Rating: Summary: The Best of the Beast Review: This is a true delight to anyone who ownes a DVD player. The first season was still in its experimental stages. Now, the show has matured due to a darker tone, more action, and the emphasis on the personalies of the characters.Season highlights: Some of the transformers recieve new "transmetal" bodies. Fuzors are introduced. A certain maximal general is revived. The episodes "Code of Hero" and "Transmutate." Oh yeah! And a shocking conclusion that changes the entire Transformers universe!
Rating: Summary: Totally Incredible!!! Review: This season is a great step up from the 1st season. This season we saw improved 3D Graphics, Improved Surround Sound, and of course better writing. Season 1 was good, but this season was much better. The depth of the writing was incredible. "Code of Hero" and "Transmutate" are standouts. These 2 shows were so good they had me choked up towards the end. The way the writers bridged the gap from G1 Transformers to The Beast Wars was phenomenal and caught most people by surprise. Megatron's Megalomania has also been kicked up a few notches. He is by far the most entertaining Transformers Character of all time! His voice alone is mesmerizing, the way he speaks to his troops is hilarious. David Kay, who does his voice deserves an Emmy for doing it so well for 5 seasons (3 seasons for Beast Wars, 2 for Beast Machines). With that said about season 2, all I can tell you is...Season 3 is even better! Optimus Primal gets an incredible new Transmetal 2 Body (Optimal Optimus) & Megatron get a new body as well (Dragon Megatron). Buy this DVD, and when Season 3 comes out grab it as soon as it drops!
Rating: Summary: Season Two On DVD Review: WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS Ok, season two picked up right where season one left off with the death of Optimus Primal, however a 'quantum surge' hits the planet pretty hard and permanently changes the landscape as well as what might be called 'forceably upgrading' several of the Maximals and Predacons into transmetals. Right in the first ten minutes of the first episode Terrorsaur and Scorponok are killed. This season was much more mature in terms of content and storylines then the first season, the ominous fate of Tigertron and Airrazor, the heroic death of Dinobot, as well as one of the finest episodes ever "Transmutate" this contains very mature themes about respect for all forms of life, and if I'm not mistaken was the writers way of commenting on how we treat the mentally and physically handicapped in our society. The series centerpiece is there "Code Of Hero" which is about accepting the responsibility for your actions as witnessed in the heroic albeit depressing death of Dinobot (my favorite character), as well as pointing out the fact that war has consequences which is something that is rarely discussed in a 'kids' show. Then of course we have the three part "Agenda" episodes, featuring the return of the Decepticon Ravage from the original 1984 Transformers series as well as cameos by G1 Autobots and Decepticons, what emerges is a powerful tribute to the original series something thst in my opinion became a huge part of American culture. All in all a great season to own with great ideas and episodes, this proves that what is normally labeled as a 'childrens series' can indeed be thought provoking as well as entertaining to people who are my age. I highly recommend this in addition to season one.
Rating: Summary: Maximize! Review: Well, here it is: the second year of the Transformer show that brought about the resurection of the Transformer fandom, or atleast that's how I see it. After the low periods at the end of the original G1 period (which didn't even have a series to back it anymore as of 87), and the less than spectacular so-called "Generation 2", there really wasn't any show out there for fans to dig their teeth into, until Beast Wars came onto the scene in the mid 90's.
Many fans (myself included) didn't care for the fact that the new characters now had animals as their alternate modes, but many of us got used to it, as we got hooked on the show, seeing how well it turned out. I think some of the things that added to the sucess of the show was that it took steps away from what had already been done. Making the new characters beasts, cutting down the large amount of additional characters seen in the series and such. But the show usually tended to be written well, and will always be a remembered chapter in the various incarnations of the Transformers.
Season 2, in my opinion, is certainly not the least of the seasons of this show. I think my favorite season would be somewhere between seasons 2 and 3, I just picked up 2 because it happened first obviously.
The stories are good and it's awesome to be able to just watch the series just by selecting what episode I want to see from one of two discs.
The only thing about this set that I am a bit disapointed in is that not much effort was put into giving it extras. Aside from being able to watch the entire series through, or episodes individuall (or set sound options), the only other thing to do is watch clips on disc 2 of the models of the various characters in robot, beast mode, walking and transforming. In fact, there's only a mere fraction of the characters seen for each of these, the extras really were pathetic. I was hoping for some writer comentary about the direction they wated to go with season 2, ideas that were left on the cutting room floor, deleted scenes, and inspiration for new characters. Alas, none of this was included, it looks like they just put the episodes in there, decided "hey, we have some room left over on disc 2, so lets just toss in some lame filler" and did exactly that. The extras barely held 15 minutes of my attention.
Overall, if you're a fan of the series, or just want it for the episodes, this is a good set, just as long as you're not expecting much from the extras (which is the reason I gave it one star shy of 5 stars).
Rating: Summary: Bring on the Beast Wars! Review: When I first heard of the Beast Wars series, I was skeptical. So skeptical in fact, that I did not watch it on TV. A few months ago, I purchased both Season 1 and Season 2, and I have been roped. The characters have depth and personality and the story line, especially in the 2nd season, is quite addictive, especially with the Tie-ins to Gen 1. In Season 2, they get far more into the history of the Maximals and the Predacons, which brings us back to the Great War between the Autobots (Maximals Ancestors) and the Decepticons (Predacons Ancestors). I don't want to blow the ending, but it is a seat grabber. For those who are TF Gen 1 fans, lets just say that the planet is revealed to be Earth, 4 million years ago. Anyone remember what happened 4 million years ago with a ship and a volcano?
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