Shark Bytes

This show was awful. I mean, even as an 80's cartoon, it was beyond horrid. And let it be known, I was the target audience age when it was on ... 8 to 12 years old. Lets go thru the checklist shall we?

(1) Anime Japanese drawings that had about two frames of animation (on the humans) and didn't lip sync with the English words correctly? CHECK.

(2) Terribly formulatic episodes? CHECK.

(3) AT THE END, THE LIONS FORM VOLTRON AND CUT THE BAD GUY ROBOT IN HALF Check!!!!

This show was horrid. Jumped day one. I would say its worse than the Go-Bots but I am not sure if that is possible.

Cutting down the Robeasts every episode was totally awesome. they always waited until it looked grim to form Blazing Sword - how awesome is that? the answer: awesome to the max.

The other voltron made out of submarines and crap? tremendously lame.

If they knew they couldn't kill the RoboBeast without the Blazing Sword, why futz around with the other weapons?

Voltron jumped when I found out that Sven died and the production company didn't inclued his funeral.

If you think about it almost half the show was repeated each episode. they always showed the same sequence running into the thing to take them to the transport cars always showed keith being raised into the lion never anyone one else. The transformation to voltron the balzing sword. it seems that was 8 minutes of the show with was 23 minutes due to commercials. also I dont understand when they never tricked the princess into not going into the lion and finding anyone else.

Voltron jumped for me when I came to understand that every episode was pretty much the same.They created a robeast,sent it after Voltron and Voltron splits it in half.I know it was just a cartoon but these one trick ponies get tiresome even for little kids at least it did for me.

This was actually a fun little show, but it was obviously mutilated for distribution in the US. People were clearly dying on this cartoon, often horribly. There was a group of poor peasants being handled by a large robot and there is clearly a cut scene--the robot must have crushed them in its fist! I recall a reference to a long lost son who obviously died (the plot was a duplicate being sent to trick the father), but it turned out he was simply sent to another dimension from which he is unable to return--okay, whatever. My personal favorite was an enemy fighter pilot who bragged that he would destroy Voltron. He failed, of course, and his last scene shows his craft destroyed in a terrifically huge explosion. This is accompanied by a voiceover by the evil prince who says something to this effect: "I'll deal with him after he's recovered from his injuries." Recovered? There wouldn't be enough of that dude left to fill a dustpan! They wouldn't even show the death of the evil king--they spliced in an earlier appearance and indicated he got away in an escape pod which just happened to look like his huge flagship. Having said all this, I cannot blame them for censoring it. Bluntly, it was too violent for the US market. But it was probably the best of the five heroes (brave leader, defiant male, heavy guy, kind female, and kid) in a big robot model.

This show was terrible, and it got worse later when they went from the lions to the car, o what every they were one. It was one of those cartoons you'd watch as a kid, because it was on between two other shows that you'd like. The only high point for me was Prince Zoltan or what ever his name was. I agree with him, and share his violent contempt for the stupid lion riding dimwits. The very worst thing about this show is that it paved the way for the Power Rangers. That's a lineage of shame.

Ok, I loved both Voltrons as a kid. So much so I dragged both my Lion and Vehicle toys to school with me everyday in the fifth grade. As an adult I still love it. Fond memories, but the surprising thing is I love Vehicle Voltron (the car conglomerate guy hehe) even more than Lion Voltron now. I've got most of the episodes of both and I gotta say - despite all the characters in VV the plot was much more interesting and "mature" - a space opera, basically...which is perhaps why kids didn't seem to like it. Anyway, yes it's true - the shows weren't related in their native Japan but the U.S. editors patched in some dialogue and scenes to make it seem like they were (Ex: the Galaxy Alliance and Galaxy Garrison were part of the original VV universe and didn't show up at all in GoLion, Lion voltron's parent toon). That said, it's no wonder people may have bulked at the vaguely similar but ultimately "too different" VV. As for the characters living after what is obviously fatal injury had to do with US censors. I've seen the original anime of several episodes that both Voltrons were based on, and the characters swear, drink and blood flows freely - and graphically at times. This is also why if anything does die onscreen in US versions, it most likely will be termed a "robot"....in short, the shows were watered down and sanitized for sensitive US audiences. I agree that's lame, but that's still now why it jumped... Where I think it jumped the Shark is when the Lions came back for their second season. The last 20 episodes of LV were not dubs of GoLion as GoLion only had 52 episodes made (same as VV and Dairugger XV, its parent toon). No, the US commissioned the last 20 eps to be made specifically for US audiences and you can tell - the animation sucks, they changed the music, and brought in new main characters. Classic overkill of a good thing.

I think most people (myself included) love this show because of it's nostalgic value. Outside of that, Voltron hasn't aged very well. A closer look at the show twenty years later reveal the flaws that most didn't notice as a child. The story for each episode were relatively the same: villains send monster, Voltron force go out in Lions, get roughed up, opportunity arises to form Voltron and blazing sword, monster cut in two. The Lions could never defeat the monsters, why not go out in Voltron from the start? The characters were appealing, but two-dimensional. Later on when Prince Lotar appeared, the stories became a little deeper and the return of Sven was interesting, but went nowhere. Of course it jumped with the vehicle (cars!?) Voltron. This from a show where space travel is possible? Talk about a walking commercial. Yeah, the Lions were gimmicky, but at least some thought went into the design. Wheels Voltron just screamed "toy". I don't think anything needs to be said about Voltron 3D aside from there has never been a good 3D cartoon on television ever.

The first guy was right. I had a Voltron action figure somebody gave me as a gift. It was the lion robot or some crap. I ended up blowing it to hell when my friends and I taped a bunch of firecrackers to it. Probably wasn't a good idea since there's a bunch of lame japanamation freaks out there who never had girlfriend and would pay me good money for that thing now.

Ok, people settle down. After reading all of your post about Lion vs. Car Voltron, here is the bottom line. Much of what's being said about the Japanese and U.S. versions of the two shows are correct, in Japan these were two totally different shows with nothing in common. Once the show(s) hit the good 'ol USofA, with English voice actors and new scripts, some "genius" decided to expand the Voltron universe. The Lion Force was for all intents and purposes were "stationed" on their respective planet; whereas the Car Force patrolled space (this was done to indicate that the Voltron Universe was vast and that the Voltron Force was some sort of "Star Fleet"). So these two Forces (and possibly some never before named teams) did co-exist in the United States. And now I present the evidence: (drumroll) In one of the Car Voltron Force episodes, the "little" guy on the car team actually admits that pidge of the Lion Voltron force is his brother!!! Ta Daaaaa!!!!!!!!! This show kicked ASSSSSSSSSSSS!

Voltron jumped the shark when the dubbers wuzzed out and this annoying voice over saying Sven recovered when anybody with a brain could tell Haggar had killed the guy. After that you could tell when a character had died in the original anime because they had this idiotic voice over saying how the character 'recovered from his injuries'. Things got worse when the dubbers tried to pull a Robotech and use what were obviously unrelated series they tied together via doubling but never took an effort in the video department. As result what were supposedly the same foes were totally different to the point they were not even lead by the same guy.

I can't understand why everyone hasn't noted the "death to Voltron" string of episodes. So Voltron finally meet's it's match "Ro-Beast" and blasts Voltron the "Edge of the universe." The episode ends with the five seeming to be dead, crashed on some dead planet, then one episode later, they're pulling out of it, on they're way back and with one amazing "Form Blazing Sword" they win. Sounds silly now that I am a professional 29 year old, but when I was 12 in 6th grade, that was real drama. The show just wasn't the same after that, as I don't ever recall them discussing what happened or what not to do the next time.

As a kid, I didn't care for the car Voltron episodes - they were too dark and you couldn't identify with the characters. Besides, the lion Voltron was a much cooler toy! The car Voltron toy was often branded as Voltron I and the lions as Voltron III, so I assumed the car Voltron came first, but if it's the other way around, then it jumped when they switched to the cars. The special with the two Voltrons together was good, though.