I’d like to start out by saying
that I will be doing reviews of Thor 3 and Justice
League, as soon as I find the time to see a movie in theaters. We’ve already
hit the busy season in the Post Office, so it’s kind of hard to find the time
or energy to see a movie after working a 12 to 13-hour shift. So, I politely ask
for just a little more patience. As of writing this post, I hope to have Thor: Ragnarok out by 11/30. Justice League will hopefully be
finished by the end of the first full week of December. While I’m working on that,
I figured it’s high time to get a little more caught up with one of the series
that really put me on the map, Voltron. Let’s get to it/
At the end of last season, the
Voltron Paladins had delivered a decisive blow to the Gulra empire. They had
destroyed the Gulra’s Komar (the mystical crystal they used to drain pure life
energy, Quintessence, from planets), Destroyed the very expensive and dangerous
weapon that was Zarkon’s Armor, and also dealt a near fatal blow to Emperor
Zarkon himself. Hooray! But, in the aftermath of the battle, it was discovered
that Shiro, the lead Paladin, had somehow disappeared from Black Lion’s
cockpit, less hooray.
 |
| Really starting to wonder if Kolivan can do other expressions then sullen. |
We open the season onto Keith using
Red Lion to search the debris field created by their battle with Zarkon. Keith
searches desperately for Shiro, but sees neither hide nor hair of his
commander. Which, to be fair, is probably a good thing given that they’re in
space. Hide and hair don’t fare well in a vacuum, all I’m saying. Keith
eventually gives up, returning to the Castle of Lions, dejected.
Back on the Castle, Coran meets
with Allura as the princess preps for a diplomatic meeting. They’re trying to
create a formal alliance between themselves, and several planets that had
recently rebelled against the Gulra Empire. Apparently, crippling the big bad
of the galaxy was all a lot of folks needed to fight back. Who knew? Allura
admits that she’s not real confident in how this bit of diplomacy will work
out, especially given that Shiro is gone and that without him, Voltron is
pretty thoroughly benched. Kind of hard to form the giant robot without the guy
who pilots like 2/3 of it. Coran is confident that things will work out,
though.
Meanwhile, Hunk and Lance, in the
Yellow and Blue Lions, and with a squad of Blade of Marmora (BoM) members
attack a Gulra base. The Paladins run as heavy artillery while the BoM act as
infantry. The BoM guys show off some crazy Naruto-Ninja moves on the Gulra
machines, running at high speed, jumping and slashing at their opponents. While
that’s going on, Hunk and Lance try to take out the Gulra’s heavy artillery
weapon. The thing is implanted on the underside of a cliff. Lance can’t charge
it directly, so Hunk decides to attack creatively. Using Yellow’s massive claws
and digging prowess, he burrows into the cliff above the cannon, and smashes
it. After that, the Gulra are thoroughly routed. Both Lance and Hunk enjoy
their usual vices from the populace, Lance ogles some local ladies, and Hunk
enjoys some local cuisine. Ah, the more things change, the more they stay the
same. The BoM, however, and its leader Kolivan, unfortunately are given mostly
dirty looks. Can’t necessarily blame the folks for mistrusting Gulra, but that’s
racial profiling. Just saying. Kolivan mentions to Lance and Hunk that he
believes Voltron just existing and fighting has motivated the people as much,
if not more, then defeating Zarkon. He advises that things “cannot stand”
without Voltron. I get the sense he’s been making this argument a lot lately.
The local elder/chieftain/boss guy thanks the Paladins, gives the BoM a dirty
look and asks to see Voltron. The boys play it off and invite him to the
meeting Allura is planning.
 |
| You know, with the way the guys on the right side of the table are talking, it seems like they think Voltron can fit in the conference room with them. |
In her room, Pidge is watching the
video of her brother’s escape from space prison. Probably for the hundredth time,
as this girl is obsessed. She’s using the Castle’s computers to test, scan, and
analyze the video, looking for anything to help her find Matt. She even has the
computer try to figure out the type of explosive used. She puts her search on
pause, though, to meet with the others.
The Paladins and Allura meet. There
are lots of good things to talk about. Lots of rebellions on Gulra worlds, the
Gulra Empire is in shambles without its supreme leader, and it looks like the Voltron
Alliance will be victorious. Unfortunately, there is the huge negative of Shiro
being gone, and thus Voltron being disabled. No one is happy about that. Allura
tentatively suggests that they start looking for a new Black Paladin, but Keith
isn’t having it. As far as he’s concerned, if Shiro isn’t piloting Black Lion,
no one should. He refuses to give up looking for Shiro, he storms off in a huff
after stating that.
We then jump to the Gulra. Zarkon,
while still alive, is severely injured and in a coma. He’s being kept alive on
some sort of life support. Haggar seems to be the only one who knows how bad of
a situation he’s currently in. I guess she’s pretending that he’s hurt, but conscious
and making decisions that he relays to her. She orders that no one can see
Zarkon but her. While this isn’t the best strategy, it’s probably the only
thing keeping the Gulra from falling to utter chaos. One commander, Thrac all
but demands to speak to Zarkon, but Haggar tells him to back off. She advices
him that if he wants to talk to the guy in charge, Zarkon’s son, Lotor, has
arrived to take control of the empire for now. Lotor has been named Emperor Pro
tempore until his father recovers. Thrac isn’t pleased with this and storms
off. Once Haggar follows, an oddly colored alien in Gulra armor un-cloaks
herself and smiles evilly. How ominous.
On the Castle of Lion’s, the New
Voltron Coalitions meets. They point out that, while their opponent is cosmic
in scale, the fringes of the Gulra empire is beginning to crack. Allura
proposes that they gather together all the forces of their group together into
a united army of some kind. The gathered delegates, while interested, are more interested
in seeing Voltron. Keith kind of flips out, and tells these folks in no
uncertain terms that Voltron is out of commission, possibly forever. Kolivan
tries to rally everyone together, but the non-Paladins are feeling pretty
distrustful of Gulra. Even the Gulra that are fighting the rest of the Gulra.
Keith storms off. He does that a lot lately.
 |
| Really questioning how Zarkon could have possibly sired someone with a face like that. |
Back with the Gulra, Commander
Thrac is watching a gladiatorial match with other Gulra. He and an ally are
disgusted with Zarkon’s defeat, and that Lotor is taking over for his father. They
take issues with Lotor’s policies, his top lieutenants, and with Lotor himself.
They don’t fancy the idea of being led by a filthy half-breed Gulra. They’re
pretty much planning a coup. They’re plans are slightly interrupted by the
match. A smaller warrior completely trounced a massive opponent. The commanders
are impressed, until it’s revealed that the smaller warrior is Lotor.
Lotor challenges Thrac to a duel.
Rather than performing a coup, Lotor promises that if he is defeated, he’ll bow
out and return to the far reaches of space. Lotor’s generals appear, encircling
Thrac. FYI, Lotor’s top four generals are all women, and, like him, are half-Gulra.
Given few other options, Thrac agrees.
The two warriors duel. Thrac is
incredibly fast, but Lotor is significantly faster. He continually taunts his
opponent until Thrac starts getting sloppy. He hits Thrac’s sword with enough
force to shatter it. After Thrac yields, Lotor actually lets him live. Lotor
gives the Gulra his manifesto, of sorts. He explains he essentially wants to do
the opposite of what his dad did. He wants to inspire loyalty in the lesser
species of the Empire, not fear, and even allow the most loyal of non-Gulra to
be able to attain status in their military. All of the assembled Gulra salute
their Emperor Pro temp, swearing fealty. Lotor leaves the ring and confers with
his minions. He has Thrak transferred to the far reaches of the empire, as
punishment for plotting a coup.
 |
| Got to love the crowd's collective "Oh crap, are we going to die?" face here. |
Back with the Paladins, Keith looks
wistfully at the Black Lion. He’s joined by the others a moment later. The
group talk about Shiro, they agree that they miss him and that Shiro is irreplaceable,
but they also know that the universe needs Voltron. Keith begrudgingly agrees.
This is a good start to the season.
I like the symmetry between what’s happening with the Paladins and the Gulra
empire. Both are reeling from the loss of their respective commanders. One
could argue that the Gulra have it slightly more together then the Paladins do,
though. They’ve already gotten their new boss all broken in at this point,
while the obvious choice for new Black Lion Paladin is just now accepting that
they need a new Black Lion Paladin. Need to catch up with everyone else,
Keith. Lotor is an interesting choice for replacing Zarkon, as he seems to be
the polar opposite of his father in nearly every regard. Zarkon was a war ax;
big, intimidating, destructive as heck, and kills with relative ease. Lotor is
much more like a dagger; no less lethal then the ax, but smaller, subtler, and
more exact with its hits. I especially liked how he bested Thrac. He gets the
best of both worlds, he was able to publicly humiliate a rival, show off his
way of thinking, win the loyalty of many of his soldiers, and have the
continued enjoyment of knowing that Thrac is miserable somewhere in the far
reaches of space. Lotor won big, no two ways about it. I also really like the
look of Lotor and his Generals. It’s a nice blending of the Gulra Purple with
some really interesting new physical traits that Lotor and his Generals got
from their non-Gulra parent. It’ll be interesting to see how this series
progresses.
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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero
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