For some reason, in the interim period between seeing Voltron in its original run and when I rewatched it a few years ago, I had either conflated this episode with the one where Haggar starts a robeast-produced drought, or just remembered it as being much later in the story arc. Anyway, this is only the second full episode with Lotor as the primary antagonist. And wow. His Allura-fixation is serious.
Bridge over the River Chozzerai
Allura thanks the team for helping to restore Arus to its previous beauty. She tells them the story of the love bridge, in which two youths, a girl (Kia?) from the kingdom of Altair, and a boy (Aldar) from Helena, are in love. Though war between their kingdoms has destroyed all the bridges between their kingdoms, they try to build their own with stones tossed into the river. It doesn't go so well, so the goddess of love creates a bridge for them, and they're together.
Allura and her kingdom are rebuilding the bridge, and they're going to reenact the legend with Allura as the girl and one of the team as the boy. And Lance actually says "icky sticky." Naturally, everyone except Keith (who looks embarassed) wants to be the one. Ultimately, Pidge suggests they draw cards. One of the mice (looks like one of the kids) agrees to help Pidge choose the joker, but double-crosses him. Hunk wins. Everyone gushes over the princess's gown, but Hunk's hopes are somewhat dashed when Nanny announces that she's going, too. They leave in their lions.
The blue cat watches the proceedings, and reports back to Haggar. And, for the first time, we see Haggar's . . . workshop? Whatever it is, it's not the chamber she used for Beastman Deathhell, and it's pretty badass looking, with giant eyeballs and optic nevers dangling around a platform. She, of course, has a plot to take advantage of the separated Voltron Force.
Meanwhile, Lotor and Zarkon are watching two robeasts fight in the arena. A yellow cyclops dude of a type we will see again, and an elephant with two trunks. Maybe he's the space jockey? Haggar appears in their box and tells them Allura is going to the Love Bridge. Lotor rushes off, but not before Zarkon has him take the new robeast champion.
We are then treated to Lotor's fantasy of Allura serving him wine in a bellydancer's costume.
We caught to Allura and Hunk, at opposite ends of the bridge, in costume, with a crowd of Arusians. Allura recites the tale again, and she and Hunk run towards each other on the bridge. They are about to meet when suddenly, Lotor's batplane bursts out of the river and destroys the bridge. Allura is left on the bridge's suspension spans, and Lotor leaps out of the batplace and approaches her. Hunk has apparently fallen into the river.
In castle control, the team sees what's happening and launches the lions. They fly to the river but are intercepted by the now-supersized Space Jockey Robeast.
Lotor backs Allura to the end of the span until Hunk suddenly somersaults in from somewhere. They struggle briefly, but Lotor knocks Hunk hanging off of the span and Allura into the river. He runs back to the batplane while Nanny urges Hunk to save her. The batplane is closing in on the swimming princess, but in caught by Hunk and Nanny in the yellow lion. Lotor retaliates and the yellow lion crashes into the river, Hunk and Nanny unconscious.
The robeast fires its trunk cannons and missiles at the team and the castle. Black and green lions are disabled by giant launching paws that grab onto the lions and electrocute them. Lance attacks the robeast, but its ears fly off(!) and take him out. The robeast then hits the other two with the trunk cannon.
Allura climbs a giant staircase to her waiting people, and then sprints to blue lion. But Lotor is waiting. She draws a gun on him. He tries to disarm her, but she eludes him and points the gun to her own head. Refusing to fall for her bluff, she lunges at her but trips on a rock. She opens fire and drives him back long enough to get to blue lion. The blue lion enters the river and starts digging yellow out from under the landslide. They get free, but yellow lion isn't responding. The batplane starts a strafing run, but the two lions drive him off.
Meanwhile, the Space Jockey is bombarding the castle. The team reunites, and they devide the only way to form Voltron is with yellow lion in freefall. Despite the best efforts of a commercial break, it succeeds (and we get a crazy new shot of an acid-tripping hippy's view of the lions entering formation). They form Voltron with Nanny as a passenger.
Voltron does some fist roaring, and the Space Jockey fires on him. Voltron stands his ground, forms the electro-saber, and cuts the flying ear weapon in half. They exchange more fire, but the robeast knocks Voltron down with the electro-paws, then rolls up on his to point the trunk cannons at Volts' face. They launch him clear with the fire/wind green/red combo, form blazing sword, and the day is saved.
We cut to the desert lion sculpture where yellow lion resides, and we see the lion sickbay for the first time. Hunk suggests that maybe they could have ended the war if Allura had kissed Lotor, but Allura shoots down that idea.
Lotor is kneeling before Zarkon, getting berated. Now they have to come up with a new plan to eliminate Voltron. Lotor vows that Allura will one day be his.
The Legendary Bridge of Love
There's a surprising amount of dialogue that survives from Golion into Voltron in this episode.
In the Golion version of the legend, the youths belong to the kingdoms of Altea and Helena, presumably the same kingdom Queen/Princess Elena is from. The Altean girl's name is Frida, and the Helenan boy is Yuuji. The goddess of love is named Roman (short for Romantic?) in this version. The scene is also backed by music we've never heard before in the series. Is it stock? Stolen from another Toei series? New for this series?
The dialogue where they hassle over who "hugs" the princess, and Suzuishi's bartering chease with the mouse is basically unchanged from Voltron. Seidou calls Hys an old bag, which is a new kind of awesome.
When the two beastmen fight, Sincline calls the fight over, but Daibazaal throws a sword to finish of the yellow cyclops as it struggles to get back up. He also says he will now teach Sincline how to rule the empire at his side, and that Fala is not worth his time--he should just leave it to a half-beastman. Naturally, he doesn't. 'Cuz he's craaazy.
The batplane has some sort of VTOL thrusters. And, presumably, an autopilot, since Sincline jumps out of it to grab Fala.
As they launch, Kogane orders the other two to hang back, flanking him. Then they see the beastman. Aaand we get a commercial break (only one in the Japanese format).
Sincline's sword makes lasery noises, but if it's glowing, it's silver instead of pink like last episode. Mostly it just looks white. As he's chasing Fala, Sincline kind of zones out staring at her, saying "Just like a Mermaid . . . " Then yellow lion jumps him, but he gets the upper hand.
The beastman has missile launches in his hands and "knees." There's a lot of ordnance traded between this one and the castle.
The Altean villager Fala speaks to at the top of the steps gives her a weapon--I missed that in the Voltron version (too busy typin'). Sincline says she has the eyes of a leopard. And that he's the one who will choose her death. Um. Charming, I guess.
We here the blue lion song as Fala rescues Seidou and Hys in the crashed yellow lion. When they drive off Sincline, they fire three columns of missiles and a column of . . . other projectiles.
The beastman is doing a number of the castle, killing yet more guards just innocently standing around. Poor guys. As they form Golion, we hear the Formation V song. I don't know if that's what it's called, but that's kind of the chorus. Sometimes, when just walking around or something, I'd overhear my friend Monica singing "fighting, fighting, golion!" under her breath.
Golion weapons: Double sword (cuts the flying ears), laser magnum, foot missiles (both drive the beastman back), fire tornado (blows the beastman off of them), and Jyuoken. And this beastman is named Galgo at the very end, by Sincline. Daibazaal doesn't like him haring off after Fala because he will never allow some traitorous princess to kneel before him.
The dialogue at the end about hugging/kissing Sincline/Lotor is about the same.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Give Me Your Princess/Overcome the Phantom of Shirogane
Give Me Your Princess
Mighty subtle titling there, WEP. We open on a view of Castle Doom, and lodged in front of the castle is Lotor's battle fortress. He addresses his troops, both the gray, ridge-headed soldiers we've come to expect, and we see his personal army for the first time. They all look more like him than the other Doomites. and wear different (classier) uniforms.
On Arus, Allura sneaks into the black lion. 'Cuz some day she may have to lead, and, y'know, they wouldn't let her if she asked. This very same strategy got me in all kinds of trouble. Lotor's fortress approaches Arus. The team launches after some hasseling between the princess and the rest of the team. Lotor's fortress splits into three cylinder-sections and one, um, mushroom of DOOM. All four components launch waves of standard fighters. The rest of the team joins the princess, Keith in the blue lion (even though the launch sequence shows him going into black lion).
Allura puts up a valiant effort to lead, first ramming a fighter head-on, then trying to use the black bazooka, but the lion's controls lock up. Keith says "We need Voltron!" The team starts the formation, but Lotor, in the Batplane, shoots down the black lion. He orders his forces to capture the blue lion, and presumably the Princess. Keith orders the others to cover Allura while he charges Lotor. Lotor's plane can apparently launch missiles from the same fixture as the beam weapon (animation error?) The team pulls Allura back and Keith drives off Lotor.
Lotor returns to his fortress and consoles himself with his cotery of bellydancers. My girlfriend (who performs professionally as a bellydancer, but doesn't dance to the Golion music like our other friend) once asked me if I was dating her so I could be more like Lotor. I said that theory would have had merit had I done any of the pursuing that started our relationship. Still. Lotor's got some style. Long hair, swords, hordes of minions, hangs out with bellydancers . . . I could totally get along with him. Hanging out with the Voltron force would be so weird, on the other hand.
Anyway. Back in castle control, the team gets all dramatic over Allura running off in black lion. Keith says "Sven never would have done this" and sends her into an emo spiral. That is, a downward one. Later, while Keith is monitoring Lotor's fortress, he wonders if he was too hard on her.
That night, Lotor is trying to see through the windowless castle (do they have shudders?) He shoots down some trees to clear his view, but he still can't see the princess. Zarkon calls and checks on him. He assures his father and Haggar that Arus will soon be in their hands.
Allura agonizes over current events, either dreaming or hallucinating about failing fatally. The space mice try to cheer her up with pratfalls, but that's not enough to keep Allura from doing something rash. This isn't helped by her overhearing the team wishing Sven were back. She opens a shield to look at Lotor's fortress, then imagines her people perishing in flames. Suddenly she's in blue lion.
The team runs to castle control, looking for her. Coran assures them he didn't send them away, and for once Nanny tells them to go do their jobs! Then get in the lions and dive into the lake.
Lotor is sitting in his throne room (sans bellydancers) when the blue lion arrives, tearing through the outer wall of the mushroom segment. Fortunately, his fortress has lion-capturing pincers that grab and tase the blue lion until Allura falls out. Lotor tries to kiss her before she regains consciousness, but agrees to serve him (ahem) if he spares Arus.
The team then approaches in the lions, but Lotor brandishes his sword (which is now a pink lightsabre thing). The team dismounts and approachs Lotor on foot, surrendering. Keith is about to hand Lotor the keys when Coran launches smoke missiles. Keith takes a sword blow, but fires a few covering shots to clear the path for the princess back to her lion. The rest of the team launches, and Lotor relaunches and recombines his fortress, bragging about his "laser ray" the whole time.
Keith, injured (again) urges them to form Voltron, but the laser ray knocks black lion off course. Allura disables the fortress momentarily, and they form Voltron--some of the footage is from the Golion opening sequence. Lotor's fortress is in flames. He runs to his batplane just as Voltron blazingly swords the fortress.
The team returns to castle control, with Allura supporting the injured Keith. Allura is ready to drop out of the team, but Keith assures her that someday, she will pilot black lion. The rest of the team chime in with their support. She's so happy she cries.
Oh, yeah. There's no robeast in this episode. One of the few. And--Lotor's subordinates all have vocodered voices, probably to make them seem more robotic even though they look more like living humanoids than the ogther Doom soldiers.
Overcome the Phantom of Shirogane
Again with Sincline addressing his troops. I do like the blue uniforms and Prussian-style helmets worn by Sincline's red army. Also, I didn't mention this during Voltron, but there are two animation models used for Sincline. One has a more round, youthful-looking face. The other has more facial details and craggier nose. Another friend of mine likes to refer to episodes with the craggier model as Lotor's "bad face days." This is one of them (yes, lots of my friends still watch Voltron. Weirdos attract other weirdos).
When Fala pirates the black lion, we get unique views of the lion shuttle.
Sincline refers to the three cylinder sections of his fortress as the control towers. When the Galra fighters attack, we see a few shots of manned castle turrets followed by explosions of unmanned turrets--these weren't cut in Voltron.
The lions use magma missiles (red), gatling missiles (yellow), and black bazooka (black, but failed). Kurogane comes to Fala's rescue with the missile launcher on red lion's back, which he calls the Jet Arrow. And blue lion's water attack is called the Water Rod. Do you ever wonder if maybe the mechanical designers included this gimmick on the off-chance toy designers wanted an excuse for the toys to function as squirt guns?
When the weapons retract into the castle, Coran says "Good. Self-defense operation complete. We can hold our own for now." So the fact that the castle (which often has lit windows at night) is windowsless when Sincline tries his peeping is part of its defensive posture.
When he's hanging out with the bellydancers, he decapitates one who spills wine on his leg. Oh, and all of his dancers are blondes. One thing I disagree with him on, but, whatever (the blondes, not the decapitation).
Hys calls the team "barbarians from Earth." Huh.
Kogane's internal dialogue is that he wants her to surpass Shirogane and become truly strong.
Sincline's standard troops wear the blue uniforms, but he has (a) lieutenant(s) in a red variant of the uniform.
Fala's internal monologue during her dream seems to impy that there's more to flying the lions than, y'know, just flying, that there's some spiritual or "inner strength" aspect to it.
That really annoying missile sound effect from the belt missiles of the first beastman is used for the smoke missiles here, and it's timed much better.
The fortress is called "Blockgod." Very interesting. It's also pretty manuverable for being a giant, cylinderical . . . thing.
When Golion combines, the song is the blue lion theme.
Mighty subtle titling there, WEP. We open on a view of Castle Doom, and lodged in front of the castle is Lotor's battle fortress. He addresses his troops, both the gray, ridge-headed soldiers we've come to expect, and we see his personal army for the first time. They all look more like him than the other Doomites. and wear different (classier) uniforms.
On Arus, Allura sneaks into the black lion. 'Cuz some day she may have to lead, and, y'know, they wouldn't let her if she asked. This very same strategy got me in all kinds of trouble. Lotor's fortress approaches Arus. The team launches after some hasseling between the princess and the rest of the team. Lotor's fortress splits into three cylinder-sections and one, um, mushroom of DOOM. All four components launch waves of standard fighters. The rest of the team joins the princess, Keith in the blue lion (even though the launch sequence shows him going into black lion).
Allura puts up a valiant effort to lead, first ramming a fighter head-on, then trying to use the black bazooka, but the lion's controls lock up. Keith says "We need Voltron!" The team starts the formation, but Lotor, in the Batplane, shoots down the black lion. He orders his forces to capture the blue lion, and presumably the Princess. Keith orders the others to cover Allura while he charges Lotor. Lotor's plane can apparently launch missiles from the same fixture as the beam weapon (animation error?) The team pulls Allura back and Keith drives off Lotor.
Lotor returns to his fortress and consoles himself with his cotery of bellydancers. My girlfriend (who performs professionally as a bellydancer, but doesn't dance to the Golion music like our other friend) once asked me if I was dating her so I could be more like Lotor. I said that theory would have had merit had I done any of the pursuing that started our relationship. Still. Lotor's got some style. Long hair, swords, hordes of minions, hangs out with bellydancers . . . I could totally get along with him. Hanging out with the Voltron force would be so weird, on the other hand.
Anyway. Back in castle control, the team gets all dramatic over Allura running off in black lion. Keith says "Sven never would have done this" and sends her into an emo spiral. That is, a downward one. Later, while Keith is monitoring Lotor's fortress, he wonders if he was too hard on her.
That night, Lotor is trying to see through the windowless castle (do they have shudders?) He shoots down some trees to clear his view, but he still can't see the princess. Zarkon calls and checks on him. He assures his father and Haggar that Arus will soon be in their hands.
Allura agonizes over current events, either dreaming or hallucinating about failing fatally. The space mice try to cheer her up with pratfalls, but that's not enough to keep Allura from doing something rash. This isn't helped by her overhearing the team wishing Sven were back. She opens a shield to look at Lotor's fortress, then imagines her people perishing in flames. Suddenly she's in blue lion.
The team runs to castle control, looking for her. Coran assures them he didn't send them away, and for once Nanny tells them to go do their jobs! Then get in the lions and dive into the lake.
Lotor is sitting in his throne room (sans bellydancers) when the blue lion arrives, tearing through the outer wall of the mushroom segment. Fortunately, his fortress has lion-capturing pincers that grab and tase the blue lion until Allura falls out. Lotor tries to kiss her before she regains consciousness, but agrees to serve him (ahem) if he spares Arus.
The team then approaches in the lions, but Lotor brandishes his sword (which is now a pink lightsabre thing). The team dismounts and approachs Lotor on foot, surrendering. Keith is about to hand Lotor the keys when Coran launches smoke missiles. Keith takes a sword blow, but fires a few covering shots to clear the path for the princess back to her lion. The rest of the team launches, and Lotor relaunches and recombines his fortress, bragging about his "laser ray" the whole time.
Keith, injured (again) urges them to form Voltron, but the laser ray knocks black lion off course. Allura disables the fortress momentarily, and they form Voltron--some of the footage is from the Golion opening sequence. Lotor's fortress is in flames. He runs to his batplane just as Voltron blazingly swords the fortress.
The team returns to castle control, with Allura supporting the injured Keith. Allura is ready to drop out of the team, but Keith assures her that someday, she will pilot black lion. The rest of the team chime in with their support. She's so happy she cries.
Oh, yeah. There's no robeast in this episode. One of the few. And--Lotor's subordinates all have vocodered voices, probably to make them seem more robotic even though they look more like living humanoids than the ogther Doom soldiers.
Overcome the Phantom of Shirogane
Again with Sincline addressing his troops. I do like the blue uniforms and Prussian-style helmets worn by Sincline's red army. Also, I didn't mention this during Voltron, but there are two animation models used for Sincline. One has a more round, youthful-looking face. The other has more facial details and craggier nose. Another friend of mine likes to refer to episodes with the craggier model as Lotor's "bad face days." This is one of them (yes, lots of my friends still watch Voltron. Weirdos attract other weirdos).
When Fala pirates the black lion, we get unique views of the lion shuttle.
Sincline refers to the three cylinder sections of his fortress as the control towers. When the Galra fighters attack, we see a few shots of manned castle turrets followed by explosions of unmanned turrets--these weren't cut in Voltron.
The lions use magma missiles (red), gatling missiles (yellow), and black bazooka (black, but failed). Kurogane comes to Fala's rescue with the missile launcher on red lion's back, which he calls the Jet Arrow. And blue lion's water attack is called the Water Rod. Do you ever wonder if maybe the mechanical designers included this gimmick on the off-chance toy designers wanted an excuse for the toys to function as squirt guns?
When the weapons retract into the castle, Coran says "Good. Self-defense operation complete. We can hold our own for now." So the fact that the castle (which often has lit windows at night) is windowsless when Sincline tries his peeping is part of its defensive posture.
When he's hanging out with the bellydancers, he decapitates one who spills wine on his leg. Oh, and all of his dancers are blondes. One thing I disagree with him on, but, whatever (the blondes, not the decapitation).
Hys calls the team "barbarians from Earth." Huh.
Kogane's internal dialogue is that he wants her to surpass Shirogane and become truly strong.
Sincline's standard troops wear the blue uniforms, but he has (a) lieutenant(s) in a red variant of the uniform.
Fala's internal monologue during her dream seems to impy that there's more to flying the lions than, y'know, just flying, that there's some spiritual or "inner strength" aspect to it.
That really annoying missile sound effect from the belt missiles of the first beastman is used for the smoke missiles here, and it's timed much better.
The fortress is called "Blockgod." Very interesting. It's also pretty manuverable for being a giant, cylinderical . . . thing.
When Golion combines, the song is the blue lion theme.
Yurak Gets His Pink Slip/Crown Prince of Hell
Here we are. It only took 14 episodes, but now we introduce the final piece of the classic Voltron puzzle. Zarkon is a decent villain, for a detatched conqueror sitting in his throne room. But he's gotta have a catspaw to do his dirty work. And Yurak just wasn't doing it--neither in-universe, destroying Voltron, nor as a villain the audience really wanted to watch as he chewed the scenery. Now, we meet Lotor/Sincline.
Yurak Gets His Pink Slip
We open with lightning outside . . . a mountain range on Arus. Ha HA! Thought it was gonna be another "outside castle Doom" opening, dintcha? Yurak leads "the largest attack force ever assembled" (um, that day?) which consists of the Rooster Frigate and a bunch of fighters.
However, the lions are lying in wait. They roar in anticipation of the coming battle, then start launching missiles, taking out many of the fighters. Yurak orders a "multi-laser barrage," but the team uses missiles and lion knives to take out most of the ships. Yurak fires the main weapons mounted on his ship, and Hunk and the princess take serious hits. Keith counters using the coat of arms device on his lion, blowing the beak off the front of the rooster frigate. Amidst flame and explosions, Yurak orders a frantic retreat as his robots fall around him. We can show the casualties, y'know, 'cuz they're robots. The "largest attack force ever assembled" is now two-thirds of the rooster Frigate and seven damaged fighters.
NOW we get to open on Castle Doom. In a room we've never seen before, we see the "Governors," whom Yurak is begging forgiveness. Zarkon and Haggar appear in what's basically a box seat balcony sort of thing. This place was totally designed by H.R. Giger. The throne box is surrounded by two statuesque Xenomorph heads.
Zarkon threatens Yurak with banishment. A Doom Governor whips him. Then, they are interrupted by the approach of a fleet of spacecraft. Lotor, Zarkon's son. Returned from his conquests.
Eeexcelent.
Lotor has been hearing rumors about planet Doom and Voltron. Zarkon points the finger at Yurak for those defeats. Lotor stops Zarkon from throwing is scepter thingie at Yurak and offers to make him the vehicle of his own redemption and defeat of Voltron.
Pidge is teaching the space mice acrobatic tricks. Then the parents run off with the mouslings.
In the ruins of the town, the Arusians are having a market when enemy spacecraft arrive and commence strafing runs. One attack ship apporoaches the castle. The team runs out to a glass-enclosed balcony sort of thing. Lotor is struck by Allura. Hoo-boy. This'll end well. Lotor claims that if they settle the dispute between Doom and Arus by single combat, he will agree to permanent peace. Keith agrees despite the fact that everyone thinks it's a trap.
Ah. The Doom vultures, circling over the castle. We can't go a single episode without this shot. If we did, I'd have some sort of violent paranoid episode. Honest. Anyway, Haggar and Zarkon explain to us, the viewers, that Lotor has brought Yurak with him--and Yurak is now a mightly Robeast.
Keith rides his white horse to meet Lotor. The two draw swords and charge. There's a lot of acrobats and sword clashing and Lotor growling. Keith is driven to a ledge, but disarms Lotor--who just picks up a rock and knocks him off the cliff anyway.
I like Lotor.
In a moment of standard supervillain gloating, Lotor explains that the duel was simply meant to separate the Voltron force.
The rest of the team, in Castle Control, decide to take the lions out to see how the duel is going.
Standing on the back of his batship, Lotor summons the supersized Yurak, who looks pretty much the same, but his ears are bigger. The team rushes through the desert and meets up with the giant Yurak. (Wait, so how many times have they actually seen Yurak face to face?) Yuri ejects a grenade out of his chest and throws it at the lions. Recovering from the blast, blue lion breaks off to find Keith.
Lotor had taken the batship down into the ravine to finish off Keith. He fires a laser that turns into a flamethrower, but is driven off by blue lion. Keith calls for his horse and rides back to the castle to get black lion.
Yurak continues his battle against the remaining lions. He fires energy beams from his fingers, missiles from hatches in his forearms, and crazy chain-bolo things from the hatch in his abdomen. The chain things catch all four lions, allowing Yurak to spin them over his head and throw them into a ravine. He gloats about how he will be reinstated to command.
Keith returns to the castle and is briefly confronted by Nanny to tells him his too hurt to save the day. Seriously, is this bitch a planet Doom mole or what?! He gets back to black lion, knocks Yurak down, and rouses the rest of the team to form Voltron. As Voltron lands, Yurak makes this comically "Ruah!?" doubletake, then shoots lasers from his ears. Ol' Volts just pelts him with preliminarys--lops off his ears with spinning laser blades, hits him with heat beams, proton missiles, and then forms the blazing sword. We know how this goes from here.
As Voltron poses for a picture no one takes, Lotor shakes his fist. We follow him for some distance as he flies through an Arusian mountain range on his way out. Then we see Voltron posing in the sunset again.
Crown Prince of Hell
It amuses me how much "robot" death Voltron got away with in this episode. BECAUSE THEY'RE ROBOTS. Therefore, there isn't a lot cut in the opening battle sequence. Sadak sets out on a sneak-attack, and promptly complains tha the lions dishonorably ambush him. Jesus, he's an early-21st century politician! "I can use dirty tricks against you, but it's not fair if you do it vice versa!"
I like how a fighter scores a direct hit on black lion, and he completely ignores it to form black sword and hit a few other fighters. And blue lion's paw weapon is the "blue claw." The energy blast from black lion's breastplate is the "black beam."
There are varying numbers of the Galra council. Six or eight. In one shot there's only two seats on one side of the room. In most shots there seems to be six, but there are five individuals I can identify. Maybe six. I'm not trying very hard, mind you. Once I get around to actually doing screen captures, I'll catalogue them all. Some of them are drastically different from either the Daibazaal/Sadak Galra type and the black army troopers, while some have features that might suggest they're an extreme variation of the usual type.
Sincline, the Prince Imperial, arrives. He has been conquering the Great Goering Nebula. And he brings a platter with heads of the Great Goering kings! That's an awesome shot.
The shot just before Sincline in his batship (with an escort of three other ships we see only briefly here, but will become familiar with soon enough) strafes the Altean town seems to imply that the ruins are actually being rebuilt.
It's interesting to me that the show waited four episodes before revealing the main robot, and 14 episodes before we get the real villain of the show. Daibazaal is just a talking head on a throne, really. Honerva is sneaky and subversive (and, arguably, the most effective when you consider that she took out one of the original Golion members). But if we're gonna keep on with the weird Chinese folktale vibe of this show, we need someone to personally oppose Golion. And that's Sincline. Sadak was just a career soldier doing his job, basically. He was cruel and he enjoyed killin' stuff, but you don't get the feeling he has a serious stake in it. Sincline, on the other hand, is bat-shit insane abou ending Golion. And gettin' Fala.
Case in point--Kogane disarms him, and he says "hey, this fight is a draw." Kogane, taken aback and somewhat offended, says "WHAT?!" And Sincline klubs him in the head with a rock, saying "IT'S A DRAW!!"
Yep. Crazy. Almost makes up for Hys, having this guy around.
Beastman Sadak continues the fine tradition of talking beastmen. At least we don't get as goofy as the talking Mighty Morphin Power Rangers monsters.
The missiles from blue lion's shoulder launcher are curiously spikey. It's a cool design for a throwaway image like missiles that flash by on screen and then explode.
Not only do we introduce Sincline in this episode, it is also the debut of the individual lion's theme songs. We get black lion's as Kogane goes to rejoin the team. We get the elevator-music version of the Golion theme for the formation.
When Kogane arrives and calls out each lion by color, the dialogue is identical to Voltron. In this case, it could be a translation was available, or it could be that, well, they use the english words for the lions.
When Golion just mercilessy pounds Sadak, he uses the double sword for the first time (the solar spear in Voltron) and impales Sadak just before forming Jyuoken.
As we track Sincline leaving in the batship, the narrator gives us a little bit of foreshadowing, assuring us that, yes indeed, the real bad guy has now arrived. Sincline, incidentally, is voiced by Akira Tamiya, whom is also recognizable to me for being the Japanese voice of Roy Fokker from Robotech/Macross. He also voiced Drill Sergeant Zim for the anime Starship Troopers, and has been in pretty much EVERYTHING: Fist of the North Star, Getter Robo, Cutey Honey, Space Battleship Yamato . . . He's probably the most prolific crazy man in anime I've come across.
Yurak Gets His Pink Slip
We open with lightning outside . . . a mountain range on Arus. Ha HA! Thought it was gonna be another "outside castle Doom" opening, dintcha? Yurak leads "the largest attack force ever assembled" (um, that day?) which consists of the Rooster Frigate and a bunch of fighters.
However, the lions are lying in wait. They roar in anticipation of the coming battle, then start launching missiles, taking out many of the fighters. Yurak orders a "multi-laser barrage," but the team uses missiles and lion knives to take out most of the ships. Yurak fires the main weapons mounted on his ship, and Hunk and the princess take serious hits. Keith counters using the coat of arms device on his lion, blowing the beak off the front of the rooster frigate. Amidst flame and explosions, Yurak orders a frantic retreat as his robots fall around him. We can show the casualties, y'know, 'cuz they're robots. The "largest attack force ever assembled" is now two-thirds of the rooster Frigate and seven damaged fighters.
NOW we get to open on Castle Doom. In a room we've never seen before, we see the "Governors," whom Yurak is begging forgiveness. Zarkon and Haggar appear in what's basically a box seat balcony sort of thing. This place was totally designed by H.R. Giger. The throne box is surrounded by two statuesque Xenomorph heads.
Zarkon threatens Yurak with banishment. A Doom Governor whips him. Then, they are interrupted by the approach of a fleet of spacecraft. Lotor, Zarkon's son. Returned from his conquests.
Eeexcelent.
Lotor has been hearing rumors about planet Doom and Voltron. Zarkon points the finger at Yurak for those defeats. Lotor stops Zarkon from throwing is scepter thingie at Yurak and offers to make him the vehicle of his own redemption and defeat of Voltron.
Pidge is teaching the space mice acrobatic tricks. Then the parents run off with the mouslings.
In the ruins of the town, the Arusians are having a market when enemy spacecraft arrive and commence strafing runs. One attack ship apporoaches the castle. The team runs out to a glass-enclosed balcony sort of thing. Lotor is struck by Allura. Hoo-boy. This'll end well. Lotor claims that if they settle the dispute between Doom and Arus by single combat, he will agree to permanent peace. Keith agrees despite the fact that everyone thinks it's a trap.
Ah. The Doom vultures, circling over the castle. We can't go a single episode without this shot. If we did, I'd have some sort of violent paranoid episode. Honest. Anyway, Haggar and Zarkon explain to us, the viewers, that Lotor has brought Yurak with him--and Yurak is now a mightly Robeast.
Keith rides his white horse to meet Lotor. The two draw swords and charge. There's a lot of acrobats and sword clashing and Lotor growling. Keith is driven to a ledge, but disarms Lotor--who just picks up a rock and knocks him off the cliff anyway.
I like Lotor.
In a moment of standard supervillain gloating, Lotor explains that the duel was simply meant to separate the Voltron force.
The rest of the team, in Castle Control, decide to take the lions out to see how the duel is going.
Standing on the back of his batship, Lotor summons the supersized Yurak, who looks pretty much the same, but his ears are bigger. The team rushes through the desert and meets up with the giant Yurak. (Wait, so how many times have they actually seen Yurak face to face?) Yuri ejects a grenade out of his chest and throws it at the lions. Recovering from the blast, blue lion breaks off to find Keith.
Lotor had taken the batship down into the ravine to finish off Keith. He fires a laser that turns into a flamethrower, but is driven off by blue lion. Keith calls for his horse and rides back to the castle to get black lion.
Yurak continues his battle against the remaining lions. He fires energy beams from his fingers, missiles from hatches in his forearms, and crazy chain-bolo things from the hatch in his abdomen. The chain things catch all four lions, allowing Yurak to spin them over his head and throw them into a ravine. He gloats about how he will be reinstated to command.
Keith returns to the castle and is briefly confronted by Nanny to tells him his too hurt to save the day. Seriously, is this bitch a planet Doom mole or what?! He gets back to black lion, knocks Yurak down, and rouses the rest of the team to form Voltron. As Voltron lands, Yurak makes this comically "Ruah!?" doubletake, then shoots lasers from his ears. Ol' Volts just pelts him with preliminarys--lops off his ears with spinning laser blades, hits him with heat beams, proton missiles, and then forms the blazing sword. We know how this goes from here.
As Voltron poses for a picture no one takes, Lotor shakes his fist. We follow him for some distance as he flies through an Arusian mountain range on his way out. Then we see Voltron posing in the sunset again.
Crown Prince of Hell
It amuses me how much "robot" death Voltron got away with in this episode. BECAUSE THEY'RE ROBOTS. Therefore, there isn't a lot cut in the opening battle sequence. Sadak sets out on a sneak-attack, and promptly complains tha the lions dishonorably ambush him. Jesus, he's an early-21st century politician! "I can use dirty tricks against you, but it's not fair if you do it vice versa!"
I like how a fighter scores a direct hit on black lion, and he completely ignores it to form black sword and hit a few other fighters. And blue lion's paw weapon is the "blue claw." The energy blast from black lion's breastplate is the "black beam."
There are varying numbers of the Galra council. Six or eight. In one shot there's only two seats on one side of the room. In most shots there seems to be six, but there are five individuals I can identify. Maybe six. I'm not trying very hard, mind you. Once I get around to actually doing screen captures, I'll catalogue them all. Some of them are drastically different from either the Daibazaal/Sadak Galra type and the black army troopers, while some have features that might suggest they're an extreme variation of the usual type.
Sincline, the Prince Imperial, arrives. He has been conquering the Great Goering Nebula. And he brings a platter with heads of the Great Goering kings! That's an awesome shot.
The shot just before Sincline in his batship (with an escort of three other ships we see only briefly here, but will become familiar with soon enough) strafes the Altean town seems to imply that the ruins are actually being rebuilt.
It's interesting to me that the show waited four episodes before revealing the main robot, and 14 episodes before we get the real villain of the show. Daibazaal is just a talking head on a throne, really. Honerva is sneaky and subversive (and, arguably, the most effective when you consider that she took out one of the original Golion members). But if we're gonna keep on with the weird Chinese folktale vibe of this show, we need someone to personally oppose Golion. And that's Sincline. Sadak was just a career soldier doing his job, basically. He was cruel and he enjoyed killin' stuff, but you don't get the feeling he has a serious stake in it. Sincline, on the other hand, is bat-shit insane abou ending Golion. And gettin' Fala.
Case in point--Kogane disarms him, and he says "hey, this fight is a draw." Kogane, taken aback and somewhat offended, says "WHAT?!" And Sincline klubs him in the head with a rock, saying "IT'S A DRAW!!"
Yep. Crazy. Almost makes up for Hys, having this guy around.
Beastman Sadak continues the fine tradition of talking beastmen. At least we don't get as goofy as the talking Mighty Morphin Power Rangers monsters.
The missiles from blue lion's shoulder launcher are curiously spikey. It's a cool design for a throwaway image like missiles that flash by on screen and then explode.
Not only do we introduce Sincline in this episode, it is also the debut of the individual lion's theme songs. We get black lion's as Kogane goes to rejoin the team. We get the elevator-music version of the Golion theme for the formation.
When Kogane arrives and calls out each lion by color, the dialogue is identical to Voltron. In this case, it could be a translation was available, or it could be that, well, they use the english words for the lions.
When Golion just mercilessy pounds Sadak, he uses the double sword for the first time (the solar spear in Voltron) and impales Sadak just before forming Jyuoken.
As we track Sincline leaving in the batship, the narrator gives us a little bit of foreshadowing, assuring us that, yes indeed, the real bad guy has now arrived. Sincline, incidentally, is voiced by Akira Tamiya, whom is also recognizable to me for being the Japanese voice of Roy Fokker from Robotech/Macross. He also voiced Drill Sergeant Zim for the anime Starship Troopers, and has been in pretty much EVERYTHING: Fist of the North Star, Getter Robo, Cutey Honey, Space Battleship Yamato . . . He's probably the most prolific crazy man in anime I've come across.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
The Witch Gets a Facelift/Introducing Beautiful Honerva
The Witch Gets a Facelift
Maybe we can continue the less-Nanny trend from the last episode. We open up with an idyllic forest scene that suddenly turns dark. And a space coffin lends. Haggar emerges and cackles, looks on Castle of Lions. She and the cat are going to produce a surprise disguise.
A hawk flies into the Castle rec room. Hunk makes a grab for it, and it goes after him. Pidge whistles and it lands on his arm. The others see a message strapped to its talons. The princess is so excited to here of a message from a distant kingdom she runs out wrapped in just a towel (does she shower with that tiara thing?!) Ugh. And Nanny.
The message is from Queen Orla, Allura's aunt.
Orla is traveling by carriage with a couple of Mycenean Greeks as guards. Or maybe they're Myrmidons. Then they hear an ominous cackle. Haggar . . . stun rays the Myrmidons--well, their entire plan was to "seize her." Maybe Haggar got her start as a library ghost. She takes Orla and the ladies in waiting to some ruins, where Haggar assumes Orla's appearence.
The team is running through the woods near where Haggar nabbed Orla. The find her passed out near a lake. Pidge gets nuts. Orla awakens. Allura says she's cold--it's just shock. At Lance's recommendation, they get her back to the Castle where fireworks great her.
And Nanny. Nanny goes in for a hug or something, and lands on her face. The mice great Orla in the throne room (?) and Haggar--er--Orla freaks out. They kick out the mice, and the mice storm out. In Allura's quarters, Orla tries to strangle the princess while Allura goes though dresses in her closet. The space mice intervene. Of course, Allura misunderstands, and chases the muce out again. Allura tucks her in, and mice see Orla's gnashy claws.
Haggar summons the blue cat from the ruins. It sneaks in past the guards and immediately goes after Cheddar. Cheds escapes and moons the cat. Clearly, this is so much better than that boring Vehicle Voltron. All this needs is a few more fart jokes and some of the guys getting hit in the crotch. Then Kevin James could play a live-action Hunk, with Seth Rogen as Lance.
Ohhhh, just KILL ME.
Anyway. Pidge sees the blue cat. The team consult Coran and they all agree that it's possible Haggar could be in Orla's guise. Allura and Nanny don't think that much of the idea. Hunk, Pidge, and Lance are hunting for the cat. They find it--and it jumps on Hunk's face and runs off. Pidge convinces Cheddar to act as bait, and they and some Castle Guardsmen wax the floor. Hunk slips on the wax.
AUGGGHHH!!!
Cheddar lures the cat into the trap successfully. There's some tension where they all slide around on the floor, then Keith catches the cat with a rope. Orla spikes the punch with DEATH and Keith sees her. Then they confront Orla with . . . Suki(?) the mouse, and reveal the cat. Keith does a dramatic "jump from the ledge" and goes to make the cat drink the spiked punch. Orla throws a chair at Keith, the reveals herself as Haggar. Haggar pulls a Yoda and evades them with some acrobatics and gets Nanny in a half-nelson, telling them to release the cat in exchange for Nanny. Why, I don't know. Haggar tries a "stun ray," then makes the room dark and windy. She drops a chandelier on Hunk and Pidhe with her staff, then catches Keith and Lance in her web-rays. Then ol' King Deus ex Alfor cancels out her magic. She shatters a window and flies out of the Castle.
The team pursues her in their lions. She and the cat are running down a path. Allura catches up to her in the blue lion. Just as Allura reach her, Haggar summonbs the "clawbeast. This is a mostly unimpressing green. . . . amphibian looking thing. It knocks blue lion into the lake and stands on its head. The rest of the team follows them into the water. The clawbeast launches missiles out of holes in its chest and trades a few shots with the lions. Yellow lion takes a few hits, but they've forced the clawbeast off of blue lion. The team regroups out of the lake and form Voltron.
The beast emerges from the lake, hits Voltron with a palm-mounted flamethrower and beams from its chest. Volts forms blazing sword and performs a kesa (diagonal cut for those of you who haven't dabbled in iaido). This clawbeast stands its ground and launches its kneespikes as missiles. So, Voltron cuts him again. That does the trick.
They find the real Orla in the ruins of the cathedral and bring her to the castle. And there's some back and force between Lance and Pidge.
A little bit about the voice actors here: Voltron has a cast of six. All of the voice actors are Screen Actors Guild members. From what I've heard in interviews, under SAG rules they could each do three characters at their normal rate--any more voices in an episode and WEP would have to pay them more. With B.J. Ward as the only female voice, that explains all the weird Monty Python old lady voices you hear Michael Bell and Peter Cullen doing. Basically, then can get away with 18 characters per episode, otherwise it gets more expensive. With a cast of 15 Rugger pilots alone in Vehicle Voltron, you can see how they get into trouble real fast.
Introducing Beautiful Honerva
Things play out pretty closely to Voltron in the original. The team is a little more lecherous when they see the princess in her towel. The falcon is the messenger of Queen Elena, who left the Kingdom of Altea to go to Castle Trebli to be married 15 years ago, before Daibazaal's final attack.
Interesting. So Altea gets a little more depth. There are other kingdoms and other places with survivors on the planet.
When Honerva attacks Elena's carriage, she flambes the guards. The last two agree to attack her together, showing a little more tactical foresight than "GET HER!" She takes Elena's form with the chant "el roy mu el roy . . ." This is the first time it appears.
They find . . . Princess (?) Elena and Suzuishi is smitten. The dialogue about her being cold is identical to Voltron. So, again, they must have had translations for some episodes. Elena doens't know Hys. Probably blocked her out of her memory.
The narrator helpfully explains to us that Honerva hates mice, and that why she keeps the space cat Jaga with her.
Platte can whistle. And the mousehole is right under a sign to the control room.
Fala claims Elena is acting weird because she's tired. Actually, that's probably true. I mean, I get to where I want to strangle people when I'm really tired. I don't often spike punch with DEATH when I'm just trying to get some sleep, though.
The sound editing for Jaga is . . . bizarre. His normal meow is some weird electronic (?) sound, and he has some tiger growls when Kogane catches him with a rope.
Among the things on the dinner table? Otard Cognac. Otard? I think I'll skip that brand. As the witch flees the room, in Voltron we saw her raise her witchin' stick and launch another "stun ray." Here we see her actually nuke a pair of Gradam castle guards.
As Fala closes in on Honerva in the blue lion, rather than summoning the beastman (who is not named in this episode), she merely goes "Oowaiyaaaa!!!"
I wonder if the storyboarders confused the animators at some point during the fight. The beastman is shown to fire missiles once, and then it's firing a beamlike weapon that uses energy discs. I wouldn't even bring this up as an animation error, but in one shot black lion is firing his shoulder harpoons, and in the next the beastman is taking hits from annihilation discs (the lions maybe borrowed some Invid technology?)
The closing scene with Elena mirrors somewhat the scene in which Honerva is brought to Castle Gradam earlier--without the embarassing crap with Hys.
Maybe we can continue the less-Nanny trend from the last episode. We open up with an idyllic forest scene that suddenly turns dark. And a space coffin lends. Haggar emerges and cackles, looks on Castle of Lions. She and the cat are going to produce a surprise disguise.
A hawk flies into the Castle rec room. Hunk makes a grab for it, and it goes after him. Pidge whistles and it lands on his arm. The others see a message strapped to its talons. The princess is so excited to here of a message from a distant kingdom she runs out wrapped in just a towel (does she shower with that tiara thing?!) Ugh. And Nanny.
The message is from Queen Orla, Allura's aunt.
Orla is traveling by carriage with a couple of Mycenean Greeks as guards. Or maybe they're Myrmidons. Then they hear an ominous cackle. Haggar . . . stun rays the Myrmidons--well, their entire plan was to "seize her." Maybe Haggar got her start as a library ghost. She takes Orla and the ladies in waiting to some ruins, where Haggar assumes Orla's appearence.
The team is running through the woods near where Haggar nabbed Orla. The find her passed out near a lake. Pidge gets nuts. Orla awakens. Allura says she's cold--it's just shock. At Lance's recommendation, they get her back to the Castle where fireworks great her.
And Nanny. Nanny goes in for a hug or something, and lands on her face. The mice great Orla in the throne room (?) and Haggar--er--Orla freaks out. They kick out the mice, and the mice storm out. In Allura's quarters, Orla tries to strangle the princess while Allura goes though dresses in her closet. The space mice intervene. Of course, Allura misunderstands, and chases the muce out again. Allura tucks her in, and mice see Orla's gnashy claws.
Haggar summons the blue cat from the ruins. It sneaks in past the guards and immediately goes after Cheddar. Cheds escapes and moons the cat. Clearly, this is so much better than that boring Vehicle Voltron. All this needs is a few more fart jokes and some of the guys getting hit in the crotch. Then Kevin James could play a live-action Hunk, with Seth Rogen as Lance.
Ohhhh, just KILL ME.
Anyway. Pidge sees the blue cat. The team consult Coran and they all agree that it's possible Haggar could be in Orla's guise. Allura and Nanny don't think that much of the idea. Hunk, Pidge, and Lance are hunting for the cat. They find it--and it jumps on Hunk's face and runs off. Pidge convinces Cheddar to act as bait, and they and some Castle Guardsmen wax the floor. Hunk slips on the wax.
AUGGGHHH!!!
Cheddar lures the cat into the trap successfully. There's some tension where they all slide around on the floor, then Keith catches the cat with a rope. Orla spikes the punch with DEATH and Keith sees her. Then they confront Orla with . . . Suki(?) the mouse, and reveal the cat. Keith does a dramatic "jump from the ledge" and goes to make the cat drink the spiked punch. Orla throws a chair at Keith, the reveals herself as Haggar. Haggar pulls a Yoda and evades them with some acrobatics and gets Nanny in a half-nelson, telling them to release the cat in exchange for Nanny. Why, I don't know. Haggar tries a "stun ray," then makes the room dark and windy. She drops a chandelier on Hunk and Pidhe with her staff, then catches Keith and Lance in her web-rays. Then ol' King Deus ex Alfor cancels out her magic. She shatters a window and flies out of the Castle.
The team pursues her in their lions. She and the cat are running down a path. Allura catches up to her in the blue lion. Just as Allura reach her, Haggar summonbs the "clawbeast. This is a mostly unimpressing green. . . . amphibian looking thing. It knocks blue lion into the lake and stands on its head. The rest of the team follows them into the water. The clawbeast launches missiles out of holes in its chest and trades a few shots with the lions. Yellow lion takes a few hits, but they've forced the clawbeast off of blue lion. The team regroups out of the lake and form Voltron.
The beast emerges from the lake, hits Voltron with a palm-mounted flamethrower and beams from its chest. Volts forms blazing sword and performs a kesa (diagonal cut for those of you who haven't dabbled in iaido). This clawbeast stands its ground and launches its kneespikes as missiles. So, Voltron cuts him again. That does the trick.
They find the real Orla in the ruins of the cathedral and bring her to the castle. And there's some back and force between Lance and Pidge.
A little bit about the voice actors here: Voltron has a cast of six. All of the voice actors are Screen Actors Guild members. From what I've heard in interviews, under SAG rules they could each do three characters at their normal rate--any more voices in an episode and WEP would have to pay them more. With B.J. Ward as the only female voice, that explains all the weird Monty Python old lady voices you hear Michael Bell and Peter Cullen doing. Basically, then can get away with 18 characters per episode, otherwise it gets more expensive. With a cast of 15 Rugger pilots alone in Vehicle Voltron, you can see how they get into trouble real fast.
Introducing Beautiful Honerva
Things play out pretty closely to Voltron in the original. The team is a little more lecherous when they see the princess in her towel. The falcon is the messenger of Queen Elena, who left the Kingdom of Altea to go to Castle Trebli to be married 15 years ago, before Daibazaal's final attack.
Interesting. So Altea gets a little more depth. There are other kingdoms and other places with survivors on the planet.
When Honerva attacks Elena's carriage, she flambes the guards. The last two agree to attack her together, showing a little more tactical foresight than "GET HER!" She takes Elena's form with the chant "el roy mu el roy . . ." This is the first time it appears.
They find . . . Princess (?) Elena and Suzuishi is smitten. The dialogue about her being cold is identical to Voltron. So, again, they must have had translations for some episodes. Elena doens't know Hys. Probably blocked her out of her memory.
The narrator helpfully explains to us that Honerva hates mice, and that why she keeps the space cat Jaga with her.
Platte can whistle. And the mousehole is right under a sign to the control room.
Fala claims Elena is acting weird because she's tired. Actually, that's probably true. I mean, I get to where I want to strangle people when I'm really tired. I don't often spike punch with DEATH when I'm just trying to get some sleep, though.
The sound editing for Jaga is . . . bizarre. His normal meow is some weird electronic (?) sound, and he has some tiger growls when Kogane catches him with a rope.
Among the things on the dinner table? Otard Cognac. Otard? I think I'll skip that brand. As the witch flees the room, in Voltron we saw her raise her witchin' stick and launch another "stun ray." Here we see her actually nuke a pair of Gradam castle guards.
As Fala closes in on Honerva in the blue lion, rather than summoning the beastman (who is not named in this episode), she merely goes "Oowaiyaaaa!!!"
I wonder if the storyboarders confused the animators at some point during the fight. The beastman is shown to fire missiles once, and then it's firing a beamlike weapon that uses energy discs. I wouldn't even bring this up as an animation error, but in one shot black lion is firing his shoulder harpoons, and in the next the beastman is taking hits from annihilation discs (the lions maybe borrowed some Invid technology?)
The closing scene with Elena mirrors somewhat the scene in which Honerva is brought to Castle Gradam earlier--without the embarassing crap with Hys.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Bad Birthday Party/Evildoing of the Emperor
When Golion was released in 2008, I remember one review I read complained that the main characters were all just archetypes (just look at their nicknames!). I thought that was a strange thing to criticize--as long as whoever was doing to criticizing had been exposed to a fairly wide variety of anime. Because most characters in anime are stock characters. Male protagonist type A3 (young, sullen boy with mysterious, traumatic past) and female protagonist type B1 (cold, distant, but efficient young woman who gradually warms up to the protagonist over time). Or, male protagonist type C2 (headstrong boy with prodigious piloting skills) and female protagonist type G7 (energetic, positive girl with unknown past).
I was having a conversation today with a friend who is newish to anime who was exclaiming that every anime he sees now has a character that's basically the same personality or character design as Misato from Evangelion. Stock characters. Plus, there's a principle of anime and manga, for which I forget the Japanese term, which is often translated as stable cast. That's why all of the protagonists in Go Nagai's series look like Kouji Kabuto. Or why there are so many series that aren't explicitly Super Sentai, but sure look like them (our very own Golion, Saint Saiya, Samurai Troopers Yoroiden). And why the crews of Space Battleship Yamato and of the Rugger Guard (from Dairugger) all have the same hairstyles and facial types--except the captains.
Bad Birthday Party
This is one of my favorites. It introduces a planet that comes back later in another of my favorites, we actually see for the first time that Zarkon has other planets in his dominion, and the Robeasts at the end are kinda neat-looking.
We open not on Planet Doom (for once!) but out in the electrical field surrounding the planet Nimon, where they make Nimonium. We learn this from a voiceover posing as a message from planet Doom. And we hear that tomorrow is Zarkon's birthday. On the surface of Nimon, Doom soldiers and the human Prince Tabor (Zarkon's nephew) are driving the prisoners to complete a special project.
Two young slaves, Tal and Jai, begin complaining about the garbage brought as food to the starving slaves. The two youths decide they need Voltron (which is millions of miles away on Arus--jeez, read a little astronomy--MILLIONS IS TOO NEAR!!!)
That night, the Doom soldiers are having a pre-party party. Jai commandeers a Doom ship. The guard captain sends a pursuit flight. Jai is caught in a meteor shower as the ships open fire on him. His stolen ship takes a few hits and crashlands on Arus--right in the moat surrounding Castle of Lions. The team looks over him after the crash.
Prince Tabor is upset at the escape. The guard captain has an idea about handling the situation. He addresses the slaves, telling them that the escapee is dead. On planet Doom, outside the castle, Zarkon reminds us that Nimon was conquered by him. And he complains about his fool nephew who let someone escape who might bring Voltron. Haggar suggests he torture 100 slaves for the one that escaped. Zarkon then stands up, and the robots cheer. And we get footage from the first episode.
In the Castle of Lions lounge, the team discusses their guest. Lance says he looks like he might be one of the desert weirdos on Nimon. Well, he doesn't say that, but he does comment on his turban and "funny" clothes. Oh, the eighties. At least he's not from Karbombya. Keith announces the spaceship is from Zarkon. They're all set to help his oppressed people. Coran brings up a view of . . .a solar system? And Nimon is . . . one of the neighboring planets? Huh.
Jai enters the control room and is distraught that they may not rush out to help his people immediately. Keith listens and shakes his head, in sympathy. Allura seems swayed.
Zarkon arrives on Nimon with Yurak and Haggar--and he drove in style. This is the first time he see his personal command ship. He sees the statue Tabor has built in his honor. The Doomites have a serious H.R. Giger influence. Apparently, there are some lazy slaves pretending to be sick over whom Zarkon walks. He threatens Tabor about the escaped slave.
The team drops into their shuttle bay. Hunk is carrying Jai. Keith drops in last, asks if they're ready. Lance runs at him and throws a punch Keith catches. He tells Lance to save his energy. Then they launch and for Voltron. The dynotherms sequence is a little off in this episode.
They enter the meteor storm outside Nimon. It's just another rock concert. Ol' Volts gets klunked by a couple of meteors, but they activate thermoblasters (fire from the yellow lion) and melt their way through.
On Nimon, Zarkon is sitting on a throne overlooking the desert. No, wait! There are people buried up to their necks in the sand. Zarkon says this is punishment for a slave's escape, and the robots will practice their swordsmanship. Tal is among them. However, Voltron makes it just in time to hack the statue of Zarkon apart and drop it in front of the robots. Zarkon has Yurak . . . threaten Tabor with a sword. Zarks, Haggar, and Yuri flee to the ship. Voltron lands and . . . chases off the robots. Jai and Tal then reunite.
Zarkon's ship lifts off. Voltron pursues and strikes the thrusters. Yurak, who's chilling with the guard captain, implores Haggar to do something. Haggar launches a pair of robeasts who are supersized on the upper deck of the command ship. They cross swords, and then the yellow and blue lions each bite one on the leg, causing them to tumble to the ground. The robeasts get to their feet and throw their shields, which Voltron destroys with the blazing swords. The green twin launches a missile at Voltron,which knocks him off balance. The twins chase Voltron as he crawls on the ground, stabbing at him in a pretty cool sequence. Voltron then takes the high ground and dispatches the robeasts (did I use the right dispatch? Or is it despatch?) Then Voltron poses on the pedastal formerly occupied Zarkon's statue while the people of Nimon cheer. Then he flies back to Arus.
Evildoing of the Emperor
No "Voice of Doom" relaying a message to a planet here. Just tense music and the narrator introducing us to planet Jarre (on the edge of the Great Dark Nebula). We see a Galra base, a landing field with a Rooster Frigate, and a statue of Daibazaal. We discover the people of Jarre are being whipped into building a monument to Daibazaal. A slave passes out, begging for water. The gaurd commander puts him in his place. He has a few words with the Viceroy, who is apparently a puppet ruler native to Jarre.
Near sunset, the people of Jarre are scrabbling over a few drops of water when Galra guards bring a trough of bones and rotting flesh. From other dead Jarriens. Two youths plot to escape and bring Golion to Jarre.
That night, Galra troops enjoy some revelry--and native women--in a building that looks like a xenomorph hive. The youth makes it past guards to a ship and escapes. The ship is not identical to the one Lisa used when she tried to pose as a Galra-escapee, but close enough in basic layout that I like the way we have a general Galran design philosophy. The kid (whose name I missed) gets beyond the rings of Jarre, but is then shot down by the Galra fighters. The team finds him facedown in the moat.
The viceroy and guard commander discuss how to best deal with the situation. On Galra, Daibazaal's troops are apparently wishing him happy birthday. He is happy the viceroy is done preparing his monument--but Honerva dismisses him as a sycophant.
In Castle Gradam, the boy want to take Hys' cooking back to Jarre with him. Fala assures him that Golion will go help, but Kogane says Golion can't make the journey to Jarre. Jarre is the closest planet to Altea--but the boundary zone of the Great Dark Nebula is full of Galra's bizarre energy, preventing them from flying. The boy makes an impassioned plea. Fala vows to go, even if alone. All but Kogane go with her.
Daibazaal's ship is a pretty slick design, I think. It's got the skull motif and looks more . . . robust than the chicken ship. Daibazaal is celebrating his 500th birthday--and the viceroy sets it up to he walks across the back of Jarriens. This is the Chinese folktale monarch I enjoy watching. He is displeased that these vermin have built his monument, and vows to dispose of them in an entertaining way.
This time, Kurogane takes a swing at Kogane 'cuz they think that he's going to try to stop them--however, he says he's outvoted 4 to 1. And they launch the lions and form Golion. The elevator version of the main theme accompanies all the gattaiing. They fight their way through the Galra Uncanny Energy Field. They go feet first (that's actually what Kogane says) using Grand Fire.
Same thing, the slaves are buried, soldiers will behead them. Daibazaal offers fresh liver and thigh meat to the one who cuts the most heads.
Golion appears, and Sadak executes the viceroy. The boy brings a package of food to his friend.
The Beastmen are named Twin Titan. I like the photo-negative design they have using the red and green. This is overall a pretty good fight. When he's struggling to his feet, Golion lops the hand off the green Titan. Then takes the high ground and they're both history.
This episode is something of a departure from the formula. It's the first we see of the Galra empire in the rest of the Great Dark Nebula. And it looks like a real empire, to an extent. There are Vichy governments who've capitulated to the tyrant for their own personal gain, etc. What's also interesting about this episode is that, well, Galra has twice sent agents to Altea posing as someone else. And yet, they seem to take the high road and initially take the boy at his word. Fortunately, it turns out that he was actually an ally. And the whole Voltron thing that the super robot is only for defense, never for attack. Nope. Not in Japan! In the episodes where Raible resists taking him off the planet, it's because it leaves Altea open to attack. But this episode is also the first in which Altea begins to make allies among other planets subjugated by Daibazaal. That, to me, seems to be a major theme by the end of the series.
I was having a conversation today with a friend who is newish to anime who was exclaiming that every anime he sees now has a character that's basically the same personality or character design as Misato from Evangelion. Stock characters. Plus, there's a principle of anime and manga, for which I forget the Japanese term, which is often translated as stable cast. That's why all of the protagonists in Go Nagai's series look like Kouji Kabuto. Or why there are so many series that aren't explicitly Super Sentai, but sure look like them (our very own Golion, Saint Saiya, Samurai Troopers Yoroiden). And why the crews of Space Battleship Yamato and of the Rugger Guard (from Dairugger) all have the same hairstyles and facial types--except the captains.
Bad Birthday Party
This is one of my favorites. It introduces a planet that comes back later in another of my favorites, we actually see for the first time that Zarkon has other planets in his dominion, and the Robeasts at the end are kinda neat-looking.
We open not on Planet Doom (for once!) but out in the electrical field surrounding the planet Nimon, where they make Nimonium. We learn this from a voiceover posing as a message from planet Doom. And we hear that tomorrow is Zarkon's birthday. On the surface of Nimon, Doom soldiers and the human Prince Tabor (Zarkon's nephew) are driving the prisoners to complete a special project.
Two young slaves, Tal and Jai, begin complaining about the garbage brought as food to the starving slaves. The two youths decide they need Voltron (which is millions of miles away on Arus--jeez, read a little astronomy--MILLIONS IS TOO NEAR!!!)
That night, the Doom soldiers are having a pre-party party. Jai commandeers a Doom ship. The guard captain sends a pursuit flight. Jai is caught in a meteor shower as the ships open fire on him. His stolen ship takes a few hits and crashlands on Arus--right in the moat surrounding Castle of Lions. The team looks over him after the crash.
Prince Tabor is upset at the escape. The guard captain has an idea about handling the situation. He addresses the slaves, telling them that the escapee is dead. On planet Doom, outside the castle, Zarkon reminds us that Nimon was conquered by him. And he complains about his fool nephew who let someone escape who might bring Voltron. Haggar suggests he torture 100 slaves for the one that escaped. Zarkon then stands up, and the robots cheer. And we get footage from the first episode.
In the Castle of Lions lounge, the team discusses their guest. Lance says he looks like he might be one of the desert weirdos on Nimon. Well, he doesn't say that, but he does comment on his turban and "funny" clothes. Oh, the eighties. At least he's not from Karbombya. Keith announces the spaceship is from Zarkon. They're all set to help his oppressed people. Coran brings up a view of . . .a solar system? And Nimon is . . . one of the neighboring planets? Huh.
Jai enters the control room and is distraught that they may not rush out to help his people immediately. Keith listens and shakes his head, in sympathy. Allura seems swayed.
Zarkon arrives on Nimon with Yurak and Haggar--and he drove in style. This is the first time he see his personal command ship. He sees the statue Tabor has built in his honor. The Doomites have a serious H.R. Giger influence. Apparently, there are some lazy slaves pretending to be sick over whom Zarkon walks. He threatens Tabor about the escaped slave.
The team drops into their shuttle bay. Hunk is carrying Jai. Keith drops in last, asks if they're ready. Lance runs at him and throws a punch Keith catches. He tells Lance to save his energy. Then they launch and for Voltron. The dynotherms sequence is a little off in this episode.
They enter the meteor storm outside Nimon. It's just another rock concert. Ol' Volts gets klunked by a couple of meteors, but they activate thermoblasters (fire from the yellow lion) and melt their way through.
On Nimon, Zarkon is sitting on a throne overlooking the desert. No, wait! There are people buried up to their necks in the sand. Zarkon says this is punishment for a slave's escape, and the robots will practice their swordsmanship. Tal is among them. However, Voltron makes it just in time to hack the statue of Zarkon apart and drop it in front of the robots. Zarkon has Yurak . . . threaten Tabor with a sword. Zarks, Haggar, and Yuri flee to the ship. Voltron lands and . . . chases off the robots. Jai and Tal then reunite.
Zarkon's ship lifts off. Voltron pursues and strikes the thrusters. Yurak, who's chilling with the guard captain, implores Haggar to do something. Haggar launches a pair of robeasts who are supersized on the upper deck of the command ship. They cross swords, and then the yellow and blue lions each bite one on the leg, causing them to tumble to the ground. The robeasts get to their feet and throw their shields, which Voltron destroys with the blazing swords. The green twin launches a missile at Voltron,which knocks him off balance. The twins chase Voltron as he crawls on the ground, stabbing at him in a pretty cool sequence. Voltron then takes the high ground and dispatches the robeasts (did I use the right dispatch? Or is it despatch?) Then Voltron poses on the pedastal formerly occupied Zarkon's statue while the people of Nimon cheer. Then he flies back to Arus.
Evildoing of the Emperor
No "Voice of Doom" relaying a message to a planet here. Just tense music and the narrator introducing us to planet Jarre (on the edge of the Great Dark Nebula). We see a Galra base, a landing field with a Rooster Frigate, and a statue of Daibazaal. We discover the people of Jarre are being whipped into building a monument to Daibazaal. A slave passes out, begging for water. The gaurd commander puts him in his place. He has a few words with the Viceroy, who is apparently a puppet ruler native to Jarre.
Near sunset, the people of Jarre are scrabbling over a few drops of water when Galra guards bring a trough of bones and rotting flesh. From other dead Jarriens. Two youths plot to escape and bring Golion to Jarre.
That night, Galra troops enjoy some revelry--and native women--in a building that looks like a xenomorph hive. The youth makes it past guards to a ship and escapes. The ship is not identical to the one Lisa used when she tried to pose as a Galra-escapee, but close enough in basic layout that I like the way we have a general Galran design philosophy. The kid (whose name I missed) gets beyond the rings of Jarre, but is then shot down by the Galra fighters. The team finds him facedown in the moat.
The viceroy and guard commander discuss how to best deal with the situation. On Galra, Daibazaal's troops are apparently wishing him happy birthday. He is happy the viceroy is done preparing his monument--but Honerva dismisses him as a sycophant.
In Castle Gradam, the boy want to take Hys' cooking back to Jarre with him. Fala assures him that Golion will go help, but Kogane says Golion can't make the journey to Jarre. Jarre is the closest planet to Altea--but the boundary zone of the Great Dark Nebula is full of Galra's bizarre energy, preventing them from flying. The boy makes an impassioned plea. Fala vows to go, even if alone. All but Kogane go with her.
Daibazaal's ship is a pretty slick design, I think. It's got the skull motif and looks more . . . robust than the chicken ship. Daibazaal is celebrating his 500th birthday--and the viceroy sets it up to he walks across the back of Jarriens. This is the Chinese folktale monarch I enjoy watching. He is displeased that these vermin have built his monument, and vows to dispose of them in an entertaining way.
This time, Kurogane takes a swing at Kogane 'cuz they think that he's going to try to stop them--however, he says he's outvoted 4 to 1. And they launch the lions and form Golion. The elevator version of the main theme accompanies all the gattaiing. They fight their way through the Galra Uncanny Energy Field
Same thing, the slaves are buried, soldiers will behead them. Daibazaal offers fresh liver and thigh meat to the one who cuts the most heads.
Golion appears, and Sadak executes the viceroy. The boy brings a package of food to his friend.
The Beastmen are named Twin Titan. I like the photo-negative design they have using the red and green. This is overall a pretty good fight. When he's struggling to his feet, Golion lops the hand off the green Titan. Then takes the high ground and they're both history.
This episode is something of a departure from the formula. It's the first we see of the Galra empire in the rest of the Great Dark Nebula. And it looks like a real empire, to an extent. There are Vichy governments who've capitulated to the tyrant for their own personal gain, etc. What's also interesting about this episode is that, well, Galra has twice sent agents to Altea posing as someone else. And yet, they seem to take the high road and initially take the boy at his word. Fortunately, it turns out that he was actually an ally. And the whole Voltron thing that the super robot is only for defense, never for attack. Nope. Not in Japan! In the episodes where Raible resists taking him off the planet, it's because it leaves Altea open to attack. But this episode is also the first in which Altea begins to make allies among other planets subjugated by Daibazaal. That, to me, seems to be a major theme by the end of the series.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Surrender/Red Rain of Hell
Surrender
Oh, look, we open on planet Doom and Zarkon wishing he was rid of Voltron. Haggar promises a spell to send red rain. Wasn't that a song?
Now we head to Arus. Looks peaceful enough, with, like animals in the woods and stuff. Oh, no. Here comes storm clouds. And the Arusian villagers have never seen red rain before.
We have a neat zooming shot of black lion with the castle in the background. In the control room, Allura is lamenting the end of her picnic plans. Coran points out that this may be a Zarkon trick.
The river outside the town (which is now more heavily populated than it was a few episodes ago) overflows with red. And bursts into flames! Allura vows to stop those fiends. The team launches in the lions. And the flames rise higher. Keith sends Pidge and the Princess to work crowd control, while he and the others try to dam the river and smother the flames in sand (courtesy of yellow lion).
Pidge helps an old codger who got knocked down by panicking villagers. Townsfolk? Whoever they are. They're like animals. A woman and her daughter Tammy are seperate by the crowd. The team's efforts to stop the flames are so far futile. Keith muses about using an ice grid. Pidge has found Tammy who keeps crying for her mother. The flames spread into the town. Pidge takes Tammy into the green lion. Aboard the blue lion, Allura tries to stop the flames with an ice grid. Which promptly melts. Keith orders Pidge to use the tornado blaster. And that makes things worse.
Yurak gloats to Brox? Grox? His slightly overweight lieutenant who is still not afraid to rock a kilt.
Pidge and Tammy are watching the flames from a ridge. Allura brings survivors to the ridge. Hunk vows to make Zarkon and Yurak (those weirdos) pay, and is then caught in a tractor beam. Black, red and blue lions are also caught and tossed on top of green lion. With the lions subdued, Yurak orders the ray broadened and sucks the villagers (including Tammy's mother) into his crazy looking command ship. The ship lands on the ridge and launches fighters.
In the castle, Coran urgently tries to rouse the team from unconsciousness. Nanny is strangely subdued.
In green lion, Tammy has a meltdown. Then the Doom fighters start strafing the lions. Their animation models look a little different in this episode. Then Allura hears Tammy from Pidge's lion and chastises him for bringin her along. The fighers strafe the lions, and red lion fights back with saw blades from his shoulders and "proton missiles" from a back launcher that melts the fighters. Black lion and blue lion use their customary missiles, blue lion's then freezing the fighters. Yellow lion has some sort of circular, spiky missile launchers on its shoulder.
Then Yurak reveals the prisoners. The team argues over surrendering--Hunk thinks they're bluffing--until a robot fires a "stun gun" at a prisoner. Allura calls Coran, and has him run the white flag over the castle.
The five lions line up and the team gets out--except for Pidge, who gave Tammy his uniform. The team recognizes that it's not Pidge, but they go along with the ploy. They convince Trox(?) to release the prisoners in groups as each team member crosses the line. First Keith, then Lance, Hunk, and the Princess. Tammy's mother recognizes her as they pass. She steps out of the group and gets shot by Lox(?) who had some sort of weapon in his abdomen. Yep. Cyborgs. Two Doom soldiers are sent to recover Tammy's mother, and Pidge takes care of them with shoulder blasters that launch, um, spikey ball things. Bronx runs back to the command ship as the team takes out the rest of their guards hand to hand.
Tammy and her mother have a brief reunion, then Yurak unleashes the Robeast unit (that's what he says). No more of that ramming into the Robeast crap anymore, the team unites as Voltron immediately.
The Robeast (which is significantly bigger than Volts) pulls out one of its shoulder horns to reveal a sword. Voltron forms his own, and they fight. Ultimately, Voltron disables him with the electro-force cross, then pretty brutally stabs the beast. The explosion apparently takes out the command ship, because Yurak is seen escaping in an escape ship. This is pretty much the only actual escape ship in a series full of them.
We close at sunset (the red rain clouds have cleared up) with the team saying farewell to Tammy and her now-recovered mother (she got shot, remember?) Pidge says she reminds him of his kid sister on Terra at the space academy. Huh?!
Red Rain of Hell
Once again, WEP added an opening on Doom. Not even as a recap this time. Huh. Padding.
The coming of the red rain clouds frightens two beavers drinking out of a stream, who flee into the woods making donkey noises. The red rain freaks out the villagers. Fala, on the other hand, thinks it's pretty. Like strawberry juice. (Ugh. Seriously, kids, the Japanese version is not always superior). Raible points out that its blood. The villager who first speaks ominously that it's blood suddenly bursts into flames. As do many of the other villagers.
Huh. From Fala's dialogue, there's actually two settlements there. The village that is first engulfed in flames (and apparently now has a population of 0) and the town, which is watching the approach of the flames. Then the team launches.
The same plan unfolds as in Voltron, with the same results. Suzuishi tries to keep them calm and unpanicked. With no success.
A woman is separated from her daughter, Fran. Now that's a good, solid name. I like that name.
I forgot to mention it in Voltron 'cuz I was too busy being snarky, but the flammable blood rain is apparently being sprinkled on Altea by the command ship. And blue lion's ice missile launchers look a little different from the shoulder launchers Fala's used previously.
Suzuishi actually tells Fala to carry the townsfold out in blue lion while green lion uses the green tornado to . . . make things worse. He promises to take Fran to her mother soon. Meanwhile, Fala has been ferrying groups of survivors to the ridge overlooking the town. Then all the tractor beam stuff happens. And green lion seems to react (roaring) autonomously. The it gets smashed and the fortress lands.
Does Sadak's lackey have a name? Or is he just "no-pants Galra lieutenant?" Sincline's red army has all kinds more class, but that's still a few episodes away.
I like Suzuishi. He bitches about Hys screaming about the princess as if the others don't matter. Instead of chastises Suzuishi, Fala tells him that the mother's been evacuated to the hill.
Red lion's weapons are the red sword (the spikey things) and magma missiles. Yellow lion's spikey shoulder missiles are the Gatling missiles.
No-pants lackey is named Guirus. That's a good lackey name, even for one who goes regimental.
Do you need me to tell you that the Galra soldiers actually execute a guy as an example? No, I don't. 'Cuz you know.
Fala has a nice phrase she uses--the people are the kingdom. Take that little miss "if I let the princess do anything the kingdom is doomed!" Hys.
Guirus gloats over the fact that the Golion team actually cares about the hostages. And he definitely has some kind of built-in weapon. Judging from the relatively light nature of Fran's mother's injury, it's not as powerful as the rifles carried by the other Galra soldiers.
Green lion's shoulder weapon is called the green gun. Kurogane calls the Galra soldier a "jerkwad." As he kicks him in the head. Guirus flees back to the fortress. Is this the last we see of him? I'll keep an eye out for him . . .
The beastman's name is Buffalon. Because he's an albino buffalo monster. His weapons include the shoulder-horn sword, beam weapons from his chestplate, and eye-beams. He goes for cover after Golion hits him with the fire tornado, but then takes damage from the cross beam, and blue and yellow lions chomp on him and allow Jyuoken the STAB HIM THROUGH THE HEAD! Maybe the flammable blood that must have been stored in tanks aboard the fortress are ignited by poor exploding Buffalon?
At the end, Suzuishi seems to allude to being an orphan.
This is a change in tactics for Galra. Maybe after the last couple of schemes involving Honerva and infiltration, they went with what appears to be a wholly technological attack? In the Golion episode, the blood rain comes from the fortress, so there's nothing particularly magic about it.
Oh, look, we open on planet Doom and Zarkon wishing he was rid of Voltron. Haggar promises a spell to send red rain. Wasn't that a song?
Now we head to Arus. Looks peaceful enough, with, like animals in the woods and stuff. Oh, no. Here comes storm clouds. And the Arusian villagers have never seen red rain before.
We have a neat zooming shot of black lion with the castle in the background. In the control room, Allura is lamenting the end of her picnic plans. Coran points out that this may be a Zarkon trick.
The river outside the town (which is now more heavily populated than it was a few episodes ago) overflows with red. And bursts into flames! Allura vows to stop those fiends. The team launches in the lions. And the flames rise higher. Keith sends Pidge and the Princess to work crowd control, while he and the others try to dam the river and smother the flames in sand (courtesy of yellow lion).
Pidge helps an old codger who got knocked down by panicking villagers. Townsfolk? Whoever they are. They're like animals. A woman and her daughter Tammy are seperate by the crowd. The team's efforts to stop the flames are so far futile. Keith muses about using an ice grid. Pidge has found Tammy who keeps crying for her mother. The flames spread into the town. Pidge takes Tammy into the green lion. Aboard the blue lion, Allura tries to stop the flames with an ice grid. Which promptly melts. Keith orders Pidge to use the tornado blaster. And that makes things worse.
Yurak gloats to Brox? Grox? His slightly overweight lieutenant who is still not afraid to rock a kilt.
Pidge and Tammy are watching the flames from a ridge. Allura brings survivors to the ridge. Hunk vows to make Zarkon and Yurak (those weirdos) pay, and is then caught in a tractor beam. Black, red and blue lions are also caught and tossed on top of green lion. With the lions subdued, Yurak orders the ray broadened and sucks the villagers (including Tammy's mother) into his crazy looking command ship. The ship lands on the ridge and launches fighters.
In the castle, Coran urgently tries to rouse the team from unconsciousness. Nanny is strangely subdued.
In green lion, Tammy has a meltdown. Then the Doom fighters start strafing the lions. Their animation models look a little different in this episode. Then Allura hears Tammy from Pidge's lion and chastises him for bringin her along. The fighers strafe the lions, and red lion fights back with saw blades from his shoulders and "proton missiles" from a back launcher that melts the fighters. Black lion and blue lion use their customary missiles, blue lion's then freezing the fighters. Yellow lion has some sort of circular, spiky missile launchers on its shoulder.
Then Yurak reveals the prisoners. The team argues over surrendering--Hunk thinks they're bluffing--until a robot fires a "stun gun" at a prisoner. Allura calls Coran, and has him run the white flag over the castle.
The five lions line up and the team gets out--except for Pidge, who gave Tammy his uniform. The team recognizes that it's not Pidge, but they go along with the ploy. They convince Trox(?) to release the prisoners in groups as each team member crosses the line. First Keith, then Lance, Hunk, and the Princess. Tammy's mother recognizes her as they pass. She steps out of the group and gets shot by Lox(?) who had some sort of weapon in his abdomen. Yep. Cyborgs. Two Doom soldiers are sent to recover Tammy's mother, and Pidge takes care of them with shoulder blasters that launch, um, spikey ball things. Bronx runs back to the command ship as the team takes out the rest of their guards hand to hand.
Tammy and her mother have a brief reunion, then Yurak unleashes the Robeast unit (that's what he says). No more of that ramming into the Robeast crap anymore, the team unites as Voltron immediately.
The Robeast (which is significantly bigger than Volts) pulls out one of its shoulder horns to reveal a sword. Voltron forms his own, and they fight. Ultimately, Voltron disables him with the electro-force cross, then pretty brutally stabs the beast. The explosion apparently takes out the command ship, because Yurak is seen escaping in an escape ship. This is pretty much the only actual escape ship in a series full of them.
We close at sunset (the red rain clouds have cleared up) with the team saying farewell to Tammy and her now-recovered mother (she got shot, remember?) Pidge says she reminds him of his kid sister on Terra at the space academy. Huh?!
Red Rain of Hell
Once again, WEP added an opening on Doom. Not even as a recap this time. Huh. Padding.
The coming of the red rain clouds frightens two beavers drinking out of a stream, who flee into the woods making donkey noises. The red rain freaks out the villagers. Fala, on the other hand, thinks it's pretty. Like strawberry juice. (Ugh. Seriously, kids, the Japanese version is not always superior). Raible points out that its blood. The villager who first speaks ominously that it's blood suddenly bursts into flames. As do many of the other villagers.
Huh. From Fala's dialogue, there's actually two settlements there. The village that is first engulfed in flames (and apparently now has a population of 0) and the town, which is watching the approach of the flames. Then the team launches.
The same plan unfolds as in Voltron, with the same results. Suzuishi tries to keep them calm and unpanicked. With no success.
A woman is separated from her daughter, Fran. Now that's a good, solid name. I like that name.
I forgot to mention it in Voltron 'cuz I was too busy being snarky, but the flammable blood rain is apparently being sprinkled on Altea by the command ship. And blue lion's ice missile launchers look a little different from the shoulder launchers Fala's used previously.
Suzuishi actually tells Fala to carry the townsfold out in blue lion while green lion uses the green tornado to . . . make things worse. He promises to take Fran to her mother soon. Meanwhile, Fala has been ferrying groups of survivors to the ridge overlooking the town. Then all the tractor beam stuff happens. And green lion seems to react (roaring) autonomously. The it gets smashed and the fortress lands.
Does Sadak's lackey have a name? Or is he just "no-pants Galra lieutenant?" Sincline's red army has all kinds more class, but that's still a few episodes away.
I like Suzuishi. He bitches about Hys screaming about the princess as if the others don't matter. Instead of chastises Suzuishi, Fala tells him that the mother's been evacuated to the hill.
Red lion's weapons are the red sword (the spikey things) and magma missiles. Yellow lion's spikey shoulder missiles are the Gatling missiles.
No-pants lackey is named Guirus. That's a good lackey name, even for one who goes regimental.
Do you need me to tell you that the Galra soldiers actually execute a guy as an example? No, I don't. 'Cuz you know.
Fala has a nice phrase she uses--the people are the kingdom. Take that little miss "if I let the princess do anything the kingdom is doomed!" Hys.
Guirus gloats over the fact that the Golion team actually cares about the hostages. And he definitely has some kind of built-in weapon. Judging from the relatively light nature of Fran's mother's injury, it's not as powerful as the rifles carried by the other Galra soldiers.
Green lion's shoulder weapon is called the green gun. Kurogane calls the Galra soldier a "jerkwad." As he kicks him in the head. Guirus flees back to the fortress. Is this the last we see of him? I'll keep an eye out for him . . .
The beastman's name is Buffalon. Because he's an albino buffalo monster. His weapons include the shoulder-horn sword, beam weapons from his chestplate, and eye-beams. He goes for cover after Golion hits him with the fire tornado, but then takes damage from the cross beam, and blue and yellow lions chomp on him and allow Jyuoken the STAB HIM THROUGH THE HEAD! Maybe the flammable blood that must have been stored in tanks aboard the fortress are ignited by poor exploding Buffalon?
At the end, Suzuishi seems to allude to being an orphan.
This is a change in tactics for Galra. Maybe after the last couple of schemes involving Honerva and infiltration, they went with what appears to be a wholly technological attack? In the Golion episode, the blood rain comes from the fortress, so there's nothing particularly magic about it.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Secret of the White Lion/Secret of the White Lion
Secret of the White Lion
We open on Castle Doom. Zarkon is apparently cussing out his fool robots in his sleep. Haggar enters the throne room with not-so-simple white lion. Haggar is going to give Allura nightmares and lure her out with the lion.
Nighttime on Arus. The space mice are asleep on Allura's chandelier. The princess is dreaming about Zarkon's robots shooting at her. She returns fire, using a pistol for the first time. Then she's fa-a-alling, and has a vision of her mother standing in front of a disco ball, who lets Allura babble on. And Allura get's the idea to seek out the white lion. Who is her father incarnate. She awakens, and hears a lion roaring.
She runs out to the balcony in her pajamas and hallucinates the white lion with her father's voice. She then flees the castle (and two guards try to stop her, and totally cop a feel). She runs into the foggy woods and finally sees the lion in the desert. (Arusian geography would drive me nuts if I paid attention). He leads her to a waterfall. Haggar and her cat look on.
Nanny . . . shows up. The guards explain that the princess ran off into the woods where there are sounds of giant beasts. Nanny pushes the alarm and awakens the team. Who come out of separate rooms again this time. Hunk suggests that maybe the princess is jogging. But who exercises this early? Rabbits? Pidge suggests. Yep. Grown-ups wrote this stuff.
The team launches.
Did B.J. Ward have a cold during this episode? All of her voices (Allura, Haggar, the other one) sound a little off.
Princess pets the white lion near the waterfall. Lance lands and aims his weapon at the lion. Allura tries to convince him that its her father. Lance goes sliding down the side of the cliff, trying to shoot at the lion. However, the lion is far more accurate in shooting glowing red web . . . stuff out of its mouth and Lance is all tangled up.
The rest of the team lands. Keith also heroically slides down the cliff. Pidge lands behind the lion and gets caught in the lion's "net rays." So does Hunk. Keith tries to run back up the cliff, but the lion cuts him off. Keith hides, so the lion charges back down the cliff at Allura, who mutters "father . . ." Despite the team's urgings, she stands her ground and the lion roars in her face. She passes out.
Haggar cackles, and erects a cross form the princess and ties the other three captured Voltron Forcers to stakes. Interesting . . . She taunts Keith. Then she turns the Lion into a robeast. This guy's design is a little better than Gagarl's. Spiky shoulder pads and a scimitar-looking thing he is going to decapitate Lance with--until Keith shoots it. The two fight around the cliff. Then the blue lion appears, nosediving into valley. Nanny and Coran are at the controls. Nanny accidentally launches water from the lion's mouth, washing Haggar and the princess into the river. The robeast goes to rescue Haggar. Keith produces a knife from his utility belt, dives into the river with it clenched in his teeth, and rescues the princess.
The rooster frigate appears and levitates the beast with Haggar in his arms using a tractor beam thing. The beast goes skydiving and Yurak hits him with the infra-energizer beam. In other words, he supersizes him. His armor gets a little more red, his shoulder pads lose their spikes, and he's more hunchbacked.
Allura goes to join the team in fighting the robeast, and Coran and Nanny have clearly not gotten the message.
They attack the robeast, who launches missiles out of the ports in his chest. Allura volunteers to lead the attack to atone for her getting them in this mess to begin with, then she hallucinates her mother's face on the robeast and gets caught in his hair. The team forms lion swords and goes to cut Allura free. She forces back the hallucination and shoots the robeast with blue lion's shoulder missiles
They form Voltron. I don't anticipate this taking too long. . . The robeast is still struggling to its feet after Allura's escape. Voltron forms blazing sword and . . . yeah. It's over.
Later, at sunset, the team stand at the shrine where her mother is buried. Not buried in the tomb? Huh. Aaand Nanny and Coran try to suggest they'll fly blue lion. Gods. Fortunately, Allura will continue flying blue lion. They pad out the ending with some footage of the Golion formation used in the opening credits. Now what could WEP have been making up time for?
Secret of the White Lion
There's no dialogue from Daibazaal here. He's really just asleep (he and Raible have more in common than they realize. Couldn't they just be friends, united by their common workaholism?) Actually, the imlication is the Daibs has been up all night drinking, but, whatever. He demands to know what that "fool lion" is doing in his throne room. As far as cruel alien dictators go, he's got class.
Honerva promises him the heads and blood (Galra makes wine out of it) of those on Altea.
Fala dreams of Galra soldiers shooting her down, and she also sees the bodies of the others. The doubts she express to her mother are the same ones that go through my head every morning when I finally get up.
Ohhh, the lion is her mother. That's interesting. WEP maybe thought her mother appearing as a male lion with a mane was too weird? Huh.
So, Altean cross themselves, have tombs that are combinations of Egyptian pyramids and Parisian catacombs, and believe in reincarnation. Only in anime.
Hys' lines are pretty much the same as Nanny's.
Kurogane refers to sitting under a waterfall as part of training. He also suspects the lion's going to push her off he waterfall. Even though, y'know, she and the lion are at river level.
The lion's roar sounds little like an . . . elephant?
This time, the cut between Fala's faint and everyone being crucified seems to imply the passage of far more time than in Voltron. Which is getting to be pretty usual.
The lion's name is Lian. And his roar in beastman form is terrible.
The team is actually worried blue lion is going to land on them or something. Lian calls out "old witch!!" when he sees Honerva washed into the river. He uses the same word Honerva uses when she's talking about herself in the third person. Which is just about every time the subtitle has her saying "I." And I definitely prefer Lian's half beastman form to his supersized design.
Lion weapons: black lion uses his shoulder bazookas, but with different ammunition. Green and yellow lions both use shoulder missile launchers as well. They also attack in "shotgun formation," with black lion drawing the beastman's attention and the others attacking him. Sort of.
Lian actually speaks, taunting Fala that he'll "wring her in two." So far only he and Bambara have spoken when giant. Gagarl, while being formerly human, just made Kaiju noises.
We just get the standard theme song while Golion gattais. I really do feel kind of sorry for Lian. He was no match for Golion once the princess stopped hallucinating. And he gets decapitated.
Oh, Hys. Just die. Down an entire bag of Nutty Chews and choke to death. Seriously.
We open on Castle Doom. Zarkon is apparently cussing out his fool robots in his sleep. Haggar enters the throne room with not-so-simple white lion. Haggar is going to give Allura nightmares and lure her out with the lion.
Nighttime on Arus. The space mice are asleep on Allura's chandelier. The princess is dreaming about Zarkon's robots shooting at her. She returns fire, using a pistol for the first time. Then she's fa-a-alling, and has a vision of her mother standing in front of a disco ball, who lets Allura babble on. And Allura get's the idea to seek out the white lion. Who is her father incarnate. She awakens, and hears a lion roaring.
She runs out to the balcony in her pajamas and hallucinates the white lion with her father's voice. She then flees the castle (and two guards try to stop her, and totally cop a feel). She runs into the foggy woods and finally sees the lion in the desert. (Arusian geography would drive me nuts if I paid attention). He leads her to a waterfall. Haggar and her cat look on.
Nanny . . . shows up. The guards explain that the princess ran off into the woods where there are sounds of giant beasts. Nanny pushes the alarm and awakens the team. Who come out of separate rooms again this time. Hunk suggests that maybe the princess is jogging. But who exercises this early? Rabbits? Pidge suggests. Yep. Grown-ups wrote this stuff.
The team launches.
Did B.J. Ward have a cold during this episode? All of her voices (Allura, Haggar, the other one) sound a little off.
Princess pets the white lion near the waterfall. Lance lands and aims his weapon at the lion. Allura tries to convince him that its her father. Lance goes sliding down the side of the cliff, trying to shoot at the lion. However, the lion is far more accurate in shooting glowing red web . . . stuff out of its mouth and Lance is all tangled up.
The rest of the team lands. Keith also heroically slides down the cliff. Pidge lands behind the lion and gets caught in the lion's "net rays." So does Hunk. Keith tries to run back up the cliff, but the lion cuts him off. Keith hides, so the lion charges back down the cliff at Allura, who mutters "father . . ." Despite the team's urgings, she stands her ground and the lion roars in her face. She passes out.
Haggar cackles, and erects a cross form the princess and ties the other three captured Voltron Forcers to stakes. Interesting . . . She taunts Keith. Then she turns the Lion into a robeast. This guy's design is a little better than Gagarl's. Spiky shoulder pads and a scimitar-looking thing he is going to decapitate Lance with--until Keith shoots it. The two fight around the cliff. Then the blue lion appears, nosediving into valley. Nanny and Coran are at the controls. Nanny accidentally launches water from the lion's mouth, washing Haggar and the princess into the river. The robeast goes to rescue Haggar. Keith produces a knife from his utility belt, dives into the river with it clenched in his teeth, and rescues the princess.
The rooster frigate appears and levitates the beast with Haggar in his arms using a tractor beam thing. The beast goes skydiving and Yurak hits him with the infra-energizer beam. In other words, he supersizes him. His armor gets a little more red, his shoulder pads lose their spikes, and he's more hunchbacked.
Allura goes to join the team in fighting the robeast, and Coran and Nanny have clearly not gotten the message.
They attack the robeast, who launches missiles out of the ports in his chest. Allura volunteers to lead the attack to atone for her getting them in this mess to begin with, then she hallucinates her mother's face on the robeast and gets caught in his hair. The team forms lion swords and goes to cut Allura free. She forces back the hallucination and shoots the robeast with blue lion's shoulder missiles
They form Voltron. I don't anticipate this taking too long. . . The robeast is still struggling to its feet after Allura's escape. Voltron forms blazing sword and . . . yeah. It's over.
Later, at sunset, the team stand at the shrine where her mother is buried. Not buried in the tomb? Huh. Aaand Nanny and Coran try to suggest they'll fly blue lion. Gods. Fortunately, Allura will continue flying blue lion. They pad out the ending with some footage of the Golion formation used in the opening credits. Now what could WEP have been making up time for?
Secret of the White Lion
There's no dialogue from Daibazaal here. He's really just asleep (he and Raible have more in common than they realize. Couldn't they just be friends, united by their common workaholism?) Actually, the imlication is the Daibs has been up all night drinking, but, whatever. He demands to know what that "fool lion" is doing in his throne room. As far as cruel alien dictators go, he's got class.
Honerva promises him the heads and blood (Galra makes wine out of it) of those on Altea.
Fala dreams of Galra soldiers shooting her down, and she also sees the bodies of the others. The doubts she express to her mother are the same ones that go through my head every morning when I finally get up.
Ohhh, the lion is her mother. That's interesting. WEP maybe thought her mother appearing as a male lion with a mane was too weird? Huh.
So, Altean cross themselves, have tombs that are combinations of Egyptian pyramids and Parisian catacombs, and believe in reincarnation. Only in anime.
Hys' lines are pretty much the same as Nanny's.
Kurogane refers to sitting under a waterfall as part of training. He also suspects the lion's going to push her off he waterfall. Even though, y'know, she and the lion are at river level.
The lion's roar sounds little like an . . . elephant?
This time, the cut between Fala's faint and everyone being crucified seems to imply the passage of far more time than in Voltron. Which is getting to be pretty usual.
The lion's name is Lian. And his roar in beastman form is terrible.
The team is actually worried blue lion is going to land on them or something. Lian calls out "old witch!!" when he sees Honerva washed into the river. He uses the same word Honerva uses when she's talking about herself in the third person. Which is just about every time the subtitle has her saying "I." And I definitely prefer Lian's half beastman form to his supersized design.
Lion weapons: black lion uses his shoulder bazookas, but with different ammunition. Green and yellow lions both use shoulder missile launchers as well. They also attack in "shotgun formation," with black lion drawing the beastman's attention and the others attacking him. Sort of.
Lian actually speaks, taunting Fala that he'll "wring her in two." So far only he and Bambara have spoken when giant. Gagarl, while being formerly human, just made Kaiju noises.
We just get the standard theme song while Golion gattais. I really do feel kind of sorry for Lian. He was no match for Golion once the princess stopped hallucinating. And he gets decapitated.
Oh, Hys. Just die. Down an entire bag of Nutty Chews and choke to death. Seriously.
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