Voltron: Legendary Defender “The Rise Of Voltron”

We here at Gabbing Geek (well, Ryan and Jimmy) started a chat series on Netflix’s Voltron: Legendary Defender a while back.  They didn’t, for whatever reason, get very far.

Well, Wednesday seems to be the day of the week where I watch shows with lots of episodes, so I guess I’ll give it a shot.

So, here’s the thing:  I wasn’t a Voltron fan as a kid.  I couldn’t tell you why.  I never really got into much of any of the popular anime shows that aired in the 80s with one minor exception to Star Blazers, and I don’t remember much about it now except for the theme song as the characters flew through space in a battleship.

Is Netflix reviving that one?  I’m too lazy to look it up.

As such, I am that new Voltron viewer.  I have no great attachment to the characters or the franchise.  I can’t say I remember the theme song.  I saw bits and pieces of it growing up, but I never got that much into it.  I never had a Voltron action figure.  I was a Transformers fan, but that was about it for giant robots.

So, here I am, with only a rudimentary knowledge of the characters and what do I see?  Three cadets, a drop out, and an older guy kidnapped by destructive aliens become the Defenders of the Universe.  Why?  They each get to pilot one of the robot lions, each one of which corresponds to its pilot and that pilot’s personality.  That leads to natural leader Shiro getting the Black Lion, moody loner type Keith getting the Red Lion, wannabe hotshot Lothario Lance getting the Blue Lion, selfless fat guy Hunk getting the Yellow Lion, and the inquisitive Pidge getting the Green Lion.  Shiro doesn’t remember much of the past year, like how he got a cybernetic hand, and Pidge wants to find his…yeah, his…missing brother and father who were kidnapped a year earlier by the forces of King Zarkon along with Shiro.  Keith and Lance have a one-sided rivalry since Keith doesn’t seem to realize Lance is actually a rival, and Hunk, well, he gets motion sickness a lot.

Anyway, the five come together to become the new Paladins for Princess Allura, an alien princess who’s been asleep for the better part of the last ten thousand years.  Do years last the same amount of time on her planet as ours?  I don’t know.  She has some mice who take telepathic orders too.

Anyway, the five each find a lion, form Voltron, destroy one large ship, and aren’t really sure how they did it.  And the show was, well, fine.  It’s only been one episode.  Let’s see where it goes.