Beast Machines
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Beast Machines was an animated television series produced by Mainframe Entertainment that was a direct sequel to Beast Wars and is the final television series to take place within the continuity of the original Transformers series. The cause of much controversy among the fanbase, the show ran for two seasons, airing on Fox Kids and YTV from 1999 to 2000. Of the Transformers animated series produced in North America, Beast Machines was the only one to have been completely conceptualized and outlined in advance, lending it a more serialized and linear storyline than the others although the quality of the storylines themselves have been heavily debated amongst transformers fans. The Beast Machines intro theme was "Phat Planet", by Leftfield.
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[edit] Plot Summary
As the new series begins, the surviving Beast Wars Maximal team (Optimus Primal, Rattrap, Cheetor and Blackarachnia) returned back to their homeworld, but the planet is completely devoid of life. A new race of Transformers, known as the Vehicons, have taken control of Cybertron and will stop at nothing to destroy the Maximals. The Maximals found themselves stuck in their original beast forms, and with no ability to transform into their more powerful robot forms. Optimus Primal was then summoned by an ancient supercomputer called "the Oracle".
The Oracle's cryptic messages foretold of a great change to come for the planet of Cybertron. It "reformats" Optimus and the Maximals in order to better equip them to face the threat to Cybertron, that being a virus that had been engineered by the rogue Predacon Leader Megatron. It was revealed that Megatron had escaped during "Transwarp Space" from the past of the Beast Wars and had arrived in an unspecified amount of time before the Maximals exited Transwarp Space. Thus, Megatron had conquered the entire planet with his virus and extracted the sparks of the entire Maximal, and presumably Predacon, race.
The Vehicons were shown to be a race of drones, automated and controlled by Megatron from the former Maximal Citadel. Without sparks of their own, the Vehicons at first proved to be easily defeated by the Maximals as the strain of multitasking (running the entire planet and controlling the Drones) proved to be difficult for Megatron. Megatron thus took three captured sparks and created three Vehicon Generals to take command of their respective drones; Jetstorm to command the Aero-Drones, Tankor to command the Tank-Drones and Thurst to command the Cycle-Drones.
It was later revealed that the sparks used to create these Generals were all known to the Maximals, two of which being former comrades and being forced by Vehicon programming to battle their friends, the other being the only Predacon, other than Megatron to survive the Beast Wars. The Maximals discovered Jetstorm, Tankor and Thrust were really Silverbolt, Rhinox and Waspinator. After having his memories awakened by Rattrap, but still being influenced by the Vehicon programming, Tankor rebelled against Megatron and secretly began to plot to take over Cybertron for himself. Apprehending and reprogramming Megatron's Diagnostic Drone, Tankor discovered the Oracle and learned of the existence of the Key to Vector Sigma, a device which could transform organics into "technomatter", Tankor faked his demise and allowed Megatron to learn of the Key's existence.
Megatron sought to use the Key as a weapon to destroy the Maximals, however Tankor used the Oracle to arm Optimus Primal with control of the Plasma Energy Chamber, a device that could destroy technomatter. Tankor then set up a showdown between Megatron and the Maximals in which he intended to seize control once they destroyed each other, however, Megatron had hard-wired a fail-safe into Tankor's body which caused him to shut down when Tankor tried to harm Megatron. Megatron and Optimus Primal both unleashed their weapons against each other and Cybertron itself was nearly destroyed, but the Oracle managed to intervene and prevented any harm to come to Cybertron.
Megatron, Primal and Tankor were apparently temporarily destroyed, however because of their link to the Oracle itself; they were each given the opportunity to choose their own destiny. Optimus Primal chose to return and carry out the will of the All-Spark. Rhinox was freed from the hard wiring that made him Tankor and he thus chose to rejoin the Matrix in atonement for his misguided deeds as Tankor. Megatron chose to separate the organic elements from his body (his driving desire since returning to Cybertron) and succeeded in doing so, however his spark was trapped in the wrong half and he became a totally organic Transformer known as Savage/Noble.
His intended form, that being an enormous battle station in the shape of an altered version of his head (and able to transform into an alternate form of a powerful spaceship) was released on auto-pilot into the sky above the Maximal Citadel. As Savage/Noble, Megatron tricked the Maximal Nightscream into believing Noble to be another survivor of Megatron's virus and used the Maximals to gain entry to the Citadel where he was able to extract and free his spark from his organic-based form (the body lived on as a beast who followed Nightscream around but showed only animal intelligence) and Megatron was able to interface with his battle station form and remotely took control of Cybertron once again. The Maximals discovered an organic "Liquid Core" and a chamber containing fossilized bones, and were able to awaken Silverbolt from within the body and programming of Jetstorm and reformat him into a Maximal once more. However, his experience as Jetstorm turned him bitter, and Silverbolt lost his charismatic chivalry that had been his main character trait. It was never explained how or why the fossils were there, and this became a sore point in the Transformers fanbase.
Having lost two of his original Generals, Megatron used the sparks of two new Cybertronians (that were said to be the greatest generals in Cybertron History,) and thus two new Vehicon Generals were created: Obsidian and Strika. The Maximals also gained another member when an exploration ship returned to Cybertron in answer to a distress beacon set up by survivors of Megatron’s virus before they were all hunted down by the Vehicon Drones (with the exception of Nightscream of course).
Having adopted an alternate form based on the dominate life-form of the planet she was sent to explore (that of a sentient plant) the newcomer called herself Botanica. This character proved to be of much interest among the fanbase as nothing like her had ever been seen in Transformer Shows before. Botanica proved to be very powerful, and became central in Optimus Primal's plan to reformat the entire planet, and introduce organics to Cybertron.
The Maximals then learned that the sparks of the former inhabitants of the planet were being held within the massive battle station that was Megatron's new body. After launching an attack against Megatron in which the Maximals were nearly defeated, Nightscream witnessed the death of Savage/ Noble by Megatron and, in a rage, was able to depolarize Megatron's spark and force it from its battle station shell. The Maximals then gained control of the battle station and thus control of the displaced sparks as well. Megatron was forced to inhabit an off-line Diagnostic Drone as his Vehicon Army mounted a massive attack in an effort to reclaim his former base. Megatron's forces were able to deplete the power reserves of the battle station and force it to crash; then the Vehicon's vast numbers overwhelmed and defeated the Maximals, extracting their sparks and adding them to the collection in the process.
However, before his capture, the Maximal Cheetor was able to use the antigravity engines of the battle station to launch Obsidian and Strika into orbit around the planet. The only Maximal that was left to face Megatron was Optimus Primal, but to Primal's dismay, Megatron had taken a new form: one based on Primal's own former "Optimal Optimus" body, but stripped of its organic components. Megatron then released all of the captured sparks and absorbed them into his own (causing his form to swell in size) in order to form one perfect being. Megatron then blasted a hole to the core of the planet, exposing the organic liquid core.
Megatron separated Optimus from the Oracle, reformed the Key to Vector Sigma, and began to convert the organic core into technomatter. Once completed, Megatron intended to transfer his own consciousness into Cybertron itself, turn it into a perfect technosphere, and use Cybertron as weapon to conquer the Universe. However, the Oracle managed to reconnect with Optimus Primal, giving him the power to escape. Primal then interrupted the conversion process and tackled Megatron, knocking them both over the edge and into the organic core below. As they hit the core, Primal unleashed the reformatting process, releasing the sparks that were absorbed within Megatron and apparently turning the entire planet into a technorganic sphere. The Maximals awoke in their own bodies while the population was reborn into the new bodies of the reformatted Vehicon Drones, including Waspinator who returned to his original form (but with Thrust's head, and only the size of a real wasp). Waspinator's final words recall an end to the previous series: "Wazzpinator never gets what Wazzpinator wants."
[edit] Characters
[edit] Maximals
Leader of the Maximals. Beast mode is a technorganic gorilla. He was the first to transform into his new robot mode. Optimus is the stalwart and brave leader of the Maximals during the Beast Wars but his leadership degrades as his fanaticism to defeat Megatron grows he nearly kills the team during a battle against Vehicons in a factory. He blames himself for the current state of Cybertron and also for the loss of his comrades, Rhinox and Silverbolt. Upon discovering Tankor was Rhinox, Optimus made a choice to allow Rhinox to carry out his own goals, but that was a mistake he would realize later on. Optimus soon discovered the Plasma Energy Chamber to challenge Megatron's control over the Key to Vector Sigma. Tankor manipulates both but Megatron known of Tankor’s treachery and in the end, Tankor, Megatron and Optimus all perish in a panicked attempt to conquer each other. Optimus is later reborn with help from his friends and the Matrix. Becoming his old self again, he leads the Maximals to victory against Megatron, claiming his base and the sparks of Cybertron. Eventually, Optimus is the only Maximal left standing when the Vehicons capture the others in the series finial. Megatron takes on the body of Optimal Optimus and battles Optimus, using the Key to Vector Sigma to neutralize the planet's core. However, Optimus uses his power of the Oracle to attack Megatron and the two plunge into the core of Cybertron, acting as catalysts to reformat the entire planet into a technorganic paradise.
Second-in-command. Beast mode is a technorganic cheetah. He is the second to transform into his new robot mode. Cheetor has gone from an immature child at the start of the Beast Wars to a mature, but still hotheaded adult in the Beast Machines. Cheetor is now second-in-command of Maximals, but still looks up to Optimus as his idol. However, the two can get into heated arguments when either of them make rash decisions. Cheetor's new beast mode allows him to move much faster than before and he can easily confuse a Vehicon drone (as seen in Reformatting). Cheetor was one of the four Maximals to appear on Cybertron with no memory of what happened before. Cheetor survives the Beast Machines war and appears to become the leader of the Maximals, and the Oracle's new representative as Optimus was previously. Cheetor's weapons included an enhanced super speed (to the point of the original Transformers' Blurr) and a pair of sabers, which he pulled from his back.
Saboteur. Beast mode is a techno-organic black widow spider. Despite her Predacon past, Blackarachnia is now a true Maximal, but still has her crafty and bad-girl personality. She is the third to figure out how to transform. She spends much of the first season looking for and freeing her beloved Silverbolt from the clutches of Megatron. She eventually frees him from his evil form Jetstorm, but he is bitter about his revival. In the end, Blackarachnia and Silverbolt are properly reunited. Her weapons include a very limber athleticism, venomous webbing and deadly fighting skills.
Intelligence and surveillance expert. Beast mode is a technorganic rat. Wisecracking spy Rattrap appeared on Cybertron with no memory of how he got there, and hid aboard a cargo vehicle until he was discovered by Optimus, unable to transform like the gorilla. He is the last out of the original four Maximals to learn how to transform, because he was impatient, but he discovered his short wheeled robot mode has no weapons. He nearly became a Vehicon to get weapons from Megatron and out of bitterness at his vastly diminished position within the Maximals due to his comparatively weak form. He soon, however, realized his mistake and rejoined the Maximals. Rattrap soon learned he could access the computers of Cybertron and gain secret information. Near the end of the series, Rattrap fell in love with fellow Maximal, Botanica. Rattrap had no direct weapons to speak of, hence part of a character flaw, but he had a visor that he could use to scan his peripheral environment and use his onboard computer systems to hack other computer systems.
Young impetuous hothead, Nightscream was the sole survivor of the eradicating virus that infected Cybertron and was inadvertently merged with the beast mode of a bat, later reformatted by Optimus to a technorganic form of the same animal. He often finds conflict with the others and hides his emotions more than the others, but still comes across as an hotheaded child, replacing Cheetor’s role in Beast Wars in this regard. His robot mode weapons included a hypersonic scream and a vampiric bite and sucks the energon out of his target.
Although not considered an official member of the Maximals, Savage/Noble still does count along their number. After his discovery as the beast Savage, who was attacking both sides in the fight, Nightscream persuaded him to join their team. He accepted, but it was later revealed that he was, in fact, Megatron in a new, organic-based body. Megatron removed his spark from this body, and into a huge spaceship one. However later the allegedly comatose Noble reawakened as a true beast, loyal to Nightscream (though he could not speak). Unfortunately, Noble was killed soon after.
One of the original six Maximals to survive the Beast Wars and Blackarachnia's lover. He disappeared when the Maximals returned to Cybertron, and it was later revealed he had been captured by Megatron, with Rhinox and later Waspinator, his spark implanted in the Vehicon General Jetstorm. Blackarachnia learned that Silverbolt actually had enjoyed the atrocities he commit while being Jetstorm. She managed to reformat him into a Maximal again with a samurai-like appearance and the beast mode of a condor. However, he was bitter to his friends about being his Vechicon experiences but still he helped the Maximals. In the last episode he survived and appeared to regain his former noble personality.
A strange Maximal that crashed landed on Cybertron during the Vehicon War and discovered and helped by the Maximals. Botanica is a calm minded peace oriented female who, due to being crossed with a plant, has an innate awareness of the new growth on Cybertron. She becomes Rattrap's romantic interest and battles with the Maximals in the final fight against Megatron and his Vehicons.
Although never appearing materially in the show, Rhinox appeared several times. He was captured by Megatron alongside Silverbolt and became Tankor. Rattrap awoke Rhinox's memories, but instead of rejoining the Maximals, Rhinox shocked everyone by revealing he planned to cleanse the planet of all of this chaos and rule over it himself, his gentle Maximal personality having been completely overwritten by Megatron’s sinister Vehicon programming. He used Megatron and Optimus to activate the Key to Vector Sigma and the Plasma Energy Chamber to carry out his plan. Tankor/Rhinox was destroyed at the end of season one. Realizing his mistakes, Rhinox joined the Matrix despite his transgressions.
[edit] Vehicons
The antagonist of the Beast Wars series. Megatron has conquered all of Cybertron by incapacitating the population of the planet and overrunning it with his mindless Vehicon drones. Utilizing a system that connected him to the very core of Cybertron, he controlled the planet and his Vehicons from the Council Citadel, hunting down all organic life on the planet. Due to a side effect from the Key to Vector Sigma and the Plasma Energy Chamber, he became trapped for a short time in a purely organic body. He gained a new body in the form of a space fortress resembling his head and became even more powerful. When that body was captured by the Maximals, he eventually built a duplicate of Optimus Primal's previous Optimal Optimus form, minus the Beast Mode it once had, and used it to attack the Maximals, hoping to remake Cybertron as a purely metallic planet. Megatron was destroyed when Optimus sacrificed himself to throw Megatron into the Cybertronian core.
Raving, sarcastic and all around thorough villain, the Vehicon Jetstorm always had something to say with a very vicious snap to it. He controls the Aero-Drones. During the first season of Beast Machine's, Blackarachnia uncovered that he was actually Silverbolt, his spark moved into a new body. Upon returning to a Maximal form, Silverbolt regretted being changed back as he loved the freedom from the shackles of his normally intense nobility that that form brought. He also experienced intense guilt due to the acts he had committed as Jetstorm.
Large, powerful, but dull witted, Tankor was usually the first and most blunt of the Vehicons to attack the Maximals. He controlled the Tank-Drones. His slow witted thinking was actually the opposite of his true Maximal personality as the spark that resided in him was none other than that of Rhinox. After awakening, he subscribed to Megatron's belief that organic - or, indeed, autonomous in any form - life had no place on Cybertron, However he further realized that Megatron himself was the biggest flaw in his own plan, being partly organic himself. He spent the rest of season one playing both sides against the other until his own demise at the season’s end.
Smooth talking and confidant and the only truely loyal Vehicon General, Thrust had a very low, whispery voice when he spoke. He controlled the Cycle-Drones. He was very adrenaline-charged and often enjoyed attacking the Maximals, though he was cautious and didn't attack them alone as often as the others did. It was uncovered by Blackarachnia that his spark was actually that of Waspinator, although she believed him to hold Silverbolt's spark up to this discovery.
Diagnostic Drone was a drone built by Megatron to help him remove all organic elements in his body. Built with artificial intelligence but no spark, he was programmed to obey only Megatron. He continuously failed to remove the organic elements from Megatron's body time and time again. He is equipped with several tools built into his arms. When Tankor gained the memories of Rhinox, he reprogrammed the drone to serve him only. The drone obtained the Key to Vector Sigma from the Oracle and sent false visions to Optimus Primal. Megatron later destroyed him along with Tankor. Several other Diagnostic Drones were later seen, one serving briefly as a body even for Megatron's spark.
Remembered as a masterful strategist and tactician during a war with the Predacons sometimes after The Great War along with Strika, Obsidian was awakened by Megatron to assist in the defeat of the technorganics. Though he briefly played the part of a brain-washed machine similar to Tankor, his true intelligence was revealed when victory seemed inevitable, though the Maximals escaped shortly after. After participating in several battles he and Strika were launched into Cybertron's orbit shortly before the reformatting of Cybertron. In a cut scene, he and Stryka would have returned to Cybertron but refused reformatting as punishment for their transgressions.
Also a strategist during the war with the Predacons, Strika shared an existence parallel to that of Obsidian as his partner and consort. It is important to realize that they believed they were serving Cybertron as Megatron had reprogrammed them to think he and the planet were one and the same. During Megatron's absence and presumed demise, during the second season, the two Generals operated much like Maximals, even forging a temporary alliance with them.
- The Drones
The entire force that makes up Megatron's army of Vehicons, the drones are sparkless and are all programmed to follow orders from their generals or Megatron. The drones are split into groups: Aero, Tank and Cycle – with Assault and Copter replacing Aero and Tank in the second season but serving the same function. Mole and Diagnostic Drones, which oddly did not transform, directly served under Megatron without generals of their own. All the other drones resembled their generals by with slightly different coloring and smaller size. Presumably they were all reformatted at the end of the series into bodies for the freed Maximal sparks. In the toyline, the only Aero, Tank and Cycle Drones were released.
[edit] Predacons
Besides Megatron, Waspinator was the only surviving Predacon from the Beast Wars. After being dethroned from his position of ruler of the humans on prehistoric Earth (which he achieved at the end of Beast Wars), Waspinator returned home to Cybertron and was soon after made into the Vehicon General Thrust, in whose form Waspinator spent the majority of the series. In the series finale, after the final battle, Waspinator is returned to his original identity. Very oddly, no mention at all is made of the missing Predacon population of Cybertron.
[edit] Episode List
[edit] Season One
| Episode Number | Title | Airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | The Reformatting | September 18, 1999 |
| 02 | Master of the House | September 25, 1999 |
| 03 | Fires of the Past | October 2, 1999 |
| 04 | Mercenary Pursuits | October 9, 1999 |
| 05 | Forbidden Fruit | October 16, 1999 |
| 06 | The Weak Component | October 23, 1999 |
| 07 | Revelations (1): Discovery | October 30, 1999 |
| 08 | Revelations (2): Descent | November 6, 1999 |
| 09 | Revelations (3): Apocalypse | November 13, 1999 |
| 10 | Survivor | November 27, 1999 |
| 11 | Techno-Organic War (1): The Key | December 4, 1999 |
| 12 | Techno-Organic War (2): The Catalyst | December 11, 1999 |
| 13 | Techno-Organic War (3): End of the Line | December 18, 1999 |
[edit] Season Two
| Episode Number | Title | Airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | Fallout | August 5, 2000 |
| 15 | Savage Noble | August 19, 2000 |
| 16 | Prometheus Unbound | August 26, 2000 |
| 17 | In Darkest Knight | September 2, 2000 |
| 18 | A Wolf In the Fold | September 9, 2000 |
| 19 | Home Soil | September 16, 2000 |
| 20 | Sparkwar (1): The Strike | September 23, 2000 |
| 21 | Sparkwar (2): The Search | September 30, 2000 |
| 22 | Sparkwar (3): The Siege | October 7, 2000 |
| 23 | Spark of Darkness | October 28, 2000 |
| 24 | Endgame (1): The Downward Spiral | November 4, 2000 |
| 25 | Endgame (2): When Legends Fall | November 11, 2000 |
| 26 | Endgame (3): Seeds of the Future | November 18, 2000 |
[edit] Other Info
Written into a special edition comic book was a character by the name of Primal Prime. Appearing only in this book he was a side character to the Beast Machines story and later was written into the toy lines of both Beast Machines and Transformers: Universe. In the Universe story line he eventually gained a new body which combined with Apelinq to create Sentinel Maximus.
The Head Writers use to post and answer questions on a message board know as Bottalk
[edit] Beast Machines Toys
The Hasbro toys for Beast Machines are famous for the fact that many bear little resemblance to the characters on the show, in both shape and color, and they were scaled out of proportion to each other. The reason for this was that although basic concept sketches were made of the major characters, the show creators and toy creators developed the characters independently from that point in the first year. After the first year of toys was released, a number of slightly more show-accurate toys were released.
Many of the characters created as toys never made it on the television series, although some did appear in the comic books. Oddly, the transforming plant Botanica from the television series was not made into a toy for any of the related toylines.
The toys released in the Beast Wars Returns (a release of Beast Machines in Japan) toyline by TakaraTomy were recolored to more closely resemble the show colors. Molds from the drones in the Vehicon Army, which bore more resemblance to the Vehicon Generals, were recolored and used as the Vehicon Generals instead in the Beast Wars Returns toyline.
A line of simple McDonald's Beast Machines toys was sold which did look more like the show characters, and this line was recolored for release in other countries by other fast food restaurants.
[edit] Non-show groups
A number toy sub-groups didn't make it into the animated series, but had small stories on their toy boxes.
- Beast Riders
- Two deluxe sized vehicles that resembled heads of animals and could be ridden by larger figures. Both were redecoed once each, but their boxes remained unchanged.
- Deployers
- Three sparkless Maximal drones that turn into weapons useable by larger toys. All three were redecoed in new colors, but their boxes remained unchanged. The dark blue redeco of Rav was used to represent the character of Chro in the 3H comic series.
- A set of Maximals, all redecoes of older toys from the Beast Wars, Beast Wars Neo lines.
[edit] Non-show characters
A number of characters appeared in the Beast Machines toy line who didn't make appearances in the television series. These included:
- Blastcharge - A Vehicon who turned into a six-wheeled missile truck. Did appear in the Wreckers comics.
- Buzzsaw - A Maximal who turned into a wasp. Did appear in the Transformers: Universe comics.
- Che - A Beast Rider whose form was a cheetah head. Was to appear in the un-produced Wreckers #4.
- Chro (Name given to purple Rav repaint) - Appeared in Wreckers comics.
- Dillo - A Maximal Deployer who turned from an armadillo into a weapon. Did appear in Wreckers comics.
- Geckobot - A Maximal who turned into a flying lizard.
- Longhorn - Maximal who turned into a bull. Was to appear in the un-produced Wreckers #4.
- Mechatron - A Beast Rider whose form as a dragon head.
- Mirage - A high speed Vehicon race car. Did appear in Wreckers comics, and Apelinq's War Journals.
- Mol - A Maximal Deployer who turned from a mole into a weapon. Did appear in Wreckers comics.
- Nightviper - A Maximal who turned into a cobra.
- Primal Prime - A repaint of Beast Wars Optimal Optimus. Did appear in the Wreckers comics.
- Quickstrike - A Maximal. Did appear in the Transformers: Universe comics.
- Rav - A Maximal Deployer who turned from a bird into a weapon. Did appear in the Wreckers comics.
- Scavenger - A Vehicon Demolitions expert. Did appear in the Wreckers comics.
- Skydive - A Maximal who turned a pterodactyl. Was to appear in the un-produced Wreckers #4.
- Snarl - A Maximal who turned into a lion. Did appear in the un-produced Wreckers #3, and the Transformers: Universe comics
- Spy Streak - A Vehicon stealth jet. Did appear in the Wreckers comics.
[edit] Transtech
After Beast Machines ended, Hasbro planned a follow-up series called Transtech. The series was supposedly to bring back some of the characters who died in Beast Wars along with some characters from the original eighties cartoon series, all in new, more organic-looking bodies, though with vehicle alternate modes instead of the animals used in Beast Machines. Many concept sketches and even a few toy prototypes were made, but Hasbro scrapped the idea in favor of bringing Car Robots to American markets.
Concept sketches or prototype toys have been seen for Blackarachnia, Cheetor, Depth Charge, Megatron, Nightscream, Optimus Prime, Scavenger, Shockwave, Soundwave, Starscream and a new character called Immorticon. There were also rumors of a Transtech Dinobot.
It is generally believed that the concept for Transtech Cheetor inspired the design of Transformers: Cybertron Brakedown and the concept for Transtech Megatron inspired Armada Megatron.
[edit] Transformers: Universe
The storyline of Beast Machines is continued in the short-lived comic book Transformers: Universe by 3H Publishing, which has stories taking place during the second season of Beast Machines (In the Transformers: Wreckers comic) and after the Beast Machines story (in the Transformers: Universe comic).
[edit] English Cast
- Optimus Primal, voiced by Gary Chalk
- Cheetor, voiced by Ian James Corlett
- Rattrap, voiced by Scott McNeil
- Blackarachnia, voiced by Venus Terzo
- Silverbolt, voiced by Scott McNeil
- Nightscream, voiced by Alessandro Juliani
- Botanica, voiced by Kathleen Barr
- Savage and Noble, voiced by David Kaye
- Megatron, voiced by David Kaye
- Diagnostic Drone, voiced by Christopher Gaze
- Tankor, voiced by Paul Dobson(1-10) and Richard Newman (11-14)
- Thrust, voiced by Jim Byrnes
- Jetstorm, voiced by Brian Drummond
- Obsidian, voiced by Paul Dobson
- Strika, voiced by Patricia Drake
- Waspinator, voiced by Scott McNeil
[edit] Controversy
As early as its premiere episode, Beast Machines provoked much debate among fans about whether the new series' creative team was portraying the individual characters and the broader Transformers backstory as accurately as the creators of Beast Wars had done. Much of the criticism focused on character portrayals and actions that were perceived as inaccurate and inconsistent with how the characters were established in Beast Wars. This is further compounded by the fact that many of the actors associated with recent Transformer series have referred to Beast Machines as "The Bad Thing". In addition, there was much debate over perceived continuity errors in regards to the broader Transformers backstory. The ending of Beast Machines proved to be extremely controversial. Detractors believe that the "reformatting" of Cybertron, from purely metallic as it had been portrayed in the original series into technorganic, diminished the traditional qualities that had made the Transformers mythos special. While Beast Machines has always been a controversial series, it has gradually become more popular over time, particularly in retrospect after Transformers: Armada and Transformers: Energon, both which met with even heavier abuse for their general low quality. The newfound positive reception, however, is still not considered universal amongst fans of the Beast Wars/Transformers mythos.
[edit] Trivia
- According to commentary of the Beast Machines DVD the series was initially to be called Beast Hunters.
- The character Jetstorm was initially called Skybolt. The first five episodes of the series were filed with the name Skybolt, but then they had to go back and edit these episodes to reflect the change.
- At one point, Thrust was going to be carrying Silverbolt's spark, but they decided to have him carry Waspinator's spark instead on a whim.
- In the episode Home Soil, the character Thrust make a gesture similar to giving the middle finger to Optimus while racing to the crashed ship.
[edit] Theme Songs
Opening/Ending
- "Phat Planet" by Leftfield
[edit] External links
- Robert N. Skir - TV writer and story editor.
- Beast Machines at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- Beast Machines at TV.com
- Beast Machines at the Internet Movie Database
- Ben's World of Transformers
- Transformers Toys Database
- Transformers @ The Moon
- TheTransformers.net
