarious and should not be taken seriously into the TF continuity whatsoever.
So, with this being said, I'll give this Box Set 5 stars-even with the mixed quality of animation, a few poor storylines and animation errors aplenty, the good storylines that came from this season make up for it, and to have it on DVD and not old VHS transfers to CD-ROMS is absolutely fantastic! I can't wait for part 2. A must have for anyone who is a TF fan.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: What the hell was Rhino Thinking?
Review: First of all, I must say I was very happy with all previous boxsets. However This set has postives and negatives, and sadly the latter outway the former. The pros are Rhino did great with the 3-D menu, which Hot Rod walking into a control room and shooting the wall with his gun when you hit play. Also Rhino did wonderful with the extras which are: A look at Botcon2003 Transformer PSA's and historical trailers. The Cons however are: They did not restore the picture quially at all, and it was badly needed. The episodes are not in order. Dark Awakening is in this set, It should be on the S3 part 2 boxset because it is right before the Return of Optomis Prime. Also Rhino.com has the episodes Ghost in the machine, and Nightmare planet listed as being on this set, but they are not. Were they high when they put this thing toghter?
As far as the shows themselves they were good. Especially The Killing jar, Webworld, and Five faces of darkness. I know a lot of people bitched about the Anamation in S3, but except for Five Faces of darkness. Which had really crappy Anamation. I think the rest of the shows were fine or at least on the level with S1 & S2. To see what I mean see, War of the Dinobots in S1.
If you want this boxset for a collector's sake then I would buy it, but if you just want to see the shows I would buy them on VHS and save the money.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Rhino did a half assed job with this season....
Review: I am a huge TF fan. Ever since i was a kid Transformers are what i wore, watched and played with. It wasnt a chocie if i bought the DVD's, i had to have them all. Seasons 1 and 2 part 1 & 2 were wonderfully restored to better than original. The picture is out of this world and the sound is 5.1 on all of them making it even better. After watching season 3 part 1 i am left wondering what happend? Did Rhino get lazy? Were they in a hurry to get these boxsets out before Chirstmas? Whatever the reason, it wasn't done very well. There are numerous picture quality problems, it's as if they didnt do a thing to clean these last remaining episodes up. I can't complain about the actual episodes or the stories they are great, better than the original seasons but when i buy a DVD set like this i would have expected it to maintain the quality the previous seasons had. I would recomend any TF fan grab this boxset, but be warned it isnt the same quality the first 3 sets were. Just hold your breath and hope that Rhino does a little better job with season 3 part 2 and season 4.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Transformers Season 3.
Review: Season 3 is a great season as all of the seasons of Transformers.
But to answer some ?'s about some Transformers not in season 3. Cliffjumper voiced by Casey Kasem ( Shaggy from Scoopy Doo) left the show because of religious remakes by some of the actors. Scatman Crothers voice of Jazz passed away just as season 3 started off. And one of two char. voices ( Starscream, Cobra Commander) Chris Latta also left the show because of personal reasons and later passed away as well. And talking about Cobra Commander it was good to see him in a Transformers Esp. This goes to show you that GI Joe and Transformers go hand in hand. Well most of the other reviews speak for themselves. Just thought I give you some good reasons why some char. are not there.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: TF forever!
Review: Hi ;)

I got to know TF from the beginning on via cable TV. A British TV station called Sky Channel had it in its program.
It's the "fault" of TF that I got to learn English long before I started to learn it in school ;)
I watched all episodes weaponed with a dictionnary and tried to translate what was possible.
When Season 3 started I was amazed just by the intro. What a huge head flying around there! In Germany TF The Movie was never shown; German cinemas and TV stations are a bit stupid sometimes, the series started with season 1 in the early 90s, a VERY BAD DUB!!!; so I didn't know Unicron.
TF The Movie was my first DVD order from the US and, as I expected, amazed me more than meets the eye :-)
I have already bought the complete first and second season, now I wait for season 3. Ordered that together with BeastWars season 1.
A pitty that the Japanese TF seasons are not dubbed yet, so they have a real 4th season and much, much more. You can order TF:Takara via amazon.co.uk, also very bad dubbed from Japanese to British english in a british style military sound. But that makes it funny somehow.
Really "Return of OP" was interesting after seeing him extremely damaged flying into that explosives in Dark Awakening.
They should have styled the Return... in a different way, but I guess, they just reacted on customers wishes to get OP back.
Buy all the seasons available, look forward so Rhino might eventuelly and hopefully dub the Japanese seasons too.
Live Transformers or never live prosper!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Several Problems with Season Three
Review: Although I am a big fan of the Transformers Series in general, there were several HUGE problems with Season Three that any true fan must admit, that prohibit it from getting any five star rating:

(1) This season COMPLETELY destroyed the character of Grimlock!!! Up through Transformers: The Movie, Grimlock was an awesome character, who usually stayed in robot mode, unless he had to go into combat, at which time he transformed into an indestructible T-Rex. Somehow, by the start of the third season, he became a complete wimp who spent all of his time hanging out with a little kid (Daniel). Plus, he stayed in T-Rex mode all the time (even when he needed to use his hands), and acted like a retard (as opposed to the brutish fighter he previosuly was). I would've rather seen him die in the movie than what they did to him in the third season.

(2) Season 2 completetly screwed up the perspectives of many of the characters. For instance, why were Blaster and Soundwave, while in radio mode, suddenly the size of houses?

(3) Carnage in C Minor ('Nuff said)

(4) Total disregard for many of the characters who clearly survived the movie - Jazz (even though they stupidly show him in a race under another name), Cliffjumper, Inferno, Red Alert, Tracks, Hoist, Smokescreen, etc, disappear with no explantion whatsoever.

(5) About a half dozen dozen different groups of robots, each of whom transform into a giant (OK, the toy line originally started this idea, but c'mon. Devastator was awesome. Superion and Menacor were cool. Defensor and Bruticus started stretching it. But things really got out of hand in season 3 with Predaking, Abominus and Computron being thrown into an already crowded mix)

(6) And finally, even though Call of the Primates was a very well animated episode, what the heck were they thinking when they Unicron, the most powerful being in the galaxy, and reveal that his creator is a 4 foot tall reptillian punk???? No excuse for that dumb storyline.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Season 3 Transformers: A mix of good stories & bad animation
Review: After Transformers: The Movie, it really wouldn't be fair to hold season three to the animation standards we witnessed on the big screen. After all, TF:TM was a multi-million $$ project over 2+ years in the making. But if we compare season 3 on a whole to those seasons that came before, the animation took a turn for the worse while the stories are among the most interesting ever scribed.

Webworld. Call of the Primatives. Grimlock's new Brain/Money is Everything. Forever is a Long Time Coming. Only Human. Ghost in the Machine. The Burden Hardest to Bear. These are the stories that stick out from Season 3, not for the animation quality (save for Call of the Primatives and to a lesser degree Webworld) but for the sheer chances the writers took to tell a riviting story or provide a laugh or two; stories that might not have been possible pre-movie. In these stories long standing questions finally get asked and new questions you never thought of are brought to light.

Carnage in C-Minor. Thief in the Night. The Ultimate Weapon. Big Broadcast of 2006. These are the stories that have hints of uniqueness, but either horrific animation (remember Bobble-Head Galvatron??) or implausible storytelling (mistaking a thief's very dinosaur-like outline for Metroplex) simply make one's head shake at how this stuff wasn't caught before being animated.

So is season 3 worth getting? Yes, without a doubt. But be prepared when bobble head Galvatrons take over your screen.


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