Voltron

Voltron is a shape-changing giant robot first featured in the 1980s television series "Voltron, Defender of the Universe". There has since been a second series, made in the 1990s using CGI techniques. Recently, Voltron reached a new popular culture audience after being featured in the satirical web-based cartoon strip "Get Your War On".

The 1980s Voltron series was based on two vaguely-related Japanese anime series (both originally produced by Toei Animation), dubbed and strung together by American TV production and distribution company World Events. The series was not a straight dub, however, as much of the violence of the original Japanese series was removed (among other things).

Contents

1 Animated Series 1.1 Lion Voltron (Voltron of the Far Universe) 1.2 Vehicle Voltron (Voltron of the Near Universe) 1.3 Gladiator Voltron (Voltron of the Middle Universe) 1.4 New Projects 2 Comic Books 3 External Links

Animated Series

Lion Voltron (Voltron of the Far Universe)

The first episodes, usually the best remembered, were based on 百獣王ゴライオン, Hyakujūō go raion, and featured a team of five young pilots commanding 5 robot lions, which could be combined to form Voltron. In this era, the Voltron force was in charge of protecting the planet Arus (ruled by Princess Allura) from the evil King Zarkon, his son (Lotor), and the witch Hagar, who would create huge Robeasts to terrorise the people of Arus. (This storyline is similar to those of the Toei Super Sentai shows, which formed the basis for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.)

Vehicle Voltron (Voltron of the Near Universe)

Later episodes were based on Kantai Dairugger XV, and changed the storyline considerably. In this iteration of Voltron, the Galaxy Alliance's home planets have been overcrowded, and a fleet of Explorers have been sent to look for new planets to colonise. Along the way, they attract the attention of the evil Drule, who proceed to interfere with the explorers and the colonists. Since the Voltron of Planet Arus was too far away to help the explorers, a new Voltron is constructed using three teams (Land, Sea and Air) composed of 5 vehicles each, to battle the Drule threat.

Gladiator Voltron (Voltron of the Middle Universe)

There were plans for yet another Voltron, which would have been based on the series Albegas. This one would have been three smaller humanoid robots that combined to form one larger robot. Due to the strong popularity of the Lion Voltron and the unenthusiastic response to the Vehicle Voltron, World Events Productions, the St. Louis, Missouri-based company who owns the rights for both Voltron series, ultimately decided against another alternate Voltron series. It did see a limited toy release as Voltron II (Voltron I being the Vehicle Voltron and Voltron III being the Lion version).

New Projects

• Voltron: The Fleet of Doom - In 1989, World Events had Toei Animation produce some additional footage to create this crossover television special which was otherwise mainly composed of recycled GoLion and Dairugger footage.
• Voltron in the 3rd Dimension - After some initial interest, a computer-generated series was released in 1998 to a mixed response because of its departure from the original Lion Voltron's anime look. World Events Productions went back to the drawing board to develop a more traditionally animated series in an attempt to recapture the spirit of the original.

Comic Books

Lion Voltron recently was revived in print through a hit comic-book series from Image Comics.

External Links

• World Events Productions homepage
• The Official Voltron Force Homepage