I was hoping by our third outing into the Transformers™ DVD range, we’d be seeing something with a little more substance than our two previous editions.

Nup.

So, there’s little to discuss here of any difference or magnitude that hasn’t been said already in Transformers Volume 1 or Volume Two. Which is a shame, because I sat through the whole bloody thing and all.

Our most exciting thing I suppose is in Episode Eight: Palace, placed midway on Volume Three. This finally features the grudge match of the intergalactic century with Optimus Prime™ and Megatron™ going at it head to head. There are all sorts of metal mayhem as these two aggro leaders of the robotic world duke it out. It’s just such a shame the backgrounds for this episode are such crap. Really, they’re poor in comparison to the usual slightly less poor backgrounds. Still, the real action is in these two stalwarts of the Billion Year War getting down and dirty.

Three episodes herein, and these are:

• Episode One: Carnival sees the Autobotsâ„¢ finally being seen by the public. Fred and Billy, faint nemeses to Rad, Carlos and Alexis, become involved in a battle and are sworn to secrecy.
• Episode Two: Palace (actually Episode Eight continuity wise). Here an ancient palace is discovered in Egypt and the race for the next Miniconâ„¢ begins in earnest. However, our heroes are held captive by Demolisherâ„¢, a sadistic Decepticonâ„¢.
• Episode Three: Confrontation Billy and Fred are captured and exchanged for the Autobotsâ„¢ Miniconsâ„¢. Could this be the end of the war?

For anyone who is enjoying the rather slim picking on this series of discs, this one will maintain enthusiasm levels, but doesn’t deliver a whole let else than the three episodes.

On top of the crappy backgrounds in some parts of this series, there are a few minor ailments applicable to the episodes herein. While the majority is good and clean animation-wise, the third installment holds quite a bit of aliasing, compared to the other relatively alias free discs. Colours are great, with plenty of vibrancy and nice saturation. The animation is standard simplified fare, but works well enough.

Sound is delivered in Dolby Digital stereo and is entirely effective for its purposes. All the crappy dialogue and poor voice acting come through clearly and easily understood. This includes Demolisherâ„¢, whose actor seems to be disguising his voice for some reason. Could it be he plays another character on the show as well? I wonder...

Music is fine and does the job, but isn’t anything exemplary and there is nothing by way of extras other than the 30 second advertisement for Transformers: Armada™ toys that opens the disc. Otherwise, it’s just these three episodes crammed onto a DVD5 to really save those pennies. On that subject, the reverse of the case states that Fred is actually Jim. Poor, poor proofreading. Doesn't anybody hire proofreaders anymore? Doesn't anybody else notice these glaring bungles?

The New Transfomers: Slowsteel

Overall, this is but a continuation of a series already in progress. It’s holds no introductions, no real plot twists and no real appeal. This is one for the collectors or ongoing fans of the series.

Thankfully I started this series at Episode One Volume One so at least have that in my favour. It would be a little bit of a nightmare to be dropped in at, say, the next volume and have to write about continuity and such. I have five more of these reviews to write, and while I’m mildly interested in where the show goes now (in a very non-committal way) it could be worse. The show isn’t bad, but it’s made for the after-school crowd and is a little overly simple in both battles and storyline. However, as I say, those fans who are mid-series will no doubt enjoy the continuation.