Transformers: The Movie (1986)

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General		Extras
Category	Anime	Menu Animation & Audio Theatrical Trailer Music Video-Touch-Stan Bush TV Spots-Pre Movie Toy Lines; Post Movie Toy Lines TV Spots-Toy Promos; Movie TVCs Gallery-Creation of the Cover Art; Transformers: The War Within Gallery-Promotional Artwork Biographies-Cast & Crew Biographies-Character Trailer-DBZ Movie #7 Super Android 13; Spirited Away; Robotech Trailer-Gundam Wing; Gasaraki DVD Credits Easter Egg-Alternate Main Menu
Rating
Year Of Production	1986
Running Time	84:37 (Case: 86)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (33:43)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Nelson Shin
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Leonard Nimoy Eric Idle Orson Welles Judd Nelson Robert Stack Peter Cullen Peter Welker
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	Vince DiCola

    The Decepticons and Autobots have been at war for a millennia, but now they have a common adversary in Unicron, a giant planet-sized robot that eats moons and space stations for breakfast (a role very suitable for Orson Welles). The only thing Unicron fears is the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, a mysterious device handed down from leader to leader and prophesised to help the Autobots in their darkest hour. Unicron recruits some Decepticon manpower to try and capture the Matrix, thereby ensuring his own survival. The mission is a success until a new Autobot leader steps up to the plate, wielding their ultimate weapon.

    Featuring the vocal talents of Leonard Nimoy as the evil Galvatron and Judd Nelson as Hot Rod, it is Eric Idle who stands out as Wreck-Gar, the leader of a motorcycle gang from a junk planet, who befriends the Autobots and fights Unicron alongside them. Sadly, this was to be one of Orson Welles' last performances on film.

    I recall seeing this at my local theatre back in the 80s when this was a major event among my friends, highly anticipated and tied in with the TV series. I especially loved getting to see the action on a big screen, and it had a profound effect on my future taste in cinema.

    Fans of Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights will be intrigued to see the hilarious original music video of the cheesy 80s song Touch by Stan Bush, which was discovered by Anderson on the soundtrack CD for this movie.

Video

    This video transfer can only be described as sub-standard, and disappointed me greatly. Granted, this film is seventeen years old - but it is clear that the best possible transfer for this DVD release has not been secured.

    We have been given a 1.33:1, pan & scan transfer of this film, and it would not surprise me if this is the same transfer that was released on VHS many years ago. The original theatrical aspect ratio of this film is 1.85:1, made even more obvious by some action being awkwardly cut by the pan & scan process. There is also a minor error in the DVD packaging, which incorrectly lists the aspect as "Full Frame Pan & Scan".

    I've been watching quite a bit of recently produced anime of late, and sadly this feature looks more than double its age. Sharpness is considerably lacking, the entire transfer being dominated by a blurry, undefined appearance. Much of the movie is overly darkened, making it difficult to recognise characters and even follow the action on screen at times. There is no low level noise.

    Colours were not as bold as I remember them at the cinema and looked considerably washed out. I am interested to know where the screen captures on the cover are from, because their colours are beautifully vibrant. A bit misleading, don't you think?

    There were no MPEG artefacts present, and aliasing was nowhere to be seen. Some telecine wobble exists during the film and in the closing credits, but is not overly dominating. A large number of film artefacts appeared, in the form of very obvious white specs, and considering most of the film is set in outer space, these stick out like you wouldn't believe. Similarly, during lighter scenes many black specs were also evident and quite distracting.

    Reel change marks (cigarette burns) are present in the transfer at 16:04, 33:43, 54:34 and 67:02. They are slightly cropped by the pan & scan process, but are obvious all the same.

    There are no subtitles available on this DVD.

    This disc is RSDL formatted, with the layer transition placed at 33:43 in a black, silent moment in the feature.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    This is a surprisingly good audio transfer. It seems very strange to me that this release has received a remixed six channel soundtrack, but not an equally impressive video transfer.

    There is one audio track available, English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s).

    The dialogue is synthesized for Autobot and Decepticon voices, and is relatively easy to comprehend. Some characters are a little harder to understand than others. The Autobot character Blurr speaks so fast I usually only caught every second word of his sentences. Audio sync was consistently accurate.

    The film's synthesized score is credited to Vince DiCola and roots it firmly in the 80s. Many other contributions are made to the soundtrack from artists such as Stan Bush, N.R.G., Kick Axe and 'Weird Al' Yankovic. The well known More Than Meets The Eye theme is given a hard rock treatment by 80s glam metal band Lion with great results.

    Surround channels were aggressively used for everything from ambience and subtle sound effects to off screen voices and gunfire. I was particularly delighted to hear the transformation sound effect come from all directions during the battle scenes. Rear to front panning was used for passing cars and jet engines very effectively, I constantly felt as though I was in the midst of all the action.

    The subwoofer kicked in occasionally to lightly accent explosions and the voice of Unicron, but was not overly present in the soundtrack, possibly due to the age and limited fidelity of the source.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    There are a lot of extras here for die-hard fans, but casual viewers will find some of these a bit tedious.

Menu

Theatrical Trailer (1:31) 

    Presented in an aspect of 1.85:1, non-16x9 enhanced, a voiceover sells the film as being widescreen, leaving no doubt as to the film's intended aspect ratio. There are also some shots here that I don't recall seeing in the film.

Music Video - Stan Bush 'Touch' (3:58) 

    Very corny, very dated and very laughable. Presented in 1.33:1, full frame with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio.

TV Spots - (24) 

    Highly repetitive and of nauseatingly bad quality, if you intentionally watch these more than once you qualify as an insane Transformers nut. Available with a play all function for your navigating ease.

• Eleven pre-movie toy adverts (5:42).
• Five post movie toy adverts (2:52).
• Four toy promos from Japan and France (1:58).
• Four movie TV spots (5:49). These contain some major spoilers for those who haven't seen the film.

Still Galleries 

• Cover Art Creation (6) - Shows the evolution of the reversible DVD packaging (an Australian exclusive), from initial sketches to completion. Also includes a brief bio of artist Don Allan Figueroa.
• The War Within (17) - Various stills from the comic book series, featuring more impressive artwork from Don Allan Figueroa.
• Promotional Material (10) - Various posters and close-ups of the DVD packaging.

Character Bios (23)

    This covers a selection of good and evil characters, reiterating details we already learned in the film.

Voice Actor Bios (7)

    Orson Welles, Eric Idle, Judd Nelson, Leonard Nimoy, Robert Stack, Frank Welker and Peter Cullen.

Musician Bios (6)

    Vince DiCola, Stan Bush, N.R.G., Kick Axe, 'Weird Al' Yankovic and Lion.

Madman Propaganda

    Trailers for the brilliant adventure Spirited Away, Dragonball Z Movie #7, Robotech, Gundam Wing and Gasaraki.

    The Region 2 release has a 1.85:1 non-16x9 transfer. According to some screen shots I have viewed, the transfer appears to have the top and bottom cropped, and it is unclear at this stage if this is the same print that was shown theatrically.

    Region 4 misses out on (from Region 1):

• Alternate opening sequence.
• Storyboards of unfinished scenes.
• Musician Vince DiCola interview.
• Animated scene selection menu.

        ...and from Region 2:

• Cast and crew interviews.
• I Love 1984 featurette.
• Picture gallery with music.
• Transformers: Headmasters Episode 1

    Although we have a lot more Bios and TV Spots than other regions, I'm going to leave this open. The Region 1 has a superior transfer, but we have a very active 5.1 audio track.

    The video transfer is a big let down, being pan & scan and looking like somebody's dusty old VHS tape.

    The audio is a great, immersive 5.1 soundtrack.

    The extras are comprehensive, but contain some items that only the most mental fans will appreciate.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall