Wanted and Unwanted

Keith has had himself arrested on purpose. The only way to find Wade's invisible prison, the Void, is to be sent there, and his plan is to free the political prisoners held inside, among them Chief Kalon of the Lion Riders. Daniel, who followed him uninvited, is caught too and ends up in an orange jumpsuit and an ankle collar.

Wade turns up in person, says he knows the break-out plan, and has Keith thrown into the black hole. Inside, Daniel makes friends with Manset, a prisoner who claims to belong to the Den Resistance, loses his Voltcom to space mice, and sets off for the generator that hides the station. He meets its guilt-ridden keeper just as Wade triggers a mass escape. Daniel and Manset are caught in the chaos, Keith and Kalon survive in their suits, Voltron arrives, and the Lion Riders pledge to repay the debt.

Voice cast, as credited on this episode's closing titles (role, then actor).

Keith: Giles Panton Lance: Andrew Francis Allura: Ashleigh Ball Pidge: Sam Vincent Hunk: Ty Olsson Daniel: Vincent Tong Vince: Doron Bell Jr. Larmina: Shannon Chan-Kent Kloak: Terry Klassen Sky Marshall Wade / Manset: Garry Chalk

"Though now it's them plus one." -- Keith

"Well, plan A was follow ship, use giant robot."

"Do I look like a hero to you, kid?" -- Manset

"Being a hero isn't about what you look like. It's about what you've got on the inside that counts." -- Daniel

"Maybe getting caught after getting caught was part of my plan." -- Keith

"Very little of what's happened today was part of my plan." -- Keith

"I'm afraid I write the future now." -- Sky Marshall Wade

"It makes you look weak while instilling fear in any that would stand against me." -- Sky Marshall Wade

"I'm grateful, but we need to hold off on the told-you-sos." -- Keith

"If the Voltron Force ever needs us, we've got your back." -- Chief Kalon

Transcribed from the episode's subtitle track, which we checked against the audio, with misspelled names corrected. Speakers are named only where the dialogue or the picture makes them clear.

Keith Kogane's plan for the Void is sound, lonely tradecraft, and nobody has been told it. He means to get himself arrested and be carried into Wade's invisible prison, which can only be found by being sent there. Then he will free the political prisoners from the inside. "Wanted and Unwanted" opens by showing what happens to a plan only one person knows. Daniel has followed Keith uninvited because it looked "cool and covert" and he wanted to "get your back". Keith tells him to leave and Daniel calls him an action hog. Both end up in orange jumpsuits and ankle collars, which was the plan for only one of them!

Having someone's back is the running idea here, and the script gets there by taking Keith's competence away piece by piece. He dismisses Wade's welcome speech as a recording and says Wade isn't there. A few scenes later Wade is standing over his chair, announcing that he came in person to watch Keith's face when he said he knew the break-out plan [1]. The Lions are delayed by fractals, which removes Voltron from the story. Nothing transmits from inside the Void, so what we get in the cockpit is a shrug through plan A (follow the ship, use the giant robot), plan B and a decision to wait. Later Keith is hurled into space alongside Chief Kalon, and the one person inside with momentum is the cadet he sent away.

The best thing in the script is a line that takes two scenes to finish. At the mess table Daniel asks Manset why he has not tried to escape, and Manset answers with a question [2]: "Do I look like a hero to you, kid?" Daniel's reply is the most earnest thing Ross Beeley gives him, that being a hero is about what is on the inside. Then the talk moves straight on to the plan. Later, dragged toward the open hatch while the Void vents around him, Manset hands the line back: this is his chance to use what he has on the inside. It turns a man who trades in other people's secrets into one who has to act in the open, and nobody points at the setup. Nicely done!

Wade, meanwhile, is at his best describing the future he means to publish. He does not plan to kill Keith so much as to announce it, telling the universe that the great commander "was thrown in jail and met his doom while trying to escape". When Kalon asks how the truth will get out, he answers that he writes the future now. A prison nobody can find fits that idea, since it leaves no witnesses and no testimony; any rescue means being seen again. The generator room is the prettiest design in it, with a dark floor of glowing circuit lines, cyan consoles, a golden light at the centre and an invisible guard who shows only as a yellow outline.

Where it wobbles is that guard, the keeper of the generator. He is built as a threat, but Daniel's appeal draws a full confession. He developed cloaking technology for commercial use, Wade forced it onto a military footing and used it to invade his planet, and he stays to protect his creation as a punishment. It is a good tragedy, yet it gets one speech and one question from Daniel before the script cuts to the mass escape. A half-hour slot that also has to stage a space rescue is the likely reason. The result is a man whose sorrow is announced and not tested, and who is never named in the dialogue [3].

Even so, the ending lands because it is built from the phrase the episode opened on. Daniel, reaching Keith on the Voltcom, reminds him that he said he had his back. Keith is grateful but asks to hold off on the told-you-sos; Kalon closes the episode by promising that the Lion Riders have the Voltron Force's back in turn. Ten episodes into the season, the cadets stop being a problem Keith manages and start being the reason he gets home, and we are glad to see it!

1 ^ The recording plays from 3:46 to 4:36, with Wade's face glowing in a guard robot's dome at 4:34; he is in Keith's cell in person by 8:15.

2 ^ The closing credits list Garry Chalk for both Wade and Manset; going by what we see, they never share a scene, and the cut runs from Keith's interrogation at 10:25 to the mess table at 10:31.

3 ^ The plan stated at 9:52 is that the key lies in destroying the generator; at 18:17 Keith orders Daniel never to shut it down, because it is the only thing providing atmosphere. The reversal passes without comment.

1. Manset makes his debut here, and fans on the Voltron wiki also list the Void as new with this episode. He introduces himself as the man who "provided him with all the plans to this prison", which is a bold first impression for a smuggler. Keep an eye on him: after a last-minute cameo with food supplies in "Hungry for Voltron", Manset's ships turn up mid-fight in Clash of the Lions ("That's one of Manset's ships", "What's that smuggler smuggling here?"), and "Dradin, Baby, Dradin" gives him a whole episode.
2. Wade's recorded welcome treats murder as hospitality. The ankle collars are fine to remove, "you're welcome to take them off and escape anytime you like", and later he is "rewarding you with another opportunity to escape" and signing off with "Until our next escape..." Manset, who has watched this routine before, sums it up: "Wade likes to provide us with an opportunity to escape whenever possible." "How thoughtful of him."
3. In the Void, Wade says "I was going to put you on trial for the whole galaxy to see. Condemn you, then get rid of you." By I, Voltron the tables turn and Wade is the one on trial: the charges include "kidnapping, illegal imprisonment, and sedition", and the verdict is "we find you guilty on all counts." Those first two are a fair description of the Void.
4. "Got your back" is the refrain. Daniel opens with "I wanted to come get your back", repeats it with "I got your back, remember?", and wraps up on the Voltcom with "Told you I had your back." The Lion Riders close the episode by promising "If the Voltron Force ever needs us, we've got your back," and in Clash of the Lions Daniel and Vince "just called in our backup" and the Lion Riders show up.
5. Everyone has a plan, and nobody's goes to plan. Keith's reply to "Getting thrown in the black hole was part of your plan?" is "Very little of what's happened today was part of my plan." Earlier he has tried "Maybe getting caught after getting caught was part of my plan." Manset gets the best version: "That's why I've never been much of a planner."
6. Daniel tells Manset that being a hero is not about what you look like: "It's about what you've got on the inside that counts." When Manset finally makes his move he hands the line back: "This is it. My chance to use what I got on the... inside."
7. Wade's "You were that troublesome cadet from the G.A. Academy" is a payoff to New School Defenders, where Daniel and Vince are sentenced to "latrine duty, for the rest of the first term" and "all of the second term as well." Wade's follow-up, "I'm going to enjoy finishing your punishment," sounds like a man who has not forgotten.
8. The guard who flickers in and out of sight in the generator room goes by Kloak, which is a nice bit of wordplay for a man whose backstory is "I was building cloaking technology for commercial use when Wade found out." Wade then used the same tech to invade the man's own planet, a surprisingly dark origin for a fight scene.
9. Wanted and Unwanted aired on Thursday, August 4, 2011, the tenth episode and the first of the last four weekly Thursdays before a break of more than two months, with the show not returning until November 3.

Voltron Force, the 2011 continuation, in which the 1984 pilots take on cadets.