A motor control apparatus controls a motor that drives an output shaft through a rotation transmission system. The difference between a newly established output shaft target rotation angle and a detected output shaft rotation angle is obtained, a target rotation angle for the motor is derived based on that difference, and the motor is driven accordingly. When it is determined, based on the detected output shaft rotation angle, that motor rotation has at least proceeded to a point whereby backlash in the transmission system is nullified, the target motor rotation angle is updated based on the current value of the aforementioned difference.