Not as bad as everyone thinks. Beast Machines is better in some respects (Better graphics, better overall character interaction) and weaker on others (the plot has been rather uninspired, except for a few beautiful moments). Beast Wars (or Beasties as it's known in Canada) had three seasons, starting with maximal(autobot) and predacon(decepticon) ships crashing into the planet's surface, and ending with a temporal paradox. From there, it skips quite a bit and jumps into Beast Machines.

Resource sites:


www.bobskir.com
www.bwtf.com
www.bigbot.com
www.epguides.com