by Mike Favila, Editor

I was really excited to hear that Viz was putting out a volume about Voltron, one of my most favorite cartoons as a child.  As young boy in the Philippines, I loved watching Voltron with my friends, picking out my favorite lion (Green), going to their houses and playing with the Vehicle Voltron, and just falling headfirst into the lore. Voltron: From Days of Long Ago is a great trip back to those days.

The Story section is fascinating, covering the behind the scenes and history behind the Voltron cartoon.  As an original fan, this is what really interested me.   The authors of Voltron: From Days of Long Ago go through the chain of events chronologically. World Events Productions (WEP) wanted to put together some afternoon children’s programming to round up their lineup. After going to a trade show in France, the scouts took note of three cartoons put out by the venerable Toei Company. Mirai Robo Daltanious (a robot with a lion’s head on the chest), Armored Fleet Dairugger XV, and Lightspeed Electroid Albegas. When WEP requested the master tapes for Mirai Robo Daltanious (the ones with the lion), Toei accidentally sent Beast King GoLion instead, which became the basis for Voltron.

Conseequently, WEP assembled the new episodes from footage of Beast King GoLion, carefully dubbed the script they wrote in, wrote the iconic theme song and named the end result: Voltron. The narrative is heavily weighted towards its American origin, but that’s fitting, since the contributions of WEP and their collaborators truly differentiated Voltron from Beast King GoLion. I like that the authors also cover the later cartoons and acknowledge them as part of a continuity, however broken.

Production of the episodes was handled in a very blitzkrieg manner, working all night to produce the 42 episodes of Lion Force Voltron and 42 of Vehicle Voltron. The narration process was also discussed, which included a young Peter Cullen (theme narrator and the voice of Coran) who would eventually go on to fame as Optimus Prime in the Transformers series. Additionally, there are cool side articles, including covering Voltron’s appearance in music and movies and fan letters from devoted club members.

The toys are given their own section in Voltron: From Days of Long Ago. While watching the cartoon was a fun daily fix, nothing beat actually handling these awesome toys and playing them with your friends. This section covers the many iterations and companies (Matchbox, Panosh Place) of Voltron, including a rare look at Voltron II, based on Lightspeed Electroid Albegas. It was nice to be able to see both the childhood 5″ version that I had a kid and the Panosh Place set (including the awesome Castle of Lions) that I just bought for my son.

The Legend section covers the actual story and origin of Voltron. I always loved the idea of disparate misfits banding together for a common cause. The archetypes of the fearless leader, big powerful lunk, younger smaller boy and the powerful princess uniting really appealed to me. I can only assume that the producers had that in mind when they went ahead with Lion Force Voltron first.

This section also has profiles of all the pilots, including the ones from the later series. The locales, including Earth and all the Galaxy planets are covered. In the villains section, not only do the authors provide a biography of each nemesis, but include all their different weapons and bad guy vehicles. Even all the Robeasts get a little spec sheet with height, weight and weapons! Voltron: From Days of Long Ago is as exhaustive and nerdy as anything you can find on the internet, if not more so. There’s also a good section on Vehicle Voltron, the teams, and a comprehensive breakdown of his available weapons.  The Epilogue section contains a fun little comic .

The presentation of Voltron: From Days of Long Ago is really well assembled. The cover, in silver and greyscale, signals immediately that this is intended to be a serious examination of Voltron. The pages are heavy, without being stiff, and the binding is secure and tight. The inside covers are filled with reminiscences from fans around the world, both famous and not.

As a whole, Voltron: From Days of Long Ago lets the reader know that all the contributors considered their work here a true labor of love. It’s not meant to be a dispassionate intellectual discourse on an old pop culture subject, but a true monument to just how engrossing and entertaining Voltron was to many young viewers’ lives. This would make both a great coffee table book or an awesome present for a diehard fan. Voltron: From Days Long Ago is worth every penny.

Rating:

ComicsOnline give Voltron: From Days of Long Ago 5 out of 5 fangmarks.

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