Viewer Log: Voltron ep 4

Episode 4 is the start of the new story arc. I kicked around a few ideas for an unofficial name for the next few episode’s arc, and settled on the Plight of the Balmera, for reasons that will be made apparent in the next couple of minutes. Why do I need to unofficially name the arc? Because, again, folks keep saying that you can just binge this. I, on the other hand, think we can break this up a little more. Enough set up, let’s get to it.

Hm... I'm hearing Stewie from Family Guy screaming
"Victory is Mine!" Not sure why...

Things start out peaceful enough, with Allura hosting a sort of ‘Getting to Know You’ party for the Arusians that they befriended last time. They seem to be taking the whole, “holy place that we’re not supposed to enter is actually somebody’s house,” thing pretty well. Which is a little surprising, not going to lie. But they took the whole “our goddess is actually a giant fighting robot” thing pretty well, too, so maybe Arusian’s are just a very accepting people. Everyone seems to be having a good time, except for a few folks. Shiro is ill at ease, believing that the casual little get together is just making them an easy target for Gulra attack. At the same time, Lance is suddenly hit by an extreme feeling of homesickness, as the grand scale of their fight against the evil alien empire and the sheer size of the universe kind of just hits him in the face. He misses his mom, can’t fault a guy for that. And Pidge is acting incredibly shifty, and gathering food into a knapsack. At the same time, Allura is learning secrets about her friends from the mice that she is psychically bonded too. Why the heck is that not the weirdest sentence that I’ve ever written? Anyway, she learns something about Hunk and Lance, we’re not told exactly what, and is given the ‘shocking news’ that Pidge is in fact a girl. After seeing Pidge pilfering pastries, and then cleaning her ear in a most unladylike manner, she asks the obvious question, “Are you sure?” and when the mice stand by their news, she vows to get to the bottom of this.

Outside the party, Commander Sendak and his minimal surviving crew, one other soldier and like five robot drones, are doing exactly what Shiro was worrying about, plotting to attack. They spend a few minutes trying to figure out how to attack a fully functional, highly advanced castle with so few troops, when the opportunity presents itself. The two aliens see that Pidge has Rover, her flying Gulra drone companion, and come up with an ingenious plan. use some alien tech to copy its signal frequency. Why? So they can upload it into their own drone and send it in as a Trojan Horse. The computer will scan it, think that it’s Rover and not react to them. Simple, but effective. Also, this is why it is bad to steal enemy technology. Just saying.

After a sort of awkward conversation where Allura tries to get Pidge to spill the beans on her being “a her,” Pidge reveals she’s dropping out of the whole Team Voltron thing, and going to look for her father and brother. She rigged up a shuttle pod to use, and is planning on leaving that night. Hunk is all for bailing too, he’s not the bravest of folks if that wasn’t clear, but Keith on the other hand is very vocal about how selfish they’re both being, putting their personal baggage over the fate of the known universe. I’m with Keith on this one. While I can understand wanting to find missing family members and being terrified of fighting an alien empire, when you’re one of five people that can pilot a giant fighting Robot, you muscle through it. The needs of the many out ways the needs of the few and all that, just saying.

Sad Lance. :(

While this is going on, Coran and Lance bond a little over their shared homesickness. Not sure why, Coran’s homeworld of Altea sounds kind of awful. What? Don’t give me that look. It rains hot lead. Regularly! It’s probably for the best that it’s either space debris or a lifeless husk, now. Wow, I went to dark place with that one. Their screen time is cut short by Trojan-Drone, who flies in and blows the crystal powering the castle to smithereens. Lance gets pretty badly injured protecting Coran, throwing himself between him and the explosion. And at the same time, Sendak launches a raid against the Arusian village. Dude is really great at causing a ruckus, isn’t he?

So let’s go over the bad news. 1. The Castle is completely without power, cutting the team off from the Altean tech they need to help Lance recover, castle defenses, and the Voltron Lions which are now locked in their bays. 2. Lance is badly injured, in a coma, and will probably die horribly if he doesn’t receive medical care. 3. Their allies are under attack and will probably die without help. And 4. The enemy is pretty much at the gates, waiting to pounce. All around, a pretty awful end to the evening. They decide to divide and conquer. Keith and Allura go to help the Arusians. Hunk and Coran go out using Pidge’s Pod to find a replacement crystal. Pidge had left the bay for her pod open, since she expected to leave in a couple of minutes. Hooray for selfish goals… for once. And Shiro and Pidge stay behind to protect the castle and Lance.

And things spiral out of control from there. Once at the village, Keith and Allura realize that the attack was a diversion to split them up, thus weakening the castle’s pretty much non-existent defenses. Amazing what you can do with a few broken robots, sticks, and a handful of high grade explosives, isn’t it? At the same time, Sendak and his crew attack the castle. Seven on two, not great odds. Despite being outgunned, and outnumbered, Shiro actually puts up an amazing fight. He and Sendak actually fight to a standstill, despite the alien’s assumed more extensive combat training, and his obviously better robot arm. While Shiro’s arm is really just a normal arm with a purple energy pulse, Sendak’s arm is like a mace attached to his shoulder. But, Shiro is forced to surrender when Sendak’s second-in-command puts a gun to Lance’s head. Damn villains, always pulling stunts like that. Pidge escapes by using her small size and some stealth technology she’d rigged up.

Keith and Allura get back to the castle about two seconds too late to do anything. The Gulra plug in their own evil version of a power crystal, power up the forcefield, and begin prepping for takeoff. The castle is actually a giant space ship; did I forget to mention that? But, thankfully, all is not lost thanks to Allura’s knowledge of the ship, and Pidge’s impressive brain. They’re able to disable a few key systems, grounding the ship a while longer. Unfortunately, Sendak is able to spot the pintsized saboteur and sends his troops to take care of the problem.

They're adorable, and harbingers of chaos!

Meanwhile, Hunk and Coran make it to a Balmera. A Balmera is a planet sized, fossilized living creature. It’s space, I guarantee that the Balmera isn’t the weirdest sci fi organism out there. Coran is rather horrified to learn that the Gulra were already at this particular Balmera and had set up a mining colony on it. They strip mine the creature for its precious crystals, rather than harvesting them and then doing a sort of ritual to replenish the Balmera’s strength, like the Alteans did 10,000 years ago. They’re shot at, shot down, and barely avoid being captured thanks to some helpful locals. Well, a helpful alien. Shey the Balmera lizard woman, and her stick in the mud brother Rax give them shelter from the Gulra troopers.  And that’s how it ends. Cliffhangers, they’re intense.

So… you may have noticed something missing from this episode. Yeah, no Voltron. Heck, we really don’t even see the individual Lions this time around. That’s the thing, in this iteration of the show, Voltron actually doesn’t appear that often. Which, is kind of a good thing. Sure, title character and all that, but in the end Voltron is just a tool for the heroes to use. The really interesting stuff involves the… what’s the best word here, considering the cast is only partially human? Humanoids? Sapients? People? Yeah we’ll go with people. The really interesting stuff involves the people. By showing them in a situation where their backs are to the wall, their greatest weapons are disabled, and their forced to fight tooth and nail for any chance at a victory, you get more intense drama and character development. It’s for that reason that I think that this remake is superior to my vague recollections of the original, from a story telling perspective. What’s better, a show that follows a formula in every episode, personal conflict, monster attack, stock footage of robots combining, kill monster, conflict resolved, hooray? Or, a story where the characters are constantly put in new situation and are always being forced to adapt to the new challenges that meet them? Yeah, number two is clearly better. And, despite Lance getting KOed for most of the episode, this episode actually had a few good character moments for Lance. His homesickness and description of his home life does add a fair amount of depth to Mr. Overconfident, Want-to-be Casanova Lance. He misses his family, particularly his Mom. Aw, almost makes up for Lance constantly hitting on Allura. Overall, a solid episode even if Voltron didn’t make an actual appearance. Next time, Episode Five. 

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