Welcome to the second in this series of reviews for the ?Mainframe Trilogy?.
For those of you who did not read the first of these Escapist reviews (but want to) here is the link:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258490-ReBoot-Review
After the success of ReBoot, Mainframe Entertainment was practically a household name. Their success showed no sign of slowing down as they were then tasked with a monumental task ? To return the now decade old transformers series and return it to mainstream children?s viewing.
And I?m happy to say, they succeeded. The result was Beast Wars, a Transformers spin-off series which aired from 1996 to 1999.
Now, as with any series based off a line of toys there is the stigma that characters and plot lines are only introduced to market Hasbro?s products. However, while this is true with many characters I would like to point out that there were dozens of toys made for the toy-line which never got introduced in the show, much like there were actually characters in the show itself which never got made into toys. As such this criticism seems to affect this series far less than the original 1980?s Transformers show.
The premise of this series started out very much like the original 1980?s classic, with two separate factions of robotic characters from the machine planet Cybertron, fighting in their spaceships over a planet and crash landing themselves before beginning their series-long conflict.
Unlike the original Transformers series, the characters in this one take on the forms of the animals of this world rather than vehicles. This earned quite a bit of scorn from long time fans of transformers. However, I never had any problem with it as animal transformers were seen a fair bit in the original, so I do not know why there is such scorn for this series when those characters were not criticised whatsoever.
The two factions in question are the Maximals and the Predacons, who, as the series will tell us over time, are the descendents of the original series factions, the Autobots and Decepticons respectively. The Maximals are led by a heroic explorer named Optimus Primal who is apparently a direct descendent of the original Optimus. Not sure how robots procreate but we?ll just leave that topic alone for the moment. The Predacons are led by the charismatic and powerful Megatron (voiced by the great David Kaye). This Megatron however is not the character from the original series but rather a rogue predacon who has taken the classic villain?s name for himself, we never know his actual name in the series. The Maximals were pursuing the bad guys because of their theft of a mysterious artefact known as the Golden Disk.
The series itself is presented as a sequel of sorts to the original series. It is unknown how much time has passed between the two but the characters frequently refer to a ?great war? which is undoubtedly the conflict between the original factions in the 80?s. The first season is spread over 26 episodes and as such there are mainly episodic stories intertwined with a story-arc. Most episodes are quite similar to the original series in it?s focus on the good guys beating the bad guys over their pursuit of the fuel source known as energon.
The second and third season each had 13 episodes as opposed to the 26 for season one. I do not know why the producers decided to do this but it works well. The final two season had far more of a focus on an overall story rather than simply ?conflicts of the week? that season one was riddled with. What?s more we learn that Megatron has throughout the series, been plotting and building up towards an endgame which really took me by surprise at the season two finale, despite being hinted at through the show?s run. I won?t spoil anything but trust me, it?s a good twist. We learn the origin and purpose of the Golden Disk as well as Megatron?s reasons for choosing this particular planet to go to. The second and third season are helped by the shorter number of episodes as it allowed the writers to show a far more tight-knit story.
The animation is easily a step-up from Mainframe?s earlier work on ReBoot. It is obvious looking at the two that they used their lessons from that series well and the character move and express themselves far more effectively in this series despite being robots.
At the start of the series, the Maximals released ?stasis pods?, small craft containing ?blank slate? transformers into the planet?s orbit to protect their occupants. When they arrive on the planet they become Maximal or Predacon depending on who gets to them first. I thought this was a clever way of getting new characters introduced over the course of the show.
The characters go through a great deal of development over the show?s run and what surprised me the most watching this series was how much development the villains got. In many cases they were more interesting than the heroes. An interesting point to note with regard to the villains was the possibility that the good guys were not as good as they may appear. Throughout the series we hear things about how the Predacons are akin to ?slaves? back on Cybertron, perhaps due to their ancestor?s defeat. This would have been a good motivation for the main villain to explain why he struck out against both his people?s leaders and the Maximals. However, as the series never explicitly stated the social situation on their home planet it just seems like a missed opportunity.
Most Transformers series have the problem of the ?annoying human sidekicks?. However, this series has the benefit of not human characters whatsoever, a definite plus in my book because I don?t know about the rest of you, but I do not watch a show about transforming alien robots to watch high-schoolers.
Many of the other characters seem rather like cardboard cut-outs at times, with some characters not having distinctive personalities other than the ?ggeneric good guys? you usually get in kid?s shows. One very good exception to this rule however was the character of Dinobot, a former Predacon who joined the side of the heroes at the start of the series. He has an attitude reminiscent of stereotypical samurai characters, talking about ?honour? over and over again. However, he eventually end up as one of the most richly developed characters in the entire franchise. The Dinobot-centred second season episode ?Code of Hero? is my personal favourite.
Once again it was the villains who shone through in this department. In the middle of the second season we are introduced to a character named Rampage. It was explained that he was an experiment by the Maximal government to create some sort of immortal transformer super-soldier, but what they got instead was a psychotic cross between the terminator and Hannibal Lecter??.just let that thought sink in for a moment. During his introduction he it literally tortured (yes, tortured in a kids show) into Megtraon?s service. He was treated like a wild animal needing to be put down by the heroes but what we saw of this character at times was more of a tortured soul, driven to his current state by the mad experiments of the Maximals back on Cybertron. I dare anyone to try and watch his episode ?Transmutate? and not shed a tear.
On to the music now and this, I?m sorry to report, is where the series is let down. It?s not a bad soundtrack but it just comes across as somewhat ?generic action music? at times. The opening theme in particular is a let down. All they have for it is a guitar solo with the words ?BEAST WARS? shouted out a couple of times. Disappointing considering the far stronger opening theme of ReBoot.
Overall this was a high quality piece of children?s animation. The characters were interesting. The story, while heavily episodic at the start, changed to a more serialised epic by the end, much like ReBoot. The character were for the most part, well developed and interesting to watch, though like ReBoot some of their catchphrases could be a little grating. The animation was impressive for the time and improved greatly over the course of the series. Of the three series I will be reviewing, this one remains my personal favourite.
This series always came across as something of a love letter for those who grew up with the original .The overall premise matched the original series well and the notion of having all of the events and characters from that series take place far in the past but frequently referred to by the cast gives that series a more mythological twist, with the ?great war? and characters like the Optimus Prime, the original Megatron and the treacherous Starscream seeming like legends. A fitting tribute to such fine characters.
Well I hope you enjoyed reading this review. Sorry about the length but I felt that I could not do this series justice if it was shorter.
Next week will be the final entry in the ?Mainframe Trilogy?, so see you then!
For those of you who did not read the first of these Escapist reviews (but want to) here is the link:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.258490-ReBoot-Review
After the success of ReBoot, Mainframe Entertainment was practically a household name. Their success showed no sign of slowing down as they were then tasked with a monumental task ? To return the now decade old transformers series and return it to mainstream children?s viewing.
And I?m happy to say, they succeeded. The result was Beast Wars, a Transformers spin-off series which aired from 1996 to 1999.
Now, as with any series based off a line of toys there is the stigma that characters and plot lines are only introduced to market Hasbro?s products. However, while this is true with many characters I would like to point out that there were dozens of toys made for the toy-line which never got introduced in the show, much like there were actually characters in the show itself which never got made into toys. As such this criticism seems to affect this series far less than the original 1980?s Transformers show.
The premise of this series started out very much like the original 1980?s classic, with two separate factions of robotic characters from the machine planet Cybertron, fighting in their spaceships over a planet and crash landing themselves before beginning their series-long conflict.
Unlike the original Transformers series, the characters in this one take on the forms of the animals of this world rather than vehicles. This earned quite a bit of scorn from long time fans of transformers. However, I never had any problem with it as animal transformers were seen a fair bit in the original, so I do not know why there is such scorn for this series when those characters were not criticised whatsoever.
The two factions in question are the Maximals and the Predacons, who, as the series will tell us over time, are the descendents of the original series factions, the Autobots and Decepticons respectively. The Maximals are led by a heroic explorer named Optimus Primal who is apparently a direct descendent of the original Optimus. Not sure how robots procreate but we?ll just leave that topic alone for the moment. The Predacons are led by the charismatic and powerful Megatron (voiced by the great David Kaye). This Megatron however is not the character from the original series but rather a rogue predacon who has taken the classic villain?s name for himself, we never know his actual name in the series. The Maximals were pursuing the bad guys because of their theft of a mysterious artefact known as the Golden Disk.
The series itself is presented as a sequel of sorts to the original series. It is unknown how much time has passed between the two but the characters frequently refer to a ?great war? which is undoubtedly the conflict between the original factions in the 80?s. The first season is spread over 26 episodes and as such there are mainly episodic stories intertwined with a story-arc. Most episodes are quite similar to the original series in it?s focus on the good guys beating the bad guys over their pursuit of the fuel source known as energon.
The second and third season each had 13 episodes as opposed to the 26 for season one. I do not know why the producers decided to do this but it works well. The final two season had far more of a focus on an overall story rather than simply ?conflicts of the week? that season one was riddled with. What?s more we learn that Megatron has throughout the series, been plotting and building up towards an endgame which really took me by surprise at the season two finale, despite being hinted at through the show?s run. I won?t spoil anything but trust me, it?s a good twist. We learn the origin and purpose of the Golden Disk as well as Megatron?s reasons for choosing this particular planet to go to. The second and third season are helped by the shorter number of episodes as it allowed the writers to show a far more tight-knit story.
The animation is easily a step-up from Mainframe?s earlier work on ReBoot. It is obvious looking at the two that they used their lessons from that series well and the character move and express themselves far more effectively in this series despite being robots.
At the start of the series, the Maximals released ?stasis pods?, small craft containing ?blank slate? transformers into the planet?s orbit to protect their occupants. When they arrive on the planet they become Maximal or Predacon depending on who gets to them first. I thought this was a clever way of getting new characters introduced over the course of the show.
The characters go through a great deal of development over the show?s run and what surprised me the most watching this series was how much development the villains got. In many cases they were more interesting than the heroes. An interesting point to note with regard to the villains was the possibility that the good guys were not as good as they may appear. Throughout the series we hear things about how the Predacons are akin to ?slaves? back on Cybertron, perhaps due to their ancestor?s defeat. This would have been a good motivation for the main villain to explain why he struck out against both his people?s leaders and the Maximals. However, as the series never explicitly stated the social situation on their home planet it just seems like a missed opportunity.
Most Transformers series have the problem of the ?annoying human sidekicks?. However, this series has the benefit of not human characters whatsoever, a definite plus in my book because I don?t know about the rest of you, but I do not watch a show about transforming alien robots to watch high-schoolers.
Many of the other characters seem rather like cardboard cut-outs at times, with some characters not having distinctive personalities other than the ?ggeneric good guys? you usually get in kid?s shows. One very good exception to this rule however was the character of Dinobot, a former Predacon who joined the side of the heroes at the start of the series. He has an attitude reminiscent of stereotypical samurai characters, talking about ?honour? over and over again. However, he eventually end up as one of the most richly developed characters in the entire franchise. The Dinobot-centred second season episode ?Code of Hero? is my personal favourite.
Once again it was the villains who shone through in this department. In the middle of the second season we are introduced to a character named Rampage. It was explained that he was an experiment by the Maximal government to create some sort of immortal transformer super-soldier, but what they got instead was a psychotic cross between the terminator and Hannibal Lecter??.just let that thought sink in for a moment. During his introduction he it literally tortured (yes, tortured in a kids show) into Megtraon?s service. He was treated like a wild animal needing to be put down by the heroes but what we saw of this character at times was more of a tortured soul, driven to his current state by the mad experiments of the Maximals back on Cybertron. I dare anyone to try and watch his episode ?Transmutate? and not shed a tear.
On to the music now and this, I?m sorry to report, is where the series is let down. It?s not a bad soundtrack but it just comes across as somewhat ?generic action music? at times. The opening theme in particular is a let down. All they have for it is a guitar solo with the words ?BEAST WARS? shouted out a couple of times. Disappointing considering the far stronger opening theme of ReBoot.
Overall this was a high quality piece of children?s animation. The characters were interesting. The story, while heavily episodic at the start, changed to a more serialised epic by the end, much like ReBoot. The character were for the most part, well developed and interesting to watch, though like ReBoot some of their catchphrases could be a little grating. The animation was impressive for the time and improved greatly over the course of the series. Of the three series I will be reviewing, this one remains my personal favourite.
This series always came across as something of a love letter for those who grew up with the original .The overall premise matched the original series well and the notion of having all of the events and characters from that series take place far in the past but frequently referred to by the cast gives that series a more mythological twist, with the ?great war? and characters like the Optimus Prime, the original Megatron and the treacherous Starscream seeming like legends. A fitting tribute to such fine characters.
Well I hope you enjoyed reading this review. Sorry about the length but I felt that I could not do this series justice if it was shorter.
Next week will be the final entry in the ?Mainframe Trilogy?, so see you then!