The Energon Pub

I've always been a comics guy, not so much into the cartoon till recently, despite the animated movie being one of my favourites. I watched the series when I was a kid, but that was a long time ago! I've blitzed the DVDs the last few weeks and I finished 'em yesterday, so here are my thoughts on it (we're talking US seasons 1 - 4 here, haven't seen the Japanese stuff yet except Scramble City). So...

Well, it's fun, isn't it? 20 minute chunks of fun. Even when it's rubbish and full of plot holes and silly scale problems and daft stories - which is most of the time - it's still enjoyable. It can't compare to the comics that were running far superior stories at the same time, but it brings the characters to life in a way that they can't, and it's worthwhile just for that if nothing else.

Best season: probably 3. The quality of the animation seems to take a nosedive and I missed all the original characters massacred in the film, but the show matures. The plots are largely improved and there's a real effort to show that this is really a war. It's kind of grimy and dark. The Decepticons retreat a lot less. My favourite episode of the lot shows up here, too: Dark Awakening. Seeing the movie in its original context between seasons 2 and 3 gave the Transformers cull more impact than it had as a standalone film, and seeing Prime return as a zombie in that episode was pretty shocking.

Best episodes: Well, Dark Awakening. More Than Meets the Eye 1 - 3 has to be in there. Grimlock's New Brain, especially when the big lug starts saying "I, Grimlock". Changing Gears is hilarious. Kremzeek, because it's absolutely hilarious and I now annoy my girlfriend by jumping around the flat screeching "Kremzeeeek! Kremzeeeek!" War Dawn was a good one. Megatron's Master Plan Part 2, because although the premise is ridiculous, the Decepticon takeover of Earth is interesting. The Secret of Omega Supreme is surprisingly sad. Erm... most of the episodes merge into one after a while to be honest.

Worst episodes: A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court is pretty much worthless. Child's Play is guff. Prime Target... Quite a lot of season 2 is nonsense.

Best characters: Grimlock's always been my favourite character in the movie and he is in the series, too. I chuckle every time he says "Me, Grimlock..." Starscream cracks me up, jumping on any opportunity to declare himself the new leader. Megatron makes me laugh every time he yells "Retreat!" - which is a lot. Cyclonus, because I just love his voice. The Quintessons - although I thought they were mangled by the Sharkticons in the movie? Ah well. And of course Kremzeek.

The upshot is that my appetite's been whetted not just for the Japanese episodes but stuff like Beast Wars and the other series. I've seen bits and pieces of BW, RID and Armada but I'm gonna watch the lot now. Christ, it's like crack.

I agree with you on almost everything. Season 3 was my favorite also. Much more mature and the story has less holes.

Carnage in C-minor has got to be the worst episode ever. Not just the god awful animation and Soundwave and Galvatron holding hands. The story was hard to sit through

I never really liked the cartoon that much, to be honest, not even as a child, but I still find the time to watch "Webworld", "The Burden Hardest To Bear" and "Call of the Primitives" every now and then. "Auto Beserk" is a bizarre enjoyment as well. As for everything else, I can't really sit through it. I love Peter Cullen's voice, though.

If you liked the feel that they were engaged in a war, you'll like Headmasters. A fair few appearances from pre movie guys as well as the new ones for the series. And ongoing storylines.

Roddy P wrote:Carnage in C-minor has got to be the worst episode ever. Not just the god awful animation and Soundwave and Galvatron holding hands. The story was hard to sit through

Forgot about that one. Yeah... that was terrible. Not exactly Once More With Feeling.

Insurgent wrote:If you liked the feel that they were engaged in a war, you'll like Headmasters. A fair few appearances from pre movie guys as well as the new ones for the series. And ongoing storylines.

One thing that frustrated me about season 3 was that it never really capitalised on the mythology episodes. I had hopes that stuff might grow into an arc, but it never really happened. So that's something to look forward to. Isn't Beast Wars good for building an ongoing plot?

I'm a season one and two fan, mostly (esp 2). It jumped the shark after the movie, and I pretty much lost interest. It's better than nothing, but the earlier stuff is best, IMO.

Bigchin wrote:Isn't Beast Wars good for building an ongoing plot?

Overall, yes. While BW is still episodic in nature, it does have some multi-parters and there's much more of a feeling of an ongoing situation than the G1 'toon ever gave. Both major threads and small details get to reappear in later episodes, and the writers are generally good at picking up and explaining / developing stuff that could easily have been forgotten about. Basically, if you can get past the now-very-dated CG in the first season, Beast Wars is very much worth watching. I rank it highest out of all the TF shows.

As you're in the UK, I strongly recommend picking up the Beast Wars vol 1 disc from somewhere - it has the 3-part season 2 cliffhanger The Agenda, which definitively tied Beast Wars into the G1 continuity, plus some good and indicative episodes from early season 3. This was the disc that got me into Beast Wars; I couldn't turn it off.

The second volume is less good, having only three episodes, but it does have the excellent character story Proving Grounds. Last time I looked, you could get both of these for around £4 each at Woolies / Big W.

Unfortunately, that's currently it in terms of Beast Wars availability in the UK, but the R4 Madman sets are considered the best release of the series ever done, if you decide you like it.

Thanks Glyph. I've been eyeing up the R1 sets from Amazon, but the extras on the R4 discs are pretty sweet so I think I'll go for those. Anyway, I'll definitely get entire seasons. I'd rather start from the start than watch selected episodes, and unlike the first time round I won't switch off after episode one.

Bigchin wrote:Thanks Glyph. I've been eyeing up the R1 sets from Amazon, but the extras on the R4 discs are pretty sweet so I think I'll go for those. Anyway, I'll definitely get entire seasons. I'd rather start from the start than watch selected episodes, and unlike the first time round I won't switch off after episode one.

Definatly start from the start with BW. Little plot hints get dropped throughout the series and it's much better if you are in the dark as to what they are reffering to. It will also make certain eps so much sweeter when you see them. BW also has some amazing characterisation for both sides.

What I've heard about characterisation and plotting does give me hope, although I still think the animation looks like crap (I didn't like it at the time, which is why I gave up so quickly). Unfortunately next month the Headmasters megaset is out, so bang go my funds. Once I've got through that lot I'll tackle Beast Wars.

The CG got a lot better as the show matured and the animators built up experience over the course of its three seasons - the pilot episode really isn't representative of the series as a whole.

Ten years on, the CG in Energon / Cybertron isn't a patch on Beast Wars in terms of character acting. The CG may be dated now, especially in the early episodes, but Mainframe really knew how to get emotion out of 3D models.

The CG in series 1 was not very good. Though it was for the time. Series 3 is amazing graphics in comparison. Even the pilot of series 2 is suddenly noticable with teh differences. Almost as though the show went Transmetal.

Insurgent wrote:The CG in series 1 was not very good. Though it was for the time. Series 3 is amazing graphics in comparison. Even the pilot of series 2 is suddenly noticable with teh differences. Almost as though the show went Transmetal.

Beast Wars was made only a year or two too early to take full advantage of particle emitters and opaque effects.

But they sure did a damn good job for when the show was made, what really amazed me is how well they kept up with the advancements in technology, the late 90's was when CG animation took off, and many companies fell far behind, and did not catch up until after the millennium.