Challenge of the GoBots


Challenge of the GoBots is an American animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera, based on the Gobots toy-line 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 GoBings 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 the planet Gobotron, there lived a race of human-like organic beings referred to as “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 GoBings to the verge of extinction. However, the genius who became known 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 transferring the brains of the GoBeings into large robots known as “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.

Characters

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

    Cast

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 Classics 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. The 1984 Ruby-Spears television film, , is included as a special feature.

Adaptations

The show spawned an animated, feature-length film ' which opened in theaters on March 21, 1986, a little over four months before '. 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 storyline from Fun Publications.

Stations