'Toon Reviews 11: Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 1 Episode 10: Collection and Extraction

Collection and Extraction

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we near the end of the season, we get an episode that follows the Voltron team infiltrate a Galra universal shipment station to obtain information about Zarkon’s base so to defeat him without coming off as a head-on attack from amateurs.  This mission has its good share of noteworthy moments from most of the team.  We get a good display of Pidge’s technical knowledge as she finds ways to get information out of a Galra robot, even when it tries to shut down to avoid revealing anything.  Her role is eventually put to good use when you consider what Keith gets up to.  During his investigation of the universal station, Keith discovers something that serves as another great addition to the creative side of this show’s world.  It’s been stated a few times throughout the series that many things in the galaxy thrive on a special energy called quintessence, and Galra is using it for fuel as the robot explains to Pidge and the others.  It draws to the conclusion that Galra keeps conquering planets to harvest the quintessence for themselves, causing harm to the planets in the process, further implying the dangers of the threat the Paladins must face.  It’s also shown to have special healing powers when during an intense battle with a Galra soldier in the quintessence supply room, Keith gets injured where only a splash from the quintessence heals him which further adds to the creative properties of this world and shows why the substance is important to the universe.  However, as was the case with the last two episodes, Allura’s role turns out to be the highlight.  While mostly seen supporting the team from afar in her castle, here she shows complete willingness to follow the Paladins with their mission despite potentially wiping out the last of the Alteans.  If that’s not enough, she volunteers to find out about Zarkon’s base from a Galra ship that has just landed with a disguise made from a stray uniform and her newly revealed ability to change color to blend in with the guards which is admittedly conveniently revealed to us just now.  Allura’s big moment comes in at the end after an intense dash to the information center with more of Shiro’s returning memories as a guide just when they’re about to get their desired information.  They’re both discovered and have to escape, but when there’s no time to activate an escape pod and fend off the guards at the same time, Allura throws Shiro into the pod and allows herself to be captured.  The moment is staged as a highly emotional one as Shiro watches with sadness as Allura gets captured while his pod takes off, but at the same time, you can understand the pride in Allura for deciding to sacrifice herself for her comrade, making her a strong character to get behind, and are left hoping the team can save her.  Overall, while some moments go on too long and certain plot elements are conveniently revealed with very little to, this is a solid episode and lead-in to the season finale. 9.5/10

The Ranking

1.      Rebirth

2.      The Rise of Voltron

3.      Crystal Venom

4.      The Fall of the Castle of Lions

5.      Collection and Extraction

6.      Return of the Gladiator

7.      Return to the Balmera

8.      Tears of the Balmera

9.      Some Assembly Required

10.  Taking Flight

 

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the season finale where the Paladins finally attempt a direct attack on Zarkon's base and we learn about "The Black Paladin."

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 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 2: Over the Garden Wall Episode 8

Babes in the Wood

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Greg’s childlike innocence has been a great and charming aspect of this show at this point.  It's helped make Greg feel like a real genuine child and also added a nice touch of cuteness to everything that happened without feeling out of place.  I really appreciate that we have a whole episode devoted to that as we reach the end of the story.  As Wirt begins losing hope of getting home, claiming that Greg’s messing around was the reason they’re both in this mess to begin with, allowing the Beast to start turning him into a tree, Greg takes it upon himself to be the leader of the brothers and has them both sleep on their predicament.  Most of the episode is a look into Greg’s dream world which features a great homage to classic cartoons of animation’s early days from happy cloud beings and brutish beings of the north wind.  The dream sequences are great fun and a nice treat for any classic animation fan.  Then, like most episodes of this show and any truly great animated work, the happy and cute stuff is balanced out by dark and emotional stuff that closes the episode.  Through his own dream world, Greg learns that Wirt has been lost to the Beast, making it impossible for him to leave The Unknown, which in turn gets Greg to realize what Wirt said about him messing around getting them both in trouble is somewhat true.  It’s then when Greg makes the heartfelt and mature decision to give himself up to the Beast and let Wirt go free, basically sacrificing his life for his brother’s.  This can easily be seen as a strong emotional moment, but the fact that a child is making this life-changing decision makes it truly impeccable.  Things get even darker as the episode ends when Wirt wakes up to find Greg gone, falls into ice, only to be saved by Beatrice who keeps calling his name desperately as he struggles to come to.  Every element of this episode is so neatly structured that it makes for perhaps the show’s grandest experience at this point going from happy, to emotional, to just plain terrifying.  I can’t help but love every moment of it. 10/10

Ranking

1)      Babes in the Wood

2)      Songs of the Dark Lantern

3)      Hard Times at the Huskin’ Bee

4)      The Old Grist Mill

5)      Lullaby in Frogland

6)      The Ringing of the Bell

7)      Mad Love

8)      Schooltown Follies

Be sure to stay tuned for the next episode of the series, "Into the Unknown."