Voltron: Defender Of The Universe: Collection 1 - Blue Lion (DVD)

Introduction

When it comes to old TV series, nostalgia outweighs quality by about ten to one. Don't get me wrong, there are genuine timeless classics out there, the occasional I, Claudius or Fawlty Towers, M*A*S*H or Roots that truly stand the test of time, and live on years and decades after their eras have passed. But the majority of television from yesteryear requires prior experience, fond memories and a warm affection. And Justin Lee Collins poking his hirsute midgetness into a TV documentary to remind us all how wonderfully naff telly was once upon a time. But, I think introducing retro TV to audiences raised on 21st Century production values is a risky prospect. I'm not the only one, as Paramount have spent a fortune updating the effects in Star Trek to appeal to a CG savvy generation. By the same token, introducing an unfamiliar retro show to someone who may still be familiar with that era is problematic, as there will be no feelings of nostalgia associated with the show.

What I'm getting at here is that I am most definitely the wrong person to be reviewing Voltron, and it's just that I lost the last Reviewer Lucky Dip which means that it's in my player today. It's a Japanese anime from 1982 or rather the amalgamation of two different anime, re-edited and dubbed for the US audiences in 1984, and it really hit the big time back then, drawing in hordes of fans and generating massive merchandising in the form of toys and other paraphernalia. Your typical eighties toon then… Except that I don't remember Voltron making it over to the UK, back in an era where we still only had the four channels to choose from. I have no fond memories of the show, no golden nostalgia blinkering my vision. I'm approaching the show for the first time, as is, seeing a 1982 animation through 2008 eyes. Add to that the Power Rangers storyline, a band of heroes piloting robotic lions that link up to form a super mega robot. I hate Power Rangers. I loathe Power Rangers. I detest Power Rangers. This review comes with a pinch of salt for all readers.



Long ago, when the galaxy was in danger, an almighty robot named Voltron appeared to save the good people of the universe from the evil people of the universe, and for a long time after, peace reigned, everyone was happy, and reality TV was never invented. But then, a dark force arose in the form of King Zarkon and his evil robot armies. Voltron was needed once more, so the Space Explorers set forth to find him. Five brave souls led by heroic Keith, along with Lance, Sven, Hunk and Pidge travelled to the planet Arus, only to find it was too late. Zarkon had invaded and laid waste to the world. But the royal palace still survived, along with the beautiful princess Alura. She and her aide told the Space Explorers of the five giant robotic lions hidden on Arus; five lions which when combined formed the mighty robot warrior Voltron. And so the brave Voltron Force came into being, and the defence of the galaxy began. So whenever Zarkon and his evil witch minion send a giant mutant ro-beast to Arus to defeat them, the Voltron force must come together and stand tall to defend the good people of the galaxy…

The first 15 episodes are released in this 3-disc set, packaged in a limited edition Steelbook blue lion head from Manga Entertainment.

Picture

The blurb promises a painstaking restoration from new film transfers, and colour correction to bring it up to modern visual standards. Apparently this involved going to the original materials and rebuilding the series from scratch. Well, all I can say is that if this were the result, I'd hate to have seen the original state of the material. You can't get past the age of the animation of course, and the grainy film stock, and the limited and repetitive animation certainly harks back to the seventies and eighties. But the 4:3 transfer does show compression artefacts, light pixellation and signs of dirt and cine wobble. For a show that has apparently been colour corrected, there is a worrying lack of consistency in the image quality, and it seems to hark more of advertising bumf rather than Disney levels of investment. Still, it's acceptable enough for what you are getting, and probably looks as good as it did on first broadcast.

Sound

Just the DD 2.0 English track here, and given the extensive cut and paste involved in creating this series, an original Japanese track would be utterly pointless. It's effective enough given the material, but the dub is hardly going to win any awards, with some execrable dialogue and perfunctory performances, complete with comedy accents. The composer is a genius, finding a simple but distinctive theme, which lodges in the hindbrain no matter how much you try and get it out, headdesk yourself into unconsciousness, or stand in a church bell while someone hammers it with a mallet. That theme is repeated ad infinitum in the show.

Extras

The three discs get the usual animated menu presentation, although not having received the packaging; I can't tell if there are any goodies in the impressive looking case. All the extras are on the first disc, including the original trailer, 16 images in a production sketch gallery, and profiles for two of the characters.

The archive footage offers 1½ minutes of nostalgia, with news reports from the time, and more recent ones following fan nostalgia for the show. Merchandise offers 16 seconds of what looks like home movie footage, as a fan shows off his collection.

Conclusion

I'm guilty of neglecting my duties as a reviewer. Of the fifteen episodes in this set, I only watched seven. In my defence, I have to say that if I had watched eight, I probably would have clawed out my eyes. It's damned strange though. Before watching the show, I read up around it, and wandering around the Interweb, I found nothing but lavish praise. Reviewers in the States gave it consistently high marks, fans posting comments on IMDB awarded it gratuitous amounts of stars, and I was left wondering if I had been watching the same show. I can only draw two conclusions. One, the whole planet is playing an elaborate joke on me, seeing if I give in and join the herd, only to point their fingers derisively once I fall for the trap, or two, it's a case of the Emperor's New Clothes.




It would probably be fairer to point out once more that nostalgia counts for a lot with these things. Never having seen Voltron before, I obviously have no nostalgia for it, no rosy childhood memories, so I could only watch it as a thirty-something male with a 21st Century perspective. It falls woefully short of my standards, although my distaste for Power Rangers no doubt adds to the bias. Voltron is the poorly animated step-uncle of Power Rangers, with five utterly annoying characters piloting robotic lions which link up to form the Voltron super robot. And each week, the villains send down a monster, magically enlarged to do battle with our heroes. After a couple of setbacks, usually the same setbacks indicating that our heroes have trouble learning from their mistakes, they join up, form the robot, pull out a sword and slice the villain in two. Rinse and repeat. Everyone talks in terms of pure good and pure evil, there's no nuance to the thing, no point of interest to the characters and certainly nothing approaching any individuality or quirkiness. It's by the numbers action animation that doesn't stray from its remit.

It's poorly put together as well, with consistency and plot merely an afterthought, the script some randomly collected clichés, and everything sanitised for the US audiences. The villains that are despatched each week are now robots, so death doesn't come into the equation, and in the original series Sven died in episode 6, here he is injured, and spends the rest of the show recuperating off screen. One scene has the Space Explorers come together and adopt their new moniker of the Voltron Force. The next scene has the enemies attacking, their commander insisting that the Voltron Force be destroyed. I know news travels fast, but that's ridiculous. More often that not, when someone opens their mouth to speak in this show, I wind up swearing at my TV screen at the verbal nonsensical clichéd garbage that is being spewed out.



It has little to do with the age of the show as well, as even formulaic merchandising animation like Thundercats or Transformers had some hook to them, some quirk, some level of interest that still makes them stand out today. Also there are far more superior animations from the era to cite, like Mysterious Cities of Gold and Robotech Macross, offering intelligent stories and compelling characters, leaving Voltron strictly lower tier material. The bottom line is with shows like these, it is strictly nostalgia that drives sales, even for the more critically acclaimed offerings. It's hard to see a 10 year old brought up on a diet of Spongebob and Oban Star Racers seeking through a DVD retailer for Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors. So Voltron is really only going to appeal to those who watched it originally. Only Voltron was never shown on mainstream television in the UK. I think that Manga Entertainment have made a rod for their own back with this title, and it won't be long before Blue Steel Lion Heads will be adorning bargain buckets the nation over. This is truly one that's just for fans of the series. As for everyone else… "Move along, nothing to see here."