Rhino Home Video is set to release a 5-disk DVD set that includes all 16 episodes from the first full season of the Transformers cartoon series, which first appeared on U.S. TV back in 1985. The cartoon was based on a Takara toy line that was licensed for the U.S. by Hasbro. Japan's famed Toei Animation Studio (Dragon Ball) produced the series, but the scripts were written by American authors, making the Transformers cartoons an early example of a U.S./Japanese anime hybrid. While many true blue anime fans may prefer Macross, which inaugurated the vogue for transforming machines, like all the Rhino Video releases, the Transformers has a strong nostalgic appeal for kids who grew up watching the heroic Cybertrons defeat the villainous Megatron and his Decepticon minions.
The RhinoTransformers Season 1 Box Set includes 5 disks and carries an $89.95 retail price. Unlike DVD mega-releases like Shrek or Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes, which are heavily advertised on TV and heavily discounted in the mass market, the Transformers Season 1 Set will have a much lower profile and thus retailers who carry this collector-oriented box will face less competition from mass market discounters. The Transformers have recently undergone something of a revival thanks to a new series of cartoons that have been appearing on Fox. Unfortunately, the daily Transformers series on the Fox Network is ending (see 'Fox Axes Daily Toons'), though reprints of vintage Transformers comics (see 'Titan Takes Transformers Trades') should help create interest in the reissue of the first season of cartoons on DVD.
