Greg Tyler's Unofficial Voltron Website
Welcome to a new section of Lions and Pilots and Bots… Dot Com: News!
With the third season of Voltron: Legendary Defender dropping on Netflix in less than a week, and the Voltron franchise reaching its 33rd anniversary in September, now is a great time to create a one-stop shop for Voltron news… and this is it! Check back often for the latest goings-on about your favorite Defender of the Universe: Voltron!
In a social media-filled Internet, an argument could be made that fan websites — or personal websites of any kind — are obsolete. Since I created Lions and Pilots and Bots… Dot Com in January 2017, I’m of the mind that fan websites still have a place in cyberspace.
This article is a Fan Website Spotlight — an examination of a Voltron fan website that has piqued my interest.
In this Fan Website Spotlight, we’ll take a look at three related websites which were created by SGB. I’ve known SGB for years by way of the legacy Voltron.com forums, where I have posted as Dudley Drule Right.
First is the Voltron Image Archive. This website offers a unique look at the Voltron phenomenon.
The site hasn’t been updated in about five years, but I can vouch for how difficult it can be to update a website when a pesky thing called real life keeps getting in the way. It doesn’t matter much that the site hasn’t been updated lately, because the content is solid, informative, and entertaining.
Perhaps the first thing you’ll notice when you visit the Voltron Image Archive is that SGB collects animation cels from Voltron: Defender of the Universe. Collecting these cels is a challenge. Voltron is over three decades old, and it was animated in Japan. For those who don’t already know, 104 of the 125 episodes of Voltron: Defender of the Universe were adapted from one of two anime programs: Beast King Golion and Armored Fleet Dairugger XV, both of which were animated by Toei Animation. The remaining 21 episodes were also animated by Toei, but they were newly animated for Voltron, rather than reused from prior anime productions.
The Image Gallery page contains links to:
All three links lead to screen captures organized by episode. The Lion Voltron link also has screen captures organized by character — meaning character, Lion, Robeast, or Voltron himself. Here is a screen capture of the page that highlights the Yellow Lion:
(Incidentally, from my online interactions with SGB, I can tell you that he has unparalleled knowledge of the visuals of Voltron: Defender of the Universe. From a single screen capture, he can often identify the episode that featured it.)
This section of the site offers an incredibly detail-oriented look at the Lion Force and Vehicle Team episodes of Voltron: Defender of the Universe. For each set of episodes, you can access series notes, a voice cast list, and — the best part — a deep dive into individual episodes. Each episode page contains a brief synopsis of the episode, writing credits, a handful of screen captures, trivia, deleted scenes and dialogue, and dialogue that changed between when the script was written and when the voice actors were recorded.
There’s a page for each of the first 20 Lion Force episodes, and a page for each of the first 20 Vehicle Team episodes. Detailed analysis of television episodes is incredibly time-consuming, so I appreciate the work that SGB has put into each page.
This section of the Voltron Image Archive covers the numerous Voltron DVD releases from around the globe. Each DVD release has a dedicate page which describes technical details, special features, menus, screen captures, and other notes.
This section covers many Voltron comic books, with the strongest focus on the short-lived but fan-loved releases by Devil’s Due Publishing.
The special features section includes images of SGB’s impressive collection of Voltron animation cels, video clips, wallpapers, scans, and much more. You could spend hours browsing this great content. The Dairugger XV stickers are a favorite of mine.
The links page is a bit outdated, as over the years, many Voltron websites have come and gone.
SGB’s other two Voltron-related fan websites are Hundred Beast King Golion and SGB’s Kikou Kantai Dairugger XV Site. These sites focus on, respectively, Beast King Golion, the 1981 anime program that became the basis for the first 52 Lion Force episodes of Voltron: Defender of the Universe, and Armored Fleet Dairugger XV, the 1982 anime program that became the basis for the 52 Vehicle Team episodes of Voltron: Defender of the Universe.
As much as I love the Voltron Image Archive site, I actually prefer SGB’s Golion and Dairugger sites, because they cover in depth many aspects of these programs, neither of which is well known to many Voltron fans.
Each of these sites is organized into the same sections:
This section of each site has a page for each examined episode, with well described images of scenes that were cut from the anime program when it was adapted into Voltron: Defender of the Universe. If you’re familiar with Voltron: Defender of the Universe, but unfamiliar with Golion and Dairugger, then you would be amazed by what was shown in Japan. Some of the imagery could be quite disturbing to younger viewers.
These sections were taken down at some point for overhauls that have not yet been completed. As I’ve said previously, real life has a knack for getting in the way of maintaining and updating a fan website.
This section of each site covers a handful of basic questions about Golion and Dairugger.
SGB’s Voltron Image Archive, Golion, and Dairugger fan websites are among my favorite Voltron-related websites. It’s my hope that SGB will someday complete the Voltron Shows section of the Voltron site, and the Cut Pics sections of the Golion and Dairugger sites. The sites are entertaining sources of information that you won’t find anywhere else.
Although Voltron Force lasted for just one 26-episode season, in 2011-2012, and the show didn’t have much in the way of tie-in merchandise, some of the tie-in merchandise that was made was pretty cool. Among these items were six Voltron Force childrens’ readers.
Published by Vizkids between 2012 and 2013, each of the six readers was basically a mini-graphic novel. Each was a self-contained story, and each was a fun read. The books were marketed to kids aged 7 and up.
Listed below is information about each of the six Voltron Force readers. If you are a fan of Voltron Force, then I recommend tracking down and buying these now out-of-print books!
* * * * *
Story by Brian Smith
Art by Jacob Chabot
ISBN-13: 978-1-4215-4153-2
First printing: April 2012
Synopsis (from the back cover):
The mighty robot Voltron is back! And three cadets — Daniel, Larmina and Vince — are training to become defenders of the universe.
But King Lotor and his villainous minion Maahox have other plans. They’ve unleashed a horrifying storm, churning with evil energy. When Daniel, Larmina and Vince are sucked into the vortex, their worst nightmares come true!
My Thoughts: This story is surprisingly creepy, as the cadets face their fears head-on. Vince discovers a zombie-like Green Lion and a possessed Pidge. Larmina finds an Arus conquered by Lotor, and a beheaded Voltron. Daniel faces an evil duplicate of himself, in a sort of foreshadowing of the events of what would be the television series’ final episode. The ending features a welcome surprise: a cameo of a classic Voltron character. Good stuff!
Story by Brian Smith
Art by Dario Brizuela
ISBN-13: 978-1-4215-4154-9
First printing: June 2012
Synopsis (from the back cover):
When a cargo ship in deep space sends out a distress signal, it’s the Voltron Force to the rescue! But without warning, Daniel, Larmina and Vince find themselves fighting the greatest warriors in the galaxy for the right to pilot the Voltron lions!
My Thoughts: Both the story and artwork are less impressive than in Volume 1. The art on the first page has some bizarre issues with perspective, and this image is featured again later in the story. Having said that, it is interesting to see the characters rendered with a different, more juvenile look. The story, while not as engaging as that of Volume 1, does raise an interesting question: Should the universe at large have more say in who operates the Defender of the Universe?
Story by Brian Smith
Art by Horacio Domingues and Pedro Pablo Perez Valiente
ISBN-13: 978-1-4215-4155-6
First printing: October 2012
Synopsis (from the back cover):
Now that Daniel’s a Voltron Force cadet, he can’t wait to show off in front of his former Galaxy Alliance Flight Academy classmates. He owns the skies in Black Lion, but not for long! Out of nowhere, two unknown ships appear and put Daniel’s flying lion to shame. Who are these mysterious new pilots? And is their presence at the academy an act of peace or an act of aggression?
My Thoughts: This is a fun tale. Lotor’s nieces, Zora and Roza, are a fun addition to the Voltron lore. But where do their loyalties lie?
Story by Brian Smith
Art by Alfa Robbi
ISBN-13: 978-1-4215-4156-3
First printing: October 2012
Synopsis (from the back cover):
No one knows for certain how Voltron was formed, but one ancient legend claims the mighty robot had a sixth part: a terrible warrior spirit called the Beast King. According to the story, the Beast King was separated from the five robot lions and forced into a deep slumber.
Now, an ancient evil is stirring. Has the Beast King awakened to rejoin its destructive spirit with the Voltron Lions?
My Thoughts: I’m of mixed minds about this story. The “Beast King” myth of Voltron’s creation is unique and enjoyable, but it feels too different from what was suggested in the television series to feel like a good “fit.” The Beast King’s visual design is cool, and the term “Beast King” is a fun reference to Beast King Golion, the anime program on which Voltron: Defender of the Universe was based. I’d almost prefer this story to be a tie-in to Beast King Golion rather than Voltron Force. Overall it’s a great read!
Story by Brian Smith
Art by Albert Carreres Guardia
ISBN-13: 978-1-4215-4157-0
First printing: December 2012
Synopsis (from the back cover):
On Planet Doom, there’s a horrible species of dragon that hatches every hundred years. It’s just about hatching time, and Maahox orders the Drule army to ship thousands of dragon eggs off to Planet Arus! Will the dragon dawn be too much for the Voltron Force?
My Thoughts: This is a straight adventure story. I like it on those terms, although it doesn’t really offer anything that makes it stand out. The artwork has a bit of a Teen Titans vibe.
Story by Brian Smith
Art by Jacob Chabot
ISBN-13: 978-1-4215-4158-7
First printing: February 2013
Synopsis (from the back cover):
All of the Voltron Force’s enemies from past battles — the Drule twins Zora and Roza, Daggor, Kai-Borg and Prince Nebulax — have joined forces with King Lotor for the ultimate battle of good versus evil. And this time, Lotor is in command of something he’s never had before — the Voltron Lions!
Could this be the end of the Voltron Force?
My Thoughts: This story is framed as the “finale” of the children’s readers. The events of the previous five books pay off here. The story also takes place just before what would be the final episode of the television series, as Allura, Pidge, and Keith have already stepped down from being pilots in the Voltron Force. Jacob Chabot’s artwork is as strong here as it was in Volume 1. This story is a big finish to some fun stories, and with this book having been published almost a year after the premature cancellation of the television series, in many ways, this book feels like the final goodbye to the Voltron Force characters.
* * * * *
Surprisingly, in 2014, Brian Smith and Jacob Chabot would team up once more with a comic book-style “sequel” to the Voltron Force TV program. The epilogue of Voltron: From Days of Long Ago: A Thirtieth Anniversary Celebration (ISBN-13: 978-1-4215-7540-7) provides a sneak peek of what might have unfolded in the TV show if a second season had been produced. The narrative becomes darker — darker than I suspect that the TV show would have actually gotten. Interestingly, the show’s viewpoint character seems to have changed from Daniel to Vince. Given the events of the story, the shift makes sense, and I rather like the change, since I had found Vince to be a more interesting character than Daniel. Unfortunately, the epilogue reads more like a visual outline of a couple unproduced episodes rather than an actual story, and it ends on a cliffhanger that it almost as frustrating as the one in the TV show — perhaps more so, since it’s almost certain that this cliffhanger will never be resolved.
Voltron Force was a fun show to watch, and these readers from Vizkids are fun, too!
In the mid-1980s, Voltron: Defender of the Universe was a big thing. The TV series was popular, and so were the toys. The first Voltron toys to hit retail shelves were sold by Matchbox Toys.
It seemed that nothing could stop Voltron — either the robot in the television episodes, or the toys on toy store shelves. Unfortunately, the luster of some 1980s Voltron toys would face a foe that would prove to be more formidable than a Robeast: lead paint. On November 12, 1986, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a warning that some of the Matchbox Voltron toys made in 1985 and 1986 had paint which contained levels of lead that exceeded what was allowed by law.
Here is a link to the actual 1986 warning from the Consumer Product Safety Commission: 1986 Voltron Toy Recall Warning
This warning, issued in 1986, pertained only to some toys manufactured in 1985 and 1986. All other Voltron toys are fine… and fun!
The Consumer Product and Safety Commission used these images to describe which Voltron toys from 1985 and 1986 were included in the recall.
I’ll say it again: This warning, issued in 1986, pertained only to some toys manufactured in 1985 and 1986. All other Voltron toys are fine… and fun!
Today marked the release of the 100th episode of Let’s Voltron: The Official Voltron Podcast! Four special guests joined us in celebrating, an announcement was made about a certain Blue Lion pilot’s date of birth, many listeners shared their thoughts about the podcast, and we gave away some great prizes, thanks to World Events Productions (the owner of the Voltron intellectual property) and DreamWorks (the studio behind Voltron: Legendary Defender)!
On behalf of podcast host Marc Morrell, and co-host… me… thanks to each and every one of you who has listened to the podcast. Here’s to 100 more episodes! Let’s Voltron!
On June 10, 2016, one year ago today, Netflix dropped the eleven-episode first season of Voltron: Legendary Defender, and Voltron was back. The program instantly became a hit with many longtime Voltron fans, as well as a new generation of fans that had not previously heard of Voltron.
The title of the feature-length premiere episode, “The Rise of Voltron,” was appropriately named on multiple levels, because even in the real world, this episode helped to raise Voltron from relative obscurity to being back in the pop-culture spotlight, where it remains today. As of today, two seasons — 24 episodes — have dropped on Netflix, and it’s almost certain that there will be more.
As co-host of Let’s Voltron: The Official Voltron Podcast, I’ve been privileged to have met and spoken with many of the creative, skilled, and talented people who have brought Voltron: Legendary Defender from idea to reality. To everyone who has worked and continues to work on this great program, thank you, and happy first anniversary!
In the days leading up to the June 10, 2016, premiere of Voltron: Legendary Defender, I posted a few “promo images” that I created to help excite longtime fans about the new show. I’ve decided to share them below.
To celebrate the first anniversary of Voltron: Legendary Defender, I encourage you to think about how much you’ve enjoyed the program, the cool tie-in merchandise (I love the toys… the hats… you name it… and did I mention toys?), and most importantly, the relationships that you have formed (like Voltron’s Sword!) or enhanced through mutual enjoyment of the show. And if you’re so inclined, enjoy a slice or two of vrepizza. (Say it out loud. I think it’s clever…) Let your fellow members of the real-world Team Voltron — fellow fans — how much you appreciate them.
Form Voltron!
In every Voltron television program to date — Voltron: Defender of the Universe, Voltron: The Third Dimension, Voltron Force, and Voltron: Legendary Defender — the Castle of Lions has been the home and base of operations of the Voltron Lions’ pilots and their closest allies. In a crisis, each Lion’s pilot often needs to make a quick exit from the Castle’s control room to his or her Lion.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at Voltron: Legendary Defender to see how the Lions’ pilots, or paladins, move from the Castle’s control room or bridge to the Lions’ hangars.
This article goes reeeeeeeeeeeally deep. Writing stuff like this is one of many ways that I celebrate Voltron: Legendary Defender and everyone who brings this great program to life.
Our first stop is the bridge. Around its periphery, the bridge has six known exits:
In “Some Assembly Required,” we see the paladins exit the Castle’s bridge and travel to the hangars of all five Lions…twice. Unfortunately, the only exit that is easily associated with a single Lion is the Floor Exit, which Shiro uses to travel to the hangar of Black Lion, as shown below.
In “Some Assembly Required,” we see shots from outside two bridge exits, looking into the bridge.
One “outside looking in” shot is from outside the exit to Blue Lion’s hangar, looking into the bridge. Lance dominates the image, but we can see enough features of the bridge to identify which bridge exit he’s using: it’s the Rear Right Exit.
The other “outside looking in” shot is from outside the exit to Red Lion’s hangar, looking into the bridge. We see far less of the bridge in this shot, but we can see one exit that is more or less straight across the bridge from the exit to Red Lion’s hangar. Based on the perspective of the exit across the bridge, that exit might be the Left Exit, which would make the exit to Red Lion’s hangar the Right Exit. This isn’t a 100% sure thing, but it’s a reasonable guess.
If the exit to Blue Lion’s hangar is the Rear Right Exit, and the exit to Red Lion’s hangar is the Right Exit, then based purely on symmetry, the exit to the other “leg lion” – Yellow Lion – would be the Aft Left Exit, and the exit to the other “arm lion” – Green Lion – would be the Left Exit.
To summarize, it appears that:
“Taking Flight” and “Eye of the Storm” seem to add weight to our guesses. In these episode, we see the paladins on the bridge, seated at workstations that have appeared from beneath the floor.
The very crude “bridge plan” diagram below shows the positions of the five Lion hangar exits.
Each exit leads to a platform that descends like an elevator in a cylindrical shaft.
Once the platform reaches the bottom of the shaft, the paladin steps forward, holds onto a grab bar, and rides with the grab bar as it proceeds along what appears to be a long, straight-line tunnel that slopes downward.
At end of this tunnel, the paladin lets go of the grab bar and drops feet first through another tunnel.
At the end of this tunnel, the paladin drops into his or her speeder.
The speeder then travels in a seemingly horizontal, straight-line tunnel to a point directly beneath the Lion’s hangar.
The speeder then rides a platform that ascends until the speeder seemingly enters the sliding double-door hatch on the Lion’s chest.
In “The Ark of Taujeer,” during Keith’s dream sequence, we see the next step in a paladin’s journey to his or her Lion. The speeder stops rising once it reaches the platform on which the Lion rests, and it begins to move toward the Lion.
The speeder presumably enters the Lion through the double-door speeder hatch on the Lion’s chest, as we see happen in episodes such as “Return to the Balmera.”
For each paladin, the next thing we see is the paladin, seated in a chair, in a chamber behind the cockpit. A pair of sliding doors separates the chamber from the cockpit. The doors slide open, and the seated paladin moves forward and into the cockpit.
In “Some Assembly Required,” we can see that the Lion cockpit chair differs from the seat in the speeder.
This suggests that, after the speeder enters the Lion through the chest, the paladin exits the speeder and sits in a chair that raises into position behind the cockpit. (I point this out because, in Voltron: Defender of the Universe, the seat of the “speeder” actually became the Lion’s cockpit seat.)
Now that we’ve covered how the paladins access their Lions from the Castle of Lions’ bridge, let’s look at how the Lions exit the Castle.
The three shots below, from “Crystal Venom,” “Return to the Balmera,” and “Taking Flight,” show which Lion exits which of the Castle’s exit ports.
The shot below, from “Taking Flight,” contradicts the shots from “Crystal Venom,” “Return to the Balmera,” and even the “Taking Flight” shot showing the launch of Blue Lion, so this shot probably has an easily made animation error.
To summarize, assuming the erroneous shot from “Taking Flight” can be ignored:
Interestingly, the arrangement of the hangar exit ports is inconsistent with the arrangement of the exits on the bridge.
The paths of Keith and Lance, and the paths of Pidge and Hunk, would need to “criss-cross” so that each paladin can reach his or her Lion. This wouldn’t be a big deal, because Keith and Pidge’s paths could easily be “higher” or “lower” within the Castle than Lance and Hunk’s paths.
We’ve now walked through the path that each paladin follows from the bridge to the hangar of his or her Lion. Let’s take a quick look at the hangars.
When the Castle of Lions is on the ground, in “Castle mode,” the hangars’ floors are aligned with the ground. In other words, for a Lion to launch out of the Castle, it flies up and out through an exit port in the “roof.”
When the Castle of Lions is flying and in “Castleship mode,” the hangars’ floors pivot ninety degrees so that when each Lion launches out of the Castle, it shoots forward and out through an exit port in the “front.”
Finally, let’s look at the strut that connects each nacelle to the Castle’s main hull. As the shot below shows, the strut has multiple segments, and they appear to be articulated. A speeder traveling from the main hull to a nacelle might have a bumpy ride going through the strut! In all seriousness, I’d imagine the inside of a tunnel through the strut looking something like the inside of a jet bridge.
And… that’s it! The next time you visit the Castle of Lions, now you’ll know how to get to each Lion.
As described on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_layout), in the days before page layout software such as Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress, newspaper page layouts were created… by hand. In the 1980s, a page layout was created by physically pasting images and blocks of text onto a rigid sheet of paper. This “camera-ready” page was then shot on film, and through a process called offset lithography, the film would control ink placement on the printing press.
Newspaper ads often incorporated hand-drawn, black-on-white line art renditions of product photographs. Line art was often preferred over photographs because the images were often small on the black-and-white printed page, so high-contrast line art often represented products more effectively than grayscale photographs did.
Line art for newspaper ads was often created by specialized companies. One such company was Kwikee, then a division of Multi-Ad Services, Inc. Kwikee still exists today, and it still provides product images — although now mostly digital in nature.
What’s the Voltron connection? In the 1980s, there were Voltron toys — lots of Voltron toys. These toys were often advertised in newspapers, so line art was made of these toys, by companies such as Kwikee.
A few years ago, I purchased from a vintage toy seller a small collection of 1980s product image pages made by Kwikee. The pages in the collection included images of toys from several 1980s toy lines: MASK (by Kenner), Photon (by LJN), Thundercats (by LJN), Wrinkles (by LJN), Robotech (by Matchbox) — and Voltron, by Matchbox.
Below are the four Voltron Kwikee product image pages from my collection. No copyright infringement is intended in their display on this website. The pages are shared here to show to fellow Voltron fans these amazing newspaper advertising artifacts from days of long ago. Enjoy!
The first page, apparently page 118 of a 1985 Kwikee catalog of product images, depicts Matchbox’s Voltron I toys. As I mentioned in “It’s as “Easy” as I, II, III: Being a Voltron Fan in the 1980s,” Voltron I was the inital name of the super robot that would eventually become known as Vehicle Team Voltron. Note that each image is represented in three sizes, which offered newspaper layout artists more leeway in how they composed the ad, physically pasting an image of the desired size on what would become a camera-ready page layout sheet.
The second page, page 119 of the same catalog, depicts Matchbox’s Voltron II toys. This super robot was ultimately never featured in the Voltron: Defender of the Universe television program.
The third page, page 120, depicts Matchbox’s Voltron III toys. Voltron III would become known as Lion Force Voltron, the overwhelmingly most popular of the 1980s Voltron super robots.
The fourth and final Voltron page in my collection, page 100 of a 1986 Kwikee catalog of product images, depicts Matchbox’s Vehicle Team Voltron and Lion Force Voltron toys. The company’s Voltron I and Voltron III toys from 1985 were, for 1986, repackaged and renamed to Vehicle Team Voltron and Lion Force Voltron, respectively. Interestingly, each image on this page is rendered in a single size, rather than three sizes as in the 1985 catalog. Perhaps subsequent pages in the catalog, not in my collection, provide alternately sized images.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this blast from the newspaper advertising past!
(This article is based on material that I wrote for the “Voltron 101” episode of Let’s Voltron: The Official Voltron Podcast.)
This article is a primer for all things Voltron. If you’re a new fan who was introduced to Voltron through the all-new series, Voltron: Legendary Defender, and you’re curious about what came before, then this article is for you. If you’re a fan from days of long ago – 1984 – and you’re curious about what came after, then this article is for you. If you’re the friend or loved one of a Voltron fan, or if you can’t tell Voltron from Optimus Prime, then this article is for you.
This article focuses only on the various Voltron television programs. It skips details about the making of these shows, and it skips some of the more arcane facts about the shows. That’s because the goal is to welcome as many readers as possible to the entirety of the Voltron universe, without overwhelming you with too much information.
Voltron is about a group of young heroes who protect all that is good from all that is evil, with the help of their incredible machines that can easily hold their own in battle. In times of great danger, these heroes can combine their machines into a super robot called Voltron. Just as the super robot Voltron is more powerful than its individual components, Voltron’s pilots, when working together, comprise a whole that is far greater than the sum of its parts. In short, Voltron is fantastic sci-fi action that focuses on a very down-to-earth concept: overcoming incredible obstacles through the power of friendship and teamwork.
On Monday, September 10, 1984, kids of all ages were captivated with amazing sights and sounds as a new animated television series first hit air waves. The series was called Voltron: Defender of the Universe.
The series’ earliest episodes focus on the Voltron Lion Force – a team of five, brave space explorers who operate five distinctly colored robot lions. Team leader Keith controls the Black Lion. The sarcastic Lance operates the Red Lion. The short, spectacled and smart Pidge flies the Green Lion. The brawny, tough, yet soft-hearted Hunk pilots the Yellow Lion, and the pensive, noble Sven controls the Blue Lion. The space explorers discover the Lions on a planet called Arus – a planet that had been devastated, and its population decimated, by prolonged conflict with the forces of the evil King Zarkon of Planet Doom. Among the casualties of this conflict was Planet Arus’ king, Alfor, leaving his daughter, Princess Allura, the only surviving member of the royal family. As the forces of Planet Doom – Zarkon, witch Haggar, and eventually Zarkon’s son, Prince Lotor – continue their attacks on Arus and other planets in the Far Universe, the Voltron Force defend the innocent using their mighty Lions. Often Zarkon would send a Robeast – an enormous, magic-enhanced, mechanical monster – and to defeat it, the Voltron Force would combine their Lions into Voltron.
Soon after the series begins, Blue Lion pilot Sven is seriously injured during a skirmish with Haggar. Sven is taken to the planet Ebb in order to heal, and Princess Allura succeeds him as pilot of the Blue Lion. As the Lion Force story progresses, Zarkon becomes an even more dangerous threat, Prince Lotor becomes increasingly obsessed with marrying the unwilling Princess Allura, and the Voltron Force continues to fight on behalf of the good people whom Zarkon seeks to conquer.
As the Voltron Lion Force defends the Far Universe, the Near Universe is protected by another group of space explorers – the Voltron Vehicle Team.
The Voltron Vehicle Team is assigned to the Stellar Ship Explorer, which explores the universe in search of knowledge, new allies, and habitable planets on which people of the overcrowded planets of the benevolent Galaxy Alliance can settle and establish new homes. The Voltron Vehicle Team’s 15 members are divided equally into three sub-teams – the Air Team, led by hot-headed Voltron Force captain Jeff; the Sea Team, led by the insightful alien Krik; and the Land Team, led by the level-headed geologist Cliff. Each team member operates an advanced, combat-ready exploration vehicle.
An additional function of this Voltron Force is defense against the attacks of the Drule Empire, a militaristic force that seeks to dominate the universe. Like Zarkon, the Drules often use their own Robeasts in their offensives against the Explorer and its allies. To protect the Explorer and the Galaxy Alliance, the Voltron Vehicle Team can combine the 15 vehicles into an entirely different Voltron.
As the Vehicle Team story progresses, the Drules discover that their obsession with war is destroying their own home planet. While Drule leaders stubbornly and relentlessly escalate their campaign against the Galaxy Alliance, Commander Hazar eventually goes rogue and pursues peace with the Galaxy Alliance, in order to save his people from the imminent destruction of his home world. Unfortunately, the peace-seeking efforts of Hazar and the Voltron Force are repeatedly thwarted by ongoing battles between the Drule military and the Galaxy Alliance.
Voltron: Defender of the Universe consists of 125 episodes. 72 episodes feature the Voltron Lion Force, 52 episodes feature the Voltron Vehicle Team, and the final adventure, “Fleet of Doom,” features the Lion Force and Vehicle Team fighting side by side against the combined forces of King Zarkon and the Drule Empire.
Among television viewers, the Lion Force characters and robot proved to be much more popular than their Vehicle Team counterparts, to the point that the Vehicle Team has not yet been featured in any subsequently produced Voltron television program.
Although most fans of Voltron: Defender of the Universe didn’t know it at the time, Voltron was produced using animation from two unrelated anime programs. Voltron’s Vehicle Team episodes were based on Armored Fleet Dairugger XV, and the first 52 Lion Force episodes of Voltron were based on Beast King Golion. The remaining episodes were animated specifically for Voltron. The Golion and Dairugger programs included violent content that Voltron’s producers thought to be inappropriate for children’s animation, so the material had to be heavily edited for Voltron.
Perhaps the most notable plot difference between Voltron and the original anime programs is the fate of original Blue Lion pilot Sven. In Voltron, Sven survives his battle with Haggar and eventually falls in love. In Beast King Golion, Sven is called Takashi Shirogane, and he dies as the result of his wounds from his battle with the witch, called Honerva.
Some other differences between Voltron and the original anime are in names of planets. For example, in Voltron, Allura rules Planet Arus, and King Zarkon controls Planet Doom. In Beast King Golion, the princess, named Fala, rules Planet Altea, and the emperor, named Daibazaal, controls Planet Galra.
The final episode of Voltron: Defender of the Universe first aired in 1986, but in 1997, some of the episodes – the 20 Lion Force episodes not adapted from Beast King Golion – were re-packaged as an entirely different series called The New Adventures of Voltron. This series has a flashy, computer-animated opening that gave its viewers a glimpse at what the next Voltron television series would be like.
On Saturday, September 12, 1998, Voltron: The Third Dimension premiered. This series is a “quasi-sequel” to the original Voltron program. Many of the recurring characters from the Lion Force episodes of Voltron: Defender of the Universe are featured in this series, and four of the original show’s voice cast members reprise many of their key roles in this series. The story begins about five years after a pivotal battle between the Voltron Force and Prince Lotor. Lotor had been severely injured during that battle, and his scarred body had to be augmented with cybernetic components in order to survive. The Voltron Force had disbanded and moved on with their lives. Zarkon had reformed and become minister of peace of the Galaxy Alliance, Haggar had disappeared, and the Galaxy Alliance’s 900 member worlds had entrusted governing duties to a robot called Amalgamus.
Voltron: The Third Dimension looks much different than its predecessor. Instead of traditional cel-based animation, The Third Dimension incorporates 3D-based computer generated imagery, or CGI. The animation was cutting-edge for its time, but it looks dated today.
In the first episode, Lotor escapes from a high-security prison, reconnecting with Haggar and resuming his attacks against the Galaxy Alliance. The Voltron Force reunites in order to stop him. As the story progresses, the Voltron Force often finds its hands tied due to Amalgamus’ reluctance to use the Lions, thinking it will cause unrest within the Alliance. Princess Allura learns more about the origins of the Voltron Lions. Eventually the Voltron Force has to save the entire Galaxy Alliance from Lotor, Haggar… and an ally who turns out to be less than trustworthy.
Although Voltron: The Third Dimension seems to be the least popular Voltron program among fans, it is entertaining, and it deserves more consideration than it often receives.
The 26th and final episode of Voltron: The Third Dimension aired in February 2000. Eleven years later, Voltron was needed once more.
On Thursday, June 16, 2011, Voltron Force premiered. Like Voltron: The Third Dimension, but unrelated to that show, Voltron Force is another “quasi-sequel” to the original Voltron program. Many of the recurring characters from the Lion Force episodes of Voltron: Defender of the Universe are featured in this series, although they are performed by different voice actors. The story begins several years after a pivotal battle between the Voltron Force and Lotor, now King of Planet Doom. Lotor was killed during the battle, and Haggar had disappeared. During a victory celebration on Earth, the Voltron Lions, minus their pilots, had inexplicably attacked a city, forcing Sky Marshall Wade of the Galaxy Alliance to lock up the Lions. The Voltron Force then disbanded and moved on with their lives.
In the first, feature-length episode, Lotor is brought back to life by a mysterious occult scientist called Maahox. Now infused with a dark energy called Haggarium, Lotor poses an even greater threat to the Galaxy Alliance than before, forcing the Voltron Force to disobey Sky Marshall Wade and reactivate the Voltron Lions. The Voltron pilots also take on three cadets: the impulsive Daniel, who dreams of piloting Black Lion and leading the Voltron Force; Vince, an intellectual but reluctant hero; and Princess Larmina, niece of Allura, who is highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat. Each Voltron Force pilot and cadet has a Voltcom – a gauntlet that can generate weapons catered to its wearer, as well as unlock long-hidden capabilities of Voltron, such as the ability of any of the five Lions to form Voltron’s torso and head, giving Voltron powers that are specific to the center Lion.
As the Voltron Force story progresses, Lotor and Maahox escalate their attacks, Sky Marshall Wade is revealed to be obsessed with power, Maahox is found to have his own evil motives, and the three Voltron Force cadets learn what it takes to be Voltron pilots.
The final episode of Voltron Force aired in April 2012. The series ended with a cliffhanger that has not been fully resolved, although a brief continuation of the plot is depicted in comic book form as the epilogue of a book called Voltron: From Days of Long Ago: A Thirtieth Anniversary Celebration. Let’s Voltron podcast host Marc Morrell was a co-author of this book. Check it out!
(Depending on one’s perspective, Voltron Force‘s episode count is either 26 or 24. As released on DVD in Region 4, Voltron Force consists of 26 half-hour episodes; however, when the series first aired on NickToons, the first three episodes were presented as a single, feature-length episode. The series is usually described as having 26 episodes.)
With twelve years between the end of Voltron: Defender of the Universe and the start of Voltron: The Third Dimension, and eleven years between the end of Voltron: The Third Dimension and the start of Voltron Force, one might have surmised that another Voltron television series wouldn’t debut until the mid-2020s. Fortunately, this time, Voltron was needed much sooner.
On Friday, June 10, 2016, Voltron: Legendary Defender premiered, with the entire eleven-episode first season being made available exclusively on Netflix. This series is an overt reboot of the Lion Force Voltron concept from Voltron: Defender of the Universe. The series’ showrunners have strived to make this new series as fun and entertaining as what long-time fans remember having watched over 30 years before. The characters were redesigned, but they were made to look similar enough to the original designs that they’d pass a “squint test.”
At a glance, the story begins much as Voltron: Defender of the Universe does: a team of five, brave space explorers find themselves becoming pilots of five distinctly colored robot lions. Some of the Lion/pilot assignments different in this series: although as before, Pidge flies the Green Lion, and Hunk pilots the Yellow Lion, Keith now controls the Red Lion, and Lance operates the Blue Lion. The Black Lion is now piloted by Shiro, the team leader, who is named after Takashi Shirogane from Beast King Golion – called Sven in Voltron: Defender of the Universe. As in previous Voltron programs, the Lion pilots – called Paladins in this series – can combine the Lions to form Voltron. The paladins are assisted by Princess Allura and her advisor, Coran. Their opponents are Emperor Zarkon, witch Haggar, and the Galra Empire.
Beyond the obvious similarities between Voltron: Legendary Defender and Voltron: Defender of the Universe, the two series are quite different. Most of the characters in the new series have compelling back stories and/or specific motivations that add depth and interest. One year before the events of the first episode, Shiro, and Pidge’s father and brother, had been exploring a moon of Pluto when they were abducted by the Galra. In the first episode, Shiro mysteriously returns to Earth with no memory of how he escaped the Galra – but Pidge’s family remains missing. When the future Voltron paladins discover Princess Allura and Coran, the pair had been in suspended animation for 10,000 years, during which time Zarkon had destroyed Altea and expanded his empire. Keith and Lance have a standing rivalry, and Pidge has a secret identity of sorts. Zarkon seeks not to destroy Voltron, but instead to capture it.
Voltron: Legendary Defender is a return to the original Voltron concept, with modern storytelling sensibilities, rich characterizations, high action, and top-notch writing and production values.
As of this writing, in April 2017, two seasons of Voltron: Legendary Defender have been released on Netflix, and a third season was officially announced at WonderCon 2017.
Here’s how can you watch Voltron.
Voltron: Defender of the Universe
Voltron: The Third Dimension
Voltron Force
Voltron: Legendary Defender
Beast King Golion
Armored Fleet Dairugger XV
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.
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.)
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 |
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.
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.
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.
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!