Voltron is back in comics and the small screen. A film is in the works,
but all these years later, I can’t stop thinking about how creeped out I got by Witch Haggar.
Yes, Dynamite Entertainment just announced it acquired the license for a “Voltron: Defender of the Universe” comic. The new series, simply titled “Voltron” adds adventures to the story of the five robot lions and their pilots that can link together to form an even bigger robot.
The series comes together just in time for excitement to build toward a proposed “Voltron” live-action film.
The original cartoon series was a Japanese import that was dubbed into English. I watched it on WPIX, the independent television station out of New York City and loved every minute of it.
As the years have rolled on since my own personal golden age, three things have always stuck with me about that show.
- Peter Cullen’s narration of the opening sequence actually gives me
chills. It’s a brilliant encapsulation of the show, yet it is both awe
inspiring and makes you want to see more. You can listen to it below. - The bad guys … The witch
(Haggar), the evil overlord (Zarkon), the
evil prince (Lotor) weren’t just bad, they were actually creepy and
unsettling. Somehow the dastardly trio just always gave me the heebie-jeebies. Most of all, I
think the witch was the worst. Her scratchy voice (oddly,
the
same actress
provided Scarlett’s pleasant voice on G.I.Joe), helped layer her
character which primarily involved using her magic
powers to turned often-sympathetic characters into RoBeasts. Then they gave her an almost illogical devotion to Zarkon — a man it seemed like
she could destroy without a moment’s hesitation. Really, why didn’t she? And why does she weird me out so much? - The toys really sucked, but they shouldn’t have. Voltron would be as
big as Transformers is now if the toys weren’t so damn awful. How can
you screw up a robot lion?
Beyond the Lion version of
Voltron, there was also one that had a group of vehicles forming the
giant robot. I actually loved that one as well, but I never could figure
out why they were both called that. It turned out that the vehicle
Voltron was actually the first created in Japan, but the Lions were the
first imported to America.
Additional versions of Voltron have emerged through the 1990s and today. There’s even a new cartoon series running on Nicktoons. It began in early Summer 2011.
But can Voltron roar again? Let’s hope so!
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