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Category: TV

Big Robots in the 25th Century

Posted on October 21, 2024 by Greg Tyler

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.”

VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE - "Voltron in the Castle of Lions" - VHS release by CBS FOX

VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE - "Voltron Versus the Empire of Drule" - VHS release by CBS FOX

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.

Collage of images from BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY

Collage of images from the first pilot episode of VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE

Posted in Armored Fleet Dairugger XV, Lion Force Voltron, News, Special Features, TV, Vehicle Team Voltron, Voltron, Voltron: Defender of the Universe

Tall Tales: How Big Are the Big Bots?

Posted on October 14, 2024 by Greg Tyler

Introduction

How tall is Voltron? The answer depends on which Voltron is being referenced.

  • Voltron, as seen in VOLTRON: LEGENDARY DEFENDER (2016-2018)
  • Voltron, as seen in VOLTRON FORCE (2011-2012)
  • Voltron, as seen in VOLTRON: THE THIRD DIMENSION (1998-2000)
  • Stealth Voltron, as seen in VOLTRON: THE THIRD DIMENSION (1998-2000)
  • Lion Force Voltron, as seen in VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE (1984-1985) and VOLTRON: FLEET OF DOOM (1986)
  • Vehicle Team Voltron, as seen in VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE (1984-1985) and VOLTRON: FLEET OF DOOM (1986)

Let’s do some analysis to figure out how big each of these big bots “really” is.

I apologize for the low quality of some of the images that are featured in this article. I chose to focus on data rather than “pretty pictures.”

Voltron from VOLTRON: LEGENDARY DEFENDER

During the Netflix run of VOLTRON: LEGENDARY DEFENDER, the height of that program’s Voltron robot was established, fairly clearly, in at least two references.

Voltron Website

By May 26, 2016, but by this writing, no longer online, the official Voltron website (at http://www.voltron.com/legendary) contained a page of basic information about VOLTRON: LEGENDARY DEFNDER‘s characters and technology, including Voltron. As shown in this screen capture from the website, the Voltron page described Voltron as “a mighty warrior standing at over 100 meters tall.”

VOLTRON: LEGENDARY DEFENDER Biography of Voltron, including the robot's height

Official Voltron Facebook Page

A May 7, 2016 post on the Voltron Facebook page, still online as of this writing (link), includes a low-resolution diagram of Voltron, the Statue of Liberty, and the Taj Mahal, with dimensions and dimension lines to show how tall each object is. The diagram establishes Voltron’s standing height as 100.584 meters. Since 2.54 centimeters equals exactly one inch, 100.584 meters is exactly 330 feet. Likely for artistic reasons, the diagram uses a perspective rendering of Voltron, rather than an orthographic rendering. (A perspective rendering represents what an object would look like through an eye or camera lens. An orthographic rendering is like a blueprint drawing.)

Height Comparisons - VOLTRON: LEGENDARY DEFENDER Voltron, Statue of Liberty, Taj Mahal

A quirk about the image is that the dimension line makes it appear as if Voltron’s height is measured from the bottoms of Voltron’s feet to the tips of its wings in some arbitrarily extended position. A standing height would be more realistically measured from the bottoms of the feet to the top of the head.

By examining the diagram in Adobe Illustrator, if Voltron’s height is 100.584 from feet to wing tips, then I estimate the robot’s height from feet to the top of the head — the crown, so to speak — to be 84.1 meters (276 feet), and I estimate the robot’s height from feet to the tips of the horns on the robot’s head to be 85.4 meters (280 feet). With all that said, are we really meant to believe that Voltron’s height was measured from the robot’s feet to the tips of arbitrary posed wings?

One thing to keep in mind that is that this image was released over one month before the June 16, 2016, release of VOLTRON: LEGENDARY DEFENDER. Height measurements and dimension lines aside, this image is less an “engineering drawing” than an artistic composition that offers a preview of the robot itself. For this reason, despite the dimension line on the image, we might surmise that the robot’s height is “really” measured to the top of the head. Let’s examine another image and see if that might indeed be true.

A July 14, 2016 post on the Voltron Facebook page, still online as of this writing (link), includes a color rendering of Voltron striking a pose, wings down, next to Big Ben. According to the Big Ben page on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Ben), Big Ben’s tower stands 96 meters (316 feet) tall. Voltron is not standing at attention, but the robot, from feet to top-of-head, or feet to tops-of horns, appears to be slightly shorter than Big Ben — but not as short as the 84.1 to 85.4 meters that the May 16, 2016, Facebook diagram suggests. The July 14, 2016 image is also an artistic composition, and like the May 16, 2016, it almost certainly wasn’t meant to be a precise reference. The choice to make Voltron slightly shorter than Big Ben might have been a purely aesthetic decision.

VOLTRON: LEGENDARY DEFENDER Voltron and Big Ben

It’s probably safe to assume that Voltron’s 100.584-meter (330-foot) standing height is “really” measured from the bottoms of the robot’s feet to the top of its head – which might or might be the tips of its horns.

Lion Force Voltron from VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE

Before I began researching for this article, I had encountered numerous online claims that Lion Force Voltron’s standing height is 60 meters (197 feet). I wanted to see if there was evidence to support these claims.

The 2014 book VOLTRON: FROM DAYS OF LONG AGO: A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION, by Brian Smith, Marc Morrell, Joshua Bernard, and Jacob Chabot, establishes that Lion Force Voltron stands “at an awe-inspiring 300 feet tall.” 300 feet is 91.4 meters. This measurement is over 50% taller than the oft-claimed 60-meter figure. What is the origin of the 60-meter claim?

Before we investigate where the 60-meter claim might have originated, I should point out that the very book from which the 300-foot height is established also offers some evidence for Voltron being 60 meters tall.

FROM DAYS OF LONG AGO contains a section that I have described as a “Robeast Rolodex” — a short description of many of the Robeasts that Lion Force Voltron and Vehicle Team Voltron encounters in VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE, and that Voltron encounters in VOLTRON FORCE. Far Universe Entry #60, “Drule Voltron 1,” describes the Haggar-created Voltron lookalike Robeast that Lion Force Voltron battles in the VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE episode “Voltron Vs. Voltron” (Production Number 244). This entry describes the Voltron lookalike as being 200 feet tall, or 61.0 meters. In the episode, Voltron and its lookalike are clearly intended to be the same size.

Drule Voltron 1, as described in VOLTRON: FROM DAYS OF LONG AGO: A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

In 1997, toy company Trendmasters released a plastic and die cast metal toy of Lion Force Voltron that, despite minor changes, was basically a re-release of Matchbox’s 1985 Voltron III, or Lion Force Voltron toy, which in turn was basically a re-release of the 1981 Popy / Bandai GB-36 Golion toy in Japan. One panel of the Trendmasters toy’s box contains size information about, not Voltron, but rather each of the five lions that combine to form Voltron.

Trendmasters 1997 VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE box art

The panel specifies each lion’s height, in meters.

  • Black Lion: 40 meters (131 feet)
  • Red and Green Lions: 20 meters (98 feet)
  • Blue and Yellow Lions: 30 meters (66 feet)

Based on how the lions are reconfigured to form Voltron, Voltron’s height can be estimated by adding the length of Black Lion to the length of Blue or Yellow Lion. Each lion is much longer than it is tall, so if these metrics are accurate, then Lion Force Voltron would be significantly taller than even the 300-foot (91.4-meter) claim in FROM DAYS OF LONG AGO.

In search of more information about Lion Force Voltron’s height, let’s go back further — waaaaaay back, to the instructions of the Popy/Bandai Golion GB-36 toy. As a reminder, most Lion Force Voltron episodes of VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE were adapted from the 1981 anime program BEAST KING GOLION. Thanks to Voltron collector Brad Schneider for providing these photos.

Because the Golion instructions are in Japanese, I used Google Translate and my smartphone’s camera to translate the Japanese text.

GB-36 instructions. Photos by Brad Schneider.

GB-36 instructions. Photos by Brad Schneider. Translated by Google Translate.

The translated instructions reveal the height of Golion and the lengths of each lion.

  • Golion height: 60 meters (197 feet)
  • Black Lion length: 40 meters (131 feet)
  • Red and Green Lion lengths: 20 meters (98 feet)
  • Blue and Yellow Lion lengths: 30 meters (66 feet)

The lion length values do match the “height” values that Trendmasters printed on their Voltron toy box.

The instructions of Bandai’s 2017 Soul of Chogokin GX-71 Golion also contain the same metrics, as shown in the translated photos below.

GX-71 instructions. Translated by Google Translate.

What do we conclude from this evidence? Unlike VOLTRON: LEGENDARY DEFENDER, the evidence is somewhat contradictory, but my conclusion is that Lion Force Voltron, like Golion, has a standing height of 60 meters (197 feet).

Vehicle Team Voltron from VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE

Before I began researching for this article, I had encountered numerous online claims that Vehicle Team Voltron’s standing height is 60 meters (197 feet). I wanted to see if there was evidence to support these claims.

The 2014 book VOLTRON: FROM DAYS OF LONG AGO: A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION, by Brian Smith, Marc Morrell, Joshua Bernard, and Jacob Chabot, establishes that Vehicle Team Voltron stands “at over 300 feet tall.” On the other hand, since the book uses the 300-foot height for Lion Force Vfoltron, and a 200-foot height for the Voltron lookalike Robeast, its claim about Vehicle Team Voltron’s height is similarly suspicious.

In VOLTRON: FLEET OF DOOM (1986), Vehicle Team Voltron and Lion Force Voltron are shown to be roughly the same size. This, coupled with my conclusion about Lion Force Voltron being 60 meters (197 feet) tall, suggests to me that Vehicle Team Voltron also has a standing height of about 60 meters.

I own a Popy/Bandai Dairugger DX toy — the toy that corresponds most closely to the Popy/Bandai Golion GB-36 toy from which I posted photos of the instructions. Unfortunately, my Dairugger toy does not include its original instructions. I will update this page with Dairugger DX instructions if I should find someone who owns them and is willing to share photos.

The instructions of Bandai’s 2019 Soul of Chogokin GX-88 Dairugger reveal Dairugger’s height to be, like Golion, 60 meters.

GX-88 instructions. Translated by Google Translate.

Voltron from VOLTRON: THE THIRD DIMENSION

Voltron from VOLTRON: THE THIRD DIMENSION is of the same “classic-style” design as Lion Force Voltron from VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE, except for minor, stylistic changes. Having seen no evidence to the contrary, I assume that Voltron from VOLTRON: THE THIRD DIMENSION is of the same standing height as Lion Force Voltron from the 1980s program. As previously mentioned, that height is 60 meters (197 feet).

Stealth Voltron from VOLTRON: THE THIRD DIMENSION

In the VOLTRON: THE THIRD DIMENSION episode “Consider the Alternatives,” Stealth Voltron encounters a classic-style Voltron from an alternate universe. The robots appear to be of similar size. Having seen no evidence to the contrary, I assume that Stealth Voltron is of similar standing height as that of classic-style Voltron from VOLTRON: THE THIRD DIMENSION: approximately 60 meters (197 feet).

VOLTRON: THE THIRD DIMENSION "Consider the Alternatives" - Voltron from an alternate universe, versus Stealth Voltron

Voltron from VOLTRON FORCE

One thing that I didn’t mention about VOLTRON: FROM DAYS OF LONG AGO: A THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION is that the book’s “in-universe” sections treat VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE, VOLTRON FORCE, and the six VOLTRON FORCE comics by VIZ Media as having a shared continuity. The book suggests that the visual differences between Lion Force Voltron from VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE and VOLTRON FORCE are the result of upgrades that were performed by the Voltron Force: Keith, Lance, Pidge, Princess Allura, and Hunk. Arguing whether that makes sense is outside the scope of this article. What is in scope is that the book’s mention of Lion Force Voltron being “an awe-inspiring 300 feet tall” — that is, 91.4 meters tall — applies to Voltron regardless of its visual appearance. This means that Voltron from VOLTRON FORCE, like Voltron from VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE, is 300 feet (91.4 meters). That said, as previously mentioned, the Voltron lookalike Robeast iss said to be 200 feet — 61.0 meters — tall.

The height of Voltron from VOLTRON FORCE is the most ambiguous of all the Voltron robots, because I have been unable to find any references that are more definitive than the contradictory figures in FROM DAYS OF LONG AGO. In the VOLTRON FORCE cartoon itself, and likely also in every Voltron production, the sizes of the lions and Voltron can vary from shot to shot or scene to scene. Simply for its relevance to the plot, if we choose this image from the episode “Clash of the Lions,” we can see that Voltron’s head is large enough, with Voltron’s face retracted, to allow Sky Marshall Wade to stand inside Black Lion’s open mouth. This is consistent with many other episodes, which show Voltron Force pilots and cadets entering and exiting the individual lions by way of the lions’ mouths.

VOLTRON FORCE "Clash of the Lions" - Sky Marshall Wade inside Voltron's head (Black Lion's mouth)

Based on visual evidence that I will provide in a future article, an adult human could stand inside the mouth of a lion that forms a 60-meter-tall Voltron. For that reason, unless any future contradictory information, I’ll assume that Voltron from VOLTRON FORCE, like all other Voltron robots except the version from VOLTRON: LEGENDARY DEFENDER, is about 60 meters (197 feet) tall.

Conclusion

To summarize, based on as much evidence as I have found, and with conclusions and assumptions that I drew from sometimes conflicting sources, the Voltron robots have the following heights:

  • Lion Force Voltron from VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE: 60 meters (197 feet)
  • Vehicle Team Voltron from VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE: 60 meters (197 feet)
  • “Classic-style” Voltron from VOLTRON: THE THIRD DIMENSION: 60 meters (197 feet)
  • Stealth Voltron from VOLTRON: THE THIRD DIMENSION: 60 meters (197 feet)
  • Voltron from VOLTRON FORCE: 60 meters (197 feet) (barring evidence to the contrary)
  • Voltron from VOLTRON: LEGENDARY DEFENDER: 100.584 meters (330 feet)
Posted in Armored Fleet Dairugger XV, Beast King Golion, Lion Force Voltron, Special Features, Toys, TV, Vehicle Team Voltron, Voltron, Voltron Force, Voltron: Defender of the Universe, Voltron: Legendary Defender, Voltron: The Third Dimension

From Days of Never-Were: Jason Russell’s 2024 Fan Adaptation of LIGHTSPEED ELECTROID ALBEGAS

Posted on March 4, 2024 by Greg Tyler

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.

  • ALBEGAS (Episode 1)
  • ALBEGAS (Episode 2)

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.

On the website’s Pilot Episode page, Russell shares his self-authored short story to suggest, in prose, what a VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE episode adapted from LIGHTSPEED ELECTROID ALBEGAS‘ first episode might have been like.

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!

Posted in Fan Art, Lightspeed Electroid Albegas, News, Special Features, Voltron: Defender of the Universe

A Guide to Vehicle Team Voltron Pilots and Vehicles

Posted on February 4, 2022 by Greg Tyler

I just created this guide to the pilots and vehicles of Vehicle Team Voltron from VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE. Enjoy! (Click the image to view it at full size.)

This image can be thought of as a “2.0” version of an image that I made and posted to another website in 2012.

Posted in Armored Fleet Dairugger XV, Fan Art, News, Special Features, Vehicle Team Voltron, Voltron, Voltron: Defender of the Universe

The Power Systems of Vehicle Team Voltron: A Technical Primer (Voltron: Defender of the Universe)

Posted on February 26, 2021 by Greg Tyler
Vehicle TEam Voltron with Blazing Sword
Vehicle Team Voltron

This article is a conjectural early history of Vehicle Team Voltron, as well as a conjectural “technical primer” to the power systems of Vehicle Team Voltron and its constituent Rugger vehicles, based on sometimes conflicting evidence from the Voltron: Defender of the Universe television program.

Many years before Keith, Lance, Pidge, Hunk, and Sven reached Planet Arus, Doctor Loring, the Galaxy Alliance’s eccentric but pre-eminent expert in robotics engineering, traveled in secret on an unauthorized, solo mission to Arus to learn as much as he could about Voltron, Defender of the Universe. To many, Voltron was only a legend, but Doctor Loring believed Voltron was real, and that the mighty robot now resided on Arus.

King Alfor reluctantly allowed Loring to study the Lions in secret, as long as he did not activate them, and as long as his methods were non-destructive. Loring’s presence was kept a secret from the Arusian public, the Galaxy Alliance, and the many factions of the Drule Empire.

For five short months, Loring studied the dormant Lions in their Dens. Were it not for his genius-level intellect, his decades of experience in robotics, and what little of his personal knowledge King Alfor was willing to share, Loring would have learned nothing about Voltron’s technology. By the end of the fifth month, Loring had discovered that each Voltron Lion was powered by a distinct element of nature, but there was much about this that Loring did not understand. When Loring asked King Alfor for more information about how a Lion harnessed a natural element and transformed it into usable power, Alfor, fearing that such knowledge could fall into the wrong hands, told Loring that his time on Arus had ended.

Loring returned to Earth, where he began to work in secrecy on the design of his own modular super robot – his own Voltron. A particular focus was to power the robot using an element of nature — an ancient secret of the legendary robot that, if reproduced, would provide Loring’s super robot with equal power.

Original plans for Doctor Loring's Voltron
The original plans for Doctor Loring’s Voltron

Several years after departing Arus, Loring finally completed much of the daunting but plausible design for his Voltron. Loring presented his design before the Galaxy Alliance council and the Galaxy Garrison’s top officers, requesting funding to construct his Voltron. Aware of growing threats from the Drule Empire, and a need to explore the universe to find new habitable worlds, the Alliance, by way of the Galaxy Garrison, agreed to fund the construction of Loring’s Voltron.

Galaxy Garrison top officers standing around a briefing room table
Top leadership of the Galaxy Garrison

Unlike the Voltron of legends from days of long ago – a robot comprised of five robot Lions – Loring’s Voltron was to be comprised of a larger number of modules, each an independent space cruiser. A major reason for this design choice was to support the Galaxy Alliance’s effort to find new planets for the people of overcrowded worlds to colonize. Based on anticipated mission needs, the number of vehicles was set to 15 – five Air Team vehicles that were specialized for aerial operations, five Sea Team vehicles for underwater operations, and five Land Team vehicles for ground-based operations. Loring was not especially fond of designing the modules with a vehicular form factor, as it seemed too mundane to him, but with his project’s funding coming from the Galaxy Alliance, compromises were a necessity.

Five vehicles of the Air Team
Air Team
Five vehicles of the Sea Team
Sea Team
Five vehicles of the Land Team
Land Team

Because of the nature of its constituent modules, and the likely organization of their future pilots, “Loring’s Voltron” became known as Vehicle Team Voltron, which helped to distinguish it from the legendary “Lion Force Voltron.” Partially as a joke, and partially because of his fondness for rugby, Loring referred to Vehicle Team Voltron’s 15 constituent vehicles as Ruggers.

Loring continued to pursue powering Vehicle Team Voltron using an element of nature. Given the Alliance’s intended mission for Vehicle Team Voltron, which included the discovery and study of new, habitable planets, the super robot would need to be able to operate for long durations without reliable access to planets rich in natural resources, such as those which powered the Voltron Lions: lightning, fire, wind, water, and magma. Loring quickly realized that the only element of nature that could possibly power a super robot that spent much of its time in space was solar energy – electromagnetic radiation, or light, from stars.

Stars
Stars

As construction began, Loring kept certain aspects of Vehicle Team Voltron’s design known only to himself – particularly details about the adaptations that he had made in order to power the super robot. Loring had grown to appreciate the wisdom of King Alfor for wanting to prevent this secret of Voltron from falling into evil hands.

The greatest challenge to using solar energy to power Vehicle Team Voltron was that the rate at which the super robot consumed power could easily exceed the rate at which it could recharge, especially when operating in interstellar space, where stars, while plentiful, were distant. Loring was on the verge of surmounting this challenge…until he died unexpectedly, and as with many aspects of Voltron’s design, this last major technical hurdle was one of the secrets that Loring took with him to the grave.

For years following Loring’s death, the Galaxy Alliance’s top engineers and scientists pored over the miniscule records that they could decrypt from the few records that Loring kept of his work. Although these great intellects could not ascertain what Loring had in mind to handle Voltron’s recharging challenge, they did devise several workarounds that, in aggregation, made Vehicle Team Voltron a true Defender of the Universe of modern legend — even if it arguably fell short of its full potential.

Numerous workarounds were devised and implemented.

  • Separate Rugger fuel supply: Each Rugger was be powered by conventional spacecraft fuel, rather than draw power from Voltron’s energy reserves. A side benefit of this workaround was that, should the Ruggers lack sufficient solar energy to combine, the Ruggers could continue to operate independently.
  • Power Turbos: A critical part of forming Vehicle Team Voltron was connecting the Ruggers’ diatherms and activating infracells. This sequence boosted the structural strength of the Rugger-to-Rugger connections – effectively holding Voltron together. To eliminate the need of the Ruggers to consume Voltron’s limited solar energy reserves for this purpose, each Rugger utilized a Power Turbo – a component that, when sufficiently charged, provided adequate power to connect diatherms and activate infracells. A Rugger’s Power Turbo was charged by the Rugger’s conventional fuel. When a Power Turbo was empty, a full charge could take up to four hours. For this reason, each Rugger’s Power Turbo was normally maintained at a charge level of at least 84%. A Rugger could operate normally while charging its Power Turbo.
  • Embedded Solar Micropanel Matrices (ESMM): Each Rugger’s hull incorporated an Embedded Solar Micropanel Matrix (ESMM), a grid of tiny, unobtrusive solar energy collectors that fed solar energy directly into a network of batteries that powered Vehicle Team Voltron when the Ruggers were combined.
  • Team Fighter configuration: To increase the Ruggers’ combat capabilities without consuming Vehicle Team Voltron’s solar energy reserves, the Ruggers of each five-module sub-team– the Air Team, Sea Team, and Land Team – could combine into a large “Team Fighter” fighter craft that drew power from its constituent Ruggers’ conventional fuel supplies.
    • The five Ruggers of the Air Team formed the Strato Fighter. When combined, the Strato Fighter tapped most of its operating fuel from a primary enerty storage tank in Rugger 4 (starboard module), and an auxiliary tank in Rugger 3 (port module).

      Strato Fighter
      Strato Fighter (Air Team)
    • The five Ruggers of the Sea Team formed the Aqua Fighter. When combined, the Aqua Fighter often increased its energy capacity and speed by igniting its twin Nuclear Power Thrusters (NPT), housed in Rugger 9 (port aft module) and Rugger 10 (starboard aft module). Vehicle Team Voltron could also utilize the NPTs for bursts of acceleration.

      Aqua Fighter
      Aqua Fighter (Sea Team)
    • The five Ruggers of the Land Team formed the Turbo Terrain Fighter.

      Turbo Terrain Fighter
      Turbo Terrain Fighter (Land Team)
  • Mothership: When the Ruggers were not in use, or when Vehicle Team Voltron needed to travel over interstellar distances, the Ruggers were stored in a dedicated hangar within a mothership – the Stellar Ship Explorer.
    Stellar Ship Explorer in space
    Stellar Ship Explorer
    • By transporting the docked Ruggers, Explorer greatly reduced the need for Voltron to travel through interstellar space, reducing the robot’s power consumption.
    • Embedded Solar Micropanel Matrices (ESMM): Like the Ruggers, the hull of the Explorer incorporated an Embedded Solar Micropanel Matrix (ESMM). When the Ruggers were docked, the ESMM delivered solar energy directly to them. When the Ruggers were elsewhere, the ESMM stored solar energy in large batteries like those of the Ruggers themselves, for subsequent delivery to the Ruggers. The Explorer’s large, flat upper hull contained a high-density version of an ESMM that enabled the ship to collect enormous quantities of solar energy when the ship was landed on a planet with an Earth-like atmosphere that scattered light from the planet’s sun(s).

      Stellar Ship Explorer in a body of water during a sunny day on a habitable planet
      Stellar Ship Explorer in a body of water during a sunny day on a habitable planet
    • Thermonuclear-Powered Artificial Sunlight System (TPASS): When the Explorer was not in line-of-sight of natural solar energy, the Explorer also contained a Thermonuclear-Powered Artificial Sunlight System (TPASS) that continuously flooded the docked Ruggers in concentrated light that simulated starlight. When the hangar was devoid of people, the Voltron vehicles were usually flooded with light at ultraviolet-and-higher frequencies. When people occupied the hangar, the vehicles were bathed with lower-intensity, visible-frequency light. Because the system merely mimicked natural sunlight, its recharging capability was significantly less efficient than when the Explorer or a Rugger’s ESMM could collect natural sunlight.
      Because the Ruggers were sometimes charged using the thermonuclear-based TPASS, and because a star emitted light due to internal thermonuclear reactions, it was a common to colloquially mischaracterize Vehicle Team Voltron’s energy reserves as nuclear or thermonuclear in nature, rather than solar.

      Sea Team's five Ruggers in Rugger hangar aboard the Stellar Ship Explorer
      Sea Team’s five Ruggers in Rugger hangar aboard the Stellar Ship Explorer
      Air Team's five Ruggers in Rugger hangar aboard the Stellar Ship Explorer
      Air Team’s five Ruggers in Rugger hangar aboard the Stellar Ship Explorer

      Land Team's five Ruggers in Rugger hangar aboard the Stellar Ship Explorer
      Land Team’s five Ruggers in Rugger hangar aboard the Stellar Ship Explorer
  • Solar Energy System (SES): As a last-resort backup system to enable Vehicle Team Voltron to recharge more quickly while in interstellar space, the Galaxy Alliance created what it referred to generically as the Solar Energy System (SES). The SES is comprised of a sparse network of space stations and satellites that refracted and reflected light from nearby stars in focused beams to distant locations. The SES was highly inefficient – its focused beams spreading over longer interstellar distances – and the SES provided inadequate coverage in many regions of space, but it could be effective under certain conditions when the Stellar Ship Explorer or the Ruggers themselves were incapable of recharging the Ruggers’ solar energy reserves at a sufficient rate. When conditions were right, the SES transmitted deliver beams of starlight directly to the Ruggers. To be recharged successfully by the SES, the Ruggers had to be in the direct line of sight of an actively transmitting SES component.
  • Incremental system upgrades: As Vehicle Team Voltron operated in the field, the greatest scientific and engineering minds of the Galaxy Alliance continued to design and implement incremental upgrades to Vehicle Team Voltron, extending the capacity of the robot’s energy reserves and increasing its ability to recharge at greater speed. Upgraded Voltron hardware and software were secretly transported to the Stellar Ship Explorer by various Galaxy Garrison support fleets. Once the upgrades were delivered, an engineering team aboard the Explorer installed and field-tested each upgrade with the help of the Ruggers’ pilots, the Voltron Vehicle Team. When initially launched, Vehicle Team Voltron, with full solar energy reserves, could operate in a Notionally Typical Combat Scenario (NTCS) for only 5.2 minutes. Through multiple system upgrades, Voltron’s NTCS capability had been increased to nearly 20 minutes, which proved to be essential during the liberation of Planet Drule. Despite these upgrades, and the increasing knowledge of the scientists and engineers who have worked on them, to this day the top minds of the Galaxy Alliance have not been able to create another successful Voltron-like super robot, even using Doctor Loring’s original plans.

Notable incidents

On rare occasions, Voltron’s power-related vulnerabilities hindered its mission capability.

  • After the Explorer had landed on a planet and, with Voltron’s help, thwarted two Drule attacks, engineers aboard the Explorer took advantage of the lull in activity to drain the charge of the Ruggers’ Power Turbos for maintenance. After maintenance had completed, but before the Ruggers’ Power Turbos could be recharged fully, the Drules attacked a third time. The Ruggers could not immediately form Voltron, but they were able to combat the Drules until their Power Turbos finished recharging. Afterward the Ruggers formed Voltron and defeat the Drules and their latest Robeast.
  • In the hours leading up to a massive Drule invasion of Earth, Drule Captain Durka destroyed a Galaxy Garrison space station that was a critical node in a portion of the Solar Energy System (SES) that lay between the Ruggers’ position and Earth. Because a recent battle against the Drules had already depleted much of Voltron’s energy reserves in both the Ruggers and the Explorer, it was not possible to form Voltron. The localized SES outage and Ruggers’ inability to form Voltron were not the only reasons why Voltron could not come to Earth’s defense. The inconsistent coverage provided by even a fully operational SES would not have enabled Voltron to make the entire trip from its current position to Earth under its own power, and the recent battle with the Drules had damaged the Explorer’s engines, reducing its top speed until repairs could be completed.

On other atypical occasions, Voltron’s compromised mission capability exceeded expectations.

  • During combat against the Cyberbug Robeast, 0.55 minutes after Voltron was formed, a blast from the Robeast caused Voltron’s right arm to separate into Rugger 3 and Rugger 12. The Ruggers quickly recombined and enabled Voltron to defeat the Robeast.
  • During combat against the Heavy Blazersect Robeast, Rugger 1 – which forms Voltron’s head and was piloted by team captain Jeff – crash landed and rendered its pilot unconscious. To face the Robeast, Sea Team leader Krik took temporary control of the Vehicle Team and ordered the team to form Voltron minus its head. Although Voltron’s combat capability was greatly diminished, the super robot remained active long enough for Rugger 1’s pilot to regain consciousness, relaunch, and form Voltron’s head. The completed robot then defeated the Robeast.
  • In the middle of Voltron’s formation sequence, the Steel Spacebug Rattler Robeast blasted Rugger 7 – which forms Voltron’s right thigh and was piloted by Lisa – preventing it, Rugger 9, and Rugger 14 from forming Voltron’s right leg. The Ruggers were later able to attach, and the completed super robot defeated the Robeast.
  • During combat against the Antropoda Robeast, Voltron became trapped in the Robeast’s Rocket Ropes. To escape, Voltron disassembled, its Ruggers slipped free, and the Ruggers then re-formed Voltron and continued the battle.

Conclusion

Despite its vulnerabilities, Vehicle Team Voltron has proven to be highly effective in the field. It has protected civilians and Galaxy Alliance assets and interests from the Drule Empire, it has destroyed scores of Robeasts, and it was an essential contributor to the liberation and evacuation of the people of Planet Drule. During the Akrah Incident, Vehicle Team Voltron proved to be an equal to the legendary Lion Force Voltron, as the super robots fought side-by-side against the Ultrabeast. Vehicle Team Voltron is a fusion of ancient and modern technologies, and like its Lion Force counterpart, it is a symbol of the ongoing effort to establish and maintain peace and prosperity throughout the universe.

Vehicle Team Voltron flying in space
Vehicle Team Voltron, Defender of the Universe

Footnotes

  1. Voltron: Defender of the Universe episodes’ production numbers are given in the episodes’ scripts. They are also listed in this web site’s article “Numbers, Shmumbers: Season and Episode Numbers in Voltron: Defender of the Universe.”
  2. Keith, Lance, Pidge, Hunk, and Sven reached Arus twice in “Space Explorers Captured” (Production #201).
  3. In “In Search of New Worlds” (Production #101), immediately after Voltron is formed, Jeff says, “Voltron assembled! Connect diatherms! Activate infracells!”
  4. Incidents were shown in “In Search of New Worlds” (Production #101) and “First Day on a New World” (Production #102).
  5. Robeast names are from Voltron: From Days of Long Ago: A Thirtieth Anniversary Celebration (ISBN-13: 978-1-4215-7540-7). Most Robeasts in Voltron: Defender of the Universe were not named in the episodes themselves.
  6. Commander Hawkins identified Vehicle Team Voltron’s power source as “stored solar energy” in “In Search of New Worlds” (Production #101).
  7. Commander Steele identified Vehicle Team Voltron’s power source as “stored nuclear power” in “In Search of New Worlds” (Production #101). Professor Page referred to it as “stored thermo-nuclear energy” in “A Temporary Truce” (Production #111). The Explorer‘s conjectural Thermonuclear-Powered Artificial Sunlight System (TPASS) is an attempt to reconcile the apparent contradiction between “solar energy,” “nuclear power,” and “thermo-nuclear energy.”
  8. The three teams’ names were established in “In Search of New Worlds” (Production #101).
  9. The Ruggers were first shown to be docked within and launched from the Stellar Ship Explorer in “In Search of New Worlds” (Production #101).
  10. In “Meanwhile Back at Galaxy Garrison” (Production #133), Doctor Loring is described as having created the “original plans for Voltron,” and for making “certain secret adaptations known only to the doctor, and these he took with him to his grave.”
  11. In “Meanwhile Back at Galaxy Garrison” (Production #133), Commander Steele describes a failed attempt to create another Voltron-like super robot: “Our sci-tech division has been trying to come up with a duplicate Voltron, but up to now there’s been little success. The machine that you see here was assembled by our technicians using Doctor Loring’s original plans for Voltron. Unfortunately there were certain secret adaptations known only to the doctor, and these he took with him to his grave. All of our extensive testing shows that, while this Voltron is superficially similar to the first, it is considerably inferior. It’ll never serve as a replacement for the present Voltron, or even as a backup, I’m sorry to say.”
  12. The term “Rugger” is not used in any Voltron: Defender of the Universe episode; however, it was used in Armored Fleet Dairugger XV, and the term “Rugger” is a less generic designation than “vehicle.”
  13. In “In Search of New Worlds” (Production #101), Hawkins states that “our entire team of young Space Explorers is just as determined as ever to find new and livable worlds for the people of our over-crowded galaxy.”
  14. The spirit of King Alfor told the Voltron Lion Force about the power source of each Lion in “Magnetic Attraction” (Production #229).
  15. For more information about Vehicle Team Voltron’s “Five-Minute Rule” and how closely the Voltron: Defender of the Universe television program followed, or did not follow it, see this web site’s article “The Five-Minute Rule: Vehicle Team Voltron (Voltron: Defender of the Universe).”
  16. In “Building a New World” (Production #103), Sparks announces that the already-launched Ruggers will “be able to form Voltron in less than an hour.” Later Sparks replies in the negative when Hawkins asks, “Does the Force have enough stored power to form Voltron?” Finally Jeff announces that, “Our power turbos are finally charged, and not a minute too soon. We’ve got to form Voltron fast!” This scenario does not occur in any other episode.
  17. The liberation of Planet Drule was shown in “The Drules’ World Cracks Up” (Production #150) and “The Drules Surrender” (Production #151).
  18. The evacuation of Planet Drule was shown in “The End of Hazar’s World” (Production #152).
  19. The terms “Lion Force Voltron” and “Vehicle Team Voltron” were used in Voltron: Defender of the Universe promotional materials and licensed merchandise in the 1980s.
  20. The Strato Fighter was first shown in “Help Not Wanted” (Production #107).
  21. The Aqua Fighter was first shown in “Goodbye New World” (Production #104).
  22. The Turbo Terrain Fighter was first shown in “Ghost Fleet from Another Planet” (Production #108).
  23. The “solar energy system” was mentioned and shown only in “Raid on Galaxy Garrison” (Production #130).
    • Drule Captain Durka destroys a Galaxy Garrison space station, disabling solar energy refractors and commenting that the Garrison “can’t use Voltron.”
    • Captain Newley tells the Galaxy Garrison’s top officers that “they’ve damaged the space station and solar energy system. Until they’re repaired, Voltron is on the disabled list.” Steele hopes “the first thing repair is Voltron’s energy source.”
    • A Garrison repair technician states that “without this refractor, Voltron can’t recharge his energy.”
    • Voltron’s five Land Team Ruggers are shown flying on patrol.
    • Newley informs the Explorer that “as soon as [the solar energy system]’s back up to full power, you’ll have to form Voltron and stop the Drule attack force.”
    • Lisa tells Jeff that the Explorer is moving toward “the area from which the Drule attack ships are coming. By the time we get there, the repair crews will have the solar energy system working, and we’ll be able to form Voltron again.”
    • In “Earth’s State of Emergency,” the Armored Fleet Dairugger episode from which Voltron‘s “Raid on Galaxy Garrison” was adapted, Dairugger has no energy problems. The Rugger Guard and its fleet is unable to reach Earth in time to be of any help. The fleet is flying at half-speed because it is being repaired following a recent battle against the Galveston Empire. The fleet is also on a mission to find the Galvestons’ front line base.
  24. Shown in “A Curious Comet” (Production #114).
  25. Shown in “Defend the New World” (Production #120).
  26. Shown in “Just Like Earth” (Production #125).
  27. Shown in “A Storm of Meteors” (Production #106).
  28. Shown in “Fleet of Doom.” The term “Ultrabeast” is from the script.
  29. In “Hazar on the Carpet” (Production #123), the Strato Fighter — specifically Chip’s vehicle, Rugger 4 — is impaled by a Drule rocket. Chip says, “We took a direct hit in our energy storage tank!” Jeff replies, “Switch to the auxiliary tank!”
  30. In Voltron: Defender of the Universe, during ten out of the 19 times the Sea Team was ordered to form the Aqua Fighter, they were first ordered to “ignite Nuclear Power Thrusters.”
    • The Sea Team was ordered to “ignite Nuclear Power Thrusters” before forming the Aqua Fighter in episodes 104 “Goodbye New World”, 118 “What’s on First”, 122 “Nerok Scores Big”, 128 “Planet of the Amazons”, 132 “A Man-Made Sun”, 134 “Hazar Bucks the Empire”, 136 “Peace! A Fish Story”, 139 “That’s the Old Ball Game”, 141 “Another Solar System”, and 143 “It’s Anybody’s World”.
    • The Sea Team was not ordered to “ignite Nuclear Power Thrusters” before forming the Aqua Fighter in episodes 117 “Who’s on Second”, 119 “Great Stone Space Faces”, 123 “Hazar on the Carpet”, 126 “The Planet Trap”, 133 “Captain Newley Returns”, 144 “Frozen Assets”, 146 “It Could Be a Long War”, 147 “Color Me Invisible”, and 150 “The Drules’ World Cracks Up”.
Posted in Special Features, TV, Vehicle Team Voltron, Voltron, Voltron: Defender of the Universe

The Five-Minute Rule: Vehicle Team Voltron (Voltron: Defender of the Universe)

Posted on December 7, 2020 by Greg Tyler

Although Vehicle Team Voltron is far less well remembered than Lion Force Voltron, one fact about the vehicle-based ‘bot that people seem to remember most is that it can operate for only five minutes.

What do actual episodes of Voltron: Defender of the Universe say — and show — about Voltron’s time limit, if there is one? Let’s find out.

In Search of New Worlds (#101)

In the first Vehicle Team episode, “In Search of New Worlds”  (Production #101), Commander Steele reminds other Galaxy Garrison officers of Voltron’s power limits.

STEELE
…the Land, Sea, and Air Teams can combine to form the giant robot… but remember he has only five minutes of stored nuclear power. He’s our last line of defense.

Another officer in the room, called “Professor” in the script, replies.

PROFESSOR
We can only hope five minutes is enough.

Later in the episode, as Voltron battles a Robeast that Voltron: From Days of Long Ago: A Thirtieth Anniversary Celebration calls the Crush Crab Robeast, Hawkins mentions Voltron’s time limit.

HAWKINS
Voltron only has five minutes of stored solar energy. There’s not much time left.

Is it “stored nuclear power” or “stored solar energy?” We’ll think more about this later.

As Voltron continues to fight the Robeast, Jeff announces to the team:

JEFF
One minute left, team!

Fortunately Voltron destroys the Robeast less than a minute later.

A Temporary Truce (#111)

The next mention of a five-minute limit for Voltron is in “A Temporary Truce” (Production #111). Professor Page, the resident scientist of the Stellar Ship Explorer, mother ship of the Voltron Force, openly mentions it to Sandu, a young Drule soldier whom the Explorer crew brought aboard as a guest following the crash of his ship.

PAGE
The giant robot only has five minutes of stored thermonuclear energy, but that’s always enough to defeat any enemy.

Why Page would trust a Drule soldier — even one as seemingly friendly as Sandu — with such critical information is baffling. It’s also baffling that Voltron’s five-minute limit refers to yet another metric — thermonuclear energy.

The Red Moon People (#137)

The next reference to a five-minute limit is in “The Red Moon People” (Production #137), when a Drule robot (called a “hooded robot” in the script) announces:

HOODED ROBOT
Voltron has only five minutes of stored energy and most of it is used up. Now finish him off!

How did the Drule robot know about Voltron’s time limit? It seems certain that Sandu would have been debriefed after he was returned to the Drule Empire. Despite Sandu’s growing interest in peace between the Drule Empire and the Galaxy Alliance, Sandu probably would have told his superiors what Professor Page had openly told him.

Summary of Dialogue

Among all episodes of Voltron: Defender of the Universe, a “five-minute rule” is mentioned four times across three episodes:

Production # Title Reference
101 In Search of New Worlds Five minutes of stored nuclear power (Commander Steele)
101 In Search of New Worlds Five minutes of stored solar energy (Commander Hawkins)
111 A Temporary Truce Five minutes of stored thermonuclear energy (Professor Page)
137 The Red Moon People Five minutes of stored energy (Drule hooded robot)

Even ignoring the adjectives, “energy” and “power” are distinct, but related, things. According to Wikipedia, “energy is the quantitative property that must be transferred to an object in order to perform work on, or to heat, the object,” and power is the amount of energy transferred or converted per unit time.”

That said, the phrases “five minutes of power” and “five minutes of energy” can be thought of as stating the same thing — that, for a “typical” set of power-draining activities, Voltron can operate for about five minutes before depleting its energy reserves.

And now, the adjectives — “nuclear,” “solar,” and “thermonuclear.” The term “thermonuclear” refers to nuclear reactions at very high temperatures. In other words, “thermonuclear” is a more specific term than “nuclear.”

What about “solar?” The term “solar energy” usually refers to energy gathered from sunlight. On the other hand, the energy of a star itself comes from thermonuclear reactions, so if we streeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetch a bit, Hawkins’ “solar energy” reference can be thought of as a very loose description of thermonuclear energy.

To summarize, with a bit of hand-waving, as stated in episodes 101, 111, and 137, Vehicle Team Voltron’s “five-minute rule” is that the robot’s thermonuclear energy reserves can provide power for an estimated five minutes’ worth of a typical range of activities.

But is that the whole story? Let’s dive deeper.

Believe Nothing You Hear, and Only One Half that You See

Edgar Allan Poe is credited for having originated, in “The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether” (1845), the phrase “Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.” We’ve just examined all that we hear about Voltron’s power limits, but we haven’t examined what we see.

I used a video editing application to analyze how long Vehicle Team Voltron remains formed in each of the robot’s appearances in Voltron: Defender of the Universe. The goal to was to see how often, if ever, Voltron stays formed for longer than five minutes.

Caveats:

  • We almost never see Voltron form and disassemble in the same episode. Usually but not always, we see the Voltron Force actually form Voltron. Very rarely do we see Voltron disassemble. Since the robot must assemble after its 15 constituent vehicles launch from the Explorer, and the robot must disassemble before returning to the Explorer, these events must occur off-screen when they aren’t shown on-screen. In other words, Voltron does more in each appearance than is overtly shown in an episode.
  • Episode running time does not necessarily correspond to narrative time. For example, even though we might first see Voltron 16 minutes into an episode, and last see Voltron 21 minutes into the episode, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Voltron had been active for five minutes of narrative time. It might have “really” spanned more time or less time than what we see on the screen. Scenes shown sequentially might have “really” taken place wholly or partially at the same time, and more narrative time might have passed between scenes than running times would suggest.

For each of Voltron’s appearances:

  • I defined the “start time” as follows:
    • If we see Voltron form, then the clock starts when the final assembly action ends. For example, in many episodes, the last assembly action is Ginger’s red jet attaching to Voltron’s chest. In some episodes, the last action is Voltron’s twin face plates opening to reveal the face.
    • If we don’t see Voltron form, then the clock starts when we first see the robot.
  • I defined the “stop time” as follows:
    • If we see Voltron disassemble, then the clock stops when Voltron breaks apart.
    • If we don’t see Voltron disassemble, then the clock stops when we last see the robot.

If Voltron remains assembled across commercial breaks, then I didn’t count the breaks — or the bumpers, when Peter Cullen says “Voltron will return after these messages,” or “We now return to Voltron: Defender of the Universe.”

If Voltron makes an out-of-context appearance at the end of the episode, then this analysis does not include that appearance. For example, if after Voltron fights a Robeast, we see the Voltron Force back aboard the Explorer, followed by an end-of-episode appearance of the robot with a voice-over narration, then this analysis does not treat that appearance as a “real” appearance of Voltron, or an extension of an in-context appearance of the robot.

This analysis of Voltron’s appearances also does not include flashbacks of appearances from prior scenes or episodes.

(Robeast names are from Voltron: From Days of Long Ago: A Thirtieth Anniversary Celebration.)

Appearance # Episode Production # Episode Title Appearance # in Episode Duration (Minutes) Comments
1 101 In Search of New Worlds 1 2.70 Voltron forms, fights the Crush Crab Robeast, then stands dramatically on the planet. Note: 1.47 minutes after forming, Jeff says, “One minute left, team!”
1′ 101 In Search of New Worlds 1′ 5.23 As with Appearance #1 (101-1), but assumes Jeff’s “One minute left, team” line begins exactly four minutes after Voltron has formed.
2 102 First Day on a New World 1 3.01 Voltron forms, fights the Titanic Tick Robeast, then stands dramatically on the planet.
3 103 Building a New World 1 0.67 Voltron forms and then flies away from a planet before it is destroyed.
4 104 Goodbye New World 1 3.80 Voltron forms, fights the Dragonoid Robeast, then stands dramatically while Hawkins communicates with Jeff, telling him to meet the Explorer at a newly sighted planet.
5 105 Try This World for Size 1 2.31 Voltron forms, fights the Crush Crab Neo Robeast, then leaves the planet upon Hawkins’ order to withdraw.
6 106 A Storm of Meteors 1 2.81 Voltron forms, fights the Antropoda Robeast, then disassembles to escape the Robeast’s rocket ropes. Voltron immediately re-forms (Appearance #7) to continue the battle.
7 106 A Storm of Meteors 2 7.13 Voltron re-forms immediately after escaping (Appearance #6) the Antropoda Robeast’s rocket ropes. Voltron fights the Robeast, then goes to the nearby Planet of Meteors and stands guard as the Explorer is repaired. When a storm of meteors begins to fall, Voltron uses its Blazing Sword against large, falling meteors until the Explorer leaves the planet. Voltron flies alongside the Explorer.
6, 7 (cumulative) 106 A Storm of Meteors 1, 2 (cumulative) 9.94 (Voltron had no time to replenish its energy reserves between Appearance #6 and Appearance #7.)
8 107 Help Not Wanted 1 1.31 Voltron forms and fights the Cannon Mantis Robeast.
9 108 Ghost Fleet from Another Planet 1 2.68 Voltron forms, fights the Mutant Sphere Robeast, then drives away Mongo’s attack fleet.
10 109 A Very Short Vacation 1 3.22 Voltron forms, fights the Barracudax Robeast, dragging it underwater. Note: 1.56 minutes after forming, Jeff says, “We don’t have much time!” After destroying the Robeast, Voltron flies back toward the Explorer, which prompts Zabor to retreat.
11 110 Planet of the Bats 1 2.78 Voltron forms, fights the Dread Sinistar Robeast, then stands dramatically on the planet.
12 112 Wolo’s Lost World 1 4.15 Voltron forms, fights Brak’s Robeast, then stands as Wolo remembers a lesson that his brother Kobal had taught him. (Note: FDLA does not unambiguously name this Robeast, due to errors in the book.)
13 113 Planet Stop for Repairs 1 2.90 Voltron forms, prpeares to fight Nerok’s Robeast, but does not strike, avoiding a battle. Voltron stands by as the Robeast and Nerok depart. (Note: FDLA does not unambiguously name this Robeast, due to errors in the book.)
14 114 A Curious Comet 1 2.08 Voltron forms and begins to fight the Cyberbug Robeast, which fires at Voltron, causing its right arm to separate and separate into Rugger 3 (Wolo’s ship) and Rugger 12 (Cinda’s ship). (Time between completion of assembly and detachment of right arm: 0.55 minutes.)
Voltron’s right arm re-attaches, and Voltron continues to fight the Cyberbug Robeast. (Time between re-attachment of right arm and last instant of Voltron’s appearance: 1.29 minutes.)
This sequence is considered a single appearance because Voltron remains (mostly) assembled.
15 115 In the Enemy Camp 1 4.36 Voltron forms, fights the Planet Smasher Robeast, then stands dramatically on the planet.
16 118 What’s on First 1 4.06 Voltron forms, fights the Hades Orb Robeast. Voltron then fights the Nightshade Berzerker Robeast. Voltron’s Wing Beam and a rogue tornado presumably destroy the Robeast, and Voltron escapes the tornado.
17 119 Great Stone Space Faces 1 1.57 Voltron forms and fights a Nightshade Berzerker Robeast — seemingly a different one than the Robeast fought in Episode #118.
18 120 Defend the New World 1 3.04 Voltron forms without its head. Krik commands the headless Voltron as it fights the Heavy Blazersect Robeast. Voltron’s head attaches 0.81 minutes after forming. Voltron defeats the Robeast, then stands dramatically on the planet.
19 121 Meanwhile Back at Galaxy Garrison 1 0.25 Voltron forms, then flies off to meet a support fleet.
20 122 Nerok Scores Big 1 2.36 Voltron forms, then fights the Arachno-Binder Beast, accidentally damaging the Explorer during the battle. Voltron then escorts the Explorer away from the battle site.
21 123 Hazar on the Carpet 1 2.08 Voltron forms, then fights the Rocket Sniper Robeast.
22 124 Hazar is Demoted 1 0.88 Voltron forms, then departs a planet with the Explorer to meet a group of space settlers.
23 125 Just Like Earth 1 3.37 The Steel Spacebug Rattler Robeast fires at Rugger 7 (Lisa’s ship) before it, Rugger 9 (Shannon’s ship), and Rugger 14 (Marvin’s ship) can form Voltron’s right leg. Voltron fights the Robeast. After Voltron’s right leg attaches, Voltron defeats the Robeast and destroys Zabor’s Drule battleship.
24 126 The Planet Trap 1 2.49 Voltron forms, fights the Wolf-Beetle Robeast, then destroys Brak’s Drule battleship before it can ram the Explorer.
25 127 Save the Space Station 1 9.26 After the Explorer and are repaired, Voltron forms and escorts the fleet near an asteroid field, where Voltron is ambushed by the Death Digger Robeast. Voltron fights the Robeast.
26 128 Planet of the Amazons 1 3.35 Voltron forms, fights the Dagger Toad Robeast, and then destroys the attacking Drule fleet.
27 129 Revolt of the Slaves 1 8.18 Voltron forms, protects the Explorer from Drule missiles, then fights the Twin Equinox Dragon Robeast.
28 129 Revolt of the Slaves 2 1.43 Voltron forms, then fights an attacking Drule fleet.
29 130 Raid on Galaxy Garrison 1 0.48 Voltron forms, then strikes a heroic pose.
30 131 Smashing the Meteor Barrier 1 13.63 Voltron, already formed, flies with the Explorer fleet toward a Drule command base. Then Hawkins orders Voltron to protect a support fleet from a Drule attack. Voltron fights a Robo-Golem Robeast, then helps the Explorer fleet and the support fleet to drive the Drule forces into an asteroid belt. On Hawkins order to return to the Explorer, Voltron disassembles.
31 131 Smashing the Meteor Barrier 2 2.97 Voltron, already formed, follows the Meteorbreaker and leads two Galaxy Garrison fleets through a dense meteor barrier and to a Drule command base.
32 132 A Man-Made Sun 1 3.31 Voltron, already formed, approaches a Drule base and destroys incoming Drule missiles, fights the Black Poison Robeast, and then separates to enter the Drule base.
33 133 Captain Newley Returns 1 5.23 Voltron forms, then fights the King Hydraxis Robeast.
34 134 Hazar Bucks the Empire 1 2.43 Voltron forms, fights the Razorface Robeast, disassembles, then escapes the planet before it is destroyed.
35 135 Letters from Home 1 1.82 Voltron forms, then fights the Death-Knight Crusader Robeast.
36 136 Peace! A Fish Story 1 1.89 Voltron forms, fights the Beachhead Robeast, then frightens the Drule fleet into retreating.
37 137 The Red Moon People 1 3.21 Voltron forms, then fights the Demon Bluegore Robeast.
38 138 This World’s for the Birds 1 4.06 Voltron forms, fights the Cyberai Robeast, then protects the Explorer from Twyla’s Drule fleet.
39 139 That’s the Old Ball Game 1 2.45 Voltron forms, fights the Repto-Boxer Robeast, then destroys Drule battleships.
40 140 Red Moon Rises Again 1 3.12 Voltron forms, then fights the Invincibeast Robeast, with the help of a buck.
41 141 Another Solar System 1 5.16 Voltron forms, fights the Doom Gladiator Robeast, then strikes a pose.
42 142 Whose World Is It? 1 9.08 Voltron forms, fights the Astroblaster Robeast, and then stands by as Hawkins convinces the Drules to conduct peace talks.
43 143 It’s Anybody’s World 1 2.41 Voltron forms, then fights the Planet Compactor Robeast.
44 144 Frozen Assets 1 1.83 Voltron forms, then fights the Bladebug Robeast.
45 145 Coconuts 1 2.01 Voltron forms, fights the Sentrius Robeast, then destroys Zutka’s Drule battleship.
46 146 It Could Be a Long War 1 1.67 Voltron forms, then fights the Blackstar Unicorn Robeast.
47 147 Color Me Invisible 1 1.19 Voltron forms, then fights the Krushborg Robeast.
48 148 Time Is Running Out 1 3.80 Voltron forms and is immediately covered with Magna Mines. Voltron fights the Monster Vultura Robeast and throws it at a Drule attack base, destroying both.
49 149 Zero Hour Approaches 1 5.50 Voltron forms, fights the Astronomax Robeast in an asteroid field, then destroys a Drule base with a full-power Electro-Therma-Blast.
50 150 The Drules’ World Cracks Up 1 6.50 Voltron forms, fights its way to the surface of the Drule homeworld, then disassembles during combat against three Robeasts.
51 151 The Drules Surrender 1 16.02 Beneath the surface of the Drule homeworld, Voltron forms and fights multiple Robeasts. When Voltron is approached by Drule civilians who wave a white flag of surrender and peace. Jeff tells the team that it’s time to return to the Explorer.
52 152 The End of Hazar’s World 1 0.78 As the already formed Voltron, already formed, stands before a group of Drule citizens, Hazar emerges from the crowd, asking Voltron to help the people to evacuate before the Drule homeworld explodes.
53 ? Fleet of Doom 1 8.16 Voltron forms, then fights alongside Lion Force Voltron against the Drule Voltron 2 Robeast. Afterward, the two Voltron robots stand side-by-side as their pilots reunite.

Summary of Appearances

Regardless of Vehicle Team Voltron’s “five-minute rule,” on 13 occasions (12, if we ignore Jeff’s “One minute left, team!” remark in “In Search of New Worlds”), the mighty robot is seen to be active for over five minutes of episode running time.

How can this be?

The likely real-world reason is that the Voltron writers invented the “five-minute rule” to increase the suspense in a given episode, knowing full well that most of the time, the robot would not be seen in action for more than five minutes. It should be noted that Voltron’s limited energy reserves were a purely Voltron invention. Such a limitation is never specified in Armored Fleet Dairugger XV, the anime program from which the “Vehicle Team” episodes of Voltron: Defender of the Universe were adapted.

In the context of the Voltron fictional universe, there are multiple possible reasons for the occasional, unexpected longevity of Voltron’s energy reserves:

  • One minute of episode running time need not equal one minute of narrative time. Perhaps a longer-than-five-minute appearance “really” lasted less than five minutes.
  • In some of Voltron’s longer-than-five-minute appearances, the robot spends portions of time flying casually in space, or standing still — activities that presumably require less power than active combat against a Robeast.
  • Perhaps Voltron’s limited energy reserves are used only during “surges” of activity, such as combat. For less-intensive activities, the robot might be able to tap other energy reserves that are adequate for low-intensity activities, but inadequate for combat.
  • Perhaps over time, Voltron’s energy reserve capacity was increased, perhaps just once, or perhaps incrementally. There is some evidence which might support the idea of such an upgrade or upgrades:
    • Although a Drule robot mentions Voltron’s five-minute energy reserve limit as late as “The Red Moon People” (Production #137), the last time anyone from the Galaxy Alliance mentions this limit is in “A Temporary Truce” (Production #111), when Professor Page openly states this limitation to Sandu, a young Drule soldier who is later returned to his people.
      • Perhaps Voltron’s energy reserves were increased sometime after the events of “A Temporary Truce,” but before the events of “Zero Hour Approaches,” the first of the last four of Voltron’s lengthy appearances.
      • It is also possible that Voltron’s energy reserves were increased before “A Temporary Truce,” and that Professor Page fed misinformation to Sandu. It does seem unconscionable that the professor would volunteer such sensitive information to an enemy soldier – even one who seems open to peace.
    • Prior to Page’s mention of the “five-minute rule” in “A Temporary Truce,” the only episode that references the limitation is “In Search of New Worlds” (Production #101) — the same episode in which Jeff tells the team that they have only one minute left — after which Voltron remains formed for at least 0.23 minutes of episode running time, plus the time needed for Voltron to separate off-screen. Maybe Voltron’s energy reserves were increased mere months, weeks, or even days after the events of this episode.

Conclusion

Vehicle Team Voltron’s “five-minute rule” is expressed four times in Voltron: Defender of the Universe, but based on episode running times, Voltron violates the rule as many as 12 or 13 times.

Maybe the rule was rendered “OBE” — Overcome By Events — through one or more upgrades to Voltron’s energy reserves. Maybe we weren’t supposed to notice Voltron’s lengthier appearances. We certainly weren’t meant to time the robot’s appearances with a stopwatch…or video editing software.

Whether Voltron can function for five minutes, five hours, or five months at a time, it has inspired the imagination for over 35 years, which is a remarkable time indeed.

 

Posted in News, Special Features, TV, Vehicle Team Voltron, Voltron, Voltron: Defender of the Universe

The Nexus Perplexes (Voltron Force)

Posted on April 22, 2020 by Greg Tyler

One of many elements that distinguish Voltron Force from other iterations of our favorite Defender of the Universe is the Nexus. It’s kind of cool, but it’a also kind of confusing.

What Is the Nexus?

We first see the Nexus at the end of the feature-length premiere, “The New Defenders Trilogy.” In other markets, this feature aired as three regular-length episodes, and in that context we first see the Nexus in the third episode, “Defenders of the Universe.”

After the five Lions take a pounding from a Haggarium-powered Robeast, the Voltron Force decides that they’re ready to form Voltron. Keith gives the classic “Activate interlocks” preamble, and the Lions connect as Keith orders them to “form feet and legs” and “form arms and body.” Just before Voltron’s head is formed, there is a quick cutaway shot.





The star is a nod to Voltron: Defender of the Universe. In that program, inside each Lion’s cockpit, just above the slot in which the pilot inserts the Lion’s key, a display panel features a star comprised of six lights. The panel becomes visible and lights up just after the pilot inserts the Lion’s key, and when the pilot goes through the “Activate interlocks” routine in preparation to form Voltron.

The Lion cockpits in Voltron: The Third Dimension have a similar display panel.

The Stealth Lion cockpits in Voltron: The Third Dimension have a star-shaped display on a flat, touchscreen interface.

In Voltron Force, once the star is formed, the person in the “center Lion” tells everyone that he or she will form Voltron’s head.

This star is the Nexus — although this and other information about the Nexus aren’t revealed until the 13th episode, “Clash of the Lions,” which we’ll get to later.

The star is shown each time Voltron is formed using the “standard formation sequence.” We’ll probably explore the other formation sequence, “Flash Form,” in a future article.

The positions of the five “Nexus pieces” match the positions of the Lions when they are combined as Voltron, when viewed from the front. The upward point corresponds to the “center” Lion — the one that forms Voltron’s head and body. The upper left point and upper right point represent the “right arm Lion” and “left arm Lion,” respectively. The lower left point and lower right point represent the “right leg Lion” and “left leg Lion,” respectively.

Black Center

Red Center

Green Center

Blue Center

Yellow Center

In “Hungry for Voltron,” Blue Lion is separated from the others by a planetary force field, and the other four Lions are forced to form Voltron with a missing right leg. Correspondingly, the Nexus has only four of its five pieces. In the episode we see a four-Lion Voltron in both Black Center and Yellow Center configurations. We’re treated to a four-piece Black Center configuration of the Nexus. We aren’t shown the four-piece Yellow Center configuration of the Nexus, but we can assume it happens off-screen.

Four-Lion Voltron (Black Center)

Four-Lion Voltron (Yellow Center)

The episode “Clash of the Lions” finally reveals more about the Nexus. Sky Marshall Wade fires a Corite charge at the center of Voltron’s chest.

After Voltron is returned to the Castle of Lions, Pidge assesses the damage to the robot.

PIDGE
The Corite pierced something inside Voltron that we’ve never been able to crack before. The Lions each have one in their chest – like a heart-slash-hard drive – and they all come together when Voltron forms.

VINCE
Kinda like a Nexus!

PIDGE
Hmmm. Yeah. A Nexus. That’s exactly what it is. And now that there’s a hole in the Black Lion’s piece of the…Nexus, it’s releasing all kinds of strange data, things I can’t even begin to decipher. Whatever it is, access to this Nexus could change the entire way Voltron works.

In “Inside the Music,” Pidge explains more about his attempts to decipher the aforementioned “strange data.”

PIDGE
The hole Wade shot in the Black Lion’s piece of the Nexus has given me access to copious amounts of new data…but it all seems to be encrypted with some code so ancient, it’s…it’s almost like I need to create a new branch of science to understand it.

Later in the episode, Voltron battles a Robeast that can fire blasts of “Sonic Haggarium.”

KEITH
It’s like Haggarium is leaching in!

PIDGE
It must be penetrating the Nexus through that hole!

In “Rogue Trip,” in the hangar in the Castle of Lions, Pidge takes his research a bit too far.

PIDGE
I’ve been studying the Black Lion’s Nexus relentlessly, but I still can’t decipher the code. It’s based on ancient, but highly advanced, mathematical algorithm. If I’m going to have any hope of making progress, I’ll need to extract the Nexus and analyze it in the control room. Can you help me do some heavy metal surgery?

Hunk uses what looks like a blowtorch and cuts into Black Lion, but mere inches from the Nexus, Black Lion activates, roars, shakes Pidge and Hunk loose, and exits the hangar of the Castle of Lions.

The Voltron Force soon discusses Black Lion’s departure.

PIDGE
It’s as if Black sensed the Nexus was being threatened, and it triggered some kind of security response.

KEITH
But the Lions bond with their pilots, so how could they possibly consider us a threat?

PIDGE
I don’t know. But one thing is certain — the Nexus modules are far more important to Voltron than I ever suspected. I have to do more research.

The Voltron Force locates and approaches Black Lion. In response, Black Lion’s piece of the Nexus flashes — and this triggers the Nexus pieces in the other four Lions to flash. The other four Lions eject their pilots and side with Black Lion as they stare down their much smaller pilots. Keith later “tames” all five Lions by behaving like a new Alpha to which Black Lion submits.

In “Gary” Hunk and Pidge continue their repair efforts.

HUNK
All right, Pidge. Hopefully this will fix this hole in Black’s Nexus.

A Space Mouse takes Hunk’s torque wrench, interrupting his and Pidge’s work. Soon afterward a group of Garys does much worse. Several Garys enter Black Lion and began to take control of it. One of them discovers Black Lion’s piece of the Nexus.

Although Keith drives out the other Garys, the one near Black Lion’s piece of the Nexus remains inside even during Voltron’s subsequent battle with a Robeast-sized Gary.

The Voltron Force tries to form Voltron in its traditional, “Black Center” configuration, but before the formation sequence completes, Voltron forms Yellow Center. Pidge quickly realizes why this happened.

PIDGE
It’s the Nexus! It’s got one of those things in it! It must have… gotten into the Nexus through the hole in Black’s piece!


Voltron then forms Red Center, although Keith somehow regains control and forms Black Center.

The Gary in the Nexus continues to make Voltron unstable. At multiple times its arms and legs begin to pull away from the torso, as if the Lions are about to separate or change configuration again.

After the Garys are defeated, Hunk is more determined to fix Black Lion.

HUNK
All right, I think now we REALLY gotta figure out how to fix that hole in you.

The Voltron Force discusses its next step in “Five Forged.”

KEITH
Every time we mess with the Black Lion’s broken Nexus, bad things happen.

PIDGE
True, but even worse things are going to happen if we don’t do something. There’s Haggarium in there now, spreading like an infection. We’re leaking power at an alarming rate. If we don’t repair this Nexus soon, we could lose the Black Lion.

Vince tries to use his “finger wires” to hack into Black Lion’s piece of the Nexus, but Black Lion comes to life, frees itself from the finger-wires, and flees Arus — followed by the other four Lions. The Lions fly to the planet Ariel, where they stand just outside the entrance to what looks like a temple. The Voltron Force pilots and cadets arrive and pass a sequence of five challenges, after which five Krelshi converge above their heads, to be replaced by an apparition of a kind but tough-looking blacksmith.

PIDGE
You’re the blacksmith. The one who forged Voltron.

BLACKSMITH
I had my part, yes.

PIDGE
I have so many questions.

BLACKSMITH
I’m certain you do. But I’m afraid I have a very limited role. And to much time to do it in. I understand your Black Lion has a Nexus problem.

After the blacksmith uses some exotic tools, Black Lion stands and roars, and all is right with Voltron once more.

Interestingly, when the Voltron Force is in the workshop of the blacksmith, before the blacksmith appears, they examine artwork on the walls, but they don’t mention one that would let them know, beyond any doubt, that they were in the right place.

After Black Lion’s piece of the Nexus is repaired in “Five Forged,” the Nexus isn’t directly mentioned again for the rest of the program, although it is still shown each time Voltron is formed.

Unanswered Questions

When exactly do the five Lions’ Nexus pieces combine?

In a typical formation sequence, the Nexus pieces are shown to combine after the Lions combine, but before the operator of the “center” Lion announces that he or she will form the head.

On relatively few occasions, the Nexus pieces are shown to combine before the Lions combine.

I assume the Nexus pieces “really” combine after the Lions combine, but this isn’t entirely clear. I suppose it’s possible that each Nexus piece teleports from its Lion’s chest to Voltron’s chest before the Lions combine, but the Lions themselves aren’t shown to have teleportation capability, so this seems unlikely.

Where exactly do the five Lions’ Nexus pieces combine?

  • Do the Lions’ Nexus pieces always combine inside Black Lion, regardless of whether Black Lion is the center Lion?
  • Do the Lions’ Nexus pieces always combine in the center Lion?

What happens to the Nexus when Voltron reconfigures?

When Voltron reconfigures, such as from changing from Black Center to Red Center, a sequence of operations occurs:

  1. Voltron’s limbs detach from the “old” center Lion
  2. Simultaneously…
    1. The “old” center Lion moves from head/torso position to its position in Black Center configuration, while transforming from head/torso mode to its mode in Black Center configuration
    2. The “new” center Lion moves from its position in Black Center configuration to head/torso position, while transforming from its mode in Black Center configuration to head/torso mode
    3. If Black Lion is neither the “old” center Lion nor the “new” center Lion, then it moves from the “old” center Lion’s position in Black Center configuration to the “new” center Lion’s position in Black Center configuration, while transforming from the mode of the “old” center Lion in Black Center configuration to the mode of the “new” center Lion in Black Center configuration
  3. Voltron’s limbs attach to the “new” center Lion

Example: When Voltron changes from Black Center to Green Center…

  1. Voltron’s limbs detach from Black Lion
  2. Simultaneously…
    1. Black Lion moves from head/torso position to left arm position, while transforming from head/torso mode to arm mode
    2. Green Lion moves from left arm position to head/torso position, while transforming from arm mode to head/torso mode
  3. Voltron’s limbs attach to Green Lion

Example: When Voltron changes from Blue Center to Yellow Center…

  1. Voltron’s limbs detach from Blue Lion
  2. Simultaneously…
    1. Blue Lion moves from head/torso position to right leg position, while transforming from head/torso mode to leg mode
    2. Yellow Lion moves from left leg position to head/torso position, while transforming from leg mode to head/torso mode
    3. Black Lion moves from right leg position to left leg position, while transforming from leg mode to… leg mode
  3. Voltron’s limbs attach to Yellow Lion

While all this is happening to the Lions, what happens to the five pieces of the Nexus?

  • Do they remain inside Black Lion the whole time, even if Black Lion isn’t the center Lion?
  • Do they move as a combined whole from the old center Lion to the new center Lion? If so, then when during the reconfiguration process does this happen?
  • Does each piece return to its Lion before the Lions separate, and then re-combine after the Lions re-combine? If so, then do they always combine/re-combine inside Black Lion, or do they re-combine in the new center Lion?

What happens to the Nexus when Voltron “Flash Forms?”

When the Lions “Flash Form” into Voltron, they transform and combine very quickly, bypassing the “Activate interlocks” preamble. During a Flash Form, the Nexus pieces aren’t shown. Do they also “Flash Form,” or do they combine at their regular speed, which is still pretty darn fast, although it might lag Voltron’s formation by a short duration?

What happens to the Nexus when Voltron is forcibly separated into the five Lions?

In the final episode, “Black,” Maahox’s Castle Doom Robeast wraps a tentacle around each of Voltron’s limbs and pulls it apart. Each part crashes to the planet below. In such a scenario, do the Nexus pieces similarly separate, with each piece very quickly snapping back into the chest of its respective Lion? Or do they remain stuck inside the “center” Lion? In “Black” the Lions are shown to fight after Maahox pulls them apart, which would suggest that each Lion got its Nexus piece back, but it’s not entirely clear.

In Closing

Like Voltron’s reconfiguration power, the Nexus is a fun aspect of Voltron that distinguishes the Defender of the Universe in Voltron Force from its incarnations in other Voltron programs.

Posted in News, Special Features, TV, Voltron, Voltron Force

Numbers, Shmumbers: Season and Episode Numbers in Voltron: Defender of the Universe

Posted on November 28, 2019 by Greg Tyler

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:
    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
Prod # Seas Bot Seas for Bot Title OAD MB DVD Ep # ME / Univ DVD Ep # An An Ep # An Title An OAD
201 1 Lion 1 Space Explorers Captured 1984-09-10 1 1 G 1 Escape from Slave Castle 1981-03-04
202 1 Lion 1 Escape to Another Planet 1984-09-11 2 2 G 2 Ruined Phantom Planet, The 1981-03-11
203 1 Lion 1 Ghost and Four Keys, A 1984-09-12 3 3 G 3 Ghost and the Five Keys, A 1981-03-18
204 1 Lion 1 Missing Key, The 1984-09-13 4 4 G 4 Resurrection of the Legendary Giant 1981-03-25
205 1 Lion 1 Princess Joins Up 1984-09-14 5 5 G 5 Fortress for the New Struggle 1981-04-01
206 1 Lion 1 Right Arm of Voltron, The 1984-09-17 6 6 G 6 Death of Shirogane the Hero 1981-04-08
207 1 Lion 1 Lion Has New Claws, The 1984-09-18 7 7 G 7 Beautiful Princess’ Battle, The 1981-04-15
208 1 Lion 1 Stolen Lion, The 1984-09-26 8 8 G 8 Stolen Blue Lion 1981-04-22
209 1 Lion 1 Pretty Spy, A 1984-09-27 9 9 G 9 Girl of the Land of Evil 1981-04-29
210 1 Lion 1 Secret of the White Lion 1984-09-28 10 10 G 10 Secret of the White Lion 1981-05-06
211 1 Lion 1 Surrender 1984-10-01 11 11 G 11 Red Rain of Hell, The 1981-05-13
212 1 Lion 1 Bad Birthday Party 1984-10-08 12 12 G 12 Evildoing of the Emperor 1981-05-20
213 1 Lion 1 Witch Gets a Facelift, The 1984-10-12 13 13 G 13 Introducing Beautiful Honerva 1981-05-27
214 1 Lion 1 Yurak Gets His Pink Slip 1984-10-02 14 14 G 14 Crown Prince of Hell, The 1981-06-03
215 1 Lion 1 Give Me Your Princess 1984-10-03 15 15 G 15 Overcome the Phantom of Shirogane 1981-06-10
216 1 Lion 1 Bridge Over the River Chozzerai 1984-10-04 16 16 G 16 Legendary Bridge of Love, The 1981-06-17
217 1 Lion 1 My Brother is a Robeast 1984-11-19 17 17 G 17 Challenge from Space 1981-06-24
218 1 Lion 1 Zarkon is Dying 1984-10-05 18 18 G 18 Footsteps in the Forest of Fear 1981-07-01
219 1 Lion 1 Buried Castle, The 1984-10-16 19 19 G 19 Mystery of Ghost Castle, The 1981-07-08
220 1 Lion 1 Pidge’s Home Planet 1984-10-25 20 20 G 20 Goodbye, Earth 1981-07-15
221 1 Lion 1 It’ll Be a Cold Day 1984-11-21 21 21 G 21 Altea’s Sister Planet 1981-07-22
222 1 Lion 1 Deadly Flowers, The 1984-10-09 22 22 G 22 Plantom Space Flowers 1981-07-29
223 1 Lion 1 It Takes Real Lions 1984-10-17 23 23 G 23 Friday the 13th 1981-08-05
224 1 Lion 1 Raid of the Alien Mice 1984-10-10 24 24 G 24 Look for the Little Shadows 1981-08-12
225 1 Lion 1 Short Run of the Centipede Express 1984-10-11 25 25 G 25 Destroy the Giant Cannon! 1981-08-19
226 1 Lion 1 Invisible Robeast, The 1984-10-26 26 26 G 26 Defeat the Invisible Enemy 1981-08-26
227 1 Lion 1 Green Medusa, The 1984-10-15 27 27 G 27 Giant Beastman’s Lullaby 1981-09-02
228 1 Lion 1 Treasure of Planet Tyrus, The 1984-10-30 28 28 G 28 Demon’s Birthday, The 1981-09-09
229 1 Lion 1 Magnetic Attraction 1984-11-06 29 29 G 29 Comes a Fiery Sky 1981-09-16
230 1 Lion 1 Sleeping Princess, The 1984-10-18 30 30 G 30 Prince Imperial’s Dark Love, The 1981-09-23
231 1 Lion 1 Sincerest Form of Flattery, The 1984-10-31 31 31 G 31 Dreaded Mecha Beastman, The 1981-09-30
232 1 Lion 1 Transplant for the Blue Lion, A 1984-11-15 32 32 G 32 Behold the Hundred-Ton Punch 1981-10-07
233 1 Lion 1 Attack of the Fierce Frogs 1984-11-08 33 33 G 33 Terror of the Space Frogs 1981-10-14
234 1 Lion 1 Lotor Traps Pidge 1984-10-19 34 34 G 34 Underground Operation 1981-10-21
235 1 Lion 1 Doom Boycotts the Space Olympics 1984-10-29 35 35 G 35 Protect the Soccer Field 1981-10-28
236 1 Lion 1 Lotor’s Clone 1984-11-07 36 36 G 36 Mortal Combat of Light and Shadow 1981-11-04
237 1 Lion 1 Lotor’s New Hit Man 1984-11-14 37 37 G 37 Space Speed Demon 1981-11-11
238 1 Lion 1 Raid of the Red Berets 1984-11-16 38 38 G 38 GoLion Hunting 1981-11-18
239 1 Lion 1 Captive Comet, The 1984-10-22 39 39 G 39 Hypergravity Planetoid Trap, The 1981-11-25
240 1 Lion 1 Little Prince, The 1984-10-23 40 40 G 40 No Tomorrow for Altea 1981-12-02
241 1 Lion 1 There Will Be a Royal Wedding 1984-10-24 41 41 G 41 Brave Shirogane’s Brother 1981-12-09
242 1 Lion 1 Sand People, The 1984-11-05 42 42 G 42 Sand Planet of Death, The 1981-12-16
243 1 Lion 1 Voltron Frees the Slaves 1984-11-12 43 43 G 43 Angry Youth Suicide Corp 1981-12-23
244 1 Lion 1 Voltron Versus Voltron 1984-11-09 44 44 G 44 Planet Jarre Oath, The 1981-12-30
245 1 Lion 1 One Princess to Another 1984-11-20 45 45 G 45 Great Army of Darkness, The 1982-01-06
246 1 Lion 1 Mighty Space Mouse 1984-11-13 46 46 G 46 Fight Back, Space Mice 1982-01-13
247 1 Lion 1 Summit Meeting 1984-11-22 47 47 G 47 Seven Free Planets, The 1982-01-20
248 1 Lion 1 Return of Conan’s Son 1984-11-01 48 48 G 48 Reunion with the Phantom 1982-01-27
249 1 Lion 1 Coran’s Son Runs Amuck 1984-11-02 49 49 G 49 Last of Hys, The 1982-02-03
250 1 Lion 1 Zarkon Becomes a Robeast 1984-11-23 50 50 G 50 Great Storming of Galra, The 1982-02-10
251 1 Lion 1 Lotor the King 1984-11-26 51 51 G 51 GoLion’s Desperate Battle 1982-02-17
252 1 Lion 1 Final Victory 1984-11-27 52 52 G 52 Burn Galra Castle 1982-02-24
301 3 Lion 2 Dinner and a Show 1985-10-21 53 53
302 3 Lion 2 Envoy from Galaxy Garrison 1985-10-22 54 54
303 3 Lion 2 Mousemania 1985-10-23 55 55
304 3 Lion 2 Shell Game, The 1985-10-24 56 56
305 3 Lion 2 Traitor, The 1985-10-25 57 57
306 3 Lion 2 Voltron Meets Jungle Woman 1985-10-28 58 58
307 3 Lion 2 Little Buddies 1985-10-29 59 59
308 3 Lion 2 Who Was that Masked Man? 1985-10-30 60 60
309 3 Lion 2 Take a Robot to Lunch 1985-11-01 61 61
310 3 Lion 2 War and Peace… and Doom! 1985-11-04 62 62
311 3 Lion 2 Who’s Flying the Blue Lion and the Return of Sven 1985-11-05 63 63
312 3 Lion 2 Enter Merla: Queen of Darkness 1985-11-06 64 64
313 3 Lion 2 Ghost of a Chance, A 1985-11-07 65 65
314 3 Lion 2 To Soothe the Savage Robeast 1985-11-08 66 66
315 3 Lion 2 Doom Girls on the Prowl 1985-11-11 67 67
316 3 Lion 2 With Friends Like You 1985-11-12 68 68
317 3 Lion 2 Lotor – My Hero? 1985-11-13 69 69
319 3 Lion 2 No Muse is Good Muse 1985-11-14 70 70
320 3 Lion 2 Alliance Strikes Back, The 1985-11-15 71 71
321 3 Lion 2 Breaking Up is Hard to Doom 1985-11-18 72 72
101 2 Vehicle 1 In Search of New Worlds 1984-09-19 73 1 D 1 Galactic Clash 1982-03-03
102 2 Vehicle 1 First Day on a New World 1984-10-27 74 2 D 2 Isolated Regiment, The 1982-03-10
103 2 Vehicle 1 Building a New World 1984-11-03 75 3 D 3 Farewell, Achilles 1982-03-17
104 2 Vehicle 1 Goodbye New World 1984-11-10 76 4 D 4 Rescue Mission TO Hell 1982-03-24
105 2 Vehicle 1 Try This World for Size 1984-11-17 77 5 D 5 Battle of the Experiment Fleet 1982-03-31
106 2 Vehicle 1 Storm of Meteors, A 1984-09-20 78 6 D 6 Fall to the Meteor Shower 1982-04-07
107 2 Vehicle 1 Help Not Wanted 1984-09-29 79 7 D 7 Annihilation of the Reinforcement Fleet 1982-04-14
108 2 Vehicle 1 Ghost Fleet from Another Planet 1984-10-07 80 8 D 8 Specters of the Binary System 1982-04-21
109 2 Vehicle 1 Very Short Vacation, A 1985-01-14 81 9 D 9 Glorious Suicide Corps, The 1982-04-28
110 2 Vehicle 1 Planet of the Bats 1984-09-21 82 10 D 10 Sneak Attack on the Space Fortress 1982-05-05
111 2 Vehicle 1 Temporary Truce, A 1984-12-14 83 11 D 11 Momentary Truce, A 1982-05-12
112 2 Vehicle 1 Wolo’s Lost World 1984-12-17 84 12 D 12 Legend of the Space Forest 1982-05-19
113 2 Vehicle 1 Planet Stop for Repairs 1984-12-24 85 13 D 13 Enemy Within the Mind, The 1982-05-26
114 2 Vehicle 1 Curious Comet, A 1984-12-25 86 14 D 14 Earth Fleet’s Counterattack, The 1982-06-02
115 2 Vehicle 1 In the Enemy Camp 1985-03-05 87 15 D 15 Breakdown of the Space Talks 1982-06-09
116 2 Vehicle 1 Who’s on First 1984-12-18 88 16 D 16 Two Rebellions, The 1982-06-16
117 2 Vehicle 1 No, Who’s on Second 1985-01-15 89 17 D 17 Orders For Asimov’s Return 1982-06-23
118 2 Vehicle 1 What’s on First 1985-01-16 90 18 D 18 Touch and Go Situation, A 1982-06-30
119 2 Vehicle 1 Great Stone Space Faces 1985-01-17 91 19 D 19 Red Moon Rising 1982-07-07
120 2 Vehicle 1 Defend the New World 1984-12-19 92 20 D 20 Desperate Struggle for Planet K 1982-07-14
121 2 Vehicle 1 Meanwhile Back at Galaxy Garrison 1984-12-28 93 21 D 21 Arise Galaxy Garrison 1982-07-21
122 2 Vehicle 1 Nerok Scores Big 1985-01-18 94 22 D 22 Ex-Commander Teles 1982-07-28
123 2 Vehicle 1 Hazar on the Carpet 1984-12-20 95 23 D 23 Mission to Recapture Planet K, The 1982-08-04
124 2 Vehicle 1 Hazar is Demoted 1984-12-26 96 24 D 24 Riot on Galveston 1982-08-11
125 2 Vehicle 1 Just Like Earth 1985-01-07 97 25 D 25 Bitter Struggle on the Planet of Light 1982-08-18
126 2 Vehicle 1 Planet Trap, The 1984-12-31 98 26 D 26 Snare of the Hell Planet, The 1982-08-25
127 2 Vehicle 1 Save the Space Station 1985-02-01 99 27 D 27 Storming the Space Fortress 1982-09-01
128 2 Vehicle 1 Planet of the Amazons 1985-01-02 100 28 D 28 Eldora’s Plea 1982-09-08
129 2 Vehicle 1 Revolt of the Slaves 1985-01-11 101 29 D 29 Uprising of the Space Fort 1982-09-15
130 2 Vehicle 1 Raid on Galaxy Garrison 1985-01-21 102 30 D 30 Earth’s State of Emergency 1982-09-22
131 2 Vehicle 1 Smashing the Meteor Barrier 1985-01-01 103 31 D 31 Locate Enemy Headquarters 1982-09-29
132 2 Vehicle 1 Man-Made Sun, A 1985-01-03 104 32 D 32 Destruction of the Front Line Base 1982-10-06
133 2 Vehicle 1 Captain Newley Returns 1984-12-27 105 33 D 33 New Allied Fleet to the Rescue, The 1982-10-13
134 2 Vehicle 1 Hazar Bucks the Empire 1985-01-24 106 34 D 34 Planet of the Burning Cave 1982-10-20
135 2 Vehicle 1 Letters from Home 1984-12-21 107 35 D 35 Get Yourself Together, Mutsu 1982-10-27
136 2 Vehicle 1 Peace! A Fish Story 1985-01-25 108 36 D 36 Desperate Undersea Combining, A 1982-11-03
137 2 Vehicle 1 Red Moon People, The 1985-01-08 109 37 D 37 Air Rugger Vanishes 1982-11-10
138 2 Vehicle 1 This World’s for the Birds 1985-01-09 110 38 D 38 Emma, the Female Captain 1982-11-17
139 2 Vehicle 1 That’s the Old Ball Game 1985-02-04 111 39 D 39 Tears of a Rugby Player, The 1982-11-24
140 2 Vehicle 1 Red Moon Rises Again 1985-01-31 112 40 D 40 Boy Denon and the Elk, The 1982-12-01
141 2 Vehicle 1 Another Solar System 1985-01-29 113 41 D 41 Discovery of the New World 1982-12-08
142 2 Vehicle 1 Whose World Is It? 1985-01-30 114 42 D 42 Impending Crisis on the Inhabitable Planet 1982-12-15
143 2 Vehicle 1 It’s Anybody’s World 1985-02-05 115 43 D 43 Teles and Asimov 1982-12-22
144 2 Vehicle 1 Frozen Assets 1985-02-06 116 44 D 44 Aki Team Gets Caught 1982-12-29
145 2 Vehicle 1 Coconuts 1985-02-07 117 45 D 45 Defend the Third Planet 1983-01-05
146 2 Vehicle 1 It Could Be a Long War 1985-02-08 118 46 D 46 Fall of the Survey Base, The 1983-01-12
147 2 Vehicle 1 Color Me Invisible 1985-02-11 119 47 D 47 Invisible Super Weapon, The 1983-01-19
148 2 Vehicle 1 Time Is Running Out 1985-02-12 120 48 D 48 Get Past the Tenth Planet 1983-01-26
149 2 Vehicle 1 Zero Hour Approaches 1985-02-13 121 49 D 49 Entering the Final Zone of Defense 1983-02-02
150 2 Vehicle 1 Drules’ World Cracks Up, The 1985-02-14 122 50 D 50 Struggle for Galveston, The 1983-02-09
151 2 Vehicle 1 Drules Surrender, The 1985-02-15 123 51 D 51 Fierce Battle in the Underground City 1983-02-16
152 2 Vehicle 1 End of Hazar’s World, The 1985-02-18 124 52 D 52 Galactic Dawn 1983-02-23
Fleet of Doom 1986-09-10
Posted in Armored Fleet Dairugger XV, Beast King Golion, Lion Force Voltron, Special Features, TV, Vehicle Team Voltron, Voltron, Voltron: Defender of the Universe

Let’s Get to the Lions! (Voltron: The Third Dimension)

Posted on August 12, 2019 by Greg Tyler

This site has already examined, in excruciating detail…

  • In Voltron: Legendary Defender, how the Paladins get from the bridge of the Castle of Lions to the Lions’ hangars
  • In Voltron: Defender of the Universe, how the Voltron Force gets from the control room of the Castle of Lions to the Lions’ dens

Now it’s time to take a similar look at Voltron: The Third Dimension.

Dens

Just as in Voltron: Defender of the Universe, the Lions in Voltron: The Third Dimension spend their idle time in “dens” on Planet Arus.

Black Lion’s den is within a lion statue on one side of the Castle of Lions.

It’s not clear which side of the castle sports the lion statue.

Red Lion’s den is within an active volcano.

Green Lion’s den is inside a giant tree stump.

Blue Lion’s den is at the bottom of the moat that surrounds the Castle of Lions.

Yellow Lion’s den is inside a giant lion statue in a desert.

It’s unclear how far the dens of Red, Green, and Yellow Lions are from the Castle of Lions. The Castle’s moat is surrounded by trees, so Green Lion’s tree stump den might be nearby, but it might not. In any case, it seems unlikely that all five dens are equidistant from the Castle.

Lion Launch Sequence

As in Voltron: Defender of the Universe, each Lion pilot boards a small shuttle that travels in a tunnel to a point beneath his or her Lion’s den. It’s unclear how the pilots reach the shuttle from the control room. In the program’s second episode, “Red Lion Breaks Loose,” the pilots exit the Castle of Lions’ control room through a seemingly ordinary doorway.

Lance exits through a seemingly different doorway than the others, but maybe all doors lead to the Lions.

When we next see the pilots, each is in an identical “shuttle bay.” (In most episodes, what Keith calls the “Lion Launch Sequence” begins in these shuttle bays rather than in the Castle’s control room.) Each bay’s exterior walls are natural rock, which implies that all five bays are located below ground.

How each pilot reaches his or her underground shuttle bay from the presumably above-ground control room of the Castle of Lions is unclear. Maybe the pilots descend in vertical chutes, as they do in Voltron: Defender of the Universe. On the other hand, maybe the pilots take Lion-colored spiral staircases. Or water slides. I’m going with water slides.

Once each pilot has taken a seat inside his or her shuttle, a transparent canopy closes, and the shuttle begins to travel in a horizontal tunnel. Interestingly, all five tunnels start with a shallow and seemingly unnecessary S-curve.

The shuttles soon accelerate to a high speed, and at a certain point, each tunnel seems to dip downward sharply. There’s no indication that the pilots hold their hands up and scream, as if they were riding in roller coasters.

Our next view of the pilots is from the inside of the Voltron Lions — from inside the cockpit in each Lion’s head, looking rearward. Each cockpit has a hole in the floor, and we see each pilot ascend into the cockpit, still seated in his or her now open-canopied shuttle. The shuttle seat becomes the Lion cockpit seat, and the rest of the shuttle goes… elsewhere. The open shuttle canopy seems to disappear just behind the rear wall of the cockpit.interior literally becomes part of the Lion’s cockpit interior. The lights beneath the cockpit go dark, conveniently hiding how this magic happens.

Once the pilot is inside his or her Lion, he or she places the Lion’s Lion-colored key into a special slot in the cockpit, and the Lion powers up.

Unlike in Voltron: Defender of the Universe, Black Lion, when in its den, is always concealed within the lion statue. Just before Black Lion launches into the sky, the statue disappears, as if by magic. On the other hand, maybe the statue is only a hologram.

The other Lions “simply” leap out of their dens.

It’s unclear where the pilots keep the keys when they aren’t in use. The uniforms are form-fitting, and they don’t seem to have pockets. Maybe the keys are kept in compartments hidden in the bulky, mouth-concealing portions of the helmets.

And that’s how the brave pilots of the Voltron Force get to their Lions.

Posted in Special Features, TV, Voltron, Voltron: The Third Dimension

Brothers of Balto: Pidge and Chip from Voltron: Defender of the Universe

Posted on March 3, 2019 by Greg Tyler
Chip and Pidge from "Fleet of Doom"
Chip and Pidge from “Fleet of Doom”

One of the surprisingly few links between the Lion Force and Vehicle Team episodes of Voltron: Defender of the Universe is the familial link between Pidge, a member of the Voltron Lion Force and the pilot of Green Lion, and Chip, a member of the Voltron Vehicle Team’s Air Team, and the pilot of Rugger 4.

Because 104 episodes of Voltron: Defender of the Universe were adapted from episodes of Beast King Golion and Armored Fleet Dairugger XV, some Voltron fans believe that Voltron‘s mythos was created mostly by happenstance, as each episode was adapted. There is almost certainly a degree of truth to this notion, but if a viewer examines the episodes more closely, he or she might find more depth to the story and characters than one might expect — and perhaps more than the writers actually intended. This is certainly the case with Pidge and Chip.

“Letters from Home” establishes that Pidge and Chip are twin brothers.

LISA: Chip’s very close to his brother. Don’t forget — they’re twins.

The episode also establishes that the brothers are orphans.

LISA: Chip and Pidge were orphans as children. Their adoptive parents took them both, so they wouldn’t be parted.

Pidge, himself a highly intelligent person, considers Chip to be the smarter twin, as he indicates in a letter to Chip in the episode “Letters from Home.”

PIDGE (voice over – as if reading his own letter to Chip): You always had the brains!

Later, after Chip has joined the Voltron Vehicle Team, his teammates acknowledge and admire his intelligence. In “A Man-Made Sun,” the five-member Air Team (of which Chip is a member), and Sea Team leader Krik, are in a death trap.

JEFF: Chip, you’re the scientific whiz — any suggestions?!

Chip saves everyone, after recalling some of his and his brother’s childhood interests.

CHIP: My brother Pidge and I used to study solar power as a hobby.

At some point in their childhoods, Pidge and Chip are adopted. They meet their parents at the orphanage. Pidge recalls some of the details behind the adoption in “The Green Medusa.”

PIDGE (inner monologue): I know what it’s like… finding new parents and a new home. I was an orphan, and I remember the day my new parents came to take me away.
(Flashback to the orphanage)
WOMAN: Are you sure you’ll like living with us?
PIDGE: Yes, ma’am. I know I will.
(Present)
PIDGE (inner monologue): She was very good to me, but I always wished I’d had my own mother.

Pidge provides further details of the adoption in a letter that he writes to Chip in the episode “Letters from Home.”

PIDGE (voice over – as if reading his own letter to Chip): Remember the day at the orphanage, when Mom and Dad came to adopt me, and I said I wouldn’t go unless they took you, too? We swore we’d never be separated! Well, we’re finally separated, and I miss you.

The accompanying video, reused from “The Green Medusa,” shows only Pidge shaking the hand of his future adoptive mother.

We don’t know how old Pidge and Chip were when they became orphans. We don’t know how old they were when they were adopted. For that matter, we don’t know old they are in the “present” of the Voltron programs. In the footage from “The Green Medusa,” Pidge looks the same as he does in the “present” scenes of the program. This might suggest that Pidge and Chip were adopted no more than a few years before they joined the Voltron Force.

How are we to interpret what Pidge told Chip in the letter? Were Pidge and Chip’s future adoptive parents really planning to adopt only Pidge? Did Pidge have to put his foot down and insist that they also adopt Chip? Maybe the prospective parents had just met only Pidge, and Pidge told them up front that he and Chip must be adopted together, perhaps even before the prospective parents knew that Pidge had a brother.

In any case, how would Chip feel to be reminded, years later in a letter, that Pidge had insisted that Chip be adopted along with him? Pidge undoubtedly meant it to express how close they were to one another… but it’s also possible that the words, especially if said repeatedly over years, would make Chip feel inferior to his twin brother.

I point this out, because at the beginning of “Letters from Home,” Chip is sad because he hasn’t received a letter from his mother. (He receives the letter from Pidge at the end of the episode.) To hide this from his teammates, he goes so far as to write a fake letter that he claims is from his mother.

CHIP: Mom says, “I think of you often. We had a nice long letter from your brother Pidge today. He’s fine. I wish you and he were stationed together. Twins shouldn’t be separated. I miss you both.”

One might interpret this as more than a fake letter. It sounds like a cry for help. Maybe Chip isn’t doing well with the separation from his brother, but he perceives that Pidge is doing fine. And maybe it’s Chip who wishes he and Pidge were stationed together, especially when we learn later from Pidge’s letter that the brothers swore they’d never be separated.

In any case, Chip’s friends notice his sadness.

KRIK: Obviously his mother, for some good reason, couldn’t write to him this time around. So he felt abandoned all over again.

Chip is so distraught that he fails to join the rest of the Air Team on a mission. Later his teammate Rocky looks directly at Chip and speaks of him in the third person, with words so pointed as to suggest that Rocky knows just how to hurt his friend most. I don’t think Rocky means to be as hurtful as he comes across, since in many other episodes, he and Chip seem to be close pals, but…

ROCKY: This squirt thinks because he’s small, he gets special privileges! Well, he don’t! He’s gotta grow up and learn to be half the man his brother Pidge is!

Chip felt abandoned by his real parents, and he feels abandoned now from not having gotten a letter from his mother. He feels inferior to his twin brother, and Rocky’s words seem to confirm that belief. Ouch.

Later Chip talks about his fake letter to his friend, Lisa of the Sea Team.

CHIP: I wrote this to myself, and everybody knows it. How can a person be so dumb and live? Why didn’t she write? Maybe something bad happened to Pidge!

Chip just said, in so many words, that he doesn’t deserve to live! Then he covers it up by worrying once more about Pidge.

And how does Lisa respond?

LISA: Everything’ll be all right, Chip. You weren’t the only one who didn’t get mail. Sometimes a packet gets held up or lost. Aw, come on. You wouldn’t want your brother to see you like this, would you?

Soon afterward, a Robeast attacks, and the Voltron pilots are called to their ships.

LISA: Chip, yo you hear that? They need us. Come along. It’s not too late! What about Pidge? Wouldn’t he jump if *his* team needed him at a time like this?
CHIP: Wait up, Lisa! I’m coming! Just because I’ve been a wimp, doesn’t mean I have to stay a wimp!
LISA: You’re no wimp.

Lisa also means well, but her words seem to reinforce — twice — that Pidge is the better of the twins. And when Chip calls himself a wimp, she refutes his feelings.

I feel for the guy.

And at the end of the episode, when Chip finally gets that letter from Pidge, how does it conclude?

PIDGE (voice over – as if reading his own letter to Chip): Mostly I work with our Voltron team to defend Princess Allura and her planet from invasion. I fly the Green Lion, and I form Voltron’s left arm. I’m left-handed, you know. What part are you on your Voltron team? You oughta be the head. You always had the brains! Hey, do you think we’ll ever get to take that vacation we’ve been dreaming about for years? Well, write soon, and fill me in on everything!
Chip (in tears, reading the letter): Love, Pidge.

Although the letter doesn’t state this outright, it seems like this is the first letter that Chip has received from Pidge since they separated. Why else would Chip not know about Pidge’s mission, or which Lion Pidge pilots, and why would Pidge not know which Rugger Chip pilots?

It’s no wonder that Chip is so sad. He became an orphan. He feels that he was adopted only because Pidge insisted that Chip be adopted. He feels inferior to Pidge. His friends’ words seem to reinforce that he is inferior to Pidge. He hasn’t heard from Pidge in weeks, months, or even longer. And he hasn’t heard from his mother as he had expected.

But it gets worse. In an earlier episode, “Pidge’s Home Planet,” Pidge and Chip’s home planet is destroyed!

PIDGE: Picking up radioactive missiles heading for Planet Balto! Oh, no! That’s my home planet, Keith! It’s being attacked!
PIDGE: “My family was moving to another planet. I don’t know if they made it! Gotta go and see!
LANCE: The whole planet has been destroyed! Wiped out!
HUNK: Pidge, we’re near your village!
PIDGE: I see, but I don’t recognize it. Wait, that’s my school… my home!
PIDGE: Looks like the people escaped to another planet, but my world is sure ruined!
KEITH: At least we’re sure everybody got safely off the planet before Lotor started his dirty work.

After a battle between Lotor and Voltron, Balto explodes!

PIDGE: At least I can think of Planet Arus as my home now till I find where my family has gone. Wish I could’ve seen my back yard once more.

Later in the episode, Pidge receives welcome news from his friend and teammate.

ALLURA: When get back to Arus, I’m going to make you an honorary citizen! Then you’ll have both a new home and a new world. Okay, Pidge?
PIDGE: I’d like that.

And later, on Arus:

ALLURA: To Pidge! Now a full-fledged citizen of Planet Arua!
PIDGE (to the Space Mice): Hi, fellow citizens! This is *my* country now! I could become a duke! An earl or a baron or maybe even a knight! But gimme your honest opinion. Am I too short to be a prime minister?

Pidge might seem to be in a better state than his brother, but Pidge might not be in the best mindset either. In “The Sleeping Princess,” Prince Lotor and witch Haggar execute an elaborate plan to make Princess Allura seem to have died, so that during her funeral, they can steal her body and take her back to Planet Doom. As Lotor drives the hijacked, horse-drawn hearse, Pidge jumps onto the carriage and tries to strangle Lotor. Eventually during a skirmish, Lotor stops the hearse and holds the unconscious Allura in his arms, ready to take her away. Pidge halts their plans temporarily by revealing a grenade and pulling out its pin with his teeth!

PIDGE: Her life means more than yours or mine or anybody’s!

Lotor then puts Allura on the ground.

PIDGE: Now get out! I oughta feed you this!

Then Pidge, who is still holding the live grenade, charges at Lotor and Haggar! Hunk and Keith plead with Pidge to get rid of the grenade, but he ignores them. As Pidge reaches Lotor, Lotor leaps over Pidge’s head. Pidge is knocked backward, landing next to Allura, and the grenade flies out of his hand. Pidge places himself over Allura’s body to shield her from the coming blast. The grenade lands on the hearse and explodes!

What was Pidge thinking? Anyone in the Voltron Force would stop at nothing to protect Allura from Lotor, but… a grenade? Why did Pidge have a grenade to begin with? Was he the only person who brought a grenade to Allura’s staged funeral? And why did he pull the pin so early during the confrontation with Lotor?

Pidge usually seems like an outgoing and joyful person, but his behavior during this incident suggests that he was in a dark place. Did he feel imdebted to Allura for making him an honorary citizen of her planet? Was this culmination of his childhood as an orphan, a lengthy separation from his twin brother, and the destruction of his home planet?

Pidge and Chip weren’t the only kids in their adopted family. They also have a younger sister. Pidge mentions her in the episode “Surrender,” after he meets a young girl named Tammy, who tells Pidge that after she grows up, she wants to become a Space Explorer like Pidge and the rest of the Voltron Force.

PIDGE (inner monologue): She reminds me of my kid sister back with the Space Explorers on Planet Terra.

Even as members of the Voltron Force, Pidge and Chip seem to be minors, and they have an even younger sister who is among other Space Explorers. If we assume that Pidge and Chip are about twelve years old, how old would their younger sister be — ten? Even younger? Tammy seemed to be no older than about eight.

March 4, 2019, Update: Shannon Muir suggested to me that perhaps one or both of Pidge and Chip’s adopted parents were career Space Explorers. This might have influenced the brothers’ decision to become Space Explorers themselves, and it might explain why their sister was “with the Space Explorers” — because she was with her parents.

How are Pidge and Chip related to their sister? She is mentioned only in “Surrender.” She might not be their biological sister. She might be the biological child of Pidge and Chip’s adoptive parents — or she might also be adopted.

In “Final Victory,” Lotor has been defeated — although it’s not known for how long — and Pidge contemplates the future.

Pidge (inner monologue): Now that there’s peace in *this* part of the universe, I guess the Galaxy Alliance will be sending us out on assignment some place else. Hey, maybe they’ll call us back to join the rest of the Voltron Force! I’ll get to see my brother, Chip, again! I’m gonna write him a apace letter right away!

Aboard the Stellar Ship Explorer, Chip receives another letter.

ROCKY: Hey, Chip, looks like you got a *real* letter today!
CHIP: It’s from my brother, Pidge! He says their Voltron Force defeated all the Drule bad guys in the Danubian Galaxy. Now maybe they’ll be coming back to join us! If the Galaxy Alliance doesn’t decide to transfer them to another trouble spot.
JEFF: And if *we* don’t get sent to another galaxy! But then we expect that, because we’re all a part of Voltron, Defender of the Universe!

The twins finally re-unite in “Fleet of Doom.” We see them smiling and shaking hands, and a Space Mouse sits on a shoulder of each brother. Chip is taller than Pidge, and they don’t look exactly alike, which suggests that they are fraternal rather than identical twins.

After the events of “Fleet of Doom,” I imagine that Pidge showed his brother some of the Space Mice’s talents, which he had mentioned in his first letter to Pidge in “Letters from Home.”

PIDGE (voice over – as if reading his own letter to Chip): When we’re not flying, I spend my time training animals. You oughta see the great act I’m putting together with some very clever mice here at the Castle.

As an additional curiosity, in “A Ghost and Four Keys,” Pidge calls himself an “Earth man.”

PIDGE: Come on, you robots! You’re only a bunch of nuts and bolts! Let’s see what you can do against one little Earth man!

Why would Pidge call himself an “Earth man?” Before joining the Voltron Force, the brothers had lived on Balto. Did they live on Earth before they were adopted? Were they born on Earth? Did Pidge call himself an “Earth man” simply because he had attended the Space Academy of the Galaxy Alliance, which was headquartered on Earth? Voltron: The Third Dimension establishes Pidge to be a native of Balto, and Voltron Force establishes the same for Pidge and Chip, but that’s not necessarily true in Voltron: Defender of the Universe.

August 23, 2019, Update: I recently noticed a voiceover line of Pidge from the episode “The Little Prince.” The Voltron Force, trapped on the Omega Comet, is on its way to oblivion. A mysterious angel appears before them and offers to them the opportunity to proceed to the afterlife, sacrificing Arus to Lotor, or to return to Arus, sacrificing this opportunity to see what lies beyond. Pidge considers the alternatives:

PIDGE: Maybe I’d see my family again. No, we’ve gotta go back to Arus!

It’s unclear whether Pidge is referring to his biological parents or his adoptive parents. In “Pidge’s Home Planet,” Pidge mentions that he needs to find out where his presumably adoptive family has gone following the devastation of Balto. Maybe he subsequently learned that his adoptive family did not survive.

Pidge and Chip overcame major obstacles in their younger years, they lost their home planet, and they continue to struggle with feelings of abandonment and insecurity. But they are every bit as heroic as their bigger teammates in the Voltron Force.

Posted in Lion Force Voltron, Special Features, TV, Vehicle Team Voltron, Voltron: Defender of the Universe

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