The Agenda (Beast Wars)
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The Agenda was the name of a three part series of episodes which concluded the second season of Beast Wars. Each part first aired on March 11, March 12 and March 13, respectively in 1998. It was written by Bob Forward and is held in high regards for its compelling story and part of the Generation 1 Transformers continuity.
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[edit] Prior knowledge
The Agenda requires an extensive knowledge from past Beast Wars episodes. It is important to know that Megatron attempted to use the Golden Disk to discover the favorable impact of destroying the human race. Dinobot stopped the Predacons from doing this and destroyed the Golden Disk, but it can only be assumed that Megatron had already memorized the important content from the Disk. Here we would learn a fragment of the Disk survived, and Megatron was able to recover it.
Also of note is the fact that Blackarachnia downloaded the full Golden Disk (before it was destroyed) and encrypted it in a way that would prevent Megatron or Tarantulas from knowing she possessed it. Afterwards, she fell in love with the Maximal, Silverbolt. Just before the Golden Disk was destroyed Rhinox discovered that a transwarp wavefront caused by a transwarp cell explosion would alert Cybertron of the whereabouts of Optimus Primal's crew.
Most important references to G1 Transformers are explained as they take place in the episode.
[edit] Part 1
When the Agenda starts, the transwarp wavefront enters Cybertronian space. Rhinox reports this to Optimus, and the four senior Maximals are initially ecstatic to learn that they will be rescued and returned home, while Silverbolt can only offer stolid indifference at the thought of finally coming to Cybertron, which annoys Rattrap. They also begin to prepare for a last ditch attack by Megatron. Meanwhile at the Predacon base, Inferno informs Megatron that all primordial humans scattered, making them impossible to hunt down. Blackarachnia is seen building her own airspeeder using a stasis pod.
Silverbolt flies to an agreed upon location with a graviton generator and meets Blackarachnia. Silverbolt begs her to join the Maximals but Blackarachnia dismises this and presumably seduces him. The scene then moves to a Predacon space station near Cybertron. The station is disrupted by the wavefront, provoking a meeting of the Tripredacus Council.
The Tripredacus Council causes a strategically placed satellite to explode, diverting the wavefront away from Cybertron's sensors. The Council then sends their agent Ravage source of the wavefront in an experimental stealth ship to destroy Megatron and all witnesses that could expose the hidden agenda of the Predacon Alliance.
Silverbolt returns to the Maximal base and has an unwanted discussion with Rattrap, revealing the nature of his meeting with Blackarachnia. Megatron, Inferno, Rampage, Quickstrike and Waspinator launch a full-scale assault on the Maximal base, almost destroying the shields. Ravage appears in a fully cloaked ship and uses the ship's firepower to disperse the attack just in time. Ravage secretly enters the Maximal base, disarms everyone inside, then apologizes for such paranoia and agrees to help the Maximals win the Beast Wars and return to Cybertron.
Although uneasy about his Decepticon origin, the Maximals, without any further options, board Ravage's ship and jump into Predacon territory from a high altitude. They then waste no time apprehending the surrounding Predacons. Megatron quickly sends Waspinator out of the base towards designated coordinates. Blackarachnia overhears this and follows him on her speeder. Suspecting where she is headed, Optimus tells Silverbolt to fire on her, but Silverbolt lets her escape. After contacting Tarantulas, Ravage gains unobstructed access to the base and imprisons Megatron, placing him under arrest.
[edit] Part 2
The second part of the Agenda picks up in the Maximal base. Silverbolt is being disciplined on his relationship with Blackarachnia. Optimus does not share the opinion that she can be brought over to the Maximal side and orders Cheetor to capture her. Silverbolt volunteers to do this instead, keeping Cheetor out of danger, but Optimus declines and confines him to quarters.
Happy to be sent on such an important mission, Cheetor first stands outside Silverbolt's room and apologizes for what he must do. Silverbolt apologizes as well then knocks out Cheetor and blasts his way out of the base. Rattrap sounds the alarm but does not manage to stop Silverbolt's escape.
On Ravage's ship, Megatron continues to bargain with Ravage, noting that not only does Ravage not plan on rescuing any survivors as the Maximals hope (or, in fact, leave any behind), but also that he is unable to leave, regardless due to the ship's energon depletion, facts that Ravage freely admits. Megatron offers a secret store of energon cubes in exchange for his freedom. Ravage then reveals that he already knows of the stash's location from a traitor in Megatron's midsts: Tarantulas, secretly a lieutenant of the Predacon Secret Police and agent of the Tripredacus Council.
Optimus and Cheetor fly to the location of the energon cubes and discuss Silverbolt's treachery. Upon entering the mountian, they discover that the only energon in the area is unstable. Inferno then attacks and destroys the mountain before suffering too much energon exposure himself.
Silverbolt finds Blackarachnia, and lands atop the stasis pod with her. After some arguing Blackarachnia shoots him in the leg, then kisses him. Distracted, they crash into Waspinator (whom Blackarachnia was following), blowing Waspinator to bits, along with the stasis pod. Silverbolt saves Blackarachnia from the fall and helps her dig through the wreckage where Waspinator was sent.
Learning of Primal and Cheetor's narrow escape, Ravge realises Megatron has been manipulating him and decides to eliminate him with his ship's internal armaments, stating that the original Megatron was a much better leader than his successor. Hoping to change his mind, Megatron tells him the real reason behind his journey to Earth - when he stole the Golden Disk, he discovered a message from the original Megatron telling how to use transwarp technology to go back in time to alter history by killing Optimus Prime. A doubting Ravage nonetheless allows Megatron to show him proof - and Megatron shows him a recording encoded by Megatron, with orders to go back in time to before The Ark reactivated and change history.
After seeing this incredible rationale for Megatron's questionable actions, Ravage releases him and turns his ship on the Maximals. Primal and Cheetor fly back to base, only to be radioed by Rattrap that Ravage has switched sides - as the former Decepticon's ship rises behind them with Megatron standing on its nose. Ravage transforms into his familar cassette mode as the ship opens fire...
[edit] Part 3
The final chapter in the Agenda begins with the Maximals desperately fighting Ravage's superior ship. Primal and Cheetor manage to temporarily drive it off, but they are taken out by Megatron as Rampage and Quickstrike mount their own attack on the Axalon. After Tarantulas arms a cruise missile, Rattrap realizes that he must stop the ship. He drives off a ramp onto the hull, then burns and chews his way through. He throws two bombs at Tarantulas then jumps off to see the ship explode and crash, killing Ravage. The missile then fires and disables Rampage. Megatron escapes and begins flying away from his base. Optimus knows that he is heading to the Ark and gets every Maximal to chase him down.
Blackarachnia and Silverbolt dig through the tunnel to the Ark and discover that Megatron originally buried the tunnel to protect what was inside. They eventually make it through and approach the doors of the Ark which appears to be inside a volcano. Blackarachnia explains to Silverbolt that the Ark was the ship that crashed on Earth containing the finest Autobots from Cybertron and that all Transformers inside went into emergency stasis after it was shot down, not to awake until an eruption in 1984.
Megatron enters the volcano and seals the entrance once again. He realizes that Blackarachnia must have downloaded the access codes to the Ark from the Golden Disk and threatens to kill Silverbolt if she does not give Megatron access. Blackarachnia agrees and disappears behind the Ark's doors with Megatron, just before the Maximals make it through the cave.
Blackarachnia fires at the Maximals with an Autobot gun turret while Megatron tours the halls containing the dormant Autobots and Decepticons. The Maximals destroy the gun turret and begin to open the doors, but before they can get inside, Megatron blasts Optimus Prime. A huge timestorm envelops, the mountain, then the Earth, then multiple planets in all different locations throughout time and space. The Maximals start to recede from the universe itself leaving Megatron in complete victory and leaving viewers to wait for season 3.
[edit] Reaction
Many original Transformers fans who initially disliked Beast Wars, enjoyed the Agenda and its undeniable relation to the G1 Transformers.
The season ending was well liked because fans believed it was daring, dramatic and very unexpected. Many fans were left wondering how the Maximals would resolve the situation in the next year of the series. Some also thought that it would be the end of the show, with no resolution. The many new characters and technologies first shown in the Agenda also contribute to its merit in the Beast Wars series.
[edit] Trivia
- The first episode of Season 3 was originally called The Agenda (Part 4), eventually being renamed Optimal Situation.
- The Tripredacus toy has beast modes for all three generals and a combined form. None of these were shown in their meeting.
- The script names the Tripredacus Generals. Seaclamp is on the left, Ramhorn is on the right and Cicadacon is in the middle. Originally, the Generals were going to refer to each other by name in the episode, but a request by Hasbro prevented it, as the CGI models for the Generals weren't toy-perfect, making it hard for anyone who owned the toy to relate them to the Generals. The gestalt name "Tripredacus", however, was allowed to stay in.
- The script gives Blackarachnia the line "No slag, Sherlock" but this was changed to "No duh, Dogboy" so that the word shit was not even implied.
- A flashback scene accompanies Blackarachnia's explanation of the Ark. It shows an early conceptual version of The Nemesis, possibly because Blackarachnia does not know what the Nemesis actually looked like as well as Megatron. It also somewhat misinterprets the battle between the Nemesis and the Ark, showing both ships shooting each other out of the sky. Though a space battle may or may not have been part of the incident that sent the Ark crashing to Earth, depending on the source, all other retellings also show the Ark being boarded by the Decepticons, just prior to the Ark's descent, something that wasn't shown or mentioned in the Beast Wars retellings. Because of the ambiguity the cartoon shows to which Generation 1 continuity is its established canon, and the fact that the incident itself is revered by the characters as mythical (despite the fact that Transformers alive during the event {like Ravage} are still existent during their time), this may or may not be an error.
- When digging through rubble, Silverbolt points at the planet Venus and tells Blackarachnia that it reminds him of her. Though an obvious reference to the Roman goddess of love that it was named after (though Blackarachnia misinterpretes the reference literally, noting how the planet itself is "hot, poisonous and deadly"), some fans believe it is also a sly nod to Blackarachnia's voice actor, Venus Terzo.
- When the camera departs from Siverbolt and Blackarachnia in their inital meeting, Silverbolt's foot exhibits the Babinski Reflex.
- When Waspinator is smashed to pieces by Blackarachnia's ship, a toilet is visible in the falling fragments.
- Bob Forward and Larry DiTillio consulted Benson Yee for Transformers insight.
- At the end of Part II Ravage yells "Decepticons FOREVER!". This line was originally accompanied by an audio clip from the G1 cartoon theme song. However, due to legal reasons the music was removed before the episode aired. According to an audio commentary by Bob Forward and Larry DiTillio on the 10th Anniversary Season 2 DVD set, the scene promoted a standing ovation from the staff when the original theme song was still in.
[edit] External links
- [1] - Agenda 1 at BWTF
- [2] - Agenda 2 at BWTF
- [3] - Agenda 3 at BWTF
- [4] - Agenda 1 at BWINT
- [5] - Agenda 2 at BWINT
- [6] - Agenda 3 at BWINT
| Preceded by "Transmutate" |
Transformers episodes | Followed by "Optimal Situation" |
