Renegade Carnival

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Challenge of the GoBots ep 53
(Broadcast Order)
Challenge of the GoBots ep 53
(Story Order)
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FFS.
"Renegade Carnival"
Production code 0142-8542
Production company Hanna-Barbera
Airdate November 27, 1985
Written by Carla Conway
Animation studio Wang Film Productions

A carnival is fun for everyone! Unless the House of Horrors contains...Renegades!

Synopsis[edit | edit source]

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Cy-Kill, Crasher, Cop-Tur, Tank, Block Head, Loco and Twin Spin attack UNECOM Headquarters, finding Leader-1 and Turbo waiting for them. The base is well-shielded and Scooter uses one of his holograms to trick Tank, Loco and Block Head into flying into it. When UNECOM jets join the fight the Renegades are forced into retreat, with Leader-1 saving a fighter Cy-Kill shot down. General Newcastle thanks the Guardians. The reason for the attack - and the secret of the successful defence and several recent successful operations - is the psychic Mira Shaw. Doctor Helstrom is trying to work on a telepathic amplifier to made her talents even more useful but the device is still not ready. Cy-Kill for his part is now based at an abandoned funhouse, which his catspaw Wheeling has sold to a travelling carnival at the Renegade's behest. He also has the man place a frequency scrambler - disguised as a skull - to prevent the Guardians detecting his activities, and reveals to Crasher he has a plan to deal with Mira. Back at UNECOM Headquarters, Helstrom runs his latest amplifier on Mira; she claims Cy-Kill is already there before passing out. Turbo and A.J. then arrive and tell everyone there's a carnival in town, which Leader-1 orders Scooter and Nick to investigate. Scooter decides to dress up as a huge clown for the occasion. Unable to find any Renegade signals they decide to take in the carnival instead. Nick heads into the funhouse, unaware that Cy-Kill and Block Head are watching him; they lure him into Block Head's mixing drum.

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They then release Nick, who believes it is part of the funhouse. Block Head is confused but Cy-Kill tells him his trap is not ready yet, but when it is they will finish all of the Guardians off. Cop-Tur meanwhile is inside the carnival disguised as a ride, and needs to be told by Wheeling to behave himself. Nick finds Scooter, who also reports he's found nothing and the pair head back to UNECOM. Mira meanwhile is at her hotel with Helstrom, recovering from her fainting. He suggests her terror of Cy-Kill is consuming her psychic gift, but subtly plants a transmitter in her room - letting Cy-Kill and Block Head know her location. Matt, A.J. and Nick are there to check up on her, while Leader-1, Turbo and Scooter are all on guard. However Block Head gets past them and breaks through her hotel window. Matt and A.J. try to stop him but the Renegade leaves with Mira - abandoning Helstrom, despite Cy-Kill promising the doctor he would be collected. The Guardians set off in pursuit and follow Block Head to the carnival, where Cy-Kill, Crasher, Cop-Tur, Tank and Twin Spin are waiting and surround the Guardians.

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Leader-1's forcefield buys the Guardians and their allies time and they begin to fight back, but Matt is knocked out by Wheeling and Loco is able to get a neural lock onto Turbo. Scooter soon frees him while Leader-1 fights the rest of the Renegades, shooting down Twin Spin before Crasher shoots him down and fixes a neural lock onto him before he can recover. He and Matt are taken prisoner and the Renegades escape, disguised as a train pulled by Loco. However, Mira is able to contact Nick telepathically and the kids try to find Leader-1 while Scooter searches for Matt and Mira, with Turbo providing a distraction. He soon draws out Crasher, while Scooter is able to give Matt an opening to tackle Wheeling. Turbo for his part duels with Crasher, sending her crashing into rocks, while Nick and A.J. free Leader-1, who confronts Cy-Kill. Turbo then blocks the track and the Renegades retreat. Mira is taken back to UNECOM, where she recovers - and picks up on Wheeling and Helstrom squabbling in the cells below.

Featured characters[edit | edit source]

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes[edit | edit source]

"You lose, Cy-Kill!"
"And if you don't mind my saying so, this is one of your dumbest schemes yet!"

Leader-1 and Scooter provide the episode synopsis.

Notes[edit | edit source]

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  • As with "The Seer", Mira's psychic powers are presented at 100% authentic face value.

Continuity notes[edit | edit source]

  • Gadgets and Powers:
    • Scooter's holograms trick the Renegades into thinking they've blasted a hole in UNECOM's energy shield, causing them to fly right into it.
    • In a rare display, Leader-1 uses his force field for something other than a personal defense bubble, and catches a falling jet fighter in the sky, lowering it safely to earth.
    • Scooter uses a surgical laser from his chest plate to free Turbo from a neuro-lock.

Continuity errors[edit | edit source]

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  • Cop-Tur and Twin Spin are right with Cy-Kill as Leader-1 and Turbo challenge him and then are instantly behind the Guardians a second later.
  • Leader-1 is exceptionally aggressive with Helstrom about the booster not being ready. That's right, Leader-1 - who works with Scooter by choice - yells at a human for not being able to build a telepathic booster quick enough.
  • There's absolutely no reason why he's immediately suspicious about the carnival either. He's right of course but there's no reason to suspect a carnival showing up in town automatically means shenanigans.
  • As with "Auto Madic", using Wheeling as a front to get the Renegades a base near Mira makes a certain amount of sense but why Cy-Kill gets the public involved by hiring the abandoned fairground out to a travelling carnival company isn't clear, his plan would have worked just as well if the place was still empty.
  • Cy-Kill makes no attempt to disguise his voice when trying to freak Nick out in the funhouse and is lucky Nick is on the idiot side of his idiot savant personality in today's episode. There's no reason for him and Block Head to mess with Nick anyway; he and Scooter had already been fooled by the scrambler, so why is he doing stuff like this for giggles? Why is Cop-Tur disguised as a ride called Roto-Cop-Tur?!?
  • When Nick spots Scooter he says "There he is... I think". Because the carnival is full of eight-foot tall robot clowns.
  • Despite being a phenomenal asset worthy of being guarded personally by the Guardians, Mira stays in a hotel - rather than the nearby UNECOM Headquarters with its' impenetrable forcefield.
  • Block Head smashes through the hotel window, has a firefight with Matt and A.J. and mocks Helstrom before flying off slowly, laughing, with Mira in his hands - all without the Guardians stationed outside the hotel noticing until he's long gone. And even then Turbo's first question after coming through the broken window is "What happened?".
  • Cy-Kill complicates things as usual by insisting on not only capturing Mira but ambushing the Guardians at the fairground too.
  • There's no reason why the Renegades leave by train instead of flying apart from to give Loco something to do. He even notes that he's sent Tank, Block Head and Twin Spin ahead.

Animation and technical errors[edit | edit source]

  • Loco isn't initially with the assault team at the start, only appearing after Scooter boosts the shield.
  • Mira is in a nightie without her glasses when she's abducted but in the same green suit and pink shirt she was wearing earlier when the Renegades have her at the fairground, with her glasses back.

Real-world references[edit | edit source]

  • Carla Conway's Marvel connections mean the name Helstrom is likely not a coincidence, especially as she wrote for the company's horror magazine line in the mid-1970s.
  • Donald Duck and Fred Flintstone - or badly drawn versions thereof - can be spotted at the carnival.

Trivia[edit | edit source]

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]