Customer Reviews

Beast Wars Transformers - The Complete First Season

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

After haphazzardly releasing the first 12 episodes on two individual volumes, Rhino has decided to go with their G1 Transformers formula by releasing the complete first season of Beast Wars in a nice box set. Quite frankly, I'm delighted. Hopefully they'll include some new special features in this set, with some commentaries perhaps (but I doubt that one). A little "making of" or more 3D animation tests would be cool.

But anyway, Beast Wars came on the scene in 1996 as a totally new 3D-animated Transformers show. Despite mis-givings and apprehensions of die-hard G1 Transformers fans, Beast Wars picked up a cult following of former fans and new alike. One thing to attract this old school Trans-fan was the upscaled fight scenes. The brutality of the fight scenes really gave me a sense that Mainframe Entertainment made this series for aging G1 fans. Gone were the days where robots would shoot at one another and no damage would occur. In Beast Wars robots would literally be blown apart. Fortunately the writers of the show got around this by including a automated repair unit in each of the factions' ship bases.

But where Beast Wars shined was the various homages paid back to the G1 story and time line. This series was sort of a sequal or in essence a prequel to G1 due to that whacky time travel paradox. (Season 2 spoiler - The Maximals find the original Autobot Ark in prehistoric Earth). Another homage to G1 was the 2nd season appearance of Ravage. And then of course numerous dialogue references to G1.

The CGI animation was good for its day, (being made in 1996), and surprisingly looks excellent on DVD. Bright colors with shimmering metallic appearance. Shame the environment was a bit bland. But nonetheless, the series had excellent animation over its 3 season run.

The thing that set Beast Wars apart from its predecessor G1, was the accuracy (or similated accuracy) in robot transformations. Meaning that because this was a 3D animated series, the robot modes had to match the beast modes in size and form. The transformations had to appear as if they were the actual toys being transformed by a child.

After Season 1 is released, I'm betting Rhino will release the shorter second and third seasons (13 episodes each) as one set. And then both 13 episode seasons of Beast Machines in another set.

Just a quick technical issue resolution before I head off for tax class.

For those that bought this set during its first printing, you may notice that the DD 5.1 Surround track on Ep. 1 "Beast Wars, part 1" and Ep. 5 "Chain of Command", all on Disc 1 have snaps and popping noises through-out them.

Well, Rhino Customer Service is aware (through me, actually) of this apparent release-wide problem and will sometime in the near future print up and offer fixed replacement discs.

All one needs to do is to contact Rhino's customer service rep, Mack Dunlop at 1-800-546-3670, and he'll put you on a list to call when they're ready to ship the replacements.

On a side note, I have asked him when he expects Season 2 & 3 to be released and currently it's not on their production schedule, but he expects that maybe by Summer 2004.

The DVD set of the first season of beast wars is INCREDIBLE,you will not be dissapointed. This may not be liked as well for strict G1 fans, because Optimus Prime and some of the other G1 Characters are not involved until season 2, with the exception of Starscream, which appears in "Posession". Instead of Prime and Megtaron, Beast Wars is a story years in the future, way past Optimus Prime's time. The Autobots, now Maximals, and the Decepticons, now Predacons have new leaders, Optimus Primal, a decendent of Optimus Prime, and Megatron, a decendent of the Original Megatron. BW is an incredible series and the characters, story and emotion IS MUCH better(in my opinion) than G1. Bob Forward and Larry Ditillo outdid themselves on writing these stories. Great Stuff! A+++++

It's about time that this show was put on season sets instead of those volumes with only six episodes each. Anyway this series is a followup to G1 Transformers from the 1980's and takes place approximately three centuries later. I first heard of this show back in 1998 when I was fifteen, I watched one episode and was hooked. Even now that I'm almost twenty this show still holds the same effect for me as it did then. I recorded 46 out of 52 total episodes off of TV, but now that they're on DVD I can get rid of my six year old videos with their horrible sound and picture. The picture quality is fantastic, especially compared to broadcast quality, the 5.1 sound is great too, like during the battle sequences. As far as the stories go they're great with only a few exceptions. IMHO every episode is worth watching however some are marred by too much slap-stick comedy, but oh well. This season is mostly more light hearted then the second season, "Code Of Hero" would be a good example of the darker 2nd season episodes. This season establishes the beginnings of the alien story arc which culminates in the second and third seasons. There are numerous references to the 1980's transformers series starting in the first episode, one G1 character makes an actual appearance in the episode "Possession". There isn't much in the way of special features there are two interviews with Larry DiTillo and Bob Forward. But I could care less. Having this great series on DVD brings back all those great memories. Definately worth buying. I look forward to the second and third seasons coming out as well as Beast Machines.

Haven't seen this show for like 7 years now. I used to watch this show every moring before school. Long-story-short; The Maximals and Decepticons crash land on Earth millions of years in the past. They take on the forms of animals to protect their robot bodies from a dangerous fuel source called energon. What follow are the battles of good and evil, smart and dumb, bla bla bla. Great plot points and changes. Surprises at every turn. Great show. Highly recommended if you don't mind the 90's CG editing. Seasons 2 and 3 show much better CG. Good for transformers fans/kids alike.

My friend got me interested in Beast Wars in 1998, two years after it's
debut and I have loved it since. I don't care what anyone says about it
Beast Wars has to be the best Transformers series ever! If you still pefer
the original series you have to check out the episode Possetion! Now to
get to the main aspects of the DVD. There are 26 episodes on this DVD.
The special features include about ten minute interviews with the series two
main writers Larry DiTillio and Bob Forward. I highly recomend this to any
transformer fan!

Excellent kid DVD. Great jokes and fun situations that these Predacons and Maximals get into. Wonderful voices for each character.

Back when this show came out I had fallen out of my Transformers fandom and just graduated from High School. The original show had been long over and I never collected the comics so Transformers had just become another part of my childhood. I remember being excited about a new Transformers show until I saw the previews and had the same reaction a lot of fans did - "Optimus is a MUNKEEEY!?" I never gave the show a chance. Several years later, about last year to be exact I started re-watching G1 and my TF love returned. Hungry for more I tentatively began looking into Beast Wars. Finally I sucked it up and bought the first season, and boy am I glad.

The story starts several hundred years after G1 when two TF ships become stranded on an alien world. Due to the overabundance of energon the bots must adapt a beast form to avoid "energon overload." The two factions are the Maximals who are Autobot descendents and the Predacons, descended from the Decepticons of course. Cybertron is officially at peace but factions within the Predacons are looking to plans of conquest. The two groups take this conflict into a seemingly smaller scale when they become stranded on this alien world.

Due to the small number of characters on each side they got lots of development in the storyline. Beast Wars encompasses the best of G1 with the tales of civil war, conflict, friendship, and fighting for what you believe in; whether it be freedom for all or conquest of all. The stories were engaging and entertaining and there wasn't a single line that made me cringe. The writers had little knowledge of G1 but pulled together a great show regardless. The characters were exceptional, but still flawed and the writers did an excellent job of making the show entertaining for all ages. The show also brought something that fans like me had been waiting for, strong female characters that weren't stereotyped or cast into background roles.

The CGI? Well yes it's dated but it's well done and you can see that the animators took a lot of pride in their work. It doesn't suffer from the flaws in animation that the G1 cartoon did.

Beast Wars is probably one of the best loved series in the fandom despite it's eyebrow raising premise. I really believe that any fan of TFs could love this show, and many non-fans would as well. It's just that well written.

Entering college, I wanted to bring a few things from my childhood with me so that I wouldn't forget just who I was as a kiddie. One of those things is Beast Wars.

When I bought it at Suncoast for ten dollars more than it is offered on Amazon, I was hesitant to open it, thinking, what if I really don't like this anymore? As I watched, I fell in love with the same set of characters I had as a child.

I love the series more now than I did when I was eleven, and happily bought the second and third seasons to go with it. I picked up on jokes I'd never heard before, understood some character development that went over my head, and even liked some characters that I previously did not.

The only people that I think have problems accepting this show is old Transformer fans who won't open their minds to something new--it's not a spinoff or an adaptation, it's a prelude AND and epilude.

When Optimus Primal reaches out and touches Optimus Prime, it sent chills down my spine. When Dinobot died holding Rattraps hand, I had to pretend to be cleaning my glasses. And I can honestly say Megatron is the only baddie that's ever given me the giggles.

I suggest buying this if you loved the series when it was first aired, if you're willing to open your eyes to something other than the originals, or if you're trying to get your kid away from B rated afterschool crap like Spongebob.

A funny thing has happened to a lot of the old Transformers fans as they have aged. They have gotten young again.

By that I mean, they like to relive their childhood by hunting down the old cartoons and buying the old toys or perhaps buying some of the new toys and/or watching some of the new Transformers shows. A lot of them do this because they now have the money to invest in Transformers that they didn't have as children and many also want to expose their own kids to something they grew up with.

However, a lot of old "Transfans" won't accept anything but the old toys and the old shows and aren't big fans at all of Aramada, Cybertron, Energon, etc. Beast Wars however made quite a few converts.

Let me make it clear that this definitely isn't a direct continuation of the original cartoon and toy line. Your first clue would be the animation when watching the shows. It is known as CGI, meaning it is computer generated 3-D animation. The first time I saw Transformers in CGI it was hard to adjust to, but after a few shows it seemed quite natural.

The second adjustment is the difference of the characters and the story. For one, the main Transformers in the series don't turn into cars and planes and they aren't even Autobots and Decepticons. Instead, this series focuses on the Maximals and Predacons, which are the descendants of the original heroes and villians many of us grew up with.

The plotlines themselves have a little something for everyone. They appeal to kids because they do have a decent amount of humor and "fun" characters involved. There is also a lot of classic good vs. evil, and the depth of the scripts is far greater than most would expect, yet there is enough action to make it enjoyable even for children who don't always understand all of the concepts.

Most importantly, the show manages to both stay true to the original G1 theme, while somehow expanding it and still maintaining it's very own unique identity. Several G1 characters are either mentioned or make an appearance but them showing up doesn't steal the show, it just adds to the story and actually helps some of the regular characters develop.

Perhaps the best analogy I could use here is Star Trek compared to Star Trek - The Next Generation. Both Beast Wars and TNG weren't afraid to be their own shows, but they certainly didn't forget where they came from either. Both shows also attracted a whole new group of fans while winning over many fans of the originals.

If you decide to own just one Transformers DVD set, this would make a great choice.

If you want to check Beast Wars out without buying a complete season, look for the 10th Anniversary figures now available in stores. If you are lucky enough to find the Waspinator figure, the DVD included with that figure, "Possession" is arguably the best of the entire series.

I have also reviewed Beast Machines and the original G1 cartoon so check out those reviews as well.