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 - The Premise for "Lotaria" from 1985

** DISCLAIMER: As mentioned elsewhere, we did continue working on a Season 2 between sending off the original premises to World Events Productions and ultimately hearing from Marc Handler in 1986. The airing of the 20 American produced episodes in October 1985, along with finally seeing the 2-part episode about Coran's son in reruns, made substantial changes to some of our development and we tried to work to adjust accordingly while working on Season 2. As a result, some of the Season 1 files do not directly reflect what World Events Productions received and instead reflect the adjustments we tried to make after the fact. The screenshot samples shown here for Episode 13 reflect such changes. The original no longer exists for that episode. **

I cannot go too in depth here because my sister Lesley actually created Lotaria. I can address that we did have to make tweaks because there were a lot of overlaps with what Lotaria was intended to do (massive Nina Season 1 spoilers) with what Merla actually does in the show. You'll see that with the remaining Season 1 premises I unveil, but since the episodes had already aired while we were doing the Nina Season 2 notes, Lotaria became important in a different way.

You notice the sketch is more backstory than anything else. Again, this was largely me describing my sister's notes.

SHANNON MUIR'S VOLTRON PAGES - THE INFATUATED MISADVENTURES OF PIDGE IN THE 1984 SHOW

Last post, I talked about where seeds seemed to be planted for potential long term relationships in the 20 U.S. produced episodes for Lance and Hunk.

Now, let's talk about what those same 20 episodes do with Pidge, and how it seems to support Lance being set up to grow for a more serious relationship if the right person found him.

Both Lance and Pidge, in the original 52 episodes, regularly seem to compete for kisses from Princess Allura out on the balcony. Pidge usually gets kissed by the mice instead, except the one time Pidge saves Allura's life from a near death sleep by threatening Haggar and Lotor with a hand grenade (see "The Sleeping Princess"). Apparently, that's what it took for Nanny to be okay with it... but once was enough.

In the 20 U.S. produced episodes, there are instances where Lance and Pidge react to the same woman initially, but their overall responses diverge.

Omnia in "The Traitor" is the first of these. Lance starts out referring to her as a dream, but once he understands the magnitude of her problems, gets to work on the problem and in fact chews out the others for just standing around. Once they've agreed on a plan, Allura complements Omnia on being a very courageous woman, and Pidge follows with "And pretty, too!". Lance is standing right next to him staring off with intent into space, and looking at the staging, it seems to be in Omnia's direction. Pidge's comment just seems so out of place in such a serious moment - and also, up until now, something one would have expected from Lance.

This scenario repeats itself a couple episodes later in "Take a Robot to Lunch," the episode that introduces Mary Ann the pacifist scientist. The Voltron Force is taken by Coran to meet one of the Galaxy's greatest scientists, not being told the scientist is female and without Coran correcting when the pronoun "he" is used.

Which results in a lot of confusion when they are introduced.

Lance comments in a surprise it is a woman. If you look at his overall conversation, especially Lance's conversation with Coran as she leaves discussing that she is a "very special lady" and Coran explains her convictions, this is not a case of flirting but respect. Major growth for Lance.

Meanwhile, Pidge upon meeting another scientist only seems to be able to manage "She's pretty!"

Um, okay... I suppose. It doesn't bother me quite so much with Omnia, because maybe it gets to that point where he is getting interested in other women besides the somewhat fairytale qualities of Princess Allura.

SHANNON MUIR'S VOLTRON PAGES - The Original Crimson Quadrant Map of the Denubian (Danubian) Galaxy from 1985

These are the notes I had for the Crimson Quadrant from 1985.

The Crimson Quadrant mainly consists of canon one shot referenced planets in the show, such as Anga's homeworld. Others are of worlds we know existed but weren't named, such as Stride the Tiger Fighter's homeworld, where it is mentioned in a later episode he helped prevent an uprising.

The main planet that is significant to the Nina stories is Tymancia, the planet where she grew up and is destroyed during Nina Season 1.

SHANNON MUIR'S VOLTRON PAGES - The Original Cerulian (Cerulean) Quadrant Map of the Denubian (Danubian) Galaxy from 1985

These notes are the biggest piece of evidence that at thirteen, I was struggling with figuring out some words by how things sound, and thereby why the Galaxy was mispelled.

I had not learned at that point Cerulean was a shade of blue. Therefore, I kept ending up with the spelling Cerulian. You can also see that I struggle with it on the name of the ruler of Titus, who is introduced in "Summit Meeting" in canon.

Note that I have always spelled the scientist on Caspia as Marianne, others name her Mary Ann.

Also of note is that despite our take on some things in Nina Season 1, the concept of Zarkon's wife (Lotor's Mom) being deceased didn't sit well with us. It fits with the ongoing strong women being a thing. Note that we did set up a planet ruled by Zarkon's ex-wife. Having said that I don't remember actually getting around to doing anything with it in the Nina Season 2 stuff. Probably one of the things reduced to just an unexplored title. I'll keep an eye out if planet Goleb or the name Madra pops up in the notes.

SHANNON MUIR'S VOLTRON PAGES - The Original Azure Quadrant Map of the Denubian (Danubian) Galaxy from 1985

In the final map, Doom moved to the Crimson Quadrant, which sounds far more ominous. However, we oddly put all the desert planets (except Yentile) in the same solar system as Doom. You will note that Zaal (the world from "The Traitor") is misspelled here because that's how I heard it back then. Just like the spelling of the galaxy name. We didn't have a stereo TV then and I wonder if things might have been clearer to me if I had. I definitely hear them correctly now.

The emphasis about Cyville actually comes from one of the episodes of the first 52, in a one sentence reference.

I know that Terra is another name for Earth, but since VOLTRON mythos never used Terra and Earth interchangeably, and Pidge emphasized his kid sister being stationed there versus at home base (see the episode "Survival") we ended up making it a Far Universe planet. Also, the Season 2 episode couldn't have been written as they would have gotten in trouble with Coran for leaving the area again.

SHANNON MUIR'S VOLTRON PAGES - The Original Coral Quadrant Map of the Denubian (Danubian) Galaxy from 1985

My original notes for Arus and Pollux put them in the Diamond System (based on Coran's slipup of originally calling the Galaxy the Diamond Galaxy) in the CORAL quadrant, not the Azure quadrant. The maps were made in late 1985 after the US produced episodes aired, which clearly stated Phylos as being from the Coral Quadrant and crossing Arus' orbit. That is why they were together.

These planets would be swapped out to the Azure Quadrant at World Events' request when the starmap was made for VOLTRON: THE THIRD DIMENSION. The other change was the removal of Pollux for Amphrose (as those were the sister worlds in that show).

If you have followed Season 1 of the Nina stories, the Amethyst System should look familiar. Amathea and Yentile are front and center in those stories. It explains why a lot of the early stories are set in this area, as it is there nearby system that Arus has largely not explored. I say largely because Shamarra is referred to in the series - the third moon of the planet is where the clone of Coran's son rescues Blue Lion after it crashes. I believe the noted storyline for the planet was part of what the Season 2 episodes would have dealt with, but from what I've seen I think it may be one of the premises that never got past being a title.

I also had this later sense that planets and homeworlds I learned about in the Vehicle Voltron series should also belong to the Far Universe in order to better cement the connection. Those notes were added to my paper notes in later years and not to the Starmap on my own site until after the airing of VOLTRON: THE THIRD DIMENSION.

SHANNON MUIR'S VOLTRON PAGES - The Worlds from Nina's Stories and Other Missing Worlds

You may have noticed that none of the worlds from Nina's stories are on the Starmap. Those were removed by me when I decided to put it up for public use. I figured my fan fiction worlds would only confuse its usefulness.

I think before I get into the Season 2 stories, it might be helpful to release my original Starmap notes here so people can place themselves while reading what I have been posting. Expect those next.

However, I would like to address two very important worlds that are not on any version.

BALTO - Pidge's destroyed home world is not indicated because I never thought of it as being in the Galaxy. Since Coran tries to place them under house arrest, that seems to imply that they are trying to leave the Galaxy (their area of jurisdiction).

ACURA - Since the two Voltrons meet there to fight in "Fleet of Doom," it seems to be on the border of something. I was always unclear (and still am) if Acura is technically middle universe territory or on the border of the Near or Far universe.

I would be interested in people's thoughts on either planet location.