Viewer Log: Beast Wars ep 2

Gorilla vs. Deinonychus, it's much less one side than it sounds. 

         Last time on Beast Wars, the Wars… began. Predacon insurrectionists stole the Golden Disk from the Maximals on Cybertron and used a ship with a Transwarp drive to travel to Earth’s ancient past. A group of Maximal explorers caught up to them and both ships shot each other down. They crash land on the planet, only to discover that it’s not Earth. The coordinates are right, as is the fauna, but none of the other readings match. The planet is rich in naturally occurring Energon crystals, though, so the Predacons decided to make lemonade from these lemons. The Maximals plan to stop them. Both sides take on Beast forms to work as hazmat suits to protect them from the intense Energon radiation. A skirmish is had between them, but both sides come off relatively unscathed. The Maximals return to their base to discover one of the Predacons, Dinobot, waiting. Megatron’s former second-in-command had been fired for trying to usurp control of their group after discovering this wasn’t the right planet for their plan. He announces that he and Optimus will have a trial by combat to see who will lead the Maximals. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.

 

Anyone else hearing duel of fates playing?

We begin right where we left off, Dinobot standing on the bridge and challenging Optimus to trial by combat for the position of leader of the Maximals. Optimus, ever the diplomat, tries to convince Dinobot that he can join them without fighting, not as the leader but as an ally, but that’s not on the table for Dinobot. He shows off his confidence in his assumed victory by revealing he’d pre-emptively changed his activation code, shouting “Dinobot, MAXIMIZE!” Optimus transforms as well and the two of them start fighting. Optimus pulls out a pair of scimitars and Dinobot whips out a sort of spinning rapier and… I have no idea how to describe his other, signature weapon. Imagine someone took off the rotating blades of a helicopter and used them as a weapon. That’s basically it. Cheetor prepares to Transform and fight Dinobot too, but the others stop him, the more seasoned members of the team knowing that this won’t be settled without Optimus getting a clear win. Optimus nearly falls, gets up and decks Dinobot in the face. Dinobot recovers from his robot concussion and says that he’s still alive, so Optimus has to finish it. Optimus tells him that’s not how Maximals do, and Dinobot says that will have to change as he uses his laser eyes to blast Optimus. No, he’s never very consistent with laser eye use. Optimus stumbles  back and falls, catching himself with his legs at the last moment. Dinobot, shockingly, grabs him and throws him back onto the bridge. When Optimus asks why, Dinobot says that he saw Optimus slipped. By his honor code, if Optimus had died that way, it wouldn’t be a victory for him and would taint his leadership. He goes on to say one of the most badass lines of the franchise, “I prefer to beat my opponents the old-fashioned way… BRUTALLY!” before attacking again. They dual for a few seconds, both bots admitting they have qualities the other likes.

 

Meanwhile, the Predacons have arrived and are watching from a distance. Megatron decides that it would be preferable if there wasn’t a winner in this conflict. The Predacons Terrorize and fire missiles at the duelists. The Maximals see it coming and Cheetor shouts to Optimus. Optimus, thinking quickly, reverts to beast mode and tackles Dinobot. Everyone thinks they fell to their deaths for a moment, but it’s revealed that Optimus used his simian feet to catch them. As they hang, Dinobot starts shorting out. He can’t transform with Optimus holding his foot, so tells him to let Dinobot drop. He refuses, saying they’ll both go if he can’t save him. Rhinox grabs Optimus at the last second and pulls them up. The Predacons unleash all their firepower on the bridge, destroying it in a manner I’m pretty sure is impossible, with Rattrap almost falling to his death. Optimus grabs him, though and pulls him up.

 

That's a lot of crystal.

Megatron, furious, hits Terrorsaur and blames his soldiers for letting the Maximals escape. Scorponok points to their still traveling missiles and they see them impact a nearby mountain. It reveals a gigantic Energon crystal. The Predacons revert to Beast Mode and head out. The Maximals see it too and try to decide what to do. Dinobot says that Megatron will be unstoppable with a crystal that size. Rattrap, already tired of Dinobot, tells Rhinox to scrap him, but Optimus holds them off. He asks if Megatron will send the fliers out ahead, Dinobot says no, as only the spider Tarantulas has the expertise to cut it into moveable chunks. They head out, with Rattrap announcing they’re all gonna die.

 

Sometime later, the Maximals are on approach. Rhinox asks if Optimus shouldn’t transform and use his jets to fly ahead. Optimus says that he won’t, they need to stay together, as they don’t know what the Predacons or the planet itself might have in store for them. Rhinox points out an excellent example of that last point, a giant Stonehenge like structure just off their path up the mountain. Terrorsaur and Waspinator fly in, transform, and start shooting. The Maximals hold them off until they hit their Energon limit, though, and they retreat. Dinobot, not wanting to let them get away, fires eyebeams after them, almost crushing Rhinox when his beams break some of the cliffside off and it nearly crushes him. Rattrap, not believing that to be an accident, attacks him. He almost blows Dinobot’s head off, but Optimus lands and tells him to stand down, saying it was an accident. Rattrap is insubordinate again, Optimus telling him to question his orders one more time and see what happens. Rattrap backs down and they start traveling again.

 

Literal beast war!

The Predacon arrives first, Tarantulas observing that the energy output of that crystal would destroy them in less than a minute in Robot mode, so this fight is going to be in beast mode. The Maximals arrive a short time later and they face off. They charge each other, literally slamming into each other before one-on-one fights begin to rock music. Some fights are thematic, Optimus vs. Megatron, Dinobot vs. Scorponok, others are just bad luck… I’m thinking specifically of Terrorsaur vs. Rhinox. Bird-cousin vs. biological tank, tank wins. Megatron gets Optimus down and nearly crushes him with his jaws, but Optimus tosses him off and he gets his head trapped in between rocks. Megatron breaks free, charges Optimus again and takes a huge chunk out of Optimus’s  right leg. Given the bite force of a T-Rex jaws being enough to turn bone into literal powder, Cybertronian metal must be tough. Optimus throws him off but crumples a moment later. He shouts that the fight is over, but Megatron is in a “If I can’t have it, no one can” transforming and launching a missile at Optimus. Dinobot runs in, knocking the missile to one side, causing the Energon to start to go off. Cheetor announces “it’s time to fade, heroes!” and everyone runs. It looks like for a moment that Megatron died from the Energon exposure… just to show him a moment later leaping from the mountain to get out of the blast radius.

 

After the battle, Dinobot clarifies that he didn’t save Optimus out of loyalty but to make them even on their life debt for Optimus saving him. Rattrap sarcastically asks if they can go home now, since they beat Megatron and destroyed that crystal. Optimus says no, not mentioning the damaged ship, but because Megatron could be back and if he even gets a little Energon off the planet, they’re boned. So, he says let the fight remain on this strange, alien world, and let it be called BEAST WARS!

 

…

 

I feel like he would know it’s just one war, so it be the Beast War, but I guess the plural sounds cooler.

 

Part two of the pilot episode was about 2/3rd battle, but they were good battles, and the 1/3 plot was interesting. We got good insight into Dinobot as a character. The “Noble Villain” thing is hard to pull off, but I think they find a good balance with Dinobot. He tries to avoid using underhanded tactics in a fight, but he’s also unwilling to listen to peaceful solutions when presented. The “Brutally!” line has lived rent free in my head since 1996. That’s approaching 30 years. The episode does also take a moment to plant the seeds of the mysteries on this planet, with that weird Stonehenge the Maximals passed on their way to the mountain. The aliens that set up that structure and others are recurring plot points in the series, serving as the third recurring plot. The three big plots are: 1. Maximals or Predacons attempt to use a one-off technology to get the upper hand, 2. Alien tech investigated, 3. Pod lands. The first season is very episodic, with a handful of overarching threads, but the episodic bits are interesting, so I can forgive it. The first two episodes only focus on Megs for the villain, but the other baddies get enough chances to differentiate themselves going forward. Tarantulas, in particular, goes from just this mildly creepy because he’s a spider background character to someone who’d be creepy even if his alt form were a baby panda. The teams have faced off, the Beast Wars have begun. I’ll probably be back to this story real soon. Next time, Quantumania, for sure, 100%, no dodging again. 

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/83615317

Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero