10 Things About Beast Wars Transformers You Never Knew

10 Things About Beast Wars: Transformers You Never Knew

While it might look outdated now, Beast Wars: Transformers was cutting edge CGI in the 90s. Here is some trivia you never knew about the series!

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While it might look outdated now, Beast Wars: Transformers was cutting edge CGI at its best in 1996. It also was the first Transformers cartoon series to ever feature computer-animated characters. Even though during its three-year run, Beast Wars became a popular success, single-handedly resurrecting the franchise from obscurity, many fans of the original transformers were, at first, skeptical about a dinosaur-themed series.

However, Beast Wars: Transformers updated the franchise giving it a more modern feel, while introducing it to a brand new generation of fans. The same fans that had the pleasure of watching Transformers on the big screen, as a popular movie franchise. So, let’s go down nostalgia road and count down 10 things that Beast Wars fans might have missed.

10 High Production Costs

In 1996, CGI was in its infancy and had only been brought to the big screen for children with Pixar’s Toy Story. Bringing it to television was a convoluted and expensive process, that required sets and props to be built featuring green screen technology.

Mainframe’s budget was limited, so to keep the show fresh when introducing new characters, they used the same models, slightly deviating from the original. The pricier two-beast concept, Mainframe originally wanted to create for Optimus and Megatron were scrapped as the price tag couldn’t fit their budget.

9 Mainframe Created Reboot

Beast Wars wasn’t the first CGI related cartoon that Mainframe Entertainment created. In fact, it wasn’t even the first CGI hit for the company. Reboot, which runs from 1994-2001 on YTV, won Gemini Awards from 1995-1997, a Prix Award in 1996 and an Outstanding Technical Award the same year.

What was so remarkable about Reboot was that at the time of its creation, the creators didn’t even know how to work the software they were tasked to make the show with. So by the time, Beast Wars aired, the creators were seasoned vets with the technology.

8 Beast Wars Voice Cast Worked On Dragon Ball Z

A fun fact about Beast Wars was that many of the voice actors on the show worked on another popular cartoon series at the time, Dragon Ball Z. While none of the Beast Wars cast was in the Funimation dub that many Dragon Ball Z fans recognize, they did appear in the Ocean dub.

Some of these cast members include Scott Mcneil, who voiced Waspinator, Rattrap, Dinobot, and Silverbolt on Beast Wars and Piccolo on Dragon Ball Z. While David Mckay, the voice of Megatron voiced Recoome.

7 Hasbro Decided Who Lived And Died

So, how much influence does a toy line for a popular cartoon series have on the actual content of the show? More than fans could imagine. The writers of Beast Wars intentionally left each season on a cliffhanger, with all the characters in a perilous situation, so that Hasbro could decide who returned for the next season.

This was an attempt by the writers and toy brand to purge the show of characters whose toy sales were sub-par. This allowed the popular characters to get more screen time the next season.

6 The Creation Of The Spark And Protoforms

Surprisingly, the creators of Beast Wars were not fans of the original series. This might seem like a recipe for disaster but, in reality, it allowed them the flexibility to create new ideas for the series. One of those ideas was the spark or soul of a Transformer.

If this spark is damaged, the Transformer ceases to live. Another concept was protoforms, an idea that the Transformers would scan their surroundings, creating their appearances off of the apex predators on that particular world. These ideas were later adapted to the live-action movies fans have come to love.

5 Waspinator’s Beast Mode Is Female

Probably one of the lesser-known facts about Waspinator was that his beast mode form is based on a female, not a male wasp. This was not a mistake on the creators’ part but, instead, was intentional, as female wasp’s stingers look more like active weapons.

This decision led to ambiguity when making the toy version since if you take off Waspinator’s stinger it will reveal larvae in his abdomen. Though, in the show, he is presented as a male Transformer. This mistake wasn’t caught by many fans, nor, did Hasbro change the female concept in its toy lines.

4 Rhinox and Rattrap Are Modeled After A Famous Comedy Duo

Two fan favorites of Beast Wars, Rhinox and Rattrap had great chemistry over their three-season run on the series. Their back and forth banter and snarky dialogue were based on a real-life comedy duo, Lou Costello and Bud Abbott.

These comedy legends changed the comedy game during the 1950s with their stand-up comedy skits and movies. Since the creators of Beast Wars were big fans of Abbott and Costello, they decided to make an homage by creating Transformers with similar dispositions. This turned out to be a popular move, as fans loved their unique friendship.

3 Dinobot’s Dialogue Inspired By Shakespeare’s Plays

Probably one of the best anti-heroes in the Transformers universe, Dinobot was a villain with honor, whose stance and fighting skills were based on Japanese samurai. What might shock fans about the character is that much of Dinobot’s dialogue revolves around concepts based on William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.”

These concepts involve convoluted character progression and character crisis themes that make Dinobot a more dynamic overall character. His path on Beast Wars was one that showcased deceit, nobility, destiny and ultimately heroism. All of which, are rarely seen in one particular cartoon character.

2 First Transformers Curse Word

What is so ironic about Beast Wars, is the more adult themes and plots that the show used, that went right over the heads of fans. One of those concepts involved the word “slag.”

It was a common word used throughout each episode when a transformer would become mad or frustrated. Since the creators couldn’t use real curse words, it being a kid’s show and all, they decided to create their own dirty word to use in the series. While many adult references were made on the show over its three-seasons, slag was by far the most used.

1 Story Concepts Were Incomplete In The Beginning

When fans look at the finished project, they might have the impression that the show’s concept was intricately created by some of the most creative minds in the business. Oddly enough, that couldn’t be further from the truth, as story editors Larry DiTillo and Bob Forward along with the writers had a blank slate of a show when they began.

They pieced it together by pitching ideas to the writers. The more popular ideas were put into production, while the less popular were either cast aside or kept for later seasons.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/beast-wars-transformers-trivia/

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