 Hi guys, today I'm going to be doing an origin in history on Voltrog, so stay tuned after this. In 1984, World Events Productions introduced anime footage from the Japanese-produced Beast King Go Lion to American audiences and a redoubbed it Voltrog, Defender of the Universe. Webb struck a deal with the Japanese production company to examine three series. The three series were Doutenius, Albagus, and Armored Fleet Deer Ruger 15 in the Japanese regions. These later went on to become Voltron Lion Force, Voltron Vehicle Force, and the unproduced Voltron Gladiator Force. Instead of sending Doutenius, the studio accidentally sent Go Lion by mistake. Ted Coplar, the Webb president, ultimately decided Go Lion had the most promise. World Events Productions created a syndicated package, which included three different versions of Voltron for syndication. Vehicle Voltron was supposed to be the first one. It was known to fans as Voltron 1, and was set in the Near Universe, or basically our Solar Voltron, or Voltron 2, as it was referred to, was set in Middle Universe, but never got produced. The Lion Force Voltron that we all know and love was actually Voltron 3. It was supposed to be the third installment that was to be produced after Vehicle Force and Gladiator Force, and it was set in the Distant Universe. Though the Japanese source series were unrelated, creative editing and writing would portray all Voltron incarnations as coexisting within the same universe. Distributed as a single show when the episodes of one Voltron incarnation were exhausted, the next would begin. This allowed Voltron to be marketed as a single show with a minimum of repeats over a year. Voltron 3, or Voltron Defender of the Universe, premiered its pilot episode to positive reception on September 10th, 1984, to the world, reaching 65% of US household. The differences between Voltron Defender of the Universe and Beast King Go Lion weren't as extensive as with other series. In transforming the original Japanese series to Voltron, scenes depicting death, religious symbology, i.e. crosses, with the exception of the one shown on Voltron's chest, the blazing sword as well as the castle lions, sex, and violence were cut out. According to Mark Handler, story editor, anything that we knew broadcasters would cut, we had to cut. Noting that the web staffers did not have personal objections with the removed content, they just had to satisfy broadcasters. When scenes of death could not be cut, for instance, during large battles or when prominent characters were killed, dialogue would give an alternate explanation of events. Enemy soldiers were described as robot warriors, the sidestepping concerns when they were destroyed. Mortally wounded characters would be reported to be recovering in the infirmary, though they would never be seen on screen again. The other major category of edits was of those intended to remove all traces of Voltron's Japanese origin. Web thought the series would have a better chance of success if American children were to never suspect that Voltron was anything other than the American produced. This meant the removal of scenes that depicted Japanese text, chopsticks, anime-style facial expressions, and word blooms, and other Japanese cultural indicators. Both shows begin with the five pilots sent by the Galaxy Alliance, whose space exploration mission takes them to a planet devastated by war. In Voltron, the pilots arrive on Eris, and are captured and taken to planet Doom. Then they escape and return to Eris and become the pilots of the Robot Lions and Voltron. In Golion, the initial scenes are actually of Earth. The pilots have returned from their mission in the then futuristic year of 1999 to find that the entire population of Earth has been killed in a nuclear war. They are then captured and taken to planet Galra, where the plot proceeds similarly. In the Voltron version, some footage of the pilot's arrival on Eris was taken from armored fleet Derrugger 15. Scenes of torture and atrocities inflicted by the alien conquerors on their slaves, such as a contest where alien soldiers would be rewarded according to how many prisoners they managed to decapitate at in a given time, and some shots of corpses were removed. In Golion, Hiss, or nanny as it's referred to in Voltron, is fatally shot in the heart while protecting Rable, Koran. This scene was completely removed from Voltron, and later episodes used stock footage from earlier in the series to insert the character in the scenes that took place after her original death. The names and backgrounds of characters were changed. Sven Holgersen, who was a Norwegian pilot in the Defender of the Universe series, was known as Takashi Shirigane, and was Japanese in the Golion series. Also in the Golion series, Takashi was killed in the sixth episode during an attack by Witch Hagar. But in the American version, he was only badly injured and sent to the planet Ebb for medical treatment. But I'll get into more about the pilots of Voltron in another episode. In Land Voltron and Vehicle Voltron, the two fought different enemies in the Japanese version, but WEP added them to have the same enemy to link the two series. Voltron, Defender of the Universe was the second show to be produced in two-channel stereo just after The Tonight Show. The musical score for the series was originally to the US version, and the Japanese music was not used at all. The music for Defender of the Universe was created by Dales Gaker. Voltron was always ever marketed as a single series, so the names of the different Voltron forces is non-canonical, but widely used between fans. The Vehicle Voltron incarnation first appeared in Voltron, Defender of the Universe, the animated TV series. The Vehicle Force arc aired following the conclusion of the Land Force arc. In this iteration of Voltron, the Galaxy Alliance's home planets have become overcrowded, and a fleet of explorers has been sent to search for new planets to colonize and to reduce this overpopulation. Along the way, they attract the attention of the evil Drul Empire, long engaged in an ongoing war against the Alliance, and the Druls proceed to interfere in the mission of the explorers and the colonists with the intent to take any new planet for themselves. Voltron helps defend the fleet from repeated Drul assaults and guarantee the successful population of each new world. In early episodes, it was mentioned that the Vehicle Voltron once assembled had only five minutes of nuclear operational capability. This limitation did not persist in later episodes, no explanation was given. Originally, Vehicle Voltron was to be the first to premiere, but tape mix-up switched it with Lion Force Voltron. According to the backstory provided by World Events Productions, the Vehicle Voltron was constructed after consultations by the Galaxy Alliance's planet Eris's King Alphor before his death. With the new Voltron's designs retrofitted, in part from the original, much older Lion Voltron schematics. However, in the continuity of the recent comics by Image and Devil's Dew Publishing, the Vehicle Voltron came about through the capture and study of the original Voltron on Eris by forces from Earth itself. Thus, while machines cannot truly be cloned, this new Voltron could be considered an imperfect clone of the original Lion Voltron. The machine was referred to in one issue as V-15 and was actually attacked by the Lion Voltron in order to repair itself. These fighters are the Aqua Fighter C Team, the Turbo Terrain Fighter Lion Team, and the Stratofighter Air Team. When necessary, all 15 vehicles would combine to form Voltron, Defender of the Universe. However, the assembly of the Vehicle Team Voltron could not be maintained for longer than 5 minutes at a time. It is explained in the first episode that when combined, Voltron only had enough stored solar energy to operate for 5 minutes. The proposed third season was to have been based on Lightspeed Electroid of Vegas. Although Matchbox did produce and market toy versions of the three robots, Black Alpha, Red Gamma, and Blue Beta, under the Voltron II name, the series never actually aired. Due to the extreme popularity of the Lion Force Voltron and the lack of popularity for the Vehicle Force Voltron, World Events Productions eventually elected against another Voltron series, which is why we never got Gladiator Voltron. All three versions of Voltron did eventually appear together in the fifth issue of the Robotech Voltron crossover comics during a page which showed potential alternate dimensions. So it was just a brief cameo, but still, it appeased fans and everyone else. Character dialogue indicated that it was an earlier failed attempt in the efforts to duplicate the Lion Force Voltron's technology. Efforts which, in this continuity, resulted in the creation of the Vehicle Force. Recently, in a contest held by World Events Productions, a fan-made video was entered showcasing how Gladiator Voltron might have opened. It was later featured on World Events YouTube page. On September 10th, 1986, World Events Productions released a 46-minute-long animated movie, Voltron, Fleet of Doom. Fleet of Doom was intended to explain the transition from Lion Force Voltron to Vehicle Force Voltron, and hence represents the only time in the show's animated history where the two incarnations of the giant robot appear together since the source material was derived from two entirely separate animated shows in Japan. However, the movie was not televised until after the series had been cancelled, forming more of an epilogue than a transition. In his attempt to destroy the galaxy alliance, King Zarkon allies himself with Viceroy Throck of the Drul Supreme Council to create a mighty armada known as the Fleet of Doom. To stop Zarkon, Keith and his friends combine forces with their friends from the other Voltron Force. Unfortunately, Hagar captured Princess Allura, leaving only Keith to rescue her from the evil witch. But to save Allura, Keith would have to travel to a land beyond space and time where he must overcome his own childhood fear of imaginary monsters to rescue the princess from Hagar and rejoin their friends in time to stop the Fleet of Doom from destroying the alliance. In late 2010, Media Blaster announced a Blu-ray disc release of Fleet of Doom only to cancel it in early 2011. Nevertheless, copies of the Blu-ray edition began to become available in various internet shops on September 2011 and it was eventually determined that these copies were genuine. However, it is unknown if an official release of this Blu-ray is planned. Coming up next time on the Origin and History of Voltron. I'll be discussing the two sequel series that came out. Voltron the Third Dimension and Voltron Force on Nicktoons. So be sure to come back for part two.