Netflix's Voltron: Legendary Defender

Man the show sounds like its gotten a real shit deal.

It seems to mostly be a fight between Studio Mir and Dreamworks. From interviews and official statements, it looks like Studio Mir wants to focus on characters and have them drive the plot, while Dreamworks wants them to focus on the robots so they can release more merch. By trying to compromise or fight executive orders, we end up with a show that doesn't do any of the two as well as it could. Zarkon's flashback is a good example of that.

On top of that, Montgomery and Dos Santos want to recreate the 80s show rather than allow it to be its own thing, so stuff like the Lion Switch happens and is solely on the writing team, even though it goes against what they themselves set up regarding Lion-Paladin bonds. Both sides make bad calls and the other doesn't bother to stop them.

As I said, the show has a lot of untapped potential, and I'm sure it can and will get better, but Dreamworks doesn't seem to allow a lot of breathing room for the writers and the writers are unwilling to compromise, prefering to do their vision badly rather than try and adjust it to executive demands.

edited 21st Sep '17 4:53:01 PM by DemonDamian

Are we really surprised that Dreamworks, the company bought by Comcast and currently being run by the same money grubbing, creatively barren idiots from Illumination are screwing the show over with their meddling?

You would think Netflix would offer some insulation from the practices necessary for basic cable. Then again, even the seminal Gundam series has had toy executives make major decisions constantly.

Why would Netflix have any differences than that? They allow some freedom but they're still a corporation, they have no reason to stop executive meddling like that if the product is still being successful.

Mostly because one would think the binge model reduces the need to constantly see characters, set pieces, or have recaps that would be necessary in a weekly format. At least that was my view.

In any form of media there's always gonna be pluses to them as well as drawbacks, and the biggest drawbacks are executive meddling, as usual. Netflix (and streaming in general) is no different.

If Studio Mir was the only driving force for Voltron? Yeah, it would be that way, probably, but Dreamworks owns the property. Studio Mir just produces it, so Executive Meddling is to be expected, since the creators are playing in someone else's sandbox. They say Shiro needs to come back this season instead of the next to sell his toys? It has to be done, even if the staff would rather wait for his reintroduction to give it proper impact. It being on Netflix won't change that.

I wouldn't call Executive Meddling a drawback all the time. Yes, Executive Meddling did gave us horrors like Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain, but sometimes, someone has to stop creators from ruining their own stories or give an outsider's perspective. I can't count how many times Protection from Editors has made a product so much worse than it should be.

I admit I'm not fond of Executive Meddling since it held back one of my favourite shows from being as good as it could be until a better studio picked up said show. And in this case it's clearly not helping if the writers and Dreamworks are fighting each other tooth and nail.

What show was that? PM me if you cant share here.

So remember when everyone was complaining about Keith getting excessive focus?

https://vld-news.tumblr.com/post/165833363622/paladin-vlog-3-allura-confesses-that-her-first

Allura’s vlog not revealing anything new will probably do nothing to quell that issue since we don’t get any new insight into her character. That being said, I think all these vlogs were part of a Clip Show episode, and Keith’s vlog about his missing mother and loneliness would have been the emotional climax.

edited 28th Sep '17 10:07:12 AM by Beatman1

I don't think so. Netflix's format is not very friendly to clip shows, since the episode they take clips from is readily available. A studio either makes "clips" that are actually new material or the season is one episode short.

Keith's vlog just spelled out what his character was already about. It was already there, just as subtext. In the main show you don't really need the characters to say they have this or that issue to resolve, Show, Don't Tell and all that. These vlogs are just small pieces to advertise the coming season, like the recruitment posters they've been releasing.

Apparently the VR Voltron game where you play as Lance is out and generally the reviews consider it a decent experience, with lots of praise for the high production values and simple but interesting gameplay but also a lot of criticism for the extremely short length since it's $15. They've confirmed more episodes are also going to come out for the other characters so hopefully they can make them longer.

Speaking of additional media, Vol 2 of the Voltron comic is finally set to be released. Here are some preview images from Amazon (i.e.: legal ones).

https://vld-news.tumblr.com/post/166028307512/voltron-legendary-defender-vol-2-1-amazon

Welp, time to get back into Voltron. Is Season 3 all out?

Depends on what you mean by "Season 3". It got split in half and the first seven episodes has been out since August. In a week we'll see Season 4 aka Season 3.5 under the old format.

The rest of it is out next week?

I mean, I guess I shouldn't have expected it to take very long, but still.

That's the advantage of the change to a quarterly release schedule. I think I like it better this way actually, even if it leads to some disjointedness at first.

If you think about it, it's not that different from your regular cartoon's mid-season hiatus. It's just that Netflix's formatting makes it so this has to be "Season 4" instead of the second half of Season 3, and that leads to it feeling like we were given a sub-par finale.

It's actually not that different from what Disney XD is doing with Star vs. the Forces of Evil, broadcasting almost half the season at once over 2 weeks.

Welp, next part launches this Friday.

Oh look at that, they're already advertising Keith's probably going to do something incredibly stupid.

edited 9th Oct '17 4:47:08 PM by TheGunheart

This show is beyond frustrating.

At least the best character is set to return according to spoilers.

:The cow appears on screen.

Anyway, preview clip from the new season of Shiro and Keith chatting, if you're curious.

Based on this and that article I'm thinking it's less that Keith does something willfully stupid because of Aesop Amnesia and more he chooses to run away from his responsibilities by training with the Blade of the Marmora, because he doesn't think he's worthy of the Black Lion. It's not necessarily bad or stupid per se, but it would be questionable judgement and selfishness disguised as selflessness towards Shiro when the team needs him to form Voltron. Especially since Shiro for whatever reason still can't pilot the Black Lion. If that's going to be the case then I think it would actually be pretty interesting compared to Keith just being an idiot.

More importantly Keith is staring at Shiros pecs before looking up at him.

edited 10th Oct '17 6:04:11 PM by OmegaRadiance

Heh. Probably not their intention, but still. I mean, Shiro does have that reputation.

It'd be nice if some training actually made him a better leader but I'm expecting a 10-Minute Retirement at most. Plus, yeah, him being Black Lion's designated pilot really makes the whole choice come off as selfish and reckless unless Shiro suddenly gains pilot privileges.