Product Description

From days of long ago, from uncharted regions of the universe, comes a legend. The legend of Voltron: Defender of the Universe! A mighty robot, loved by good, feared by evil. A force of space explorers, Kieth, Lance, Hunk, Pidge, and Sven are sent to find the last princess of planet Arus, Allura, and the keys to Voltron. Together they find the five robot lions that make up the legendary robot. King Zarkon, an evil warlord, rains down destruction across the universe. But our heroes form Voltron at the last moment, and begin a new war against his cruel empire.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10029 in DVD
• Brand: Media Blasters
• Released on: 2006-09-26
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Animated, Color, DVD-Video, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Dimensions: .85 pounds
• Running time: 375 minutes

Amazon.com
Like Robotech, Voltron is an anomaly: an anime series that never aired in Japan in this form. The program Americans know under that title is comprised of recut footage from Hyakujuo Go-Lion ("Hundred-Beast King Go-Lion") and Kikou Kantai Dairugger XV ("Armored Fleet Dairugger XV"). Voltron debuted in syndication in the US in September, 1984, with a completely new storyline. Five young pilots from the Galaxy Alliance, Keith, Lance, Sven, Hunk, and Pidge, crash on the planet Arus when they're attacked by the minions of the evil King Zarkon. In the ruins of an ancient castle, they learn the secret of recreating Voltron, the ancient robot "loved by the good and hated by the evil." Each of them must pilot one of five lion-mecha that link to form Voltron. They also befriend Princess Allura, who pilots of one of the lions after Sven is wounded in battle. Together, they fight Zarkon's robots and "ro-beasts," the witch Haggar and Zarkon's son Lotor. Obviously pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle, Voltron reuses some footage over and over, but leaves out big chunks of the narrative. When the five pilots initially crash on Arus, they stand at the edge of vast desert; after the commercial break, they're wandering through a fog-shrouded forest. These problems won't phase Gen-X'ers who grew up with Voltron and want to revisit this relic of their childhoods. The extras include a rather stilted documentary on the restoration of the series. (Rated 7 and older: violence)--Charles Solomon

Customer Reviews

Wow...much different then when I was a kid!
When I was a child I thought this was a great cartoon. Now 20+ years later I felt that I was jipped. Don't get me wrong...still a great cartoon but now I want the original Japanese uncut version :)

Voltron is a great cartoon!
Voltron is a great cartoon! I can't stress enough how good Lion Force Voltron really is. the Voltron Lion Force first 15 episodes are in this Tin DVD set! Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime) does the narration for the cartoon series. Keith,Lance,Pig,Hunk, Sven,are the five space explores sent from Galaxy Garrison to bring Lion Voltron back to Planet Arus. If you remember 1980s cartoons, this is dvd set worth having to bring back those childhood memories! A

The first DVD box set for Lion Force Voltron
This three-disc box set contains the first fifteen episodes of the Lion Force Voltron series. The first two discs each contain six episodes, while the third disc contains three episodes and the special features.

When I watched this set, I noticed on the second DVD that some of the episodes looked a little fuzzy. This is probably due to the fact that Media Blasters had to use the best masters they could find. While video restoration can clean up some imperfections, it can't completely compensate for a lesser-quality master tape source. However, outside of those episodes on the second disc, the rest of the episodes looked rather decent.

There are five special features included on this set. The first is "Original Pilot: The Voltron Trilogy." This is two different versions of the pilot episode, both of which are different from what ended up being the first episode of Lion Force Voltron. The first version of the pilot is drastically different from the final product. The second version is a lot closer to what ended up becoming the first episode, but there are still some noticeable changes.

There are staff interviews, which help to shed some light on how the dubbing, writing, and production for Voltron was handled. Another feature explains how Media Blasters ended up having to use the original masters from Beast King GoLion in order to put these Voltron sets together. There's also "Robot Chicken: You Got Robo Served," a segment from Robot Chicken that features the Voltron toys.

For fans of Voltron, not only can you get the first fifteen episodes of the Lion Force series on DVD, but you can also gain insight into how the Voltron series came to be. This DVD set should really be in the collection of anyone who is a fan of Voltron.