The Quest for Roguestar
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| "The Quest for Roguestar" | |||||||||
| Production code | 0142-8516 | ||||||||
| Production company | Hanna-Barbera | ||||||||
| Airdate | October 14, 1985 | ||||||||
| Story by | John Loy, Jeff Segal and Kelly Ward | ||||||||
| Teleplay by | John Loy | ||||||||
| Animation studio | Wang Film Productions | ||||||||
After Cy-Kill brings Roguestar into Earth's solar system, the Guardians make plans to destroy the huge spacecraft once and for all.
Synopsis[edit | edit source]
The Renegades launch a series of daring raids throughout Earth's solar system: Cop-Tur and Fitor hijack a cargo hauler spacecraft; Crasher leads an attack on Lunar Enterprises Mine #6 on the surface of the Moon, injuring Path Finder in the process; and Cy-Kill himself pillages an industrial plant in Russia. Anya Turgenova reports the news to the Guardians, but even as she is in the midst of delivering the information, an alarm alerts them all to a new attack taking place in Pittsburgh. The Guardians speed into action, and are successfully able to force the Renegades into retreat after Leader-1 injures Cy-Kill. The rapidity of the attacks, coupled with the presence of thunderous storm clouds over Pittsburgh that quickly disappear once the Renegades have departed, leads the heroes to one inescapable conclusion: the villains are striking from their flagship headquarters Roguestar, which Cy-Kill has brought into Earth's solar system, and the massive size of which is affecting the planet's climate. Unfortunately, with the ship hidden by the Renegades' stealth device, the chances of the Guardians finding it are slim to none.
Leader-1 and Scooter visit Path Finder while she is undergoing repairs after her recent defeat, and she tells them of another strange phenomenon she observed on the Moon just before the attack: a column of lunar dust whirling up from the surface, off into space. Leader-1 realizes that this must have been the product of a gravimetric anomaly caused by the colossal Roguestar, so Path Finder proposes that they find a way to scan for such anomalies, thereby allowing them to pinpoint Roguestar's location. Scooter puts a detection system together and the Guardians take off in the Command Center to begin their search—a search that bears fruit almost immediately, as Roguestar de-cloaks in front of them! Faced with the ship's incredible firepower, the Guardians have no choice but to retreat; Leader-1 orders the risky move of deactivating their shields so that all power can be directed to the hyperdrive to get them out of there as quickly as possible. The Command Center warps away at hyperspeed, but a shot from Roguestar hits with enough force to knock the vessel's navigation systems offline, sending it spinning out of control. While the Renegades re-cloak and return to their evil plotting, Scooter, thinking quickly, employs the Command Center's tractor beam as an impromptu set of "brakes," locking the beam onto the Earth and using it to haul the craft back there.
Now realizing they will be unable to take Roguestar head-on, Path Finder formulates a plan that will bring the Renegade ship to the Guardians on their terms, so they can infiltrate and disable it. Deducing from Roguestar's position that the Renegades are planning to hit the Seta 6 metallurgical research space station near the moons of Jupiter, the Guardians evacuate the station's human personnel then conceal themselves within its storage vault, confident that its allodium casing will hide them from the Renegades' scans. The plan appears to work: Roguestar soon appears nearby, and after detecting no lifeforms aboard, the Renegades tractor-beam the entire station inside their ship. Unfortunately, it turns out that Cy-Kill is wise to the Guardians' scheme, and begins using smelting beams to melt the entire space station down with the heroes still inside!
Turbo is able to blast through the floor of the station and the deck of Roguestar beneath it, allowing the Guardians to escape—something the Renegades only discover when the molten remains of the station start dripping through the hole Turbo has left behind. Cop-Tur and the Monster GoBots are sent to hunt them down, but the Guardians have already exploited their brief opening to put their plan into action: Scooter has located the main computer and uses it to ascertain the location of the ship's energy reactor, so that they can plant an explosive L-Ron detonator on it. By her own request, Path Finder is responsible for planting the detonator, and set off for the reactor after shaking off the pursuing Pincher by flying him right into the path of an asteroid that sends him tumbling off through space. Leader-1, meanwhile, disposes of Cop-Tur, then lures Vamp into the path of some of the ship's weapons, which Scooter uses the computer to activate.
Path Finder makes her way to the reactor room, where she is confronted by Crasher once again. The rematch is short and sweet, as Path Finder dodges the Renegade madwoman's shockwaves and hits her with a double blaster-bolt that takes her out of the fight. She plants the detonator, and the Guardians all speedily withdraw to be picked up by the Command Center, piloted by their human allies. The Renegades manage to remove the detonator from the reactor in time, and after a few seconds of panicked hot potato, they managed to eject it into space just before it goes off. Under cover the explosion, Cy-Kill orders Fitor to activate the stealth device, making it appear as if Roguestar has been destroyed, with the jettisoned the contents of several of the ship's storage holds creating the illusion of a debris field. The Guardians believe they have succeeded in their mission, but the cloaked Renegade all share a sinister laugh together as they begin plotting evil anew for the future...
Featured characters[edit | edit source]
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Guardians | Renegades | Humans |
|---|---|---|
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Quotes[edit | edit source]
Path Finder: "So, how do we get aboard Roguestar?"
Leader-1: "I'm open to suggestions."
Scooter: "I have one: let's not try."
Cop-Tur: "Cy-Kill, they got away."
Cy-Kill: "I know, I know.
Crasher: "Cy-Kill, they've sabotaged the core!"
Cy-Kill: "I know, I know!"
Crasher: It's going to self-destruct!"
Cy-Kill: "I know, I kn-- WHAAAT?!'"
Notes[edit | edit source]
Continuity notes[edit | edit source]
- Gadgets and Powers:
- Scooter uses his retractable chest interface cable to access and reprogram Roguestar's computers.
Real-world references[edit | edit source]
- The L-Ron detonator is named after science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard.
- "Get lost, Cop-Tur, you bother me!" quips Leader-1, paraphrasing the classic W. C. Fields line.
Continuity and plotting errors[edit | edit source]
- Scooter's chest socket and access cable are off-model compared to their standard appearance in the series, as illustrated at right.
- It's obvious that Turbo and Scorp face off against one another during the final battle, since all the other combatants are accounted for, but for whatever reason, their fight isn't shown on screen. Cut for time?
Animation and technical errors[edit | edit source]
- When the angle changes after Path Finder dodges the Renegades' attack, the same starfield background is used as in the prior shot, making it look like all the animation elements just blink out, to be replaced with those needed for the new shot.
- When Path Finder is lying on the repair bay table, her head is ringed by a piece of circular medical machinery that's part of the background painting. When Leader-1 and Scooter enter, Leader-1's cel is positioned between Path Finder and the piece of equipment, when he should be behind both.
- As Scooter, in profile, says "Okay, here goes!" before cutting power to the shields... he's got a nose!
- The antenna for Scooter's detection system is missing from the Command Center's nose in almost all long shots. It appears when Roguestar starts to open fire, but disappears as the Command Center turns around to flee, and doesn't return for the rest of the scene.
- In the close-up of Cy-Kill after Roguestar blasts the Command Center off into the distance, the "cheekbone" areas around his stubble which ought to be black are colored grey.
- Path Finder's red visor blinks grey when she announces her desire to be part of the mission to infiltrate Roguestar.
- As Leader-1 analyzes the vault as a hiding place, the rim of Path Finder's helmet is grey instead of black, and one of the panels of her pelvis is entirely unpainted, causing the background painting to be visible through it.
- While Scooter is talking to a grumpy employee on the metallurgical station, a portion of this helmet's side panel flashes from red to grey a few times.
- Scooter's orange "eyeshadow" blinks in and out as he tells the other Guardians he is claustrophobic while waiting inside the space station.
Trivia[edit | edit source]
- At one point during production, this episode was titled "The Quest for Doomstar," reflecting the original name for the Renegades' vessel.
Home video releases[edit | edit source]
- VHS
1987 — Challenge of the GoBots — "Quest for New Earth" (Vestron Video, UK]]
- DVD
2015 — Challenge of the GoBots — The Series, Volume One (Warner Archive Collection, USA)
