'Toon Reviews 17: Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 2 Episode 5: Eye of the Storm

Eye of the Storm

The fact that the last episode abruptly ended with the Paladins found by Zarkon’s fleet suggests that this episode is going to be an all-out galactic brawl.  We do start with a huge battle, but it doesn’t last long.  The Paladins take in the facts that Zarkon is simply too powerful for them to take on alone at this point, especially after what happened at his base. 

The episode’s focus is using wormholes to get enough distance from their enemies for some time.  As a result, the episode isn’t all about battles, so it doesn’t always live up to the cliffhanger, but we do still get many admirable qualities.  With wormholes being needed, there’s some interesting facts to their creation as demonstrated in a cute limited animation style common for infomercials.  Wormholes are made in a part of the ship called a teludav where a laser is fired off of crystal discs.  While this would be seen as random, it’s actually a big deal because a lot of the crystals are broken and wormholes can’t be made, at least not ones that can reach far distances. 

You’d expect our heroes to put all their attention into the teludav problem, but the reveal of the issue is instead followed by a sequence of antics around the ship.  They’re enjoyable for sure, but some like Lance and Keith going to a pool and Pidge learning to speak Altean from a tutorial that has the safety turned off aren’t substantial.  Fortunately, I can’t say that’s the case for all the antics, but these ones really stick out.  Then we’re abruptly thrown back into battling Zarkon who tracks them down again.  It’s a really intense battle with frantic attempts to hold him back while Coran rushes to perform a light wormhole jump, made difficult by his case of the slipperies, an Altean virus where the body excretes a slippery liquid, primarily used for funny scenes. 

Following that fight, when thoughts turn to how Zarkon keeps finding the team, there’s some drama when Allura believes her mere existence gives them away.  It’s hard to believe since there’s no clear evidence, but sympathy is still apparent that Allura, someone devoted to the Paladins believes something this drastic.  Whether this is true or not isn’t explained though. Zarkon finds them much quicker resulting in the episode’s biggest battle in a cosmic storm.  The magnitude is helped by the storm making things difficult for both sides and Zarkon’s undying desire to get his original lion, the black lion.  What gets the Paladins out of harms’ way is an interesting move that gives relevance to some of the earlier antics.  The broken crystals in the teludav are replaced by hard cookies Hunk inadvertently made earlier, and the fluids from Coran’s slipperies allow the Paladins to get the wormhole they need via a dangerous scene where they have to hold in some of the replacement crystals as the laser fires.  The episode ends shortly after the wormhole jump is made, though we’re still without a clear reason why the Paladins keep getting found.  Though Zarkon’s clear desire to get the black lion does make the conflict and him as a character a bit more interesting. 

This leaves us with a greatly enjoyable episode where much of its new reveals and character moments all come together in the end. 9/10

The Ranking

1. Shiro’s Escape
2. Greening the Cube
3. Eye of the Storm
4. Across the Universe
5. The Depths

The next Voltron: Legendary Defender review covers a visit to a new planet while Keith and Allura believe they're putting the team in danger.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is a special review to commemorate Memorial Day and, by coincidence, the 1-year anniversary of this blog.

If you want to stay updated for more reviews, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter.

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 17: Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 2 Episode 1: Across the Universe

While adhering to this new review practice, I've decided that it’s high time I get back to talking about the second season of the first Netflix original series I've ever seen:

Voltron: Legendary Defender (Season 2)

Basic Premise

I must admit that Netflix isn’t that huge of a provider of interesting animated TV shows, either original or acquired, to look into for potential reviews, at least to me.  At the very least, there is one original animated series from the popular streaming site for me to frequently check out, and that is Voltron: Legendary Defender.  Thanks to one of my friends inspiring me to check it out, I found a very good way to expand my entertainment horizons and offer a fresh, first-time perspective of a show I’m simply getting to know, and through reviewing the first season a while back, I say it’s pretty great. 

It’s an epic galactic apace battle saga at its core with a distinct cast of characters to follow all throughout with a story that gets bigger with every new challenge they have to face.  The premise itself is quite imaginative in which the fate of the universe rests in the hands of five small robot lions that form one large robot who defends the innocent from an evil empire. The catch is that the pilots of the lions, called Paladins, are mostly inexperienced when it comes to piloting and fighting and need the constant guidance of the two survivors of a planet wiped out by the Galra Empire which adds to the intensity of the mission. 

For the most part, each episode really delivers on an exciting scale you’d expect epic action series to.  It is held back from a lack of character development and the villains all coming off as the same dark and serious character, but every new season offers huge possibilities to expand upon areas previous ones didn’t, and since the first season impressed me significantly, I’m open to see what’s done with Season 2.

A huge reason for excitement on exploring Season 2 is how much the first one left me wanting more.  I mean, our Paladins were forced to go to the Galra Empire headquarters to save their princess leader, Allura.  Although they did rescue her, they got totally overpowered, mostly through overconfidence on Keith’s part, and in Shiro’s case getting hurt both mentally and physically.  Even when they escaped with the help of a mysterious traitor to Galra, things remained intense with the season ending with the whole team separated while going through a corrupted wormhole. 

As a result, we’re left with an exciting point to work off of with much promise for even more excitement.  In order to see exactly what great adventures we’re in for this season, I’ll just sign into my Netflix account, select the show and rejoin the Paladins for a lion’s share of Voltron action.

Now on with the reviews:

Across the Universe

The follow-up to the Season 1 finale features some of our heroes in various escapades after getting separated in the wormhole jump that helped them escape Zarkon. 

There’s a demonstration of how distinct they are with how they approach everything that happens to them in the galaxies they end up in.  They may have a huge responsibility of protecting the entire galaxy, but they’re still human beings with their own day-to-day problems to deal with.  In addition, there are imaginative interpretations of the galaxy from a few places and scenarios. 

Specifically, this episode features Pidge stuck on a trash nebula with no one to help her, Allura and Coran struggling to escape the compromised wormhole, and Keith saving Shiro, who was wounded by Zarkon’s witch wife Haggar, from a pack of strange aliens.  These subplots have different forms of appeal. 

There’s nothing too special about what Pidge gets up to since she just stays where she is until someone finds her.  However, it’s still cute and funny when she befriends a flock of cute fuzzy multi-colored aliens and her interactions with them are very sweet.  As for humor, it stems from her me-time which includes making dummies of her friends and poking fun of their quirks which is honestly a good interpretation of the basic personas and lack of development for some of them.  Pidge does still sees the good in her team when her technical know-how gets an old satellite working which ties into another subplot. 

Allura and Coran’s part is filled with creativity as they directly deal with the effects of the wormhole while piloting their castle ship.  Every time they go through it, they hit a black void that keeps them stuck and affects everyone with the mice becoming different creatures and Coran getting significantly younger, yet for some unexplained reason Allura is unaffected which holds the subplot back.  What's more, Coran’s personality changes with his degrading age are funny, and he surprisingly gets good ideas to get out of the mess the younger he gets, even if they don’t work.  Not to mention, it’s suspenseful when getting younger puts him in danger of disappearing forever. 

Shiro and Keith’s subplot is even more suspenseful though with Shiro stuck in a weakened state in a cramped cave with monstrous aliens outside.  Given how brash he was at Zarkon's base, you might think that Keith wouldn’t be effective as his rescuer, but he impresses through being resourceful and patient as he fends off the aliens and even gets the trust of Shiro’s lion.  This subplot is also the most impactful for ending with Shiro asking Keith to lead the Paladins if something happens to him which gives the story something to look forward to while also starting a nice character arc for Keith. 

Also impactful is an ending scene of the leaders of the Galra Empire, Zarkon and Haggar, setting out to find out who helped Voltron escape their grasp.  We start getting some new layers to the villains’ personalities when one of their own, Commander Prorok, shows genuine fear when the leaders imprison him for letting it happen.  This too sets up an arc where they try to find the traitor, and the fact that their own crew begins to fear them does start to paint the Galra Empire as more than just a seriously evil threat. 

Overall, while this premiere is mainly a showcase of various character moments and creative scenes, it’s a great way to ease us back into adventures with the main cast with distinct and appealing personalities and even a few starts of potentially beneficial arcs. 9/10

The next Voltron: Legendary Defender review will cover the galaxy Lance and Hunk ended up in which is inhabited by seductive mermaids.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews, we'll be covering the second episode of Steven Universe Season 2, "Joy Ride."

If you want to stay updated for more reviews, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter.

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 11: The Black Paladin + Final Thoughts

The Black Paladin

 

 

 

 

 

 

This season finale finally puts the Voltron team at the base of Emperor Zarkon of the Galra Empire.  They’re set up to take on the opposing evil forces and put an end to their reign like they’ve been training for, or at least rescue Princess Allura.  However, for all the exciting action we get in the finale, the team gets a taste of just how powerful the leader of the galaxy’s ultimate evil truly is.  Zarkon uses Allura as bait to bring Voltron straight to him, and when Voltron is in view, he and his witch wife Haggar set up a barrier to trap them inside the area around the ship, and later freeze Voltron and separate the lions.  It’s already challenging enough that the team is unable to prepare themselves for such a strong attack, but their beating doesn’t even stop there when Shiro and his lion are pulled into the ship prompting the team to need to rescue him as well.  While Shiro is in Zarkon’s custody, we get more background on him when Haggar explains that she had built him up to serve Zarkon, and now that Shiro is a Paladin, she’s set on destroying him.  His encounter with her is especially terrifying when she creates duplicates of herself for Shiro to fight, attacking him mentally.  In addition to Shiro, Keith is another standout character in this finale, though he’s not as well portrayed.  During the battle with Zarkon, it becomes clear that the team simply isn’t strong enough to take him on, so despite Coran’s urging to retreat to safety, Keith flies in to defeat Galra once and for all as well as retrieve Shiro’s lion which, in an interesting turn of events, used to be piloted by Zarkon.  It makes you wonder if we’ll learn more about this reveal later on.  His moments of trying in vain to fight against Zarkon are pretty frustrating since he's taking on a task that he and the team are clearly not powerful enough at this point to take on.  There are a few times where he has a good advantage, but they don’t make much of a difference and Zarkon proves more powerful anyway.  Keith forcing himself through a task he clearly can’t do makes the episode kind of frustrating, though the positives are still great.  Also, even with Allura, Shiro and Keith eventually rescued, the season ends with something to look forward to in seasons to come.  If the team needing to retreat through a wormhole isn’t enough, Haggar puts a dark spell on the wormhole which breaks Voltron and sends the lions to different parts of the galaxy, leaving the Paladins on their own to try and find each other.  While three other seasons have been put on Netflix after this, for anyone who’s seen this season back when it first aired must have been left in anticipation to see what would become of the heroes.  I know I’m enticed to see that.  This season finale might not be completely satisfying, but with its character building moments and an ending that builds anticipation for the future, it’s a great end to this show’s debut season. 9/10

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.      The Black Paladin

8.      Return to the Balmera

9.      Tears of the Balmera

10.  Some Assembly Required

11.  Taking Flight

Final Thoughts

As a first time viewer of Netflix-original series, from the 11 episodes of Season 1, I’d say that Voltron: Legendary Defender was a pretty great one to start with.  The crew behind this show prove that they’ve had a lot of influence from their work on Avatar, and have crafted something epic and grand, driven by action pieces and creativity.  The idea behind the workings of Voltron and how its piloted have a lot of fascinating and creative details behind it which is enough to keep the audience interested.  Every time it forms is almost always an exciting sequence as the lions attach to each other to form one big robot with majorly amplified animation and music as accompaniment.  The abilities of the titular robot are slowly revealed and built upon as the season goes on, starting with simply being formed into a giant robot, but several episodes show us its other abilities revealed during the heat of battle, particularly when a Paladin plugs in a bayard into the lion.  Every time it’s used for a fight is when the show is at its most exciting with fast-paced action, all its creative powers on display, and interesting ways of showing how the Paladins communicate with each other lightening the action with banter from pilots who are relatively new at working such a robot.  The show also prides on creativity in other areas like how Balmeras work and survive, and the properties and appeal of quintessence in the galaxy.

The epic scope is also built upon by the dark undertones of the goals of the Paladins and their crew.  The whole conflict is fueled by an entire empire claiming planets for its own and harvesting it for all its quintessence energy and crystals in the Balmera’s case.  A few episodes take the time to show how the people of the Balmera have been affected by their suffering at the hands of Galra, enacting a sympathetic response and realization of the enemy’s true power.  Then, you have the fate of the planet, Altea, one that has been completely wiped out with only two survivors to train the new heroes to ensure that other planets, including the Paladins’ home planet Earth, don’t endure the same fate.  Their emotional response to the loss of their planet is felt through reconnecting with it through a system of memories, particularly with Princess Allura using them to reconnect with her father.  However, when circumstances lead the memories to be deleted, the feeling of loss is stronger than ever.  Also, even with a weapon as powerful as Voltron, there are several times where even when it forms, the villains gain the advantage.  At first, the team is inconvenienced for a while when their castle is taken over and can’t immediately free the Balmerans, but those are tasks that just take time to be accomplished.  However, when they attempt to carry out their ultimate goal of defeating the Galra Empire, everything goes wrong when it’s too powerful for them to defeat, and not only do they have to retreat, but their weapon for peace is now fallen apart, and this is how the season ends.  The sheer fact that our heroes are left with a task to get through set to carry in for following seasons is enough to buy the seriousness of the villains’ threat.

As big, grand, and creative as this show is, it’s not one that I’d call a top-tier favorite of mine.  The biggest reason for this is because so much time is devoted to the dark effects from the villains and Voltron’s battles, there’s not a lot of time for character development.  That’s not to say that all the characters don’t have layers to them.  The Paladins are shown to get progressively better at being a team compared to the premiere and grow to realize the seriousness of their job as galaxy defenders.  Also individually, we have Shiro who slowly uncovers more information of his time as a Galra prisoner, Pidge’s conflict of trying to find her family amidst her important Paladin job, and Allura who starts off simply being the Paladins’ advisor, but is later shown dealing with the harsh effects of her home and father destroyed, and even actively helps and sacrifices herself for the Paladins.  Everyone else is predominantly dependent on one trait and shows little to no change throughout the season. Lance is the biggest offender through always thinking cockily and materialistically with little steps to maturity, not to mention constantly going from rivals to friends with Keith, never settling on a side.  Also, the villains suffer from lack of development as well.  It doesn’t matter if it's Zarkon, Haggar, Sendak, or anyone from the Galra Empire.  They’re all the same standard villains who are evil because they want power and nothing more.  They all think seriously with very little quirks and don’t come off as very enjoyable.  At least I can enjoy the heroes somewhat, even if some are underdeveloped.  Though since the show really can be strong in parts, it’s possible that the characters can improve and develop some later on.  Until then, those who do have strong development are those who really make this show.

Despite some underdeveloped characters and boring villains, the first season of Voltron: Legendary Defender has proven itself to be great for what it is with its grand scope, great action, and creative elements to suit the animation medium.  If you ever sign up for Netflix, this series is one you should look into.

Highly Recommended

That's all for this series for now, but I'll be sure to come back with reviews of the other seasons some time in the future.  For the next set of reviews though, we'll be going from digital streaming to physical media, looking into the Vol. 2 DVD set of DuckTales.  Until then:

 

Stay Animated Folks!