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Voltron at New York Comic Con 2016
Voltron: Defender of the Universe is an
that features a team of astronauts who pilot a giant
known as "Voltron". Initially produced as a joint venture between
and , the original television series aired in
from September 10, 1984 to November 18, 1985. The first season of Voltron, featuring the "Lion Force Voltron", was adapted from the Japanese
television series . The second season, featuring the "Vehicle Team Voltron", was adapted from the unrelated anime series .
Voltron was the top-rated syndicated children's show for two years during its original run, and spawned two follow-up series, several comic books, and a 1-hour special.
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The original series was created by Peter Keefe and John Teichmann, founding partners of , in 1984 using material that they had licensed from the Japanese animated series
and . But since they had no means of translating the Japanese series into English, Keefe and Teichman surmised the plots, commissioned writer
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.
The Japanese
series 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 GoLion, another "combining-robot" cartoon which featured lion-shaped fighting robot starships.[]. Because the World Events producers greatly preferred GoLion to Daltanious, the GoLion episodes were adapted instead, going on to become the most popular portion of the original Voltron run. A third version/series of Voltron based on yet another Japanese series, , was also in progress, but dropped when World Events Productions joined with Toei to make new GoLion-based shows, due to that show's popularity over the Dairugger run.
The first series was edited primarily from
('Hyakuj?-? Goraion'), and features a team of five young
commanding five
which can be combined to form Voltron. In this undefined future era, the Voltron Force is in charge of protecting the planet Arus (ruled by Princess Allura) from the evil King Zarkon (from planet Doom), his son Lotor, and the witch Haggar, who creates huge "ro-beasts" to terrorize the Arusian people. Despite being the first of the two robots to appear on American television, the "GoLion" version of Voltron was regarded as "Voltron III" within the storyline because, within the original planned "three-Voltron" continuity, Arus was the furthest setting from Earth's side of the universe ("Voltron I" being intended for the Near Universe, and "Voltron II" for the Middle Universe).
The second series was edited primarily from
('Kik? Kantai Dairugger XV'), with the storyline considerably changed. In this iteration of Voltron, the Galaxy Alliance's home planets are now overcrowded, and a fleet of explorers is sent to search for new planets to colonize. Along the way, they attract the attention of the evil Drule Empire, long engaged in an ongoing war against the Alliance, and the Drules proceed to interfere with the mission of the explorers and the colonists. Since the Arusian Voltron is too far away to help these explorers, a totally new Voltron has to be constructed to battle the Drule threat.
This Voltron Force consists of fifteen members, divided into three teams of five, known respectively as the Land, Sea, and Air Teams. Each team is specialized in gathering data or fighting in their area of expertise. Each team can combine their vehicles into a bigger machine, with each combined vehicle differing among the three teams. These fighters are:
The Aqua Fighter (Sea Team)
The Turbo Terrain Fighter (Land Team)
The Strato Fighter (Air Team)
When necessary, all fifteen vehicles combine to form the mighty Voltron. This Voltron in the toyline was referred to as Voltron I as it was set closest to Earth. However, the assembly of the Vehicle Team Voltron could not be maintained for longer than fi it was explained in the first episode that combined Voltron only had enough stored solar energy to operate for five minutes.
The proposed third season was to have been based on
(Kosoku Denjin Albegas).[] Although
did produce and market toy versions of the three robots (Black Alpha, Red Gamma, Blue Beta) under the "Voltron II" name, the series never actually aired. Due to the extreme popularity of the Lion Force Voltron and lack of popularity of the Vehicle Team Voltron series, World Events Productions eventually elected against another alternate Voltron, and plans to adapt Albegas were aborted.[]
In 1986, World Events hired
to produce the one-off crossover television special Voltron: Fleet of Doom, which mixed in GoLion and Dairugger XV footage with new animation. The special was made for the international market and, as of the middle of September 2016, it had not been released in Japan.
After some initial interest,[] the computer-generated series Voltron: The Third Dimension was released in 1998, set five years after the end of the original Lion Voltron series. The series was met with a mixed response, due to various changes, such as the revamped looks of the Lion Voltron, King Zarkon, and Prince Lotor. The series served as a sequel to the Lion Force V among the tools used to bridge the gap between the two series was an official starmap as designed by Shannon Muir and finalized in partnership with World Events Productions.[] After Voltron: The Third Dimension, 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.
In July 2005, producer
(, ) announced plans to create a live-action
of the Voltron franchise in collaboration with producers Pharrell Williams, Mark Costa, and Frank Oelman. Pharrell Williams was also reported to compose the musical score the film. The project's development was funded by Jim Young's Animus Films. In December 2006, screenwriter Enzo Marra was announced to have completed a script for Gordon. In August 2007, the production entity
entered negotiations with The Mark Gordon Company to adapt Voltron. Interest in the property heightened after the box office success of , another film involving shape-changing robots.[] Marks's script was described as "a post-apocalyptic tale set in New York City...[in which] five ragtag survivors of an alien attack band together and end up piloting the five lion-shaped robots that combine and form the massive sword-wielding Voltron that helps battle Earth's invaders." " On August 18, 2008, Relativity Media entered negotiations with
to finance and produce the film, though on a more moderate budget, utilizing cost-saving CGI techniques such as those used in . Max Makowski was slated to direct. As of the end of August 2008, the title had been set for Voltron: Defender of the Universe. Relativity would've released the film in North America while New Regency's distribution partner, , would handle international distribution. But at that time, Ted Koplar, through his
(Koplar took over the company as the health of Peter K Keefe died in 2010 at age 57), was fighting a legal battle with
over the movie rights as of November of that year. On September 16, 2010, concept art for the movie was released. On March 8, 2011, it was announced that Relativity Media and World Events had entered a bidding war on who would make the film.
entered into collaboration on writing the script. On July 21, 2011,
& Relativity Media announced they would bring Voltron: Defender of the Universe to the big screen.
would distribute. On November 4, 2016, it was announced that
will make the film with
writing the script.
The animated series Voltron Force premiered on
in June 2011. The series follows the exploits of a group of three young cadets brought together by the original members of the Voltron Force to defend the galaxy against a resurrected Lotor, now ruling the planet Drule after a military . Voltron Force is a World Events Production in conjunction with Kick Start Productions and Classic Media.
exclusive series Voltron: Legendary Defender, produced by , is a reboot of the Voltron story. The series premiered on June 10, 2016, with
serving as showrunners. On January 5, 2016,
announced that Voltron would debut in 2016 as an original animated Netflix series in partnership with
(DWA), part of an expanded multi-year agreement between the two groups. In February, teasers revealed the title of the new series to be Voltron: Legendary Defender. On March 25, 2016, a teaser trailer was released, announcing that the first season, consisting of 13 episodes, would premiere June 10, 2016. A second season premiered on Netflix on January 20, 2017.
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In Australia, DVDs of all episodes of Voltron were released by
as the 20th Anniversary Edition, Lion Force Voltron Collection. The original series was released in five volumes between August 2004 and July 2005, under the name Voltron: Defender of the Universe. Each box was in the color and style of one of the lions with a metallic glossy inner DVD-case. Another three volumes of "Vehicle Team Voltron" were released between August and December 2005. In addition, a "Best of" 2-DVD set released in November 2006 featured five episodes from each series. Finally, a 24-disc boxset subtitled The Lion and Vehicle Force Complete Collection was released on June 24, 2009. Madman Entertainment has since relinquished the rights to the Voltron series and has since been re-released by . Previous licensees of Voltron in Australia have been
Prior to the release of the boxed sets, a promotional DVD was released for Voltron. It was packed in a threefold glossy cardboard folder. The folder featured full-color artwork and text about the then-upcoming release of Voltron on DVD. The disk had an image of Voltron, and was labeled for promotional use only. It featured the first episode, "Space Explorers Captured", and several promos for other series.
In Region 1, Voltron was released on DVD in its original broadcast form and remastered by New York–based distributor
in eight volumes between September 2006 and July 2009. The volumes contain approximately fifteen episodes each, along with special features such as interviews with producer and director Franklin Cofod, and various others involved in the original and current productions. The first five volumes together contain all the Lion Force episodes, which were broadcast as seasons 1 and 3, while the next three contain the Vehicle Team episodes, broadcast as season 2.
special was released on DVD early in 2007, as an
exclusive. Fleet of Doom was a special crossover film where the Vehicle and Lion Voltrons joined forces to defeat the "Fleet of Doom" (Doom and Drule Empires). The special was originally released in 1986, but was never released in Japan. Media Blasters released Fleet of Doom on July 28, 2009 as a full retail release. A Blu-ray version was planned, but it was delayed many times and was finally officially canceled.
The first volume of the original series was released in the UK in 2007 by .
According , Voltron: The Third Dimension was to be released on DVD at some point, but no release date has been announced currently.[]
Media Blasters also released the two Japanese shows that made up Voltron — Beast King GoLion and Armored Fleet Dairugger XV — each in their original, unedited Japanese form, with English subtitles.[] Volume 1 of GoLion was released on May 27, 2008, Volume 2 on August 12, 2008, and Volume 3 on November 25, 2008. GoLion was re-released as a complete chronology set with all 52 episodes on April 13, 2010. The first Dairugger XV DVD collection was released on February 23, 2010, the second Dairugger XV collection was released on May 25, 2010. The third and final collection was originally scheduled to be released in September 2010, but was repeatedly delayed and finally released on January 4, 2011.
As of mid-2011, Classic Media () now owns the rights to Voltron on DVD.
As of July 2011 all Lion Force episodes have been released on . Netflix also has both Lion Force and Vehicle Force available for instant streaming.
of the first twenty episodes of the first season can be streamed for free online on .
Following the success of ,
released 12 episodes of Defender of the Universe as Voltron '84 on March 24, 2017. Each episode is introduced by members of the cast and crew of Legendary Defender.
North America
(Region 1)
Lion Force Voltron Collection 1
September 22, 2004
Black Lion
September 26, 2006
Lion Force Voltron Collection 2
November 19, 2004
December 19, 2006
Yellow Lion
Lion Force Voltron Collection 3
February 23, 2005
Green Lion
May 8, 2007
Green Lion
Lion Force Voltron Collection 4
April 13, 2005
September 25, 2007
Lion Force Voltron Collection 5
July 20, 2005
Yellow Lion
December 11, 2007
Black Lion
Vehicle Force Voltron Collection 1
August 31, 2005
December 23, 2008
Vehicle Force Voltron Collection 2
October 19, 2005
March 24, 2009
Vehicle Force Voltron Collection 3
December 7, 2005
July 21, 2009
Fleet of Doom
Unreleased
Unreleased
July 28, 2009
In the history of the Voltron franchise three music soundtracks have been officially released to the iTunes and Google Play stores, the first was on September 27, 2012 for the original Voltron Lions series with music composed by John Petersen, the second on October 1, 2012 was the soundtrack for the Third Dimension series with music composed by Stephen Martson and on July 21, 2016 the soundtrack for the first season of current series incarnation, Voltron: Legendary Defender with music by Brad Breeck, Brian Parkhurst and Alex Geringas. It should be noted these soundtrack have never been released to a non-digital format such as a physical album or CD.
Voltron: Defender of the Universe Track Listings
Song Title
Voltron Opener (Narration)
Narration by
who also provided voices in the Lions series
Alien Landscape
Gladiator Fight
Royal Subjects
First of three bumpers to transition to a commercial break.
Voltron Will Be Back...
Used for commercial breaks. Narration by Peter Cullen.
And Now Back To Voltron...
Used to transition back from commercial break. Narration by Peter Cullen.
Quick Harp
Castle of Lions
Sad Princess
Our Prayers Answered (Dialogue)
Narration by Peter Cullen
At The Lake
Hunk and Pidge
Second of three bumpers to transition to a commercial break.
Sand People
Voltron Arrives
We Are Friends
Quick Harp #2
King Alford
Underground Base
Third and final bumper to transition to a commercial break.
Voltron Will Be Back (Instrumental)
Ready To Form Voltron (Dialogue)
Dialogue by , , ,
Voltron Closer
World Events Productions logo stinger at the end of the song.
Original Opener
No narration version
Original Opener w/Sing Out
No narration version
Original Closer
World Events Productions logo stinger at the end of the song.
Form Voltron Sound FX
Voltage SFX
Voltage Bump
Magic, Fire SFX
Voltron DJ MacMan Dance Remix
A bonus remix track of the all of tracks. Dialogue by Jack Angel.
All Music Compilation
All music from the soundtrack in one track
Music of Voltron Montage
A montage of music from the soundtrack
Voltron: The Third Dimension Track Listings
Song Title
Spacey Opening
Voltron 3D Theme
Big Orchestra'
Castle of the Lion Theme
Angular Orchestra
Hunk & Pidge
Military Background
Lion Launch Sequence
Space Lice
History of the Lions
Military Action
The Transformation
Gnarly Rock
Light Tension
Lotor & Amalgamus
Sweet Strings
Robeast Rock
Into Stealth
Stealth Voltron
Thematic Bridge
DreamWorks Voltron Legendary Defender Season 1 Track Listings
Song Title
DreamWorks Voltron Legendary Defender Theme Song
Help Us Find It
Detecting Voltron
Let's Get That Cannon
Goodbye Father
Robeast Arrives
The Balmera Lives
To Go Home
Supposed to Be My Lion
Voltron Transformation
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In 1985, Modern Comics, an imprint of , produced a three-issue mini-series based on the Lion Voltron television show.
Voltron comics creators Brian Smith and Jacob Chabot signing Voltron posters at the
booth at the 2011 .
In 2002, comic book publisher
announced that it had acquired the rights to publish Voltron comic books. Devil's Due, through , published a five issue mini-series (preceded by a #0 issue from Dreamwave) which featured the Lion Voltron incarnation of the character and rebooted the property. This was then followed by an ongoing series self-published by Devil's Due, which was placed on hiatus in 2005 after the eleventh issue, due to poor sales.[]
Devil's Due announced in January 2008 that the five-issue mini-series, the eleven issues of the ongoing series, and the #0 issue would be collected into a Voltron Omnibus trade paperback that would also include the unpublished twelfth issue of the ongoing series that would wrap up all the storylines.
In July 2008, a new five issue mini-series was released by Devil's Due, which picked up where the ongoing series left off. This series further explored the origins of Lion Voltron's creation, from 12,000 years in the past to the present day. The mini-series showed Voltron existing as a single construct created by sorcerers and scientists, resembling a knight. During its battle with the first Drule Empire, Voltron was tricked by Haggar into landing on a black comet with the gravitational attraction of a . Voltron was then attacked by Haggar, and blown into five pieces. However, the intervention of a sorcerer resulted in the five pieces becoming the five lions as they descended onto Arus.[]
The original five issue mini-series was adapted as the 2007
Voltron: Defenders of the Universe - Revelations. Its sequel, Voltron: Defenders of the Universe - Paradise Lost, adapted the first story arc of the ongoing series, introducing the V-15 and its pilots. The Devil's Due run is now collected digitally exclusively through Devil's Due Digital.
announced plans to publish Voltron comics, while 's young readers imprint, Viz Kids, announced plans to publish a series of graphic novels called Voltron Force, on which Bian Smith would serve as head writer, and Jacob Chabot and Dario Brizuela would serve as lead artists.
In September 2015 Dynamite is slated to release Voltron: From The Ashes written by
with art by Blacky Shepherd.
Matchbox imported the Lion Force Voltron, Gladiator Voltron and Vehicle Force Voltron diecast toys from
of Japan in 1984. The company also released 6-inch figures of the Voltron robots that were more affordable, but lacked the detail level of their larger counterparts and could not separate into their component forms.
At the peak of the series' popularity, Panosh Place released new Voltron toys, including action figures of the characters and a larger Voltron toy that could fit them.
To coincide with the 1998 broadcast of Voltron: The Third Dimension, the now-defunct
reissued the Matchbox diecast Lion Force Voltron, with a few changes to the mold and a total of 17 weapons in comparison to the original's sword and shield. Trendmasters also released the newer Stealth Voltron variant, as well as character action figures and the robots Voltrex and Dracotron.
Shortly after the demise of Trendmasters,
acquired the Voltron license and released their Masterpiece Voltron toy in 2005. Boasting more detail and articulation than the previous toys, the Masterpiece Voltron sold for US$139 to US$149.99 at the time of its release. In 2007, Toynami sold an all-plastic version of the Masterpiece Voltron for up to one-third of the first release's price (ranging from US$49 to US$60). For the 25th anniversary of the cartoon franchise in 2009, the plastic Masterpiece Voltron was reissued in a metallic repaint.
In late 2011,
released toys for the new Voltron Force series, while its online collectors'
sold brand new toys for the classic series - including a 23-inch Voltron that fits 4-inch pilot figures in each lion.
released toys based on .
In early 2017 Bandai Japan, who produced the toys of Beast King GoLion and Armored Fleet Dairugger XV back in their initial releases, released a
version of the GoLion robot. The box was repackaged as Voltron for its American release.
In August 2017,
announced that a forthcoming
set based upon classic Voltron will be placed into production.
released a Voltron: Defender of the Universe expansion set for their
battle miniatures game series in 2010.
In December 2009, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment announced the first ever Voltron video game would be released on mobile phones in the US, including the . The game would have 30 levels and 6 acts, isometric gameplay and gamers will command robot lions to traverse the galaxy and take on King Zarkon’s evil droid armies. In 2011, , produced by THQ and Behaviour Interactive, was developed for home console play. A 1-5 player co-op game, it was released on November 29, 2011 for the PlayStation Network and November 30, 2011 for the Xbox Live Arcade. The First Trailer has been announced
and tentatively priced at $10. Players will be able fight as the individual lions in an overhead shooter style gameplay to then form Voltron to take on Robeasts in a fighter style combat.[]
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Though airing in syndication, which offered other anime shows such as
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 , as well as the standard name change of characters and concepts in GoLion and Dairugger.
In Voltron the show begins with the five pilots sent by the Galaxy Alliance, whose space-exploration mission takes them to a planet devastated by war. In Voltron, the pilots arrive on Arus, and are captured and taken to Planet Doom. They then escape and return to Arus, and become the pilots of the robot lions and Voltron. In GoLion, the initial scenes are actually of Earth; the pilots have returned from their mission (in the then-futuristic year of 1999) to find that the entire population of Earth has been killed in a nuclear war. They are then captured and taken to Planet Galra, where the plot proceeds similarly, only the planet they find the lions on is called Altea. In the Voltron version, some footage of the pilots' arrival on Arus was taken from .
Scenes of torture and
inflicted by the alien conquerors on their slaves (such as a "contest" where alien soldiers would be rewarded according to how many prisoners they managed to decapitate in a given time) and some shots of corpses were removed.
In GoLion, Hys (Nanny) is fatally shot in the heart while protecting Raible (Coran). This scene was completely removed from Voltron, and later episodes used stock footage from earlier in the series to insert the character into scenes that took place after her original death.
Original story:
Chief Director: Katsuhiko Taguchi
Character Designer & Chief Animation Director: Kazuo Nakamura
Episode Directors: Kazufumi Nomura, Kazuyuki Okaseko, , Katsuhiko Taguchi,
Scenarists: Ryo Nakahara, Masaaki Sakurai, Susumu Takahisa
Music: Masahisa Takeichi (incidental), Asei Kobayashi (opening/closing themes)
Theme song performance (GoLion):
(OP- Tatakae! Goraion, ED- Gonin de Hitotsu)
Production:
Co., Ltd. / Toei Advertising Co. Ltd (credited as "Toei Agency")
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(Press release).
Fleming Jr., Mike (). . .
Amidi, Amid (). . <.
. <. 5 January 2016. Starting in 2016, Netflix will launch several new series from DWA, including a reimagining of Voltron
Barder, Ollie (6 January 2016). . <. Netflix and DreamWorks are planning on rebooting the classic series Voltron.
. 9 February 2016.
. Archived from
on July 15, .
. <. . Archived from
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Voltron (March 21, 2017). . YouTube 2017.
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. Anime News Network.
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