This series works on so many levels. Marrying the best of the Bayverse designs, to the memorable movie worthy soundtrack by Brian Tyler, the vocal performance by GOAT's Peter Cullen and Frank Welker and the Gen 1 lore, there's something for everyone! Granted that the cast of characters main characters was much smaller in comparison to G1 massive crew sheets, we got more fleshed out players. We have , on Team Prime, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Smokescreen, Arcee, Ratchet, Wheeljack, Ultra Magnus and Bulkhead. In the Decepticon corner we have the usual suspects, Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, Shockwave, Dreadwing, Airachnid, Skyquake as well as the generic foot soldiers and a reimagined Insecticon army. We also get a very compelling cast of human characters, Jack, Miko, Raphael, nurse Darby, Jack's mom and Agent Fowler. They all have great story arcs, with the kids having their Autobot partners. Jack bonds with Arcee, Miko with Bulkhead, and Raphael with Bee. There is even a fantastic episode that spotlights Jack's growth from irresponsible teenager to leader when Prime chooses Jack to safeguard a key, which later plays a pivotal role in restoring Prime from Orion Pax!
I really enjoyed the design aesthetics of the main characters. Even though I am all for the blocky robots of the 80's, surprisingly I didn't hate the sleeker silhouettes of the Autobots. The Decepticons were on the whole great, with two exceptions. Optimus bears a striking similarity to his Bayverse counterpart, as did Bumblebee, and I really liked their updated looks from the 2007 movie. Bulkhead was basically a much improved version of movie Hound, with more character. Arcee is closer to her G1 design, as is Ratchet, Wheeljack, Ultra Magnus and Cliffjumper. The Decepticons were a little too sleek and streamlined for my liking, with the exception of G1'esque Megatron and Shockwave. Starscream and Soundwave were way too spindly and lacking in the bulk department.
And then there is the brilliant story lines by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. Their choice of drawing from G1 lore from comics, and the cult classic 1986 movie is the way to go. Unicron is featured in the plot and is an underlying threat throughout the entirety of the three seasons, as well as the Beast Hunters hour long movie after the series concludes. Unicron is depicted as a slumbering giant at the heart of Earth, something Bay tried to implement in his fifth and final flick. Unicron's blood serves as a plot device, with Megatron and the Decepticons using this dark energon to give themselves unnatural power. This comes to a head in the final episodes for season 1 when Optimus almost kills a delusional Megatron, who thinks it's his destiny to rule the universe. He later joins forces with Optimus when he realizes Unicron's true intentions and has to face an onslaught of Unicron manifestations. To stop Unicron from reawakening fully and destroying the Earth, Megatron leads Optimus and the others to the heart of Earth, where Unicron's essence slumbers. Optimus uses the creation matrix to once again imprison the chaos bringer.
Season two explores the hunt for ancient Cybertronian relics hidden on Earth by Alpha Trion. We get to see Optimus as Orion Pax, and the relationship he had with Megatronus before the war. Optimus reverts back to his original form after unleashing the power of the matrix and losing the wisdom of the Primes. He plays a crucial role in decoding the coordinates of some of the relics. He is only restored to Optimus after Jack goes on a perilous mission to fill the key Optimus entrusted to him in case of a an event such as this. Some of the more important relics being pursued by both factions include a hammer called the Forge of Solus Prime, the legendary weapon, the Starsaber, and the keys to the Omega Lock. The former two can only be wielded by a Prime. Megatron actually slices off his right arm and grafts the arm of a deceased Prime so he can fashion a weapon from dark energon, the Darksabre. In the epic conclusion, Optimus destroys the Omega Lock on Cybertron to prevent the Decepticons from terraforming Earth, but not before Megatron's Darkmount is created. The final episode sees the Autobots ground bridging to random locations around Earth as Megatron brings the mountain down on Optimus.
Season three introduces us to Shockwave and his hunt for CNA and fossilized remains of a extinct species known as the Predacons. He has successfully cloned and bred a Predacon, later shown to be a sentient being known as Predaking in his lab on Cybertron. Megatron thinks that an army of Predacons could help his cause. Meanwhile on the Autobot front, we see Team Prime scattered to the wind, with Optimus himself barely alive. Smokescreen bravely stayed behind and pulled Optimus to safety. Reasoning that Optimus could rebuild himself, he sneaks aboard the Decepticon warship and steals the Forge. To his dismay Optimus passes over and says that there will be a new leader. Desperate, he places the Forge in Optimus's hand.
Megatron sends threats to world leaders , now that he has the Darkmount, and a super weapon, the fusion cannon. The newly reassembled team, now under Ultra Magnus, who managed to track down the remaining Autobots launches a desperate assault on the Darkmount. Magnus successfully manages to get rid of the Predacon threat by tricking the Beast and groundbridging him to the north pole. He confronts Megatron but is eventually overpowered and captured by the Decepticons. Just as Magnus is about to get executed, in flies a newly resurrected and reformatted Optimus Prime. He takes out Megatron, Starscream and destroys the fusion cannon and Darkmount, with Agent Fowler and the US Air Force help. Megatron and the Decepticons retreat to fight another day.
In the aftermath of his failures, Megatron focuses his energy on uncovering Predacon fossils and rebuilding the Omega Lock. He, however requires energon to power his Omega Lock. Discovering that Autobot Ratchet has developed an unstable formulation of synthetic energon, he sends his goons to kidnap our resident scientist. Reluctantly, Ratchet works with Shockwave and together they figure out the formula. Ratchet then manages to slip away and deactivate the ships cloaking and manages to inform team Prime. He is also able to reason with the Predaking after Megatron sends the Beast after him. Predaking realizes that it was Megatron himself who ordered the extermination of his kind on Cybertron. Although he best Megatron in combat, Starscream's diversion gives Megatron enough time to launch Predaking into space.
Megatron is now poised to terraform Earth into new Cybertron.. Only team Prime stand in his way. With the coordinates of Megatron's ship now known, Prime flies in himself to confront Megatron, while Magnus flies the rest of the team in and storms the Decepticon ship. Prime beats Megatron, but in a moment of hesitation gives Megatron the upper hand. Bumblebee bravely enters the fray but gets blasted repeated in the chest and falls into the activated Omega Lock. When all seems lost, Bumblebee reappears, fully restored and plunges the sabre into Megatron's chest, finally ending his reign of terror. With the Omega Lock ready, the Autobots pilot the Decepticon warship to Cybertron and restore their home. And so ends team Prime's time on Earth. We get an hour long Beast Wars movie set on Cybertron, which I will cover in a future post.
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