7.3 | / 10 |
Users | 3.4 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.4 |
In the year 2005, the Autobots and the Decepticons are still locked in battle, but a deadly new force enters the fray--a giant killer planet known as Unicron. The heroic Autobots must fight for their own survival and to save their home planet from destruction. A classic of 1980s animation, based on the popular TV series.
Starring: Judd Nelson, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Idle, Lionel Stander, Orson WellesSci-Fi | 100% |
Action | 96% |
Adventure | 72% |
Animation | 39% |
Family | 18% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.35:1, 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
Digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Writers of screenplays often face daunting challenges, none more challenging than the tyranny of a blank white page (either physical or virtual). That underlying issue confronts any writer, of course, but screenplay authors often face other obstacles, especially if they’re attempting to adapt a story culled from another medium. How, for example, does one whittle down a novel of several hundred pages, perhaps with an omniscient narrator, into a serviceable script that presents the basic tenets of the tale in a reasonable time allotment while also preserving the general tenor of the original saga? That example aside, there’s probably no more unique hurdle that writers had to overcome than the one detailed in one of the appealing supplements on the new Blu-ray release of The Transformers: The Movie. As a couple of talking heads detail in the main featurette appended to the release, there is no disputing the fact that both the old television series and this subsequent feature film based on the toy line were in fact designed to promote that very toy line, and any other tangential reasons for existence were considered secondary (and maybe tertiary). It’s a patently hilarious way to have to write a screenplay, but as story consultant Flint Dille (who hints in his interview that he had as much to do with the final screenplay as credited writer Ron Friedman) mentjons, it’s what he was tasked with, including such amusing developments as being told by Hasbro that certain toys were being discontinued, others were being introduced, and the film had to contend with those elements in some way. Younger viewers who grew up with a different set of Transformers (so to speak), namely Transformers, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Transformers: Dark of the Moon and/or Transformers: Age of Extinction, will probably want to set aside any story elements in those films, not to mention any expectations that circa 1986 animation is going to come anywhere close to the CGI wonderment of the live action outings. But for those who are a bit older and who grew up with this particular Transformers, this new Blu-ray release should be a nostalgic journey back to their childhoods or adolescence, albeit with some attendant trauma this very film may have engendered in those early viewing experiences.
The Transformers: The Movie is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout! Factory with AVC encoded 1080p transfers in 1.85:1 and 1.35:1 on
separate BD-50 discs. Shout touts a new 4K scan and restoration for this feature, and an accompanying featurette documenting these procedures is
included on the Blu-ray discs as a supplement (interestingly, there's a very brief and unfortunately never followed up on comment by a
Fotokem
worker that the original scan was actually at 6K resolution). This is by and large a very nice looking video presentation, though there will of course be
those who find niggling things to complain about. A lot of concern has been voiced about the color timing for this release, because now 30- to 40-
something guys have nothing better to worry about than what color Hot Rod is (this is a joke, in case it's not clear). Two of the supplements on the
release actually get into this, at least somewhat, with "proof" that this release's color timing is "accurate". I can't authoritatively opine on this since I
only ever saw the film in its post-theatrical broadcasts and home video releases, and I never consider those kinds of viewing experiences an apt
barometer
for what's "correct" and what isn't. I can say that this new version looks significantly better suffused and less washed out and brown than the DVD
version, which my sons had when they were young. Line detail and just general detail are also markedly improved here, as is overall clarity, and the
palette is quite commendably nuanced. Despite
efforts to remove dirt
and debris, both aspects still remain, at least intermittently, and especially in a lot of the opticals like dissolves. There are also a couple of weird
anomalies
that almost resemble
mismatched frames that lead to what looks like superimposed versions of the same image (watch in the first scene introducing Hot Rod and Daniel and
it's
quite apparent, albeit for a fleeting moment). Why these anomalies weren't addressed in the restoration process may simply boil down to time and
money.
Grain resolves naturally throughout the presentation, spiking appreciably in opticals as should be expected. The only real instance of image instability
(other than those aforementioned brief bouts of "superimposition") is slight wobble during the very beginning of the film on the DEG logo.
Note: Screenshots 1-10 are from the widescreen version, and screenshots 11-19 are from the full frame version. Our aspect ratio
measurement tool is showing the full frame version as 1.35:1, not 1.33:1, and as soon as our database is updated the specs above will be corrected to
show that.
The Transformers: The Movie offers both a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix which recreates the film's theatrical exhibition (and which the Blu-ray discs default to) and a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix. Both mixes have pluses and minuses, with a slightly compressed ambience that tends to at least minimally undercut some of the action elements' bombast. The film is very noisy at times, with an almost inescapable synth heavy score, and the 5.1 mix does a good job of providing at least a little more space for effects and the music. In fact, the surround channels are typically used only for discrete placement of sound effects and a general spread for the score, with dialogue kind of oddly dispersed across the front channels. There are occasional issues with prioritization, if only (again) because there's so much sonic activity in a lot of the scenes. While dynamic range is just a tad restricted, fidelity is excellent and there's no actual damage to report.
Both discs offer the same supplemental material, with the full frame disc offering widescreen supplements where applicable like the widescreen disc:
- The Death of Optimus Prime (1080p; 5:02). Whoops, spoiler alert.
- The Cast and Characters (1080p; 10:02)
- Transformers Q & A (1080p; 13:03)
- Fishing Scene (1080p; 2:09)
- Battle (1080p; 4:31)
- "One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall" with Deleted Sequences (1080p; 5:27)
I'm going to be met at my front door by thousands of Transformers fans bearing pitchforks and torches, but as someone who was already an adult (in word if not in deed) in 1986 and who only really experienced this film through the eyes of my boys when they were little (a good decade after the film's original release), I have to say that the film, as sweet and occasionally exciting as it is, is certainly no undiscovered masterpiece. It's a victim of a utilitarian approach toward screenwriting, where everything had to be tailored to the exigencies of Hasbro's needs for their toy line. What an odd way to make a movie! Those who are fans of the film and who are ready to bask in a certain nostalgic glow should be generally well pleased with this release, one which boasts improvements in video and audio, albeit with a few attendant (minor) issues in both cases. As is typical with Shout! releases, the supplementary package is quite appealing. Recommended.
30th Anniversary Edition
1986
1986
35th Anniversary Edition
1986
1986
Limited Edition | Includes 96-page prequel graphic novel
2011
2018
Special Edition
1987
2013
25th Anniversary
1984
Warner Archive Collection
2011-2012
2023
2017
2014
2013
2018
1998
2002
1996
1994
1986
1995
2017-2018
2018
2007