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A lot of people hate Beast Machines because of the sudden change from Beast Wars, and it took a further step back from the Robots transforming into cars of the original G-1. In fact it seemed to denounce the mechanical and embrace the organic.
What the heck was wrong with trying something different? Breaking out of the box and doing something right out of left field? Do a Transformers series the likes of which nobody has ever seen before? I'm as nostalgic as the next Transfan, but let me tell you this much: Generation 1 *never* was this great, in terms of animation quality, the zen-philosophy and socio-political struggle and the like. Beast Machines wasn't just about two camps of robots one good one evil. If someone actually stopped and looked at the two camps struggle.
The Maximals: Optimus Primal wanted to reformat Cybertron to become an organic planet once more. Pretty harsh idea indeed when you were born of a race of entirely mechanical beings, and you have to wonder how five or six characters would change the fate of the entire planet and create a drastic change it would create on the people of the planet and taking away their choice in the matter.
The Vehicons: If you look at Megatron's campaign, it was keeping Cybertron as is where things where so mechanically perfect that the end result was a loss of character and identity (I like to think that a lot of Transfans are kind of like Megatron in that way, wanting the same old "perfection" of Generation 1) The ending to Beast Machines wasn't a disappointment for me, because what was realized at the end (at least by Primal) was that the world of Cybertron wasn't destined to be either all mechanical or all organic, but a balance between the two.
And THAT for an end to a storyline is much better than anything that was cooked up in the Generation 1 days (Hello anyone ever watch "The ReBirth"? Yeah I thought so.) Comparably, Generation 1 had goofy plots that were very unbelievable, had sugar coated conflicts that were black and white no shades of grey.
Beast Wars was a great action orientated series, and a great bit of brilliant continuity work.
Where Beast Machines itself stands as a great series is that it wasn't just mindless action and adventure, it also took a look at the sociological aspects of war, and the ideologies of the people who go to war for what they believe in. A hallmark series if there was one, and I guarantee you won't see another Transformers series like this one in a long time.
These days, the franchise caters to a younger audience and tries to become part of the Anime boom. Robots in Disguise, Armada, and Energon do get back to basics, but let's face it, it gets too far back to basics creating plots that appeal to an audience that was the age we were when Transformers first came on the air, only this time around we can't relate to it as well as we used too.
And a little defense on Rattrap's "Wheelchair": It was a brilliant move on the writers part. You know why? Because Rattrap was always the resourceful one who had all the gadgets and weapons to get through a mission, now he found himself in a very limited one. THAT was his character development, he went through the trials of being able to Transform and found himself trapped in a body with tools he that were totally different than what he was used too.
This was a great series
score /10
randomthoughtsofmadness 21 March 2005
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1044363/ |
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19-1-2021 00:23:07