I bought my nephew the opening multi-part saga of the new Transformers Prime animated show on DVD for Christmas this year. We watched the Darkness Rising disc on boxing day (see the trailer embedded up above) and I’ve got to say, outside of the clunky, chunky and unattractive character designs of the human children, this show knocked my socks off! Great story, fun animation and plenty of awesome Transformers action. Oh, and zombie-robots. There are zombie-robots in this thing!! Awesome! I’m glad to see that Shout! Factory is biting the bullet and putting this series on Blu-ray. I’m looking forward to watching the remaining episodes when the Transformers Prime: Season One Blu-ray arrives in shops on March 6th.

From the press release:

“Prepare to experience the world of TRANSFORMERS PRIME like never before with perfect picture visuals and the purest digital sound available when the entire first season of the award-winning CGI animated series TRANSFORMERS PRIME arrives in stores everywhere in North America on March 6, 2012 in a deluxe 4-DVD set and a Limited Edition 4-Disc Blu-ray™ collection from Shout! Factory, in collaboration with Hasbro Studios.

Both the DVD and Blu-ray collections of TRANSFORMERS PRIME: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON boast all 26 action-packed episodes (including the 5-part miniseries Darkness Rising) and special bonus content. For a limited time only, TRANSFORMERS PRIME: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON Limited Edition 4-Disc Blu-ray contains a 96-page IDW graphic novel based on this hit series.

Delivering a new level of heavy metal action and family entertainment for all ages, the limited edition Blu-ray collection is priced to own at $64.99 SRP. The deluxe 4-DVD set is sold separately and has a suggested retail price of $ 29.93 SRP.

The TRANSFORMERS saga starts a new chapter as old foes return, legendary heroes rise, and new ones are found in unlikely places. The new EMMY Award winning series TRANSFORMERS PRIME, A Hasbro Studios production, currently airs on The HUB television network in the U.S. and Teletoons in Canada, deepens the epic mythology of both the AUTOBOTS and DECEPTICONS, while starting a new chapter for a new generation of fans.

In early 2011, loyal TRANSFORMERS fans, as well as families and kids, were introduced to this visually stunning five-part miniseries on The HUB. Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Arcee, AUTOBOT Ratchet, Bulkhead, and many others are back to “roll out” against Megatron’s latest attempt to conquer Earth. And Megatron proves to be more powerful than ever, having acquired a rare element that allows him mastery over life itself. OPTIMUS PRIME and the AUTBOTS may be few against the Decepticon hordes, but they find increased strength through bonds forged with three human teenagers.

Season One of TRANSFORMERS PRIME boasts an all-star voice cast, including Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, Steve Blum, Jeffrey Combs, Adam Baldwin, Markie Post, Ernie Hudson, among other notables. TRANSFORMERS PRIME is produced by Hasbro Studios, with Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Jeff Kline serving as executive producers. Kurtzman and Orci served as writers for the feature films TRANSFORMERS and TRANSFORMERS: Revenge of the Fallen.

TRANSFORMERS PRIME recently garnered two Emmy® Awards for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation and six Emmy nominations. “

TRANSFORMERS PRIME: SEASON ONE
(March 6, 2012 – MSRP $64.99)
Video: 1080p
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1

Special Features:

• Original Making of Special
• 15 Audio Commentaries with the Creative Team and Voice Cast
• Toy Featurette
• Season Two Teaser Debuted at New York Comic-Con 2011

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Why the hell don’t we have this movie on Blu-ray yet?! Urrrr…

All right. Let me explain. Transformers: the Movie, the animated giant-robot extravaganza that shaped my youth, came out in 1986. You know the film. The one with that song that goes, “YOU GOT THE TOUCH. YOU GOT THE POWER!” Yeah. That one. In the last number of years, the film has arrived in the home video market on DVD, in a variety of versions. Some full screen, attempting to show the full animated frame but looking way too loose, compositionally. Some widescreen, attempting to replicate the matted cinematic presentation (where movie theatres chop off the top and bottom of the picture – really, it happens ALL the time!) but looking way too tightly composed. Each version suffered additional problems in colour fidelity and compression. It seems that no studio, no release is able to get Transformers: the Movie quite right.

And then came Metrodome. This UK studio has tried again and again to release the perfect version of Transformers to home video. And to be fair, they’ve come the closest in their 2006 Blu-ray release of the film. So there. We actually DO have it on Blu-ray. Just not in North America. And nowhere near perfect yet.

Metrodome’s release of Transformers: the Movie is possibly as sharp and detailed as a transfer could be with the old film elements. However, the Blu-ray disc’s colour timing and audio mix are in desperate need of improvement. As you watch the film, colours shift all over the place, sometimes drastically changing from shot to shot within a scene. This may also be a fault of the original elements. But in the hands of a studio with a slightly bigger budget, it’s possible that we could see a more balanced representation of Transformers: the Movie. The audio mix, on the other hand, may be beyond help. It’s always been terrible. But perhaps an HD, uncompressed audio track would rescue a little sonic fidelity from the otherwise thin source.

Sony holds the rights to release Transformers: the Movie in North America. God only knows why they haven’t bothered bothered to release a Blu-ray version yet, milking the hype driven by the two live action films. I can only hope that they’ve got the film in a lab somewhere, with hordes of technicians labouring over it day and night, to build the perfect Blu-ray release – impeccably framed, perfectly colour timed with booming uncompressed audio and a bevy of extras.

Sadly, at this point, I think there’s as much chance of Sony giving us Transformers: the Movie on Blu-ray as there is of Megan Fox turning up in my bed.

NOTE: The UK Metrodome release of Transformers: The Movie is ALL REGION. It will play on any Blu-ray player in any part of the world. So, even though it’s not perfect and not on store shelves in North America, if you can’t wait to own it on Blu-ray, it’s yours for the purchasing! I’ve included two links below: The first is for the US Amazon.com where you can pick up a version of the UK disc at a premium. The second is Amazon.co.uk where you can get Transformers: The Movie for very little but with an slight import cost.

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