Beast Wars Trivia

[Sapphire]

(Thought I'd move this thread here, since it's so new. Outty, I've saved your respone on the old one. Thanks for the trivia!)


Sometimes people send me email with what they think are bloops for the Beast Wars Bloopers section of the site, but which are actually more trivia. Things like changes to the script, stories behind scenes/names in an episode etc. So I though, why not start up a BW trivia section at the site? Things such as the following example count as trivia: Hasbro wanted Waspinator killed off in the ep "Aftermath" but the writers wanted to keep him in the show. Hasbro apparently compromised by stating that Waspy could stay if he was used to comic relief.

So, do you know any interesting info about an episode or two? If so, tell us here! Once there's enough trivia, I can start up a page for it at the site.

>Sapphire<

[Wicked Woman]

*waves hand in the air* OOH I DO I DO!!!

Did you know that in the Agenda pt 2, the writer originally planned to play the G1 series theme song before the end of the episode?

Also Optimus and Megatron were supposed to have a longer fight scene after Megatron blasted Cheetor near the beginning of The Agenda pt 3.

One more, I promise:

Did you know that the writers primary choice to play the cameo of Starscream in Possession was Christopher Collins (the original Starscream)? The sad part is that he had died four years before the episode was even thought up so they casted Doug Parker (Terrorsaur) instead.


Wicked Woman

[Wicked Woman]

Alright, this is the last time tonight (seriously I'll save any other trivia I think up for tomorrow).

Did you know that it wasn't until a little over half way of season 1 that the creators decided to base Beast Wars off of G1 instead of G2?

[Outtsyder]

*chuckles* Believe it or not, WW, I already mentioned the item about Doug Parker subbing in for the late Chris Latta (a.k.a. Chris Collins) as Starscream in the older board.

Here's a little more....

* In the episode "Before The Storm", Megatron re-programs the transwarp cell Tarantulas is stealing with the command "a.t.t. override". "a.t.t." is a reference to the online Usenet newsgroup alt.toys.transformers, or a.t.t. for short. http://www.bwtf.com/bw/tvshow/episodes/seasonone/bts/

* The reason why Blackarachnia's original-body show model looks so different from her toy: the BA toy was a straight repaint of the Tarantulas toy, but the Mainframe animators took a LOT of creative licence with the animated model. "Legend" has it her body design was inspired from exotic dancers.

* Ever wonder about Waspinator seemingly calling himself "Wonko Da Sane" in "Dark Designs"? This is a double reference, with a LOT of history behind one part of it. Wonko Da Sane was a character in the book, "So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish" from the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy series. Long-time TransFan Benson Yee took on that name as his net moniker. While BW was running through its first season, there were still some Transfans who felt BW didn't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as its all-mechanical predecessors. When the fan controversy was boiling, Yee made a post saying to at least give the new show a chance. He also stated (paraphrasing here) that it's okay whether to like it or dislike it, but at least come up with something better-thought-out than "Beast Wars Sucks." Story Editors Bob Forward and Larry DiTillio found this defense post on a.t.t., and used this scene (including a covert wave to the screen from Waspinator) as a way of thanking Yee for supporting them. http://www.bwtf.com/bw/tvshow/episodes/seasonone/dd/

* According to Forward and DiTillio, protoforms were created in two separate complexes on Cybertron; one each for the Maximals and the Predacons. While the Maximal source was called the Matrix, the original name for the Predacon source was the Inferno. When the Inferno character appeared on the show, the writers changed the name of the Predacon protoform complex to The Pit, to avoid confusion. http://www.bwtf.com/bw/tvshow/geninfo.shtml (#14, near the bottom of this page)

* Ever pick up or see a classic BW toy, and notice its head looks weird or not much like the show's model? In the first series of the toyline, the Deluxe, Mega, and Ultra-sized toys were given a feature of changeable heads; each toy had a "robot head" and a "mutant head", the mutant head being something like a battle helmet. However, when the show was being produced in the mid-'90s, Mainframe's budget and CGI software wasn't sophisticated enough to animate both heads for each character within schedule. Some characters (like Tarantulas and Waspinator) ended having the "mutant head" as their main head, while others (like Cheetor and Scorponok) were given their normal robot heads. http://www.bwtf.com/bw/tvshow/geninfo.shtml (#7 on the list)

* There were two different versions each of the original Optimus Primal and Megatron toys, a small toy and a large toy. Along with the bigger Gorilla Primal and T-Rex Megatron toys which would be released late in '96, Primal and Megatron were released in a 2-pack of Basics, with Primal as a bat and Megatron as a crocodile. The original idea for the show was for Primal and Megatron to be Triple Changers or Quadraformers. However, due to limitations, the animators stuck with simply having the gorilla Primal and T-Rex Megatron, although they gave Primal the ability to fly, carried over from his scrapped bat mode. http://www.bwtf.com/bw/tvshow/geninfo.shtml (#11)

* According to an interview conducted in June 2005, Scott McNeil auditioned for both Silverbolt and Quickstrike for Season 2. He was hoping to get Quickstrike. http://www.bwint.net/scottmcneilinterview.htm (Blatant Plug Alert! )

* In "Transmutate", Rattrap makes reference to an ancient Autobot Arcee as "his great aunt". In G1, Arcee was voiced by Susan Blu, also the voice director for BW, and several other animated shows. Blu also performed the voice for Transmutate itself. http://www.bwtf.com/bw/tvshow/episodes/ ... ansmutate/

* In "The Agenda, Part 2", there is a scene where Megatron plays back a message recorded by the original G1 Megatron in a piece of the Golden Disk. Bob Forward wanted to get G1 Megatron's voice actor, Frank Welker (also with literally hundreds of voices on his resume), to reprise his role for this short scene. Forward even offered to visit Welker in person to record the lines himself. However, due to Welker's incredibly busy schedule and high price tag, he wasn't available to perform the scene. Garry (Optimus Primal) Chalk spoke the lines instead. http://www.bwtf.com/bw/tvshow/episodes/ ... o/agenda2/

Hopefully more to come, another time. Whew....

Outtsyder

[EverBlue]

http://www.bwtf.com/bw/tvshow/episodes/ ... script.pdf


In the original script for Other Visits Part 1, there's a nice moment between Silverbolt and Cheetor after Optimus tells Silverbolt to take the injured Cheetor back to base right after Cheetor's shot by Tarantulas. There's a good moment of camaraderie between the two as Silverbolt acknowledges the existence of Tigatron and Airrazor and how much loss Cheetor must feel over the two.

Silverbolt - "A cat riding on a bird-dog. Funny, don't you think?"
Cheetor - "I don't feel much like laughing right now."
- Silverbolt stumbles to apologize.
Silverbolt - "Forgive me, you knew them better than I, I--"
Cheetor - "Flap your wings instead of your lips and we'll both be better off."
- Cheetor smiles at him. Silverbolt nods.

Too bad they cut these lines out of the actual episode.

[Tigerhawk]

I can only think of one now.

In then episode "Dark Designs" after Rhinox swings the piece of machinery from the ceilling and hits Waspinator in the head, he thinks he is Shrapnel from G1(Maybe a clue!). He starts saying things like, "Destroy the Autobots!". "Decipitcons CHARGE!!" and then he started chanting the G1 theme song.

[Outtsyder]

In then episode "Dark Designs" after Rhinox (snip) hits Waspinator in the head, he thinks he is Shrapnel from G1 (Maybe a clue!).

It isn't a clue, actually. When the writers wrote that scene, they wanted the looped-out Waspinator to sputter out something that would be similar to a past G1-character's speech pattern, so they choose Shrapnel's repeating of the last syllable(s) of his sentences. However, Waspinator is not, and has never been intended to be, Shrapnel in a new body. Quoting the article from Ben Yee's site:

" Waspinator is Shrapnel?!
Nope. But in his fit of lunacy, he thought he was. The real story is that the writers of this episode wanted to do a classic G1 reference, but needed a Transformer with a familiar "speech pattern" to use. Among the many considered were Warpath ("Blam, pow, zing!"), Grimlock ("Me Grimlock want to munch metal") and Omega Supreme ("Disaster, averted"). However, Shrapnel won out in the end, hence the repetition of syllables and short words at the end of each of Waspinator's lines during that scene. "

http://www.bwtf.com/bw/tvshow/episodes/seasonone/dd/ (bottom paragraph of the page)

Outtsyder

[Tigerhawk]

Alright thanks for that info, I was just throwing the idea up, LMAO. I doubted he was Shrapnel but you never know LoL.

[Outtsyder]

Some more:

* In "Fallen Comrades", the Maximal to emerge from the first stasis pod to land was originally not meant to be Tigatron, but a different toy named Wolfang (obviously, his beast mode would have been a wolf). However, modeling a completely new character would have taken too long to keep it within the show's schedule, so Mainframe re-tooled the Cheetor model and Tigatron was used instead. None of the lines or personality traits in the original script were changed; only the character's identity. http://www.bwtf.com/bw/tvshow/episodes/ ... ne/fallen/ (Comment 2)

* Also in "Fallen Comrades", in some areas where the show aired, Rattrap's infamous line of "You can kiss my pink hairless--!" was cut, because some broadcasters thought it would be inappropriate.

* This note was taken from talking with Scott McNeil in person, back in June 2005. Lee Tockar, who provided the voice of Ravage in "The Agenda", was said to be not happy about the way the voice was done. During the recording session, Tockar used the normal pitch of his voice along with his Russian-esque accent. During post-production, his recording was pitched down. However, Tockar wasn't necessarily upset just because of the pitching down of his voice; he was more miffed that the voice direction didn't ask for him to use his lower register, which he could have done in the first place.

Hopefully more to come another time....

Outtsyder

[Outtsyder]

Dug up one more tidbit, though it's more toy-related...

If you have a Tigerhawk or a Transmetal 2 Megatron, you may notice that there is a small dome-shaped cockpit built into the body (complete with a little seat). The original idea that Hasbro had for these "cockpits" was that they were intended to contain a personification of each character's spark. In other words, there would have been a non-removable humanoid-shaped "soul" figurine visible inside the non-opening "cockpits". However, some felt this would lead to confusion that this figurine was another person controlling the robots, so the "spark figurine" was omitted, although the "cockpits" were never removed.

http://www.bwtf.com/bw/toys/reviews/tigerhawk/ (mentioned in the Beast Mode section)

http://www.bwtf.com/bw/toys/reviews/tm2megatron/ (mentioned in the Robot Mode section)

Outtsyder

[Tigerhawk]

Yea I tink that is the only thing wrong with those figures, I think they could have put in Tigerhawk's Vok controller's.

[Wicked Woman]

Hey all, did you know that the writers for Coming of the Fuzors pt 1 planning to:

1: Hint that Silverbolt's honor is indeed similar to DinoBot's?
and 2: Have Silverbolt use a laser, inserted in the red circle slot in his chestplate?

Here's the part in the script that didn't make it into the show:

Cheetor is still streaking for the base, with Silverbolt right behind. Cheetor tries to dodge another rock formation but clips it and is KNOCKED SPINNING. Silverbolt GRABS him with his talons. *

cheetor (B)
Yaaaaah!

Locked together, both TUMBLE toward the ground and CRASH, rolling over and over.
on cheetor

Rolling to one side and putting a paw to his head.

cheetor (B)
Awwww man! Don'tcha hate how th' universe works? No sooner does a cat get wings than they invent a flyin' dog!

on silverbolt
TRANSFORMING into Robot Mode.

silverbolt (R) *
Get to your feet. The battle cannot continue while you are down.

cheetor (B)
Hunh? You sure don't talk like a normal Pred. Cheetor, MAXIMIZE!

Cheetor TRANSFORMS into Robot Mode himself. *

silverbolt (R)
I beg your pardon. I haven't had much experience yet. Perhaps this will suffice.

His chest Gatling-gun FLIPS OUT and HOSES the area where Cheetor is standing with major fire. Cheetor DIVES to one side.

cheetor (R)
YEEEOWL! That's talk I recognize!


WW

[Wicked Woman]

Oh! also from Before the Storm:

Instead of the little pranks:

1) Air Razor floating in the sky as bait while Opimus flies up behind Inferno and shuts down his jet perpellers (pulls out wires)
2) Terrorsaur gets slammed into metal plate
3) Tarry and BA jump over obvious trap and fall into real trap (causing boulder to fall on selves)
4) Terrorsaur runs over to RT holding red cape with Rhinox in Beast Mode behind.

The writters had this big prank planned:

Rattrap, in Beast Mode, is atop the base, scanning into the distance with a paw over his eyes. He REACTS to the FLASH of light from the distant hilltop.
RATTRAP (B)
There’s th’ signal! Tigatron the Barbarian is doin’ a bailout!
PAN DOWN to reveal Optimus (B) and Air Razor (B) on the ground below.
OPTIMUS (B)
Then we’re on our way! Optimus Primal -- MAXIMIZE!
He TRANSFORMS and ROCKETS into the air. Air Razor follows, in Beast Mode. They streak toward the distant Pred Base.
CUT TO:
ANGLE OUTSIDE THE PRED BASE
Tigatron is running for the hills. But Blackarachnia and Tarantulas (Robot Mode) are running in pursuit, and above them, Terrorsaur (Beast Mode) soars after.
ANGLE ON DINOBOT
Reacting to the oncoming enemy.
DINOBOT (B)
The cat is being overtaken. I will engage. Dinobot, MAXIMIZE!
He TRANSFORMS into Robot Mode. But then we hear:
OPTIMUS (R VO, COMM)
(static)
Negative, Dinobot! No weapons! We Maximals will maintain the truce!
DINOBOT (R)
But we must stop them!
ON OPTIMUS -- IN THE AIR
OPTIMUS (R)
I know. But we must do it...
(struggles to find word)
...peacefully.
BACK ON DINOBOT
He scowls but has no choice.
DINOBOT (R)
(really disgusted growl)
TRANSFORMING back to Beast Mode he races away among the rocks and underbrush.
ON TIGATRON
Still in Beast Mode, he reaches the foothills, begins scrambling up. But the Predacons behind him are gaining.
TIGATRON (B)
(gasping pants)

ON AIR RAZOR AND OPTIMUS -- STORMY SKY
Almost there. Air Razor looks toward Optimus.
AIR RAZOR (B)
How’re we going to handle this?
Optimus points downward.
OPTIMUS (R)
There! Improvise with what we’ve got!
They go into a dive.
ANGLE ON TIGATRON
He’s almost atop the hill now, but Terrorsaur SWOOPS at him, slamming into him and knocking him sprawling. Terrorsaur veers upward again, banking for another pass. Tigatron lunges forward once more, Blackarachnia’s claws just missing his tail.
ANGLE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HILL
Optimus STREAKS DOWN from the stormy sky and TACKLES the top of a palm tree, BENDING it way down to the ground...
OPTIMUS (R)
(grunts)
OTHER SIDE OF HILL -- PASS BETWEEN BOULDERS
With lots of rocks piled everywhere. Air Razor LANDS, transforming as she does so, and GRABS one end of a vine lying across the pass.
WIDEN as Tigatron SPRINTS through the pass, gasping --
TIGATRON (B)
(gasping pants)
ON TERRORSAUR
Diving for him again --
TERRORSAUR (B)
(attack-screech)
OPTIMUS
Holding onto a boulder with one hand and the palm tree with the other. He RELEASES the palm tree. WIDEN as it SPRINGS UP and SMACKS comically into Terrorsaur in a sprak of fronds!
TERRORSAUR (B)
(comical, mouth-full AAAAAWK!)
He TUMBLES down --
ON THE PASS BETWEEN BOULDERS
Just as Terrorsaur tumbles down, Blackarachnia and Tarantualas (R) come racing between the boulders. Air Razor YANKS the vine. The two TRIP over it and go sprawling --
TARANTULAS, BLACKARACHNIA (R)
(startled yells)
They CRASH down in a heap atop Terrorsaur. PAN OVER to REVEAL Dinobot (B) who is beside a large hillside of loose stones. He YANKS out the bottom stone. The stones RUMBLE DOWN --
NEW ANGLE ON THE PREDACONS
As they are comically buried in an avalanche of boulders. HOLD a BEAT and then PULL BACK and PAN AROUND to REVEAL Optimus and Air Razor now beside Dinobot and Tigatron, looking at the heap.
DINOBOT (B)
Peaceful.
OPTIMUS (R)
Very peaceful.

WW

[Outtsyder]

Adding some more trivia bits here (the first one in this post is C&Ped from another thread where I brought this up):

* On Airrazor in the Japanese dub of BW: it is true (and also been known for a while) that Airrazor's gender was changed to a guy in the dub, though it was primarily for toy-sales reasons. Somehow, it's been said that figures of female characters didn't sell as well as the male ones did (don't ask me why). However, before you feel your minds glitching, there's another note that hasn't been as well-propagated as Airrazor's gender switch. Among the changes in the story and dialogue, the relationship between Tigatron and Airrazor was also changed to a more brotherly one, so those scenes don't end up looking so weird.

http://www.electric-escape.net/tf/japanese/Beast-Wars


* A really amusing note; due to restrictions regarding the word "war" in the title of a TV series aimed at children or younger audiences, the name of the show had to be slightly re-worked for the opening titles and the commercial bumpers when airing in Canada (even though within the show's episodes, they still referred to it as "the Beast Wars"). Unfortunately, the Canadian title of the show was -- you're not going to believe this -- "Beasties."

* The first-ever TF convention Live Script Reading was in fact not at OTFCC '03, but at BotCon '98, which was an all-BW affair. Performers were Garry (Optimus Primal) Chalk, David (Megatron) Kaye, Scott (Silverbolt, Rattrap, Waspinator, Packrat, Vice Grip) McNeil, Susan (Antagony) Blu, and Doug (Fractyl) Parker. (There was no fan tryout this year.) This 10-minute show, called "Visitations", was written by Bob Forward, which combined the action story with tons of comedy, including inside jokes regarding the show (characters having no shadows), Hasbro, and the fandom... and a breaking of the fourth wall, when one of the characters shoots a prominent member of the viewing audience! The script can be read here, with additional footnotes in case you don't get some of the jokes right away:

http://www.electric-escape.net/tf/visitations

* During the time when BW was still being produced, writers Bob Forward and Larry DiTillio frequently visited the Usenet group alt.toys.transformers, and actually interacted with the fans on the newsgroup, an unprecedented time of co-operation between the fans and the creators of a Transformers series. During this time while writing the scripts (mostly in the second and third seasons), Forward and DiTillio posted up earlier drafts of the episode scripts, to show differences between the original story plan, and what got cut from the editing. In an additional fan treat, the net-names of some a.t.t. users (and other fan tidbits) got incorporated as names for the sectors and grids in the show. Several examples include:

-- "Code Of Hero"; Cheetor reports activity in "Tengu sector"

-- "The Agenda"; Megatron sends Rampage to "Sector Hooks", referring to HooksX

-- "Feral Scream"; there are several in this episode. Depth Charge detects Protoform X's spark (TM2 Dinobot, actually) in "Subgrid Zarak", Optimus Primal concludes a scanning of "Grid Darcerin" (one of our own, a.k.a. Dragonsflayme), and Optimus had sent a scout in "Sector Tallories". "Zarak" has an additional reference; in mid-to-late G1, Lord Zarak was a Headmaster component partner to the original Decepticon robot named Scorponok. Rough info on G1 Scorponok can be seen here:

http://www.tfu.info/1987/Decepticon/Sco ... rponok.htm

-- "Go With The Flow"; Dinobot spots targets in "Grid Joona".

-- "Nemesis"; Again, there are several. Depth Charge spots Pred activity in "Grid Scylla", whose name was taken from a Japanese Beast Wars II character. Optimus sends an emergency transmission, coded "M Sipher" (real name Greg Sepelak). Biggest of all, Megatron targets "Grid 3H", referring to "3H Productions", the original organizers of BotCon/OTFCC (referring to brothers Jon and Kart Hartman, and Glen Hallit).


* There is an inside reference in "The Agenda", when Silverbolt and Blackarachnia share a moment looking at the stars, and Silverbolt describes the beauty of Venus to the spider-lady. This is a nod to Blackarachnia's voice actress, Venus Terzo.

* For those of you too young to remember -- or those of you who have never seen -- any of the early toys from G1, another inside joke is in "The Agenda", regarding Optimus Primal's line, "Die-cast construction... it's a lost art." Most of the G1 toys in the first two years of production (in 1984-85) actually contained die-cast metal parts. After this, die-cast metal was phased out to cut costs, which is why almost all TF toys since then, including BW, are completely made of plastic.

* In "Master Blaster", Rattrap complains about being "a packrat". This is again a hidden toy reference. Packrat was a BotCon '97 exclusive toy, which was a blue repaint of the original Rattrap mold. Also, Transmetal Rattrap was re-released in a chrome blue color scheme replacing the red, exclusive only to Wal*Mart at the time. Some fans had taken to nicknaming this toy "WalRat" or "Transmetal Packrat". In the BotCon-exclusive comics from 2001 onward, this color schemed-model was used for the character TM Packrat.

http://www.tfu.info/1997/Maximal/Packrat/packrat.htm

http://www.tfu.info/1999/Maximal/Walmar ... walrat.htm

Outtsyder

[Sapphire]

Thanks for the extra trivia, WW and Outty. I'll add it when I get back from my 2 week trip.