Voltron in the 25th Century
VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE takes place in Earth’s future, during a time when Earth is an integral part of an interstellar union known as the Galaxy Alliance, and spaceflight between star systems is commonplace.
No aired episode of the program establishes when the VOLTRON story takes place.
On the other hand, VOLTRON’s century was revealed on the packaging of some VOLTRON videocassettes. In the images below, some 1980s home video releases of VOLTRON, specifically those sold by CBS FOX, include copy on the backs of the boxes, stating that “it is the 25th century.”
Released in the mid-2000s, the Media Blasters DVD releases of VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE include all three unaired pilot episodes of the show. The first pilot features the Vehicle Team, and the second and third pilots feature the Lion Force. The first pilot also includes voiceover narration by Commander Hawkins, who, like the CBS FOX videocassette boxes, states “it’s the 25th century.”
Some other marketing materials also establish VOLTRON’s time period as the 25th century. These materials might be the focus of a future article.
Unlike VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE, the anime programs from which VOLTRON was adapted, 1981’s BEAST KING GOLION and 1982’s ARMORED FLEET DAIRUGGER XV were set in entirely different time periods.
BEAST KING GOLION was set in 1999, and ARMORED FLEET DAIRUGGER XV was set 2200. The two anime programs had entirely unrelated stories. VOLTRON recontextualized both programs’ stories as taking place in a single continuity.
Why did VOLTRON’s writers establish the show’s setting as the 25th century? Jameson Brewer, VOLTRON’s original head writer, likely made that decision. Unfortunately, Brewer died in 2003, so we can only speculate. I’ve done just that, and I’m reasonably certain that VOLTRON’s 25th-century setting was inspired by a far older science-fiction phenomenon: Buck Rogers.
The Buck Rogers comic strip ran in US newspapers from January 7, 1929, until 1967. In the comic strip, the character of Buck Rogers falls into a cave and succumbs to a strange gas that places him in suspended animation until he awakens in the 25th century — specifically in the year 2429.
A Buck Rogers radio adaptation premiered in 1932. Universal Pictures released a film serial adaptation in 1939. In 1979, just five years before VOLTRON’s 1984 television debut, the made-for-television movie BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY was released theatrically, followed later that year by a weekly television series of the same name and cast on the NBC television network. In the BUCK ROGERS movie and TV series, Buck Rogers emerges from suspended animation in the year 2491.
Jameson Brewer was born in 1916. He would have been 12 or 13 when the Buck Rogers comic strip was published, roughly 16 when the radio program first aired, and in his early twenties when the film serial first ran. Even if Brewer had never been exposed to Buck Rogers media during his younger years, he would almost certainly have known of its existence from its enormous popularity.
At a minimum, Brewer would likely have been aware of BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY.
The first pilot episode of VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE was adapted from the ARMORED FLEET DAIRUGGER XV episode “Galactic Clash.” The imagery of the first VOLTRON pilot is somewhat reminiscent of BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY. Maybe Jameson Brewer was inspired by a memory of Buck Rogers, whether recent or from days of long ago, when he presumably made the decision to set VOLTRON in the 25th century.
