Transformers vs beast wars...Whats the connection??? (i'm slow)

[optimusprimus]

This may be a dumb question but i can't for the life of me understand the transformer/beast wars
connection. Is it a paralell universe? seperate universe or what? Is there no connection at all in the storyline and just two separate shows or is there mythology to it

sorry to sound horribly ignorant but, i just can't figure it out
thanks

[Aernaroth]

Ok, Beast Wars was done after G1, so basically, try to keep that in mind that G1 was made with no connections in mind for Beast Wars.

Beast Wars is set in the G1 universe (instead of the Animated universe, comic universes, Unicron Trilogy Universe, etc.), which means the old G1 cartoon series and the movie. Beast Wars starts in the far future, where the Autobots have long since won the war with the Decepticons, and have since "evolved" or "developed" or whatever phrase you want to use into the Maximals, and the remnants of the Decepticons have mainly turned into the Predacons. Megatron (a different Megatron from gun-megatron, but who took his name) uses an experimental technology to travel through time back to Earth, in the time period between when the original G1 Autobots and Decepticons crashed there, and when they woke up in the 80s.

So it starts out with minor connections, ie. references to "the great war" and Shrapnel, the appearance of Ghost Starscream, and the use of the image of Unicron to get Optimus Primals attention.

However, as the series goes on, the Maximals and Predacons on earth begin to tie more heavily into G1 history, although undetectibly, whereas Megatron tries to destroy Optimus Prime to stop him from winning the great war (and thus, the Decepticons would dominate the Autobots), and the Maximals are attempting to preserve the timestream, keeping history running as they know it should (getting the Nemesis to crash where it should, for example). So its the same universe, but the beast wars happened "in secret".

Does this answer your questions? If you can be a little more specific about what you dont understand, Im sure we can answer it.

[Uberman]

Beast Wars is something like a million years after G1, or something. All the G1 dudes are all the Beast Wars' grandpappies.

Which is where it gets a little weird in that they're from after G1, and crash land on prehistoric Earth same as the guys from G1 did, but are there... before them.

But how Starscream's ghost time-travels too, I have no idea.

EDIT: Well that was positively a day late and a dollar short.

[Aernaroth]

Originally Posted by Uberman

Beast Wars is something like a million years after G1, or something. All the G1 dudes are all the Beast Wars' grandpappies.

Which is where it gets a little weird in that they're from after G1, and crash land on prehistoric Earth after the guys from G1 did, but wake up right away, so are there... before them.

But how Starscream's ghost time-travels too, I have no idea.

Well, they didnt crash as badly, so they werent rendered offline, and were able to wake up after a few hours on their own, rather than require significant repairs like the G1 transformers. Also, theyre supposedly a lot more advanced, so maybe their ship or their bodies can just take a crash better.

But yes, they travel back to somewhere in the millions of years the original transformers lay inoperative.

As for how starscreams ghost got back, didnt they explain that away as he was caught in the same kind of timerift that sent them back, in his last scheme to get a body in G1?

[Magnimus]

Here's the connection (spoilers await if you have somehow managed to remain unaware of them until now)

Many many many many years after the end of G1 Season 3, the Autobots and Decepitcons have evolved into two new descendant factions: The Maximals and Predacons. Added to the ability to transform into vehicles and animal-shaped robots, Transformers can now transform into realistic looking animals.

During this future era of the G1 continutiy, the criminal Megatron (not the G1 Megatron) steals The Golden Disk. The Golden Disk is actually the disk humans put on the Voyager space probe that contains information about Earth. At some point, however, G1 Megatron got the disk and encoded a second message on it. Although the full message is never revealed in the series, it is presumed the message called for Decepticons to use transwarp technology to travel through time, gain access to the Ark using codes to Teletraan I encoded on the disk, and change history by killing G1 Optimus Prime.

When Beastwars era Megatron and his Predacons escape with the disk, they are followed by Optimus Primal and his team of Maximals. They follow Megatron through transwarp and end up on prehistoric earth (although none are necessarily aware of this right away). They also are not aware that the Ark, containing the first team of G1 Autobots and Decepticons on Earth) lays dormant somewhere on the planet.

So, Beast Wars is a direct continuation of the G1 cartoon. This is not apparent in the first season, but this becomes a major plot point for the remaining seasons.

[Bruticus82]

I thought we did see the Golden Disk message, didn't BW Megatron show it to Ravage? (Who is the original ravage!)

[Razorwing]

If I remember right, after Beast Wars/Beasties they 'evolved' again into Transmetal.. which was ridiculous. Then they went back to Cybertron or something and the Predacons have taken over. OMG.... Megatron with the big ship head.. lol.. Optimus Primal with a hoverboard.. omg... >.< And Rhinox became a Tankor.. a cybertronian tank. lol I haven't seen the shows since it aired.. that's all i remember.

[Magnimus]

Originally Posted by Bruticus82

I thought we did see the Golden Disk message, didn't BW Megatron show it to Ravage? (Who is the original ravage!)

If I remember correctly, only part of the message was played before the disk was destroyed. Megatron only showed part of the message to Ravage. I could be wrong though.

[Barpharanges]

Beast Wars takes place in the past with characters from the future. These futuristic cybertronians are "re-formated" from G1 era cybertronians to be smaller and more fuel efficient. Technology has advanced enough to allow organic systems to mesh with their bodys. Basically, pre-historic Earth is toxic to cybertronians, so they shield themselves within biological alt-modes.

Beast Machines (the sequal to Beast Wars) was a really bad dream, and it never happened.

[Whisky Tango Foxtrot]

The disk was destroyed before any portion of the message was played on-screen. Megatron, however, was able to salvage a large enough chunk of it to play the few seconds of video we saw on-screen.

And the switch to Transmetals occured at the beginning of the second season of Beast Wars/Beasties. Optimus Primal had a flying surfboard for most of season 2.