When a group of highly-trained space explorers -- Keith, Lance, Pidge, Sven and Hunk -- arrive on Planet Arus, they find the planet has been devastated by the evil King Zarkon's forces. They are then captured by one of Zarkon's remaining ships and taken to Planet Doom. Imprisoned in the Doom slave dungeons, the space explorers hatch a plan to escape to Arus in hope of uncovering the secret of Voltron and resurrect the legendary defender of the universe. WRITTEN BY: Jameson Brewer TIMED BY: Helen Sosin ORIGINAL AIR DATE: September 10, 1984

There are two pilot versions of this episode. The first pilot is mostly comprised of Episode 5 “The Princess Joins Up” while the second pilot is much closer to the final version of this episode. Both versions of the pilot are featured on the Voltron – Collection 1: Blue Lion DVD set as an extra. The music in the two versions of the pilot is not featured in the final version of the episode nor the rest of the series. This is because Voltron's producers didn't like it and dropped it, deeming it too Eastern. Another composer, John Petersen, was hired to come up with new and better-fitting music, music that would be more in tune with Western sensibilities. Oops: the on-screen text 'Galaxy Garrison' early on in the episode is accidentally misspelt 'Galaxy Garrision' on the Voltron – Collection 1: Blue Lion DVD. This goof obviously was the result of a typing error when the remastered version of the episode was reconstructed from the original Golion film elements. The goof was first noticed on one of Newtype Magazine's preview discs before the DVD was released. At the time, Anime Works/Media Blasters said the spelling would be fixed on the DVD but it evidently wasn't. Either it couldn't be fixed in time for release or the misspelt version was accidentally put on the DVD. The spelling was fixed on the German Voltron – Volume 1 DVD from Anime House. The unremastered version of the episode does not feature the misspelling. As specified in one of the script's hand-written notes, the on-screen 'Galaxy Garrison' text was originally intended to be simultaneously accompanied by another line of text saying 'Planet Terra'. Zarkon's line “In just a few minutes we'll be rid of those nosy space explorers once and for all!” was originally meant to be a voice over only set against a shot of the arena. A hand-written note in the script suggests footage of Zarkon should be inserted to make the line work better; this suggestion was adhered to by lifting two shots of Zarkon from Episode 5 “The Princess Joins Up”. The sequence where Voltron battles the Robeasts during Keith's narration of the Voltron legacy was originally not intended to be featured in the scene. The script states the sequence is to be replaced with a scene from another episode, though the scene and the episode is not specified.

When Voltron was dubbed from Golion, the series suffered a number of edits, mostly to remove material that was considered objectionable or inappropriate for Voltron. However, some of the deleted material was intended to be featured in the series only to wind up on the cutting room floor anyway. This section details what deleted material was intended to be featured in "Space Explorers Captured". Also detailed here are lines of dialogue that was scripted (and likely recorded) but not present in the episode.

After Keith says all he and his friends can do now is help the Arusians rebuild their planet, he originally had one extra line: “And we'll have to protect them against Zarkon's army!” After the space explorers are captured by Zarkon's ship, Sven originally had a line at the end of the scene: “We'll need a miracle to get us out of this one!” In the panning shot of the guards outside the space explorers' dungeon, one guard was scripted to be heard saying: “Now wait for monster to finish his between meals snack.” The line was edited out because it was deemed too confusing. After Keith tells his friends they should get out of the Pit of Skulls, Hunk was originally scripted to respond to Keith by saying “I'm with you!” right before he starts wondering why the vultures dropped the space explorers into the pit. Deleted from the sequence where Zarkon angrily snarls they've been hit by a bomb was a line from Haggar in which she yells at Zarkon: “Your enemies are all escaping!” While the line was deleted from the episode it was featured in the second version of the pilot, although the word 'all' was omitted. After calling Yurak a bumbler, but before ordering him to go after the space explorers, Zarkon originally had an extra line scripted that wound up being deleted in which he shouted to Yurak: “They were your responsibility!” The start of Keith's line about Haggar splitting up Voltron was scripted slightly differently, and there was an extra line of dialogue at the end of it that wound up being deleted: “The old witch broke Voltron up into five parts...each part became a Robot Lion. She sent them flying down to Planet Arus to lie buried until somebody could find the magic secret that'd put Voltron back together again!”

Some lines of dialogue were originally scripted differently. This section details the noteworthy differences.

Haggar's line “Beware, the Castle of Lions holds the secret of Voltron!” was originally scripted as: “Beware! The Castle of Lions hold the secret for restoring the powers of Voltron!” Zarkon's line “Silence, Haggar! Voltron is no match for me!” was at one point re-written to: “Silence, witch! Even if Voltron were re-assembled he'd be no match for me!” Curiously, the original line is featured in the script in typed-up form while the re-written line was hand-written into the script but eventually crossed out. Pidge's line “Yeah, they tattooed my arm! Did they get yours too, Lance?” was originally scripted as: “Did they tattoo your arm, Lance?” In the shot of Pidge attempting to scare the vulture away from the cell window, Pidge was originally scripted to yell at the vulture: “Go on! We haven't got anything for you to eat!” The line is present in the second version of the pilot. Keith's line “Let's kiss Zarkon goodbye!” was originally scripted as: “We're gonna kiss Zarkon goodbye!” Pidge's line “A castle! I'll bet that's the legendary Castle of Lions!” was originally scripted as: “The royal palace! I'll bet that's the fabulous Castle of Lions!”

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