Viewer Log: Voltron ep 3

And so we reach the end of our first arc. If we count the opening movie, and the previous episode, there has been a lot of build up to this first monster battle. All of it, smashing the Gulra ship, bonding as a team, and the first five to ten minutes of this episode, to show one fight with a giant robot Gorilla. Does it meet that build up? In a word, yes. But you’re here for more than just a word, so, let’s get to it.

We open to see villains doing villainy things. Zarkon is seen absorbing a large amount of “Quintessence.” In this show’s universe, that’s the name for ‘life energy,’ and it’s generally implied that it’s through absorbing planet’s worth of the stuff that Zarkon has been able to live for ten centuries. Implied, in that they don’t directly say it, but showing how much energy absorbs, and how much power he’ll show off later, it seems the most likely reason. And, if I had to guess a method of how an evil being stayed alive for centuries, it’d be eating a planet. Just saying.

He's got an energy ball, and he knows how to use it.

Back with the Paladins, Pidge and Shiro interview the aliens on what they recall about Shiro, as well as Pidge’s family. One alien explains that they’d all been slaves forced to fight for Gulra entertainment. Their first opponent was a monster named Myzax, it’s the same dude that Haggar fused with a metal ape. Pidge’s brother Matt was the one scheduled to fight Myzax first, but Shiro intervenes. The alien’s claim that Shiro’s bloodlust was so great that he injured Matt and took his spot as the first contestant. He defeated Myzax and earned the title of Champion. Pidge is rather upset to learn his leader and friend had attacked Matt. And Shiro can’t seem to accept that he’d lose it and attack a friend. Hm… I wonder why a six foot two, two-hundred-pounds of muscle soldier would do everything in his power to enter a death match before a younger, hundred-pounds-soaking-wet scientist? You see where I’m going with this, right? Anyway, Shiro suggests that he and Pidge investigate the downed Gulra warship they’d crashed in the first episode to see if it had any clues.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Voltron Paladins and Princess Allura meet and bond with the local peoples of Arus. They’d locals had come to believe that Allura’s castle was some sort of holy place, and that Voltron was a Lion Goddess. They try to befriend the Arusians, and explain that the whole “fire and metal raining from the sky” thing wasn’t because they’d angered a goddess. They have mixed results. The little Arusians insist on doing an apology dance, despite Allura’s insistence that it wasn’t necessary. Since the Arusians gave them the options of “accepting” the apology dance, or watching them incinerate themselves on a pyre, they went with the less violent one.

Commander Sendak is ready for round 2.

On board the Gulra Warship, Pidge and Shiro look for clues. They access a Gulra computer terminal using Pidge’s computer skills, and Shiro’s Gulra robot arm to power it. They start downloading the ship’s records, but are interrupted by something falling from the sky right at them. Much to Pidge’s dismay, they’re forced to abandon ship before the download was finished. The Paladins assemble, form Voltron, and then face off against Mecha-Myzax. Mecha-Myzax uses as weapon that can be best described as a weaponized version of one of those Ball-in-a-cup games. You know, toss a ball on a string in the air and catch it in a cup. It’s much more effective then it sounds. His right hand can create a ball of energy, which he then throws and can direct from a distance. It smashes into an opponent and then returns to his hand. If Voltron focuses on the energy orb, Mecha-Myzax hits them head on. If they focus on Mecha-Myzax, he hits them from behind with the energy orb.

The fighting causes Shiro to have another flashback. He remembers Myzax, and how he defeated him in the ring. Myzax used the same weapon in their fight. The weapon makes a loud buzzing sound when the orb is about to return to it, and after the orb has hit something three times, it needs to return to the weapon to recharge. They use this knowledge to time an attack, but despite their best efforts they fail to overpower Mecha-Myzax. Apparently his armor is stronger than robot lion jaws. Shocking, I know. They’re about to retreat, but the Red Lion gives Keith a hint on how to still win. We need to backtrack just a little. First episode everyone, except Shiro, is given a sort-of-magic weapon called a Bayard. It’s like a hilt that can shapeshift into a unique weapon for each Paladin. I didn’t mention it because they weren’t all that relevant until now. Hunk gets a giant cannon, Lance gets an energy rifle, Keith gets a sword, and Pidge gets a sort of energy blade on a chain. Shiro doesn’t get his, as his Bayard was lost with a previous Black Lion Paladin. Keith inserts his Bayard into a port his Lion revealed, which gives Voltron a colossal sword. They slice Mecha-Myzax to ribbons. High fives all around.

Honestly, are you that shocked Pidge is a she?

Despite this defeat, Zarkon isn’t all that concerned. Which, considering that he’s got the resources of the known universe at his fingertips, isn’t all that surprising. But that’s not the main reason he’s so confident. He reveals that Commander Sendak survived the Warship crash in the first episode, and that he’s now on a sabotage mission. Something wicked this way comes. Back with the Paladins, Shiro explains to Pidge what should have been obvious to begin with, that he injured Matt so he wouldn’t die fighting Myzax. Oh, and he reveals that Pidge is a girl. What!?

But, honestly, this should be a little obvious. Pidge looks exactly like Matt. In the picture Matt is glasses-less, and the girl looks like just a long haired Pidge complete with glasses. And, why the heck would Pidge be so upset whenever one of the guys saw the picture or made comments about it? This, according to my limited research, is one of the bigger liberties they took with the source material. In the Original Voltron, Pidge was 100% dude. It would seem that they did this to try and up the number of women on what was a predominantly male team, even by Team-Supehero/Power Rangers style shows. Sure a 2:5 ratio isn’t great, but it’s better than a 1:6. Just saying. Normally this isn’t the kind of thing I’d spoil, but 1. It was kind of obvious, and 2. It’s kind of a big deal from episode 4 onwards. Best to just get it out of the way now. So yeah, Pidge is a girl. Moving along.

Shiro’s big reveal, about intentionally injuring Matt to fight in his stead, is treated like a huge crisis of identity or something, but again, I kind of figured out the whole story pretty much from the get go. I think my earlier sarcasm illustrated that pretty well. And, while the reveal wasn’t great, It is rather cool to learn that Shiro’s robot arm is pretty much a Swiss army knife of powers. Superheated attack hand, and charges enemy tech. It also slices and dices.

Overall, this was a fine third episode, and end to the firsts story arc. The team has grown bit by bit, a few secrets have been revealed, they’ve protected their first planet, and newer and grander threats are on the horizon. Pretty much everything you want for the first story arc. Next time, episode Four, aka It hits the fan.

http://collider.com/voltron-legendary-defender-images/
http://voltron.wikia.com/wiki/File:Pidge_in_Castle_Ship.png
http://voltron.wikia.com/wiki/File:Sendak_-_Full_Body.png