Voltron, the sci-fi cartoon about five lion robots that combine together to form one giant robot that defends the universe against evil, was a huge hit in the 80s. Filled with action and comedy all in a sci-fi setting in space, the show had a lot to like. However, it had a very abnormal path to its success in the United States.
The story followed a team of five pilots who each pilot a robot shaped like a lion. When the need arises, the pilots can choose to combine the five lion robots into a giant human-shaped robot. Once combined, each lion becomes a body part of the overall robot, legs, arms, and the central body. They use the robots, separately and combined, to protect the planet Arus from the evil forces of King Zarkon and his son, Prince Lotor, both from the Planet Doom.
The show premiered in the United States in 1984 and ran for two seasons with a total of 124 episodes. It fit nicely with all the other 80s action cartoons of the time. Like the others, there was even a toyline to accompany the show, albeit a small line. Really, the toys simply consisted of the 5 lion robots that kids could combine to form the full Voltron. The show’s plot, set in space, was a lot of fun to watch. Having watched it at the time, I remember the show having the same formulaic setup of other cartoons in which the plot of the good guys battling the bad guys became repetitive.
However, at one point, the pilot of the Blue Lion, Sven, was injured and replaced by Princess Allura. He later was taken as a slave to Planet Doom. Later in the series, he escapes along with another princess, Romelle. Instead of returning to the Voltron team, he left with Romelle. Even later, Sven returned multiple other times, helping his old friends against their common enemy. Possibly because he was my favorite character up until the point he left, or possibly because this was the first cartoon I remembered touching the concept of an ongoing plotline instead of the repeated story each week model, the story of Sven in Voltron stuck with me.
Turns out, though, Sven’s comings and goings were based on another reason. This other reason is what makes Voltron’s path to success in the United States very different from its contemporaries. Voltron was originally a cartoon in Japan named Beast King GoLion that aired from 1981 to 1982. World Event Productions bought the show, edited the heck out of it, and dubbed English dialogue over it. Thus, the United States got the slightly different American version of the same show. For those, like me, that thought the show was drawn in anime-style due to the popularity of Japanese animation or that anime artists created the show outright, then you’re sort of correct. It was originally an anime show!
Part of the US conversion included making it less violent so that it fit in with restrictions of violence in cartoons here in America. Sven’s ongoing storyline was part of that change. Whereas he was injured in battle, hospitalized, replaced on the team by the Princess, and subsequently made return visits in the US version, he actually died from his wounds in the original. The “Sven” that popped in for later visits was actually the character’s very similar looking brother. So, in the American version, the two brothers were combined into one character.
The concepts behind the running of the show continued to be almost as out of this world as the concepts of the plot itself. Not only was an already-ran Japanese show edited to form an American show that subsequently became extremely popular in its new edited state, the showrunners tried to recreate that same model with following seasons. They found completely unrelated shows that included multiple robots combining into one humanoid giant robot and tried editing those as later seasons of the Voltron show.
So, here in the states, the lion Voltron episodes were followed up by a car Voltron season. However, the cars combining into a robot proved less popular than the lions, so a third season where yet another show would be adapted was scrapped.
While the follow-up season was incongruous with the first well-known and popular season of Voltron, the first incarnation proved very popular. It’s action-packed, sci-fi premise apparently raked in fans in both the United States and Japan. Thanks to that initial run, the popularity of Voltron continues even today. There have been multiple series over the years, one as recent as 2016-2018, and there are persistent talks on turning the show into live action movie.
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