Robotech
Robotech, although it is actually a sort of medley, heavily rewritten moreover, of three different animated series and not necessarily connected to each other, has obtained what can be easily called an "unexpected success" at the turn of the '80s and' 90. For many people, Robotech was one of the first anime to follow without too many problems, thanks to its heterogeneous episodic nature, as well as being one of the first "cartoon" productions distributed in Italy to be based on stories focused on more adult themes, such as love, mourning, war and death.This huge epic in mecha sauce, which turns out to be very dear to those who were children in the years of their early programming, was fundamentally divided in three main sections, more or less mirroring the original series from which they originated: The Macross Saga, based on the original Japanese Super Dimension Fortress Macross, The Master Saga, deriving from Super Dimension Cavalry Souther Cross and The New Generation, which takes form starting from Genesis Climber Mospeada.
This whole huge epic (whose design you can learn more about, thanks to the volume “Robotech Visual Archive: The Ma cross Saga "available at this Amazon link), is out in Blue-ray version, in a Collector's Edition of the work consisting of 13 discs that contains, in addition of course to the three entire sagas distributed with the 36 episodes of Macross in the first five discs, the 24 of Southern Cross on four and the remaining 25 episodes of Mospeada on the last five supports. More obviously also some interesting additional features, almost all allocated on the last disc of each of the three series. All this, at the moment, is available at the “modest sum” of 250 dollars. An Italian edition is not planned at the moment, but hoping that things will unlock in the near future costs nothing.
Visually, Blu-rays represent a clear improvement over previous DVD releases, offering a definition and cleanliness of the original images never before achieved. A new way of seeing the whole saga, at least in the way that we were able to get to know us, who grew up in those years, and final recipients, useless to try to deny it, of these publications with a nostalgic flavor.
ROBOTECH Might Be the Most Unlikely Hit in History
It’s one of the best and easiest times to be an English-speaking anime fan. Between the now-merged Funimation and Crunchy Roll, you can pretty much find any and all animation from Japan you could want. Dubs or subs, you’ve got access to a whole plethora. Didn’t used to be the case, of course. Until fairly recently, if you came across anime in North America, it was recut, redubbed, and often entirely rewritten versions. Speed Racer was the Americanized version of Mach Go Go Go; Space Battleship Yamato became Star Blazers, stuff like that. However the most popular of these would arguably be Robotech, an animated series culled from a whopping three totally separate original anime series. The entire show is available now on Blu-ray from Funimation, and it’s a fascinating ride.
Robotech is a franchise from Harmony Gold, a burgeoning TV and film production company. One of its original remits was to import foreign entertainment to the United States. The company hired Carl Macek to adapt Japanese animated series. His choice was the 1982 series Super Dimension Fortress Macross, a show featuring a love triangle set against humans fighting against alien invaders with the help of jet fighters that turn into halfway mechs.
Unfortunately for Macek, Macross only had 36 episodes, far fewer than the 65 minimum needed for syndication. He would have to supplement it with two other series: 1984’s Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, and 1983’s Genesis Climber MOSPEADA. Those shows have 23 and 25 episodes, respectively. With all of these together, plus some judicious reconfiguring, you get 85 episodes of Robotech. The problem is, of course, these three series are effectively unrelated. While Southern Cross was also in the Super Dimension metaseries (the third to Macross‘ first entry), MOSPEADA was not part of anything.
The cover of Funimation's Robotech Collector's Edition box set, depicts pilot Rick Hunter in his flight suit on the cover.
Funimation
The decision then became, how would these three similar yet disparate shows become one? This necessitated splitting the story of Robotech into three different sagas. Each saga takes place at a different time in Earth’s future history and concerns each of the three Robotech Wars. In order to tie all three together despite different characters and types of robotic mecha, the writers decided that each war would be for the powerful energy source “Protoculture.”
Story continues
Part one, “The Macross Saga,” concerns humanity’s discovery of a crashed alien ship and subsequent battle against a race of giant warriors called the Zentraedi. We meet a young pilot named Rick Hunter as he first gets in the cockpit of a strange transforming jet fighter. He soon rescues a young singer named Lynn Minmei and as the fight to save humanity takes off, we get a lot of interpersonal drama between the people as they fight the Zentraedi. The would-be romance between Rick and Minmei hits a snag when Rick meets First Officer Lisa Hayes.
Earth nearly succumbs to the Zentraedi, but as you might expect, the good guys win. In the process, they learn about protoculture and the so-called Robotech Masters. This leads directly into part two of the series, “The Masters Saga,” set 15 years later. Here we see the arrival in Earth orbit of the Robotech Masters, who have come seeking what turns out to be the sole means in the universe of producing protoculture. After some poor diplomacy, the Masters spark a war with humanity. Among the Army of the Southern Cross are 2nd Lts. Dana Sterling and Bowie Grant, who pilot this portion of the story’s signature mechs.
Blu-ray covers for the three full sagas of Robotech: The Macross Saga, The Masters Saga, and The New Generation Saga.
Funimation
At the end of the Second Robotech War, Earth is covered in the spores of a plant called the Flower of Life. This flower, turns out, is the source of protoculture and a beacon to the mysterious Invid who scour the galaxy for its presence. The Invid eventually land on Earth 12 years later for the final Robotech War. “The New Generation Saga” finds the Invid totally in control of Earth.
This section feels the least connected to the previous two. However, fairly ingeniously, the first two sections have little references that set up how this one starts. We learn many of the heroes of the First Robotech War had left Earth to seek out the Robotech Masters on a preemptive mission. This Robotech Expeditionary Force sends missions back from across the galaxy to attempt a liberation of their homeworld. The storyline follows one group of freedom fighters as they work their way towards the final battle with the Invid.
A model Veritech toy from Robotech in a box along with a figure of ith a small figure of pilot Fokker.
Funimation
Obviously, with three separate TV shows all rolled together, Robotech feels a bit disjointed if you watch it all in succession. For most people, “The Macross Saga” is the one to watch. It’s the one that’s the most, to them, Robotech. Indicative of this is how Rick Hunter in his flight gear and his jet fighter are still the images most often associated with it. You can tell Macek cared the most about bringing Macross to television even when you watch it 36 years later.
That said, I think the second and third sections have some great characters. Dana and Bowie in “The Masters Saga” are a great one-two, and the mech design is my favorite of the bunch. “The New Generation Saga” has Scott Bernard as its hero and he’s just an overall badass, plus the transforming motorcycle mechs are likewise pretty dope.
Robotech has made its way to home media several times over the years, in various formats. In 2019, FUNimation got the rights, and it’s through them that we have this absolutely gorgeous collector’s edition set. In addition to all 85 episodes, conveniently split up into their respective sagas, you also get four embroidered patches, and a 1/100 scale transformable VF-1S Veritech Fighter, as piloted by Roy Fokker in “The Macross Saga.” It even comes with a Roy Fokker figure, though not small enough to fit in the cockpit.
The full complete Robotech Collector's Edition box set includes box, three Blu-ray sets of the different sagas (comprising a total of 13 discs), four patches, and a Veritek model.
The series looks and sounds gorgeous on Blu-ray, and really lets you experience Robotech in the best possible way. I only saw a few episodes in my youth, so watching it now feels like a brand new experience. Even if you’re iffy on dubbed anime, it’s a fascinating piece of animation history, when a company felt like bringing grown up animation to a different country and market it directly to kids. And by gum, it works.
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!
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