The Mighty Orbots

I'm going to write this review from an animation student's perspective- on the care that Tokyo Movie Shinsha took into doing the following: Art/Animation, Character Personalities, and Storyline. For those readers looking for a quick review, this isn't one of those. But if you want a closer look at this gem, you might not mind.

Art/Animation:

The backgrounds are well-drawn and detailed. While they aren't at the level of Frank Frazetta's (Fire and Ice, Heavy Metal) painstakingly picturesque detail, they surely do the job nicely.

Osamu Dezaki, famous for Golgo 13 and Space Cobra, uses cel shading heavily in this series, and does a thorough job at painting such gorgeous cels here. Another critic noted Dezaki's use of 'dancing light' across objects and characters; Dezaki doesn't let up here, either.

Shingo Araki (Saint Seiyu) and Skip Jones (Secret of Nimh, Space Ace) served as key animators for this show.

If you watch the animation frame rate (or are a nerd about that stuff, like me), you can look at how the smooth the animation moves, and several dynamic angles you see the characters move in. The frame rate seems to average between 24fps-30fps. It's literally a mini-feature film! In Mighty Orbots, TMS created a show that supersedes brown budget (TV cartoons) production values.

Personality: You get the idea that the animators followed the model sheet specs carefully because each and Every character has a personality--from their movement and mannerisms down to their walk and run pattern.

For instance, take the blue Bort, the shape-shifter of the group, suffers from personality disorder. It's as though his virtue of changing anything the Orbots need to fight the bad guys at the moment- serves as a vice to his own self.

Bo (orange) the assertive sexpot, and Boo (yellow) the shy robot, are the two sisters with occasional sibling rivalry.

Bo has the stronger personality of two girls; she also has control over the elements. She puts her power of manipulating earth, fire, and- you get the idea- to use when danger calls for quick solutions. As I had a crush on her as a little kid, I feel like they made her too sexy for a kids' cartoon... not that there's anything wrong with that.

Boo uses magic of illusion and her magnetic field to the Orbots' advantage whether in battle or out. I felt like they underused her abilities.

And Crunch (purple/black) the stout droid cares mostly about eating metal and boulders. He serves to energize them when they need a power boost.

Tor the big red robot, isn't exactly an oaf, but he is a bit narcissistic. When they form the giant robot, he serves as the torso that Commander Rob controls them.

And the little robot precocious Ohno favors Shirley Temple a lot, and the Orbots have distinct traits, even if they teeter on the edge of stereotyping.

Voice Acting: I enjoy the stellar cast of talent. Don Messick (Astro from the Jetsons and hundreds more) and Barry Gordon (best known as the voice of Donatello for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, 1987-) do an awesome job here. So do Jennifer Darling, Jim MacGeorge, and several others who have gone on to do Bionic Six. The actors do their jobs very well, and as a method voice actor myself, I really appreciate it.

Storyline: There's a solid storyline here with a unique directive for each episode. Rob created these robots as part of the Galactic Patrol, a police unit that saves monitors criminal activity, namely started by Shadow. I could go into more detail here, but I want to address one factor that most discerning viewers take into consideration:

There is NO sense of continuity between the episodes.

As a viewer, you want to be able to watch the first episode and watch the next and have them address something from a previous episode. Or better, a character will undergo some change or deal with an issue that lets you see how he or she grew- or deteriorated- from it. But none such here.

Flaws: These have been pointed out before in TV Tropes. I will, too.

1. Rob Simmons vs. Commander Rob Bespectacled Rob Simmons the Scientist is the prominent- no, the ONLY blond character who appears consistently in each episode- to serve as main character in this show. Rob's leader Rondu knows his alter ego as Commander Rob sans glasses. Rondu's daughter Dia largely ignores Rob's requests for a date. Yet Dia goes gaga for Rob in his Omnisuit? Really? Rondu addresses Galactic Patrol Rob as 'Commander Rob'. Commander Rob. Rob. Does Dia really MISS the connection? I think, even if you're a little kid watching this, at some level you realize that they ARE the same person.

2.Voice of the Narrator I like Gary Owens' voice as the announcer of the show. He makes some key points where there's a major shift in the action. But do we HAVE to hear him comment on EVERYthing as obvious as a clogged toilet Every. Single. Minute?!

3.Lack of recurring villains Umbra is the only villain who appears in every show. Nowhere in the series do we have any other villain appear more than once, ever.

4. Size issue As individual robots the Orbots range between 1.7 meters (5'8") to 2.8 meters (9'). But when the Orbots form the giant Orbot, something odd happens. The Orbots grow to be 30-50 times their regular sizes.

Summary: All rants aside, I enjoy watching this show and the personality and all the producers, voice actors, writers, and animators have injected into it to make for a moment in my childhood that I fondly remember.

I was just so excited that someone out there remembers this show besides me.

Basic plot: Geeky computer guy builds some kooky robots who have amazing skills. The robots can combing into one big robot (Voltron style) and kick some serious a**. Great 'Japanese Anime' animation, sounds, narration, etc. They have battles with their arch-enemy, Shadow, and so on and so forth.

Have to say though I really loved this short lived cartoon series as a kid. This along with Transformers and Voltron were my favorite cartoons. I always enjoy the robots that combine to form bigger robots or transform. I also watched Gobots a bit, but I did not care for that one nearly as much, and I learn now that it is the reason this much more entertaining show was canceled. Really, how the heck did that lawsuit even work when Gobots was clearly a Transformers rip off while Orbots more closely resembled Voltron than Transformers or Gobots. Here we had a dude who along with six robots fought the evil UMBRA's forces (I did not remember the villain's name but rather a reviewer mentioned it). The Orbots consisted of a strong robot that would turn into the main torso, a shape shifting robot that would be one of the legs, a junk eating robot who was the other legs, two rather attractive twin girl robots who formed the arms, and a little girl robot who sort of was the glue for when they combined as the dude entered the robot in combined form and fought against stuff that I can not remember thanks to the brief run of this show. I am guessing it will never come on DVD unless the gobot creators die or something so I will never get to relive this show and see why I enjoyed it as a kid.

A very FAST-PACED sci-fi cartoon featuring our very funny, lovable robots who can arrange themselves into a gigantic robot just like the one in "Voltron" to battle the evil forces! First, there's this big, fat robot who likes to eat alot that becomes the "body", then the two very spunky female robots who go as the "arms", and finally, the two fun-loving brothers to be turned into "legs". Now, along comes the head (uh, if I remember correctly), which is actually a flying spacecraft piloted by the young human scientist and the cutest little robot girl you'd ever see with a few clever tricks of her very own up her metal sleeve! Simply MARVELOUS, color-splashed animation that looks very Japanese both in character and action as well as such good-natured humor and very zany whimsicality at every turn! Oh, how you'd gasp in such amazement during the very rapid sequence where each flying robot instantly transforms himself or herself into massive body parts to be attached to each other before the big heroic acts! And the very perception of the whole cartoon is always turning and moving so much you'd feel like you're turning and twisting in an anti-gravity room! A very unique and entertaining fantasy experience with cartoon robots, indeed!

Combining super-heroics with the giant robot craze of the 80's, mixed in with a style that mimics Japanese Anime (and why not, since most of the animators were, indeed, from Japan), "Mighty Orbots" was a wonder to behold. The stories were solid for a half-hour "kids' show," and the animation was clean from day 1.

The 5 Orbots each had their own unique talents, which became part of the talents of the fused giant robot known as Mighty Orbots. (OK, the name isn't sensational, but that's about the only campy bit.) Tor was the "strong-bot" of the team; he formed the main torso of Mighty Orbots, with MO's head rising out of his body to replace Tor's head. Bort was a shape-changer; he was one of MO's leg. Bo, the confident female weather-wizard Orbot, became one of MO's arms, while shy Boo, whose talents were more ephemeral as well, became the other arm. Crunch was the "fat bot" who was always eating; he was MO's other leg, as well as the primary energy source for the giant robot. Finally, Ono (or "Oh No!," as she was always fond of saying) served as the "key" to activate MO, while seated in the command craft with the Orbots Commander (who was secretly Rob Simmons, builder of the Orbots); the craft entered MO's torso and became the command center.

Oh, how I wish these episodes were available on DVD, and that we could see some new ones.