Viewer Log: Beast Wars ep 1

 An old war rekindled.

This month is going to be a bit all over the place as I catch up on a few movies, throw in some other shows and maybe take another shot from the My Hero Academia glass. We’ll see where it goes. What we’re going to start May with is summarizing the pilot episodes of a retro favorite of mine that has recently begun moving onto The Transformers YouTube page, Beast Wars: Transformers.

 

Some background. Beast Wars began airing in 1996 and was a CGI animated sequel series to the G1 Transformers franchise. Most of the lore I’m about to drop here is explained in bits in pieces throughout the show’s run but much more so in the comic tie ins, or so I’m told. It’s set roughly 300 years after the events of the final season of Transformers. Between series, the Autobots won the Great War against the Decepticons, and the two sides entered back into the unsteady truce that always happens when the “good” society has the upper hand. They all know that the Decepticons can’t be trusted, it’s in the name, but refuse to do anything about it because of principles. The two sides went through a process later described as the “Great Upgrade” where the giant machines of my 1980s born brother’s day were shrunken down into forms just slightly larger than your average human. It’s said that these new bodies are significantly more fuel efficient than the old models. The two sides changed names to go along with this upgrade, the Autobots becoming the Maximals and the Decepticons becoming the Predacons. No, it does not seem like they figured out subtlety in the Great Upgrade.

 

Just prior to the show’s beginning, a Predacon general assembled a small strike force of five other Predacons to help steal the “Golden Disk” from their great library. The Disk combined with a stolen warship dupped “The Darksyde” that has a transwarp drive, the Predacons flew across time and space as part of nefarious plot. In honor of the Great Decepticon war leader, the somewhat vain General decided to redub himself Megatron.

 

…

 

What happens when you play with your food?
You both crash land.

         Some behind the scenes info here, early in development, there was the idea that they’d eventually reveal this Megatron was in fact the original Megatron just in a new body. They scrapped that sometime after they began production, due in no small part to this Megatron’s Voice Actor, David Kaye, having such a… vibe to him that no one would believe he was the same Megatron or Galvatron we’d seen before.

 

Anyway, the Maximals, knowing nothing good could come from the Predacons having a literal time traveling warship, sent out an alert to all ships to chase that cruiser down and take it out. Unfortunately, the only ship in intercept range was the Axalon, an exploratory research vessel. Let’s see how this shapes out, shall we?

 

Start of a grand war.

We open with the two ships coming out of transwarp space and firing upon each other. The Axalon is heavily out gunned and severely damaged within seconds of the fight beginning in earnest. The helmsman whines that this is all ridiculous as they’re an exploration ship not a battle cruiser, but the Captain tells him they had no choice. On the Darksyde, Megatron’s Lieutenant tells his captain to finish them off now. Megatron, being a sadist, asks where’s the fun in that? And goes for more disabling shots to drag out the torment. The young cadet on the Axalon announces that their stasis field is failing, and the science officer announces they’re going down. The Captain, knowing that crashing would be dangerous, orders most of their crew, about a dozen Maximals in stasis pods, to be launched into safe orbit as they fall. The Maximals get a few lucky shots in as they fell, though, and the Darksyde also crashes on the planet below.

 

The Captain asks for a damage report and the cadet says that he really doesn’t want to know. Megatron asks his computer if this is their intended destination, but it isn’t sure. It says that the coordinates are correct, but the planet doesn’t match what their date says. He tells it to forget about that for now and has the computer scan for Energon. The computer informs him that there’s a massive supply of naturally occurring Energon Crystals. Fun fact, this was the first series to introduce the idea that Energon is a naturally occurring crystal as well as the refined cubes that Transformers are powered by. It’s now a staple of the franchise. The computer tells him that there’s too much Energon on the planet, and that exposure will cause their bodies to overload if exposed for too long. Megatron, noting the lack of suitable tech, says they’ll take on forms based on the most powerful local creatures. His scientist activates their scans. Their scanners pick up the fossils of a T-Rex, Pterosaur, and a Deinonychus (yes, you know it as a velociraptor), as well as a tarantula fighting a wasp.

 

Back with the Maximals, their scanners pick up a gorilla, mouse, rhino, and cheetah. After the scan is complete, we’re introduced to our crew. We, to my knowledge, are never told what they’re names were before the crash… but you must assume that other than maybe the Captain, no one is going by the name they had on Cybertron. The cadet dubs himself Cheetor, and he thinks he’s really pretty. The helmsman isn’t impressed, but then he chose the rat and the name Rattrap, so his taste is questionable. The science officer took the rhino and dubbed himself Rhinox. The captain emerges from the pod, revealing his gorilla form and we meet Optimus Primal. He tells his crew that they need to be careful, the Energon fields of the planet will cause their robot forms to short out after a few minutes’ exposure (however long the plot needs for that limit to be hit). He says that this is an unusual planet, wherever it is, and Rhinox adds “whenever it is” too, and explains about the Transwarp transport. Optimus also laments the fact that the rest of the crew is in orbit. Their pods should protect them from Energon exposure, but instead of being like 12 to 6, it’s 4 to 6.

 

We jump over to the Darksyde, where the Predacons are trying out their new forms. Megatron’s lieutenant, dubbing himself Dinobot, realizes they aren’t on the right planet (they’d been going after Earth but despite the animals being right, the two moons and other geological data says that can’t be true) and is furious. He screams at his boss, calling him an idiot and demands he surrender command. Megatron, not interested in having an actual fight with Dinobot, says that leadership requires cunning and cleverness. To demonstrate his acumen in both, he has his new Lieutenant, Scorponok, blast him away with rockets. He dubs Dinobot a loser and orders his troop to start searching for the Maximals. He doesn’t care they landed on the wrong planet, as this one has enough Energon to fuel the Predacon’s entire galactic conquest.

 

Back at the Axalon, Rattrap whines (he does this a lot) about all the trouble they’re going through for that golden disk. Optimus reminds him it’s one of Cybertron’s most carefully guarded relics, so, yeah, it is worth the hassle. Rattrap points out that they’re supposed to be explorers, and asks Optimus if he’s cut out for the commander gig. Optimus tells him that they need to stop the Predacons from restarting the Great War, and that they’re on an uncharted planet, so that’s plenty of exploration right there. Rattrap says that he’d like a working spaceship too, to which Optimus rolls his eyes and says there’s no pleasing some people. Cheetor spots some cheetahs running, and wants to show off, chases after them. Optimus orders Cheetor back but the comms don’t work after less than 100 meters due to the Energon interference. Rattrap again mocks his “commander” asking if it’s his first day, to which Optimus says shut up.

 

Cheetor catches the cheetahs, scaring them and causing them to run faster. He continues the chase but ends up running into one of the Predacons. This Predacon is a wasp who has dubbed himself Waspinator, yes, it’s a Terminator reference. Cheetor “Maximizes,” transforming into his robot form. Waspinator “Terrorizes” in response. For reasons never fully explained, both sides need to shout out their respective code phrases to transform. Seeing Cheetor being shot at from the ship, Optimus hops on Rhinox, grabs Rattrap and they charge after him. Waspinator has Cheetor on the ropes just as his crew arrives, but the rest of the Predacons arrive as well.

 

The first showdown of dozens. lol

Optimus asks Megatron why they need to do this, when their sides have been at peace for centuries, but Megatron says that peace for Predacons is just waiting for the right moment to strike. Cheetor gets his gun working again, leaps out and shoots at Megatron. Megatron announces that he likes that Pussycat for his treacherous, underhanded attack, but he must die. We get out first role call transformation. In order, Tarantulas the tarantula, Rhinox the rhino, Scorponok the scorpion, Rattrap the rat, Terrorsaur the Pterosaur, Megatron the T-Rex and Optimus the Gorilla transform. The two sides start firing and dodging around for cover. Cheetor tries to get back to the others but gets knocked back and his leg pinned. Optimus tells Rattrap to get Cheetor while they cover him, but Rattrap refuses. Optimus is obviously furious at his insubordination, but leaps into the air with his Prime jets to save Cheetor. He gets shot down, but he makes it Cheetor and grabs him. Rhinox forces Rattrap to help him lay covering fire and the Maximals fall back. Thankfully, everyone hits their Energon limit and is forced to revert to their beast mode hazmat suits.

 

Believe it or not, the beginning of a friendship.

On the ride back, Optimus grabs Rattrap and lays into him for not following orders. Rattrap gives him more lip, Optimus telling him that he would never give an order he wouldn’t do himself. And Optimus was better equipped for covering fire than Rattrap was. Rattrap says that they made it out of there alive, so why get worried? Optimus says that that is true, but it’ll take their beast modes time to do internal repairs. We learn that the Maximals know that six Predacons were listed on the left, so one must still be out there. Cheetor says maybe he was destroyed in the battle… but Rhinox says they haven’t had that luck today. Which is proven true seconds later, when they find the missing Predacon, Dinobot, standing at the only bridge to their ship. He tells them that he’s taking over as leader of the Maximals, and they will help him crush Megatron. He challenges Optimus Primal to one-on-one battle; the winner will lead, and the loser will die. Neat way to start this series off.

 

Believe it or not, this was my original Transformers. My brother grew up in the 80s and because of him I saw a fair number of toys, a few episodes of the show as reruns/video rentals, but this was the first Transformers franchise that I watched from start to finish. It will always hold a special place in my heart for that reason, but also for surprisingly good storytelling. It’s also the first show I’d ever seen that had character deaths. I’ll get into that if/when I hit one of those deaths. I’ve since seen a LOT of Transformers media, and this show stands out for a few reasons. The late 90s CGI has aged… okay, being not the prettiest but still functional. Yes, we are just going to ignore the fact Megs and Dinobot should probably have feathers to some degree or another, we didn’t know that in the 90s. The heroes are also a bit different from other franchises. Instead of the chosen hero and a group of ragtag military veterans, we have a ship’s captain with a crew of not-soldiers. Rhinox is a scientist, Rattrap is a demolition expert, and Cheetor is a kid. Cheetor is like half-Rookie Transformer soldier, half-naïve human in terms of his plot beats. Rattrap and Optimus have a fair amount of friction early on. I got the sense that they and Rhinox have known each other for a LONG time, and while Rattrap was willing to follow Optimus as a ship captain, he draws the line at military commander. Rattrap learns to trust the “Boss Monkey” as he dubs him, though, and it’s a fun ride. As for the Predacons, we only got a little on Megs and Dinobot. We get more of the others as we go, but Terrorsaur, Scorponok, Waspinator and Tarantulas are kind of interchangeable. Evil soldiers. Dinobot, while a Predacon, has a very strict honor code that he follows. Both times he challenges for leadership, it’s a one-on-one trial by combat. He doesn’t believe in sneak attacks, even if he wholeheartedly believes in obliterating his enemies. Megatron, on the other hand, is an out-and-out sadist. He loves toying with his enemies before attempting to destroy them. He’ll gleefully put someone into a deathtrap to watch them struggle, even when a quick kill is on the table. He also has this habit of asking himself rhetorical questions and answering with an exaggerated “Yeeesss” or “Nooo,” which is just fun. So yeah, Beast Wars: Transformers has begun, I’ll cover another episode or two before diving into Ant-Man 3, see you there. 

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