Mecha fans are raving.
Henry Cavill has found himself a new project – the star of DC films and The Witcher joins the live-action Voltron movie from Amazon.
The events of the film will unfold in the distant future, and at the center of the story will be the pilots of mechs, which can combine into a robot. The details of the movie's plot are still being kept under wraps.
But what was the original project about?
Voltron: Defender of the Universe Anime Was a Hit in the US
When anime first began to be shown outside of Japan, Western producers took many liberties with it. In order to conform to their television standards, companies would re-edit, re-dubbed, and even re-drawn the originals they received from their Japanese counterparts so selflessly that sometimes no trace of the original was left.
Usually, such experiments did not end well – the viewer felt cheated. The brutally edited series received low ratings and was quickly forgotten.
The animated series Voltron: Defender of the Universe, released in 1984-1985, seemed doomed to the same fate. It was a re-edited, censored, and re-dubbed mix of anime series about the giant robots Beast King GoLion and the armored fleet Dairugger XV.
But unlike many other fixed anime, it became a hit in the US. Toys and comic books based on the series sold well, and the original creators were even commissioned to produce twenty more episodes and a feature-length animated film.
Netflix Released a Remake
In 2016, a remake was released on Netflix under the name Voltron: Legendary Defender.
This series, like any good remake, only borrows the core plot from the original. Otherwise, it is a completely independent work, so it is not necessary to know the previous versions. Everyone can watch it – both seasoned fans and those who are just about to join this franchise.
What Is the Voltron Series About?
As in the original animation, the plot revolves around five Earthlings who pilot alien war machines that look like lions.
When necessary, they can transform into one giant (slightly larger than the Statue of Liberty) robot, Voltron – the pinnacle of technological thought for an ancient civilization. Voltron is the only force in the universe capable of stopping the sinister Galra Empire.
There are brave and noble heroes, a beautiful princess who desperately needs their help, terrible dangers and incredible adventures with a mandatory happy ending. And all this without a drop of sarcasm or self-irony – to the delight of fans of traditional space fiction and mecha series.