Pop Culture's Greatest Mistake? The Story of Voltron: Defender of the Universe

0:00 it's the brand equivalent of taking two deliberate strides in the direction of your intended goal tripping catching yourself then looking around to see if anyone saw it happen and pretending like you meant to do it the whole time this trip literally changed the face of a brand became one of the most recognizable pop culture icons and introduced a team building term into the english language hi i'm dan larsen and this is the history of voltron defender of the universe [Music]

0:48 thank you to 80stees.com for sponsoring this video click the link in the description below and use code toy galaxy to get 30 off your order today if you like the 80s and all the stuff inspired by it then you're going to love 80stees.com it's the kind of story we would have shopped at back when all this stuff was actually airing for the first time the future means being able to dress today like we wanted to back then whether you're into movies cartoons video games superheroes music wrestling garbage pail kids they have it in fact they aren't even limited to just the 80s 80stease.com covers five decades of pop culture excitement you can save ferris talk to me goose strike fast strike hard show your friends you're the cream of the crop and that you love it when a plan comes together without saying a word just point to your chest free worldwide shipping on orders 50 and up

1:34 click the link below and use code toy galaxy for 30 off your order today again that's code toy galaxy for 30 off your order thanks again to 80sts.com we have previously covered elements of voltron in an outdated format called 10 things you need to know while it allowed us to present a brief overview of voltron in general it also skipped a lot of basic stuff we're revisiting it here to fill out the details and paint a more comprehensive picture however the history of voltron is coincidentally the convergence of a lot of different histories from multiple brands both in the us and in japan and it spawned a lot of other versions that we cannot cover in depth in a single video we're focusing on the original voltron defender of the universe brand and leaving the other stuff to future videos that can give those topics the time they need to have their stories properly told

2:20 voltron defender of the universe is a 124 episode animated series produced by world events productions that originally aired in syndication on us television from september of 1984 to november of 1985. it asks the question if you've seen one giant combining robot have you seen them all and answers yes but also no voltron defender of the universe is initially about five space-faring adventurers keith lance pidge hunk and sven who were recruited by the galaxy alliance to pilot five robot space lions in the battle against the evil forces of king zarkon the witch haggar and their monstrous row beasts they must protect the planet rs with the help of its ruler princess allura who herself will one day join the voltron team as a pilot those five space lines in and of themselves are incredibly powerful weapons what with their giant metal claws teeth and

3:06 lasers but they are even more powerful when they combine to form a giant super robot called voltron it gives them the ability to punch and kick with lion faced appendages which is awesome but more importantly access to more powerful weapons like the blazing sword from there we move on to season two for a second version of voltron a vehicle voltron which follows 15 space faring adventurers jeff rocky wolo chip ginger crick lisa tangor shannon zandy cliff cinda modoc marvin and hutch who are recruited by the galaxy alliance to pilot 15 air sea and land vehicles in the battle against the evil forces of the drool empire who are attempting to thwart the overcrowded galaxy alliance's colonization efforts throughout deep space and from there we check back in

3:52 with lion voltron for another half season before capping the whole thing off with a crossover that brings together the entirety of the voltron force from lion 1 to vehicle 15. like the two featured super robots voltron the series is a combination of several different elements it began as two unrelated series in japan imported and reconfigured for the us market intended as two parts of a trilogy of shows that would have been collectively known as voltron a voltron of voltrons if you will in 1980 edward ted koppler was working at kplr in saint louis the television station founded by his father herald in 1959 kplr was frequently one of the highest rated independent stations in the country ted was tasked with finding a way to produce original content for all demographics quickly and

4:37 affordably he established a new media venture called world events productions whose initial product was a current event show called world events in 1982 they expanded their sports offerings by producing kickboxing shows from st louis las vegas and new york that they then distributed around the country a year later in 1983 still on the hunt for new and original shows koppler attended a convention that had a sampling of japanese cartoons on display he realized that this was the solution for original and affordable kids programming importing and translating existing japanese animated series and rebranding all the merchandise that was associated with it this was not the first time something like this had been attempted shows like speed racer in 1967 battled the planets in 1978 and star blazers in 1979 had already done exactly that perhaps not to the degree of market

5:23 reach that koppler was imagining certainly not to the degree of profitability he was hoping for there were three shows in particular that caught his eye cosgin arubegas or lightspeed electrode albagus a giant super robot composed of three smaller robots stacked on top of each other kikko kantai dairaga 15 or armored fleet dirugger 15 a giant super robot composed of 15 smaller vehicles and a giant combining super robot with a lion on its chest called mirai robo daru taniyas or future robot daltonius upon returning to the world events productions offices koppler gave the order to acquire the rights and materials to the three japanese cartoons the call was placed to japan

6:11 hello toe animation yes this is america calling please send along forthwith the video cassette tapes for three of your finest cartoons and all related merchandise number one lightspeed electrode albagus number two armored fleet die rugger 15 and number three um uh the uh the lion one when the tapes arrived from japan everything seemed to be in order except for one small detail the lion show they received was not the lion show they expected lion was not a specific enough description when it came to giant super robots instead of receiving darutaniyas they got hyakujuo goraian or the king of hundred beasts golian who instead of being 33 robot space lion was

6:59 100 robot space lion perhaps toei thought understandably so that america would want the newest lion themed super robot program they had to offer daltonius aired in 1979 while golian was from 1981 perhaps toei thought they could sneak it by and get a little value from a show that had underperformed in japan according to an article in the riverfront times from 2011 koppler put the golian cassette in the tape machine played it back and could follow the story without knowing the language he thought it was a little macabre but the reality is that as far as he could tell it wasn't so different from the lion show he requested that he couldn't use it for exactly the same purpose kyaku ju o godaine or king of hundred beasts go lion or beast king go lion was a 52 episode japanese animated series that

7:45 ran from march of 1981 to february of 1982. it's the story of a god-like giant space robot who attempts to fight the actual goddess of the universe his absolute lack of shame got him quartered into five individual lions who were then dispersed across the planet altea to be reunited at a point in the future when perhaps golian had learned a little humility go lion like a lot of japanese cartoons regularly depicts more mature themes and content than tunes in the west go lions straight up impaling and decapitating space monsters with his sword because it wasn't developed under the rigid us broadcast standards the intended audience was slightly older because in japan animation wasn't automatically assumed to be for kids with the three series in hand world events production had to attempt to unify the three disparate narratives an

8:30 intergalactic peacekeeping force was essential they would then establish zones of jurisdiction for each robot voltron 1 die rugger or vehicle force to defend the immediate universe voltron 2 albagus or gladiator force to defend the secondary universe voltron 3 go lion or lion force to defend the deep reaches of the galaxy but what to call the giant super robot defense program legend has it that koppler himself offered klystron which is the name of a high radio frequency amplifier used in television transmitters satellite communications devices and radar sounds appropriately alien science fictiony and comes with the bonus wink of a reference that only broadcasting and electrical engineering enthusiasts would understand luckily there were people in the room that didn't mind pushing back on the

9:16 boss's klystron a counter suggestion of voltar was made which was then unintentionally voltron together by koppler when he used the name voltron a combination of the two words voltar and klystron we here in the future know that the name stuck in 1984 peter keep was picked to lead the team that would construct the pilot episodes and subsequently shop them around the country to see if the show was viable after selling it to 65 of the potential markets all world events productions had to do was actually make the show that was in the spring of air date was in the fall also of 1984. from the same riverfront times article according to keefe there were many times when we began that i thought we'll never finish director franklin cofad said there were some

10:01 episodes we had translated and we still didn't understand them it took all the skill of writer jameson brewer whose portfolio went all the way back to the 1940s to find creative solutions to bring all the footage together for just the first series just for lion force the task of making three series into a single coherent universe that's going to have to wait until later for now death had to be taken out to the degree that it was possible bad guys were now robots that could easily be killed off by the dozens without concern for the moral implications characters that got hurt or killed that couldn't be explained away as robots would have to be explained as making a recovery off-screen or doing fine even though they were never seen again ingo lion sven is actually two brothers takashi and ryu shirogane the character models look enough alike that they could be mistaken for the same person that was

10:48 convenient because takashi dies in episode six of golian and his brother ryo arrives in episode 41. in voltron the character sven was presumed dead in episode six using the footage of takashi then shipped off to recover returning in episode 52 using the footage of rayo beyond that world events productions had to make the show seem i don't want to say less japanese but definitely more american in order to sell it all the japanese cultural indicators like chopsticks exaggerated expressions any of the iconography that was automatically understood by a japanese audience but needed explaining to a u.s audience would have to be removed obviously it would be dubbed in english and with that world events attempted to set a higher standard than the competition voltron assembled a cast made up of members of the screen actors guild an unusual move for a kids show

11:34 like this perhaps world events had money to spend on union actors since they were saving so much money on the rest of the production the cast included voice acting all-stars like michael bell neil ross bj ward lenny weinrib tress mcneil and of course peter optimus prime cullen who performed the opening narration that stirred the imaginations of anyone within listening range they recorded the dialogue as an ensemble cast instead of each actor performing individually and voltron is officially the second show after the tonight show to be produced in two-channel stereo sound a process that wasn't even approved by the fcc at the time of recording but was absolutely used to promote the show by the time it aired [Music] the afternoon power hour brings two mega heroes to channel 60. at 3 30 transor z

12:22 battles the vicious doom machines and when he meets up with devlin trans or z shakes hands and comes out fighting then at four voltron defender of the universe confronts the nasty hagar when these lethal lines join to form voltron hagar finds he's no match for voltron's power watch the two power professionals with transorzia330 and voltron at four on channel 60 wpwr the power of chicagoland voltron featuring the lion force was first broadcast september 10 1984 and by december it was a ratings sensation world events worked feverishly to finish new episodes keeping one eye on the future because they knew there was a limited amount of material to work with once they were out of golian footage they had to move on to stage two of their three-stage voltron series voltron featuring vehicle force was first

13:07 broadcast on december 14 1984. whether it fit the overall three-part narrative they were attempting to construct or not vehicle force was a stark contrast to lion force even beyond the physical components that make up the giant super robot vehicle voltron was an adaptation of kantai dairaga 15 or armored fleet die ruger 15 or armored fleet xv 52 episodes aired in japan from march of 1982 to march of 1983 in this series the rugger team acts simultaneously as an exploratory and defense force think starship enterprise where they are exploring the galaxy but fully capable of combat should these circumstances require it go lion took place on a post-apocalyptic earth that had been invaded by alien forces die rugger was about an earth whose population had grown so great that they were actively looking for other planets around the

13:53 galaxies that would be suitable for life to expand the reach of civilization traversing the stars with a fleet of ships led by a great spaceship called the rugger guard perhaps if these two series could have been happening concurrent to one another actually existing in the same universe at the same time the results would have been different but the sudden change from five space lines to 15 ships abandoning nearly all of the previous characters was too much to ask of the viewers even if the voice cast carried over to the new characters which it did ratings tanked desperate to hang on to what they had the lightning in a bottle world events kicked the trilogy plan to the curb everybody wanted more lions including ted koppler world events reached out to toei animation and commissioned an additional 20 episodes of lion force voltron based on the plot of voltron defender of the universe not

14:40 a continuation of golian creating new episodes offered new challenges koppler himself had to go back and forth from japan to make sure everything was staying on track that everything looked right and was going to be ready in time by 1985 voltron defender of the universe was the number one syndicated children's show in the u.s in 1986 they said goodbye to both voltrons with a crossover called voltron fleet of doom a 45-minute made-for-tv movie featuring lion force voltron and vehicle force voltron teaming up to face king zarkon commanding what was left of the drool empire forces the aforementioned fleet of doom which given the nature of the voice cast the number of characters involved and the ensemble style of recording had to have been one of the most incredible sessions ever six actors providing the voices for nearly 30

15:26 characters that's a behind the scenes i would like to see part one of the voltron plan was to make must-see television for kids part two was to sell some toys go lion dairugger albagus even daltonius were made to sell toys to kids in japan if the shows could be brought to the u.s then so could the toys based on them all of those shows were created by toei all of them had toys produced by multiple licensees including poppy a division of bandai at the time heck giant transforming robot versions of both lion themed super robots golion and daltonius had already been sold in the us by bandai as part of their godikan line of transforming toys in 1982 and 1983. this time around goliath lion force voltron would be available through matchbox's license of the entire voltron series matchbox delivered figures for all three versions of voltron in multiple scales

16:12 some modifications had to be made to the existing japanese molds for them to pass child safety guidelines in the u.s including softening some of the pointier parts and removing the firing missiles matchbox also managed to release product based on all three of the original voltron series with voltron branding world events productions may have abandoned albagus as an animated series but that didn't mean that they couldn't make a little cache on the side fulfilling the original mission of the voltron project and with the original numbering vehicle force says voltron 1 albagus or gladiator force as it would have been known as voltron 2 and lion force as voltron 3. matchbox lost the license for 1985 but panache place was there to pick up the ball and run they focused on new toys especially in the three and three-quarter inch scale as was the popular style at the time thanks to star wars and gi joe and all lion

16:58 force because even at the end of 1984 it was clear that the future of voltron was in the lions and nothing else panache place released figures for all five voltron pilots with removable helmets and key accessories as well as villains like king zarkon hagar the witch prince lotor and robie's mutilor who could hang out in coffins of darkness or the zarkon zapper and skull tank they designed new transformable lion vehicles with opening cockpits for the pilots while the lions weren't to scale with the figures they could still combine like the original matchbox and poppy toys and all of the new figures and vehicles could be used with the new castle of lions playset panache place had plans to expand the line even further with figures of sven jeff cliff and crick hazar merla more row beasts and even a castle of doom playset but they didn't because they went out of business the license moved

17:44 to ljn for 1986 who released an assortment of toys including but not limited to wind-up motorized lines that could drive on their wheels hard plastic eraser-like combinable assembler voltrons a battery-powered motorized rolling voltron and a voltron that could transform into binoculars there were lots of other toys and lots of other licensed merchandise from bed sheets to halloween costumes role play toys roller skates clothing party supplies story and activity books if you needed to know what time it was you could check your transforming timekeeper voltron watch in 1985 modern comics of division of charlton comics released a three-issue mini-series based on lion force voltron from 2002 to 2007 devils do released multiple mini-series and 11 issues of an ongoing series focusing on lion force voltron it was an

18:30 attempt to reboot the property as well as fill in the gaps in the mythology by telling the story of voltron's origin thousands of years ago in 2011 dynamite entertainment rebooted the series again in comics with a series that lasted 12 issues four years later in 2015 they released voltron from the ashes written by cullen bunn with art by blackie shepard a story that picks up 200 years after the last adventure of the voltron force with a new team who must step up when the evil witch haggar is re-awakened in 1985 parker brothers released a board game that featured two mighty memory games but it was still a bit early for a reasonable shot at video games fans would have to wait until 2011 for voltron defender of the universe to be developed by behavior interactive and released on the ps3 and xbox 360. you play as the individual lions and eventually give commands to voltron as

19:16 you battle against giant row beasts fan response was mixed the game has since been delisted and is no longer available for purchase none of the voltron's returned for the 1986 television season after fleet of doom presumably because world events didn't want to spend the money to continue to make all new episodes from scratch instead they opted to try the formula again rebranding the japanese animated series star musketeer bismarck as sabre writer and the star sheriffs did it work was saber rider the next voltron you can catch voltron on vhs or on dvd releases by media blasters and gaiam vivendi entertainment universal pictures home entertainment released the entire series in 2019 you can also purchase them digitally through sources like google play voodoo youtube and amazon prime video fleet of doom was released on dvd by world events productions

20:02 themselves it's a little harder to come by as it was not included on any of the dvd releases in 2010 media blasters announced their intention to release a blu-ray version however it was canceled in 2011. that said some of those blu-rays did turn up for sale online somehow whether or not it will ever be officially released on blu-ray is unknown voltron was out of commission for over a decade before world events productions attempted to bring it back for a new generation in 1998 voltron the third dimension utilized cutting-edge computer-generated animation techniques and an all-new all-star cast it was the first all-new voltron material produced without toei's involvement which was a surprise to toei who suggested world events reach out and talk about who has the rights to what because they didn't remember signing all that stuff over a

20:47 legal back and forth ensued that resulted in world events productions buying the rights to all the voltron things they now owned die rugger 15 and go lion in 2007 world events productions was working out a deal with new regency and 20th century fox to begin production of a live-action voltron feature film which was a surprise to toei who suggested world events reach out and talk about who has the rights to what because they didn't remember signing that stuff over toei clarified that world events only owned the animated rights to voltron dirugger go lion and even if they had the film rights which they didn't toe a wasn't crazy about world events trying to sell a movie in japan as new regency and 20th century fox watched the slow moving train wreck they looked into the rights themselves and found that one of the original character designers on-go lion still owned a portion of the rights new

21:32 regency in 20th century washed their hands of the whole thing preventing the project from moving forward two years later in 2009 atlas entertainment picked up the live action movie rights but hold up a new challenger has entered the arena movie producers james young ford ullman and mark costa threw their own lawsuit at world events productions claiming that they owned the movie rights through their film companies animus films and nho entertainment and have owned them since 2004. the following year in 2010 world events washed their hands of the whole thing and focused their attention back on producing an animated series where things were much more clearly defined in 2011 atlas entertainment and relativity media announced another attempt to produce a voltron movie four years later relativity filed for bankruptcy which released the movie rights back to

22:18 classic media classic media was a subsidiary of dreamworks animation which was purchased by nbc universal in 2016. that same year it was announced that universal pictures and dreamworks animation would be producing a film with a script being written by david hayder and finally after years of ownership confusion dreamworks animation at netflix announced a multi-year development deal that delivered a new voltron series voltron legendary defender to netflix it is a reboot reimagining of the original voltron lion 4 series that plays like the show you think you remember seeing as a kid or what you imagined it could be bigger faster and more cohesive 78 episodes over eight seasons which concluded in 2018. in the four decades since its creation voltron has become one of the most recognizable pop culture icons around the world partially due to the efforts

23:05 of toei and go lion partially due to world events introducing the character to the united states it has grown beyond a literal reference to a robot made up of five space lines to the degree that every combining robot gets mislabeled at some point as a voltron mostly by well-intentioned parents who don't know any better they crossed over into everyday language used throughout offices and team building exercises it's a quick and easy way to express an efficient cohesive team from sports to retail they are the voltron of accounting we are the voltron of the men's over 30 basketball league from days of long ago from uncharted regions of the universe comes a legend the legend of voltron defender of the universe whose future is the same as the past a mighty robot loved by good feared by evil returning to us one day when a

23:51 new horrible menace threatens the galaxy thanks for watching please hit like hit subscribe if you're not already a subscriber thank you very much to those of you who already are thank you again to 80sts.com for sponsoring this video check us out on twitch at twitch.tv toygalaxy if you're in the position to help the channel grow if you would like early access to the videos ad free and early please visit our patreon at patreon.comtoygalaxy and let us know in the comments down below which voltron team you're force vehicle force the lost gladiator force alternate reality voltron aka team daltonius the only time i've ever been part of any kind of voltron was when i owned five cats and let me tell you if it's not dinner time there isn't a single activity you're gonna get five cats to cooperate on so take this whole voltron thing with a grain of salt it's a cartoon after all suspend your disbelief

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