DVD review (region 2)
Starring the voices of Gary Chalk, Ian James Corlett, Scott McNeil, Venus Terzo
Release date Out now

With Transformers on everyone's brain at the moment, get ready for Kansas to go bye-bye, with a very unusual part of the disguised robots’ huge mythology...

Following on from the Beast Wars series (where, essentially, Transformers had the ability to turn from robots into animals instead of machines), Beast Machines (see where this is going...?) sees the organic heroes and villains take one more step towards their 100% metallic origins by becoming that little bit more shiny.

Although the Beast Wars series was aimed at a younger age range than the classic 2D animated Transformers series, Beast Machines is a much darker, more creepy ride. The CG animation of Beast Wars was somewhat distracting from the stories, simply because affordable CG animation of a high quality was not a reality in the late 1990s. Even though Beast Machines is in many ways a better series, the CG is still distracting. The scripts and characters are richer, but it’s a case of the age-old saying "if it doesn't add, it subtracts". While watching Beast Machines' colourful and vibrant CG, you can't help but think, "Wouldn't this simply be a better cartoon if it was in classic 2D animation?"

Still, the concept of classic baddie Megatron ruling the Transformers' planet of Cybertron is a juicy one, and Optimus Primal's merry band of maximals (animalistic Autobots) battling to preserve their planet’s sense of organic nature is certainly a vast step-up in meaty storytelling from Beast Wars' somewhat infantile tone.

Adding to this idea is the overall mythological question of 'what if Cybertron was originally an organic planet?', and Beast Machines certainly gives Transformers fans a weighty puzzle to immerse themselves. Paul Terry

VERDICT: 6/10
If only it had been done in 2D, this could've been a much more riveting cartoon experience.

Click here for details of the official Transformers comic.