Month: November 2019

As I described in “It’s as “Easy” as I, II, III: Being a Voltron Fan in the 1980s,” keeping up with Voltron: Defender of the Universe was a bit difficult. I wish I could say it has gotten easier over the years, but it hasn’t.

Even numbering the program’s seasons and episodes has been a challenge. Why? Buckle up, and I’ll tell you.

• The program’s 124 regular-length episodes can be thought of as comprising three “seasons.” In original air date order, the seasons are:
  1. 52 Lion Force episodes adapted from Beast King Golion
  2. 52 Vehicle Team episodes adapted from Armored Fleet Dairugger XV
  3. 20 Lion Force episodes which were animated specifically for Voltron
• In original air date order, a small number of second-season (Vehicle Team) episodes originally aired in the middle of the first season.
• As I described in “Out of Order: Voltron vs. Golion and Dairugger”:
  • The episodes of Voltron‘s first season originally aired out of sequence with respect to the corresponding episodes of Beast King Golion.
  • The episodes of Voltron‘s second season originally aired out of sequence with respect to the corresponding episodes of Armored Fleet Dairugger XV.
• The double-length “Fleet of Doom” episode, which was animated specifically for Voltron, isn’t considered one of the program’s episodes, but rather a distinct production; however, in some markets, the episode was edited into two regular-length episodes that aired alongside the program’s 124 regular episodes.
• While examining scripts from Voltron, I learned about the episodes’ production numbers from having access to the episodes’ scripts.
  1. The first season’s 52 episodes have production numbers 201-252. Their sequence matches that of the Beast King Golion episodes from which they were adapted.
  2. The second season’s 52 episodes have production numbers 101-152. Their sequence matches that of the Armored Fleet Dairugger XV episodes from which they were adapted.
  3. The third season’s 20 episodes have production numbers 301-317 and 319-321. Their sequence matches that of the episodes’ original air dates.
  4. The third-season episode with production number 318 was never completed or aired. Video-only excerpts from this unfinished episode were an extra in the Media Blasters DVD sets of the mid-2000s.
  5. The “Fleet of Doom” script has no production number.
• In the original “Voltron Trilogy” concept for Voltron:
  1. Voltron I, which later became known as Vehicle Team Voltron, was the titular robot in Armored Fleet Dairugger XV.
  2. Voltron II was the titular robot from Lightspeed Electroid Albegas.
  3. Voltron III, which later became known as Lion Force Voltron, was the titular robot in Beast King Golion.
• That “Voltron I’s” 52 episodes have production numbers in the 100s, and “Voltron III’s” initial 52 episodes have production numbers in the 200s, suggests that the decision not to adapt Lightspeed Electroid Albegas into “Voltron II” was made fairly early in production — perhaps even during pre-production.
• The Madman Entertainment DVDs of the early 2000s and the Universal DVDs of 2019 numbered the Voltron episodes as follows:
  1. The first season’s 52 episodes are numbered as “Lion Force” episodes 1-52. Their sequence matches that of the Beast King Golion episodes from which they were adapted.
  2. The third season’s 20 episodes are numbered as “Lion Force” episodes 53-72. Their sequence matches that of the episodes’ original air dates.
  3. The second season’s 52 episodes are numbered as “Vehicle Force” episodes 1-52. Their sequence matches that of the Armored Fleet Dairugger XV episodes from which they were adapted.
• The Media Blasters DVDs of the mid-2000s numbered the Voltron episodes as follows:
  1. The first season’s 52 episodes are numbered as episodes 1-52. Their sequence matches that of the Beast King Golion episodes from which they were adapted.
  2. The third season’s 20 episodes are numbered as episodes 53-72. Their sequence matches that of the episodes’ original air dates.
  3. The second season’s 52 episodes are numbered as episodes 73-124. Their sequence matches that of the Armored Fleet Dairugger XV episodes from which they were adapted.

The table below is my attempt to capture all this information in one place. You can sort a column by clicking on its header. You can sort multiple columns by holding the Shift key while you select multiple columns. (Sorting by multiple columns probably won’t work on most mobile browsers.)

The abbreviated column headers are as follows:

• Prod #: Voltron production number
• Seas: Voltron season number (in original air date order)
• Bot: Indicates Lion Force Voltron or Vehicle Team Voltron
• Seas for Bot: For a given Voltron robot (Lion Force Voltron or Vehicle Team Voltron), the season number (in original air date order)
• Title: Episode title
• OAD: Original air date
• MB DVD Ep #: Episode number according to the Media Blasters DVDs of the mid-2000s
• ME / Univ DVD Ep #: Episode number according to the Madman Entertainment DVDs of the early 2000s and the Universal Home Entertainment DVDs of 2019
• An: Original anime program (Beast King Golion or Armored Fleet Dairugger XV)
• An Ep #: Anime program episode number
• An Title: Anime program episode title
• An OAD: Anime program episode original air date