Rhino Entertainment

The name or term "Rhino" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, seeRhino (disambiguation).

Rhino Entertainmentis anAmericanrecord label andhome videoproduction and distribution company. Their children's entertainment division is currently known asRhinomation,having changed its name fromKid Rhinoin 2001.

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Rhino held the North American video rights toThe Transformers: The Movieand theGeneration 1 cartoon.The movie and a few episodes were first released on VHS, branded asThe Original Transformers.Eventually they were released on DVD for the first time (keeping the same branding) and the movie's soundtrack album was re-released on CD. Rhino likewise issued full DVD boxed-sets forBeast Wars,Beast Machines,andArmada.

In 2002 Rhino remastered the Generation 1 cartoon series for release on DVD, to subsequent controversy. As the original broadcast masters (the tapes used for broadcast) had degraded to an unacceptable level of visual quality over the years, Rhino opted to use pre-broadcast masters that had far superior clarity and picture quality. Unfortunately, as these pre-broadcast tapes used unfinished animation, the episodes included on Rhino's DVDs suffered from animation errors, missing special effects and colouring mistakes that did not occur in the original 1980s broadcasts. The vast majority of these issues affected Season 1 episodes.

Additionally, Rhino contracted post-production studioMagno Sound & Videoto remaster the monaural soundtrack to a 5.1 surround soundtrack worthy of a DVD release. Unfortunately, Magno's engineers added in some 30 tracks of new sound effects to this new soundtrack,^[1]and once again Rhino's DVDs introduced new elements that were largely seen as undesirable. Rhino representatives rather disingenuously attempted to claim that these sound effects were there all along and that fans had simply been unable to hear them before, despite evidence to the contrary.^[2]The new sounds include abnormally loud and glossy stock sound effects for lasers, explosions, and swooping jets layered across numerous scenes. The show'scommercial bumperswere also altered, with motor, laser, and transforming sound effects added where there had originally been only music andVictor Caroli's voice.

Despite several of these errors being corrected inShout! Factory's releases of the series, the Kid Rhino versions of the episodes have continued to be used for streaming sites such as YouTube andTubi(though with the audio tracks restored to their original form outside of 1 or 2 episodes).

Releases

The Original Transformers

Main article:The Original Transformers

VHS

The Original Transformers— Volume 1: Prime Threat(1999)
The Original Transformers— Volume 2: Revenge of the Decepticons(1999)
The Original Transformers— Volume 3: Programmed for Evil(1999)
The Original Transformers— Volume 4: The Key to Vector Sigma(2000)
The Original Transformers— Volume 5: Return to Cybertron(2000)
The Original Transformers— Volume 6: Evolution Revolution(2000)
The Original Transformers— Volume 7: The Return of Optimus Prime(2000)
The Original Transformers— Volume 8: Evil Experiments(2000)
The Original Transformers— Volume 9: Grimlock the Hero(2000)
The Original Transformers— Volume 10: Megatron's Master Plan(2000)
The Original Transformers— Volume 11: The Decepticon Possession(2000)
The Original Transformers— Volume 12: Size Matters(2000)
The Original Transformers— More than Meets the Eye(2000)
The Original Transformers— Dinobots(2000)
The Original Transformers— Heroes: The Rebirth(2001)
The Original Transformers— Villains: The Ultimate Doom(2001)

DVD

The Original Transformers— Heroes: The Rebirth(2001)
The Original Transformers— Villains: The Ultimate Doom(2001)
The Original Transformers— First Season Collector's Edition(2002)
The Original Transformers— Volume One(2002)
The Original Transformers— Volume Two(2002)
The Original Transformers— Volume Three(2002)
The Original Transformers— Season 2 Part 1(2002)
The Original Transformers— Season 2 Part 1: Vol. 1(2002)
The Original Transformers— Season 2 Part 1: Vol. 2(2002)
The Original Transformers— Season 2 Part 1: Vol. 3(2002)
The Original Transformers— Season 2 Part 1: Vol. 4(2002)
The Original Transformers— Season 2 Part 2(2003)
The Original Transformers— Season 2 Part 2: Vol. 5(2003)
The Original Transformers— Season 2 Part 2: Vol. 6(2003)
The Original Transformers— Season 2 Part 2: Vol. 7(2003)
The Original Transformers— Season 2 Part 2: Vol. 8(2003)
The Original Transformers— Season 3 Part 1(2003)
The Original Transformers— Season 3 Part 1: Vol. 1(2003)
The Original Transformers— Season 3 Part 1: Vol. 2(2003)
The Original Transformers— Season 3 Part 1: Vol. 3(2003)
The Original Transformers— Season 3 Part 2 & Season 4(2004)

The Transformers: The Movie

VHS

The Transformers: The Movie(October 5,1999)
The Transformers: The Movie— Special Collector's Edition(November 7,2000)

DVD

The Transformers: The Movie— Special Collector's Edition(November 7, 2000)

Includes an exclusive interview withVince DiCola.

The Transformers: The Movie1999 VHS release
Special Collector's EditionVHS release
Special Collector's EditionDVD release

Beast WarsandBeast Machines

VHS

Beast Wars: Transformers— Volume 1(January 29,2002)

Contains episodes 1-3: "Beast Wars (Part 1)"through to"The Web".

Beast Wars: Transformers— Volume 2(January 29, 2002)

Contains episodes 4-6: "Equal Measures"through to"Power Surge".

Beast Wars: Transformers— Volume 3(August 13,2002)

Contains episodes 7-9: "Fallen Comrades"through to"A Better Mousetrap".

Beast Wars: Transformers— Volume 4(August 13, 2002)

Contains episodes 10-12: "Gorilla Warfare"through to"Victory".

Beast WarsVolume 1 VHS
Beast WarsVolume 2 VHS
Rhino BeastWars Vol3 VHS.jpg

Beast WarsVolume 3 VHS
Rhino BeastWars Vol4 VHS.jpg

Beast WarsVolume 4 VHS

DVD

Rhino's DVD releases ofBeast WarsandBeast Machineseach included a 5.1 audio track and a handful of special features.

Beast Wars: Transformers— Volume 1(January 29, 2002)

Contains episodes 1-6: "Beast Wars (Part 1)"through to"Power Surge".

Beast Wars: Transformers— Volume 2(August 13, 2002)

Contains episodes 7-12: "Fallen Comrades"through to"Victory".

Beast WarsVolume 1 DVD
Beast WarsVolume 2 DVD

Beast Wars: Transformers— The Complete First Season(August 12,2003)

4-disc box set containing all 26 episodes of the first season, plus interviews withLarry DiTillioandBob Forward.Also included as anEaster eggis the 2002 short filmAgent 12,an amateur spy movie directed by Forward and starring his son Angus.

Beast Wars: Transformers— The Complete Second Season(March 23,2004)

2-disc box set containing the entire 13-episode second season, plus some animation test footage. Also buried on Disc 1, not accessible from any menus, is... uh... a mute version of the 1957Sid and Marty KrofftTV pilot "Here's Irving"?That's... probably not supposed to be there.