I may have to take another look at the extras. The booklet that comes with the sets is lacking, so I'll re-edit what I've posted by directly re-viewing them. Sorry.
Well, here's the corrections :
From Days Of Long Ago Comes... A Review
I just finished all eight volumes of the original Voltron series, the three volumes of Go Lion, the original special, Fleet Of Doom, and the two animatic DVD’s based on two of Devil’s Due’s Voltron series. As the saying goes, time to form the head. Currently, Dairugger XV, the basis of the Vehicle Force, is supposed to be released in uncut subs, but neither a release date nor a cancellation has been announced. I’m hopeful and worried at the same time. This one was of course changed sometimes vastly, so my desire to see it is great, especially for one ep which I’ll talk about later.
Volume One - Blue Lion - All the Lion Force volumes come in tins shaped like the Lion. Hard to store, but still real cool, and a nice little touch. The artwork both on the inner box and on the menu is nice, and in this case features both Princess and Sven. Back cover art usually features an ally or enemy character. Episode guides with original broadcast dates are included.. Extras on this set include a look at what was to have been the framing bumpers of ‘The Voltron Trilogy’, featuring all three Voltrons, with the Lion as Far Universe, Vehicle as Near, and a third never-produced one as Middle. Given how hard it was to balance the artificial continuity created between what had been Go Lion and Dairugger, its possible they were better off without it. Throughout the Lion series, Galaxy Garrison basically exists to tell Coran (Raible in Go Lion) that they can’t send help. That’s a restriction of the base series - Earth is dead and gone in Go Lion, so there is simply is no footage of Earth support ships arriving to edit in. Other extras include World Events’ staff interviews on the origins of the series as it emerged in the US, and the sometimes painstaking process involved in remastering for the DVD’s. Decent stuff, a bit deeper than the self-patting many such extras often amount to.
The episodes included are the ones most fans are probably the most familiar with, starting with the space explorers arrival on shattered Arus, their capture and escape from Planet Doom, meeting Princess Allura and first forming Voltron, all the way up to the introduction of Prince Lotor and the on-screen death of former Commander Yurak as a Ro-Beast. One of the series recurring themes, don’t trust long-lost relatives, is established here, and it isn’t long before Sven is injured and Princess steps up to take his place. Always fun to watch, and cleaned up with a 5.1 option for them that gots.
Extras are :
A view of the pilot episodes as part of the discarded concept of ‘The Voltron Trilogy’ (Geez, how many characters would a trilogy have included?)
An interview with the staff of World Events on how Voltron came to be, and the series that might have been used but weren’t.
A review of the process and challenges of bringing the series up to DVD standards, including un-remastered footage for comparison
The Robot Chicken Lion Voltron skit ‘You Got Robo-Served’
Overall Grade : A
Volume Two - Yellow Lion - Episode Sixteen (Bridge Over The River Chozzerai) is worth noting, as it is the only episode that had a nearly verbatim translation, even down to the dialogue. The next several eps show off the editing, censorship and changes big time, though. There’s a lot of ‘but they’ll recover’ moments, some done better than others. Episode 19 (Pidge’s Home Planet) is a big one, as in Go Lion, the planet that finally dies is not some nameless colony, but the Earth itself. This volume also introduces the characters from Planet Pollux (Hercules in GL), the more militaristic twin of Arus, complete with Allura’s twin cousin, Romelle, and her earnest but annoying brother Bandor, who quickly realize that Planet Doom is not the most reliable of allies. Lotor quickly goes from his father’s Golden Boy to regular punching bag. We also see some of the worst sexism towards Allura, not from her all-guy teammates, but from Nanny and Coran, who never seem to remember who is the ruler with a vital job in their defense force. It ends with an irony in Episode 36 (The Sleeping Princess). When Allura is placed in a deathly sleep, the team figures out Haggar might be behind it, and set up a trap to get the spell broken before her body can be stolen. Ironically, the Go Lion team fell for this, hook, line and sinker, while still reacting in time. I think it actually makes more sense, given their experience with the old Witch, that they tumbled to her game, and it shows that the people at World Events really thought these things through as they translated not just dialogue, but a product.
Extras Include :
Buckethead Music Video
More staff interviews, this time concerning the growth of the phenomenon (and it was one), as well as the emergence of the toy lines here in the US, and some creaking ancient toy adds, rivaling Old Mego ones for corniness. All great stuff, with actual info not recycled from a thousand web sources.
Overall Grade : A
Volume Three - Green Lion - Sadly, this may be the last volume that has full-on nostalgic value. The eps after this one have tended to get the spottiest showings, whether on Toonami or in earlier syndication, probably owing to their connected nature. But then again, those same eps seem almost brand new on current viewing. In any event, these are the last eps that I can remember nearly verbatim. The episodes include the memorable Omega Comet episodes, the obligatory evil twin Voltron story, the ‘return’ of Sven, the beginnings of his romance with Romelle (ironically moving further than Keith/Allura ever did), some big-time escalation of the Zarkon-Lotor feud, and the most edited episode of the series, Raid Of The Red Berets. In the original Go Lion, this episode rivaled the likes of Devilman and Elfen Lied for sheer blood. All classics.
Extras include :
Some composer and music creation interviews, vital since even more than content, music and SFX separate Voltron from its source series.
Fan and hip-hop star Murphy Lee speaks of his use of Voltron in his own music
Some very creative, imaginative and amusing Fan Videos, including the Five Pilots as CGI Sentai.
A look at the Event that launched the remastered Voltron series. Really fun.
Lastly, some news reels from 1984, including actors cosplaying Keith, Allura and Pidge in a mall appearance. I was already 18, but I would have envied every kid in that audience. I think I still do.
In case I didn’t make it clear, these are well worth the price. The mechanics of putting the show together in the Extras may be worth it all by themselves.
Overall Grade : A
Volume Four - Red Lion - Some of the greatest eps, and sadly, one of the greatest disappointments.
The episodes based on Go Lion end in this volume, and pick up with all new episodes made by Toei but exclusive to Voltron.
Pro : Planet Doom gets pounded into dog meat, even w/o the definitive and brutal ending of Go Lion. We immediately launch into the new episodes, and get to see some side characters shine.
Con : How Planet Doom gets back up after their original finale pounding is never spoken of. Not even so much as a five-second dubbed in line.
Some of the eps include the ones about Coran’s son, with one of the most awkward censorship scenes ever done. To wit : Flashback footage shows Coran’s wife and infant son cornered AND BEING FIRED ON by a spaceship, and Allura praying before their grave, yet someone somewhere decided that they should be alive in another dimension. Maybe it’s the next dimension from early dubs of DBZ. The show had established the Planet Doom villains as vile, and the attack on Arus was a fact any kid watching knew well. This was one of the few times when the effort to keep it family-friendly went too far. Even avoiding Nanny’s death was done better, and she shows up in the new eps.
Much better was an ep wherein Keith surrenders his position as team leader in favor of Allura, at the insistence of other planetary leaders. Both ultimately show why they are great leaders, Keith for being willing to give up Black Lion and Allura for finally insisting that she could be planetary and Alliance leader while serving as a member of the VF. The originals end with a tacked-on but welcome scene of Vehicle Team members Jeff and Chip aboard the Explorer, cheering the victory of their friends and relatives on the Lion Team.
The best of the new eps involves the inevitable, almost a parody of network interference, when an envoy from Galaxy Garrison decides he can run the VF better. Predictable, but a lot of fun.
A new flunkey for Zarkon emerges named Cossack, like Yurak if he had lived. Comic relief, mainly.
Extras include :
Voice Actor Interviews, including some footage of the late Len Weinrib, VA for Hunk and Zarkon. Michael Bell is a trip. Some really funny stories here, and some great insight.
A look at the whys and wherefores of the new episodes
Interviews with Voltron fans past and present
An image gallery lifted from animators’ cels
Overall Grade : B - Taken down one notch by the one-two-combo of Coran’s Son and the ‘Huh?’ of Planet Doom getting back up. Yeah, it’s a kid’s show, but an intro by Peter Cullen could have gone a long way to explain this.
Volume Five - Black Lion - The new season is in full swing, and it almost seems to flow better now that (presumably) World Events had some input in the plots from the get-go. Not as exciting as the previous four volumes and covering some known ground to death, but still very cool. Introduces Lotor’s alternate love interest, the evil Queen Merla, and an episode set on Earth, something impossible with Go Lion footage. Best moment : Sven actually gets to return to Blue Lion one last time. The series ends with openings for more stories, yet decisively at the same time. The characters they meet along the way also get to return, something usually impossible in Go Lion for reasons of death–no stun rays in Japan, it seems.
Extras Include :
Unused footage from the new eps
Previews of both Vehicle Voltron and a rather clever one for Go Lion’s DVD release.
Finally, a history of World Events Productions including looks at some of their other shows
Overall Grade : A
Lion Series Overall : 9.8 out of 10, again kept back by the lacks of Volume Four
Next Up : Fifteen Equals One!
on two.
