Just watched Beast Wars - should I watch Beast Machines?

[kup]

My feelings towards Beasts Machines are mixed.

The DVD version I have talks with it about it being a 26 episode half-hour religious version movie for television. That's all fine and good, but there was so much filler.

And so much Creator wants to shoehorn a message where it shouldnt need to go...

Yeah the pseudo religious and social political indentations in the plot can get tiring, specially so when they are one of the main factors that take the 'Transformers' feel out of the show and turns it into something else.

[Trent]

Just watched the first episode.


So far I'm unimpressed. But I'll give it a chance.

[Trent]

Soooooo… it took a while, but I managed to get through it. While it wasn't as bad as some people would have you believe, it was a far cry from great. I can see why a lot of people wouldn't have liked it. It was so dramatically different in concept and execution, to anything that had came before, that if you didn't know what to expect, it would be hard to swallow.

I'm busy cooking pancakes right now so don't really have time to type up all my thoughts, but I can see why it failed as a series. Their were some pretty heavy themes going on, not the sort of stuff that would keep a 7-8 year old amused. Overall though Jetstorm was my favourite. And Primal annoyed me a bit.

But as far as the ending goes, I don't see how people think it dead ended G1. It just changed the way it would go forward. It fact reading up on Transtech, it looked like it had quite a bit of potential. At least the character designs are pretty awesome.

But yeah. Glad I watched it, even if it wasn't all that great.

[GoktimusPrime]

But as far as the ending goes, I don't see how people think it dead ended G1. It just changed the way it would go forward.

If they wanted to continue from Beast Machines, a writer would need to either:

(a) Pick up the ball and run with it. Cybertron and all the Transformers are still technorganic.

(b) Undo what Beast Machines did. Some plot device comes along an untechnorganifies everything and everyone, making everything mechanical again and the story can progress from there. Problem with this is that it makes the entire story of Beast Machines kinda pointless. The Maximals' struggles and Optimus Primal's sacrifice becomes ultimately meaningless.

(c) Do a "divergent reboot" and just ignore the events of Beast Machines, continuing from where Beast Wars ended. Simon Furman's doing the same thing with ReGeneration One where he's ignored the events of Earth-120185 and Generation 2, and purely continuing from the events of Earth-91274.

So option A is the only one where you can continue from the end of BM without undoing or ignoring anything that BM established. In other words, you more or less have to create more Beast Machines, i.e. "go back the way you just came." That's what people mean when they say "dead ending" continuity.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

I still vote for (d) Rattrap/Blackarachnia/Silverbolt/pretty much anyone from BW left alive at the end of BM (Waspinator is my preference) wakes up from their terrible dream en route to Cybertron (or back on Earth after a particularly heavy sugar-binge)...and BW+ promptly picks up with the Maximals nearing home in their borrowed shuttle.

Between:
-most of the Maximals - and Megatron - now being some of the most powerful beings on the planet thanks to their various levels of reformatting...
-the Maximal Elders (at least initially) attempting to keep the existence and/or circumstances of the returned Maximals/Maximals' return secret (i.e. hush up the entire thing - bear in mind that part of their initial mission was to quietly dump Protoform X somewhere), and possible/probable assassination attempts from the Tripredacus Council/other Predacon factions...
-the Transmetal-ised returnees arguably representing a 'new step of evolution' for the Cybertronian race, which certain Maximal Elders *cough*IDW-style-Prowl*cough* may want to take advantage of/try to replicate...
-Megatron's inevitable escape from captivity and eventually taking over/becoming the hidden power behind the Predacon Alliance - after a suitably epic battle against Tripredacus and any other interested parties of course (also not forgetting that Cryotek and whatever's left of his organisation are still out there somewhere)...
-possible appearances from the Vok, who are aware of Cybertron and may not be happy with things like the Maximals attempting to replicate/mass produce technology based in part on their influence - especially considering that the Transmetal Driver was never destroyed in the series IIRC...
...there's a lot of potential for a good story with enough plot/character development and political maneuvering to be interesting.

Pity it'll never happen.

[griffin]

I lost interest/support for Beast Machines the moment Rhinox was corrupted and killed, after being the backbone of Beast Wars. Primal may have been the leader, but it was always Rhinox taking charge, finding the solutions, or being the vital support needed to defeat the Predacons.... I felt that it was disrespectful for the writers of Beast Machines to treat the real hero of Beast Wars that way.

[GoktimusPrime]

Trent: I'm curious to know if, after watching the show, you now feel compelled to go buy the toys? Cos as we all know, at the end of the day the core purpose of a Transformers story is to sell toys.

I still vote for (d) Rattrap/Blackarachnia/Silverbolt/pretty much anyone from BW left alive at the end of BM (Waspinator is my preference) wakes up from their terrible dream en route to Cybertron (or back on Earth after a particularly heavy sugar-binge)...and BW+ promptly picks up with the Maximals nearing home in their borrowed shuttle.

That's pretty much Option B -- hitting the "Undo" button.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

I prefer to think of it as Option BC+ - "It never happened, you can't prove anything, *puts fingers in ears* I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

As Hursty said back on the first page, BM is actually a pretty decent little series in it's own right, it's just that it's not a good sequel to Beast Wars. Which is kind of a pity, 'cos between the various different factions vying for power on Cybertron, the secrecy of the BW Maximal crew's mission and experiences, the tensions between the Predacons and Maximals on Cybertron, and the impact of suddenly having this small team of mostly-incredibly-powerful-by-current-Cybertronian-standards (let's face it, chances are that Optimal Optimus and TM2 Megs would be some of if not the most powerful Transformers on Cybertron at that point) and battle-hardened veterans of the Beast Wars suddenly showing up on Cybertron there's the potential for some really good story-telling there.

[Hursticon]

Which is kind of a pity, 'cos between the various different factions vying for power on Cybertron, the secrecy of the BW Maximal crew's mission and experiences, the tensions between the Predacons and Maximals on Cybertron, and the impact of suddenly having this small team of mostly-incredibly-powerful-by-current-Cybertronian-standards (let's face it, chances are that Optimal Optimus and TM2 Megs would be some of if not the most powerful Transformers on Cybertron at that point) and battle-hardened veterans of the Beast Wars suddenly showing up on Cybertron there's the potential for some really good story-telling there.

^THIS^

I'd of loved to of seen this avenue explored.
(Hence why I love what Verno has done with his Vernoverse & TransWarp FanFic series )


I'm glad you finally got all the way through the Beast Machines series Trent, it definitely is a different 'Beast' huh? - It certainly has its place in the TF Universe, WAAAAYYY at the back of the shelf.

[Verno]

I'm in complete agreeance with you lads -- There was so much potential for a terrific post-BW story that was just ignored.

It's a shame Furman tied the end of the Ascending BW comic into the start of BM. It would have been a great opportunity to break off into a new direction.