Viewer Log: Voltron ep 18

Before we get started, I just want to take a moment and say, Woohoo, 300 of these posts. That you to everyone that has read my work and enjoyed it. I hope to have plenty more of these weird, at time rambling, bits of geeking out for you in the years to come. I can safely say that it has been time well spent. Let’s get to it, shall we?

He's a Space-Rent-A-Cop
               It's exactly like you think.

After saving the Taujeers, learning for sure that Zarkon is following them via his old connection to the Black Lion, and watching Coran dress like an imbecile, the team sets their sights on fixing a major personal problem. After their many frantic jumps across time and space to elude Zarkon and his armada, the Castle of Lion’s wormhole generator is damaged. The machine, the Teladov, uses special crystal lenses to refract energy to generate a wormhole. The special lenses, made of Scaultrite, were rare 10,000 years ago, and would have only gotten rarer since. But, Coran does know of a special Swap-Moon, a space Black Market run by the Unilu, where they might be able to find the lenses. The place Coran describes sounds pretty much like Mos Eisley, the most retched hive of scum a villainy. It’s soo bad that Coran forbids Allura from coming along. Considering that he usually follows her lead, that should say how dangerous Coran thinks this Swap-Moon could be.

Shiro also elects to stay behind, to work on his connection with Black. When the other’s leave, he gets into Black and asks the mighty machine what he has to do to strengthen their bond. On cue, the Lion activates, and takes off despite Shiro’s protests.

Coran and Co arrive at the Unilu Swap-Moon. So… in 10,000 years the Unilu Swap-Moon has evolved. Into a modern Mall. A mall in space. How bizarre. So, Coran’s Unilu pirate disguises probably won’t be much help. The team splits up to find the lenses, with the Paladins ditching the pirate garb the second Coran leaves. This, unfortunately, draws the attention of the terrible Varkon. I don’t mean to make him sound intimidating, I mean that he is Varkon, and he is terrible at his job. He’s the Space Mall’s rent-a-cop. He sees them throwing out the costumes, assumes they’re pirates disguising themselves as normal patrons, and vows to keep an eye on them.

Meanwhile, Black Lion takes Shiro deep into space, to the wreckage of a shattered world. Once there, Shiro ‘sees’ through Black Eyes and sees Black’s past. Specifically, the shattered world Altea in its heyday, and Zarkon and King Alfor standing alongside the mighty Black Lion. Which we then cut away from almost immediately. Damn teases.

Back at the Space-Mall, Hunk finds the food court. Well, it was nice knowing him. Hunk goes overboard on sampling, and accidentally picks some food off a plate he shouldn’t have. Vrepit Sal, owner of Vrepit Sal’s, doesn’t believe in free samples, and puts Hunk to work in his kitchen to pay off the debt. He’s ankle-cuffed to the radiator to do dishes. Since Hunk’s only other co-worker is an incredibly old woman with a foot-long beard, odds are he’s going to be there a while.

Not sure if the wings do anything, or just add awesomeness.
                They add a whole lot of awesomeness.

Keith finds a Unilu knife salesmen. He asks the salesmen to appraise his Gulra dagger. The Unilu notes that it is incredibly well crafted, and made of Luxite. Luxite is a rare metal, and the planet that it was mined from has been space dust for decades. When the Unilu asks were Keith got it from, he gives a vague answer about how it was a gift. The Unilu immediately tries to buy it, but Keith’s not interested. When the legal way doesn’t work, the Unilu claims Keith is trying to steal the dagger. Jerk. The Unilu summons Varkon. He’s off, on his space segway. Just when I thought that mode of transport couldn’t get any more demeaning.

Jump back to Shiro, we learn the full story of how the Black Lion came to be. 10,000 and some change years ago, a comet struck Altea. King Alfor, sensing something special from it, uses it as the main metal for the Black Lion. After Black was completed, he was given to a younger but still scary looking Zarkon. As if sensing his name was being uttered, Zarkon at that moment taps into his connection to Black. And he looks POed. This can’t be good.

While only halfheartedly looking for the lenses, Lance, and a few moments later Pidge, discover an alien shop where they’re selling 80s Earth goods. Considering in the Voltron timeline, the human race is at the point of colonizing the solar system, I seriously doubt the alien’s claim that this stuff is the “latest fashion” from Earth. Pidge is about ten words into scolding Lance for shopping in the one store in the Mall that will 100% not have the lenses, when she notices something awesome. They call them different names, but she basically geeks out over her universe equivalent of a Nintendo NES and original Legend of Zelda. She forces Lance to help her get together the 1200 GAC (space credits) to pay for it. Girl has her priorities. Side note, I assume GAC is an acronym for Gulra Authorized Credits, or something similar. That’s too weird a name for currency otherwise. Back on task.

Coran tries to get a Unilu teenage worker to help him find the Unilu Black Market, but has little results. At least someone is remaining focused on the task at hand. Albeit ineptly. Back with Hunk, Vrepit Sal’s cooking robot breaks down. Hunk is able to convince Sal to let him do the cooking. Using his disturbingly amazing cooking skills, Hunk is able to improvise a dish that seems to impress the Food Court shoppers. Hunk has turned Vrepit Sal’s into the Mall’s hot spot in… oh, fifteen minutes. But, his time as a chef is cut short when Varkon segways in.

Zarkon, it's time to take a hint.
              And by hint, I mean plasma blast.

In space, Shiro delves deeper into Black’s memories. He sees the mighty Lion in battle, his wings fully open and obliterating the enemy. But the reminiscing is interrupted by Zarkon. The alien despot attack’s Shiro on the astral plane. Let’s have a battle of the mind… er souls… er astral projections. FYI, Matrix rules, if the Astral body is destroyed, the body dies. So the stakes are rather high. The two duke it out, but Zarkon is clearly stronger. He scolds Shiro for even dreaming of replacing him as Black’s Paladin. Despite being thoroughly out classed, Shiro keeps fighting, for his team and Black’s sake. As the fighting continues, Zarkon gets Shiro by the throat. Shiro claims that the bond of trust between the Paladin and the Lion is the most important thing, while Zarkon continues to preach the doctrine of might makes right. Zarkon claims he owns Black now and forever, which makes Black decides to let his opinion be known. By firing a beam laser point blank at spectral Zarkon. Nice metaphor for severing the bond between them. Upon waking, Shiro learns that this entire trip was in his mind. Trippy. At the same time on Zarkon’s ship, the enraged despot angrily shouts at his now rapidly weakening connection to the Black Lion. Hooray for the good guys.

Lance and Pidge raid a wishing fountain for the GAC they need. They’re able to get the alt-NES and game, and a free cow, before being reunited with Hunk and Keith, who are running from Varkon. Not sure why, Varkon isn’t even intimidating by Gulra or Mall-Cop standards. Coran, meanwhile, finds an old school Unilu swap shop. Said shop, has the Scaultrite lenses. After a bizarre bit of haggling, Coran gets the lenses, and then barely escapes with the crew. Shockingly, Varkon has to end the pursuit at the Mall’s entrance. The team reconvenes, Shiro tells the team that they’re headed for the Blade of Marmora HQ, since they won’t have Zarkon tailing them anymore. Hooray. Pidge and Lance plan to spend the travel time playing their Alt-NES, only to realize that 80s’ era human tech isn’t compatible with the Castle of Lions. Like at all. The episode ends with Pidge screaming “NO!” in defeat. Sad but hilarious.

Oh, and if you were wondering what Allera was doing this whole time, she was hanging out with her pet mice. Yeah, it’s as silly as it sounds.

This episode was kind of weird, tonally speaking. We have six of the seven main characters performing hijinks in the location they’re in. Allura and her acrobatic mice, Lance and Pidge trying to buy a video game, Hunk held hostage over a restaurant tab, Keith sword fighting with a knife salesmen, and Coran treating a modern mall like a hostile bazar. Funny situations. Meanwhile, Shiro is learning the tragic history of the birth of Black Lion and Voltron and fighting for his life against his insane predecessor, Zarkon. On the astral plane. The two stories don’t exactly mesh well together. That being said, while the transition between the two is jarring, both stories are still really well done. It was kind of awesome to see Shiro and Zarkon battle, both trying to assert their right to pilot the Black Lion. They fight literally at the feet of Black to show who is the worthiest. And, in the end, it’s not the strongest one to prevail but the one whom respects the bond between Paladin and Lion. The one thing about the history lesson that I’m really questioning is young Zarkon. He looks exactly like current Zarkon, minus the scar across his face. Why the flying cuss word did King Alfor ever trust this guy? I know we aren’t supposed to judge a book by his cover, but seriously, he looked like an insane monster BEFORE whatever thing happened that turned him against Alfor. That’s like Obi-Wan Kenobi choosing to train Anakin Skywalker in the ways of the force, when he was already wearing his Darth Vader armor. Don’t need inconsistent Clairvoyance to know that is going to end badly. And, with the others, it was really kind of fun to give them a day off, of sorts, and run around a space mall. Varkon is a hilarious in just how inept he is, and how deluded he is in his own importance to the Gulra Empire. He considers himself to be Emperor Zarkon’s #2. That’s like Max Dillon/Electro in Amazing Spider-Man 2 kind of hero worship right there. So yeah, one half light-hearted fun, other half kind of intense fate of the Galaxy stuff. An odd, but interesting mix.