The entire first season of the original Generation One Transformers cartoon series from the 80's that started it all is collected in a 3-disc set, showing the Heroic Autobots and the Evil Decepticons battle for Energon on their home planet of Cybertron and later on on Earth after their respective ship crashes, thus involving almost all of Earth in their ongoing struggles.

CRITIQUE

I grew up in the 80's and Transformers was and still is one of my favorite cartoons. So it was a rather nice and a bit nostalgic to be able to watch something I loved so much as a kid again. There is a lot of care that went into the artwork for the both the box and individual discs. As well as the booklet that comes along with it, featuring new artwork by some of the current and stylish comic book artist who have also revitalized the franchise.  

Overall the series surprisingly holds up rather well, even in this modern day and age, though some of the cars are a little bit outdated. On a different note, in an early episode Spike Witwicky is seen working on an oil rig yet he is not old enough to drive which begs the question of child labor laws, but I digress. 

Regardless I would recommend the series to anyone who is or was a fan of the original, especially since it is nice to see where all the characters in the live action films got their respective starts and how much things have been changed as well.

The complete first season is available on a 3-disc 25th Anniversary set and the episodes include:

More than Meets the Eye, Part 1

More than Meets the Eye, Part 2

More than Meets the Eye, Part 3

Transport to Oblvion

Roll for It

Divide and Conquer

Fire in the Sky

S.O.S. Dinobots

Fire on the Mountain

War of the Dinobots

The Ultimate Doom, Part 1

The Ultimate Doom, Part 2

The Ultimate Doom, Part 3

Countdown to Extinction

A Plague of Insecticons

Heavy Metal War

THE VIDEO

The 1.33:1 ratio aspect is fine for what it is. The show was never recorded in such a fashion to begin with and adjustments had to be made to accommodate the new format.  There are no noticeable flaws though you can tell that it is a cartoon series from the 80's.

THE AUDIO

The English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound is fine for a show that was never recorded in Dolby Digital to begin with.

THE EXTRAS

Restored to the original broadcast versions with a new stereo soundtrack created from the original audio: Though I could not tell personally and supposedly some color issues with the characters have been fixed as well.

Archival Hasbro toy commercials: A couple of commercials for the original series toys that haven't aired since the late 80's. Unfortunately these are somewhat bad quality video copies of the originals as no film exists and the child actors faces have been blurred so as not to pay them royalties.

Triplechanger: From Toy To Comic To Screen: The Origins Of The Transformers: Showing the connection between the Japanese toy series, the American series and the comic book. A look at how it all came about, with appearances by the writers and American toy designers.

Rare PSAS: Unaired PSAS featuring the Transformers.

Inside the packaging is a Limited Edition Autobot Magnet.

FINAL THOUGHT

A really nice starting homage to the Original G1 series, though one can't help but think Shout! Factory is holding off on all the actual Special Features for their upcoming Complete Transformers G1 Animated series, which will feature several hours of bonus features and close to 20 discs in all.