DVD Pick of the Week: Transformers: The Movie - 20th Anniversary Special Edition

The floodgates are now opening as retailers start gearing up for the quickly approaching holiday season. You are going to start seeing lots of multi-title packs based on stars and themes, and this week is bringing a number of them to the fore, and at pretty good prices. You won't see a listing of them here, but look around, you may find decent sets of titles you need to fill in collection gaps. Anyway, onto this weeks pick.

Growing up, I was always a big fan of Transformers. I loved the noises they made when they changed, the cool voices, the nefarious evildoers, and then the specialty-bots. It was a cool time to be a kid between this and GI Joe and He-Man. I never did see the movie on the big screen, I was relegated to seeing it on TV and on ratty VHS tapes from the local rental shop. More recently, I have been able to see it on the extremely mediocre DVD that has been out for years. Now there is a brand new, remastered, special edition. This week's pick is Transformers: The Movie - 20th Anniversary Special Edition.

What a fun movie. Sure, it could be accused of being a feature length toy commercial, but it was mine, and I will always have fond memories of Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and Megatron. This new DVD release will have remastered audio and video, plus a host of new features featuring deleted scenes and storyboards. The movie also featured the last movie performance of Orson Welles, joined by a cast including Leonard Nimoy, Casey Kasem, Robert Stack, and Eric Idle.

Also out this week:

• Cars. It may not be the best film from Pixar, but it sports the best animation I have ever seen on the big screen. I have also revisited it recently, and it is better than I thought on the big screen.
• Beverly Hills 90210: The Complete First Season. It seems like many people are looking forward to this one, although I have no interest. Kind of like when it was on television in the first place.
• Police Squad! The Complete Series. It only ran for six episodes, bu it launched a successful movie franchise, and some of the funniest spoofs to feature Leslie Nielsen.
• James Bond Ultimate Collection - Vol. 1 (The Man with the Golden Gun / Goldfinger / The World Is Not Enough / Diamonds Are Forever / The Living Daylights)
• James Bond Ultimate Collection - Vol. 2 (A View to a Kill / Thunderball / Die Another Day / The Spy Who Loved Me / License to Kill) Two sets of classic Bond, completely remastered, frame by frame no less, all set to take the place of those older inferior sets. I may not be able to get them right away, but I will hopefully add these to my library soon.
• Wordplay. Do you like crossword puzzles? This movie may be for you.
• Little Man. I have not seen this, nor do I plan to. Sorry.
• Mutiny on the Bounty. Classic Brando, how can I say no?
• Harvey Toons: The complete Collection. Richie Rich, Casper, Baby Huey, and the crew all together in this collection of 312 cartoons.
• Jekyl + Hyde. Direct to DVD release from Lionsgate that looks pretty interesting. It is a modern day take on the story with the good doctor experimenting with a personality altering drug based on ecstasy.

What are you getting this week?