I'm on episode 2 of the third season of Beast Wars and I'm wondering when exactly it gets good. Noting comes close to Prime quality in any category, IMHO.

But back on topic, has anyone actually counted the unique CGI models for each show to compare them? Seems like Beast Wars has had far fewer than Prime every step of the way.

 

What it comes down to is BW knew the limitations of CGI and worked within them. Prime wants to do where Prime is constantly fighting against them. It wants to do big huge epic, but can’t afforded any epic looking sets. It wants to be on modern earth filled with humans… but can only have a handful of human models, and unlike animals and proto-humans you can’t just re-use the same model and get away with it. It wants to be big story, but because of the former it can’t shake things up in any huge way. I.E the world at large can’t find about them because that would require a bunch of new human models, they can’t level earth because there committed to “Modern earth is grounding! And making all new sets would be two expensive. So instead we get effect hunts! Because that gives you an excuse to always have things happen far away from humans, and you make one forest you’ve made them all right?

 

Basically... 

 

Terrorsaur died in the lava along with Scorponok.

 

I was sad when that happened :L

 

I was expecting them to rise from the lava...reborn as transmetals...what a let down. How do you kill off major characters like that? And they were never mentioned ever again. And how does Tarantulus survive rampage? he was in pieces. How does Inferno survive Dinobot?...I mean...He knocked dude's head clean off...wtf?

 

Or rather, CGI improved over time. Look within Beast Wars and compare something like a tree in season one to a tree in season three. Despite Season three being where more new, even more intricate models were showing up, there were still graphical improvements. That's just how CGI was.

And it wasn't sacrificing to "sell more toys." It was to have an actual cast. You can't have a show when there's nobody in it.

 

It gets good right around the part where dino bot joins the maximals in season 1, so if you still dont think it's good then you probably won't like it.

 

i didn't think they'd be dead from that. I was expecting them to be back next episode, but nope.

 

Beast Wars had a revolving door cast, and rarely showed the all the Maximals and/or Predacons all in one frame. Again, dealing with the limitations at the time.

Beast Wars was developed at a time when graphical quality was scaling almost exponentially every 6 months. These days, it takes a sharp eye to tell the difference between extremely well-done (and paid for) CGI from 2008, and one from this year.

You can have an actual cast with the same five guys over three seasons. Look at TF: Animated. So yeah, the only reason for more cast members in a Transformers show really is To Sell Toys.

 

In Beast Wars, characters don't die after being disassembled like in Prime or the live action movies. They only really died if they took damage to the point beyond repair to support their spark or if they were completely disintegrated. Same case in G1, IIRC. Omega Supreme survived after being in parts during the Key to Vector Sigma arc and there was one episode with the plot revolving around them finding Optimus Prime's body parts.

Heck, even in Animated decapitation wasn't fatal. Bulkhead and Sentinel Prime had no problem surviving after the Headmaster took their body.

 

Vs

Well I like them both. Although in regards to effects BW did have a higher budget but graphics weren't as well developed as they are now.

 

I believe the reason why Prime's decaptitations were to show that the show wasn't afriad to kill off TF characters for good. Even if some of them are minor at best. In short Prime's more darker that way then the past shows.

The characters in Prime aren't just machines but also biological life forms too which in a way support the fact that they can't just be brought back to life that easy.

 

That gets hard to believe when all but one of the deaths are either faceless mooks or one off characters, while others sometimes take gun blasts like it's nothing.

 

Well if Bulkhead does die that'll change quickly....

I'm not saying that the past series were stupid into letting TF's who were decapitated still live but I do like the idea of what the writers said of anything could happen to the characters in a different way. You're right about minor charactrs so far but what's to say that major characters like Bulkhead won't bite the bullet eventually?

 

Which is GREAT. TF shows and TMNT shows both revolve around a concept of secret, hidden characters, but the writers for most shows in either franchise eventually get tired of the hassle of keeping the characters secluded. Eventually, they say "screw it" and the Transformers get outed, or the Turtles put on rubber masks, or either brand moves to the future where robots, aliens, and mutants are commonplace. Now they have to do the concept properly, whether they want to or not. Good.

 

But there is no secret if there are no humans around. If all the fighting happens in a places far form humans, then they might as well not be there. a secret war only feels secret if it's happening right under our noses. Having Arcee drive though a crowded city well doing espionage mission=secret war.

Having Arcee drive around an empty lot or more often wilderness with no humans for hundreds of miles around = might as well have a beast mode for all the "stealth" she's doing.

Also sticking to a the original set up and never shaking it up is the boring unimaginative way to do things. Stories are about the status quo being changed. The term used for shows that never change tend to be "stale."

 

I don't understand why BW would have a higher budget. Transformers is probably 10 times more popular now then it was back when Beast Wars came out. Shouldn't Prime have a fairly high budget??

 

I believe a canadian business or what not invested in it...I forgot but someone gave beast wars a lot of money so that equals extra dollar dollar for the budget