| Voltron | |
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Title screen
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| Also known as | Lion Force Voltron (series 1) Vehicle Team Voltron (series 2) |
| Genre | Sci-fi, action/adventure, mecha, superhero |
| Created by | Ted Koplar Peter Keefe Saburō Yatsude (original concept) |
| Based on | Series 1 Beast King Go-Lion by Toei Animation Series 2 Armored Fleet Dairugger XV by Toei Animation |
| Story by | Jameson Brewer |
| Directed by | Franklin Cofod |
| Composer | John Petersen |
| Country of origin | United States Japan (original) |
| No. of seasons | 3(total)
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| No. of episodes | 124 (total)
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| Production | |
| Producers | Ted Koplar Peter Keefe |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Production companies | World Events Productions Toei Animation Tokyo Animation (GoLion animation) |
| Original release | |
| Network | First-run syndication |
| Release | September 10, 1984 (1984-09-10) – November 18, 1985 (1985-11-18) |
| Related | |
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Voltron is a 1984 American-Japanese animated television series produced by World Events Productions for a total of 124 episodes.[1] The series is an adaptation of the Japanese super robot anime series Beast King Go-Lion, which was dubbed into English and edited to create Voltron episodes.[2] Later episodes also use footage from the mecha anime Armored Fleet Dairugger XV.[3]
From days of long ago, from uncharted regions of the universe, comes a legend, the legend of Voltron, Defender of the Universe. A mighty robot, loved by good, feared by evil. As Voltron’s legend grew, peace settled across the galaxy. On planet Earth, a galaxy alliance was formed. Together with the good planets of the solar system, they maintained peace throughout the universe. Until a new horrible menace threatened the galaxy. Voltron was needed once more. This is the story of the super force of space explorers, specially trained, and sent by the alliance, to bring back Voltron: Defender of the Universe.
— Narrator during the opening sequence
The first season is about five pilots who command five robot lions which combine to form Voltron.[4] These pilots use these machines to protect the planet Arus from the evil Warlord King Zarkon and witch Haggar who creates monsters called Robeasts to terrorize the planet ruled by Princess Allura.[5]
From days of long ago, from uncharted regions of the universe, comes a legend, the legend of Voltron, Defender of the Universe. A mighty robot, loved by good, feared by evil. As Voltron’s legend grew, peace settled across the galaxy. On planet Earth, a galaxy alliance was formed. Together with the good planets of the solar system, they maintained peace throughout the universe. Until a new horrible menace threatened the galaxy. Voltron was needed once more. This is the story of a super force of space explorers, entrusted by the alliance with the ancient secret on how to assemble Voltron: Defender of the Universe.
— Narrator during the opening sequence
The second season of the show was called Vehicle Voltron, based on Armored Fleet Dairugger XV, which spawned also a television special called Voltron: Fleet of Doom.[6] The premise of season two is the Galaxy Alliance's home worlds have become overcrowded and search for new planets to colonise. This puts the Alliance in conflict with the Drule empire.[7]
The protagonists are divided into teams. Each team is specialized in gathering data or fighting in their area of expertise.[8] Each squad combines their vehicles into a bigger machine, with each vehicle differing among the three teams. These fighters are:
Ted Koplar assembled a team in Los Angeles to transform Go-Lion into what would become Voltron.[9] Peter Keefe was brought aboard as Executive Producer, with Franklin Cofod as the Director. Since they had no means of translating the Japanese series into English, Keefe and Cofod surmised the plots, commissioned writer Jameson Brewer to write all-new dialogue, edited out the more violent scenes, and remixed the audio into stereo format. The series was an immediate hit in the United States, topping the syndication market for children's programs in the mid-1980s.[1]
The Japanese series Future Robot Daltanious was originally planned to be adapted by World Events Productions as part of Voltron. When requesting master tapes from Toei Animation for translation purposes, the World Events Productions producers requested "[the] ones with the lion." Mistakenly, Toei then proceeded to ship World Events copies of Beast King Go-Lion, another "combining-robot" cartoon which featured lion-shaped fighting robot starships. Because the World Events producers greatly preferred Go-LiontoDaltanious, the Go-Lion episodes were adapted instead, going on to become the most popular portion of the original Voltron run.[9] A third version/series of Voltron based on yet another Japanese series, Lightspeed Electroid Albegas, was also in progress, but it was dropped when World Events Productions joined with Toei to make new Go-Lion-based shows, due to that show's popularity over the Dairugger run.[10][11]
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Though airing in syndication, which offered other anime shows such as Robotech greater freedom to deal with subject matter such as death that were off-limits in most US network children's programming, WEP's adaptation of Voltron was heavily edited to conform to the more conservative standards of children's television in the United States, as well as the standard name change of characters and concepts in Go-Lion and Dairugger.[12][13]
From 1984 to 1985, Sony released some episodes of Voltron on VHS and Betamax in several named but unnumbered volumes, including "Castle of Lions", "Planet Doom", "Planet Arus", "Zarkon's Revenge", "Merla, Queen of Darkness", "Journey to the Lost Planets", "Perils of Princess Allura", "Return of Sven", and "The Blue Robot's Revenge". The packaging for these volumes did not specify which episodes were on them; advertised runtimes varied from 20 to 86 minutes.
Lions Gate Home Entertainment released or re-released some episodes of the show on VHS in four numbered volumes in 2001. Volume 1 included the special "Fleet of Doom" and episode 71, "The Alliance Strikes Back". Volumes 2-4 included the first six episodes of the show in chronological order.
The show was released on DVD by the likes of Media Blasters and Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment,[18][19][20][21] and was released on a Complete Series DVD set by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment with their distribution deal with DreamWorks Animation on September 10, 2019.
The show was ranked the 76th best animated series by IGN.[22]
A video game based on the 1984 show was released in 2011 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles.[23][24]
A CGI sequel series that takes place five years after the first series that deviated from the original design, the series centers around the Voltron Force reuniting to fight bionic Prince Lotor, while dealing with an artificial intelligence "Amalgamus", a sophisticated computer and a supposedly reformed King Zarkon. Ross, Ward, and Bell were the only cast members to return.
Another sequel series that features the Voltron Force and their three cadets training to be the next Voltron pilots, while battling their old enemy Lotor and corrupt military head intent on destroying the Voltron and its pilots to stage a coup d'état and become president of Galaxy Garrison himself. The series aired on Nicktoons and ended after one season.
On January 5, 2016, Netflix and DreamWorks Animation announced a new original animated Voltron series to debut in 2016 as a reboot of both franchise and the GoLion anime featured in an anime-influenced style with CGI Voltron action sequences, featuring a whole new cast with Lauren Montgomery and Joaquim Dos Santos, both known for their work on Avatar: The Last Airbender and its sequel The Legend of Korra, served as showrunners. The show debuted on Netflix and ran for 8 seasons with a total 78 episode.
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