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Sequel series to cult 1980s toy line series cartoon "Transformers" picking up centuries later with their descendants, the Maximals (successors of the Autobots) and the Predacons (successors of the Decepticons, though the term originally referred to a branch of transformers created BY the Decepticons). With a smaller cast on both fronts - and less voice actors - the series opens with a Maximal exploration team, led by Optimus Primal (Gary Chalk, who had also voiced He-Man and would later voice Man At Arms for the new He-Man series) chasing a band of Predacons, led by Megatron (David Kaye, later Professor X on the ill be gotten X-Men Evolution, and NO, this Megatron is not the same character as the one played by Frank Welker in the original series), and after going through a time warp tunnel thing in space and shooting at each other they crash on an uncharted planet that housed a number of animals native to Earth. Later on it turns out that the planet IS Earth, Earth in the past, some time after the Autobots and Decepticons crash landed in the old series, meaning that the Maximals must now fight to protect their head honcho Autobot ancestor, Optimus Prime, from the Predacons. There was also a little sub plot about aliens who were using Earth as kind of an experiment, but that later faded out of focus.
The Maximals and Predacons appear to be smaller than their ancestors, which allowed them to adapt better to animal transformation modes. The hero of the series, Optimus Primal, turned into a giant gorilla while Megatron, oh so perfectly, chose the form of a T-Rex (it is SO King Kong).
In the Maximal crew, there was Rhinox (who was kind of like the Panthro of the Maximals), demolitions expert Rat-Trap (who had kind of a Bruce Willis/Humphrey Bogart complex), callow youth Cheetor, animal rights and nature activist Tigertron the Barbarian (as Rat-Trap called him), falcon fly girl Air-Razor (who kind of had a relationship with Tigertron), fuzor wolf/condor cross Silver-Bolt (who had kind of a knight in shining armor complex; I think he's actually named after the Aerialbot character from the old series), giant vengeance seeking stingray Depth Charge, and perhaps most interesting of all, the Predacon rapter defector Dinobot, who later got killed in glorious battle and was resurrected as a transmetal version of himself. The Predacon spider Black Arachnia later defected from the Preds and joined the Maximals, which is where she actually belonged anyway seeing as how she was originally a Maximal protoform*.
Predacons included Tarantulas (at least he was allegedly a Predacon, though he could just as well been descended from something else), giant deranged fire ant Inferno (who had a tendency to call Megatron his "Queen"), speech impaired Waspinator, ill fated Star Scream wannabe Terrorsaur, ill fated teacher's pet scorpion Scorponok, the cantankerous rattle snake/scorpion fuzor Quick Strike, and the monstrous Rampage, a Maximal experiment gone horribly wrong (and the dark secret of the Maximal's mission).
While it's impossible NOT to compare "Beast Wars" to the original Transformers, it's not fair to do so given that the two were made in different eras of television writing with a big difference in budgeting and what not. Both shows are products of their eras, and it shows in characterizations and plots. The Beast Wars characters are more in line with what is considered cool today, so that's just how it is. This show did retain the old show's tendency to have "bad guys" change alliances and become "good guys" though, such as when Black Arachnia joined up with the Maximals. Characters had a tendency to get killed and either stay dead or come back and there was the tendency to introduce new characters* by crashing these stasis pods thad the Maximal ship had dropped in orbit over the Earth that would crash from time to time. Another way to introduce new toys was to upgrade the heroes (transmetals, anyone?)
Beast Wars was one of the last great shows to hit the airwaves. It had everything: it had humor, it had drama, it had pathos, it had characters who were so flesh and blooded that they really made you love them or hate them. Character relationships included Rat-Trap's bickering with Dinobot, Silver-Bolt's forbidden love affair with Black Arachnia, the alleged relationship between Tigertron and Air-Razor, Megatron's on again/off again bond with Tarantulas, and many others.
Sadly, they chose to follow this wonderful gem of an action series up with "Beast Machines", which chronicled what happened to the characters when they got back to Cybertron, messed them up big time (making Rhinox evil, making Silver-Bolt a jerk) and just plain made a mess of everything. Avoid "Beast Machines" at all costs.
"Beast Wars", however, is a prize too good to miss.
score 9/10
DarthBill 11 April 2004
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0376142/ |
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19-1-2021 00:21:02