STL's Journey into BWs

[Paulbot]

The Vok as descendants of the Swarm? That's a long bow... and you've got to be trying really hard there to even draw a link.

See here for some details on the Vok/Swarm connection

I think it's fair to take some of these "writers intentions" with as much validity as fanfic retcons. Stuff that's added later to a series can be good and bad. The actual series doesn't not explain who the Vok are.

[GoktimusPrime]

The Vok as descendants of the Swarm? That's a long bow... and you've got to be trying really hard there to even draw a link.

Why?

At the end of G2 we saw the Swarm "cleansed" and "reborn" after Optimus Prime purified it by allowing the Swarm to consume him with the Matrix inside him - thus unleashing the purifying effect of the Matrix which transformed the Swarm into a new force... that force eventually calling itself the Vok. And they even resurrected Optimus Prime after having destroyed him, awfully decent!

"Oww!"

I just can't even get over why in Season 1 they seem preoccupied with preserving the environment and blah and then now progress to being the gate keepers of all time and space?

The Vok are attempting to make up for the sins that they committed as the Swarm - and the Swarm itself being a product of the collective sins of the Transformers race. As a result they've appointed themselves as keepers of time and space, whereas previously they were destroyers. As for Earth, they were conducting experiments on Earth and thus they wanted to keep their experiment uncontaminated by outside factors. As to what the exact nature and purpose of the experiment was, it's never been revealed (probably intended too but didn't get the opportunity).

And it might have been a rush job but that single episode is below the crappiness of some of the 1st season's worst which I did not think could be replicated. Hell, I just could not believe how two year old the whole plot device was. It took very little imagination and the whole episode then brings in the whole convenant, mystical angle that I honestly for the life of me could not even accept if it wasn't rushed. It's just a WTH and there are a hundred better ways they could have introduced the character of Tigerhawk.

And you know that the writers had intended to introduce Tigerhawk in a better way... but again, constrained from orders from Hasbro.

I keep hearing the "you've got to understand" line when it comes to the end of Season 3 but no excuse could be made for such lame writing.

So what would you have done if you were in DiTillio and Forward's position? Imagine that you've already written up to "Go With The Flow" and production for Season 3 episodes up to that point are already underway, so you can't go back and change any of it. Now you've been told that you must conclude the Beast Wars story within the next 5 episodes and you also have to:
+ Replace Blackarachnia with Transmetal 2 Blackarachnia
+ Remove Depth Charge
+ Introduce Tigerhawk
+ Replace Transmetal Megatron with Transmetal 2 Megatron
...under those conditions how would you have written the ending of Season 3?

This if course is all easier to do with the luxury of 9 years' worth of hindsight too.

I'm not saying that the ending of Season 3 is good and I'm not asking you to like it. But I am asking you to understand and appreciate why it's like that. For example, I really hate The Rebirth. It's complete and utter crapulence to the extreme. Give me any other version of the Headmasters/Targetmasters story over that Primus-forsaken atrocity of a story to me any time.

But at the same time, I do understand and appreciate that the story was intended to be better than it was by David Wise, but that due to factors beyond his control (i.e.: orders from Hasbro and Sunbow) it had to be modified. Bastardised? Sure... but I don't blame Wise for it. Dave Wise gave us some of the best stories in the G1 cartoon such as "The Key to Vector Sigma" and "War Dawn." He was one of the writers on the G1 cartoon, along with Earl Kreiss and Flint Dille who wanted to write Transformers as science fiction. Kreiss and Wise were, like Furman, DiTillio and Forward, "world builders." Tolkien is a good example of a 'world builder.'

I think it's fair to take some of these "writers intentions" with as much validity as fanfic retcons. Stuff that's added later to a series can be good and bad. The actual series doesn't not explain who the Vok are.

The Swarm-Vok connection has been officially retconned by Primeval Dawn.

From that wiki link:
"Now established as the enlightened descendants of (the) Swarm, the Vok's goal in guiding Earth's development was to atone for their shameful and destructive past."

[kup]

Didn't DiTillio and Forward say in the DVD extras Interview that they had intended to connect the Vok with the G2 Swarm but they were never able to do so thanks to Hasbro wanting to end the series all of a sudden?

My biggest grievance with the end of Beast Wars is that it was never allowed to continue as it was intended. So many awesome concepts that were introduced but sadly never had the opportunity to be developed thanks to Hasbro wanting to 'reinvent' Transformers so unexpectedly and without good reason.

Yeah, you will hear me say that the lowest point for me in Beast Wars was the final episodes of the third season but I agree with Gok, I can't blame the writers for it since they were forced to conclude the series pretty much in the last minute after having planned to continue for a whole extra season.

They pretty much made the best of what they could under very difficult circumstances.

That is why I am more critical of bad Animated episodes and Beast Machines than the BW Season 3 ending. With BM and Animated it was a conscious artistic choice from the producers to take (are taking) the series in their respective directions while in Beast Wars, they were forced to conclude the series and add a whole bunch of stuff in just 4 episodes after counting on a whole extra season to tell the story.

To be honest, DiTillion and Forward did amazingly well considering the circumstances, I don't think that I would have been able to do the same particularly when there must have been a lot of frustration and anger about the sudden Hasbro decision but despite that, they attempted to conclude the series on a high note instead of the too easy 'To hell with this'.

[Paulbot]

The Swarm-Vok connection has been officially retconned by Primeval Dawn.
[/i]

Despite who the Authors are, those and the Botcon stories seem more like fanfic to me, but eitherway people like STL and Soundwarp and whomever should be able to watch the show and understand what's going on. The other stories should expand or enhance the viewing expeirence. Making the Vok the evolution of an ill-defined entity from a couple of low-selling comics doesn't do that for me. I'm more than happy for the Vok to be Beast Wars' own ill-defined entity.

[GoktimusPrime]

Despite who the Authors are, those and the Botcon stories seem more like fanfic to me,

Afaik Primeval Dawn was published under license from Hasbro Inc., which makes it official canon.

but eitherway people like STL and Soundwarp and whomever should be able to watch the show and understand what's going on. The other stories should expand or enhance the viewing expeirence. Making the Vok the evolution of an ill-defined entity from a couple of low-selling comics doesn't do that for me. I'm more than happy for the Vok to be Beast Wars' own ill-defined entity.

Well officially the Vok has been retconned as being an evolution of the Swarm but it's not utterly essential for viewers to know this. Such is the nature of expanded universe material I suppose, but I personally prefer to delve into that kind of stuff. I'll never look at the ending of the Transformers movie with Starscream flying off into orbit the same way ever again after reading "The Reign of Starscream."