Original Air Date: Sept. 10, 1984
Summary: The first episode starts off with Air Unit Leader Keith reporting to Galaxy Garrison that they are approaching planet Arus. At first all seemed well but then the team realizes that Arus is under attack. See Note #1
We next see a scene in which Arus is under attack by Zarkon’s forces. See Note #2
Keith then radios in to Galaxy Garrison informing headquarters that they are going to try to help the people of Arus. We’re immediately shown images of rockets detonating on the planet and Keith stating that everyone made it to the underground shelters. See Note #3
Unfortunately, Keith and his team are captured by one of Zarkon’s ships before they were able to help Arus. See Note #4
After the “Air Unit” is captured, we get to see what Galaxy Garrison looks like. Interestingly, GG HQ looks like the Space Needle. Not only do we get to see the outside of Galaxy Garrison, but we get to see Space Marshall Graham as well as his council. A lot of information is given in this short scene. The concern for the space explorers in this scene shows how important they are to Galaxy Garrison. Planet Doom is referenced to be 2000 light years from Earth. The space explorers are said to have extensive training in survival scenarios and that they’ve had a history of being in tight spots. It is also revealed that even Planet Doom has ambassadors to Galaxy Garrison, although this is probably just a front to hinder GG. Space Marshall Graham ends the scene by directly mentioning the super robot, Voltron. See Note #5
After the scene with Galaxy Garrison we are introduced to Yurak, the head of King Zarkon’s military. He is shown as being mean and ruthless by threatening the slaves with his whip. We are then shown Planet Doom and introduced to King Zarkon. He makes claims that since Planet Arus has fallen, he now rules the entire universe. He adds that the capture of the space explorers will keep the Galaxy Alliance off his back (I’m paraphrasing). As usual, witch Haggar rains on Zarkon's parade by immediately informing him that the Castle of Lions holds the secret of Voltron, but in true dictator fashion, Zarkon dismisses her and shows no fear of the robot.
While Keith and the rest of the team are placed in one of the high dungeons of Castle Doom, the remaining slaves from Arus are forced to fight one of Zarkon’s robeasts in a gladiatorial style of combat. See Note #6
By working together, the space explorers manage to escape from their cell and scale down the side of the castle. The group is attacked by huge vultures but by grabbing the birds’ feet, Keith and his team make it to the ground, landing in the Pit of Skulls. See Note #7
The rest of the escape is pretty straightforward. The team sneaks into the space port and are attacked by robot soldiers. The team disarms, disables, or destroys the attackers and then boards a slave ship. Zarkon commands Yurak to recapture the space explorers. Rather than capture them, Yurak shoots them down.
The slave ship piloted by Keith almost crashes on Planet Arus but is saved by a strange beam of light coming from a lion statue. It is pointed out that the castle behind the statue is the Castle of Lions. This is when Keith narrates the legend of Voltron.
According to Keith’s narration, Voltron was the most powerful defender of justice in the far universe. Keith also calls Voltron invincible. Because Voltron couldn’t be defeated, King Zarkon had witch Haggar disguise herself as a beautiful goddess. When Voltron went to help her, Haggar put a curse on Voltron which broke him up into the five separate robot lions. See Note #8
The episode ends with Keith piloting the slave ship over the Castle of Lions and then the credits run.
As far as first episodes go, this episode filled in the basic requirements. It introduced the main heroes and villains. It set the stage for the resurrection of Voltron, the primary icon of the show. It gave the viewer the sense of camaraderie amongst the space explorers and it clearly showed the evilness of the villains. This episode had great musical moments as well as great dialogue segments. This episode perfectly set the stage for the rest of the series.
Interesting Notes:
- #1: The Air Unit designation carries over into the Vehicle Voltron series, where they are referred to as the Air Team. Also, 1 minute and 33 seconds into the show, a planet is shown among an asteroid field. Even though Planet Arus is referenced, the planet shown is actually Planet Doom.
- #2: Keith refers to King Zarkon as a “fiendish old space pirate.” This could be a possible revelation into Zarkon’s past.
- #3: Keith references the underground shelters because censorship in children’s programming frowned upon the idea of death within the cartoon.
- #4: Keith states that they need to eject and Sven argues that they will get captured that way. Keith gives the order to eject anyway but the scene cuts away before anything can happen.
- #5: Space Marshall Graham’s voice is almost identical to King Zarkon. Also, Space Marshal Graham’s assistant has the same voice as the later character, Prince Lotor. Viewers will also notice that Michael Bell and Neil Ross voiced members of Graham’s council.
- #6: Yurak refers to the robeast that fights in the arena as the Blue Robeast. Also, none of the slave combatants are human.
- #7: Hunk makes the remark that he’s afraid of heights.
- #8: The manner in which Keith refers to Voltron in the narration, it could be possible that Voltron was once a sentient being. Also, the manner of the narration could make a viewer think that Voltron was split up by Haggar in recent history. Later episodes flesh out the truth a little, but the general history is still pretty vague. As well, the narration shows the full formation of Voltron, prior to anyone actually piloting it.
GoLion Comparison: Coming Soon
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