It's been years since i've watched this show. I picked up the BM boxed set a day ago and after watching the first disc...

Nightscream is a bitch!
Rattrap is a wimp!
Cheetor is still immature...
anyone figure out what IS technorganic?
rat on wheels?
the return of Buddha-Monkey! (no-offense intended to the faithful)
Jetstorm is so annoying...  
why couldn't thrust have been the main offender?  
Bob Skir has gained weight since i met him...  
I'm all for dark and creepy shows but having to turn up the brightness on my tv shouldn't be necessary...
it's amazing what writers will say to cover their work...

on a side gripe i remember waking up early on saturday morning to watch the first episode and as soon as cheetor enters my cable went out...  
not to mention i missed almost all the odd numbered episodes through "season 1."

anyone else remember when season 2 started and the second episode of season 1 took the place of the the second episode of season 2?

i forgot how much i liked this show. new gripes? old gripes? anyone?  

 

I haven't picked up the set yet because of bad memories of it.. I may get it though to be a completist..

 

I've never seen this show. How do the production values measure up to say...BW season 3? (Graphics, effects, etc.)

 

I hated Nightscream!!!! I still hate him. I bought the series though. I think Cheetor is alot more mature than he was in Beast Wars. Yes I hate Jetstorm too! I hate how Rattrap is a wimp and has no weapon, I hate everything they did to him. Actually none of them have weapons, and the whole series is them running away. The whole Optimus meditation things is just wrong. And what the hell is up with Botanica she transforms from a plant into a .... PLANT where is her robot mode!?!?

 

Well if I remember correctly, even the voice actors weren't impressed with the story. I think Scott McNeil referred to it as "the other show" or something like that.

Also I remember hearing something about Gary Chalk having a "moment" in the recording studio, but I don't remember the story exactly ... can someone fill in the details?

 

How can anyone hate Jetstorm? He's one of the best villains we've had in a TF series. Of course, Silverbolt in BM was a whiny bitch, but Jetstorm rocked.

 

Despite the blah, blah liberties taken with the whole idea of "tranforming" fans generally complain about, along with what they did to the Maximals, I just like the fact that the series was dark and the good guys did not win for once. 

Plus, I loved how the whole running theme of the "seeds of the future lied buried in the past" was resolved. Only thing I felt the series needed were more characters.

Other than that, I still plan on picking the DVD up soon.

 

Being dark is what killed it. Cartoons are supposed to be entertaining, with lots of humor and action. Beast Machines had neither. And that's just looking at it objectively, forgetting how they erased the tremendous storylines of Beast Wars.

 

Jetstorm and Thrust were great i remember, but it totally sucks what they did to everyone else..

 

It seems to me that when TFs were thrust in new bodies, it wasn't unusual to see minor personality alterations, so the changes in the characters wasn't a big deal for me.

 

I always loved BM. I only ever saw a few eps of BW before watching BM(I have since seen all of BW). If I had to gripe about something, I guess I would say that there were a few too many "running away" scenes. I think that any "changes" that any characters went through can be explained pretty well if you think about it. I do agree with Acid Wing that I would have liked to see more characters in the show.

 

Say what you will about Beast Machines, but no TF show before that or after that, has come close to surpassing the show in terms of storytelling, foreshadowing, and character development. I personally liked the fact that they really tried something different with the brand.

To me, Beast Machines was the closest Transformers has come in terms of being thought of as a science-fiction fantasy show, rather than a childrens' cartoon.

That's my opinion anyway.  

 

My DVDs have yet to arrive, but I taped the series back when it aired and still watch it from time to time.

Visually it's very good, and I"m looking forward to seeing on crystal clear digital DVD rather than off-air. I saw my first Beast Wars on DVD the other night when I pulled "The Spark" from Rhinox's packaging and it was miles ahead of my off-air copies.

Beast Machines is somewhat disappointing when held up to what came before it, i.e. Beast Wars. Looking at everything since then, it's generally far better, with the series ending being the major letdown. Cybertron as technorganic is just... bland. The majority of planets and aliens in Sci-fi are organic, but a totally metal world with living robots is pretty inventive.

Some other thoughts:

- character arcs are interesting, if annoying sometimes. Primal's 'fanatical televangelist' arc is understandable, if a radical departure from what had come before. Cheetor and Blackarachnia have good storylines, though once Silverbolt is back they can't quite figure out what to do with BA any more. Rattrap is the most disappointing, taking the expert marksman, demolitions expert, and all around professional soldier and essentially putting him in a wheelchair. I suppose it's good for the disabled kids though.

- Nightscream is awful in season 1. Hooking him up with Noble and giving him someone to be concerned with other than himself helps him tremendously in season 2.

- If you've ever read any of my comics (see the link below my sig   ) you'll know I like the big giant head. Somehow for a character that has an ego as big as Megatron does, it seems soooo appropriate.

- I like the continuity references, though they aren't always used correctly. The Key to Vector Sigma and the Plasma Energy Chamber are nods to G1 that are nicely used.

- two complaints, and I'm done. As I mentioned above, the ending of the series is lame. Megatron falls to his death after being able to fly for an entire episode, and then Cybertron turns partly organic.  

Complaint two: Rhinox is treated badly. I'd rather he was just dead than turned evil, but then I suppose we wouldn't be as emotionally invested in what happens to Tankor.

Overall: a very good series, though flawed in places and not at the level of Beast Wars, storywise. Well worth having.

 

I'm watching it for the first time and I love it. There's plenty of action and the humour is definitely there, it's just blacker than it was in BW. Having a completely different mood is what makes the series so distinctive.

There are also signs of - shock, horror - character development. Looking back at the original G1 cartoon, I can see how that alone would be blasphemy in the eyes of many fans.  

 

Sometimes I almost believe fans are to blame for the shows they get. People complain about the occasional "Looney Tunes" moments in BW, and talk about how they want a grittier, more serious show overall, and we get it with BM, though obviously not everyone likes what they got. Similar can be said for Armada after the often plain goofy RiD.

I didn't find BM as enjoyable as BW, but it was still a competent show, and entertaining in its own way. I try to enjoy shows for what they do offer, instead of dwelling on what they don't.

 

 

Character development? They neutered Megatron into nothing more than a floating computer. All the character Ratrap built was completely erased. Cheetor never developed beyond Beast Wars.

Look, I think it's fine that people like it for what it is. But to go to the lengths of defending it by insulting G1 fans or comparing it to Beast Wars is a huge stretch, and is quite frankly being dishonest.

 

Amen!

Jetstorm is probably one of my top TF characters of all time, I wish they acually had made Thrust into Silverbolt, left Waspinator out of it, and left in Jetstorm in the show  

At any rate BM for me was a great show, ya it may have its negatives but compared to the crap TF shows we got afterwards I cant wait to re-watch the whole thing on DVD when my copy arrives next week.

In many ways there are elements in BM I actually liked a lot better then BW. The fact that they made it so different and made it a much darker show I think really brings a different element into the TF universe. Ya a lot of the “organic”, “lets turn Cybertron into an organic world” and turning its back on a lot of the G1 and BW stuff that was establishing previously annoyed me too but really its not really a big deal anymore. As a whole BM stands for me as one of the best TF shows only being edged out by Beast Wars.

 

I'm just annoyed that Tankorr was dumped so quickly. Would have liked to have him do some damage and stick around a bit. Evil Rhinox had potential, damnit.

 

I don't understand the misconception of Cybertron becoming organic. . .that never happened. The planet reached a perfect balance of nature and technology. It didn't become 100% organic.

 

I will always remember BM as my favorite TF series. It was dark, the music was even better than BW, and most of all, Megatron ruled Cybertron most of the series. The two best episodes of Master of the House and the introduction of Stryka and Obsidian.

Oh, and for those of you who say Cybertron never contained anything organic, you must have forgotten about the episode "Dweller in the Depths."