Blackarachnia's exact words in the Predacon Rhinox episode were "three centuries ago."

 

BW is the best TF show ever made. Maybe not the best nostalgic, but definitely the best and most consistent written with the best characters and character developments. But that doesn't mean it isn't flawed.

The over the top humor was definitely an issue and something that annoys me still. The fart episode was aweful and I also thoroughly disliked the Rhinox mystic jurney episode where they became blind. Likewise, being taken over by organic urges (the animal instinct) because they had copied DNA I found very questionably.

Also, in the first half of season 1 they clearly hadn't decided on a course of the series, introducing some elements (like the standing stone shaped like a keyhole grave monument) that didn't fit well with they did later and were often (and wisely) ignored.

Yes, the very first episode had Primal state that the Maximals and Predacond had lived in peace for centuries, later said to be 300 years.

Nope. Just 300 years since the end of the war. Not how or when the war ended. (And also, not after the cartoon or after the Marvel comics -- BW is a sequel to bo a mixed universe of Sunbow/Marvel)

And considering what has to transpire since the end of cartoon/Marvel -- peace, the rise of two new factions that grow large enough to re-populate the planet and be the dominant species on the planet -- it seems very unlikely that not a lot of time passed between where we left the story in G1 and the end of the war. (Although Marvel G2 with Autobots and Decepticons working together and previously the creation of the micromaster for energon conservation plus Pretender technology that is the first step of organic altmodes), seems a bit closer.)

As an archaeologists and thus working in a field of expertise related to evolution (because that’s what you're discrediting), I find your casual and unfounded dismissal insulting. It shows a complete lack of understanding of all the processes and scientific research that takes place before conclusions are drawn. Worse, it shows a lack of understanding coloured by incorrect preconceptions.

It reminds me of an excavation I once lead where I could, based on the stratigraphy of the layers of soil, similar finds elsewhere plus decades (to centuries) of research that had been done before by others, place each of the layers and the archaeological remains we found in those layers in consequential archaeological periods, with the oldest dating back more than 5000 years. Conclusions that during the excavation were confirmed by carbon dating, a proven and reliable method of dating. And then some interested layman comes by and says I’m wrong, because it’s all just interpretation and not facts and radiocarbon dating isn’t reliable.

You must understand that soil is built up in layers. Layers that are formed under both local and global influences. Layers that can be dated using a large variety of methods of which Radiocarbon is the most common known. And those dating methods have been checked and double-checked, by using multiple dating methods against each other and by dating objects with a known age. Plus organic remains like fossils can be and are dated themselves. This means that there is indisputable evidence (absolute facts) that there is an age difference between different fossils. And thereby also that there’s a definite development (evolution) within species. Although not as simple or straightforward as once thought, the slow development of early hominids (Homo Erectus) to the current species (Homo Sapiens Sapiens) is a fact. Not an opinion, not an interpretation, but a fact. Evolution has been proven without any doubt (and even witnessed in current times) -- unless you want to claim an omnipotent being placed everything in the soil in a certain order (low to high) with different elements that would all result in consequential dating by an ever increasing vast array of different dating methods).

But that doesn’t mean the picture is complete and neither is our interpretation. But that is subject to intense scrutiny and research. The most important aspect of this is that not everything ends up in the soil and not everything that is buried, survives long enough. But when a claim is made, it’s always examined and re-examined, tested and re-tested…and then finally, accepted under condition that it’s the correct explanation that fits the current evidence until later evidence suggests otherwise (science: the facts results in the explanation, and not the explanation in the facts).

A perfect example of this, coincidentally, is the BW episode Code of Hero. Based on the story told (a group of early hominids living in a valley and the introduction of tool use and making) it’s is clearly a reference to the finds at the Olduvai Gorge. Here fossils of an at the time new species were found (named Homo Habilis -- the handy man) together with very primitive tools. Dating of the fossils and the layers showed these to be the oldest confirmed tools. The tools themselves couldn’t be dated, but they were found in closed context (very important in such a case) with datable material, thereby confirming the age of the tools. Why were they confirmed to be the oldest tools? Because all other tools in closed context were younger. There were tools that could be older, but they were not in closed context and thus the (older) dates for those were considered to be not reliable, making Olduvai the oldest and the time when our ancestors started making tools. Ever since more research has been done, more artefacts found and among those artefacts in closed context that could be reliably dated and proved to be older than the Olduvai finds, proving Olduvai wasn’t the place where tool making developed.

But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t an evolution of species, that doesn’t mean there wasn’t a time when early man didn’t know how to make tools and later learned the know-how (and the advantages it gave them). It just means it’s older than previously could be proven. The evolution of the species (and humanity) is an absolute fact. Not some idea, not something that is to be believed or not, but a Scientific Theory and thus an explanation from facts and proven again and again by tested methods of research. (And every new piece of evidence that is unearthed either confirms the theory or helps refine it by giving new and more information.)

 

On the 300 years matter, just to clarify, it's the episode "Dark Designs," and that episode alone, which provides the 300 year date, when Blackarachnia says: "Shrapnel? That was a Decepticon from the Great Wars three centuries ago!"

 

I wish you would’ve posted the entire sentence

Three centuries ago that the great war ended?

Which is not exactly the equal of when the Great War ended

Can I ask you for the exact dialogue?

I’m not casting doubt on you, but living in peace for a time doesn’t Necessarily mean it tracks back to the end of the war

Well that settles it

Thank you guys very much

 

So it is cannon?
That sucks  

Thank you for providing the facts.

 

First thing to clear up- we don’t know if the 3 centuries line refers to Earth centuries or Cybertron centuries. A year on Cybertron could last significantly longer than on Earth. So 3 centuries could be like 3 million Earth years. We just don’t know.

In regards to common descent or evolution: the show never said that humans evolved. Megatron made that conclusion based on what information he had about Earth- namely from the Voyager 2 probe. So whether you subscribe to evolution or creationism, it should have no bearing on your viewing of Beast Wars.

It’s like that ep of Doctor Who, when aliens were taking tours of Earth & the tour guide had everything about Christmas all wrong. Like Santa was this monster that would come into their homes with its “claws” & snatch kids away into his big Xmas bag unless they left food out for it to eat.

There you go.

 

I liked some of the comic relief....

Anyway. I never liked getting a shiny new cast member only to see them show up on rare occasions. I know why they did it, but it still sucked.

I also thought it was stupid how often Rhinox got left at the base and/or forgotten about. He kicked ass every time he stepped on the battlefield.

Cheetor. Just.... Cheetor. In the words of Tarantulus, 'Don't cats ever get tired of being stupid?'

Scorponok's multiple personality disorder. Master poisoner or fool with a toddler's vocabulary? Hmmm, depends on the day of the week.

Inferno for laughs. He was a legit threat when he showed up, but then he was just insane. And not often in a good way.

The Tripredacus council. They should've either been the G1 Predacons or recognizable as the toy versions of Cicadacon, Ramhorn, and Seaclamp. What we got were ugly, forgettable, and downright dumb designs.

 

The rubber duck

And the farts

 

I will agree on the mentions of the fart jokes.

But I cannot abide by this blasphemous hatred of Megatron's rubber duck. Yes it was a silly gag, but it was a quiet, funny silly gag.

(in case it's not clear, the intensity of my comment about the rubber duck is overstated for comedic effect. I do still like the gag, but I'm not really that worked up about it)

 

Pfffffffffffffft, NO Transformers series is flawless. We live in a fandom where it is to be taken for granted that every series is a 30 minute commercial and full of continuity and quality issues, but BW is high art beyond reproach by some. THAT is the real issue.

 

Nothing in BW that I think is outright stupid. But there are some things I would’ve done differently.

1. Scorponok, Terrorsaur, AirRazor & Tigatron were all handled pretty poorly. They didn’t seem to have much impact on the show. I especially felt bad for T&A, who were sent off to patrol duty almost the moment after they appeared. It felt like we didn’t get to see much of them.

2. Season 4 got canceled.
Still a bummer.

3. The Predacons are 90% bugs, arachnids, & crustaceans. There are lots of PREDatory animals out there. Let’s get some more variety in there than just bugs. Alligators, wolves, etc. it doesn’t have to be all multi-legged creepy crawlies.

4. Tigerhawk- he’s a fusion of AirRazor & Tigatron, but it feels more like he’s just a TM2 Tigatron with wings. I’d like to have seen a little more influence from AirRazor in there. Even dropping one of her lines here & there would’ve helped.

And that’s pretty much it. I personally liked the fart episode.  

 

That's a good idea. We could interpret it like that.

Isn't that Tim Burton's night before Christmas?

That's another gripe of mine.
It sucks that they copied the good guys= mammals and birds, bad guys= invertebrates and reptiles thing from Battle Beasts.
They should have mixed things up more.

And Tigerhawk should have been more of a mix.
He did look mostly like a tiger with wings. They could have had him voiced by Air Razor"s voice actor to even things out.

 

Almost! Except that Jack lies to the people to “give them what they want” and get them excited about Christmas.
The tour guide in the Doctor Who ep really did just get all his facts wrong.

Or, in my own fanfic universe, both personalities share the same body, and when AirRazor takes over, Tigerhawk transforms to have a face & robot mode more like her own, original body.

See them make a Masterpiece toy out of that!

 

 
Hopefully some day after they finished the season one cast.
But that Chinese company might beat them too it.

 

That they have organic alt modes and energon hurts them.

 

Yeah, I though Tigerhawk should have a voice where it's both VA's speaking at the same time to show it's a being made from two people.

 

That would have been cool. It would have made him/her sound more like a "divine" emissary too.

 

Stop getting your "facts" from Kent Hovind.

The Low Road is one of my favorite episodes. So many great moments. I think Rhinox sneezed more than he farted anyway. Actually, he only farted once after eating the bean vines. That episode was more about Rattrap and Dinobot, and had great slapstick.

I didn't care for the Blackarachnia/Silverbolt stuff. Looking back, I pretty much have the same opinions I did when the show was first on. It's my all time favorite cartoon, but it certainly isn't flawless.

Imprisoning Megatron with his weapon in The Agenda was certainly stupid, but it was needed to progress the plot.

 

I pretty much tend to avoid stuff from guys who got themselves thrown in prison. Though I guess one could argue that I'd be committing the genetic fallacy for doing so.