Beast Wars - Transformers

These episodes are a great intro, and a must in order to get the entire epic story of Beast Wars. The show really hits its stride towards the end of the first season, and I can still remember how excited I was through pretty much all of the second season. Do not make the mistake of writing this show off as standard kiddie fare, it was one of the best written "cartoons" I've ever watched, a true science fiction saga. Credit for this goes to the series' two excellent story editors: Bob Forward and Larry DiTillio. They breathed a life into these transforming robots the like of which Transformer fans had never seen (let's face it, the original TF characters were somewhat one and two dimensional). So, there you have it: characterization, plot, script, visuals, all of these and more are reasons not to miss a single volume of this, the best Transformers has to offer, finally on DVD.


Very underrated   July 15, 2004
K. Beech (Chateauguay, Quebec Canada)
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

Being a cartoon, this show starts out with a lot of stigmas. I loved the original transformers as a kid. This show was unbelievable. Yes, it was all about selling toys but the creators weren't just satisfied with that alone. The story telling is weaven together better than most primetime television shows. There are very few holes. I dare you not to feel a little teery eyed when Dinobot hits the dust. One of the saddest deaths I've seen on the tube. Oh and Austria stop blasting the show. You have obviously not seen the show and are just a cranky Transformers fan that wont give this new show any respect. Those are the only people that do not like this show. Those that haven't seen it and dismiss it as nothing but a stupid cartoon. Then, there's the original Transformers fans that can't accept this show being better and never give it a chance. If you watch this show from the beginning you will be addicted, I guarantee you. Although as said the show really hits it's mark in season 2 with a lot of drama. Season 1 is a lot of introduction. Season 3 is the payoff with the bots heading back home, very good season. Season 4 is a bit of a mess in auto world but it's entertaining. There wasn't anywhere else to go after season 4. It was a fun ride. I give it a 4 but for cartoons this is definitely a big 5 stars.


Volume 1 is Volumes 1&2 - Sort of   February 23, 2002
14 out of 14 found this review helpful

>The buy info is wrong though, this is ONLY Volume 1. It contains 6 episodes

The buy info isn't wrong, it's just a little confusing. In the VHS versions volume 1 is the first three episodes, volume 2 is the second three episodes. Someone in marketing decided that it would be less confusing to label volume 1 of the DVD series volumes 1 & 2 so that people would know that it includes all six episodes.

Besides this contorted piece of logic, this is a great DVD. I look forward to Rhino releasing the rest of the series!


Transformers for the 90's   April 24, 2002
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

Most can claim that they have seen the original Transformers TV show and declare it the best animated show they ever saw growing up as a child. Well, now, I have a say in that to. While I was growing up, I watched Beast Wars and it was without a doubt the best animated show at the time.

I recall watching it early in the morning on a 5-day block of morning animation that included other shows like GI Joe Extreme (something a kin to Force Five)and then watching the second season a few years later. I highly enjoyed the series and tried to buy all of the toys as well. Now, my childhood has returned to me. This DVD set is great. It starts out with the first six episodes which pretty much introduce all the main characters: Optimus, Cheetor, Ratrap, Rinox, Megatron, Terrasaur, Scorpinoc, Dinobot and Taransalaus.

These first six episodes are pretty good, but the first season is only minor episodic episodes with a few new characters added along the way. The real meat of the story comes in the second season where the story of Cybertron finally comes into play. Overall though, this is a good start to a great story and gets way better down the road. Recommended to just about anyone.


AWESOME DVD, Pretty good season, Decent animation   August 25, 2002
Lincoln 6 Echo (Harrisburg, IL USA)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

OK, I'm going to do a little DVD review here first:

Picture Quality: AWESOME!!! A+ - Crisp & Clear. No fuzziness. Excellent transfer. Bright vibrant colors. No CGI flutter.

Animation: Average to Good. B - Being that the show debuted in '96, CGI hadn't matured like it did by 1999. When compared to the animation of Roughnecks: Starship Troopers, Beast Wars animation looks a bit dated at times, especially in this first season. IIRC It gets better with later episodes.

Sound: Good. A- Using Dolby 5.1, the soundtrack creates a submersive sound environment. You are constantly enveloped in sound due to the rear speakers being used extensively for the music and the occasional rear sound effect. However, with this volume at least the front left and right channels don't seem to have the punch that I thought they would. Most action and dialogue is anchored in the center speaker. But this improves with Volume 2 with more sound effects in the side channels. The .1 LFE channel is a bit weak in the this volume, but it's stronger in Volume 2. However, don't get me wrong, this is still a good soundtrack, I just thought it was a little weak in areas as noted above.

Episodes:
1) Beast Wars Part 1: The Predacons and Maximals are fighting through space and crash on an unknown planet. The planet is rich in Energon and powerful enough to fuel galactic conquest. And so the battle for the planet begins!

2) Beast Wars Part 2: The battle between the Maximals and the Predacons continues. It starts off as Dinobot joins the Maximals after a fight with Optimus Primal for leadership which then gets cut short by a Predacon ambush. The battle culminates with the discovery and fight over a giant Energon crystal atop a mountain.

3) The Web: Rhinox develops a long-range comlink and Cheetor gets into trouble with a Predacons. He becomes trapped by Tarantulus's web device which will slowly and surely drain all of his energy unless he can get free. Mousetrap comes to the rescue and springs a surprise trap on Tarantulus.

4) Equal Meausures: Cheetor tries to prove himself to Optimus Primal by setting up a series of scanner prods, but he srikes a Energon stream that acts as a teleporter between the Predacon base and the Maximal base. Cheetor get transported to the Predacon base and Terrorasaur gets transported to Maximal base.

5) Chain of Command: A battle between the Predacons and the Maximals at the Stonehenge arrangement unleashes a signal to outer space that summons a mysterious probe. The probe arrives and absorbs Optimus Primal into its memory banks temporarily, so the Maximals have to choose a new leader. Dinobot tries to bully his way into the role.

6) Power Surge: Terrorsaur finds a floating mountian loaded with Energon that give him super-charged abilities but with a price of dependence. Having this new power, he challenges Megatron for leadership and pretty much trashes him. But after the mountain explodes, Terrasaur is back to square one and Megatron has been rebuilt. [gulp]

And for those fans of the original G1 Transformers, the draw towards Beast Wars is one of more realistic fight scenes. Transformer actually get blow away and there's actually some emotion in their fights as well, giving the fights more impact.