Voltron: Defender of the Universe

I loved this show back in my youth. I would never miss an episode. I am pretty sure there was a movie made about this too. I remember having all the action figures and being obsessed with this cartoon. In my humble opinion this is the best cartoon made post 1980.

Now I say its one of my most favorite cartoons during my childhood, but I still may find it enjoying if I ever get a chance to see it....but I was almost obsessed with cartoon and concept it gave, and will probably remain as one of my most favorite japanese anime's.....guess I'll never grow up !!!

Anyone who trashes this show misses the entire concept. It wasn't about making the best drawings, or having the greatest music, or even phenominal action, it was about fun. If you watch this show from a child's perspective, you would understand that this is about friendship and teamwork and just having fun and living because you can. I would watch this show with my friends and then go out and be the Voltron Force. But the cartoons that are on now just can't get the idea. Stupidity isn't what a great cartoon is about. Voltron was designed so that little kids could understand it, and when it gets tampered with (Power Rangers, VR Troopers, Big Bad Beetleborgs, to name a few) it just ruins the original. Cartoon designers see these classics as ways of making a profit without having to think about it. But Voltron is the best, and will always be the best.

When I think of all the great robot cartoons, I always come back to the five lions that form the great robot ‘VOLTRON'. With so many stories that were great entertainment, I still enjoy watching an episode or two of Voltron today. I have never forgotten the transformation that takes place by the lions for them to be Voltron. ‘Form feet and legs, form arms and body, and I will form the head!' Once this happens one of the great cartoons of the 80's is in full flight.

Voltron, a mighty robot who defended peaceful planets and justice in the galaxy seemed invincible until an evil witch, Haggar, tried to destroy him. Instead she split him into 5 parts, each a large robotic lion. Each one was powered by an element of planet Arus.... the Black Lion by lightning, the Red Lion by magma, the Green Lion by cyclone, the Blue Lion by water, and the Yellow Lion by the sands of the desert. After the confrontation with Haggar, each lion found themself a hiding place, somewhere in Arus, totally unused, for years. Arus, not being protected by Voltron, is consequently defeated by the forces of the evil Zarkon. Now sent by Galaxy Garrison after another terrible battle, five space explorers flee from planet Doom to find the secret to restoring the super-robot known as Voltron.

The many storylines that were thought up for Voltron were really good. I like how Zarkon's evil witch, Haggar, is always willing to try and destroy Voltron. There also the great bravery that the Voltron force has, which is second to none. With something like 50 or more episodes being made, they really did have some inventive ideas to which they portrayed. This cartoon also has fine graphics and pictures. Voltron is such an impressive looking robot when he is formed, as are the individual robot lions. Other remarkable pictures from this cartoon include the Castle of Lions, Planet doom, and the many ro-beasts that Zarkon has Haggar release on Voltron.

The story has some interesting characters. The five space explorers (Keith, Lance, Pidge, Sven and Hunk) are a great team, with some talents giving them the ability to escape any kind of danger. When they discover the castle of lions, we also get to meet two fascinating characters, that being Princess Allura and her trusted advisor, Coran. They have been through so much with Planet Arus. The baddies have some weird and wonderful people. King Zarkon is an evil man, treating people with contempt and has no conscience while he is doing it. His only desire is to rule the universe, with his adversary's including Witch Haggar, Zarkon's own son Prince Lotor, commander Yurak, and his evil brigade of fighters and ro-beasts.

Voltron has many fine voice-overs from people such as Peter Cullen, Neil Ross, Jack Angel, Michael Bell, B.J. Ward, and Lennie Weinrib. Theses people do so many varying characters that they show how good their voice-over talents really are. Their voices have also been used on other cartoons such as the transformers and other Voltron series, with some being used on some movies as well. There have been many spin-offs to try and top Voltron. You have shows such as the ‘mighty morphine power rangers' that was a series I did not like. Then take the new ‘3D' Voltron. Sure it might have some of the same people voicing the same characters, but the show itself does not have the same ‘nostalgia' which accompanies ‘Voltron, defender of the universe'.

This cartoon brings back so many memories from so long ago. Innocent days spent in front the TV, barracking for Voltron to defeat the evil forces of King Zarkon. There was another TV series continuing on ‘the adventures Voltron', which was made up of ‘a land, air and sea team'. The problem I had with that series was that it did not embody what the other Voltron was about. If you are a fan of Voltron and can not find it on TV, then I recommend that you get a hold of the 4 tape series of Voltron (released in Australia by Siren Entertainment), I am certainly glad that I did.

The problem with Voltron is that it's way too predictable. Almost every episode follows the same pattern.

1. Zarkon comes up with a plot to attack planet Arus and/or defeat Voltron.

2. The evil witch Hagar designs a new Ro-Beast guaranteed to defeat Voltron. (yeah right)

3. Zarkon executes his plan.

4. After some turmoil, the Voltron team discovers Zarkon's plot.

5. Hagar's Ro-Beast is unleashed on planet Arus.

6. The Voltron team enter their Lion robots.

7. The Ro-Beast clobbers the Lion robots. (complete with Lion pilots Allura & Pidge's annoying screams.)

8. The Lion robots merge to form Voltron. (complete with REPETITIVE dialogue from Voltron team leader Keith.)

9. The Ro-Beast clobbers Voltron.

10. Voltron team leader Keith FINALLY remembers to "Form Blazing Sword!!". (duh!!)

11. Voltron slices the Ro-Beast in half and destroys it. (Why does it take so long?)

This pattern gets old pretty quick and even as a kid back in 1984, I thought it was repetitive. I used to change the channel as soon as Voltron formed the blazing sword. Despite the repetitiveness, Voltron is still more sophisticated than most American cartoons. However "Robotech's" plots and characters were far more sophisticated and made Voltron that much harder to watch. Anyway it's still a good cartoon and worth checking out. If you like Voltron, you'll also probably like the cartoon/anime "Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs". It has a Voltron-like robot (named Ram-Rod) and team members with a wild west theme.