Post by String on Feb 14, 2016 18:58:15 GMT -5
Oh wow, that's impressive. I think you've just given me a new quest to undertake on eBay and elsewhere now. 
Mighty Orbots was one of the earliest, if not THE earliest, cartoons created in conjunction by American/Japanese companies. It was meant for broadcast in the US while being available on home video in Japan. So, it has a very distinctive anime-type style to it.
The story: In the 23rd century, the United Planets, based on Earth, deals with the mysterious crime syndicate, SHADOW which is headed by Umbra, a massive cyborg computer. Rob Simmons, a genius inventor working with Galactic Patrol, creates six unique robots to help combat this threat. Five of them have unique abilities unto themselves but in times of crisis, with the help of the sixth robot as a controller, the five can merge into one giant robot called Mighty Orbot.
Unfortunately, the show soon suffered from a lawsuit from Tonka over certain claimed similarities to their GoBots franchise. (Mighty Orbot's design was based off a robot design from Bandai, a design that was never used within the GoBots line itself).
As such, the series only lasted one season, 13 episodes. It has a distinction of having an actual finale episode, a rarity in those days of animation. Notable voice-over actor Garry Owens handles the narration throughout the series.
Sadly, it hasn't been collected (officially *ahem*) on DVD yet. But I loved it, it was a terrific blend of sci-fi, mecha, campiness, and anime.
Mighty Orbots was one of the earliest, if not THE earliest, cartoons created in conjunction by American/Japanese companies. It was meant for broadcast in the US while being available on home video in Japan. So, it has a very distinctive anime-type style to it.
The story: In the 23rd century, the United Planets, based on Earth, deals with the mysterious crime syndicate, SHADOW which is headed by Umbra, a massive cyborg computer. Rob Simmons, a genius inventor working with Galactic Patrol, creates six unique robots to help combat this threat. Five of them have unique abilities unto themselves but in times of crisis, with the help of the sixth robot as a controller, the five can merge into one giant robot called Mighty Orbot.
Unfortunately, the show soon suffered from a lawsuit from Tonka over certain claimed similarities to their GoBots franchise. (Mighty Orbot's design was based off a robot design from Bandai, a design that was never used within the GoBots line itself).
As such, the series only lasted one season, 13 episodes. It has a distinction of having an actual finale episode, a rarity in those days of animation. Notable voice-over actor Garry Owens handles the narration throughout the series.
Sadly, it hasn't been collected (officially *ahem*) on DVD yet. But I loved it, it was a terrific blend of sci-fi, mecha, campiness, and anime.
