The original show Transformers from 1984 is still the jewel of the franchise, and Beast Wars was the best Transformers series since it. Beast Machines is not without its merits but it's a disappointing follow-up. The animation is very good, richly textured and detailed, at times a little more refined in this regard than Beast Wars. The music underlines the drama beautifully, simple while never being simplistic, haunting while never being lifeless and beautiful while never being jarring in tone. The voice acting is also fine, Scott McNeil, Garry Chalk and David Kaye are the ones that stand out. The writing is lacking in focus and sophistication, often taking an overly-serious approach. There is occasionally attempts at slapstick but they fall flat. The stories have some good ideas that are rarely explained enough. They lack depth and soul as well, and the episodes later on in the show gets preachy which gives the feeling of a completely different show. The characters are nowhere near as interesting and their development is next to nil, Optimus Primal is too prophetic and the whole regret angle is out of character, Megatron comes across as downplayed and far too whiny, Silverbolt is an obnoxious jerk and Cheetor and Rattrap descend into dumbed-down stereotypes. Overall, not a terrible show but very disappointing. 4/10 Bethany Cox
