Subscribe!Challenge of the GoBots (1984)
First episode title: Battle for GoBotron
How familiar with the show am I?: I am somewhat aware of it due to its Transformers connections.
The Transformers is of course now the most famous of the transforming robot franchises, at least outside of Japan, but when it first came along it had plenty of competition, the most prominent of which was GoBots. And GoBots had its own cartoon, debuting just a few weeks after the Transformers cartoon! Let's see what it has to offer.
Little trivia digression: GoBots was made by Tonka, which has since been bought by Hasbro, so Transformers media in later years has been able to work in a bunch of GoBots references.
After an action-packed opening sequence with the catchy lyrics "the GoBots, the GoBots", we see a familiar sight - a pan across space towards a metal planet accompanied by dramatic narration explaining the backstory. If this had been released some time later, I'd say the similarity to Transformers was intentional. This particular metal world is called GoBotron, which is explicitly in the Milky Way on one of the spiral arms, and it has a very unique appearance with an exposed core and two hemispheres mushrooming out from it, with various floating disconnected platforms all around.
As we see some robots flying around, which seems to be a standard ability for all GoBots, we're told that the planet is ruled by the Guardians and that their enemies are the evil Renegades. Such straightforward names... so untrademarkable. The narrator says that the Renegade leader is named Cy-Kill, and then there's a lovely shot of a pair of doors being blown up to reveal Cy-Kill and two other Renegades standing behind it.
Cy-Kill himself is the red, white, and blue robot - what a stereotypically heroic colour scheme to give to the main villain! He orders his comrades back to their hideout, the blue robot to his left simply says "Yes, Cy-Kill", and, as they fly off, the black robot to his right lets out a very distinctive evil laugh that we'll be hearing a lot more of as we go on.
In the damaged building they've left behind, an injured robot with sparks coming out of his shoulder gives us our first Guardian dialogue.
Rest-Q: Help! Hans-Cuff! The Renegades have just stolen the Astrobeam!
Hans-Cuff: Leave it to me, Rest-Q!
Hans-Cuff flies off after the fleeing Renegades, and Cy-Kill fires a burst of flame towards a building down below for no particular benefit. I guess that's just what Renegades do. Cy-Kill says they'll need to speed up, and now we see some transformations for the first time, which is a dramatic enough moment that the narrator comes back just to call attention to it. It's actually slightly hilarious to see that the main villain's alternate mode is such a goofy-looking motorcycle (hence his name, see?), especially since his face is still clearly visible between the handlebars. The actual transformation animations themselves seem to be a lot more toy-accurate than in Transformers, as if they were using the instruction booklets as a reference, which makes the process look a bit less fluid but also a bit more physically possible. Still, I like the way he easily goes from flying through the air to driving on the ground.
Blue robot Cop-Tur stows the stolen Astrobeam device, which looks like a TV or projector, in his chest before changing into his helicopter mode, and black robot Crasher becomes a sports car, so she also lowers down to the ground as part of the process. Yes, GoBots was way ahead of Transformers by having a female robot in its first episode!
To pursue them, Hans-Cuff likewise converts into his police car mode. It kind of highlights the fact that none of these characters seem to have GoBotron-specific vehicle modes - I don't know, something about actual police car livery feels much more "Earth" than any of those other vehicle modes, even if they are all recognisable as vehicles. And he even sounds his siren! But what he does do that Earth police cars don't is fire lasers out of his lightbar, somehow missing all the Renegades completely. Crasher transforms back to robot mode and she stomps on the ground, releasing some kind of green lightning that blasts Hans-Cuff, leaving him a smoking wreck. Crasher gets to let out her second cackle before she's even had a proper line, and flees with the other Renegades.
The next scene is a meeting at Guardian headquarters. Guardian leader Leader-1 - yep, that's his name - says it's time to finally deal with the Renegades, and the gathered robots show general support. A couple of red robots draw our attention here, since they get named - Turbo is almost violently enthusiastic to wipe them out, saying "we've sat on our circuits long enough" in an interesting look at GoBot anatomy, whereas the nervous-sounding Scooter thinks they're rushing into it too fast. Scooter sounds very familiar, since he's played by Frank Welker using a similar voice to what he would go on to use for Glomer and Seymour. And yes, Frank Welker is more famously Megatron on Transformers, so he was advertising two rival toylines at once!
Meanwhile, at Renegade headquarters, Cy-Kill is explaining to his troops that the Astrobeam is a temporary matter transporter. He, Cop-Tur, and Crasher are going to head to Earth to establish a base there, with the help of a human contact they have, and they'll use the Astrobeam whenever they need to call in some backup. This Astrobeam idea is interesting - it sounds like the effect "wears off" and whoever was transported gets sent back where they came from? It doesn't come into play yet in this instalment, anyway.
Some generic Renegade who isn't going to be relevant this time informs Cy-Kill that Guardians have been spotted, right before the headquarters shakes from the force of the Guardians' attack, making the warning pretty pointless. Cy-Kill tells a red robot called Fitor to take charge while he and the others are away.
Outside, we see the Guardian army. Leader-1 and Scooter are in a big battle vehicle which is firing at the base, while other characters including Turbo attack on foot. Leader-1 makes a comment about how the Renegades may have activated the energy shields, right before Turbo unleashes a blast that puts huge holes in the walls and certainly makes it look like there are no shields! Just like flying, being able to shoot lasers and such out of one's bare hands seems to be an ordinary GoBot ability.
As Cy-Kill and Fitor pass a huge cage, Fitor asks Cy-Kill whether he can use Zod against the Guardians, but Cy-Kill wants to save him until he needs him. On cue, a big blue bestial head pops out from between the bars and roars. This is yet another thing that's setting up for future episodes, so we don't need to worry about it now. But that's Zod, apparently.
Leader-1 transmits a message to the screens in the Renegade base to demand that Cy-Kill surrender, so Cy-Kill gives the order to open fire on the Guardians, several large guns emerging from the headquarters itself. Why he didn't do that as soon as the attack started I'm not sure. None of the Guardians seem to get hurt, but Cy-Kill's spaceship gets away in the chaos, and Leader-1 declares that they're going to have to go after him.
In the spaceship, Cy-Kill orders Crasher to take them into hyperspace and Crasher does one of her trademark laughs, this time about the idea of conquering Earth. Hyperspeed is represented by a trail of wireframe outlines streaking from the ship, which looks very cool.
Next, we see Earth! We're still seeing it from space, and there's even a little bit of soundtrack that sounds like a reference to the start of "Also sprach Zarathustra" as used in 2001: A Space Odyssey. A NASA spaceship of some kind is flying around and we hear some chatter from the people inside.
Nick: Hey, what's that, Matt?
Matt: That's Australia, Nick!
You would hope that someone who can't recognise Australia from above would not be on a NASA mission. We see the people inside - a man with a moustache (Matt Hunter), a younger man (Nick), and a young woman (AJ), and while Nick and AJ are young, they're not small children!
They get a video call from a grey-haired man who addresses them as "Intrepid", which must be the name of the ship. He refers to himself as "Dr Braxis". The similarity to "Praxis" is giving me Dr Paradigm vibes. Braxis berates Matt for being off-course, which was apparently intentional on Matt's part to show the "new recruits" some views of the Earth. This phrasing certainly suggests the kids are actual NASA employees, who I would've assumed would be required to at least know some basic geography! Braxis is evidently at a base on Earth - we get a big panning shot of a control centre with people working at big computers.
Braxis: Need I remind you that you're not running a sightseeing shuttle, young man? You are scheduled to repair the Argos communications satellite on your next orbit. I suggest you correct your trajectory without delay.
Alright, dad. On Braxis's side, another older man asks what's wrong, and Matt tells "General Newcastle" that he's correcting his orbit now. I guess he's the one who is actually in charge - Braxis's title makes him sound more like some kind of scientific advisor.
Back at the Guardian base, Leader-1, Turbo, and Scooter are preparing to leave in a vehicle just like the one they used in the battle, in pursuit of Cy-Kill. They mention that Scooter was the one who calculated the Renegades' trajectory, in case you were worried that the nervous cowardly character would be completely useless.
So the Guardians now know the destination is Earth, although they don't seem to be particularly familiar with it as Leader-1 talks about the need to protect "that planet". They get in their vehicle and it blasts off in an interesting way - legs like those on a Star Wars AT-AT extend from the bottom and emit flames until it's reached space, at which point they fold up and it blasts fire from its back end like an ordinary rocket instead.
In space, but a different part of space, Nick and AJ are suited up and performing repairs on the Argos satellite. They tell Matt who's still on the ship that they're done, and he relays that message to Earth and says they'll be heading back, but Braxis insists that they test the satellite is working first. After communications close, Matt complains that Braxis is "a real pain in the orbit". Ah, so it's not just robots that talk like that!
On the Renegade spaceship, Cy-Kill orders Cop-Tur to turn on the ship's cloaking device, while on the Guardian ship, Scooter spots the Renegades. On the NASA shuttle, the youngsters are back on board, and Dr Braxis is very snarkily telling them all via video call that they've surprisingly managed to repair the satellite so they have permission to head back to Earth.
But then they spot the Renegade ship - Nick calls it "a UFO the size of Cleveland" - which initially made me think the script had immediately forgotten about the cloaking device, but it seems like it just affects scanners and not human eyes, as Braxis reports that he can't detect anything and AJ has the same result from the ship's instruments. The Renegade ship smashes the Argos satellite to pieces as it passes the shuttle! Apologies if you were hoping the satellite would do something plot-relevant.
Braxis is shocked that his satellite has been destroyed and gets in an argument with the General about it, and Matt says he's going to go after the UFO despite Newcastle ordering him back to base. Matt plays by his own rules, General! He's a... OK I shouldn't call him a "renegade", I suppose. But remember that the UFO is invisible to the people at the base, so Matt's actions make no sense to them.
Newcastle: Keep them on radar! Dispatch a team to arrest them when they land!
The Renegades have noticed that the Earth shuttle is following them, and of course the three of them agree that it needs to be destroyed, but Cy-Kill decides they had better do it where they won't be seen and brings the ship down to Earth. So they land and step out of the ship for the first time, and the humans on the shuttle, flying overhead, get their first ever glimpse of the GoBots!
Nick: Wow, that ship is huge!
AJ: And those things must be aliens!
Matt: They look like robots!
Depending on how you pronounce "aliens", that could be a haiku! Cy-Kill orders Cop-Tur to attack the humans, Cop-Tur transforms into helicopter mode, and Nick is now even more surprised by what he's seeing. Well, if he hasn't grown up with transforming robots in media, can you blame him? Cop-Tur fires on the shuttle and of course it's not designed for this kind of thing, so it almost immediately crash-lands. The humans are safe though - I'm no rocket scientist but I suppose the inside of a space shuttle does need to be able to withstand all kinds of things happening to the outside.
Still, they have to get out quickly and take cover because the shuttle is about to explode. No impressive explosion effect here - it happens off-screen! The Renegades see the fleeing humans, though. Crasher transforms into car mode with another cackle, and she and Cop-Tur chase the Earthlings into the ad break.
Back up in space, the Guardians are still locked on to the last known trajectory of the Renegades. It's not explicitly stated, but I would assume that, even if they couldn't pick up the Renegades on their instruments, they presumably manually adjusted their position simply based on visuals.
On Earth, Cop-Tur in helicopter form is firing at Nick and Matt but luckily not very precisely, and AJ is being pursued by Crasher, who transforms into robot mode and does her electric stomp trick again, destroying a rock that AJ was hiding behind. I don't know if it's just something in the way she's performed, but Crasher feels the most sadistic of the Renegades, seeming to enjoy the actual violence rather than just doing it to rid herself of an enemy. Also she calls AJ "honey" which is a lovely way to refer to someone you're about to kill.
Cy-Kill is back on the Renegade ship and he's talking to Crasher and Cop-Tur - I guess they have internal radios or something - telling them they're taking too long to get rid of the humans. Just then, on a monitor, he sees the Guardian ship landing. Its legs unfold as it descends, and Leader-1 and Turbo come flying out! Then there's a humorous little bit where the ship finishes landing, and Scooter, in the driver's seat, turns to tell Leader-1 that they've landed and realises that the others have already left - he hastily flies out behind them.
So, we've been waiting a while for it, but now we get our first proper battle between the Guardians and the Renegades! Turbo fires at Crasher, which distracts her from menacing AJ. Turbo picks up AJ, who, of course, has no idea this robot isn't just as evil as the others and yells out. But Turbo puts her in his cabin and transforms into car mode, telling her she'll be safe in here as he speeds away from an also-transformed Crasher. The inside of Turbo is a bit of a hilarious mismatch, with a futuristic-looking dashboard but an ordinary Earth steering wheel, not that he even needs one!
Cop-Tur is still firing at Nick and Matt, but Leader-1, flying over in robot mode, starts firing on the Renegade. Then he transforms to plane mode to chase him. Nick is able to tell that the new arrivals are on the humans' side - it's good that we're not going to have to wait for the main character humans to start trusting the Guardians, which is the sort of thing that can get tedious when a series like this starts out.
There's some more chase action from Crasher and Turbo, and then Cy-Kill transforms and joins in. I did mention how silly his motorcycle mode can look with his face still visible, but I have to be honest, when he starts shooting lasers out of his eyes in that form it flips back to looking really cool.
Cy-Kill's attack hits Turbo, who goes spinning off. He ejects AJ and then transforms into robot mode, sparking wires dangling around his face to show you he's injured. Nick and Matt rush over and tell AJ they need to leave, but AJ is concerned for Turbo's safety since he saved her. Scooter lands beside them, and quite sassily says "Turbo, look at you" as if it was Turbo's own fault that he's in this condition!
There are a few shots of Crasher and Cy-Kill speeding along but like, it's not clear what their current objective is? If they were going after Turbo they should have easily reached him by now, and Leader-1 and Cop-Tur are fighting in the air so they'd have to go into robot mode if they wanted to fly up and join them. Scooter is repairing Turbo but he also lets Leader-1 know what's up, again seemingly via radio.
Crasher and Cy-Kill then finally catch up to Scooter, Turbo, and the humans. Really not sure why it took so long. Crasher does another electric stomp but still manages not to hit anyone even though Turbo is currently just being dragged along by Scooter! Leader-1 transforms to robot mode and lands in front of his allies, protecting them with some kind of forcefield, but they're now being fired on by all three Renegades (Cop-Tur showing up still in helicopter mode) and Leader-1 despairs that the forcefield can only protect them temporarily.
Then Scooter says his sensors are detecting humans approaching, and we see a fleet of helicopters descending on the scene. Is this deus ex machina, or kind of the opposite? The Renegades recognise that they are now heavily outnumbered and retreat to their base. Leader-1 and Scooter also start to head back to their ship, carrying Turbo, while Matt demands to know what's going on - Leader-1 wants the humans to forget they ever saw anything to avoid causing panic, as Matt points out all the things like the destroyed shuttle that are going to be hard to explain otherwise. Then the Guardian ship makes use of those legs and actually walks away with the Guardians on board!
The helicopters must take the humans back to base off-screen - we rejoin Matt, Nick, and AJ in front of some sort of tribunal led by General Newcastle. He doesn't believe them about robots turning into vehicles, and neither does Braxis, who suggests that they're all covering up whatever incompetent thing Matt did to cause the shuttle to crash. So, Newcastle suspends their right to fly until the matter is resolved. I really thought he'd be more of a reasonable authority figure type that would try to see their side, but nope.
The trio all go to Matt's house that night.
Nick: This is a great house, Matt!
Matt: Thanks. Now if I can only find a job to pay for it.
AJ: Things aren't all that bad. They'll investigate everything, right?
Nick's looking through a telescope and wondering where the robots came from, when his view is blocked by a giant face - Leader-1 has come to the house! He seems to have had a major change of heart since asking them to forget him, as now he says he needs their help. It doesn't seem like they want to, because they struggle when he picks them up, but then he flies off with them!
At the Guardian base, Leader-1 has just finished explaining to the humans the whole story of them coming here, so luckily we don't have to hear it all again. Their problem is that Turbo, who appears to be unconscious, needs a critical component replaced or he won't survive, and the Guardians don't know where to get such a thing on Earth. Nick says he can get it from NASA's warehouse, and Leader-1 orders Scooter to go with him - of course, that makes Scooter nervous.
We hadn't seen Scooter's vehicle mode until now, but as you would expect he's a motor scooter, and Nick speeds along on him. Scooter's face is visible on the front of the vehicle just like Cy-Kill, so when he talks to Nick about the need to watch out for Renegades we can see them conversing, not that that makes it look any more normal that they're talking while one rides the other!
I guess Nick does still actually have a job with NASA even if he's not allowed to fly, despite Matt's comment earlier, because the guard at the warehouse does let him through although he mocks him about claiming to have seen robots. Scooter sarcastically responds "Very funny", leaving the guard very confused as Nick carries on into the warehouse grounds!
Had you forgotten that the Renegades have a contact on Earth? Because the next scene has the three Renegades talking to a human figure seated in darkness, Cy-Kill saying he'll keep his promise to give this human control of Earth once the Renegades' plan is complete. Cy-Kill asks for information about some kind of "sorium" energy crystal, the human leans into view... and I'd be surprised if you hadn't already guessed, it's Dr Braxis. Well yeah, we really haven't met many other people that could possibly be the villain, have we?
A quick scene at the Guardian base where Turbo's condition is worsening, and then we see Nick rushing back out of the warehouse and back onto Scooter with the components he has grabbed. A jeep with a few NASA people on it is approaching, so Scooter hides himself and Nick from view by projecting a hologram of a skip in front of them, using beams from his eyes. He says that holograms are his specialty - I wonder if he uses them often?
There's a bleeping, and Scooter transforms in shock, Nick falling to the ground! Scooter says he's detected Renegades in a nearby building, also on the warehouse grounds, and Nick suggests flying up to the building's skylight, yet another suggestion that scares Scooter. But he flies himself and Nick up there anyway, and the view from above is of the room we just saw Braxis in. Nick and Scooter see enough to learn that Braxis has made a deal with the Renegades... and then the skylight breaks and they fall through! Cop-Tur puts his helicopter blades in his hand, where they spin and could clearly be used as a pretty deadly weapon! But... that's all for now. Yep, this is another multi-part episode, a five-parter to be exact, so we'll be leaving the GoBots there!
It shouldn't be a surprise that I very much enjoyed this, since I'm already a big Transformers fan and this is more of the same. They also avoided the classic toyline-based-cartoon issue of trying to stuff too many characters from the line into each episode - the fact that we were only following three robots from each faction once the action reached Earth meant I got a better impression of who these characters were. More of this, please!
