Trivia / Voltron

• Acting for Two: Reem Saadeh voices Princess Allura and Haggar in the Arabic dub.
• Channel Hop: In 2010, World Events Productions began to license the rights to the franchise to Classic Media. Subsequently, Voltron Force aired on Nicktoons as the first Voltron programming not to premiere in first-run syndication in the US (the market for children's programming in syndication had virtually ceased to exist by that point in favor of cable). In 2012, Classic Media would be acquired by DreamWorks Animation. Voltron: Legendary Defender, the only Voltron show to date from DreamWorks, premiered on Netflix as part of an extensive deal between the two companies.
  • In 2016 (the year Voltron: Legendary Defender premiered), DreamWorks Animation was purchased by NBCUniversal. In 2019, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment re-issued the classic series on DVD, picking up from Anime Works.
• Development Hell: A Live-Action Adaptation was talked about for a while, but stonewalled due to copyright issues with World Events and Toei (Nakamura Productions also butting in at one point during negotiations, due to company founder Kazuo Nakamura providing the original character designs for GoLion). Although the disputes were said to have been settled (with World Events gaining all rights from Toei), talk about the movie had died down by 2011 when Voltron Force was made in its place. Five years later, in conjunction with the animated adaptation, Voltron: Legendary Defender and DreamWorks Animation (the then-licensees of Voltron on behalf of World Events) being purchased by NBCUniversal, talks resurfaced again. However, WEP Inc. President Bob Koplar revealed in an October 2020 interview that Universal passed on the script and as a result, their rights to make a film (as well as make new animated productions) subsequently expired. While Koplar has insisted he is still pursuing either a film or live-action television show with other companies, nothing is concrete enough to report.
• The Merch: It's a series based off a transforming robot that is formed of several other robots. Guess what got a ton of action figures based on it? Variants of the original robot for collectors have been released as recently as August of 2021.
• Old Shame: Downplayed for Neil Ross & Michael Bell, while Neil has no problem with his work as Keith but he finds his voice for Pidge rather embarassing and recalled when he was being mocked about it even back then. While Michael Bell is normally cool with the show itself but he admitted to be embarassed when he once noticed that some of the extras he voiced in a episode were women. (In which he admitted that he did not know that at the time since the cast members were given little to no instruction on minor roles.)
• Throw It In!: Neil Ross' odd voice for Pidge was done as a joke after his more realistic voices for the character were rejected. That was the one they went with.
• The Other Darrin: Drule Commander Zabbar. After the original's final appearance (in Dairugger, he would have been killed off), another commander is called Zabbar and has the same voice. They don't really look much like each other, however.
• What Could Have Been:
  • World Events Productions had intended to use Future Robot Daltanious to make Voltron, but they asked Toei for "the show with the lion" and were sent GoLion instead. They decided that they liked that better. Daltanious, ironically, is made up of one of each of the types of robots used in the Voltron series: a lion, a vehicle, and a humanoid "gladiator".
  • They also intended to feature Albegas as a third arc, with it also being retconned into being another variation of Voltron. However, due to the unenthusiastic response to "Vehicle Voltron" episodes, plans to adapt Albegas as "Gladiator Voltron" were cancelled in favor of commissioning a shortened second season of Lion Voltron episodes (despite the fact that that story arc had ended with the definitive defeat of the bad guys, which was quickly undone with little explanation). The original Matchbox toy line, which was released before the decision to drop the third Voltron idea, still contained toys for it.

---