Challenge of the GoBots
- This article is about the TV series. For the video game it inspired, see Challenge of the GoBots (video game).
| Challenge of the GoBots | |
|---|---|
 On-screen title card. | |
| Network | Syndication |
| Production company | Hanna-Barbera |
| Original release | October 29, 1984—December 13, 1985 |
| Run time | 22 minutes |
| Starring | Lou Richards Bernard Erhard Arthur Burghardt Frank Welker Bob Holt Marilyn Lightstone Ike Eisenman Leslie Speights Morgan Paull Brock Peters Peter Cullen Rene Auberjonois |
| Executive producer(s) | William Hanna Joseph Barbera Patrick S. Feely Joe Taritero |
| Producer(s) | Kay Wright Mitch Schauer Lois Hanrahan Ray McDonald Iwao Takamoto Lew Saw |
| Music composed by | Hoyt Curtin |
| Writer(s) | Alan Burnett Tom Ruegger Jeff Segal Jeff Segal Kelly Ward |
| Director(s) | Oscar Dufau Carl Urbano Art Davis Volus Jones Don Lusk Rudy Zamora Alan Zaslove Ray Patterson (supervising) Gordon Hunt (voices) |
| Second title card | |
 Mini-series' title card. | |
Challenge of the GoBots is an American animated sci-fi action-adventure television series produced Hanna-Barbera for syndication on stations that took part in The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera programming block (although the preceding miniseries aired in syndication outside of the block). It ran from 1984 to 1985, airing 65 episodes in total that spanned one season. The TV series is an adaptation of Tonka's toyline, which was intended as direct competition to Marvel/Sunbow's adaption of Hasbro's The Transformers, even to the point where Hanna-Barbera combated Marvel/Sunbow's The Transformers: The Movie in 1986, with its own theatrical movie, GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords.
Two warring sentient robotic factions, the peaceful Guardians and the evil Renegrades, take their fight from their homeworld of GoBotron to Earth, where both sides find human allies.
Production
Development
Music
The music was composed by Hoyt Curtin, which for the miniseries, he was credited for conducting and composing, whereas for the series proper, he was credited with arranging and composing. In the case of Paul DeKorte he was credited as music director then music supervisor.
Episodes
The series is rife with continuity errors and not even the most thoroughly researched order could avoid some of these issues.
| Title | Original air date |
|---|---|
| 1x01 | October 29, 1984 |
| 1x02 | October 30, 1984 |
| 1x03 | October 31, 1984 |
| 1x04 | November 1, 1984 |
| 1x05 | November 2, 1984 |
| 1x06 | September 23, 1985 |
| 1x06 | September 24, 1985 |
| 1x07 | September 25, 1985 |
| 1x08 | September 26, 1985 |
| 1x10 | September 27, 1985 |
| 1x11 | September 30, 1985 |
| 1x12 | October 1, 1985 |
| 1x13 | October 2, 1985 |
| 1x14 | October 3, 1985 |
| 1x15 | October 4, 1985 |
| 1x16 | October 7, 1985 |
| 1x17 | October 8, 1985 |
| 1x18 | October 9, 1985 |
| 1x19 | October 10, 1985 |
| 1x20 | October 11, 1985 |
| 1x21 | October 14, 1985 |
| 1x22 | October 15, 1985 |
| 1x23 | October 16, 1985 |
| 1x24 | October 17, 1985 |
1x25
|
October 18, 1985 |
| 1x26 | October 21, 1985 |
| 1x27 | October 22, 1985 |
| 1x28 | October 23, 1985 |
| 1x29 | October 24, 1985 |
| 1x30 | October 25, 1985 |
| 1x31 | October 28, 1985 |
| 1x32 | October 29, 1985 |
| 1x33 | October 30, 1985 |
| 1x34 | October 31, 1985 |
| 1x35 | November 1, 1985 |
| 1x36 | November 4, 1985 |
| 1x37 | November 5, 1985 |
1x38
|
November 6, 1985 |
1x39
|
November 7, 1985 |
| 1x40 | November 8, 1985 |
| 1x41 | November 11, 1985 |
| 1x42 | November 12, 1985 |
| 1x43 | November 13, 1985 |
| 1x44 | November 14, 1985 |
| 1x45 | November 15, 1985 |
| 1x46 | November 18, 1985 |
| 1x47 | November 19, 1985 |
| 1x48 | November 20, 1985 |
| 1x49 | November 21, 1985 |
| 1x50 | November 22, 1985 |
| 1x51 | November 25, 1985 |
| 1x52 | November 26, 1985 |
| 1x53 | November 27, 1985 |
1x54
|
November 28, 1985 |
| 1x55 | November 29, 1985 |
| 1x56 | December 2, 1985 |
| 1x57 | December 3, 1985 |
| 1x58 | December 4, 1985 |
| 1x59 | December 5, 1985 |
| 1x60 | December 6, 1985 |
| 1x61 | December 9, 1985 |
| 1x62 | December 10, 1985 |
| 1x63 | December 11, 1985 |
| 1x64 | December 12, 1985 |
| 1x65 | December 13, 1985 |
Cast
- Lou Richards as Leader-1
- Bernard Erhard as Cy-Kill
- Frank Welker as Scooter, Blaster, Rest-Q, Screw Head, and Zeemon
- Arthur Burghardt as Turbo
- Bob Holt as Cop-Tur
- Marilyn Lightstone as Crasher and Path Finder
- Sparky Marcus (miniseries) and Ike Eisenmann (regular) as Nick Burns
- Candy Brown (miniseries) and Leslie Speights (regular) as A.J. Foster
- Morgan Paull as Matt Hunter
- Brock Peters as General Hardcastle
- Peter Cullen as Pincher, Spoiler, and Tank
- Rene Auberjonois as Doctor Zebediah Braxis
Legacy
Between 2018 to 2019, IDW Publishing published a five-issue series called Go-Bots, which included the human cast in the TV series.
Merchandise
Home media
Reading material
Western Publishing Company published several children's books based on the TV series. Britain was also given the same treatment from World International Publishing Limited.
Toys
The purpose of the TV series was to promote the fact that there was already a whole range of toys out there already for kids to buy, with the far simpler name of GoBots.
Video game
In 1987 Europe, Reaktor published an 8-bit scrolling shoot-em-up video game developed by Tony Crowther and Ross Goodley also called Challenge of the GoBots, which was released on the Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, and ZX Spectrum home computers.
