by Erin Hatch, Editor-at-Large
If you were a child in the 1980’s, and have participated in Geek culture at any time since, it is possible that you have encountered a very silly debate between fans of the popular Transforming-Robot series, Transformers, and the not-quite-so-popular, Transforming-Robot series, Gobots. It is a fairly useless debate, as Gobots fans generally stress that Gobots came first, while Transformers fans counter with the fact that Transformers wasn’t a pile of crap. But who is correct? Now we can find out, with the release of the miniseries that started it all: Challenge of the Gobots: The Original Miniseries now on DVD!
So, if we’re going to actually be fair to the debate, we have to get two things out of the way: First, it is true that Gobots came first, but just because something is first doesn’t make it better. The Soviet Union launched satellites and people into space before the United States managed to get up there, does that make it better? Only if you are a Communist.
Secondly, Challenge of the Gobots really does have some quality issues. Now, Transformers wasn’t animated by Michelangelo or anything, but somehow Gobots manages to be worse, feeling a lot more dated than Transformers. The quality isn’t limited to animation either: several of the sound effects in Gobots were lifted directly from Star Wars. And the transformation process between Gobot and vehicle form are… Lacking, to say the least. I mean, the Gobots barely resemble vehicles in vehicle form, and look instead like Robots twisted into vehicle shapes.
Those two factors aside, Gobots and Transformers are remarkably similar: They are both allegories for the struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Transformers, as you may know, takes the side of the Soviet Union to promote a nefarious communist agenda in which “good” and “working class” vehicles (The Autobots) fight against the aggressive powers of the military industrial complex of the United States (The Decepticons). Gobots, on the other hand, portrays the reverse message, taking the side of capitalist Americans and portraying the bad guys as criminals and terrorists who have infiltrated and taken over the American military industrial complex. I think the moral of the story is that nobody likes the American Military Industrial Complex, and it is all Dwight Eisenhower’s fault.
Anyway. Yes. Capitalism is good in Gobots.
Highlights:
Episode 1: “The Battle for Gobotron”: From the first moments of Challenge of the Gobots, the connoisseur of 1980’s transforming robot television animation will detect several qualities that may seem familiar. This is because they are almost identical to the infinitely more successful series of the same genre: Transformers (You may have heard of it?). Let me summarize the opening of Gobots: Far away in space, there is a planet Gobotron. While that planet was once peaceful, it is now divided in civil war between the benevolent Gobot Guardians and a Renegade element led by the evil Cy-kill. When the Renegades are cornered by the overwhelming powers of the Federation, Cy-kill and his followers flee Gobotron for the planet Earth. If you are versed in Transformers, you probably recognize the fact that it is the same premise as the pilot for Transformers, so long as you replace the words “Gobotron” with “Cybertron,” “Gobot Guardians” with “Decepticons,” “Renegade” with “Autobot” and “Cy-Kill” with “Optimus Prime.” What’s that? Transformers has reversed the good guys and the bad guys when compared to Gobots? How convenient, when you realize that it only helps to reinforce the seditious communist message of Transformers. The only significant difference, aside from the silly transformations, a different commentary on Cold War Politics and the changed names, is the voice of the narrator. The narrator of Transformers, if you remember, is a hard and dangerous voice, warning you that your entire family will be murdered by giant robots in the night. The Gobots narrator, on the other hand, is a kind and fatherly voice, reassuring you that everything will be all right, because the Gobots are here to protect you from the godless commies.
Episode 3: “Conquest of Earth”: By this point in the series, the Renegades have infiltrated NASA by way of a corrupt official, and the Gobots, along with their astronaut friends, have been deemed criminals. They are forced to turn to a Soviet scientist to uncover the Renegades’ latest plan for stealing a new Soviet power source. (This is the most obvious bit of fiction in the series, as it is ludicrous to think that Soviet technology could ever be superior to good ol’ American tech.) Meanwhile, the corrupt official attempts to infiltrate NORAD and- Wait a minute. Is that Rene Auberjonois (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, The Little Mermaid)? It is! Rene Firetrucking Auberjonois plays the corrupt human bad guy! This is wonderful… Ohh wait, no, it is still Gobots. Oddly enough, this is the point where Gobots shifts emphasis so that the Gobots are trying to reconcile the USA and USSR against the Renegade Terrorists. In that sense, Gobot’s allegory is very much ahead of its time.
Episode… What is this, Four?: “Earthbound”: Ok, so there are these two Renegade soldiers, and I didn’t catch their names, but I am pretty sure one of them is voiced by Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime from Transformers). And holy shit, looking at IMDB indicates that the Annoying Guardian Sidekick Scooter is voiced by none other than Frank Welker, voice of Megatron, among many, many other voice roles over the years. So wait… Even the VOICE ACTORS have switched sides between good and evil, capitalism and communism.
Episode 5: “The Final Conflict”: You can tell this is the end of the miniseries because all bets are off. The human heroes are driving racing tanks. The Renegade Cop-tur goes down in a blaze of glory. The lead astronaut is making out with the Soviet Scientist! The writing is still a little clunky in terms of dialog, but the plot has built really well to this point. Heck, the ending, in which the American Astronauts and Soviet Scientist blow off their respective governments to travel the Galaxy with the Gobots, almost blows my entire Cold War Allegory theory out of the water.
Special Features:
While Challenge of the Gobots does not feature traditional special features, the disk is encoded with a DRM measure that ‘encourages’ viewers to watch the DVD on a “Play Only” DVD Player, and not DVD Recorders or computers. There is a warning on the back of the box, and unlike the other DVD from the Hanna Barbera Classic Collection that ComicsOnline has reviewed recently, Gobots did not work in my computer at all, forcing me to find a traditional DVD player to complete this review. Buyer beware, you aren’t necessarily getting a versatile DVD with this collection.
Overall:
Ok, Ok, maybe I am being a little hard on Challenge of the Gobots. It is a fun series, and in some ways it may even be better than Transformers, especially in terms of the characterization of the human characters and fleshing out the Cold War allegory by actually including real political entities in the story. It has clunky animation, cheesy dialog and voice acting, recycled sound effects and horrible, horrible transformations for their Gobots, but even Transformer fans should be able to get some amusement from comparing the two series. For the DVD set, the picture looks great, and having the collection be the entire first miniseries plot means that the story has a nice build over the five episodes contained in this collection.
In conclusion, if you prefer Challenge of the Gobots to Transformers, you are a communist. However, if you prefer Transformers to Gobots, you are also a communist. How can a 1980’s Transforming Robot Animated Television fan prove his worth as a capitalist American? By purchasing Challenge of the GoBots on DVD, and insisting that while the writing and animation quality may not be quite as solid as in the Transformers series, it was still a predecessor to Transformers, it is decidedly less communist, and it is better than anything by Michael Bay in any case. Buy the DVD. That is the only acceptable course of action for a patriot. Do it for your country.
ComicsOnline gives Challenge of the GoBots: The Original Miniseries 3.5 out of 5 scenes copied by Transformers. We think there was a full fourth scene in there, but couldn’t watch it on account of DRM.
Get your copy of Challenge of the GoBots: The Original Miniseries at Amazon.
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