Beast Megatron - Beast Wars - Animated Series - Beast Wars Season 3

Beast Wars Season 3

With this fatal injury, time began to destabilize, until Optimus Primal took Prime's spark into his body to protect it while repairs were made. The timeline was preserved, but Megatron was now more determined than ever to claim victory.

After a series of experiments in creating new transmetal upgrades using the alien Transmetal Driver - yielding a transmetal 2 clone of Dinobot Megatron sought to duplicate the upgrade that Optimus Primal had undergone when he internalised Optimus Prime's spark. Stealing aboard The Ark once again, Megatron took the spark of the original Megatron into his body, only to find the process was not as smooth as that which had created Optimal Optimus, as his ancestor's spark proved difficult to assimilate into his body. As he struggled to survive, Tarantulas betrayed Megatron by having Quickstrike (who was using a device to control the massive power of Optimal Optimus) hurl the helpless Megatron into a lava pit. Shortly after, as Tarantulas exited The Ark, Megatron rose from the pit, the power of his ancestor's spark having mutated him into a powerful fire and ice breathing dragon form. After throwing the astonished traitor into a lava pit he engaged and almost defeated Optimus Primal, before the arrival of the other Maximals drove him away. However, it is heavily implied that Megatron had received an additional powerboost while he held the G1 Megatron's spark, for he told Primal- "Did you think you could stand against the fury of BOTH Megatrons?"

The Predacons then suffered a crippling blow when their base was destroyed by Tigerhawk, a Vok-created hybrid of Airazor and Tigatron with control over the elements sent to stop Megatron interfering further with the timeline. Even Megatron's mighty dragon mode was defeated, but Megatron was saved by the most unlikely transformer of all - Optimus Primal, who viewed the damage that would be done to the timeline by the destruction of the original Megatron's spark (housed in Megatron's body) as just as bad as the damage caused if Megatron was successful in murdering Optimus Prime.

Despite this setback, Megatron then began his most daring scheme yet and seized the power of the crashed Decepticon space cruiser, the Nemesis, after discovering that the recently deceased Tarantulas had been repairing it for his own purposes. He attempted to unleash its power on The Ark as well as dispatching most of his remaining troops to destroy the early human settlement. He would engage Optimus Primal in a final battle as his own troops fell all around him (some, ironically, by his own hand) or, in the case of the Dinobot clone and the long-suffering Waspinator, betrayed him. Before the final blow could be struck, Rhinox, tipped off as to its location by the Dinobot clone, crashed an Autobot shuttle into the bridge of the Nemesis, crippling the ship and forcing it to crash. Megatron's plans had finally been thwarted and he was at last captured by the Maximals. After returning the original Megatron's spark to his body (in a cut scene from the final episode), the Maximals chained Megatron to the upper hull of their craft, as they blasted off from Earth and entered transwarp space, heading back to Cybertron.

Although the Beast Wars show would establish Megatron as a smooth, manipulative villain always thinking a step ahead, the Japanese dub of the show and the later Beast Wars Metals (seasons two and three) would change Megatron's personality completely. To inject more humor into the show, the dub made Megatron out to be little more than a bumbling idiot whose main characteristic was screaming in a high-pitched voice whenever someone attacked him, a move that did not go over well with the Japanese audience.