Flight to Earth

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Challenge of the GoBots ep 44
(Broadcast Order)
Challenge of the GoBots ep 9
(Story Order)
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"Flight to Earth"
Production code 0142-8546
Production company Hanna-Barbera
Airdate November 14, 1985
Story by Kelly Ward, Jeff Segal, and Peter Anderegg
Teleplay by Peter Anderegg

The Last Engineer has a new project that may turn the tide against the Renegades.

Synopsis[edit | edit source]

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Crasher and Fitor have a good chuckle about what they're going to do to the Guardians and their allies. The recently-reassembled Leader-1 collapses trying to confront them but Turbo and the Last Engineer manage to take out the Renegade pair. However, Cop-Tur and Tank then arrive while the Last Engineer comes up with an escape plan - his workshop converts into a spaceship. The flames from its' launch allow Turbo to escape from the Renegades while the unexpected launch easily gets past Fly Trap and Water Walk, left on sentry duty in a turret. The Last Engineer tells Matt that the ship is called Courageous, and is part of the Power Suit system he was developing before the Renegade revolt. As they leave the planet GoBotron is in chaos with the Renegades unopposed. Scooter and Sparky are still at large however, and watch as Bad Boy and Block Head blast an unfortunate GoBot and take him away in their Thruster. The Guardian pair are unable to intervene as they're still being pursued by BuggyMan and Geeper-Creeper. Onboard Roguestar, Cy-Kill presses the Master Renegade to modify his Transgressor to work on humans ahead of the planned assault on Earth. The GoBeing states he needs a trianium crystal from his base on Antares III, and says he will only get Vamp and Scorp to collect it if he is made ruler of GoBotron, to Cy-Kill's fury. His mood gets worse when Screw Head patches through a call from Crasher, who tells of Leader-1's reassembly and escape. The Renegade leader is furious and tasks them with following the escapees to Earth to prevent UNECOM from being warned. They grab Cop-Tur and Tank to join them onboard Thrusters for the mission, giving Turbo some breathing space. The Renegade ships chase Courageous into hyperspace, unaware that Turbo has sneaked onto one of the Thrusters.

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The Guardian shoots Tank, who hits one of the controls and unwittingly fires on Crasher and Fitor's Thruster, allowing Courageous to escape. The two Thrusters collide and are thrown out of hyperspeed, knocking Turbo out. Sparky and Scooter try to lose their pursuers by hiding in a cargo ship but BuggyMan realises and uses the device to fire the pair off towards GoBoton's sun. Meanwhile Cy-Kill has Dr. Go modify the GoBot captured by Bad Boy and Block Head into a monster the Doctor names Pincher. Cy-Kill intends to use Pincher to use to win the trust of the Master Renegade's minions on Antares III, sending his new recruit to collect the crystal needed. Above, Sparky laments the position she and Scooter are in until she spots a Command Center in a stationary orbit, and the pair make the dangerous leap from ship-to-ship. Courageous meanwhile arrives on Earth where Leader-1 delivers the bad news of GoBotron's fall to General Newcastle. Realising Earth will be next Newcastle puts UNECOM's research facilities at the disposal of the Last Engineer, who plans to finally finish the Power Suits. Sparky and Scooter are able to reach the damaged Command Center and realise it is being used to hold captured Guardians including Rest-Q, Path Finder, Wrong Way, Defendor and Night Ranger, with guards Twin Spin and Royal-T preventing the medic from helping the injured. As they watch Cop-Tur's Thruster arrives, signals Spoiler and transfers the captured Turbo onboard.

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After the Thruster heads back off Scooter hacks into the Command Center's systems, getting the computer to fire off a series of warnings that convinces the Renegade guards that the ship is about to explode. Scooter and Sparky then free the prisoners. Turbo was in the middle of breaking out anyway and prepares to rush the bridge with Blaster, Flip Top and Van Guard, tearing the doors off before he realises Sparky and Scooter have already taken the ship. Turbo tries to fly the damaged ship but Screw Head spots the movement and dispatches a trio of Thrusters to investigate. Turbo manages to lose them and get the Command Center into hyperspeed, setting course for Earth. Crasher and Fitor are already orbiting the planet, trying to spy on Earth's preparations in the hope of redeeming their failures. They engage stealth mode and Fitor begins spying on the testing of the Guardians' new weapon. They watch as Leader-1 tests the new Power Suit and report back to him. Onboard Rogue Star the Master Renegade demands negotiations with Cy-Kill, who reveals the use of Pincher and threatens his rival before ordering the GoBeing back to work. When Cy-Kill gets the crystal he will be ready to attack Earth...

...to be concluded!

Featured characters[edit | edit source]

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Guardians Renegades Humans Others

Quotes[edit | edit source]

Notes[edit | edit source]

One of us is wrong!
Uh-oh!

This episode has continuity problems that might be from it being aired out of order.

Check our story order for more information!

Story Order[edit | edit source]

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  • Story Order: "The GoBotron Saga" is the largest continuity headache of the original Challenge of the GoBots run. Aired as episodes 41-45, it was nevertheless clearly intended to immediately follow the original five-part pilot. Regular characters and concepts like the Monster GoBots and Courageous were given origin stories in this Saga.
  • Specifically here Pincher is created and this must therefore be his debut.

Continuity notes[edit | edit source]

Continuity errors[edit | edit source]

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  • It seems unlikely that GoBotron should really have continent-sized fires visible from space. Roguestar is scary, but...damn. Also, the fires seem to vanish and reappear over the episode between establishing shots.
  • Royal-T is presented as a Renegade instead of a Guardian on the Command Center detention facility. His appearance may be an animation error as his role as Twin Spin's sidekick is immediately taken over by Spoiler.

Animation and technical errors[edit | edit source]

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  • Tank's face is improperly colored when he first appears.
  • Screw Head's face appears floating in the center of his drill, instead of connected to his neck like usual.
  • Tank's mouth is miscolored again after dropping Turbo off at the detention center.
  • Scooter has two rows of three socket holes on his chest, but the right row disappears after he unplugs from the Command Center.
  • Night Ranger's visor is not colored when he storms the bridge.
  • Either Water Walk has a one-off character model featuring a visor with flames on it or his visor is the only one in the entire episode to reflect the fires on GoBotron.

Real-world references[edit | edit source]

Trivia[edit | edit source]

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  • Scorp and Vamp are named in the dialogue for the first time, though neither appear in the episode.
  • Wrong Way's injured arm is in a sling.

Foreign localization[edit | edit source]

Home video releases[edit | edit source]

DVD

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

External links[edit | edit source]

Footnotes[edit | edit source]