I have mix feelings on Beast Machines. It was good by itself, but disappointing compared to Beast Wars.
Pros:
Animation was great looking
Cheetor, Black Arachnia, and Silverbolt's characters improved
I liked the additional characters -- Botanica and Nightscream
From what I watched, the stories were good
Cons:
Did not like Optimus and Ratrap in the series, both in appearence and character
Having know knowledge of the G1 Transfomers, I really did not 'get' Cybertron
I liked the old system of Predacons vs. Maximals...Maximals vs. Megatron's head just didn't do it for me
Several characters I liked (Airazor, Tigertron, and Dinobot) were dead
