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"
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Mako Crab
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Re: Revisiting BEAST WARS

Post by Mako Crab »

Spider's Game
written by Larry DiTillo

on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOQ9DM_pu7E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8pfLXNZkK4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSb7V68Xy3M&feature=related

This episode is so gorgeous. I wound up taking 68 pictures originally, way more than what I usually do, and somehow managed to trim that down to just 25. Wasn't easy! Kills me to throw away good pictures. So let's get to it. We're in space and I'm not sure, but I think this is the first time we've seen a whole ring of stasis pods orbiting the planet. No sense bothering to count how many are there, because we're only concerned with one of them today. This lone stasis pod breaks orbit and falls towards the planet.

Deep below ground in his lair, Tarantulus detects the falling stasis pod. He's been expecting this (cuz he's so good at math that he predicted when it would fall!), and sends out a magna-pulse that disables all the electronics in both the Predacon and Maximal bases. Tarantulus wants to make sure that he's the only one getting to that stasis pod. The Maximals are immediately suspicious of Predacons and Primal flies out to scope the area.

Well, so far so good. Tarantulus is a happy man.

"Hey there"

Tarantulus freaks out! It's Blackarachnia! She just waltzed right into his secret lair and he never knew. She has him figured out pretty quickly (so she thinks) and offers to help him reprogram the new stasis pod. He gives a chuckle, because she's so far off-base as to what his true intentions are. But having a new Predacon in the mix is always a bonus, so he agrees to let her come along.

Elsewhere, Tigatron is roaming around doing... whatever it is he does, and spots the falling stasis pod. He tries to radio into the base, but there's a lot of static today. Hm. Odd, yes? Well no time to worry about it now. He's off to secure the pod before the Preds get to it. Yeah, good luck.

The stasis pod gently hovers to a soft landing right next to an ant hill. It scans the lifeforms and begins synthesizing a beast mode right away. OMG!! Giant foot in the foreground! It's Tarantulus and he just looks so bad stepping into the frame like that.

Tarantulus: "Excellent. Completely intact."

Whatever could he be talking about? Blackarachnia gives a quizzical look as he proceeds to his work. She can't go a minute without teasing him though.

Blackarachnia: "You are a clever one. No wonder Megatron fears you!"
Tarantulus: "Is that why you're helping me betray him?"
Blackaraachnia: "Megatron is powerful but inferior. I would make a much better leader. Besides, you're so cute!"

Kind of interesting. I mean, I can understand where she's coming from. On her birthday the first thing she saw was Megatron getting dropped by a rat. After that Terrorsaur blew him up. She's assumed command of all the other Predacons (except Tarantulus) and done well leading them into the field. She spends enough time on the bridge of the Pred ship to see how Megatron operates and to see the flaws in his plans. So yeah, why not? Dump that T-rex!

Tarantulus just gives her a look like he already knows what a tease she is. More of a glare. He returns to his work of reprogramming the protoform. It's all good. He's even brought another black widow spider along so that he can create a third arachnid. When the computer informs him that it's already selected a beast form, Tarantulus is... less than happy. At least it'll be a Pred, right?

Back on the grassy plains Tigatron is running at top speed, completely unaware that he's about 10 miles and 10 minutes too late. Waspinator just happens to be hanging out in a tree and gives chase, blasting the white tiger from behind and sending him flying head-first into a rock. Hehehe. I find Tigatron much more tolerable when he's being hurt. Call me twisted. :P AirRazor pops in to the rescue and minces Waspy with ABSOLUTELY no effort whatsoever. She lands next to Tigatron and he gives her the scoop on the stasis pod. He's too screwed up to run (though he won't let on to it) and sends her ahead of him.

Back at the stasis pod! OMG!!! It's glowing! The whole screen is lit up with bright white light! There's something moving in the stasis pod... OMG, it's a giant red fire ant!!

Blackarachnia: "Ew. Another insect. How depressing."

Was that a shot at Hasbro? Hehe. I like to think so. Why so many bugs, Hasbro?! Why not some other kind of PREDators? The giant fire ant transforms into probably the most awesome Pred of season 1 (maybe of all time)- Inferno! And he's crazy! Crazy roar! Crazy sharp teeth! Oh, this guy is lots of fun! He perceives the spiders as invaders to the colony and blasts them! Tarantulus and Blackarachnia run for cover, quickly deducing that something must have happened to Inferno's logic circuits. He believes he's a real fire ant and the stasis pod is his colony.

AirRazor spots the pod and Inferno below as she soars overhead. Why wait for her to land though? Inferno kicks up the MOST AWESOME flight mode in the entire show! His ant thorax turns into a blender/propeller sort of thing with a giant jet engine hidden inside. Now that's just cool. I love that thing. He flies up to meet her and she gives him a warm Maximal greeting.

AirRazor: "As Cheetor would say, that flight mode is ultra gear! I'm AirRazor. Who are you"
Inferno: "Defender of the colony, and you are an invader."

He shoots but she easily dodges. Ahh, you know what though- I knew it. She's getting all her "cool" lines from Cheetor. And that's the sad part, because Cheetor is so not cool. He's the "dippy cub".

Blackarachnia takes the opportunity to blast AirRazor while she's distracted. Inferno is all shocked by this strange turn of events. Spiders helping to defend the colony?! And how did he recognize them as spiders anyway? They've been in robot mode the whole time. Doesn't matter. She claims to know the queen of the colony personally and only wants to talk with Inferno to gain his trust. Interesting. Who's the queen? Kind of interesting that she wouldn't try to recruit Inferno to her side, but then again, he's already identified her as not of the colony. Moving on.

Tarantulus steals away with the stasis pod while they're talking (the colony!).

Inferno lands and he's all surging with electricity as the effects of energon radiation begin to take their toll. Blackarachnia has to explain to him that he's in robot mode and needs to revert to beast mode. I think... I don't think Inferno even realizes he has a robot mode. I think he must be all ant all the time. That's just cool.

Blackarachnia: "You're a Predacon... like me."

Hm... I always thought she sounded a little sullen when delivering this line. Maybe. Maybe seeing Tarantulus reprogram a protoform has her wondering about her own creation. She explains to him that their mission as Predacons is to conquer and rule. Inferno declines, saying that only the royalty rules, and as a soldier his only goal in life is to defend the colony. *looks around* THE COLONY?!?!?!?! It's gone! Inferno scans the area and spots Tarantulus some distance off hauling the pod away. Oh man, that crazy spider doesn't know what he got himself into.

Tigatron meets up with AirRazor. Now it's her turn to be too hurt to go on. She radios for Primal to rondezvous at her location while Tigatron goes on ahead to retrieve the stasis pod.

Tigatron: "I hunt better alone."

Yeah, yeah, we all know. You do everything better alone.
Scorponok is up in a crow's nest keeping watch while the base's power is still down. He spots Tarantulus dragging the pod and Inferno as well. He calls up to Megatron and informs him of the situation. Guess who's coming to the party!
Outside, Tarantulus makes his stand against Inferno! He traps the ant in a stasis web. Ahh, finally, all the interlopers have been removed. For a second anyway. Scorponok shows up and relays Megatron's orders to Tarantulus (he wants the pod and Inferno brought to the base). Yeah, that's not happening. Tigatron blasts the pod and blows it up.

Inferno: "OMG, THE COLONYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!"

Blackarachnia gets the drop on Tigatron and sends him rolling down a cliff and into the waiting machine gun legs of Tarantulus. NOW THAT'S SOME DAMAGE!! They really made this one look painful. The metallic sound of bullets ripping through metal, the way Tigatron staggers backwards, just the whole general screwed up look of Tigs when he's shot to pieces. Even his beast mode head has a black eye! I love battle damage in this show. Megatron shows up and that's the spider's cue to run like mad. Um... why exactly? Megatron didn't have any inclination that they were trying to betray him, did he? Maybe he did, but... nothing ever specifically stated. So yeah! Tigatron's all screwed up and barely able to stand!

Tigatron: "Who's the first to sample my bite."

Uh... I bet AirRazor would be down for that. As far as threatening one-liners go, that doesn't rank too high on the charts. But I'll give him points for putting on a brave face against insurmountable odds. Inferno busts out of the stasis web and goes crazy! Megatron takes a liking to him immediately and makes sure to blame Tigatron for destroying the colony. That's all Inferno needed to hear! Tigatron takes another pounding from Megatron and Inferno this time! That tiger is more than half-dead, I swear!

Primal and AirRazor arrive just in time and blow up Inferno. Poor Inferno. He was such a badass, but one shot took him out. I guess the episode was running a little long for time. Of course! That must be it! It's not that he's made of cheap parts! They rescue Tigatron and fly to safety. Megatron keeps firing on them pointlessly. And now for one of my favorite little lines from Scorpy.

Scorponok: "They're out of range, Megatron."

Aww, I think that's the only time in the entire series that Scorpy has actually tried to reign in Megatron's bad temper. Lesson to Scorponok: don't bother, but thanks for the effort! Megatron's in a really bad mood now and wants to have a word with the spiders. Does not bode well...

Back at the Axalon- IT'S SNOWING!!!! Take a good look, people, because this is the only time the Axalon is ever covered in snow!! Looks very pretty too, also a nice contrast to all the burning and stuff that Inferno's been doing for the rest of the episode. Nice way to visually cool things down. Tigatron steps out of the CR chamber in mint condition and starts heading for the door again.

AirRazor: "...it wouldn't hurt to visit us now and then, would it?"
Tigatron: "No, I don't suppose it would. Farewell, my firends."

And he's out the door. YOU DUMB CAT!! That was your cue to stick around for a while and hang out with your Maximal friends! You know, "friends"?? The people that keep saving your butt every day and always invite you over for coffee, but you never have time for them?! You *$%*##$% stupid cat! And the really sad part? AirRazor looks on with real hurt in her optics, but *FORCES* a smile at the last second. You monster! You've hurt AirRazor's feelings! GAWD $##$ CAT!! Bah, whatever. He's already out the door. Bet he didn't even look behind him on his way out. Bah!

Back in Tarantulus' lair, Blackarachnia is worried. She just knows that Megatron is going to scrap them both for their treachery. Tarantulus reveals a vital piece of information to her; the planet is doomed, so it really doesn't matter what Megatron does. The stasis pod was meant to be rebuilt into an escape ship. She wants back in on his plans but he just laughs and sends her away. Ohh. It's just not a good day for couples to hook up.

That's all for this, one of my favorite episodes of Beast Wars. Inferno is just hella' cool. The whole alliance between Blackarachnia and Tarantulus seems like a given, but this is the first time they've really hooked up. It makes sense if you're looking at her progression throughout the show so far. There just hasn't been any real opportunity for them to do anything as a team until now. I actually like that Tigatron's lone-wolf attitude is now being played up as a character flaw. He spends so much time alone, that he's begun excluding his own friends from his life (AirRazor especially). AirRazor... not so annoying this time out as she was in the Trigger. Still not on my top 10 list by any stretch, but at least we got a better glimpse of what she's like. She really needs to stop emulating Cheetor though. That's no good. :P

Next up: Dark Voyage


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Mako Crab
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Re: Revisiting BEAST WARS

Post by Mako Crab »

Dark Voyage
written by Samuel Warren Joseph

on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbAo67SCNmc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiLF2p_8 ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXepgY-H ... re=related

Ugh... I'm sure there are fans of this episode out there, and for their sake I give this warning; I'm not one of them. If I had to choose an episode to skip or cut out altogether, this would be the one. Well, why prolong the suffering? Let's do this one up quick (and I mean quick).

Rattrap, Cheetor, Dinobot and Rhinox are out mining for raw energon crystals. I notice they're just walking around a huge area laden with the stuff. Getting that close to so much energon in the old PSX Beast Wars game would've killed you. Just another reason to hate that game. Hey, here's my favorite line of the show!

Dinobot: *some snarky remark*
Rattrap: "Eh, you're so funny."

It's all going good, and then Waspinator and Scorponok show up. Scorpy fires a tuning-fork missle into the energon crystals. Rhinox transforms to robot mode and yanks the tuning fork out, but it's already too late. The crystals are still resonating and vibrating. For some odd reason, all the other Maximals transform to robot mode too. Now if it were me, I'd be running like mad and staying in beast mode, since those fur-coats are the only thing protecting them from the energon. Pretty big explosion with the Maximals right at the center of it. No chance the Maximals survived... probably, so the Preds take off.

Some time later... the Maximals all revive and we get to listen to each of them take turns freaking out as they all realize that they've been blinded by the massive energon radiation released from the explosion. I take that back; Rhinox is the only one that doesn't freak out. He tries to calm the rest of them down and... oh, Dinobot's really crying now. Oh, don't be sad, little raptor buddy, it'll be okay.
They've taken so much energon damage, that they'll all die if they don't get to a CR chamber soon. Rhinox leads the way back to the Axalon, sniffing his way and using his other animal senses, while the other Maximals form a single-file line behind him by grabbing on to each other's tails.

Going through a lush jungle. I really like this setting. Rhinox detects something and stops to get a fix on whatever it is that's stalking them. Dinobot just completely freaks out and runs himself right into a tree. He's out of the fight. OMG, giant snake! It drops on Cheetor and coils around him, crushing him and causing his eyes to shoot sparks. Now, it's common knowledge that snakes hate Transformers. Doesn't matter whose side you're on. If you transform, you just made the list.

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Snakes on a Plane!

Rhinox takes care of the giant snake by flinging it clear over the horizon. Don't think it'll be bothering anyone ever again. Cheetor's horribly screwed up though. He feels "cold" and he's "tired... so tired." CHEETOR! Don't go to the light! Rhinox carries Cheetor on his back, and they continue on their way back to the base.

They come to a waterfall, which happens to be one of the rivers that feeds into the big waterfall that runs under the Axalon. They're getting close! They all begin crossing a fallen log over the raging waterfall, when Waspinator shows up again. He's been sent back to finish the job (I notice Scorponok is no longer with him- where'd he get off to?). Like any good Predacon, he delights in the Maximal's newfound blindness and blasts the log they're all crossing on, sending them all tumbling over the waterfall. I really like how the log bounces among the rocks in the river below before heading downstream again. I don't know why, just kind of adds a sense of realism to the whole thing, I guess.

Terrorsaur meets Waspy wanting to know the status of the Maximals. Waspinator assures him that this time the Maximals are really done for. That's not good enough for Terrorsaur; he wants to see some proof like some bodies or something. You know, if Waspinator and Scorponok had just had Terrorsaur along in the first place, they wouldn't be in this whole mess right now.

*imagines...*

Scorpy: "Wow! What an explosion. Well, guess we should head back to base."
Waspy: "Yeah, Waspinator thinks Maximals must be destroyed for sure!"
Terrorsaur: "Hold on, guys. We should double check before we just run off."

Problem solved. But anyway, the two Predacon fliers cruise over the river some distance and what do you know- there's the Maximals all washed up on the bank of the river. See, Waspy? Terrorsaur just saved you some embarrassment. They head back to REALLY finish the job for good this time.

On the river bank the Maximals are all freaking out again, knowing that the Preds won't be leaving so prematurely this time. And once again, Rhinox calms them all down and goes into Zen-Rhino mode. Using his awesome Zen powers, Rhinox instructs the others to picture a targetting grid in their heads. His rhino ears listen intently for the sound of flying Predacons and he directs the Maximals as needed. They all blast wildly in the general area that Rhinox orders and manage to take out Terrorsaur.
Waspy flies high and comes in for a dive-bomb attack from directly overhead, but Rhinox detects this too and has Rattrap fire straight up, taking out the Pred. Waspy explodes into fire and hits the water, skipping across it like someone threw a stone. Heh, cute.

About that time Cheetor (he's back on his feet again!), Rattrap and Dinobot all take turns twitching and dropping dead like dominos. Being in robot mode accelerated the spread of the energon poisoning. Thankfully Optimus Primal arrives at just that moment and calls in some backup to haul them all back to the base.
Later... Rhinox steps out of the CR chamber with newly repaired optics. He opens his eyes to see all the others there too, fully repaired. Aww, it's a happy ending, and now they're just that much wiser as to what they can do in beast mode. The end.

Ho hum... it's... it's not really that bad of an episode. It just always felt pretty boring to me. There were a couple of interesting moments, like when Tarantulus (in the Pred base) detected walking energon, and Megatron deduced it was the poisoned Maximals. There are a few minor scenes dedicated to showing Primal and Tigatron (and AirRazor off-screen) searching for the lost Maximals, but nothing really noteworthy happens during these scenes. It felt like a by-the-numbers episode. Not bad but not great. Maybe there's some fans of "Dark Voyage" here that can shed a more positive light on this episode. As for me, I'm ready to wrap this one up.

Next up: Possession

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Is anyone else getting a Little Mermaid vibe from this?

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Mako Crab
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Re: Revisiting BEAST WARS

Post by Mako Crab »

Sorry the the 4 month long delay, everyone! I have a problem with being lazy sometimes. :P Let's get this thing back on track, shall we?

Possession
written by Ian Weir

on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvrqAn97eVE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C8DZw0f ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5Sh13Lg ... re=related

Ahh, this is a fun episode that makes absolutely no sense. If you take it at face value, it's good stuff. Look any deeper than that and... hoo boy. It all starts when the disembodies spark of Starscream comes to town and validates Cheetor's crazy, pre-cognitive dream back in "The Web". Yeaah, who remembered that? In classic Universal Monster movie style, Starscream arrives in the middle of a violent lightning storm. His spark enters the Predacon base, gets into the computers, and possesses the first hapless fool he comes across- Waspinator!

Starscream wastes no time introducing himself, and I've even taken a couple nice pictures of Mainframe's slap-dash CGI 'Screamer, because I know everyone would be asking for it. Looks good when shown in a split-second flash, but not so hot when you actually get a good look at it. Anyway, Terrorsaur confirms that he saw the "entity" come out of the computer and possess Waspy. Everyone seems quite accepting of this new turn of events. Probably because Waspinator was such a bungler. Anything must be an improvement. We get one of my favorite little scenes in this episode, when Blackarachnia displays her aptitude for Cybertronian history yet again by educating the clueless Scorponok.

Blackarachnia: "The Decepticons were our ancestors. For centuries they warred with the Autobots."

Megatron: "- The ancient ancestors of the Maximals."

Centuries? Ancient? I'm sorry, I have to stop for a second. Really, centuries? In every other piece of fiction we're told that the Great War lasted for millions of years. Millions and millions of years! She could be talking about the most recent Great War, but it's so general a statement as to make me think she's referencing all the Great Wars. Or maybe when someone says millions of years, they mean millions of Earth years. For example, one year on Neptune = approximately 165 years on Earth. And it would be silly to assume that Cybertron takes the same amount of time to orbit its star as Earth does the sun. So maybe centuries is right? And just to make matters even more convoluted, here's the TF Wiki entry on centuries: http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Breem

All very interesting stuff, and all it took was a couple well placed words. Moving on.

Blackarachnia: "You were destroyed. It's written in the Chronicles of Cybertron."

Ahh, that's what I was waiting for. I've always thought Blackarachnia was something of a historian, and here she does us the favor of naming her favorite book on the subject. The Chronicles of Cybertron, I'm guessing, was written by a Predacon, because as we'll learn a bit later, the Maximals have classified all information regarding Starscream. Screamer explains that he wasn't destroyed... exactly. He tells a wonderful story about how he valiantly fought against Unicron to protect his leader, Galvatron. And! And! We get a flashback sequence! CGI Starscream looks so much better from behind and there- in the sky!

Starscream: "The giant transformer, Uunicron!"

Hehe, I love how he says Uunicron! There's just a little bit of emphasis there. I also like how he describes Unicron as just a giant transformer. None of this chaos bringer stuff. Remember, in the cartoon universe Unicron was built by a monkey. Hm... hmmm... you know, maybe there's some logic to this episode after all. Primal's a gorilla, Starscream, Unicron, Primacron... hmmmm... nope. It's gone. I thought I had something there for a second, but I lost it. Anyway, Starscream pledges his loyalty to Megatron and offers information that will help them to beat the Maximals once and for all.

Only problem is, his idea of a master plan is to rush head-first at all the auto-guns on the Axalon. Megatron thinks this would be ... painful. But you know, Starscream's a badass Decepticon warrior, so we should take his word for it. Because Decepticons are cool. And they do the cool moves... no they don't.

*glares at Decepticons*
That one's for Jetstorm and Thrust. Grr.

Starscream: "We strike hyere." finger pointy!

Hee! I like how he says, "Hyere!" It's like a slight english accent on it or something. Cute. Cut to the battle and the Preds are attacking the Axalon! The Maximals are completely caught off guard, because they were all watching the other side of the ship! What in the world? Where were all the automated alarms? No time to worry about that now! The Preds tear up the place in no time and all the Maximals are dumbfounded that they're getting their butts handed to them by Waspinator. It's really something. And hey- he does actually have some cool moves for once. Oh, it's just so sad. Waspy *could* be that cool if he only knew how. The Maximals retreat! AirRazor flies into view just in time to see her friends making a hastey escape.

AirRazor: "Something tells me this isn't a firedrill. I'd better find Tigatron."

Oh my gawd, someone tell AirRazor to shut up. And why, why is she running off to find Tigatron when her other friends are right there and in need of help? Ugh, terrible.

Inside the base it's time for a party! Predacons are victorious and have a new round table to call their own! Of course, they can't leave their own base unprotected, so it's time to split up the troops. Before Megatron leaves, he puts Starscream in charge of the Axalon and tells Scorponok to keep an eye on their new Decepticon friend... you know, just in case he decides to betray them. Not like Starscream would ever do that. Makes me wonder if Megatron is also aware of Starscream's track-record or if he's just being cautious. But for crying out loud, don't whisper to Scorpy right in front of Starscream! Are you serious?! Do you want him to be suspicious?? Alright then, your call.

Elsewhere, the Maximals have taken refuge in the jungle/forest thing. Primal and co. are trying to figure out what to do about the current situation, but they don't know a thing about Starscream. Good thing for them that they have a Predacon there to clue them in (there's that thing with the Maximal Elders classifying everything again). Dinobot informs them that Starscream is treacherous, a backstabber, the most notorious traitor of all time, etc. etc., but he lubbed his mommy! Aww!

Primal: "And now he's back and pledging his loyalty to Megatron. Hmm..."

Yes, hmm. Primal's getting it all figured out. Cut to my least favorite scene in this episode. Tigatron is just wandering around somewhere when he hears a voice overhead.

AirRAzor: "News update from your spy in the sky! Half the Preds just left the base and guess who's in charge?"

WHO? WHOOO?! AirRazor flies off without waiting for a reply. What in the world kind of news brief was that? What base? The Pred base? Half the Preds just left from the Pred base? If I were Tigatron, that's probably what I would think. How would he know otherwise? And who's in charge? Megatron? No. Scorponok? No. Tarantulus? No. Terrorsaur? No. Inferno? No. Just tell me who already! What is this, a news brief or a game of 20 questions?! AirRazor is worthless as a reporter. I hereby revoke her Press card, notepad, pen, and reporter hat.

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Back at the Axalon, Starscream has detected a little tension in the air with Blackarachnia. She reveals that she knows the truth about how he died. She read his files! Turns out he was destroyed by Galvatron, not Uunicron! I like how they don't even mention G1 Megatron during this episode. It had the potential to get a little confusing with all the backstory, but they kept it simple. I like that. Turns out that Blackarachnia's not looking to expose Starscream though. She's looking for a partner. Hm? Tarantulus no fun anymore? Or maybe Screamer's just more fun. Trouble outside though! The Maximals have shown up to surrender! All of them except AirRAzor apparently. She's probably off sulking about losing her job as a reporter. Screamer's taken on BA as his new apprentice and gets right to teaching her... how to be a scoundrel!

Starscream: "Lesson 1: always show compassion. It's a useful cover for your true motives."

I likes. He accepts the Maximal's surrender. He allows Primal and Dinobot to enter the Axalon, where Dinobot is put into the CR chamber. Then comes the betrayal part and they lock up Primal, "in the hold or somewhere." Primal squints his eyes a squinty squint as if he were grinning with his eyes. A squin? Yesss. He's got a plan. Starscream returns topside and orders the Maximals to attack the Predacon ship. Wha- wha- whaat? *ahem* WOT???

Tigatron: "We had an agreement, Starscream!"
Starscream: "And now we have another one!"
Darth Vader: "Pray I don't alter it further."

How'd that get in there? Blackarachnia dispatches Scorponok and now it's just the two of them running the show. But why in the world does Starscream want to attack the Pred base? It makes absolutely no sense to me. What, is he going to conquer Megatron and rule over a backwater, prehistoric planet? Who knows. So the Maximals go off to trash the Pred base while Starscream and BA watch the show from the Axalon.

Starscream: "Lesson 2: they're always more gullible than you'd hope."
Primal: "Lesson 3: Optimus always wins!"

Primal busts onto the bridge and sets Dinobot free. Now it's two on two, but fair odds apparently aren't Screamer's thing. He bails like a chicken on a sugar-binge, leaving Blackarachnia to fend for herself. She makes it out okay, but you just know this is going to come back and bite Screamer in the end. Primal gives chase, leaving Dinobot alone in the base. The camera holds on him for a silent moment or two. Kind of an interesting shot. I always got a weird vibe from it like Dinobot had just fought off a Decepticon legend and was still taking it all in... or something.

The Pred base! The Maximals are not having a good time. For the first time in the history of the show, the auto-guns are doing their job. Of course they are. They're Predacon auto-guns. The Maximals should really look into purchasing some to replace the ones that keep getting shot off their own base. Primal arrives on the scene in time to mess up Starscream, and he does so by using the worst wind-up punch I've ever seen. Starscream hits the ground and finds himself looking down the barrels of Primal's forearm canon. He tries to bargain with him, but Blackarachnia interupts their negotiations with a missle aimed at some nearby energon.

Starscream: You've betrayed me!"
BA: "I studied with the master."
Starscream: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Primal flies to safety but not before donning some black shades and delivering Arnie's signature line, "Hasta la vista, Starscream." The gigantic energon explosion knocks Starscream's ghost clear of Waspinator's body and flings his disembodied spark back into space.

Later... Megatron is actually helping to repair Waspy and it's the cutest scene ever! OMG! Blackarachnia explains her whole role in the coup and how it was all just a ploy to get Starscream to reveal his true intentions. Whatever. Megatron's not buying it either. And floating somewhere off into space is Starscream screaming his head off about getting revenge, "even if it takes a thousand years!"

"Twinkle, twinkle, little Starscream." Hehe.


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"Waspinator has a headache in his whooole body."

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Re: Revisiting BEAST WARS

Post by Onslaught Six »

The reason Starscream looks odd is pretty simple--they were using comic colours. Specifically, some of G2.
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Re: Revisiting BEAST WARS

Post by Sparky Prime »

Mako Crab wrote:Where were all the automated alarms?
Seeing the damage the storm caused to the Axalon, it isn't hard to believe several systems would be offline.
Mako Crab wrote:And why, why is she running off to find Tigatron when her other friends are right there and in need of help? Ugh, terrible.
Strength in numbers, especially when all the Predacons are attacking their base.
Mako Crab wrote:What in the world kind of news brief was that?
She probably was indicating he needed to follow her and she'd fill him in on the rest while on the way. No reason for the audience to hear all of it, we just saw it.
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Re: Revisiting BEAST WARS

Post by Mako Crab »

Sparky Prime wrote:Seeing the damage the storm caused to the Axalon, it isn't hard to believe several systems would be offline.
Okay, good call. Slipped my mind.


Strength in numbers, especially when all the Predacons are attacking their base.
I was thinking of Optimus carrying Dinobot's heavy butt. Instead of lending a hand, she just takes off to find Tigatron.
She probably was indicating he needed to follow her and she'd fill him in on the rest while on the way. No reason for the audience to hear all of it, we just saw it.
True, but there were so many other ways they could've had her get the same message across. As is, I'm left with the impression that the writers were trying to make AirRazor seem cool and didn't really pull it off.
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Re: Revisiting BEAST WARS

Post by Sparky Prime »

Mako Crab wrote:I was thinking of Optimus carrying Dinobot's heavy butt. Instead of lending a hand, she just takes off to find Tigatron.
As the only flyer (in both modes) for the Maximals, she is the one who'd be able to find him the quickest, and they needed all the Maximals together anyway.
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Re: Revisiting BEAST WARS

Post by Mako Crab »

As the only flyer (in both modes) for the Maximals, she is the one who'd be able to find him the quickest, and they needed all the Maximals together anyway.
Eh, I guess it all worked out in the end. No harm, no foul.

Somehow I got out of order there. This episode comes before Possession. Don't tell anyone. :D

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Lots of dream sequences this episode, and we're starting with one starring everyone's favorite spotted cat. Cheetor's on the hunt chasing after some... wow, I should know what he's chasing. Is it a deer? Wow, I feel really stupid just now. Anyway, the ground gives way and - OH MY GAWD IT'S LAVA AND VOLCANOS EVERYWHRERE!!!! Cheetor snaps out of his nightmare to find the base redecorated in a cheery red. Some might say lava red. Hm? Hmmm? Okay, so that one probably doesn't count as a precognitive dream. I had to try. No, it's the red alert blaring, cuz they're under attack!

Preds shooting at the base. Autoguns getting blasted as usual. Something new today though. Waspinator and Terrorsaur are on the roof of the Axalon ripping off hull plating. They're yanking an interesting little device out of the ship. Looks cool. I like it when they actually show the inner workings of stuff like that. Some cool little bits in this fight:
- Megatron is shooting giant purprle missles today instead of the usual pink blasts.
- Great camera angle on Dinobot spinning Tarantulus and letting him fly through air.
- Uh... that's all, actually.

Primal heads topside to stop the Preds. He blasts Waspy, but gets shot back down by Terrorsaur. Then it's a chase into the air! The two fliers take off with Primal still in pursuit. Ah, but here's AirRazor coming in for the kill. But wait! Primal gets blasted by that giant purple lipstick missile of doom and AirRazor gets shot down too! Not a good day for the Maxis. The bird lady saves Primal from landing on his head, but the Preds get away with the rectifier coil.

And what is a rectifier coil, you may ask? Rhinox tells us- just as everyone gets hit by a wave of energon build-up inside the base- (not good) that the rectifier coil is the device that shields them from energon radiation while they're inside the base.That means they're going to have to stay in beast mode a while. If the Preds decide to attack again, they'll need every minute of robot-mode time they can get to battle it out. Sounds like pretty sensible reasoning. Oh, and AirRazor's in the CR chamber. Seems she took a bit harder of a hit than she let on. Probably be a few days before she can come out.

Soooo for the next couple days the Predacons keep making random fly-byes; just enough to keep the Maximals on edge and awake and in beast mode. Everyone's nerves are really getting frazzled here. Turns out ship-life wasn't built with beast modes in mind. More random attacks, more crazy dreams (Primal this time), and finally the ape loses it! He threatens to smack Rattrap with a chair. Rhinox, doing what rhinos are known for, stamps his feet and puts out the metaphorical fire burning between the comrades.

More laying around, more crazy dreams (Primal again and now Dinobot too). Dinobot's chasing a parasaurolophus and whips it around in his mouth like a ragdoll. He wakes up and... and... what a cheat! That dream made him hungry. Wonder if there's anything to eat around the base? Nothing big, just a little snack. A tender little morsel. Mmm, just a little something juicey, a little something... something... what's that over there? OH HELL!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE, RATTRAP! HE'S GOING TO EAT YOU!!! All the Maximals head out of the base (some faster than others) and into the nearby woods, where Megatron is waiting with a hunting party.

Now this is a hunting party. Scorpy and Tarry are carrying Megatron on a chair with the fliers hovering nearby. Blackarachnia's banging on a drum complete with stretched zebra skin. Very classy. I couldn't help but notice that Blackarachnia and Inferno have absolutely no lines in this episode. Hm. Oh well. Just seems kind of odd is all.

Back at the Axalon AirRazor has finally gotten out of the CR chamber alright and Tigatron is there monitoring the situation in the woods. With little time to spare, he sends her off to the Predacon base to retrieve the rectifier coil while he heads off to save the Maximals. Well at least someone thought to retrieve the coil. When was Primal going to get around to it? Two days on and they were already losing it. This is one time where it really pays to have Tigatron around.

The Preds are shooting up the jungle, but Tigs manages to wrangle up all the Maximals and gets inside their heads. Really, he's just contacting them on their internal frequency, but he reaches the robots within and tells them to all delete the programming block that separates their beastial instincts from their robot personalities. The Maximals break free from the trance and are all back to normal! Sort of. Close enough. It's time to shred some Pred methinks.

But first AirRazor has a mission to complete. No Preds home but there are plenty of autoguns. In what is probably her coolest move in the whole series, she works up a full head of steam and whips by all the automated defenses, causing a sonic boom in the process! Now that's cool.

AirRazor: "She stoops to conquer!"

. . . Just sucked all the cool out of that moment. She's in the base and sneaking around. Finds the rectifier coil in no time, but realizes it's probably boobie trapped. Ugh, she's talking to herself again. By now I shouldn't even have to say it. You all know I can't stand it when she does this. All I can figure is it must get lonely up in the skies all day by yourself.

AirRazor: "Blue sky, bright sun; sure is a nice day."
AirRazor: "Sure is!"
AirRazor: "Hey, what about that rectifier coil?"
AirRazor: "Here it is. You carry it."
*hands it from her left hand to her right hand*
AirRazor: "Alright. mission accomplished."
AirRazor: "Let's get out of here!"
AirRazor and AirRazor (at the same time): "WEEEEE!"

Back in the jungle Megatron gets a rude awakening when the Maximals charge him head-on. This is actually one of the cooler fights in the series just because they're utilizing their beast and robot modes so much at the same time. Really kind of cool, and it's a shame they didn't do it more often after this episode. Rhinox grabs Rattrap and makes with the canonball special! Always a cool moment. Dinobot stomps on Blackarachnia's *FACE* with his raptor talons. That, to me, always looked super painful. Monkey flying through the air becomes robot doing a flying kick! Awesome! Primal hoists Megatron up over his head and launches him into the air. You don't mess with the monkey. Preds are in full retreat and AirRazor returns with the coil.

Cheetor: "Yeah! Beast or bot, we're the baddest in town!"

As he gives a little fist pounding action to the boss monkey. This one's over! Not a bad ep, but for some reason not really a favorite either. It does have its moments but overall, I think maybe it's the pacing of the episode itself. Seems kind of slow at times. This one is where Tigatron really shines as a nature-loving butt kicker. One of his best showings. AirRazor... seems to be suffering from a case of the writer's trying too hard to make her cool. If anyone deserved a fanfic, it's AirRazor, because the show isn't doing much to flesh her out as a character. At least that's my take.

NEXT UP!
The Low Road... or... Rhinox has Farting Sickness!


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Re: Revisiting BEAST WARS

Post by SynjoDeonecros »

Yeah, that episode was weird, and also caused a bit of a continuity problem for me with Beast Machines; the whole purpose of the series was the balance between tech and nature, and how the Maximals struggled to find that balance within themselves after being reformatted, but this episode showed they've ALREADY dealt with that kind of issue, so what gives?
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Re: Revisiting BEAST WARS

Post by Onslaught Six »

Megatron's transformation lock virus ended up screwing with a lot of the BW bodies--those who were Transmetals got devolved back to their pre-TM bodies, which arguably could also mean the original beast DNA programming lived inside them once again.

The reformatting could also have something to do with that--remember, the BW characters, in the course of BW, do not actually *have* any organic parts. They aren't like Terminators, with organic skin covering metal bodies--they just simulate it.
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