Beast Machines: Transformers is the sequel to Beast Wars Transformers that lasted for two seasons, and it has been one of the franchise's less popular series. However, while it is not perfect, it is not actually as bad as people say.
For the story, the Maximals have made it back to Cybertron from prehistoric Earth, but Megatron has rose to power, releasing a virus on the planet and extracting sparks from the citizens, Optimus Primal, Cheetor, Rattrap, and Blackarachnia survive, but are degraded back to their original forms from the first season of Beast Wars thanks to said virus, and in the first episode, it has spread to the point where it is about to cause a permanent systems shutdown to the four. However, reformatted thanks to the Oracle, the Maximals must use their new form and powers if they plan to take out Megatron and his new army, the Vehicons.
Yeah, it had a good story, and the voice actors who were in Beast Wars returned to reprise their roles. The reason this is still hated by some is because of how the characters are portrayed. Basically, the characters act differently after being reformatted, with Optimus Prime going as far as to go off the deep end and fall into fanaticism during the first season, being anti-technology while Megatron, who has become more evil, being anti-organic, which causes the main monkeybot to destroy Cybertron, but season two manages to snap him out of his fanaticism, as the premiere has him see the error of his ways and to instead seek balance between the two, which redeems his character and sets him up to fulfill a destiny.
Also, other characters are said to be out of character, like Rattrap, who has been said to become cowardly, as his new robot form lacks weapons (as Fox Kids has forbidden the Maximals from using firearms), but later, he makes up for that by discovering However, there are some okay character changes, like Silverbolt, who, for the entire first season, is turned into the Vehicon general Jetstorm, who is considered the comic relief of the original three generals, but once he is turned back to Silverbolt (complete with a new technorganic body), we can see his time as Jetstorm has caused him to lose his way and seek revenge on Megatron. While it is kind of cliché, it is a good change from his goofy noble personality in the last series, and fits with Beast Machine's dark universe.
On the topic of character designs, some characters are a hit-or-miss. The Vehicons look good, with their futuristic vehicle forms and looking like actual robots in disguise (which is what Transformers is all about), but the Maximals... yikes. While their Beast forms are okay, the robots mode are another story, as they look more like humans than robots. Also, they introduce some new characters, like Nightscream, who I really hate because he is the whiny brat of the group, and Botanica, a Transformer who can turn into a plant as her crew was on a planet where they were the dominant life form, and Rattrap's love interest (which I found a good idea, since he needed some love).
The episodes are also a hit or miss as well. While the first season does have Optimus become a fanatic to elevate organics, he is fixed in season two by changing his goal to seek a technorganic balance for Cybertron. Also, the series does fill in the blanks for people who watched Beast Wars before both cartoons aired on Fox Kids, as it revealed what happened to the others who escaped with the four (something that would confuse newcomers), and it even keeps in continuity with the events of Beast Wars, as some episodes have flashbacks to the series.
So while Beast Machines is not perfect and does not live up to its predecessor, Beast Wars, it is not that bad a show. While it had some horrible new additions and the first season had Optimus Primal become a fanatic, it still had a good story, and the Vehicons are a good bad guy that pose a serious threat. It is worth checking out a few episodes to see if it will catch your interest.
For the story, the Maximals have made it back to Cybertron from prehistoric Earth, but Megatron has rose to power, releasing a virus on the planet and extracting sparks from the citizens, Optimus Primal, Cheetor, Rattrap, and Blackarachnia survive, but are degraded back to their original forms from the first season of Beast Wars thanks to said virus, and in the first episode, it has spread to the point where it is about to cause a permanent systems shutdown to the four. However, reformatted thanks to the Oracle, the Maximals must use their new form and powers if they plan to take out Megatron and his new army, the Vehicons.
Yeah, it had a good story, and the voice actors who were in Beast Wars returned to reprise their roles. The reason this is still hated by some is because of how the characters are portrayed. Basically, the characters act differently after being reformatted, with Optimus Prime going as far as to go off the deep end and fall into fanaticism during the first season, being anti-technology while Megatron, who has become more evil, being anti-organic, which causes the main monkeybot to destroy Cybertron, but season two manages to snap him out of his fanaticism, as the premiere has him see the error of his ways and to instead seek balance between the two, which redeems his character and sets him up to fulfill a destiny.
Also, other characters are said to be out of character, like Rattrap, who has been said to become cowardly, as his new robot form lacks weapons (as Fox Kids has forbidden the Maximals from using firearms), but later, he makes up for that by discovering However, there are some okay character changes, like Silverbolt, who, for the entire first season, is turned into the Vehicon general Jetstorm, who is considered the comic relief of the original three generals, but once he is turned back to Silverbolt (complete with a new technorganic body), we can see his time as Jetstorm has caused him to lose his way and seek revenge on Megatron. While it is kind of cliché, it is a good change from his goofy noble personality in the last series, and fits with Beast Machine's dark universe.
On the topic of character designs, some characters are a hit-or-miss. The Vehicons look good, with their futuristic vehicle forms and looking like actual robots in disguise (which is what Transformers is all about), but the Maximals... yikes. While their Beast forms are okay, the robots mode are another story, as they look more like humans than robots. Also, they introduce some new characters, like Nightscream, who I really hate because he is the whiny brat of the group, and Botanica, a Transformer who can turn into a plant as her crew was on a planet where they were the dominant life form, and Rattrap's love interest (which I found a good idea, since he needed some love).
The episodes are also a hit or miss as well. While the first season does have Optimus become a fanatic to elevate organics, he is fixed in season two by changing his goal to seek a technorganic balance for Cybertron. Also, the series does fill in the blanks for people who watched Beast Wars before both cartoons aired on Fox Kids, as it revealed what happened to the others who escaped with the four (something that would confuse newcomers), and it even keeps in continuity with the events of Beast Wars, as some episodes have flashbacks to the series.
So while Beast Machines is not perfect and does not live up to its predecessor, Beast Wars, it is not that bad a show. While it had some horrible new additions and the first season had Optimus Primal become a fanatic, it still had a good story, and the Vehicons are a good bad guy that pose a serious threat. It is worth checking out a few episodes to see if it will catch your interest.