Voltron: Defender of the Universe

In the early eighties, New World Productions took two popular Japanimated series, King of Beasts GoLion and Armored Fleet Diarugger XV, heavily reedited the series, dubbed them into English and created Voltron: Defender of the Universe. The result was phenomenally successful in the United States and around the world. In the portion of the series created from GoLion (Commonly known as Lion Voltron.), five space explorers from Earth based alliance Galaxy Garrison are sent to Planet Arus to assist the planet in its war with King Zarkon and the forces of Planet Doom. The people of Arus hope the five newly arrived explorers can pilot the five robotic lions that can combine into Voltron. Voltron was created by the Planet's late King Alphor to fight against Zarkon's forces. However Zarkon's cunning witch Haggar disguised herself as a Space Goddess and managed to separate Voltron into five separate units. Without Voltron's help, Arus fell to King Zarkon. With the arrival of the space explorers Voltron rises again to turn the tide of the war and defeat Zarkon once and for all.

In the protion of the series created from Dairugger (Commonly known as Vehicle Voltron.), the Galaxy Garrison starship SS Explorer, under the command of Commander James Hawkins, is on a mission to find new planets that are suitable for colonization due to the overcrowded nature of planets already a part of the alliance. However Explorer soon crosses paths with the forces of the Drule Empire. Unbeknown-st to Explorer's crew, the Drule home world is on the verge of destruction and they are on a desperate search for a new home. Explorer tries to make peaceful contact with the Drules. However the Drules are not interested in peace and are determined to find a new home planet without any kind of interference. The Drules decide that war is the only answer and initiate a series of brutal attacks against Explorer and the forces of Galaxy Garrison. However Explorer has Voltron on their side and use him as an effective weapon to defend themselves against the attacks while they push for a peaceful resolution to the conflict. The Drules insist on war, however there is one being, Drule Commander Hazar, who believes peace is the answer and begins to push for it.

Over the years there have been differences of opinion about which Voltron (Lion or Vehicle) is better. However one thing many fans can agree on is that Voltron: Defender of the Universe is a thrill ride from start to finish. Form Blazing Sword!