Equal Measures, Chain of Command, Power Surge

This is Megatron. This is the glorious Megatron.

And this episode of the Beast Unleashed podcast

features Stephen C. Phillips, Mike Blanchard,

and Michael Wilson. Hello and welcome to the

world's first ever Beast Wars Beast Machines

Review podcast. This is the Beast Unleashed podcast

brought to you by the Geekcast Radio Network.

I'm your host TFD1 Mike, and I'm joined by the

now, um... Don't say it. ...Certified, Wilson

and Steve - What? I think you have the wrong

word there, Mike. Yeah, I don't think that's

the word you were looking for. Well, what you

said, you're the one that's put it on Twitter.

What, what? The word is not circumcised. Well,

the word is not circumcised, but don't ask. There's

a huge difference. No, huge difference, but that

you said on Twitter. I said castration, actually.

Oh, yes. Yeah. Big difference. Yeah, big difference

there. Castration sounds a lot worse than what

I actually had done. Never the less. It's out

there on the internet, everybody knows. Don't

blame me, blame your wife. She was the one that

broadcasted on Facebook. No, what the hell? I

wasn't really going to mention anything about

my condition. She's like, it's been freed. That's

right. Yeah. No strings attached Bring it up

is because you kept sending me all these goddamn

insect and spider fucking videos and spin Facebook

messages Like spiders, you know like spiders

what hell no Listen to or you were at the recording

when we talked about the episode Were and you

know, I hate fucking insects. Oh my god. Yeah

that video was like this huge spider. It was

like the size of my head. It's like two seconds

of it and shut it off. Oh, this guy's like trying

to capture the spider on the ceiling and he's

like, oh, look at that one. It's a huge spider.

And he goes to put it in a Tupperware bin and

the thing jumps out, lands on his face. He's

like, ah! It was horrible. And he's like, boy,

let me mash him, stick him in a stew. Stick him

in a stew. Last week was a really huge fluke

with all that video crap after the show. So yeah,

we're not getting into that Steve what's been

going on with you in the past two weeks or past

week since we recorded one of these? Not really

a whole hell of a lot for the most part just

doing little minor updates to Predacon Empire

in the meantime and practicing my various voices

and Working my ass off at work and actually for

the first time ever I've been sent home early

at secondary job. Wow. Yes because it's so dead

that even apparently my job position is able

to leave early. Which is quite nice. Not so nice

if you're paid hourly. I am I just I can't take

it anymore. Oh yes. And actually, it's very funny.

This will probably be the first Beast Unleashed

episode here that we bring this up. Brian Kilby

of Radio Free Cybertron sent me a message on

Twitter the other day asking me if either me

or Steve or whoever from GCRN wanted to be on

the show and be interviewed about the whole podcasting

network thing. So yeah, we're going to be doing

that pretty soon, probably the Saturday after

this airs. Wow. Yes, it would be awesome. It's

really epically so. Yeah, I'm tempted to bring

up why other people who do like -minded podcasts

haven't had us over as a guest before. Yes, I'm

working on that. I'm slowly but surely working

on that. Actually, it's funny to mention that

because I did kind of break the ice on that because

Stefan has disappeared from the twig panels.

And I told Mike, I said, hey, look, if you need

a replacement, let me know. And I was like, yeah.

It's like, what about that whole partnership

thing we had going on there that we didn't actually

see any benefit from? End of that. Well, let's

just not even go there. This is not. What about

the free commercials we've been running that

we haven't actually seen any benefit from? That

would have been nice to have, too. Maybe a little

quid pro quo. Headshot. Yeah, yeah, this is perfect.

And a shout out to Brian, because he is nice

enough to say, hey, I'll scratch my back, you

scratch yours, and we're good to him. Yeah, I

dig Brian. He's a great guy. I like his podcasts

and and apparently he likes ours. Yep Well, he's

been on several of the toy cast episodes. I've

had him on cuz I mean he's a yeah almost collector

so I figure You know, who the hell else am I

gonna get to host the show? You know, it just

random times not everybody is around and I understand

that He's a good guy. Yeah, and I like those

shows, too Let's see, what else? I am no longer

single. Not that that really... Yeah, what the

hell with that? It's been going on for about

a month or so, and I just didn't feel like broadcasting.

That's all. So, you know, I thought you were,

you know, checking out the Seeker Girl chicks,

and lo and behold, no, not the case. I mean,

you know, I'm friends with them, and it's just

an online friend thing, you know, whatever, but

this is a little bit different. And I just didn't

feel like broadcasting it at the time. I was

going to wait and see how it played out, because,

you know. More Seeker Girls for me, I suppose.

Yeah, you stalker. He's going to spot -con and

stalk all the Seeker Girls. That's right. I don't

hear anything except for when it's broadcast

on air. What the hell is wrong with you guys?

Well, he put it on Facebook. Yeah. And I was

like, what? What? How did this? What? Yeah. See,

Steve doesn't always check Facebook every now

and then. When he does, it's very random. Like,

comment on a post I made like four weeks ago

or something. Oh, well, I tend to check my Facebook

every day. What? My email and my Twitter. Yeah,

so do I. I'm wired. I'm plugged in. But yeah,

not much else is really going on. My birthday

is coming up, so hopefully I'll be getting more

Mighty Mugs. Yay. That's another reason why I

haven't had you on some of the toy casts recently

outside of ones that we've done, because I've

been talking about Mighty Mugs. It's the Mighty

Mug podcast. And I know how much you load the

Mighty Mugs, but now that I actually have your

address, I may start sending you Mighty Mugs.

Oh, God. I actually picked one up at Toys R Us

and was looking at it and thinking, these are

really small. I didn't realize they were so small.

I thought they would be a little bit taller,

but they're like the size of my fist. Well, they're

taller. They're bigger than the Rivaltech figures.

I thought the Rivaltech figures are going to

be huge. Oh, no, those are tiny. Those are like

extremely tiny, they're like mini -con size.

Again, I'm not going to go into the whole debate

about Mighty Mugs. If you like them, you like

them. If you don't, you don't. Yeah, I just didn't

realize that I could put a Mighty Mug Starscream

next to G1 Starscream, and they'd be roughly

the same size. So what has been going on with

you, Mr. Wilson, other than your little operation

there? Oh, nothing, actually. I've been at home

popping Vicodin like candy and resting comfortably

on an ice pack. Yum, Vicodin. That's right. And

that's been my week. Yeah, that's pretty much

it. I'm still playing my video game, Dragon Age.

It's a new one I started. Other than that, no.

My wife's parents have been really good about

watching the kids, and my wife has been really

good about not making me do things that I would

normally have to do around the house, and I've

just been hanging out, trying to recover. I was

looking to see if you added any more Facebook

videos of the kids, and I noticed you... I don't

remember this scene earlier. The drum set one,

that was kind of cool. Yeah, that was over Christmas.

I rewatched the one with Gavin that he was throwing

a fit about not being able to get in the bed.

Yeah, it's sad too because he's a climber and

now he can get up in the bed. Oh, he can. It

hasn't been all that long since that video was

taken and he's up on the couch, he's up on the

bed, whoever he wants to be, he can get up up

there. It's a shame because It's nice when you

can put things like on the couch or up on the

countertop and he can't get at them. Now that's

not so much the case. He will climb up and over

pretty much anything between him and what he

wants. He's up and over it. We went through the

same thing with Aidan. It's neat to see them

do new things and discover new abilities. you

know sometimes that's a good for us you know

we don't necessarily want him playing with a

laptop yeah no not a good idea yeah um alright

well I guess we're gonna get into some episodes

where'd he go? where'd I go? welcome to enemy

arms my former comrade I hope you'll enjoy your

stay, Dinobot. I don't know how you brought me

here, Traitor, but prepare to stain the deck!

Wait! Could it be that an accident of technology

in nature has actually created a transporter?

A truce is in order. A transporter? Oh yeah!

So that's how that kid cat ended up in our base.

And you here? Interesting development. Yeah,

yeah, say, we could turn a truce into an alliance,

Dinobot! An alliance? To what end? Think of the

cosmic magnificence. Together, we'll overthrow

these low -grade metal knockoffs you've joined,

and then rule the Predacons with two iron fists!

Nothing can stop us! First up today is Equal

Measures, and once again I do have my trusty

booklet here. Cheetor is assigned to place a

series of communication and relay devices away

from the axel on the maximal ship Optimus orders

him to stay put until a lightning storm blows

over the impulsive feline Dashes off anyway eager

to the storm and show his I don't know what the

hell that says anyway One of the devices gets

lodged into a large cache of energon And Cheetor

is in great shock when a freak bolt of lightning

strikes him and the relay device he is holding,

teleporting him kilometers away to the interior

command center of the Predacon ship, Darkseid.

What did you guys think of the initial, Michael,

what are your initial, like, just overall story

thoughts? Uh, I don't know, I thought it was

kinda improbable. If not impossible, all the

other, that they're going to haphazardly create

the world's first teleporter. It was an interesting

app. Again, I'm all about the character development.

I think they fleshed out Cheetor a little bit,

or as they call him in this episode, Cheater.

And Dinobot really shows his manipulative side.

He played Cheetor like a fiddle. And Cheeto really

should have seen through it, but he didn't because

he's, again, the impulsive kid. Young and naive.

Exactly. The synopsis kind of plays it off like,

wow, Cheeto is just being impulsive. But he had

that little kick behind him, which was Dinobot

kind of greasing the wheels a little bit. Oh,

I agree with you entirely. I bet you could do

it. But I liked it. Overall, I like the whole

episode. There was a lot of interesting things

going on. And I also like that it kind of progressed

the storyline. Yeah, I agree with that. Steve,

what are your initial thoughts on the actual

plot of this episode? Well, I like what you said

on that. In terms of Dinobot playing Cheetor,

I like how Dinobot, it shows him kind of different

from how he is later in the series. I mean, obviously,

because this is the beginning, but it features

Dinobot acting without honor for the most part

because he's just saying, OK, we have this teleporter

that's just blow the Predacons to kingdom come.

Not really. an honorable way of doing it, but

he's just all gung -ho on the idea. He had his

reasons, though, as far as, you know, he came

right out and said, don't think that Megatron

wouldn't do it if he had the opportunity. It

wouldn't be a matter of, you know, blowing up

the building but saving the people inside. It's

save the building and blow up everybody inside.

For me, I don't dislike this one, and so far

throughout the, well, we've reviewed the first

three episodes last episode of the show, I don't

see any one shot so far. I mean, there really

aren't any one shot in the entire series. They

always, always come back to, you know, what's

been going on up until now. They don't just basically

retcon stuff. In this show You know to go along

with you guys one of my note was dino bot is

so treacherous and in the fact actually I wrote

that after He tricked pterosaur and then shot

pterosaur out of the toilet Sorry that was funny

that was funny Yeah Well, you know, I don't think

airlocks actually have You know, compressive

eject systems unless you're in space because

that's literally the atmosphere shooting out.

I really - What? Oh, I was gonna say I really

love that toilet flushing effect. He's a big

red turd skyrocketing across the sky. It's like

a cross between a toilet and Team Rocket. Last

thing off again. That would have been funny to

see a little piece of toilet paper fluttering

through the air as a tail. I have to call you

out, Mr. Wilson, because in the first episode,

in the last episode we did, you said that one

of those, I forget which episode it was, it might

have been Beast Wars Part 1 or Part 2 where Waspinator,

it's the only time you see him use his I -beams.

That is incorrect, sir. In this episode, when

he and Scorponok are chasing Cheetah through

the base, he uses different color eye beams,

but he uses eye beams. Well, I don't think I

would have said that. That's not something that

I would have noticed after, you know, three years

of not having seen the episodes. I'll have to

go back and listen to... I'm thinking, wait a

minute, he had eye beams? That's a... Dinobot

had I -beams. I was actually kind of... Yeah,

I was surprised to see them use the I -beams,

to be honest, because I thought that was a trait

specific to Dinobot. I used to think that as

well, and then as I've come back to watch them

all, I've kind of discovered it's mostly like

a Predacon lackey type thing. Except for Scorponok,

his is the missiles. And tarantulas. Yeah, true.

Well, Tranceless is more of like a visor. He'd

be like Cyclops or something. One thing I noticed,

there is not a whole lot of Megatron in this

episode until the very end. That's because he

got his ass blown away at the very beginning.

No, that's not this episode. Yes, I'm getting

them mixed up. Yeah, um... That's what they say.

That happens later, right? I mixed up my notes.

But yeah, they didn't feature pretty much anybody

except for Lacky. Yeah, Lacky's. It was just

them. I like the scene when, I was going to say

Tarantulas, holy shit, when Pterosaur gets transported

to the Maximal base, He's like, where'd he go?

Where'd I go? Where'd I go? And then, of course,

Dinobot comes in and, you know... I think it

would have been cool if they kept the transporter

gimmick, but I don't think it would have made

for any... That's pretty much a plot device right

there. I think it would be bad if they could

just randomly jump into each other's bases at

any given moment. That's probably not something

you want to have carry over from episode to episode

I know that's that's pretty much all my notes

on this one overall I really liked it I didn't

really notice any I haven't really noticed a

lot of animation flubs with this show I mean

unless it's like character based like as far

as the backgrounds and stuff I haven't really

noticed a whole lot Steve why don't you go next

with your other thoughts that you may have Well,

I love the Like I said before, the Dynobot dynamic

in this of how he was just gung -ho. I also liked,

again, the toilet thing. With tears for getting

flushed away after Dynobot extracted all the

information that he wanted out of him. Yeah.

And the teleportation, yeah, I agree with you

on that. It was just mostly a good plot device.

But I was kind of glad to see it go. Because

yeah, that would just be kind of a pointless

battle. Oh, let's teleport. I can miss your shot

Oh, let's teleport again. Hi, I'm back. Oh, you

know just if you kind of retarded to have This

is also the first time they had an actual working

comm unit, which cheeto are promptly destroyed

Didn't they do that? Before this is like the

second time that cheeto or has a runoff half

cocked trying to put down a comm unit Screwed

it up ended up in the enemy base came back and

ended up with everything else botched. Well,

no, because what Cheetor was doing was... He

was putting surveillance posts up. He was taking

those relay posts. In other episodes, that comlink

arm band on his upper part of his... I thought

the relay posts were kind of like communications

posts, particularly because when he'd beam back

the last time, he'd beam back along each post.

And each one blew up as he came home. I think

that's because Megatron shot the transmitter.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mechanism. Right. I mean,

that makes sense. But at the same time, it's,

you know, again, it seemed like a communication

ring to me. Well, it could have been. I think

it was more of a spine ring. Like, like, like

extended. It's not exactly stealthy if each one

makes a beeline back to your base. Again the

whole energon vein ran under both bases in like

this weird crisscross pattern. My question is,

in the very beginning you have a mountain and

Optimus is just kind of looking at it for some

reason and you see missiles launch and blow up

the mountain. It's like, who's blowing up mountains?

Isn't that a replay? I don't think so. No. I

think that was in the beginning that basically

a mountain blew up and exposed energon. And he

said, well, we're going to scrub this mission

because too much energon floating around now.

We can't do it now. It's too dangerous. It wasn't

missiles. It was lightning. The whole point in

why Cheater wasn't supposed to go out was. It's

lightning storm. lightning storm and windstorm

going on, so it was probably lightning that hit

the mountain, not missiles. No, I'm pretty sure

there were missiles flying around and hit that

mountain. No, that was lightning. It looked like

missiles to me. But I thought it was odd. It's

like, well, are they just randomly going around

blowing up mountains now to see which ones have

energon in them, or? They're foreshadowing for

later. For season three or two. No, season two.

You know, the thing about the energon vein running

under both bases, they've specifically said in

later seasons that, I know I'm kind of getting

ahead of myself here, but they've specifically

said that in robot mode, as long as they're in

the base, they're safe. Yes, I know places can

have insulation, but if the energon vein is right

under your fucking base, I mean, come on! No,

I think the ship is protected right it if this

if the ship had a giant hole in it and maybe

not but It seemed to be fairly well intact What

I what I noticed though is that Cheetor was outside

of the ship and still in robot mode for about

half the episode Well, he and at one point he

even remarked on it. He's like Cheetor maximize

and he goes. Oh wait already did that. Yeah It

was like, yeah, you already did that. You've

been in robot mode for 20 minutes. So I wonder,

at this point, I'm wondering if he has some type

of special installation that keeps him from short

-circuiting after two minutes like everybody

else does. I don't think so, because, and the

reason why I'm not really arguing, I'm not trying

to explain this, I'm not really explaining it

to you, but I'm trying to prove it to you that

when he was going out doing that, he was in cat

mode. until he got to the position that he was

supposed to be at, he would transform and then

plant the post. When he got to that last one

where it got lodged in the energon cache, or

case, or however the hell you say the damn word,

he was in robot mode that long period of time

because he was trying to get the post up out.

And by the time he pulled it up to the point

where the energon was coming up and it transported

him into the Predacon base, He forgot that he

was still transformed, so he wasn't really that...

He wasn't exposed that much outside. So technically

he was inside so it was okay. Yeah. Yes. That

makes sense. I'll buy that. The bases are insulated

just like you would insulate your attic. Yeah,

yeah. I'll buy that. and he teleports in and

you have pterosaur on the hover pad and they're

kind of playing hover pad tag despite the fact

that pterosaur can fly so he didn't actually

need the hover pad i thought that was kind of

strange you know those hover pads in the predacon

base remind me of the hover board from back in

the future yeah if you just if you move if you

took the control stick off the whole stick at

the side if you took that off They would be the

hoverboard from Back to the Future. Or like Daniel's

hoverboard. Oh. Oh. Oh. In the animated movie.

Oh, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no. Last

two seconds. Well, I mean, I was thinking, you

know, if Cheetor was smart, he'd upend that hoverboard,

use it as a shield. Just kind of, you know, deflect

the shots with the shield and get the heck out

of there. Wasn't so much the case, but I did

like the way he escaped like suckers True jumps

in the air vents And I'm thinking you know it's

strange that they have air vents because they

don't actually breathe Mm -hmm true their robots.

It's kind of strange, but hey whatever gets you

out the door right Sure what my favorite line

from the episode was this just smells like cheetor

I was like, what does Cheetor smell like? Does

he got a slight tinge of biscuits and gravy to

him? Do you smell like jam with two A's? Or is

that a hot shot thing? He smells like slag. Hot

slag. What has he been eating lately? Biscuits

and gravy. Oh boy. Do we have any other thoughts

on equal measures? Good episode although fairly

forgettable Yeah, like I said before I just some

extent Yeah to some extent but but like I said

before that we really haven't seen and I don't

think we will see throughout the entire series

of both series actually Beast Wars and Beast

Machines you won't ever see a one -shot episode

It's like we're Let's say, example, X animated

series where you have Night of the Sentinels

part one and then part two and then you have,

I don't know, an episode with the Morlocks that

has nothing to do with continuity to that first

two part. I gotta argue that point because we

haven't talked about Power Surge yet, but that

episode I think was a bit of a throw away. I

think episode 3 was a bit of a throwaway. I was

the only one in the group who didn't think it

was much of a throwaway, but here I am using

it as an argument. It was a bit of a throwaway.

It helped flesh out some of the characters, but

honestly it didn't do a whole lot to push the

storyline forward. But power surge was the same

way and that we will be bringing that up soon

enough But but no, I I think that there are some

episodes that that push the story ahead very

well The next one we're going to be talking about

chain of command does that nicely? It really

foreshadows a lot about what's going to come

next But then there are some episodes that don't

so much Okay, so is that it for this one Yep

This episode was the first one to include an

energon -powered fist bump. Oh, at the very end.

Yeah, at the very end. Oh, no, not at the very

end. No, it was Terasaur and Dinobot making the

deal. Yeah, it's funny. People would have heard

that in the audio that I used for this particular

episode. Oh, the fist bump? Well, part of that

whole... Part of that when they first start making

the Alliance I thought that was funny because

Fist bumps are way ahead of their time in 96.

I mean, honestly, I don't think I don't think

they really became popular for another decade

Yeah, well, they started it so that's right.

Well, I think it was necessary because they can't

really shake hands because neither one has thumbs

So I was like, how do I, I'm not sure how to

just live long and prosper over here or what

are we doing? Just fist bump. Optimus! Maximum

torture chamber! We found you dumped in front

of the command base hatch. Scrapped down and

alone. just like an innocent orphan in a B -movie.

Optimus. Yeah, we were hoping that maybe the

innocent orphan baby could tell us what happened

to Optimus. Optimus Primal was terminated. An

alien probe has landed. at the Standing Stones.

It emitted an energy burst during Optimus's transformation.

He vanished. Wait a minute. Why was he transforming?

Predacon attack! We have no time for further

analysis now. We must make another attempt to

secure the probe from the Predacons. Rattrap!

Come with me. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait!

Stand by here! Who died and made you Prime, Scaleface?

Optimus is certainly Scrap, and I, as the most

powerful of the group, shall replace him. Anyone

who disagrees may challenge me now. Dinobot,

maximize! Up next is Chain of Command. Investigating

high levels energon at the Standing Stone Formation,

the Maximals are caught in a surprise attack

by the Predacons. Pterosaur destroys most of

energon cache. hidden within the center of the

stones, expelling a huge energy beacon into the

night sky, out into space. Later, Optimus Primal

and Megatron spot a small alien probe and set

out to investigate, but the probe emits a blinding

pulse of energy and Optimus Primal disappears.

Say it like you mean it. Well, he disappears.

Disappears. Not dies. Disappears. The first note

that I have for this episode, in the beginning,

you don't see Cheetor anywhere among the Maximals

at the Standing Stones. Yet after when Megatron

and the Predacons show up, he's automatically

there. It's like the Transporter from the last

episode came into this episode. He just ran really

fast. He was really fast. He booked it. Yeah,

he became one with the spots Oh Wow, okay, then

um primal is dead five episodes to be Well Not

entirely dead. I mean he was mostly dead. Well,

he disappeared, but he's not all the way dead.

He was practicing It's not transformers unless

optimus dies true You know I work with very low

-functioning adolescents and or young adolescents

or young adults or whatever and You know Scorponok

the way they portrayed him in this episode pissed

me off because he sounds like a very low -functioning

adolescent Megatron back Megatron back Scorponok

left alone with pterosaur and wasp and tarantulas

I almost said waspinator. I mean give me a fucking

break. I mean Jesus fucking Christ. It's like

holy crap They have to have somebody that sounds

like, and I don't like the term retard, because

I got called that when I was a kid. I mean, they

have to have somebody sound like a retarded robot.

I think that they're... He's a dunce. No, I think

that they're, you know, it's so early yet, this

is what, the fifth episode, they're still trying

to find his voice. He's had what, five lines?

so far in the entire series. Something like that.

And the first three were like, yes Lord Megatron,

you know, and now he's actually got a line. I'm

sure that as he speaks more they'll get better

at it. Well they do, but I don't think that they

had to have him sound like a mentally challenged

person the first more than two words he says.

I did. Well, I don't know. You might have been

reading a little too much into it. I don't know.

For some odd reason, when Optimus's consciousness

is inside the alien probe, I thought of one of

the very first episodes of South Park where Cartman

gets an alien probe stuck up his ass. I don't

know why that thought occurred to me, but it

did. Alien anal probe? Yes, very much so. The

probe itself is just a giant golden suppository.

Lovering there. Daring you to... You know, Michael,

you were talking about in the first episode of

this podcast that when the mountain debris was

coming down, there wasn't a whole... You said

that there should have been more of it than what

there was. The same thing with the rocks around

the maximal base when they start getting attacked

by the Predacons and they come out to defend

themselves. The blasts... just bounce or deflect

off the rocks. They don't destroy the rocks,

and they are, I looked at this, they are at least

a good five feet away from the shielded ship.

So it's not like it's bouncing off the ship shield.

I thought that was kind of weird. Oh, I got nothing

there. Maybe the rocks should have exploded,

I don't know. Yeah, maybe. Waspinator getting

shredded by a giant Gatling gun. I love this

part. No, I mean, that wasn't funny. That was

horrible. It was brutal is what that was. I mean,

later on in the series, Waspinator getting blown

up. I mean, blown to bits, like limbs everywhere

and just a head going, me Waspinator. Shot or

yeah, I think the signature line is something

like the universe hates waspinator But I mean

this time that's this first time. I don't think

it was comical. Anyway, it was I mean he got

fragged I mean that Gatling gun leveled at him

and it starts spinning and his arm blew off I

Mean how badly do you got to be hurt when pieces

of your body start falling off? Well, it was

really it was just brutal And I don't think that

they've had, you know, kind of brutal frags like

that yet in the series. I mean, like I said,

later on it becomes comical. But this time it

was, I mean, you know, really, really bad. Rhinox

did a number on him. Rhinox was out for pieces.

Yes. You know, I will fully admit that Rhinox,

while he's not... my favorite like I wouldn't

put him like amongst my number you know my top

five favorite characters in the show he's not

the worst character in the show and he does have

a personality all his own which he will which

we will find out later in future podcast episodes

but it's just funny the way this scene plays

out because was there thinks he's being all smart

and sneaking up on him and whatever Rhinox is

working on he sees was there's reflection the

thing he just kinda like hangs his head and goes

Just say she says, like, uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

It was it was brutal. I mean like I said later

on it's it's funny this time. I was like wow

he really got tore up and You know you don't

really know if they're gonna be able to fix it

That's pretty much it from my notes overall.

I think this is a really good episode I really

like the way that it kind of flowed from beginning

to end Steve what are your thoughts on this one?

I liked that it had Primal in a box. Yes, that's

right, I bring it up again. The Stormtrooper

shats are, of course, always priceless except,

you know, where they like to reuse story plot

lines as far as when Primal mysteriously disappears

and then comes back to save the Maximal's asses

at the end of the episode. I love that when Dinobot

came out of, what's that? His aim is miraculously

better when he comes back. Oh, always. Every

time. It's like he has brain degradation in between.

And then they're like, oh, we've restored you.

I think you can kill him now. But I liked it

when Dinobot came out of after the probe zapped

everybody and put them in stasis lock. were standing

around him when he came out of the Sierra Chamber

and he's like, oh shit, I'm in a maximal torture

chamber. And then Rhyntrap's like, uh, we don't

have those, but that's a good idea. We should

definitely try one of those out. Yeah. And then,

uh, this is, of course, the start of Rhynax's,

uh, Oh Noes. Yeah. Kind of like Megatron's Yes.

Yeah. Okay, I didn't catch that one. Where was

that? when he's in the base. Right, it's where

they've pretty much settled the whole leadership

debate, whether it'd be done about a rat trap.

And then rat trap says, you know, we gotta go

out there, we gotta fight, we gotta defend the

base, and Rhinox is like, oh, okay, let's go.

No, Rhinox, you stay here and build a device

to release Optimus' consciousness. from the thing

from the alien probe and he's like oh no really

yeah i'll get right on that yeah yeah going and

i am not trying to interrupt you steve but uh...

this battle outside of the fact that i found

the wasp nearer thing pretty funny dino bot gets

some pretty good shots in on megatron with that

that fistfight that they did oh yeah I definitely

did like that. I think he was pretty single -minded.

He just ran out the door, saw Megatron, and said,

I'm gonna kick your ass. He didn't follow orders,

didn't seem to want to do anything but beat the

shit out of Megatron. Rather single -minded,

that. Yes. Do you have any other thoughts, Steve?

No. Although not one of my favorite episodes,

I would still say that it was a pretty good episode

and pretty character building for everyone involved.

Michael, what are your thoughts on this one?

I like the episode. I like the fact that they're

pushing it forward. We have seen the Stonehenge.

the Ring of the Rock ring earlier in the season

and they kind of said, well I wonder what that's

for. And this time around they show you what

it's for. It's a communication hub that talked

back to the alien presence. And this episode

kind of introduces us to the aliens. They don't

actually come out and say, oh it's the Bach.

But it introduces the fact that they exist. And

at the end, they kind of foreshadow the fact

that, oh yeah, we'll be seeing more of those

aliens later on. Yeah. So they're kind of introducing

the backstory and kind of pushing it forward.

And I like those. I mean, I like those better

than just throwaway apps. Right, right. And I

like Optimus Primal kicking back and reading

a book. When did he do that? In the beginning

of the episode, he's just kind of... You know,

kicking back in the... Oh no, it wasn't the very

beginning. It was after they detonated the communication

device at Stonehenge. And that night, he's just

kind of kicking back reading a book. And he looks

up in the night sky and there's shooting stars.

And I thought that was neat. He was just kind

of hanging out, looking up. And then, Regatron,

after a beat, he looks up and... He's the same

shooting star over the same mountain. And I was

thinking of Fievel. Oh, God. Megatron and Optimus.

Somewhere out there. Stop right now. Before we

go on, I think we need to go on to the next episode

now. Because we can't break into song? No. Come

on! No, we're not breaking into Fievel's song.

Heath, the sky so true. Do you have any other

thoughts on this episode? I... don't think I

do. We are moving on. The chances can. Tyrassar,

there arise! Danger. Energon surge. Return to

beast mode or stasis lock is imminent. I must

act fast. A small sample will do. directly into

my superstructure. I've never felt such power!

I'm invincible! And finally up today is Power

Surge. Pterosaur discovers a floating mountain

filled with a huge supply of unstable energon

returning to the dark side Pterosaur challenges

Megatron for leadership and soundly defeats the

mighty Dinosaur. But this new power source comes

with a price Pterosaur finds he must recharge,

often maintaining his newfound power levels.

When the Maximals learn of this strange energon

formation, Optimus and Rattrap head out to the

mountain in order to neutralize it. That's what

I was thinking. It might be just because I saw

Avatar like twice in the last couple of weeks,

but I was thinking the Hallelujah Mountains.

Really though? Okay. Have you seen it yet? No,

and I will never see it. What? No, never. There's

something scary wrong with you, sir. The Hallelujah

Mountains are basically floating mountains on

Pandora. And I saw this and I was like... So

see where Cameron got that now. I think I don't

know. Well, I'm sure they've done. Oh, yeah,

they did do it in G1. But my second note that

I wrote down was, can you say drug abuse episode?

But now that I'm thinking about it and I'm thinking

back to G1, if you look at the episode Oh crap,

what's it called? The one where, oh, Thief in

the Night, where Trypticon and Octane are in

Carbomia and they're just siphoning off Energon.

This is kind of like that. I like the way they

shot the aerial battle between Optimus and Pterosaur.

I thought that was a really good visual. Yeah,

I definitely loved that battle. I had noticed

that, maybe it was just the aerial shots, I'm

not sure, but the landscapes are improving. They

seem to have improved. The first couple episodes

I was really aggravated with just how dead they

seemed. But now you've actually, the mountains

seem to be a little more plentiful. The textures

are better. You can see the forest in the background.

And it seems to look a lot better. They really

showed it off in the beginning when they had

the eagle soaring through the mountains. And

I thought for a second there that they were going

to introduce Air Razor. And then the eagle was

eaten by a pterosaur. And I thought, this is

really nice. They've really done a really good

job with the CG here. And then chomp, there goes

the eagle. As I've said before, in the first

episode and I will continue to say it throughout

the entire show. Terasaur is Starscream for Beast

Wars. He even destroys Megatron more than G1

Starscream ever came close to doing. Yeah, I

noticed that. Well, when Megatron was blown up,

I mean, we just saw Waspinator in the last episode

get fragged and this one was more like closer

to comical, but still like, wow, his head came

clean off. That was rough. I mean, yeah, he was

still attached by like wires and such, but this

is the first time they really said, okay, not

only can we completely dismantle a character,

but we can gather up all the pieces and bring

him back to life. So I was almost happy to see

him at the end. Yeah. That's it. I know it's

Michael. Why don't you go next? What are what

are your thoughts on this one? Well, I noticed

that they they find the mega cannon from what

was episode 2 No, it's three. Yeah from the web

Where cheetahs like oh, they're finding this

mega cannon Whatever will they do with it? And

I didn't think they did anything with it and

and here it is popping up out of the rocks and

it homes in on Maximal signatures. So that was

kind of cool. I thought that was nice that they

didn't actually say, this is the one we found

two episodes ago, but it kind of seemed that

way to me, so that was kind of cool. Along with

the improved landscapes, they also improved the

exploding mountain effect. When they blew up

the Halley Union Mountain this time, it looked

a lot better than the first one. And the first

time they did it, it was like, oh, maybe five

or six pieces of rock going, woo, through the

air. Whereas here, it was more like Death Star

Explosion. Well, all right. But the difference

is when they, I would say that the difference

is in that first part where they, in the first

episode or second episode or whatever it was

of the show, where they were, I keep tranching,

Scorponok. where his missiles hit it it blew

off chunks of the mountain whereas this they

were blowing up a giant pile of energon basically

because the energon was in that floating mountain

granted the energon was in the actual mountain

in the first part yeah but they didn't know that

there was energon there they knew Optimus and

Rattrap knew that this thing has huge amounts

of energon, and when he set the heat, Rattrap

puts the charges, the detonation charges right

on two pieces of energon. So it was the energon

exploding than the actual mountain, but I see

your point. I'd chalk it up to better CGI. True.

What do you think, Steve? Well, um... I would

say that I definitely like the floating island

thing where Taris got power mad and crazy. I

do agree that it was kind of like the Golden

Lagoon but at the same time it reminds me of

something from the Generation 1 Marvel comics

where Starscream gains the power of the Underbase

which makes him ungodly strong. Didn't he become

a Beyonder base at that point though? Yeah, well

eventually. He observed enough of it at one point

that he became it. So it would have been interesting

to see an Energen version of Terrorsaur. Giant

floating Terrorsaur head. I like the way that

Terrorsaur powered up though. I mean his voice

changed and his shoulder cannons got bigger and

he got the scary red glow. You know what it was?

You grew balls. Yeah, I grew big red balls. Well,

I mean, if your shoulder cannon suddenly became

three times the regular size, that's definitely

a ball grower. Yeah. For lack of a better term.

I will think of what it would have done if Black

Rat can just... Anyways. Oh, damn. Uh -oh! I

think I just moved six inches. Wow! Low blow.

Anyways, um... Yeah, sorry, I had to go there.

Um... But yeah, TerrorSaur definitely had more

of a Starscream vibe to him in this episode,

especially slagging Megatron, which I was kind

of disappointed to see him get slagged, but at

the same time it was so ironic and nice to see

Megatron come back and basically rub it in TerrorSaur's

face that, uh, oh, you're a weak little bitch

now and I'm back to full power, what now? Yeah,

they spare us the actual beatdown, but I'm sure

they say that for the in -between episodes And

then there's the of course the third showdown

again once once again is always between tarantula

Listen right trap. Yeah to seem to be the constant

struggle between any entire series of these doors

It was a nice fight though, I mean. Oh, yeah.

Well, it's always an interesting fight when those

two are involved. Considering they couldn't transform.

So. Yeah. It didn't gross me out as much as previous.

It grossed me out, but. Mike had to fast forward

through it. Yeah, but. Mike couldn't stand the

eight eyes and the multi -arms. He's like, oh,

I can't handle this. Can't take it. But then

another part I liked is that Radtrip kind of

started bonding with Primal more and was kind

of like, don't tell the other guys, but you're

right. He kind of warped up to the idea of being

a team player more so than he had been in the

past. There's one other thing. see Rattrap play

his first video game of the series. Oh yeah,

that's right. He's playing virtual poker. You'll

see him play a ton of more games before the series

is up. Aha. I didn't even catch it. I caught

it. Primal comes over and turns it off and says,

you know, back to your duty, son. But yeah, I

didn't even realize that he was a gamer. Gameplayer.

Yes, Ratchet is a gamer. What I dig is, out of

all the characters, Pterosaur seems to get the

most... I don't want to say repaint fodder, but

yeah. In this episode alone, he gets his power

-up version. And then at the end, when... Megatron

confronts him and says, aha, I'm going to beat

your scrawny little ass. And he turns completely

white, which I thought was funny. Oh, he turns

gray. Well, gray, white. I mean, he pales, we'll

put it that way. And then I also noticed that

in Equal Measures, he gets charbroiled. Yeah.

So he's extra crispy. So I mean, out of all the

characters, I think he's had You know, probably

three rescams already. Yeah. Which is kind of

cool. I probably wouldn't have pegged him as

a character that would receive that much attention

from the animators. Oh, you go ahead. I'm going

to say that one of the reasons I liked this episode,

too, was that it was a throwaway episode. I mean,

there was nothing really gained as far as storyline

or wars won or battles won between each faction.

But they did introduce some funny quotes. My

favorite was Brad Trapp says, you know that's

crazy, don't you? And Optimus says, well, sometimes

crazy works. I'm not sure how many times he actually

does that or says that. throughout the series,

but I think that's a memorable line. Oh yeah,

every time. Yeah. We need to, I guess, are we

done talking about this particular? I have a

couple more comments. I actually looked them

up on the wiki because I was kind of trying to

figure out some things. There's an animation

in Technical Glitch in the episode when Tarantula

shoots his line to the floating mountain. and

it begins screwing up it. It says the mountain

is revolving, so what is this line anchored to?

The line doesn't rotate, yeah. I thought that

was funny. And there's also, I guess I stand

corrected on the cards, somebody apparently translated

the text that was on it, and it's Cybertronian

for old maid cards. So yeah, I guess Rat Trap

likes playing old maid. That's funny. Um, and

Megatron has a line in there where he states

that, uh, I thought you already learned your

lesson about challenging me, Terror Sorcerer,

suggesting that he's been in a previous scuffle

with the Predacon commander. He hasn't? Well,

it's suggesting that he has, but he hasn't so

far. Oh, I was going to say, with him being the

resident of Starscream, I kind of assumed that...

That had been the case. Well, it's not the last

time that's yeah So is that all we have for power

surge I think so aside from tarantulas You really

see tarantulas scheming. Oh It's as soon as Megatron

goes down tarantulas is like, okay. What's up?

What's the deal? How can I get in on this? Yeah.

Yeah One thing that we were going to bring up

in episode one of the Beast Unleashed podcast

actually two things if you'd like to send us

questions on Twitter or email you can do that

by following Beast Unleashed or You can email

Just email me or Steve or I don't know if Michael

you want to give your email address out mine

is tfpodcast at gmail .com Steve, what do you

want to use for this? I'm going to do Steve at

GeekCastRadio .com. Okay. And you can pretty

much find Michael on Twitter at PecanCourtMichael.

So if you'd like to ask us any questions or,

you know, really I'd probably be asking Steve

questions because he is the Beast Wars fanatic

over there. Yes, heavy Beast Wars fanatic. The

other thing Steve wanted to introduce in the

first episode, I just completely forgot about

it, was ask a character. As a lot of people know,

Steve does do Beast Wars Megatron's voice, he

also does Dinobot, and I believe, don't you also

do Waspinator? Correct. So what did Beast Wars

Megatron think of the first episode of the Beast

Unleashed podcast? Very excellent. Yes. Okay.

Now that those little segment bits are introduced,

I actually remember to put them into this episode.

I hope he's not confused with David Kay, because

we do have David Kay inserts, too. Oh, we do.

But no, because this is in the actual episodic

recording, and the David Kay stuff is separate.

The David Kay stuff is bumpers. But that's like

the... in the highest level flattery with somebody's

as well that david k or was that all did david

was even sure when we interviewed him i mean

we've said this before uh... when i a steve i

said steve why don't you show mister k you know

your your ability and steve did a little bit

of a voice and make it and i was gonna say megatron

and uh... and uh... today that's good well that

will be the best one i've seen art and i've heard

yet You know, it was... Steve's version is probably

the closest to K that I've ever heard. I think

it's the closest I've ever heard, too. That being

kind of cocky there and... You know, it does

damn voice. Alright. It's bad when you walk around

work and that's the voice you use 90 % of the

time, especially when you're complaining. Alright.

Um, we're going to take a quick break. You're

going to hear some bumpers from, I believe, either

Mr. K or Mr. Chalk, and we will be right back

with the outro. This is Megatron, and you're

listening to the Beast Unleashed podcast. Oh

yeah! This is quote number one for episode two

of the Beast Unleashed podcast. This is quote

number two of episode two of the Beast Unleashed

podcast. Thank you for joining us here on the

beast unleashed podcast There are several ways

to get in contact with us leave feedback for

the show First is you visit www .geekcastradio

.com find all the other podcasts there Second

is you can stop by our brand new forums PredaconEmpire

.com slash nexus And the third is you can leave

the show feedback in iTunes. Please do this I

won't have to check the iTunes feedback I know

we only have one episode out so far 12 besides

the interviews in the episode 0 we have like

As far as us reviewing the actual cartoons, we

have one episode out so far. So let's check again.

We have a voicemail line. Call us and leave us

your thoughts on each episode. Be sure to say

what show you're leaving the message for and

your name. The number is 502 -526 -5821. You

can follow us on Twitter. The show name there

is Beast Unleashed. Mine is TF2 on mic. Steve,

what is your Twitter? SCP -21. And Michael? PConcord

Michael. Before we do the other part of the closing,

I'd just like to send a... I mean, this isn't

really Beast Wars related, but I'd just like

to bring up what an awesome privilege it was

for me to interview Tara Strong. That was so

cool. Yeah, she did sound very welcoming in the

interview. Yes, yes. And it was just so cool.

We got a... Couple of cool sorry clips for all

things Transformers. I got some bubbles clips

for Tooncast. It was just a great little interview

that we did. We hope you enjoyed this episode

of the Beast Unleashed podcast. Join us next

time when we will be reviewing three more episodes

from Beast Wars Season 1. Those being Fallen

Comrades, Double Jeopardy, and a Better Mousetrap.

For now, I am TFG1Mike with Steve Megatron Phillips.

and Michael Wilson. My ice, my ice is melting.

Megatron, close the show before Mr. King Stray

Sheep over there gets melted. Stay tuned to the

next Beast Unleashed podcast with Steve Megatron,

TFT One Mike, and Pecan Court Michael. What,

no yes? No yes, I was waiting for it.