(APR-2013) Beast Wars Era Cartoon - Comments and reviews

[griffin]

Beast Wars was a fairly Significant Era of Transformers, in both Japan and Hasbro markets.

(Western) Beast Wars (1996-1999) (NOTE - in Japan, Season 1 aired in 1997, while the other 2 Seasons aired in 1999 as Beast Wars Metals, after Neo)
JP Beast Wars Second (1998)
JP Beast Wars Neo (1999)


Did you watch any of the Beast Wars cartoons?
If so, what did you think of them?

Any Episodes worth reviewing?

Are any of the cartoon series recommended viewing for others?

[KalEl]

Did you watch any of the Beast Wars cartoons?
If so, what did you think of them?
Brilliant series, well written, well animated for the time, great voice work and brilliant Character development. Best TF series in my opinion.

Any Episodes worth reviewing?
Go watch Code of Hero! love it

Are any of the cartoon series recommended viewing for others?
Highly, Highly recommended!

[GoktimusPrime]

Did you watch any of the Beast Wars cartoons?
If so, what did you think of them?
Best Transformers screen story ever.
The great thing about Beast Wars when it was being developed in 1996 is that Mainframe staff realised that the children of the 80s who grew up with G1 now young adults. And as such, they intentionally wanted to connect with that audience in several key ways:
+ introducing a more epic feel to the overall story
+ introducing some more serious tones and elements to the story (as well as cleverly veiled adult humour - presented in a way that adults would get but young children wouldn't )
+ maintaining character development to drive the story
+ linking the story with G1/G2 - not an easy task considering that the writers knew next to nothing about Transformers when they started.
But full kudos to them for wanting to actually keep Beast Wars in continuity with the G1 continuity family. Who does that these days? Not the Unicron Trilogy, not Michael Bay, not Animated, not Prime. They all took the "lazy" way out and made up their own new continuities... but the cool thing about Beast Wars from G1 fans POV was that this was our Transformers. Beast Wars not only continued from G1/G2, but it actually enhanced G1! Much more so than ReGeneration One IMO!

DiTillio and Forward were incredibly dedicated writers. They spent a lot of their personal time doing homework/research in G1/G2... select portions from the cartoon, comics and even reading some tech spec bios. They also went online and interacted with the fandom seeking feedback and advice. They would litter the show with fan and fandom references!

Any Episodes worth reviewing?
IMO they're all worth watching... maybe except The Low Road which is my least favourite episode, but a lot of other fans love it, so maybe it's just me.
Code of Hero and Transmutate are just damn fantastic stories - some of the best ever written for Transformers.

Are any of the cartoon series recommended viewing for others?
All of it!

Now... that just applies to the Canadian Mainframe CGI series.
Beast Wars II and Beast Wars Neo unfortunately took a very different turn.

Beast Wars II
First of, the animation is very underwhelming. The story itself is aimed at a very young audience with very formulaic and uninteresting stories. The jokes are also just lame, like Scylla's unrequited love for Scuba... and others are just borderline offensive, like the Jointron Bros. who are super cheesy Mexican stereotypes, and Starscream who plays on a sort of queer-camp stereotype. The only part of it worth watching IMO is the movie (Lio Convoy in Crisis) -- that's actually well animated and it does link BWII continuity with the Canadian series (and fills in a minor plot detail in one of their Season 1 eps). The story is alright, but not great. The music in BWII is really nice though - I'm quite a fan of Cyber Nation Network.

Beast Wars Neo
This series tries to up the standards from BWII, but still pales in comparison to the Canadian series. The animation is substantially better, and there are some more interesting core plot elements... but again, the episodes are incredibly formulaic and rather mundane. Predacons create trouble, Maximals try to counter but don't really know how so they mess up at first, but ultimately work it out in the end. Big Convoy gets contacted by Vector Sigma at the end who delivers the episode's life lesson for him. Yyyaaaaaawwwnn. The only part worth watching are the final eps - basically when the Unicron/Blentron story arc kicks in and the proverbial hits the fan. That part of the story is pret-ty damn cool I must admit! But it's not worth watching the rest of the series to get up to that point. I'd recommend just reading episode synopsis say on TFwiki, then just skip straight to the Blentron arc and go from there. My favourite character in the story isn't even any of the Transformers, but the Predacon's deranged computer D-Navi.

Beast Wars (JP)/Beast Wars Metals
The Japanese dubbed adaptation of the Canadian series boasts an impressive all-star seiyuu (anime voice actor) cast, including Koyasu Takehito (Weiss Kreuz etc.), Miki Shin'ichiro (for those who attended last year's Smash! in Sydney, you would've seen that he was hands down the most popular guest at the convention! ), Yamaguchi Kappei (male Ranma, Inuyasha etc.), Iwanaga Tetsuya (Ken from Street Fighter etc.) etc. The dubbing for Season 1 was okay - there was a lot of adlibbing... but the dubbing in Beast Wars Metals reportedly took a nosedive with the story and nature of dubbing being highly "dumbed down" for kids. This naturally frustrated a lot of adult TF fans in Japan (afaik the Canadian BW series was never released in subtitle form - making it inaccessible for non-English speaking fans).

[i_amtrunks]

Did you watch any of the Beast Wars cartoons?
If so, what did you think of them?
When it originally aired I saw episodes here and there on tv, usually the last few minutes. My first reaction was it looked cool, but I never got into it due to never really connecting to it. I did see most of Season 1 years later on replay and it was an impressive series. When it came out on DVD I sat down watched the whole series back to back and from then on it has been my favourite transformers series by far.

Any Episodes worth reviewing?
There are a good dozen episodes that are above and beyond viewing, but watching these episodes alone or in collection does not do the series justice as it does not allow the full enjoyment of jokes, references, or development.
If you must watch an episode from each season (or hopefully a few more) the final two-three episodes from each season are great to watch. Anything that is a part 1 or 2 is often useful for moving the story along. Code of Hero is probably the most well known episode, The Aftermath, Transmutate, Gorilla Warfare, Chain of Command, Bad Spark and Deep Metal are the best of the stand alone episodes.

Are any of the cartoon series recommended viewing for others?

While the visuals can be jarring for some nearly 20 years on, this is a series you need to borrow/hire/buy and watch from episode 1 to episode 52.

You can skip the Japanese version, they have awesome toys, but bad shows, I dont think it is just the fansubs I have seen that make them feel that way, they are just nowhere near as well constructed or written as Beast Wars. The original is the best.

[Bidoofdude]

Did you watch any of the BW cartoon?
If so, what did you think of them?
I recently started watching BW and after watching quite a few episodes, I have to say that it is very impressive in terms of story.

Though I sometimes found it hard to sit through a couple, they are very impressive, especially considering that they used new technology for that time, which when looked upon by the people of today may not seem very impressive, it still was a marvel for what it was. It's up there with Prime, G1 and Cybertron.

Any episodes worth reviewing?
As the others have said, episodes work well with each other, rather than on their own.
However, I do fondly like the one with Starscream, as it sort of ties in some stuff about when and how.

Are any of the cartoon series recommended viewing for others?
Yes, by far Beast Wars is one of the best TF cartoon series IMO and it definitely is staying up there.
Watching them all, rather than individually also helps you to perceive development and story/plot easier.

The first, in my opinion at least is the most impressive, by far.

[GoktimusPrime]

Though I sometimes found it hard to sit through a couple, they are very impressive, especially considering that they used new technology for that time, which when looked upon by the people of today may not seem very impressive, it still was a marvel for what it was.

Indeed. Mainframe found that the off the shelf software at the time wasn't enough for them to do what they wanted, so they ended up writing their own software to animate with! So they were indeed really pushing the envelope and pioneering with computer animation at the time. Beast Wars even won an Emmy Award for best visual effects in an animated television series.

Any episodes worth reviewing?
As the others have said, episodes work well with each other, rather than on their own.

Watching them all, rather than individually also helps you to perceive development and story/plot easier.

That's easy for you to say! Those of us who watched Beast Wars when it first aired had to wait a week between each episode and at least a year between seasons! XO Most folks only had dial up modems back in those days, so simply downloading new eps wasn't really an option. I personally had eps recorded off US TV sent to me on VHS... but of course, copied NTSC video quality is horrible. X(== Not to mention all the annoying US ads I'd get (like for The Nanny... guh...)

However, I do fondly like the one with Starscream, as it sort of ties in some stuff about when and how.

It harkens back to the G1 episode "Ghost in the Machine" when Starscream's ghost possessed Scourge. Beast Wars has gone on to explain why his ghost is able to possess other Transformers instead of rejoining the Matrix... and of course, this all ties into the Protoform X backstory later on too.

[Autocon]

I SPEAK OF THEE 3 SEASON COMMON OR NON JAPAN SERIES

Did you watch any of the Beast Wars cartoons?

Have all 3 seasons on dvd box set

If so, what did you think of them?

Back in the day of primary school I loved them. Turn the TV up and watch it every chance I had. Great story arcs, great characters, great humour.

Any Episodes worth reviewing?
All of them. A couple seem like fillers and add nothing to anything but most are great.

Are any of the cartoon series recommended viewing for others?
Yes. All three series. Keep in mind it is an old series so graphically it could be better with todays technology.

[BigTransformerTrev]

(Western) Beast Wars (1996-1999) (NOTE - in Japan, Season 1 aired in 1997, while the other 2 Seasons aired in 1999 as Beast Wars Metals, after Neo)
JP Beast Wars Second (1998)
JP Beast Wars Neo (1999)


Did you watch any of the Beast Wars cartoons?
If so, what did you think of them?

-The two Japan series I have downloaded and have watched a couple of episodes of each, but found it rather difficult to follow and gave up after a while.

-I have the box sets of Beast Wars at home. I have watched them all and quite enjoyed them, though I have only really seen each episode once but I can give my impressions as best I can:

When BW first came out I recoilled in horror! I was still in mourning for G1 and one day I changed channels and suddenly there was a furry little rat calling a hairy monkey Optimus ! The screams of anger and rage were heard far and wide! As far as I knew at the time this was the reimagining of Transformers and they had made Optimus Prime a gorilla instead of a truck! Many of my friends enjoyed getting a few drinks into me (ah, Uni days ) and then listening to me go off on a half hour rant about how they had destroyed all I held dear and disgraced the legacy of Transformers!

Later on, I realised that this wasn't Optimus Prime but instead Optimus Primal, a different character. This was still not enough to win me over and I held a grudge against BW for quite a while - I wanted vast armies of tanks, jets, sports cars and the like, not gangs of furry and scaly little bots fighting in the forrest.

Later still, I found out about the connection to G1 and I begain to warm to the subject. Went out and bought myself a Depth Charge figure. It wasn't until the box sets came out near 10 years ago and I watched the entire series I began to really enjoy it and realised where it fitted in regards to the G1 continuity. And when Ravage (arguably physically one of the weakest G1 Decepticons) turned up and basically beat the hell out of everyone and captured the Predacon leader I was hooked! The more they referrenced G1, the more I liked it, and when they started cashing in their furry bods for Transmetal bodies I finally accepted it all as a great cartoon in it's own right and worthy of my viewing and respect.



Any Episodes worth reviewing?

-Quite a few, though due to my single viewing of most episodes, I'll leave it to those with a greater understanding than me. The one non-G1-referrencing episode I remember quite liking was the one where Rattrap used Depth Charge as a raft to go down a river to try and escape a Predacon death ray.



Are any of the cartoon series recommended viewing for others?

-Definetly watch the western one - you will enjoy it greatly

-If you understand Japanese give the other two a go, you will probably get further than I did

[Gouki]

Did you watch any of the Beast Wars cartoons?
If so, what did you think of them?

Most of Beast Wars I missed during the first run, because walking from school made me just a little late, unless I was going to a mates place. I will never forget, though, going to a friends place and seeing Unicrons head floating above a captured Primal towards the end of the first season. My mind was blown so much it recreated itself and was blown again.

Any Episodes worth reviewing?

I'm 26. I still cry when I watch Code of a Hero.

I saw Code of a Hero for the first time when I was 19.

Are any of the cartoon series recommended viewing for others?

Oh yes. Definitely. If you have an interest in Transformers, or even just cartoons watch it. It needs to be done.

[Shirokaze]

Did you watch any of the Beast Wars cartoons?
If so, what did you think of them?
I've only watched the western Beast Wars. It made my childhood fantastic!

Any Episodes worth reviewing?
As the others have said, Code of a Hero.

I also always enjoyed Possession and the first 2 eps of Season 2.

Are any of the cartoon series recommended viewing for others?
Definitely! I'm in the process of trying to get my wife to watch them now!