"Fallen Comrades"
REVIEW by Graham Thomson
Beast Wars becomes piste wars as the Maximal/Predacon
war moves from the empty scrublands to the desolate
snowscapes of Mainframe's sparsely decorated computer
generated canvas. In what is essentially a twenty
minute race to retrieve a stasis pod, the plot of
"Fallen Comrades" is about as thin as a layer of frost.
While the premise of this episode is flat and superficial, it's the little details that shine.
The whole point of this installment is to introduce the new Maximal, Tigatron, but strangely he is featured hardly at all.
Instead, the shortcomings of the existing Maximals and Predacons are showcased: Maximal general Optimus Primal, thanks to his own misjudged leadership and Megatron's shrewd tactics, is taken out of the game within the first five minutes. What follows is a delightfully dark scene with the fish out-of-water Dinobot planning a glorious funeral without so much as a second thought for Optimus!
And the Predacons, too, are given a moment to provide comic relief. An incredibly nervous, and twitchy Scorponok faces off against a Maximal motion-sensing auto-firing weapons system. The direction and comic timing of this particular scene is a joy to watch (and re-watch), and is the highlight of the episode.
Which is telling, as the rest of the episode is, frankly, boring. The action scenes don't quite pack the punch needed and the script and dialogue are stilted and cumbersome. Even once introduced, Tigatron's personality is a false start. More tiger than Maximal, apparently, and unwilling to join his comrades because of faulty "identity circuits".
The rest of the gang didn't really need to bother retrieving him now, did they?
"Fallen Comrades" is another example in a long line of flat Transformers stories, though having a lot of potential, is weighed down by a legally binding remit to sell new characters.
If the new characters are compelling then fair enough, but certainly not in this case. Like they say: It's cold up north.
"Fallen Comrades" (22 mins) was originally
broadcast in 1996
Written by Bob Forward | Directed by Steve Ball
While the premise of this episode is flat and superficial, it's the little details that shine.
The whole point of this installment is to introduce the new Maximal, Tigatron, but strangely he is featured hardly at all.
Instead, the shortcomings of the existing Maximals and Predacons are showcased: Maximal general Optimus Primal, thanks to his own misjudged leadership and Megatron's shrewd tactics, is taken out of the game within the first five minutes. What follows is a delightfully dark scene with the fish out-of-water Dinobot planning a glorious funeral without so much as a second thought for Optimus!
And the Predacons, too, are given a moment to provide comic relief. An incredibly nervous, and twitchy Scorponok faces off against a Maximal motion-sensing auto-firing weapons system. The direction and comic timing of this particular scene is a joy to watch (and re-watch), and is the highlight of the episode.
Which is telling, as the rest of the episode is, frankly, boring. The action scenes don't quite pack the punch needed and the script and dialogue are stilted and cumbersome. Even once introduced, Tigatron's personality is a false start. More tiger than Maximal, apparently, and unwilling to join his comrades because of faulty "identity circuits".
The rest of the gang didn't really need to bother retrieving him now, did they?
"Fallen Comrades" is another example in a long line of flat Transformers stories, though having a lot of potential, is weighed down by a legally binding remit to sell new characters.
If the new characters are compelling then fair enough, but certainly not in this case. Like they say: It's cold up north.
VERDICT:
Written by Bob Forward | Directed by Steve Ball