Looking at the series that helped revitalize the Transformers franchise, was an early CG cartoon and really did some great character work: Beast Wars!
Beast Wars Series Review
Looking at the series that helped revitalize the Transformers franchise, was an early CG cartoon and really did some great character work: Beast Wars!
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Great review, Phelous!
I love Beast Wars and honestly consider them one of the best Transformers series. And that’s not nostalgia talking. If anything, I like it more now, than I did as a kid.
By the way, funny story about Beast Wars and me. You see, while the series was brought over to Russia our dub was… not as bad as the english Headmasters, but still pretty terrible. In fact, it was so terrible, that it convinced me to actively seek out the english version, because I really liked the characters and story and wanted to see it through the end. And eventually I did, watched it, rewatched and at some point discovered that I really like looking for the differences in translation, adaptation and now I’m a translator myself.
I won’t say, that it was Beast Wars that made into who I am, but the series did play it part, and I’m grateful to it. Let’s hope that maybe one day, Beast Machines (which I personally don’t hate, but definitively consider worse) won’t be the last Beast series.
That Russian dub though…
Seriously, if you ever going to check different versions of movies or cartoons (not even for a review, though I would love to see that) this will a gold mine for justified ridicule and jokes. Miscast voices, terrible translation errors, and some of the worst actors I ever had the displeasure hearing (especially for poor Terrorsaur). And you can’t even say: “Well, that was just so long ago” or anything like that. The G1 Transformers was also given a russian dub and it was great.
I understand, if it isn’t your thing, just suggesting. But seriously though, a gold mine, trust me 🙂
Cool review.
I totally skipped this series (and all TF series after) when it aired, though I was a big G1 fan because all us 80s kids were. Mostly due to the primitive CG animation and “It’s not REAL Transformers” attitude, along with me being at the age when you’re supposed to stop watching cartoons – which ironically never really happened. I was really into Batman TAS and whatever Anime I could get my hands on at the time, so even then I was still connecting with animation.
I will say this, I always thought this show just looked awful, and still do. I know for the time this was really cutting edge, but it’s not just the CG, it’s how the characters are designed and animated. I do note the newer character forms and backgrounds as the series progresses look a bit better. Just my opinion – and I actually kind of like how ReBoot looked from the same studio.
I was always curious about this series though. While I probably won’t go looking for a DVD set, this review gave a nice overview and plot synopsis. I’d watch more of these overview videos about 80s and 90s animated series as I have a real fondness and nostalgia for that era.
Regarding your canadian version of the title “Best Bot”, the actual french-canadian title is a literal translation of that : “Robots-Bêtes” which is really corny. I feel the french title “Animutant” fit better though misleading.
I don’t know about the french-canadian dub but it appears the french dub never completed the series, stopping amid the second season right after the two-parter when Tigatron & Airazor got abducted. Which left young me very confused and sad because the broadcast just stopped there with no conclusion. It’s only years later that I completed my watch with the american version.
I’ve always heard that Beast Machines was terrible but never saw for myself so I’ll be interested in having your opinion on it.
Had no idea this was done by Mainframe Ent. Came out after ReBoot season 2, which I remember as looking better than this, but it could just be rose tinted nostalgia goggles.
Oh man. I haven’t watched this series since it came out when I was 12. I loved it! It had good drama and interesting characters. It also had characters that were my two favorite animals: cheetahs and peregrine falcons. Needless to say, Cheetor and Air Razor were my favorite characters.
Air Razor was disappointing though. She felt like just a token Chick along for the ride. Nothing about her stood out. I liked her because she was a female good guy. All we had aside from that was Black Arachnea and she was a baaaad guy. I liked good guys. And falcons. And then they went and randomly had her love Tigetron for two seconds before having them merge into Bird Dog. That… just… what?
I didn’t know (or care) about G1 Transformers and had no frame of reference about what they changed. The show was fine to me for what it was on its own. *shrug*
Anyway, great review! It was a trip down memory lane. I don’t remember the CG being *that* bad, lol, but it is what it is.
Sometimes the Canadian name changes were dumb. Sometimes they led to better titles, like War Planets getting changed to Shadow Raiders, a much snappier title in my opinion.
Speaking of toy-based cartoons from Hasbro, could you please review the CGI Furby movie Furby Island (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKIoFW5voc)? Yes, that actually happened and even after I watched it, I’m unsure if I could call it either one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen or just one of those “so bad, it’s good”/guilty pleasure movies.
Ah, I remember this show from when I was a young kid. Brings back memories. Good ol’ 90s CGI.
Strange. I don’t remember its name being Beasties, as I’m Canadian. Then again, maybe that’s why I couldn’t remember the show as Beast Wars either. I remember having to look it up to be like “Oh, yeah. That’s what that show was called.”