France
France is a country in Europe on Earth. Its capital is Paris.
Fiction[edit | edit source]
Challenge of the GoBots cartoon[edit | edit source]
Presumably all of France was taken over along with Paris by Zebediah Braxis' Pulsar Generator. Conquest of Earth
Lightning Trap: Leina and Laika[edit | edit source]
Leina Haruka, Sara Yamada, Nami Kojima and Kyoko Yoshida planned a holiday in France and boarded a Lightning L808 passenger plane to that end. Unfortunately it was also being used to carry bleeding-edge military tech and was hijacked by terrorist organisation Blue May. Nevertheless, thanks to the efforts of Leina and (mainly) Laika Strange it was eventually able to land successfully. Lightning Trap: Leina and Laika
Toys[edit | edit source]
Robo Machine[edit | edit source]
France was one of the key markets for Bandai Europe, and from the start of the line in 1983 Robo Machine figures featured bilingual English and French text. This continued right up until the end of the line, including translating the later Challenge of the GoBots branding.
Robo Machines[edit | edit source]
The same held true for the 1993 revival, where Bandai's packaging contained English, German, French and Spanish text.
Media[edit | edit source]
Cartoons[edit | edit source]
Les Defi des GoBots[edit | edit source]
The Challenge of the GoBots cartoon was imported to France and dubbed by Télétota as Les Defi des GoBots, with some characters renamed by translator Patricia Angot and a new theme tune recorded by Bernard Minet (credited as 'The GoBots'), named "Go GoBots".
Screened on the TF1 channel from 11 September, 1985, the series was a major hit.
La Revanche des GoBots[edit | edit source]
Indeed, it was such a hit that TF1 wanted a sequel. However, Challenge of the GoBots had been cancelled in America after a single season. Instead they cast their eyes over to Japan, where Bandai had commissioned Ashi Productions to make Machine Robo: Revenge of Cronos, the first Machine Robo animated series. The show was promptly imported and again dubbed by Télétota, with Angot joined on translation duties by Alain Léguillon. They were faced with a problem - Revenge of Cronos paid no attention to Challenge of the GoBots and the shows were all but incompatible. In order to make some semblance of a connection Angot and Léguillon had no choice but to rename the Japanese series' leads after their closest match from the original's cast and match them up with the voice actors. The result was a quasi-sequel soft-reboot that made little sense to audiences. Laurent Omont and Thierry David recorded a new theme tune, which was replaced partway through the run by another Minet composition.
Again screened on TF1, beginning on April 8, 1987, La Revanche des GoBots was much less of a hit and was pulled from broadcast after only 35 episodes were screened.
Home Media[edit | edit source]
Episodes of both series were released on VHS. Les Defi des GoBots tapes were issued by Vestron Video, while La Revanche des GoBots tapes were put out by Billy Clap Video.
Les Defi des GoBots[edit | edit source]
La Revanche des GoBots[edit | edit source]
Merchandise[edit | edit source]
The success of Les Defi des GoBots meant several items were produced to capitalise on the interest in the show.
Gum Tresor figures by May Bonneuil
La Guerre des GoBots book by Whitman
Les GoBots Arrivent book by Whitman
"Go GoBots" record by The GoBots
"Watch" promotional item
Creators[edit | edit source]
- Patricia Angot - translator
- Georges Caudron - voice actor
- Thierry David - musician
- Jacques Deschamps - voice actor
- Henry Djanik - voice actor
- Jacques Ferrière - voice actor
- Alain Léguillon - translator
- Roger Lumont - voice actor
- Bernard Métraux - voice actor
- Bernard Minet - musician
- Laurent Omont - musician
- Sady Rebbet - voice actor
- Régine Teyssot - voice actor
- Monique Thierry - voice actor
- Vincent Violette - voice actor
Notes[edit | edit source]
- France was also the home of Renault, who designed the Formula One car F-1 Robo/Slicks is based on.
- France received numerous dubbed Japanese shows, including Space Adventure Cobra. As a result of the show being a hit, the Psychoroid toy was issued in France with Space Cobra branding rather than Robo Machine.
- Other shows screened in the country included Space Sheriff Shaider and Choudenshi Bioman; France's appetite for super robot shows may have been a key part of the decision to ship unsold GoDaiKin stock to Europe as part of Robo Machine.
