| “ | Five unsuspecting teenagers, transported from Earth into the middle of a sprawling intergalactic war, become pilots for five robotic lions in the battle to protect the universe from evil. Only through the true power of teamwork can they unite to form the mighty warrior known as Voltron. | ” |
—Official Summary[1] | ||
Voltron: Legendary Defender is a Netflix original web television series produced by DreamWorks Animation and World Events Productions, and animated by Studio Mir with a combination of drawn and CGI animation. It is based on the previous franchise, Voltron: Defender of the Universe, released in 1984, which drew its material from two different Japanese anime: Beast King GoLion, released in 1981, and Armored Fleet Dairugger XV, released in 1982.
Previous additions to the Voltron franchise were the Fleet of Doom television special (1986), Voltron: The Third Dimension (1998), Voltron Force (2011), and various comic book appearances.[2]
Legendary Defender, the latest addition and reboot, premiered on June 10, 2016, and has since aired two seasons. The third season is apparently scheduled to air a total of 13 episodes in September 2017, and the series has a 78 episode commitment.[3]
Media
Episodes
For a more in-depth list of the episodes, see their respective season pages, or see the respective episode pages for more information on each episode.
| Season | Episodes | Season premiere | Season finale | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ██ | 1 | 11 | June 10, 2016 ("The Rise of Voltron") |
June 10, 2016 ("The Black Paladin") |
| ██ | 2 | 13 | January, 20, 2017 ("Across the Universe") |
January, 20, 2017 ("Blackout") |
| ██ | 3 | 13 | September 2017 ("TBA") |
September 2017 ("TBA") |
Music
The series has so far spawned a single soundtrack released for Season One.
| Cover | Season | Tracks | Release |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 | 11 | July 21, 2016 |
Comics
For more information, see the Comic article.
The Voltron: Legendary Defender Comic is a series of comic issues published by Lion Forge Comics. The first comic was released on July 13, 2016. Each issue is written by show head writers Tim Hedrick and Mitch Iverson, and illustrated by Digital Art Chefs. Each storyline of comic issues is complied into a paperback volume (abbreviated "TPB" for "trade paperback") after all separate issues have been released.
Staff
For a full list of staff, see the articles on IMDB and Wikipedia.
Producers
- Joaquim Dos Santos
- Lauren Montgomery
- Kihyun Ryu
Directors
- Joaquim Dos Santos
- Lauren Montgomery
- Steve Ahn
- Eugene Lee
- Kihyun Ryu
- Chris Palmer
Writers
- May Chan
- Joshua Hamilton
- Tim Hedrick
- Mitch Iverson
Character Designers
- Christie Tseng
- Kim Il Kwang
- Jin Sun Kim
Composers
- Alex Geringas (Opening)
- Brad Breeck (Score)
- Brian Parkhurst (Score)
Cast
Team Voltron
- Allura: Kimberly Brooks
- Coran: Rhys Darby
- Hunk: Tyler Labine
- Keith: Steven Yeun
- Lance: Jeremy Shada
- Pidge: Bex Taylor-Klaus
- Shiro: Josh Keaton
Galra Empire
- Beta Traz Warden: Fred Tatasciore
- Haggar: Cree Summer
- Haxus: Robin Atkin Downes
- Morvok: David W. Collins
- Prorok: Keith Ferguson
- Sendak: Jack Eberle
- Galra Commander: N/A
- Olkarion Commander: Ike Amadi
- Zarkon: Neil Kaplan
Blade of Marmora
Humans
- Iverson: Nolan North
- Keith's Father: N/A
- Matthew Holt: Blake Anderson
- Samuel Holt: Nolan North
Aliens
Arusians
- Arusian King: Neil Kaplan[4]
- Klaizap: Cree Summer
Balmerans
Mer Aliens
- Blumfump: Weird Al Yankovic
- Florona: Alyson Stoner
- Luxia: Kari Wahlgren
- Plaxum: Mae Whitman
- Swirn: N/A
Other Aliens
- Alfor: Keith Ferguson
- Baujal: Jim Cummings
- Laika: Neil Kaplan
- Lubos: Fred Tatasciore
- Nyma: Lacey Chabert
- Rolo: Norman Reedus
- Ryner: Mindy Sterling
- Slav: Iqbal Theba
- Slice Capades Salesman: Vince Offer
- Unilu Salesman: Paul Reubens
- Varkon: Fred Tatasciore
- Vrepit Sal: Fred Tatasciore
- Xi: Robin Atkin Downes
Trivia
- Joaquim Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery wanted to make the new series similar to how fans nostalgically remember Defender of the Universe, rather than a strictly faithful update or a complete reinvention. Legendary Defender is a means to reel in both a new generation and old fans. To get a more coherent grasp on the older series, staff watched both Defender of the Universe and Beast King GoLion, paying homage and honor to both. They avoided going the darker route of a story, preferring to keep campy humor and fun amongst a serious storyline.[5][6]
- Dos Santos stated that the biggest influence on him for Legendary Defender are Robotech and Macross, appreciating the dramatic aspects of the show.[ citation needed ]
- According to Dos Santos, "As far as themes go, the overall theme of teamwork is a huge thing for us to get across. Not just teamwork like, ‘we gotta work together to make this happen’ but really building characters that are complex enough to overcome their own shortcomings, evolve, and become the fully realized heroes we know they can be. Nobody at the beginning or end of the show will be perfect by any means but they will change and rise to the occasion."[5]
- Voltron: Legendary Defender marks the first series in history where the pilot of the Green Lion is a female character: Pidge, who was male in all the other versions of Voltron. Pidge's gender was on Lauren Montgomery's list of "must-haves", as well as mermaids.[7]
- The Series musical composer is Brad Breek who composed songs for other popular shows like Gravity Falls and We Bare Bears.
- The series aired on Netflix Korea on October 10th, 2016.[8]
- This is the fifth Animated series made by DreamWorks for Netflix.
External Links
- ↑ DreamWorks Animation
- ↑ Voltron Comics on Wikipedia
- ↑ Toy Ark at Toy Fair 2017
- ↑ Neil Kaplan's Twitter
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Den of Geek with Lauren Montgomery and Joaquim Dos Santos May 2016
- ↑ Nerdist with Lauren Montgomery, Joaquim Dos Santos, and Christine Bian March 2016
- ↑ Lauren Montgomery at New York Comic Con 2016[ citation needed ]
- ↑ Steve Ahn's Tumblr