Let's talk about a great Canadian Sci Fi series that ended with a crappy techn-organic anti-climax!

[KAPTAINmORGANnWo4life]

I recently got back into one of my favourite television series, Transformers: Beast Wars (Beasties in Canada), and was wondering if anybody else on the Escapist remembered it.

Would you like to see it come back one day? What were your favourite aspects about it? Where do you think Mainframe could have improved?

And, just for fun, what do you think about the other great series to come from Mainframe: Reboot?

 

[Lionsfan]

.........

And I don't remember much of Beast Wars, so I'm kinda useless on this

 

[KAPTAINmORGANnWo4life]

I think this video might be highly relevant:

 

[CrazyBlaze]

Man I loved Beast Wars when I was kid. Also Reboot is awsome. Got to watch out for that crafty User. I want more Reboot. Flying Rhino Junior High. That show killer.

 

[MammothBlade]

Ooooh! *Clicks on thread* Oh. I thought you meant Stargate.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

I loved Beast Wars, and it holds up well enough today to unplug your brain for a bit and watch. I don't really want it rebooted, though; I'd much rather see another good transformers show -- and actually, I have. Animated wasn't bad, and Prime seems to be pretty good, from what little I've seen. Too bad they fall into the same trap the Michael Bay movies do with focusing too much on the humans. That said, Beast Machines should be evidence enough that rebooting Beast Wars is a bad idea; what the franchise needs is something that, like Beast Wars, shows that a fresh approach to the old idea can make an awesome show.

 

[CODE-D]

I liked that show when it became Beast Machines.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

I liked that show when it became Beast Machines.

You are the first person I've ever even heard of saying that 0.o

 

[Limecake]

I liked that show when it became Beast Machines.

You are the first person I've ever even heard of saying that 0.o

wait was that when they got stuck half-way transformed from their beastie/vehicle forms? cause I actually liked that better too, the one transformer who was a motorcycle and a spider? was the coolest toy I ever owned.

EDIT: The rat was the coolest transformer when they were just beasts though.

Reboot was still better, I never got that all the civilians in mainframe were 0's and 1's until I was much older.

There was another show, made by similar teams that involved an alien travelling to different planets to unite them in a war or something, I remember all the planets represented different elements (water planet, fire planet, rocky planet and gaseous planet I guess?) all the aliens from those planets looked like they were made out of the element too.

I just wish I could remember the name.

 

[CrazyBlaze]

I liked that show when it became Beast Machines.

You are the first person I've ever even heard of saying that 0.o

wait was that when they got stuck half-way transformed from their beastie/vehicle forms? cause I actually liked that better too, the one transformer who was a motorcycle and a spider? was the coolest toy I ever owned.

EDIT: The rat was the coolest transformer when they were just beasts though.

Reboot was still better, I never got that all the civilians in mainframe were 0's and 1's until I was much older.

There was another show, made by similar teams that involved an alien travelling to different planets to unite them in a war or something, I remember all the planets represented different elements (water planet, fire planet, rocky planet and gaseous planet I guess?) all the aliens from those planets looked like they were made out of the element too.

I just wish I could remember the name.

Shadow Riders is the name of the show you are looking for.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

I liked that show when it became Beast Machines.

You are the first person I've ever even heard of saying that 0.o

wait was that when they got stuck half-way transformed from their beastie/vehicle forms? cause I actually liked that better too, the one transformer who was a motorcycle and a spider? was the coolest toy I ever owned.

EDIT: The rat was the coolest transformer when they were just beasts though.

Reboot was still better, I never got that all the civilians in mainframe were 0's and 1's until I was much older.

There was another show, made by similar teams that involved an alien travelling to different planets to unite them in a war or something, I remember all the planets represented different elements (water planet, fire planet, rocky planet and gaseous planet I guess?) all the aliens from those planets looked like they were made out of the element too.

I just wish I could remember the name.

Beast Machines was the one where they went back to Cybertron and the animation improved but the character designs and everything else took a nose dive. Come to think of it, it came out around the same time Spiderman TAS got cancelled mid-plotline in favor of that "Spiderman, but in an alternate dimension" show; I remember a lot of kids my age being angry about both of those. You might be thinking of Beast Wars: Transmetals, which was the toyline based on the second and third seasons of Beast Wars, as well as a part of those seasons of the show.

Edit: And that third show was called War Planets if I remember correctly. All three shows were made by the same company, Mainframe Entertainment.

Edit Edit: Psuedo Ninja'd. It was called War Planets in the US, and Shadow Raiders in other countries.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0169510/

 

[BlazeRaider]

Shadow raiders, it was a show bout 4 warring planets of rock, ice, fire and bone who's economies all revolved around stealing each others shit XD, but when some other race called beasts come in, with the purpose of FEEDING the 4 planets to their giant planet/furnace, they try to unite and stop them. Good show, never watched it all though, not enough explosions to keep a kid hooked. I do know that it ended in a cliffhanger with the beasts on the move again incinerating a planet of lizard people. Damn, cliffhangers, first reboot, then that!

 

[Limecake]

Shadow Riders is the name of the show you are looking for.

Edit Edit: Psuedo Ninja'd. It was called War Planets in the US, and Shadow Raiders in other countries.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0169510/

Shadow raiders, it was a show bout 4 warring planets of rock, ice, fire and bone who's economies all revolved around stealing each others shit XD, but when some other race called beasts come in, with the purpose of FEEDING the 4 planets to their giant planet/furnace, they try to unite and stop them. Good show, never watched it all though, not enough explosions to keep a kid hooked. I do know that it ended in a cliffhanger with the beasts on the move again incinerating a planet of lizard people. Damn, cliffhangers, first reboot, then that!

yep that's the one, I remember it because my dad knew someone who worked for the company and he told me about the new show they were working on.

Yeah I lost interest in it too, I didn't make it to the end but I did think the concept was pretty cool (and apparently similar to ME3)

I enjoyed Reboots ending, when they basically 'restart' the computer. Enzo was a badass when he was surfing the internet too.

 

[BlazeRaider]

Wha...? I'm pretty sure the series ended in a cliffhanger, Megabyte comes back as a trojan horse virus and the series ends off with him beginning to conquer mainframe. Then no new episodes.

captcha: first world

...

problems. *sigh* I know captcha, I should shut up D: there are bigger things to worry about.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Speaking of Transformers Beast Wars-
Honestly I'm not bother to see the return of Beast Wars as I get my Transformers fix from the other Transformers shows that came after it (Animated and Prime) but I take it you love the Beast Wars universe?

While I do like Mainframe for their other shows (Shadow Raider, Heavy Gear and Reboot etc) I would only welcome back Mainframe (however they are renamed to Rainmaker Entertainment) if they stop making animated Barbie show/ films (it what they mostly do these days) and have better computer/ rendering softwares.

No offence to them but their animation is outdated compare to the modern CGI shows out there at the moment so they need to update their techs.

 

[Neverhoodian]

Speaking of Transformers Beast Wars-

Gah, you beat me to it!

Beast Wars is awesome. I liked it mostly for the action as a kid, but I've taken a new appreciation for the show now that I've gone back and watched it as an adult. It had solid writing and at times dealt with surprisingly mature content for a kid's show. The major characters were well developed as well, each with their own distinct personalities. It helped that they had top-knotch voice actors. My mother liked the show as well and would often watch it with me when it still aired on television (Cheetor and Optimus were her favorite characters).

I was sorely disappointed with Beast Machines. The new character designs rubbed me the wrong way, and it lacked the tension of Beast Wars. The Vehicons were little more than cannon fodder, and Megatron had become an impotent figurehead. I also thought that the techno-environmental message it tried to convey was awkward and didn't fit with the established setting.

Personally, I'm fine with Beast Wars ending where it did. I wouldn't mind seeing an attempt to revive the series provided it stayed reasonably faithful to the original, but I don't think it really needs to be brought back. It had a good run and I'm content to leave it at that.

I haven't seen Reboot, so I can't comment on that.

 

[KAPTAINmORGANnWo4life]

Wha...? I'm pretty sure the series ended in a cliffhanger, Megabyte comes back as a trojan horse virus and the series ends off with him beginning to conquer mainframe. Then no new episodes.

captcha: first world

...

problems. *sigh* I know captcha, I should shut up D: there are bigger things to worry about.

Reboot did, Beasties ended with lots of Green Lights, if you catch my meaning.

 

[CODE-D]

I liked that show when it became Beast Machines.

You are the first person I've ever even heard of saying that 0.o

I know Im pretty awesome.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Speaking of Transformers Beast Wars-
Honestly I'm not bother to see the return of Beast Wars as I get my Transformers fix from the other Transformers shows that came after it (Animated and Prime) but I take it you love the Beast Wars universe?

While I do like Mainframe for their other shows (Shadow Raider, Heavy Gear and Reboot etc) I would only welcome back Mainframe (however they are renamed to Rainmaker Entertainment) if they stop making animated Barbie show/ films (it what they mostly do these days) and have better computer/ rendering softwares.

No offence to them but their animation is outdated compare to the modern CGI shows out there at the moment so they need to update their techs.

With the barbie shows, I think it's on purpose; as the song says, she's made of plastic.

And because this is now stuck in my head, I'm putting it in yours too:


Yeah, this was a huge hit around the same time Beast Wars was on the air. Heck, it was one of the better hits of the 90's, and a perfect example of why I laugh at anyone who says music in the 90's was awesome, and then points to acts like Nirvana and The Red Hot Chilli Peppers as examples of typical 90's music.

Edit: By the way, thanks for sharing that one of my favorite childhood studios has fallen so far. I could have lived my whole life without knowing that :/