So two things I don't think I saw mentioned yet that strike me as possibly being significant:
One is the apparent frequent use of shapeshifting abilities by the Alteans making them great diplomats somehow. That sort of thing provokes such a gut "fuck, that's super creepy" response that I wonder if that was intentional. But more than just that gut reaction, being able to easily disguise yourself as members of other races strikes me as less of a tool for diplomacy and more of a tool for espionage. So, I'm wondering if that one-off line was meant to be a hint that they're doing the thing where benevolent precursor race isn't as unambiguously good as originally suggested.
The other thing, and I think this is more interesting, is the mention of Allura having been in a... fuck, what are they called again? Gulrak? I forget. But in one of the evil alien transport hubs before, and I think she specifies that it was before the war. Prior to that line, I had just assumed once the Gulrak formed as a polity on the galactic scene, they just immediately started fighting everybody because evil alien empire. So, I thought it was interesting that that was not the case, and begs the question of what, changed that brought those two powers to war. And then, we get the "Zarkon was the black paladin" reveal, and things either get simpler or even more complicated. It's possible Zarkon left Voltron, took over the preexisting Gulrak empire somehow, and then used it to start conquering the universe, and that's the simple possibility. However, the more complex possibility, and the one that first came to mind for me and I find really interesting, is that whatever falling out that cause Zarkon to take his bayard and leave Voltron happened, and he founded (or possibly took over in this scenario as well) the Gulrak empire, and then despite presumably carrying some enmity for Voltron and the Altean empire after whatever caused him to desert in the first place, the Gulrak and Altean empires proceeded to exist at peace for some time. With good enough relations that Altean royalty could visit a Gulrak transport hub. That doesn't require great relations, but it at least requires your two states be willing to make diplomatic gestures to eachother. And so yeah, that paints a picture so different than the way things are now that I hope that was the case, as I'd be really interested in seeing what could have happened that cause such a major change.
cB557 on
+1
AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
Would you believe me if I told you I actually didn't like the season much?
Sure. Nor would I mind.
But I can see a ton of exposition and world building getting laid down, such as why the blue lion was on Earth. I just hope the show has legs to show it.
Also yo be clear I 100% agree with you that these are aspects the show is heading for.
You don't introduce a race of shape shifters with the ability to download and/or extract memories and not explore that to the fullest. More so if the mice implies their tech can upload memories. I highly suspect that the past was much worse than implied.
So two things I don't think I saw mentioned yet that strike me as possibly being significant:
One is the apparent frequent use of shapeshifting abilities by the Alurans making them great diplomats somehow. That sort of thing provokes such a gut "fuck, that's super creepy" response that I wonder if that was intentional. But more than just that gut reaction, being able to easily disguise yourself as members of other races strikes me as less of a tool for diplomacy and more of a tool for espionage. So, I'm wondering if that one-off line was meant to be a hint that they're doing the thing where benevolent precursor race isn't as unambiguously good as originally suggested.
The other thing, and I think this is more interesting, is the mention of Allura having been in a... fuck, what are they called again? Gulrak? I forget. But in one of the evil alien transport hubs before, and I think she specifies that it was before the war. Prior to that line, I had just assumed once the Gulrak formed as a polity on the galactic scene, they just immediately started fighting everybody because evil alien empire. So, I thought it was interesting that that was not the case, and begs the question of what, changed that brought those two powers to war. And then, we get the "Zarkon was the black paladin" reveal, and things either get simpler or even more complicated. It's possible Zarkon left Voltron, took over the preexisting Gulrak empire somehow, and then used it to start conquering the universe, and that's the simple possibility. However, the more complex possibility, and the one that first came to mind for me and I find really interesting, is that whatever falling out that cause Zarkon to take his bayard and leave Voltron happened, and he founded (or possibly took over in this scenario as well) the Gulrak empire, and then despite presumably carrying some enmity for Voltron and the Alluran empire after whatever caused him to desert in the first place, the Gulrak and Alluran empires proceeded to exist at peace for some time. With good enough relations that Alluran royalty could visit a Gulrak transport hub. That doesn't require great relations, but it at least requires your two states be willing to make diplomatic gestures to eachother. And so yeah, that paints a picture so different than the way things are now that I hope that was the case, as I'd be really interested in seeing what could have happened that cause such a major change.
One thing I was thinking was
Kay, so these are master diplomats that use their shapeshifting powers to look like other races in order to help their diplomacy.
What if the Alteans are the same race as the Galra?
What if that was the whole point of the identity scan when they first walked into the castle? A short of "shit! Visitors! Quick, make everything more appealing to them!", so it changed everyone's appearance to look more like the humans. It's not like the identity scan did anything else, and it certainly didn't stop completely unknown people from walking all the way to the command chamber.
Would you believe me if I told you I actually didn't like the season much?
Sure. Nor would I mind.
But I can see a ton of exposition and world building getting laid down, such as why the blue lion was on Earth. I just hope the show has legs to show it.
Also yo be clear I 100% agree with you that these are aspects the show is heading for.
I'm actually not so certain, myself. They could be laying seeds for future Plot, but I could also see them just being one-off lines meant to facilitate the stuff in the episode.
0
AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
Would you believe me if I told you I actually didn't like the season much?
Sure. Nor would I mind.
But I can see a ton of exposition and world building getting laid down, such as why the blue lion was on Earth. I just hope the show has legs to show it.
Also yo be clear I 100% agree with you that these are aspects the show is heading for.
I'm actually not so certain, myself. They could be laying seeds for future Plot, but I could also see them just being one-off lines meant to facilitate the stuff in the episode.
It's possible, sure. But for now, I'm giving the benefit of the doubt, based on the past body of work. Everything about this series seems extremely well thought out.
This show can be a lot of fun. But then there's another scene with giant lions floating in space and it looks so dumb. Basically I think I would enjoy this much more if Ultron and the Lions weren't so silly looking.
The question I have is Zarkon is the previous Black Paladin, but he clearly had his lion taken from him. We've previously seen that the Paladins have a connection of sorts to their lions, and the lions themselves will protect the Paladins. So how the hell did Zarkon lose his lion?
It kind of feels like Alura's Dad took his lion away from him, and tossed it into storage. Does Alura (or the Castle itself) have the same ability?
Drat! I was going to watch this, but I'm on vacation in Japan... Guess the rights to the show haven't drifted back over here as it's not on my Netflix now
0
Librarian's ghostLibrarian, Ghostbuster, and TimSporkRegistered Userregular
I'm five episodes in but this is really good. Just got to that reveal which is neat.
Drat! I was going to watch this, but I'm on vacation in Japan... Guess the rights to the show haven't drifted back over here as it's not on my Netflix now
It seems wrong that Japan has to wait to get to watch Voltron.
The question I have is Zarkon is the previous Black Paladin, but he clearly had his lion taken from him. We've previously seen that the Paladins have a connection of sorts to their lions, and the lions themselves will protect the Paladins. So how the hell did Zarkon lose his lion?
It kind of feels like Alura's Dad took his lion away from him, and tossed it into storage. Does Alura (or the Castle itself) have the same ability?
Everyone knows paladins lose their powers if they stop being lawful good :rotate:
Drat! I was going to watch this, but I'm on vacation in Japan... Guess the rights to the show haven't drifted back over here as it's not on my Netflix now
It seems wrong that Japan has to wait to get to watch Voltron.
If I remember right, Voltron's actually a bigger deal in the US. In Japan, it's just another old style super robot show that came out after Gundam had started changing the game. In the USA, it faced much less competition as THE giant robot show.
AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
edited June 2016
Starting my rewatch.
Spoilers are for people who've seen the whole show, or don't mind speculation.
Episode 1:
Shiro is very much older than he was at the beginning.. Older than you would expect for a 1 year jump. Further, Keith is talking about the legends and inscriptions about the Blue Lion referencing Shiro's arrival. It's odd that Keith is the one who was drawn to this energy and legend, and further that he interpreted it enough to know about Shiro. Which begs the question.. how did the ancient texts know about Shiro's arrival?
Edit(s):
"An element not found on Earth" -- That has to be Quintessence, as we've seen the normal and corrupted versions of it powering various things like an energy source. The radar isn't brought up in the future, but I suspect it or something like it will help them in the future to re-unite once they figure out the link.
16 minutes in:
This is the imagery we first see of Keith's lion carvings. You can see a warp gate in the upper left, at least 3 clear Lions, and a few more around. It definitely looks like the Paladins visited Earth sometime in the past.
But notice the figures in the lower left. This is a group of 6 humanoid-looking figures. It's hard to tell if they are cheering or surrendering. The third from the right looks female (admittedly reading into this based on the hips and torso), and it's hard to see if she's part of the right group, or the left group -- which definitely look armed.
the figures in the lower-right look very much like the Gecko monster from later on.
20 minutes:
So the lion knew the baddies were coming before they even entered atmosphere. Shiro talks about how they spread like a plague, but you have no clue where that info is coming from.
Side note: I still love how they fully modeled the physics of how these things move in flight.
A moment later, Shiro says "They found me." Perhaps he remembers more about his escape than he lets on?
Portal jump happens at exactly 22 minutes. End of "Episode 1" if this were to be broadcast on TV.
24 minutes:
The castle of lions is completely dormant, only activated with the arrival of the Blue Lion. No force shields, no energy flowing through the pylons, nothing. Yet there's a pretty extensive architecture that doesn't match what we'll see later of the natives.
Despite being a ship, the grand hall (which is big enough for the lion to fit in) is set up as a welcoming place. Basically this thing can land and become a diplomatic outpost and everything is oriented right.
Then we get to the aforementioned "Identity scan." It runs automatically with a unique voice that doesn't match anyone else's, and then scans all five bottom to top before turning on the lights. The lighting is set up to lead people deeper, and guide them through the labyrinthine castle.
the control room has 8 stasis pods. A strange number for a place decidedly built around 5 lions. 5 Paladins, Allura, Coran, and the King?
Allura wakes up first -- falls out of the pod screaming for her father in panic, falls into Lance's arms, asks where she is, comments on how hideous their ears are, and then puts Lance into a submission hold.
King's name is mentioned quickly: King Alfor. She does refer to the castle as hers... Planet Altea
28 minutes - definite end of season spoilers.
So the flashback shows Allura, Coran, and Alcor on the bridge. Allura's in her princess garb, not warrior setup. The castle is surrounded by red flames and smoke, implying it is landed, but there is a ton of ships in the air backing up Zarkon, and you can see stars. Alcor's got the energy shield thing going on that the AI would use against the paladins later.
Zarkon's helmet definitely looks in the style of a Paladin's, only possibly broken?
Alfor uses quintessence to knock Allura out. Add that as another power of the Altean people.
Allura claims the Altean solar system has been destroyed, but I don't know what backs that up at this point?
Shiro's flashback to Zarkon:
Yup. Definitely a Paladin helmet.
Allura calls Zarkon King of the Gulra, a vile creature and an enemy to all free people. She also calls his being alive impossible...
"He's searching for [Voltron] because he knows it is the only thing that can defeat him." I... I don't know if Allura believes this or is trying to hide the truth. Being a former Paladin, he knows its capabilities more than anyone.
Hmmm. thinking back on it, the king refused to form Voltron, and Allura didn't know what happened to the paladins. He kept the black lion in the castle despite Zarkon's ship lancing into the castle.. could the truth be that they COULDN'T form Voltron?
The druid's scrying circle (of purple Quintessence) looks very, very similar in design to the warp portals. I also need to check and see if the druid is voiced by the same person as Azula. It sounds similar.
Zarkon doesn't know how Allura is alive, or that the blue lion awoke. How the hell did they hide the castle from him? Especially given when Allura was knocked unconscious?
Zarkon's words: "I will wipe that vile race from the galaxy forever, and take BACK Voltron.." Emphasis mine. Again, world building from moment one.
A moment later after Sendak charges his arm with Quintessence, Zarkon knows Allura is in his sector. Yay druids?
Zarkon requests Sendak capture Allura and the lions.. So they need her for some reason.
Sendak's response: "I fight for the Empire. I conquer in the name of Galra. No foe has ever stood in my way." I wonder if Zarkon's a Galra? I kind of like the theory that he's an Altean. He identifies the planet as Arris. Man. There's a LOT of alliteration in this show.
The mice! Referred to as Alteans.. Perhaps the ship was on Altea when she was made unconscious.
(For the record I love the mice, even the pissy red-eyed one)
Allura's first instinct is blood. No, seriously, she goes from thinking they are intruders to "You guys are gonna pilot Voltron and destroy the Gulra Empire!" That's.. one hell of a jump given what she's seen of the five so far.
Huh. And then Coran says Allura's been bonded to the lions, perhaps explaining why Zarkon wants her.
The black lion was locked in the castle, and can only be "Freed" if the other four are present. More hinting at Zarkon being the true paladin and pilot.. The black lion probably was trying to fight for its master. "The lions choose their pilots." So there had to have been something in Zarkon that the black lion agreed with. "It is a mystical bond that cannot be forced. The quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in the lion." Fuck. Quintessence is people.
"The black lion is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot who is a born leader, and in control at all times. Someone whose men will follow without hesitation." I'd like to point out this is where Allura starts making assumptions about the human's personalities.
"The green lion has an inquisitive personality, and needs a pilot of intellect and daring."
Allura doesn't give the blue lion's defining characteristics. Thanks, Lance.
"The yellow lion is caring and kind. Its pilot is one who puts the needs of others above his own. His heart must be mighty. As the leg of Voltron, you will lift the team up, and hold them together. "
"The red lion is temperamental, and the most difficult to master. It's faster and more agile than the others, but also more unstable. Its pilot needs to be someone who relies more on instincts than skill alone. "
"The Coranic." - Cute.
Side note - How did Shiro get that scar across his face?
36 minutes
There's a definite camera shift to center on the logo on the device Pidge is carrying when the sloth-man is looking at them. It recognizes the emblem of Voltron, at least.
Okay. Shiro definitely says he's been locked up by aliens for a year. Again, implies he knows what's up, or someone mentioned it has been a year to him.
More background carvings, this time not lit up. Two figures worshipping or praising a V with a dot in the middle of it, with a gate above, a possible portal below, and a lion to the right.
Cut to Lance and Hunk -- "Maybe peaceful means something else in Altean!" -- cute.
Compared to what we see on the Balmoral and other planets, the asteroid here has very, VERY little in the way of Gulras. Just some sentries and some basic mining equipment.
The lions have an "eject down" button. It doesn't eject the pilot, but someone behind them. Who would install such a thing?
When Hunk hotwired the lift -- which, how the hell? -- it emitted the purple quintessence glow.
The lion carvings here are EXTREMELY visible, even before Hunk starts resonating with them. No way the sentries didn't see them.
First one you see looks to be a crashed pod similar to Shiro's. Then more circles / gates.
This theme is repeated down in the caves, where it is very obvious there are support structures and equipment on top of the carvings.
The next glyphs to light up are a lion, a humanoid with a shield with that V + dot symbol above his head like a headdress, and then another circle/portal. Hunk deduces that is where he needs to dig. Interestingly, these glyphs do NOT show up as carvings before they illuminate, which might indicate why the Gulra were not digging towards them.
Once Hunk sees the yellow lion, the sentries begin shooting for the cavern entrance, even firing missiles - which they didn't use against the blue lion -- at the entrance to cut off.. escape?
Switching back to Pidge, we see more carvings - two lions this time. They are bearing their teeth at each other over.. something. It looks like the control panel that was in the room Allura woke up in.
I wonder if Shiro knows Pidge is the commander's daughter, given the way he talks about Pidge's father at this point. It calms her down and comforts her.
The green lion is found in a temple, unlike the caves of all the rest. It's overgrown, yes, but it is out in the open with lion statues flanking it. Its glyphs do not appear to have anything special to them, other than one that was done up like a lion's face. Later, the quintessence lines just follow the architecture -- either something is buried, or this place was built to worship the green lion.
"Go. Be Great." Pidge's lion bursts through the overgrowth majestically, while Lance gets his ass thoroughly handed to him and can't even get his mouth laser to fire.
Hunk's lion, the left leg, has way more armor than any of the others - even Pidge's with the upper arm shield thingy. First thing he does? Puts his body in front of Lance to protect him.
And then bodyslams the jets, compared to the biting and shooting of Lance.
44 minutes.
Sendak has the red lion already? And is orbiting Arris? But.. how.. why? I have so many questions, even past plot convenience!
This is now twice we've been able to see Gulra be able to hack / turn on the displays in the command room of the Castle of Lions...
"Turn them over to me, or I will destroy your planet." No holding back! this should also mark the end of episode 2.
Coran says the castle is 10,600 years old, and built by his Grandfather. so alterans live.. a long-ass time. Does Voltron predate the castle?
Coran then indicates that the particle shield won't hold off against Sendak's ion cannon, and that their tech has advanced since last time. Yet last time we saw Zarkon pretty much tearing into the castle.
The use of the word "Quiznak" apparently mollifies Allura and Coran. Like.. wow.
Another moment of showing Allura's inexperience, when Shiro asks her to make the call on how to deal with Sendak and the Gulra.
Coran knew about Alfor's AI when Allura didn't.. So he was awake when she wasn't.
Alfor seems to emphasize that Allura is an only child. BTW.. yay orphans.
Allura wanted to fight, Alfor chose to scatter the lions for the greater good.. again, probably knowing Zarkon could control them?
"You must be willing to sacrifice everything to assemble the lions and correct my error." - Alfor's AI
"The voltron lions were meant to be piloted by you, and you alone." -- Allura
The suits of armor were stored in the same stasis area as the Princess and Coran were.
"Boys, it's time to suit up" -- Shiro. Again, likely knows what is up with Pidge, but helping cover for her.
Keith does not look happy. Pidge is over the moon ecstatic.
The bayards are the signature weapons of the paladins, and they take a distinct shape for each paladin.. except Zarkon, who we later see wielding one, or something like it, effortlessly. Shiro's bayard was lost with its paladin - implying the others weren't lost? Yet they have the armor...
Lance brings up that Keith could feel the crazy energy in the desert that led to the Blue lion. But.. again, why? He couldn't open the blue one, but he felt its call, interpreted the signs...
More flashbacks - of Shiro in a cell, being experimented on by Sentries, and Zarkon (?) again.
.. Oh, okay, Shiro definitely didn't know about Pidge until right now, when Pidge calls out Commander Holt as her father.
Hunk slams into the forcefield, which has the same pattern as when they later hook up a corrupted crystal to the castle... right before we see the same forcefield around the castle.
55 minutes:
Green light. That's.. new. In fact thinking on it, I'm not sure where else we see Green quintessence in the show so far. The prisoners are kept here, and Keith has to go through that part to get to the lion, implying that prisoners are kept in that color.. for some.. reason...
But the lion is kept in a purple area. Suspended in the air, they likely picked up the entire thing, shield and all, which implies what the MASSIVE tractor beam was for.
Either Keith is ambidextrous, or they flipped which side he uses his Bayard on.
I can't tell if the suits are mentally controlled or by hand motions. The bayards appear when the hand is held near the hip, but the mouth piece appeared as he moved his hand in front of his face. Keith also doesn't know how to use the jetpacks the paladin suits have built in at this point either, as he is very, VERY panicked about drifting in space.
We see what looks like a shackle around Shiro's arm when it activates. It starts up like usual at first, then the hand only glows fully. A quintessence aura appears around it, and he drops to the ground in pain and unable to focus. He flexes, the aura dissipates, and he goes on to kick ass, sending quintessence blasts with his hand movements in short order. It's very reminiscent of Sendak's arm. The aliens call Shiro by name, and Shiro doesn't know how they know that.
Oh hey, I was wrong, the yellow lion does shoot a bolt from its mouth in the first episode! My bad!
Pidge says "Kitty Rose has left the stage." I'm curious if this is a reference...
I want to again mention how much I love the detail. The weathering on the models, the fact that the lions aren't carbon copies of each other... the scale.
I know I'm off the deep end of over-analyzing, but...
That's a purple-ass purple cockpit. I didn't notice it the first time around. Sure, you can't exactly make "black" light, and this is kind of the closest as it invokes ultraviolet.. er.. black lights. But when you compare it to the other cockpits, which are all lit up in blue.. and again, with the color motifs...
The clues are all there, is all I'm saying.
"I'm nodding. Is everyone else nodding?" "Yes" - great moment.
This also leads into one of my favorite moments - where the lions react to the pilots, act out their facial expressions as best they can, do movements no fighting robot should do.. but makes it feel like the pilots and the lions are one.
Interesting. As Shiro talks about working together, you first see Lance and Keith, then Pidge and Hunk, then the four of them together, before finally forming the Voltron V and the Quintessence starts flowing through the logo (or that blue shiny stuff. )
And one punch destroys the battlecruiser outright.
I really wish the glory shot didn't have so much glare and lens flare on it. It's an awesome image and shows how different this Voltron is from the earlier ones.. but it doesn't turn out that great.
Done with ep 1! ... aww, they don't show how to spell the bad guys voices, only calling them "Additional Voices."
Hi Nolan North!
...
Oh, side note.. if this is annoying or bad or whatever, let me know. I find this fun, even if it's taking me 3 hours to watch this episode.
Not gonna do Ep 2 just yet, but regarding the intro (same spoiler rules as above):
The blue lion busts out of water, the likes of which I don't think we see anywhere in season 1.
The yellow lion breaks out of a desert/plateau like area, charging with lightning.
The green lion busts out of a jungle canopy in the same jumping pose as when it left its temple.
The red lion jumps out of an erupting volcano.
And the black lion? Single-handedly destroys the ship that was chasing them down on Earth... Well, the black lion and its jaw-blades.
Allura performs the lock-on with the drones, but Coran gives the signal to fire. I still think the battlecruiser should have had more crew. But hey. Somehow they do a point-defense laser attack.
You can definitely see in the next shot that there are two different types of battleship used by Zarkon's forces. One with wings swept back, and one with three ridges on the sides.
Next up is a zoom-in on Haggar and Zarkon, followed by Shiro grabbing and activating the Black Lion's bayard.... Or is it Shiro? You only see from the back, and the next shot flares to the combining footage / formation without showing what the Bayard did.
And here we see "Sir Not Appearing in this Season."
I wonder if they made seasons 1 and 2 together, or at least planned them together.
I'd dispute some of the things you called quintessence being quintessence. I'm don't think it's the only energy, or even the only magic, we've seen in the show. Like, I really doubt that the lift Hunk hotwired ran on quintessence.
0
AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
I'd dispute some of the things you called quintessence being quintessence. I'm don't think it's the only energy, or even the only magic, we've seen in the show. Like, I really doubt that the lift Hunk hotwired ran on quintessence.
I'm just going off the idea that we only see 3 primary colors. But it was a stream of consciousness thing,
Unrelatedly, I just watched the first three episodes with my sister. She seems to have enjoyed the show more than I did, actually.
But shit,
I completely missed Shiro telling Pidge "Your secret's safe with me" at the end of episode three the first time. I had actually been wondering why Shiro didn't know that the commander of the Kerberos mission (I forget his name) didn't have a daughter.
Drat! I was going to watch this, but I'm on vacation in Japan... Guess the rights to the show haven't drifted back over here as it's not on my Netflix now
It seems wrong that Japan has to wait to get to watch Voltron.
If I remember right, Voltron's actually a bigger deal in the US. In Japan, it's just another old style super robot show that came out after Gundam had started changing the game. In the USA, it faced much less competition as THE giant robot show.
Yea, Golion did pretty abysmal here. There's a lot of talk that there was kind of a big Christian vibe that came with it, which was kind of a turn off. It's also true that Gundam came along shortly after and turned the "Giant Robot" thing on it's head. There really wasn't a big shift in Mecha storytelling after that until Evangelion turned the whole genre asses over elbows again.
Posts
Might help me keep track of which is which... this weekend I'm gonna re-watch, so hopefully that will help.
Sendak has the one giant fist.
Zarkon is the head guy.
Haggar is the only woman in the entire empire apparently.
Battle.net:Ritalynn#1974
XBL: Tranewrek
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Heh, title and location practically writes itself
11th Doctor is great and all, but I think I need a change.
Coran Attack!
The other thing, and I think this is more interesting, is the mention of Allura having been in a... fuck, what are they called again? Gulrak? I forget. But in one of the evil alien transport hubs before, and I think she specifies that it was before the war. Prior to that line, I had just assumed once the Gulrak formed as a polity on the galactic scene, they just immediately started fighting everybody because evil alien empire. So, I thought it was interesting that that was not the case, and begs the question of what, changed that brought those two powers to war.
And then, we get the "Zarkon was the black paladin" reveal, and things either get simpler or even more complicated. It's possible Zarkon left Voltron, took over the preexisting Gulrak empire somehow, and then used it to start conquering the universe, and that's the simple possibility. However, the more complex possibility, and the one that first came to mind for me and I find really interesting, is that whatever falling out that cause Zarkon to take his bayard and leave Voltron happened, and he founded (or possibly took over in this scenario as well) the Gulrak empire, and then despite presumably carrying some enmity for Voltron and the Altean empire after whatever caused him to desert in the first place, the Gulrak and Altean empires proceeded to exist at peace for some time. With good enough relations that Altean royalty could visit a Gulrak transport hub. That doesn't require great relations, but it at least requires your two states be willing to make diplomatic gestures to eachother. And so yeah, that paints a picture so different than the way things are now that I hope that was the case, as I'd be really interested in seeing what could have happened that cause such a major change.
Storytellers.
Now I need a good Coran quote. Guess I'll have to rewatch the series to find one.
Coran Attack!
Sure. Nor would I mind.
But I can see a ton of exposition and world building getting laid down, such as why the blue lion was on Earth. I just hope the show has legs to show it.
Also yo be clear I 100% agree with you that these are aspects the show is heading for.
Kay, so these are master diplomats that use their shapeshifting powers to look like other races in order to help their diplomacy.
What if the Alteans are the same race as the Galra?
What if that was the whole point of the identity scan when they first walked into the castle? A short of "shit! Visitors! Quick, make everything more appealing to them!", so it changed everyone's appearance to look more like the humans. It's not like the identity scan did anything else, and it certainly didn't stop completely unknown people from walking all the way to the command chamber.
It's possible, sure. But for now, I'm giving the benefit of the doubt, based on the past body of work. Everything about this series seems extremely well thought out.
Then again, that may be my inner fanboy talking.
Unless she did that to try to get through to him that hitting on her was never going to work.
This show can be a lot of fun. But then there's another scene with giant lions floating in space and it looks so dumb. Basically I think I would enjoy this much more if Ultron and the Lions weren't so silly looking.
It kind of feels like Alura's Dad took his lion away from him, and tossed it into storage. Does Alura (or the Castle itself) have the same ability?
It seems wrong that Japan has to wait to get to watch Voltron.
As a fan of all things gestalt, that is awesome.
If I remember right, Voltron's actually a bigger deal in the US. In Japan, it's just another old style super robot show that came out after Gundam had started changing the game. In the USA, it faced much less competition as THE giant robot show.
Why I fear the ocean.
... Also, awesome of Chrome to have Mustachio as a suggested spelling correction.
Spoilers are for people who've seen the whole show, or don't mind speculation.
Episode 1:
Edit(s):
16 minutes in:
This is the imagery we first see of Keith's lion carvings. You can see a warp gate in the upper left, at least 3 clear Lions, and a few more around. It definitely looks like the Paladins visited Earth sometime in the past.
But notice the figures in the lower left. This is a group of 6 humanoid-looking figures. It's hard to tell if they are cheering or surrendering. The third from the right looks female (admittedly reading into this based on the hips and torso), and it's hard to see if she's part of the right group, or the left group -- which definitely look armed.
the figures in the lower-right look very much like the Gecko monster from later on.
20 minutes:
Side note: I still love how they fully modeled the physics of how these things move in flight.
A moment later, Shiro says "They found me." Perhaps he remembers more about his escape than he lets on?
Portal jump happens at exactly 22 minutes. End of "Episode 1" if this were to be broadcast on TV.
24 minutes:
Despite being a ship, the grand hall (which is big enough for the lion to fit in) is set up as a welcoming place. Basically this thing can land and become a diplomatic outpost and everything is oriented right.
Then we get to the aforementioned "Identity scan." It runs automatically with a unique voice that doesn't match anyone else's, and then scans all five bottom to top before turning on the lights. The lighting is set up to lead people deeper, and guide them through the labyrinthine castle.
the control room has 8 stasis pods. A strange number for a place decidedly built around 5 lions. 5 Paladins, Allura, Coran, and the King?
Allura wakes up first -- falls out of the pod screaming for her father in panic, falls into Lance's arms, asks where she is, comments on how hideous their ears are, and then puts Lance into a submission hold.
King's name is mentioned quickly: King Alfor. She does refer to the castle as hers...
28 minutes - definite end of season spoilers.
Zarkon's helmet definitely looks in the style of a Paladin's, only possibly broken?
Alfor uses quintessence to knock Allura out. Add that as another power of the Altean people.
Allura claims the Altean solar system has been destroyed, but I don't know what backs that up at this point?
Shiro's flashback to Zarkon:
Yup. Definitely a Paladin helmet.
Allura calls Zarkon King of the Gulra, a vile creature and an enemy to all free people. She also calls his being alive impossible...
"He's searching for [Voltron] because he knows it is the only thing that can defeat him." I... I don't know if Allura believes this or is trying to hide the truth. Being a former Paladin, he knows its capabilities more than anyone.
Hmmm. thinking back on it, the king refused to form Voltron, and Allura didn't know what happened to the paladins. He kept the black lion in the castle despite Zarkon's ship lancing into the castle.. could the truth be that they COULDN'T form Voltron?
The druid's scrying circle (of purple Quintessence) looks very, very similar in design to the warp portals. I also need to check and see if the druid is voiced by the same person as Azula. It sounds similar.
Zarkon doesn't know how Allura is alive, or that the blue lion awoke. How the hell did they hide the castle from him? Especially given when Allura was knocked unconscious?
Zarkon's words: "I will wipe that vile race from the galaxy forever, and take BACK Voltron.." Emphasis mine. Again, world building from moment one.
A moment later after Sendak charges his arm with Quintessence, Zarkon knows Allura is in his sector. Yay druids?
Zarkon requests Sendak capture Allura and the lions.. So they need her for some reason.
Sendak's response: "I fight for the Empire. I conquer in the name of Galra. No foe has ever stood in my way." I wonder if Zarkon's a Galra? I kind of like the theory that he's an Altean. He identifies the planet as Arris. Man. There's a LOT of alliteration in this show.
The mice! Referred to as Alteans.. Perhaps the ship was on Altea when she was made unconscious.
(For the record I love the mice, even the pissy red-eyed one)
Allura's first instinct is blood. No, seriously, she goes from thinking they are intruders to "You guys are gonna pilot Voltron and destroy the Gulra Empire!" That's.. one hell of a jump given what she's seen of the five so far.
Huh. And then Coran says Allura's been bonded to the lions, perhaps explaining why Zarkon wants her.
The black lion was locked in the castle, and can only be "Freed" if the other four are present. More hinting at Zarkon being the true paladin and pilot.. The black lion probably was trying to fight for its master. "The lions choose their pilots." So there had to have been something in Zarkon that the black lion agreed with. "It is a mystical bond that cannot be forced. The quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in the lion." Fuck. Quintessence is people.
"The black lion is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot who is a born leader, and in control at all times. Someone whose men will follow without hesitation." I'd like to point out this is where Allura starts making assumptions about the human's personalities.
"The green lion has an inquisitive personality, and needs a pilot of intellect and daring."
Allura doesn't give the blue lion's defining characteristics. Thanks, Lance.
"The yellow lion is caring and kind. Its pilot is one who puts the needs of others above his own. His heart must be mighty. As the leg of Voltron, you will lift the team up, and hold them together. "
"The red lion is temperamental, and the most difficult to master. It's faster and more agile than the others, but also more unstable. Its pilot needs to be someone who relies more on instincts than skill alone. "
"The Coranic." - Cute.
Side note - How did Shiro get that scar across his face?
36 minutes
Okay. Shiro definitely says he's been locked up by aliens for a year. Again, implies he knows what's up, or someone mentioned it has been a year to him.
More background carvings, this time not lit up. Two figures worshipping or praising a V with a dot in the middle of it, with a gate above, a possible portal below, and a lion to the right.
Cut to Lance and Hunk -- "Maybe peaceful means something else in Altean!" -- cute.
Compared to what we see on the Balmoral and other planets, the asteroid here has very, VERY little in the way of Gulras. Just some sentries and some basic mining equipment.
The lions have an "eject down" button. It doesn't eject the pilot, but someone behind them. Who would install such a thing?
When Hunk hotwired the lift -- which, how the hell? -- it emitted the purple quintessence glow.
The lion carvings here are EXTREMELY visible, even before Hunk starts resonating with them. No way the sentries didn't see them.
First one you see looks to be a crashed pod similar to Shiro's. Then more circles / gates.
This theme is repeated down in the caves, where it is very obvious there are support structures and equipment on top of the carvings.
The next glyphs to light up are a lion, a humanoid with a shield with that V + dot symbol above his head like a headdress, and then another circle/portal. Hunk deduces that is where he needs to dig. Interestingly, these glyphs do NOT show up as carvings before they illuminate, which might indicate why the Gulra were not digging towards them.
Once Hunk sees the yellow lion, the sentries begin shooting for the cavern entrance, even firing missiles - which they didn't use against the blue lion -- at the entrance to cut off.. escape?
Switching back to Pidge, we see more carvings - two lions this time. They are bearing their teeth at each other over.. something. It looks like the control panel that was in the room Allura woke up in.
I wonder if Shiro knows Pidge is the commander's daughter, given the way he talks about Pidge's father at this point. It calms her down and comforts her.
The green lion is found in a temple, unlike the caves of all the rest. It's overgrown, yes, but it is out in the open with lion statues flanking it. Its glyphs do not appear to have anything special to them, other than one that was done up like a lion's face. Later, the quintessence lines just follow the architecture -- either something is buried, or this place was built to worship the green lion.
"Go. Be Great." Pidge's lion bursts through the overgrowth majestically, while Lance gets his ass thoroughly handed to him and can't even get his mouth laser to fire.
Hunk's lion, the left leg, has way more armor than any of the others - even Pidge's with the upper arm shield thingy. First thing he does? Puts his body in front of Lance to protect him.
And then bodyslams the jets, compared to the biting and shooting of Lance.
44 minutes.
This is now twice we've been able to see Gulra be able to hack / turn on the displays in the command room of the Castle of Lions...
"Turn them over to me, or I will destroy your planet." No holding back! this should also mark the end of episode 2.
Coran says the castle is 10,600 years old, and built by his Grandfather. so alterans live.. a long-ass time. Does Voltron predate the castle?
Coran then indicates that the particle shield won't hold off against Sendak's ion cannon, and that their tech has advanced since last time. Yet last time we saw Zarkon pretty much tearing into the castle.
The use of the word "Quiznak" apparently mollifies Allura and Coran. Like.. wow.
Another moment of showing Allura's inexperience, when Shiro asks her to make the call on how to deal with Sendak and the Gulra.
Coran knew about Alfor's AI when Allura didn't.. So he was awake when she wasn't.
Alfor seems to emphasize that Allura is an only child. BTW.. yay orphans.
Allura wanted to fight, Alfor chose to scatter the lions for the greater good.. again, probably knowing Zarkon could control them?
"You must be willing to sacrifice everything to assemble the lions and correct my error." - Alfor's AI
"The voltron lions were meant to be piloted by you, and you alone." -- Allura
The suits of armor were stored in the same stasis area as the Princess and Coran were.
"Boys, it's time to suit up" -- Shiro. Again, likely knows what is up with Pidge, but helping cover for her.
Keith does not look happy. Pidge is over the moon ecstatic.
The bayards are the signature weapons of the paladins, and they take a distinct shape for each paladin.. except Zarkon, who we later see wielding one, or something like it, effortlessly. Shiro's bayard was lost with its paladin - implying the others weren't lost? Yet they have the armor...
Lance brings up that Keith could feel the crazy energy in the desert that led to the Blue lion. But.. again, why? He couldn't open the blue one, but he felt its call, interpreted the signs...
More flashbacks - of Shiro in a cell, being experimented on by Sentries, and Zarkon (?) again.
.. Oh, okay, Shiro definitely didn't know about Pidge until right now, when Pidge calls out Commander Holt as her father.
Hunk slams into the forcefield, which has the same pattern as when they later hook up a corrupted crystal to the castle... right before we see the same forcefield around the castle.
55 minutes:
But the lion is kept in a purple area. Suspended in the air, they likely picked up the entire thing, shield and all, which implies what the MASSIVE tractor beam was for.
Either Keith is ambidextrous, or they flipped which side he uses his Bayard on.
I can't tell if the suits are mentally controlled or by hand motions. The bayards appear when the hand is held near the hip, but the mouth piece appeared as he moved his hand in front of his face. Keith also doesn't know how to use the jetpacks the paladin suits have built in at this point either, as he is very, VERY panicked about drifting in space.
We see what looks like a shackle around Shiro's arm when it activates. It starts up like usual at first, then the hand only glows fully. A quintessence aura appears around it, and he drops to the ground in pain and unable to focus. He flexes, the aura dissipates, and he goes on to kick ass, sending quintessence blasts with his hand movements in short order. It's very reminiscent of Sendak's arm. The aliens call Shiro by name, and Shiro doesn't know how they know that.
Oh hey, I was wrong, the yellow lion does shoot a bolt from its mouth in the first episode! My bad!
I want to again mention how much I love the detail. The weathering on the models, the fact that the lions aren't carbon copies of each other... the scale.
I know I'm off the deep end of over-analyzing, but...
That's a purple-ass purple cockpit. I didn't notice it the first time around. Sure, you can't exactly make "black" light, and this is kind of the closest as it invokes ultraviolet.. er.. black lights. But when you compare it to the other cockpits, which are all lit up in blue.. and again, with the color motifs...
The clues are all there, is all I'm saying.
"I'm nodding. Is everyone else nodding?" "Yes" - great moment.
This also leads into one of my favorite moments - where the lions react to the pilots, act out their facial expressions as best they can, do movements no fighting robot should do.. but makes it feel like the pilots and the lions are one.
Interesting. As Shiro talks about working together, you first see Lance and Keith, then Pidge and Hunk, then the four of them together, before finally forming the Voltron V and the Quintessence starts flowing through the logo (or that blue shiny stuff.
And one punch destroys the battlecruiser outright.
I really wish the glory shot didn't have so much glare and lens flare on it. It's an awesome image and shows how different this Voltron is from the earlier ones.. but it doesn't turn out that great.
Done with ep 1! ... aww, they don't show how to spell the bad guys voices, only calling them "Additional Voices."
Hi Nolan North!
...
Oh, side note.. if this is annoying or bad or whatever, let me know. I find this fun, even if it's taking me 3 hours to watch this episode.
Not gonna do Ep 2 just yet, but regarding the intro (same spoiler rules as above):
The yellow lion breaks out of a desert/plateau like area, charging with lightning.
The green lion busts out of a jungle canopy in the same jumping pose as when it left its temple.
The red lion jumps out of an erupting volcano.
And the black lion? Single-handedly destroys the ship that was chasing them down on Earth... Well, the black lion and its jaw-blades.
Allura performs the lock-on with the drones, but Coran gives the signal to fire. I still think the battlecruiser should have had more crew. But hey. Somehow they do a point-defense laser attack.
You can definitely see in the next shot that there are two different types of battleship used by Zarkon's forces. One with wings swept back, and one with three ridges on the sides.
Next up is a zoom-in on Haggar and Zarkon, followed by Shiro grabbing and activating the Black Lion's bayard.... Or is it Shiro? You only see from the back, and the next shot flares to the combining footage / formation without showing what the Bayard did.
And here we see "Sir Not Appearing in this Season."
I wonder if they made seasons 1 and 2 together, or at least planned them together.
I'm just going off the idea that we only see 3 primary colors.
But shit,
And a second later is all "Naw they actually go p-choo, p-choo"
Allura tacking that guy through the door is a close second, though
Yea, Golion did pretty abysmal here. There's a lot of talk that there was kind of a big Christian vibe that came with it, which was kind of a turn off. It's also true that Gundam came along shortly after and turned the "Giant Robot" thing on it's head. There really wasn't a big shift in Mecha storytelling after that until Evangelion turned the whole genre asses over elbows again.