Beast Machines: Transformers

• Also known as Beast Machines: Battle for the Spark (Season 2)
• September 18, 1999 to November 18, 2000
• Fox Kids (US) / YTV (Canada)
• Based on Hasbro’s Transformers toy line

Voice Cast

• Optimus Primal-Garry Chalk
• Rattrap, Silverbolt, Waspinator-Scott McNeil
• Cheetor-Ian James Corlett
• Blackarachnia-Venus Terzo
• Megatron, Savage/Noble-David Kaye
• Diagnostic Drone-Christopher Gaze
• Jetstorm-Brian Drummond
• Tankor, Obsidian, Diagnostic Drone #2-Paul Dobson
• Thrust-Jim Byrnes
• Nightscream-Alessandro Juliani
• Rhinox/Tankor-Richard Newman
• Botanica-Kathleen Barr
• Strika-Patricia Drake

The surviving Maximals finally return to Cybertron only to discover that all Transformers have vanished and Cybertron is now ruled by the mindless Vehicons.

Beast Machines: Transformers is the sequel series to Beast Wars: Transformers which was essentially a sequel series to The Transformers though both of the former contained some contradictions to the G1 mythology which have carried through to iterations of the concept which have no connection to either of these three shows.

While not great it’s not bad either. It’s a series that satisfies, but it’s not so great that you wish to revisit it again and again. You don’t feel bad about it and you’ll watch it in connection to The Transformers but in and of itself you may not take it all in. For me, the series tried to play too much in the space magic area and tried to dress up fantasy elements as big ideas.

While having seemingly obtained victory at the end of Beast Wars, the surviving Maximals find themselves with gaps in their memory on Cybertron which is devoid of Maximals or Predicons. As a direct continuation of the last show it made the struggle they went through ultimately pointless. It is revealed Megatron got pretty much everything he wanted. Not only did Megatron return, but he returned quite victorious.

The animation here is a bit of an improvement over Beast Wars as it has aged a touch better but still lacks the timeless nature of anything handcrafted. They did a good job of cool visuals as needed by overall things were kinda bland.

By dressing up their fantasy as attempts at big ideas it failed to create strongly engaging stories. It wasn’t unwatchable, but on the same token it was not something I would make an attempt to view. This could be in large part due to it moving to network television rather than being a first run syndicated children’s program.

Some characters got dark turns here, while others got upgraded before they eventually got downgraded back to where they were as characters. But the main difference between this show, and its predecessor is that the action moves from Earth to Cybertron. In broad strokes, there really wasn’t too much of a difference between either show other than that.

Beast Machines had environmental themes. They practically beat you over the head at least in my opinion. And it was as if they were trying to say technology and the environment had to work together based on a handful of revelations during the series. There were even bits about dark nature of the individual. Maybe part of the problem was that this came out at the tail end of the era of the Saturday morning cartoon. They were a dying breed being constricted in their overall creativity which hastened their death.

Beast Machines: Transformers is an okay show. Animation is okay. The stories are okay. The characters are okay. There are a few minor twists and turns that give it high points but ultimately it’s nothing that special. If you are seeking to watch more Transformers, then this is not a bad choice. It’s more mature and logical than some later offerings, but ultimately it adds nothing to the mythos.