Online Encyclopedia
Robotech
Robotech, an 85-episode science-fiction television series about three successive invasions of Earth from space, was one of the first anime released in the United States to preserve the complexity and drama of its original Japanese source material. Dubbed into English and released by the Harmony Gold corporation, Robotech fused the story lines of three different mecha anime series (with some modifications): The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross and Genesis Climber Mospeada. The reasoning for combining these unrelated series was that the American TV stations had a minimum number of episodes (65) for weekday syndication at the time, and none of the three series met that requirement alone.
This combination resulted in a storyline that spanned three generations: The characters in the Macross saga, their children in the Southern Cross saga, and their descendants in the New Generation saga as they in success must fight three destructive wars over a powerful energy source called protoculture. The result is a surprisingly coherent story that resolves plot threads left unresolved in the earlier series. In particular, Southern Cross was originally intended to be a massive, be-all-end-all space opera, but ran out of money before it could be completed. Its inclusion in Robotech actually increased fan respect for Southern Cross.
There was also a novelization series, written by "Jack McKinney", a pseudonym for Brian Daley and James Luceno , which included extensive quotes from fictitious books and fleshed out the chronology in more detail.
Harmony Gold attempted to produce an original sequel series called Robotech II: The Sentinels, but only three episodes were made. The project fell through due to problems with the toy licensing and changes in the Japanese yen-US Dollar exchange rate, among other reasons.
Two different versions of the Sentinels saga were chronicled in the McKinney novels and a comic book series.
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Robotech and Macross
As stated above, the Robotech series's beginning segment is based on The Super Dimension Fortress Macross (Chō Jikū Yōsai Makurosu), a series co-created by Shōji Kawamori of Studio Nue. This original series became Robotech: the Macross Saga when it was combined into the Robotech continuity developed by Carl Macek and Harmony Gold. From this root, two different chronologies and bodies of works were developed:
- the Macross (Studio Nue) chronology
- the Robotech (Harmony Gold) chronology
The tables below try to highlight the common points and the differences between both lines. They were created from the FAQ of the Caltech Anime Society, the timeline of anime.net and the A Note on Macross Continuity web page. The years refer to the calendar of the "inner" history (i.e. inside the fiction).
Macross (Studio Nue) Chronology
The "Macross (Studio Nue) Chronology" is described in the Macross detailed article.
| Year | Opus |
|---|---|
| 1999-2012 | The Super Dimension Fortress Macross |
| 2008 | Macross Zero |
| 2012 | The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Flash Back 2012 |
| 2031 | The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love? (release of the movie) |
| 2040 | Macross Plus |
| 2045-2046 | Macross 7 |
| 2046 | Macross 7 Trash (manga) |
| 2046 | Macross 7: The Galaxy's Calling Me! (movie) |
| 2047 | Macross Dynamite 7 |
| 2047 | Macross Digital Mission VF-X (video game) |
| 2050 | Macross VF-X2 (video game) |
| Parallel World | The Super Dimension Fortress Macross II: Lovers, Again |
Note: Do You Remember Love? is an "internal" movie to the Macross world, released in 2031 and telling a story that takes place in 2009.
Robotech (Harmony Gold) Chronology
The "Robotech (Harmony Gold) chronology" is described in the present article, the timeline is described in the Robotech Wars detailed article.
| Year | Opus |
|---|---|
| 1999 - 2014 | Robotech: The Macross Saga (1985) |
| 2022-2044 | Robotech II: The Sentinels* (1989) |
| 2027 | Robotech: The Movie - The Untold Story* (1988) |
| 2029-2030 | Robotech: The Robotech Masters (1985) |
| 2042-2044 | Robotech: The New Generation (1985) |
| After 2044 | Robotech: Shadow Force (2005) |
Note: Asterisked works are now considered "secondary continuity," that is that their events exist in the continuity of Robotech but "don't count" when conflicts arise with the "main continuity" that are the three-part Robotech TV series (four with the addition of 2005's ).
Comic books
A little known Robotech:Defenders limited comic book series was published in 1984 based on the Revell line of plastic models. This series of models actually combines mecha designs from Macross, Orguss and Dougram. It bears no relation to the Harmony Gold series and actually predates the animated series by about a year. The series was published by DC Comics.
Five other companies have published Robotech related comics
Comico (1985-1989)
- Macross Saga
- Masters
- New Generation
- Graphic Novel
Eternity (1989-1993)
- Robotech II: The Sentinels (drawn by John and Jason Waltrip)
- Legend of Zor
- Malcontent Uprisings
- Cyberpirates
- Invid War
Academy (1993-1995)
- Robotech II: The Sentinels (continued)
- Return to Macross
- Invid War: Aftermath
- Robotech: Clone
- Robotech: Mordecai
Antarctic Press (1995-1998)
These stories consisted chiefly of stand alone side stories and spinoffs featuring mostly the original Macross saga characters. Most of the stories were strongly revisionist in nature and sometimes involved established characters acting slightly out of character, even occasionally to the point of camp. Because of Antarctic's decision not to enlist the talents of John and Jason Waltrip and finish The Sentinels (which by the end of its Academy run was 80% complete storywise), many fans are highly critical of Antarctic press' Robotech comics, most notably Sentinel's Rubicon, which theoretically picks up many years after the Sentinels story would have concluded. Deemed incomprehensible without knowing the outcome of the Sentinels story, Rubicon ended abrubptly two issues into a proposed series. In general, Antarctic press Robotech comics are widely considered the least popular Robotech comics.
Wildstorm (DC) (2003-present)
The first arc of stories cover the years leading up to the episode Boobytrap, the first Robotech episode. This was followed by a series of story arcs offering background information on the existing characters to supplement the episodes.
Failed sequels
A theatrical film, Robotech the Movie was created between the premiere of the original series and the aborted production of "Sentinels". It used footage from the animated video Mega Zone 23 spliced with Southern Cross, and had only a tenuous link to the television series. It disappeared after a brief test run in several Texas theaters.
Despite the failure of Sentinels, producer Carl Macek later revealed ideas for a third series, Robotech III: The Odyssey, which would pad the number of episodes for all three series out to 240. The idea was that the last episode of Odyssey would lead into the first of the original Robotech, and since there are 240 weekdays in a year, a viewer who started watching the show would end up right back where they started, one year later. Odyssey never went into production, though some of its ideas were worked into the McKinney book The End of the Circle.
Another sequel attempt was made with the development of Robotech 3000. Again, it was a failed attempt and the idea was dumped though a trailer exists on the official Robotech website.
Episode List
The Macross Saga
- Boobytrap
- Countdown
- Spacefold
- The Long Wait
- Transformation
- Blitzkrieg
- Bye-Bye Mars
- Sweet Sixteen
- Miss Macross
- Blind Date
- First Contact
- The Big Escape
- Blue Wind
- Gloval's Report
- Homecoming
- Battle Cry
- Phantasm
- Farewell, Big Brother
- Bursting Point
- Paradise Lost
- A New Dawn
- Battle Hymn
- Reckless
- Show Down
- Wedding Bells
- The Messenger
- Force Of Arms
- Reconstruction Blues
- Robotech Masters
- Viva Miriya
- Khyron's Revenge
- Broken Heart
- A Rainy Night
- Private Time
- Season's Greetings
- To The Stars
The Robotech Masters
- Dana's Story
- False Start
- Southern Cross
- Volunteers
- Half Moon
- Danger Zone
- Prelude To Battle
- The Trap
- Metal Fire
- Stardust
- Outsiders
- Deja Vu
- A New Recruit
- Triumvirate
- Clone Chamber
- Love Song
- The Hunters
- Mind Game
- Dana In Wonderland
- Crisis Point
- Day Dreamer
- Final Nightmare
- The Invid Connection
- Catastrophe
The New Generation
- The Invid Invasion
- The Lost City
- Lonely Soldier Boy
- Survival
- Curtain Call
- Hard Times
- Paper Hero
- Eulogy
- The Genesis Pit
- Enter Marlene
- The Secret Route
- The Fortress
- Sandstorms
- Annie's Wedding
- Separate Ways
- Metamorphosis
- The Midnight Sun
- Ghost Town
- Frostbite
- Birthday Blues
- Hired Gun
- The Big Apple
- Reflex Point
- Dark Finale
- Symphony Of Light
Novel List (publishing order)
- Genesis
- Battle Cry
- Homecoming
- Battle Hymn
- Forces of Arms
- Doomsday
- Southern Cross
- Metal Fire
- The Final Nightmare
- Invid Invasion
- Metamorphosis
- Symphony of Light
- The Devil's Hand
- Dark Powers
- Death Dance
- World Killers
- Rubicon
- End of the Circle
- Zentraedi Rebellion
- The Masters Gambit
- Before the Invid Storm
Releases
Robotech was originally released in 1985 in first-run syndication, meaning it was sold directly to local television stations without having been run on a network first. This was part of a trend in animation in the 1980s -- previously, local stations would run reruns of theatrical cartoons like Looney Tunes or shows that had previously been on network TV on Saturday mornings. This changed after a series called He-Man introduced a new economic model: shows sold directly for first-run to stations, driving and funded by sales of related toys. Cashing in on this fad may have been ill-advised for Robotech, as the show was written for teenagers, not the children targeted by the toy line. The failure of the toy line is a primary reason funding for Robotech II collapsed.
After its run in syndication, it appeared occasionally on cable television in the early 1990s, on both the Sci-Fi Network, and on Cartoon Network, which made the curious decision to run only episodes 1 through 60, bailing out at the end of the "Robotech Masters" story-line. KTEH, a public television station in San Jose, California also ran the series.
Spurred by fan interest, several abortive attempts to release the series on home video came and went in the 80's and 90's. Family Home Entertainment (FHE) attempted to release one episode per VHS tape, but only got through a handful of early episodes before abandoning this approach. The company then edited the 36-episode "Macross Saga" portion into six movie-length tapes, cutting out episode introductions and slower scenes, and ignoring the "Masters" and "New Generation" segments entirely. A third run at putting the series on VHS did succeed with 2 episodes per tape uncut, for a final total of 42 volumes.
Palladium Books, which published a Robotech Role-playing game also released a set of VHS videos of the series via mail-order. It's not clear if they released the entire series.
Streamline Pictures, founded by Macek after the end of Robotech, released a series of "Perfect Collection" VHS videos, which included two episodes of Robotech along with their corresponding episodes of Macross, Southern Cross, or Mospaeda, completely uncut and subtitled, allowing viewers to see exactly what changes were made.
In 2001, anime specialty company ADV Films began releasing the entire series on DVD, typically with six episodes per disc. Box sets of the series included extras like Macek's pre-Robotech dub of the first "Macross" and "Mospeada" episodes, shown in Los Angeles in 1984.
In 2002, anime specialty company AnimEigo released the original "Macross" series on DVD, subtitled and unedited and completely washed of its relationship to Robotech. Several Macross sequels are also available on DVD from various manufacturers. The original Southern Cross and Genesis Climber Mospeada series were both released on DVD in 2003 by ADV Films.
The footage cobbled together from the failed "Sentinels" project was released as Robotech II: The Sentinels on VHS in 1994 by Orion Home Video. The Sentinels was later released as an extra in one of the Robotech box set releases.
Robotech the Movie has never been released on any home video format.
Impact
While anime shows were brought to the US as early as the 1960s, such as Astro Boy, Speed Racer, and Kimba the White Lion, most were heavily bowdlerized for American audiences, with violence, deaths of major characters, sexual references, etc., completely edited out for what was assumed to be an audience of young children. Robotech broke with this tradition by leaving in some of those elements, and is thought by some to be the show that kicked off American interest in Japanese animation, leading to a boom in North American consumption of anime that is still growing as of this writing.
That said, Robotech is also extremely polarizing. By westernizing character names, making some censor-appeasing edits and, most obviously, changing the stories of three wholly unrelated series to pass them off as a cohesive whole, some critics consider the show to be an abomination that runs rough-shod over its original sources. Defenders counter that such changes were necessary to get the show onto American television at all, given the cultural and economic realities of 1985.
Robotech has been the subject of two parodies by the fandub group Seishun Shitemasu : Robotech 3: Not Necessarily the Sentinels and Robotech 4: Khyron's Counterattack (using footage from, respectively, Gunbuster and Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack).
In 2003, with the publication of the Wildstorm (DC) comics, Harmony Gold officially decided to "reboot" (retcon) the Robotech Universe. The following Robotech material is now removed to the status of secondary continuity:
- The Sentinels in all its incarnations
- Robotech: The Movie (which, in the strictest sense, never was canon)
- All comic book stories published by Comico, Eternity, Academy, and Antarctic Press.
- The Palladium Press RPGs
- The Jack McKinney Novels
While these materials are not precisely "retired" or "removed" from the continuity, their events are subject to critical review, and are strictly subordinate to the "official" events of the 85-episode animated series (especially the Jack McKinney novels, which strayed further and further into irrelevant mysticism as the Sentinels novels progressed).
At San Diego Comic Con 2004, Harmony Gold unveiled the rumored "next chapter" of Robotech, , to premiere on television in 2005, for Robotech's 20th Anniversary.
Events:
- First Robotech War
- Malcontent Uprisings
- Second Robotech War
- Invid Invasion
- Third Robotech War
See also: Robotech Wars
Characters:
Robotech Defense Force (Macross Saga)
Bridge Bunnies | Roy Fokker | Captain Henry J. Gloval | Claudia Grant | Rick Hunter | Lisa Hayes | Lynn Minmei | Lynn Kyle | Max Sterling | Miriya Parina Sterling |
Zentraedi (Macross Saga)
Azonia | Dolza | Exedore Formo | Breetai Krondik | Khyron the Backstabber | Miriya Parina
Mecha:
VF-1 Valkyrie | VF/A-6 Alpha | VFB-9 Beta
SDF-1 | SDF-2 | SDF-3 | Tristar-class cruiser
External Links
- The official robotech homepage
- The Robotech Companion - extensive episode and background information