Beast Wars: Transformers

Though reviled by many Transfans when it first hit the airwaves in 1996, the wholly-CGI Beast Wars is now considered by many to be the among the finest examples of Transformers storytelling.

The series opens at an unspecified time and place, where two warring factions of robots have crashed on a strange planet populated by animals like those on Earth. The planet abounds in mystery, with vast deposits of raw energon and evidence of alien activity. The energon forces the newly arrived Transformers to take on protective beast forms to shield themselves from the ambient Energon radiation. And so begin the Beast Wars...

Though at first the show seemed to be in an entirely separate continuity, by the end of the first season's 26 episodes, viewers had been treated to a number of classical Transformers references, such as Unicron and even the reapperance of Starscream, last seen as a ghost in the third season of the original cartoon. These ties to the original story increased as the second season progressed and the planet was revealed as prehistoric Earth. The third season was entirely structured around the Maximals defending their Autobot ancestors aboard the ancient crashed Ark.

The show won over many viewers through a generally high-quality level of storytelling. Strong characterization, top-notch scripting and voice acting, and complex, overarching plot threads are among the reasons cited for the show's enduring popularity. Some of the show's mysteries and machinations remain topics for fan debate over a decade after it aired.

Episodes
Beast Wars has had 52 episodes over 3 seasons.

In Japan it was split into 2 separate 26 episode series, Beast Wars which aired in 1997 and Beast Wars Metals which aired in 1999.

=Characters= Because developing new CGI character models was, at the time, an expensive and time-consuming process, the number of on-screen characters in Beast Wars was relatively small compared to most other Transformers shows. It is thus practical to list all the Transformers who appeared in the cartoon. They are listed in order of appearance. (The stasis-locked Autobots and Decepticons aboard the Ark are not on this list. Nor Starscream.)  Note that many characters besides these are also full-fledged Beast Wars characters, having appeared in other media.

Maximals

 * Optimus Primal
 * Cheetor
 * Rattrap
 * Rhinox
 * Dinobot (allied with the Maximals, nominally a Predacon)
 * Tigatron
 * Airazor
 * Silverbolt
 * Depth Charge
 * Tigerhawk

Predacons

 * Megatron
 * Scorponok
 * Terrorsaur
 * Waspinator
 * Tarantulas
 * Blackarachnia (became a Maximal towards the end of the series)
 * Inferno
 * Quickstrike
 * Rampage
 * Tripredacus Council (very briefly)
 * Ravage
 * Dinobot II

Other

 * Snowstalker
 * Transmutate
 * Protohumans
 * Assorted Vok

Trivia

 * The first season of Beast Wars cost $18 million dollars, according to a 1997 interview with Bob Forward.
 * In France and Belgium, the show was called "Animutants" and had a good quality dubbing, rather close to the original voices. But if the first 2 seasons of the show were aired, never was the 3rd one. And despite the several reruns, the show always ended with the agenda, leaving the fans of the area with the worst case of cliffhanger. Ever! There is no know reasons for a such cruel behavior.
 * Some of us are still waiting for a French DVD release too. Who is the bastard in charge, seriously?