The Original Concept for TFP S3: Maximals and Predacons on Cybertron
So, I think we all know about the general fuckery surrounding TFP’s production, especially around season three...
Hasbro: Still Does Not Know How to Effectively Produce Shows Despite Doing So Since the 1980s
While we’ll never know all the details, presumably because a lot of these people still work for Hasbro in some capacity and would almost certainly like to keep their jobs lmao, we do have this:
“Dropped plans included a S3 set mostly on Cybertron, with Maximals and Predacons in a 'wild west' set up...” - TF Wiki
“...the creatives behind Prime didn't want to be beholden to older stuff... Then the incoming Prime director abruptly changed Beast Hunters plans and clashed with Hasbro.” - TF Wiki 2
And we have some details from a convention, courtesy of @sunnybutte here, which provides further proof that S3 was originally planned to be radically different from the Beast Wars season that we got.
This is likely due to internal conflict between creative teams/directors/Hasbro, the mess that was trying to implement the Aligned Continuity overall, and serious budget issues that are hinted to have started back in S2′s production period-- On top of the tight time constraints in which episodes had to be completely re-conceptualised, re-scripted, and re-animated! Yikes.
We do have a single blatant hint in the show, on screen, as to what S3 was originally supposed to be!
In the episode Operation Bumblebee Part 2, when Ratchet is coming out of sedation (stasis), he rambles a bit; You can hear the relevant dialogue here at around 2:54.
Now, I have a hearing disability, and it’s hard for me to make out exactly what Ratchet is saying because his speech is slurred from the sedation in this scene.
As a result, this is the best transcript I can provide:
Ratchet: “I... am able! Just ask Bantor! He was all mandrill before I put a tiger in his tank!”
One Line of Dialogue with Many Implications!
Now, Bantor is a Maximal from Beast Wars.
Ratchet’s dialogue here confirms that Maximals do exist in TFP’s canon, and that Ratchet is responsible for converting Bantor into a Fuzor.
(I vaguely remember Fowler also saying “What’s a fuzor?!?!” at some point in TFP, and it might even be in this episode as well, but I can’t seem to find a clip of it at the moment!)
Jokes For Old People: Thanks, Ratchet
Also, I love the meta joke of the “tiger in his tank” line; Many of you possibly saw this noted on TF Wiki as I think they point it out somewhere (probably in the episode page), but it’s a reference to an old Esso gasoline tagline!
It counts as a double meta joke, because not only is it a dual reference to Beast Wars and Esso, but it’s also a tagline that hasn’t been used in at least a couple decades---
---Which is also a play on Ratchet’s age and the age of potential audience members watching the show.
Younger people might have caught the Beast Wars reference but not the Esso reference, while older people would have caught the Esso reference as well.
In Conclusion: My Posts Are Always Long, I Know
Anyway, it sucks that executive meddling keeps messing up good shows, and I would have loved to have seen a season based on Cybertron with all of the main Autobot characters engaging with Maximals and Predacons.
Not that the S3 we got was bad or anything, but I think it definitely derailed things, and the original concept would have likely worked out better overall-- Although of course, we’ll never know...
...Because Hasbro sunk $250,000+ into the Aligned Continuity bible, which they never used again.
Thanks for reading all this, and if you have any thoughts about TFP S3 (either the one we got or the one we didn’t), I’d love to hear it!