Shout! Studios
From MediaWiki
Shout! Factory is the latest company to hold the U.S. distribution rights to the original Transformers cartoon. They also have released DVD versions of many other nostalgic cartoons, like C.O.P.S., Captain N: The Game Master, and Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors. Oh, and that one show that always gets mixed up with the Transformers.
Releases
For their Generation 1 DVDs, Shout! Factory have notably cleaned up the extra sound effects and animation errors introduced by Kid Rhino and Magno Sound & Video that have previously been present in many different companies' releases worldwide.
- The Transformers — The Complete First Season: 25th Anniversary Edition (June 16, 2009)
- Contains the entire first season across two discs, plus a third disc of bonus material including a featurette on "the origins of the Transformers", commercials, PSAs, and the script for "Transport to Oblivion".
- The Transformers — More than Meets the Eye (September 1, 2009)
- Contains the episodes "More than Meets the Eye" parts 1-3, "Transport to Oblivion" and "Roll for It".
- The Transformers — Season Two, Volume One: 25th Anniversary Edition (September 15, 2009)
- Contains 28 episodes of the second season in seemingly random order across four discs.
- The Transformers — 25th Anniversary Matrix of Leadership Collection (October 20, 2009)
- Sixteen-disc set compiling the four individual "25th Anniversary Edition" season releases, plus a 60-page book and exclusive Autobot- and Decepticon-themed magnets.
- The Transformers — Season Two, Volume Two: 25th Anniversary Edition (January 12, 2010)
- Contains the remaining 21 episodes of the second season in seemingly random order across three discs, plus a fourth disc of bonus material including two featurettes, a concept art gallery, excerpts from the show's production bible, commercials, PSAs, and episode scripts.
- The Transformers — Seasons Three & Four: 25th Anniversary Edition (Release date TBA)
- Contains the third season in seemingly random order across four discs, plus a fifth disc of bonus material including "The Autobots, The Decepticons & the Fans" featurette, an interview with Bob Budiansky, a concept art gallery, production bible excerpts, commercials, PSAs, and episode scripts.
Restoration
- Shout! Factory conducted a painstaking editing process to correct the animation errors and sound effect additions made by Kid Rhino and Magno Sound & Video.
- From the DVD insert: "Transformers DVDs released prior to our 25th Anniversary Edition were missing animation seen in the original broadcast. We did extensive research, found the discrepancies between the original broadcast masters and the restored masters used for the last DVD release, reinserted the correct animation, and color corrected it as best we could to match the shots before and after. But because a one-inch master tape simply can't hold up to the quality of the restored masters, you may notice occasional shots -- or even scenes -- in some episodes that seem slightly softer than others. Just take comfort in knowing that laser blasts have been reinserted, backgrounds have been corrected and Starscream is Starscream once again."
- Some of the fixed scenes are indeed "softer" than the surrounding animation--though since the last time the correct versions were released for North American purchase was on VHS tapes over 10 years ago, by this point the S!F versions probably look as good as or better than them. Though not absolutely every Kid Rhino coloring error was fixed, the vast majority were, and certainly all of the sequences of mistaken animation that confused the plot were fixed. S!F even repaired some audio errors that had been present on several prior releases of "Fire on the Mountain," and also included the
totally betteroriginal, non-narrated closing sequence for "Dark Awakening" where Kid Rhino had used the later version.
- A version of the theme song including all of the extra sound effects introduced by Magno is used on the DVD title menu, but not in the actual episodes.
