Beast Machines: Transformers

Beast Machines: Transformers is an animated television series produced by Mainframe Entertainment as part of the Transformers franchise. Hasbro has full distribution rights to the show as of 2011. It was a direct sequel to Beast Wars, taking place within the continuity of the original Transformers series. The show ran for two seasons, airing on YTV and Fox Kids from September 18, 1999 to November 18, 2000. Of the Transformers animated series produced in North America, Beast Machines was the only one to have been completely conceptualized and outlined in advance, lending it a more serialized and linear storyline than the others. The Beast Machines' intro theme was "Phat Planet" by Leftfield.

Synopsis
Following their victory in the Beast Wars, the surviving Maximals – Optimus Primal, Cheetor, Blackarachnia and Rattrap – finally return to Cybertron only to discover that their people have vanished, and the world is now ruled by the mindless Vehicons. To make matters worse, the quartet are trapped in their beast forms without any of the upgrades they gained during the Beast Wars – and they are swiftly losing their memories of anything but each other. Forced to retreat deep underground, the Maximals discover the Oracle, a powerful supercomputer that reformats their bodies into new, even more, powerful techno-organic forms.

The Maximals soon learn that their old enemy Megatron – who managed to break free and return to Cybertron before them – is the malevolent intelligence behind the Vehicons. Megatron has declared war on both beast modes and free will itself, imprisoning the sparks of Cyberton's entire population. With the odds stacked against them, the Maximals set out to free the sparks of their people, discover what really happened to their allies Silverbolt and Rhinox, and bring organic life to Cyberton once more.

Cast

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

Production
The series initially had the working title "Beast Hunters," as revealed in commentary on the Beast Machines DVD. Notable changes to character names occurred, with "Skybolt" altered to "Jetstorm" to avoid revealing Silverbolt's connection to the Vehicon faction. The show's early episodes were produced under the title "Skybolt" but were later edited to reflect the modified name. Originally, there was a plan for Thrust to possess Silverbolt's spark, but this concept was altered, leading to the decision for him to carry Waspinator's spark instead.

Within specific episodes, instances of certain gestures were observed, such as Thrust making a gesture resembling a middle finger in "Home Soil" and "Savage Noble." Furthermore, cameo appearances of characters like Inferno and Quickstrike, along with pre-human figures Hammer, Jack, and Una, were included in flashback scenes.

Home releases
Beast Machines: Transformers (Episodes # 1–5) Canada / United States
 * Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
 * Language: English
 * Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only)
 * Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
 * Audio: 2.0 Dolby Surround
 * Number of discs: 1
 * Rating: PG in Canada
 * Studio: Anchor Bay Entertainment Canada
 * DVD Release Date: August 10, 2004
 * Run Time: 107 minutes

Beast Machines: Transformers – The Complete Series Canada / United States
 * Format: Box set, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
 * Language: English
 * Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only)
 * Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
 * Audio: 5.1 Dolby Surround & 2.0 Stereo
 * Number of discs: 4
 * Rating: Not Rated
 * Studio: Kid Rhino Entertainment
 * DVD Release Date: February 28, 2006
 * Run Time: 700 minutes

Beast Machines – Transformers: Series 1
 * Format: Dubbed, Full Screen, PAL
 * Language English
 * Region: Region 2
 * Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
 * Audio: 5.1 Dolby Surround & 2.0 Stereo
 * Number of discs: 2
 * Classification: PG (Parental Guidance)
 * Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
 * DVD Release Date: 16 July 2007
 * Run Time: 264 minutes

Beast Machines – Transformers: Series 2 UK
 * Format: Dubbed, Full Screen, PAL
 * Language English
 * Region: Region 2
 * Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
 * Audio: 5.1 Dolby Surround & 2.0 Stereo
 * Number of discs: 2
 * Classification: PG (Parental Guidance)
 * Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
 * DVD Release Date: 19 November 2007
 * Run Time: N/A

Beast Machines – Transformers: Season 1 – Volumes 1 & 2 Classification: PG (Parental Guidance)
 * DVD Release Date: 20 June 2007
 * Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
 * Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
 * Region: Region 4

Beast Machines – Transformers: Season 2 – Volumes 1 & 2
 * DVD Release Date: 23 October 2007
 * Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
 * Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
 * Region: Region 4
 * Classification: PG (Parental Guidance)

US / Canada Beast Machines: Transformers – The Complete Series
 * Format: Box set, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
 * Language: English
 * Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only)
 * Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
 * Audio: 5.1 Dolby Surround & 2.0 Stereo
 * Number of discs: 4
 * Rating: Not Rated
 * Studio: Shout! Factory
 * DVD Release Date: September 2, 2014
 * Run Time: 690 minutes

Other information
Written into a special edition comic book was a character by the name of Primal Prime. Appearing only in this book, he is a side character to the Beast Machines story and was later written into the toy lines of both Beast Machines and Transformers: Universe. In the Universe story line, he eventually gains a new body, which combined with Apelinq to create Sentinel Maximus.

The head writers used to post and answer questions on a message board known as Bottalk.

Toys
The Hasbro toys for Beast Machines gained notoriety for bearing little resemblance to the show's characters, both in shape and color. Additionally, they were disproportionately scaled. The discrepancy arose because the show creators and toy creators developed the characters independently in the first year, leading to the release of slightly more show-accrue.

Many of the characters created as toys never made it on the television series, although some did appear in the comic books. Oddly, the transforming plant Botanica from the television series was not made into a toy for any of the related toy lines.

Another characteristic of this toy line was its packaging. Unlike other Transformers lines, wherein each toy had a photo or illustration of themselves on the front of the packaging, almost all Beast Machines packages had an illustration of Cheetor on the front – regardless of character or faction. The one exception was Nightscream.

The toys released in the Beast Wars Returns (a release of Beast Machines in Japan) toy line by Takara were recolored to more closely resemble the show colors. Molds from the drones in the Vehicon Army, which bore more resemblance to the Vehicon Generals, were recolored and used as the Vehicon Generals instead in the Beast Wars Returns toy line.

A line of simple McDonald's Beast Machines toys was sold which did look more like the show characters, and this line was recolored for release in other countries by other fast-food restaurants.

Non-show groups
A number of toy sub-groups didn't make it into the animated series, but had small stories on their toy boxes.
 * Beast Riders
 * Two deluxe sized vehicles that resembled the heads of animals and could be ridden by larger figures. Both were redecorated once each, but their boxes remained unchanged.


 * Deployers
 * Three sparkless Maximal drones transform into weapons for larger toys, with their boxes remaining unchanged despite being redecoed in new colors. The dark blue recolor of Rav represents the character Chro in the 3H Comic series, where the original-colored Deployers also appeared.


 * Dinobots
 * A set of Maximals, all recolors of older toys from the Beast Wars and Beast Wars Neo lines, was commanded by Magmatron and T-Wrecks. Members included Airraptor and others, and like the Deployers, they appeared in the 3H Beast Machines comics.

Non-show characters
A number of characters appeared in the Beast Machines toy line who didn't make appearances in the television series. These included:


 * Blastcharge – A Vehicon who turns into a six-wheeled missile truck. The character does appear in the Wreckers comics.
 * Buzzsaw – A Maximal who transforms into a wasp. The character does appear in the Transformers: Universe comics.
 * Battle Unicorn – A Maximal who turns into a unicorn.
 * Che – A Beast Rider whose form is a cheetah head. The character was to appear in the un-produced Wreckers #4.
 * Chro (Name given to purple Rav repaint) – Appears in Wreckers comics.
 * Dillo – A Maximal Deployer who turns from an armadillo into a weapon. The character does appear in Wreckers comics.
 * Geckobot – A Maximal who transforms into a flying lizard.
 * Hammerstrike – A Maximal who transforms into a hammerhead shark.
 * Longhorn – A Maximal who turns into a bull. The character was to appear in the un-produced Wreckers #4.
 * Mechatron – A Beast Rider whose form is a dragon'a head.
 * Mirage – A high speed Vehicon race car. The character appears in Apelinq's War Journals, his drones appear in Wreckers comics.
 * Mol – A Maximal Deployer who turns from a mole into a weapon. The character did appear in Wreckers comics.
 * Nightviper – A Maximal who transforms into a cobra.
 * Primal Prime – A repaint of Beast Wars Optimal Optimus. The character does appear in the Wreckers comics.
 * Quickstrike – A Maximal who transforms into a wolf. The character does appear in the Transformers: Universe comics.
 * Rav – A Maximal Deployer who turns from a bird into a weapon. The character does appear in the Wreckers comics.
 * Scavenger – A Vehicon Demolitions expert. The character does appear in the Wreckers comics.
 * Skydive – A Maximal who turns a pterodactyl. The character was to appear in the un-produced Wreckers #4.
 * Snarl – A Maximal who turns into a lion. The character does appear in the un-produced Wreckers #3, and the Transformers: Universe comics
 * Spy Streak – A Vehicon stealth jet. The character does appear in the Wreckers comics.

Transtech
After Beast Machines ended, Hasbro planned a follow-up series called Transtech, which would have been a combination of Beast Wars, Beast Machines, and G1. The series was supposed to bring back some of the characters who died in Beast Wars along with some characters from the original 1980s cartoon, all in new, organic-looking bodies, with vehicle alternate modes instead of the animals used in Beast Machines. Many concept sketches and even a few toy prototypes were made, but Hasbro scrapped the idea, bringing Car Robots to American markets as a placeholder until Transformers Armada.

Concept sketches or prototype toys have been seen for Blackarachnia, Cheetor, Depth Charge, Megatron, Nightscream, Optimus Prime, Scavenger, Shockwave, Soundwave, Starscream, and a new character called Immorticon.

Transformers: Universe
The storyline of Beast Machines is continued in the short-lived comic book Transformers: Universe by 3H Publishing, which has stories taking place during the second season of Beast Machines (in the Transformers: Wreckers comic) and after the Beast Machines story (in the Transformers: Universe comic).