Robots have never found much difficulty earning the affection of youngsters throughout history. From the fanciful futuristic creations of the 50s to the lovable R2D2 and C3PO of Star Wars fame to the mega-merchandised Transformers of the 80s, put a few of these cyber-critters on the screen and you are almost assured a hit. And in 1984, ABC television presented its own mechanical offering with The Mighty Orbots.

Flash forward to Earth in the 23rd century. The fate of the planet is in peril and the United Planets are forced to dispatch a galactic patrol to defend the Big Blue Marble from the diabolical organization known as SHADOW. Masquerading as an ordinary group of patrolling androids, the fearless five team members are able to morph into “Orbot mode” whenever danger rears its ugly head.

The team consists of Tor, the muscle of the group; Bort, the nervous shapeshifter, able to convert into any machine his mechanical heart desires; Boo, the introverted “female” who can manipulate light and energy and create force fields at will; Boo’s twin sister, Bo, the assertive and aggressive practical joker of the group who can manipulate the elements of fire, wind and water at will and finally, Crunch, the rotund robot of the group who has an obsession with eating anything that gets in his path, whether it be metal, glass, garbage, whatever. Understandably, Crunch provides the comic relief of the group.

The team is led by Galactic Patrol scientist, Rob Simmons, who created and constructed the robots. By donning his omni-suit, he is able to transform into the handsome and fearless Orbot Commander. The object of his affection is Dia, a capable pilot and the beautiful daughter of Galactic Commander Rondu.

Also at the groups disposal was the powerful Beam Car, an ultra-speedy vehicle that provided the team with their secret weapon. Whenever they needed a little extra firepower, all five robots could combine themselves into one super robot. Rob, piloting the Beam Car, located within the multi-robot machine could then take command of the giant mechanical beast. A small cyborg named Ohno (who was fond of exclaiming “Oh No!” of course,) acted as mechanic and co-pilot for the Beam Car.

Their arch nemesis, SHADOW, was a force to be reckoned with, consisting of a five-eyed cyborg supercomputer housed within the core of the SHADOW star. The computer, nicknamed Umbra, was capable of dispatching SHADOW forces to battle the forces of good at every opportunity. Well on its way of taking over the entire universe, the only things standing in its way of total domination was The Mighty Orbots.

The Mighty Orbots might have been able to wage battle for years had it not been for a 20th century earth-based toy company called Tonka, who was a little displeased with the similarities between The Mighty Orbots and their own competing line of Gobots toys. They filed suit and the soon after, the battle between the Galactic Patrol and SHADOW came to an abrupt halt after a single season - leaving many a fan to ponder how their formidable fighting robot friends were defeated so easily by a company that makes little yellow dump trucks.