Transformers: The Movie (Rhino DVD)

In 2006, Sony BMG re-released Transformers: The Movie in literally the greatest edition any fan could ask for. Before that awesome release, Rhino released the movie for the first time on DVD in the United States around 2001. This was actually the first DVD I ever owned, even before I got my first DVD player. The release was awesome because the video quality was far superior to the original VHS releases (even Rhino’s VHS release of the movie). Also, the stereo soundtrack was excellent. However, the edition contained next to no bonus features. No trailers, no artwork, no commentary, nothing. The only feature it had was a really cool interview with Vince DiCola who wrote the score for the movie. The interview was a great edition, but like most of Rhino’s Transformers bonus features, it felt like a quick job to produce and include. If you have a choice between this version and the 20^th Anniversary Edition of the movie from Sony BMG, get the Sony version if you can get it cheap (it is now out production). However, if the other version is too expensive, the Rhino version isn’t a bad purchase. You are getting the original movie, unedited, and with excellent sound and video quality. I think the only Rhino Transformers release to not purchase at all costs is the Rhino release of the first season of Transformers on DVD.

There were a couple of interesting notes about the packaging. It used the original poster from 1986, which was a really neat touch. The back of the package used a poster from the United Kingdom which showed Megatron battling Optimus Prime. The text for the back of the packaging totally butchered the story though. It claimed that there were three factions battling for control of Cybertron: Autobots, Decepticons, and Unicrons. The writer got some of the elements of the movie written into the description, but then it seemed like he/she fell asleep and just made things up.