DVD Review: Transformers Rescue Bots: Roll To The Rescue
I just watched Transformers Rescue Bots: Roll To The Rescue, and being my first encounter with the Rescue Bots I really had no expectations. Turns out, this is a Transformers cartoon made for really young kids; it has no violence and no bad guys (that means no Decepticons!), and is all about the relationships between a small group of Transformers and their human allies and how they work together to help overcome natural and accidental disasters. The art, stories, and characters are very simplistic, and yet not so simplistic that it's a bore to watch. On the contrary, I actually found myself quite enjoying the episodes and was disappointed to find that this DVD only contains six episodes.
The basic premise of this show is that four Autobots (a police car, a fire engine, a bulldozer, and a rescue helicopter) live with a family of rescue workers (a cop, a fireman, etc.) and together they help when disaster strikes. Sometimes they prevent it, sometimes they alleviate the damage, and sometimes they rescue innocent civilians before it's too late. And as I said, there are no bad guys in this show, but that doesn't mean there aren't jerks and all around stupid people who choose not to follow the rules and end up causing accidents and putting other people's lives in danger. I think this is a good show for the younger folk as it shows consequences for reckless behavior, unlike the cartoons for older kids where everybody shoots everybody but nobody ever gets hurt. Basically, it teaches to help, not hurt, and to work together.
In the show, their main base of operations looks exactly like a child's playset... I had never seen the playset toy but after seeing this show I know exactly what it's going to look like when I do see it next time I go to the store The Autobots also look like their toys will probably match pretty close, unlike the original generation Transformers... do you remember how weird Megatron looked as a toy? I was disappointed to see there were no extra features here, unless you the printable coloring page which you print out by putting the disc in your computer. Seems like that could have just been something they offered online. I would have liked to have heard about the conceptual origins of the series and characters. Oh well, maybe when they release the entire season. These are the episodes included on this disc:
- Family of Heroes
- Under Pressure
- Hotshots
- Flobsters On Parade
- The Alien Invasion of Griffin Rock
- Four Bots and a Baby