"Transmetal" forms, and the conflict reached a new level with an exceptionally tightly-plotted story arc that included the revelation that the planet was Earth, the death of Dinobot and more alien conflicts. Story elements laid through the season once again came to a head with a three-part conclusion that firmly tied Beast Wars to the Generation 1 timeline, featuring guest appearances from Transformers of that era and displaying that the Beast Warriors came from their future, and were currently in the prehistoric past. This link proved key to the third and final season in 1998, running to another 13 episodes, in which the Maximals had to defend their past and future against Megatron's attempts to alter history. Longtime Transformers comic scribe Simon Furman was brought on board to script the final episode, which concluded with the end of the Beast Wars, and the Maximal's departure for Cybertron. Although controversial among fans in its early days due to its complete re-imagining of the Transformers concept, today, it is not uncommon to find long-time Transformers fans - even those who have grown up with the franchise since 1984 - who consider Beast Wars to be their favorite Transformers series. Beast Wars II Just as with the Generation 1 timeline, Japan was quick to get in on the act when Beast Wars took off. The first season of the North American animated series was imported and dubbed with an increase in humor, under the title of Beast Wars: Super Lifeform Transformers, but due to the short length of the second season, it proved necessary to wait until both it and the third season were completed before any more could be broadcast. In order to fill the ensuing gap, 1997 debuted the Japanese-original cel-animated series, the 43-episode Beast Wars II (also known as Beast Wars Second or Beast Wars The Second). The series featured an entirely new cast of Maximals and Predacons - led by Lio Convoy and Galvatron, respectively - fighting on the planet Gaia - a future Earth, devastated by the power of the energy source the two factions seek, Angolmois energy. Although largely looked down upon for its very light-hearted approach when compared to the darker North American series, Beast Wars II proved successful enough to spawn a theatrical movie, consisting of three "acts". The first act was a recap of the original Beast Wars television show up to that point,