Watching Voltron - Seasons 1 and 2

*Spoilers for seasons 1 and 2*

Pop culture media saturation means that one can actually know more about the conversation around a show than the show itself. I’ve been here before with other shows and movies, but more than any other, that meta-conversation defines my initial relationship with Voltron. Namely, I never would have heard of it, let alone watched it, if it wasn’t for the conversations surrounding it.

I first heard of Voltron from one of my favorite YouTubers, Shippers Guide to the Galaxy, who focuses, shockingly enough, mostly on the shipping culture and aspects of fandom. So the first time I’d ever heard of Voltron was in her video on Klance. But I never really bothered getting into the series until, well, a few days ago when I was bored and figured why not? I was, at this point, familiar with the controversies, fan toxicity, and ships related to Voltron - again, largely thanks to the wonderful Sasha at Shippers Guide. But I hadn’t actually watched it.

However, now I have! Or at least some of it. Given that the first two seasons are 11 and 13 episodes respectively, and seasons 3-5 have 6 episodes each, right after season two seemed like an appropriate half way point.  I’ll do a second half opinion shortly.

Characters

One of the pre-watching critiques I’d heard of Voltron is that the pacing would just drop a character’s arc for several episodes and then suddenly pick it back up later. And while I can see how that’s a pacing issue, I wonder how much of that is simply the function of a short, 23-minute show with an ensemble cast.

And it is an ensemble cast, with the five paladins (knights, power rangers, whatever), the princess, her advisor, and the evil emperor all getting screen time and mostly some reasonable characterization.

Cards on the table. Shiro and Pidge are my favorites. I love Pidge. I love that she’s just allowed to be awesome without anyone harping on her gender. I love her being the biggest dork ever. For me, she is the avatar of geek girls like me who have male friends they talk to and bond over dorky stuff with and, annoyingly, get occasionally coded as de facto male by others. Pidge is my girl!

Shiro is such a stereotype and I love him anyway. If you took a shot every time he says “teamwork” in the first (hour-long) episode, you’d be insanely drunk at the end. But he’s sweet and caring and he tries really hard, to be a good person, a good leader, and a good fighter.

Epic Villain/Hero Showdown splitscreen

Allura is a stereotype in a different way and the result bugs the crap out of me. Starting with the name. Allura, alluring, because she’s pretty and a princess – get it audience? UGH. I don’t approve. She even had little mice friends that talk to her and help her out. Also, her racism against the Galra is not ok and should be a red flag to literally everyone.

Keith is fine. Emo boy who is a talented hot-head. Sure, whatever. I take no issues with him.

Hunk is adorable and an excellent humorous side-kick. Just the right balance of funny and competent and clever to be an awesome side-kick.

My least favorite character is Lance. He is basically Sokka from Avatar: The Last Airbender, only more infantile and less developed. He is pointless, really has no characterization, and should be gotten rid of.

Shipping

My introduction to this show was through shipping and its ship wars, but I’m going to be straight with ya’ll here. I don’t ship anyone thus far.

Before you throw virtual rotten tomatoes at me, I do get some of it. I can see why people like Klance. I don’t, but that’s entirely due to the fact that I think Lance is the worst and have no desire to ship him with anyone. So all Lance ships are a no-go for me.

I also don’t really see Sheith. Shiro and Keith clearly love each other, but I like the mentor-mentee relationship here without romantic complications. For the record, the canon romance I hate the most is a mentor/mentee relationship in a fantasy series I otherwise love. It just bugs me so, again, that’s just me and my personal preferences. Also, Shiro is mine.

I suppose if I was forced to choose something it’d be a fairly low-key Hunk and Shay ship. But among the five paladins, or five of them plus Allura … nah.

Giant Questions

Ok, I know this is a standard sci-fi and just hero’s journey trope that the heroes/heroines must be separated from their homes, but why the heck does no one bother to at least tell their families on Earth they are alive? I get Keith and Shiro don’t have to by virtue of already being assumed dead and being an orphan respectively, but think about Pidge’s poor mom. She lost her husband and son, and then her daughter disappears? She must be beside herself or grief-stricken beyond belief. And Hunk and Lance’s families probably want to know their kids are alive too. And tech-wise, they can wormhole – you’d think they’d at least be able to be all “hey I’m alive no worries” to their families back home before continuing to save the galaxy. They do that on Dr. Who all the time.

Conclusions

My first, and very important conclusion thus far is, omg I love the ‘80s-style synth pop background music. It makes the show and its cheesy moments so much better. If you’re going for cheesiness, you’ve got to lean into it. The music does that perfectly.

A few times I couldn’t help thinking “and this is why nerds should be running space exploration; because we know how this shit is gonna play out,” while watching the show. The stereotype is when a person watches a horror movie and screams “no don’t go in there” at the screen. But really, the best comparison is from the movie Galaxy Quest, where a guy correctly explains how the cute aliens were about to kill them and says to his fellow actors/crewmates who are shocked, “Don’t you guys even watch the show?”

Overall rating – it’s not fantastic, but it’s fun and entertaining. I’d stick it after Avatar: The Last Airbender, which is awesome, but before Star Wars: Clone Wars, which can be entertaining but also so damn simplistic and preachy, especially for a show where the protagonists are insanely racist against droids and perpetuate their enslavement.

So yes, watch Voltron, but probably watch it while cooking or relaxing and half doing something else.