Cartoon Resource Entry #002 - Voltron (1984)

VOLTRON

ORIGINAL AIR DATES: Sep 10, 1984-Sep 1986 in syndication
RERUNS: 1989-1990 on USA Network, Mar 17, 1997-Jan 1998, May 1998-Oct 1998, July 19, 1999-Feb 27, 2000 on Cartoon Network, Nov 14, 2006-July 19, 2007 on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, 2008-2009 on Boomerang (only episodes #1-52), Fall 1997-Fall 1998 in syndication as "The New Adventures of Voltron" (only episodes #105-124)
EPISODES: 124
ANIMATION: Toei Animation
DISTRIBUTED AND OWNED BY: World Events Productions

VOLTRON SUMMARY:
Voltron was originally comprised of two series with their storylines changed a little so that they were connected as one story.  In the first series, five robot lions come together to form Voltron.  In the second series, a large group of vehicles come together to form another version of Voltron.  The Lion Voltron proved to be more popular and additional episodes of it were made only for the US.  Here is a summary of Lion Voltron. Keith, Hunk, Lance, Pidge and Sven crash on Planet Arus after escaping King Zarkon's evil Planet Doom and uncover the secret of Voltron.  When the five robot lions are joined together, they form Voltron, Defender of the Universe.  Later Sven was injured, so the Princess of Planet Arus, Allura joins the team.  Zarkon with his son Lotor and witch Haggar keep Voltron busy, sending in their mighty Robeasts to destroy Voltron and conquer Planet Arus and the rest of the universe.

VOLTRON FACTS:
Voltron was the first animated program recorded and broadcasted specifically for Stereo, which was new at the time!  This made it more alluring to sponsers and television stations.

The colors of the Lion Voltron Force team and their lions do not match.  Kieth wears red and pilots the black lion.  Lance wears blue and pilots the red lion.  Sven wears black, while Allura wears pink and they pilot the blue lion.  Only Hunk (yellow) and Pidge (green) have the same color uniforms as their lions.

Voltron grew to #1 in the ratings, beating He-Man, before losing it to the Transformers.

The Lion Voltron almost never came to the US!  World Events had wanted another show, but Toei sent them the Go Lion series by mistake!  World Events loved it and decided to use this instead and the rest is history!

The original Japanese series had alot of violence and death and these scenes were cut out for their US versions.

Sven originally died in Go Lion and his twin brother later showed up in the series.  Since World Events couldn't have death in their show, due to program standards for children at the time, it was said that Sven went to the hospital planet and that when the twin brother appeared, it was Sven himself!

Voltron was originally going to be three different anime series put together to show three different Voltron robots!  Voltron I of the Near Universe was the Vehicle Voltron, which originally aired in Japan as "Armored Fleet Dairugger XV" Mar 3, 1982-Mar 23, 1983.  Voltron II of the Middle Universe was going to be from a series called "Luminous Flux-God Albegas" that aired in 1983 in Japan.  And Voltron III of the Far Universe was our favorite, the Lion Voltron, that originally aired as "King of a Hundred Beast: Go Lion" from Mar 4, 1981-Feb 24, 1982.  The Voltron that almost was, had three teens pilot three robots, Alpha, Beta and Gamma, who combine into Super Albegas.  This series had 45 episodes, but was scrapped from Voltron after Lion's ratings were better than Vehicle's. The Lion Voltron was actually aired by mistake first but proved so popular that the Vehicle Voltron episodes have not been reaired as often.

EPISODE GUIDE
1st Season (1984-1985)
LION VOLTRON
#001 Space Explorers Captured (09.10.1984)
#002 Escape to Another Planet (09.11.1984)
#003 A Ghost and Four Keys (09.12.1984)
#004 The Missing Key (09.13.1984)
#005 The Princess Joins Up (09.14.1984)
#006 The Right Arm of Voltron  (09.17.1984)
#007 The Lion Has New Claws (09.18.1984)
#008 The Stolen Lion (09.26.1984)
#009 A Pretty Spy (09.27.1984)
#010 Secret of the White Lion (09.28.1984)
#011 Surrender (10.01.1984)
#012 Bad Birthday Party (10.08.1984)
#013 The Witch Gets a Face Lift (10.12.1984)
#014 Yurak Gets His Pink Slip (10.02.1984)
#015 Give Me Your Princess (10.03.1984)
#016 Bridge Over the River Chozzerai (10.04.1984)
#017 My Brother Is a Robeast (11.19.1984)
#018 Zarkon Is Dying (10.05.1984)
#019 The Buried Castle (10.16.1984)
#020 Pidge's Home Planet (10.25.1984)
#021 It'll Be a Cold Day (11.21.1984)
#022 The Deadly Flowers (10.09.1984)
#023 It Takes Real Lions (10.17.1984)
#024 Raid of the Alien Mice (11.16.1984)
#025 Short Run of the Centipede Express (10.11.1984)
#026 The Invisible Robeast (10.26.1984)
#027 The Green Medusa (10.15.1984)
#028 The Treasure of Planet Tyrus (10.30.1984)
#029 Magnetic Attraction (11.06.1984)
#030 The Sleeping Princess (10.18.1984)
#031 The Sincerest Form of Flattery (10.31.1984)
#032 A Transplant For the Blue Lion (11.15.1984)
#033 Attack of the Fierce Frogs (11.08.1984)
#034 Lotor Traps Pidge (10.19.1984)
#035 Doom Boycotts the Space Olympics (10.29.1984)
#036 Lotor's Clone (11.07.1984)
#037 Lotor's New Hitman (11.14.1984)
#038 Raid of the Red Berets (11.16.1984)
#039 The Captive Comet (10.22.1984)
#040 The Little Prince (10.23.1984)
#041 There Will Be a Royal Wedding (10.24.1984)
#042 The Sand People (11.05.1984)
#043 Voltron Frees the Slaves (11.12.1984)
#044 Voltron Vs. Voltron (11.09.1984)
#045 One Princess to Another (11.20.1984)
#046 The Mighty Space Mouse (11.13.1984)
#047 Summit Meeting (11.22.1984)
#048 Return of Coran's Son (11.01.1984)
#049 Coran's Son Runs Amuck (11.02.1984)
#050 Zarkon Becomes a Robeast (11.23.1984)
#051 Lotor the King (11.26.1984)
#052 Final Victory (11.27.1984)

VEHICLE VOLTRON
#053 In Search of New Worlds (09.19.1984)
#054 First Day On a New World (10.27.1984)
#055 Building a New World (11.03.1984)
#056 Goodbye, New World (11.10.1984)
#057 Try This World For Size (11.17.1984)
#058 A Storm of Meteors (09.20.1984)
#059 Help Not Wanted (09.29.1984)
#060 Ghost Fleet From Another Planet (10.07.1984)
#061 A Very Short Vacation (01.14.1985)
#062 Planet of the Bats (09.21.1984)
#063 A Temporary Truce (12.14.1984)
#064 Wolo's Lost World (12.17.1984)
#065 Planet Stop For Repairs (12.24.1984)
#066 A Curious Comet (12.25.1984)
#067 In the Enemy Camp (03.05.1985)
#068 Who's On First (12.18.1984)
#069 No, Who's On Second (01.15.1985)
#070 What's On First (01.16.1985)
#071 Great Stone Space Faces (01.17.1985)
#072 Defend the New World (12.19.1984)
#073 Meanwhile Back At Galaxy Garrison (12.28.1984)
#074 Nerok Scores Big (01.18.1985)
#075 Hazar On the Carpet (12.20.1984)
#076 Hazar Is Demoted (12.26.1984)
#077 Just Like Earth (01.07.1985)
#078 The Planet Trap (12.31.1984)
#079 Save the Space Station (02.01.1985)
#080 Planet of the Amazons (01.02.1985)
#081 Revolt of the Slaves (01.11.1985)
#082 Raid On Galaxy Garrison (01.21.1985)
#083 Smashing the Meteor Barrier (01.01.1985)
#084 A Man Made Sun (01.03.1985)
#085 Captain Newley Returns (12.27.1984)
#086 Hazar Bucks the Empire (01.24.1985)
#087 Letters From Home (12.21.1984)
#088 Peace-A Fish Story! (01.25.1985)
#089 The Red Moon People (01.08.1985)
#090 This World's For the Birds (01.09.1985)
#091 That's the Old Ball Game (02.04.1985)
#092 Red Moon Rises Again (01.31.1985)
#093 Another Solar System (01.29.1985)
#094 Whose World Is It (01.30.1985)
#095 It's Anybody World (02.05.1985)
#096 Frozen Assets (02.06.1985)
#097 Coconuts (02.07.1985)
#098 It Could Be a Long War (02.08.1985)
#099 Color Me Invisible (02.11.1985)
#100 Time Running Out (02.12.1985)
#101 Zero Hour Approaches (02.13.1985)
#102 The Drules' World Cracks Up (02.14.1985)
#103 The Drules Surrender (02.15.1985)
#104 The End of Hazar's World (02.18.1985)

2nd season (1985-1986)
LION VOLTRON (made for US)
#105 Dinner and A Show (10.21.1985)
#106 Envoy From Galaxy Garrison (10.22.1985)
#107 Mousemania (10.23.1985)
#108 The Shell Game (10.24.1985)
#109 The Traitor (10.25.1985)
#110 Voltron Meets the Jungle Woman (10.28.1985)
#111 Little Buddies (10.29.1985)
#112 Who Was That Masked Man? (10.30.1985)
#113 Take A Robot To Lunch (11.01.1985)
#114 War and Peace...And Doom! (11.04.1985)
#115 Who's Flyin' Blue Lion? The Return of Sven! (11.05.1985)
#116 Enter Merla: Queen of Darkness (11.06.1985)
#117 A Ghost of a Chance (11.07.1985)
#118 To Sooth the Savage Robeast (11.08.1985)
#119 Doom Girls On the Prowl (11.11.1985)
#120 With Friends Like You (11.12.1985)
#121 Lotor-My Hero? (11.13.1985)
#122 No Muse is Good Muse (11.14.1985)
#123 The Alliance Strikes Back (11.15.1985)
#124 Breaking Up Is Hard To Doom (11.18.1985)

VOLTRON SPECIALS:
"Voltron: Fleet of Doom" (1986, 50 minute special that teams up Lion and Vehicle Voltron)

VOICE ACTORS
Jack Angel (1930) as Captain Morgil, Captain Quark, Commander Cossack, Commander Quark, Hazar, King Cova, King Zarkon, Mogar, Space Marshall Graham, Yurak
Michael Bell (1938) as Cric, Count Zeta, Garrett, General Kruegar, Haran, Lance, Madoc, Marshall Keezor, Prince Avok, Shannon, Sven, Wolo
Peter Cullen (1941) as Commander James Hawkins, Coran, King Alfor, Hutch, Narrator
Tress MacNeille (1951) as Queen Merla
Neil Ross (1944) as Chip, Keith, Pidge, Prince Bandor, Jeff
B.J. Ward (1944) as Cinda, Nanny, Ginger, Haggar, Linda, Lisa, Princess Allura, Princess Romelle
Lennie Weinrib (1935-2006) as Captain Newley, Cliff, Commander Steel, Hunk, Prince Lotor, Rocky