Beast Machines Season 1

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 9:03 pm

For the first time I've sat and watched all the episodes of BM's first season.

I have to say I'm surprised how much of a stir this series caused. Were there really death threats??? I assume it gets even more controversial in the second series.

I thought it was a mixed bag, but there was certainly plenty to like.

Nice animation (though the explosions never look good), dark atmosphere (genocide in a kids cartoon), sinister Megatron, good action scenes (if a little thinner on plot than Beast Wars).

The eyes - seemed to inspire those of the TFs in the new film perhaps?

Its the treatment of some of the characters that disappoints. Prime suddenly turning so spiritual, Cheetor as Rattrap's superior, Rhinox going evil (which I can only just buy if I assume his spark got corrupted).

Really gutted how Rattrap was turned into a bit of a Binks character for the first half of the season, though this got straightened out when he got his transformation ability back.

The writers seemed to have a good sense of what happened in BW (and even the G1 cartoon) but twisted it in odd directions.

And I was sad to see Waspinator brought back. I loved the way he went out in BW.

Vehicons make pretty bland bad guys.

Cybertron with an organic core must have seemed an original idea at the time, though I can see why it might have pissed people off.

Any other thoughts?

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 9:12 pm

It was a bit hippy at the time... remember most people were still struggling with the synth organic concept, so having them actually partially organic was further blasphemy.

Of course there was nothing that hadn't been touched on before (Binary Bonding?)

Nightscream was annoying... they screwed Rattrap's character and raped Rhinox.

People were looking for reasons to hate it... they were easy to find. Of course hindsight helps put things in perspective... a lot of folks didn't really know what was going on (it makes a lot more sense the second time round). The idea of Cybertron wanting to be organic was fuel to the fire... as I think was the notion of somebody who wasn't Forward/DiTillio using the BW characters (reset buttons and the inexpicable absence of half the cast contributed too).

I still think the end of season 1 / start of season 2 was bobbins.

spiderfrommars wrote:Cybertron with an organic core must have seemed an original idea at the time, though I can see why it might have pissed people off.

Of course it was the cartoon fans who went the most ballistic. They obviously never saw Dweller in the Depths.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 9:20 pm

Forgot to say there's some pretty trippy inventive visuals.

Its the character stuff thats most dissapointing. The organic stuff doesn't bother me.

Legion · Post by **Legion** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 12:56 pm

On the whole, i loved it and i'm not afraid to admit it.
Sure, Ratrap seemed to be a totally different character... but Primal had a mental breakdown and Rhinox went ballistic, all the major players had big character-changing stuff happen to them, i see that as par for the course to leading them to act differently (although, perhaps not quite _that_ differently).

The two biggest problems I have with BM is:
1) the line "When the first Transformers came to Cybertron". no.
2) the TOTAL reformatting of Cybertron to technoganic - as a concept, not too bad an idea, but honestly... Technoganic buildings?! Tower blocks that need watering? A step too far imho. If it was just the planet itself ok, i could buy that, but not all of the elements on it too...

But even these two issues don't stop me from rewatching and enjoying the series again and again - infact, it's quite possibly the TF series i've seen the most (possibly only because i've yet to get my hands on Beast Wars on DVD).

Post by **Kaylee** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 1:03 pm

I have a lot of respect for BM. It has very tight writing and acting imo. It also gets a huge amount of kudos from me because it tried to do something radically different with the franchise, which I always think is a good idea (TF is very repetitive as a TV show in both the US and Japan imo).

I also am sorry to say I just generally don't care for it. It's not helped by my loathing of CGI animation (or certainly early clunky animation). I've always preferred the visual effect of cell animation (even when produced on computer). Whilst I respect their direction with the technoorganic bobbins I also don't care for that either much; it was a step too far in ditching existing continuity for me (which normally I don't mind... except BW set itself up very much as in-continuity and BM is meant to be a direct sequel).

The characters and plot also became a tad melo-dramatic for my tastes, but it's all good

I'm glad they made it, and it's definitely not unworthy.

Legion · Post by **Legion** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 1:13 pm

Karl Lynch wrote:The characters and plot also became a tad melo-dramatic for my tastes, but it's all good I'm glad they made it, and it's definitely not unworthy.

I'm partial to a bit of melodrama every now and again.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 1:15 pm

Legion wrote:The two biggest problems I have with BM is:
1) the line "When the first Transformers came to Cybertron". no.

It betrays a complete lack of awareness from everybody involved. That Skir would go to great lengths to reference the cartoon mythology to the degree he did, then drop the ball on that... well, it's scandalous.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 1:55 pm

I thought that Blackarachnia and Cheetor came out of BM quite well. The others...well, seemed like different characters for the most part. It's great fun though, and has the best TF theme tune ever.

Post by **Best First** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 2:04 pm

er, despite getting them all on dodgy disc some time ago i have only watched the openng couple of eps.

i found the 'new' incarnation of rattrap quite difficult to watch aftre the journey he had gone through in BW and didn't really persevere with it.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 7:05 pm

Metal Vendetta wrote:I thought that Blackarachnia and Cheetor came out of BM quite well. The others...well, seemed like different characters for the most part. It's great fun though, and has the best TF theme tune ever.

Yeah the theme tune, obviously, is ace!

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 3:49 am

My opinion is closest to Karl's, I think.

On the surface, "Coming from Beast Wars, we return to Cybertron to find an 'Empire Strikes Back' vibe going on, with Megatron in control of everything, Rhinox bad, etc. etc.............and we end with Cybertron a happy marriage of metal and organics," is an idea I have no problem with. It's a GOOD idea that's not safe and was pushing the BW storyline further. But the execution on a show to show basis was not something I found entertaining. The difference is that I didn't care for the scripting and acting, but found the visuals to be pretty cool.

Oh yeah, and Truck not Munky.

man-with-the-dogs · Post by **man-with-the-dogs** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 3:11 am

Metal Vendetta wrote:...and has the best TF theme tune ever.

I sincerely hope you're joking.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 11:19 am

man-with-the-dogs wrote:
Metal Vendetta wrote:...and has the best TF theme tune ever.
I sincerely hope you're joking.

Buh? Phat Planet's a killer tune, and works so well with BM it's not even funny. I can't think of another TF theme that I can also drop into a DJ set...except maybe the Lion movie theme, if everyone on the dancefloor is A) male and B) pissed out of their head.

Seriously though, Leftfield is the business. Best TF theme tune ever.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 2:01 pm

Metal Vendetta wrote:
man-with-the-dogs wrote:
Metal Vendetta wrote:...and has the best TF theme tune ever.
I sincerely hope you're joking.
Buh? Phat Planet's a killer tune, and works so well with BM it's not even funny. I can't think of another TF theme that I can also drop into a DJ set...except maybe the Lion movie theme, if everyone on the dancefloor is A) male and B) pissed out of their head.

Seriously though, Leftfield is the business. Best TF theme tune ever.

Leftfield are/were awesome.

From Guiness to Transformers to Dancefloors Everywhere, Phat Planet is teh bomb.

TransFans.co.uk

Beast Machines Season 1

Re: Beast Machines Season 1