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The
DVD animation (once you get past the Rhino sequences
which can be fast-forwarded through or skipped
past) starts with a zoom down the hallway of a
flat-shaded, inaccurately drawn Ark. The main
menu is done in shades of orange and yellow in
the same flat-shaded style as the ship. Audio
Setup, Play All Episodes, and Scene
Index rest on a vaguely console-shaped panel
at the bottom of the screen, above which are several
screens linked together in a hexagonal ring (as
we see in the menu animations later). The left
and right screens play animated static, while
the center screen plays clips from first-season
episodes at the wrong frame rate, resulting
in sped-up, choppy replay. Above and to the left
of this is yet another screen, this one with a
green oscilloscope below it. This screen plays
the opening theme and titles, complete with voice
track, over, and over, and over, and...
When
you enter the Audio Setup menu, the menu
zooms in on the top left screen (with the oscilloscope)
and gives you the options of 2.0 Stereo
(bracketed by little Decepticon symbols), or
5.1 Surround (bracketed with little Autobot
symbols). The whole menu is set on a white rounded
rectangle with its opacity lowered about 50%,
set over an endlessly looping set of clips from
the show. This makes the words hard to read, and
the clips below the rectangle look slightly washed
out and a little bizarre, like overexposed photos.
When
you select Scene Index the hexagonal ring
spins and one of the screens detaches and zooms
towards you, filling the TV screen. The episode
title is at the top, then there are two rows of
three animated clips (from the shows again) each
that serve as 'hot spots' to let you select the
scene you want, and below that are the words Main
Menu with arrows on either side that let you
go to the next and previous shows. The setup of
the Scene Index menu isn't bad at all -
except its very hard to read. There are simply
too many bright colors on the screen, clashing
with the animation that really should be your
central focus. In addition, the background is
bright blue - Windows' Dreaded Blue Screen of
Death blue - and the text is black with a white
stroke, as are all the selection arrows. The text
is in the Transformers font, which is a nice touch,
but it's such a large, blocky font, that it doesn't
really work well at this size. Also, this selection
screen is not intuitive. If you're still on Main
Menu, or one of the arrows, and you press
play, it does not play the single episode,
but rather, all of them. So if you're on, say,
"Transport
to Oblivion" and you press play,
don't be surprised when you see "More
Than Meets the Eye Part 1".
Having
gone through Audio Setup and Scene Index,
and experienced the accompanying animation, you'll
be in for a bit of a surprise when you select
Play All Episodes. There are no bright
colors, and no animation. The menu blips off the
screen and is replaced by the opening titles of
"More
Than Meets the Eye Part 1". It just
- starts. It's rather startling.
The
menu setup in itself isn't a bad one, it just
feels unfinished, like it was rushed through production.
It makes sense, and it mostly works if you take
the time to think it through. Everything is clearly
marked, and should be easy to find. You
shouldn't have to take time to think a menu through.
And - this is a big one - it's ugly. The
drawing is too simplistic, the colors are too
bright and monochromatic, and far too much moves.
There are six things moving, and that's
just when you're sitting looking at it. When you
select something (apart from Play All Episodes)
it can get up as far as eleven because all the
screens inside the hexagonal ring are playing
something as well. I don't mind animated menus,
in fact, I think they're neat, but I don't care
for everything moving and reassembling itself.
I find that this menu looks as if its creators
spent so much time trying to make it as visually
interesting as possible that they forgot to make
sure it would be usable by everyone.
Disc
Four, the Special Features disc contains:
- Transformers
Restoration
- Restoration
Process
- Frame
by Frame Analysis
- Remastering
Comparisons
- Bumpers
- Domestic
Bumpers
- Japanese
Bumpers
- Outtakes
& Anomalies
- Outtakes
& False Starts
- Anomalies
- Alternate
Sequences
- Textless
Opening & End Credits
- Textless
Opening Episode One
- Opening
Credits—Domestic
- Opening
Credits—Japanese
- Original
Transformers Script
- Episode
Four: Transport to Oblivion
- A
Taste of BotCon 2001
- BotCon:
Above and Beyond
- Interview
with Glen Hallit, BotCon Organizer
While
it was neat to see the Japanese bumpers and opening
credits, nothing else on the Special Features
disc really caught my attention. I've seen enough
restoration documentaries to last me for the next
five years, and while the Outtakes & Anomalies
featurette was interesting for a few minutes,
there's only so many times one can see people's
hands and dandruff before losing interest. Also,
while I'm sure that BotCon 2001 was a fine convention,
I'm just not interested in hearing people interviewed
about, and seeing footage from, an event that
happened two years ago.
  One
of the collector cels for this set features Starscream
and Thundercracker in robot mode, with Starscream
in the foreground holding an energon cube. The
other features Rumble in a nice, clear, well-drawn
pose.
In
conclusion, the quality of the episodes is excellent,
and the episode and chapter guide that comes with
the set is very nicely put together, illustrated,
as are the fold-outs, with artwork from the series.
I didn't find that any of the repairs or changes
to the episodes detracted from my memories of
the original run of the show, although SoundEffect
tells me some sound effects throughout the episodes
have been changed, and the commercial bumpers
have had sound effects added to them where there
was only music and voice-over before. (He still
has access to recordings of the 1984 airings,
and can confirm this.) The voice-overs have been
removed, but I suppose on a DVD they're not really
necessary. These changes may also have been due
to damaged originals.
Overall,
despite the menu I recommend this box set as a
worthwhile addition to any Transformer collector's
shelf.
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