The Amazing Coincidence With Golion, Zyuranger, Lion Voltron And Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers?

Image taken from Henshin Grid...

I felt like writing this editorial due to the launching of the Power Rangers movie and because it's also Zyuranger's 25th anniversary. With that in mind, I also remembered another series called Lion Voltron which was based on Beast King Golion. It's pretty much of a nostalgic trip since I watched both in the 90s but have no intention of rewatching them after seeing both Zyuranger and Golion in my older years.

Golion was a part of a long list of Super Robot while Lion Voltron was a first of its kind in the U.S. to start a new trend

Golion was already in the long list of Super Robot Anime with all the cliches from Combattler V and Voltes V. Although the concept was pretty innovative with its status as a legendary god of destruction but it didn't so so well in Japan. I don't think it was a failure but it just wasn't memorable. Was it because of the excess violence that its predecessors never had or was it too dark and edgy a show? Maybe you can all it suffers from a similar scenario with Go-Busters and Kamen Rider Faiz. Voltes V and Combattler V had violent scenes but Golion was overdoing it.

Lion Voltron became a huge hit on 1984 while Bioman and Shaider were airing in Japan. Since it was pretty new and somehow the concept clicked everyone just got into the Voltron craze. Lion Voltron was originally meant to end but the popularity caused it to overextend and made more spin-offs while Golion had its finale. The result was that Toei Ltd. made additional footage for World Events Productions to use. While Vehicle Voltron ended and was never continued but more seasons of Lion Voltron came. Voltron became a huge icon in the America while Golion wasn't really a huge icon in Japan. One may want to take note how the Super Robot Anime series was already in decline during the 80s while Super Sentai got better almost every time.

Zyuranger is the 16th Super Sentai series while Mighty Morphin' was the start of a new craze for the U.S. 

Jetman was a huge hit and Zyuranger may have not matched up to its predecessor. Sure it tried something new but not everything works immediately. Super Sentai already had a 16 year run so a lot of ups and downs would have happened along the way. I don't find Zyuranger to be as good at Jetman in terms of writing but it still has its charm. Maybe fans still had the hangover over how good Jetman was last year that this show was momentarily overshadowed. What may have also happened is that shows after Zyuranger may have been much better.

Mighty Morphin' was definitely something new for the United States. It was a low budget production with a lot of spliced footage from Zyuranger. It was also that year of Jurassic Park's first movie. I guess Toei and Saban could have not chosen a better time to have the first Power Rangers series due to the Jurassic Park craze. Zyuranger was localized and something much different than Zyuranger came to be. The show became extremely popular that any plans to end it were halted. Toei decided to produce the Zyu2 footage and overextend Mighty Morphin'. Like Voltron, the popularity of Mighty Morphin' caused Toei to allow the series to overextend to the point of derailing its plot.

Similarities between Golion and Zyuranger

What I could remember doing was comparing the designs of both Voltron and Dino Megazord or should I say now it's Golion and Daizyujin. The blue and yellow mecha formed the legs of both Daizyujin and Golion. What you may not want to miss is that Golion was once a sentient mecha made up of five legendary guardian beasts. Daizyujin is the first sentient mecha made up of different guardian beasts.

My final thoughts on all four shows and how my views change quite too often 

I remembered how much I cried over stupid finales because there won't be any more episodes of that certain show when I was in elementary. But I came to appreciate the beauty of finales in my teenage years and as an adult. So what did I think of the overextended arcs? I could talk about how the overextension ended up ruining both Lion Voltron and Mighty Morphin'. I liked the idea as a child but hated it as I was growing up.

Lion Voltron's overextension just made no sense to keep the battle with Doom going on. It made no sense for King Zarkon to "magically escape" while it made more sense that Emperor Daibazaal was torn apart since he served as the life link for the Mecha Beastman Galra. Season 2 of Voltron already reeked and nothing improved. The spin-offs such as Voltron: The Third Dimension just derailed the plot even further. I thought Golion having its proper start to end made it the "superior show". I don't care how popular Lion Voltron became because Golion has the better plot. Golion may not be a perfect show but it still makes more sense in areas where Lion Voltron didn't make sense.

I felt the same towards Mighty Morphin' when it overextended. What shocked me to know was that the show should have ended with 40 episodes in mind but Toei ended up making the Zyu2 Footage so they could continue the show. Instead, it went on and on and I felt it just got boring. Worse, Tommy Oliver was taking all that attention. Season 3 was even more stale (and nothing was getting better for me) and I don't blame Amy Jo Johnson for leaving the show. I'd do the same thing if I were her because the show wasn't taking her anywhere. Zyuranger may not be the best Super Sentai ever but having it come to its conclusion and starting another show next year was the best thing to do.

Oh, should I mention that I'm still hesitant to try and watch all 84 episodes of Goranger and 98 episodes of the first Kamen Rider or just anything that has a super high episode count? I feel like super high episode counts for just one season tend to make me dizzy these days.