Transformers Beast Machines: The Complete Series

SOME SPOILERS IN PARAGRAPH 3Beast Machines is really a very good show, however, it's something I would not recommend for children. I saw this as a kid and I remember hating it. Seeing it again as a 28 year old adult, I am extremely pleased with it. There are story lines and themes that children just cannot understand.Beast Wars is my all time favorite show and has been for many, many years. The story, characters, animation, humor, and swashbuckling action were great in that show. The episode "Code of Hero" is perhaps the greatest episode in Transformers history. Beast machines took the ending of Beast Wars and brought our characters back to Cybertron. This show is EXTREMELY dark and disturbing. It deals with death, or even more so, genocide. It deals with isolation, fear, guilt, oppression, and slavery.You know how the Ninja Turtles are? You know how the Avengers are? You know how the X-Men are? You know how Batman is? You know how Superman is? You know how every other kids show is on TV? They all follow the same formula. Beast Machines is NOTHING like those shows. I see many reviews here complaining about the characters, but you have to put yourself in these character's shoes. What would you do if earth was pretty much destroyed and all of the humans had their minds enslaved and you were one of these characters in a small group of people. You have to go very deep into all of these characters minds, you struggle with them, you feel their pain. When Optimus Primal deals with the guilt of losing the Beast Wars and seeing the destruction of the millions (billions?) of lives on Cybertron, you deal with the guilt with him. When Rattrap realizes he has a robot mode with no weapons and feels useless, you feel useless with him. When Cheetor struggles with the question of whether or not Optimus Primal (like his father figure) is leading the Maximals down the wrong path, you struggle with him. When Blackarachnia tries so very desperately to bring Silverbolt back, you feel her pain every step of the way. When Silverbolt breaks out of his slavery from Megatron and struggles with the very deep questions of whether or not he wanted to be freed, or if he even wants to life out his existence, you are right there with him. When Rhinox is freed from his slavery and willingly decides to turn his back on the Maximals, you have to put yourself in his shoes and look at things from his perspective. When Nightscream acts like a child and whimpers annoyingly for most of his screen time, you have to think about what an average teenager would do in his circumstances. He's the only Cybertronian who was there to witness all the horrors, and from every choice he could have made, he chose to save himself instead of help others, and that's something he deals with by lashing out on others.So in short, this show is dark, depressing, and sad. That's how life is sometimes, you can't always be happy. Serious things in life usually aren't happy, but they must be dealt with. After you finish this show, you will think about things in a different perspective. I thoroughly enjoyed this show and highly recommend it to adult viewers.

I've been waiting for this release for a few years now, ever since the first season of Beast Wars was finally released on DVD.I won't even go into the debate over whether it does or doesn't ruin the Beast Wars/Transformers legacy. As with any series, I prefer to look at this on it's own merits. And, under that microscope, this one is definitely a keeper!Taking place shortly after the Beast Wars finale, things have gone VERY wrong for the Maximals. They return to Cybertron only to find the entire planet turned against them, and no allies in sight. They've lost the ability to transform, and most of their friends (and all of their enemies) seem to have vanished. Eventually, Optimus, Rattrap, Cheetor, and Black Arachnia learn the truth--Megatron escaped his captivity, took control of Cybertron, and unleashed a virus that systematically wiped out all of the transformers on the planet. Their only means of survival is to find a new way to transform, becoming "organics" and eventually being tasked with returning Cybertron to it's original, organic state. New allies and enemies are introduced, and a lot of long-lost secrets are revealed. There are references back to the original Transformers series, however vague, and a whole new fight for survival.I've heard a lot of complaints about this series, but personally, it's one of my favorites. Don't get me wrong--Beast Wars was incredible, and did some amazing things with the Transformers mythos. I just thought this series did a great job of taking that mythos in a new direction, and lead to a new way of looking at the Transformers line as a whole. Just like Beast Wars took some Transformer pre-conceptions and played with them a bit, this one just goes a step further and turns them on their head--what if the Transformers weren't ALWAYS machines?The animation in this series, to me, was great. While the backgrounds and some characters (particularly the vehicons) may appear a little "static" and poorly animated, the main characters and the action scenes MORE than make up for that. The animation for the Maximals shows more emotion and liveliness than it ever did in Beast Wars. But perhaps best of all was the story--it takes a few episodes to really get going, but once it does, it never really stops. By the middle of the second season, the story moves so fast you really have to pay good attention to keep up. The twists and the revelations this series throws at viewers is really a lot of fun, and it's nice to see a "kid's" show really deal with some more mature themes and concepts without pandering to it's audience.For my money, this series makes a great compliment to Beast Wars, if you're willing to have a few of your pre-conceptions and beliefs twisted or outright reversed. It's the sign of good fiction, to be able to take what you think you know and turn it into something entirely new. I'm not much for extras on DVD sets for TV series, so I feel comfortable rating this five stars in advance without having seen the discs yet.Go ahead, take a chance--you might be surprised at how much you'd like it.