Transformers 7's Beast Wars callback shows how far the franchise has come
Transformers: Rise of the Beast draws inspiration from the early Transformers' Beast Wars storyline, showing how the series has come to be.
Much of Transformers: Rise of the Beast's trailer is a throwback to the original Beast Wars CGI show, and it's a testament to how far the franchise has come. Rise of the Beasts brings Maximals, Terrorcons, and Predacons to the Transformers live-action series, and the trailer showcases the new additions. One thing the trailer makes clear through its overt references to Beast Wars is that the CGI work in the Transformers movies has always been impressive.
Since Michael Bay's Transformers began its modern iteration of the franchise in 2007, the CGI work on display is impressive. While there are many issues plaguing Bay's presence on the team, the visuals aren't one of them. Now, with the official trailer for Transformers: Rise of the Beast, an apparent look back at the early CGI work proves just how well the franchise has grown.
Transformers Continues To Thrive In CGI Filmmaking
One of the main reasons behind this is that the CGI work of the original Beast Wars cartoon was extremely outdated. A sequel to the 1980s cartoon Transformers, Beast Wars became one of the first fully CGI television shows to run from 1996 to 1999. Due to the early status of CGI At that time, the effects naturally seemed dated compared to what computer animation can achieve today. However, despite this disparity in quality, the show only proves that the creatives responsible for Beast Wars were right to lean toward CGI filmmaking, as evidenced by the fact that the Transformers franchise is still thriving.
While Transformers (and Transformers 7 in particular) is clearly a franchise that is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to pull off in practice, the success of the CGI live-action Transformers should not be underestimated. From Bay's introduction of giant robots in a way that blends with real environments and people, to updates to the old G1 design evident in Bumblebee, the Transformers franchise continues to thrive. This was only cemented by the trailer for Transformers: Rise of the Beast, in which some of the Beast War scenes were almost shot-by-shot remakes.
Every Beast Wars Callback From The Rise Of The Beasts Trailer
One of the callbacks takes the form of Optimus Primal, the leader of the Maximals, who transforms into a giant gorilla. The Transformers 7 trailer shows him transforming into a more action-oriented mode, mimicking footage from the original Beast Wars. Another shot reminiscent of Beast Wars is Cheetor, aptly named Maximal, is a new character in Transformers: Rise of the Beast who transforms into a cheetah. In the trailer, Cheetor runs alongside Bumblebee, a reference to the original Cheetor.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023) vs. Beast Wars: Transformers (1996) #Transformers pic.twitter.com/nbL7Li8lWJ— IGN (@IGN) December 5, 2022
Another shot of Cheetor sees him running in cheetah form before jumping off a rock and transforming into robot form, a direct reference to his very similar move in his Beast Wars counterpart, in which Cheetor also performs a flip mid-transition. The final callback for Beast Wars is Rhinox, Maximals' technologist and second in command. While not as expansive as the other shots, the Rhinox roars straight at the camera, which is the same shot as in Beast Wars. All of these shots, which can be seen in the tweet above, show the difference in quality and how Transformers thrive in CGI filmmaking, as evidenced by the designs in Transformers: Rise of the Beast.
