It was so far ahead of its time that merely watching it now makes you wonder how the heck it actually got on TV.
Before the rebooted Battlestar Galactica. Before Star Wars: The Clone Wars or Voltron: Legendary Defender, before The Expanse, there was one space opera show that was ambitious and groundbreaking in scope, both because of source material and out of necessity (more on that later). There were major character deaths, romance, a massive cast, deep world building, a serialized plot that forced the viewer to pay attention, lead characters that played with gender dynamics, interracial romance, and unflinching violence that showed the horrors of war.
Somehow, that all wound up being sold into 1985 afterschool TV as a kid’s cartoon. That show, whose legacy stands today, was Robotech.
A multi-generational sci-fi epic, Robotech was unlike anything American audiences had seen. Stitched together from three completely separate anime series by screenwriter Carl Macek, the show was completely rewritten but not dumbed down for the afterschool crowd; in fact, the final version is more complex than the source material. By evolving the core series into an interwoven narrative, Robotech’s story offers greater world building, stronger character depth, and more compelling reasons for various protagonists and antagonists to pursue the macguffin of protoculture, an energy source that can power space-warp travel, genetic engineering, and transformational technology.
In today’s TV world, this type of complexity and drama is welcomed. There’s a reason why Dave Filoni (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: Rebels) isn’t shy about the influence of Robotech on his work. But while Robotech maintains a cult following, these days it seems like more people know of it than have actually seen it. And with good reason too, given that the property’s core screen material has remained relatively stagnant since its original run. Outside of a few failed continuation attempts, further story remains outside firmly the property of comics and novels—in fact, Titan Comics has its own reboot series with its own modernized continuity.
The dearth of new material is a situation as unique as the shows origins, from an ongoing legal battle embroiling franchise owner Harmony Gold over the Macross license to the perpetual development hell of a live-action movie to a seemingly cursed string of attempted sequels. “I think for as valiant an attempt as it is for Harmony Gold to keep trying to make Robotech: Shadow Rising a thing, it really needs to give up and focus their attention on a reboot. That’s where the money is and that’s where a whole new fanbase can be found,” says Den of Geek’s Shamus Kelley. Kelley should know—he co-hosts the Roboskull podcast, which reviews each Robotech episode from both a fan (Kelley) and a newbie (podcaster Nick Cochran) perspective. “Trying to appeal to a very small set of hardcore fans isn’t going to pay off in the long run.”
Harmony Gold President of Animation Tommy Yune doesn’t think a reboot is out of the question, but won’t put a timeline on it. “My opinion is that (a reboot) is inevitable. Robotech is one of those franchises where it’s grown and lasted so long that it’s going to be retold again and again,” he told Den of Geek in late 2016. “Fans will want to hold onto their original continuity and that will be great. That’ll be there for them. But a whole new generation of fans will be able to enjoy Robotech in a new way.”
Beyond pure finances, the appetite for reboots seems to have only grown since Yune’s comment. Simply put, they’re all over TV, and while some fall flat on their face, others like Voltron: Legendary Defender are wildly successful from both a creative and viewership perspective. Harmony Gold may be uncertain about such a thing, but given the current state of sci-fi, animation, and legacy geekdom, the time is right for a Robotech reboot.
Robotech Fits Perfectly with Modern Storytelling Styles
Perhaps it’s ironic properties like Voltron and Thundercats are getting reboots that ditch the episodic monster-of-the-day lighter fare to add backstory, world, and a more mature tone. Their contemporary Robotech had them all along. “Robotech was already at a modern level of storytelling back in the ’80s. Robotech set a blueprint for the kinds of high-quality animated series we’re all enjoying now,” says Kelley. But the complexity of Robotech is multifaceted—not just in its overarching plot, but in its character relationships and the way they grew and evolved. “Even thirty years later these characters feel like real people. They all have moments that are so incredibly human, even against the backdrop of an alien war. The animation may not be what viewers expect today but the characters emotions? Those are timeless.”
With nostalgia reboots at an all time high, Robotech makes sense from another perspective: fandom. While the show enjoyed a cult following since its launch in 1985, it hasn’t experienced anything like the rabid nature of modern fandom. And yet, the show’s core principles of character, story, and cool designs make the perfect combination for modern fan culture. “These days the things hardcore fans gravitate towards the most are the characters,” says Kelley. “It’s not just because people love to dress up (although that’s a big part of it) but it’s because they love the characters they’re cosplaying as. An emphasis on character is essential in modern storytelling if you want to connect with your audience.
A New Series Could Fix the Structural Problems of the Original
The fact that Robotech exists and works as well as it does is impressive in itself. On the other hand, the producers relied on a bit of a cheat to band-aid cracks in the storytelling together: a narrator. “Adaptation is an underappreciated art form, especially when it comes to anime, but it does take a lot of control out of the writers’ hands and no amount of creativity can fix every issue,” says Kelley. “You end up having to band-aid over a lot of it either with voice over or a ton of info dumps, which Robotech is very guilty of.”
The Robotech narrator was used for all sorts of info dumping, not just setting the scene. This was critical from a storytelling perspective as footage was recontextualized to serve a much bigger purpose. In the Macross Saga (the first series), it’s used to some degree but rarely becomes as invasive as in the Masters Saga. As the middle act of Robotech, the Masters had to do massive amounts of legwork to connect what came before and what came after. Achieving that often created square-peg syndrome, and the result created some scenes that nearly collapsed under the weight of its own expository technobabble.
“At times it is a bit much, but I feel over all that without the narrator the show would not even work,” says Cochran, the newbie half of RoboSkull’s team. “You have to have an overall plot that is wholly original somehow work with only an omnipresent voice telling you that ‘no, this works, I swear’ to tie it all together, otherwise it would probably fall apart.”
A reboot, then, allows this narrative to properly breathe without the constraints of the source footage. Not only that, but with the benefit of hindsight and time, the tiniest of world elements could be expanded upon to create a more cohesive and unified whole.
30+ Years Later, the Core Story Holds Up
Even the team behind Voltron’s reboot acknowledged the relatively thin depth behind the original. It was up to them to take the core concept, find what really withstood the test of time, and pull that into the modern era. With Robotech, that problem doesn’t exist. The show, despite its production hiccups and sometimes dated elements, still holds up. The biggest testimony to this lies in the RoboSkull podcast and the fact that one half of the team is watching the series completely cold (and avoiding spoilers for the long haul). Cochran’s reactions and feelings simply aren’t tinted by nostalgia, yet he considers himself a fan now, warts and all. It’s a testament to the writing and world-building done by Macek and his team.
“The quality of the writing is something I do enjoy, all the characters feel real and like they exist, exploding off the screen and into my heart and imagination,” says Cochran. “The show is about the characters and the journey, the love stories and the friendships. When a show treats itself with respect, and the kids watching it with respect, then people will respect it. People will love it.”
Kelley, RoboSkull’s veteran fan, agreed. “I think if modern audiences who enjoy series like Voltron: Legendary Defender or Star Wars: Rebels gave it a chance? They’d find a lot to love. Even thirty years later these characters feel like real people. The animation may not be what viewers expect today but the characters emotions? Those are timeless.”
Reboot or Relaunch? Or Both?
Given all that, why hasn’t a studio picked up Robotech for a Voltron-esque reboot? The answer lies less in the ashes of failed sequels and more in the legal red tape tying up the Macross license. As most people associate Robotech with its first series, the battle over Macross would render the franchise without its most popular component. (Characters and designs for the other segments were used for new footage in various projects such as the aborted Robotech II: The Sentinels project without any legal issues.) The result would either be a reboot that would radically altered the first segment as a means of distancing itself or omitting it to background exposition.
The former is most likely the basis of the development-hell live action movie. The latter would be franchise suicide.
Or would it? Kelley thinks otherwise. In fact, he sees rebooting the Masters Saga as a way to both course-correct continuity issues and introduce it to a modern audience. “I’ve proposed,” Kelley says, “because of the legal quagmire around the Macross rights, that you could actually keep the Macross saga as is but start the reboot from Masters.”
This idea, first described during episode 30 of the RoboSkull podcast, achieves both a continuation and modern reboot in one project, and in many cases, it creates the best of both worlds: it acts simultaneously as a generational continuation of the original Macross story like Star Trek: The Next Generation or Blade Runner 2049 while also being a reboot with the flexibility of modern storytelling like Ronald D. Moore’s Battlestar Galactica.
For viewers who had only heard of the franchise, they could come in cold or familiarize themselves with Macross through the original animation (easily available on Netflix and Amazon). For fans who’ve casually known the show but only really associated it with Macross, this would provide a new experience while still tying into the old continuity, all with familiar characters. For die-hard fans, it would be a bit of a reward for their patience, as Robotech’s middle child suffered the most from adaptation and original plot problems due to its truncated Japanese production.
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Such a series would also leave the next step wide open. Continue the modern reboot by redoing the New Generation chapter? Pick up the aborted Shadow Rising project? Follow the Masters’ protagonist Dana Sterling on her post-series adventures (completely undocumented in the franchise’s primary canon and only touched upon briefly in deep-canon comics)? Or do something completely new?
Of course, the first step is to actually have anything new hit screens in the near future. Considering the only new completed projects the franchise has seen since 1985 were the mildly successful Shadow Chronicles and the glorified clip show Love Live Alive, the fact that people are still talking about Robotech is somewhat remarkable. But that’s even more of a testament to the universe Carl Macek built in the face of 1980s TV syndication requirements. Perhaps Macross Saga hero Roy Fokker probably put it best: “This Robotech stuff, it just gets in your blood or something.”
For a generation of fans, that remains true. For those that discovered the groundbreaking series through DVDs and streaming services, that also remains true. Now it’s up to Harmony Gold to actually take the next step and give Robotech the reboot it badly deserves.
Mike Chen has covered geek and pop culture for a number of popular outlets, including The Mary Sue and The Portalist. A former national sportswriter, his debut time-travel novel Here and Now and Then releases in early 2019 from MIRA Books. Visit his website or follow him on Twitter for geekery discussion, Doctor Who gifs, and many curse words.
I tend to wander around in Battletech and Mechwarrior circles and it’s interesting to see references to Harmony Gold without immediate boo and hissing! Never occurred to me they would necessarily be responsible for any Robotech rework.
They have settled their case with PGI and Catalyst Game Labs over the use of some of the older (and favored) giant stompy robot designs, so perhaps they’ll refocus their money to good rather than evil.
Given that Macross is an ongoing series, with the most recent installment having aired in 2016, it seems a little premature to be calling for a reboot. In a perfect world those IP vultures at Harmony Gold would spontaneously combust tomorrow and another company would pick up the Macross license so we could get actual localizations of all those shows we’ve been missing out on for decades.
An idea that we tossed around last year on the Allspark.com forums was to just throw out the anime designs and treat a new series as an adaptation of the Jack McKinney* novels. There’s enough material there that you could do “Robotech: Macross” while leaving “Super-Dimensional Fortress Macross” almost off-screen. Focus instead on Dr. Lang, who wasn’t even a character in the Japanese show (Macek gave a name and backstory to an extra so generic he didn’t even have a full character model –thus “Lang’s” famous blacked-out eyes), or Jonathan Wolfe or T.R. Edwards (described as “veterans” in later Robotech material), or Kazianna Hesh (as a low-ranking Zentraedi woman gradually working her way up the ranks from obscurity).
Maybe start with an in media res pilot episode, about Zor, Cabell, and an unscarred Breetai conspiring to steal the Battlefortress, ending with Zor’s sacrifice, Breetai’s capture/brainwashing, and Cabell’s absconding with the Zor clone that will become Rem…
(Also give the Robotech Elders/Masters black eyes, to foreshadow what happens to Lang and Zand.)
(* a full series-long adaptation, sequel (Sentinels), interstitials (“The Zentraedi Rebellion,” “Before the Invid Storm”) and conclusion (“End of the Circle”) written by Brian Daley and James Luceno.)
I’d love to see a new Macross series a-la Voltron, but I don’t think it ever happens. Harmony Gold exists anymore to try and make money off of litigating anyone who things of doing anything.
It’s like Lorraine Dille Williams for Buck Rogers, Sweetpea for D&D, and Red Eagle for Wheel of Time rolled up into one.
Speaking of all those, who owns the TV rights to Dresden Files anymore?
I thought that I wanted things, but after the nostalgia pummeling this article just delivered to my soul, I realize that I’ve never wanted anything so much in my life.
I loved and own all of the McKinney novels (or nearly–can’t remember if I am missing one of the late bridging novels). However, when I tried to watch the series, the animation style and the voice acting (at least of the sub I could find) were too abyssmal to stand for more than a episode or two. However, there IS a GREAT storyline in the novels, that I would love to see come to tv or film. Especially if it could make it to the payoff in novel 18.
The best thing for Macross will almost certainly be the expiration of what rights to it that Harmony Gold actually holds (far fewer than they have been historically claiming, as has recently been revealed).
As for Robotech, assuming there are enough elements to it that are original IP owned entirely by Harmony Gold for such a project to be viable at all, a reboot would probably have to be more of a re-imagining than a traditional reboot.
Wow, this is the first time I have seen any amount of love for Southern Cross or Mospaeda (don’t remember what the North American equivalents are) as part of Robotech. They were fine on their own, but didn’t weave into a single story all that well (and what’s Robotech without Veritechs?!?!). Even as a youngling I saw strains and contortions needed to pretend it was all one organic whole.
Also, I thought Space Battleship Yamato had made it to the United States before Robotech as Star Blazers? I would say that was an earlier example of an anime with a long running story, real stakes, emotional growth and the violence of war. I’ve never seen the Star Blazers version, but surely it didn’t hack out all that drama?
I’ve read that Harmony Gold’s rights for Macross expire in 2022/2023, so after that, we could get the more recent sequels legally. (I thought that Frontier was a great sequel to Macross. I haven’t seen Delta yet.)
@9: 2021 in all the sources that I have seen.
Delta was mediocre, IMHO. Frontier ended in a really interesting place in terms of worldbuilding, then Delta just kinda took a very culturally-conservative step backwards off-camera (and didn’t explain until an infodump in the last run of episodes).
As much as I’ve grown to love Macross, it and Robotech just aren’t compatible; they’re like alternate-reality versions of each other.
One of the most interesting things about Robotech (to me, at least) is how you can see the very clear line between Japanese sci-fi (Macross, Southern Cross, Mospeada) and Western sci-fi (Sentinels, the bridging novels). Macross is about assimilationism, where everyone is the same (or wants to be the same, as in the case of the Zentraedi and Invid both ultimately either becoming indistinguishable from humans or up and vanishing entirely), and where such conformity is seen as both good and necessary, as reflecting monocultural and mono-ethnic* Japan.
Robotech (and the Sentinels saga in particular) is much more deliberately multicultural/multiracial/multispecies, and treats that as the normal and proper way of things. You’ll never see Karbarrans, Spherisians, Haydonites, Perytonians, Praxians, or Invid in Macross –and you certainly wouldn’t see a group like the Sentinels. Note that Macross’ Zentraedi are explicitly a human-related species (or rather, humans and Zentraedi [and the other human-like aliens seen in Delta] are descended from the human-like Protoculture), and the only explicitly alien intelligences, the Vajra, are revealed to have gone into voluntary exile so that humans and aliens don’t need to interact with each other. It wouldn’t be “proper” or “comfortable.”
(* er, that footnote was supposed mention the Ainu, who are pretty much pointedly ignored in all modern Japanese media.)
Harmony Gold’s rights to Macross expire in 2021, at which point the original Japanese rights-holders can re-let the rights to an American distributor to release the original Macross show and it’s myriad sequels and prequels (Macross Zero, Macross 7, Macross Frontier, even the non-canon Macross II) on DVD, Blu-Ray, streaming etc.
At that point Robotech will, I suspect, effectively cease to exist, as will Harmony Gold which only really survives on the coat-tails of its Robotech material.
The reasons for that is that Macross now has more material than Robotech, it has a more comprehensible storyline (it feels weird to say that about a Japanese property versus an American one, but there you go), it directly evolves from the original storyline and continues the story of some of the original iconic characters rather than dropping them for vast amounts of time (like Robotech did). The original Robotech fanbase is also now too small to really make a big fuss about this, and are now outnumbered by the huge number of anime fans who have refused to watch Robotech on principle for Harmony Gold’s behaviour but will pick up a proper OG Macross release in droves.
I’m a fan of Robotech and it’d be a shame to see that take on the material (particularly the excellent novels by Brian Daley and James Luceno) disappear, but times change and what Carl Macek did in 1985 is really not acceptable in 2018, and it’ll be good to see the story as the original Japanese creators envisaged it, not to mention the by-now large amounts of material whose release in the West has been blocked by Harmony Gold for decades.
A reboot of Robotech? I don’t think there’s time. Netflix are the mostly likely to bankroll it, but there’s no way they’ll pour money into the project knowing it might never even get finished because the rights will abruptly disappear in just three years. The movie also sounds like it’s stumbling, and will either not be made or will be completely different to the original story to avoid the copyright problems.
Gimme a live action take on Macross: Do You Remember love? and I’m sold. That’s pretty much the reason I’m an anime fan today, and after tracking a copy down the animation at least remains stonkingly good today, and it doesn’t do a bad job of dropping you right into the action as the Macross/SDF-1 attempts to make it home….
I’d rather see a reboot of Battle of the Planets and/or Gatchaman, myself.
@15, Another one ?
Ah, well, I guess I missed the recent one. I saw the ’90s OVA, but hadn’t noticed anything making it out of development hell after that. Is it any good?
@17 Keith Rose I don’t follow Gatchaman enough to know about any reboots, but the live action movie from 2013 was only so-so.
I actually wish Japan would stop doing live action versions of classic space opera anime. Because they have a smaller potential audience, the budgets can’t match the best Hollywood CGI-fests and the Japanese movies look cheap by comparison. I had this problem with Attack on TItan and Space Battleship Yamato recently too. Also, the over the top, super melodrama of anime seems kind of cheesy when translated to live action.
I dont think we need either to be completely honest. The show alone is perfect and nothing could beat the original but of course we are still waiting on our live action that was promised.
@17 Keith Rose Gatchaman Crowds and Gatchaman Crowds: Insight were really fascinating shows. Not at all what I expected but beautifully animated with really compelling stories.
Sometimes dead is better…
I was hesitant to watch Volton Legendary Defender, But the first episode had blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameos from Rick, Max, Miriya and (separately) Roy Fokker. That was enough to keep me watching long enough to get hooked. And, oh, how I have enjoyed watching all the seasons so far.
Great article. I never really watched this show in the 80’s. By 85 I was 15 and could not be bothered with after school cartoons. However, I was a huge fan of Star Blazers which came earlier for the same reasons you state for Robotech. Did that show inspire this one?
@17, as I recall to date there have been three Gatchaman series, three dubs, the OAV and the live action which I’ve never seen. At this point I feel further material will send us all off the deep end of confusion.
Who is it? Who is it? Indeed!
i loved the 1st gen story arch but had trouble getting into the second gen, not knowing what happened to Rick and Lisa. I saw a clip of the wedding but couldnt find the episode or movie it was in.
I’ve been watching Robotech for the first time.just recently. It’s pretty decent so far. I dunno, being a longtime Battletrch fan Harmony Gold just raises my hackles but I’m giving the series a chance. However, deep down I do still hope HG loses the licence and is blown to the four winds so Macros can come to North America at last.
As a long time Robotech fan, I think the best thing is for a reboot of the franchise. I would also cut ties with the original art as well since HG is losing it soon. The reboot would create a new (but reminiscent) visual plus have better continuity and an updated story. Imagine totally new mecha, Valkyries that looked more like F’25 Raptors, updated Zentradi, etc. The time is right to reboot the series for a new generation.
I love Robotech, any kind of reboot would be awesome. I liked the Sentinels novels, I wish that series would have been successful.
The authors idea about the gap years is great. A Southern Cross reboot that goes through the Masters to the arrival of the Invid. Or spend some more time on Earth after the Zentraedi ships crash all over.
Macros is cool, but it’s not the same. I really liked Frontier, watched most of the rest of them. They’re all very space opera (repetitively so), more than Robotech. I don’t think having them officially released in the states would change much.
Disclosure: In 1985 I encountered the name “Robotech” first as the line of plastic models from Revell, then the McKinney novelizations from Del Rey, and only then (and in fragments) the TV show, so I don’t suffer the allergic reaction many SF/mecha/anime fans do. TV!Robotech has problems, indubitably (wall-to-wall incidental music, Lynn Minmei’s English-language singing, the mismatch between animation and narration), but I don’t let them poison my appreciation for Novel!Robotech.
Since “Protoculture as organic-magical energy source” is a Robotech invention, that’s one of the things a reboot would need to emphasize, firewalling itself from the Macross elements. “Humans, post-near-extinction, become dependent on it, but they’re not fully aware of who else craves its limited supply” is another element (expressed mostly through the Southern Cross chapter) which is a perfectly decent premise for a story — just look at Dune. (Although, now that I write it that way, it sounds like an idea from Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001).)
For “other visual SF that uses the themes of Robotech” I get a good feeling from “Independence Day: Resurgence” (2016) — Earth is assaulted, humans rebuild with alien technology, including hybrid fighter jets.
The big challenge for any Robotech reboot, as I see it, is one of plausibility: transforming human mecha. In any anime, they exist almost exclusively to serve “rule of cool” and associated merchandise — it’s tough to see any military purpose that isn’t better served by single-mode vehicles with the same basic tech (engine power, armor, antigravity, whatnot). In the first eps of Robotech, Roy tells Rick, “that’s why we built the Battloids — to fight these giant aliens” (and, what, play pianos?) — but the hand-to-hand infantry rationale becomes untenable after defeat of the Zentraedi. The Macek-McKinney story has a backup explanation — transformation is inherent when using Protoculture, or in its vicinity. (That handwave falls apart a bit because none of their adversaries use transforming mecha; and in Japan, the Macross stories merely ask us to believe that, for 60 years and five generations of tech, human military doctrine favors variable fighters over all else. With increasingly baroque transformations, to boot; but that’s Shoji KAWAMORI for you.)
The way to fix a reimagining: start with Mospeada, rather than ending with it, and leave open all of the Macross sequels as part of the universe. Macross already included the concept that there had been a previous war that main characters had fought in, and Southern Cross ends with the characters going into orbit and bringing down an alien ship. You could even fold in the Macross Zero prequel (who discovered the Protoculture ruins that attracted aliens in the first place) into a “Southern Cross” concept fighting the Inbit in the South Pacific.
The other option: ditch Robotech as a concept, and just embrace the wider Macross universe.
@30 — I also first encountered Robotech through the Revell models, and then through seeing the designs used in BattleTech. I was aware of the cartoon, but unfortunately never got a chance to watch it back in the day (except for the VHS tape I bought at Musicland for about $30 (in late 1980s dollars) that had the first two episodes on it).
I’m happy it’s currently streaming on Netflix, not least because the Netflix stream includes subtitles, which have never been on any of the DVD releases as far as I’m aware; someday I will actually watch the entire series.
Star Blazers/Space Battleship Yamato was one of the first anime to try for more serious SF than the monster-of-the-week shows that were its contemporaries, so to some extent, yes. Mobile Suit Gundam, which first applied the more SFnal approach to giant robot shows and is a definite inspiration for Macross, is the link between the two.
@30. The RPG from Palladium (which was based on the novels but didn’t really align with them, essentially becoming a side-continuity) pointed out that the post-RDF veritechs were much smaller than the earlier models (as is visible when comparing scales in Mospeada), since they didn’t have to fight full-sized Zentraedi. An Alpha-battloid is about knee-high to a Zentraedi, and the Betas are only bigger because they’re carrying boosters and ordnance that can’t be compressed.
(The RPG also introduced micronized/human-scaled REF battlepods, which are adorable.)
For their part, both the RPG and original-flavour Macross take the stance that humans already had humanoid mecha before reverse-engineering the SDF, so they’re not as “special” as they are in Robotech (which had to justify its use of super-robot tropes which would already have been familiar to Japanese audiences).
#31/Sue — Yes, I can see how MOSPEADA/”The Road to Reflex Point” would be a structurally convenient entry-point.
It’s a road trip, so it has the structure to deliver milieu background in measured doses. (The problem with its use in TV!Robotech is that the visual background wasn’t from “Southern Cross” and “Macross” — no burned-out Hovertanks or Bioroids, no crashed Zentraedi warships, no installations with RDF insignia.) A road trip is episodic, so it can be adjusted to fit the size of the project (one movie, 6×30-episode seasons like “Voltron: Legendary Defender”, 13×60 live action, etc.) — the remainder can be expressed as montages or via Rand’s “Notes from the Road” (an invention of the epigraphic chapter headings in the McKinney novelizations).
The ensemble can be adjusted to delete anybody whose particular talents don’t serve the chosen story. (The Lancer/Yellow Dancer character is a head-scratcher for Americans unfamiliar with kabuki theater — and if he were included, IMHO they’d need to emphasize the “singing” theme of the saga.)
As mecha, the Ride Armor (Cyclone) transforming motorcycle has plausible use-cases — handles paved roads or rough terrain, has jump jets, amplifies the power of a single soldier or small team to face much larger adversaries. If the project needed to simplify, it could dispense with the Legios/Tread (Alpha/Beta) fighters.
@26: The wedding was in The Sentinels, which was supposed to be a full sequel to the original series but was cancelled after 3 episodes.
@28: Argh, no. The mecha designs in the original were cool and they never equalled them afterwards (I believe one of the reasons they did Macross Zero was to bring back the classic designs).
I’e been so soured on the Robotech franchise by the actions of Harmony Gold and Palladium Books (one of their licensors) that I would just as soon see Robotech die with the end of Harmony Gold’s licence and open the way for the original material (particularly Macross) to see wider and more complete western release. I would love to see a proper, legal subbed and dubbed release of the Macross: Frontier series in the US, for example.
I was a huge fan when it came out in Canada, but I’m sure I watched it before 1985, as I used to rush home in grade 7 or 8 to watch it after school. As a huge Star Wars fan, having Mark Hamil voicing Commander Ricky Hunter was an added massive bonus. I watched it again a few years ago on either netflix or crunchy roll and was shocked at how much singing was involved–I seem to have blocked that out of my childhood recollections, lol. Still, it was a quality story, and very much before its time, I agree on that.
As for a reboot, I’d definitely watch one. I’ve talked with net friends, most of them saw the same cartoon in essence, but with a far different voice cast that for me at least, proved unwatchable. I think it was called Macross, Minmae spoke with a heavy Chinese accent, and there was no Mark Hamil voicing the protagonist Rico Hunter (I think he also had a different name in that version.) Additionally, the score for the version I grew up watching was amazing. I still find it to be so, the Macross music was weak by comparison.
I hope they keep that score for any remake. If they do things at all similar I’d ask that Minmae sings a more up to date type of music. The voice actor had a passable voice, mind you, but I still get negative chills hearing that song, “To Be in Love,” and even typing this I can hear that horrid music crushing my brain. The others were as terribad or even worse, and so omnipresent as a plot device that there was no escaping hearing them during my rewatch.
Aye, verily newer material on that count would be most welcome: that genre of music was most out of place in a kid’s cartoon. Indeed. (My best Jeremiah Gottwald impression, lol, ; ) )
Somehow, autoscrewup, aka, autocorrect changed “Rick ” to Ricky and then Rico. My apologies.
If they are going to do this, they should start with a mini-series about the war on earth before the ship crashed, giving more insight into the relationship of Roy and Edwards. It should start with Roy leaving the Flying Circus. This would help the lead in with Sentinels.
The story is there for Macross, just needs some updates. Facetime instead of a rolling video call robot for example. Also the Zentraidi rebellion would be awesome to see and provide a better seque into what happens in Southern Cross and the Sentinels.
The Sentinals and Southern Cross parts should cross episodes, since they were suppose to be around the same time. Having Max and Miriya think about Dana and what she is doing on earth along with more about the Wolfpack and Bowie’s parents. And also what happens with Dana and Bowie after the ending of Southern Cross.
The Mospeada/Third Generation also needs updating and should continue the story of the Sentinals and how the task force was started in the first attack. Basically filling in all the parts that are mixed.
I own all the books and multiple versions off the dvds. I would love if this works out and it is rebooted. I was shocked by the new Voltron and hope it will be as good if it gets done. There are so many ways this can go, taking the books or even using the Shadow Chronicles as the fifth (Macross, Sentinels, Southern Cross, and Third Generation) series and going from there. I hope this works out now.
Have to watch the series again!
Greg Gauvereau? Hello. Jonathan Reiter here… I also watched that series… The voice actress you’re thinking is Rebecca Forstadt or Rebecca West. She bashed my eardrums also…
@30 – In-universe, Macross kept the transforming mecha because the Zentraedi threat didn’t end with the destruction of the Bodol fleet in Earth Orbit – that was just one of thousands of similarly sized fleets. Every installment of Macross set after Space War 1 has combat against rogue Zentraedi – Plus (fight at the start of the first episode/movie), 7 (Chlore’s fleet that gets swept off their feet by Basara’s singing), the three canon tie-in games for Plus and 7 (M3, VF-X, VF-X2), Frontier (the Qamzin clone leading the mutiny wants to go join the raiding fleets), and while Delta’s Zentraedi battle is due to mind-control, it’s mentioned that one of the reasons Winderemere decided to kick the Earthlings out was that they were demanding too much of a tribute in men to go protect other planets from Zentraedi, which meant that entirely too many of the ruling caste were off planet rather than ruling or raising families.
Out of universe, it’s of course because Kawamori loves to work out how to make them, and the toy companies love selling them. But there is a not-all-that-flimsy justification that actually works within the show…
Live action high quality series please! HBO or Hulu – thanks :)
Ugh, do we really need to reboot everything? Cant we just leave stuff to stand on it’s own and create some NEW stuff? I cant put into words how sick I am of reboots, reimaginings, prequels and sequels.
It’s like people have no imaginations and just want to keep (poorly) remaking the same stuff that’s been done already. When is someone going to make a completely NEW cinematic universe to rival Star Wars or Star Trek but completely fresh and new? Probably not for a long time because all the money just gets funneled into “safe projects like another Star Wars movie or yet another reboot or another comic book movie….
I love your blatant nostalgia for Robotech. I think what the late great Karl Macek did for fandom with this patchwork show was amazing, and that the product is amazing for it’s time. It all leans on the original SDF Macross, which holds up to the test of time very well, and is an amazing show. I’ve seen the uncut SDC Southern Cross and in my opinion Macek improved it greatly, and did no harm to GC Mospaeda, other than changing it. He created something special, and it is beautiful.
The real question is how many people are willing to forgive Harmony Gold for all the harm they have caused the fans? Not just fans of Robotech, but fans of the sequels to the original franchises, and of related franchises. Their will to litigate over practically anything is well known in the world of fandom.
Here is another consideration as well. There have been sequels before and they have SUCKED. Robotech the Sentinels was terrible. Robotech the Shadow Chronicles has been known to cause severe pain.. or something. I could only watch ten minutes of it before complete boredom set in.
Can HG raise enough money to bring this thing in the RIGHT way, and then somehow deflate the fans anger at them? Can a reboot survive without the support of the hard core fans? Maybe. I think it would be cool if they succeed, but their track record without Macek at the helm is pretty damn abysmal. They have an open field for 3 more years, then someone else can finally take a hand at this franchise. Thank god.
Reboot? What are you talking about? Macross is a series that is alive and well outside of the US. It’s because of Harmony Gold that we can’t have any of that good stuff over here. Robotech can’t become rebooted because it’s spliced together from an anime franchise that’s still going on right now with completely separate copyright and licenses. I rather Harmony Gold just keep their hands away from Macross forever. The only reason they are holding on to the license for dear life is waiting for Sony to make that live action movie so they can get their pay day.