You would risk your entire planet, the entire solar system, for what? For more power?" These final three episodes of season three completely contrast that of the first four, for one particular reason - they concentrate on the bigger picture. We've now established that Voltron has experienced a reshuffle, but Shiro has been found and has returned to the group, meaning there are more Paladins than Lions. This conundrum could be problematic when it comes to making a move against Prince Lotor, especially now that Keith has assumed Shiro's leadership role and despite the Black Lion's continued loyalty to its former master, it has now chosen a different pilot. With these interesting changes, the series starting to get into the gritty detail and giving us all the answers we've been waiting for. Indeed, when the series initially began, I believed it to be quite bare and unpopulated, but now it has grown to become something quite voluminous, with more disparate species than I can count.
Starting with The Journey, here we have a wonderful character piece for Shiro, who has seemingly been a prisoner of the Galra Empire for quite some time, has escaped their ship and found a couple of rebels on a backwater planet. The means of his escape, and especially his success rate, is suspicious (doubly so thanks to a comment made by one of the Galra soldiers as he escaped), but the story gives a lot of breathing space for some lovely character development. Always the leader, and unsung warrior, Shiro is briefly interrogated by the rebels as a Galra spy. The two rebels make wonderful supporting characters and provide some comedic respite in a particularly dreary episode. I particularly liked their realisation, after setting Shiro free with his own ship, that they are now left without a ship for themselves. Finally, after escaping with a Galra ship and following the flight path of Voltron for what seems like aeons, Shiro is reunited with his fellow Paladins. The episode is self-inclusive, balancing between a nice character-building process for the former prisoner and a chance for us to glimpse other rebels in the Universe. Tailing a Comet is a more traditional episode of Voltron, giving us a good old space battle that our heroes somewhat win. It's a difficult decision seeing as Prince Lotor has now acquired a vehicle that is just agile, powerful and durable as Voltron itself. The most interesting part of this episode though is its continuity. I'm all for continuity, mainly because it is a powerful mechanism for tying storylines together and giving the audience a chance to join the dots on a potentially complicated plot collage. In the midst of discovering Lotor is stealing a Teladuv, Princess Allura realises that he means to use Haggar, as we recently discovered in the finale of Season 2 is an Altean - someone who can conveniently control a Teladuv. Equally, one of Lotor's Generals turns out to be the lone Galra who joined Keith inside the belly of a Weblum all that time ago as they attempted to acquire scaultrite. All these details help to create wonderful setup for an upcoming conflict that could be rather catastrophic. Even more interesting is that we are now aware fully that Lotor is not following Zarkon and Haggar's original plan, but is independently plotting his own destiny. Arguably the best episode of Voltron is the season three finale as we get the origin story we all wanted. Initially, it seems reckless to introduce us to entirely different team responsible for Voltron, but the details are few and far between as we catch a glimpse of how Voltron came to pass and Zarkon turned against his friends to seek dominion of the Universe. The animation is particularly revolutionary for this episode and the action sequences remind me of the beautifully drawn Legend of Korra and Avatar: The Last Airbender. The story is perhaps more simplistic than these two masterworks, but there's enough here to give us a full account of the early decisions that gave the series its consequences. Perhaps a little rushed towards the end, but everything is covered, even the emotional ending for King Alfor as he is struck down by his own friend. The big revelation, however, is the origin of Haggar and her dealings with quintessence which she had acquired from an alternate reality. Succinctly, this was a fantastic way to end the series, giving us a great kick-starter for the much-anticipated fourth season as we see the action truly come into its own. All these details will be vital in moving forward as Voltron finally faces Prince Lotor with more experience regarding his plan and execution. For the record, I'm hoping the threat levels will increase - whilst the Prince is a brilliant villain, there's not enough threat to surmount to any consequences. However, we've still got all the members of Voltron to think about. Each has their own ambition and incentive - Princes Allura more than most as she attempts to avenge her father. Generally, things are looking exciting as we head towards a tumultuous chapter in this well-made series. The Journey - 8/10 Tailing a Comet - 8/10 The Legend Begins - 9/10 Overall - 8/10
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AuthorA very passionate Welsh nerd... Archives
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