Voltron: Defender of the Universe: Script Review + Spoilers!

[cosmicherosa]

This may be old news, but not to me.

WOW. I am getting really excited, specially hearing about this movie script.

http://www.latinoreview.com/scriptreview.php?id=65

Spoiler

VOLTRON
Screenplay by Justin Marks
Adapted from the animated series “Voltron: Defender of the Universe”
Draft date: 05/23/07, 110 pages

WOW! WOW! WOW! ANOTHER GIANT ****ING ROBOT MOVIE! WOOHOO!

I’m still geeking out after reading my favorite ****ing script of the year so far!

Justin Marks just became one of my favorite writers in Hollywood. We have been hearing a lot of hype about this new kid recently who scored the writing jobs of STREETFIGHTER, MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE, SUPERMAX and of course VOLTRON.

FOLKS! BELIEVE THE HYPE! JUSTIN MARKS ABSOLUTELY ****ING DELIVERS!

Ok, enough cock stroking and let’s get down to business.

After the massive disappointment that was the recent G.I. JOE draft, I was literally heartbroken for a second there. I was so disheartened, that when the call came in for VOLTRON, I was in no mood to read another terrible adaptation of a cherished 1980’s property. I told my guy, the wounds from G.I. JOE are still raw, if VOLTRON sucks I’m taking a baseball bat to this ****ing writer’s head!

That simply won’t be the case because Marks made me a believer again!

I had a little hope because David Goyer is a dope writer and isn’t going to work with someone whack on SUPERMAX. I never read any of Mark’s specs but heard great things about his BLACK OPS. I just never got around to reading it.

You see, folks being a kid of the 1980’s who rushed home from school to watch the solid lineup of New York’s channel 11 WPIX in the afternoon, on September 10th, 1984 – Voltron debuted and would go on to become a legend. I was a sixth grader back then and the talk of that week wasn’t G.I. JOE or TRANSFORMERS but how ****ing awesome and different the new Voltron cartoon was. Voltron was my entry into the world of Japanimation.

Right here on my very desk looking at me is the Die Cast metal Voltron that I got in Chinatown. Because I was good student, my father spent like $80 bucks back in 1984 to get me my Voltron which was known as Lionbot. A few of the die cast metal lionbots are still available on ebay. I’ve had my lionbot/voltron now for 23 years. That is the advantage of having a toy made out of metal.

Media Blasters recently remastered and put out the Voltron series in special tins on DVD. I only have the first tin with the first 15 episodes – the blue tin. When GOLION (The Japanese version of Voltron) hits dvd this year, you bet your ass I’m gonna get it. The blue tin has some good documentaries on it too.

On the eve of the release of TRANSFORMERS - a movie that is going to make some serious Colombian Cocaine Cartel cold hard cash – we now have ANOTHER GIANT ****ING ROBOT MOVIE on the horizon!

THE SCRIPT ROCKS! I give it THE STRONGEST CONSIDERATION POSSIBLE THAT A SCREENPLAY CAN RECEIVE if I was the story editor at the studio considering Voltron. Mark Gordon is going to have a bidding war on his hands with Voltron after TRANSFORMERS opens. Anyone who passes on Voltron has got to be a ****ing idiot.
So let’s get down to it! What’s the setup?

What is so damn cool about the script is that it pays homage to both incarnations of the Voltron cartoon – the American and Japanese versions. GOLION came out back in 1981 in Japan, three years later in America. GOLION was considered too hardcore for American audiences so it was edited down into what would be VOLTRON. Wikpedia nailed down the differences of Voltron and Golion in an awesome article and expose of the Voltron phenomenon, check it out.

The script has the tone, edge and dark elements of GOLION.

VOLTRON is a post apocalyptic movie and a ****ing awesome one at that too. Just the way it should be because that was the setup of both cartoons. A little bit of ROAD WARRIOR, a little bit INDEPENDENCE DAY, a little bit WAR OF THE WORLDS, a little bit of ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, a little bit of THE TERMINATOR, and a little bit of THE MATRIX with some STARGATE thrown in for good measure!

Also, none of the elements that made Voltron corny are in the script – no Nanny, no Hagar, and especially no ****ing space mice! In fact, no corniness at all!

Here is the setup: The Drules have invaded Earth and kicked our ass in the ONE DAY WAR. Humanity has gone underground. New York has been decimated and our story opens on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the Drule invasion. Think about it, Earth was conquered by an Alien race in 24 hours.

We meet our main hero KEITH KOGAN (30s) – tattoos all over his chest and arms, various icons from a life long since past. Tough. A reluctant leader. This is not a guy who plays well with others. He’d rather run through fire than do what you told him to. Keith is sleeping in some crawl space and is awoken by…

LANCE MCCLAIN (black, 20s) – Like Keith, he’s in tattered clothing. But Lance is more light-weight, jovial, less intense. He even wears a smile. I vote for Tyrese Gibson in this role.

Lance gives word that a fancy military style helicopter went down over midtown. Lance wants to loot the copter for warm supplies. Keith reluctantly goes. They get into a converted M2A3 BRADLEY TANK – no ordinary military vehicle, this has been souped-up and customized to the nines. Painted a deeper shade of black, floodlights all around, weapons re-fashioned and sealed up.

Keith and Lance go to the streets of New York which is now a dark, empty, desolate, rainy urban wasteland. Keith’s Bradley tank moves through the debris, they make it to the downed tomahawk helicopter and run into –
DUKANE (30s) – Japanese American, powerful and arrogant. The leader of a rag tag group of soldiers/survivors. One of his eyes is missing. Scars run down his cheek. Like everyone in this world, he’s stood the test of time.

Fans of the cartoon will know that Dukane was the leader of the vehicle Voltron. Nice touch! Here Dukane is like the Duke of New York. Dukane stakes his claim to the helicopter. Keith is not having it. Mexican standoff. In the middle of their negotiation, AN ENORMOUSE METTALIC FOOT comes crashing down out of nowhere, crushing one of Dukane’s soldiers in it’s wake. Where there was once a man, there’s now some kind of enormous robotic leg, stretching up higher and higher to reveal a colossal robotic form.

Fifty-feet tall, a horrible hybrid of metal parts, complete with some kind of awful face and glowing red eyes, staring down at them. We’re not sure if this is alien or man-made, but it’s terrifying.
Folks, this is a ROBEAST. The Robeasts in this script are like the sentinels in The Matrix – they patrol the earth in search of a signal which we will get to later.

The Robeast emits a high-pitched industrial roar and swings its head low over the street. It swipes at the soldiers with its enormous talons as if they were in the way of what it’s really looking for…

I won’t spoil what happens but Keith and Lance escape. Back at the equipment tunnel they run into two figures both cloaked in heavy winter clothing. Nomads, travelers, backpack on their shoulders. One of them carries a sawed off shotgun, which he raises towards Keith.

One of them pulls back her hood to reveal a BEAUTIFUL FEMALE FACE, blonde hair tied up in a bun. Piercing blue eyes. This is ALLURA (20s). Enough to stop traffic.

Behind her, the gunmen lowers his shotgun and removes his hood. Strong, enormous Arab features. Mechanic’s hands on a soldier’s body. This is HUNK (40s).

Hunk is Allura’s personal bodyguard.

Allura and Hunk need safe passage to the south to Mexico. A capable guide who can get them where they need to go. You see, Allura and Hunk are survivors of that helicopter crash that Lance and Keith were gonna loot. Like THE ROAD WARRIROR, Allura promises Keith enough propane reserves to power an entire city. If Keith gets Allura and Hunk back safely, they’ll give them as much as they can carry back.

Keith is the character with the arc in this story just like Mel Gibson in Road Warrior.

Keith reluctantly accepts, steals Dukane’s monster truck off the west side highway and escape out of New York through the Lincoln tunnel.

As the gang barely escapes more Robeasts and make a stop at a Quickstop in Jersey (Kevin Smith’s shop in Clerks perhaps?!) or some decimated suburb, they pick up along the way – A LITTLE BOY who emerges, undernourished and exhausted, clutching his small hands a CARVING KNIFE! His name is SUZUISHI HIROSHI which means “tin stone, ” but we will come to know him by his affectionate nickname…PIDGE (11).

Think of Pidge as the FERAL KID from THE ROAD WARRIOR but a tad bit different. Pidge is good with electronics.

By the end of the first act, the gang makes it to Mexico and run into looters and it is here that Allura’s bag gets knocked out of her hands and out spill FIVE KEYS. Small, ancient-looking but with some kind of modern edge to them, almost like alien artifacts. Each of them has a different color: black, red, blue, green, and yellow. The five keys are drawn together and form some kind of energy core. The looters scatter.

Just like THE ROAD WARRIOR, our gang makes it to the desert outskirts of a military compound after being chased by a Robeast.

Allura disappears into the compound with one of the blue keys, and when she remerges on page 36, she does so in a giant ****ing machine in the shape of a colossal, 50 foot tall Lion, assembled entirely out of Earth bound parts. A C-130H tailgate has been used for the mouth, complete with traffic spikes for the teeth. The glass dome of an A6E Intruder cockpit has been soldered onto the head. All of this stands on top of four legs, refashioned from four construction excavator claws.

It’s called a LIONBOT. A hack-assembled masterpiece. A mech you can build in your backyard.
It’s safe to say that the lionbot tears the Robeast’s ****ing head off and whups it’s ass.

Keith and Lance are dumbfounded. Moments later the mouth opens and out steps Allura.

Dozens of families are cheering behind them. I was too after I read the battle between the Lionbot and Robeast. Old, young, male, and female. Coming from a variety of different ethnicities. Some are Hispanic, some Arab, some Armenian, still others are dark-shaded Africans. They’re like intercontinental Bedouins.
In the Bedouin compound, we meet Hunk’s wife and children and – SVEN HOLGERSSON (40s). Well-groomed, intelligent European with impeccable taste, a cigarette dangling from long, thin fingers. He wears a thick industrial turtleneck. An air of superiority.

Emerging from behind Holgersson is the embattled frame of CORAN (60s). Unkempt grey hair hangs over his face. He was once a great warrior, but time and tragedy have humbled him.

These are basically all the main characters of Voltron that are in the script. Another nod to Marks because I love the multi ethnicity of the characters. I think it so cool that Voltron is multi cultural. It works for this story.

Pidge runs into a tool shed of some kind and see hundreds of sketches in varying languages, some schematic, some artistic, some downright incomprehensible. Hieroglyphic annotations. Translations from some ancient source. Heavy schematics. All of them depicting five lionbots. One series depicts five lions merging together, re-configuring into a different from altogether. Like a step by step diagram of how they build a HUMANOID FIGURE. What’s more, the figure carries a sword.

By page 43, Keith finds out just what the **** is going on. Here is where we get a little STARGATE.

The construction of the Mayan Pyramids, hundreds of years ago. And the Egyptian pyramids in Giza. Thousands of years ago. Five points connecting to the heavens. Notice a pattern? Five interlocking sequences completing a single unit. Five keys. We find out is that the histories of Planet Earth and Planet Arus have been linked for thousands of years. Arus is a planet in the Domus system.

The machines belong to an alien race called the Drule Empire. A civilization that grows by consumption. Namely, the consumption of technologies that a planet builds for itself.

On Arus, the five keys were their life source. An energy so complex and so powerful that the Drules would do anything to possess it. That is why the Drules attacked Arus. But the keys exert their own free will. They travel on their own accord. When Arus fell, they traveled across the known universe in search of a safe home. That brought them to Earth twelve thousand years ago. All that was built here on Earth, was built for the keys. Coran, Sven and Allura through high density freezing, didn’t age and are the last survivors of Arus.

That is all I am going to spoil folks. We have to leave some things for surprise. There is a hell of a lot more but what I will say is that the 2nd half is just downright awesome. We get a lot more interesting backstory on Voltron. We get to see all the Lions in action and it is obvious we get to see VOLTRON and yes the famous transformation sequence is in there when they finally do form Voltron. Activate Interlock. Dynatherms connected. Infracells up. Megathrusthers are go…

...VOLTRON!

Yes that dialogue is in there too as a nice touch and trust me folks, VOLTRON ain’t no ***** either. He can probably give Optimus Prime a run for his money. The 3rd act is wall to wall robot on robot action –especially in the main battle with VOLTRON vs the UBER ROBEAST that not only takes place in New York, but around the world! Trust me folks, I rather you see the Uber Robeast in action instead of me spoiling you.
I am going to say that the 3rd act of Voltron is just as good as the 3rd act of TRANSFORMERS.

Voltron also leaves room for a sequel or trilogy! Awesome! The script is definitely solid enough to launch a trilogy. The Drules are solid villains you love to hate and I would just love to see the battle taken to their home planet like they did in the final episodes of the cartoon.

And don’t worry folks, Voltron is in NO WAY CORNY or juvenile. Its edgy, entertaining and respectful of the fans and the source material.

Man, what a ****ing privilege and honor it was to read this script. Justin Marks took some of the best elements of sci fi movies and post apocalyptic movies, and created one hell of a giant ****ing robot origin movie. VOLTRON on its own stands as one of the best post apocalyptic scripts ever written.

The characters and characterization absolutely work, the action works, the beats work, the backstory works. I have not a single note. Not one. Mark Gordon, don’t touch this script! A mega congratulations and tip of the hat to Justin Marks on a job well mother****ing done. Welcome to the big time kid, you got our seal of approval. I am one happy geek.

Voltron is a ****ing masterpiece, a complete miracle and I hope, a movie that will rock you when it rolls out into theaters in due time. TRANSFORMERS will definitely open the door for VOLTRON to be made and I can’t wait. Like TRANSFORMERS, VOLTRON can be a massive ****ing hit at the box office.

 

[cosmicherosa]

This is old, but it is still good to me.

 

[Hunter Rider]

http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=277970&highlight=Voltron