Lotor the King/Golion's Desperate Battle

Oof.  The build-up at the end of the last episode was almost unbearable But here we go!

Lotor the King

First, a recap of the Pulsar cannon's firing.  Coran wishes the Voltron force luck via, um, a recording.  Zarkon is lowered into his robeast.  On his throne, Lotor rallies his troops.  Haggar is weirdly on Lotor's side--both she and Mogor voice concerns about Romelle.  Which is good timing, because Allura's been trying to contact her. 

Outside Haggar's lab, Romelle responds tersely, concerned with revealing their position.  They're ready to hit the lab and shut it down once and for all.  Through binoculars, Sven and the resistance fighters see guards moving them to a new structure with GIANT CANNON sitting on it.  (This turns out to be something AWESOMELY brutal in Golion).  Sven and Romy lead the attack.

Haggar views the Zarkon robeast on a viewer as she prays.  Lotor appears and warns her of Romelle's attack.  She's not impressed.  Then there are explosions and the lab walls shatter.  Sven and one of his fighters are thowing grenades to cover Romelle and the others as they place explosives.  They fight their way throught the guards and take their rifles.  A soldier warns Haggar that they are trying the free the slaves.  Haggar responds that the slaves have been moved to the weapons factory.  Sven says the prisoners are missing, but its time to go.  They flee the lab just as it explodes and the Zarkon robeast emerges from the flames (THAT was an awesome image).

Voltron and Zarkon tangle--the shield on Zarkon's back flies at Voltron and explodes.  They then stop and pose while everyone watches: Lotor, Sven and Romelle, and Haggar at her altar.

Zarkon swings his axe, but Voltron hits him in preparation with the eye-beam, then the electro-force cross, and forms blazing sword.  Zarkon fires lasers out of his shield, then swings and misses with his axe.  Blue lion bites him on the shoulder.  He fires needles at Volts, and then the shield lasers.  He finally connects with the axe, breaking the sword and bringing Voltron to the ground.  He starts dragging the axe down Voltron's front, widening the gash. 

Then King Deus ex Machina appears to Allura tells her to put her key on the seal of Arus on the sword's handguard.  Sigh.  The mice take Mechamouse and save the day.  The sword reforms and they pick up Zarkon with the foot-mouths, before Voltron flies THROUGH Zarkon's robeast.  And then we cut to a shot of Zarkon's flagship and he gloats that he's escaped and will return after Lotor's been defeated.

Coran reports to Galaxy Garrison, and a bunch of GG bureaucrats blather on.

Haggar doesn't take the loss of the Zarkon robeast well.

Voltron has landed, and the six remaining freedom fighters approach as the mousemecha lands. 

At Drule headquarters, Hazar paces and talks to his captains about developments on Doom.  Clearly, they're preparing us for the switch to Vehicle Voltron in an episode or so.  Even though they had initially aired some VV episodes earlier in the Voltron run.

Lotor looks at Voltron on his screen, then has that GIANT FRICKIN' CANNON fire "missiles" at Voltron.  They're, um, neutron missiles guided by robots.  Totally not manned by the slaves they just trooped over to the weapon's factory from Demon Castle.  Voltron is paralyzed; if the move the missiles will detonate.  Lotor sends out a massive fleet of . . . rooster frigates?  Was this some massive animation error and these were meant to be fighters?

Sven and Romelle lead their resistance fighters on an assault of the missile launcher.  The mice assist.  They throw grenades and manage to blow up the entire cannon.  Lotor blows off the defeat.  He'll still get them.  Voltron watches the ships approach, still trapped by the "neutron missiles."

Suddenly, energy beams come from the ground and clear away the neutron missiles.  It's Haggar!  She taunts Lotor and tells him he's on his own now, force to face Voltron in a fair fight.  Lotor rushes to confront her.  They argue about who's to blame for Zarkon's defeat.  Lotor hyperventilates.  Voltron wipes out the rooster frigates with eyebeams and lion torches.  And by just ramming them.  They've got the scale right, Voltron is tiny next to the ships.

Lotor and Haggar argue some more.  Then Lotor smiles, says he's king of the Doom empire, and rushes back to his throne, rallying the troops again.

Voltron finishes off the last of the fleet and separate into their lions, using the animating from the into in reverse.  Suddenly, an Earthquake!  No, the castle extends out of the ground, revealing laser cannons on tentacles at the base.  The lions and the cannons exchange fire.  It's Lotor's last line of defense. . .

To be continued.  Again.

Golion's Desperate Battle

Sincline rallies his troops as Golion nears.  Daibazaal is readied in Beastman Galra.  Honerva is dubious that Sincline will step down from the throne if Daibazaal defeats Golion.  Then Gobra appear to tell him that Golion is transmitting to Amue.  Sincline orders them to find her position.

Amue and Ryou prepare to attack the occult science plant.  They see slaves being whipped and force-marched to a new structure they don't recognize.

Honerva is praying to the gods of Galra when Sincline calls her and demands to know what's taking so long.  Then explosions hit her plant.  Lots of explosions.  The resistance fighters are very throroughly destroying the place.  A Galra soldier warns her to evacuate, but she isn't concerned.  Ryou and Amue place the last explosives and flee the lab as is finally goes up--and they see Mecha Beastman Galra taking flight amidst the flames.

Daibazaal and Golion make preliminary passes, and then square off.  Ryou and Amue, Sincline, and Honerva are all watching.  The fight goes much the same as it does in Voltron, with Golion pulling out all the stops until Daibazaal cuts through Juyoken with his axe.  Sincline is impressed, and Daibazaal says he won't just had the kingdom over to Sincline.  Then King Deus ex Machina appears and it all goes to hell for Daibazaal.  But hey, at least the mechamouse is useful.

As Daibazaal dies, the fire goes out in Honerva's altar.  She blames Sincline.  Which better explains what comes next.  Well, not the part with the mice landing sending smoke messages to Amue.  But Honerva's behavior.

Kogane plans to divide the team, one part to hit the castle, the other to free the slaves.  But Sincline orders the FLESH CANNON to fire.  Yep, all those "androids" piloting the "neutron missiles" in Voltron are slaves Sincline is sacrificing, knowing they wouldn't intentionally allow the slaves to be killed.  They're stuck while the entire fleet attacks--though I still think some of those rooster frigates should have been fighters.

Ryou and the resistance destroy the Flesh Cannon with a lot of grenades. 

There is a lot of weird ambient noise as Golion awaits the Galra fleet.  And then Honerva sabotages Sincline's plans.  Sincline goes to confront her.  Unlike Voltron, Honerva reveals that she's Daibazaal's mother (weeeiiirrrd!!!) and that Sincline is half-Altean, which we the viewers already knew.  Except, she says "long ago" about when Daibazaal dallied with the Altean woman.  So, did he invade Altea repeatedly (because Sincline celebrated his 100th birthday in one episode) or is he actually 15, which is when everyone has established the final destruction of the Altean kingdom and the death of Fala's family?

Sincline kills Jaga, and then after she taunts him for being Altean, he loses his pupils and stabs her with his sword long enough that she bursts into flames.  What?  It's a laser sword.  He returns to the throne room and rallies the troops again.

Golion clears out the Galra flee.  They separate and take on the castle, which gets taller and more lasery.  So, when those laser snakes commence fiing, they've got five targets diving at them in a tight group.  Why are they fire in all directions, instead of concentrating on, y'know, the main threat?

Zarkon Becomes a Robeast/The Great Storming of Galra

Yes, folks, Lion Voltron/Golion is almost at the end.  52 episodes gone in an eye-flash.  Just the final battle on Doom/Galra remains . . .

Zarkon Becomes a Robeast

Lotor is reminiscing about the faulire of the Pulsar Cannon.  He . . . sort of remembers right.  Except Voltron apparently took the cannon to Arus.  Then we see Doom guards running down a hall as Lotor drinks.  The guards arrest him under Zarkon's orders.  Lotor is not pleased.  The guards take him before Zarkon's throne, demanding to hear that this is all just a joke.  Zarkon ain't laughing.  Too many failures, and it's the law of their people that all who fail must be punished.

Haggar interjects--he has too many planets loyal to him  She suggests that Lotor be court martialed in front of his loyalists.  Then Zarkon decides to go to Arus in the meantime.

We cut to the Drule headquarters.  Mainly the same footage we saw at the summit meeting.  They dscuss Lotor's imprisonment.  Keezor seems to be on Zarkon's side, though this me be the time to dispose of Zarkon as well.

At the castle of lions, Coran convenes a special meeting of the Galaxy Alliance.  Allura explains that they have a plan to, erm, convince Zarkon that they can never be conquered.  Keith adds that the Voltron force supports the plan.  Coran explains that their plan is to attack Doom--the reason they haven't done it so far is because of the energy field surrounding Doom.  They can do this now with the Pulsar Cannon.  The delegats speak amongst themselves. 

Keith says the people must be moved to safer planets in case of a mass attack.  Coran says there is a plan for Arus--the castle can turn into a space ship.  Lance suggests they test the energy cannon--then alarms go off.  They launch in the lions.

Zarkons skull-saucer is accompanied by four--FOUR--rooster frigates.  He ain't messing around.  He attacks the town as a diversionary measure, then locates the cannon and moves his fleet in for the kill.

Kieth leads the lions airborne.  The city is burning, but Keith surmises the cannon is the real target.  Lance volunteers to man the cannon and fire it at them.  The other lions attack Zarkon's ship, which withstands their attack.  Suddenly, Zarkon reveals a massive battery of energy artillery that forces the lions back.  He sends fighters to stop Lance from reaching the cannon.  the injure him as he has chosen to land a looong way from the cannon, and the rooster frigates begin firing at the cliff, trying to knock the cannon down.  Keith lands black lion next to red and decides to run his own broken-field marathon.  He finds Lance, who shows him that the cannon is teetering on the cliff-edge. 

Zarkon gloats and readies a massive "proton disintegrator" in the nose of his skull saucer.  Then the castle begins firing on Zarks from behind.  Zarkon orders evasive action.  In castle control, Coran is commanding the artillery barrage while Bandor celebrates.  Coran decides to play his trump card, and orders the castle converted to spaceship.  He throws the final switch by inserting a massige gold key (what was with Arusian technology and keys!?!)  The outer shell of the castle drops away to reveal the castle spaceship.  Zarkon and Haggar are taken aback; Keith and Lance are impressed. 

The castle ship ignites engines and blows trees into blue lion's lake.  Coran orders them to "Activate heat ray."  A massive energy blast destroys Zarkon's fleet and sends Zarkon retreating.

On Drule, Nerok tells Keezor that Zarkon has failed.  Keezor orders him to have agents free Lotor and imprison Zarkon.

Mogor and some of Lotor's troops attack the guards and free Lotor.  A soldier tells Lotor that Zarkon's ship is landing, and Lotor decides to prepare a fitting welcome for an ex-king--armed guards that greet the king at gunpoint.  Zarkon and Lotor argue.  Haggar tries reason, but Lotor blames his listening to her for his failures.  He demands that Haggar build a robeast for Zarkon to fight Voltron in when he arrives on Doom.

Voltron replaces the cannon on the mountain, providing for a clear shot at Doom.  The delegates are gathered outside the Flying Fortress.  Everyone wishes everyone else good luck.  The Voltron force rushes to their super-robot (how do they get into their individual cockpits when he's in robot form?  How did they GET OUT in the first place?  Huh).

Voltron launches.  Allura is reminding Coran when to fire the cannon when she cries out--oh, it was jus the mechamouse hiding under her chair.  They're going as support.

Zarkon is lowered into his robeast--a lookalike, a robeast fit for an ex-king.  Haggar is panic-stricken--reports have indicated that Voltron has just left Arus.  Zarkon tries again to reason with Lotor.  Zarkon is dropped in the robeast and we cut back to Coran presiding over the cannon-shot.  The cannon fires, and the energy blast (which looks like a whiffle-ball) passes Voltron and detonates inside tha energy field, clearing away the asteroid belt.  The Blast-flash even lights up the sky on planet Doom.  The team shouts encouragement to each other, and Voltron dives toward planet Doom.

Lotor, watching Voltron's approach, rises from his throne and draws his sword, shouting defiance.  Keith vows, in internal monologue, to destroy Doom's arsenal.

To be continued.

Let me tell you, the first time i saw this episode, I was super stoked.  It was right around the holidays, and I was tearing around the house pretending to invade Planet Doom even before the succeeding episodes had aired.

The Great Storming of Galra

Sincline, with the help of the narrator, is remembering the previous episode's loss of the interstellar cannon.  We get the title card, and then here some internal monologue of Sincline.  I like the cutting back and forth between Sincline swirling blood wine in his glass and the Galra soldiers running through the hall.

Daibazaal may be crazy and ruthless, but he's still got a good grasp of strategy--since Altea and their growing revolution have the cannon, naturally they'll try a direct assault.  WEP must have been following a pretty close translation of this episode--the part about Sincline's loyalissts is almost word for word.

The Leo Alliance has grown some since they were first introduced three episodes ago.  Maybe the second-in-commands of all those rulers Sincline assassinated?  Raible explains, the energy field, which is the uncanny Galra energy we've been hearing about since at least Jarre's first appearence in the city.  There is some murmering of fear of failure, and Alor vows to go with Golion.  Others echo the sentiment.  Fala tells them that their duty is to protect their people.  Kogane says that if Golion falls, they must evacuate their people to places beyond the grasp of Galra.  Raible explains that Castle Gradam can lead the evacuation as a spaceship.  Then Diabazaal attacks.

Diabazaal's attack of the city is far more ruthless here than in Voltron.  But you could have figured that out yourself.  The attack goes mostly the same.  The lions attack the fleet, Kurogane lands way too far away from the cannon and has to run, gettin' hisself all shot up. 

When Raible orders the conversion to Mechfortress, he orders all personnel into the center section.  That's why we see all the Altean soldiers running away from the gun emplacements.  Presumably all that armor and weaponry is just in the outer shell, which is retracted, down, into hammerspace or something.  We also hear some new music as the castle-ship launches.  And some sound effects right out of one of the Apollo Saturn V launches.

Naturally we don't return to Drule; Sincline is merely released by the afore-mentioned loyalists.  His imprisonment was apparently too much for the animators who used the youthful-faced animation model, 'cuz Sincline's gone all craggy again.  Sincline initially wants to simply execute Daibazaal, but Honerva warns him that Golion is on his way.  That's when he gets the idea to sned Daibazaal out in a mecha beastman.

How do the bloody mice get into blue lion?!

Gobra is holding Honerva at gunpoint as Daibazaal is lowered into the beastman.  And it's named Mecha Beastman Galra.  Honerva doesn't care to tell Sincline what it's powers are.  As Golion dives into Galra's atmosphere, we hear a brand new song.