Mighty Orbots

Mighty Orbots blew my 10-year-old mind when it aired Saturday mornings in the fall of 1984. Visually, at least—the writing was so juvenile, I remember one reviewer said it was only fit for “ormons.”

But those dazzling, swirling images (24-frame Japanese animation), and the futuristic designs—and the cool title song and jazzy background music—what a presentation!

The show only lasted a season, which was typical for anything space-oriented back in the day so I didn’t pay it much thought. But turns out there were some legal entanglements having to do with the planned toy line that sabotaged its future:

Back when I was doing FSM CDs, I actually asked about the soundtrack rights, as it was part of the MGM catalog that we were working with from Warner Bros. But the answer was, “I’d be afraid even to send the memo.” Hah!