Protoform consist of a hard metal superstructure surrounded by what lookslike a grey gel but is in reality millions of itty bitty machines, capableof replicating and assuming most forms of life. In roughly the center ofthe protoform is the Spark which gives the protoform sentience.

The pod itself is little more than massive banks of computers, surroundedby a protective shell. It lands and it does its job.Ideally, this job is simple to send out a DNA scan, find a comptabilelifeform and give the protoform its first "Transforming" identity. In theevent no such lifeform is found, the protoform eitther remains in stasisor in extreme cases takes a kind of generic robotic form.

The secret to the protoform identity is in the programming chip. In thecase of a Maximal stasis pod, this chip provides pre-programmed knowledgeof Cybertron and the Maximals as a race. When (as in Spider's Game) aPred reaches the pod, if he or she is technologically competent and hasthe right components, The Maximal chip can be overriden with a "shell"program which makes the protoform believe it is a Predacon. On BeastWars, only Megatron, Tarantulas and POSSIBLY Blackarachnia have the skillto pull this off (oh and by the way, if an attempt is made to remove theshell program, there is a failsafe which will destroy the converted Pred'ssystems.)

Rhinox could POSSIBLY restore a converted Pred, given the right equipmentand time, but it would be a very dangerous effort.

In the case of our show, several of our on-planet warriors were born withwhat you could call" Birth defects" due to malfunctioning systems in thePods. This was pretty clearly shown in "The Spark" but also applies toTigatron coming on-line.

Pods also have built-in signal functions which generally enable them to betracked by their owners. On the Beast Wars planet, the energon fieldsbasically prevented this.

In "Other Voices" all of the orbiting pods got hit by the solar/energonburst which began superheating the planet. This brought them all down andscattered them around the planet. The majority of them were destroyed andthose that are left are pretty badly damaged.

Stasis pods on their own cannot make Transwarp jumps, their structure istoo flimsy and they would simply be torn apart. Tarantulas was taking arisky gamble in his attempt to leave the planet but was convinced he coulddo it and he certainly has the technological skill.

Pods can't be used as repair chambers and they cannot create protoforms.
Protoforms come from two vast complexes back on Cybertron, one is calledThe Matrix, the other the Pit (well originally we called it The Inferno,but then Hasbro could only come up with the name Inferno for ole blenderbutt and we bit the bullet and changed it to avoid confusion)...
Anyway, that ought to give you fanatics something to chew on...
Now I have to go away and write episodes 32 and 33...see ya

Larry DiTillio
Story Editor - Beast Wars