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Revisiting BEAST WARS

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Mako Crab

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Jul 22, 2008, 3:11:40 PM7/22/08

The series that needs no introduction. Beast Wars is my personal
favorite Transformers series of all time, so this is going to be fun.
It's the show that rekindled my interest in Transformers and caught me
off-guard so many times, I lost count.

Before I get into the retrospective, please have a look at the REAL
opening credits. For some reason, the shortened version was used on
the dvd box set. The quality of this video isn't great, but it's the
only one I could find. Is the original intro simply lost to time (and
degrading vhs tapes) now?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyJD2PL6408&feature=related

And if your're really curious, the hilarious japanese version.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGDOzMTpXpM

Beast Wars (part 1)
written by Bob Forward

on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-3X4A-QFV8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdoVtqra39s&feature=related

The plot is bare bones, but here's what's happening. Two ships emerge
from a transwarp rift in space locked in battle. Enjoy it while you
can, because it's the last time you'll see both of these ships in
flying condition. The lead ship, manned by a crew of Predacon
criminals, cripples the pursuing Maximal ship, but rather than finish
them off right there, the Predacon commander decides to have a little
fun taking potshots at the helpless vessel.

Except that it's not so helpless afterall. The Maximal ship, the
Axalon, ejects several stasis pods into orbit containing their dormant
crew members, and prepares for one last round. Hehe, the ship lists
and comes around, delivering the full force of its canons into the
Predacon ship. Oh yeah! Direct hit! Those Predacons are going down!
Both ships are pulled into the gravity of a nearby planet and careen
towards the surface. If you look closely during this scene, you'll
notice that the planet has two moons. Oooh, mysterious!

The ships crash but everyone survives. The Axalon lands in a
moutainous region of stone and waterfalls. The river feeding the
waterfall run directly below the Axalon. Very picturesque. I wouldn't
mind visiting them at all.
The Predacon ship crashes into a volcanic region. The ground is black,
punctuated by cracks that reveal flowing lava just beneath the
surface. Not the greatest place to vacation, but they probably love
the inhospitable nature of it.

Bad news all around for everyone. The planet is teeming with raw
energon crystals. Usually this would be good, since Predacons and
Maximals run on energon, but there's so much of it that they require
some protection from its unique radiation (unique in that it seems to
have no effect on organics at all). The answer? A new fur coat! Both
crews adopt alternate forms based on the local animals, and now... now
we get one of the more painful scenes in the entire series.

Cheetor: "Hey, look at me! I'm a cheetah! No, no, I'm Cheetor!
Rhinox: Ease back, Cheetor. Livin' large is for forms like me, Rhinox.

Wha... what are they doing? Naming themselves? Did they just change
their names because they got new beast modes? I mean, it's not unheard
of. Seems like any time someone gets a new coat of paint they have to
go changing their name (Goldbug, Galvatron, etc.). But still, these
introductions (except Rattrap) are on par with the horrible
introductions of Beachcomber and Perceptor in G1. Well... maybe not
that bad.

Oh yeah, so our valiant crew of Maximals now consists of:

Optimus Primal- a gorilla
Rhinox- a rhinocerous
Rattrap- a rat
Cheetor- a cheetah

Back at the crashed Predacon ship everyone's picked up new beast modes
as well. We now have:

Megatron- a tyrannosaurus rex
Scorponok- a scorpion
Tarantulus- a tarantula
Terrorsaur- a pteranodon
Waspinator- a wasp
Dinobot- a velociraptor

The creativity that went into these names is just mind boggling. It's
okay though, it's okay. Moving on! It seems Dinobot is raging about
something. He's got the stolen golden disc in his hands and flings it
away in anger. Seems they've landed on the wrong planet. They were
looking for Earth but the two moons in the sky clearly indicate that
they're on the wrong planet. Not to mention the lack of human
civilization. Everything else screams out that this is Earth (the
plant and animal life), but two moons! Two moons! No explanation! It
can't possibly be Earth!

Dinobot immediately challenges Megatron for leadership of the
Predacons. The big T-rex chuckles at this and has Scorponok blast
Dinobot with a missle that sends him flying over the horizon. Who
cares what planet they're on as long as there's butt-loads of energon
to be had, right? That's Megatron for you, always looking at the big
picture. Makes me wonder what Dinobot's big hang-up about it not being
Earth was if that's the case.

Shortly thereafter we find the Maximals all hanging out and getting
used to their new beast forms. Wonderful conversation between Rattrap
and Primal on their whole predicament. Sets Rattrap up nicely as the
pessimist (and realist) of the group. I like that he's not just
automatically agreeing with everything Primal says and even questions
his ability to step up to the plate as commander. We also get the
first mention of the Great War and an explanation of why the golden
disc is so important. Apparently it gives the location of a major
source of energon. Well, that's been confirmed already. Doesn't stop
Rattrap from complaining about something else.

Primal: "Just no pleasing some people"

Cheetor spots a couple real cheetahs sprinting across the vast, vast
stretch of flat, textureless grassy plain. Aww, you know, this old,
archaic CGI has a strange charm that way. More on that later.

Primal: "They're fast alright. You picked a good form, Cheetor."
Cheetor: "You think that's speed? You ain't seen the golden rocket!"

The... golden rocket? *smacks forehead*
So Cheetor goes chasing off after the cheetahs and manages to scare
them off. And hey, he runs into a giant wasp. Based on nothing other
than the reactions of the other cheetahs, he figures it's a Predacon
in disguise. He transforms and starts shooting! OMG, Cheetor, what are
you doing!!! Okay, so it really is a Predacon, but what flimsy
reasoning!

It's Waspinator and he goes on the counter-attack! He's actually doing
a pretty good job of keeping Cheetor on his toes, which is something
considering how much of a bungler Waspy turns into later on. The
Maximals see the explosions off in the distance and charge in to help.

Primal: "Take cover, Cheetor! We'll swat that pesky Predacon!"

Ehhh.... what can I say? It's the first episode. Things were...
stupider back then. :) But no! There will be no swatting of Predacons
today, pesky or otherwise! All the other Predacons have assembled on a
ridge opposite of the Maximals with Cheetor stuck in the valley below!
Time for some stern words! Primal tries to reason with Megatron and
maintain the peace, but the big T-rex informs Primal that sometimes an
enemy that looks peaceful is merely biding its time. And it's on!

Megatron takes a hit right to the face from Cheetor! That stupid kid
again. He's going to get everyone killed. Well, no backing down now. A
battle erupts and we learn that boulders are the perfect cover against
plasma blasts. Rocks are so awesome. Anyway, Cheetor's still in
trouble and Rattrap has no qualms refusing to save him. Primal dives
into the valley himself, taking several hits along the way, before
delivering the kid back to safety. They make a hastey retreat and
before the Predacons can capitalize on their (small) victory, they're
all hit with a wave of searing, crippling, energon radiation; the
price of staying in robot mode for too long.

Later that evening... ooh, I like the nice, dusky lighting of this
scene. Primal and Rattrap are riding on top of Rhinox back to the
Axalon. Heh. Cute. He scolds Rattrap for disobeying his orders, yadda
yadda yadda. Rattrap isn't exactly repentent, and tries to reassure
the boss monkey that everything's fine.

Except that the only way back to their base is being blocked by
Dinobot. Remember him? Yeah, the whole battle for leadership of the
Predacons didn't work out so well, so now he's here to battle for
leadership of the Maximals. Gotta' hand it to him. When he gets an
idea in his head, he's persistent about it.

TO BE CONTINUED!

Some thoughts:
- I like how they conveniently set up for the introduction of new
characters by ejecting the stasis pods into orbit. We won't have to
worry about new guys just popping up with no explanation or have a
bunch of guys all accidentally crash on the same planet as well.

- The CGI, oh my god, the CGI. It's very rough and dated looking, but
at the same time it's kind of charming in that it's a sign of the
times. As the show progresses, the CGI does get better but wow. For
right now it looks a tad on the archaic side.

- The golden disc. If you take a good look at the golden disc, you'll
see already that the writers are setting up something grander in
scope.

- The Maximals get some good exposition in this pilot episode, but the
Predacons are practically non-existent save for Megatron and Dinobot.
I personally have typically always favored the villains in any piece
of fiction, so it's a bit disappointing at the moment to see the Preds
relegated to background fodder.

- No mention of Autobots or Decepticons, but we do hear mentions of
the Great War and Primal asks Megatron why he would want to start all
that up again. So connections to G1 are made, but as of this episode
all we know is that there is *some* connection. I know the chief
editors of the show always placed the era of the Maximals and
Predacons 300 years post-Great War, but no mention of that is ever
made within the show itself. Of course, it is just the pilot episode
and I'm sure they didn't want to bog it down with any more details
than was absolutely necessary.

And that's all for now. Wow, what a rocky start. :P

Onslaught Six

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Jul 22, 2008, 3:38:52 PM7/22/08

On Jul 22, 3:11 pm, Mako Crab <mako-c...@hotmail.com> wrote:

> The series that needs no introduction. Beast Wars is my personal
> favorite Transformers series of all time, so this is going to be fun.
> It's the show that rekindled my interest in Transformers and caught me
> off-guard so many times, I lost count.

Hey, we made a temporary(?) forum to replace BWTF. Check it, and start
posting this there too:
http://www.tfviews.com/forums/index.php

> It's Waspinator and he goes on the counter-attack! He's actually doing
> a pretty good job of keeping Cheetor on his toes, which is something
> considering how much of a bungler Waspy turns into later on. The
> Maximals see the explosions off in the distance and charge in to help.

Waspy actually never devolves into full-on incompetance. He just gets
battered around a lot, but as late as S3 I'm positive he was still
shooting somebody out of the sky.

> - The Maximals get some good exposition in this pilot episode, but the
> Predacons are practically non-existent save for Megatron and Dinobot.
> I personally have typically always favored the villains in any piece
> of fiction, so it's a bit disappointing at the moment to see the Preds
> relegated to background fodder.

This clearly gets better later on. First Episode and all.

> - No mention of Autobots or Decepticons, but we do hear mentions of
> the Great War and Primal asks Megatron why he would want to start all
> that up again. So connections to G1 are made, but as of this episode
> all we know is that there is *some* connection. I know the chief
> editors of the show always placed the era of the Maximals and
> Predacons 300 years post-Great War, but no mention of that is ever
> made within the show itself. Of course, it is just the pilot episode
> and I'm sure they didn't want to bog it down with any more details
> than was absolutely necessary.

There's no mention made 'here,' but what about later eps?

Mako Crab

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Jul 22, 2008, 6:22:53 PM7/22/08

> Hey, we made a temporary(?) forum to replace BWTF. Check it, and
start
> posting this there too:http://www.tfviews.com/forums/index.php

You got it! I didn't know BWTF was back!

> Waspy actually never devolves into full-on incompetance. He just gets
> battered around a lot, but as late as S3 I'm positive he was still
> shooting somebody out of the sky.

That is true. In "Master Blaster" he evades all of Silverbolt's
artillery fire and drops a bomb right in the doggy-bots' lap.

> This clearly gets better later on. First Episode and all.

True, true. I just had to point it out for this one episode.

> There's no mention made 'here,' but what about later eps?

We get little snippets here and there, but to my knowledge an exact
time frame is never given. Something to keep an eye out for later on.
But in that regard, it would have been awfully jarring to say here's
this show that starts out 300 years after the end of the Great War.
Now they've just traveled back in time to Earth's prehistoric past! I
get the feeling all the little kiddies that this pilot episode was
aimed at would have been scratching their heads, especially
considering that in 1996 the Transformers line was all but dormant in
the U.S.

Mako Crab

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Jul 22, 2008, 6:40:11 PM7/22/08

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd160/MakoCrab/BWlogo.jpg

Almost forgot- just the BW logo minus all the fire and explosions. :)

Grebo

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Jul 22, 2008, 7:00:50 PM7/22/08

You know, having re-watched that original opening, I gotta say:

JEEZ I LOVE THAT SHOW!

It's been too long since I've rewatched it, obviously. Cripes it was
good. The chracterization, the stories... the excitement I felt.
Man!!!

Thanks for the reminder, Mako.

GrebohThoseWereTheDays

Mako Crab

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Jul 22, 2008, 10:31:33 PM7/22/08

I aim to please! :D

Phillip Thorne

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Jul 25, 2008, 11:54:11 PM7/25/08

On Tue, 22 Jul 2008, Mako Crab <mako...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>And if your're really curious, the hilarious japanese version.
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGDOzMTpXpM

By the Matrix, what were they *doing*? (Okay, these are the people
who put a chibi conga line in the end-credits of "Masterforce.")
They've changed the OP into a 90-second music video. A *sing-along*
music video, with the lyrics at the bottom of the screen.

>Some thoughts:
>- I like how they conveniently set up for the introduction of new
>characters by ejecting the stasis pods into orbit.

OTOH, once we met the protoforms, it left us wondering about the
nature of Cybertron society and psychology such that an exploration
mission has so many spare potential crew aboard. And what would the
protoforms have turned into if they hadn't had local organics to scan?

>- The CGI, oh my god, the CGI.

The render-quality that Mainframe could manage in 1996 looked a lot
better on "ReBoot," which wasn't full of poly-heavy vegetation and
textured surfaces. And even the big studios hadn't yet figured out
fur animation.

>- No mention of Autobots or Decepticons, but we do hear mentions of
>the Great War and Primal asks Megatron why he would want to start all

>that up again. So connections to G1 are made, [...]

>they didn't want to bog it down with any more details
>than was absolutely necessary.

True, but they couldn've slipped an confirmatory easter egg into the
background: an Autobot or Decepticon insignia on somebody's bulkhead
or buried in scrolling computer text.

--
** Phillip Thorne ** peth...@comcast.net **************
* RPI CompSci 1998 *
** underbase.livejournal.com ***************************

Grebo

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Jul 26, 2008, 12:59:43 AM7/26/08

Bowowow,

The dashing Phillip Thorne <petho...@comcast.net> wrote:
>
> They've changed the OP into a 90-second music video. A *sing-along*
> music video, with the lyrics at the bottom of the screen.

Oh, the Japanese do that for virtually every TV show.

Grebo

SteveD

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Jul 26, 2008, 8:51:59 PM7/26/08

On Fri, 25 Jul 2008 23:54:11 -0400, Phillip Thorne <peth...@comcast.net>
wrote:

>On Tue, 22 Jul 2008, Mako Crab <mako...@hotmail.com> wrote:

>>Some thoughts:
>>- I like how they conveniently set up for the introduction of new
>>characters by ejecting the stasis pods into orbit.
>
>OTOH, once we met the protoforms, it left us wondering about the
>nature of Cybertron society and psychology such that an exploration
>mission has so many spare potential crew aboard.

Perhaps it was a fairly major exploration mission. The protoform-transport
method would have allowed a lot of mission to be packed into a fairly
small ship, saving fuel and extending range because they didn't need fifty
sets of quarters to house and entertain non-flight crew.

Effectively, the first-episode Maximals we see are probably the absolute
minimum needed to get the ship from A to B, plus a little slack. Primal's
captaining, Rhinox is engineering, Rattrap's presumably the navigator and
possibly the primary pilot. I'm guessing Cheetor is out of stasis to get
some training during the quiet part of the mission and to provide general
backup and an extra pair of hands.

-SteveD

Mako Crab

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Aug 1, 2008, 1:07:27 AM8/1/08

Sorry for the delay. I've been working overtime taking delicious
screen-caps of Cybertron. Now back to Beast Wars!

Beast Wars part 2
written by Bob Forward

on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGHDx4ht-Wg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHwfqhlOPYA&feature=related

Dinobot stands between the Maximals and their ship, and he's not
moving an inch. He again challenges Primal to a duel for leadership of
the Maximals with the fate of the loser resting at the bottom of a
very deep canyon. Primal tries to reason with him, but that goes all
of nowhere. Time for some... Metal Kombaaat!

Hehe. Sorry, couldn't resist. They're fighting over a pit on a narrow
bridge! And it's 1996! So anyway we get some of the most awesomely
fake sword fighting of all time right down to the cliche'd locking of
swords as the fighters practically touch noses and snarl compliments
at each other. So cute. We get a good back and forth with each of them
delivering some punishing hits, when Primal loses his footing and
slips off the edge of the natural bridge.

His monkey feet grad the ledge and he hangs on for dear life! Ohh, but
it doesn't look good. Dinobot slowly moves in for the kill. But
instead of stepping on his monkey toes, Dinobot does the honorable
thing and hoists him back up onto the bridge. He explains that he
wouldn't have earned the right to lead by beating him in such a
dishonorable way. And then adds....

Dinobot: "I prefer to beat my opponents the old fashioned way;
brutally!"

More bad sword fighting! Yes! Just up on a cliff overlooking the
battle are the Predacons though, and they've got a stake in this
battle too. And they talk! The Predacons actually talk in this
episode!

Tarantulus: The winner isn't what interests me.
Megatron: Nor me, no. How much more preferable it would be if they
both lost, yes."

So Waspy is established as a simpleton. Scorponok is your average
thug. Tarantulus demonstrates a bit more smarts than the others, and
we already met Megatron last time. Nothing from Terrorsaur but it's
still early. They all transform and start shooting at the battling
warriors!

At the last second Primal grabs Dinobot and leaps off the bridge! The
missles and energy blasts just graze them. Primal hangs onto the ledge
with one foot and Dinobot with the other all the while the Predacons
keep firing on them. Rhinox and Cheetor are practically leaping into
the line of fire to save their commander, but Rattrap isn't interested
in getting himself shot. That is, until Rhinox grabs him by the pelt
and reminds him who he should really be worried about. Hehehe.
Rhinox runs over and picks Primal and Dinobot both up with one hand.
ONE HAND!!! Dude! You don't mess with that guy.

They all run for the Axalon just as the missles completely
disintegrate the bridge! They all just barely make it except for
Rattrap. The bridge explodes beneath his feet and he just completely
falls. Luckily for his sorry hide that Primal is more prone to save
his comrades than Rattrap is. Primal grabs Rattrap's hand just as he
disappears out of sight and pulls him back up to safety. Aww. Can we
get a thank-you? Maybe? Please? No.

Slaggin' rat.

Well that was fun. Megatron isn't too happy that everyone survived but
it turns out that all their stray missles hit a mountain off in the
distance and blow its top off. Beneath the mountain is a massive,
MAAAASSIVE deposit of raw energon crystals. Like, the whole mountain
IS energon crystals. That's big. That's enough to power an entire
Predacon revolution. Let's go get it! And so they're off. Oh, I did
think it was cute how Scorponok pointed out the mountain before it
detonated. That's just precious.

The Maximals take a moment to catch their breath. Cheetor spots the
Predacons heading away.

Cheetor: "Megatron's on the move. Bearing 6175."

Ahhh, sounds like technical jargon. Or maybe like someone was watching
too much Star Trek and it worked its way into their writing. Bearing
6175? Sure, it sounds technical and there's nothing really wrong with
it. But how about say, "He's heading north." Or maybe even simpler,
"He's heading towards that gigantic mountain of energon." Oh well, no
big deal.

Dinobot points out that with that much energon Megatron would be
unstoppable. Rattrap, not one to be impressed by Dinobot's ability to
state the obvious, tells Rhinox to waste him. And Rhinox starts
charging! Whoa! I had forgotten about this part! They really don't
take kindly to Predacons around here, not even Predacon defects.

Primal puts a stop to the fighting and instead asks for Dinobots
advice as the resident expert on all things Predacon. So blah blah
blah, things are sort of smoothed over and the only option is to stop
Megatron. So off they go.

Walking around, walking, walking. I do like these night shots. The
stars, the two moons, the stonehenge. Stonehenge? Oooh, mysterious.
Who put that there?

Sight-seeing is over. Waspinator and Terrorsaur are on the attack! The
Maximals all take up defensive positions within a cave and return
fire, but these two are a little too quick for them. Primal takes to
the air and knocks them around a bit with some of the more powerful
ammo he's packing. And don't you know Dinobot nearly brings the cave
down on top of all of them in his exuberance to toast his old buddies?
Rattrap doesn't take kindly to that and pounces on the traitor,
driving the barrel of his gun into his forehead.

Thankfully by now Waspy and Terrorsaur have retreated due to energon
build-up. Primal lands back at the cave entrance to find his crew at
each others' throats. He breaks it up and really asserts his authority
this time.

Primal: "Rattrap, you gonna' listen and that's that!!!

Yeah!
Laaaater... they finally reach the mountain and guess who's there
waiting for them? Predacons! Long story short, they all get into a big
fight and dogpile everyone. And since they don't dare transform into
robot mode with all that energon around, it's tooth and claw and drool
all over the place. Very awesome. It becomes pretty obvious that the
Predacons are losing this one, so as a last ditch effort Megatron
transforms and fires off a couple missles at Primal.

Dinobot deflects the missles! I guess he's not such a bad guy after
all. But the missles slam into the energon crystals and that's
everyones' cue to get the hell out of there. Ohhh, problem. Megatron
is offline. See, that's what happens when you soak up too much energon
radiation. The other Preds don't seem to mind leaving him behind
though.

Seconds before the whole mountain explodes Megatron miraculously snaps
awake and leaps off the mountain! He is so toast anyway. That long of
a fall, plus he was closer to the explosion than anyone else. Plus it
was a whole mountain blowing up with energon. So totally dead.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Maybe.

The Maximals celebrate their victory, but all Rattrap wants to know is
if they can go home now. No, Rattrap. There's still the other
Predacons to worry about. And there's still plenty more energon on the
planet for them to harvest. And there's the issue of their ship not
working at the moment. So for now let the battle be here, and let it
be called....

Well you know the rest. :D

And that concludes the 2-part pilot to Beast Wars. Part 2 is already
an improvement over part 1. We get a better feel for the group dynamic
of the Maximals and the other Predacons even have a little bit of
screen time too. Not much, but what can you do? We learn just enough
about the planet to pique curiosity. Really, stonehenge? What's that
about? And giant energon crystals? Those weren't present in G1. And
the two moons. All very interesting. Not a bad pilot, but very cut and
dry. It does its job nicely but doesn't do any more than it has to for
now. Still, not horrible by any stretch of the imagination. Alright
then, that's where I'll leave it.

SteveD

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Aug 2, 2008, 5:46:03 AM8/2/08

On Thu, 31 Jul 2008 22:07:27 -0700 (PDT), Mako Crab
<mako...@hotmail.com> wrote:

>Seconds before the whole mountain explodes Megatron miraculously snaps
>awake and leaps off the mountain! He is so toast anyway. That long of
>a fall, plus he was closer to the explosion than anyone else. Plus it
>was a whole mountain blowing up with energon. So totally dead.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>Maybe.

But Megatrons _always_ survive being up close and personal with massive
energon explosions! They're only allowed to be taken out by one-on-one,
hand-to-hand personal combat with an Optimus!

-SteveD

Mako Crab

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Aug 6, 2008, 12:51:31 PM8/6/08

On Aug 2, 2:46 am, SteveD <use...@vo.id.au> wrote:
> On Thu, 31 Jul 2008 22:07:27 -0700 (PDT), Mako Crab

> But Megatrons _always_ survive being up close and personal with massive

> energon explosions! They're only allowed to be taken out by one-on-one,
> hand-to-hand personal combat with an Optimus!
>
> -SteveD

*L* It's funny, because it's true. I especially love it in the IDW
Galvatron spotlight when the aliens drops the hammer on Galvy. They
hit him with something that has enough force to destroy a comet or
whatever and he's completely unphased by it. Like... yeah. Godmodding
much? Anyway! Next episode is ready to go!

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.

Mako Crab

unread,

Aug 19, 2008, 2:12:12 PM8/19/08

And FINALLY the next installment.

Equal Measures
written by Greg Johnson

on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-DFX9Ilzks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OxJaFfIFTI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8AkjvxaVlw&feature=related

In the last episode Cheetor learned that disobeying orders, ditching
the team, and running off on missions alone can have horrible,
nightmare-inducing consequences. A powerful lesson indeed. Let's watch
him do it again!

It seems the Maximals (or just Rhinox) have been busy. They're
preparing to set up relay posts all throughout the area to help boost
their communications range, but there's a fierce storm moving in, so
the mission is off. Oh, and they have a bomb.
Cha-ching!
A bomb?! The Maximals are already planning to blow up the Predacon
base! But... but aren't they going to wait for the Predacons to kidnap
someone or threaten something first? It's in the rule book! Autobots
must always sit on their duffs until the Decepticons do something! Oh
riiight, right, right. Maximals and Predacons. I forgot. So the
Maximals actually take the initiative and act first. That's just so
cool.

Anyway the bomb isn't the main priority right now. Setting the relay
posts is, but that storm is just too nasty and Primal isn't taking any
chances. So the mission is off and Cheetor's pouting about it, because
apparently the boss monkey thinks he's too slow to outrun a storm. It
could just sound like the cat being a whiner, but maybe there's
something more to it. He was the one that got Rhinox' comm. badge
thingy destroyed in the last episode. Maybe he actually feels some
kind of need to get this mission going to help make up for his
stupidity last time? Maybe. Primal and Rhinox are in agreement though;
with so much energon coursing through the land, they have to be extra
careful about where they set the relay posts.

Primal and Dinobot have a tense little face-off there too. Apparently
there's some issue with how they deliver the bomb to the Predacon
base. Dinobot wants to blow up the base and everyone in it. Primal is
more of the forgiving type and wants to spare the Preds if he can.

Dinobot: "What I know is this; if situations were reversed, the
Predacons would spare the base and annihilate us."

Ooh, snappy! Snappy dialogue! I do like. So we have Dinobot and
Cheetor both feeling put out. What's a surly raptor to do? Get the cat
in trouble! The dinosaur finds Cheetor laying on a sturdy looking
board in his room sulking. Dinobot prods Cheetor just a little and in
no time the dumb cat is on the sly again and bounding out the Axalon
hatch with a whole bag full of relay posts. And off in the distance
the rumble of thunder signals a quickly approaching storm...

WHAM!
One relay post in! And he's off to the next!
WHAM! Another one's in! And he's off to the - BWAKOOM!!! Oh lordy,
lordy! He's been struck by lightning! It's okay, he's getting up.
Cheetor shouts at the storm clouds and... BWAKOOM!! A near miss!
Doesn't Cheetor know that it's bad luck to have lightning strike in
the same place twice?

Off to the next! Oh that stupid kid. He goes to place one more and
gets struck by lightning again. Duh, Cheetor! You're the only piece of
metal out here! You're a frickin' lightning rod! The relay post goes
flying and strikes an energon vain. The whole ground begins to crack
and tear open. The whole place is about to blow up, so Cheetor does
what any of us would do.

Cheetor: "Pleeeease don't blow up! Please, please, please!!"

He grabs the relay post and struggles and wrestles to yank it out of
the ground, but that's not happening. Another strike of lightning and
suddenly Cheetor's gone!

Over at the Predacon base.... which, wow. Tangent!
Over at the Frankenstein place... hm. Yeah, the syllables match up and
it even rhymes. Okay, that was random, pay no mind. Sometimes these
things just pop into my head.
Anyway Terrorsaur is on monitor duty. Very dull, nothing happening. He
says to himself that no Maximal would be stupid enough to do anything
on a day like today. He gives them too much credit, because Cheetor
materializes right in their base at that moment! Cheetor's
disoriented, doesn't know where he is.

Terrorsaur: "Welcome to the dark side."

Ah, the moment that shall live on in infamy. You'll notice I didn't
bother capitalizing "dark side". That's because I personally never
read that line as being the name of their ship. I know the shallow
Beast Wars Transmetals video game tried to make the name canon, and
the japanese version of Beast Wars calls their ship the Terror Crusher
IIRC, but as far as I'm concerned it has no name. For one, the video
game was garbage. For two, the japanese version sucks. There you
go. :D

Cute little moment where Cheetor yells out, "Maximize," before
catching himself and realizing that he's already in robot mode. And
the fight is on! They fly around the Pred base on hover platforms
shooting up the whole joint. Cheetor wins the match by knocking
Terrorsaur onto the same monitor that he entered the base with and
just like that- Terrorsaur vanishes in a flash of light...

... and appears inside the Axalon! Terrorsuar's disoriented, doesn't
know where he is.

Dinobot: "Welcome to enemy arms."

And there you go. No one runs around trying to claim that the Axalon
is really called Enemy Arms. The Pred ship is not the dark side. Nyah
nyah! :D They both transform and it's about to get ugly when Dinobot
GRABS TERRORSAURS HEAD. He looks at the control panel that warped
Terrorsaur into their base and figures out pretty quick what must've
happened. Terrorsaur is all like, "Oh yeah, so that's how the kid got
in our base too!"
With this INCREDIBLE advantage at their fingertips, Terrorsaur
proposes an alliance between he and Dinobot. They'll trash the
Maximals and take over the Predacons. And it's all possible because
they have a localized worm hole. Uh huh. Dinobot smiles and plays
along.

They take a stroll down the Axalon halls and it's just miraculous that
they haven't run into anybody. Terrorsaur reveals how exactly he was
able to activate the teleporter (completely by accident). Once Dinobot
knows how to use it, he declares the alliance over and rams the
pterosaur into a trash chute, ejecting him miles into the distance.

I love this next part. Dinobot turns and Primal's standing right
there! Like he just walked into the scene, but he doesn't seem to be
in mid-stride at all. He just turns and he's all surprised.

Primal: "Dinobot! Wha!?! Hey, you seen Cheetor? He's missing. So are
those relay posts. I swear, if he ran off with them, it's his hide."

Dinobot: "As a matter of fact, he did. He's been captured and killed
by Predacons by now, BUT TAKE HEART! We now have the ability to blow
up their base."

Almost verbatim... almost. The new plan is to set the big bomb onto
the teleporter and beam it directly into the Predacon base. Oh. Yeah.

At the Pred base Cheetor's still on the run, this time from Waspinator
and Scroponok. They corner him in the ventilation duct and heat things
up real nice for him. Scorponok fires a missle into the duct that gets
Cheetor moving faster than he ever knew he could! The two Predacons
lose track of their target and it's another game of cat and mouse.
Cheetor decides that as long as he's here, he may as well roll with it
and accesses their computers. He gets a quick overlay of the
surrounding energon deposits and cross-references it with his own
maps. It turns out that the same energon vein runs under both bases.

So the relay posts, combined with a strike of lightning and the
energon vein all conspired to somehow create a teleporter. Works for
me. The bad news is that an explosion at either base will destroy the
other one. He's got to stop his friends from sending the bomb!

Only two things standing in his way; Waspy and Scorponok. He's been
spotted (yes, I know he's a cheetah). :P Scorpy fires a missle that
Cheetor deftly avoids and returns to its sender. They're done and
Cheetor's on the move again. Back in the main control room he flicks a
data-disk onto the teleporter pad. It disappears and in its place- the
bomb!!! OH SNAP!! It's anchored to the control pad and has a 30 second
timer!!! And Megatron and Terrorsaur just found him!

The data-disk travels through to the Maximal base. They give it a
quick once over and realize that Cheetor is alive and they've just
condemned themselves to destruction.

At the Pred base Cheetor convinces them to let him release the anchors
on the bomb so they can get it away. There's like 8 seconds left on
the timer before Megatron finally gives him the go-ahead. Are you
kidding?! But it turns out that Cheetor's as quick with his hands as
he is on his feet and those anchors come right off. He throws the bomb
to Terrorsaur, who flies it as high as possible before getting nuked
by the explosion. And with that, Cheetor hops onto the teleporter pad
and disappears.

All the relay posts are destroyed on his rapid transit back into the
Axalon. Another one of Rhinox's inventions that he destroyed! Everyone
breathes a sigh of relief, knowing that they'll all live to see
another day. Primal is much less harsh on Cheetor this time than he
was in the last episode for basically disobeying orders *again* and
screwing up another tactical advantage that they could've had. At
least this time he brought some valuable information back with him, so
they're not too mad.

Cheetor looks over to Dinobot, who just gives him this big toothy grin
like... what is that grin about?

Dinobot (thinking) : [i]I'm going to eat you tonight, Cheetor. Can you
hear my thoughts. I'm. Going. To. Eat. You.[/i]

Cheetor smiles nervously back at him. Eheheh... you okay there, big
guy?

Okay, okay, so they didn't really say that. Cheetor promises never to
run off on his own again... until the next time. Oh you silly kid. The
end!

If "The Web" highlighted Tarantulus, then this episode was all about
Terrorsaur. Megatron puts in only the briefest of screen-time at the
very end, making it yet again another show-piece for his minions. I
never really thought about it like this before, but it makes sense and
I like that they're making up for the Preds getting almost no time in
the pilot episodes.
My favorite scene, again, is probably right at the start with all the
Maximals tinkering away in the Axalon. There's just such a great
dynamic amongst this team and I love seeing them go back and forth
with each other. I like watching these 5 guys more than I did an
entire army of REACTIVE Autobots in the original show. Yeah, I said
it. :D

Next ep- Chain of Command!

Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis??
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd160/MakoCrab/EM15.jpg

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd160/MakoCrab/EM16.jpg
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd160/MakoCrab/EM17.jpg
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd160/MakoCrab/EM18.jpg
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd160/MakoCrab/EM19.jpg
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd160/MakoCrab/EM20.jpg

Matthew

unread,

Aug 19, 2008, 2:58:12 PM8/19/08

"Mako Crab" <mako...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:c58e7848-92c6-4451...@n38g2000prl.googlegroups.com...

> In the last episode Cheetor learned that disobeying orders, ditching
> the team, and running off on missions alone can have horrible,
> nightmare-inducing consequences. A powerful lesson indeed. Let's watch
> him do it again!

Haha, excellent!

LiamK

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Aug 20, 2008, 6:52:42 AM8/20/08

On Aug 19, 7:58 pm, "Matthew" <someaddr...@comcast.com> wrote:
> "Mako Crab" <mako-c...@hotmail.com> wrote in message

Bumblebee never does seem to learn, does he?

Hot Shot. I meant Hot Shot.

Cheetor, damnit!

-Liam Kavanagh

Mako Crab

unread,

Aug 20, 2008, 10:54:35 AM8/20/08

LoL! The dippy cub, the golden rock, the cobalt kitty, the catbot,
whiskers; yeah, he's not too bright. :P

I'm sure everyone here knows what I was talking about when I went on a
sudden tangent about the Frankenstein place, but here it is so you can
all indulge in my randomness!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1G3u7vN36U

"Over at the Pred-a-con base!"

*imagines Waspy in the window singing*
"And let the sun come streaming... into my liii-iiiife! Into my
liiiiiiiiiiiife!"

Chad Rushing

unread,

Aug 20, 2008, 10:45:28 PM8/20/08

On Aug 20, 5:52 am, LiamK <liam.kavan...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Bumblebee never does seem to learn, does he?
>
> Hot Shot. I meant Hot Shot.
>
> Cheetor, damnit!

Yeah, I would say that ANIM Bumblebee has the record so far for never
remembering lessons learned in past episodes. If they were going to
have him be that way, I would have rather they just made him Hot Shot
instead of Bumblebee. That is because G1 Bumblebee was actually a
pretty reliable, lowkey fellow, not self-aggrandizing or hyper at all.

- Chad

Gustavo Wombat

unread,

Aug 20, 2008, 11:33:29 PM8/20/08

G1 Bumblebee was actually insecure -- probably his most defining
character trait.

Animated Bumblebee is brash and arrogant. Really, the only things he
has in common with his G1 namesake are color, size and name.

Gustavo!

LiamK

unread,

Aug 21, 2008, 9:11:26 AM8/21/08

Well, he was going to be Hot Shot until the movie came along and
suddenly everyone remembers that they had a Bumblebee when they were a
kid and YES WE GOT THE TRADEMARK BACK IN YOUR FACE!

Which raises the question... was Armada Hot Shot originally going to
be Bumblee? Or maybe Hot Rod?

-Liam Kavanagh

Onslaught Six

unread,

Aug 21, 2008, 2:23:00 PM8/21/08

On Aug 21, 9:11 am, LiamK <liam.kavan...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Which raises the question... was Armada Hot Shot originally going to
> be Bumblee? Or maybe Hot Rod?

Nah. At least, not as far as we know--he was pretty specifically
designed as Hot Shot from the beginning, from all evidence.

AniRatchet was also going to be named Red Alert and be a female(!).

Chad Rushing

unread,

Aug 21, 2008, 6:18:02 PM8/21/08

On Aug 21, 1:23 pm, Onslaught Six <Onslaught...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> AniRatchet was also going to be named Red Alert and be a female(!).

You have to wonder how much that would have changed the overall group
dynamics.

Would Red Alert have been old and grouchy like Ratchet or "young" and
upbeat like Arcee? Would there have been some romantic competition
for her attention among the male team members? It makes you wish you
had Farnsworth's What If Machine.

- Chad

Derik Smith

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Aug 22, 2008, 2:20:52 AM8/22/08

On Jul 26, 7:51 pm, SteveD <use...@vo.id.au> wrote:
> Effectively, the first-episode Maximals we see are probably the absolute
> minimum needed to get the ship from A to B, plus a little slack. Primal's
> captaining, Rhinox is engineering, Rattrap's presumably the navigator and
> possibly the primary pilot. I'm guessing Cheetor is out of stasis to get
> some training during the quiet part of the mission and to provide general
> backup and an extra pair of hands.

Airraptor was an interplanetary surveyer who used to be the Axalon's
navigator. Assuming that Cheetor was his replacement... that makes
him navigation. (AHis constant emphasis on overland speed /does/
kinda fit a scout or surveyor.)

In BW part 1, otoh, Cheetor is operations officer or something- he
keeps giving damage reports throughout the fight and after the crash.
It's not clear AT ALL who's firing the guns. Rhinox shifts power to
them- but doesn't seem to be manning the fire controls.

-Derik

Derik Smith

unread,

Aug 22, 2008, 2:37:49 AM8/22/08

On Aug 21, 8:11 am, LiamK <liam.kavan...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Aug 21, 4:33 am, Gustavo Wombat <GustavoWom...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Which raises the question... was Armada Hot Shot originally going to
> be Bumblee? Or maybe Hot Rod?

For Armada the Mini-Con Sparkplug seems to have been designed as
Bumblebee homage. (I also feel liek that might have been a workign
name, but I can't remember...)

Yeah, but while Cheetor was obnoxious (in terms of them pushing him as
the Extreme and Radical Youth Interest Character,) Animated 'bee is
SUPPOSED ot never learn. He's got ADHD, and it makes him both
pathetic AND vaguely endearing. BW (and to a greater extent Armada
and Energon) was obnoxious because when the Youth Avatar Character
went off to so something stupid he was generally PRAISED for it
afterwards and told to not be so hard of himself-- no matter HOW
STUPID the action actually was.
(I really think people would hate Cheetor if they hadn't taken the
piss out of him in season 2. Apparently Mainframe's focus groups told
them kids didn't LIKE Enzo- or at least had no particular like for
him- so the eased up on pushing that party line.)

G1 'bee got into a fair amount of trouble on his own... but it was
never from a single cause (i.e. his own arrogance,) it was just
something he kept stumbling into because that's how the plot worked-
and it usually didn't reflect back on him for ending up that way.
Heck- he often RESCUED other characters.
One of the things I dislike about modern Transformers is the
imperative that there be a Character Who Is Stupid and Hotheaded and
Whom You Will Love. It's almost invariably the weakest part of the
show. Bumblebee was definately the one we identified with mroe in
G1... but he was seldom rash, never hotheaded and certainly not
ARROGANT. If anything he tended towards being slightly emo.

-Derik

LiamK

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Aug 22, 2008, 7:31:20 AM8/22/08

On Aug 22, 7:20 am, Derik Smith <regenes...@gmail.com> wrote:

> In BW part 1, otoh, Cheetor is operations officer or something- he
> keeps giving damage reports throughout the fight and after the crash.
> It's not clear AT ALL who's firing the guns. Rhinox shifts power to
> them- but doesn't seem to be manning the fire controls.
>
> -Derik

I would have assumed Rattrap as the tactical guy, but there's no real
evidence for that. Maybe the guns were just voice operated and pointed
themselves?

Rhinox would make sense as an engineer, I guess. Maybe Cheetor was in
charge of the lights? Would explain why the interior is so bloody
dark.

I see your point about them taking the piss out of Cheetor in season
2. It also helps that he had his best form there (why do the kid-
appeal characters often get lumbered with crummy toys? His original
Cheetor form was half-a-brick, and his TM2 form looked hideous.
Likewise Hot Shot never got the best toys, and Ani Bumblebee has the
worst of the current deluxes.) The voice acting would have helped too.
Cheetor sounded earnest, whereas Bumblebee sounds obnoxious.

Animated Bumblebee seems at times to be a fusion of Rattrap and
Cheetor's worst habits. Rattrap got away with his by being old and
experienced (and funny) and Cheetor got away with it by being nice and
the fall guy. Maybe Bumblebee needs to get beaten up more?

-Liam Kavanagh

Derik Smith

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Aug 22, 2008, 8:26:46 AM8/22/08

On Aug 22, 6:31 am, LiamK <liam.kavan...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Animated Bumblebee seems at times to be a fusion of Rattrap and
> Cheetor's worst habits. Rattrap got away with his by being old and
> experienced (and funny) and Cheetor got away with it by being nice and
> the fall guy. Maybe Bumblebee needs to get beaten up more?

Animated Bumblebee is a character archetype which didnt' exist 10
years ago when BW was being written. He's a jackass whose self-
centered worldview is a constant power fantasy... that we cheer for to
suceed (because in a lot of ways he represents our frustration, even
if he also represents the WRONG RESPONSE TO that frustration,) who, we
enjoy seeing win AND enjoy seeing lose-- and when he wins it's never
with any sense to dignity intact. Part of the satisfaction we get is
from either seeing him pounded or defeated... but that doesn't damn
him as a character like it might have in previous years.

Or as I put it- the ADHD kid. You want to sheer for him AND smack
him. You want to see him win AND get smashed for his stupidity. But
you don't really totally BLAME him for his impulsiveness either- and
unlike Cheetor (who'd go off on his own in defiance of all logic,)
there's generally a REAL-- if possible misplaced-- justification to
his initial actions. And he doesn't have the "Very special Blossom"
moment where he learns his lesson. (So it's not as obnoxious whe he
makes the same mistake later.) Instead he basically has slowly
growing Genre Awareness of himself. "Wait, when i do this- it NEVER
turns out good!" He doesn't learn or grow at all-- but he does get
smart enough to try to avoid his past pitfalls.

Whether you LIKE this new character archetype is debatable-- I class
him as part of the "Obnoxious is Good!" characterization that sprang
up in the 1990's. But he's at least-- the writers KNOW Bumblebee is
being obnoxious. They thought Cheetor was being KEWL, which just
makes it SO MUCH WORSE.

30% of the reason Japan shouldn't be allowed to write Transformers is
because they have shitty character archetypes. Dottering old man,
Heroic warrior with burning heart. Taciturn samurai who hates being
glomped. Cocky young fool who screws stuff up all the time and is
praised. Eager-beaver person of mediocre skills. Nurse/secretary.
Evil overlord, evil bumbler, evil flatterer, evil lieutenant, evil
Guido seeking acknowledgment, kid.
Those are TERRIBLE archetypes to work with, and watching Headmasters
for the first time is one of the MOST PAINFUL THINGS as a transfan as
you see characters from season 3 suddenly YANKED and forced to fit
into one of those slots-- regardless of how badly it fits their prior
characterization.
"Why is Kup suddenly dottering?" "Why is Blurr a coward?" "Why is
Cyclonus a middle-manager with lifetime employment convinced his
seniority puts him In Charge despite all evidence ot the
contrary?" (That anime archetype dates from 1979 I think. I don't
think there's an earlier instance of it...)

And then there's Masterforce, which had the full range ocf character
archetypes, arranged in groups whose dynamics were interesting and
complimented one another. And then it makes almost EVERY plot
character-driven, putting the various personalities through their
paces of conflicts, reactions and interactions on a weekly basis. It
had a certain blandness ot it because theyw ere all off-the-shelf
personalities with no particular unique flare to to really makes the
series light up... but it did it well! So do I hate Japanese
character archetypes, or do I just hate how badly they're usually
written?

-Derik

Onslaught Six

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Aug 22, 2008, 8:29:13 AM8/22/08

On Aug 21, 6:18 pm, Chad Rushing <notu...@aol.com> wrote:

> Would Red Alert have been old and grouchy like Ratchet or "young" and
> upbeat like Arcee? Would there have been some romantic competition
> for her attention among the male team members? It makes you wish you
> had Farnsworth's What If Machine.

"What if Transformers had a live-action movie?"

"You idiot! You just saw that!"

"I know. I liked it. I wanna see it again."

Onslaught Six

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Aug 22, 2008, 8:32:08 AM8/22/08

On Aug 22, 2:37 am, Derik Smith <regenes...@gmail.com> wrote:

> If anything he tended towards being slightly emo.

"Woe is me! Nobody understands me! I think I'll go cut myself! With a
blowtorch, because I'm a robot, and my arms are made of metal."

Onslaught Six

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Aug 22, 2008, 8:37:36 AM8/22/08

On Aug 22, 8:26 am, Derik Smith <regenes...@gmail.com> wrote:

> He doesn't learn or grow at all-- but he does get
> smart enough to try to avoid his past pitfalls.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the use of past knowledge to avoid
further mistakes the 'definition' of learning? A child sticks their
finger in a light socket and gets shocked, and subsequently, they
learn, "Hey, that's not good, I won't do that anymore."

LiamK

unread,

Aug 22, 2008, 9:11:06 AM8/22/08

But Bumblebee isn't learning NOT to be self-centred and arrogant...
he's just learning new ways of doing it while discarding the old ways.

On Aug 22, 1:26 pm, Derik Smith <regenes...@gmail.com> wrote:
They thought Cheetor was being KEWL, which just
> makes it SO MUCH WORSE.

The BW writers got away with it more than the BM writers. Probably
because after a season of making Cheetor "kewl", they (as you said)
played him more for laughs, as someone for Rattrap (or whoever) to
insult. His TM2 transformation was a bit wobbly, because they were
doing the teenager thing and no-one (absolutely no-one) says that
people are at their best when they are teenagers.

And then you get to BM, which tried really, really hard to not only
make him kewl, but NINJA KEWL. Period. And that's where he went wrong.
Period.

-Liam Kavanagh

Derik Smith

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Aug 22, 2008, 9:13:21 AM8/22/08

I believe you are refering to the Japan-exclusive Black Re3color
Bumble keychain.

(It also makes out with Windcharger. But not 'cuz it's gay or
anything.)

-Derik

Derik Smith

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Aug 22, 2008, 9:16:41 AM8/22/08

Learning requires self-knowledge. "This is WHY that was wrong."
Adaption merely requires modification of behavior. If bumblebee
learns not to go off on his own because he always gets beat up when he
does that, it's not the same as not going off on his own because they
are a team who they can trust to look after one another.

One demonstrated growth. The other simply retards negative
consequences.

-Derik

Derik Smith

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Aug 22, 2008, 9:22:01 AM8/22/08

On Aug 22, 8:11 am, LiamK <liam.kavan...@gmail.com> wrote:
> And then you get to BM, which tried really, really hard to not only
> make him kewl, but NINJA KEWL. Period. And that's where he went wrong.
> Period.

Oh no, BM totally succeeded in making Cheetor a better more likable
character than Primal.
...by turning Primal into a shortsighted religion-obsessed fool who
was weak in battle, indecicive when it counted, and abusive towards
his troops.
(Again, If we were discussing this in-continuity I would be perfectly
willing to talk about how Primal turned inward, struggling to find
trust and search out the blah blah blah...but we're discussing the
diction from the outside now. The Beast Machines cartoon was terrible
on almost every level, and did awful violence to the characters and
most of the mythology it inherited.)

-Derik

LiamK

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Aug 22, 2008, 10:07:06 AM8/22/08

Indeed. Whatever happened to Mr "sometimes crazy works", eh?

I actually don't own any BM Cheetor toys. Were any of them good?

Derik Smith

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Aug 22, 2008, 12:18:51 PM8/22/08

On Aug 22, 9:07 am, LiamK <liam.kavan...@gmail.com> wrote:

> I actually don't own any BM Cheetor toys. Were any of them good?

Nightslash Cheetor was quite nice. The rest were very, very bad.

-Derik

Onslaught Six

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Aug 22, 2008, 2:14:43 PM8/22/08

On Aug 22, 9:22 am, Derik Smith <regenes...@gmail.com> wrote:

> (Again, If we were discussing this in-continuity I would be perfectly
> willing to talk about how Primal turned inward, struggling to find
> trust and search out the blah blah blah...but we're discussing the
> diction from the outside now. The Beast Machines cartoon was terrible
> on almost every level, and did awful violence to the characters and
> most of the mythology it inherited.)

This is BM's major flaw. It basically--not unlike what you said about
Headmasters--juxtaposes new character elements and motivations over
existing characters that don't fit them at all or are just plain
unrealistic.

The rest of it's pretty cool.

ShadowWing

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Aug 22, 2008, 3:16:42 PM8/22/08

"LiamK" wrote

>I actually don't own any BM Cheetor toys. Were any of them good?

The robot mode on the original has issues, mostly due to the
unnecessarily-super-long legs, but I love his beast mode. It's so versatile.
(Find my Purge Review for the BM Maximals for my full take. I posted it here,
so is should still be in Google Groups.) I remember liking the Universe
Nightslash, but I'll be getting to the Universe reviews after I finish RiD,
which I'm hoping to start posting by the end of next week. I've been busy.

ShadowWing

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Aug 22, 2008, 3:30:21 PM8/22/08

"Derik Smith" wrote

>
> (I really think people would hate Cheetor if they hadn't taken the
> piss out of him in season 2. Apparently Mainframe's focus groups told
> them kids didn't LIKE Enzo- or at least had no particular like for
> him- so the eased up on pushing that party line.)

I'm not sure what the computer version of sugar is, but Enzo's had waaaaay
too much. Then again, turning him into the resident world-hopping bad%$# might
be too far the other way.

> Bumblebee was definately the one we identified with mroe in
> G1... but he was seldom rash, never hotheaded and certainly not
> ARROGANT. If anything he tended towards being slightly emo.

Emo? Are you trying to ruin my favorite Autobot for me? Low self-esteem
does NOT equal emo. Trust me, I speak from experience. Bumblebee is too
happy-go-lucky to be emo. As for hotheaded, rash, and arrogant, I'd say
Sideswipe has the first two, with Sunstreaker taking the arrogant for himself.
Some brother, not sharing. :)

Derik Smith

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Aug 22, 2008, 6:00:40 PM8/22/08

On Aug 22, 2:30 pm, "ShadowWing" <the_...@SPAMBLOCKADEsnet.net> wrote:
> "Derik Smith" wrote

> > Bumblebee was definately the one we identified with mroe in
> > G1... but he was seldom rash, never hotheaded and certainly not
> > ARROGANT. If anything he tended towards being slightly emo.
>
> Emo? Are you trying to ruin my favorite Autobot for me? Low self-esteem
> does NOT equal emo. Trust me, I speak from experience. Bumblebee is too
> happy-go-lucky to be emo. As for hotheaded, rash, and arrogant, I'd say
> Sideswipe has the first two, with Sunstreaker taking the arrogant for himself.
> Some brother, not sharing. :)

MILDLY emo. You know- normal teenage emo-ness, not cut-my-wrists emo.

Conner Kent emo, not Tim Drake emo.

-Derik

ShadowWing

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Aug 22, 2008, 7:48:48 PM8/22/08

"Derik Smith"wrote

> Conner Kent emo, not Tim Drake emo.

I don't remember Tim being emo, but I haven't followed much out of DC or
Marvel lately. I only know who Conner is because of comic blogs I've been
reading, and even then I only know he exists.

Derik Smith

unread,

Aug 22, 2008, 10:03:06 PM8/22/08

Post Infinite Crisis, Tim ie Emo. He seems ot have turned the corner,
but there was a point where he was veering into full-blown crazy-
person territory.

(They killed his father, his girlfriend, his other girlfriend, his
best friend, and his OTHER best friend in the space of like 2 years.
Tim was pretty much a mess for awhile.)

-Derik

Gustavo Wombat

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Aug 22, 2008, 11:13:01 PM8/22/08

On Aug 22, 4:31 am, LiamK <liam.kavan...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Aug 22, 7:20 am, Derik Smith <regenes...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > In BW part 1, otoh, Cheetor is operations officer or something- he
> > keeps giving damage reports throughout the fight and after the crash.
> > It's not clear AT ALL who's firing the guns. Rhinox shifts power to
> > them- but doesn't seem to be manning the fire controls.
>
> > -Derik
>
> I would have assumed Rattrap as the tactical guy, but there's no real
> evidence for that. Maybe the guns were just voice operated and pointed
> themselves?
>
> Rhinox would make sense as an engineer, I guess. Maybe Cheetor was in
> charge of the lights? Would explain why the interior is so bloody
> dark.
>
> I see your point about them taking the piss out of Cheetor in season
> 2. It also helps that he had his best form there (why do the kid-
> appeal characters often get lumbered with crummy toys? His original
> Cheetor form was half-a-brick, and his TM2 form looked hideous.
> Likewise Hot Shot never got the best toys, and Ani Bumblebee has the
> worst of the current deluxes.)

I've really grown to like Armada Hot Shot, arms and all. I wish we got
the Smokescreen redeco of it that was planned a long long time ago.

I wouldn't mind that episode. But, Bumbles has potential for growth in
the next season.

Gustavo!

Gustavo Wombat

unread,

Aug 22, 2008, 11:19:38 PM8/22/08

On Aug 22, 5:26 am, Derik Smith <regenes...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Aug 22, 6:31 am, LiamK <liam.kavan...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Animated Bumblebee seems at times to be a fusion of Rattrap and
> > Cheetor's worst habits. Rattrap got away with his by being old and
> > experienced (and funny) and Cheetor got away with it by being nice and
> > the fall guy. Maybe Bumblebee needs to get beaten up more?
>
> Animated Bumblebee is a character archetype which didnt' exist 10
> years ago when BW was being written. He's a jackass whose self-
> centered worldview is a constant power fantasy... that we cheer for to
> suceed (because in a lot of ways he represents our frustration, even
> if he also represents the WRONG RESPONSE TO that frustration,) who, we
> enjoy seeing win AND enjoy seeing lose-- and when he wins it's never
> with any sense to dignity intact. Part of the satisfaction we get is
> from either seeing him pounded or defeated... but that doesn't damn
> him as a character like it might have in previous years.

He's Spongebob -- a horrid, hateful character with mildly good
intentions, and a lack of consideration for others. (Ok, I've only
seen one episode of Spongebob Squarepants, and it might have been an
abberation)

> Or as I put it- the ADHD kid. You want to sheer for him AND smack
> him. You want to see him win AND get smashed for his stupidity.

Definitely not an OR, definitely an AND.

> Whether you LIKE this new character archetype is debatable-- I class
> him as part of the "Obnoxious is Good!" characterization that sprang
> up in the 1990's. But he's at least-- the writers KNOW Bumblebee is
> being obnoxious. They thought Cheetor was being KEWL, which just
> makes it SO MUCH WORSE.

"Ultra Gear!" -- Somehow, that's less painful to hear now.

> 30% of the reason Japan shouldn't be allowed to write Transformers is
> because they have shitty character archetypes. Dottering old man,

I love the dottering old man! Superlink Sprung was awesome!

> Those are TERRIBLE archetypes to work with, and watching Headmasters
> for the first time is one of the MOST PAINFUL THINGS as a transfan as
> you see characters from season 3 suddenly YANKED and forced to fit
> into one of those slots-- regardless of how badly it fits their prior
> characterization.

And it's dull, to boot.

> And then there's Masterforce, which had the full range ocf character
> archetypes, arranged in groups whose dynamics were interesting and
> complimented one another. And then it makes almost EVERY plot
> character-driven, putting the various personalities through their
> paces of conflicts, reactions and interactions on a weekly basis. It
> had a certain blandness ot it because theyw ere all off-the-shelf
> personalities with no particular unique flare to to really makes the
> series light up... but it did it well! So do I hate Japanese
> character archetypes, or do I just hate how badly they're usually
> written?

I've been slowly watching Masterforce. It's quite good.

Gustavo!

Gustavo Wombat

unread,

Aug 22, 2008, 11:22:10 PM8/22/08

He went crazy.

> I actually don't own any BM Cheetor toys. Were any of them good?

Nighslash Cheetor was pretty good, but weirdly colored. There was a
Universe release of the mold in a closer color scheme, but not bright
enough.

Gustavo!

Chad Rushing

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Aug 23, 2008, 12:06:01 AM8/23/08

On Aug 22, 9:03 pm, Derik Smith <regenes...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Post Infinite Crisis, Tim ie Emo. He seems ot have turned the corner,
> but there was a point where he was veering into full-blown crazy-
> person territory.
>
> (They killed his father, his girlfriend, his other girlfriend, his
> best friend, and his OTHER best friend in the space of like 2 years.
> Tim was pretty much a mess for awhile.)

I hate to hear that because I thought that Tim Drake made a pretty
good Robin. He did not seem to be as much of a jerk as Jason Todd
(whom I loathed) or as worried about living in Batman's shadow as Dick
Grayson.

- Chad

Mako Crab

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Aug 23, 2008, 12:26:33 AM8/23/08

PERIOD! :P

ShadowWing

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Aug 23, 2008, 7:03:55 PM8/23/08

"Gustavo Wombat" wrote

>He's Spongebob -- a horrid, hateful character with mildly good
>intentions, and a lack of consideration for others. (Ok, I've only
>seen one episode of Spongebob Squarepants, and it might have been an
>abberation)

The difference is Spongebob and Patrick are morons. Bumblebee's just
well-meaning jerk. Like a young Archie Bunker light.

SteveD

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Aug 24, 2008, 4:35:18 AM8/24/08

On Wed, 20 Aug 2008 20:33:29 -0700 (PDT), Gustavo Wombat
<Gustav...@yahoo.com> wrote:

>Animated Bumblebee is brash and arrogant. Really, the only things he
>has in common with his G1 namesake are color, size and name.

And being the kid-sidekick-friendly character.

-SteveD

Mako Crab

unread,

Aug 31, 2008, 11:46:18 PM8/31/08

Going to try something a little different this week. Going to try and
do one episode every day this week. Probably won't work. Probably
won't happen. But I'm going to try for it! Let's start with...

Chain of Command
written by Jesse Winfield

on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqzeXiwf4As
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsJjoLYv-s8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fjqF4FFUz0&feature=related

In the first episode of the series Rhinox spotted some stonehenge in a
valley. Today we get to find out what that's all about! It starts out
quietly enough. All the Maximals are along for this little field-trip
and discover an energy source coming from a large pile of boulders at
the center of the stonehenge. That's not... natural. Everyone wants to
know who built the stonehenge anyway, but that's a question that'll
have to wait for another day. The Predacons have shown up!

Quick little battle and wouldn't you know that Waspinator is the first
one to fly up to Megatron's side. If "The Web" was about Tarantulus
and "Equal Measures" was about Terrorsaur, then this episode is to
highlight Waspinator even though this is more of a group-centric
episode. It features Waspy more though. :D

Battle, battle, battle, and it's not going so well for the Preds.
Notice that Scorponok is still wearing a Maximal badge! There's a
scene in the Pred base later on where it's really easy to see.
Terrorsaur takes a little initiative and decides that if they can't
have it, no one can. He blasts the pile of boulders! The energon
crystals hidden inside the pile start to resonate. Not good. Everyone
flees the area and await the energon wave...

... but something else happens. A powerful energy beam is sent into
space! A moment later the crystals disintegrate. You ever have one of
those moments when you hate being right? Rhinox is having one of those
right now. Looks like a signal, you say? A signal to who? Ooooh...

That evening... Optimus Primal is hanging out, reading a datapad. I
really like that split second shot. I always said that Transformers
Energon suffered from never showing their characters during their down-
time, so little scenes like this are nice. Anyway, he spots a falling
star? A stasis pod? What is that thing? He heads inside to confer with
Rhinox. Whatever it is... it's heading for the standing stones, er- I
mean the stonehenge. Are we freaking out yet?!?!?!

Over at the Predacon base the object in the sky has also been spotted.
Megatron calls out for a flier to join him and Waspinator is the lucky
volunteer. And they're off.

At the stonehenge Primal and Dinobot have arrived first. A gold, egg-
shaped probe hovers just above the base where the pile of boulders had
been. Before they can examine it too closely, Primal is blasted by
Waspinator. Yes, Waspinator! It's dark, I love this lighting, and
Waspy gently touches down on the ground with a little "clank" as he
does. Wow, that pose and everything. He's actually fairly confident
and in-charge looking. What a badass. :D

They prepare to double-team Dinobot while Primal is down, but the
Probe begins glowing and building up energy. Oh no!!! It emits a wave
of energon that completely overloads everyone there. They're all
reeling in agony as white light pours out of their mouths and eyes,
when the probe fires another shot that hits Primal. The boss-monkey
vanishes in a flash of light!

BOSS-MONKEY, NOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Sometime later... Dinobot's optics slowly come into focus to the sight
of Rattrap, Cheetor and Rhinox all standing before him. He freaks out
and thinks he's in a Maximal torture chamber! He busts out of there
and runs to the other side of the room still freaking out before he
finally calms down and realizes where he is. Heh. Cute bit as he's
busting out when Cheetor's all like, "Heyyy." He sounds annoyed more
than surprised. Rattrap tells him that Maximals don't have torture
chambers although it's an idea he could get used to. Hehe.

For shame, Rattrap! Actually, no. That put a smile on my face for the
simple reason that you'd never hear a good guy in any other TF toon
say that. :) Rattrap is already suspicious of Dinobot, saying that
*someone* dumped him outside their base like an innocent little
orphan. Dinobot tells them what happened and already you can see that
Rattrap's more suspicious of Dinobot than any alien probe. The squinty
optic and cocked eyebrow give it away.

You know, I like that it's the fifth episode and Rattrap still doesn't
trust Dinobot. In so many other TF shows (like, all of them) a
Decepticon will defect to the side of good and everyone trusts him
right away. No mention is ever made of it again, and the traitor is
welcomed whole-heartedly into their ranks. Not Rattrap. Not with this
guy. Something stinks and it smells like scaley, raptor butt.

In any event, Primal's gone and it's now time to choose a new leader.
Uh... choose? Did I say choose? I'm sorry, Dinobot's just going to
claim leadership. The hell!! Over Rattrap's dead body! They're in each
others' faces with swords and guns until Rhinox yanks the two of them
apart. Honestly, Dinobot only thinks he's the toughest because he
hasn't had to go against Rhinox yet. That guy would put him into the
ground without a second thought.

So it's time to cast a secret vote to determine their new commander.
BECAUSE RHINOX SAID SO. That's right, Dinobot, you're tough. We know,
we know. You're just going along with it to keep everyone happy,
right? Yeah. Right. *hehehe*

Four votes. Three Maximals. One Former Predacon. This one's in the
bag. And the count is....

2 votes for Rattrap
2 votes for Dinobot

Rattrap understandably slams his fists on the table and demands to
know who the other traitor is. You know what, I think I got this one
figured out. Okay, so Rattrap obviously voted for himself. And Dinobot
voted for himself. That just leaves Rhinox and Cheetor. So far Rhinox
and Dinobot haven't been shown to have anything much of a friendship.
And we know that Rattrap and Rhinox are pretty good friends. Cheetor,
on the other hand, might think a little better of Dinobot after "Equal
Measures," when Dinobot encouraged him to try and outrun the storm and
at the end when the raptor gave the kid a knowing smile.
Contrast that to Rattrap, who saved Cheetor from Tarantulus but came
down pretty hard on the kid afterwards in "The Web". Yeah, I think we
know exactly who voted for Dinobot.

So it's a tie. No good. Dinobot decides to break the tie with some
good ol' eye-lasers to the chest! Rattrap is blasted clear across the
room and slams into the glass door on the elevator. I noticed that
Rhinox is standing to the side of Dinobot and has his arm raised,
ready to deliver what would surely be a knock-out punch (yeah, he
voted for Rattrap :D ) when they all hear Primal's voice!

His voice is coming over their communications station! I love the
microphone. It has a very um.... I want to say 1940s vibe about it
with all the rings around the central mic. But anyway, he explains
that he's got no body, but that his conciousness is somehow being
stored inside the probe. He puts Rattrap in charge and warns them of
an impending Predacon attack, because, you know, the Preds will surely
want to take advantage of their smaller numbers now.

CHA-BOOM!!

Boss-monkey was right on the money. Preds outside! Three of them!
To... take advantage of... the Maximals diminished numbers. Huh. It's
3 against 4 in the Maximals favor.
*smacks forehead*
WTF, MEGATRON! The idea was that you'd overpower them with your
greater numbers, right? How can you do that when you only bring 3
Predacons with you! And this is supposed to be the smartest Megatron
we've ever gotten. Geez.
So big fight and Rattrap finds himself already having to think on his
feet and it's not easy. After some hard moments of thinking, he
decides a frontal assault is the best plan.

Dinobot: "Pure madness."
Rhinox: "No, he's right!"

Translation: Get out there and fight before they bring the ceiling
down on us!

Rattrap orders Rhinox to stay behind and cobble together a device to
extract Primal from the probe. How? How exactly? Rhinox hasn't even
seen the probe. He hasn't taken any scans, doesn't even know what it's
made of. But he stays behind and gets to work. What a trooper.

Outside it's a big ol' slugfest and wouldn't you know that the odds
are evened up now? Lucky for the Preds that Rattrap had Rhinox stay
behind. Ooh! Megatron is charging right for Dinobot! I don't think we
see him run too often, so it's pretty cool to see it here. He gets
into a heavy stride, which looks realistic considering how big and
lumbering he is. I was talking about a sense of weight in the last
episode. A lot of CGI shows can't convey a convincing sense of weight,
but I believe it here. Dinobot does a jump-kick right to Megatron's
face and he's down! From there it boils down to a slugfest as Megatron
throws a bunch of hay-makers Dinobot's way. Already this is much
better to watch than that cheesey sword fight in the pilot episode.
More hay-makers! A couple combinations! Dinobot lost his sword! It's
not looking good. Ooh! SMACK!! A comeback! Dinobot is on the offensive
and delivering 2 and 3-hit combos to Megs' mid-section. A knee to the
face! Eye lasers to send him packing! Yeah!

Tarantulus is busting out with his machine gun spider legs. If I'm not
mistaken, this is the first time we've seen them in the show. Right
on. Terrorsaur is in the air causing trouble as usual. He's just about
to bring the shields down for good and Rattrap knows it.

Rattrap: "Dinobot! Get those shields back to full power!"
Dinobot (getting gnawed on by a T-rex mouth) "A little busy here."
Rattrap: "That's an order!!! .... Please???"

Seriously, what's he expect ol' choppaface to do? The moment he turns
away from Megs to head towards the shields' control panel, he'll just
get shot in the back. Rattrap has no other choice but to do it
himself. More shots from Terrorsaur! The power levels are practically
beyond critical! More shots! Rattrap dives for the panel, rolls in the
air, fires at Terrorsaur, lands, rolls, hits the button, full power to
the shields and a stunned Terrorsaur gets a blast to the face.
Awesome. :D

Tarantulus suggests a quick retreat so they can go claim the probe and
meet up with reinforcements. So this whole time Scorponok and
Waspinator have been guarding the probe... from all the Maximals who
were cooped up in their base.

*glares at Megatron*
This was your plan.

The Preds run away and Dinobot's all feeling bad for disobeying an
order.

Dinobot: "I am dishonored."
Rattrap: "Ehhh... next time."

Hehe. Great response. SO! Primal's still stuck in that probe. The
probe that the Predacons are after. Guess where we're going, kiddies?
A short trip later and the Maximals arrive at the probe. Oddly enough,
there's no sign of the Predacons, which should be their first
indication that they've just walked into a trap.

Surely enough, the Preds all drop in behind them and it's another big
firefight. The Maximals take cover behind the probe and trade shots
whenver they can. Rhinox puts his new invention to work on the probe,
and I just love this thing. It's duct-taped together and you can see
the batteries and everything! Talk about cobbling together junk. It
was a nice effort, but it's not doing a thing against the probe.

He looks up and in the reflection of the probe he sees Waspinator...
sneaking up behind him. Oh no. Here it comes! He plays dumb for a
moment... and then.... and then.... THE CHAINGUN OF DOOM!!! For a
solid 7 seconds Rhinox shreds Waspinator to pieces with the most
awesome weapon in the entire show at point blank range. Ohhhhhh My
gawd! And can you believe that this is the first time in the entire
show that Waspy has been really slagged?? Oh yes, it's the start of a
new trend. :D

The twitching, spasming Waspinator stumbles back and falls against one
of the stones in the stonehenge, causing an energy wave to ripple
through the entire structure. Rhinox realized the truth a moment
before he saw it; the entire place, the stonehenge and the probe are
all a single device.

The whole place lights up and the probe opens like a flower petal
(sorta). What in the world... what's going on inside that thing?
Weeeeeird. A flash of light shoots out and Primal is restored to his
old self! Better even! He takes advantage of the Predacons' surprise
and brings them all down in short order.

Realizing they've lost the day, Megatron calls for his troops to
withdraw. Funny how they just walk away and the Maximals just let
them. I guess they were all sick of shooting at each other that day.
Whew. But what a day. Well now, what to do with this probe thing?
Wait, what probe thing?
Where'd it go, it's gone! Dissolved into nothing! Oooh, you know that
bad feeling Rhinox was getting at the start of this episode? It's
coming back. Whoever sent that probe apparently learned everything
they needed to know about the Maximals and Predacons. But who are they
and what are they after?

Dinobot: "Are they enemies, friends, or something more..."

My bet is on something more but who knows? :p Anyway, that does it for
this episode. Good episode too. I think this is the first one that
really hinted at the bigger things to come in the near future. I
really like seeing Rhinox analyze the planet and everything. I love
his whole observation about how the energon doesn't match the geology
of the planet. Stuff like that. How many Transformers cartoons
actually bother to talk about the geology of the planet they're on?
Two moons, energon veins, stonehenge, etc. etc. They've really made
the setting as much a factor of the story as the characters and I like
that. Yep. Well I think that wraps it up for this one.

Next up: NOT "Power Surge". :D

You all know I like to spice these reviews up with some pictures from
the episode, some Kodak moments, but it's starting to get a little out
of hand. I started with 46 pictures from this episode and despite how
much I tried to weed it down, I still have 26 pictures. It makes me
laugh a little thinking that with the first episode of Beast Machines
I somehow kept it to *just* 6 pictures. I'm so bad. But here they are
for this episode!

Mako Crab

unread,

Sep 6, 2008, 1:52:21 PM9/6/08

Fallen Comrades
written by Bob Forward

on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIWkfy6x4i0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIN7C1N2Emg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU7QRiSzLeo&feature=related

This is actually a pretty good episode despite the fact that it
introduces Tigatron. Sorry, Tigatron fans, I just don't like the guy.
But this episode manages to be good anyway, mainly because Tigatron is
wisely kept absent for the all but the last two minutes. Hehehe. Sorry
again, Tigatron fans!

The episode starts out simply enough. Waaay high up in orbit
Tigatron's stasis pod begins to fall towards the Earth. The Maximals
and Predacons are both watching this very closely and it's great to
hear Terrorsaur's enthusiasm. Can you tell he's been cooped up in the
base for a while? But now imagine this; you're falling from orbit. No
parachute, no landing gear, no thrusters. Falling. And you're inside a
coffin. Tigatron's stasis pod slams into the snowy terrain in the
northern hemisphere and you KNOW his head got beat around the inside
of that pod! AhaHAaHAaHahahaaHAHA!

*wipes a tear away* Ahh... I so hate Tigatron. :)

So Terrorsaur's all anxious to get moving, but Megatron has other
ideas. With only one flier on the Maximal team, he decides it'd be in
their best interest to take out Optimus Primal first. Good, good
thinking.
At the Maximal base Primal seems just as eager to get to the pod as
Terrorsaur. I can't belive that Dinobot is actually being the voice of
caution in this scene. That almost never happens.

Dinobot: "Megatron does not always act as one might expect."
Primal: "He'll want to get to the pod first, same as us."

I like this. In the broad scope of things Primal and Megatron get to
know each other very well to the point where they can almost predict
each others' moves, but early on we see Primal still has a lot to
learn about his adversary.
Dinobot convinces Primal to allow him to exit the base first and make
sure Waspinator and Terrorsaur aren't waiting right there to ambush
him. D'oh! We get this wonderful night shot of the Axalon that I love.
It's quiet, you can hear the birds and animals chirping, and it's
just... hmm... maybe too quiet. Dinobot returns inside and requests to
lead a full-on scouting party. Primal ain't having none of it! There's
a pod to be rescued! No time for dilly dallying! They both exit the
Axalon and Primal takes to the air, hovering while he gives Dinobot
orders to follow along with the other Maximals.

OMG IT'S TERRORSAUR AND WASPINATOR!!! They blast Primal and he goes
down hard, but not before Dinobot can retaliate. He blasts a giant
boulder, that falls right on top of Waspy. Doesn't matter. Terrorsaur
blasts the boulder apart and helps Waspy up and into the air. Aww!
See, they do care. :)

Cheetor and Dinobot run to Optimus' side. Oh no! Oh he's dead! Really,
really dead!

Dinobot: "Fear not, I will insure your funeral is a glorious one!
Primal (half dead): "Afraid not. I'm not scrap yet."
Dinobot: "You sure? It'd be really cool."

Hehehe. Back at the Predacon base! And can you believe that Waspy and
Terrorsaur bothered returning to their base? Why didn't they blast
Primal and then head right for the stasis pod themselves? Wasting more
time here, guys. Megatron figures out what the Maximals' next move
will be; they'll send a land party. Um... yeaaah. What else? Wasn't
that the whole idea in the first place?
This is my favorite Megatron ever, and he is widely regarded as the
smartest of all Megatrons, but every now and then he's way too
impressed by his own ability to state the obvious. Guess what he does
next? He sends Terrorsaur and Waspinator to go fetch the stasis pod!
OMG, what a clever plan! At least he has the good sense to load up
Scorpy and Tarantulus and attack the Axalon while everyone else is
out.

So everyone's on the move! The Maximals are a little wary leaving
Dinobot alone to guard the base while Primal is in the CR chamber, but
there wasn't much choice since both of them got damaged. And just up
north it seems there's a problem... the stasis pod hatch pops open and
Tigatron is instantly hit with a searing wave of pain as his systems
overload from the energon radiation!!

AhaHAHAHahahahAHAHAHAAA!

Back to all the Preds and Maxis on the move. Good blizzard effects.
Looks nasty and cold, but the blizzard only lasts for a couple
seconds. Aww. Terrorsaur and Waspy spot the Maximals down below and
decide to have a little fun. They unload with everything they've got,
but the two Preds are proving to be really capable at dodging today.
Hey hey. Ice bridge! Terrorsuar and Waspy fly right *through* the
bridge and destroy it! Awwwesome. They're having a really good day
today. Smoking Primal, evading thousands of shots, taking out the
bridge. Yeah, doing good. I like seeing these two paired up. They
should do it more often.

Rattrap calls into the Axalon, because the lack of a bridge kinda'
screws up their plans. Dinobot just yells back over the comm. that he
will accept no excuses and then closes the channel. Still, even he
knows that their chances of beating the Preds are slim, so he accesses
the mind of Primal while he's still in the CR chamber. Kind of a cool
little trick. A hologram of Primal's head appears over their
conference table and they're able to discuss their options. If they
could somehow send a signal to the pod and activate it... but they'd
need something to bounce the signal off of.

Dinobot has a moment of inspiration and gets topside right away,
setting up a big satellite dish that seems to be aimed at the moon.
Just then Megatron appears! He's not even trying to be sneaky. He just
comes right out and says hello. He offers Dinobot the chance to
surrender the base him and reclaim his place as a Predacon. Sounds
tempting, but Dinobot doesn't go for it. He blasts Megatron in the
face! Oh but Megs isn't worried. While he was acting as the
distraction, Scorpy and Tarantulus have snuch up behind Dinobot and
blast him.
Charred and on fire, Dinobot rolls to safety and activates the auto-
guns just in time. They make quick work of the Preds and Megatron
calls for a quick retreat. Aww, it sounded like a halfway decent plan,
but that's how things go sometimes.

Inside the Axalon Primal comes out of the CR chamber just as Dinobot
goes in. That thing gets a lot of use. Oh yeah, and they activate the
satellite dish. The programming signal bounces off the moon and hits
the stasis pod, feeding it info and whatever else.

And way up north Rhinox, Cheetor and Rattrap have finally caught up to
Terrorsaur and Waspy, who are already well into the process of cutting
open the stasis pod. It's a stand-off, when Megatron shows up and tips
the balance of power. He takes aim at a couple white tigers nearby and
threatens to kill them if the Maximals don't give up the stasis pod.
The Maximals comply and Megs heads over to the stasis pod. Come on!
He's not aiming at the tigers anymore! Go for it! Or... not. Turns out
there's another surprise in store for Megatron anyway. The pod is
finally opened and there's nothing inside.

Megatron: "Whaa-aa-aat???? Where is the Maximal??
Tigatron: (in the softest, soft voice ever): "Right... here."

Oh gawd, here we go. One of the white tigers transforms and it's minty
green Tigatron! He fires some wrist rockets and everyone gets in on
the fight. The Predacons are blown halfway back to their base. And
then the fun part!

Optimus Primal: "Hey, you'd be a great asset to the team. We could
really use the extra help."
Tigatron: "That's why I'm going to stay up here. Screw all you guys.
Nyah nyah!"

Really, it's for the best. Tigatron just never meshed really well with
the whole team. Better to keep him up north where it's cold and
distant; just like him. He says that his identity programming is all
screwed up and he still isn't entirely sure who he is or where he
belongs. Maximal or tiger? He gives a wink over to his new tiger
friend. For being a big cat, Tigatron sure is a dog. A dog!!!

Primal: "Alright, but I have a feeling we'll be meeting again. And
soon."

Not too soon, I hope. The end!

What can I say about this episode, really? It's good, it's fun, I like
seeing Waspy and Terrorsaur as a team (why didn't they do that more
often?). Tigatron is barely in it, which is perfect. Yeah, this one
was pretty good all around. It was a simple race to see who could get
to the pod first, but they threw in enough spice to make it TAS-TAY!!

Next up: Double Jeapordy! Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Power
Surge.

Mako Crab

unread,

Sep 7, 2008, 12:02:08 AM9/7/08

*L* I do tend to type these reviews fast and loose, and so I often
over-exagerate to some extent or another. I don't really [i]hate hate[/
i] Tigatron. I know I used that word, but I don't really hate any
character on Beast Wars. It's more like he's simply nowhere on my top
10 list of favorite characters in this show. I find plenty of things
about him that are good, and I'll be sure to point those out as they
come up, but overall he just never interested me. And like I was
saying, I never felt that he meshed with the rest of the Maximals very
well. I know that he's supposed to be the loner of the group, and for
a moment at the end of "Spider's Game" it seemed as though they were
going to take that aspect, that flaw some might call it, of his
character and go somewhere with it. But they kept sending him off on
long solo missions and out of the stories.

It reminds me of something Ben Dunn, the creator of the Ninja High
School comic book, once said about writing one of his characters.
Sammy, a girl that was pretending to be a boy, was one of my favorite
characters in the book, but she'd never get used. He explained her
scarce appearances by saying that she was just too hard to write. That
always struck me as a weak excuse and irritated me.

With Tigatron it seems to be the same problem. They don't seem to know
what to do with him most of the time or where to take his character
development. He establishes a strong personality but then they send
him away and it annoys me to see a character treated so shabbily.
Especially when I see plenty of opportunities to do more with him and
make him a vital part of the team instead of the stray cat.

QUOTING
Also, isn't coming into the series with pre-conceived notions like "I
hate Tigatron!" counter-active to the purpose of these escapades? The
purpose behind rewatching Energon in the first place, for example, was
to see if the series was as bad as everyone said it was--which, of
course, it totally was. Likewise, the purpose behind rewatching BW
like this would be to see if it's really as 'good' as everyone said it
was.[/quote]
Well, you're right. I shouldn't be so quick to jump to the same old
conclusions going into these.
END QUOTING!

The main difference with Energon was that I could barely remember
anything about that show. It was all just a big haze. Beast Wars has
remained crystal clear in my mind for years, so I guess I felt more
comfortable jumping all over Tigatron right off the bat.
How about this- I already said that there are plenty of things I like
about him. I'll be nice from now on and won't automatically write him
off as dead-weight in future episodes. :)

And just like I did for the other characters:

Tigatron is a White Tiger!
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/siberian-tiger.html

Mako Crab

unread,

Sep 19, 2008, 7:54:46 AM9/19/08

Double Jeapordy
written by Jesse Winfield

on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGMxiM8nQJs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hnn5_ArMq3s&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe7lO5t_bE0&feature=related

Hot, oily sex falls from the sky and her name is Blackarachnia! We all
know who she is, so an introduction isn't really necessary. Good thing
to, as this episode has almost nothing to do with her just like
Tigatron's introductory episode had nearly nothing to do with him.

I do find it amusing to note that, as the only Transformer to have
such an incredibly developed set of golden breasts, that she's shown
to be clearly... ehhh.... flat while still a protoform. She's just one
of those girls that bloomed overnight!

Interestingly enough, this episode begins in snow-covered region with
Dinobot and Primal closing in on the fallen stasis pod. This time the
Predacons get it and the Maximals limp home badly beaten. It almost
seems as though they purposely recreated the final scene from "Fallen
Comrades" and puntuated it with a Predacon victory this time out.
Primal especially takes a nasty, nasty fall that I love. As if getting
shot in the back and plummeting wasn't bad enough, he bounces off the
side of a ledge and flails wildly the rest of the way down.

Later at the Axalon there's trouble brewing. Seeing as how their last
few missions have all been ambushed and foiled by Predacons (the other
incidents occuring off-screen before the episode began), Primal's
suspicion points towards Rattrap. Rhinox pipes up right away in
defense of the rat. Nice to see.
*thinks back to "Chain of Command"*
Yeah, Rhinox totally voted for Rattrap. :)
Primal's not so convinced though and orders Rattrap on a solo scouting
mission into the dreaded... Sector 12!! I am so glad it's 12 and not
7. I can't tell you how sick I am already of seeing stupid little
references and nods to Sector 7 from the 2007 movie. Enough already!
It wasn't that cool! Sector 12 is much cooler. It's a lava field
covered by one big energon storm! Rock your socks off! And it's in
range of the Predacon base, so if Rattrap survives the ordeal,
obviously he's a Predacon. If not, then it means he's a Maximal. Hm...
the logic here is... bad. Of course, it's both Primal's and Rattrap's
intention that he side with the Predacons, so no harm there.

The show's been over for 12 years! Spoilers be damned! :D

*ahem* Okay. Oh yeah! And over at the Predacon base Tarantulus has
reprogrammed the Maximal protoform to be a Predacon. Introducing femme
fatale, Blackarachnia! Immediately Megatron thinks something is up
since Tarantulus chose a spider beast mode for her. Building his own
arachnid army, I see. I'll bet she turns out to be a loyal recruit in
the battles ahead... *snicker*

Meanwhile in Sector 12 there's all of nothing happening. Rattrap
sounds convincingly put-out as he reports in, wheeeen... Terrorsaur
goes on the attack! Funny bit back at the Axalon; they're still
listening to everything that's happening and Rhinox tells Dinobot:

Rhinox: "Told you he was no Predacon clone."

It almost makes me wonder if "Double Dinobot" was supposed to air
before this episode the way I always thought "Power Surge" was
supposed to come after this one. Food for thought. I can't recall if
Blackarachnia or Tigatron were in "Double Dinobot" but it's definitely
something to look out for now.

So Terrorsaur is trashing Rattrap and just as he's about to deliver
the finishing blow, Rattrap pleads for mercy. He says he'll do
anything, even become a Predacon. The Maximals listening in over the
open comm. line are in shock. And my favorite part; the camera closes
in on the intercom as Terrorsaur lets out a psychotic laugh that
lights the board up red. For some reason this always seemed more
chilling than if they had just shown Terrorsaur himself.

Terrorsaur accepts Rattrap's terms and takes him back to the Predacon
base. Once there, he demands leadership of the Predacons. Megatron is
not pleased by this and tries to tell the fool that Rattrap is just a
spy looking to work his way into their ranks. Before he can say much
more, Rattrap nails him from behind with a taser of some sort that
drops the big lizard to the floor. Incapacitated and unable to
transform, he's thrown in the brig. Rattrap is imprisoned alongside
him while the other Predacons discuss matters of leadership. It's
almost a throw-away liine to allow Rattrap the chance to roam around
on his own, but I like that Tarantulus feels that such things
shouldn't be discussed in front of Maximals, or even Maximal defects.

At the Axalon the other Maximals are suffering a blow to their morale.
First they lost Blackarachnia and now Rattrap too. Rhinox and Cheetor
are most obviously affected, opting to just let Rattrap go (Rhinox'
voice is so sullen!). Both Primal and Dinobot think he's too dangerous
a tool in Predacon hands, so it's their job to capture the traitor and
bring him in to face justice.

So Rattrap and Megatron are in the brig. And what a nice brig it is.
Two cages suspended over a lava pit. Makes escape fun. Megatron scoffs
at the laughable cage and simply opens the cell door by voice command.
Silly Terrorsaur. You'll have to be a lot smarter than that to outwit
Megatron. He calls a floating platform over and quickly vanishes to
other parts of the base.

Rattrap has his own lockpick- literally. In moments he has the cage
door open and leaps across the lava pit to a ventilation shaft. Oh,
but how, oh how, is he supposed to find his way through this place? A
rat! A real rat! Rattrap decides to follow it. I mean, it's
practically a comrade in arms! It even waves him to follow, how cool
is that?!

Sneaking, sneaking... sneaks under some grates and overhears the other
Predacons still bickering about who should be leader. Scorponok
refuses to follow Terrorsaur. Blackarachnia thinks he's a stubborn
idiot, and Tarantulus absolutely loves how direct and forceful she is.
Whoa, there, Tarry!
Rattrap keeps navigating the maze and comes to a communications room
where he observes Waspinator checking for activity on all Maximal
frequencies. Nothing happening. Waspy leaves and Rattrap leaps from
his high perch down to the console. And no one heard that?! Dude,
Waspy couldn't be more than 15 feet away! Thick doors, I guess.
Anyway, he rips open the console and discovers a Maximal decoder chip
inside. So now he's discovered how the Predacons have been able to
intercept their transmissions and ambush their last few missions.
Nifty. He pockets the decoder chip and signals Primal, who's waiting
nearby outside the Predacon base with the other Maximals.

They all want to know what the blinking red light on Primal's (monkey)
chest was all about, but he brushes it off. No time for that now, it's
time to fight! They start blasting holes in the hull of the crashed
ship!
Inside, the whole place is rocking and Terrorsaur is a frazzled wreck
with no clear ideas on what to do. Just then Megatron hovers into view
behind him. He screeches in terror, but Megs is in a happy mood. He
decides to let Terrorsaur handle the problem and lets him know right
away what a screw-up he thinks he is.

Terrorsaur: "Megatron?!?! You... you will allow me to lead?"
Megatron: "A wise tyrant always allows a fool to take the lead in a
crisis."

One of my favorite bits in early Beast Wars. So what's the fools'
orders? Rush the enemy! Frontal assault! Let's rock this joint! The
Preds all come running out the front door, guns blazing, and I love
that even though Megatron thinks it's a horrible plan concocted by a
horrible leader, he's out there fighting anyway.
OMG, Waspy gets blasted to hell by Rhinox's chainguns of doom again!
Primal takes to the air and as a proof of loyalty, Rattrap is ordered
to shoot him down. He fires several times, each time missing, but one
last shot nails him. The Maximals are in shock! And so am I. For the
first time ever I noticed that Terrorsaur grabbed Rattrap by the
shoulder and corrected his aim, so that he'd actually hit Primal. It's
so quick that it's easy to miss. And then you have the Maximals all
shouting, "Rattrap?! So it's true!" and it's easy to think that he
really did shoot Primal intentionally.

Cool bit! Primal hits the ground and Blackarachnia's right there to
finish him off, when her weapon is shot out of her hand by Cheetor.
With calm rage she focuses her attention on Cheetor and walks towards
him. The cat charges in firing, blasting off the spider legs on her
right arm, then her left arm. She continues walking forward unphased.
He keeps running and at the last possible second she brings her boot
up into his face! That cat is DOWN! She has a perfect opportunity to
finish him off just like she was about to do to Primal, but chooses
to... run away from the battlefield? Huh?

Battle, battle, battle! In a final test of loyalty Rattrap is forced
to shoot Dinobot or reveal he's a Maximal spy. The jig is pretty well
up, so he blows off Terrorsaur's head and Dinobot then proceeds to
beat the scrap out of Megs. The Maximals drag Rattrap back to base to
face his punishment!!!
And Terrorsaur's already suffering his defeat.

Megatron: "A lost battle. A missing Blackarachnia. And who knows what
damage done to the base!"

Yeah, no one's going to follow him anymore. Back at the Axalon Dinobot
is ready to kill Rattrap on the spot when Primal reveals the whole
ruse. It was just a big trick to fool the Preds into letting Rattrap
into their base. Of course, they couldn't tell anyone about it,
because they wanted it to be as realistic as possible. Uh huh... for
dramatic purposes it works, but during the battle you'd think the
game's over and he might as well drop the act. Dramatic story-telling
versus logic. Eh... it's a trade-off. Maybe he just had to keep up the
ruse until he could get back over to the Maximal side of the
battlefield. I don't know. But it's okay, because this episode is OV-
AH!

Good ep. I really like the whole sequence where Rattrap sneaks around
the Predacon base and through the ventilation shafts, evading traps
and Tarantulus and... I forgot to mention that during the review,
didn't I? Damn.
Blackarachnia, female robots, and boobs. Large, golden boobs. While
some people may prefer to debate the logistics of even having female
robots, I'm more interested in social norms. Her protoform started out
as a standard, flat-chested blank slate. Could mean something. Maybe
nothing. Don't know. As a Predacon, Blackarachnia has prominent boobs.
When she becomes a Transmetal 2 Maximal much later in the show, she
undergoes a dramatic breast reduction. And again as a Technorganic
Maximal in Beast Machines her bust line shrinks even further. So
what's going on? Is it Maximal programming that gives her a more
conservative figure? Is Predacon programming more prone to endowing
their women, thus painting Predacons as more pig-headed? I have no
idea, but there it is.

Oh! And where did Blackarachnia disappear to? I've had a long-time
theory that she accidentally discovered the entrance (or one of many
entrances) to Tarantulus' secret underground lair during the battle.
Remember in "The Web" that one of the entrances was right under a
large boulder. And then the very next time we see Blackarachnia it's
sneaking up on Tarantulus in his lair. Possible, possible, yes. And
since it's never ever mentioned again in the rest of the series,
that's the theory I'm sticking with. :D

NEXT UP: "Power Surge" (finally!)

This last picture I took by request. It's not exactly post-card
worthy, but you can see Terrorsaur's hand on Rattrap's shoulder,
correcting his aim so he hits Primal.

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd160/MakoCrab/DJ27.jpg

Mako Crab

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Oct 15, 2008, 12:29:29 AM10/15/08

Been away from this for too long. I blame it all on college and
Megaman 9. I can't actually play MM9, but just seeing that it was
being made inspired me to go back through and play the entire Megaman
X series. And now that I've beaten all 8 Megaman X games, I can get
back to Revisiting Beast Wars!

Power Surge
written by Larry DiTillo

on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPyaJR9sZnE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElU7uY4IoHI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piBXLRvsV-w&feature=related

You know, this episode is tidy enough that I don't think a super
detailed play-by-play is necessary. Just the facts, ma'am. So here we
go.

Terrorsaur is cruising the skies, munching on eagles and generally
loving being a Predacon, when he spots a floating mountain.
He lands on the mountain to investigate. It's filled, filled, FILLED
to brimming with giant energon crystals. He attempts to scan the
mountain and is hit by a crazy wave of super energon.
OH. YEAH.
Terrorsaur is super charged! The first thing he does is tear through
the sky at mach 4 back to Predacon territory.
When he gets back home, he challenges Megatron to a duel.
Surprisingly, Megatron accepts but quickly finds out that Terrorsaur
is more than ready for him. Megatron is reduced to a smoldering pile
of scrap metal.
Terrorsaur claims leadership, but he's hit in the gut by a sudden
pain. The super energon in his system is wearing off and he needs to
get back to the mountain.
He takes off. Tarantulus follows in secret. Scorpy and Waspy retrieve
the wreckage that is Megatron and toss him in a CR tank.
Meanwhile... Cheetor has witnessed all of this and reports the news to
his Maximal friends. They punch up the computer and track two Predacon
signatures heading for exactly the spot where Cheetor claimed the
floating mountain was.
Primal and Rattrap take off to put a stop to it.
Terrorsaur lands back on the mountain and recharges. Primal taunts him
and engages him in battle. They're flying all over the place, giving
Rattrap just enough time to sneak in and plant some explosives.
With the charges set Rattrap makes for a quick escape when he's
pounced on by Tarantulus. They fight and it doesn't end so well for
the spider, who plummets off the mountain and far, faaaar below.
Meanwhile, Primal is holding his own but it's clear he's no match for
Terrorsaur. Luckily Terrorsaur is experiencing yet another energon
drain and must recharge again. Optimus is pretty well crippled, so
he's not worried about the gorilla going anywhere.
He gets back to the center of the mountain and spots the charges that
Rattrap planted. They've almost reached zero on the timer! Terrorsaur
flies in a mad panic away from the mountain!
Primal finds Rattrap elsewhere on the mountain. In his current state
Primal can't fly, so they both jump for it just as the mountain
explodes into a hail of raw energon shards (good gawd!).
Primal catches a tree branch on the way down, reducing his arms to,
"refried rubber bands," and we get one of my favorite exchanges in
Beast Wars history.

Rattrap: "You do know that was crazy, right?"
Primal: "Eh, sometimes crazy works."

Terrorsaur returns to the Predacon base. Things didn't go his way but
he's happy that at least he got rid of Megatron. That is, until he
discovers a very angry, very much alive Megatron waiting for him.
Terrorsaur turns pale and gulps in terror.

The end!

And some quick things about this episode:
The whole reason I kept putting this one off until after "Double
Jeapordy" was for the scene where Terrorsaur arrives to challenge
Megatron to a duel.

Megatron: "I thought you'd already learned your lesson about
challenging me, Terrorsaur."
Terrorsaur: "Today I'm the teacher, if you have the courage!"
Megatron: "Very well. I could use some amusement."

That one line throws the whole episode off if we're going by the
original airing order, which places this episode before "Double
Jeapordy". The thing is, Terrorsaur never challenged Megatron before
"Double Jeapordy", so he'd have to be referring to some off-screen
instance. It's entirely possible that this is the case, but I always
felt that the line was making a direct reference to his failed coup in
"Double Jeapordy". It just helps solidify continuity between episodes
a bit more too.
Tigatron being absent from the episode means nothing, since that cat
is still cooling out up in the snow fields. All bases are covered and
now Megatron's line makes sense. Yay!
I also like how Megatron accepts Terrorsaur's challenge for
leadership. It's interesting. At first he gives him an opportunity to
back down. When that fails, Megatron gladly accomodates Terrorsaur's
battle-lust. I think it's interesting when you compare his reaction to
how he handled Dinobot's challenge for leadership in the first
episode. Rather than fight, he had Scorponok blast Dinobot over the
horizon. Dinobot survived and went on to become a Maximal; something
I'm sure Megatron realizes he could've prevented if he had simply
accepted the challenge and beaten Dinobot. It seems both that Megatron
doesn't want to repeat his mistake and he really doesn't think of
Terrorsaur as any kind of threat (he'll learn to stop under-estimating
his adversaries eventually).

Couple other things I like: right after Terrorsaur beats Megatron to a
pulp, he instantly takes up saying, "Yeees," the way Megatron always
did. It's just a classic little play on character types that I like.
I also like that as Terrorsaur begins to give his first orders (before
he's interupted by searing pain), that he was going to bring
Waspinator along with him on whatever mission he had in mind. It plays
into the whole partnership thing they sort of had going on in previous
episodes (Beast Wars part 2, Fallen Comrades, etc.). It's almost sad
then, that Waspinator helps Scorponok restore Megatron back to power,
considering how little Megatron values Waspy. At least with Terrorsaur
there was a chance Waspinator would outrank Scorponok and be his
flying partner.

You will notice that this is the last time Terrorsaur ever attempts to
dethrone Megatron. Maybe once seeing how the others chose to repair
Megatron, he knew there was no point. How do you lead when every last
person is against you, even your flying buddy?

Oh! And because I love harping on this issue, and because Beast Wars
did it so well- one of the main reasons I LOVE this Megatron so much
is that he's not a super invincible god of destruction. He *CAN* be
beaten by people other than Optimus Prime (Primal in this case). Last
episode he got dropped by Rattrap, the smallest of all the Maximals.
This episode he gets blown to pieces by Terrorsaur. It throws a bit of
randomness and chance into the stories when literally anyone could be
the hero. We now know that not every fight will boil down to Primal
fighting off Megatron. It could be Tigatron or Rhinox or even Rattrap.
Hell, it could be a monkey kid but that's another story.
It seems the japanese TF shows have this complex where only the two
faction leaders are ever allowed to confront one another. If anyone
else but Prime faces down Megatron (in Energon or Cybertron, for
example), they're going to get stomped on hard. End of story. It makes
the stories predictable and builds Megatron up to an annoying level of
supremacy.
With Beast Wars it's anybody's game. And that's just the way I like
it. :D

With Cheetor; I like that we get the usual gig where he reports the
floating mountain and, of course, Rattrap doesn't believe him. And
then when Cheetor is proven right, it's still up to Primal and the
doubting Rattrap to go to the mountain while Cheetor stays behind.
Usually in these types of stories Cheetor would've gone along to
deliver the big, "I told you so," but not this time. He has a moment
close to this inside the base when they detect Terrorsaur and
Tarantulus heading to the area that Cheetor claimed the mountain was
in, but at that point in time Rattrap was still something of a
skeptic. The, "I told you so," didn't have much weight to it at that
time.
It's cool also that when Cheetor describes the mountain, Rhinox
doesn't dismiss the idea at all. Rather, he tries to figure in his
head how something like that could've happened and hits upon the right
idea. The guy is smart, tough, and a great friend. He's quite possibly
the best, most positive incarnation I've ever seen of the brainy
stereotype.

Oh what else, what else? I think that pretty much wraps it up for this
one. A simple, by-the-numbers episode with a smattering of good humor
and some fun moments for all the characters involved.

NEXT UP: A Better Mousetrap (one of my favorites!)

ShadowWing

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Oct 18, 2008, 3:34:44 PM10/18/08

"Mako Crab" wrote

>
> Rattrap: "You do know that was crazy, right?"
> Primal: "Eh, sometimes crazy works."

Ah, yes, one of the best lines ever.

> That one line throws the whole episode off if we're going by the
> original airing order, which places this episode before "Double
> Jeapordy". The thing is, Terrorsaur never challenged Megatron before
> "Double Jeapordy", so he'd have to be referring to some off-screen
> instance. It's entirely possible that this is the case, but I always
> felt that the line was making a direct reference to his failed coup in
> "Double Jeapordy". It just helps solidify continuity between episodes
> a bit more too.

Fully agree here. Somebody messed up somewhere.

> Oh! And because I love harping on this issue, and because Beast Wars
> did it so well- one of the main reasons I LOVE this Megatron so much
> is that he's not a super invincible god of destruction. He *CAN* be

> beaten by people other than Optimus Prime (Primal in this case).....

> It seems the japanese TF shows have this complex where only the two
> faction leaders are ever allowed to confront one another. If anyone
> else but Prime faces down Megatron (in Energon or Cybertron, for
> example), they're going to get stomped on hard.

The newly reformated Cybertron Defense Team were able to get some
payback on Megatron, but that would be the only instance. And aside from
Leobreaker, it's the first time the "new powered up super-form" wasn't just
a new paint job, and even then Overhaul did the whole new body=new name bit,
which is another cliché-breaker on the CDT's part. They don't follow the
trends.

ShadowWing

unread,

Oct 18, 2008, 3:35:47 PM10/18/08

"Mako Crab" wrote

>
> Rattrap: "You do know that was crazy, right?"
> Primal: "Eh, sometimes crazy works."

Ah, yes, one of the best lines ever.

> That one line throws the whole episode off if we're going by the

> original airing order, which places this episode before "Double
> Jeapordy". The thing is, Terrorsaur never challenged Megatron before
> "Double Jeapordy", so he'd have to be referring to some off-screen
> instance. It's entirely possible that this is the case, but I always
> felt that the line was making a direct reference to his failed coup in
> "Double Jeapordy". It just helps solidify continuity between episodes
> a bit more too.

Fully agree here. Somebody messed up somewhere.

> Oh! And because I love harping on this issue, and because Beast Wars

> did it so well- one of the main reasons I LOVE this Megatron so much
> is that he's not a super invincible god of destruction. He *CAN* be

> beaten by people other than Optimus Prime (Primal in this case).....

The newly reformated Cybertron Defense Team were able to get some

payback on Megatron, but that would be the only instance. And aside from
Leobreaker, it's the first time the "new powered up super-form" wasn't just
a new paint job, and even then Overhaul did the whole new body=new name bit,
which is another cliché-breaker on the CDT's part. They don't follow the
trends.

>NEXT UP: A Better Mousetrap (one of my favorites!)

The episode that made me a Rattrap fan!

Mako Crab

unread,

Dec 15, 2008, 2:08:23 AM12/15/08

Sorry to everyone that's been following this thread. Full time college
+ full time work + gigantic, end of the term projects = no time for
Revisiting Beast Wars. Thankfully, college is all done with for now
and I can devote some time to this again. *whew*
Alright then, where were we?

A Better Mousetrap
written by Chris Allen Weber & Karen Willson

on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXlYfdNMqhw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecvqH0IyG4o&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3_RZDIs9gg&feature=related

I've said a few times in these reviews that the Maximals are such
great characters, that they could carry an entire episode on their own
without the Preds putting in an appearance. Well this is the episode
that *[i]almost[/i]* proves it.

Two plots today; the main plot deals with the new home security system
that Rhinox is installing in the Axalon and how it goes haywire. The
subplot deals with a bomb that the Predacons are planting beneath the
Axalon and plays such a menial role in the overall events, that it
could be removed completely and we'd still have a solid story.

So let's start with the subplot. Lovely opening shot panning across
the rocky valley that the Axalon crew calls home, but instead of
stopping at the ship, the camera keeps panning down the waterfall to a
tiny cave in the side of the rock wall. Inside the cave we find
Terrorsaur, Waspy, and Blackarachnia, who decided to return from parts
unknown. No word on where she disappeared to after "Double Jeapordy"
or what she's been up to, so you'll have to come up with an answer on
your own. Anyway Waspy's been digging a hole into the rock and it
looks like he's been doing most of the work. He gets fed up and buzzes
away leaving just Terrorsaur and Blackarachnia to finish the job.
Wait... I mean just Terrorsaur. Doesn't seem Blackarachnia's into the
idea of hard labor and aims her weapon at his head. For a second it
looks like he's considering putting up a fight but decides against it
and starts digging the hole bigger.

Waspy is detected within minutes with all his buzzing around in plain
view. It seems he's just flying in circles though, so maybe he thinks
he's found some kind of zone where he can't be detected. The Maximals
did say that these off-and-on Predacon sightings had been going on for
three days, so who knows. Optimus Primal meets up with a dizzy
Tigatron, who's been watching Waspy buzz in circles for hours (okay,
maybe not hours but long enough!). Primal decides to shake up their
visitor in order to see where he runs.

He blasts into the air like a rocket and grazes Waspy, giving the guy
some wicked whiplash! Then he mockingly taps Waspy on the head and
waves to him. Poor Waspy just about has a heart attack and flees at
top speed.

Waspy: "Waspinator must warn others!"

Aww, what a guy! After all the grief he's put up with today, no less!
And he's on the run! And Primal's in pursuit! And, and, aaaaand...
that bug is really agile. Not even Primal can keep up with his crazy
maneuvering. Within seconds the Wasp is gone and Primal grazes the
side of a mountain. Yeah, that kind of hurts doesn't it? Not so funny
when it's not happening to Wile E. Coyote, is it? Yeah, that's right.
Primal lands and regroups with Tigatron. About that time Primal gets a
call from the other Maximals. It seems they're locked out of the house
and they need a spare set of keys. Primal flies off to help them out
but not before we get this bit of dialogue:

Primal: "I'll send some back-up."
Tigatron: "RrreoW! I hunt better alone!"

Well geez, fine then. Have fun hunting alone. Hope you don't run into
more Preds than you can handle. Prick. So now it's just Tigatron and
he's stalking around the mountainside until he picks up a strange
scent. He discovers that a cave entrance has been cloaked by a
hologram and heads inside to investigate. Funny thing about this
scene; after he goes through the hologram, the false image begins to
waver again. I always thought that someone was sneaking in behind
Tigatron and that he was going to be in big trouble. Not the case at
all. Oh well.

He finds the three Predacons hanging out and putting the finishing
touches on their bomb. Blackarachnia activates it just as Tigatron
jumps out of hiding and starts blasting away. They all scatter,
allowing him the opportunity to yank the giant tunig fork bomb out of
the wall and run off with it. Oh yeah, and everyone's chasing after
him! Tigs has a great stride and if I could have taken one decent
picture of it, you know I would have. Anyway, the Preds chase him
outside but they've lost sight of him. Oh! And there's an awesome
moment where I swear it's like they're posing for Charlie's Angels!
Turns out Tigatron's hiding right above them on the rocky mountainside
and throws the tuning fork into the ground at Blackarachnia's feet.
She screams and grumbles and all three Preds make a hasty retreat.

And the bomb goes off, bringing down a gigantic chunk of rock and
mountain with it. Tigatron crawls free from the rubble to be greeted
by the faces of his Maximal friends. Aww. But it seems they have a
problem of their own...

While all that was going on, it seems that the new home security
system, Sentinel, has gone crazy. It had something to do with Rattrap
ticking off Dinobot. One thing led to another and the entire control
panel was destroyed. So now Sentinel thinks all the Maximals are
intruders. Everyone else ran for their lives, but Rattrap stayed
behind inside the Axalon to try and shut Sentinel down. Oh. Yeah. And
because it was his fault.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

I love this part of the episode! We get to go all through the Axalon
and get a good look around! There's just so much to this ship! It's
got air ducts, unused hallways, elevator shafts, access panels, and
more crawl spaces than you could ever hope for! It feels like this is
the first time we've really gotten to see more of the ship than just a
room or the bridge.

Anyway, Rattrap is making his way past all the traps and defenses, and
for the most part it's a cake-walk. He's enjoying himself and makes
light of Rhinox's basic security system. Oooh, but you know... you
should never underestimate the rhino. It seems that Sentinel is a
learning defensive system and the more Rattrap continues to evade its
traps, the more lethal the responses become.

After narrowly dying once or twice, Rattrap makes it to the core
computer that controls Sentinel. The entire room lights up with
weapons and defensive energy grids. Suddenly it's not all fun and
games anymore. Sentinel doesn't give Rattrap a moment to breath and
keeps him swinging through the air, leaping, running, and dodging for
his life. And just when it looks like maybe the rat has a handle on
things, the UPGRADED weapons systems come online to shut him down.
Yeah, tha's right! Because it wasn't already lethal enough! Rattrap
gets pinned beneath a heavy girder just inches away from the emergency
shut-off button that will put Sentinel down. The hovering laser
systems move in for the kill, begin charging up with that unmistakable
*hum* that you know means death. Rattrap's fingers- just centimeters
away! *Hummmmmmmmmmmmm* Milimeters! *Hummmmmmmmmmmmm!!!* Oh Hell!!!

The Maximals standing vigilant outside the Axalon see the force-field
surrounding the ship go down. Good news, yeah? Maybe not. Rhinox
explains that the shields wouldn't have dropped unless Sentinel deemed
the threat neutralized. So... Rattrap's dead? ... Dead?

The Maximals all hang their heads. Dinobot rattles off a few back-
handed compliments but Rhinox isn't in the mood for it today. He
offers his own sentiments and the scene fades to black...

NO!!! IT'S NOT OVER YET!!! The Axalon opens up and Rattrap rides the
elevator down to the ground! He's alive! He's okay! It's all okay!
Sentinel has been put down like the dog it was! Yeah! That's right!
And that's all for this one! Bwahaha! Man, I just really love this
episode. It's... it's just so cool. Forget my review. Go watch this
thing right now.

Next up: looks like Gorilla Warfare

Mako Crab

unread,

Dec 15, 2008, 2:12:34 AM12/15/08

Gorilla Warfare
written by Greg Johnson

on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFI9BEBjAyI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9BZ3olKw60&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEwoJpHYMa8&feature=related

This is one of my favorite season 1 episodes of Beast Wars and not
just because Optimus goes on a Pred-stomping rampage. For one, the
episode opens on one of the more unique locations and a personal
favorite; a cliff-top lake that forms twin waterfalls. It really
stands out compared to the generic mountains and flat plains that
we've seen so far.

Primal's conducting a survey of the local plant-life with Dinobot
along as backup in case of Predacon ambushers. As one might expect,
Dinobot thinks the whole mission is a waste of time. He and Primal go
back and forth a little on how best they could be spending their
time.

Dinobot: "Strategy!"
Primal: "Knowledge!"
Dinobot: "Tactics!"
Primal: "Exploration!"

Actually there's a great line in here that perfectly sums up Primal's
opinion of the Predacons and the Beast Wars overall at this point in
time.

Primal: "Dinobot, I signed on for this mission as an explorer. Just
because we bumped into Predacons is no reason to stop learning new
things."

He's right, of course, but his attitude indicates that he doesn't
really view the Preds as much of a credible threat. Right now he seems
to still be in the mindset that Megatron and his crew are just a
ragtag band of small-time Predacon rogues. Oh how quickly he's about
to change his mind...

The weird plant they're observing spits out a spiked ball that latches
onto the back of Dinobot's neck right where he can't reach. He's all
freaking out and Primal just laughs, seeing how Dinobot was
outsmarted.

Primal: "That's how it spreads its seed. You see, we've learned
something."
Dinobot: "Yeeees. From now on I shoot my dinner salad before I eat
it."

Hehe. Dinobot would've been a riot to have around during Beast
Machines. But anyway, Scorponok pops up right about then and starts
shooting at them. He's picked a wonderful spot to ambush them from;
right at the edge of the waterfall. Primal and Dinobot dive for cover
behind some boulders and exchange fire.

One of the things I really like about this episode is the use of
terrain. For example, Scorponok blasts a boulder and sends it crashing
down on Dinobot, pinning him between two boulders. Then Scorpy tags
Primal with a special Cyber-Bee, but not before Primal can return fire
and knock Scorpy back onto a log. The log gets dislodged and goes over
the waterfall. Nice stuff. It's like whoever designed this particular
set-piece was trying to find a couple cool ways they could use the
environment to make the battle a little more fun.

Dinobot hefts the boulder off of himself and carries Primal back to
base. Aaand sometime later... Primal is in the CR chamber getting
repaired while Rhinox delivers the grim analysis. The Cyber-Bee has
rerouted all of Primal's vital functions into itself. There's no way
to remove it and he can't transform with it attached. If they do yank
it off, Primal has all of a minute to live and then the Cyber-Bee
explodes, taking out everyone, "within sprinting distance."

Dinobot recongizes the symptoms and informs the group that Scorponok's
Cyber-Bee is intended to turn Primal into a coward incapable of
leading. And about that... shots are fired from inside the CR chamber!
Primal tears the door clean off its hinges and steps out of a thick
cloud of steam.

Primal: "Alright, who wants some?"

Oooh, he's mad! He threatens to blow away anyone that tries to remove
the Cyber-Bee! Rhinox grabs him and with the other Maximals they're
able to get him to calm down some, but it's taking everything in
Primal to fight his newfound aggression. He orders his crew to lock
him up and disarm him. Apparently Scorponok's little invention
backfired and made Primal into a war machine instead of a coward.

Short scene where we see Scorponok in his little corner of the Pred
base... tinkering away with whatever junk he manages to find, I guess.
It's just so hard to picture Scorpy as anything other than a dolt.
It's weird to see him in an almost lab-like setting. We find out he
has an antidote to the Cyber-Bee thing that's making Primal rage out
of control.

Back at the Axalon Cheetor goes to visit Primal in the holding cell.
Primal is still twitching mad and all, but he seems to have it under
control some. He's still talking like his old self and says that if he
can't stop the rage, maybe he can at least redirect it back at the
Predacons. Yeah! Now that's the Primal I know! Cheetor sets him free
and they both head to the bridge.

On the bridge Rhinox, Rattrap and Dinobot are discussing how to get
the antivirus that Scorponok has surely developed. Things start
getting a little snippy between Rattrap and Dinobot when Primal
interrupts. They're all shocked to see him out of the holding cell,
but he seems remarkably under control. Primal says that he intends to
take all this newfound fighting instinct and aggression he's got and
turn it right back on the Preds... with the help of his crew. It all
sounds good, but Primal gets a little too excited and shoots a ceiling
light. Alarms start blaring and red lights start flashing.
Oooooooooooh! Loud, annoying alarms making Primal angry. Flashing red
lights making him angry! He starts shooting the alarm klaxons!
Everyone ducks for cover, but Rhinox makes a daring attempt to tackle
Primal. Rattrap and Cheetor pile on but Primal throws them all off.
Even Rhinox!

That does it! Primal's not waiting around anymore for his crew of
losers to develop some courage! If they're not with him, then he's
going to attack the Pred base all on his own!

Primal: "It's like Dinobot says- (coy look from Dinobot)- We've gotta'
hit the Preds the only way they understand: hard, fast, and right
where it hurts!"

Primal politely takes the elevator outside. I swear, I was expecting
him to shoot a hole in the roof and fly out. It's been a while since
I've seen this one.

Anyway! New plan! The Maximals contact the Predacon base and warn them
that if they don't want to get slagged all to scrap, then they better
hand over the antivirus. Sounds reasonable enough, yeah, except that
Megatron isn't worried about one crazed Maximal. He's got a whole crew
of battle-ready Predacons to deal with the situation. So great! All
Cheetor managed to do was tip off the Preds that Primal was on his
way. New plan! The Maximals all race to the Pred base to help out,
because you know Primal's going to be needing that backup whether he
wants it or not.

The Pred base! Primal's flying right for it and dons his "battle
armor". Now for anyone reading this that's never seen Beast Wars
before, Primal's battle armor doesn't consist of him combining with
another Maximal, he doesn't have a trailer of any kind that becomes
armor, he doesn't have a whole set of remote vehicles that become
gestalt limbs, he doesn't gain any new weapons or anything. Primal's
"battle armor" is a faceplate that covers his mouth. And that's it.

BECAUSE THAT'S HOW HARDCORE HE IS!!!

He blasts a hole right into the hull of the Pred base and flies in.
Tarantulus is dispatched to deal with him. They meet within moments
(Primal's making it real easy for people to find him) and Tarantulus
fires his crossbow at him. Oooh, score one for the spider! Wait, what
the- Primal CAUGHT the crossbow arrow! He waves his finger at Tarry in
a, "Tsk. Tsk." motion and- OMG- he's walking forward!
Tarantulus unleashes the machine gun spider legs of doom! In what has
to be one of the coolest scenes ever from season 1, Primal marches
through all the bullets and lasers (or whatever he's shooting) until
he's point blank with Tarantulus. He picks the Pred up off the ground
and impales him to the wall with his own crossbow arrow. OH... MY...
GAWD.

Waspy is sent in next and... why even prolong the suffering.
Waspinator is scared out of his mind at the mere sound of Primal's
footsteps. Primal tears through a wall, grabs Waspy, yanks him back
through and plows him through another wall. And just for good measure,
Primal blasts Waspy when he's down.

By this point the other Maximals have shown up. Terrorsaur and
Blackarachnia are sent out front to deal with them. I just have to say
that I like seeing those two working together. For some reason I
always liked to imagine that if Blackarachnia hooked up with anybody
else other than Silverbolt, it would've been Terrorsaur. They just
seem to work fairly well together. So they're doing their thing out
front and Cheetor manages to sneak his way inside the base...

... Great moment where Primal's walking down the dark halls of the
ship. He looks tired and battered. He remembers what Cheetor said
earlier about not letting this thing tweak him out of control. It's a
nice moment and really stands out to me. You can see the real Primal
come through during this sequence for a moment.

Primal reaches Scorponok's lab finally but the antidote is nowhere to
be seen. Megatron, who's been in beast mode for this entire episode,
steps out of the shadows holding the antivirus. If Primal wants to
live, then he has to swear allegiance to the Predacons. Megatron
smiles and chuckles at his clever self. This trick might have worked
on a cowardly Primal, but Megs is dealing with super-heated, raging
mad Primal and he's not having any of it!

Primal rips the Cyber-Bee off his chest and says, "Here's a little
trick I learned from a flower!" No matter how he says that, it just
can't sound cool or tough. The Cyber-Bee (now a bomb) latches onto the
back of Megatron's neck and he runs for dear life to find someone to
remove it.

Cheetor dashes in just in time to catch the antidote that Megatron had
thrown up in the air (in terror, presumably) and injects Primal with
it. I always notice the really bad animation during these 4 seconds.
Whether it's Cheetor running over to Primal or the fact that his hand
isn't on the handle of the antidote speargun half the time, it's just
a really awkward scene. But hey, who cares. The rest of the episode's
been awesome.

They flee the base and elsewhere... Megs finds Scorponok and has him
remove the Cyber-Bee just as it explodes in their faces. The Predacons
are dead! ... until the next episode. Seriously, this is like the
second or third time now that the Beast Wars should've been over.
Bah!

Sometime later... Primal is back in his quarters aboard the Axalon
resting up. He wakes to find Dinobot watching over him. Claiming it
was merely his shift to keep watch, Dinobot makes his way for the
door. He states that he's glad to have Primal back home and back to
normal and even cracks a smile. Awww. Primal looks over to his side
and sees that there are some flowers on his desk next to the bed.
They're the same flowers from the start of the episode. He looks back
to Dinobot, but the scaley lizard is already half-way through the door
and doesn't look back.

That pretty much sums up Dinobot's whole character, doesn't it? He
actually does care but he'll never say it. I like it. It's a nice way
to end the episode. Anyway, one thing I have to say before I wrap it
up for this one. We've seen characters turn evil in many other TF
shows and even later in Beast Wars itself. What makes this episode
stand out is that Primal hasn't really turned evil. He's turned
badass. He still gets to rampage and shoot his guns wildly and do all
the things that the "turned evil" characters do (like all the Autobots
turning evil in "Attack of the Autobots"), but it's still Primal
underneath it all. He's not mindlessly evil. He knows what's been done
to him and he's doing everything in his power to turn this weakness
into a strength and use his newfound power against his enemies and not
his friends. It makes for what is probably the most fun and most
interesting take on the concept of having a good guy do and say
radically different things that they normally never would.

Great episode. One of my favorite in the entire series. And coming up
next it looks like we have "The Probe". Did I mention that the
sequence of episodes on Rhino's dvd set is all screwed up? Yeah, it
is. I'm going by the traditional episode guide, and not the order they
put them in. Anyway, that's all for now. I leave you all with some
pics.

Mako Crab

unread,

Dec 17, 2008, 9:04:33 PM12/17/08

The Probe
written by Craig Miller and Marv Wolfman

on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-ldppgXi8I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgkZXyxbTfA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71I9iDH8LrY&feature=related

It's been a few months now that our beasty buddies have been stranded
on Ear- uh... I mean a strange, prehistoric planet with TWO moons. TWO
MOONS, so you know it's NOT Earth! But as I was saying it's been a
while and things have started to settle in. Everyone's used to the
primordial surroundings by now. What do you think, shall we expand the
scope of things a little? How about we start with a shot of
Cybertron?

WOOOOOO!

*sigh* I guess it kind of loses its impact now, but back in 1996 when
this episode was being aired for the first time, I was flipping out.
Afterall, this is the 11th episode in the series. At one episode per
week, that's 11 weeks without seeing Cybertron or anything beyond the
small scope of the rocky landscapes. And if you count from the time
that G1 ended to the opening shot of this episode, the wait had been
even longer.

But finally we see Cybertron. No longer is this simply a new show with
a couple of passing references to some old, forgotten toon from the
80s. It's official now. This is a Transformers show and this is
Cybertron we're seeing. *swoon*

The Axalon has long since gone missing, so the Maximals on Cybertron
send out several temporal probes to search for, and hopefully locate,
the missing ship and its crew.

Cut to the Maximals still stranded on the blue/green planet (not
Earth). Primal, Dinobot, Rattrap and Cheetor are on their way back to
the base. It's pretty mellow and with the Axalon in sight, Cheetor
decides to race Rattrap to the ship. Primal and Dinobot give each
other a look and shake their heads. It's a one-second moment but I
like it. It's almost like after "Gorilla Warfare" Primal is starting
to see some validity in Dinobot's warrior point of view. Or maybe
since Dinobot was the one stressing strategy while psycho Primal was
all about blowing everything up, he (Primal) can see a little more
clearly that Dinobot isn't about mindlessly blowing things up. Gotta'
put some thought into first.

But anyway! I'm rambling today, I know. It's a good episode! Primal
calmly says, "Maximize," and transforms. *ahh* Such a nice change from
all the screaming, "HENSHINS!", and "TRANSFORMS!!!" of the anime
series. Primal flies in front of the racing cheetah and rat and drops
down right in front of them. Cheetor smacks into Primal and bonks his
head. Very uncool, right? Primal reprimands Cheetor, saying his
fooling around left him wide open to attack. What if he had been a
Predacon scout?! Primal's attitude about the Preds has really started
to change now since the last episode when he all but brushed them off
as a minor nuissance.

After the lecture they finish their walk back to the Axalon, where
Rhinox is hard at work. Seems he's detected the probe that Cybertron
sent out while the other Maximals were away. I love how he keeps
tuning their equipment and it sounds like a HAM radio. That's
classic. :)

Dinobot: "It's probably a Predacon trick... or something worse."

Hm... I kind of get the feeling that Dinobot already suspects it's a
probe and that he doesn't think it's a tirck at all. More on that
later. They're able to boost their long-range sensors and confirm that
it is in-fact a temporal probe. Rhinox cuts the celebrations short and
tries sending it a signal. Unfortunately, there's too much
interference for the signal to get through. The party... is over.

Primal: "You did your best, Rhinox. No one could've done more."
Rattrap: "Yeah, fearless leader is right."
Rhinox: "No he's not."

I love that exchange. Anyone else would, y'know, take it in stride and
be cheered up just slightly, but not Rhinox. He sees right through the
good-intentioned kindness. BUT! There's still a chance they can
contact the probe! Yeah, this is Rhinox's pick-me-up! He's practical,
he's a realist, and he knows that the probe will make a second pass by
the planet on its way out of the solar system! All they need to do is
build a stronger transmitter and boost the signal!

*gasp!* And a beautiful shot of the probe as it passes by Saturn. Er-
I mean, you know, a planet that has a ring around it. Not Saturn,
because they're not on Earth. SLAG!

Not a moment to lose! The Maximals locate the highest patch of land
they can find, and it happens to be in Predacon territory. No choice!
Must build, must build, slag it! No worries, Tigatron's watching their
backs.

And somewhere nearby... Tigatron spots Waspinator flying aimlessly
around and blasts him out of the sky. That was easy. Too easy, in
fact. Turns out Waspy was merely bait to lure out any roaming
Maximals, and Tarantulus is right there to surprise Tigatron with his
new invention; a transformation-lock lens. I hope you like your fur
coat, Tigatron, because you'll be wearing it for a while! He's trapped
in tiger form!

Tarantulus: "It woorks, how gratifying."

Aw, that's just cute!

The other Maximals hear the missle/laser fire and send Cheetor off to
help. Dinobot offers to assist, but Primal wants him to stay in case
their construction site comes under attack.

Dinobot: "Well, of coourse. We wouldn't want to miss our chance to go
home."

Ah, one of my favorite pieces of dialogue in the show. Dinobot says
that he's still a Predacon despite their alliance and that when the
Maximal ship arrives to rescue the Maximal crew, he'll be lumped in
with Megatron and all the rest of the Predacons. Primal assures him
that he'll personally see to it that Dinobot will be treated like a
Maximal.

Dinobot: "And what makes you think I want to be."

Zing!

Cheetor arrives to help Tigatron (after the snowy tiger got beat up
some), but Tarantulus uses the lens on him too! Two down and four to
go.

Tarantulus: "Isn't life just full of surprises."

Oh, and before I forget, "Don't cats ever get tired of being stupid."
It's the running gag throughout this episode. Everyone thinks cats are
stupid in this episode. Who knows? Maybe one of the writers was having
a bad week with their cat.

Back at the Axalon Rhinox is putting the finishing touches on the
transwarp signal booster. He's just matching the artificial signal to
mimic their transwarp engines so the probe can pick up on it. He
checks the clock to see where the probe is and... a hologram of the
whole solar system comes up.

There's a giant yellow sun at the center of it, and several planets
rotating around it that look like... Mars, Saturn, Neptune, Jupiter...
uh... yeah. They've all but said that they're really on Earth and this
only helps confirm it. But Two moons, man! Two moons! Ah, whatever. We
all know it's Earth.

Anyway! The probe passes by... a... blue planet with a vertical ring.
Which one is that, Neptune or Uranus? I can never remember. *checks
real quick* It's Uranus. Love those shots of space. They look so
pretty!

Back on the planet! Optimus is trying to contact Cheetor and Tigatron
to no avail. He doesn't even realize that Scorponok and Terrorsaur are
hiding right behind a boulder not more than 50 yards away. Scorpy
records the footage of the Maximals building stuff and sends
Terrorsaur back to base to show Megatron.

At the base the Predacons puzzle over what the structure is
(Tarantulus figures that one out in 2 seconds) and why they'd risk
building it in hostile territory. Just then the deep space scanner
goes off. They've detected something!

Cheetor: "The probe!"
Megatron: "Probe? (Oh, Snap!) Prepare for full-scale assault! Bring
everything you've got! Now, Now, Now!"

The Preds, ALL the Preds, tear out of the base, leaving Tigatron and
Cheetor to escape unnoticed. They make quick use of the Predacon CR
chambers and are able to transform again. All they have to do now is
reach the battle before it's too late (it took them a while to escape,
I'm just summing it up real quick).

The Maximals have completed the signal array. They're just waiting on
Rhinox to deliver the replicated transwarp signature. And Scorponok
isn't waiting for anyone! He blasts Dinobot right in the back! He's
down! He fires a couple more missles at the structure, but Primal
blasts them out of the sky. Scorpy goes to fire a missle at Primal
and- OMG- RATTRAP BLEW HIS CLAW-HAND OFF!!! Dinobot gets back on his
feet and finishes off the one-handed scorpion, but they know the rest
of the Preds are on their way...

The probe! It's coming back around Earth!

OMG, Terrorsaur! He shoots! They shoot! Everyone shoots, nobody gets
hit. Terrorsaur flies away. OMG! More Predacons! Megatron,
Blackarachnia, and Tarantulus snuck up behind the Maximals while
Terrorsaur distracted them! The Preds are really good at this baiting
tactic today, I notice. Anyway! BATTLE!

Dinobot runs right into the beam of the Lock Lens and reverts to his
beast mode. Before he even knows what's going on, Blackarachnia kicks
him in the head about... 30 times. He's down! Rattrap gets a little
does of revenge and blasts Blackarachnia backwards until she falls off
a cliff.
He goes over to check on his veloci-buddy and gets hit by the lens
too. Rat mode! Stuck in rat mode! They both get blasted across the
ground by Megatron. Dude, that lens is messing up the whole Maximal
team!

Tarantulus throttles Primal (how often do you see that?). Good bit
here, Primal swings his sword and Tarantulus catches it with his other
hand! Primal still has his forearm canons though, and punches a hole
through Tarry at point blank range. And then Primal gets hit by the
Locking Lens too. The whole team has been trapped in beast mode!
They're completely defenseless!

Megatron fires a missle at the signal array, but Primal won't let it
be destroyed without a fight. He picks up an I-beam and *BATS* the
missle! Of course, the missle explodes on impact, which always made me
think of the horrible reverberations that must've gone through that
thing and right into Primal's hands. You ever hit something solid with
an aluminum baseball bat and feel that horrible pain in your hands?
Multiply that by about a thousand.

Primal's on the ground and Megatron takes the opportunity to *GRIND*
his heel into the monkey's back! Crazy pain! *takes a picture*

This has been a crazy battle so far, but you know who they forgot
about? Rhinox. And he's right there to knock Megatron clear across the
battlefield. He's down! Rhinox goes over to install the disc with the
replicated transwarp signature when he's hit by the lens. Rhino mode!
NOOOOOOOO! But really, how was he to know there was some crazy new
device on the field?

It's so awful! He keeps trying to Maximize to no avail and as he
slowly trucks his way over to Primal, you can see Megatron groggily
reviving in the background. Hurry up already! He hands the disc off to
Primal, the only one with hands capable of inserting the disc in beast
mode, but it's too late. Megatron is back on his feet.

Megatron: "No Predacon will become a Maximal prisoner while I rule."

Ah, how sweet! He fires a missle at the signal array in glorious slow-
motion. The explosion rocks the area and sends Primal and Rhinox
flying through the air. This, I believe, is the first time the
Predacons have had a real solid, clear-cut victory and it's such an
event, that the explosion is played a few more times with Megatron's
echoing laughter filling the room. Oooooh, so evil. :D

Time to finish the job. He moves in to finish off Primal and Rhinox,
but the cats show up! First order of business is to destroy the
Transformation-Lock Lens. With that out of the way it's two against
one. But you know what? Megatron is feeling mighty happy with how the
day's gone and and doesn't feel up to anymore fighting. He heads for
home... and the Maximals... don't.

Mmmm- mm! I love this episode! I'm sure there's plenty more that can
be said about it, but this is running a bit long as it is (I think). I
guess I'll leave it as is, but this really is one of my favorite
season 1 episodes if you couldn't already tell. Love it! Oh wait,
there is one more thing- I didn't hate Tigatron in this one!

Next up- Victory.

Mako Crab

unread,

Jan 29, 2009, 10:52:43 PM1/29/09

Been a while, right? Yeah, that's college for you. Completely
overwhelmed by homework and huge blocks of reading. I swear though,
I'm going to get this thing going again. Right then, where'd we leave
off at?

Victory
written by Wendy Reardon

on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BQd2woWQVE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nZLCh0szrg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzFPlbSUUIE&feature=related

This episode opens inside the Axalon where everyone's crowding around
the TV to watch their new favorite soap opera: "As the Preds Burn",
courtesy of a spy camera that Rattrap secretly installed in the Pred
base.

It seems that Megatron has been using what precious little energon the
Preds have to conduct experiments in growing artificial energon
crystals. Unfortunately his experiments have all been complete
failures thus far. Terrorsaur, Waspinator and Scorponok look on with
growing contempt as this latest experiment results in yet another
failure. Megatron demands another crystal immediately. You can just
see where this is going. The Predacons revolt!

Cheetor: "Now aren't you glad we got cable?"

I've been waiting so long to quote that line. :D Yes, Cheetor, yes I
am. *Grin!* The Maximals watch the revolt unfold as the Preds open
fire on Megatron. He takes cover, but the experimental energon
crystals are hit and detonate. The monitor goes static. The explosion
at the Pred base is felt miles away inside the Axalon.

Whoa. The Predacons just blew themselves up.

There's more a sense of complete bewilderment than anything else. The
tone is kept reserved, as the Maximals go to check out the Pred base
and confirm the destruction. Smoke is billowing from the wreckage and
the ship lists. We all know it's a trick, but honestly- the Preds are
really going the distance in making it believable. How badly did they
have to trash their base to make it realistic?

Primal: "We may have to accept a rather unexpected development,
friends. It looks like the Maximals have won the Beast Wars."

Ohh, tsch. I know what he meant, but it came across all wrong. It's
unexpected that the Maximals won? Way to rain on the parade. No, no,
I'm sure he meant that it was unexpected that the Predacons blew
themselves up. Oh well, minor point.

So they head into the Pred base and the whole place is just in
shambles. Rhinox is scanning for signs of life but coming up with
nothing. It's off to the engine room to see what they can salvage and
use to repair the Axalon.
The whole time Dinobot is just completely somber despite Rattrap's
constant needling. After the engine room is deemed secure, Dinobot
stalks off down a corridor to look for any survivors. Watching as he
goes, Rattrap delivers what happens to be my favorite bit of dialogue
in the episode. Basically he says that despite their alliance, Dinobot
is still a Predacon at heart and only sided with them, because he knew
they'd win. Now is not the time to drop his guard, because there's
just no telling what Dinobot will do next. Good stuff.

And! And just down the hall even Cheetor is playing practical jokes on
Dinobot with some of Tarantulus' spare spider legs! Crikey, it's a
wonder that Dinobot didn't bite his head off right there! Ohhh, I
swear, Cheetor's going to pay for that later. You just know Dinobot's
thinking about cheetah tar tar.

Anyway, mission accomplished. They got the engine parts they were
after and there's no sign of Predacon life. They head back to the
Axalon.

Repairs are the top priority now. I just love seeing more of the
Axalon. Seems like we've seen only the command bridge and a couple
side rooms. The engine room looks pretty cool too.
Dinobot arrives after much contemplation and informs everyone that
he's not returning to Cybertron with them. Convinced that he'd only be
seen as a Predacon criminal, staying behind on this primitive world
unequaled in power seems like the better choice.

Primal: "It will eventually lead to your destruction."
Dinobot: "Eventually... Eventually can be a very long time, Optimus
Primal."

Ooh, snappy! One of my favorite lines. Dinobot doesn't wait for
everyone to start tearing up and exits the Axalon. Rattrap, for the
first time today, seems surprised and maybe even a little disappointed
that Dinobot's not coming with them.

Outside- Dinobot stomps around surveying the vast wilderness that he
intends to conquer. He steps over a narrow crack in the ground and
proceeds on his way. But it's a deep, canyon-like crack in the ground
and at the bottom are all of the Predacons in hiding.

I'm not sure how long the Predacons have been hiding in here, but the
events of this episode seem to span the course of at least a couple
days. Tarantulus is munching on field mice and slobbering all over
Terrorsaur. Terrorsaur is just losing his mind being cramped up in
such a tiny crack in the ground. Claustrophobic? Maybe. The best part
is the revelation that Waspinator has been cuddling Tarantulus like a
stuffed animal when he sleeps at night! Awww! And even more, that
Tarantulus was completely aware of this and let him do it anyway!
Awwwww! That's so sweet!

It seems the whole plan began when Terrorsaur accidentally tripped
over the cable to the Maximal's spy camera (was it really that
blatant?). Having discovered the spy cam, the Preds hatched this plan
to fake their own deaths and let the Maximals repair the Axalon. Then,
once the repairs were complete, they'd jump out of the crack in the
ground and steal it from them!

Sounds fairly foolproof until Dinobot happens to spot them down there.
OH SNAP!!! Every Predacon comes thrashing out of the tiny canyon and
gives chase! Dinobot runs like mad back towards the Axalon (managing
to take out Terrorsaur and Waspinator in the process).

But it's too late! The Axalon is already prepping to lift off. The
engines are warming up and in the condition that the ship is in,
there's just no way to shut it off.
Dinobot is shot down! He can't move! He can still shoot though and
holds the remaining Predacons at bay as long as he can... which isn't
long. I know it's only four Predacons running at the base, but they're
cranking up the epic music that usually only gets used when the Vok
are on the scene- and it works! It totally works! This feels epic!

Cheetor and Optimus Primal head outside with blast shields to try and
rescue Dinobot. I love those blast shields. So cool. Tigatron is here
too and can't stand the idea of sitting idly by while everyone else is
fighting.

Rhinox: "Sit down!"

Tigatron: "But Optimus and Cheetor get to-"

Rhinox: "I SAID SIT!!!"

Pure awesome.

It's a crazy fire fight, but Optimus is able to get to Dinobot and
secure him. Seems Terrorsaur's recovered though and nails Primal right
in the back. A crazed Cheetor fires wildly at Terrorsaur before
getting himself taken out by Megatron. See, that's what happens when
you don't pay attention.

The Predacons all charge the Axalon, but are easily dispatched by the
ship's auto-canons (which were being operated by Tigatron). However,
the Axalon is lifting off ever so slowly. The epic music has ceased.
All we can hear now are the roar of the engines as the ship inches
ever higher. Cheetor manages to crawl his tattered body onto the
elevator platform as a weary Optimus carries Dinobot in his arms. He
looks completely exhausted, but he digs deep and summons the last bit
of his strength to throw Dinobot up onto the platform. With one last
burst of energy he jumps and latches onto Cheetor's hand. It's going
to be okay! They all made it and now they're heading home for
Cybertron!

Not if Scorponok has anything to say about it. He fires off a missle
that breaks the grip Cheetor had on Primal and in deafening silence,
Primal falls to the ground in slow-motion. I swear, this episode is
epic.

Cheetor: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" :D

At the very last second Megatron jumps onto the Axalon before it's out
of range and makes his way inside. Long story, short- he takes out all
the Maximals and decides to savor crushing Rattrap in his T-rex jaws.
Just that Rhinox doesn't go down so easily and hoists himself back up
onto his feet. If you were wondering what kind of a powerhouse Rhinox
was, check it out- he PICKS Megatron UP and PILEDRIVES HIS FACE into
the elevator platform. Then, just for fun, he STOMPS Megatron's butt
out the hatch and lets him fall back to the Earth. You don't mess with
that rhino when he's in a bad mood.

The ship's controls were damaged during the battle though (there's a
big T-rex tail sticking out of the console, slaggit!) and the Axalon
plummets once more towards the planet! Sirens are blaring, red lights
are flashing, everything's flying through the air and no one can get
to the control panel to try and right the ship. But then, by some
miracle, it's Optimus! He's flying right at them and catches the
frickin' Axalon! Well, more like he helped guide the ship to a soft
landing, but still- that had to be some kind of super strength.

The mission was a failure, but everyone's glad to have Optimus back.
Rattrap and Dinobot are back to throwing insults at each other, so
really- it's not all bad. The end!

Between this episode and the last one (The Probe), I kind of see a two-
part story. It's like, with the Probe we were all starting to wonder
where the search parties were and what was taking them so long. Then,
after failing to contact the probe, we get this episode which shows
the Maximals trying to leave the planet (rescue is out of the question
at this point). And there's the developing story of Dinobot's
apprehension of returning to Cybertron. So now we see that there is no
rescue party coming and the Axalon is never going to fly again. The
Beast Wars will be going on for some time after this. Also, love that
despite being called "Victory", this whole episode is somber. The sky
is gray and overcast the entire time. There are no celebrations- even
when they think the Preds are all dead. Everything's got a kind of
slow, quiet, stillness about it in this episode. Maybe that's why
everything seems so incredibly dramatic at the end when the epic music
cranks up and everything becomes very loud. All in all, just a great
episode all around.

Next up- Dark Designs

Mako Crab

unread,

Jan 31, 2009, 12:41:09 AM1/31/09

Dark Designs
written by Ian Weir

on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StdhaKDzPzQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4s7ACyr4lro&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly7_Wg6KY7g&feature=related

Lots of good stuff happening in this episode, so let's get right into
it. The Maximals are out looking for energon, but they've reached a
dead end. And already we get a great line.

Primal: "Well as far as dead ends go, at least this one has a view."

You know, I really like little moments like this. I'm not sure when it
began exactly, but it feels like the dialogue of the show has matured
a little. Not "grim and gritty" matured, but in the sense that the
characters are able to express thoughts and feelings you don't
normally see in an action cartoon based on a toyline. Like in the last
episode when Rattrap pointed out that Dinobot's insults were a little
lame (but was happy to hear them) instead of taking offense. Anyway,
the unproductive trip goes south when the Predacons launch a sneak
attack from above on a rocky mountainside.

SHAKEY CAM!!!

The camera is shaking everywhere! This is the only time I can recall
seeing the shakey cam used *this* much, but for the most part it
works. Makes the action seem that much more crazed and frantic. Except
that sometimes the shakey cam shakes around when characters aren't
moving or shooting or sometimes it wants to get shakey on an empty
landscape. No, wait! I can see someone's foot in the bottom of the
screen! Great shot of Tarantulus blasting away, but it doesn't look
like his feet are on the ground.

BEHOLD THE POWER OF THE SHAKEY CAM!

Rhinox keeps firing on the loose rocks just above the Predacons until
he causes an avalanche that buries the whole lot of them. Ah, that was
easy. With that done, the Maximals head for home. Primal comments that
Rhinox really did a great job. Some quick wits and sharp thinking-
yeah, yeah. Sounds like leadership material to the boss monkey, but
Rhinox is happy where he is- bringing up the rear.

Here's a moment that always stuck in my head as odd. Tarantulus is
digging Megatron out of the boulders and the first thing Megatron says
when he gets the rocks brushed off his face is how he's impressed with
the rhino and would like to make him a Predacon. It's just kind of
funny, seeing that he's still completely buried in boulders. No
coughing or yelling or anything. He already concocted a brand new plan
while he was buried! That's how fast he is!

Sooo... the Maximals are trekking back to the Axalon and Rhinox is
bringing up the rear... about a mile back. It's no trouble at all for
Tarantulus to snare the lumbering slow-poke in a stasis web and kidnap
him. Sometime later Rhinox wakes up to find himself shackled inside
the Predacon ship. Megatron is going on, blah blah blah, so what does
Rhinox do? Yeah, you know it, he's not even afraid. Meanwhile, the
Maximals have finally noticed that Rhinox is no longer behind them.
Rattrap hacks into Rhinox's personal communicator and they can hear
the whole thing.

Megatron: Blah, blah, blah, blah.
Rhinox: "I'm dying of boredom here."
Megatron: "Blah, blah, blah, Transmutor, blah, blah, Make you a
Predacon, blah, blah, blah."

Megatron hits a switch and Rhinox is struck by four bolts of energy.
When he comes to again, he's sporting a new paint job! All the gold
bits on his robot mode are now silver and his eyes are glowing EEEEVIL
red! They made him into a Predacon! Now, before we move on, let's
consider Megatron's little plan here for a second. Last episode we saw
how easily Rhinox stomped Megatron's face into the ground. We already
know how smart Rhinox is. Now you take all that power and intelligence
and combine it with the treachery and deceitfulness that Predacons are
so well known for and... how was this supposed to benefit Megs again?
Hehehe.

SO! Having heard all this, the Maximals decide that they must rush in
and rescue Rhinox. Except, a wry grin comes over Optimus Primal's face
as he realizes that Megatron just bit off more than he can chew- with
both mouths AT THE SAME TIME! *L* Yes, I know that was lame, but
whatever.

At the Pred base, Megs has just finished giving Rhinox the grand tour
and now it's time to get down to business. He wants info about the
Axalon that only Rhinox would know- security codes, ship layout, the
basic stuff. But it seems that Megatron is having some kind of trouble
with the holo-projector that displays all his tactical data. Oooh,
Rhinox is so not impressed, and he makes sure to rub it in.

Rhinox: "Gee, I hope it's still under warranty."
Megatron: *glare*

Hehehe. Oh, the fun is only just beginning. Rhinox heads down to see
if he can't help Scorponok figure out what the problem is. Oh hey,
Scorpy figured it out real quick. Someone yanked the modem right out
of the computer.

Rhinox: *fake surprise* "No!"
Scorponok: "But yes! See for yourself!" (not the actual quote from
this episode, but still a quote from a movie I like if anyone knows
it. :) )

Scorponok turns his back for a moment and we see the modem in Rhinox's
hand. He crushes the evidence! Oh hey, he found some big stacks of
crates to play with now.

Scorponoky: "Hey, hey! Be careful with that!"
Rhinox: "Oh, I'm being real careful. See, I'm standing over here, and
it's all gonna' fall that way." *shoves*
Scorponok: "NOOooooooo!"

Scorpy's out of the picture. Megatron and Waspinator arrive sometime
later and discover his mangled corpse. Waspinator is ordered to cart
Scorpy off to the regeration tank and no sooner has he done so, then
he's nailed by another crate! Rhinox loves those things. Waspy takes a
hard hit to the head and starts flapping all over the base, thinking
he's the ancient Insection, Shrapnel. Blackarachnia and Megatron look
on in disbelief.

Blackarachnia: "Shrapnell? That was a Decepticon from the Great War
over 300 years ago."

Couple things about this scene. One, I love seeing Megatron and
Blackarachnia together. I always got the impression that early on he
took a liking to her, being that she was fairly intelligent, and kind
of took her on as an apprentice. We'll see some of his tutoring in
later episodes (needless to say, it doesn't last). Secondly, as rabid
fans of Transformers, we all know who Shrapnel is, so it's no big deal
to us. But for Blackarachnia, who's never been to Cybertron, to be
able to recognize the name of one random Decepticon out of countless
soldiers from over three centuries ago really says something. This
won't be the last time she shows her superior knowledge of history
either, which always gave me the impression that she had a strong
interest in cybertronian history. It makes sense, really. Since she's
never been to the homeworld, she naturally wants to learn all she can
about it. The fact that she seems to know minute details that no one
else picks up on just goes to show how into Cybertron's history she
is. *imagines her with sexy librarian glasses and a data-pad in hand*

Anyway, Waspinator finally konks out while mumbling the old, "More
than meets the eye," catch-phrase. Rhinox is mighty pleased with
himself and just stomping down a random hallway when Terrorsaur pops
up. He's got Rhinox all figured out, and why not? This is usually
Terrorsaur's game! He wants in on the action, but Rhinox is running a
one-man show. He grabs Terrorsaur by the neck and threatens to make
pterodactyl hotwings out of him if he doesn't keep quiet. I'm shocked.
He hasn't had any compunctions about scrapping everyone else so far.
Why not do the same to Terrorsaur? Ah, well, never hurts to have a
little back-up just in case, right?

Back on the bridge, Megatron's checking over the security cameras and
spots both Tarantulus and Blackarachnia poisoned with their own cyber-
venom and strung up in their own stasis webs.

Megs: "What's going on around here!?!!?"
Hehehe.

Outside- the Maximals have managed to sneak right up to the Pred base
undetected. It seems they're still listening to everything going on
through Rhinox's comm. link, because they seem aware of all the chaos
going on inside. Rhinox is doing such a good job of taking out
Predacons, that they decide to let him keep running amok a little
while longer before they charge in for the rescue.

Scorponok has finally gotten out of the regeneration tank and tells
Megatron everything. His timing is great. There's only two Preds left
in the base (not counting Scorpy or Megs). It's pretty obvious by now.
We find Rhinox just wandering about as he usually does when Megatron
confronts him.

Megatron: "Traitor!"
Rhinox: "And?"

Eeee! Rhinox is just too awesome as a Predacon. Looks like Megatron
brought back-up though. Scorponok and Terrorsaur surround Rhinox. Do
you see concern in those rhino eyes? Hehe. With a few well-chosen
words, Rhinox convinces Scorponok that he should really beat up
Terrorsaur.

Scorpy: "Mango!" *headbutts Terrorsaur*

The two Preds knock each other around until Rhinox grabs them both by
the collar. Laughing, he smashes them both into each other and tosses
them down to a lower level. He gives the departed Preds a farewell
wave. Aww. Evil Rhinox laughing evil laughter is just cool. And the
wave is cool. You know what? I think we still have one Predacon left
to take care of. Rhinox busts out the chain-guns of doom and fills
Megatrons knees full of shrapnel! OH! YEAH! Megs falls off his
floating platform and hits the floor below, followed by Rhinox
shortly. And now it's time to gloat. Oh, Rhinox, your plan was almost
perfect, but you just had to gloat at the very end, didn't you? Yeah,
he happens to be standing right in the center of the Transmutor the
whole time he's gloating. Megatron shoots the activation lever and
suddenly Rhinox is reverted back to a Maximal.

Time for the Maximals to get their old buddy out of there! They blast
a hold through the wall and raid the ship! RETURN OF THE SHAKEY CAM!
Except this time it's being used much better than in the first battle.
I have to say, this probably ranks as one of the coolest little
battles in the show. Dinobot and Scorponok are having a brutal beat-
down. Scorpy is landing punches non-stop, even as Dinobot grabs him
and hoists him off the ground, Scorpy keeps punching and punching.
Very awesome. Also very awesome when Dinobot rams Scorpy's head into
his spinning blades.

Total James Bond moment when Primal is flashing his blades all over
the place and Megatron just shoots him. Hmm... *imagines Megatron with
Sean Connery's voice* It's not too much of a stretch. Primal ain't
giving up! He leaps in the air and Megs falls on his back, catches
Primal with his feet, and kicks him clear back up into the air AND
THEN blasts him twice before hitting the ground! Hard-frickin'-core!
Primal finally gets in a hit and it's pretty much the game-ender. He
chops off Megatron's arm!

The Maximals all fall-back just as the Transmutor explodes. Rhinox is
safely back and they head for Maximal territory. Later... it's just
the Maximals kicking back. Rhinox is smelling the flowers and he makes
some really bad joke about how being a Predacon feels like having 3
gigs of attitude rammed into a 2 gig hard-drive or some such techno-
nonsense. Oy, but at least the other Maximals get a laugh out of it.
Dinobot shakes his fist.

SHAKEY CAM ON THE SHAKEY FIST!!!
THE END!

Woo, 'nother great episode! The only thing I really have left to say
about Dark Designs is that, it's this episode that really drives me
crazy about how Primal reacted to Tankor in Beast Machines. It was the
same situation; Rhinox got captured and reprogrammed by Megatron. Yet
for some reason in Beast Machines, Primal thought it would be wrong to
remove the reprogramming. Something along the lines of it would make
them just as bad as Megatron. Well, in this episode we clearly see
that the plan all along was to rescue Rhinox. And then what? Let him
stay in the Axalon as a Predacon? Hell no! The implication was always
that they would find some way to remove the Predacon programming and
restore him to his true self. That's the Optimus Primal I know. :D

Next up: Double Dinobot

ShadowWing

unread,

Jan 31, 2009, 10:06:49 AM1/31/09

"Mako Crab" wrote

> Well, in this episode we clearly see
> that the plan all along was to rescue Rhinox. And then what? Let him
> stay in the Axalon as a Predacon? Hell no! The implication was always
> that they would find some way to remove the Predacon programming and
> restore him to his true self. That's the Optimus Primal I know. :D

Maybe he knew Megatron would do the job himself. Which he does.

Mako Crab

unread,

Feb 1, 2009, 2:08:32 AM2/1/09

It's possible, but that's quite a big risk to take. But assuming that
Megatron didn't revert Rhinox back to normal, you know Primal and co.
would have figured out a way to do the job. I loves my monkeez. :D

Next up!

Double Dinobot
written by Rowby Goren

on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv0XPgKt1P4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K59VjYycSKY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF18lcuS760&feature=related

Ah, yes, the standard evil-clone episode. Seems to be a hallmark of
sci-fi shows, but what the heck. It's a good episode anyway. We're in
Predacon territory and it's a dark and stormy night! Claps of thunder
and lightning flash across the sky. Inside the base Megatron and
Scorponok are playing Dr. Frankenstein and Igor as they bring to life
a perfect clone of Dinobot; a scene that will be repeated again in
Feral Scream part 1 with Waspinator playing Igor. Waspy makes a better
Igor than Scorponok any day, but what we have here is fine. Megatron's
master plan for today is to send the clone over to the Axalon and have
him cripple the base from within. Easy enough. First order of business
is to get rid of the real Dinobot.

Cut to a sunny day over in Maximal territory. We find the real Dinobot
wandering about on patrol and bored out of his mind. Aww, he's so cute
when he yawns! He's ambushed by Terrorsaur and sent flying head-first
into a rock by explosions. His reaction?

Dinobot: "At last! An end to the boredom!"

Terrorsaur deftly dogdges several blasts from Dinobot and glides for
the safety of a nearby cave. Dinobot pursues and once he's deep
inside, Terrorsaur reveals himself and causes a cave-in that buries
Dinobot in rock. Now I must say I do love this cave. It's not really
dark (while still being dark enough) and has these willowy lights kind
of breezing around. I should know what those are called but I'm at a
loss. Just a cool little locale and it's the only time we'll ever see
it.

Terrorsaur escapes through a vent in the ceiling of the cave and
reports back to base. Phase one complete! Megatron sends in the
clone... And at the Axalon the fake Dinobot hobbles into the command
center with a story that he seems to have whipped up on the spot about
how the Predacons are preparing to mount a full-scale attack. They
need to send everyone that they can to stop them!
Primal doesn't seem too concerned though. There's no sign of Predacons
on the ship's scanners, and he's convinced that Sentinel and some auto-
guns can handle the Preds. He orders Dinobot to take Rattrap out to
confirm the location of the Preds, but you can tell that Primal is
already growing suspicious by Dinobot's strange behavior.

Dinobot and Rattrap make it to sector Omega, where Dinobot claimed the
Preds were. There... appears to be a whole lot of nothing. Oh, I see-
they're just over the next ridge. Okay, well that makes sense. Rattrap
transforms to robot mode. Time to shred some Preds. Oh? What's this?
Dinobot still in beast mode?

Rattrap: "What are you waiting for? Settle into the metal."

Hehe, I always liked that line. But alas! Being just a clone, the fake
Dinobot cannot transform! With a little quick thinking, he reminds
Rattrap that they're only supposed to confirm the Predacon's position,
not start a fight. They can do that better in beast mode. Rattrap is
understandably shocked by the caution and lack of battle-lust shown by
the raptor but shrugs and reverst to stinky rat mode. They come to a
narrow chasm with a river of lava flowing below. Rattrap finds a
fallen log across the chasm that he starts climbing, when Dinobot
gives it a good kick.

Rattrap: "What are you doing!"
Dinobot: "I should think it would be obvious even to a vermin like
you!"

*kick kick kick!*

Finally the log gives way (he really had to work on that thing) and
goes careening into the chasm. The log is burned to ashes and Rattrap
quickly finds himself surfing a large, jagged rock that's floating in
the lava. Lava rapids! Deadly rocks! Lava waterfall! Rattrap
transforms to robot mode at the last second before going over the lava-
falls. Just like any good video-game, he leaps from rock to falling
rock and makes his way back up the lava-fall until he finds solid
ground. I'm having flashbacks to Super Mario 2 on the NES here (my
least favorite of all the NES Mario games). He's still halfway down
the chasm but spots a loose boulder nearby. Tossing a couple of his
portable bombs underneath it, he blasts the boulder sky-high and rides
it all the way up to the top of the chasm.

Back in the cave... Dinobot has dug himself out from under the mound
of rocks! And that, my friends, is the last we'll see of the cave. I
miss you, cave. I miss you bad. :(

The raptor clone hobbles back into the Axalon once more with news of
disaster. Rattrap was taken hostage by the Predacons! Except that
Rhinox is in that area now and sees no sign of Predacons or Rattrap.
But still! Something must be up. Primal takes Cheetor along with him
to find out what's going on. And now the whole base is in the hands of
the clone. Oh, just one problem. He can't turn the Axalon over to
Megatron just yet, because Optimus activated Sentinel and the base
shields before he left. Hope you know the deactivation code. No? Well,
how hard could it be. Dinobot types a few keys.

Dinobot: "There. *THAT* should do it."
ELECTROCUTION THROUGH HIS FINGER!!! BZAAAAAA!

He tries again. ELECTROCUTION TO THE SNOUT!!! BZAAAAAA! Oh my gawd,
the pain! *L*

Meanwhile, Cheetor and Optimus arrive at the lava chasm and hear the
explosion from Rattrap's bombs. They rush over and find him safe and
sound. Oh, and he's got a great story to tell them about Dinobot. They
call Rhinox back from the field and everyone rushes back for the
Axalon.

The real Dinobot arrives home and commands Sentinel to stand down.
Inside, the Dinobot clone is still trying to figure out the
deactivation code from the safety of the floor, when Sentinel
deactivates. That's a stroke of luck. Hehe, he doesn't even know.

Dinobot: "Clone 1 to Megatron..."

I'm just quoting that, because it's the closest thing we have to an
actual name for the guy. I like to call him D.D. myself (for Dinobot
Doppelganger or Double Dinobot) or DeeDee, hehehe. Clone 1 works too,
I guess, but it's so dry. Anyway! He informs Megatron that the base is
devoid of Maximals and completely unguarded; free for the taking. And,
and... what's Dinobot doing with his tongue? Okay then... uh, yeah.
Megatron acknowledges and proceeds towards the ship.

There's a reckoning to be had inside the Axalon when the clone meets
the original. That clone is a good trash-talker until the real Dinobot
transforms to robot mode and whips out the spinning blade of death.
The clone shrinks back in terror. Upon discovering that his
replacement is unable to transform, the real Dinobot reverts to beast
mode to make it a fair fight. Hehe, no sooner is he in beast mode and
the clone smacks him upside the face with his tail! The two of them
thrash each other and tear apart the bridge, wrestling and throwing
chairs at each other. Finally one of the Dinobots goes down but which
one??

Dinobot (??): "Megatron will reward me for this."

Not good! Dinobot goes to meet Megatron outside the base. The raptor
lays on the flattery pretty thick. Thick enough that Megatron
considers having all his troops cloned. But first it's down to
business. Megs heads for the Axalon as a sly looking Dinobot
watches... and reactiavtes Sentinel! Megatron is blasted by all the
autoguns clear across the ground!

Megatron: "So, you're just as treacherous as the original Dinobot!"
Dinobot: "Correction. I *AM* the original Dinobot."

He transforms revealing that it is indeed the real one and they have a
little showdown. It's the classic battle of power levels as lasers try
to overpower lasers. Megatron digs his T-rex tail into the ground for
added leverage, which just looks cool. Just then the rest of the
Maximals return from the wild goose chase and end the struggle with a
couple well-placed missles. A full barrage of firepower from the other
4 convinces Megatron that he should call it a day and go home. Really,
he doesn't seem to bummed about having lost until everyone starts
shooting at him.

The Maximals survey all the damage done inside the Axalon by the
battling raptors. Rattrap is still a little suspicious that there ever
was a clone. I mean, where's the evidence? Where is this guy? Dinobot
remarks that his clone was quite handsome... and tasty as he flicks
what's left of the clone out from between his teeth.

Optimus: "Dinobot... you're disgusting."

*grin*
There's not really much else to say, I guess, although I did like
seeing Terrorsaur being a badass for once and not getting shot down or
anything. Scorponok has one of his better scenes at the beginning
(after he's done paying homage to Igor). I like how they've portrayed
Scorpy during the last few episodes. Sometimes it seems they have a
hard time deciding if he's an inventor, a complete dolt, or the
bruiser of the group. But yeah, the Scorpy of the last couple eps is
my kind of Scorpy. What else, what else.... D.D. is awesome. I always
laugh when he gets shocked by the computer! I even feel a little bad
for him, but it's hilarious during his final try when he's hiding
beneath the computer console.
I've watched the big battle between the two Dinobots over and over,
and I swear that the clone actually won. If you pay close attention to
who's where during the whole match, I'm pretty sure it' the clone that
won. And then his one line after the fight makes it seem all the more
like it's the clone. So who knows. Maybe it was the clone that won and
at the last second (off-screen) the real Dinobot revived and ate him.
Or... I don't know, maybe quipping, "Megatron will reward me," was
some clever joke that only the real Dinobot got (assuming it was the
real Dinobot in that scene). Oh well.

Next up: The Spark

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