So I never seen Beast Machines before and I was watching Revelation Part 3. I was so shocked Rhinox blamed Primal and sided with Megatron? WTF when did he suddenly decide Megatron was great and everyone should have no spark? Didn't see that coming. Also why would megatron want to rule a planet of just drones? It would be fairly loney and boring if ya ask me.
Beast Machines was known to change the personalities of Characters from Beast Wars to better fit the story and the ample drones were used as a cost cutting measure as the improved CGI on new models was suppseodly very expensive. I think Megatron was hoping Drones would be useful than a Starscream and the like who have proved how unreliable they are
BM had plenty of problems, but I loved the idea the lost sparks were in the generals. The thing I hate is my Rattrap towers of my Silverbolt bot.
The dull answer is Megatron tampering with Rhinox spark (as he did before in BW) and over-writing shell programme/personality, once Rattrap awakened Rhinox core conciousness it melded with the Tankor personality and made Rhinox effectively 'evil'. In typical bad guy fashion, this just led to Rhinox plotting against Megatron (again, as seen in BW), turning his own plan against him. I have no idea of why Megs would want to rule a planet full of drones. It would be lonely. I'm also curious as to what happened to him on his arrival back on Cybertron to hate his Beast Mode so? He seemed quite happy with his augmented and powerful Beast Mode back on Earth. perhaps it made less sense on cybertron, but still... I too don't like how the character's personalities were altered, but I have rationalised this in my own head as it being the result of Megatron's virus and the reformatting of their bodies.
a shame really, as a beast wars successor, it had the right idea for a story, just didn't execute it well enough. In their attempts at making a sequel to a successful show, they old kept some of the elements of beast wars so they could make this show its own unique series, but it clearly failed with some of the ideas that were used. Rhinox going evil and betraying everyone was good twist, what was bad, was he wasn't given a second chance in the shows like Dinobot(twice), Silverbolt(twice) and blackaracknia, who all were given the chance to redeem themselves throughout the course of the two shows. I think we as fans missed a potential story in which a favorite returned to that ranks. But my biggest concern was the heroes rarely won. It was a struggle for survival each episode and it really made you believe they would fail their task. The stakes were to high for a transformers series, and the characters accomplishments rarely went far. Also the only two original maximals to be brought in weren't typically as likeable as the original cast to begin with.
A two-season (26 episode) sequel series to Beast Wars. Written by Marty Isenberg (Story Editor of Animated) and others. Takes place on Cybertron after the finale of Beast Wars. It is really dark, and religious, and enviornmentalist i.e. Botanica. It is interesting. And all on Veoh for your ("illegal?") viewing pleasure. Yeah, the Rhinox thing always confused me too. Oh well. EDIT: I just saw the winky face on your post... X10. I am leaving that up for all who don't know...yeah...
Pretty heart-wrenching, really; another example of the stellar character development/change in Beast Machines. Rhinox 'switches sides', Primal becomes a religious fanatic, Megatron becomes a fascist bent on genocide, Silverbolt's nobility is overwhelmed by guilt and depression, Rattrap's desperation, Cheetor's maturing and rise to leadership. Frankly, no TF show has ever been as bold with character change and development, which is why it is so adored by some of us.
I think growth in a character is natural in the real world, its just not usual in Transformers. Rhinox grew in the direction of what the Maximals would call evil but he was no idiot.
Megatron wanted an army of followers, not equals. He created the drones to follow him, not to question his authority or to try to overthrow him like Trarantulus and the countless other backstabbers. The Drones were also easily replaceable making them the perfect soilders...
I never really liked the whole "evil rhinox/tankor" direction they took in Beast Wars. It felt tacked on, especially given the characterization that Rhinox had been given in Beast Wars. I dunno, I just felt like they could have done it in a much better way, especially given Rhinox's dark streak, say by having him stay a vehicon as the only way to stop Megatron and find a way to restore Cybertron. Then you could have some deeper interaction between Primal and Rhinox/Tankor, at least deeper than "Im gonna kill your plants" "Im gonna stop you!" "Argh, I'm dead!" "Sorry, brah." "S'allright, dude"
I loved what BM did with Rhinox, I thought it was a great twist and character development. Sometimes when growing up, your best friends turn bad. It's something that happens in real life, it was nice to see it happen in a TF show as well.
Rhinox never liked Megs, he only pretended to be on his side. Rhinox/Tankor actually wanted for Primal and Megs to destroy each other, leaving him in charge and in control.
I'm just glad that Rhinox returned to normal after he died. The way they made it set up was either the Tankor body corrupted his spark, or Megatron corrupted it. (and after Megatron "died" his evil wore off, and Rhinox became Rhinox again, not Tankor with Rhinox's voice) BM is a great stand alone show and a decent "alternate reality" end to BW, but I strongly recommend against Watching it if you watch it as the final end to the G1 continuity.
But that's what it is, though... the final end to the G1 continuity. I suppose that if someone really didn't like Beast Machines, they could choose to ignore it and create their own "alternate reality end to BW"... but love it or hate it, the end of G1 is a technorganic Cybertron. (Although the post-BM Obsidian's Lament is such a stellar piece of work, I often have to remind myself it isn't official).
I just got finished watching the first couple of episodes of Beast Machines on DVD. The only one I remember vividly is the first episode, the rest, I was kinda surprised some of these episodes came so early on the show. BTW, I hate Nightscream. I remember my sibblings and I being so upset with the "radical" change in Silverbolt; He was such a "downer" and all the time wasn't exactly friendly with the rest of his comrades (or his lover). We didn't exactly cope well with the fact that his character was suffering from "Guilt and Depression".
