Challenge of the GoBots


Challenge of the GoBots is an American animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera, based on the GoBots toyline released from Tonka. The show was first broadcast in syndication on September 8, 1984, then the show joined the weekday/weekend programming block The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera on September 15, 1985. It was later rerun on the USA Cartoon Express.

Summary

GoBots dealt with two opposing forces of transforming robots from the planet GoBotron: the heroic Guardians and the evil Renegades. The Guardians were led by Leader-1 while the Renegades were led by Cy-Kill. The characters rarely had guns, instead shooting energy blasts out of their fists. The female robots on the series, such as Crasher, were built like the males, but with some distinguishing female features. The GoBots' origin as GoBeings accounted for the presence of genders among the robots.
The series generally focused on a small number of robots from each faction who were virtually ever-present with other characters seeming to rotate in "guest-star" roles. GoBots had no clear division between the two factions. The characters had no identifying insignias or markings to indicate their allegiance, although it was indicated on the toy packaging. Likewise, there was no commonality of design within each faction. The only "theme" to a side was that anything that turned into a "monstrous-looking" robot or vehicle was a Renegade.

Plot

In the series’ backstory, thousands of years ago on planet GoBotron, there lived a race of human-like organic beings called GoBeings. Civil war erupted on the planet when the power-hungry terrorist group known as the Renegades arose, led by a madman dubbed "the Master Renegade", who waged war against the peaceful Guardians.
When a Renegade sabotage operation inadvertently resulted in a gigantic asteroid colliding with GoBotron, the natural disasters that resulted from the asteroid's impact pushed the GoBeings to the verge of extinction. However, the genius referred as "the Last Engineer" saved his people, taking his experiments to replace parts of his own body with mechanical substitutes to the ultimate extent and placing the brains of the GoBeings in mechanical bodies. Now, they were the "GoBots."
The GoBots possessed an additional ability; after being run through the device named the Modifier, the GoBots’ bodies were able to transform into other vehicles. His work done, the Last Engineer intended to retreat to a pre-prepared workshop elsewhere in the galaxy, but the Master Renegade stole his ship and escaped in his stead. The Last Engineer placed himself into suspended animation beneath the surface of GoBotron, while above, the war continued to rage between the Guardians and the Renegades, now all encased in GoBot shells.
In the last quarter of the 20th Century, the planet Earth became involved in the conflict between Leader-1's Guardians and Cy-Kill's Renegades. During one of these battles, one of Leader-1's lieutenants, Turbo, became severely damaged. Unwilling to let his friend and teammate die, Leader-1 began his quest to find the legendary Last Engineer. Leader-1 found the person he believed to be the Last Engineer, but Leader-1 had unwittingly released the Master Renegade.
The Guardians later found the true Last Engineer, who was instrumental in frustrating the alliance between Cy-Kill's Renegades and the Master Renegade. The Master Renegade later escaped the custody of the Renegades, and plagued both factions, notably attacking the UniCom colony of New Earth.

Episodes

  1. "Battle for GoBotron, Part I: Battle for GoBotron"
  2. "Battle for GoBotron, Part II: Target Earth"
  3. "Battle for GoBotron, Part III: Conquest of Earth"
  4. "Battle for GoBotron, Part IV: Earth Bound"
  5. "Battle for GoBotron, Part V: The Final Conflict"
  6. "The GoBotron Saga, Part 1: Cy-Kill's Escape"
  7. "The GoBotron Saga, Part 2: Quest for the Creator"
  8. "The GoBotron Saga, Part 3: The Fall of GoBotron"
  9. "The GoBotron Saga, Part 4: Flight to Earth"
  10. "The GoBotron Saga, Part 5: Return to GoBotron"
  11. "Time Wars"
  12. "Cy-Kill's Cataclysmic Trap"
  13. "Nova Beam"
  14. "Genius and Son"
  15. "It's the Thought that Counts"
  16. "Trident's Triple Threat"
  17. "Renegade Alliance"
  18. "Dawn World"
  19. "Forced Alliance"
  20. "Invasion from the 21st Level, Part I"
  21. "Invasion from the 21st Level, Part II"
  22. "Speed is of the Essence"
  23. "Lost on GoBotron"
  24. "Cy-Kill's Shrinking Ray"
  25. "Doppleganger"
  26. "The Quest for Roguestar"
  27. "Renegade Rampage, Part I"
  28. "Renegade Rampage, Part II"
  29. "Ultra Zod"
  30. "Sentinel"
  31. "Cold Spell"
  32. "Crime Wave"
  33. "Auto Madic"
  34. "Scooter Enhanced"
  35. "Tarnished Image"
  36. "In Search of Ancient Gobonauts"
  37. "Gameworld"
  38. "Wolf in the Fold"
  39. "Depth Charge"
  40. "Transfer Point"
  41. "Steamer's Defection"
  42. "The GoBot Who Cried Renegade"
  43. "The Seer"
  44. "Whiz Kid"
  45. "Ring of Fire"
  46. "Pacific Overtures"
  47. "Destroy All Guardians"
  48. "Escape from Elba"
  49. "Fitor to the Finish"
  50. "Clutch of Doom"
  51. "The Third Column"
  52. "A New Suit for Leader-1"
  53. "Renegade Carnival"
  54. "The Gift"
  55. "The Last Magic Man"
  56. "Braxis Gone Bonkers"
  57. "Inside Job"
  58. "Element of Danger"
  59. "The GoBots That Time Forgot"
  60. "Guardian Academy"
  61. "Quest for New Earth"
  62. "Terror in Atlantis"
  63. "Et Tu, Cy-Kill"
  64. "The Secret of Halley's Comet"
  65. "Mission: GoBotron"

Cast

Regis Cordic -

Home media

Various episodes of the show had been released on VHS and Betamax by Vestron Video under its Children's Video Library label in the 1980s.
On May 17, 2011, Warner Archive released Challenge of the GoBots: The Original Miniseries on DVD in Region 1 as part of their Hanna-Barbera Classic Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com. On May 6, 2014, Warner Archive released Challenge of the GoBots: The Series, Volume 1 on DVD in Region 1. The three-disc set features the first 30 episodes of the series. The final volume Challenge of the GoBots: The Series, Volume 2, which contains the last remaining 30 episodes of the show, was released on March 10, 2015.

Adaptations

The show spawned an animated, feature-length film GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords which opened in theaters on March 21, 1986, a little over four months before The Transformers: The Movie. Clips from the show were also used in Errol Morris’s Fast, Cheap and Out of Control. Additional GoBots storyline was later released on the Transformers Facebook pages "Ask Vector Prime" and "Renegade Rhetoric", with GoBots characters also appearing in a storyline from Fun Publications. Where Renegade Rhetoric serves as a second season to the show in the form of text stories told from Cy-Kill's perspective.