Revisiting BEAST WARS

"What? Transformers made from animals instead of vehicles and stuff? Doesn't sound so great, throw it to Kenner division, maybe they can make a quick buck or something."
Beast Wars, Machine Wars, Beast Machines... seeing a pattern? Coming soon: "Wars Wars"
Darth Dinobot
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Re: Revisiting BEAST WARS

Post by Darth Dinobot »

Beast Wars was still a good show if you consider the writing of it,
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onslaught86
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Re: Revisiting BEAST WARS

Post by onslaught86 »

Onslaught Six wrote:It just occured to me that Primal is clearly holding his swords backwards. They should definitely be going the opposite way.
If you recall, the instructions say No. We've discussed that before, hey.
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Trailblazer
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Re: Revisiting BEAST WARS

Post by Trailblazer »

Hi everyone;
I'm a refugee of the board shut down by BWTF/Benson Yee. Not that I'd posted there in the last 9 years, but still sad to hear it's gone.
Beast Wars is still my all-time favorite Transformers show - despite episodes like "The Low Road."
I'd say the budget constraints on the number of characters that could be included on the show actually helped focus on character development.
That combined with the animation was enough to grab me right away. I also was stoked to see all the G1 references in the show.
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Gomess
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Re: Revisiting BEAST WARS

Post by Gomess »

Hey Trailblazer, wow, you must've stopped posting before I even joined. O_o Welcome!
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Dominic
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Re: Revisiting BEAST WARS

Post by Dominic »

Trailblazer wrote:Hi everyone;
I'm a refugee of the board shut down by BWTF/Benson Yee. Not that I'd posted there in the last 9 years, but still sad to hear it's gone.
Beast Wars is still my all-time favorite Transformers show - despite episodes like "The Low Road."
I'd say the budget constraints on the number of characters that could be included on the show actually helped focus on character development.
That combined with the animation was enough to grab me right away. I also was stoked to see all the G1 references in the show.

Welcome back. Not that I remember you, but hey, good to see someone who predates me and make me look younger.) Yee still posts at the IDW boards. But, yeah, his page went down. It was supposed to be up again about a month back, but..... We decided to start these forums because, well, we all missed the old boards.

Dom
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Gomess
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Re: Revisiting BEAST WARS

Post by Gomess »

Dominic wrote:We decided to start these forums because, well, we all missed the old boards.
The PEOPLE'S boards!

...Does that make us socialists? *dopey grin*
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Mako Crab
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Re: Revisiting BEAST WARS

Post by Mako Crab »

The Web
written by Larry DiTillo

on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLt-uCxScrw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfa9c89okd4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D34A1l4y4Mk&feature=related

It's only the third episode, but for some reason this is one of my favorite and most memorable ones. It's also one of the few episodes that's Megatron-free, so it stands out just a bit more for that.

Right, so we begin at the Axalon. Rhinox has cobbled together a long-range communications device to help them stay in contact through all the energon interference. It's ready for a field test, which Cheetor is way too eager to volunteer for. Rhinox gives Primal a look like he just knows his invention won't survie the mission, but Primal gives Cheetor the go-ahead and tries to reassure the rhino.

Outside Cheetor sprints far away from the base. Optimus is surprised how well the new comm. is working. So far, so good, when Cheetor reports the sound of explosions.

Primal: "Cheetor, hold your position! I'll be right there!"
Cheetor: "I'm going in!"

.
.
.
.
Well no stopping him. Might as well let him get shot. Hm? Oh, I'm just assuming he will. He sneaks through rocky outcroppings and gets the drop on Scorponok, who's been busy digging a mega-canon out of the terrain. Apparently the big canon fell off the Predacon ship when they went screaming through the ozone layer. Minor detail, but whatever.
And speaking of minor details! I noticed in the pilot episodes that Scorponok had a very tiny Maximal badge on his chest. At first I thought it was just an animation error, since it was just the first episode. But here it is again! And he's got the Maximal badge on his missles too! Here I always assumed he just put the Maximal logo on his missles just because that's who he was sending them to, but hey... there might some history with this guy. Maybe he really was a Maximal at one time?
Anyway, Cheetor has Scorpy cornered at gun-point and it's all good. He tries to call back into the base. Hm. That's funny. No response. Red flag anyone? HOLY HELL!!!! TARANTULUS!!! Where'd he come from!? Cheetor freaks out and tries shooting at the spider, but he's already gone. Scorponok takes advantage of the distraction, transforms, and fires one of those Maximal missles at Cheetor, blowing him half to hell and rendering hmi slightly dead.
Scorpy and Tarantulus take off with the mega-canon just as Primal arrives to find a gutted Cheetor. Niiiiiiiiiiiiice.

Cybertron- night. Cheetor lounges atop a tower while Megatron, Waspinator and Terrorsaur fire on him. He doesn't even flinch. Their shots just fly by. Without even aiming he just fires off 3 vollies and wastes each of them. Soooo easy. By now it should be obvious this is just Cheetor's dreamland.
But Tarantulus is here to turn it into a nightmare. Suddenly Cheetor's not smiling anymore. Suddenly he can't hit anything anymore. Scorponok's here too! He fires that same death-dealing missle at him! It closes in! Cheetor's in beast mode and looking helpless and terrified. Out of nowhere we see Rattrap pop up swinging a knife. Whaaaat? What's that about?

Weeeeeird.

Cheetor wakes up screaming!!! And Rhinox promptly slams him back down on the repair table. He's back in the Axalon and in one piece again. Cause for celebration? Nooooo. The cat really stepped in it this time.

Rattrap: "You took a missle right in the chest plate. Guess you aren't as fast as you thought."
Rhinox: "And you got my comm. link trashed."
Primal: "WTF, Cheetor? wtf?"
Cheetor: "I couldn't let them get away with that canon!"
Rattrap: "Oh yeah, you took care of that real good, kiddo."

Primal leaves to call Dinobot in from the perimeter. They'll have to devise a plan quickly to take care of that mega-canon. Thanks a lot, Cheetor! Stupid kid. Rattrap is none too happy about the idea of raiding the Predacon base and volunteers Cheetor to lead the way.

Cheetor: "At least I'm not afraid to do it!"
Rattrap: "You know kid, that is why you mess up. You don't have the sense to *BE* afraid!"

Ah, love that line. Cheetor's all huffy and bolts out of there determined to show them what he has the sense to do. And another classic moment from Rhinox as he shakes his head slowly.

Rhinox: Mn nn nnn. You know what he's gonna' do."

And he'd be right. Cut to Cheetor, who's already in Predacon territory and spying on Scorponok and Terrorsaur as they mount the mega-canon in place. He's so busy watching them that he doesn't even notice a large rock move behind him. His leg is snared and down he goes down the hole!

He wakes up sometime later to find himself trapped in a stasis web and familiar laughter echoing through the cavern to greet him. Tarantulus is having fun watching him struggle and explains what a stasis web is. Turns out! Turns out that Tarantulus is... into... he's into eating other Transformers. He's a cannibal! The stasis web will slowly drain all of Cheetor's life-force and leave his synthetic flesh alive. That's sick and wrong in soooo many ways. He could crank up the web and drain his life really quick, but he likes the taste of slow-cooked cheetah better. And OMG, Tarantulus is climbing up the web! Gah!! As someone who hates spiders, the thought of a giant spider that close to my face is really creepy. Tarantulus has officially established himself as more terrifying than Megatron. Anyway, the clock is ticking!

Topside we find Rattrap hot on the trail of Cheetor. Some nice camera tracking makes this otherwise standard scene a bit more interesting. Nifty. He comes to the rock that acts as a secret passage into Tarantulus' lair and instantly smells something fishy. A hefty shove of the rock and he's in!

Down in the cavern the life monitors bleep and bloop with ever weakening sounds. It's not long for Cheetor now. Rattrap's got something to say about that though. Tarantulus nearly freaks out and whirls around. And the fight is on! You can see Cheetor's eyes light up with hope and he makes a snarky comment to Tarantulus. The crazed spider just laughs and cranks up the web to full power. Oh hell! Cheetor's got moments to live!

Rattrap runs and ducks behind the stalagmites, returning fire whenver he can. Tarantulus has a good bead on him though thanks to his thermal goggles. Realizing the situation, Rattrap produces a box from his forearm compartment that gives off a heat signature. He places it and runs...

... Just as Tarantulus closes in for the kill. He leaps around the stalagmite only to find the heat box and Rattrap directly behind him. It's all over, but Tarantulus isn't going down without a fight. He fires! Rattrap fires almost simultaneously! And the spider loses a leg! I swear, it's like they were predicting the whole, "Greedo fired first" thing from Star Wars special edition. Hehehe.

Rattrap rushes over to the computer that's controlling the stasis web. He fiddles with the controls, which only makes things worse. Cheetor is choking and gasping. Nearly dead! Rattrap shrugs his arms and realizes what he should've done in the first place; just shoot the computer. Ta-daa! Cheetor is free! Rattrap runs over and slices the web - wait... it's the exact same shot of Rattrap from Cheetor's dream! Cheetor had a premonition of the future? Whoa...

He catches the kitty as he falls out of the web and they're about to make their escape when Tarantulus shows up again. He's leaned up against a stalagmite and fires off a missle that hits the stasis web. The whole cavern blows up and Tarantulus is buried in rock.

Sometime later they both return to the Axalon where the others are still mulling over their plan to raid the Predacon base and take care of that mega-canon. Rattrap whips up a quick excuse to cover for the both of them, though Rhinox casts a knowing glance their way. Primal gives them both a hard stare like he doesn't quite believe their story at first, but then softens and apologizes for being so harsh earlier. They both seem to be off the hook.

In the hall outside Cheetor tries to thank Rattrap for saving his life, but the rat makes it plainly clear that he's not happy and that the only reason he covered for him is because he'd be in trouble too if Primal knew what had really happened. Rattrap storms off, but Cheetor is grateful anyway. Aww. :D

The end!
Couple things about this episode. First, I love the opening scene in the Axalon when Rhinox has finished his invention and again later when Cheetor is on the repair table. It's these scenes more than the action scenes that really defiine Beast Wars to me. These guys are already such strong characters that they could probably carry an entire episode just hanging out in and around the Axalon with no action from the Predacons at all.
Second, this is the first time Cheetor's had a premonition but it won't be the last. He has at least one more (The Spark, maybe Feral Scream part 2) and sees the spirits of his fallen comrades in a much later episode (Other Victories). What does it all mean? Well, if you ever thought that Cheetor was stepping into the role that Hot Rod served in G1, you might have an idea why these unique abilities are important... not to mention that Cheetor became the liaison of the Oracle at the end of Beast Machines...
Third and finally, Tarantulus is just cool. Cool and creepy. This episode stands out for the lack of Megatron and the emphasis on Tarantulus. He's established as the second major threat the Maximals have to watch out for early on and really excells as such. Plus I like that he has his own secret lair that the other Predacons aren't allowed in. :D
Alright that does it for this one. Next up; Equal Measures.


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andersonh1
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Re: Revisiting BEAST WARS

Post by andersonh1 »

I wonder just where the writers were going with Cheetor's premonitions. As far as I can remember, they never really elaborate on them, just establish that he has them from time to time.
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Re: Revisiting BEAST WARS

Post by Onslaught Six »

Mako Crab wrote:Cheetor: "I couldn't let them get away with that canon!"
"After all, this show's the only one we've got! It's not like there's comics. Except that shitty 3H stuff."

I'm making fun of your typo!
BWprowl wrote:The internet having this many different words to describe nerdy folks is akin to the whole eskimos/ice situation, I would presume.
People spend so much time worrying about whether a figure is "mint" or not that they never stop to consider other flavours.
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Re: Revisiting BEAST WARS

Post by Gomess »

"I couldn't let them get away with that canon!" 4 TFViews anti-fanwank meme nao.
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