TV Review: Voltron: Legendary Defender: Season 5

VOLTRON: LEGENDARY DEFENDER 

Starring: Jeremy Shada, Bex Taylor-Klaus, Tyler Labine, Josh Keaton, Rhys Darby, Steven Yeun
Director: Steven Ahn
Writer: Mitcher Iverson, Tim Hedrick, Joshua Hamilton

Last week Netflix released the fifth season of Dreamwork’s Voltron: Legendary Defender. You may recall that season four ended with Prince Lotor seemingly betrayed by his bodyguards and deciding to turn himself over to the Voltron Paladins. This season picks up some time after that. Voltron: Legendary Defender: Season Five is easily the most political of the series. You quickly learn about Galra politics, tradition, racism, and get a deeper look at the motivations of the various players in the empire.

Netflix and Dreamworks continue the tradition of two mini seasons format that began with the third season. This can often screw with the pacing. That’s very apparent with this season as we quickly jump from 3 different storylines in the span of six episodes. With all the plot threads that are going on, they really should consider going back to a longer format. This is the same crew who worked on the Avatar cartoons, so the action scenes remain top notch. Josh Keaton and the rest of the voice cast deliver compelling performances. I’m actually surprised that no one has bothered asking Keaton about why he changed Shiro’s voice. It may have to do with the fact that there are two of them. The plot, action, and voice work are enough to forgive the hectic pacing.

VERDICT: This is definitely a WATCH IT, if you’re a diehard Voltron fan and need your fix. But if you’re the patient type, I recommend waiting on the sixth season so you can get a more complete look at the various plot threads. It will still be a bit jump at first because of the show’s pacing but you will be more satisfied with the results.