’90s Sci-Fi Series Changed Iconic Franchise Forever, Stream Now
One of the most rewarding things for me as I have gotten older is checking out old TV series that I didn’t previously give a fair chance. For example, when Beast Wars first came out in 1996, my teenage self was unimpressed: the CGI animation looked a tad too primitive, and I was one of the fans salty that these bots were now transforming into animals rather than vehicles. However, Tubi allowed me to watch this series for free, and I was completely converted: this is one of the best Transformers shows ever made, one that laid the groundwork for the next few decades of storytelling.
Beast Wars
What is Beast Wars about, aside from battling bots turned beasties? When the evil Predacons escape Cybertron on a ship with a transwarp drive, the heroic Maximals are charged with pursuing them.
But after both groups’ vessels fall through a space/time warp, they crash on a mysterious planet filled with so much life-giving Energon that they must all take on organic forms (ranging from gorillas to dinosaurs) in order to survive.
Interesting Names
If you’re a casual Transformers fan, the names of some characters can make this show a bit confusing. For example, the main bad guy is named Megatron, but this isn’t the ‘80s villain who turned into a gun—instead, this is a new character who is such a Megatron fanboy that he took the character’s name.
His opposite number is Optimus Primal, someone who isn’t directly related to your favorite transforming ‘80s convoy despite having such a similar name.
That’s Just Prime
Once you get past that possible confusion, you’ll soon discover that the Beast Wars characters have very unique personalities, ones that make them more entertaining than many of the bots in the original cartoon. If you’re like me, it won’t take very long for the cutesy Optimus phrase “that’s just prime” to be embedded in your brain, and his beleaguered coach personality contrasts nicely with Rattrap’s cranky cynicism.
Megatron, meanwhile, is the perfect mustache-twirling villain, and the silky tones of David Kaye’s voice help sell the simple fact that this guy loves being evil.
Morally Murky
A standout character in season 1 (which, incidentally, has an 86 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes) is Dinobot, one of the first morally murky characters in a franchise where the good guys and bad guys had always been conveniently labeled.
Dinobot is a Predacon who lives by a warrior’s code, one which causes him to eventually abandon Megatron and join up with the Maximals.
There, he fascinatingly remains a bot out of place—someone whose killer instincts don’t let him fit in with the heroes but whose sense of honor never lets him fit in with the bad guys, either.
Influence On The Franchise
Aside from having such great characters and an awesome story, one of the best reasons Transformers fans should watch (or possibly re-watch) Beast Wars is because of the immense influence it had on the future of the franchise.
The most obvious example of this is, of course, the recent Rise of the Beasts live-action film which used several characters from this show. Similarly, the third chapter of Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy on Netflix brings back several of the key heroes and villains from Beast Wars.
Wider Appeal
On a more fundamental level, though, Beast Wars showed the world that it was possible to tell great Transformers stories that appealed to adults and children alike. Without the success of this mature and grounded storytelling, we might never have gotten the live-action Transformers movies, nor the excellent future cartoons like Transformers: Prime.
This is a show that carried the (ahem) spark of the franchise, and it also immensely influenced the excellent IDW Transformers comics (loving Skybound, but IDW is still my Transformers comics jam).
Stream It Now
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In short, Beast Wars is a show that has it all if you can get past the basic animation: the characters are vivid, the stories are engaging, and the lore is fascinating. You can appreciate this as a keystone of Transformers mythology or simply enjoy it as a rollicking tale of good vs. evil. Either way, streaming this on Tubi is the best way to “transform” your day into something unforgettably awesome.
