Beast Machine Hunters> First Season Guide part 10

Last time on Beast Machine Hunters we started going over the planned episodes for season one of Transformers: Beast Machines, and then we went on Christmas break. I was hoping to finish before then but that didn’t happen. So this week we’ll go through episodes 10-13. Next week we should be finishing our look at the season 1 bible…with a preview for season 2 before going over the season 2 bible. That’s just how this worked out.

The plot for 11-13, the second multi-part episode, is given all in one section, unlike “Revelations”, which was chronicles in three parts. I’m not sure why they did that. Episode 10 is listed as “title to be determined”, so for some reason this was the only episode they didn’t have a title for by the time the guide was written. That’s also weird and I don’t know how that happened. The episode is called “Survivor” by the way, so at least they came up with a name by airtime.

With all that, let’s see if any memories are jogged by reading what they wanted to do in the episodes. Again, I didn’t have time to watch it despite a number of ad-sponsored streaming services having it and my owning the DVD. That’s just how the past few weeks went.

EPISODE 10: TITLE TBA [again, they went with “Survivor”-SWT] – Megatron sends his Diagnostic Drone (with his Generals as protective escort) to apprehend and study Nightscream in order to find out just exactly how he was able to acquire a Beast Mode. We get the first hint that Tankorr is hiding his true intelligence for some secret agenda. Nightscream discovers the fossils that gave him his Beast Mode and also that staying in Robot Mode will accelerate his Beast Mode body’s natural healing process. Injured and on the run, Nightscream must use every survival trick at his disposal to evade the Vehicons who can track him at every moment. Meanwhile tensions begin to grow between Cheetor and Optimus as each has his own ideas on how to lead a rescue mission.

I remember the tension between Optimus and Cheetor more than I do the hunt for Nightscream. I’m guessing the idea that robot mode speeds up the beast mode healing, which was the opposite way from how it worked on Beast Machines, where going into beast mode helped robot mode healing, was for dramatic purposes. Beast mode on Earth protected them from the raw “natural” Energon until all of that got blown up at the end of season one, and then just existed as a second battle mode thanks to the Transmetal alteration. Here it’s backwards.

The episode did end with Cheetor taking over command if memory serves, as Optimus was still weakened and Cheetor didn’t trust his judgement. Neither did fans, as many didn’t understand this whole “bring nature back to Cybertron” thing and was convinced the Oracle was some corrupting influence. We all knew Cybertron as a machine world, so this seemed odd even if the Quintessons had used another world to create their space factory planet (which granted wouldn’t be above the Quintessons’ lack of morals). Still, they would continue the terraforming so I’m not sure what the issue was beyond Optimus being weak. Maybe a rewatch would explain it, but Cheetor was also a jerk in this season.

EPISODE 11-13: “TECHNO-ORGANIC WAR” – The Maximals and Megatron discover the existence of the organic core deep within Cybertron. Tankorr leaks technology to the Maximals to accelerate the organic growth and push Megatron into playing his trump card — a doomsday device that will transform all organic life on the planet into metal (the Key to Vector Sigma/the Oracle?) — a move Megatron is reluctant to make, since it could prove fatal to his own organic half. Hiding his true intelligence, Tankorr orchestrates an escalating Techno-Organic war between Megatron and Optimus against each other so that when the smoke clears, he can take over Cybertron. Megatron deploys a scorched-earth campaign to burn down Optimus’ expanding vegetation which turns aggressive and deadly, literally strangling and crushing the buildings and machinery of Cybertropolis.

It was indeed a Key To Vector Sigma…though I’m not sure how that worked. The original was destroyed on Earth after Megatron I tried to use it to cyberform Earth. To activate Vector Sigma the alternate key would have to be used, but that was Alpha Trion, sacrificing himself to create the Aerialbots. I looked up how this was done on the TF Wiki and apparently the Drone could interface with Vector Sigma because it lacked a spark while Tankor was rejected for not having a compatible spark. It’s not really explained how Tankor was able to generate Keys for his troops and himself out of thin air. It’s not the same as the usual cartoon “we stored it somewhere, just trust us” method, often referred to as “hammerspace” because that’s where sillier cartoon characters would get their giant mallets from. You don’t want to know where Harley Quinn keeps hers.

As the war escalates, the tensions between Cheetor and Optimus come to a head. Cheetor believes Optimus is so single-mindedly obsessed with fulfilling their destiny to refoliate that planet that he is endangering the lives of the Maximals. Cheetor ultimately turns his back on Optimus, taking Nightscream with him in an effort to stop the escalating war before the whole planet is destroyed. Rattrap remains loyal to Optimus, although questioning his own sanity in doing so.

Meanwhile, Black Arachnia tries to use the organic acceleration technology to bring out the organic side of Thrust’s Spark, hoping to bring back Silverbolt. Despite constant interference from Jetstorm, she succeeds in drawing out the organic side of Thrust — only it’s not Silverbolt, but WASPINATOR who emerges as the cycle-bot’s true core personality. A brief mishap reveals that Jetstorm in fact holds Silverbolt’s Spark. And Jetstorm has absolutely no interest in retrieving his core personality. He only wants to slag Black Arachnia. Black Arachnia manages to restore Thrust’s personality with no more memory of Waspinator. He remains a cipher as to his true feelings for her, but he’s clearly puzzled as to why she’s suddenly lost interest in him.

I don’t remember the final falling out between Cheetor and Optimus. That’s how unmemorable it is for me. Blackarachnia exposing Thrust as Waspinator, which we learn was intended and not my original thought that it was to ruin the leaked spoilers, and learning it’s Jetstorm who holds Silverbolt I do remember. For one thing Thrust will never be taken seriously by anyone once this is revealed. He starts getting a lighter version of Waspinator’s treatment, although Thrust only carries Waspy’s spark. He was still a threat and didn’t have Waspinator’s personality, though at one point (I forget if it’s here or just before Blackarachnia forcibly restores Silverbolt after episodes earlier agreeing not to try it with either of them) Thrust does call Jetstorm his friend. This is basically where the ruining of Thrust coincides with wasting Waspinator’s happy ending.

With the Techno-Organic War at a draw, Tankorr decides to up the stakes by letting Megatron get wind of a powerful weapon that Optimus has at his disposal (the Plasma Energy Chamber?) which is completely harmless to organic life. Optimus doesn’t really have the weapon. The move is merely a ploy to convince Megatron to implement his organic-destroying doomsday weapon. But Cheetor and Nightscream actually learn of the weapon through their efforts to stop the escalating war. Ironically, Optimus learns of the existence of the weapon when Cheetor and Nightscream try to convince him not to use it.

Yes, it was in fact the Plasma Energy Chamber. Introduced in “season four”, the miniseries finale to the G1 cartoon “The Rebirth”, the Energy Chamber was where the early Transformers were forged. Not sure where they were built after that since it became a myth on Cybertron, and not even a big one if memory serves. For a show whose writers were told to ignore what came before this series (the final episode is actually not “Technorganic War part three” but “End Of The Line”) is surprisingly going into G1 history with this arc. Damaging Transformers is what the Chamber did in that episode, but it also led to a series of events that led to Cybertron being fully restored, though the Beast Era never gave Cybertron the golden sheen it had at the end of “The Rebirth” and the pre-war all powered Cybertron.

Things come to a head with a desperate knock-down drag-out between Optimus and Megatron, which ends with Megatron activating his doomsday weapon. Optimus has little choice but to activate his doomsday weapon.
Two unstoppable forces meet… and the screen whites out for our SEASON ENDING CLIFFHANGER!

That’s one thing it kept from Beast Wars, the end of the world cliffhanger. This is also where we’re leaving this installment of Beast Machine Hunters. Next time we complete this book with a preview of season two before we see what was actually kept until the actual season two.