‘THE AGENDA’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
Here we are on the three-part season finale in Season 2 of ‘Beast Wars’! This is the first and only time that there’s a three-part story in ‘Beast Wars’. It contains some very intriguing revelations about the real reason why Megatron had come to prehistoric Earth.
The first time I saw this three-parter was on the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of the October half-term week in 1999. It was an exciting few mornings for me to check out the three instalments of the three-parter and see the episodes repeatedly on a recorded VHS.
In ‘Part 1’ of the story, the Maximals are in the hopes of returning to Cybertron when the transport explosion wavefront that occurred in ‘Other Voices’ is heading to the planet. Unfortunately, the wavefront gets diverted by the Tripredacus Council holding Predacons.
The Tripredacus Council only appears in ‘Part 1’ of this story and not beyond that. There are three characters in that council, who I believe are named Sea Clamp, Ram Horn and Cicadacon.:) They’d appear in other ‘Transformers’-related media beyond ‘Beast Wars’. 😐
The wavefront was diverted because the Tripredacus Council want to deal with Megatron in their own way and not have the Maximals involved. The Maximals are unaware of the secret agenda Megatron has so that the Predacons can rise up and reconquer Cybertron.
The council send in their own operative to find and capture Megatron. The operative happens to be a former Decepticon who has now become a Predacon called Ravage. Now I didn’t know anything about Ravage before checking out Generation 1 ‘Transformers’.
I wonder how many ‘Transformers’ fans were excited about seeing Ravage in ‘Beast Wars’ where he can stand on his two feet and he can talk. Ravage is voiced by Lee Tockar, and he speaks with a Russian accent. Not sure why he speaks with a Russian accent either. 😀
Ravage meets up with the Maximals on Earth and they help to attack the Predacons’ base. Megatron finds himself bound to his chair with energy rings once the base’s power is cut. Optimus Primal, Rhinox and Rattrap are astonished when Ravage has Megatron arrested.
In ‘Part 2’ of the story, Silverbolt finds himself in trouble with Optimus Primal, as he’s been seeing Blackarachnia in secret and he’s provided her with a graviton generator for a stasis pod that can fly. Silverbolt offers to go and bring in Blackarachnia but Optimus refuses. 😐
Optimus orders Cheetor to go out and find Blackarachnia whilst Silverbolt is confined to his quarters. Silverbolt however manages to knock out Cheetor with a couple of punches before he flies off to go and find Blackarachnia. Blackarachnia is following Waspinator. 🙂
Silverbolt manages to find Blackarachnia, but in the process of trying to persuade her to return with him to the Maximals, they end up crashing into Waspinator, shattering both him and Blackarachnia’s flying stasis pod. Silverbolt manages to save Blackarachnia from falling.
Meanwhile, Cheetor accompanies Optimus as they go to find a store of energon cubes which Megatron claims to be in a mountain. The energon is to provide fuel for Ravage’s ship when he returns to Cybertron, after he plans to kill Megatron whilst in his custody. 😐
However, when Optimus and Cheetor find the energon inside the cave of the mountain, they find it to be raw, and they’re soon attacked by Inferno. Inferno gets energon build-up, causing him to malfunction, but that doesn’t stop him from burning the energon with fire. 😮
After Optimus and Cheetor escape and report to Ravage, he starts to carry out the execution on Megatron. Megatron manages to win Ravage over by telling him the true reasons for stealing the Golden Disk in the first place, as it had a message from the original Megatron.
That’s the G1 Megatron from the ‘Transformers’ TV series. In the message kept on a fragment of the Golden Disk, G1 Megatron is voiced by Garry Chalk, who usually voices Optimal Primal in ‘Beast Wars’. A pity they didn’t get Frank Welker to voice G1 Megatron.
Once Megatron – ‘Beast Wars’ Megatron – has revealed what was on the fragment of the Golden Disk, Ravage changes his mind and decides to switch sides. Rattrap warns Optimus just as he and Cheetor are about to be attacked by Megatron and Ravage’s ship.
In ‘Part 3’ of the story, the Maximals find themselves battling against the Predacons and Ravage’s ship. Rattrap manages to sabotage Ravage’s ship by planting detonation charges on Tarantulas’ claw-like hands when working the weapons to destroy the Maximals’ base.
Incidentally, Tarantulas happens to a lieutenant of the Predacon Secret Police. This is something that Megatron claims he never suspected in ‘Part 2’ of the story. Although, surely, he would have suspected, since Tarantulas was quite treacherous in ‘Other Visits’.
Once Ravage’s ship is blown up with Ravage inside, Optimus sees that Megatron is heading off for a specific destination. Optimus, Rhinox, Cheetor and Rattrap pursue Megatron, as he’s heading for ‘the beginning of everything’ ‘and quite possibly the end’. 😐
Meanwhile, Silverbolt and Blackarachnia break into the caves of a specific volcano. Inside is the crashed Autobot spaceship called the Ark, which featured in Seasons 1 and 2 of the G1 ‘Transformers’ TV series. This is what Megatron has been seeking on planet Earth.
Thus, it’s established that ‘Beast Wars’ takes place during ‘Part 1’ of the three-part G1 ‘Transformers’ story ‘More Than Meets the Eye’, as the Ark contains the Autobots and the Decepticons in their four-million-year sleep. I wouldn’t have known this for the first time.
Silverbolt and Blackarachnia are interrupted when Megatron arrives. Megatron threatens Silverbolt’s life to persuade Blackarachnia to open the Ark for him by using the access codes from the Golden Disk, which she’d stolen in ‘Coming of the Fuzors’. 😐 She obeys. 😐
The Maximals, including Optimus, Rhinox, Cheetor and Rattrap, try to stop Megatron once he’s inside the Ark. Unfortunately, Megatron finds Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots, and blows up his head. 😐 This sets off a timestorm, which could end everything.
‘The Agenda’ is a very compelling end to Season 2 of ‘Beast Wars’ and it bring in elements of the Generation 1 ‘Transformers’ TV series that I’m sure would have excited many ‘Transformers’ fans. I was very anxious about what would happen next after ‘The Agenda’.
‘The Agenda’ rating – 9/10
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