Beast Machines: Transformers

"Beast Machines" puts the remaining maximals - Optimus, Rattrap, Cheetor and Black Arachnia - back on their home planet Cybertron after the ending of "Beast Wars". Unfortunately, they wake up and find themselves with no memory, in their original forms (the very first ones from the first season of Beast Wars) and being pursued by fierce robotic drones. They find out that their nemesis, Megatron, escaped en route to Cybertron and conquered it before they could arrive. After escaping the drones they find "The Oracle" of Cybertron and are transformed into more organic transformers, who fight Megatron and his new team of henchmen - Jetstorm, Thrust, Tankorr, Obsidian and Strika.

There are quite a few mysteries at the start of the series, including how Megatron managed to conquer Cybertron and the true identities of the main villains henchmen. It is pretty exciting at times, especially with the introduction of character Noble at the start of the second (and last) season. I wont give away anything, just watch the show!

Of course, there are many faults that make "Beast Machines" not as good as "Beast Wars". First, it turns into a weird new agey, environmentalist show about three quarters the way through, because Optimus finds out that the planet's core has always been organic rather than metalich, so the maximals start fighting to bring plants and fluffy animals back. Also, Megatron often whines about how he wants to leave his organic form (a huge metal dragon) because instead he wants to be pure metalich. I have no idea why the writers put this development in, because in "Beast Wars" Megatron never complained once, and actually loved his dragon form. He basically becomes a metaphor for the evil logging corporation that's chopping down precious trees. And the introduction of Nightscream's naive character (a bat) takes away from Cheetor's conflict with Optimus for the same reason.

All in all, "Beast Machines" is a good show, but not a match for "Beast Wars", 7/10.

"Beast Machines: Transformers" was a good sequel to the popular "Beast Wars". I didn't see all of the episodes of this show, but from what I saw I really think this was a good show. The graphics were extremely cool and the characters are still original.

From what I saw my favorite episodes were: "Endgame (1): The Downward Spiral", "Endgame (2): When Legends Fall", "Revelations (1): Discovery", and "In Darkest Knight".

From what I remember I really enjoyed this show and if it ever returns to T.V. I would surely watch it. I suggest that anyone who is a fan of "Transformers" or "Beast Wars" to watch it. I give this 8/10 stars.

Having seen probably every episode of the original Transformers, Beast Wars, and now Beast Machines, I feel I can comment on this series with some authority. I loved the Beast Wars even though it was a very different show from the Transformers. They took liberties and played with elements from the original Transformers, starting with the guest appearance from original Transformer Starscream, and culminating with the discovery of the Ark and the "guest appearances" of Optimus Prime and Megatron. The Beast Wars combined old and new, wonderful CGI with great voice talent and fun scripts. I was sad to see it end.

So then came the previews for Beast Machines. Sure, it was still animated by Mainframe, who did Beast Wars, so we knew it would look good. But what about the story? From the beginning there were questions. They were taking the surviving characters from Beast Wars and putting them in a new environment. This would be our first in-depth CGI look at Cybertron. I had no problem with this. We had done the "Beast Planet" thing, so a new setting was promising. Next was the idea of the mindless transformer drones, to provide "cannon fodder" as we hadn't seen before in the Transformers. No problem. New characters, new bodies for our survivors, this was all okay. We had grown accustomed to that in the Beast Wars. Most characters had changed appearance two or three times by the end of that series.

The problems I had were with the changes they made in the fundamentals of the mythos, and the characters. I don't remember much from previous series about the organic beginnings of Cybertron. Personally, I don't really see the point in them pushing it as the main element in this Beast Machines story arc. I would think they would have enough to do with a return to Cybertron, a new fight, new characters and such. Second, the characters change for the worse in my opinion. As established in Beast Wars, Optimus was rational, kind and a strong leader. Here he becomes angry, argumentative, and indecisive. Rattrap was a complainer in Beast Wars but not a coward or an idiot as he was in Beast Machines. It's only halfway through the series that he even figures out how to transform, something the others accomplish by episode 1 or 2! Cheetor becomes bull-headed and arrogant, a trait he was often scolded for in Beast Wars, but here he is rewarded and promoted for it. I understand that they probably wanted to show his progress to leadership, and bring in Nightscream as the new 'kid' of the team, but it still seems out of place. I guess what I'm saying is, the characters have all become kind of unpleasant and I don't really care about seeing any them succeed anymore. About the only one who is still 'in character' is Blackarachnia, who wisely spends much of the Beast Machines series following her own agenda away from the other Maximals. Megatron's obsession with eliminating the 'organic element' seemed odd to me since he was the one so obsessed with experimenting on organics in the Beast Wars. He cloned, he tampered, and he was awfully proud of the power of his newly acquired body each time he got one, half-organic or no. I don't understand the point of using established characters if you plan to change all of their personalities. Just create some new ones, at least the Beast Wars team had the respect to do that.

Having said my piece about the treatment of the surviving Beast Wars characters, let me say that I enjoyed the 3 Vehicons. This makes me think that the writers know how to write, they just don't know how to write the specific characters that carried over from before. The use of the Maximal personalities within the Vehicons lead to interesting speculation about who was who and what this would mean; but in the end, I hope we don't see that as an excuse to bury the characters of the Vehicons in favor of our "returning favorites." I would favor a story that finds a way to segregate the two sets of characters so they can live on their own.

All in all, although my review is very critical, I think there's a lot of potential here. The CGI is great. The voice actors are too and I'm glad that they didn't make any replacements, that they got the Beast Wars actors back to resume their roles. A lot of the visions of Cybertron are very chilling ... like somewhere between Blade Runner and Tron. Although there are characters I despise, I think they still have strong voices in Blackarachnia, Megatron, Rhinox-Tankorr, and I think Jetstorm is a hoot! I just hope they find a way to write their own ideas without just swiping a lot of stuff from the past and then bending the stories to fit their revisionist history. If season 2 is as good as the first I'll keep watching... but I think they can do better.

i just saw the first episode and let me say i was very impressed with it.it was very interesting the way the characters now have to learn HOW to transform as compared to when they could just easily transform at will.this series could be a ratings blockbuster for sat. mornings

Beast Machines is easily an animated TV series which proves that Transformers can be so much more than just entertainment and toy advertisements. This show is one of very few animated series that actually casts aside the more kid-friendly themes and embraces the darker and more intelligent aspects of storytelling.

This series tackles a good bit of philosophy with pseudo-religious undertones. It is not just a battle good vs evil, or of technology vs nature; that is just the surface and sadly that is all that people look at. Under that, there is the theme of "balance", sort of like yin/yang. A balance between cold hard logic and unpredictable primal emotion. One frequent complain by many was the whole "techno-organic concept and the concept of an organic Cybertron. I urge you not to take such concepts too literally. The very nature of "techno-organic" indicates a blending of Technology and nature. It is a metaphor for peaceful co-existence and not an actual literal concept(why do people take things too literally?). As the series moves along, we are shown the negative effects of swaying to either extreme end of the spectrum. Too much reliance on nature and emotion, without the focus of logic, makes one no better than a Neanderthal(as evidence by the Episode 5 "Forbidden Fruit"), savage and warlike. Now take that metaphor and apply it to the concept of "a once organic Cybertron". It makes perfect sense, if taken as a metaphor, in indicating Cybertron's long savage history of war. On the other hand, Sway the other way into cold amoral logic and one becomes nothing more than a mindless drone; Cybertron becomes a cold and foreboding place where individuality is crushed all for the sake of peace.

Metaphors abound in this series, challenging the audience to actually think deeper and not just take things at the literal face value.

Technology and Nature(embodied by Megatron's and Optimus' ideals) are metaphor for the very real-world issue of religious extremism. There is even a scene where Optimus tries to forcibly reformat an unwilling Megatron, similar to how some religious extremists would force someone into joining a cult.

Megatron and his vehicon drones are a metaphor for the amorality of technology. His goal is unity and peace, even if it has to be at the price of the individual selves. Throughout the series, the Maximals also turn technology to their own use, further advancing the theme that technology is not inherently bad, it only depends on who uses it.

These are just a few of the clever, thought provoking themes, so rare among animated series, that the producers decided to throw in.

Another complain was about the change of personalities in the main characters. Do know that the series starts off in the middle of the action with the Maximals already on the run from Vehicons, separated, locked in beast mode, and possessing no memory of what came before. Then the find out that their battles in pre-history was all in vain, and all that they believed in had been shattered.

Such traumatizing events are bound to change an individual and those changes make perfect realistic sense. Optimus had is faith in himself shattered by his humbling defeat, then turned to a new guiding light and principle, only to have that shattered also. RatTrap already had an inferiority complex in Beast Wars, and that is further compounded here by him being stuck in his tiny, non threatening beast mode and then discovering his ineffective combat mode. To see a once courageous warrior cowering in fear only adds to the sense of peril and the great level of threat that the vehicons present. Cheetor grows up, Black Arachnia finally finds her softer side etc. Overall, the good guys are not so "good" anymore. Their quirks and their flaws are more visible now but it all effectively makes them a lot more "human"(oh the irony) and adds to giving them a greater depth and dimension.

Oh and speaking of dimension, the 3D animation has take a huge jump in quality. A lot more detailed and fluid than its predecessors and possessing fully rendered shadows that add to the dramatic effect and the chilling new setting of a "ghost town" Cybertron. It actually holds up to the test of time and still look great even when compared to other more recent CGI in TV series like Transformers galaxy force. Voice acting carries on the high standards set in place in Beast Wars so no complains there.

The only thing that may put off some fans of Beast Wars is the lack of "fun". Beast wars balanced serious moments with more lighthearted comedic ones. Beast Machines however, is 26 episodes without a single laugh; Straight faced and serious all the way.

This is not a show for the kids, but one for fans of animation with the desire to see something more complex than just "good vs evil". The many underlying philosophical themes will keep the more learned ones busy with endless discussion while the casual viewer can still enjoy the serious tone, excellent animation, and intense action sequences.