Transformers 30th Anniversary... Hot Rod Is Not Pink...

Recently, I've been rewatching the Transformers animated movie (circa 1987) and I've noticed some differences between the 10th anniversary edition that I had on VHS, the 20th anniversary edition that I have on DVD and the newest re-release of the 30th anniversary edition on DVD.

More Than Meets The Eye! The year is 2005, and the Decepticons have retaken Cybertron from Optimus Prime and his Autobot warriors. Both sides are seething with anger, and that has blinded them to a hideous menace headed their way. That menace is Unicron, a monster so powerful he devours planets. Unicron has chosen to take control of the Autobot Matrix for his own evil purposes, and to accomplish this he has created a force of super robots. By gathering the remains of fallen Decepticons, including Megatron, and infusing them with life, he forms the Unicrons. With Decepticons on one side, Unicron on the other, and Optimus Prime lost in battle, Earth and Autobot survival depends on The Chosen One who must rise up to open the matrix and use its full power. Who that is remains a mystery.

The 20th anniversary edition of the Transformers animated movie had some issues with an over-corrected color balance which resulted in Hot Rod being pink. The 30th anniversary DVD, like the 20th anniversary DVD, is artificially cropped, but, if I was willing to buy the 30th anniversary Blu-ray, I could have had the uncropped version. The 30th anniversary DVD features a handful of new documentaries including a word or two on the restoration and a 30th anniversary retrospective.

I was very pleased to note that the restoration documentary on the DVD did specifically indicate that Hot Rod's colors had received some close scrutiny. Overall, this is essentially the same source print used from the 20th anniversary edition, but, I'm more pleased with the outcome of the latest restoration. At least this time around, Hot Rod is not pink.