The Mighty Orbots (1984) User Reviews

Great animation but

[nyarnebbanot · 8/10 · 12 December 2023]

This show is so predictable I can see what's happening next.

I could literally voice over the Mighty Orbots and have every episode abridged and improvised.

It's the future. Humans and Aliens live together.

But suddenly, something bad happens. An villian so terrifying he traumatizes 80's kids everywhere.

A villain who is literally Hitler emerges

Mischief ensues.

It's only a up to a group of heroes known as the might Orbots to defeat the villain.

They do as such.

8 unique stereo types, 2 twin hotties, a fat bot who eats the competition, a nerd bot, cute mommy bot, muscle guy, all commanded by some white boy. It's just like Paw Patrol and it couldn't be anymore predictable.

No wonder it got 13 seasons.

Banger intro though. This is what happens when you get Japan and America to work together to create cartoon.

Without a doubt, one of the best cartoons of the '80s

[la_galaxian · 29 December 2005]

I always wondered what became of the Mighty Orbots. When I found out the show was canceled due to a stupid lawsuit concerning the extremely cheap and bottom of the bargain basement bin GoBots, I was very disappointed. I have fond memories of getting up early on Saturday mornings so I could enjoy the adventures of these Mighty Orbots. It was very well animated, and the plots kept you guessing at what would happen next. I also admired the nature of each of the Orbots' personalities. They weren't over-the-top, so it was easy to develop a bond with all of them. It definitely introduced a better quality of anime in the American market and this was apparent in the success of Robotech, Transformers and Voltron. Ironically, the GoBots tanked horribly and was always seen as a "poor man's" version of the Transformers. Maybe one day somebody will decide to re-release the Orbots or pick up the series again. At the very least, I hope that a DVD is forthcoming.

One Of The Greatest Animations Of The Eighties!!!

[DarkLugia1969 · 10/10 · 19 December 2002]

When one thinks of "the Mighty Orbots" one thinks in my opinion, the greatest 80's animation of that time that lasted only one full season due to them being sued by the makers of the sorry ass "The Gobots". The Orbots paved a way in the formation of anime with a fast paced action with a really soothing jazz fill. I still remember the first episode entitled, "The Magnetic Menace" and I was blown away. My favorite episodes were "The Wish World" and "The Jewel of Targon" in which in both episodes that the five robots have to combined themselves to combat a much larger menace like the Shadow Agent Plamist and the Targonian Jewel Monster respectively. Most people will agree that there will never be a show like this ever again and that they should make this in DVD and I hope that they will do this one day. In fact this show was one of the many best things of the decade that I hated and that is the infamous 80's. Long live the Mighty Orbots, Champions of Justice!!!

Gobots Shmobots

[sketchyninja · 9/10 · 13 July 2005]

Most excellent of shows of the giant robot genre. Insane plots and superb animation for its time made me want to watch this every Saturday morning. On par with or sometimes better than Transformers, Robotech, and Voltron. Even the theme song was cool and catchy. The music from the rock and roll episode really sticks with you. Too bad it was only one season. The characterization of the robots was also excellent. The only annoying thing i remember from the show was the announcer explaining everything too much even though it was Gary Owens who has a great voice. I'm lucky enough to have the garbage episode and the rock and roll episode on tape and both are excellent episodes. Highly recommended watching.

Orbots Rock! The show rocks all the way!!!

[ultramatt2000-1 · 10/10 · 13 May 2009]

I was very little when I first saw that show. It came on ABC and I was so into it. That show and DROIDS (a cartoon spin-off starring C3PO and R2D2). With that show, it got me into a fascination of sci-fi at an early age. Keep in mind that this was before TRANSFORMERS, GOBOTS and VOLTRON. The song is catchy that my brother and I started singing it. Plus every time we go on to car-trips I would imagine myself sitting there in a space-ship and going off into space. All along, I give this show 10 out of 10. This show made me get fascinated with robots. There was another show I ran into recently called SUPER ROBOT MONKEY TEAM HYPERFORCE GO! I liked that show because it reminded me of ORBOTS. The character design, animation, color scheme (or choices of color).

I highly recommend THE MIGHTY ORBOTS.

Rated TV-Y7 for fantasy violence. But it is such a cool show (from the eighties).

Orbots survive on the Web

[jatrim1 · 10/10 · 3 March 2008]

Orbots was definitely among the highest production value, best-paced and best-edited cartoons of its time. It just wasn't attached to a big-budget toy line like the Transformers/Gobots, which limited its value to TV networks. It was anime before anime got big in the states--the quality of the animation was more like recent series than Voltron.

You can currently find Orbots episodes on a YouTube competitor, which shall remain nameless, but whose name begins with a letter near the end of the alphabet. Unfortunately, they aren't high quality videos, so the slick feel of the real TV show isn't there.

Mighty Orbots: An Animator's Short Analysis

[vocaltaffy · 9/10 · 1 November 2013]

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.

Fantastic cartoon from 1984...we all miss it!

[wade-31 · 23 February 2000]

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.

You Can Best Trust These Robots Will Never Bust

[Dawalk-1 · 10/10 · 23 April 2018]

The second of the space show quadrilogy by Tokyo Movie Shinsha or TMS Entertainment (the others being Ulysses 31, Galaxy High School, and Adventures of the Galaxy rangers) and the third I checked out in recent years after the two others, the last I mentioned I have yet to see. It's yet another one of those shows I didn't grow up on watching, but after reading comments by others about how great it is/was and watching it myself, I wish I had. I already saw the first four episodes and plan to buy the DVD that was released just almost a week ago eventually after I finish seeing the others. Once again, what had I been missing?

Another one to add to my list of '80s cartoons/anime I consider to be the best. Among the true classics. I didn't watch many cartoons featuring robots when I was little/younger (one exception being the CBS Storybreak episode, "C.L.U.T.Z."), but I've been trying to get into more of them. One of the things that is often pointed out about this is the high quality of the animation. Somehow, I think I almost never noticed the difference in quality from show to show years ago, but when I think about this compared to lower quality animated shows, like most any '60s and '70s Hanna-Barbera production, the memories came flooding back. And I never wondered why that was so. I also didn't notice just how much the narrator over-narrated. It seemed or sounded like it was done alright to me.

The series follows five robots (Tor, Bort, Bo, Boo, and Crunch), known as the titular characters, created by the scientist Rob Simmons, to be the defenders of the galaxy for the organizations, the Galactic Patrol and the United Planets, to protect it from the malicious organization, Shadow, led by the cyborg computer and main villain, Umbra. A sixth orbot, Ohno, serves as his assistant, although she can often be naggy. Commander Rondu is the head of the Galactic Patrol. His daughter, Dia, is Rob's love interest, but she's interested in Rob's alter-ego, the Orbot Commander, which he assumes whenever there's danger and is unaware that they're one and the same. Five of the Orbots also combine to assume the mega-bot only when there's danger and to battle whatever opponent they face. Plus, with Rob and Ohno in the beam car, which is in the central core of the mega-bot, that completes the combination so it can function easily. Although each can hold his and her own individually with his and her distinctive, signature powers and special abilities, they do best when they're a collective. Prior to being expanded into a series, there was also a 6-minute short pilot called Broots, which featured prototypical versions of the characters, whose designs hadn't been perfected just yet and the production was still trying to find, and settle in its itself or its footing.

This show also has similarities and pays homage to other space-related shows and movies, such as Star Trek and Star Wars. One positive about this is the exhibition of teamwork. When the Orbots are put together to form one giant Orbot, they're really invincible and unstoppable. It's horse-feathers this program had to get dropped as soon as it was, partly due to that lawsuit by Tonka alleging that it had ripped off the Go-bots. It just goes to show, as it's proof right there, that it doesn't matter whether a show is great or not, whether it's worthy of running or not, that only bad shows should get cancelled and great ones should continue thriving, none of that means jack in the end. I know that Umbra was destroyed once and for all in the last episode. Since that's the case, then had there been a second season, then I presume that would've meant the Orbots would've faced off a new threat/foe. Also, it would've been nice to see if the art would've become crisper. Anyway, everything about this, from the theme song to the writing to the characters to the voice acting is done well. Very little, if any, to complain about at all. This is a not-skip series.

One of the GREATEST Saturday morning cartoons from the 1980s!

[Becca-37 · 29 December 2000]

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!

Yup, was a great cartoon.

[paul51 · 24 April 2005]

Great animation, great action. Even some good in-humor from the announcer/narrator (Gary Owen).

I knew this show only lasted one season and was very disappointed, but I had no idea it floundered because of a lawsuit from the creators of the very very very inferior "Gobots". Figures. Ah well, if you want to look at the silver lining, they didn't have a chance to run this show into the ground with cut-budget or somehow less fantastic additional seasons. Not that they were likely to do so, it just seems like the best stuff we remember back then was short lived, maybe because it didn't get the chance to disappoint us.

And, by the way, you guys, the Orbots' arch enemy (the big round bright orange and red...sphere of plasma with multiple eyes) was named UMBRA.

The first, and best, US-made Giant Robot

[UltraJoe · 24 March 2004]

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.

Can not really give it a score, because it has been a long time since I have seen this one.

[Aaron1375 · 21 February 2009]

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.