Manic Ramblings and Delerious Ranting, re: BW Season 2
Posted 3/31/98

  Wow.

  For the first time last night, I saw -- all in a row:

"Before the Storm"
"Coming of the Fuzors"
"Tangled Web"
"Maximal No More"
"Other Visits"
"Bad Spark"

  SPOILERS for all of the above, as well as "Other Voices" and
"Aftermath", just in case anyone else is as far behind as I am.... 







   I have to say, I was pretty blown away by it all.  Even knowing what
was going to happen in most eps (in some cases, knowing the lines before
the characters said them), I still found these shows to be some very
entertaining storytelling.  Now, my completely random thoughts...

* I was disapointed by Quickstrike's voice.  He doesn't sound tough; he
sounds like he's about to start blubbering at any second.  And for those
who were debating it before, there is *nothing* southern about that
accent.  Best I can peg it is stereotypical Old West cowboy.  At first he
grated on my nerves...  but after "Tangled Web" and "Other Visits" I found
myself rather liking him.  I hope he continues to fill the role of comic relief. 

* Silverbolt's horn fanfare reminds me of the animated bit from "Monty
Python and the Holy Grail" right after God charges them with a quest (the
'butt-horn' scene) 

* Terrorsaur and Scorponok's "death scene" was worse than I'd expected.  I
could barely tell what had happened!  If I hadn't read it on the newsgroup
I'd be wondering why the two of them had stopped appearing on the program. 
I sympathize with Larry (or was it Bob?) who lamented that these
characters could not even be given proper farewells due to toy company
demands.  I would love to have seen an episode include a few scenes
demonstrating just *why* Scorponok as so unflaggingly loyal to Megarex...
some interesting potential wasted.

* Speaking of that scene, the quantum surge in "Aftermath" looked freakin'
AWESOME, one of the best 'special effeccts' the show has had yet.  Reminds
me very much of the shockwaves from Star Trek: Generations that came from
the destroyed stars.

* "Before the Storm" is an amazing combination of fun and seriousness.  It
had me laughing, and yet still managed to keep a dark atmosphere
throughout.  Very impressive.

* The end of "Coming of the Fuzors" part 2 gave me shivers!  I don't know
if this was because I knew what was going to happen, or in spite of it.
The 'western' theme was hysterical in both parts of the episode.

* It was interesting to note differences between the scripts and the final
productions.  Dinobot's match with Quickstrike in "Maximal No More" was
considerably altered, for example.  I believe I prefer the scripted
version, where Dinobot ends the fight by bashing Quickstrike down with his
fists, then blasting him only after Quickstrike draws a pistol on him.
I'd wager this was one of those instances where the writers were working
with a character they hadn't seen yet; how could they have guessed that
Quickstike has no hands with which to hold a pistol? :)

* The Transmetals, overall, are a step down in appearance.  As HooksX
surmised, Transmetal Primal is indeed UGLY.  His gorilla mode glows in the
dark!  I like Cheetor's old robot face better than the new one; his
cheetah mode is no longer cute (though it looks pretty tought.)  Rattrap's
new beast mode I could definately do without -- one of the smartest things
the season 1 animators did was to get rid of that silly scowl from the
original Rattrap toy.  Now it's back, seemingly to stay.  His robot mode
looks the same but I prefer the old colors.  Tarantulus I like very much;
his spider mode looks very cool.  I will miss the machine gun spider legs,
but as long as we have Blackarachnia I can do without Chuckles.  The only
other TM I would rate as an across the board improvement is Megatron.  His
dino mode looks good, and his robot form is simply incredible.  "I AM power!" 

* The new transformation sequences are very fluid and smooth, especially
Megatron's.  Love that mechanized roar he gives off every time he changesmodes.

* That old question from "Other Visits" part 1: WHY does Tarantulus hate
the aliens?  Is it from something he's learned about them while on Earth,
or does he have previous experience with them from the time before the
series?  The latter would imply that even though we TF fans have not yet
seen these aliens, the TFs themselves have.  I do hope we'll have this
question answered next season.

* Blackarachnia has turned out to be one of the most believable characters
in the entire TF mythos.  'Bad guy' or not, I like her a lot and hope that
she will survive the series.

* Rampage wasn't as big as I expected, at least not judging from the
snippet of "Code of Hero" that I also saw; he's about the same size as
Megatron in robot mode.  At least his presence gives us a chance to hear
that "clop clop" noise Scorpono9k used to make with his claws all the
time, one of my favorite sound effects. :)  The bit from "Bad Spark" with
him lunging forwards, arms outstreched like Frankenstein's monster, was a
bit much for me, but I guess the animators are allowed a bit of fun.
Rampage's voice is perhaps the coolest thing about him.  Soundwave fans,
this is probably the closest you'll ever get to his synthesized
monochrome... enjoy.* Airazor's a babe.  Nuff said. :)

* Finally I've gotten to see a lot of Inferno in action.  I *love* his
voice, sort of a English nobleman crossed with a psychotic pyromaniac.
His gun is freakin' HUGE!!  Where does he *store* that thing?  It's as big
as his whole chest!

* I've started sorting out the Beast Wars background music in my head.
Every episode is custom-soundtracked, apparently, but a few themes -- four
or five at most -- comprise the great majority of the music.  Watch for a
new Music List coming in the next month or two.

  That's it, I'm out of thoughts... for the moment...