#reprogramming computer vld

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Reprogramming Computer: Shidge Fanfiction, post s6

“How is it possible that the paladins are alive?” Haggar’s mouth twisted into disgust as she looked over her shoulder. The champion had set the virus. She was sure of it. The druid stood there, uneasy and unsure. “We have word that it was the green paladin,” he spoke in a low tone, trying his hardest not to show his fear of the witch. Haggar hesitated, deep in thought. Out of all of the paladins, the green one was one of the ones she knew least about. Only that her brother and father had both been prisoners. Her brother had been one of the first defeated by The Champion. “Bring her to me.”

--

Pidge is missing, captured by the Galra. The only question? Why?

[kcwcommentary]

VLD1x03 – “Defenders of the Universe”

1x03 – “Defenders of the Universe”

Sendak threatens, and the first thing anyone says is Shiro saying, “Let’s not panic.” What was that about the Black Paladin being someone with significant self-control?

Lance, Hunk, Pidge, and Keith argue back and forth until Shiro tells them to stop. He then, understanding what everyone has to contribute and calling upon it as needed, asks Allura, “These are your Lions, you’ve dealt with the Galra Empire before, you know what we’re facing better than any of us. What do you think is the best course of action?” That is leadership.

Allura is immediately unsure of what to say or do, and Coran suggests she turn to her father (or a computer-maintained copy of his mind) for help. (Needing her father to tell her what to do, nothing patriarchal about that, right?) The computer-copy of Alfor’s mind tells her that she urged him to fight but he instead thought it was better to hide the Lions, which she thinks is him saying to do the same thing as before. He responds that he thinks he took the wrong course of action 10,000 years ago. This would suggest that the show is narratively hinting at Allura’s capacity for greater wisdom, judgement, and leadership than that of her father. “You must be willing to sacrifice everything,” he tells her; I wonder if they really were planning on killing Allura at the end of the show this far in advance.

Visually, I’ve never understood Allura’s hair when she has it tied up; the crescents that hang off the side upfront often look like they’re not connected to her in anyway. As a character design decision, it’s a look that has always bugged me.

The Paladins get their suits, and the show can’t help but to make a fat joke at Hunk’s expense. They also get their bayards, and we’re told they take a distinct shape for each Paladin. I don’t think we ever get an explanation as to why; there probably never really was one. Lance’s turning into a laser rifle makes sense if he’s the best at marksmanship, though. Shiro doesn’t get a bayard here. Ever the professional, he replies, “I guess I’ll just have to make do.” (Shiro, you deserve so many nice things!)

“How are we going to know where the Red Lion is?” Keith asks. “It’s not a matter of we, it’s a matter of you,” Pidge responds. Hunk concurs, “Pidge is right. Once we get you in, you’ll be able to feel its presence and like track it down.” Lance continues, “Yeah, you know how you felt that crazy energy while we were in the desert […] turns out it’s exactly like that mumbo-jumbo.” I kind of like how there’s this sort of moment of doubt for Keith right here, and everyone (even if Lance does pause to taunt and insult Keith in the process) does support Keith in this moment.

Shiro activates his leadership and plans some tactics: Relying on the Galra knowing they have Blue and Yellow but not Green, Lance and Hunk will distract while Green sneaks the rest of them onto the Galra ship. I think tactical writing like that can be challenging, so I applaud the show for doing so well in this episode. Lance, who I think has demonstrated some notable skill in leadership himself in these first three episodes, divides the work: Hunk takes on the large cannon while Lance takes on the fighter craft.

On board the Galra ship, Shiro has a PTSD flashback. He remembers being brought on board this ship (though I imagine most Galra ships have the same floorplans since they externally look the same throughout the series, so how he can be sure it was this exact ship, I don’t know) when captured on Kerberos. Pidge reacts in her sharp, abrasive way to say she wants to get her brother and father back. With the revelation that the Holts are Pidge’s family, Shiro immediately wants to help. (It’s almost as if with some people, good people, all you need to do is tell them what’s truly going on for you and they’ll understand and be willing to help. Oh, the value of personal connections and being willing to open up and be honest. Psychologically, it can be so, so hard to do though.) Shiro encourages Keith to continue and find Red. “Patience yields focus.” (Catchphrase.)

Who designed/built this Castle Ship!? Oh yeah, Coran’s dad. Who builds a system like that of the particle barrier such that the crystals needed for its functioning can’t be easily accessed? Coran says, “we’re both too big” to reach inside the hole to the crystals. How would they otherwise be accessed for maintenance!? Surely, a set of telepathic mice aren’t a standard part of a Castle Ship’s engineering crew, right? This scene needs some revision.

Keith’s frustration trying to find Red is a nice scene though. He does slow himself down, having a moment of mastery over self, and senses where Red is. It is kind of an emergency situation though, Red, are you sure that right now is a time to test your new pilot?

Shiro and Pidge continue on and run into a Galra drone. Pidge is apparently so good at technology that she can reprogram the drone without having ever worked with Galra computers and programming before (yet she was unsure how Allura’s computer interface in the previous episode worked). It’s a minor moment of unrealism, but it does gain us a new puppy named Rover. They then find where some prisoners are being kept, and those prisoners recognize Shiro and identify him as “the Champion.”

“It’s me, Keith. Your buddy. It’s me! Keith! Your— I am your Paladin! I’m bonding with you! Come on, we’re connected!” Keith screams at Red. I love that moment so much; the voice acting makes me laugh. Keith quickly gets possessive, declaring the Galra are not going to get this Lion, and he goes melee. They fight, he blows them out into space before being blown out himself. Red is satisfied, Keith’s a scrappy sort, much like Red. Human-Ancient Spaceship bonding achieved. I like the animation of the reflection of Red in Keith’s helmet; it produces the overwhelming sensation that would come with being swallowed by a giant mechanical lion.

Shiro and Pidge and the prisoners get pinned down by Galra sentries, Shiro’s hand activates, and he takes the Galra out with some unexpected, fierce fighting skills. It saddens me watching this, knowing what he went through in the process of gaining those fighting skills. Hunk seriously smashes up the large Galra cannon, but it gets replaced/repaired unrealistically quickly a few minutes later.

The four Lions combine influence to gain them access to the Black Lion. That’s your Lion right there Shiro! Roar!

Everyone gets in their Lions and they take off to fight Sendak, whose ship is now in the atmosphere. While being attacked Pidge says, “Can’t they just cease fire for one minute so we can figure this out? Is that too much to ask?” Is it too much to ask for better written dialog than that line you just had Pidge? Hunk has Yellow slam into Red while yelling, “Combine!” It’s a silly moment, but it did make me laugh.

They get caught in a tractor beam. “It’s been an honor flying with you boys,” Keith says when they think they’re caught and finished. I don’t know why, but that line really gets me emotional. The delivery of the voice acting does it for me, I think. There was an actual sadness in Keith’s voice.

Shiro goes into generic speech mode, and Team Voltron is all yeah!teamwork, and we get the animation sequence of the Lions combining into Voltron. This is our first time seeing this animation. It’s cool/fun now, but man! does it get tiresome the more the show runs this same footage. I understand why a cartoon back in the 80s would have a sequence like this, a piece of animation that could be added to most/all episodes. With a series that would run five days a week for a 65-episode season, it would help manage the cost of animation and pad runtime. But VLD is a 13-episode per season show; the repeated animation padding episodes’ runtime is unacceptable.

“I’m a leg!” Hunk, you said the perfect thing for your character to say in that moment!

Voltron destroys most of Sendak’s ship.

Regarding Sendak’s visual design: I really do not like his arm. It’s clunky, inelegant, and his spherical shoulder looks like a bad action figure design.

Everyone’s celebrating, but Pidge has a look of concern on her face. Shiro sees it and instantly moves to lend support, telling her they’re going to find her brother and father and that he thinks they’d be really proud of her.

“‘Defenders of the Universe’ huh? That’s got a nice ring to it,” Shiro says, thus concluding the three-parter that starts the show. Shiro getting the last word in the episode… it’s almost like he’s the main character or something.

This show had a really nice beginning that made me eager for more.

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New chapter of Reprogramming tomorrow

Maybe

Wish my writers block ass good luck