14. Season One, Episode Fourteen - “Yurak Gets His Pink Slip”

Doom Log File Title: “Bad Day”/“Commander Yurak’s Final Stand” (Cossack’s Note:  This incident was documented in two slots.  The first part was Yurak’s final entry into the system, which was logged shortly before Haggar performed his transformation into a robeast.  The second part was a backdated summary put in by Mogor, whose logs weren’t current until the 17th Voltron Incident when his promotion to Fleet Commander went through.  While Prince Lotor was running the show after Yurak bought it and before Mogor got promoted, he didn’t bother with the log files.  I guess when you’re a prince you can get away with being lax on your paperwork.)

Summary:  Part One, from Yurak’s Log:  After yet another embarrassing defeat by the Voltron Force on Arus, Zarkon relieves Yurak from duty in front of a council to replace him with his son, Prince Lotor, who has just returned from an extended time away conquering planets for Zarkon’s empire.  At first Zarkon only banishes Yurak from Doom in disgrace, but Yurak’s pride can’t let it go and he begs him to reconsider in light of how loyal he’s been to him.  Lotor then offers Yurak the opportunity to redeem himself by volunteering to become a robeast to take Voltron on one on one.  Presumably if he wins, he gets his job back and everyone’s happy because Voltron will be gone, but if he loses, well, we all know what happens to robeasts that lose to the BS.  Yurak seemed pretty optimistic about the whole thing in his final entry, but maybe that was adrenaline talking. 

Part Two, Mogor’s Backdated Entry:  Like Yurak’s record implies, Prince Lotor goes off to Arus and challenges the Voltron Force leader, Commander Keith, to a duel while Yurak the robeast takes on the others in the lions.  He does pretty well and gives them a good beating until Keith gets back from his duel, hops in the black lion, and they form Voltron.  Next thing you know it’s good night Yurak in a spectacular explosion, and Lotor flies home pissed off about his defeat and with a new obsession for Arus’ princess, who he went boots over ax-helmet for the second he laid eyes on her.

Notable Doom Highlights:  Yurak’s in a pretty sad state in the first half of this episode, but it’s still cool to see a hot chick with tiger stripes whip him in public.  (I bet he liked it.)  That and having served under him in my boot camp days, I admit I thoroughly enjoyed seeing him humbled.  He was always way too high on himself.  Later on though, Yurak whoops some serious ass against the lions as a robeast, my favorite maneuver being chaining them up and swinging them around like a mace. I also get a kick out of how big Haggar made his ears.  Exaggerate much?    Compensating for something perhaps?

The other big bonus for us Doomites is that this is the episode where we meet Prince Lotor.  The GA cut from the media reel a scene where he presented dear ol’ Dad with a bunch of severed heads on a platter, I guess to give the impression that we don’t really kill off resistors and leaders who don’t cooperate with our conquering domination.  You’ll also see that Lotor and Zarkon’s family relationship is at a high around this time since Lotor doesn’t fall out of favor with his father until he loses to Voltron a few times.

Yeah, this was back when his brain got a good deal of blood going through it. After Allura, it all went due south, literally.

Notes:  Personally I think volunteering to be a robeast is nuts with their odds.  Banishment?  Sure, it’s embarrassing, but it’s not the Pit of Skulls.  It’s not like on a fleet commander’s pay Yurak couldn’t have afforded a nice little fortress on some out of the way planet to live to a ripe old age with a pretty good if not somewhat dull life.  It sure beats having your ears chopped off and while you’re trying to figure out what the hell is going on because you’re suddenly deaf, looking up just in time to fire off a last round of fuck-you fire before the BS comes down on your head and cleaves you in two.  Ouch.

P.S. - Hey GA guys, this time you killed someone.  Or are you going to claim that Yurak was just a robot too?

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