The 10 Best Transformers: Beast Wars Episodes

By Kevin Guhl in Cartoons, Daily Lists, Toys
Wednesday, Feb. 10 2010 @ 7:57AM
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A lot of die-hard Generation 1 Transformers fans had a hard time accepting Beast Wars when it debuted in 1996 (we've all heard about the nerd arguments got so heated that fans of Beast Wars began derisively summing up those G1 diehards' views with the Cro-magnon-esque "TRUKK NOT MUNKY!!!"). But if you look past its primitive mid-'90s CGI, Beast Wars has the most sophisticated storytelling to date of any Transformers TV series, and was single-handedly responsible for relaunching the Transformers brand after Generation 1 had disappeared from toy shelves and television screens a few years prior. Beast Wars was rich in character, continuity, suspenseful sci-fi and humor, and it even threw in enough connections to the original Transformers to entice those surly, older fans. All three seasons are recommended viewing, but here are 10 episode no Transformers fan should miss.
10) Other Voices
Mysterious aliens that had been orbiting the Beast Wars planet decided the Transformers had contaminated their experiments and attempted to wipe them out with a weapon called the Planet Buster. Optimus Primal valiantly flew a one-man ship up to destroy the weapon, but Megatron suddenly appeared on the ship's viewscreen and announced that the ship was under his control. Proving he was a more ruthless bastard than his namesake, he locked the ship so Optimus couldn't escape and Primal went kablooey with the alien weapon. It was a shocking moment! Also entertaining in this episode was the ongoing rivalry between the two Decepticon spiders, Tarantulus and Blackarachnia, and the crazy, pyromaniac Inferno, who really believed he was an ant and always vowed to protect "the colony" and his "queen," Megatron (much to Megatron's chagrin).

9) A Better Mousetrap
Rattrap wasn't just the Maximals' resident sarcastic joke machine; he was an ace mechanic, and proved his mettle in this episode by staying inside the Maximal base when its security system went haywire, dodging its attempts to smite him as he worked to deactivate it. Thinking Rattrap didn't survive the adventure (which he of course did), his friends eulogized him, but couldn't help waxing about his negative qualities, as well.

8) Transmutate
Beast Wars wasn't afraid to tackle the subject of euthanasia in a thinly veiled metaphor by introducing Transmutate, a new character who basically suffered from the Transformers equivalent of severe birth defects. The genderless creature was a mishmash of parts, unable to transform, lacked intelligence and was ruled by basic emotions. But it was also dangerously powerful, and neither the Predacons nor the Maximals wanted to chance having it on their team. Their solutions were slightly different, though, as Megatron wanted to put Transmutate down and Optimus wanted to put it in stasis until they could figure out what to do with the creature. But one member from each side, the Maximal Silverbolt and the Predacon Rampage, saw value in Transmutate and stood up for its continued existence; Rampage because he sensed a fellow tortured soul and Silverbolt because he believed in defending the rights of all life. When the two began to fight over Transmutate, the creature nobly sacrificed its life to prevent the opposing warriors from killing each other. Heady stuff for a cartoon, eh?

7) Bad Spark
The dark secret of the Maximals was revealed - the whole purpose of the trip that ended with them crash-landing and becoming marooned on a primitive world was to dispose of a genetic experiment gone wrong. And that experiment, a gigantic crab-beast named Protoform X (a.k.a. Rampage) with an indestructible spark (soul), had woken up and begun hunting down his former tormentors, as well as the Predacons that wanted to retrieve and recruit him. Maximal goody two-shoes Silverbolt and Predacon bad girl Blackarachnia developed an unlikely attraction (which is a bit creepy when you think about it) as they were forced to work together. Protoform X ended up in the horrifying position of having Megatron carve out and keep part of Rampage's spark in order to control the beast.

6) Gorilla Warfare
Optimus Primal got ambushed by the Predacon Scorponok, who implanted a Cyber Bee in the Maximal leader's chest. The implant was intended to alter Primal's personality so that he was too cowardly to lead, but instead it turned him into a berseker madman who gavethe entire Predacon team a legendary ass-kicking they'd never forget. Despite the fact that removing the implant would cause it to self-destruct, Optimus ripped it out of his chest and chucked it at Megatron. AWESOME.