Customer Reviews

Transformers - Season Two, Part 2

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is the third box set of the original Transformers series, and the third one I have purchased. Very happy with it.

This is, of course, for the second half of Season 2. I'd actually forgotten how good several of these episodes are until watching them again. Tons of new characters show up, the plotlines get more varied, and there is action at every turn.

There are a great many animation mistakes (voices out of the wrong mouths, Autobots appearing with Decepticons, incorrect coloring, etc) but each and every one of these was present originally, and I remember them well upon seeing them again.

The restoration process did another fine job this time, though a few episodes have a large amount of dirt and dust on the film. This is probably due to the sorry state of storage they had been subjected to over the years, as nobody expected that this series would be as lasting as it has turned out to be.

Keep in mind that the episodes are aired in Production Order, which is not neccessarily the same order they were aired in. This causes the Combaticons, for example, to appear in an episode before the episode where they are created is shown. It also sees several episodes air inbetween two episodes that are a continuation of each other. A minor thing, but enough to be noted.

We still need more special features. At least the interviews this time were with people who worked on the classic series, but I'd still love to see commercials for the old toys and perhaps scenes that got cut from episodes due to time constraints. Maybe even character profiles would be nice, and take up little disc space as well.

Overall, I loved this set, just as I have with the other ones. Some great stuff in this one, reminding me of how I got so into this stuff when it was new. This is lightyears better than ANY Transformers stuff that has followed it, even to the modern day series.

I suppose Season 3 will follow with a set or two, but they feature the post-movie characters, which lose a lot of the charm that the original series has with Optimus Prime and Megatron's almost respectful arch rivalry, and Starscream's desire to overthrow Megatron and gain power of his own. But it will still be a welcome edition, and allow Transformers fans to actually own the entire US series when all is said and done.

Thanks again, Rhino, for bringing one of my favorite things from my youth back to life yet again.

The second half of The Transformers' second season is probably the oddest stretch of episodes of the entire series. From the environmentally themed "The Golden Lagoon" to space-faring episodes like "Child's Play" and the episodes with the gestalts (or combiners, if you will), there's a lot of variety here.

The episodes are again restored in fine fashion, although there's a few more moments in this set (as opposed to the last) where Rhino had to borrow from the broadcast masters due to re-takes. The commercial bumpers are now the "correct" Season 2 ones featuring newer characters like Cosmos and Thrust. The sound is also re-done like the other two sets, and is again excellent.

The Special Features, which consist of interviews with writer/associate producer/story editor Flint Dille and writer Buzz Dixon, are great, and both certainly deliniate the series' shift from the lighter episodes of Season 1 to the darker, more mature fare of Season 3, while providing further insight about how cartoons were made during the '80s, and how Sunbow helped to change that for the better.

Without doubt, this set is worth every penny, and Rhino should definitely consider releasing all of the Sunbow series (TF, G.I. Joe, Jem, The Inhumanoids, The Visionaries, and so on) on DVD ASAP.

Season 2 - Part 2 is hands down the best part of the Transformers series. Season 1 and Season 2 - Part 1 definitely have their highlights as well, but nothing compares to what came out in this one. We get the Stunticons, Aerielbots, Combaticons, Omega Supreme and a plethora of other new characters too extensive to name. The animation is brilliant and the storylines are much better. The is when TF Generation 1 really hit its peak.

The second part of season two was my favorite of the whole series. It introduced four new sets of combiners, the only one not having an episode relating to it's creation was the Protectobots. On top of that, the background fleshed out for Omega Supreme, Optimus Prime, and the transformers history in general is well worth the cost of the set.

The series isn't perfect. It's dated, and still meant for children. However the animation has picked up considerably and the action scenes are actually pretty good. The storylines in this part of the season where the most complex and interesting. The only downside in general is that there isn't any appearance from the Dinobots, and once the combiners come into the picture, Omega Supreme gets faded out, used only for travel now.

These are also the last episodes before the movie takes place. So this is the last we see of many transformers characters before they are wasted. Enjoy the last scenes with Ironhide, Ratchet, and many others. As well as the last time for a long time that Optimus Prime would lead the Autobots. If getting the original series seems worth it at all, get seasons one, two, and the movie to polish it off.

Like the 4yr old kid getting up at 8 on a saturday-morning, sitting in front of the screen awaiting my favorite cartoon that starts at 12, 19 years later i'm doing it again but now i don't have to wait and can stay in bed longer. I think it's a grade "A" DVD, the corny soundFX, the small coloring mistakes(thundercracker with starscream colors) just make it more memorable. Kids today may not understand, but i think the kids of then know what i'm talking about. If you were a fan then, trust me you'll be a fan still. It's a must-buy DVD if you like the cartoon. Atleast it's 10 times better than the CGI versions or TF armada for that matter.

Rhino Entertainment has done it again! The "Transformers: Season 2: Part 2" DVD box set is out now. The final 25 episodes in the second season of Sunbow-Marvel Productions' "Transformers: Generation 1" cartoon show are on each disc. (The fourth disc contains interviews with Sunbow animators Buzz Dixon and Flint Dille.) Each episode is remastered from the original 35mm tapes and in Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. What's strange is that the Dinobots aren't even in this second half of the season, allowing the rest of the 1985 Transformers to have more screen attention. One of them, the Autobot Skids, is seen in only two episodes. That is downright wrong! He would've been given as much attention as the other year-2 TFs. The introductions of even more new Transformers (the Stunticons, Aerialbots, Combaticons, and Protectobots) are truly amazing. I like that. It was real nice of Sunbow, who introduced some pre-'85 TFs in season 1. I would love to get this excellent box set, because it's the best there is! It's truly "more than meets the eye"!

I really like season 2 part 2. The episodes got a lot more creative and had a lot more variety than the earlier ones. The "key to vector sigma", (the concept that explains how Transformers are created) are key episodes to the series and seeing female Tfs, as well as going to space to new found planets are very exciting and innovative. I personally think the new sound effects are cool. I really like season 3 a lot because it is so sci fi and epic, but season 2 has very entertaining interesting personalities. Possibly the most entertaining ones so far. More lighthearted than season 3 but with lots of cool storylines (I think child's play is brilliant). It's nice to also have characters introduced one at at time which the first half of season 2 part 2 does nicely. Transformers usually likes to introduce a 100 characters at once and one of the reasons that the characters are so much fun and more developed I think is because they're introduced on a slower basis. (that goes for the second half of season 2 part 1-if you follow me). Hoist, tracks, warpath, powerglide, seaspray, smokescreen and more each get their own episodes starring only them, with possibly another transformer. They have extreme and fun personalities. The smokescreen episode introduces Defcon a runaway autobot who fled cybertron only to end up on another planet other than earth. (defcon looks like a cross between kup and blurr, but maybe that's me). This is the best season to buy before the movie. It's the most developed and interesting.
I thought tf was animated in america. Any thoughts? what on earth happened to these characters from season 2 part 2 during the movie I have no idea. Some of them you never see again.

Gotta love the 80's Transformers. They had so much personality and passion in what it was they were doing. The Decepticons relentlessly trying to seal Earth's energy, and the Autobots always stopping them. This set had some of my favorite episodes because it featured more characters in their own stories. David Wise's wussy writing aside, it's great to see Transformers like Tracks, Powerglide, Astrotrain, Blitzwing, and both the Aerilbots and the Stunticons get personalized storylines. And hey not as much Spike, woohoo!

Plus Rhino is finally starting to get it right. Somebody must've belted the bumper guy over the head, because now when they Transform, it's the correct sound effect, and not that silly Go-Bot sound. As with the other disc's, Rhino still feels the need to add in those weird sound effects of their own, which do not and have NEVER fit with the shows, but they don't seem to get that. I wonder if Rhino would ever consider actually hiring Transfans, rather than someone who doesn't care what they sound and look like.

I keep reading people complaining about visual editing mistakes on these episodes, and the funny thing is they're blaming Rhino. Now listen up, I was a big fan of Transformers back in the day, and I am here to tell you that these mistakes were made by Sunbow. My friends and I used to count the number of mistakes in episodes of Transformers growing up. One time we even counted 57 in one episode alone. These were like this when they were first released and while it seems weird that this would happen, I like to think about it as part of the charm of the Transformers. Finding the mistakes in an episode is almost like trying to find that little cat/rat thing in old episodes of She-ra!

The special features always leave a lot to be desired. I love that they're interviewing writers, but I don't like how you never hear the question being asked, and simply have to guess the question based on the response. And let me take this time to say how stupid was it to get the guy who did the RID version of Optimus Prime for an interview in the last set? Um, hello we're talking about the older Transformers, not that silly excuse for a cartoon called RID. Please Rhino, PLEASE give us what we want. Interviews with both Peter Cullen (original Optimus Prime) and Frank Welker (original Megatron and about 12 other Tranformers). I know Frank is probably too busy to be interviewed, but it would be nice to see the faces behind two pivotal characters.

Keep on giving us more Transformers Rhino, and by the way gotta love the interactive menus with the computer graphics of both Optimus Prime and Soundwave.

It's nice that Rhino video decided to release the Transformers, but I agree with the previous person that interviews with Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime) and Frank Welker (Megatron) should have been included. Better yet, have a tribute to the late great Chris Latta (the one and only Starscream!).

I never thought my childhood would ever be called, "Retro". Thank you so much Rhino for a pleasant and well deserved reunion with some of my 'best friends' and several great memories. For a period of at least 5-6 years I probably lived & breathed Transformers. (As if the rest of world didn't, huh?) I was about 12 then and it really was a delight to now have my 11 & 9 year old sit and not only watch them them with me, but to hear them say how cool they thought different characters were and pretend to be them. ..**lol**

Transformers -the original- was the Dragonball Z of it's day. There was nothing better. If you're an original fan like myself then you truly will enjoy this without question. If you're young and new to the TF world due to alternate TF shows such as Beast Wars or Armada, then you're sure to appreciate this look at what Transformers REALLY was.

While I do honor Beast Wars far out 3-D animation, and Armada's ..well ...attempt to please a new generation. ...You really don't know until you strip the 'paint' and see it as it really was and was supposed to be. Transformers in it's original presentation really ought not to be judged by things such as new animation technology skills, but instead appreciated as the ball the started it all with all the characters in their original un-altered states. AAAA+