Venturing into Beast Wars - what to start with first?

[griffin]

(moved posts to be a new topic... for the fans of this great cartoon )

[Firestorm]

one could start with theft of the golden disc, that's floating around on youtube somewhere isnt it?

it's a prequel to Beast Wars. isnt there a botcon comic that's also a prequel (dawn of futures past)

[GoktimusPrime]

Yeah, I recommend watching the cartoon first. The comics also have some spoilers for the cartoon too - so be warned about that if you choose to read the comics first. The comics also create continuity headaches... the Gathering was okay, but the Ascending gave me a continuity migraine... gah.

one could start with theft of the golden disc, that's floating around on youtube somewhere isnt it?

it's a prequel to Beast Wars. isnt there a botcon comic that's also a prequel (dawn of futures past)

Yes and yes, but it's not absolutely essential.

Arcee could also look into watching Beast Wars II (pronounced "Beast Wars Second") and Beast Wars Neo too, which are Japanese series (and one theatrical movie) that are expansions of the Canadian CGI series - but while they do contribute to the overall Beast Wars mythos, they're by no means essential viewing. Although Theft of the Golden Disk and the Dawns of Futures Past would be more quintessential than BWII or Neo.

But Arcee could definitely just start watching Beast Wars straight away without anything else... ya know, the same way most of us did when BW came out! Although it'd be interesting to see how someone would react to Beast Wars if they'd been exposed to the prequel material beforehand... Midichlorians my rear assembly -- oops, wrong prequel

[Hursticon]

one could start with theft of the golden disc, that's floating around on youtube somewhere isnt it?

it's a prequel to Beast Wars. isnt there a botcon comic that's also a prequel (dawn of futures past)

Yes, indeed there is a Botcon Comic; Dawn of Futures Past, that deals with the Axalon and Nemesis crews before heading to Earth although I'm not sure if that and Theft of The Golden Disc correlate or not?
Can anyone clarify us on the relationship between Theft of The Golden Disc and Dawn of Futures Past please?

[STL]

Definitely start with the cartoon.

I was a big naysayer at the start but I've come to be quite fond of the series. Certainly not in the same breath as G1 but it rates very well story-wise and character development.

Don't want to spoil too much but it is a lot of fun.

And the comics are very fragmented. Confusing even if you watched the show. The good fortune for me was I'd bought a lot of the toys that did not appear in teh cartoon so appreciated seeing these mere toys being in a story for once. However, the comics are still very much an acquired taste.

Do you take good care of DVDs? Iceburn and STL both borrowed mine to watch the show.

I would hardly describe myself as "borrowing" them. A more appropriate term might've been "holding them hostage".

[liegeprime]

Start with the CGI cartoon as they've said, then all the other materials will fit/fall into place and go slow in viewing as you tend to appreciate it more rather than just barrel on watching a lot of episodes in one sitting. The third season is more appealing for me as that's when the G1 tie up became more apparent. I admit storytelling wise BW is best.

Ive never been fully a BW fan, but, after watching the series ( the DVD set is cheaper now too) I was able to appreciate the toys ( mainly the show characters) and decided to give em a better display in my collection as well as complete the figures that appeared in the show (as much as possible TM versions) - Im down to finding a cheap affordable priced X9 ravage ( in my dreams but hey it could happen, someday heheeheh) and a Primal Prime.

[Verno]

*Laughter from the shadows in the corner of the thread...*

Excellent, another one...

[liegeprime]

*Laughter from the shadows in the corner of the thread...*

Excellent, another one...

somehow Dr. Claw comes to mind

[Verno]

somehow Dr. Claw comes to mind

Really? Damn. I was going more for a Tarantulas vibe. Maybe if I'd addded a 'Tehehehe...'

[GoktimusPrime]

I got the Tarantulas vibe straight away. What a jolly villain he is (gotta admire a dude who enjoys his work so much). Tarantulas, Emperor Palpatine and Dr. Evil could get together for an evil chuckle-fest. Apparently Alec Willow really got into character when he voiced Tarantulas - so much so that it freaked out the other voice actors! Some G1 voice actors have said the same about Frank Welker too... heh.

I admit storytelling wise BW is best.

I still prefer the G1 Marvel comics (Furman FTW!), but Beast Wars would be my second favourite - and the best story written for a Transformers cartoon IMO.

Ive never been fully a BW fan, but, after watching the series ( the DVD set is cheaper now too) I was able to appreciate the toys ( mainly the show characters) and decided to give em a better display in my collection as well as complete the figures that appeared in the show (as much as possible TM versions) - Im down to finding a cheap affordable priced X9 ravage ( in my dreams but hey it could happen, someday heheeheh) and a Primal Prime.

Even though Primal Prime never appeared in the show... or Australian toy stores. Ravage is nice, but he is essentially a very extensive retool and repaint of Transmetal Cheetor. I'd be more interested in wholly new moulds...

There are lot of really good toys in Beast Wars, many of which never appeared in the cartoon. The Canadian series only ever had a limited cast because CGI animation is a lot more expensive than cel animation. The writers were clever in handling this by making Beast Wars a consequential war. But there have been lots of other neat toys that never got a screen appearance, and I must say that's one cool thing about watching the Japanese Beast Wars series (which are not as well written as the Canadian series, but being cel animated it meant that every toy could appear - even if some of them had different colours and were technically different characters from their Hasbro counterparts) -- also it's something else that made the Beast Wars comics appeal to me too. While the IDW BW comics did create continuity issues, it was cool in how it showcased a lot of toy-characters that never appeared in the show (e.g. Razorbeast, Grimlock, Snarl, Injector etc.) -- in fact, the continuity issues occurred when they did try to include show characters into the mix. Had they just left out any characters who'd appeared in a cartoon altogether, I think it would've worked a lot better. :/

Arcee: here's something to keep in mind while watching the cartoon...
+ The writers (Larry DiTillio & Bob Forward) knew nothing about Transformers when they were first hired to write Beast Wars. But they wanted to do the franchise justice, so they went online and consulted with fans -- getting feedback, tips, advice etc.
+ They also did their homework and researched G1 and G2 history, allowing them to link Beast Wars with G1/G2 continuity.
+ The writers realised that by 1997 the kids who'd grown up with G1 in the 1980s were now young adults. As a result the show is written at two levels - it's fun and entertaining for kids to watch, but there's also a storyline that engages adults... character-driven plots, consequential war, over-arcing continuity etc. - and of course, linkage with G1/G2 continuity that only the older fans would get.
+ There's also a lot of adult humour too - but delivered in a clever way that it flies over kids' heads but makes adults laugh.
+ Because Transfans had assisted the writers, there's also a lot of references to the fandom throughout the show too. See how many you can spot.