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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

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…

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.

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.

They Came From Outer Space: “Lions’ Pride Part 2” (Voltron Legendary Defender)

Posted on February 14, 2019 by Greg Tyler

By the end of “Lions’ Pride Part 2,” the final episode of Voltron Legendary Defender‘s seventh season, Voltron and the Galaxy Garrison have defeated Galra commander Sendak and his occupation of Earth, and they have destroyed an unusually powerful Robeast of mysterious origin. The planet has been devastated, but its people remain strong, and they open their world to beings from throughout the universe who have struggled and fought against Galra oppression.

And they come. Let’s take a look at the new arrivals from other worlds.

Although it’s difficult to recognize the species of many beings in this establishing shot, it’s easy to spot some Balmerans and Olkari.

N-7 (artificial intelligence), and Captain Olia and her two children (unknown species). The third being from the right is an Unilu with a distinctive headband, who was seen in episodes as early as “Begin the Blitz.”

In no particular order: Slav (unknown species), an Arusian, Balmerans, a masked rebel (unknown species) who helped to free Matt Holt, Olkari, Nyma (unknown species), Ozar (unknown species), Olia (unknown species)

In the left foreground, an Olkari ship (I think). In the background, Balmera X-95-Vox, as seen in the first season (but rotated, so it’s less recognizable).

In the left foreground, an Olkari ship (I think). In the right foreground, rebel ships. In the background, Balmera X-95-Vox, as seen in the first season (rotated, so it’s less recognizable).

Blades of Marmora (who are, of course, Galra), Olkari, a Taujeerian, Puigians, Captain Olia, and a Balmeran, on whose shoulder is a (presumed) child of an unknown species

Shay, a Balmeran from Balmera X-95-Vox

Shay (hugging Hunk) and… her brother Rax?

N-7 (an artificial intelligence) and Nyma (unknown species)

Alteans, who arrived before the other non-humans: Romelle, Coran, Allura, and Space Mice (also of Altea)

Kolivan and Krolia of the Blade of Marmora — both Galra

A Balmeran

A Taujeerian in the foreground, and a Balmeran in the background

A being of an unknown species. The being reminds me a bit of the Pink Panther.

Vrepit Sal (a Galra), Vrepit Sal’s dish washer (species unknown), and a Balmeran

Allura operating a teludav, closing a wormhole

Olkari and Coran

Voltron Easter Egg: To Boldly Go Where No Rugger Has Gone Before?

Posted on January 22, 2019 by Greg Tyler

During a recent re-watch of the Voltron: Defender of the Universe episode “Letters from Home,” which was adapted from the Armored Fleet Dairugger XV episode “Get Yourself Together, Mutsu,” I noticed a funny Easter egg.

In this single shot, Ginger’s Voltron vehicle or “Rugger” bears the name “USS Enterprise,” presumably from Star Trek! Some old-school fans differentiate the Vehicle Team episodes of 1980s Voltron by likening it to Star Trek, while likening the Lion Force episodes to Star Wars. Maybe this is why!

I have no idea why the “USS Enterprise” marking would be next to an “SR-5” marking. Ginger’s Rugger is Rugger #5, so “R-5” would make sense… but what’s with the “S?” In Voltron, Ginger is part of the Air Team — but “Air” doesn’t start with “S.” The five Air Team vehicles combine into the Strato Fighter, so maybe that’s where the “S” comes from. On the other hand, in Dairugger, the team is called the Air Rugger Team — the “Aki Team” for short, and the five Ruggers form the Air Rugger. None of those terms start with “S.”

Then again, I’m trying to rationalize a marking that’s next to a nonsensical “USS Enterprise” marking. Curse you, brain, for overthinking yet again! :)

Where on Earth Is the Galaxy Garrison? (Voltron Legendary Defender)

Posted on November 21, 2018 by Greg Tyler

In Voltron Legendary Defender, where on Earth is the Galaxy Garrison? The seventh-season episode “Trial By Fire” shows us the location of the base! It happens during this scene, starting at about 3 minutes, 51 seconds into the episode:

VERONICA: I’m detecting movement from the Zaiforge cannons.

IVERSON: Where are they headed?

VERONICA: Based on our projections…The cannons are converging above our location!

During this scene we are shown a graphic of part of Earth’s surface, and near the center of the image, we see a glowing marker that represents the main Galaxy Garrison base. It’s somewhere in the 48 contiguous states of the United States of America.

I took a screen capture of the map without the marker, and a screen capture of the map with the marker (and other stuff), and I isolated the marker. Then I compared the location of the marker with a real-world map of the United States of America, and I tried to estimate the location of the marker.

It appears that the Galaxy Garrison is located in… Nebraska!

The Galaxy Garrison seems to be “framed” by four highways:

To the north, NE12
To the south, US20
To the west, US281
To the east, NE14

If the imagery in “Trial By Fire” is to be believed, then the Galaxy Garrison is located in northeastern Nebraska in the United States of America.

Who’s Running This Planet, Anyway? Earth’s Government in Voltron Legendary Defender

Posted on November 18, 2018 by Greg Tyler

The Voltron Legendary Defender seventh-season episodes “The Last Stand Part 1” and “The Last Stand Part 2” tell an entertaining tale of what happens on Earth between the departure of Shiro and his comrades, and their return as Paladins of Voltron, to defend their home from a Galra occupation. These episodes also suggest an alarming situation on Earth that predates the Galra invasion:

The entire planet Earth seems to be governed by the military.

In “The Last Stand Part 1,” Sam Holt has returned to Earth after having been gone for six years. Admiral Sanda of the Galaxy Garrison informs Sam that the joint chiefs want to debrief Sam, to learn about his intergalactic experiences.

We know nothing about the organization or authority of the joint chiefs on Earth in Voltron’s time.

According to the About page of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff official website, the Joint Chiefs of Staff consist of chiefs of staff of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marine Corps, and the National Guard. During World War II, the Joint Chiefs of Staff had command authority over combatant commands. In later years, the Joint Chiefs lost their executive authority and began to serve instead as advisers, entrusted with providing advice to the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the National Security Council.

If the joint chiefs in Voltron’s future Earth were similarly empowered, then this would suggest the existence of a civilian government.

Or would it?

As of this writing — less than one month before the December 14, 2018, release of Voltron Legendary Defender‘s eighth and final season — no other evidence exists to suggest a civilian government on Earth. On the contrary, “The Last Stand Part 1” and “The Last Stand Part 2” suggest that Earth’s government might actually consist of the senior-most officers of the Galaxy Garrison.

In “The Last Stand Part 1,” Admiral Sanda seems to be the commanding officer of the entire Garrison. At the end of the episode, Sam Holt challenges her leadership.

SAM HOLT: Right now, the world needs a leader that’s not afraid to face facts, and you’re not it.

SANDA: And you think you are?

SAM HOLT: Yes.

Sanda then yields much of her authority to Sam. On the other hand, in “The Last Stand Part 2,” after Galra Commander Sendak addresses Earth and demands that Earth turn over the Voltron Lions, it is Admiral Sanda who replies as Earth’s representative. Whatever the case, there are no references in these episodes — or any others — to Earth having a president, a prime minister, a congress or parliament or governing council, or indeed any civilian political entities.

It’s possible that Earth does not have a central government, and that individual nations have their own governments, and that the Galaxy Garrison controls only Earth’s exploration of space, and planetary defense. On the other hand, if this is true, wouldn’t Garrison leadership advise the countries of Earth during the Galra invasion and occupation? The episodes don’t suggest that anything like this occurs.

It’s also interesting to note that the Galaxy Garrison is a military organization. Everyone seems to be a commissioned officer or a cadet. Sanda is an admiral, Sam Holt is a commander, and at the time of Shiro’s disappearance at Kerberos, he is a lieutenant. Regardless of whether the Galaxy Garrison controls Earth, why is the Garrison a military organization when, in episodes like “The Rise of Voltron” (“The New Alliance”) and “A Little Adventure,” Iverson and Shiro mention that the Garrison consists of astroexplorers? Why is a space exploration group organized like a military, and why is the group called a garrison?

“The Last Stand Part 2” mentions that humanity experienced a third world war. After World War III ended, did the people of Earth decide to create a military organization charged with exploring space, defending Earth, and oh, by the way, governing all of humanity? Is Admiral Sanda, and later Sam Holt, a benevolent dictator?

Maybe the eighth season of Voltron Legendary Defender will reveal just who is in charge of Earth and its people. I’m hopeful that it isn’t the Galaxy Garrison.

To the Letter: The Altean Alphabet in Voltron Legendary Defender

Posted on September 21, 2018 by Greg Tyler

In the seventh-season Voltron Legendary Defender episode “The Road Home,” Coran and Romelle sing the Altean equivalent of the English “alphabet song” — the “ABCs.” The lryics are:

♪ Exus, plexis, ceedus, flee,
jaydus, nacto, pledum, ree ♪
♪ Joodum, ruu, and leeum too
That puts us just halfway through ♪
♪ There’s mai-ox, kay, and jibley-way
Afus, nofus, youkus-play ♪
♪ Beefur, leefur, agus-play ♪
♪ At the end, flancko and blee! ♪

It’s almost a certainty that the show’s writers created this song purely on a whim, just to give the Paladins another source of annoyance during their long journey to Earth. Having said that, let’s look more closely at the song, in typical Lions and Pilots and Bots Dot Com geeky fashion.

Letters

According to the Altean alphabet song, the Altean language includes 22 letters. We don’t know which are consonants and which are vowels — or indeed whether the Altean alphabet even has such concepts.

It’s also worth noting that many letters start with the same phonemes. Examples include…

Phoneme	Letter(s)
Short e (as in “egg”)	exus
pl	plexis, pledum
s	ceedus
fl	flee, flancko
j	jaydus, joodum, jibley-way
n	nacto, nofus
r	ree, ruu
l	leeum, leefur
m	mai-ox
k	kay
Short a (as in “apple”)	afus, agus-play
y	youkus-play
b	beefur, blee

At first glance, it seems that at least some letters aren’t named for their phonemes. For example, if there were an Altean word that sounds like “bell”…

Which letter might make the b sound? Beefur? Blee?
Which letter might make the l sound? Leeum? Leefur?

Glyphs

Throughout Voltron Legendary Defender, we catch glimpses of Altean text, featuring distinctive glyphs. There’s no way to know how all of these might match the letters that were identified in the Altean alphabet song, but it’s still fun to look at them!

In search of Altean alphabetic glyphs, I skimmed three episodes of Voltron Legendary Defender: “Eye of the Beholder,” “Reunion,” and “The Colony.” I found at least 27 — possibly 28 — glyphs. Each episode revealed glyphs that weren’t in the other episodes. The glyphs that I identified are shown below.

With 27 or more glyphs, and only 22 letters in the Altean alphabet, it’s clear that there can be no one-for-one mapping between glyphs and letters. Maybe Altean uses cases (upper case, lower case, etc.) like English does, or some other means of giving each letter multiple glyphs.

Whatever the case, after finding new Altean glyphs in each of the three episodes that I checked, I decided to stop. It looks like Romelle and Bandor were thinking the same thing in “The Colony.”

Blue Lion – Made in the USA (Voltron: Defender of the Universe)

Posted on July 23, 2018 by Greg Tyler

In the Voltron: Defender of the Universe episode “The Lion Has New Claws” — the episode immediately following the one in which Blue Lion pilot Sven is seriously injured — Princess Allura secretly takes Blue Lion for a ride in the middle of the night. Despite the princess’ attempt to be stealthy, an alarm sounds in the Castle of Lions. Keith, Lance, and Pidge race to Castle Control and check the monitor for the cause of the alarm.

The monitor shows a simple wireframe of a lion flying erratically. The lion wireframe is accompanied by seem tiny, barely legible English text. I point out that it’s English because this episode was animated in Japan for a Japanese audience as part of Beast King Golion. Even if the monitor text is fully legible, it appears for about one second — hardly enough time for someone with little fluency in English to have read.

Anyway, here is the monitor, showing the text.

The most legible text is… MADE IN THE U.S.A.

Made in the USA? This is the planet Arus, not Earth!

A closer look reveals the source of the text — it’s the back of a package of… Push-Pins!

I wasn’t able to read all of the text, but here’s what I was able to decipher:

…Push-Pins instead of thumbtacks to put up…
…calendars, pennants and light wall decorations.
…tie-backs, shelf paper…and
…other household uses.

…Push-Pin between thumb and forefinger and insert
…of the…. They are easily removed…the
…The…-tempered steel…the
…possible…. Millions of Push-Pins are used…
…decorations, the…, the…and…
…as a superior pin-… device.. Push-Pin…the
In both aluminum and plastic, the plastic available in
red, yellow, green, white, and blue.

…and…up to 100…
…

In schools, apartments, or office buildings where nails
are not allowed – use the new 2-in-1 “…-…”
…picture hanger. Will support up to… pounds
while eliminating the use of nails,…
and picture…

MADE IN U.S.A.

I’m not sure why the Castle of Lions’ monitor would display text about Push-Pins while displaying an animated wireframe of Blue Lion. Maybe Coran had left the interstellar feed of the Home Shopping Club on overnight.

Castle Ships in Voltron Lore

Posted on May 1, 2018 by Greg Tyler

In the first-season Voltron Legendary Defender episode “Taking Flight,” the Castle of Lions tears itself from the surface of the planet Arus, and assumes what became its ongoing new form: a spacecraft. Its crew informally called it the “Castle-ship.”

Voltron Legendary Defender wasn’t the Voltron-related program with a Castle-turned-spaceship.

In Beast King Golion, one of the anime programs that were adapted into Voltron: Defender of the Universe, the Golion Team calls Castle Gradam its home. In the 50th episode, “The Great Storming of Galra,” Raible reveals that the Castle can convert to a spaceship. The Golion Team uses the ship as part of a final assault on the planet Galra.

The Castle’s transformation initiates when Raible inserts a special key into the Castle’s main console.

The Castle does not launch from Altea until Golion‘s 52nd and final episode, “Burn Galra Castle.”

Because Golion‘s 52 episodes were adapted into episodes of Voltron: Defender of the Universe, Castle Gradam and its ship mode appear in Voltron, although in the latter program the Castle is called the Castle of Lions. In Voltron, the Castle’s ship mode is revealed in “Zarkon Becomes a Robeast,” which was adapted from Golion‘s “The Great Storming of Galra.”

The Castle of Lions’ ship mode makes a notable reappearance in “Fleet of Doom,” the two-part final story that was animated entirely new for Voltron. In that story, the Castle of Lions transports the Lions to the Galaxy Alliance’s Power Base, to rendezvous with the Voltron Vehicle Team and remove the Drule/Doom forces that threatened the base.

Although Voltron: The Third Dimension featured a Castle of Lions, no ship mode is seen or referenced in the program’s 26 episodes. Perhaps a ship mode would have been revealed had more episodes been produced.

In the 26th and final episode of Voltron Force, the spirit of King Alfor activates the Castle of Lions’ transformation to its spaceship mode. The Castle’s ship mode is a surprise even to Princess Allura. The Castle helps Voltron win a decisive victory over Maahox.

Castles-turned-spacecraft are seemingly as much a part of Voltron lore as the Defenders of the Universe themselves.