Fleet of Doom: A Voltron Movie Special features Lion Voltron and Vehicle Voltron teaming up to defeat the combined forces of Viceroy Throk and King Zarkon. It was originally broadcast in 1986.
Unlike regular episodes of Voltron, this special contains much original animation and is not entirely composed of footage from the Japanese sources. As the Lion Force and Vehicle Force were based on entirely unrelated Japanese shows, there was no pre-existing footage of the two Voltrons working together.
Similarly, because this special does not fit the continuity of either Golion or Dairugger, it has never been broadcast in Japan.
Runtime: 48 minutes
Plot Summary
"Evil Voltron"
The Galaxy Garrison's energy base has been discovered! King Zarkon and Viceroy Throk have joined forces to create a "Fleet of Doom" to devastate the base, as its destruction will (somehow) spell the end of hte Galaxy Garrison. The Lion Force and Vehicle force are immediately called to come to the base's defense.
While en route, the Castle of Lions (in spaceship mode) is stealthily boarded by Haggar who uses her magic to steal Princess Allura's soul away to a dimension where fear and imagination define reality. Keith vows to rescue her, and aided by the ghost of King Alfor, travels to the fear dimension to rescue her. Keith confronts the demons of his childhood to confront Haggar, but it is ultimately Princess Allura who appeals to the hidden goodness inside Haggar (a plot element which doesn't feel ripped off from Star Wars at all) to set them free and return them to the Castle of Lions, which has arrived at the energy base. The blue and black lions join the others in battle with multiple robeast. Even after combining into Voltron, they're getting beat pretty badly.
Meanwhile, the Stellar Ship Explorer encounters a meteor storm that slows them down. Finally, the Vehicle Force arrives at the energy base and forms Voltron immediately after deploying. They help the Lion Force get the upper hand, until Prince Lotor unveils a secret feature of his robeasts...
The robeasts combine to form their own super robot! And it can form its own "blazing scimitar"!
The combined efforts of the two Voltron forces take it down.
The two teams hang out after a well-earned victory.
Production Details
In 1986, World Events had Toei Animation produce some additional footage to create this crossover television special, which had entirely new animation, containing very little recycled GoLion and Dairugger footage. Made for the international markets, this special has not been released in Japan.
Interestingly, the Fleet of Doom movie was intended to explain the transition from Lion Force Voltron to Vehicle Force Voltron and hence represents the only time in the show’s animated history where the two incarnations of the giant robot appear together. This did not become the case and instead the movie/special claimed the two co-existed and the teams went to the same space academy.
DVD Details
Fleet of Doom was released on Region 1 DVD in early 2007. It was published by World Events Productions and was distributed exclusively online via Voltron.com for $19.95. This initial run had compatibility problems with older DVD players. It is not known how large this run is, but according to WEP's Jeremy Corray, it was a "very small run"[1].
After selling through this run, 1000 more copies were created, with improvements that fixed some of the earlier compatibility problems. These copies were also sold through Amazon.com's Advantage system (with price increased to $24.99, though you could still buy it from Voltron.com for $19.95).
Another DVD release of Fleet of Doom is going to retail on July 28, 2009[2] with new cover art. It's unknown if the retail release's disc contents will be identical to the Voltron.com version.
As of September 2009, the DVD is now available at Voltron.com for $25 dollars, though it is being given away for free with any order from Voltron.com.
Special Features
- Character Art Slide Show (89 slides, shown for 5 seconds each with Voltron soundtrack playing in background)
- Original Series Openers - theme sequences for both Lion Voltron and Vehicle Voltron
- Man-on-the-Street interviews - "Jeremy from Voltron.com" accosts people in downtown St. Louis
- Voltron Fan Films
- Includes a fan-made theme sequence for the planned-but-never-produced Albegas Voltron
- W.E.P. Cartoon Previews
References
- ↑ Voltron: Defender of the Universe - DVD news: Announcement for Voltron - Fleet of Doom:Limited Edition, 2008-02-26, accessed 2009-06-21
- ↑ BestBuy.com store listing, accessed 2009-06-21
Trivia
- The Vehicle Force gets little story in this special. This is likely due to two reasons. One is that Lion Force was more popular. Two is that the cast of Vehicle Force is larger than Lion Force, so making a story involving all fifteen would have been more difficult. This is not odd for a crossover movie/special involving giant robot series: usually the most popular series gets the spot light while the less popular one is only there so it is a crossover.
- When Prince Lotor forms "Evil Voltron" he recits the lines uttered when the Voltrons are formed.