[FONT=Arial,Helvetica]Okay, so since Garson has officially launched information about the recent Hasbro deal, I have been authorized to come in and discuss all things Transformers and G.I. Joe (another thread) with only a couple of exceptions. Until the official press release about the complete series sets come out, I cannot go into detail about the dates or what will be different from the season sets. All I can say about that is that they will be out this year and there WILL be bonus material on the complete series sets that will NOT be included in the individual sets. And if you know me, you know I've tried to make it worth it.
So...
[/FONT][FONT=Arial,Helvetica]There is something you should know, regarding this thread. It is the ONLY thread I'll read on the topic of Transformers and, most certainly, the only thread to which I'll respond. You guys really like to create new threads for every single question and, frankly, I don't have the time within my REALLY BUSY schedule to go through and answer multiple threads. So read this one. Post any questions you have into this one. And you should get my responses within a reasonably timely fashion.
Here goes...
I am currently working on 40-ish DVDs worth of material for Shout! Factory. Sixteen of those discs are Transformers, the original animated series from Sunbow. This is an absolute dream come true for me. I'm 31 years old and grew up watching the series, as well as collecting the toys and comics. So I know my stuff. Long before I was producing DVDs, I was buying them. And, yes, I bought the original releases from Rhino. I know what was good about them and I know what was bad about them, not because I did extensive research (which I still did), but because I was also a fan praising what deserved praise and criticizing what deserved criticism. That being said...
The S1 Packaging
I've seen some divided opinions regarding the cover art for Season One online. A lot of people really seem to like it. Some don't. But in many cases of the more dissenting opinions, people complain that it doesn't look "special" enough. I agree that what you see online doesn't adequately reflect the special treatment Shout! Factory is giving the series. However, I will argue that you haven't seen the art in person. What can't be displayed in a .JPG online is the type of treatment the slipcase is getting. The title treatment and characters will be fully embossed and the background will be BEAUTIFULLY printed on a shiny foil board that really makes those background colors POP. Unfortunately, you can't see the effect in a photo, but I will say that there will be no doubt (or, at least, there shouldn't be) that the set is "special" when it hits store shelves.
The Masters
Hasbro provided us with the same masters Rhino used for their releases. HOWEVER... There have been changes made. I, personally, went to New York, where the original broadcast one-inch masters are housed, and found each of the problem areas, in regards to animation. Before the question is asked, I'll answer it now. The one-inch masters have not physically held up well over the years. In some cases, they're nearly unwatchable. Therefore, instead of simply transferring and using masters of the one-inches, we found every instance of faulty animation demonstrated on a YouTube video or mentioned in a rundown we could find online (and even found some of our own) and corrected them, replacing the faulty digibeta master material with the best-quality one-inch source material. Finally, we color corrected everything to match--as best we could--the shots before and after. Surprisingly, unless you know specifically what you're looking for, you won't even notice many of the instances of slightly softer picture. It looks REALLY good.
The Audio
We chucked the Rhino audio. You will no longer hear additional sound effects or music, not previously heard in the broadcasts. We went back to the original source mono and created a nice stereo track to even out the audio. It sounds really nice.
The Bonus Features
There are very few bonus materials from the original releases that are specifically related to G1 and what interviews are there tend to be long, relatively drawn out and have no cutaways. In short, they're kinda boring. I've spent the last month or so traveling to Rhode Island, New York and back interviewing as many people as possible that had something to do with this incarnation of the series. In some cases, I talk to original Hasbro toy designers. In others, I'm talking to original comic writers and editors. And in even others, I'm talking to the gang behind the series, itself. And, yes, that includes the voice talent.
I will also have commercials from the appropriate seasons. In other words, you won't see a commercial for the Sharkticons on the season one release. Something you should know about the commercials is this: the quality of what you're accustomed to seeing on YouTube and other DVDs is pretty much what you're going to get here. And it's for one simple reason. No one ever anticipated the future lives of commercials, when they were first being broadcast. So Hasbro never kept high-quality masters. They kept VHS screeners of their commercials, strictly for reference later. So when you say, "why couldn't they get the original copies from Hasbro?", we actually did. Still, there are some pretty cool commercials here and I'm looking forward to having them included.
There's a bunch of other stuff that will be included. I don't really want to get too detailed and bogged down here and now. But I do want you to know that this property is being handled with care by folks that loved the franchise far prior to its acquisition at Shout! Factory. Now, with all of that said, let the comments, concerns and questions begin.
Brian
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