One thing I’ll never get is how the EPs thought constantly torturing Shiro in canon and berating him in interviews would make the audience turn against him. If anything, when I see a character constantly being kicked by the narrative, it makes me side WITH them! Humans love the underdog, especially if they identify with an aspect of their character. In Shiro’s case he had an endless list of characteristics for ppl to love and latch on to. It’s just nonsensical.
Something happened. I was looking around Tumblr for a quote that I can’t find regarding Tim Hedrick leaving Voltron, and I found this quote from NYCC instead:
TH: Well, I for one was getting tired of working on series where everything was going bad for our characters, and I wanna do one where people are happy all the time. so, that’s what I’m promising in the future [is] smooooth sailing!
JDS: i think, that being said though, we had worked on those past shows that had very dramatic stakes, so expect that to carry through, along with the very happy episodes.
…now conflict requires Bad Things to happen to our favorite characters, but it doesn’t have to be the constant demoralizing storyline that Voltron became following Season 2. There should be wins. So…what happened? I mean, JDS’ line is textbook. That’s how an EP should act and answer questions.
But what Very Happy Episodes was he talking about? I can’t think of ONE episode that left me happy after Season 2, though Monsters & Mana came close. Unfortunately, that joy was destroyed by the EPs’ commentary.
Also, JDS said later he always wanted a tragedy.
It reminds me of this quote, too - which come following Season 2
“When the first season came out a lot of what we heard online was, ‘We’d like to see more Keith.’ And we went, ‘He’s coming.’ And he came. Second season came out and they’re like, ‘Where’s Hunk and Lance? What’s going on?’ Just wait guys. We love each character equally. We’re not trying to write anyone out of the show. It’s the risk of doing an ensemble cast.”
But then they said they wanted Shiro gone after Season 2. They wanted to kill Hunk. They ended up killing Allura - so…that was a downright lie, JDS.
The problem sounds like - DreamWorks’ execs and people around the office knew Shiro would be beloved, which he was. In the comment section of this article, one of the first commentators mentions how they connected with Shiro, one of the first characters she/he did in a long time.
It seemed like neither the newbie EPs JDS nor LM connected with Shiro and were out to prove they were right and their veteran bosses wrong. And the fans just proved their veteran bosses right.
Angry people don’t always make the most educated or rational decisions, and they lash out in emotional ways. That’s how I see any interviews after Feb. 2018, when the EPs started their negative campaign against the fans and their own characters - and started pushing their old Street Fighter proposal.
Essentially - the EPs were told between Season 4 and Season 5 they weren’t welcome back at DreamWorks after Season 8, and well - they thought they’d burn down the house on their way out.
…I hate to say it but as I haven’t watched any other DreamWorks’ production, they succeeded to an extent.
