Voltron

Voltron is the name of a fictional mecha-armor as well as a multimedia franchise involving said armor, which includes animated television programs, animated film projects, comic books and a toy line. The franchise originated with the 1984-1985 cartoon series Voltron: Defender of the Universe. This series featured a team of astronauts that piloted a giant super robot known as "Voltron". Initially produced as a joint venture between World Events Productions and Toei Animation, the original television series aired in syndication from September 10th, 1984 to November 18th, 1985. The first season of Voltron, featuring the "Lion Force Voltron", was adapted from the Japanese anime television series Beast King GoLion. The second season, featuring the "Vehicle Voltron", was adapted from the unrelated anime series Armored Fleet Dairugger XV.

Voltron created by Peter Keefe, and was the top-rated syndicated children's show for two years during its original run, and spawned a follow-up series, several comic books, and a 1-hour special. Keefe passed away in Rochester, New York on May 27th, 2010 from throat cancer at the age of 57.

Development
The original series was created by Peter Keefe and John Teichmann in 1984 using material that they had licensed from the Japanese animated series Beast King GoLion and Armored Fleet Dairugger XV. The producers had no means of translating the Japanese series into English, thus they surmised the plots, created all-new dialogue, edited out the more violent scenes and remixed the audio into stereo format. The series was an immediate hit in the United States, topping the syndication market for children's programs in the mid-1980s.

The Japanese Mirai Robo Daltanious series was originally planned to be adapted by World Events Productions as part of Voltron. When requesting master tapes from Toei Animation for translation purposes, the World Events Productions producers requested "[the] ones with the lion." Mistakenly, Toei then proceeded to ship World Events copies of Beast King GoLion, another "combining-robot" cartoon featuring lion-shaped fighters. Because the World Events producers greatly preferred GoLion to Daltanious, the GoLion episodes were adapted instead, going on to become the most popular portion of the original Voltron run. A third version/series of Voltron based on yet another Japanese series, Lightspeed Electroid Albegas, was also in progress, but dropped when World Event Productions joined with Toei to make new GoLion-based shows, due to that series' popularity over the Dairugger run.

Lion Force Voltron
The first season was edited primarily from Beast King GoLion, and featured a team of five young pilots commanding five robot lions which could be combined to form Voltron. In this undefined future era, the Voltron Force was in charge of protecting the planet Arus (ruled by Princess Allura) from the evil King Zarkon (from planet Doom), his son Lotor, and the witch Haggar, who would create huge Robeasts to terrorize the people of Arus. Despite being the first of the two robots to appear on American television, the "GoLion" version of Voltron was regarded as "Voltron III" within the storyline because, within the original planned "three-Voltron" continuity, Arus was the furthest setting from Earth's side of the universe ("Voltron I" being intended for the Near Universe, and "Voltron II" for the Middle Universe).

Vehicle Voltron
The second season was edited primarily from Armored Fleet Dairugger XV, with the storyline considerably changed. In this iteration of Voltron, the Galaxy Alliance's home planets have become overcrowded, and a fleet of explorers has been sent to search for new planets to colonize. Along the way, they attract the attention of the evil Drule Empire, long engaged in an ongoing war against the Alliance, and the Drules proceed to interfere in the mission of the explorers and the colonists. Since the Voltron of Planet Arus is too far away to help the explorers, a totally new Voltron is constructed to battle the Drule threat.

This Voltron team consists of fifteen members, divided into three teams of five, known respectively as the Land, Sea, and Air Teams.

Each team is specialized in gathering data or fighting in their area of expertise. Each team can combine their vehicles into a bigger machine, with each combined vehicle differing among the three teams. These fighters are:


 * The Aqua Fighter (Sea Team)
 * The Turbo Terrain Fighter (Land Team)
 * The Strato Fighter (Air Team)

When necessary, all fifteen vehicles combine to form the mighty Voltron. This Voltron in the toyline was referred to as Voltron I as it was set closest to Earth.

Gladiator Voltron
The proposed "Voltron II" episodes (so called because they took place in the "Middle Universe") were to have been based on Lightspeed Electroid Albegas (Kosoku Denjin Albegas)}}. Although Albegas toys were marketed in the United States under the "Voltron II" name, the series never actually aired there. Due to the extreme popularity of the Lion Voltron and lack of popularity of the Vehicle Voltron series, World Events Productions eventually elected against another alternate Voltron, and plans to adapt Albegas were aborted.

However, Matchbox did produce and market toy versions of the three robots (Black Alpha, Red Gamma, Blue Beta) under the Voltron name.

Subsequent projects

 * Voltron: Fleet of Doom television special (1986). In 1986, World Events hired Toei Animation to produce a one-off crossover television special, which mixed in GoLion and Dairugger XV footage with new animation. The special was made for the international market and has not been released in Japan.


 * Voltron: The Third Dimension animated series (1998). After some initial interest, a computer-generated series was released in 1998, set five years after the end of the original Lion Voltron series. The series was met with a mixed response, due to various changes, such as the revamped looks of the Lion Voltron, King Zarkon, and Prince Lotor. The series served as a sequel to the Lion Voltron series; among the tools used to bridge the gap between the two series was an official starmap as designed by Shannon Muir and finalized in partnership with World Events Productions. After Voltron: The Third Dimension, World Events Productions went back to the drawing board to develop a more traditionally animated series, in an attempt to recapture the spirit of the original.


 * Voltron: Defender of the Universe. In July 2005, producer Mark Gordon (Grey's Anatomy, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) announced plans to create a live-action film adaptation of the Voltron franchise in collaboration with producers Pharrell Williams, Mark Costa, and Frank Oelman. Pharrell Williams was also reported to compose the musical score the film. The project's development was funded by Jim Young's Animus Films. In December 2006, screenwriter Enzo Marra was announced to have completed a script for Gordon. In August 2007, the production entity New Regency entered negotiations with Mark Gordon Co. to adapt Voltron. Interest in the property heightened after the box office success of Transformers, another film involving robots. On August 18th, 2008, Relativity Media entered negotiations with New Regency to finance and produce the film, though on a more moderate budget, utilizing cost-saving CGI techniques such as those used in 300. Max Makowski was set to direct. As of the end of August 2008, the title had been set for Voltron: Defender of the Universe. However, Ted Koplar, through his World Events Production Company, was fighting a legal battle with Toei Company Ltd. over the movie rights as of November of that year. On September 16th, 2010, concept art for the movie was released. On March 8th, 2011, it was announced that Relativity Media and World Events had entered a bidding war on who would make the film. On July 21st, 2011, Atlas Entertainment and Relativity Media announced they would bring Voltron: Defender of the Universe to the big screen.


 * Voltron Force animated series (2011). This was another animated series that premiered on Nicktoons in June 2011. The series followed the exploits of a group of three young cadets brought together by the original members of the Voltron Force to defend the galaxy against a resurrected Lotor, now ruling planet Drule after a military coup d'état. Voltron Force was a World Events Production in conjunction with Kick Start Productions and Classic Media.