“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”

Paramount, single-disc DVD $29.98, two-disc DVD $34.98, Blu-ray $39.99

There’s so much swirling, relentless action, indistinct robot characterizations and over-caffeinated techies loose on the special-effects machines that the film, in mere seconds, achieves incoherence.

Since the absence of the “Allspark” life force has made the Autobots’ planet uninhabitable, they’ve moved in with us like unemployed relatives and have been working with the U.S. military to find rogue Decepticons and to keep the world safe. But not for long: The ancient origins of the Autobots and evil Decepticons will come to the fore.

Shia LaBeouf (Sam) and Megan Fox (Mikaela) are back, of course, but director Michael Bay, executive producer Steven Spielberg and the rest of their co-conspirators have relegated humans to the props department. Contains sexual content, vulgarity, intense action, crude humor and drug content.

“Cheri”

Miramax, $29.99

A radiant Michelle Pfeiffer is Lea, a courtesan well schooled in pleasure and the politics of the personal, who is approaching that point where she will age out of her profession (any parallels to Hollywood are no doubt intentional).

With Kathy Bates, playing Lea’s friend and colleague Madame Peloux, Pfeiffer wends her way through screenwriter Christopher Hampton’s insouciant banter with decadent assurance and an eye on the clock, which may be why Lea adopts as her project, and her lover, Cheri (Rupert Friend), Madame Peloux’s son and a candidate for early debauchery.

What begins as a lark turns into love. And what began as a frothy period piece becomes a meditation on age and passion. Contains sexual content and drug use.

— The Washington Post

“Transformers: 25th Anniversary Matrix of Leadership Edition”

Shout! Factory, $169.99

In a marriage of art and packaging, the 16-disc set comes in a Transformer-like, fold-out-and-grow box set. Inside, the collector’s edition contains 98 restored episodes of the animated series, a collectible book, Autobot and Decepticon magnets and several retrospective featurettes.

In all, there are 38 hours of content — practically all you care to know about the epic story of good and evil as represented by the heroic Optimus Prime and the Autobots vs. Megatron and the villainous Decepticons as the fate of Earth hangs in the balance.

“Fawlty Towers: The Complete Collection Remastered”

BBC Warner, $49.98

From the British Broadcasting Corp. come box sets honoring two comedy icons: John Cleese and Rowan Atkinson.

“Fawlty Towers Remastered” is a three-disc set that features the 12 original episodes of the classic sitcom about a beleagured innkeeper (Cleese, playing Basil Fawlty), completely restored from the original program masters.

Also included is new commentary from Cleese and an exclusive interview with Connie Booth, Cleese’s co-creator on the show (and his wife at the time), who played the waitress Polly in the show.

“Blackadder Remastered: The Ultimate Edition”

BBC Warner, $79.98

“Blackadder Remastered: The Ultimate Edition” is a six-disc collection of all four seasons of the hysterical historical “drama” that traces the lineage of various Edmund Blackadders (all played by Atkinson) from the Middle Ages to the battlefield of World War I.

The set features new commentary by Atkinson as well as by series regulars Hugh Laurie (“House”) and Stephen Fry, among others, plus several “Blackadder” special bits.

— Jim Carnes, McClatchy Newspapers