Transformers Beast Machines - The Complete Series

Beast Machines: Not as Great as Beast Wars, but still Extremely Entertaining

Now I know that fans usual don't care for Beast Machines and I respect them for their own opinion but to me...this series is great! Yes, it isn't quite as great as Beast Wars but it is close.

The storylines and characters are memorable and the action is great as usual...especially when it comes totechno-organic beings slugging it out with one another.

Episode One- The Reformatting
Episode Two- Master of the House
Episode Three- Fires of the Past
Episode Four- Mercenary Pursuits
Episode Five- Forbidden Fruit
Episode Six- The Weak Component
Episode Seven- Revelations Part One: Discovery
Episode Eight- Revelations Part Two: Descent
Episode Nine- Revelations Part Three: Apocalypse
Episode Ten- Survivor
Episode Eleven- Techno-Organic War, Part One: The Key
Episode Twelve- Techno-Organic War, Part Two: The Catalyst
Episode Thirteen- Techno-Organic War, Part Three: End of the Line

Episode Fourteen- Fallout
Episode Fifteen- Savage Noble
Episode Sixteen- Prometheus Unbound
Episode Seventeen- In Darkest Knight
Epsidoe Eightteen- A Wolf in the Fold
Episode Nineteen- Home Soil
Epsidoe Twenty- SparkWar, Part One: The Strike
Episode Twenty One- SparkWar, Part Two: The Search
Episode Twenty Two- SparkWar, Part Three: The Siege
Episode Twenty Three- Spark of Darkness
Episode Twenty Four- EndGame, Part One: The Downward Spiral
Episode Twenty Five- EndGame, Part Two: When Legends Fall
Episode Twenty six- EndGame, Part Three: Seeds of the Future

Buy the Final set and make your collection complete!!! August 16, 2008

Not Exactly Beast Wars, But...

It's inevitable that Beast Machines will have comparisons to its predecessor, Beast Wars. This show followed BW and featured the exact same characters, but both shows were very, very different. Upon first viewing of the show, I, like most Beast Wars fans, felt quite alienated due to the major differences.

However, it's been a while since I've seen either Beast Wars or Beast Machines. Since I stopped watching BM after the first few episodes, I decided to go to local video store and give it another chance. Many aspects of Beast Wars had escaped me, so I watched the series with a fresh point of view.

I can say that I actually enjoyed Beast Machines more a second time around. It is a very unique series in the Transformers franchise, with the protagonists starting out as the underdogs against the world rather than fighting an equally matched opposing force. The ideas of transforming were quite different, not to mention the look, the music, and the themes of the show.

After I watched Beast Machines for a second time, I decided to watch Beast Wars again and compare the two. The main thing that bugged me and many other Beast Wars fans were the complete 180 change in the majority of the characters. Optimus Primal was changed from courageous leader to a Zen-like hippie, willing to do whatever it took to save Cybertron, even at the expense of alienating his once-loved Maximals. Bad-Girl Blackarachnia was suddenly transformed into a constantly pining annoyance, Rattrap turned from a mighty warrior into a technicians expert, Rhinox became a traitor, and worst of all, the once chivalrous Silverbolt changed into a completely unbelievable clone of the self-hating Maximal loners Dinobot and Depth Charge, and as a result he lost much of his previous charisma. While some may say that I am simply whining about the characters, what made Beast Wars so enjoyable was watching the characters grow and interact. To see these characters butchered really alienated the original audience.

However, despite this, there were many highlights within Beast Machines. The animation was slick and beautiful, which made the action scenes fun to watch. The techno-driven soundtrack was really an interesting counterpunch to the guitar-based one back in Beast Wars.

And there WERE interesting character arcs within Beast Machines. Cheetor's journey from "the kid" to second in command was arguably the next step from his original arc from Beast Wars. The lovingly hostile Jetstorm and the silent loner Thrust were arguably the breakout characters for the show, while the Botannica and Savage/Noble provided unique kinds of Transformers previously unseen in the franchise.

Overall, the series was not that bad. It will always draw criticism from fans of Beast Wars, but it should be watched with the mindset that it is its own series. With that point of view, you have a very enjoyable 26 episodes of good tv. August 2, 2008

Awesome for the few

I'm one of the few that really loved this short series.
I totally understand why most didn't like it and preferred the more monotonous (repetitious) BEAST WARS over enlightened BEAST MACHINES.

BEAST MACHINES was one of first great advances in TV CGI. It also tried not to rehash every plot we've seen a million times already. Sure, it had its filler episodes, but over all the intelligence of it's story arch had more depth than 20 other TV kid shows put together.

The spiritual tone offended or missed some, but these are universal memes (ideas, thoughts, and events) that are embedded in all religions and societies throughout history. Light/ Dark; hot/ cold; good/ bad. But really they're just yen an yang.

For me, I love the CG and the well thought out premise of this overlooked refresh of Transformers. May 22, 2008

Great series

This was a great series with a dumb ending. If you have little kids they will like it. Adults who grew up with the original transformers will like it until the last episode. May 11, 2008

It isn't Beast Wars, get over it

Beast Wars was enough of a departure from the Transformers mythology, but the show proved to be something special indeed. Beast Machines picks up where Beast Wars left off, and things take even more of a turn with this series. Beast Machines picks up with Maximals Optimus Primal, Cheetor, Rattrap, and Black Arachnia on Cybertron and trapped in their original beast forms. Silverbolt and Rhinox are missing, and none of them have any memory of what happened. Things are complicated even more so by the fact that they are being hunted by the drone-like Vehicons, who are controlled by Megatron. As the series develops throughout it's two seasons (both of which are collected here) the Maximals slowly learn the truth behind their comrade's disappearances and what Megatron is planning, while gaining new attack modes, finding new allies, and learning the truth behind Cybertron's history as the barrier between the organic and the mechanical begins to break. Unlike on Beast Wars, the Maximals don't transform, instead they "morph" into their robot modes. This alone is one of the reasons that Beast Machines never attained the greatness that Beast Wars achieved, along with the convoluted, and a bit confusing, storyline, and the whole "organic VS mechanical" storyline just really didn't fit here. Not to mention that the new robot forms of many of the Maximals (Rattrap comes to mind) just come off as lame. Still, there's plenty of great twists and turns, spectacularly animated battle sequences, and a downbeat, shocker of an ending to the series that may come as a surprise to longtime viewers of the Beast Wars/Machines saga. All in all, while Beast Machines never reached what Beast Wars managed to achieve, it's still a more than worthy addition to the Transformers mythos, and needless to say, if you loved Beast Wars, you should give Beast Machines a chance just to see how it all comes to an end. December 23, 2007

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