Lotor's Clone/Mortal Combat of Light and Shadow

awesomeawesomeawesomeawesomeawesomeawesomeawesomeawesome
awesomeawesomeawesomeawesomeawesomeawesomeawesomeawesome
awesomeawesomeawesomeawesomeawesomeawesomeawesomeawesome
awesomeawesomeawesomeawesomeawesomeawesomeawesomeawesome

Yeah, this was one of the most memorable episodes for me.

Lotor's Clone

On Planet Doom, Zarkon is berating Lotor for his defeats.  He demands that he rely not on robots, but that he should fight Voltron himself.  Lotor claims Haggar is working on a new scheme that will be sure to work--but Zarkon says he wasn't listening--Lotor should lead!  "Do you mean, from the front?"  Of course he does.

Outside Haggar's laboratory, two robots are discussing Lotor's failures.  They are surprised when Lotor appears.  He asks them what they're discussing, but they play him off.  They think.

Haggar presents Lotor with her new plan--a clone of himself.  One that will look identical, but be faster and stronger.  It will appear that he is leading from the front, but he will be completely safe.  She does some stuff that causes the new clone agony.  The it passes out, and awakens, startling Lotor.  Haggar explains that the clone is Lotor's worst side.  He wants to test the close out immediately.

The two robots Lotor walked in on as they were mocking him are summoned to the arena at night.  The clone, um, deactivates them.  The first one he defeats with his bare hands.  The other . . . um, with editing.  Lotor and Haggar are watching this.  Lotor is pleased.

On Arus, the team is training.  Pidge runs up a cliff, does a backflip, and fires at targets suspended from balloons.  He takes out the balloons rather than the targets.  Keith sternly reprimands him while the rest of the team laughs.  Suddenly, the controls of all five lions go crazy.  It clears up, but the team decides to return to the castle.

At the castle, Coran orders technicians to the backup generators.  The team returns just as power goes out.  Keith at first asks if Coran was testing something, but then all castle operations are disrupted.  Coran is concerned that the lions were affected.  The castle control screen opens up to show a new robeast, one with an enery-disrupting force field.  The team can't use the lions because there's no telling how they'll respond to the disruption.  Keith decides to go sabotage the robeast, using an underwater sled to intercept it at the lake.  The rest of the team will repair additional sleds and try to meet up with him.

As the robeast marches on the castle, Lotor watches and gloats in an observation ship.  His clone is riding atop the robeast.

Lance and Allura work on repairing the other sled while Keith makes his covert run.  Outside, the robeast begins firing charges directly at the castle from its arms.  The team rushes to repair the sleds.  Keith reaches the feet of the robeast and plants spring-loaded mines on  its legs.  The Lotor clone sees bubbles around the feet.  Keith abandons the sled and swims to shore.  The clone throws his axe spear but misses.

The team decides to concentrate their energies on one sled.  The clone, meanwhile, approaches the spear stuck in the river.  Keith jumps out of the water with a speargun, firing his only spear.  He grabs the spear as the clone draws its sword.  Keith is surprised to see "Lotor" leading from the front.  In the observation lounge, Lotor drops his wine as he watches the fight.  The two struggle, until the mines go off and blow the robeast over.  Its disruption field ceases and Coran has power in castle control.  He sees Lotor's observation ship and decides to launch the lions as he watches Lance approach the fight on the other sled.

Lotor is upset that the fight is taking too long.  Haggar explains to him that he can perform a "mind merge" and communicate with the clone.  The clone, with all of Lotor's ambition, doesn't like taking orders from him.  Keith watches the clone talk to himself and figures out what he is.  Lotor orders a soldier to reactivate the robeast.  The robeast tries to smush Keith, but almost his the clone.  The clone swipes at it with its sword.  In response, the robeast vaporizes him.  Keith looks on, and then evades the robeast.  An explosion knocks him off of his feet.

Coran, watching this, deploys the rest of the team.  Just as the robeast approaches to finish Keith off, two spears hit in in the underarm vents.  Lance has arrived.  He collects Keith and takes him back to the castle.  The other three lions buzz Lotor's ship, and then bombard the robeast.  They knock it off its feet with a barrage of missiles, and then black and red lions reappear.  Now it's time to form the big guy.

Keith immediately launches the lion head attack, punching four holes in the poor robeast.  They form the blazing sword and it's a done deal.

After Lotor leaves, the team is back in the rec room, talking about clones while using footage from the Love Bridge episode.  Keith suggests they clone Cheddar.

Mortal Combat of Light and Shadow

On Galra, Daibazaal is displeased with Sincline's bravado.  Apparently the people are calling him all talk.  Sincline tells him Radiomecha Beastman Deadzone will be ready.  Daibazaal says he should go ahead of the beastman and fight Golion himself.

We now get to see the people actually talking as two soldiers discuss Sincline's failures.  They think they get a reprieve . . .

Jaga is warming himself in front of Honerva's fire.  Sincline begs her to clone him.  Honerva is pleased that he has this much need for her services.  Sincline is suprised by the clone's formation.  He's also a little panicked when she seems to be torturing it.  But it's all necessary.  The clone's awakening is actually kinda freaky.  Sincline's reaction is warranted.  However, the clone is twice as strong as a normal person and has a faster nervous system.

In the test, the two gossip soldiers are wondering who summoned them.  The clone basically takes them apart with his bare hands.  We see exposed bone as clone-Sincline plays with his food, and then stabs the soldier with his own sword.  Real Sincline is pleased.

Training on Altea.  Same sequence.  Suzuishi hits the ballons instead of the targets and bounces in his lion.  Then the gauges go crazy.  In the castle, Raible orders technicians to switch to reserve circuits.  The techs wear uniforms similar to the guards', but gray and without helmets.

The team can't use the lions because the beastman's electromagnetic attack affects electronics--Golion's energy would be unaffected, but the controls are just applied electronics.  To me, that's a pretty cool bit of hand-waving to explain how elementally-powered lions are susceptible to an EMP.

Kogane's going to use a scooter.  It's a scoooooter.  It's simple enough to be unaffected by the EMP.

Sincline's observation ship is a pretty cool design.  It actually looks like something out of the Idion, like a Buff Clan ship or something.

Kogane's watch is destroyed by the EMP.  That's kinda cool.  And Sincline-clone is specifically watching for Kogane.  When Sincline drops his blood wine, he's excited to finally see the showdown between Kogane and his, um, other self.  The fight itself is pretty extensive.  I'm not going to do a blow-by-blow account.  Oh, Honerva is videotaping the fight.  Kogane is suspicious because Sincline-clones movements are unnaturally fast.  That corresponds to the moment when Keith says "Lotor's not this good a fighter."

The effect on Sinclines' voice(s) when he's telepathying the clone is a chorus or a flanger turned up all the way, so it warbles.  And the clone's dialogue is a lot more apparent.  That's when Logane figure's out that "this guy" is Sincline's double.

I guess WEP didn't feel they had to edit out the clone's entire death scene, but they did shorten the amount of writhing in blue flames. 

Our combination music today is the black lion theme.  It's been a while since we've heard Formation V, hasn't it?  Oh, hey, an instrumental version of it plays as they smash the radiomecha with the 100-ton punch.