 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Beast Wars Trivia: Note from the Web Mistress: I wasn't sure how best to classify the trivia, so I've classified it by contributor until there's enough of it to classify by episode or character. Many thanks to all who contributed to this page! Outtsyder: I can't remember the source where I first found this
bit of behind-the-scenes trivia, but I had also heard somewhere
that there had been plans to make Waspinator a Transmetal as well,
but with him becoming a comic foil, he was better suited remaining
in his original form. However, unless I can prove that tidbit, I
wouldn't include it just yet. Incidentally, for those who don't
know, there WAS a TM Waspinator toy produced, which looked like
this: * Garry Chalk had actually auditioned for the role of Megatron, but ended up being cast as Optimus Primal instead. * The BW show actually won a special Emmy award in 1997 for production design! http://www.bwtf.com/bw/tvshow/articles/emmy.shtml * Before the script for "Possession" was written, there was a plan to have the spark of a deceased Autobot come out from the Axalon computer to possess one of the Maximals. However, the writers thought that using a Decepticon would have been more fun. Luckily, precedent in a G1 Season 3 episode allowed for it to happen, using the ghost of Starscream. http://www.bwtf.com/bw/tvshow/episodes/seasonone/possession/ * It's also been said that the writers were hoping
to get Chris Latta, the original voice actor for Starscream,
to perform the voice. However, Latta has passed away in 1994, two
years before BW even premiered. Luckily, Doug Parker, the voice
of Terrorsaur, had been friends with Latta in the past and often
imitated Starscream's voice, so he was a natural substitute. * 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/seasontwo/transmutate/ * 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/seasontwo/agenda2/ * 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/seasonone/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. ________________________________________________
Wicked Woman: * 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? * Optimus and Megatron were supposed to have a longer fight scene after Megatron blasted Cheetor near the beginning of The Agenda pt 3. * 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? Everblue:
Silverbolt - "A cat riding on a bird-dog. Funny, don't you
think?" Too bad they cut these lines out of the actual episode. _____________________________________________________ Master Solo: I read the section and the script for the episode "Possesion" and thought that I'd like to point out that Screamer/Waspy's supposed to have that Decepticon symbol during the time that the poor guy's possessed. From what I read on the original script on the episode, the producers wanted to give Waspinator a different head for a good chunk of the time. Also, the hasta la vista+sunglasses part wasn't in the script but added sometime later. _____________________________________________________ Rainshade: 1. In the episode 'Victory' when the Maximals inspect the deserted Predacon Base, Cheetor waves some of Tarantulas' legs at Dinobot, who says "Alas, poor Tarantulas! I knew him, Cheetor!" This is a reference to the line "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio," from the play 'Hamlet', by Shakespeare. Also in 'Coming of the Fuzors Part 1', Dinobot quoted Hamlet again by saying "To be, or not to be! That is the question." Lastly, at the end of 'Code of Hero' when Dinobot dies, he says "The rest is silence," which was Hamlet's last line. 2. At the end of 'Possesion', Optimus says "Hasta la vista, Starscream!" and right before he flies off, sunglasses appear on his optics which is a direct reference to the movie 'Terminator 2'. 3. In one episode, Rhinox and Inferno fight in the style of 'Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots' a two-player game/toy. Rhinox punches Inferno, causing his head to pop up but Megatron arrives and shoots Rhinox, then shoves Inferno's head back down. 4. Twice in Season 1, Airazor states "The more things change, the more they stay the same," a famous American proverb. 5. Early in the series, Optimus often rode on Rhinox's back while in beast mode, a possible reference to the video game 'Donkey Kong Country', where Donkey Kong (a gorilla) is able to ride a rhino named Rambi. (Thank you for this trivia Rainshade. I seem to have lost your
email address, so apologies if you were waiting for a reply from
me! --Sapphire) Do you know some nifty Beast Wars trivia? Feel free to send it in to sapphire@bwint.net and the webmistress will see about adding it to this page!
Site
Design: Sapphire. Created by: Sapphire, Miss Special, Hacker,
Blaze Raptor, Pacerpaw and Araneae. Bwint.net is copyrighted to
the bwint.net team. |