March 2017 – Lions and Pilots and Bots… Dot Com!

On March 24, 2017, Netflix released the first season of Voltron 84 — a re-packaging of twelve episodes of Voltron: Defender of the Universe, the television series that introduced Voltron to the universe in 1984. Episodes of Defender of the Universe have been re-packaged before — in the mid-1990s, as The New Adventures of Voltron — and episodes are still available online through outlets such as YouTube and Amazon Video. The ubiquity of Netflix, and the popularity of the Netflix-exclusive series Voltron: Legendary Defender, make Voltron 84 uniquely positioned to introduce new Voltron fans to the original series, and to re-introduce old-school fans to the series.

Each episode of Voltron 84 is introduced by one of the creative talents behind Voltron: Legendary Defender, giving more “cred” to the original series in the eyes of fans who were introduced to the Voltron phenomenon through Voltron: Legendary Defender.

Unfortunately Voltron 84 has a few, minor hiccups. This article is an attempt to explain them in hopes of maximizing viewers’ enjoyment of the series.

Order

Voltron 84‘s episodes were numbered based on the Voltron: Legendary Defender production roles of the people who introduced each episode. For example, Season 1, Episodes 1 and 2, are introduced by Lauren Montgomery and Joaquim Dos Santos, respectively, both of whom are executive producers and showrunners of Voltron: Legendary Defender. Season 1, Episode 12, is introduced by Chris Palmer, one of the directors of Voltron: Legendary Defender.

The episode numbers are perfectly reasonable to a viewer who wants to sample select episodes of the original series.

Because the sequence of Voltron 84‘s episode numbers is inconsistent with the narrative sequence of Voltron: Defender of the Universe — and Beast King Golion, the anime series from which these episodes of Defender of the Universe were adapted — a viewer who wants to experience the original series in narrative sequence might find the numbering of the Voltron 84 episodes… confusing. Voltron: Defender of the Universe isn’t as serialized as Voltron: Legendary Defender is, but its first several episodes and last several episodes are very much serialized.

(It turns out that many of the less serialized “middle” episodes of Voltron: Defender of the Universe originally aired out of sequence with respect to the narrative sequence of the Beast King Golion episodes; however, this presents no significant continuity issues.)

Missing Episodes

Apparently Lion Force episodes 3 and 5 from Voltron: Defender of the Universe aren’t favorites of the Voltron: Legendary Defender creators who are featured in Voltron 84. That’s fine, unless a viewer wants to watch the entire origin story.

Below is my recommended sequence for watching Season 1 of Voltron 84. I’ve added links to official YouTube videos of Episodes 3 and 5, so that viewers can watch Voltron’s origin story “gap-free.”

Golion Episode #	Title	Voltron 84 Season #	Voltron 84 Episode #
1	Space Explorers Captured	1	7
2	Escape to Another Planet	1	3
3	A Ghost and Four Lions	NA; YouTube video
4	The Missing Key	1	6
5	Princess Joins Up	N/A; YouTube video
6	The Right Arm of Voltron	1	8
7	The Lion Has New Claws	1	4
8	The Stolen Lion	1	2
10	Secret of the White Lion	1	9
13	The Witch Gets a Facelift	1	10
15	Give Me Your Princess	1	12
28	The Treasure of Planet Tyrus	1	11
30	The Sleeping Princess	1	1
35	Doom Boycotts the Space Olympics	1	5

Visual Stutters

Before I began to watch Voltron 84, it was pointed out to me by fellow Voltron fan SGB that the Voltron 84 episodes have an odd stuttering effect in the video. Camera movements and the overall animation seem “jerky” rather than smooth. At first I thought this might be due to issues with (1) upconverting Voltron: Defender of the Universe, which was edited for the mid-2000s DVD releases in standard defintion, to Netflix’s high definition, and (2) issues with possibly resampling the videos from the NTSC standard of 29.97 frames per second down to a more film-like standard of 24 frames per second. Having said that, I’m no expert in video resampling or conversion, so the cause might be something else entirely.

Inconsistent Audio Speed

SGB also pointed out to me that the audio track of Voltron 84 Season 1, Episodes 3 and 12 (Voltron: Defender of the Universe Episodes 2 and 15, respectively) seem to speed up, slow down, and even skip in places. This is most noticable during portions of episodes consisting of mostly music and no dialogue. The cause of the inconsistent timing of the audio might also be the cause of the stuttered video.

Missing Clips

SGB’s recollection of the shots and dialogue of each Voltron: Defender of the Universe episode greatly exceeds my own. As a result he noticed this issue, and I did not. Voltron 84 Season 1, Episode 3 (featuring Voltron: Defender of the Universe Episode 2) has been trimmed in places. Partial lines of dialogue and some shots are missing when compared to the Voltron: Defender of the Universe DVD release. So far I’ve watched only three episodes of Voltron 84, and I didn’t notice the trims myself, so hopefully all cuts were minor. I am curious about why the episode was trimmed.

Conclusion

It’s great to see Voltron: Defender of the Universe on Netflix. I’m excited that newer Voltron fans can watch the original show for the first time, and that old-school fans can “taste it again for the first time.” Unfortunately the odd issues with Voltron 84 do hinder the viewing experience somewhat. I hope the second season of Voltron 84, if one is made, will be free of these issues, so that Voltron: Defender of the Universe can be enjoyed as much as possible.

Special thanks to SGB for inspiring this article. Check out SGB’s website!

In the second episode of Voltron: Legendary Defender, “Some Assembly Required,” the paladins of Voltron struggle to figure out how to combine the Lions and form Voltron. At one point, Keith suggests, “I mean, let’s try literally building Voltron, like, stacking on top of each other.”

That episode was released on Netflix in June 2016. Two months prior, Lendy Tayag was already way ahead of Keith and the other paladins, because he had assembled his own Voltron… from LEGO!

On April 11, 2016, Lendy’s model, called “Voltron – Defender of the Universe,” was posted to the website of LEGO Ideas. LEGO Ideas allows anyone to submit an original LEGO creation, and if within a certain period of time, that creation gains 10,000 supporters — that is, people who register with the site, vote for the project, and answer a short questionnaire about the project — than a LEGO review board will consider making an actual LEGO building set from that creation. Exciting, huh?

Later in April, Lendy’s Voltron model caught the attention of Gizmodo and then Nerdist. Even better, in just 22 short days, Lendy Tayag’s Voltron model reached the 10,000 supporters that it needed for LEGO to consider producing that model as a licensed building set!

To celebrate this achievement, and to introduce Lendy to fellow Voltron fans, Marc Morrell and I welcomed Lendy as a guest on Let’s Voltron: The Official Voltron Podcast. Marc and I enjoyed chatting with Lendy, learning more about him as a person, how he became interested in Voltron and other giant robots, when and how he began designing them in LEGO, and what the experience was like of submitting his Voltron model to LEGO Ideas, seeing it gain so much support so quickly, and ultimately seeing it reach 10,000 supporters in such a short time.

By February 28, 2017, LEGO had reviewed Lendy’s Voltron model, plus eleven other projects that had reached 10,000 supporters between May and September 2016. On February 28, LEGO announced its Second 2016 Review Results:

Maia Weinstock’s Women of NASA project would move forward and become produced as an official LEGO building set
Lendy Tayag’s Voltron – Defender of the Universe project is still under consideration. An update will be given during the announcement of the Third 2016 Review Results.

Would we all like to have heard that LEGO had decided to produce a Voltron building set? Absolutely! On the other hand, working with a licensed property — especially one that is new to LEGO — is not always a simple, straightforward activity, so the fact that LEGO announced that it is still reviewing Lendy’s Voltron model shows that they are very much interested in the possibility of producing a Voltron set. Congratulations again to Lendy Tayag for this astounding achievement!

Lendy has since submitted more Voltron-themed projects to LEGO Ideas. None of these has yet achieved 10,000 supporters, but perhaps they will. And even if they don’t, if LEGO ultimately obtains a license to produce Voltron models, then perhaps LEGO will still consider these other Voltron projects.

Lendy’s models are incredibly cool. As an enthusiast of all incarnations of Voltron, I like all of his Voltron robot designs. As a supporter of the underdog that is Vehicle Team Voltron, I give special kudos to Lendy for representing that robot in LEGO form. Lendy’s Vehicle Team Voltron robot even separates into all 15 vehicles!

Lendy’s Castle of Lions model, with a full interior, is effectively a play environment that rivals the amazing Panosh Place Voltron Castle of Lions playset from 1985. It certainly rivals any LEGO Star Wars play environment.

Lendy has also submitted some non-Voltron giant robots as LEGO Ideas: Voltes V and Grendizer.

Congratulations again, Lendy! Voltron fans across the universe salute your enthusiasm and your LEGO model designing and building skills.

For more information about Lendy Tayag’s LEGO creations, check out the Len_d69 Creations Facebook page.

Let’s all show our support for all of Lendy Tayag’s great LEGO Ideas!

Month: March 2017

Voltron 84 Survival Guide