FIF#121-Beast King GoLion

Legend tells of the mighty robot GoLion.  Eons ago, he challenged a powerful deity and for his arrogance, he was broken into five pieces and scattered across the planet Altea.  Now, GoLion is needed again.  The Galra Empire begins a ruthless conquest of the galaxy, slaughtering millions and enslaving others for their own entertainment on planet Galra.  Five of those slaves, Humans from a war torn Planet Earth, escape to Altea and learn the legend of GoLion.  Together, they reawaken the giant warrior once more to destroy Emperor Daibazzal and his Robeasts and restore peace to the cosmos.

Ah the 80’s, a different time for Anime in the US.  If you thought the editing we had to do for Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon in the 90’s was rough, you clearly didn’t know how really, really, really bad they had to cut down Anime from the 80’s trying to make a splash stateside.  Last week we looked at the first Gatchaman adaptation for US broadcst, Battle of the Planets from the 70’s.  Today, we look at the series that was the basis for one of the greatest names in the history of Giant Robots, so much so that we know him by that name and rarely mention his original Japanese title.  And ohhhhhh man…Voltron: Defender of the Universe really was a kids show compared to Beast King GoLion.

It’s kind of a miracle the show even got approved for an attempt at a kids focused series.  I wonder what the reaction from the powers that be were when they saw the first episode alone.  The level of violence is staggering.  Robeasts literally tear their opponents apart limb from limb, crushing their bodies into paste and puddles of goo.  It’s pretty grim and that doesn’t just go for the high levels of gore.  The origin of our intrepid quintet of “Space Explorers” is far darker than Voltron would have you believe.  In that version, Keith, Lance, Sven, Hunk and Pidge were exploring a planet in deep space when they got picked up by Zarkon’s forces.  In GoLion, Akira, Isamu, Takashi, Tsuyoshi and Hiroshi return to Earth following a deep space mission…only to find humanity has nuked itself to death in World War III.  We even get some grizzly images of men, women and yes even children, being killed in horrific nuclear fire…freaking YIKES!!!!  And yet for this totally grim and dark beginning, I couldn’t help but feel a little nostalgic watching the first episode of GoLion.  It’s as if my brain was trying to compensate for all the intensity by playing what I remember of the old Voltron dub in my head at various points, especially when Akira and crew were kicking ass during their escape from Planet Galra.

“This is not you’re daddy’s Voltron”, they said of GoLion when it was finally released in the US, and they were right.  Free of US limitations of the 1980s, GoLion is a grizzly space fairing adventure that might be worth exploring a little more just to see how much more they changed when making Voltron.  With the Robotech Saga of Macross, all that was missing was much of the blood and the edits to tie the story into Southern Cross and Mospeda when their time came.  With GoLion, yeesh, I think the first episodes grim violence was only a taste of what will probably come later down the line.  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous.  Will watching GoLion ruin my love of Voltron?  (Or could it be more entertaining than Voltron: Legendary Defender…which I may or may not need to give a second chance)?  Only time will tell.