Voltron: Legendary Defender

[SAMAS]

So, Netflix and Dreamworks have released a new reboot of Voltron, brought to us by the same guys who gave us the Avatar saga.

So how is it? Didn't you hear the words "Avatar Saga"? As in "The Last Airbender" and "Legend of Korra?". They definitely seemed to have been able to take their time here. It's better than Korra, but time will tell if it will match and surpass The Last Airbender(The series, I mean. Surpassing the movie isn't exactly hard).

Seriously, it's good, read good. Easily the best version of the show ever(yes, better than the original). But they make a lot of changes that may or may not annoy or anger fans of the original. The most notable ones are the characters. Like the previous Voltron Force reboot, They re-match the character's colors with their lions, but in this case, they change the Lion assignments to match uniform color. So Keith is in the Red Lion, Lance in the Blue, and Sven-- sorry, Shiro(Taken from Shirogane, Sven's Golion counterpart)-- is the leader in the Black Lion.

That's the other major change. They de-rename a lot of elements back to their original Golion names. So the Drule are the Galra Empire once again(though their boss is still called Zarkon), Haggar is Honevera, and as mentioned before, Sven is Shiro. Also, Allura looks like Princess Yue of the Water Tribe with elf ears. Spoiler

Oh, and Pidge is a Pseudonym. Her real name is Kate.

It's pretty much a ground-up rebuild of the concept. They take elements from Golion, the original dub, and even Voltron Force, and add their own spin on things. Fights are of course less Wuxia than Avatar, but the action is still good, and had a lot more variety. Robeasts of course return, but they're not a Monster-Of-The-Week thing. Only three or four of them show up in the whole 11-episode season, and only one dies to the Blazing Sword.

So... You know, I don't know how to end this. Go watch the series, and come back and discuss it here.

[LadyTevar]

I just streamed the whole season, and my only real complaint is there isn't a Season Two yet.

Like the Avatar series, they are splitting the story line between the classic "monster of day" and an actual over-reaching Arc. Like the Fire Nation in "Avatar", the writers are focusing on the Galra Empire as deadly, dangerous, and in charge of the majority of the universe, and Voltron (like the gAang) is the sole force of resistance. I have little doubt that the writers can pull it off, and also remain close to the source material.

Also, there are two great story lines going on between Shiro and Pidge. Shiro, we find out in the pilot, was the pilot for Pidge's dad and brother on a mission to the Oort Cloud. The mission was found and captured by the Galra Empire, and Shiro is the only one who escaped. Pidge is dedicated to finding any and all information that can get them back, and that search has already driven the plot and character lines. Shiro's forgotten a lot of what was done to him, and is showing recognizable signs of PTSD from his capture. He knows what happened to Pidge's dad and brother, but can't remember where they were sent.

[mr friendly guy]

Does the narrator still sounds like Optimus Prime.

I first saw Voltron as the vehicle force, so they will forever be Voltron to me. However I liked how the Lion team and vehicle force were set in the same universe fighting different enemies of humanity, and Fleet of Doom where both Voltrons team up is freaking awesome.

Then they had some computer CGI crap where the Voltron force was hamstrung by bureaucracy and then another Voltron Force cartoon which added stuff to the mythos such as Voltron gaining blazing maces or blazing guns if they just change the centre lion from the black lion to another colour. But they also introduce Voltronite, er I mean kryptonite, er I mean Haggarium, that's right haggarium which I wasn't too keen on. Although Lotor's Robeast who formed their own Gestalt robot was cool.

But the OP has definitely convinced me to check it out.

[NeoGoomba]

My wife and I almost finished the first episode, but we had to stop watching before they could actually form Voltron. So far I'm liking it. But I do have one super burning question:

Do they play the original Voltron theme at all?? I'm fucking dying to hear it again as CGI Voltron wrecks shop.

[Galvatron]

Does anyone say "It's a lion! It's huge!" at some point?

[mr friendly guy]

They seem to have taken ideas from the previous Voltron cartoon where each lion allows Voltron to create a new weapon. I love the Voltron rocket launcher.

Now if they can also use the teleportation trick or "vector jump" from Voltron the third dimension that would be cool. In this version they can make wormholes, but it lacks the same tactical applications as a vector jump.

[mr friendly guy]

So who's the mysterious Galra soldier that betrayed them and deactivated the barrier allowing the Voltron force to create a wormhole and escape. My money's on Lotor, what with his obsession with Alura.

[LadyTevar]

Does anyone say "It's a lion! It's huge!" at some point?

I think that was in the pilot, actually.....

[Batman]

Not that I noticed?

[Batman]

And if someone would kindly fix the thread title?

[LadyTevar]

Not that I noticed?

Funny, I thought one of them said it the first time they see the Blue Lion.

[Batman]

Nope. None of them actually says that.

[JamesStaley]

I know this has been probably been floating around (for years?), but can somebody update/inform and/or deny the existence of a live-action Voltron/GoLion Movie? Given the success of the live-action Transformers Movies, I think now would be a good time to do one.

[Parallax]

... the mice. The goddamn annoying mice.
You already have one comedy relief character in the inept princess' helper/aide/butler/whatever. Why do you also need the mice?

[Galvatron]

I was always both fascinated and confused by Voltron lore, especially with regard to how the vehicle and lion Voltrons related to each other. I assume they were only "ancient" relative to humanity of the distant future.

I also felt that the vehicle Voltron got short shrift and developed an affection for it when I was a kid so I never liked that the latter day comics depicted it as some sort of pale imitation of the lion version. I always preferred to think of them as siblings, with one from Earth and the other from Arus.

[Vendetta]

... the mice. The goddamn annoying mice.
You already have one comedy relief character in the inept princess' helper/aide/butler/whatever. Why do you also need the mice?

The mice didn't bother me because, well, they were an incidental onscreen detail almost all of the time.

They were no Appa or Momo, but I don't get being annoyed by them, they didn't do enough.

[bilateralrope]

... the mice. The goddamn annoying mice.
You already have one comedy relief character in the inept princess' helper/aide/butler/whatever. Why do you also need the mice?

The mice never struck me as comic relief. Just cute animal characters.

[LadyTevar]

... the mice. The goddamn annoying mice.
You already have one comedy relief character in the inept princess' helper/aide/butler/whatever. Why do you also need the mice?

Unlike the Butler, the MICE actually manage to follow orders and do things right the first time.