Seibertron.com Reviews: Shout! Factory's Beast Wars: The Complete Series DVD Boxset

Posted by El Duque Jul 4, 2011 at 2:07am CDT 65,689 views

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Seibertron.com moderator Supreme Convoy has posted a review of Shout! Factory's Transformers – Beast Wars: Complete Series DVD Boxset. Read his thoughts on the set below.

I have the previous Shout Factory release of the The Complete Transformers: Generation One Matrix boxset and GI Joe and it’s one of the gems of my DVD collection. Once I learned that Shout Factory was doing a Beast Wars: The Complete Series set, I was ecstatic. Shout Factory sold them during BotCon and I had to buy a set. I didn’t buy Rhino’s boxsets years ago so I can’t compare the releases’ quality.

I watched the first two episodes to see the quality and it’s perfect. The video isn’t as crisp as I’d like but it’s watchable. The audio is fantastic, which I think the series hinges on. All the voice acting, music, and sound effects sound amazing. The animation holds up really well considering where technology was at in CGI animation for television.

The bonus features are:
-Maximize! Creating a New Breed of Transformers Featurette
-Remembering The Spark Featurette
-Original Making of Beast Wars featurette
-Original Character Models
-Art Gallerys

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of bonus features for Beast Wars. Then I realized that there are only eight discs compared to the Generation One boxset with 16 discs, which makes sense given its size and number of episodes.

Remember The Spark documentary is the most interesting of the bunch. Bob Forward and Larry DiTillio talk about creating the Beast Wars mythology. It’s quite interesting to learn about how Forward and DiTillio didn’t know much about Transformers mythology and using old Transformers newsgroups to pull information. “The Great War” that was mentioned wasn’t originally the war between Autobots and Decepticons. Hasbro wasn’t even sure when/where the series took place so Bob Forward and Larry DiTillio made the world very vague and could change it as the series went on.

One of the other bonus features is the original character models, which shows Mainframe’s first attempt in animating the characters. It’s quite cool to see how they went from crude deisgns into the designs we all know and love.

The boxset also includes a small reprint of Transformers: Timeline’s Dawn of Future's Past comic, which takes place before the Beast Wars series where Megatron steals the Golden Disk and the Maximals chasing after him. It’s a fun comic.

I watched Beast Wars when it aired but there are a few episodes I still haven’t seen. I can’t wait to discover them over the summer. It’s a great series and a wonderful release for $50. I hope that this boxset does well enough so Shout Factory can release more Transformers sets.

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Re: Seibertron.com Reviews: Shout! Factory's Beast Wars: The Complete Series DVD Boxset (view post)

Comment by LiKwid Jul 4, 2011

How does this stack up to the season 1 set? Will the season 2 set be relased the same was Sea 1? Ugggh I wish I would have known about the complete series..I would have held off on the Season 1 set..

Re: Seibertron.com Reviews: Shout! Factory's Beast Wars: The Complete Series DVD Boxset (view post)

Comment by Supreme Convoy Jul 4, 2011

LiKwid wrote:How does this stack up to the season 1 set? Will the season 2 set be relased the same was Sea 1? Ugggh I wish I would have known about the complete series..I would have held off on the Season 1 set..

Judging by how Shout packaged the boxset, Season One is in it's own DVD case while Season Two & Three share one case.

Re: Seibertron.com Reviews: Shout! Factory's Beast Wars: The Complete Series DVD Boxset (view post)

Comment by LiKwid Jul 4, 2011

Ah so it's like g1 then with season 3&4..I can live with that

Re: Seibertron.com Reviews: Shout! Factory's Beast Wars: The Complete Series DVD Boxset (view post)

Comment by Supreme Convoy Jul 4, 2011

Sabrblade wrote:Those special features are way more than anything Rhino ever gave us with their Beast Wars DVDs. Though, it must be confessed that those original character models were actually carried over from the Rhino DVD release of Beast Wars season 2. And, I'd be willing to bet that the Forward/DiTillio interviews were also carried over from the Rhino season 1 DVD set (unless it was one interview with the two of them together, instead of two interviews with one for each like what Rhino did).

Looks like the Forward & DiTillio footage was from the Rhino release because at the end of the video, it's copyrighted by Rhino and Madman Entertainment.

Re: Seibertron.com Reviews: Shout! Factory's Beast Wars: The Complete Series DVD Boxset (view post)

Comment by Flux Convoy Jul 4, 2011

I was actually hoping to see if the picture quality on these was superior in any way to the Rhino releases. I own those and I'm tempted by new shiny sets. However if there isn't anything I haven't seen before or improved picture, then buying them again is a waste. However, with Beast Wars being my favorite TF show, I am tickled pink that it's available again for sale.

Re: Seibertron.com Reviews: Shout! Factory's Beast Wars: The Complete Series DVD Boxset (view post)

Comment by xyl360 Jul 4, 2011

I have both sets, the picture quality is identical between the two (which look just like it did when it aired originally, at least to me, and unfortunately that was before widescreen/HD became the norm for television). A nice little bonus is that at the end of some of the episodes it does show the original credits from the broadcast which was a split screen of credits on the right and animation from the show on the left, something none of the episodes in the Rhino release had.

The interviews with Bob and Larry are indeed the ones from the Rhino releases, but there are some new interviews with other parts of the creation team/Hasbro in both "Maximize! Creating A New Breed Of Transformer" and the "Rembembering The Spark Featurette". The original "Making Of Beast Wars" is nice to have because it wasn't included in the Rhino releases and I believe it was only available in Canada (I had seen it previously on Youtube).

I like the way the set is put together, but it would have been nice to have more bonus stuff and I too would have loved it if they would have included or even re-animated the "Theft of the Golden Disc" video, especially since it's considered to be canon now.

I like the DVD labels in this set much better, as they are images of "The Sounds of Earth" overlaid with images of characters from the show.

Either way, for $50 you can't go wrong, especially if you don't own the original Rhino releases.

Re: Seibertron.com Reviews: Shout! Factory's Beast Wars: The Complete Series DVD Boxset (view post)

Comment by Master Renegade Jul 4, 2011

Have they fixed the episode order in Season 1? Or have they still screwed up the sequence of episodes 9 and 11 by putting "The Probe" before "A Better Mousetrap?"

Re: Seibertron.com Reviews: Shout! Factory's Beast Wars: The Complete Series DVD Boxset (view post)

Comment by Kingpun Jul 4, 2011

I also just bought Season 1 when I saw it in the store and there was no sign of a complete series set. The Season 2&3 set there is barcoded and ready to be sold individually, so I'm hoping to see it available soon. I hope they plan on getting it out there.

Re: Seibertron.com Reviews: Shout! Factory's Beast Wars: The Complete Series DVD Boxset (view post)

Comment by Sabrblade Jul 4, 2011

xyl360 wrote:A nice little bonus is that at the end of some of the episodes it does show the original credits from the broadcast which was a split screen of credits on the right and animation from the show on the left, something none of the episodes in the Rhino release had.

...Also something none of my VHS tapes of recorded TV episodes had. I don't remember the Beast Wars end credits being like that. :???:

Also, does this set include the commercial bumpers? That was something missing from the Rhino sets that I do like and miss.

"Beast Wars! We'll be right back."
"Beast Wars! We're back."

"Beast Wars! More exciting action. Maximize! With your favorite 3D Transformers. Prime jets, on! Whoa, cool. On the next exciting adventure of 'Beast Wars', with 3D action!"

Re: Seibertron.com Reviews: Shout! Factory's Beast Wars: The Complete Series DVD Boxset (view post)

Comment by Heavy B Jul 4, 2011

does this set:
A) Have the original longer season 1 opening
B) Have the original season 3 opening that isn't basicly a copy/paste of season 2

Re: Seibertron.com Reviews: Shout! Factory's Beast Wars: The Complete Series DVD Boxset (view post)

Comment by prowl123 Jul 4, 2011

You have the same laptop as me.

Re: Seibertron.com Reviews: Shout! Factory's Beast Wars: The Complete Series DVD Boxset (view post)

Comment by Cyberstrike Jul 4, 2011

Sabrblade wrote:This looks to be the superior release over the Rhino DVDs. Great review, Supreme Convoy.

Those special features are way more than anything Rhino ever gave us with their Beast Wars DVDs. Though, it must be confessed that those original character models were actually carried over from the Rhino DVD release of Beast Wars season 2. And, I'd be willing to bet that the Forward/DiTillio interviews were also carried over from the Rhino season 1 DVD set (unless it was one interview with the two of them together, instead of two interviews with one for each like what Rhino did).

The season 1 featurette is terrible. The second one isn't much better but it at least has the Forward/DiTillo interviews from the Rhino set intercut. The original one filmed back in 90s during the making season 1 is the best of the bunch.

Though, two special features that the Rhino DVDs had that Shout! Factory appearently did not carry over would be the deleted scene from "Nemesis Part 2" and the full animatic of the same episode.

Those should have been included.

All these new special features and the included comic make this set a winner for me. I'm gonna be double dipping on this, efen though's still got the Rhino releases.

I'm really disappointed by the special features. The originanl featurette and the comic are the only good things (and the comic is OK at best) in this set. The rest are 2 crappy new featurettes, a bunch of 3D computer character models, and a bunch of character art on characters that never made into the series.
Combined with the same picture and sound quailty as the Rhino versions, no deleted scene, no animatic of Nemesis pt. 2, no bumpers, no audio commentaries, and no Beast Wars commercials. It's not worth paying more than $40 for.

I'm glad I've won mine in contest (and I got mine for free) because the special features are real disappointment and simply put they alone are NOT worth the price for this set. If I didn't already have all 3 of the Rhino sets I might think this is a good deal.

Re: Seibertron.com Reviews: Shout! Factory's Beast Wars: The Complete Series DVD Boxset (view post)

Comment by NemesisMonkeySupreme Jul 4, 2011

Supreme Convoy wrote:
LiKwid wrote:How does this stack up to the season 1 set? Will the season 2 set be relased the same was Sea 1? Ugggh I wish I would have known about the complete series..I would have held off on the Season 1 set..

Judging by how Shout packaged the boxset, Season One is in it's own DVD case while Season Two & Three share one case.

Makes sense.
Season one was 26 eps.
Seasons two and three were 13 eps each, adding up to 26.

Re: Seibertron.com Reviews: Shout! Factory's Beast Wars: The Complete Series DVD Boxset (view post)

Comment by jmodlin210 Jul 4, 2011

Does Beast Wars: The Complete Series DVD Boxset have the best quality from previous Rhino releases of Beast Wars Seasons 1, 2, and 3?

Re: Seibertron.com Reviews: Shout! Factory's Beast Wars: The Complete Series DVD Boxset (view post)

Comment by BATTOUSAIXD Jul 4, 2011

Are these the same people that released the ones available at Target or Wal-Mart? I saw season one for twenty bucks and wanted to buy it, but if these are better quality I'll just get this whole set.

Re: Seibertron.com Reviews: Shout! Factory's Beast Wars: The Complete Series DVD Boxset (view post)

Comment by BluePhirePB Jul 4, 2011

I hope they release Season 2 and 3 soon. I only bought Season 1 individual.

Re: Seibertron.com Reviews: Shout! Factory's Beast Wars: The Complete Series DVD Boxset (view post)

Comment by Supreme Convoy Jul 4, 2011

Master Renegade wrote:Have they fixed the episode order in Season 1? Or have they still screwed up the sequence of episodes 9 and 11 by putting "The Probe" before "A Better Mousetrap?"

"A Better Mousetrap" is before "The Probe" on this set.

Sabrblade wrote:Also, does this set include the commercial bumpers? That was something missing from the Rhino sets that I do like and miss.

No commercial bumpers.

Dr. Heavy B wrote:does this set:
A) Have the original longer season 1 opening
B) Have the original season 3 opening that isn't basicly a copy/paste of season 2

I didn't realize there was a longer Season One intro. The episodes on Season One have the shorter intro (didn't go through all of them so there could be one random episode with an extended opening). Season Two and Three have their own openings.

Cyberstrike wrote:I'm really disappointed by the special features. The originanl featurette and the comic are the only good things (and the comic is OK at best) in this set. The rest are 2 crappy new featurettes, a bunch of 3D computer character models, and a bunch of character art on characters that never made into the series.
Combined with the same picture and sound quailty as the Rhino versions, no deleted scene, no animatic of Nemesis pt. 2, no bumpers, no audio commentaries, and no Beast Wars commercials. It's not worth paying more than $40 for.

I've given up hope for commentaries for Transformers and GI Joe as there hasn't been any for the previous DVDs. It would be nice but I'm not expecting them. Especially with potential future releases like Beast Machines, Robots in Disguise, etc as they don't seem to screaming for commentaries.

Re: Seibertron.com Reviews: Shout! Factory's Beast Wars: The Complete Series DVD Boxset (view post)

Comment by jmodlin210 Jul 4, 2011

Does Beast Wars The Complete Series DVD Box Set have the best quality by Shout! Factory than Rhino had the worst quality of all three seasons? If Beast Wars Complete Series DVD Boxset does well, which Transformers shows will Shout! Factory release? would shout! release beast machines, armada, energon, robots in disguise, beast wars 2, beast wars neo?

Re: Seibertron.com Reviews: Shout! Factory's Beast Wars: The Complete Series DVD Boxset (view post)

Comment by NemesisMonkeySupreme Jul 4, 2011

Supreme Convoy wrote:I've given up hope for commentaries for Transformers and GI Joe as there hasn't been any for the previous DVDs. It would be nice but I'm not expecting them. Especially with potential future releases like Beast Machines, Robots in Disguise, etc as they don't seem to screaming for commentaries.

Actually the original Beast Machines DVD release has commentaries on S1Ep3 and S2Ep12-13, so you never know. I imagine it's more about cost (gotta pay for people's time) than that there's nothing to comment on…

Re: Seibertron.com Reviews: Shout! Factory's Beast Wars: The Complete Series DVD Boxset (view post)

Comment by Supreme Convoy Jul 4, 2011

NemesisMonkeySupreme wrote:Actually the original Beast Machines DVD release has commentaries on S1Ep3 and S2Ep12-13, so you never know. I imagine it's more about cost (gotta pay for people's time) than that there's nothing to comment on…

Interesting. I didn't know that.

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