The scene starts off on a distant world. It is a dark, brown, rocky wasteland. The relentless howling of the wind is abruptly broken by explosions and gun fire. It is a full scale battle. A large mountain with cannon turrets blow away entrenched Transformers below. Magmatron laughs maniacally as he watches from a screen.

In the distant horizon we see a large black silhouette. It moves in. Guns blaze at him, but the figure dodges the enemy artillery with ease. Magmatron's screen goes blank. The ceiling above him collapses and the figure jumps in. Realising that this robot has managed to infiltrate his very own throneroom single-handedly, Magmatron soon recognises him as the legendary "One Man Army"... Big Convoy! Magmatron attacks with his Magma Blade, but Big Convoy counters with the Big Cannon. We see the mountain base exploding from the outside as Big Convoy walks away proudly with the Big Cannon.

A lone Cybertron starfighter flies through space. Big Convoy is piloting. He receives an incoming transmission. He is told that Vector Sigma has ordered him to report to Cybertron camp. Alarm klaxons sound as his starfighter approaches the Cybertron Camp, barely visible through its cloaking device.
Inside the space station are ships and animals. Among them we see a bear, seal, giraffe, bird, crocodile, monkey, impala, otter, penguin, komodo dragon, ostrich, walrus, koala and a kangaroo (with boxing gloves - *shudder*).

We see Big Convoy by himself in a room. He looks around and soon a platform in front of him gives way as the three members of the Convoy Council arise. The Council tells Big Convoy that he has a new assignment to teach new recruits. Big Convoy protests, saying that teaching is not his job. The Council tells him that they are not asking him, but that Sabretron's Divine Computer, Vector Sigma, has decreed so.

In the Space Dock, we see a shuttle fly up screen. There are four battle cruisers in dock, the last one being the Gunho.

On the bridge are Corahda, Long Rack, Stampy, Heinlad and Break. Break Maximises, scaring Stampy. Break introduces himself and demands Stampy to tell him who he is. Stampy Maximises and does so. Corahda Maximises, scaring Stampy. He also introduces himself to his new shipmates. Long Rack Maximises. Heinlad Maximises and tries to convince everyone to get along, since they're going to be stuck with each other for quite a while. Break wonders who their new drill seargant will be. He suggests that the should 'test' him out. Corahda is interested but Long Rack protests. However, Corahda says that they need to determine their new leader's true power.

Later, a door to the bridge opens and Big Convoy walks in. The bridge seems completely deserted. As Big Convoy walks in, a metal dome drops on him from above. The other Cybertrons come out of hiding and very sarcastically salute their new teacher, "welcoming" him aboard the Gunho. Break tells Stampy to release Big Convoy. Stampy flips a switch and the dome rises to reveal -- the Big Cannon! The other Cybertrons are shocked to see only the Big Cannon but no Big Convoy! Break walks up to the weapon for a closer looksee. Break looks up just to see Big Convoy falling onto him! Big Convoy holds Break up in an arm lock. He says, "How's this for true power?!" and throws Break away. Enraged, Break pulls out his gun. Big Convoy asks if he'd really fire that thing on board. Break then leads the others (except for Stampy) in an unarmed charge against Big Convoy. Big Convoy pulls out his tonfas and one by one, we see the defeated Cybertrons stacking on top of each other in their beast modes. Big Convoy sees Stampy cowering behind a console. When he realises that he's been discovered, he panics, apologises, transforms into beast mode, and falls on top of the pile of Cybertrons, feigning unconsciousness. Gasping for breath underneath the pile of animals, Break also apologises. Big Convoy suggests that they stop playing around from now on. The Cybertrons stand in line and salute. When Big Convoy tells them his name, they all go into a state of shock! They have all heard of the "One Man Army" (and are probably wondering why he got stuck babysitting them). Heinlad is excited though.

The Gunho launches from its berthing. Destination: Planet Gaea! Gunho transforms into Warp Mode. NAVI announces that the Gunho is ready for warp. Big Convoy gives the command to engage and the Gunho warps to Gaea.

After coming out of warp space, they see debris orbiting planet Gaea -- a telltale sign of war. Big Convoy promotes Long Rack to Lieutenant Commander and tells him to lead an away team.

Gunho's bow opens up and a launching rail lowers. It launches five re-entry pods. The entry into Gaea's atmosphere scares Stampy (uh, for once he actually is entitled to be frightened! Wouldn't you be?!?). On the planet's lush, green surface, some dinosaurs look up at the approaching pods. Magmatron tells the dinosaurs to eliminate the Cybertrons. The dinosaurs acknowledge his command.

Guiledart, Sabreback, Sling and Dead End Terrorise. The Destrons attack, catching the Cybertrons completely by surprise. The Maximals break formation, but Stampy's pod is shot down. Stampy transforms into his rabbit mode and scurries into the grass. Stampy finds a big flower blooming in the grass. A flock of birds behind him take flight, scaring Stampy and he stumbles onto the flower, which is a trap from the Destron, Sling.

The other Destrons arrive.

Suddenly, a shuttle appears from above and flies in. The other Cybertrons come out from hiding in the brush (in robot modes). Break recognises it as a shuttle from the Gunho and they all chase the shuttle, shouting. Big Convoy appears on the top deck and tells the Cybertrons to stop and orders them not to approach the shuttle. They ignore him. Big Convoy fires some warning shots to stop them.

Magmatron appears, holding Stampy by the ears. Big Convoy is mildly surprised that Magmatron lives. He stands down and lets Long Rack take command. Corahda protests against risking the lives of the entire team just to save one. Long Rack, Break and Heinlad attack. Dead End, Sling, Sabreback and Guiledart counterstrike.

Heinlad yells, "Time freeze!". Except for Heinlad, everything is black and white and immobilised. Heinlad runs quickly, muttering about how little time he has left. He pulls Stampy out of Magmatron's grasp and runs off, just as time resumes. Magmatron is dazed and confused and wonders if any magick was involved.  He fires a missile at Heinlad. Heinlad ducks and the missile heads for Big Convoy. There is an explosion and Big Convoy rises from the smoke and fires the Big Cannon at Magmatron. Although Magmatron blocks with his shield, he is still sent flying several metres into the air. Guiledart calls D-NAVI and tells her to beam them up.

Break scolds Stampy for causing so much trouble. Stampy cowers. Big Convoy assures Break that it's natural to be afraid. His spark crystal glows as Vector Sigma takes over his body to give the lesson of the day. Vector Sigma gives the "One for all, all for one" teamwork speech.

The Matrix guides Big Convoy to black box.

Back on the bridge of the Gunho, NAVI activates the black box. A hologram of Lio Convoy appears. Lio Convoy talks about the battle between his Cybertrons with Galvatron's Destrons on planet Gaea and that although the Cybertrons won, it was not a cost. The Angolmois Energy capsules were now spread throughout the galaxy.

Big Convoy declares a quest for the Angolmois Energy capsules.

In an asteroid field, the Destron warship, Dinosaur glides by. Inside, D-NAVI is lecturing the Destrons for their failure. Magmatron swears to gather the Angolmois capsules.
 

Big Convoy is obviously not to enthralled about leading a pack of raw hides into battle. The opening sequence also showed that he is a soldier who is defiinitely used to working under his own agenda.

The use of the Convoy Council was interesting. I see it as an extension of the references to the "Maximal Council of Elders" made during the CG series. So these are the guys whom the Tripredacus Council are playing political chess with! I found it was interesting to put that military element back into Beast Wars.

Stampy - ooh, I just wanna strangle that little sod!! The only time I sympathised with his fear was during the entry into Gaea's atmosphere. Okay, you're hurtling at over nine metres per second and the only thing that's stopping you from burning up is a sled - righto, you can be scared. I'd be soilin' myself! But getting scared by a flock of birds?! Getting scared when other Transformers around you -- transform?? Okay, it might startle a human, but Stampy's a Transformer!! It's obvious that the writers are using his fear as a comedy schtick... but it's not a very good one. In fact, it's just downright lame.Kill Stampy. He's the Beast Wars equivalent of Wheelie! (except Wheelie had courage! You'd have to be brave to throw a hot rock at Grimlock - either that or you're downright stupid... hmmm...)

The other characters are alright. Heinlad's slow and dulled "Ram Man" speech is kinda weird and can get annoying at times though. Anyone noticed that Break sounds like a girl, but talks like a guy?! What's the deal with that?

The link between Beast Wars II and Beast Wars Neo was kinda cool, establishing the premise as a continuation of the last series, rather than being a totally new one (get my point??).

Right.