Rating: Unrated
Starring:
Jack Angel as King Zarkon
Michael Bell as Lance
Peter Cullen as Narrator
Tress MacNeille as Haggar
Neil Ross as Keith
B.J. Ward as Haggar
Lennie Weinrib as Hunk
Special Features:
A sneak peek at the highly anticipated new Voltron video game from THQ
A special look at the new Voltron toy line from Mattel
A special sizzle reel of the new Voltron Force series
Other Info:
Fullscreen (1.33:1)
Dolby Digital Sound
Running Time: 195 Minutes
The Details:
The following is the official description of the film:
“This is it! The final battle between King Zarkon’s forces of Doom and Voltron in this collection of classic episodes leading up to the planet-busting finale of Season 1! Join the Voltron Force as they face their biggest challenges yet; from Haggar s evil Omega Comet which threatens to rip Voltron apart, Lotor s fearsome Dark Doom Castle, to King Zarkon mutated into the most powerful Robeast himself! Let s Go Voltron Force!”
“Voltron: The Final Battle” is not rated.
Mini-Review:
Eight episodes from the 1984 TV series “Voltron: Defender of the Universe” are included on this DVD set. Why now? Well, it’s tied into the release of new toys from Mattel as well as a new TV series, so this is a small sampler of the original series to amp the kiddies up for the giant robot classic. I used to watch Voltron when I was a kid, so I was eager to introduce my young boys to it. As we popped in this DVD, my kids said, “So it’s like Power Rangers.” At first I said, “No, they’re completely different.” Then I realized both had humans in colorful uniforms. Both jumped into giant robots. And both had giant robots that merged into an even bigger robot. So….uhhh….it’s actually kind of close to Power Rangers. It never occurred to me before.
Despite being a fan of the original series. I have to say that I found these particular episodes to be, well, rather dull. The fun of Voltron is the giant robots fighting and they’re not in these episodes as much as I would have hoped. And with 27 years of perspective, I see now that the plots and dialogue were pretty spotty. But it’s not all bad. The animation is impressive, even by today’s standards (though it is in fullscreen format and it has not been restored). And favorites like Peter Cullen (“Transformers”) and Tress MacNeille (“The Simpsons,” “Futurama”) provide voices for the series.
If you’re a fan of “Voltron: Defender of the Universe” you’d probably want to pick up the full season of the show rather than these few episodes. And if you’re introducing someone to the show for the first time, this probably isn’t where you want to do it. You’d be better off picking a set that has the origin story.
The bonus features are geared towards the revitalization of Voltron. There’s a featurette highlighting the new powers shown in “Voltron Force” on Nicktoons. There’s also a featurette on the new toy.
