Many longtime Voltron fans know that the original concept for 1980s animated television series VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE was to have been a trilogy, produced by adapting, and loosely connecting, three unrelated, anime programs that had been created by Toei Animation. The programs were to have been:
- ARMORED FLEET DAIRUGGER XV (1982-1983)
- LIGHTSPEED ELECTROID ALBEGAS (1983-1984)
- BEAST KING GOLION (1981-1982)
As an aside, Voltron’s producers, World Events Productions (WEP), intended to select MIRAI ROBO DALTANIOUS (1979-1980) as one of the three programs, but due to a miscommunication, Toei sent BEAST KING GOLION instead.
WEP moved forward with DAIRUGGER, ALBEGAS, and GOLION far enough for toy company Matchbox to repurpose those programs’ super robot toys as licensed Voltron toys. The super robot from DAIRUGGER was dubbed “Voltron I” of the Near Universe; the ALBEGAS super robot was called “Voltron II” of the Middle Universe; and the GOLION robot was “Voltron III” of the Far Universe.
At some point, WEP determined that the GOLION imagery was overwhelmingly more popular than that of DAIRUGGER, so WEP abandoned its seemingly not-yet-initiated plan to adapt ALBEGAS, and chose instead to animate, from scratch and with reused footage, 21 new episodes based on GOLION. WEP would also release an original, two-part “feature” called “Fleet of Doom,” featuring only the GOLION and DAIRUGGER robots and characters.
Since then, “Voltron II,” which would have been born of ALBEGAS, has been little more than an obscure footnote in Voltron history.
In April 2020, the TOEI TOKUSATSU WORLD OFFICIAL YouTube page released the first two episodes of LIGHTSPEED ELECTROID ALBEGAS, with English subtitles. This allowed most fans of 1980s VOLTRON to enjoy this program for the first time.
On the eve of a 2024 release of the entire LIGHTSPEED ELECTROID ALBEGAS anime program, with English subtitles, on standard-definition Blu-ray Disc, author Jason Russell has created a website called The Voltron II Project.
Russell’s website posits what VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE episodes adapted from LIGHTSPEED ELECTROID ALBEGAS might have been like. On the site’s Summary page, he suggests character names and a premise that connects the ALBEGAS concept with the VOLTRON episodes that WEP had created based on GOLION and DAIRUGGER.
It should be noted that Russell’s story is fan fiction; as such, it is not licensed by WEP or Toei Animation; however, the story is entertaining and worth reading.
The story can be found here: https://voltronii.weebly.com/pilot-episode.html
The story is a quick read that is reminiscent of James Blish’s short-story adaptations of episodes of the 1960s STAR TREK television program. 1980s VOLTRON fans might liken Russell’s short story to Jack McKinney’s ROBOTECH novels, each of which adapts a handful of ROBOTECH episodes.
Russell’s story, like the ALBEGAS episode that it adapts, introduces three teenagers who have built their own award-winning, gigantic humanoid mechs. A species of hostile aliens launches a surprise attack on the planet, and the teens try to defend their home using their mechs. The attackers quickly overpower the mechs and force the teens to retreat, but with the help of one teen’s father, the mechs are upgraded into more formidable combat mechs that, unbeknownst even to the teens, have a mighty secret.
Russell’s Voltron story generally follows the ALBEGAS story. Because WEP had described its “Voltron II” as being the Defender of the Middle Universe, and because VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE depicts a planet Earth that is only rarely under direct threat, Russell’s Voltron story recontextualizes the setting of the ALBEGAS story from Earth to a planet called Otoko. ALBEGAS’ alien menace is recontextualized as being associated with the Drule Empire — the villains of the DAIRUGGER-based VOLTRON episodes, and associates of the villains of the GOLION-based VOLTRON episodes.
Russell’s story adds a scene that arguably better establishes the story’s primary villains of the series than ALBEGAS did — while also serving as “time filler” for scenes that Russell chooses to remove. ALBEGAS’ first episode shows the home life of one of the three teens, including siblings, a homemaker mother, and a painter father who is overly defensive about not being unfaithful to his wife. Russell’s story omits much of this material, perhaps because the home is in a city neighborhood with many prominent, Japanese-language signs that, in an adapted animated episode, would be difficult to edit around. (In the 1980s, it was common for American-adapted animation from Japan to omit Japanese-specific cultural cues.) Russell’s story also omits scenes involving a “comic relief” ALBEGAS side character — Goro, a buffoonish student who, like the hero teens, has developed his own mech, but with far less success.
Russell’s story wouldn’t be a Voltron story without independently piloted craft that combine into a giant robot called Voltron. This Voltron, a direct adaptation of ALBEGAS’ giant mech Albegas, does not disappoint. The “form Voltron” sequence reads as if it might have been inspired by Viewpoint Productions’ fan edit of ALBEGAS’ combination sequence. Whatever the case, the written sequence works well.
Russell’s story also weaves in a bit of trivial minutiae to explain how this new Voltron came to be. To fans with a deep knowledge of VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE, this is a nice touch that adds a sense of continuity that the actual television program rarely had itself.
Jason Russell’s “Voltron II” story is a fun glimpse at what might have been, had WEP created VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE episodes from LIGHTSPEED ELECTROID ALBEGAS. I recommend the story to longtime Voltron fans, and I recommend that the tale be read a second time alongside a video of ALBEGAS’ first episode. It’s fun!
