While investigating a mysterious energy signal, five
young cadets are thrust to the other side of the universe. On the distant planet of Ariss, they discover
the last of a long gone civilization…and the Lions that served as their
protectors. With the forces of Zarkon
bearing down upon the universe once again, these five young men: Shiro, Keith,
Lance, Hunk and Pidge, become the next generation of defenders. Armed with five mechanized Lions, they now
hold they keys to forming the greatest champion of them all-Voltron: Defender
of the Universe
Voltron may very well have been the first Anime I ever
saw as a kid, before even knowing it was an Anime or what Anime actually
was. Either way, I would always pop in
that old VHS tape that had the first five episodes as a singular movie and
watch it over and over and over again.
How could I not? I was 5 or 6 and
in awe of giant robot lions forming one larger giant robot…huh I guess I kind
of owe this series a bit for bringing me to Gundam eventually. Voltron has been reimagined and relaunched a
couple of times since it’s 80’s debut…but never really recaptured the magic of
the initial phenomena. Well leave it to
some of the brains behind Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra to
bring the magic to a new generation of viewers.
The new Voltron has the Avatar feel plastered all over it
and I love it for that. Not just in the
character designs, but also in how the characters themselves feel, it’s like im
watching a futuristic Last Airbender or Korra.
Lance, Pidge and Hunk have great chemistry together and lend some much
needed humor that I cant ever recall being in the original series. Lance and Keith’s rivalry was a lot of fun to
watch as well, shades of Leonardo and Raphael from Ninja Turtles with their literally
butting heads. Shiro was the only odd
one out for me. I guess he’s supposed to
be the Sven from the original series.
But he seemed too much like…idk not as unique as the other four members
(and really Keith only worked whenever he was on screen with Lance getting into
arguments). At this point im wondering when/if Shiro is going to get knocked
off so the kick ass new Alura can take over as a pilot. There’s a nice spunk to the Princess in this
version, especially when she gets annoyed with Lance’s flirting or Koran’s over
energetic behavior. I could easily see
her stepping up to pilot a lion at some point.
It was weird not seeing Keith in charge like he has been in previous
incarnations. That shook me up a bit
too. Oh and for those curious, yes the
mice from the original series are here too…I shouldn’t be surprised given how
these animators love to give Animals key roles in their series (Appa and Momo
in Avater, Naga and Pabu in Korra).
I like the redesign of the Lions and of Voltron
himself. Now there’s probably never
going to be an exact replica of his 80’s incarnation coming any time soon. For this series though, his look will
do. Voltron still screams furious anger
and great power whenever one of his lion limbs roars. I do wish that we got to see the Voltron
Force (no I am not calling them Team Voltron, another reason im not a Shiro
fan) battle a Robeast in their first foray rather than just blowing up a
battleship. Just feels like a bit of a
waste of such a long build up. That’s
another thing. This first episode is
basically the first three rolled into one hour long feature…and it kind of
shows. As much as I loved the character
interactions and funny moments, I could feel how long this first story
was. The pacing could use a little work
that’s all.
As far as intros go, the first episode of Voltron:
Legendary Defender updates and honors its roots. The animation and character energy is fresh
while the music and mechs are both throwbacks to the heyday of 80’s mecha
Anime. Voltron is back for a new
generation. And it since it’s being run
by members of the staff that gave us two of the greatest animated epics of all
time, I’ve got no doubt that lessons will be learned quickly and this first
season will be a blast right until the end.
Now…GO BREAK OUT YOUR FIVE LIONS ACTION FIGURE SET AND
FORM VOLTRON!!!! FORM BLAZING SWORD!!!!
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