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Jayce And The Wheeled Warriors: Volume 1
R0 - America - Shout! Factory Review written by and copyright: Rob Fields (30th March 2008). |
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The Show
 I remember all kinds of toys that came out back around the time of this series, up for review, was originally aired on TV. Some of them have even been made into cartoons. Let’s see...there was “Robotix” (1985), “Bigfoot and the Muscle Machines” (1985), “The TransFormers” (1984-1987), “Challenge of the GoBots” (1984), “M.A.S.K.” (1985), “G.I. Joe” (1985-1986), and many, many more...I remember seeing the ads on TV while watching Saturday morning cartoons and during cartoons that aired weekdays after school was out for the day. Mattel had introduced a new line of toys called “Wheeled Warriors”. The basic premise of these toys was that you could add other parts to the vehicles and make them even stronger. Yes, they had good vehicles and evil vehicles. Unfortunately, I wasn’t interested in them, so I didn’t look any further. My cousin had a couple of them, but I didn’t think they were all that impressive. Thanks to eBay, I was able to find a few of the toys and determine that, in fact, the Lightning League and the Monster Minds were the two opposing forces. At one point, I was starting to see commercials for a new cartoon series based on these toys. The only difference was that the series would NOT be called just “Wheeled Warriors”, but instead, “Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors”. Hard to say why the creators made the series name different from the toy brand. Who knows? Like the toys, I never cared when it came to the cartoon series. I had other interests at the time. For one, I felt that Optimus Prime and his Autobots were more fun and interesting to watch than Jayce and his Lightning League. Ain’t it amazing how things have a way of catching up with you after so many years? Sigh...I guess I knew what I was getting into when I put my name in for this job. Of course, I never imagined that I would be reviewing titles from Retro past. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, mind you. So, now that “Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors” has finally caught up with me, let’s see if it was a treasure I should have invested in or if it was one that should have been left buried. “Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors: Volume 1” – When a solar flare wreaks havoc on his botanical experiments, Jayce’s father is forced to flee from his accidental creations: Saw Boss and his band of ruthless mutated plant life called the Monster Minds. Now it’s up to Jayce, joined by the valiant Lightning League, to reunite with his father and combine the two halves of the magic Root Amulet – the only object capable of purging the universe of Saw Boss and his army forever. Based on the popular line of Mattel toys, and scripted by acclaimed writers such as J. Michael Straczynski (creator of "Babylon 5" (1994-1998)), the first 33 episodes of “Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors” finally make their way to DVD, taking nostalgic action to a whole new level. I liked the artwork that went into creating the episodes. In fact, it’s great for a series such as this. It’s not as good as Japanese animation (Animé), but it certainly holds its own. At least the story lines are consistent and without continuity errors, unlike “The TransFormers”. I like how the Lightning League members are able to constantly work together to be able to overcome the Monster Minds. They are even able to keep Herc on their side (he only does things for money, after all). At least there is a continuing storyline: Jayce in search of his father. Unfortunately, there will be a wait until Volume 2 is released in order to see how that comes about. The downsides? The character Oon is one of the biggest issues that I have with this series. While he is gallant (at times), he very much reminds me of Scrappy-Doo from the various “Scooby-Doo” cartoons. He’s just there to take up space. To me, he doesn’t add much value to the Lightning League – or the series as a whole. I also didn’t like how his voice suddenly changed from more masculine to less masculine in the middle of the ‘Silver Crusaders’ episode. Also, as custom to most series back in the day, the good guys ALWAYS win. While this probably appeals to the kids, watching the good guys win all the time gets boring after a while. Not that I’m pulling for the bad guys, but as intelligent as Saw Boss is supposed to be, you would think that some of the episodes would end with the Monster Minds taking a victory or two. Also, when it comes to the Monster Minds, Saw Boss is the only one who does most of the talking. It doesn’t take long to notice this at all. Further, when you see the Monster Minds go into battle, you never see them change back into their humanoid shapes. It’s like one minute, they’re the Monster Minds. The next, they change into their vehicular modes and that’s that. I would like to think that I’m not the only one who picked up on this. My final word: This series is one that can be easily skipped for those of you who are looking for something nostalgic to watch. I think you will be sorely disappointed. While “The TransFormers” did have its issues, it managed to continue on. There was – and still is – a fan base for it. However, if you are a die hard collector of 80's nostalgic toys and cartoon shows, then perhaps you may find this series to your liking (assuming you liked it back in the day). The toy line failed, and this series was destined to follow. Again, the fan base. The question is, will there be enough of a fan base to have warranted this DVD release? Only those who pick up this (and the probably forthcoming Volume 2) will be able to answer that question. This 4-disc collection includes all 33 'Volume 1' episodes: - "Escape From the Garden" (22:06) - "The Vase of Xiang" (22:05) - "Steel Against Shadow" (22:06) - "Silver Crusaders" (22:06) - "Ghostship" (21:18) - "Flora, Fauna and the Monster Minds" (22:06) - "Fire and Ice" (22:07) - "Space Outlaws" (22:07) - "Future of the Future" (22:08) - "Underwater" (22:05) - "Frostworld" (22:04) - "Critical Mass" (22:06) - "The Purple Tome" (22:04) - "Hook, Line and Sinker" (22:03) - "Bloodstone" (22:06) - "The Slaves of Adelbaron" (22:05) - "The Hunt" (22:05) - "Blockade Runners" (22:07) - "The Sleeping Princess" (22:04) - "Deadly Reunion" (22:06) - "Sky Kingdom" (22:06) - "Quest Into Shadow" (22:05) - "Unexpected Trouble" (22:05) - "Bounty Hunters" (22:04) - "Double Deception" (22:06) - "Gate World" (22:05) - "Space Thief" (22:05) - "Moon Magic" (22:05) - "Affair of Honor" (22:06) - "Doom Flower" (22:06) - "The Stallions of Sandeen" (22:06) - "Brain Trust" (22:07) - "Lightning Strikes Twice" (22:07)
Video
All episodes are presented in their original full screen broadcast formats (1.33:1 ratio). There are no defects in relation to the DVD aspect itself, such as pixels. Many of the flaws here appear to be from the original source material. For one thing, you see film grain throughout the episodes. Also, the colors don’t look the greatest. In some cases they look dull. It looks as though Shout! Factory did the best they could with the transfer. While there are no chapter selection menus, each episode has chapter stops (probably where the commercial breaks were). You can play each episode individually or have a continuous disc marathon by utilizing the ‘Play All’ option.
Audio
All episodes have an English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono soundtrack. There are no selectable subtitling options. The audio itself sounds just the way it would have back during the cartoons that I have listed above in the opening of my review. Now that I’m thinking about it, I’m noticing where the sounds are coming from, from sitting near the back speakers. The voices and some of the music are coming from the left speaker, while music and sound effects are coming from the right. I don’t know if that’s how the mix was before surround sound became available, but that’s what I easily detect.
Extras
Shout! Factory has included a light amount of extras that includes bonus trailers and some DVD-ROM content only. Below is a closer look at these supplements, broken down per disc. DISC ONE: There is a reel of bonus trailers before the main menu only and include: - "COPS" which runs for 43 seconds. - "Captain N: The Game Master – The Complete Series" which runs for 52 seconds. - "Medabots: The Complete First Season" which runs for 1 minutes 4 seconds. - "Oban Star-Racers" which runs for 1 minute 5 seconds. DISCS TWO & THREE: There are no extras on these discs. DISC FOUR: The only extra found here is some DVD-ROM content which includes: - an "Original Concept Art" gallery consisting of 62 stills. Here, you will see original concepts for the title logo of the series. Some of them were called “Jason and the Wheeled Warriors”. Notice the difference in the name. You will also see come earlier concepts of Jayce and the other Lightning League members. There are many drawings of Saw Boss and some of the other Monster Minds. - There are 2 original scripts by Haskell Barkin and J. Michael Straczynski, which are presented in PDF format. The scripts are for ‘Escape from the Garden’ (the first episode) and ‘Steel Against Shadow’ (the third episode) and are in PDF format. Either of these scripts are viewable on a PC or a MAC, but you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed in order to view them.
Packaging
This is a 4-DVD set with two discs placed in a plastic slim-case, all placed into a single cardboard case.
Overall
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