First Look: New VOLTRON Animated Series Looks Similar to The Original
I missed the Voltron craze in the '80s, but it looks like it's about to make a comeback. There have been talks about a live-action movie for years, but while we wait on a studio to figure that out, Netflix is bringing the giant robot back for a new generation with a show called Voltron: Legendary Defender. USA Today debuted the first image from the new series (above), and it looks like a pretty damn good match with the original cartoon design.
The original 1984-85 series, adapted from Japanese anime, focused on five men and the princess of the planet Arus who piloted lions and, to take down monster villains, would form Voltron and use his signature blazing sword. While the new show will have some modern tweaks, including more serialized storytelling, much will be the same to older fans.
That seems like a good way to approach a beloved property like this: update it just enough for a new group of kids to dig it, but don't change it so much that the fans of the original won't recognize it anymore.
Legendary Defender centers on five Earth teenagers — Keith, Lance, Hunk, Pidge and Shiro — who are thrown into the middle of an intergalactic battle and become the last line of defense for Arus and other planets against an evil alien force led by King Zarkon.
Whereas most of the original characters were nondescript space explorers, the main players in the new series will have backstories, and “ a real purpose for being on this mission and getting involved with Voltron in the first place,” says [exec producer Joaquim] Dos Santos.
Voltron: Legendary Defender will premiere on Netflix later this year with a 13-episode first season. Here's the original intro of the '80s show: