Cy-Kill's Escape

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Challenge of the GoBots ep 41
(Broadcast Order)
Challenge of the GoBots ep 6
(Story Order)
CyKillsEscape-CCTV.jpg
"Cy-Kill's Escape"
Production code 0142-8524
Production company Hanna-Barbera
Airdate November 11, 1985
Story by Kelly Ward, Jeff Segal and Peter Anderegg
Teleplay by Peter Anderegg
Animation studio Wang Film Productions

Cy-Kill is free! The universe beware!

Synopsis[edit | edit source]

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On the Prison Moon, Hans-Cuff, Blaster and Flip Top collect Cy-Kill from his cell to stand trial on GoBotron. While the Renegade's weapons have been disconnected he surprises his guards by removing one of his wheels from his shoulder, hurling it at Blaster. The shocked Guardian fires a missile that brings down a section of the roof, disabling himself and Flip Top - and freeing Fitor, who grabs Hans-Cuff before he can shoot Cy-Kill. Fitor takes the Guardian's Power Pack, allowing the Renegade's weaponry to come back online. Meanwhile onboard the Command Center, Matt, Nick and A.J. are in dress uniform as Earth's appointed representatives for the trial. Scooter is unable to raise the Prison Moon. Path Finder lands the ship but when Leader-1 investigates he is met by the injured Hans-Cuff, who tells them of Cy-Kill's escape and the injuries to his fellow guards.

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Cy-Kill and Fitor remain at large, heading out to the dark side of the moon's surface as Rest-Q repairs Hans-Cuff. Turbo has not detected any escaping ships so Small Foot deduces the escapees are still on the moon - unknown to the Guardians the pair have found a ship stashed on the facility by Cy-Kill years previously. Scooter and Nick meanwhile head to the prison's control room to help with surveillance while Rest-Q, Small Foot and A.J. recover Blaster and Flip Top. Leader-1 and Matt scour the surface of the moon while Turbo looks for clues inside. However Cy-Kill's plan moves to the next stage as he has Dr. Go and Bad Boy send a stealth device by Astrobeam from onboard the near-complete Roguestar. Turbo finds them but is shot down by Fitor and shocked by Cy-Kill, crashing down a deep channel on the Moon's surface. Cy-Kill then blows up the main energy junction, allowing the other imprisoned Renegades to escape - Crain Brain, Geeper-Creeper, Crasher, Cop-Tur and Destroyer among them.

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Turbo is able to activate his distress signal and attract Leader-1 but Nick and Scooter find themselves cornered in the control room by Crasher, Cop-Tur and Destroyer - though the trio have yet to recover their weaponry. Leader-1 and Matt find Turbo but he is frozen solid, so the Guardian attempts to use his forcefield to raise the injured warrior's temperature. Turbo comes around but is still damaged. Cy-Kill and Fitor meanwhile are able to take off, though the stealth device is malfunctioning. Scooter and Nick are able to escape Crasher and take cover in an old storeroom full of scrapped GoBots. The other Guardians reconvene at the Command Center but Cy-Kill has been able to get away; Turbo prepares to look for Scooter and Nick only to collapse. Rest-Q is unable to find a way to combat Turbo's cranial overheating, and with nothing else to be done Leader-1 returns to searching for their missing friends. In the old storeroom Nick grapples with the head of a deactivated robot, triggering a beam that transports the pair away seconds before Crasher finds them. Her disappointment is rapidly allayed when Destroyer informs her they have found their weapons.

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Small Foot and Path Finder are unable to locate Scooter and Nick anywhere on the moon until A.J. receives Scooter's distress call - coming from the Moon of Knowledge. The pair have materialised in a small room with no exits, where Nick inadvertently activates an ancient video system. An old news recording plays, detailing events of the First Renegade Revolt. The Command Center leaves to follow their signals, frustrating Crasher's plans to storm the ship - and unwittingly nearly ramming Cy-Kill's cloaked shuttle. The Guardians arrive on the Moon of Knowledge, where Scooter and Nick view a recording left by the Last Engineer, inventor of the GoBot form, who tells of the Renegades' use of a huge asteroid to damage GoBotron and pushing its' occupants to the edge of extinction. He tells of a research base set up on Antares III, and Scooter notes it is the first clue to their creator's actions after his disappearance. Leader-1, Small Foot, Matt and A.J. follow Scooter's distress signal to the base of a statue of the Last Engineer on the moon's surface. The Guardians are able to cut their way through and find their friends. The Guardians set course for the Antares star system in the hopes of finding the Last Engineer to help Turbo, but their plans are overheard by Fitor and Cy-Kill, who plan to use the opening to collect their fellow Renegades from the Prison Moon...

...To be continued!

Featured characters[edit | edit source]

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

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. This episode specifically states Roguestar is nearly complete via dialogue from Dr. Go, placing it chronologically before any other appearance of the Renegade ship.
  • Meanwhile "The Final Conflict" is the only episode to feature a mass capture of Renegades that is not shown to be reversed. While the prisoners don't exactly line up with those taken at the Renegade Fortress there is some attempt to only show those captured - aside from the interloping Destroyer, who might charitably have been taken unseen or captured at another time, while Roguestar is shown to be crewed by "newer" characters Dr. Go and Bad Boy.
  • The only flub with that is that Cy-Kill actually escaped capture at the end of "The Final Conflict". However, as he was alone on Earth with no allies it is perhaps a reasonable assumption that he was subsequently captured off-screen, and certainly more plausible than the other key Renegades being captured en masse a second time.

Continuity notes[edit | edit source]

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  • Gadgets and Powers:
    • Power packs are established as modular and interchangeable, even between Guardians and Renegades.
    • Scooter creates a holographic wall for he and Nick to hide behind.
  • Generic robots - likely Renegades - are seen on the CCTV on the prison, while more generics are briefly shown to be manning the control room. Whether any of these are GoBots or not is unclear.
  • As a result of the episode airing order, many characters "introduced" over the next five episodes chronologically had actually already debuted in the broadcast order. Chronological debuts in this episode include:

Continuity errors[edit | edit source]

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  • GoBots typically fly by anti-gravity, or at least with no noticeable means of propulsion. When he first finds Cy-Kill's escape hatch, however, Turbo flies up with Iron Man style boot rockets ablaze. This may have been done deliberately to highlight how they were damaged by the Renegades moments later, leaving him unable to fly.
  • If Scooter is to be believed, Cy-Kill had an escape ship parked right outside the prison moon facility for years, right on top of the main energy junction. That's some good security, Guardians.
  • The humans are wearing dress uniforms when the episode starts. They switch to their regular clothes when the Guardians learn of Cy-Kill's escape, which makes sense assuming they had time. But then Matt and A.J. are back in their dress uniforms to travel to the Moon of Knowledge, and then A.J. is in her regular clothes again when she checks on Turbo. An outfit for every occasion?
  • Cop-Tur has his sword before the Renegades find their weaponry. While it's not a power pack-powered energy weapon it would seem remiss of the Guardians to lock him away with the thing.
  • Leader-1 makes it clear the Guardians know secret knowledge about the Last Engineer's whereabouts hidden in the pedestal of the statue and that how to access what's inside is some big mystery. However he and Small Foot blast their way through in seconds, which suggests no-one has tried that hard before.

Animation and technical errors[edit | edit source]

  • When Cy-Kill first steps out of his cell, he is not sized correctly to the Guardians, making him appear significantly shorter than them. This is corrected in the next shot.
  • Path Finder is missing her saucer wings when the Command Center first lands.
  • Small Foot's eyes are missing behind her visor.

Trivia[edit | edit source]

  • One of the monitors is randomly showing what looks to be a painting of Fitor's toy, seen from the back.

Foreign localization[edit | edit source]

Home video releases[edit | edit source]

VHS

1986Challenge of the GoBots — The GoBotron Saga (Vestron Video)

DVD

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

Footnotes[edit | edit source]