What's on First/A Touch and Go Situation

What's on First
Hawkins tells the Voltron Force that they are now meeting up with Drule Captain Gorvan to jointly explore the planet Zey.  We get to see the full launch sequence again, which we haven't seen in a number of episodes.  They form their subunits, which Jeff calls their "superjets."  They approach the planet.  Cross comes on the line and congratulates Hawkins on the peace process.

The Drule exploration teams launch: the chariot fighters and new, interesting-looking tanks (I think the Drules borrowed them from the Buff Clan from the Ideon).  The Drule ships join up with the Voltron ships.  Gorvan watches in satisfaction, and then Nerok appears and proceeds to ruin everything.  He claims he's in charge and orders Gorvan to stop the cooperation.  Gorvan is displeased. 

While exploring the planet that appears like a prehistoric Earth, they come upon pterodactyls and dinosaurs.  Volcanic ash is falling, and Cliff comments on how quickly the weather changes.  The Turbo Terrain Fighter and Aquafigher are both accompanied by Drule tanks.  Crick sticks his head out of his ship, and gets buzzed by pterodactyls.  The "robot" asks him if he's okay.

Nerok's fleet joins Gorvan's and he demands that they call off the joint project.  On the planet, the Drule teams suddenly veer off.  The Voltron ships are grounded and the team members are on the ground, disgruntled.  Suddenly, the Drule fighters begin burning the forest.  Jeff gets them back into their ships to stop the burning.

Hawkins is debating with Gorvan, who hangs up on him.

The Drule fighters are strafing the forest and driving the dinosaurs in one direction.  The newstyle tanks are equipped with flamethrowers.  The Voltron teams fly over the flames and plead with the "robots" to stop the destruction.  The charioteer's commander threatens them to step back.  Jeff tries to reason with him.  The commander agrees to call Captain Gorvan.  Jeff leads the teams and they turn around, giving the Drules time to figue out their course of action.

The two fleets face each other in space.  Nerok yells at Gorvan, who is now on his bridge.  As Gorvan and his XO leave, he is angry that they must continue the fighting at Nerok's behest.

The team leaders are outside the grounded subunits again.  Rocky wants to get out, but Jeff wants him to stay with it.  The Drules start burning the forest again.  Cliff and Crick are in their fighters as Jeff tries to talk them out of it.  He joins them in the Stratofighter, trying to convince them to not fight back.  The Stratofighter takes hits, and call Hawkins, who tries to contact them again.  Gorvan has launched a robeast, which descends to the planet.  The Sea and Land teams are returning fire now, and the robeast appears and takes a swipe at the Stratofighter.

Gorvan and Hawkins are arguing again.  Hawkins gets nowhere, and Nerok tells Gorvan that this is only the beginning.  Gorvan is clearly not happy with the way things are going.

The robeast and the Drule fighters have the Voltron teams divided.  Crick suggests flying in and out of their formations, preventing them from getting clean shots.  Cliff protests that the forests are still being burned.  Jeff orders them all to separate and reform as Voltron.

The robeast fires on Voltron as they lead it out of the forest.  Voltron forms the solar comba spears and does some serious damage to the robeast.  They finish it off, on its back amongst the burning forest.

Nerok yells at Gorvan.  Some more.  He deploys his own robeast against Gorvan's protests--it happens to be the same robeast that was being built when Brack planned his little coup.

The robeast emerges from the ground as Gorvan's forces retreat.  Hawkins protests, but Jeff is nothing if not bull-headed.  The robeast knocks Voltron down and starts stomping him.  A tornado forms on the planet (as Sparks informs Hawkins).  Hawkins warns Jeff, who tries to get away from the robeast.  They can't get clear so they try to fight.  Both battle machines get caught in the tornado.  The robeast grapples with him, but Ginger fires the wingbeam and knocks the robeast clear.  It explodes in the tornado.

Gorvan is angry now that both he and Nerok have turned on the Alliance and been defeated.

In the lounge of the Explorer, Lisa pours Jeff a drink and wonders if there will ever be lasting peace.  Multiple tornadoes move across the ruined forest.

A Touch and Go Situation

In orbit around the new planet, the Rugger teams are receiving assignments to work with the different Mobile Units from the Marius fleet.  The Rugger ships launch and approach the planet, combing into their subunits on the way.  On the bridge, Hagi calls Ise and congratulates him on this new development.  Meanwhile, the mobile unites deploy from Marius' ships and link up with the Rugger ships.  Aki comments that the planet looks like a young Earth.  Marius receives the report that the teams have joined up.  then afitte calls him and all starts going to hell.  Marius tells him that the joint survey is going amicably, and Lafitte mocks him, and then tells him to call it off.

On the planet, pterosaurs divebomb the air rugger, and a Galveston soldier tells Aki what they are.  Then they see dinosaurs.  (In Voltron, they describe the ash fall hear as snow.  Snow?  I imagine the Japanese, living on volcanic islands, would have some experience drawing ash clouds from volcanoes!!)  Keats also gets buzzed by a pterosaur.

In space, Lafitte's larger fleet makes its rendezvous with Marius and demands that he end the survey.  Lafitte basically bullies him into switching to an independent survey.  Suddenly, the Galveston ships separate from the Rugger teams.  Aki asks them what's going on, and the Galveston leader explains they've got orders to separate.  The Rugger teams land and stew while Ise tries to negotiate with the Galveston authorities.  But suddenly, the Galveston forces begin burning the forest down.  Aki orders them to launch.

On the bridge, Ise is trying to get an explanation from Marius, but he cuts the connection.  Easier than explaining, I suppose.

On the planet, chariot fighers and tanks drive animals out of the region of the forest they're clearing and destroy the trees.  The Rugger teams fly in over the flames and Aki and Walter plead with them to stop.  They set down just outside the area, and the Galveston leaders says they have orders to clear land for a frontline base.  They will fight if the Rugger teams interfere.  Aki tries to reason with them, but the leader cites orders.  He grudgingly agrees to Aki to wait for negotating results for ten minutes.

Meanwhile, Lafitte is trying to force Marius to give up on the joint survey idea.  He and his XO leave, Marius torn between loyalty and a desire to work with Ise.  We get a shot of what's supposed to be his shuttle taking him between flagships, but the animation model is a shrunked head-on view of a flagship.

The Rugger teams are sitting it out on the hilltop again when the flames burst alight anew.  Keats and Walter take off and engage the Galveston forces.  Aki tries to get them to get out of range, but the air rugger takes fire.  Either there's an animation error substituting the red fighters for charioteers, or new forces have joined in.  And the Galveston launch a battle machine.  A giant bowling ball. 

On the bridge, Marius is rather lamely trying to place the blame on the Earth forces for interfering with their operations.  Ise wants to know why attitudes have changed so much.  He cuts the channel, and Lafitte calls him and tells him to drive them away.

On the planet, the tanks, fighters, and battle machine are all chasing the Rugger ships around.  Keats suggests leading them all into each other's formations.  Walter and Keats finally convince Aki to form Dairugger.  Dairugger tries to lead the battle machine away from the forest, and uses the shot arrows to disable most of its weapon systems.  It crashes to the ground, and Aki doesn't give it any chances before hitting it with the sword.  Dairugger stands in the flames and watches the devastation.

Lafitte is angered, and orders another battle machine deployed.  Marius protests the destruction of the environment and withdraws despite Lafitte's bombast.  Aki watches the Galveston units withdraw, and then another battle machine emerges from the scorched ground.  Aki moves to engage, but Ise tries to talk him out of it.  The battle machine knocks Dairugger down and begins stomping on him.  Then a whirlwind forms.  Ise tells him to focus on just escape.  Dairugger breaks free of the battle machine, but then he decides to attack it before the whirlwind reaches them--despite Walter and Keats protesting.  This ends with them caught in the whirlwind with the battle machine clinging to their leg until Patty fires the wing beam and destroys it.

Marius is upset with this turn of events.  It all would have been okay if Lafitte hadn't appeared.

On the Rugger Guard lounge, Kaga passes Aki and drink and wonders what they're doing out here, anyway, as whirlwinds pass across the planet's ravaged surface.