FORM PODCAST: s1e1 THE RISE OF VOLTRON w/Joaquim Dos Santos & Lauren Montgomery
Decided to share some commentary notes from the new podcast, Form Podcast :)
This is LM and JD’s first time creating a Netflix Original and did not know that the ‘Netflix Original logo’ had to be present at the start, so it was put in after-the-fact. Originally they had some Altean lettering but had to re-purpose it to include Netflix’s Original text instead. They say as of now, the Altean alphabet is up to fan speculation. Someone get on this.
Voltron takes place in the future. They wanted to show a futuristic Earth that had also not had any real interaction with alien life. In fact, Sam, Matt and Shiro’s mission of collecting ice samples was meant to show just how boring and not-alien their life was in comparison to what would later happen.
When Hunk, Pidge and Lance fail the simulator, Iverson calls them ‘Donkeys.’ This is JD’s tribute to his childhood gym teacher who called everyone Donkey. If you did anything wrong, you were part of the Donkey Squad.
LM originally voiced the scratch audio for the girl cadet that claims “The pilot crashed!” Her design was different originally, but after the scratch audio was recorded they redesigned the girl to look a little like LM.
The crew were mandated to inject humor into the show and JD was fearful it would come across too slapstick-y, but it all balanced out in the end. The characters are young and mostly teenagers so some silly aloofness is expected.
There is no ‘main character’ of the show; instead, the show is made up of lead characters.
They knew they wanted Keith to be more moody and quiet, Lance to be cocky and loud, Pidge to be awkward and focused, Shiro to be leaderly and heroic, but were unsure what to do with Hunk’s character at first. The writers ended up giving him a reasonable, relatable personality that is brought to life by Tyler Labine’s talent. Hunk is the guy in a horror movie that suggests you DON’T open the door or that you DON’T go upstairs to investigate a creepy sound.
As a viewer, we are not meant to fully grasp who Shiro is at the beginning, but through the team’s POV we get an idea of his status. While the characters all have some link to one another, Shiro is ultimately the thread that brings them all together.
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