Voltron: Defender of the Universe

Voltron: Defendor of the Universe was a syndicated children's cartoon series in the 1980's. The show was an amalgamation of footage licensed from Japanese cartoons "Beast King GoLion" and "Armored Fleet Dairugger XV," rewritten and redubbed with English language audio. The Japanese footage was also edited to reduce violence and "localized" to remove non-American cultural references. The first season of Voltron, popularly known as "Lion Force Voltron," was based on the Japanese show "Beast King GoLion." This story centered on 5 young pilots who fly robot lions, protecting their home planet of Arus from the villanous King Zarkon from the Planet Doom, who along with his son Lotor and witch Haggar, would terrorize Arus with Robeasts of their creation. When necessary, the Lion Force would combine their fighters together to form a giant humanoid robot "Voltron," a super warrior stronger than all 5 combined. When someone refers to Voltron, it is generally the Lion Force Voltron imagery that they are conjuring. The second season of Voltron was based on an entirely different Japanese show, "Armored Fleet Dairugger XV." Known colloquially as "Vehicle Voltron" or "Near Universe Voltron," season 2 featured 3 separate teams of 5 fighters that would each form their own Voltron: An Aqua Fighter, Turbo Terrain Fighter, and Strato Fighter (specializing in Water, Land, and Sea, respectively). Based on the incredible success of Lion Force Voltron, and the relative obscurity of Vehicle Voltron, producers scrapped plans for a third installment in the series, which would've been called "Gladiator Voltron" and based on the series, "Lightspeed Electroid Albegas." MORE