Robotix

"Robotix" is an animated series from 1985 based on a Milton Bradley/Hasbro toy property of the same name (a construction toy similar to Erector set and K’Nex, that includes motors, wheels and pincers). The show follows the conflict between the peaceful Protectons and the warmongering Terrakors on the alien world of Skalorr, and a group of humans who get caught in between. It was produced by Sunbow Productions and Marvel Productions. It was also animated in Japan by Toei Animation who also animated the other cartoons featured on Super Sunday.

Unlike most animated shows, "Robotix" was not a 22-minute cartoon, but rather a six-minute short that aired as part of the "Super Sunday" half-hour with other animated shows, such as "Jem and the Holograms", "Inhumanoids" and "Bigfoot and the Muscle Machines". While "Jem" and "Inhumanoids" had enough success to be turned into full-fledged series, "Robotix" ended after its debut season.

Marvel Comics also produced a single-issue comic book in February 1986, which roughly followed the storyline of the first 3 episodes of the series.

"Robotix: The Movie"

Infobox Film
name = Robotix: The Movie


caption =
director = Wally Burr
producer = Joe Bacal
Tom Griffin
Don Jurwich
writer =
narrator =
starring = Michael Bell
Arthur Burghardt
Corey Burton
Victor Caroli
Peter Cullen
music = Robert J. Walsh
cinematography =
editing =
distributor = Metrodome (UK/Ireland DVD Release Only)
released =
runtime = 92 mins
country = U.S./Canada
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0122232

In 1987, the fifteen six-minute long shorts were compiled together and released on video as "Robotix: The Movie", a 90-minute feature film. Directed by Wally Burr, it was re-released on DVD on July 28, 2003 for Region 2 in the UK and Ireland.cite web|url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00009XW89/202-3048374-5563803?v=glance&n=283926|title=Robotix - The Movie [1987] |work=Amazon.co.uk|accessdate=2006-07-18]

Characters

Protectons

*Argus
*Bront
*Jerrok
*Narra
*Boltar
*Kontor

Terrakors

*Nemesis - a ruthless Terrorkor warlord that sees the new robotic forms that he has adopted as being a key to Terrorkor supremacy.
*Tyrannix - a vicious second in command of the Terrorkors, Tyrannix serves as Nemesis's right hand man. After Nemesis's failure to locate the Terrorstar and inability to defeat the Protectons, Tyrannix briefly overthrows his leader and becomes the new Terrorkor commander until Nemesis returns.
*Steggor - a cunning serpentine Terrorkor.
*Goon - a dim witted grunt Terrorkor that possesses little intelligence.
*Venturak - when attacking the stasis chamber, Nemesis and Tyrannix manage to subdue Kontor, replacing his mind with a Terrorkor which is Venturak who serves as the Terrorkor spy until he finally reveals his nature during the assault on Zanadon.
*Terragar - briefly seen when Nemesis captures Argus and attempts to delete his personality, replacing it with a Terrakor to deceive the Protectons. Once discovered, Terragar's mind is returned into Compucore.

Humans

*Captain Exeter Galaxon
*Tauron
*Kanawk
*Gaxon
*Lupus
*Nommo
*Traxis
*Steff
*Flexor
*Spiro
*Zarru

Episode summaries

Battle of the Titans

Pursued by a battle cruiser, the starship of captain Exeter Galaxon crashes on the ruined planet of Skalorr and is left for dead. However, the crew survives, only to immediately find themselves caught up in a battle between two factions of gigantic robot creatures, the Protectons and Terrakors, that emerge from the ground. While the Terrakors flee the scene, the Protectons befriend Galaxon and his crew, and help them to rebuild their ship. During the repairs, Narra and Zarru discover that humans can interface with Robotix to enhance their abilities, and a renewed attack by the Terrakors forces Bront to put the new discovery to the test.

Paradise Lost

Interfaced with Galaxon, Bront uses his new abilities to rescue Argus, who, interfaced with Tauron, helps him fend the Terrakors off. In the ensuing brief moment of peace, Argus takes the humans to the Protectons’ underground base, where the history of Skalorr is related by Compucore, the planet’s central intelligence. Three million years prior, the organic, lizard-like races of the Protectons and Terrakors were forced to set aside their hostilities when their sun began to nova. While Nemesis planned to use Compucore to launch his ship, the Terrastar, to transport a select few off the planet to safety, Compucore itself suggested the use of underground stasis tubes to preserve the entire population.

Traitor In Our Midst

The story of Skalorr’s history continues, as the entire population of the planet seal themselves in stasis tubes. However, a radiation leak threatens their lives, and Compucore is forced to transfer and store their essences into itself. When the radiation levels finally subside to normal millions of years later, Compucore transfers the essences of four Protectons and four Terrakors into the Robotix, giant machines created to rebuild Skalorr. The ensuing battle led into current events.

As salvage and repair on the ship continues, Kanawk, Gaxon, Lupus and Nommo, dissatisfied with Galaxon’s leadership, set out on their own to find the Terrastar, and offer their services to the Terrakors.

A Spy Is Born

Nemesis accepts Kanawk’s offer, and the renegade humans and Terrakors interface. Shortly after the Protectons complete the construction of a new Robotix, infused with the essence of Kontor, a Protecton, the Terrakors stage a diversion to lure the Protectons out of their base. With the battle raging outside, Nemesis and Tyrannix penetrate the base and replace Kontor’s essence with that of Venturak, a Terrakor, who then interfaces with another turncoat human, Traxis, and is appointed as a spy within the Protecton ranks. He reveals to the Terrakors that the humans’ food supply is dwindling, resulting in an attack on their ship and the theft of their remaining rations.

Crash Landing

Repairs on the human ship continue apace, and success is finally achieved; however, the Terrakors attack the Protectons just as Galaxon’s crew blasts off. Helpless before the interfaced Terrakors, the Protectons are facing certain doom, until Galaxon’s crew return to save them—only to discover that the Terrakors stole their guidance system when they took their food. The humans crash land into the planet.

Firestorm at the Oasis

With their interfaces restored, the Protectons fend off the Terrakors, but Galaxon’s ship is now beyond repair, and the humans are still without food. Compucore releases probes to locate consumable vegetation, discovering an oasis that the humans and Protectons head for, while Argus and Venturak remain to guard Compucore. While the other Terrakors raze the oasis in an inferno, Nemesis invades the Protecton base with Venturak’s help, and captures Argus, erasing his essence.

Captured

The Protectons and humans at the oasis manage to survive by burrowing their way out, but Argus’s failure to respond to his radio hailing prompts Bront to return to the base to investigate. Meanwhile, Nemesis infuses Argus’s body with the essence of another Terrakor, Terragar, and they escape with Compucore. Bront pursues them, but is almost tricked by Terragar, posing as Argus, with the deception only being revealed by Lupus’s presence at the controls. Bront seizes Compucore and flees into the crystalline Desert of Illusions, but, one by one, the illusions are dispelled, leaving Bront staring down Terragar’s cannon barrel.

The Lost Cities

Narra and Jerrok come to Bront’s aid, and the Terrakors flee, leaving Terragar’s deactivated body behind. Compucore is able to restore Argus using a back-up copy of his essence, and the Protectons begin to search for their old city, Zanadon. At the same time, however, the Terrakors search for their own city, Terrakordia, and send Steggor to pursue the Protectons. However, the Terrakors discover that it has been crushed by a glacier, and that the Terrastar is nowhere to be found. Enraged, Tyrannix turns on Nemesis and claims leadership of the Terrakors for himself, heading off with Goon to join Steggor.

Meanwhile, the Protectons seek to reactivate Zanadon, turning to Kontor, as he was responsible for creating the city. However, as his essence was replaced within the Robotix by Venturak, he sabotages the turbo flow generator and pins the blame on Bront when the generator threatens to explode and destroy the entire city.

Bront Stands Accused

The Protectons only just manage to escape Zanadon as Compucore seals the city’s dome to contain the explosion to only one of its multiple sectors. The situation is made worse by Venturak, who implicates Bront as a traitor, forcing the other Protectons to imprison him until his innocence can be proved. In the ensuing confusion, Tyrannix and Goon attempt to once again steal Compucore, but Venturak fights back, fearing Nemesis’s wrath. Nemesis and Steggor then re-enter the fray, and Zarru frees Bront, who convinces the other Protectons he is not a traitor by helping them claim victory in the battle.

Exploring inside Zanadon, Zarru discovers an incomplete Robotix body that requires additional parts. Venturak directs the Protectons to a nearby factory that contains the parts they need, but unbeknowst to them, the Terrakors have already set up an ambush there.

The Factory of Death

The Protectons struggle against the factory’s various machines, while Zarru and Flexor put together the unfinished Robotix as best they can. A distress call from Argus forces them to activate the new Robotix, infusing it with the essence of Boltar, a Protecton, who stomps to the aid of the captive Protectons and rescues them. However, Galaxon refuses to leave Zarru in order to be Boltar’s pilot, and, instead, appoints Flexor, and, in an effort to prove to Galaxon that he is skilled enough, Zarru sets out to locate the Terrakors.

Zarru Takes the Plunge

Zarru crash lands somewhere in the icy tundra region of Skalorr, where the Terrakors have successfully located the Terrastar, submerged in a lake. As they attempt to reactivate the ship, the Protectons—running low on energy—set out searching for Zarru. Goon is given the unenviable job of launching the Terrastar, and quickly loses control of the ship, burying it in an avalanche. Moving quickly, Zarru invades Goon’s control capsule, but is thrown from it, and rescued by the Protectons. The Terrakors are forced to flee due to their own depleting energy levels, and both factions head for Siliton Mountain to locate the crystals they need to recharge. However, the Terrakors have a head start, and stage a flash flood to wash the Protectons away.

Attack of the Rock Creatures

Boltar’s bulk shields the Protectons from the flood, and they continue on their search for the crystals. However, both races are captured by a bizarre race of rock creatures, who also feed on the crystals. The creatures separate the humans from their Robotix partners, and imprison them in their realm, within a volcano. As the humans watch, they see the rock creatures smelt their ship, and it soon becomes apparent that the Robotix are to share the same fate, with Jerrok going first.

All for One

Held captive in a pit by the rock creatures, the humans are threatened by a monstrous feline, which Galaxon uses to escape. Snatching a Siliton crystal, Galaxon recharges Jerrok, who saves himself and holds off the rock creatures while the humans recharge the other Robotix and interface with the nearest ones they can find. This leads to some unstable partnerships, as Argus ejects Gaxon from his cockpit for almost forcing him to kill a rock creature. Goon and Bront fuse into a battering ram that smashes open a path to freedom, but when Tyrannix opens fire on the rock creatures, he triggers the volcano, forcing all the Robotix and humans to partner up correctly to most efficiently save both themselves, and the rock creatures from destruction. The rock creatures lead the Protectons to safety, but the Terrakors manage to survive on their own, and once again attack Zanadon, as Tyrannix buries the city in a rockslide.

Battle for Zandon

After brief concern from the Terrakors that the rockslide may have destroyed Compucore, Zanadon becomes airborne, as the Protectons try to move it out reach. While Venturak and Compucore monitor the city’s functions, the other Protectons explore various regions of the city, but when Argus is attacked by Nemesis, he realises that “Kontor” has opened the city’s dome to allow the Terrakors access. Tyrannix and Bront battle in the city’s sporting stadium, while Steggor pursues Narra into the medical bay. Defeating Steggor, Narra discovers Venturak, the charade over, preparing to abscond with Compucore. No match for both Venturak and Tyrannix, Narra is defeated, and Nemesis and the Terrakors escape, with Compucore in their clutches. As the Protectons struggle to even close the city’s domes without Compucore, the now-airborne Terrastar soars overhead, and begins its attack.

The Final Attack

The Terrastar razes Zanadon, but in the ensuing conflagration, the Protectons attempt to penetrate the Terrastar’s hull. Nemesis directs the ship into space, into a nearby asteroid belt, knocking all by Argus and Narra off into the void. They smash their way into the ship, and Narra is quickly knocked off into space by Tyrannix, leaving Argus and Galaxon alone to face the assembled Terrakors. Struggling against the airless vacuum, Galaxon directs the Terrastar towards a giant asteroid, then grapples with Kanawk, as Argus overcomes the Terrakors and comes to his aid, hurling Kanawk aside, and escaping from the ship with Exeter and Compucore as it crashes into the asteroid, exploding in a giant fireball.

Floating in space, Argus is picked up by the other Protectons, who have survived by combining together. They return to the surface of Skalorr, and begin plans to rebuild their world, with help from the humans, who all agree to stay and help their new allies.

But in the void of space, Nemesis still lives...

Voice cast

*Dean Wakely—Argus, Boltar, Steth
*Neil Wakely—Lupus, Kontor, Traxis, Venturak
*Jackie Wakely—Compucore, Narra
*David Wakely—Nemesis, Spiro
*Frank Welker—Bront, Terragar, Tyrannix
*Kimberly Calvo—Jerrok, Flexor, Gaxon, Steggor
*Corey Burton—Goon, Kanawk, Tauron
*Pat Fraley—Exeter Galaxon, Nomo
*Jason Naylor—Zarru

Problems

Robotix suffered from many of the same problems as Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors. The Robotix toy line featured modular building sets that generally resembled space combat vehicles and were marketed as such. The cartoon characters were completely different. For example, Tyrannix was a building set that built a space ship, but the character on the cartoon was a humanoid robot. Also, the sets included a generic commander while the cartoon featured human characters. Unlike Wheeled Warriors, the Robotix cartoon was not good enough to continue on its own.

Toy Line

Robotix toys were sold by Milton Bradley from 1984 until 1994. Learning Curve began ofering Robotix sets in 1994, and continued offering them until 2001. The packaging at this time changed to reflect the Learning Curve name, and many new parts were added. Since 2001, [http://www.roboticsandthings.com/robotix/rbxindex.html Robotics and Things] has continued to sell Robotix toys through the internet. Despite the changes in distribution, products currently available are fully backward compatible with all toys from 1984 onward.Information provided by Neil L. Friedman, Director of "Robotics And Things" in an email dated 11/5/2007.]

The Robotix line was also sold by Radio Shack for a while, with the Radio Shack brand on the boxes. References on the internet in 2006 indicated that Imaginarium was also carrying Robotix, but by 2007, the references had disappeared. An interesting note is that the "Learning Curve" web site no longer has any references to the Robotix line, but the Robotics and Things web site continued to show the Learning Curve name on the Teacher materials as late as September, 2008.

References

External links

*imdb title|0243726
*imdb title|0122232|Robotix: The Movie
* [http://www.e-clec-tech.com/robotix.html Brief Toy Line History]