Voltron voltron info

VOLTRON IS COOL! I think I'm the only person who liked Vehicle Voltron more than Lion Voltron.

I think "G-Force" was a joint venture between Turner and Sandy Frank. At the ending credits, it still says the copyright belongs to Sandy Frank. I don't know what the heck that worked out, but Fred Ladd should have had his head examined before coming up with those awful names and even worse reprtitive disco track!

 

well, they showed the lion episodes more often, the vehicles were cool though...wasnt there a crossover movie once too?

 

Yes, the crossover was called "Fleet of Doom," not to be confused with "Planet Doom." Both were made available on VHS. "Fleet of Doom" was made from scratch in America, as was the entire second season of Lion Voltron. The drop in animation quality is clearly evident. One thing I didn't like in the second season is Pidge's uniform color changed from light green to dark green, and dark green was what Sven wore. Sven was my favorite and I hated seeing him go! (In the original Japanese series, Sven was killed and who we see as Sven later on is really his twin brother.)

I have read the two Voltron series came from two completely different Japanese series. The Galaxy Garrison scenes in Lion Voltron are the same seen in Vehicle Voltron, but those could have been spliced in to connect the two series. But when we see Keith and Hunk for the very first time when they are about to crash land on Arus, they are wearing the uniforms seen in Vehicle Voltron. This was seen once and only once. So maybe the two Japanese series weren't completely seperate after all.

 

If you watch the beginning of the lion series carefully, the scenes in which Keith and Hunk are presumably seen in vehicle Voltron attire can be attributed to the fact that these are actually scenes of Jeff and Rocky from the vehicle Voltron portion of the series!

It's also relatively apparent looking back on it that the Galaxy Garrison footage was lifted from the vehicle series in order to tie the two together (the uniforms match those of the explorer crew and their Voltron force, etc.)... But of course we all saw the lion version first, which makes this less apparent. World Events later helped to obscure these changes further when they produced new animation that not only brought the lion force to Galaxy Garrison, but brought the two Voltrons together to fight.

I have heard that the original plan for the show actually involved vehicle Voltron, and that lion Voltron came later (!), which may explain why they used this footage in the lion episodes, thereby keeping the vehicle team shows somewhat more intact.

I have to say I am in the small minority that actually preferred the vehicle series. It's not surprising that fans wouldn't latch onto the vehicle series as readily as the lion however, as the number of characters is a bit daunting for a child viewing the show... And you have to remember that the lion force was televised first, so that's what everyone was expecting to see! But I assure you, if you go back and watch eps of the two series back to back now, you will find that the vehicle series had just as much to offer (not to mention a much more plausible premise).

Drop me a line if you want to talk about this some more. I'm always eager to get in touch with longtime fans!

 

Now, on the box for the lion figure from back in the day...it shows three voltrons, the lions , the vehicles, and a green robot know as voltron 2.... anyone know about this guy??

 

RE: 'newbie/confused'

I had info on the 'other Voltron' at one time, and to be honest, I can't remember the original Japanese name offhand, but I believe it started with a 'D.' I'll research it and post again soon.

Basically, World Events had several shows they were planning to bring to the U.S. under the Voltron name, but it ended up just being the two. Perhaps because the vehicle team didn't do as well as expected, or maybe due to the fact that the lion force made such a good impact, they commissioned the production of new lion episodes instead of using additional series... Or it's possible that they just wanted to make more money off of the toyline!!

I have also read that the original promotional flyer sent out prior to the show being aired displayed pictures and made reference to the storyline of vehicle Voltron only, and that another robot unseen in the series was also shown - but no Lion Voltron!!

Lemme do some more checking on 'Voltron II' from the toyline and I'll post again later.

 

RE: newbie/confused

Well, I was wrong about one thing. The robot name doesn't start with a 'D.' It's 'Albegas.' I found a good link for some pics though there isn't really much info on the series. It's at http://www.arus.org/voltron/albegas.html

The author of the page provides some cool pics from their postcard collection, though I am about 99.9% sure that no episodes from this series EVER aired as Voltron in the U.S.

Hope this helps.

 

Voltron

WOW! Someone who knows more about Voltron than me...this is quite a surprise. Let me get myself gathered here and I will respond soon...

 

Re: Voltron

LOL, I've just been a fan for a loooong time...

Here are a few cool links for the lesser known stuff.

Obscure early Voltron factoids and rumors:
http://members.aol.com/shanemuir/trilogy.htm

Vehicle Voltron:
http://brainchildofgod.org

Albegas (i.e. the toyline Voltron that never appeared on the tube)
http://arus.org/voltron/albegas.html

Enjoy!

 

Even as a kid, I noticed the animation change from the first Lion season to the second (kind of like how I noticed the animation changes in Battle of the Planets). One thing that was obvious to me was in the first season, Sven had dark green on his uniform and Pidge had light green. But in the second season, they were less careful about this and Pidge's green became darker. I didn't like this because Sven was my favorite character. Although, I did like that they always kept him in the opening credits.

I've heard that in the oiginal Japanese series, the Sven character was murdered, not injured, and who we see as Sven later was actually his twin brother.

There is an episode in the second season where Sven returns and flies the blue lion (or at least that's what I read). I wonder if he dons his old green uniform. If anyone has this episode on tape, I would be very interested in seeing it.

What I loved is when one of the series talked about the other. For instance, when the Drule Empire talked about King Zarkon. I can't remember if that was mentioned in the Vehicle Series or the Lion Series, but there was a bit of a crossover. Hazar was saying in one episode that Zarkon was kind of an outcast and they stoped paying attention to him, but that he was beginning to get out of hand. Darn...I wish I could remember more of that. I also remember near the end of the series, Hazar wanted peace and the other members of the Empire wanting him ousted because of that.

Although Sven was my all-time favorite character, I too enjoyed the Vehicle Series more. I think I had a crush on the cute blonde who flew the red plane! (Or at least I had a crush on who ever I thought might play her in a live action series.) There was just something I liked about that series...maybe it was that there weren't as many episodes, and it made it more special.

It would be great if they came out with all the episodes on DVD.

Mark

 

Voltron & more Voltron!

>Even as a kid, I noticed the animation change from the first Lion >season to the second (kind of like how I noticed the animation >changes in Battle of the Planets). One thing that was obvious to >me was in the first season, Sven had dark green on his uniform >and Pidge had light green. But in the second season, they were >less careful about this and Pidge's green became darker. I didn't >like this because Sven was my favorite character. Although, I did >like that they always kept him in the opening credits.

I too noticed the drop in quality between season 1 & 2. The plots also seemed to get more and more kidified as the show went on, which is unfortunate. It's funny going back and watching the shows now. They seemed so dark at the time, and now it's easy to see how World Events went to great lengths to kidify the show as much as possible. Guess you can't keep a good series down no matter how you butcher it up... I would still love to see what either of the original series were like (especially that first lion ep where some serious editing was obviously done to fit the two stories together).

Sven was a very cool character, and as you mentioned, I never knew until recently how they accounted for the Sven that appeared later in the series. It seemed apparent to me even watching the show at the time that Sven actually died in battle with Haggar in ep 6. But it makes sense that if the Voltron Force members were originally from Arus (in the original Japanese series, I mean) that Sven's character might've had a twin on Pollux, like Allura does with Rommell. I have mixed feelings about the character's accent. It definitely distinguishes him from the others, but it seems like they may've only done it to cover up the fact that they had, like, five or six voice actors playing all the characters! For instance, the girl that did Allura did all three of the female pilots in the vehicle series. That can get confusing, and make it even more difficult to get all of the 15 characters straight.

>There is an episode in the second season where Sven returns >and flies the blue lion (or at least that's what I read). I wonder >if he dons his old green uniform. If anyone has this episode on >tape, I would be very interested in seeing it.

I don't remember such an episode, but I must admit that my memory of the second season is much more scetchy than the rest. I do recall the character teaming up with the Voltron Force again later in the first season, however... Especially when he "avoids death" the second time in the butchered final episode (his battle with Lotor, where they go plummeting toward the ground, and they you hear a splashing sound. Allura says, "Look, they fell into the water!" So everybody's standing around, crying, and then they quickly cut to stock footage of Lotor flying away in his cruiser!)

>What I loved is when one of the series talked about the other. >For instance, when the Drule Empire talked about King Zarkon. I >can't remember if that was mentioned in the Vehicle Series or >the Lion Series, but there was a bit of a crossover. Hazar was >saying in one episode that Zarkon was kind of an outcast and >they stoped paying attention to him, but that he was beginning >to get out of hand. Darn...I wish I could remember more of that. >I also remember near the end of the series, Hazar wanted >peace and the other members of the Empire wanting him >ousted because of that.

There seemed to be more of the vehicle force shown in the lion series than vice versa. I'm pretty sure I have some of those eps on tape, such as when the Drules talk about Zarkon, or when Chip gets a letter from "his brother," Pidge.

One of my favorite aspects of the vehicle shows is Hazar's transformation. He pretty much goes from stock bad guy to a very realistic, intelligent character (now if only some of the others would do that...). I really tried to hold out hope for Lotor, even at the end of the cheesy second season.

>Although Sven was my all-time favorite character, I too enjoyed >the Vehicle Series more. I think I had a crush on the cute blonde >who flew the red plane! (Or at least I had a crush on who ever I >thought might play her in a live action series.)

Haha! Ginger, you mean. You weren't the only one! (C'mon, I was 11 or 12 at the time; everybody's messed up at that age!)

>something I liked about that series...maybe it was that there >weren't as many episodes, and it made it more special.

I believe they did the same number of both shows for the first season, although I've heard the original vehicle series was actually 56 eps, rather than 52. I could be mistaken on this. I haven't researched or sat down and counted. Just what I remember hearing and/or reading about over the years. I think the later vehicle eps were my faves, but it's been so long since they've been shown I don't really recall that much about them.

>It would be great if they came out with all the episodes on DVD.

What are they waiting for anyway?? World Events still sells a few VHS volumes of the series (including two tapes of vehicle Voltron shows and the crossover movie, in case you didn't know and wanted to check 'em out). Unfortunately, it seems that they picked a lot of random episodes and skip around, rather than showing them in any sort of order. For instance, the first vehicle team tape starts with episode 2, and then skips to 4, etc...

I would seriously love to get both of these portions of the series on DVD. Maybe someday...

Patrick

 

VOLTRON II WAS AN EARTH BASED DEFENSE.

WITH THE LION VOLTRON DEFENDING ARUS AND THE VECHICLE VOLTRON DEFENDING THE THEIR SPACE EXPLORATION, IT BECAME NECESSARY FOR THE GG TO PROVIDE PROTECTION TO EARTH.
WITH THEIR DEFENSES SPREAD OUT, MANY OF VOLTRON'S ENEMIES FELT EARTH WAS RIPE FOR THE TAKING.
THE GG CREATED TO EARTH BASE VOLTRON II TO PROTECT THE PLANET IN TIMES OF ATTACK FROM THE DOOM/DRULL EMPIRES.

THIS VOLTRON CONSISTED OF THREE SEPERATE DROIDS:

BLUE, RED, AND GREEN:

ALPHA===BETA===GAMMA

KNOWN AS "ALBEGAS".

I BELIEVE THREE CHILDREN CONTROLLED THESE DROIDS AND SOMEHOW FOUND A WAY TO DEFEND EARTH AS BEST AS POSSIBLE.

THE SHOW AIRED IN JAPAN AS PART OF THE VOLTRON TRILOGY, BUT NEVER MADE IT TO THE SMALL BOX IN THE STATES.

HOPE THIS HELPS.......

 

Voltron

I found some more very interesting material here for those who may be interested in the differences between Voltron and its original Japanese counterparts.

There's a great site dedicated to Go Lion / Lion Voltron at http://golion.fateback.com ... Not only does this guide give you a play by play of the changes made to the series, it even provides screen shots of a lot of the deleted material from the original series (Sven & Lotor wounding each other and falling to their deaths in the final episode, for instance)! There is a wealth of info here for the longtime fan.

Also, for those who may be interested in the original Japanese series, I suggest checking out http://angelfire.com/ny/henshin/faq.htm ... I haven't ordered from these guys yet, but it looks as though they have a few episodes of all three original 'Voltron' series. (And for those of you who may be interested in Saber Rider, they appear to have many more of those eps available as well!)

If anyone has ordered from these guys before, please gimme some info on them. Other comments welcome. Thx

Patrick

 

As long as this is nothing to do with the Voltron that just came out Ièll come on it

 

HEY MARK,

YOU ARE NOT ALONE IN THAT ONE. I HAVE ALWAYS FAVORED THE VEHICLE TEAM A LITTE MORE.
I LIKED THE FACT OF THEM GETTING TO GO TO DIFFERENT WORLDS IN EACH EPISODE.
LION FORCE SEEMED TO BORE ME AFTER A BIT---THERE WAS ONLY SO MUCH BEATING THAT PLANET SHOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO TAKE BEFORE IT JUST CRUMPLED ALL TOGETHER.
VEHICLE VOLTRON ALWAYS SEEMED TO MAKE IT FRESH.