With Friends Like You is the sixty eight episode of the lion series of Voltron: Defender of the Universe.
Plot Summary[]
The comet-like object Phylos is passing by planet Arus. Coran lectures the team on the it. It's a comet sized object in the Coral Quadrant. Only it's a planet, not a comet. It has a strange elliptical orbit around Arus's sun and passes by Arus. Lance suggests the people of Phylos might have fangs. A messenger from Galaxy Alliance sends a warning to Arus that a strange craft is approaching the castle. It's a Doom ship, waving the white flag.
Several guards take the pilot prisoner and bring him before the Voltron Force. Lance thinks it would be best to lock the man up. However Allura wants to hear the man out. The man explains that he is Count Zane, and that he has escaped King Zarkon's occupation of his home world. Zane further explains that came to Arus to tell the Voltron Force to request their help in freeing Phylos.
Back on Phylos, Lotor is building a temple in honor of Allura. While Lotor is forcing the Phylosians to work, Zarkon arrives. Zarkon wastes soon destroys the monument to Allura. Zarkon then arrests Lotor for his lovesick behavior. He then notes that he isn't very impressed by Lotor's newest plan to conquer Arus. Zarkon laughs and says he has a much better plan, involving the a new weapon called the Herculean Generator. It's a weapon with enough power to blow up a planet, as Zarkon demonstrates on a small moon.
Many of the Drule forces admire the new weapon, Lotor however scoffs that it will never defeat Voltron. Zarkon then explains that he has a plan. He plans to bait a trap for Voltron.
Queen Merla leads an armada that lures in a Galaxy Alliance Starfleet. The Alliance Fleet destroys several of her ships, causing Merla to retreat to Phylos, just as planned. The Alliance Captain orders pursuit. The captain finds a bottomless pit. Suddenly, Merla's ships ambush the Alliance fleet. The lead ship manages to send out a mayday to the Arus.
Back with the Voltron Force, Zane says he wants to help them. Lance isn't comfortable with the idea, even pointing out that Zane is probably part of another trap. Everyone else buys into the young Counts' pleas and let him come along in his stolen Doom ship.
When the team and Zane arrive at Phylos. Zane volunteers to take out Zarkon's defenses on his own, leaving the others to rescue the Alliance crew, Keith agrees but sends Lance, Pidge and Hunk with him, while he and Allura check out the pit.
The pair discover a large underground cavern. Soon they quickly find the Alliance starship under attack. The lions destroy the attacking star fighters, while the Alliance ship shoots at the cavern roof, collapsing a section of it onto Merla's Star Cutter. After that the Black and Blue lions escort the starship to safety.
Zane, Lance, Pidge and Hunk approach Zarkon's defenses, Zane wishes to go in alone. He flies ahead, Lance grows more suspicious of the young Count. However the appearance of more enemies forces everyone to work together. Zane declares he will deal with the missiles while the rest of the group goes after the generator. He then makes a daring raid on the missile base and exchanges fire with the defenses on the ground before the team lose contact with him.
Upon witnessing the selfless act, Lance admits he was wrong as Keith and Allura join the group. While this has been going on, Phylos has gotten very close to Arus. The team follow Zane's instructions and end up in a mine field. Suddenly, the Black Lion appears to get caught in an explosion.
The very much alive Count Zane then meets with King Zarkon. Zane is very proud of himself for his performance, noting that even he felt like a bit of a ham to Zarkon. Zane is giddy to be put in charge of Phylos while under Zarkon's rule, Zarkon however betrays him. Zarkon explains that the Count has already betrayed his own people and the Voltron Force. Haggar stuns Zane and some Ultra Droids take him away.
Zarkon then orders the generator started. The weapons massive whirlwind flies out towards the Lions. It swallows them trapping them in a violent wind. The five lions manages to stabilize themselves and form Voltron. Haggar fires another blast of wind at the mighty robot. Voltron then forms the Blazing Sword. Haggar decides to flee and Voltron destroys the Herculean Generator. The retreating Haggar summons a Robeast in a rage. The Robeast fires some missiles at Voltron, to little effect. It then fires it's rocket launcher-like horns which cause some damage to Voltron. Voltron manages to defeat the Robeast as Zarkon retreats. Coran then calls the team to remind them about the missiles launched from Phylos. The missiles are fired on Lotor's order, aimed at the castle of lions. Coran manages to launch the castle in time to avoid the missiles.
As he retreats, Lotor is baffled at another loss while Voltron stands proud. Keith mentions that as the Voltron Force, they stand for something, and though Count Zane fooled them they'll never stop believing in people.
Featured Characters[]
Voltron Force[]
Other Arusians[]
Planet Doom[]
Quotes[]
"We'd rather believe in people too much rather than not at all. That's just the way it is on Team Voltron."
— Keith sums up Team Voltron's outlook on life