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Transformers Cybertron: The Ultimate Collection
R1 - America - Paramount Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Jeremiah Chin (23rd July 2008). |
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The Show
 Since the original animated venture, "Transformers" lately have been venturing more towards computer generated robots. It seems like a logical step and has worked well especially in “Beast Wars” (1996) that went all CG and looked really good for its time, especially as a children’s television show. One of the latest groupings, “Transformers: Cybertron” (2005) has blended traditional cel animation for the backgrounds and humans with computer generated Transformers, but feels poorly thrown together animation-wise and the plot and story don’t rise too high above that low standard. Initially, it’s incredibly hard to get in to as it picks up immediately where the previous iteration “Transformers: Energon” left off, giving some flashback within the initial episode that reveals that Unicron was destroyed and a black hole has opened near Cybertron. The black hole threatens to suck the Transformer’s home world in, the only way to save it is if Optimus Prime (Gary Chalk) leads the Autobots in finding the Cyberplanet keys that will unlock a power to save their world. Apparently earth is the best place to start looking, so Optimus and the core group head there to begin their search, befriending three human children along the way. There’s an incredible amount of awkward moments throughout the series, they feel almost like bad translations of Japanese dialogue and at times are so bad they’re good. These aren’t consistent or funny enough to make the show worth watching, but can be a relief when you’ve had enough of the human characters marveling and befriending the Autobots. The Decepticons always jump in to try and harsh the buzz of the Autobot-human child love fest, but are always easily repelled. Many parts of the show seem nonsensical, even in context, but are only worth an unintended laugh. In terms of the animation style, it feels thrown together and at times the quality degrades so poorly it’s blinding. There are moments during the fights between Transformers where it seems they may not have spent enough time rendering the characters and the pixels jump off the screen. Other than purely technical issues, the cell shaded 3-D style looks good when the Autobots aren’t moving or talking, but once things get going they stand out in the worst way. The mouth animations at times look like a nutcracker just bobbing the lower mouth up and down to the beat of a voice over. All in all, it’s a hard to watch representation of the transformers universe and isn’t worth checking out unless you’re desperate to distract some easily entertained kids with the 52 episodes contained on the 7 disc set, but you’d be better off just buying some of the toys spawned from this version of the "Transformers" universe. The storyline you could make up with a handful of the toys may be better than what was pulled out in the course of this lengthy series. Here’s a brief rundown of the episodes included in this set: Ep. 1 – “Fallen” – With Cybertron falling towards the black hole left in the wake of “Transformers: Energon” Optimus starts the autobots in a race to find the Cybertron keys before the Decepticons to save their planet and possibly the universe. Ep. 2 – “Haven” – The human child trio helps the transformer find and create a secret base in the rocky mountains. Decepticons are on the prowl and may discover the base and destroy it before it’s complete. Ep. 3 – “Hidden” – Jetfly discovers his cyberkey power, as does Optimus and they use their new abilities to repel Decepticons attacking human fighter jets. Ep. 4 – “Landmine” – Megatron arrives on the Speed Planet looking for a cyberkey and punches two robots. They become his lackeys, while on earth the search for the omegalock takes the Autobots to Mexico. Ep. 5 – “Space” – Megatron races Override on the Speed Planet to get the location of the cyberplanet key, he loses, but Override admits she doesn’t even know what the key is. Ep. 6 – “Rush” – Hot Shot and Red Alert fight Megatron’s lackeys on the speed planet and ask the locals about the cyberplanet key. Ep. 7 – “Speed” – Hot Shot races Override and unlocks his cyber key power, but still loses while Starscream plots for his own universal takeover while looking for the cyberplanet keys Ep. 8 – “Collapse” – Megatron searches for the Planet Cup on the Speed Planet, while back on earth the government spies on the kids Ep. 9 – “Time” –The human children learn about cybertron and the mythology behind the cyberplanet keys while the Autobots head to the Sahara desert in another search for the Omega lock. Ep. 10 – “Search” – Megatron and Starscream go to the Jungle Planet looking for another Cyberplanet key and the Autobots send Overhaul and Landmine to investigate the Jungle Planet as well. Ep. 11 – “Deep” – On earth the Autobots learn to swim after finding the location of the Omega lock in Atlantis where an ancient spaceship from Cybertron awaits. Ep. 12 – “Ship” – Optimus and Megatron battle for control of the Omgea Lock that will connect the planets containing the cyber keys. Ep. 13 – “Hero” – Hot Shot, Optimus and the other Autobots on the Speed Planet enter the qualifying rounds of the Planet Cup hoping to gain information about the cyberplanet key. Ep. 14 – “Race” – The qualifications for the Planet Cup begin on the Speed Planet while on earth the children try to get some information on a Cybertronian artifact in the city. Ep. 15 – “Detour” – The second round of the Planet Cup starts while on the Jungle Planet Overhaul battles Scourge to try and find the Cyberplanet key. Ep. 16 – “Savage” – Optimus and Vector Prime go to the Jungle Planet to answer a distress signal while Red Alert has theorizes about the cyberplanet keys while Hot Shot prepares for the semi-finals of the Planet Cup. Ep. 17 – “Sand” – Hot Shot races through the desert to get to the Finals of the Planet Cup, while Coby is discovered on the Speed Planet after sneaking away with the Mini-Cons. Ep. 18 – “Champion” – Hot Shot races in the finals with Coby riding inside as a co-pilot while Megatron and his lackeys try to steal the Planet Cup and the Cyberplanet key before Hot Shot has a chance to win the race. Ep. 19 – “Ice” – The trio of children head to the North Pole to investigate information revealed by the Omega lock after Hot Shot won the Planet Cup. Ep. 20 – “Honor” – On the Jungle Planet Leobreaker fights Scourge while Backstop tells the history of Scourge and the Jungle Planet. Ep. 21 – “Primal” – Optimus battles Scourge for the Cyberplanet key while the Autobots arrive on the Jungle Planet and fight it out with the Decepticons. Ep. 22 – “Trust” – the Decepticons make a play for the Cyberplanet key that Leobreaker and Snarl are protecting while Optimus and the other Autobots come to his aid. Ep. 23 – “Trap” – the Autobot awakened in the Arctic reveals some of Earth’s secret history, Starscream searches for the Cyberplanet key on Earth and Optimus puts the Jungle Planet key into the Omega lock. Ep. 24 – “Invasion” – Optimus and the other Autobots escape the ancient Decepticons with the help of Crosswise only to run in to Starscream and the military. Ep. 25 – “Retreat” – The Minicons rescue the children after they are all abducted by the military, while the Decepticons prepare an all out assault on the newly discovered location of the Autobots’ base. Ep. 26 – “Revelation” – Scourge joins the Decepticons on the Jungle Planet who head for Earth while Starscream puts the Earth planet key into the Omega lock that he stole from the Autobots. Ep. 27 – “Critical” – Hot Shot, Red Alert and Scattershot battle with Megatron and are turned into the Cybertron Defense Team in order to fight Megatron and Scourge. Ep. 28 – “Assault” – Starscream’s army, the Autobots and the Decepticons battle it out while the children discover a red object headed towards Earth. Optimus sends the Cybertron Defense team to investigate the Black Hole which has become unstable. Ep. 29 – “Starscream” – The Autobots go deeper into the volcano where Starscream is about to unleash the power of the Omega Lock. Ep. 30 – “United” – Override, Evac and Leobreaker go to help the Cybertron Defense Team with some kind of infestation, Optimus and Wing Saber join forces to try and overpower starscream. Ep. 31 – “Cybertron” – The trio sent to help the Cybertron Defense Team run into to a fight with the Decepticons. Megatron and Optimus arrive on Cybertron and battle for the Omega Lock. Ep. 32 – “Balance” – After placing the Omega lock into Cybertron, the planet transforms into Primus who can shut down the black hole, but needs the fourth Cyberplanet key to fully activate. Ep. 33 – “Darkness” – Megatron retakes control of the Decepticons, while the Autobots try to track down the Mini-cons and the children. Ep. 34 – “Memory” – The children are back at Atlantis where they discover Sideways trying to get information on the Mini-con planet from Jolt’s memory while the children try to rescue the three Mini-cons. Ep. 35 – “Escape” – Jolt helps the Mini-cons and the children escape Sideways and they set a trap to catch him. On Cybertron the Decepticons are trying to get a hold of the Omega Lock. Ep. 36 – “Family” – The Autobots begin the search for the Atlantis ship and determine that the children and Mini-cons are the only ones able to enter the wormhole to the Giant Planet. Ep. 37 – “Titans” – Soundwave and Laserbeak show up to reveal the location of the Giant Planet to Megatron, Jetfire and Wingsaber find the Atlantis ship with Bud and the mini-cons but the Decepticons get in their way. Ep. 38 – “Warp” – The Autobots head for the wormhole to the Giant Planet while Bud and the Mini-Cons try to keep the Atlantis ship and themselves safe from Decepticon attacks. Ep. 39 – “Giant” – The Autobots go through the wormhole in the Aegea and discover the Giant Planet where they meet Metroplex and Quickmix who they ask for help finding the Cyber Planet Key. Ep. 40 – “Fury” – The Autobots search the Abandoned cities for information on the Cyber Planet key, while Megatron heads to the core of the planet for the key and re-emerges as Galvatron. Ep. 41 – “City” – The Autobots discover the Atlantis and rescue Bud, Reverb and Jolt, Coby shows off his scrapmetal drone suit and becomes an honorary Autobot. The autobots race to the core to find the key. Ep. 42 – “Ambush” – Autobot teams head down towards the Giant planet core and duke it out with the Decepticons. Ep. 43 – “Challenge” – The black hole expands to endanger the Jungle Planet, Sideways and Soundwave reveal their origins as robots from Planet X. Ep. 44 – “Scourge” – Scourge emerges victorious from the challenge of Snarl and Leobreaker, while Bud and the Mini-cons discover the Microcity and the origins of the Mini-cons. Ep. 45 – “Optimus” – The Autobots reach the planet core of the Giant Planet but are ambushed by Galvatron, he and Optimus fight while the others try to get control of the Cyberplanet key. Ep. 46 – “Showdown” – With the final cyber planet key, the Autobots place it into the Omega lock, opening the space bridge and rush to help Primus hold off the black hole when Galvatron and Starscream return to fight for control of the Omega Lock. Ep. 47 – “Guardian” – The space bridge collapses, but the Autobots rebuild it, but it gets destroyed again, but Vector Prime decides to turn back time to get the Autobots back to Primus. Ep. 48 – “Homecoming” – The Autobots search for Galvatron, but the expanding black hole is causing problems on all the major planets and the Autobots rush to save everyone. Ep. 49 – “End” – The final confrontation with Galvatron begins as the leaders of the major planets join forces to defeat Galvatron and take back the Cyberplanet keys and the Omega lock. Ep. 50 – “Unfinished” – After Primus was able to stop the black hole, the children return to earth, and the Autobots try to return things to the way they were but Galvatron returns to battle Optimus. Ep. 51 – “Beginning” – Optimus begins a peace conference between the planetary leaders and proposes a new space bridge to connect the entire universe, everybody’s happy. Ep. 52 – “Inferno” – For some reason, this episode, even though it’s on the disc after the finale, is the second episode of the series, “Haven,” with some expanded and different parts to it.
Video
Presented in the original 1.33:1 fullscreen ratio as it appeared on television, the quality has a few problems with it. I’m not sure if I should blame the transfer or the original quality, but some scenes have a fuzzyness to the entire animated frame, while other scenes will have huge pixilated segments of the transformers due either to poor rendering or a poor transfer.
Audio
The English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound is fine, technically the voices and levels come across cleanly, but there seems to be something missing from the overall tone of the audio. I’m not sure if it’s the techno-sped up theme song by Paul Oakenfold or the really bland background music for the episodes, but something feels off about the sound. It’s also disappointing to see that they did not include any kind of subtitles with the DVD set.
Extras
Across 7 discs there are no extras, not even startup trailers.
Packaging
The 7 discs are packaged in 4 double sided slim amray cases housed in a cardboard sleeve.
Overall
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