Transformers: Beast Machines
| Television series | |
|---|---|
| German title | Beast Machines |
| Original title | Transformers: Beast Machines Beast Machines - Transformers |
 | |
| Country of production | USA , Canada |
| original language | English (AE) |
| Year (s) | 1999 to 2000 |
| Episodes | 26 in 2 seasons |
| genre | Action , adventure , science fiction |
| Theme music | Phat Planet from Leftfield |
| First broadcast | September 18, 1999 |
| German-language first broadcast |
December 2, 2000 on K-Toon |
Beast Machines ( English Transformers: Beast Machines ) is an American CGI series , which is based on the Transformers toy series. The series was produced by Mainframe Entertainment in Canada and the scripts were written by Bob Skir and Marty Isenberg .
The series is a continuation of the Transformers: Beast Wars series and should even be continued as Transformers: Transtech , which never made it past the planning phase.
action
The Maximals find themselves on their home planet Cybertron without memories and are attacked by the defensive robots of the planet. Impossible to break free from their animal mode, they seek refuge in the ruins beneath the surface of Cybertron, where they first have to learn how to transform. Meanwhile, Megatron takes control of Cybertron and creates a new faction of Transformers: The Vehicons.
season 1
In the first season the Maximals try to find out what happened to all Transformers on the planet, why they all suddenly disappeared and were exchanged for the Vehicons. The season culminates in the confrontation between Optimus Prime, Megatron and Tankor, one of the Vehicon generals, to wipe out all technical life on Cybertron.
season 2
The Maximals find out that Cybertron was once an organic planet before it was transformed into a technical one by the oracle, and they set themselves the task of transforming the planet back to its original state. Meanwhile, Megatron recruits two new Vehicon generals, Obsidian and Strika, to help him destroy the Maximals. In the season finale, Optimus Prime sacrifices himself to destroy Megatron and to transform the planet into a “techno-organic” one and to free the Sparks of the missing Transformers from their captivity.
Development and production
Production on the series began right after the final season of Beast Wars was completed . The two original screenwriters Bob Forward and Larry DiTillio have been replaced by Bob Skir and Marty Isenberg . This swap resulted in some gaps in the storyline of the first season, which were, however, fixed again in the course of the second season. Due to the changed narrative style of the series, instead of single episodes a story that builds on itself, it was very difficult if not impossible for viewers who did not follow from the first episode of the series to find any meaning in the motivations of some characters. In contrast to previous Transformers series, the title song was not created specifically for the series, but rather an existing song, "Phat Planet" by Leftfield , was used.
Episode list
| episode | German title | First broadcast (DE) | Original title | First broadcast (USA) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 (1-01) | The oracle | December 2, 2000 | The reformatting | September 18, 1999 |
| 02 (1-02) | Cybertropolis | December 3, 2000 | Master of the House | September 25, 1999 |
| 03 (1-03) | Track into the past | December 4, 2000 | Fires of the past | October 2, 1999 |
| 04 (1-04) | The hunt | December 5, 2000 | Mercenary pursuits | October 9, 1999 |
| 05 (1-05) | Night figures | December 6, 2000 | Forbidden Fruit | October 16, 1999 |
| 06 (1-06) | Rattrap | December 7, 2000 | The weak component | October 23, 1999 |
| 07 (1-07) | Dangerous discoveries | December 8, 2000 | Revelations - Part I: Discovery | October 30, 1999 |
| 08 (1-08) | The revelation | December 9, 2000 | Revelations - Part II: Descent | November 6, 1999 |
| 09 (1-09) | Apocalypse | December 10, 2000 | Revelations - Part III: Apocalypse | November 13, 1999 |
| 10 (1-10) | Nightscream | December 11, 2000 | Survivor | November 27, 1999 |
| 11 (1-11) | The key | December 12, 2000 | The Key | 4th December 1999 |
| 12 (1-12) | Vector sigma | December 13, 2000 | The Catalyst | December 11, 1999 |
| 13 (1-13) | The vision | December 14, 2000 | End of the line | December 18, 1999 |
| episode | German title | First broadcast (DE) | Original title | First broadcast (USA) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 (2-01) | Offline | December 15, 2000 | fallout | February 9, 2000 |
| 15 (2-02) | The Dragon | December 16, 2000 | Savage Noble | February 16, 2000 |
| 16 (2-03) | The deception | December 17, 2000 | Prometheus Unbound | February 23, 2000 |
| 17 (2-04) | Silver Bolt | December 18, 2000 | In Darkest Knight | March 1, 2000 |
| 18 (2-05) | Every man for himself | December 19, 2000 | A wolf in the fold | March 8, 2000 |
| 19 (2-06) | Botanica | December 20, 2000 | Home Soil | March 15, 2000 |
| 20 (2-07) | Megatron's servant | December 21, 2000 | Sparkwar - Part I: The Strike | March 22, 2000 |
| 21 (2-08) | The hologram | December 22, 2000 | Sparkwar - Part II: The Search | March 29, 2000 |
| 22 (2-09) | The hero | December 23, 2000 | Sparkwar - Part III: The Siege | April 5, 2000 |
| 23 (2-10) | Curse of darkness | December 24, 2000 | Spark of Darkness | April 12, 2000 |
| 24 (2-11) | Defenseless | December 25, 2000 | Endgame - Part I: The Downward Spiral | April 19, 2000 |
| 25 (2-12) | hope | December 26, 2000 | Endgame - Part II: When Legends Fall | April 26, 2000 |
| 26 (2-13) | The last fight | December 27, 2000 | Endgame - Part III: Seeds of the Future | May 3, 2000 |
DVD release
Sony Home Entertainment released both seasons in 2007 in two DVD boxes.
Voice actor
The series was dubbed at Arena Synchron in Berlin, with Björn Schalla as the script and dubbing director
| role | English speaker | German speaker |
|---|---|---|
| Optimus Prime | Gary Chalk | Tilo Schmitz |
| Megatron | David Kaye | Jan Spitzer |
| Black Arachnia | Venus Terzo | Heike Schroetter |
| Botanica | Kathleen Barr | Arianne Borbach |
| Cheetor | Ian James Corlett | Björn Schalla |
| Diagnostic drone | Christopher Gaze | Hans Hohlbein |
| Jetstorm | Brian Drummond | Eberhard Prüter |
| Nightscream | Alessandro Juliani | Julien Haggége |
| Noble | David Kaye | Michael Telloke |
| Obsidian | Paul Dobson | Andreas Hosang |
| Rattrap | Scott McNeil | Gerald Schaale |
| Silver gold | Scott McNeil | Helmut Gauss |
| Strika | Patricia Drake | Regine Albrecht |
| Tankor | Paul Dobson (episode 1-9) Richard Newman (episode 10-26) |
Gerald Paradise |
| Thrust | Jim Byrnes | Thomas Nero Wolff |
| Waspinator | Scott McNeil |
Web links
- Transformers: Beast Machines in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Fernsehserien.de information about the series