Episode Guides • G1 Production Bible • Sounds • Videos • Promos • Wallpapers • Other • Beast Wars

Season One, Episode 26: Other Voices, Part 2
Reviewed by Blackjack

Episode Review

A wonderful conclusion to the first Season of Beast Wars. Megatron's counter-plan to Tarantulas' treachery is wonderfully executed, and his gloating speech at the end of the episode is nice. The tense atmosphere in this episode is evident, but there are some light-hearted moments as well. Optimus Primal's death seemed final, what with pieces of his body flying towards the camera as the Planet Buster explodes. While seeing an Optimus die might seem routine, remember that to kids who aren't familiar with G1, it would be a shock to them. Besides, it's a rather excellent death, with Primal being tricked into the situation by Megatron.

The Planet Buster's transformation is well animated, and it's a good thing that the Vok exit the stage as soon as it's activated. They are rather dull and it's nice to see that no more screentime are wasted on them. Rattrap's sarcasm are hilarious in context. Tarantulas being inside Blackarachnia's head is a rather disturbing prospect, yet a nice plot twist as well. The dialogue is well-scripted, being hilarious and dramatic all at the same time. Most of the characters (bar Rhinox and Dinobot) get one or two good dialogues thrown in, even the Predacon stooges panicking. The death of Optimus Primal is a wonderful cliff-hanger, as is Tarantulas/Blackarachnia's unique situation. It just makes you want to go to the next episode and discover what's going on...

Notes

The first proper death in Beast Wars, after Clone One and Snowstalker, is Optimus Primal himself.

The name of the Vok's 'Death Moon' superweapon was dubbed as the 'Planet Buster' by Rattrap, and it stuck. I prefer ‘Death Moon’ myself, but oh well…

Tigatron’s excuse to pilot the pod ship instead of Primal, he says “I owe this world”. This might be a reference to his guilt after the death of Snowstalker in “Law of the Jungle”, as well as destroying the Island Paradise in “The Trigger part 2”. For a pacifist, he blows up lots of things.

Megatron’s parting line, “You Optimuses do enjoy sacrificing themselves” might be a reference to the numerous time Optimus Prime has sacrificed himself.

If you listen closely as the pod slams into the Planet Buster, there is the sound effect of Optimus firing a gun (perhaps his arm cannons) and glass shattering. It’s as if he attempted to blast his way out, but it’s too late.

If you watch the final scene in slow motion, you can see Optimus Primal bits fly towards the camera, including his head.

Apparently, Megatron was slated to taunt Optimus Primal on the stasis pod not with a video recording of himself, but with an image of Optimus Prime. This did not make it to the final cut, though. Most likely because they have no time to make a CG model for Prime.

Goofs

Last episode, Dinobot falls into the elevator glass on the right hand side of the screen, breaking the glass. But this episode, the left elevator glass is the broken one.

Apparently, according to Primal and Megatron, the Planet Buster ignites every living thing on the planet, yet after the events of this episode, there are still lots of organic living things on the planet. Perhaps they were just exaggerating?

When Blackarachnia grabs Inferno’s gun, her body clips onto Inferno’s for a couple of seconds.

As Airazor searches for Blackarachnia with Rattrap, she jumps into a hallway at one point. However, her gun does not move with her, leading to her hand grasping at thin air while her gun gets stuck on her, well, armpit.

As Optimus Primal lies on the pod ship, his shoulder pads are much smaller that what they are supposed to be. But then, this seems to be a deliberate attempt as otherwise they’ll clip the cramped stasis pod.

When Megatron laughs at the end of his speech, his right hand is a normal head instead of a T-Rex head.