Written by Adrienne Ambush
Growing up, I wasn’t really a fan of the cartoon Transformers; I was actually more of a Muppet babies kind of girl, but the minute I hit play on my DVD player I was instantly transported back to a time when nothing else mattered to me except for what was on TV and what time dinner was going to be later that night.
Beginning with Episode 17, Autobot Spike, Season two of Transformers: more than meets the eye starts off with Spike, Sparkplug’s son, being knocked unconscious after an attack by the Decepticons and having his brain implanted into one of the experimental robots his father was working on. After waking to realize that he is now a robot, Spike goes crazy and the autobots are forced to take the robot version of him down while trying not to harm Spike too badly so his mind won’t suffer from the consequences.
Deemed by most fans as the season that really launched Transformers into a fan favorite because of the new characters/new storylines/better audio and video, this special 25th anniversary DVD which includes all 49 episodes including the first ever transformer cartoon movie that ever came out in 1985, had to be broken up by Rhino into two volumes, putting only 29 episodes of Season 2 onto Volume one of this DVD.
Taken from Amazon.com is the title/description of each episode contained on this volume:
DISC 1
* EPISODE 17 – Autobot Spike – Spike is wounded during a Decepticon attack and so his father Sparkplug and Wheeljack transfer his consciousness into an experimental robot.
* EPISODE 18 – The Immobilizer – Wheeljack creates a new invention known as “The Immobilizer” which can freeze any object that is in motion. But what happens when the Decepticons steal it.
* EPISODE 19 – Dinobot Island, Part 1 – Optimus Prime sends the Dinobots to their own island for training.
* EPISODE 20 – Dinobot Island, Part 2 – With the Autobots trying to fight against the Decepticons and things starting to look dire, the Dinobots come to the rescue.
* EPISODE 21 – Traitor – Is Mirage a traitor to the Autobots?
* EPISODE 22 – Enter the Nightbird – An experimental ninja robot known as Nightbird is created but the Decepticons want to get their hands on it.
* EPISODE 23 – Changing Gears – The Decepticons obtain the final component for their solar needle device. The Autobots must stop the Decepticons immediately.
DISC 2
* EPISODE 24 – A Prime Problem – The Decepticons create a clone of Optimus Prime and use it to destroy the Autobots.
* EPISODE 25 – Atlantis, Arise! – Decepticons uncover the sunken civilization of Atlantis which leads King Nergill and his kingdom to infiltrate the humans. Now, the Autobots must take on both forces.
* EPISODE 26 – Attack of the Autobots – The Decepticons take control of the Autobots.
* EPISODE 27 – Microbots – The Autobots must shrink Bumblebee, Brawn and Perceptor in order to defeat Megatron.
* EPISODE 28 – The Master Builders – Autobots Grapple and Hoist want to build a solar energy tower and ended up working with the Constructicons.
* EPISODE 29 – The Insecticon Syndrome – The Insecticons are hit by an energy shield and grow in size and become very powerful. Can the Autobots stop them?
* EPISODE 30 – Day of the Machines – The Autobots must stop Megatron who has control of the supercomputer known as Torque III.
DISC 3
* EPISODE 31 – Megatron’s Master Plan, Part 1 – The Autobots are banished from Earth and now the Decepticons are free.
* EPISODE 32 – Megatron’s Master Plan, Part 2 – With the humans thinking they banished the evil Autobots, they soon realized they banished the wrong group. Now the Decepticons try to conquer Earth without Autobot interference.
* EPISODE 33 – Auto Berserk – Red Alert has a malfunction and ends up teaming with Starscream.
* EPISODE 34 – City of Steel – Optimus Prime is injured and captured by the Decepticons. The Autobots go to rescue him.
* EPISODE 35 – Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 1 – Without Cybertronium, both the Autobots and Decepticons start to lose their powers and malfunction.
* EPISODE 36 – Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 2 – Spike and Carlee must help the Autobots but to do that, they must get help from the Dinobots.
* EPISODE 37 – Blaster Blues – Megatron causes problems on Earth when he blocks out the radio waves on Earth.
DISC 4
* EPISODE 38 – A Decepticon Raider in Arthur’s Court – Starscream activates a time machine which send him and the Decepticons back in time and they team up with the evil Sir Wagond of Blackthorne.
* EPISODE 39 – The God Gambit – The Decepticons trick a civilization in thinking they are “Sky Gods”.
* EPISODE 40 – The Core – The Decepticons are drilling into Earth’s Core and the Autobots must stop them. The Autobots try to reprogram Devastator which leads to negative results.
* EPISODE 41 – Make Tracks – The Decepticons are using stolen cars to create a Decepticon army.
* EPISODE 42 – The Autobot Run – Optimus Prime and the Autobots take part in a race for charity and Megatron takes opportunity of the moment to test out the Transfixation Ray.
* EPISODE 43 – The Golden Lagoon – Electrum is discovered in a lagoon and it gives Autobots and Decepticons the capability to withstand blaster and laser fire.
* EPISODE 44 – Quest for Survival – The Insecticons find a way to duplicate themselves and now they want to create an army. Meanwhile, the Autobots try to find an insecticide to stop them.
After watching all 660 minutes of this DVD, part of me cannot wait till I get to watch the other 20 episodes on Volume 2.
Video:
The series is shown in its complete 1.33:1 full screen, just like the show was back in the day. The only problem is the video is pretty fidgety at some points; little white lines appear to come through the video feed which is a pretty bad eyesore. Other than the jerkiness of the picture, the images are very sharp in contrast.
Audio:
The audio only runs on 2.0 stereo but the dialog is clean; you can hear exactly what everyone is saying.
Special Features:
None were included
Final Thoughts:
While I’m still not a fan of the show, I think anyone who wants to relive their childhood/is a fan of the Transformer movies starring Megan Fox will get a kick out of these old classics and should definitely check them out.
