"The Wish World"

Deep in space Mighty Orbots is in the final stages of a battle with the evil Cadron, a Shogun-esque minion of Shadow. His defeat doesn't please Umbra but a mysterious guest claims that he can solve the evil computer's Orbots problem. Recognising him Umbra gives this classic order: "Plasmas, solidify before me!" Solidify he does and pledges to assist in the Shadow leaders plan to use a 'hyper warp' to remove Doranis, a moon of high strategic importance to the galactic patrol, from existence.

Meanwhile on earth our heroes are once again relaxing. Rob is playing a video game called 'Star Raiders' and from it's very basic appearance it seems video games have regressed pretty far by the 23rd century or maybe he's just playing an emulator. Ono is dismayed when he dismisses her orders because she's "just a robot". But everyone's fun is interrupted when Rondu has the Orbots investigate some strange goings on space, suspecting that Shadow is behind them.

The stock footage of the robots flying from their individual world locations is rolled out again which makes me wonder- just how come each robot is hiding in a vastly different place to the next? They are all supposed to be recharging in Rob's base yet they appear from the desert, an ancient temple, a frozen lake and so on. How big is this underground base anyway?

The orbots investigate, Rob further undermines Ono and Dia leaves for the Doranis. On her way there she is pulled into the Hyper Warp and is forced to make an emergency landing on the endangered moon. Trapped she sends out a distress signal to the Orbots. Meanwhile Plasmas arrives on Earth and spots Ono out shopping for her human master. He overhears her wish to become human and hatches a plan. Approaching her, in disguise, in an underground car park he invites her to visit the Wish World a planet where your wishes are granted, risk free! Ono is uncertain at first but ultimately accepts.

Rob sees the trouble Umbra is causing and heads to the trouble spot in his beam car. Ono arrives on the Wish World and is met by Plasmas again but in a different form. She asks him to turn her into a human and he agrees. With the transformation a success the helpful stranger hands the newly humanised robot a medallion which he tells her she can use to turn back. But in reality it will actually send out a tracing signal exposing the location of the Orbots' secret base! She leaves for home not knowing the danger she's putting herself and her friends in.

Rob summons the Orbots team to meet at Asteroid Alpha one of their secret outposts in space. The team are surprised by Ono's new style and Rob orders her to change back immediately- they need her in robot form to launch Mighty Orbots. Innocently using the medallion Ono unwittingly invites Plasmas to their secret meeting place. Rob formulates a long-winded plan to harness the power of the Emerald Nebula and distill it through Bort into Ono in order to return her to her cold, metallic self.

Plasmas, having over heard this scheme, meets them there and subverts their plan to increase his own strength and size! The Orbots counter-attack with "the old shell gag" and momentarily subdue their enemy and encase him in a hollowed out meteor spouting corny puns at every stage. With a brief moments calm in the fight Rob rescues the fully restored Ono and together the team combine to form Mighty Orbots.

Doranis and Dia are just moments away from disappearing into the Hyper Warp and to make matters worse the giant Plasmas has escaped from this temporary prison. It all turns out for the best though as Rob realises they can use the mass of their foe to satisfy the Warp's hunger. Plasmas, and his impressive gas butt, are blasted into the heart of the vortex and it is sealed shut permanently saving Doranis, Dia and the day!

The story ends with the obligatory final joke. Ono, back to normal, bosses all the other robots about. Rob quips "It sure is good now everything's back to normal!"

Mighty Orbots is classic anime robot action adhering to all the tropes of the genre's template. Reusable uniting stock animation, separate robots combining to form one giant warrior, weekly monster confrontations... etc etc. The animation is detailed with great depth of shadow and moves with impressive fluidity far removed from the cheapness of most American Saturday morning cartoons of the time and really shows what Japanese TV animation is capable of with a large enough budget. The direction is exciting full of twirling battles and break-neck zooms and the dubbing is virtually flawless. My only gripe is that the formulaic pattern that each episode follows gets a little tiresome.

It's a real shame that Mighty Orbots didn't get the audience it deserved. While I very much doubt it would have rivaled the Transformers I'm sure it would have gained a solid fan base had a further series been produced.
If you're looking for even more on the Mighty Orbots check out Arioch's Mighty Orbots Page!