'Toon Reviews 11: Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 1 Episode 9: Crystal Venom

Crystal Venom

I’m a firm believer that the best stories are those that can help you feel a wide range of emotions so to make what happens feel believable, and this episode is one that fits this criteria.  While some may believe that Sendak’s initial takeover of the team’s Castle of Lions was more of a one-and-done deal, it’s been made clear that him plugging in his crystal corrupted the power of the castle, giving what happened much-needed credibility.  The events that go on in this episode are clear results of his actions.  As the Paladins go about their day, they experience some very strange occurences from the castle like Hunk and Pidge getting attacked by food and later floating helplessly in zero-gravity, Keith getting mercilessly attacked by the training gladiator, and Lance getting stuck in a pod and later in an airlock where he’s nearly pulled into space.  There’s a lot of humorous and even intense moments that make up what goes on for our heroes stemming from them innocently starting their day, but the castle’s corruption is really meaningful in two emotional instances.  One of them has Shiro interrogating Sendak about the location of Zarkon’s base for their eventual confrontation with him, but is put through a mental breakdown when Sendak tries to convince him to join the Galra’s side prompting him to send him into space.  It leaves one to wonder if this side of Shiro joining Galra will come into play later on with a potential layer to his background, but it’s a little concerning that no one considers that Sendak roaming free could mean trouble in the future.  It could also be possible that he’ll be left for dead in the void of space, but still.  The real emotional highlight though is of Allura enjoying spending time with the projected memories of her father.  Though we’ve only seen only a little of her interactions with him, the fact that she’s lost something and someone dear to her as her planet and father understands her desire to use these memories to feel connected.  Relating to the castle corruption, she’s led to believe that everything she’s seeing with her father in her dreams is real which leads to her sending the castle towards an impending supernova under the guise of going home to Altea.  With danger imminent, when Allura snaps out of it, she decides to save the ship by destroying her father’s memories, permanently cutting off all connections with him.  It’s a mature, yet heartfelt, move on Allura’s part that can be easily relatable to anyone suffering a great loss, especially since in real life, when people are dead, they’re dead, and while it’s hard, you just have to grow to deal with it.  Because of this, this episode stands as one of the most powerful as well as inspiring when Allura is at least grateful that with her new team and Voltron, she can carry on her father’s legacy.  In spite of the possibilities of consequences of Shiro freeing Sendak being glossed over, everything else amounts this episode to an effective and relatable show of emotions. 9.5/10

The Ranking

1.      Rebirth

2.      The Rise of Voltron

3.      Crystal Venom

4.      The Fall of the Castle of Lions

5.      Return of the Gladiator

6.      Return to the Balmera

7.      Tears of the Balmera

8.      Some Assembly Required

9.      Taking Flight

 
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where the Paladins finally make their first attempt of direct attack on Galra as they set out to find the location of Zarkon's base through "Collection and Extraction."
If you would like to check out other Voltron: Legendary Defender reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

'Toon Reviews 11: Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 1 Episode 5: Tears of the Balmera

Tears of the Balmera

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This episode is primarily a continuation of the previous one where some of our heroes are given shining moments in reclaiming their castle from Sendak.  From the title, you might think that the main focus would be on the two most light-hearted characters in the cast, Hunk and Coran, retrieving a crystal from a Balmera, a living creature that serves as a planet for smaller creatures.  There are some enjoyable moments from this part of the episode from the many ways Coran shows off his eccentricity, even amidst the dark aspects of Balmera the inhabitants teach them, and Hunk, who’s always prided on nervousness and looking for the easy way out in the past, showing concern for the Balerans and wanting to help them, and for good reasons.  They live in harmony taking what they need from Balmera while giving something to them in return, but things become complicated with it now owned by the Galra Empire.   Because of their problems, two Balmerans represent two believable reactions to Hunk and Coran’s presence.  One named Shay wants to help their cause believing they can give to the Balmera in ways no one has in a while and expressing hope for the future by possibly leaving with them, and another called Rax is loyal to his home and wants the outsiders to leave.  Rax even goes darker in his beliefs when he orders Hunk, Coran, and Shay, who helps them get their crystal behind Galra’s back, to be attacked even imprisoning Shay who allows Hunk and Coran to escape with their crystal.  Overall, this part has further implications of how hard Galra’s rule is on what they conquer, creativity with the concept of Balmeras, and bits of humor coming from the protagonists at the center, even if it seems to gloss over things at times such as with Coran apparently cracking his spine while lifting their crystal and act like it never happened in the next scene.  Surprisingly, this business with the Balmera doesn’t get the most focus.  That honor goes to Pidge who has to help Allura and the Paladins regain control of their castle while being hunted down from Sendak’s army.  In addition, we see more of her past such as the details of what she went through when her dad and brother got captured during their mission, how she got banned from flight school when using their computers to look up information on them during the flight, and her being unsociable with Lance and Hunk when they first met.  It’s always great to see the past of appealing characters, and it makes me wish we’d see more pasts from other main heroes besides her, Shiro, and Allura.  Regarding Pidge’s past, it allows her to move forward with her mission to stop Sendak and actually be a valued member of the team, just after wanting to leave it.  Watching her evade capture/death from the enemy brings out a lot of shining moments for her despite losing her drone, Rover, needing help from Allura’s mouse friends in the final takedown and hearing her closest companion, Shiro, get attacked as leverage to get her to surrender.  While the latter point loses its impact when we see her push on later without a scene of her making her choice in between, she still plays a significant role in helping the team reclaim the castle and defeating Sendak, and the episode ends with a heartwarming scene of her declaring that her loyalty belongs to the Voltron team.  It’s an engaging example of how facing one’s past can lead to great changes in the present.  While the story could have been tweaked with a few additional scenes and things can drag at times, there’s enough heart, creativity, and nice character-building moments to make me consider this a strong entry. 9/10

The Ranking

1.      The Rise of Voltron

2.      The Fall of the Castle of Lions

3.      Return of the Gladiator

4.      Tears of the Balmera

5.      Some Assembly Required

 

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where the Paladins enter the galaxy and stop to help seemingly common refugees as they start "Taking Flight."

If you would like to check out other Voltron: Legendary Defender reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

'Toon Reviews 11: Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 1 Episode 4: The Fall of the Castle of Lions

Fall of the Castle of Lions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While all the episodes we’ve seen have always ended well for Voltron and its Paladins, this episode is where their quest to defend the universe starts showing its difficulties as the Galra Empire hits it hard.  Their impeding effect is especially felt when you consider that we open with a celebration the team has with their new allies, the Arusians.  Amidst the happy, light-hearted scenes at the party, we also see a lighter side to Allura as she gathers secrets about the Paladins from a race of mice who are also the remaining survivors of her home planet, including one she skirts around about Pidge, or Katie, being a girl.  However, it’s around here where things start getting heavy when Pidge reveals that she’s leaving the team to find her family.  As emotional as Pidge’s arc is, it’s concerning that she’s not considering the serious repercussions of this move.  Voltron needs all its Paladins to work, and without it the universe is doomed.  They do talk about this later on, but this move is too drastic to get behind.  Not only this, but other Paladins talk about wanting to go home to, which nicely reveals a vulnerable side to someone as full of himself as Lance who considers how far away he is from Earth.  Finally, the Galra Empire, led by Zarkon’s notorious commander, Sendak, initiates their attack which starts putting the odds against what seemed unstoppable.  First, they reprogram Pidge’s drone friend, Rover, to destroy the crystal that powers the Altean’s castle that holds the Voltron lions.  Then, they separate the team by knocking out Shiro and keeping him and Lance, who was wounded when the crystal was destroyed, hostage, and force Hunk to leave with Coran to find a new one, and power the castle up to keep Keith and Allura out.  They also plan to take the castle into orbit to keep the Voltron lions for themselves, but in a tense scene that cements that her loyalty is to the Paladins, Pidge finds a way to destroy the engine to prevent it from takeoff.  However, the episode ends with Sendak demanding her to be found, leaving the audience to guess what will become of her and the rest of the team for that matter.  Even if it’s an abrupt end to the episode in particular, you know that all this is a huge lead in to something bigger.  Voltron, the only hope for defense of evil, is now in danger of being stolen, and our heroes are separated.  After getting to know their personalities, including through the events here, it’s worth being concerned for their safety and hope they can find a way out of this.  While some characters may have head-scratching mindsets at times, this is the point where the care for them hits a high point. 9.5/10

The Ranking

1.      The Rise of Voltron

2.      The Fall of the Castle of Lions

3.      Return of the Gladiator

4.      Some Assembly Required

 

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of this episode's thrilling continuation which also serves as an addition to this show's lore, "Tears of the Balmera."

If you would like to check out other Voltron: Legendary Defender reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.