Beast Machines

Produced by: Mainframe Entertainment, Hasbro, Takara Tomy

Air Date: 1999-2000

Lenght: 26 Episodes, 21 minutes each.

Being a sequel to the fondly remembered Beast Wars, this series had very big shoes to fill. And it's understandable, given it's controversial reception, that casual fans and newcomers would be hesitant to give it a chance. Fearing that their morbid curiousity will lead them towards dissapointment and wasted time. It doesn't help when you consider how many truly great shows in this franchise since have suffered from executive meddling or met an untimely cancellation.

To those who had those worries I once had, I'd like to tell them Beast Machines became one of my favourite iterations of Transformers. That being said, it hasn't dethroned it's predecessor in my number one spot, and I agree with some of the issues other viewers had with it.

It's arguably a more tonally consistent series, considering the previous installment balanced ambitious stories with slapstick comedy, this one commits to it's darker conflict and opressive setting. It's serialized structure being a lot more digestable with digital and physical media, allowing viewers to follow the story, rather than catching it airing out of order without context on saturday morning cable television. And at a time when the Y2K movement generally expressed a lot of optimism for the advancement of technology, this show instead sat on a more cynical bench alongside The Matrix. Exploring phylosophical questions about artificial and organic existence, as well as the desires of an individual against those of a collective.

It's story and themes are fascinating, certainly a step above what most shows for children are allowed to tackle even today. But a general criticism I agree with is that the characterization of returning faces has been altered to suit the narrative. Not helped by Mainframe's former executive, Dan Didio, instructing talented writers to disregard continuity of the previous series for whatever reason. Without going into spoilers, fans of Rhinox are the most likely to be upset by this (though the Japanese G1 Continuity does provide a more satisfying, if comical resolution in the Legends manga, for those who are unsatisfied and curious). Of those aforementioned talented writers, two names will stand out. Marv Wolfman, best known for his work at DC and Marvel Comics. And Marty Isenberg, who would go on to be much more associated with the fan-favourite Transformers Animated series from 2007.

An elephant (or... another Rhinoceros?) in the room we must adress is how the show looks. The CG Animation I feel has aged far better than Beast Wars, with the use of cel-shading and harsh shadows to make a very unique visual aestetic. While still keeping the previous show's detailed facial expressions, something I feel Prime, for all of it's improvements and high budget, was sorely lacking. But it is hindered a bit by the amount of chase sequences, justified by the narrative by how the heroes are in no position to physically retaliate against the antagonists. But the biggest problem viewers have had is the designs. Being rather grotesque and uncanny, in some instances dwelling into body horror, as is the case with Megatron.

With those desings and story, one would be forgiven for pondering if it was taken into account that this show was aimed at kids. Takara certainly felt that way, as the Japanese dub doubled the amount of humor... while also including sexual humor for older viewers, such as Blackarachnia calling Silverbolt and Nightshade "gay boys" ("homo-tachi") and the latter being turned into a homosexual stereotype. I can imagine parents being perplexed by this.

To segway into the characters themselves, the newcomer Nightshade has a pretty cool looking bat alt-mode, but his robot form is very unplesant to look at, in a show already filled with designs that are hard to love. He is far more memorable than Botanica though, who despite a unique design, was introduced far too late into the show's run to leave an impression. That said, I do like the sub-plot between Blackarachnia and Silverbolt, seeing their dynamic being flipped, seeing her do anything she can to save her lover from what Megatron has done to him is very heart warming. Cheetor was alright, certainly set a prescedent for how an older Bumblebee would be a characterized, an insecure and often frustrated inexperienced leader not unlike Rodimus. Primal and Megatron's clash of ideals is even more dense than it already was. And of course, Rattrap is still the best character.

Beast Machines might not be the most popular show, but I was pleasently surprised by it's quality and resoultion. If anything, it is not a series that will leave any viewer indifferent.