What about Beast Wars
During my Free time recently, I’ve been on a Transformers kick. I get into these special interest moods now and then with a variety of subjects that come up. So right now, that is transformers: A common reoccurrence. So, to satiate my interest, I decided to watch or rewatch some of the cartoons for the series, watching some new and some old ones. I wouldn’t say that any are high art, but there are things that I would say are good, and perhaps to make it easy on myself, I’ll just talk about every series I watch once a week so it's easy for me to pick a new topic. So, this week, I will talk about Beast Wars, the 1996 show. Spoiler warning for the show. It follows the descendants of the Autobots and Decepticons who travel into the past, and we get a kind of collect-athon. The series is a mixture of narrative and serialized storytelling where there is never a reset, but the plotlines are barely connected, and some of them could be watched out of order.
The stand-out stuff of the show is the animation, the characters, and the ideas they posit. I like the animation a lot. It’s not astounding and not near the level of what we would expect for a CGI show today, but it has a charm that I love. It plays with shape and form in a way that I don’t think modern shows do. This was a very experimental show with its art, even though it might not seem so anymore with modern shows.
There are a lot of characters, and not all of them are three-dimensional, and that’s fine; in an ensemble cast, you don’t need every character to be three-dimensional, just interesting. I would say there are about five levels of characterization for this show. Some are just background characters, background characters that matter, background characters who matter and are interesting, and good characters. On the Predicon side, Terrorsaur, Scorponok, and Quick Strike are pretty basic characters with little to no development or character. Terrorsaur attempts to replace Starscream in this dynamic, but it doesn’t work or last since they die unceremoniously at the start of the second season. Quick Strike almost has a dynamic with a couple of characters, but they all fall through. On the Maximals side, there are far fewer since we are given more time with these characters, but Rhinox and Air Razor are, while more complex, basic compared to other characters. Rhinox plays a special role as the smart guy of their five-man band, but outside of that and a few strong episodes, he doesn’t have any real challenges in the story and just plays a calm negotiator role when needed. Air Razor has a great introductory episode with Rhinox, but they are short-lived for the show as she does not spend much time with the main cast and is shunted off planet.
On the second level for the Predicons, Tarantulas, Waspinator, and Inferno, all these characters play important roles and are memorable but just don’t jump out and fall back into unimportance. Inferno is nearly not a character at all, but his introduction is unique, and like Waspinator, he adds a lot of humor to the show that, even as an adult, I like. Tarantulas was meant to be a Shockwave parallel but continually backslid into a basic grunt and didn’t stick to the objectives or goals of previous episodes. He also never had the threatening nature of a shockwave. Cheetro, Optimus Primal, Tigertron, and TigerHawk are memorable and important but don’t stand out. Cheetro is the young yellow character in every show that is meant to be the favorite, but he is little more than that, yelling out quips, learning lessons about teamwork, and being impetuous. Tigertron is the Zen nature-loving character with a genuine arc, but he leaves along with Air Razor pretty early. They also have a short-lived romance, but he doesn’t join the main cast either, so we don’t see him connect with the other characters. Optimus Primal is a good prime, but he is a leader and nothing else; he forces the other characters to learn and grow. But outside of that, he is a run-of-the-mill leader, which is always difficult to write. Tiger Hawk is the combination of Tigertron and Air Razor. It is more of a force of nature than a character and is only around for the last few episodes of the series, but it makes an impression.
The dynamic characters on the third level change the whole series by their presence. Rampage, Ravage, and Megatron are all strong villains through and through. Rampage is this intelligent Frankenstein's monster character who, in his introduction, drips with malice and danger, but unfortunately, he begins to slip into the background. Ravage is a blast from the past and adds nuance to the Predicons, but he is short-lived. Megatron moves the plot and has such a fun way of talking. He is so much fun and classicly evil that he is compelling. Black Arachnia, Sliver Bolt, and Depth Charge are the maximals for this level. Black Arachina and Silver Bolt have a hot-topic romance that is truly inspiring. They are unique in every scene they appear in. Black Arachina, in particular, is dynamic in its plotting and decisions. Depth Charge is the Victor Frankenstein to Rampages monster mixed in with a Batman-like attitude. However, he only appears in the last season, leaving him little room to interact with the other characters. Then is Transmutate, a one-episode character who stands above the rest. They are a disabled character and neurodivergent. The episodes have deep conversations about the treatment of these nontypical people. Unfortunately, they die at the end of the episode, which disappoints me as I think it would add a welcome complexity to the show.
Then, there are the characters who stand above the rest. Dinobot and Rattrap. These two are amazing. Rattrap is an abrasive, funny, and difficult-to-deal-with bot who forces every other character to grow and prove themselves. He is constantly changing and establishing the dynamics of the setting. He is also a super fun character with great voice acting. In particular, his back-and-forth with Dinobot. Speaking of Dinobot, he is stellar. Perhaps it is just that he quotes classic literature, but he has a very dynamic story and a complex role in the story. He is a continual turncoat with a unique sense of honor and angst about their misplaced time adventures and the implications for the future. He also has a unique voice and changes the dynamics anytime he is a focus.
With Dinobot, the most complex themes are tackled: loyalty, the treatment of nature, and determinism. However, there are a few things I do not care for in the series, such as programming determining their role as being a part of one group or another, which needlessly simplifies the division between the groups. But I’ve talked way too much about this show. Perhaps I’ll come back for a deeper discussion about parts of this; maybe I won’t.
Onto housekeeping, my professor gave me a great idea, so I’m opening it up to you all. Suppose you are a writer or have an opinion that you would like out there on the internet but not just on any other social media; you can send it to my Gmail, and I will release it here. Before it is published, we will do an editing job on the piece and then release it. Also, it was brought to my attention that the links on my Instagram do not work. I am in the process of fixing it. I also plan to add more interesting pictures to the account, but you may have to give