Fitor to the Finish

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Challenge of the GoBots ep 49
(Broadcast Order)
Challenge of the GoBots ep 49
(Story Order)
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"Fitor to the Finish"
Production code 0142-8531
Production company Hanna-Barbera
Airdate November 21, 1985
Written by Kelly Ward, Jeff Segal, and Don Glut
Animation studio Wang Film Productions

It's a race against time to interrogate Fitor before the Astro Beam saves him.

Synopsis[edit | edit source]

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Anya shows Leader-1, Turbo, Scooter, Matt, A.J. Foster and Nick around a new state of-the-art UNECOM Surveillance Station. Matt is impressed, though Turbo and Scooter make snide remarks about how far it is behind GoBotron's technology. On Roguestar, Cy-Kill is aware of its' development and dispatches Fitor and an assault team made up of Bad Boy, Stallion and Stinger to destroy it, sending them to the location via Astrobeam. Their presence alerts the Guardians but their early attack causes considerable damage before Leader-1 and Turbo head into battle. Turbo flattens Stinger and Stallion while Leader-1 shoots down Bad Boy. The pair then go after Fitor, with Leader-1 realising how much could be learned from the Renegade second-in-command if he was captured. Turbo jumps on the Renegade's jet mode and causes him to lose control, while the humans join the fight with laser rifles, preventing the other three from intervening. Watching with Crasher and Cop-Tur, Cy-Kill decides the mission has achieved its' purpose and prepares to Astrobeam his troops back to Roguestar, but Leader-1's forcefield prevents Fitor from going with them. Scooter and the humans begin repairs at the base while Leader-1 and Turbo take their captive to UNECOM Headquarters for interrogation. However, they have less than 48 hours until the Astrobeam returns Fitor to Roguestar, and he is not proving cooperative. In fact, despite being in a restraining bolt he smashes into the main computer on the Command Center 3, sending the ship out of control.

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However, the Guardians are able to grab their prisoner and escape the doomed Command Center. Back on Roguestar, Cy-Kill is furious at the capture of Fitor. Crasher advocates killing Fitor to prevent him giving anything away under Brainstorming but Cy-Kill considers this a last resort, instead sending her and Cop-Tur to mount a rescue. For his part Fitor is still refusing to talk, with Leader-1 preventing Turbo from getting information out of him with physical violence, instead planning to take him to GoBotron, where they have their most powerful Brainstormer. En route they are attacked by Crasher and Cop-Tur, but the brief to take Fitor alive holds them back and the Command Center returns fire, hitting Thruster' power core and forcing the pair to bail out before it explodes. As a result the Command Center is able to go into hyperspeed, as Cy-Kill has a better idea than using Roguestar's firepower. At the surveillance base repairs are almost complete when Cy-Kill, Cop-Tur and Crasher appear outside. They are unable to contact Leader-1 as the radio is still not fixed, and Scooter's attempts to bluff with a hologram of their commander do not fool Cy-Kill. Despite Matt's efforts the group are captured by the Renegades, who plans to barter them to free Fitor - and destroy Leader-1.

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The Command Center arrives at GoBotron, touching down at Landing Bay 19, where Zeemon meets them with Staks, Dive-Dive, Wrong Way, Night Ranger, Blaster and Heat Seeker. Fitor is led to the Brainstorming Chamber while Zeemon congratulates Leader-1. However, Cy-Kill has Scooter and the humans are imprisoned onboard Roguestar, and he interrupts the Brainstorming process to tell Leader-1 of his hostages - with Scooter begging for help. He demands Fitor to be released in exchange on Sector 17, an unfinished area of GoBotron, in person and alone. Despite realising it is likely a trap, Leader-1 has no choice but to take Fitor to the agreed location. As expected Cy-Kill double-crosses him, having Crasher and Cop-Tur Astrobeam in as well. Leader-1 blasts Cop-Tur but Cy-Kill is able to release Fitor from the restraining bolt and his dogfights with the Guardian commander - only for the Astrobeam to reverse just as he is closing for the kill. Turbo then arrives with Wrong Way, Hans-Cuff, Blaster and Heat Seeker; with the odds now against them Cy-Kill orders the remaining Renegades to Astrobeam back to Roguestar. Leader-1 feels they were close to breaking Fitor - who is already listening to Cy-Kill's latest plans back on Roguestar.

Featured characters[edit | edit source]

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes[edit | edit source]

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"On this planet they punish bad boys, Bad Boy!"

Leader-1 showcases his razor-sharp wit.

"Cut it out, ya lunatic!"
"The word is 'patriot'!"

Turbo finds out just how psychotically loyal Fitor is as he tries to kill everyone on the Command Center - himself included.


Notes[edit | edit source]

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  • Like "Ring of Fire" the episode sees Roguestar take the place of Thruster's usual plot function as Cy-Kill's roaming Earth theatre ship. (but see "Errors" below).
  • While Cy-Kill seems to greatly respect Fitor this doesn't seem to be echoed by Crasher and Cop-Tur. Crasher especially seems to be itching to kill him.
  • Fitor calls Cy-Kill "C.K.".
  • Scooter is especially cowardly in this episode, begging Leader-1 to do anything to save the prisoners while the humans are telling him not to listen and shaking like a leaf at the handover.
  • Roguestar appears to be manned and maintained by a large number of drone robots.

Continuity notes[edit | edit source]

  • Cy-Kill has a rare moment of insight when he immediately realizes Scooter's hologram of Leader-1 is a fake; normally despite repeated use the Renegades never twig Scooter's projections, one of the most-used plot devices of the whole series.
  • Gadgets and Powers:
    • Scooter has fire retardant sprayers in his index fingers.
    • Leader-1 can project his force field from his eyes to catch flying Renegades.
    • Scooter repairs UNECOM's computers with beams projected from his eyes.
    • Crasher's shockwave behaves oddly, leaping off the ground to destroy Matt Hunter's weapon instead of blowing up the ground itself.
    • Cy-Kill's hand-blasters create a force field to contain the Guardians' human friends.
    • Cop-Tur has an additional blaster built into his chest.

Continuity errors[edit | edit source]

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  • If Fitor is so crucial why is he sent on the mission to Earth in the first place?
  • This is the third time Fitor's been captured by the Guardians (it also happens in "The Final Conflict" and "Return to GoBotron") and Cy-Kill wasn't this bothered the first two times.
  • In fact, while well-written here Fitor's characterisation as a fantatically loyal and indispensable lieutenant kinda comes out of nowhere here, and will be inconsistently kept going forward - while he pointedly stays loyal to Cy-Kill in "The Third Column" and is shown to defect from the Guardians alongside him in "Et Tu, Cy-Kill", in "Quest for New Earth" he's terrified after getting a rollicking from Cy-Kill, and in GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords he's sent on a surveillance mission that involves him ambling around in plain sight on GoBotron. Which wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't voiced by one of the story editors.
  • It's strange that Cy-Kill (on Roguestar) activated the Astrobeam (on GoBotron) that transported Fitor's team to Earth. Why doesn't Fitor have the control for his own Astrobeam? Similarly, Fitor claims the Astrobeam will return him to Roguestar, not GoBotron.
  • It would seem the establishing shot of GoBotron on the monitor is the error; Fitor and company are meant to be departing from Roguestar and for whatever reason Cy-Kill decides to contact them via monitor from the bridge instead of just talking to them, or is meant to be on Thruster as usual. The script certainly seems to think this is the case, divorced from the animation.
  • And then when Cy-Kill Astrobeams the captives to the exchange site, won't they boomerang back to Roguestar in 48 hours?
  • Why is something as basic as the radio left so late in the repair schedule at the UNECOM surveillance base?

Animation and technical errors[edit | edit source]

  • When Bad Boy is shot down by Leader-1 he appears over a strange geometric grid nothing like the surveillance base or its' surroundings.
  • Cop-Tur and Crasher appear alongside Cy-Kill on Roguestar seconds after bailing out of their Thruster.
  • Blaster stands next to Leader-1 as Cy-Kill contacts them about Scooter and the kids and reacts with the appropriate shock and anger; seconds later he's watching Fitor being Brainstormed, seemingly unaware of the captives.
  • The establishing shot of Sector 17 is typical GoBotron architecture with a starry sky before suddenly changing to Earth-like ground and a blue sky. As such it's possible the description of Sector 17 as "unfinished" was added in to try to fudge what seems to be the animators mistakenly believing the handover scenes take place on Earth.

Real-world references[edit | edit source]

Trivia[edit | edit source]

  • Several plot points (a captured Renegade, a need for an improved Brainstormer, a double-cross at a handover) and devices in the script are similar to "Escape from Elba", broadcast the day before.
  • Also similar to that one this is another Renegade "victory" - Cy-Kill might be foiled in his hopes of destroying Leader-1 but the Renegades recapture Fitor before any of their plans are recorded by the Guardians.
  • Leader-1 has to stop Turbo, one of the good guys, from getting Guantanamo on Fitor's ass.

Foreign localization[edit | edit source]

Home video releases[edit | edit source]

DVD

2015 — Challenge of the GoBots — The Series, Volume Two (Warner Archive Collection)

External links[edit | edit source]

Footnotes[edit | edit source]