A lively ‘Voltron’ return
“Voltron” is back — a phrase that in some readers will inspire a deep, rumbling thrill as it opens a Proustian wormhole back to a sugared-cereal, don’t-you-have-any-homework, why-are-you-inside-on-a-sunny-day, lowresolution, 4:3 aspect ratio childhood. For others, not so much.
In its quest to conquer as much of the universe as the wires will reach, Netflix has engaged Dream-Works Animation in a revival of the 1980s space-robot franchise, now titled “Voltron: Legendary Defender,” whose 13 episodes go live to binge or not to binge Friday. They’ve slapped on a fresh coat of digital paint, turned up the sound and assembled a cast
that includes Steven Yeun, Tyler Labine, Bex Taylor-Klaus and Rhys Darby, familiar from the live-action world, along with Jeremy Shada (the voice of Finn on “Adventure Time”), Kimberly Brooks and Josh Keaton, whom you are as of yet more likely to have heard, in cartoons or video games, than seen.
Is it good? Sure, it is. Does it better its predecessor? (Or predecessors — for “Voltron” has been revived before, as recently as Nicktoons’ 2011 “Voltron Force,” and before that for the clunky, 20th century CGI of “Voltron: The Third-Dimension.”) Your cherished memories aside, that is a bar set low. So, yes, it does better by them — by quite a lot and, at the same time significantly, not by too much.
That is to say, for all its improvements in form and content, it has not sacrificed fundamental candy-colored cheesiness for fashionable dark modernity; like the latest “Star Wars” movie, the one that not everybody hated, it is old-school in a new school unif orm.
In its first hour at least — all that has been released as of this writing for review — the new version more or less follows the lines of the opening episodes of the 1984 original, which was adapted without the aid of translation from two Japanese series, “Beat King GoLion” and “Armored Fleet Dairugger XV.” A ragtag team of space cadets (Yeun, Shada, Labine, Taylor-Klaus and Keaton) is called upon by an elf-eared extraterrestrial princess (Brooks) and her counselor (Darby) to find five giant robot lions that, together, will form the five-times-as-giant humanoid robot Voltron, the only defense against King Zarkon (Neil Kaplan) and an evil alien race set on galactic domination.
“They’re not exactly the best and brightest the universe has to offer,” says the princess to the counselor of their new champions.
“No, but they’re all we got.”
Made by a team associated with Nickelodeon’s anime-inspired “Avatar: The Last Airbender” and “The Legend of Korra,” it is much handsomer than any previous iteration, more dimensional, with a delicate and fluid line and a palette that subtly shifts with the changing light; the wider screen and sharper focus allow for more detail and a greater sense of scale — those mechanical cats look darn huge.
At the same time, it’s more character-driven (even the machines have personalities — “the green lion has an inquisitive personality … the yellow lion is caring and kind”) and more overtly comical. (Rhys Darby’s in it, did I mention? And Tyler Labine?) There will be flatulence. And, yes, there will be space mice.