Did Voltes V Inspire Anti-Nuclear Activism?

Given Ronald Reagan’s September 21, 1987 speech at the 42^nd General Assembly of the UN eerily reminiscent of a Voltes V episode, did Voltes V inspire the 1980s anti-nuclear activism?

By: Ringo Bones 

It may be such a weird idea given that the weapons and energy technology featured in Voltes V is a generation ahead and therefore much more dangerous in the hands of the unenlightened in comparison to the nuclear energy utilizations and the nuclear weapons arsenal we currently have, it seems an anathema that the first few episodes of Voltes V seem to hints that mankind is at a dangerous path when it comes to stockpiling thermonuclear weapons. When it first aired back in 1977, the prospect of an all-out thermonuclear exchange between the United States and the then Soviet Union seems inevitable given the weapons treaties in existence at the time. But, nonetheless, did Voltes V inspire anti-nuclear activism that led to the widespread anti-nuclear protests of the 1980s? 

For those who remembered the then US President Ronald Reagan’s September 21, 1987 speech during the 42^nd General Assembly of the United Nations General Assembly in which he said: “I occasionally think how quickly our differences, worldwide, would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world.”The first few episodes of Voltes V which aired back in 1977 is eerily reminiscent of Reagan’s 1987 speech when Voltes V inventor Dr. Armstrong did the same in front of the UN General Assembly about the looming Bozanian threat that only Voltes V can stop – which in the story’s timeline was set at 1989. Sometimes, I too wonder if the then governor of California saw the first few episodes of Voltes V back in 1977. Well, it seems that we’ll never know if Reagan was a secret Voltes V fan given that he never mentioned it in his memoirs.