The Beast Wars UNFOLD!

Sales of Transformers toys had been lagging over the past few years. Beast Wars is intended to be a relaunch of the Transformers line geared at the current creature/animal trend that has been so popular since Jurassic Park and the Power Rangers.

If one were to follow the continuity written up in the tech specs of the Beast Wars toys and the mini comic book included with the Optimus Primal/Megatron Beast Wars 2 pack, the Transformers have simply changed their bodies by adding on organics to enhance battle prowess. It seems that Optimus Primal and Megatron are the same characters from Generation 1 and 2 with new bodies. Their battles continue on Earth with this new, enhanced technology.

The cartoon series is a bit different. The series is set roughly 200 years after the original American series. The Maximals and Predacons are the descendants of the Autobost and Decepticons respectively.

The cartoon begins with the Predacons searching for Earth in space. Optimus Primal and his crew intercept the Predacons in space and try to stop them. In the process, both ships damage each other and crash on to a strange, alien world, rich in Energon. The Energon is so rich that the Energon fields on the planet can destory robotic forms in minutes.

To prevent their destruction, the Maximals and Predacons change their forms to adapt to local life forms by taking creature/animal alternate forms while integrating organic DNA into their make up. This becomes an integral part of the show because the Transformers can only remain in robot mode for short periods of time before they begin to short out from high Energon field build up.

What is interesting to note is that in this series, Optimus Primal and Megatron are not the original leadesr in new forms (according to Bob Forward, writer of the pilot series). They are separate Trnasformers altogether who have taken on the names of the old leaders in honor of them.

The first two episodes of the series were shown as a "sneak preview" in April and May of 1996. The show is completely CGI animated (computer animated) and is done by the same folks who brought the cartoon Reboot to life. The ten basic characters in the pilot episodes were: (The Maximals) Optimus Primal, Cheetor, Dinobot, Rhinox, Cheetor, Rattrap, (The Predacons) Megatron, Scorponok, Tarantuals, Waspinator, and Terrorsaur.

In the first episode, prior to the carash of the Maximal ship "The Axalon", several life pods were ejected. The pods carry semi-programmed Transformers in them. As these pods touch down onto the world the Beast Warriors are on, they will be given forms to adapt them to their environment. In addtion, it will depend on who finds these life pods to fully program these Transformers. If Maximals find them, then the robots will become Maximals. If Predacons find them, they will be Predacons.

Future plans for the television show include the introduction of at least three new characters including Polar Claw, Tigatron, and Blackarachnia. An episode tentatively titled "Possession" will include a cameo by Starscream from the first Transformers series, "Generation One". The season finale for Beast Wars is being written at the time this article is being typed up and series editor Larry DiTillio has stated that he intends for it to be a nail biter!

Beast Wars Transformers is slated to air twice a week as part of Claster Entertainment's "Power Block" animated shows. The other shows in this "Power Block" are Reboot, VR-Tech, and G.I.Joe Extreme. 26 episodes will be produced altogether for the first season of Beast Wars.

This article was originally published in TRANS-FORUM by the owner of SEIBERTRON.com