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RONDU
Leader of the Galactic Patrol. It is never said just what planet he is from, but he and those of his race have extremely well developed mental powers. Rondu is the only person who knows the secret identities of the Orbots and their commander.DIA
Dia is an officer of command rank in the Galactic Patrol (her actual rank is never given). Rob wishes that she would take notice of him, but true to the curse of Superman and Lois Lane, Dia has it bad for the Orbots Commander. (This would be the point where someone could ask where those great mental powers were! Maybe at the optometrist!)
THE BEAM CAR
The Beam Car is Rob's primary vehicle throughout the series. It transforms into the control unit inside Mighty Orbots. Just where it sets up shop depends on the episode you watch. At first, it looks as if it is just below the head of the gestalt, in a bar running across its chest. Later, the camera zooms towards the head when Rob is speaking. One way or the other, when the car leaves Mighty Orbots (in a transformation that is never shown), it is ejected so fast that it must be like having a trunk lid slammed down on you head! Ouch!
UNITED PLANETS ASTRO FIGHTER
The Astro Fighter is the vehicle Dia uses the most. Throughout the series, it sees actual battle only once (in Trapped on a Prehistoric Planet). Most of the other times, Dia is either simply seen flying it, or running from it as it gets squashed. Hope she's got insurance!
GALACTIC PATROL HEADQUARTERS
Galactic Patrol Headquarters - 'Nuff said!
ROB'S AIR CYCLE & OMNI SUIT
Rob's Air Cycle is seen only in the pilot episode. But a part of this sequence shows up in later episodes.
As Rob presses the button inside his civvies, it sets up a transformation of his clothing from his regular stuff to his flight uniform as the Orbots Commander. The sequence from just after he presses the button on is used throughout the series, even though his bike helmet is shown each time vaporizing off his head. HOT!
TONKA CORP. Vs MIGHTY ORBOTSThe other reason there was never a second season...
In researching information for this page, I was reminded about some information that I read way back when the Orbots first flew through the airwaves. I found it in a brief made for the Court of Minnesota vs a defendant who was being tried on trademark violation via the internet. Here is an excerpt from it...
Minnesota upheld the exercise of specific jurisdiction where the defendant's sole contacts with Minnesota were the airing of national television programs which were carried by local ABC affiliates in Minnesota. Tonka Corp. v. TMS Entertainment, Inc., 638 F. Supp. 386, 390-91 (D. Minn. 1985) (although exercising jurisdiction the court ultimately determined venue was improper and transferred the case). The court emphasized that the defendant's broadcast contact with Minnesota was the precise conduct upon which plaintiff based its trademark infringement claim. Id. at 390. The court also disregarded defendant's argument that the ABC network was the entity which aired the program. The court pointed out that when the defendant contracted with ABC, "the defendant obviously knew that ABC would be syndicating the program nationwide, including Minnesota." Id. at 391.
Since the only TMS program on ABC at the time was Mighty Orbots (the only other being GALAXY HIGH, and that was for CBS), Tonka was claiming that Orbots were infringing on their GoBots line of toys. But since Orbots never had a set of toys based on their characters, and at that time, GoBots hadn't come out with Puzzeler, their gestalt, what was the big deal? Hasbro never complained (at least not that I can remember). And since GoBots were only the American version of BanDai's robot vehicles, where did Tonka get the idea that they were being cheated by the Orbots? We may never know, now that Tonka is part of Hasbro.
One thing is known, though. Even if TMS won or not (I'm not sure if they did or didn't), the show had been branded. The ratings would have to have been spectacular for ABC to bring them back the next year. As it was, the Orbots did their one year, then faded into obscurity.
(NOTE! Other than the pilot and the last three episodes listed, these are NOT in actual broadcast order.)
1. - MAGNETIC MENACE (Pilot) - By Michael Reaves & Kimme Ringwald
2. - THE WISH WORLD - By Michael Reaves
3. - TRAPPED ON A PREHISTORIC PLANET - By Marc Scott Zicree
4. - THE DREMLOKS - By Michael Reaves
5. - DEVIL?S ASTEROID - By Buzz Dixon
6. - RAID ON THE STELLAR QUEEN - By Marc Scott Zicree
7. - THE JEWEL OF TARGON - By David Wise
8. - THE PHOENIX FACTOR - By Donald F. Glut & Douglas Booth
9. - LEVIATHAN - By David Wise
10. - THE COSMIC CIRCUS - By Douglas Booth & Donald F. Gult
11. - A TALE OF TWO THIEVES - By Buzz Dixon
12. - OPERATION ECLIPSE - By Marc Scott Zicree
13. - THE INVASION OF THE SHADOW STAR - By Michael Reaves
Fred Silverman
Yutaka Fujioka
PRODUCERS
George Singer
Tat Ikeuchi
Nobuo Inada
CREATED BY
Barry Glasser
DIRECTOR
Osamu Dezaki
SUPERVISING PRODUCER
Sachiko Tsuneda
STORY EDITOR
Michael Reaves
STORY CONSULTANT
Hideo Takayashiki
VOICE DIRECTOR
Howard Morris
VOICE TALENTS
Sherry Alberoni
Julie Bennett
Jennifer Darling
Barry Gordon
Jim MacGeorge
Bill Martin
Don Messick
Noelle North
Gary Owens
Bob Ridgely
THEAM COMPOSED BY
Tom Chase
Steve Rucker
A PRODUCTION OF
INTERMEDIA ENTERTAINMENT
in association with
TMS ENTERTAINMENT
and
MGM/UA ENTERTAINMENT CO. TELEVISION
©1984 TMS Entertainment, Inc. - MGM/UA Entertainment, Company
These pages opened 9805.26.
Text ©1998 Denivan Media Services
Index
Another Excellent MIGHTY ORBOTS Page!
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