[7.3/10] I guess we’re back to regular Beast Wars episodes, where there’s essentially one major event going on, and not much else. That’s fine! It doesn’t hit the heights of some of the show’s more ambitious episodes, but it’s at least straightforward.
The only problem is that these episodes inevitably culminate in some sort of weightless firefight. Given the limited roster of characters, and the fact that the only two “deaths” on the show came when Scorpinok and Terrorsaur were unceremoniously dumped off screen to make way for the Fuzors, the usual confrontations are pretty meaningless in the grand scheme of things. THat’s not to say that death is the only option to add stakes to a confrontation, but this show defaults to firefights that have no consequences so often, it’s hard to not be inured to them.
Still, they at least mix and match things up a little bit. Adding Quickstrike and Silverbolt to the mix does give us some new match-ups, including Quickstrike’s venom bite and Silverbolt’s sword-type implements. I made fun of the Fuzor designs a bit before, but I actually rather enjoy Quickstrike’s robot form. His lipless beak is visually weird, in a good way, and his cobra head/pincer hands call back to Megatron’s cool original form. I also appreciate that gallant Sivlerbolt can’t bring himself to inflict violence on a female, even a Predacon female.
I don’t want to give anything away, but it immediately creates a contrast in this episode. You have Tarantulas who is utterly cruel to Black Arachnia, often seemingly just for the fun of it, who literally has to be threatened with mutually assured destruction to halt his abuse. Then you have Silverbolt, who has every reason to blast Black Arachnia, but shows her mercy instead. I’d be lying if I said I thought the show deliberately intended that juxtaposition, but I like it nonetheless.
The Black Arachnia material is actually my favorite part of this one. You genuinely feel for her and admire her in this scenario. It takes chutzpah and smarts to use the crushing of an energon cube to force Tarantulas to break his psychic link. It indicates how much she wants to be rid of him, and the lengths she’s willing to go, the things she’s willing to risk, to end his control over her. The scenes where they’re both suffering from the crushed energon cube’s effects have a legitimate horror element to it, and it’s gripping in a way little else in the episode is.
That said, I do still enjoy Tarantulas as an agent of chaos. The fact that he has his own agenda, regularly backstabs people, and is smart enough to have fail safes makes him an interesting extra ingredient in the Maximals/PRedacon conflict. His plan to make the cavern Megatron planned to use as a refueling station seem like it’s been destroyed, only to turn it into his new lair is a good beat.
Overall, this is a pretty standard Beast Wars episode, for better or worse, but the Black Ararchnia material in particular elevates it a little bit above the show’s usual level.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-07-08T22:01:14Z
[7.3/10] I guess we’re back to regular Beast Wars episodes, where there’s essentially one major event going on, and not much else. That’s fine! It doesn’t hit the heights of some of the show’s more ambitious episodes, but it’s at least straightforward.
The only problem is that these episodes inevitably culminate in some sort of weightless firefight. Given the limited roster of characters, and the fact that the only two “deaths” on the show came when Scorpinok and Terrorsaur were unceremoniously dumped off screen to make way for the Fuzors, the usual confrontations are pretty meaningless in the grand scheme of things. THat’s not to say that death is the only option to add stakes to a confrontation, but this show defaults to firefights that have no consequences so often, it’s hard to not be inured to them.
Still, they at least mix and match things up a little bit. Adding Quickstrike and Silverbolt to the mix does give us some new match-ups, including Quickstrike’s venom bite and Silverbolt’s sword-type implements. I made fun of the Fuzor designs a bit before, but I actually rather enjoy Quickstrike’s robot form. His lipless beak is visually weird, in a good way, and his cobra head/pincer hands call back to Megatron’s cool original form. I also appreciate that gallant Sivlerbolt can’t bring himself to inflict violence on a female, even a Predacon female.
I don’t want to give anything away, but it immediately creates a contrast in this episode. You have Tarantulas who is utterly cruel to Black Arachnia, often seemingly just for the fun of it, who literally has to be threatened with mutually assured destruction to halt his abuse. Then you have Silverbolt, who has every reason to blast Black Arachnia, but shows her mercy instead. I’d be lying if I said I thought the show deliberately intended that juxtaposition, but I like it nonetheless.
The Black Arachnia material is actually my favorite part of this one. You genuinely feel for her and admire her in this scenario. It takes chutzpah and smarts to use the crushing of an energon cube to force Tarantulas to break his psychic link. It indicates how much she wants to be rid of him, and the lengths she’s willing to go, the things she’s willing to risk, to end his control over her. The scenes where they’re both suffering from the crushed energon cube’s effects have a legitimate horror element to it, and it’s gripping in a way little else in the episode is.
That said, I do still enjoy Tarantulas as an agent of chaos. The fact that he has his own agenda, regularly backstabs people, and is smart enough to have fail safes makes him an interesting extra ingredient in the Maximals/PRedacon conflict. His plan to make the cavern Megatron planned to use as a refueling station seem like it’s been destroyed, only to turn it into his new lair is a good beat.
Overall, this is a pretty standard Beast Wars episode, for better or worse, but the Black Ararchnia material in particular elevates it a little bit above the show’s usual level.