#voltronanalysis

SHANNON MUIR'S VOLTRON PAGES - Between the Lines

There's a lot going on for me right now, so devoting the brain power needed to complete any more Nina Season 2 analysis is more than I have right now. (This is the bulk of content currently at @shannonmuirvoltronpages which goes in-depth with my rich VOLTRON history)

But I also promised new content too, along the lines of what I did on the site I can no longer access. So I am going to give you a commentary about the VOLTRON FORCE episode that just begs and pleads for fans to try to step in and fill the gaps, and that's "Flash Forms Go!".

We know from early episodes that Lance has been the secret liaison between the Garrison and Arus. But why him over Lance or Hunk? Some of it is very likely skill. But there's a very telling scene that happens (after another telling scene, honestly).

Right before this, there is a scene that feels out of context where Lance is getting out aggressions on a holo-Lotor with an intensity we have not seen before or since. It is so out of tone with the rest of this series, yet much closer to the Lance of the 1984 series, if we presume they have similar backstories.

Soon after, Lance and Allura have a talk that is just them. Lance is still blowing off steam about Daniel. They have an exchange where Lance insists he was never that reckless, and Allura very firmly tells him he was worse. He looks at her. She smiles weakly to try and soften the blow, but doesn't back down.

This immediately begs the question: what happened in that time period he was secretly working with her and Hunk and Pidge to set up things where they are now? Obviously, his recklessness wasn't such that Allura quit working with him, but it is something she is bound and determined not to let him forget. Her continued conversation seems to imply she is trying to get him to focus his energies into the positive with Daniel and not the negative.

Since the show doesn't answer what happened, it just sits there with so many possibilities. There is so much untold about this series missing four year gap, from how Wade seemed to brainwash everyone at the opening ceremony right up to when Daniel is recruited.

I think, even going back to the 1984 show, were the moments from which fan fiction began. The need to explain between the lines to make sense of the things left in a show that an individual might otherwise like.

However, I don't think that a well-developed story necessarily takes it away the drive for fan-fiction entirely. I think that is why the VLD fandom tends to be more relationship focused with their fiction, because unlike the prior iteration, they have less unexplained plot gaps to focus on.

SHANNON MUIR'S VOLTRON PAGES - COUPLES THAT COULD HAVE BEEN CANON?

According to an article in Advertising Age written in October 1985, Peter Keefe dropped hints of a second generation show in development of "three to four of the most popular" show characters.

Looking at the 20 U.S. produced episodes, it clearly establishes Sven and Romelle as a long term couple, and Alfor giving his blessing for Keith and Allura (leaving that assumption they are a certainty).

Which leaves a nagging question... who would be the fourth if they went that route?

A couple years back, I came to the idea that maybe Lance and Omnia might have been that couple. Looking even past my own biases based on my experiences, the two characters share a lot of similarities in ability and what has affected their lives personally. However, Omnia is the more grounded of the two and could complement him. Though her introductory episode implies she stays with Joran, though an episode providing an update on that planet mentions Joran being in action with no word about Omnia. It is as if it was left open for her storyline to be altered.

However, more recently, I came to an alternative realization, and wonder if maybe two roads were being left open for development. As I've started going through this project on Tumblr, I have wondered if Hunk and Mary Ann might have been intended to be parents to the fourth character, or at least an alternative to consider so that could leave the door open for either Lance or Hunk.

Here is why I think this.

Regardless of who is chosen between these two, Pidge would not move forward. In other words, there would be no tech-savvy character. A child of Mary Ann and Hunk would fill that void, not to mention have been raised in quite an interesting background and would be an intriguing character to write. A father who has a big heart and helps anyone in need, but at the same time isn't afraid to put up a fight; an intelligent tech-savvy mother who wants to avoid fighting whenever possible but has learned to use her tech skills for defense because of the trauma she's seen.

That's not to say writing about any kids of Lance and Omnia would not be interesting. How do two people who have lost their families and any idea of home and security try to rebuild that with one another?

Either route is tricky because at least one parent would be rooted in severe trauma. But it is intriguing.