YMMV / Voltron: The Third Dimension

• Complete Monster: King Zarkon, in his quest to conquer the universe, committed atrocities like razing Lance's village, and assassinating King Alfor of Arus with the help of the witch Haggar, who Zarkon then betrayed, turning her into a withered old crone bound to serve him and his much-maligned son, Prince Lotor. After his Fleet of Doom was vanquished by the Voltron Force, Zarkon feigned repentance, and became the Galaxy Alliance's Minister of Peace. Spending years plotting from the shadows, Zarkon eventually sprung Lotor from prison and, acting through him and Haggar, restarted the conflict between the Galaxy Alliance and the Doom Empire. Zarkon's forces nearly ignite a war by interrupting a peace signing, leave eight billion people to die by sabotaging the Galaxy Alliance's attempt to save them from a supernova, and bring the Galaxy Alliance to its knees by forcing it to destroy Voltron under threat of wiping out all fifty billion inhabitants of the Troika Moons. With the Galaxy Alliance under his control, Zarkon becomes even more maniacal and ruthless, ordering the enslavement of dissidents, endangering the entire universe in order to get access to an extra dimensional power source, and betraying Haggar again by banishing her to the Dream Dimension to try and make himself look good and garner support from the other members of the Galaxy Alliance.
• Narm Charm:
  • Tim Curry completely chews the scenery as Prince Lotor, a far cry from the original deadly serious Prince Sincline or the conflicted portrayal of Lotor in the US exclusive season of Voltron. However, his over-the-top acting in contrast to the Voltron Force's fairly one-dimensional personalities makes him one of the best parts of the show.
  • The Lotor-controlled Voltron from a parallel universe has a Beard of Evil.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The surprisingly visceral dismantling of the Voltron Lions in "The Troika Moons."
  • "Castle Doom Dead Ahead" is a "What Do They Fear?" Episode with a few creepy sequences involving things like Pidge being lobotomized by I.G.O.R. and Lance being dragged into a fiery pit by the burning skeletons of all of his friends and family members who were killed by Zarkon.
• Older Than They Think: The idea of the Voltron Lions being sentient, as well as a spiritual bond between lion and pilot, was hinted at very vaguely in the original Voltron, but this is the first Voltron series to really examine it in-depth. The idea of the spiritual bond between lion and pilot would carry over to every subsequent piece of Voltron media, including the 2016 continuity reboot.
• Retroactive Recognition: Billy West voiced this show's version of Pidge a little before getting his big break starring in Futurama.
• So Okay, It's Average: The general consensus of the series in terms of writing (not so much in animation.)
• Special Effects Failure: Present throughout the series. A particularly egregious example has the Yellow Lion's control sticks clipping through Hunk's knees during the Stock Footage launch sequence. The same stock footage used Once an Episode. The mistake was never corrected.

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