Love Live Alive.

Yellow Belmont gives an emotional performance in concert.

Original Release Date - Mospeada: Sept. 1985. Running Time: 49 minutes. Written by: Sukehiro Tomita. Directed by: Katsuhisa Yamada. Produced by: Akira Inoue, Hiroshi Iwata, Kenji Yoshida.

Original Release Date - Robotech: July 23, 2013. Running Time: 89 minutes. Screenplay by: Gregory Snegoff. Story by: Carl Macek, Tommy Yune. Directed by: Gregory Snegoff. Produced by: Frank Agrama, Carl Macek, Tommy Yune.


PLOT - MOSPEADA:

The war with the Inbit is over, and Earth is again at peace. Yellow Belmont has continued his music career, now without the need to cross-dress to hide from the enemy, and he is playing to a massive crowd. In between sets, he gives an interview in which he recalls the comrades he fought with during the alien occupation. He continues recalling their adventures as he performs on stage, giving his all in an intensely emotional performance.


PLOT - ROBOTECH:

The war with the Invid is over, and Earth is again at peace. Lancer, aka "Yellow Dancer," has continued his music career, now without the need to cross-dress to hide from the enemy. Just before a concert in which he'll play to a massive crowd, he gives an interview recalling the fight against the alien occupation. He recaps events from his first meeting with Scott Bernard all the way to the final confrontation with the Invid Regess, while doing his best to hide a secret of his own...

Yellow, alone with his thoughts after the concert.

CHARACTERS:

Either version of Love Live Alive focuses on Yellow/Lancer. He is the only character to receive any substantial new footage, and the flashbacks to the war are indicated to be his memories - though this is a bit muddy, as both versions show events he wasn't present for.

Mospeada's Yellow was always a bit mercurial. In the interview segments in the original version, much of what he says is banter that seems designed to hide his inner thoughts as much as possible. He teases that he got used to dressing in women's clothes, only to then add that those clothes are too expensive now. This slips only when the interviewer notices the photographs he carries of Stig's team, referring to them as friends. He corrects her, firmly identifying them as "comrades."

Robotech's Lancer is more direct. Given that the Robotech version is a traditional compilation film, he pretty much has to be in order to provide a frame for the flashbacks. He still gets cagey, though, with the interviewer at one point observing that he seems to talk more about the others than about himself. He also affirms his focus as his music, with him declining an invitation to rejoin the military: "I feel I can make more of a difference to people as Yellow Dancer than as a soldier."

Advantage: None.

The Invid invasion of Earth.

NARRATION:

The Mosepada version is mostly a music video. It not only has no narration - outside of the brief interview scenes, it barely has any dialogue. The visuals and music are trusted to create the experience.

Robotech opens with narration that's similar in delivery style to that of the series. A couple of newly animated sequences recap the initial Invid invasion of Earth, including a quick shot of an exhausted Dana Sterling joining a mass evacuation of the planet. After that, the bulk of the running time is made up of scenes from "The New Generation," which are also framed by narration - in this case, in-world narration delivered by Lancer to the interviewer.

While both versions work fine, there's little question that Mospeada's presentation is the more dynamic of the two.

Advantage: Mospeada.

Yellow grants an interview while changing between sets.
In Robotech, the interview comes before the concert.

DIFFERENT FILMS WITH DIFFERENT GOALS:

The Mospeada and Robotech versions of Love Live Alive are reasonably similar from a narrative perspective: Yellow/Lancer gives both an interview and a concert while recalling the events of the war. However, they are scripted and edited to achieve entirely different goals.

Mospeada is a musical celebration of a series that had only ended the year before. Save for a few lines here and there, the flashbacks are a series of rapid visuals selected to accompany each song, with each song conveying a different mood: action-heavy with Midnight Rider and Clap!! Clap!! Clap!!, more emotional for Blue Rain or Heart Wave. The music is the throughline, not the story.

Robotech is, as ever, all about the story. This version is a traditional compilation, amounting to a 90-minute recap of "The New Generation." Lancer's interview is far more extensive here than in Mospeada... which becomes a problem, as Robotech has to expand the interview scenes by repeating the same shots over and over again. The musical element is all but eliminated, with only one concert sequence retained.

Yellow pauses for a drink in the ruins of a battlefield,
in a shot that's only seen in Mospeada.

CUTS AND ALTERATIONS:

I won't bother enumerating the differences in the flashbacks. However, of the new footage...

Mospeada's Opening Is Moved to the End: Mospeada opens with Yellow riding his motorcycle to the concert as the song, Mind Tree plays. The piece's slow and reflective tone matches well with a moment when he pauses in the ruins of a battlefield. Robotech moves the scene to the end, with Lancer pausing on his trip home. It works in either version: In Mospeada, it puts him in a mood to reminisce; in Robotech, he leaves the battlefield and his past to return to his new life. But I prefer Mospeada, because it sets the mood up-front.

Women and Children Removed: As Yellow reaches the venue, we see the people camped out, waiting for the performance. One shot features a woman applying suntan lotion to another woman's bare back, while another shows a family with children waiting. Both shots are removed from Robotech, with only the first, wide establishing shot retained.

The Invid Invasion: There is a small amount of new animation in Robotech. Most of it comes right at the start. We are shown the three mounds from Southern Cross - the ruins of the SDF-1, where the Invid Flower of Life was set free. Then the Invid arrive on Earth in a beam of light that descends like a storm.

Straight to the Interview: In Mospeada, the first interview scene comes more than 15 minutes in, after Yellow has performed his first set. Robotech moves straight from its opening to the interview.

Lancer Gets Shot Down: As the interview begins, it's now Lancer's turn to narrate the beginning of the war. New footage shows Dana Sterling evacuating just before the first attempt to reclaim Earth. Col. Jonathan Wolfe is briefly featured, and then we see Lancer's squad getting ambushed by the Invid, with Lancer shot down. This moves directly to footage from The Secret Route, with him being rescued by Carla and hiding from the enemy by dressing as a woman.

Yellow Performs Throughout Mospeada: The original version moves continually back and forth between the flashbacks and Yellow's concert, with interview snippets shown during costume changes between sets. The vast majority of his recollections are purely visual, as he recalls the past while singing.

Lancer Only Sings One Song: There is just a single scene of Lancer performing in Robotech, and it's made up shots taken from all of Mospeada's concert bits. This results in a giant visual continuity gaffe, as Lancer apparently runs through three outfits while singing one song, an abbreviated version of We Will Win.

Scott Invites Lancer to Join His Next Mission: Both versions culminate in a reunion between Yellow/Lancer and his old friends. Mospeada keeps this entirely wordless, with the song, Heart Wave, playing over shots of them gathered together. Robotech eliminates the song. We hear bits of casual conversation, but the scene's focus becomes Scott telling Lancer about his next mission and extending an invitation to join it.

Jim and Mint vs. Lunk and Annie: Yellow leaves the reunion as his friends sleep, smiling at each of the couples: Stig and Aisha, Ray and Houquet, and Jim and Mint. The most "couple-y" shots of Jim and Mint are removed, de-emphasizing the age-inappropriate pairing for Lunk and Annie.

Lancer Doesn't Litter: In Mospeada's opening, Yellow opens a can and drinks while in the ruined battlefield, then tosses the empty can away when he's finished. The sequence has been moved to Robotech's ending - but Harmony Gold apparently didn't want to be accused of encouraging littering, as those specific shots have been removed.

New Animation in the Final Scene: Both versions end with the same scene, basically showing the same ending for Yellow/Lancer. However, Robotech needs to really spell it out with dialogue, and so a tiny amount of additional animation closes out the film. The new shots are slipped into the existing scene - Note that I don't say "seamlessly," as the visual difference between the old and new footage is glaring.

Next Episode: After the end credits, Robotech's announcer teases the "next episode" - The Shadow Chronicles, which was released almost seven years before Robotech's Love Live Alive.

Advantage: Mospeada.

Yellow prepares to make his entrance.

MUSIC:

The 1985 Japanese original is framed entirely around its music. Its soundtrack is outstanding, a mix of new songs and songs from the series. It can legitimately be enjoyed as a concert video, a showcase for the work of the While Rock Band in particular.

Robotech only features one new song, which plays over its end credits... and that may be a mercy, as the new song is worse than any of the ones it re-uses from the series. All other musical cues are just Robotech's standard incidental music - though the opening titles music, an arrangement of old Robotech music, is a vast improvement over the opening titles score for The Shadow Chronicles.

Advantage: Mospeada.


OVERALL ADVANTAGE - MOSPEADA:

The Mospeada OVA is a far more striking work. Not only is it an effective button for Genesis Climber Mospeada, it's also a dynamic viewing experience. The post-series context frames sequences of well-judged, thematically grouped visuals, each of which is backed by excellent music.

The Robotech version is an adequate compilation film - but it's also more ordinary and, at 89 minutes, feels just a little too long for what it is.

Yellow rides through the ruins left by the war.

A LITTLE TOO CHANGED:

To date, Love Live Alive is Robotech's final entry. There's a certain symmetry to this: The first release was Codename: Robotech, a compilation of the first third of "The Macross Saga"; and its last is this, a compilation of "The New Generation." It's also appropriate that this final entry is an Americanized version of a Japanese OVA, effectively returning the series to its roots.

The Robotech version is a radically different entity than the original. Changing it to a straightforward retelling of "The New Generation" makes sense. Mospeada's Love Live Alive released the year after the series ended, so it was reasonable to expect viewers to remember it. The Robotech version released in 2013: 28 years after "The New Generation" was broadcast.

Even acknowledging that, however, I think Robotech makes a mistake by all but removing the musical aspect. The more traditional compilation approach would still work if Lancer were to perform sets throughout. The film could even include some of the visual montages from Mospeada, with the interview segments framing a more traditional narrative.

This sort of hybrid approach might have allowed Robotech to channel at least some of the mood of the original. But with the music so de-emphasized, the uniqueness and atmosphere is lost, leaving the Americanized Love Live Alive to play as little more than an overlong clip show.

Yellow reunites with his old friends.

CONTINUITY CONFUSION:

Robotech's Love Live Alive is passable as a compilation film, but there are a few questionable choices. I have no idea why this movie includes Ghost Town, the episode with the old soldiers, in its recap; it's a fine standalone episode, but it's hardly a core part of the story. Meanwhile, despite devoting precious minutes to this sideline, the film doesn't make time for Ariel's protests to Sera and the Regess - even though it includes the scene in which Sera recalls Ariel's words and acts upon them.

Love Live Alive was released on home video, packaged with a re-release of The Shadow Chronicles. That might lead you to expect that the compilation film would try to smooth away a few of the continuity issues between "The New Generation" and The Shadow Chronicles. It doesn't. Just inserting a clip of the Ariel/Regess scene from the 2006 movie into the recap of Symphony of Light would have lightly massaged the discontinuities - but even something that obvious wasn't done, and all continuity mismatches are retained.

The post-credits "Next Time" blurb makes the timeline even more confusing than it was already. It seems obvious that the frame for Love Live Alive is set some time after The Shadow Chronicles, the first half of which directly overlaps with the events of the final episode. Also: Scott and Ariel are shown as a proper couple here, something that only became true in The Shadow Chronicles; enough time has passed since the series for Lancer to move on in his own life; and there has been enough time to plan and promote a concert with multiple back-up musicians and technical tricks that plays to a huge crowd. Not to mention that Lunk has grown a full beard.

Despite all of the above, the end teaser explicitly posits this as a lead-in to The Shadow Chronicles - something that makes zero sense!


OVERALL:

Both versions of Love Live Alive are perfectly pleasant to watch on their own terms. The continuity of the "official" placement for Robotech makes my head hurt... but if I just decide that the frame story occurs after The Shadow Chronicles (because it pretty much has to), then it's a serviceable enough epilogue to Robotech's "New Generation."

Still, at 89 minutes, the Robotech version overstays its welcome - and beyond that, the Mospeada OVA is a vastly more satisfying overall experience.


Overall Rating - Mospeada: 8/10.

Overall Rating - Robotech: 5/10.

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Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles.

Ariel warns Scott Bernard about a new threat to humanity.

Original Release Date: Aug. 25, 2006. Running Time: 88 minutes. Screenplay by: Ford Riley, Frank Agrama. Story by: Thomas J. Bateman, Steve Yun, Tommy Yune. Directed by: Tommy Yune, Dong-wook Lee. Produced by: Jason Netter.


THE PLOT:

It is the final day of the Invid occupation of Earth. Even as Scott Bernard and his resistance group join the final assault against Reflex Point, the forces of the Robotech Expeditionary Force engage the enemy in orbit. Failure is not an option: If they cannot drive the Invid from the Earth, they have orders to use the new Neutron-S missiles, which will devastate the planet.

As the battle rages, Capt. Vince Grant takes his ship to locate the missing SDF-3 and Admiral Rick Hunter. He finds Rick, his ship badly damaged by a singularity that was formed from the test firing of the Neutron S missiles. This weapon, prepared in cooperation with a friendly alien species, is actually a trap meant to destroy them.

The sudden arrival of this new enemy prevents Vince from rescuing the SDF-3, but he is able to fold out to warn the fleet. He arrives to discover that the war is over: The Invid Regess abandoned Earth even as it appeared her forces were winning. She also destroyed the Neutron-S missiles as she left, rendering Vince's warning seemingly irrelevant.

But this is more a pause in the action than a victory. The Invid took most of the Earth's protoculture. Without the SDF-3, humanity will run out of the power source in a little over a year. Meanwhile, the new enemy closes in, single-minded in its goal to wipe out every trace of protoculture and any species who uses it!

Young pilot Marcus Rush angrily confronts Scott.

CHARACTERS:

Much like The Sentinels, this movie mixes veterans of all the previous Robotech "generations." Rick, seen only on a viewscreen, has safely aged out of even remotely resembling Super Dimension Fortress Macross's Hikaru; Louis, Dana Sterling's tech guy from "The Masters," is now Vince's science officer and tech guy, while Skull Squadron leader Maia Sterling is Dana's younger sister; Vince and android Janice, both of whom were introduced in The Sentinels; and Scott, Ariel, and the Invid Regess from "The New Generation."

I think this film does a better job than The Sentinels in integrating the returning characters with the new characters. There's a direct connection between Scott and young pilot Marcus Rush, who was his late fiancée's brother. Marcus fills roughly the same role as The Sentinels' Jack Baker, but he's a little less bland. I quite liked Marcus's interactions with Scott; Marcus, angry about the death of his sister, brags about the Invid he's killed, and his attitude resembles Scott near the start of "The New Generation," before his feelings for Ariel made him more conflicted.

None of the characters has much depth - but then, The Shadow Chronicles never tries to be character-centric. This is an action film, and the cast is there to serve the plot and set pieces. They work well enough on that basis, though; and unlike in The Sentinels or Robotech: The Movie, all the characters actually seem to be part of the same story.

Maia Sterling, leader of Skull Squadron, and Marcus's crush.

PROBLEMS: ART STYLE AND CONTINUITY:

The opening credits create an immediate bad impression. After a few bars of Ulpio Minucci's original theme, it quickly devolves into generic "space music" that sounds as if it was taken from an off-brand Stargate knockoff, while we move past CGI planets that look drawn from a PS1 game.

There's a clash of art styles throughout the film. Character animation is a bit basic, with at least one point at which voice-over dialogue covers offscreen actions, but I was able to adjust to it quickly enough. The space scenes, however, use obvious CGI that results in an overly-polished "video game cutscene" look, and the two styles do not mesh well visually.

An even bigger problem is some poor continuity with the original series. The Shadow Chronicles overlaps significantly with the events of Symphony of Light, Robotech's series finale. In concept, this could work well. I might have enjoyed seeing the old events presented from a different viewpoint and with additional context.

However, this movie chooses to contradict Symphony of Light. Scott's team no longer negotiates with the Regess; Ariel talks to her alone. Also, Scott fully trusts Ariel, with absolutely no tension existing between them; yes, "New Generation" toned down the overt hostility of Mospeada's Stig, but the tension still existed. Here, it isn't present at all, even though showing that in Scott's early scenes would have made the parallels between Scott and Marcus stronger (or indeed extant, for those viewing the movie without having seen the series).

There's no actual reason for these contradictions. The end of "The New Generation" shows Scott jettisoning the message from his late fiancée, symbolically letting the past and his anger go, which would fit his warmer attitude toward Ariel here, and the Ariel of "The New Generation" would still warn Scott about the imminent threat. The conflicts appear to exist solely for the sake of making changes, and it doesn't help that those changes are uniformly worse and less interesting than the original scenes.

Even more bizarre is that the obvious audience would be old fans. And science fiction and anime fans are known for forgiving continuity issues in much the way that liquid magma is known for its cooling properties...

Louis assists a wounded Vince Grant.

OTHER MUSINGS:

...And despite all these issues, along with a hefty helping of Robotech's trademark clunky dialogue, I still enjoyed The Shadow Chronicles.

It's nowhere near as good as the series. Still, of the attempts to continue the Robotech story, I would rate this one as the best. Admittedly, "best animated Robotech continuation" is a dubious title, given that the competition consists of Robotech: The Movie (a mess) and The Sentinels (enjoyable, but kind of bland). Still, for what it's worth, it gets my vote.

The Shadow Chronicles is an action movie. The first half is dominated by battle scenes, while the final twenty minutes amounts to one big set piece, with Vince and his crew using what they know about the new enemy to find a way to effectively resist. In between is a roughly 20 minute stretch with some character scenes and expositional material, but even this interval is very much structured to funnel the characters back into the plot as efficiently as possible.

As a rule, I prefer character material to "blowing stuff up real good." In this case, though, I think the action focus is a good choice. The characters have just enough spark to hold my interest for a short action story, but they would need some serious additional development to keep me interested for a weekly series of any length.

The writing has some of the same problems as The Sentinels, with relatively flat characters and dialogue that rarely rises above the level of "functional." That movie suffered from it, as the scenes surrounding the launch of the SDF-3 were... well, mostly boring. The Shadow Chronicles avoids that problem by keeping its plot moving and keeping the 'splosions coming.

It's Robotech as if made by Michael Bay: weak characters, weaker attempts at broad comedy, and villains who appear motivated by Being Evil (TM). But the set pieces keep coming, and even with the artificiality of the space-set action scenes, it's enough to keep me reasonably engaged even if my brain can't help but kick against it a bit.

The Children of the Shadow plot to destroy humanity. Because they're evil.

OVERALL:

I enjoyed The Shadow Chronicles... probably more than I should have, given its many issues. Most of the problems I had with The Sentinels apply here, with extra bad continuity and character animation that clashes with that of the space battles. Still, judged as an action film, it works reasonably well. The new enemy is suitably formidable, which creates a bit of tension, and all of the characters do enough to justify their screentime.

Unfortunately, like The Sentinels before it, it ends at just about the point that the story seems to be kicking into gear. The creative team intended to follow this with a sequel, which has been teased to fans on various occasions. That sequel has persistently not materialized, in part to avoid stepping on the toes of the live action movie that was in development (which also never materialized, and that was probably just as well).

Now Robotech keeps sputtering out attempts at continuations every decade or so, and The Shadow Chronicles doesn't even represent the final release under its banner - so nothing's impossible. Still, I would be extremely surprised if any animated continuation of this story ever actually got released.

I was entertained enough that I might have given this a "7." But the lack of a proper ending, combined with the annoying conflicts with pre-existing continuity, knock that down to...


Overall Rating: 6/10.

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Robotech: The Sentinels.

The wedding of Rick Hunter and Lisa Hayes, who have
received a copyright-safe makeover between seasons.

Also Released as: Robotech II - The Sentinels.

Original Release Date: September, 1988. Running Time: 75 minutes (original version)/69 minutes (remastered). Written and Directed by: Carl Macek. Produced by: Ahmed Agrama, Hiroshi Ōnogi.


THE PLOT:

It has been nine years since the destruction of the SDF-1 at the hands of rebel Zentraedi Khyron. Now the SDF-3, under the command of Rick Hunter, prepares to embark on the mission devised by the late Admiral Gloval: to lead the Robotech Expeditionary Force to Tirol, the home planet of the Robotech Masters.

Though this is viewed as a diplomatic mission, it includes a strong military force - one which General Anatole Leonard fears leaves the defense of Earth badly compromised (thus representing the one time in the entire saga that Anatole Leonard is ultimately proved right about something). Rick is also troubled, plagued by doubts and worries about the upcoming journey even as he prepares for his long-delayed wedding to Lisa Hayes.

Meanwhile, Tirol is already being invaded by an alien force. The Invid Regent has come in search of the Flower of Life, which was stolen by the Robotech Masters. The Masters have abandoned their home planet, leaving only helpless civilians behind. Tirolian scientist Cabell and his assistant/bodyguard, Rem, begin probing the Invid for weaknesses - but it's clear to Cabell that it's already too late to save the populace from the devastating attack!

Bree'tai warmly greets Lisa and Miriya.

CHARACTERS:

My single biggest gripe with The Sentinels is that I find the characters completely uninteresting. The returning regulars can just about skate by on "TV reunion movie" goodwill; most of them are only onscreen long enough for the brief pleasure of saying, "Oh, there's Miriya! And that's a young Dana and Bowie! And Anatole Leonard's actually right about something, but he's still a pompous idiot!"

The characters created specifically for The Sentinels don't have that advantage, and they are all established in tropey broadstrokes. Hotshot pilot Jack Baker has plenty of talent but a tendency to ignore orders - oh, and his establishing scene is lifted, some lines almost verbatim, from Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. Test pilot Karen Penn's scientist father is upset that she isn't following in his footstep. Jack and Karen meet exactly once, for a period that could be tallied in seconds, but they are already coded as a future couple. And why not? Their personalities are matching shades of beige.

Cabell and Rem come across a bit better, mainly because they're defined through action rather than having characters stand around reciting their character briefs. They still don't amount to much more than "wise old scientist" and "young fighter," but I'll admit to finding their scenes more interesting than those on the SFD-3.

In fairness, this "movie" only represents what would have been the first three episodes of a full season arc. Had the series been completed, any or all of them might easily have gained depth - particularly if some stronger scripts were waiting in the wings.

Nice kitty... Cabell has a close encounter with an Invid Hellcat.

BACKGROUND:

The Sentinels movie cobbles together the three fully animated episodes of what would have been Robotech's second season. Unlike the previous season, this was an original story boasting original animation, something that was affordable thanks to an association with toy company Matchbox and a dollar/yen exchange rate that made employing Japanese animators extremely affordable.

Then everything went wrong.

A brief article on Cancelled SciFi details some of the issues. Toy sales were middling, leading Matchbox to pull out. At roughly the same time, the dollar/yen exchange rate shifted from 220 yen per dollar to 160 yen, greatly raising the price of the animation.

The loss of its toy company partner and the increase in the animation cost were simply too much for Harmony Gold to afford. With only three episodes in the can, the company pulled the plug, with the episodes edited into a movie for a 1988 VHS release.


VERSIONS:

The 1988 version of The Sentinels featured flashbacks using footage from Super Dimension Fortress Macross. Harmony Gold no longer had rights by the time it made its way to disc, so the flashbacks were excised. Though there are a couple of points where it's clear that a dialogue exchange was meant to go into a flashback, this mostly isn't a loss. I do miss one moment, however, an effective visual beat during the wedding when Rick sees images of their fallen comrades.

The only other notable difference is a very slight extension to the ending, with a title card added to act as a lead-in to the then-upcoming Shadow Chronicles.

T. R. Edwards resents Rick Hunter, a thread
that would likely have become interesting.

OTHER MUSINGS:

Despite being incomplete, Robotech: The Sentinels works reasonably well on a story level. Characters are introduced and various plot threads are planted.

Though Rick's mission doesn't intersect with the Invid Regent's invasion of Tirol yet, it's evident that a confrontation will soon occur. One of Rick's officers, T. R. Edwards, is established as resenting him, and it's obvious that he will cause trouble down the line (from his character name and status as "untrustworthy officer," I'm guessing he was originally intended to be B. D. Andrews from the movie, before Cannon imposed a new ending). On Tirol, Cabell and Rem study the Invid for weaknesses, which I'm sure would have led to new developments as well.

In this way, the movie repeats something I noticed about the series: the priority is on plot, not characterization. Earlier in this review, I wrote that any of the bland and tropey characters here might have become interesting later. This is true... but it's also true that by the end of Space Fold - Episode Three of Macross - I was invested in Hikaru/Rick, Misa/Lisa, Roy, Global/Gloval, and Minmay/Minmei. The same simply isn't true of the characters here. I had to look up most of the new characters simply to remember their names!

Character art is noticeably different than in Macross. Rick and Max have grown about a foot taller and even wider than that in the shoulders, Bree'tai wears a full face helmet that makes him look less like an alien than a Viking, and every character's hair has changed. Given that the Southern Cross characters look the same, with even child Dana and Bowie drawn to resemble their Southern Cross versions, it's evident that this was done to dodge copyright issues. Too bad that the new character models are so much less expressive than the originals.

Animation is uneven, and there's a visible split by location. The scenes on the SDF-3 feel choppy and static, with only an action piece involving a failed test flight and some bits of the wedding showing any sense of style. The scenes on Tirol are altogether more dynamic. Even allowing that the Tirol scenes are more action-heavy, I came away with the distinct impression that the animators were more interested in the Tirol plot than the SDF-3 scenes.

Rick and Lisa prepare to leave Earth.

OVERALL:

Given the criticisms above, I should stress that I enjoyed The Sentinels. It's a far more watchable Robotech continuation than the theatrical movie, and there are elements that could have made for an interesting story. Beyond that, it's fun to see all three "generations" interacting in the same film.

That said, when it ends, I'm not particularly fussed that the story is incomplete. Had Macross ended with Space Fold, I would have been genuinely upset. As much as I would have liked The Sentinels to have finished its run... I'm just not left feeling that anything special was lost.

It's an OK film to watch. But my feelings are largely summed up by those two letters: "OK."


Overall Rating: 5/10.

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Robotech: The Movie.

Mechanic Mark Landry acquires the top-secret MODAT-5.

Also Released as: Robotech - The Untold Story.

Original Release Date: July 25, 1986. Running Time: 85 minutes. Home Video Version: 29 minutes. Screenplay by: Ardwright Chamberlain. Story by: Carl Macek. Directed by: Noboru Ishiguro, Carl Macek. Produced by: Ahmed Agrama, Toru Miura.


THE PLOT:

The Robotech Masters have a plan. When the SDF-1 crash landed on Earth, human scientists transferred its data to a "mother computer." The Masters want that computer and its data, but they don't want to risk a frontal assault like Zentraedi Lord Dolza's failure. Instead, they try subterfuge, taking human prisoners for purposes of infiltration.

They find the perfect subject: Col. B. D. Andrews, a highly respected member of the military. They capture him as he attempts to fight off their attack - then kill the original and send a clone of Andrews back with orders to gain access to the computer and transmit its information to them.

Todd, one of Andrews's soldiers, notices the change in the colonel's behavior. He steals the MODAT-5, a mobile database terminal in the form of a motorcycle, and shows it to his friend, Mark Landry, a mechanic and an expert driver. He's midway through telling Mark about his suspicions when three security men show up. Mark gets away on the MODAT, but Todd is unable to escape.

Now it's up to Mark to discover exactly what Andrews has planned. Fortunately, he has help from EVE, the sentient computer whose data is coveted by Andrews and the Robotech Masters. Time is running out, though. Andrews has already begun transmitting his data to a disused satellite, perfect for interception by the enemy. Once the Masters have all the data, they intend to succeed where the Zentraedi failed - by annihilating all life on Earth!

Mark is ready for action - with a lot less
soul-searching than Megazone 23's Shogo.

CHARACTERS:

Despite using much of Megazone 23's footage, Robotech: The Movie is an entirely different film. This extends to the characters. Megazone's protagonist, Shogo, spends almost the entire second half processing the secret he discovers. Mark Landry, the Robotech hero, is far less shaken by his encounter with the fake Col. Andrews, being quippy and jokey in several of the following scenes.

Though B. D. serves as the villain in both films, Megazone's B. D. likely believes that everything he's doing is necessary. He even tries to recruit Shogo, clearly impressed at the young man's natural skill with the prototype motorcycle. Robotech's Andrews is a clone - in spy movie terms, a high-placed agent feeding information to the enemy. He's dismissive toward Mark when they meet, actively attempting to fill the young man with enough doubt to avoid further interference.

"Too many girls... This is not a Cannon movie."

BACKGROUND:

Robotech: The Movie had the misfortune to be a Cannon Film. Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, Cannon's owners from 1979 - 1989, were infamous for last-minute budget cuts and post-production tampering. Now, I grew up in the '80s, and I'll admit to having a grudging fondness for some of their schlocky output. But actual good movies released by Cannon were as rare as flecks of gold in the sand.

Carl Macek's intent was to do with Megazone 23 what he had done with Macross, Southern Cross, and Mospeada: deliver a passably faithful, if Americanized, version, making changes to fit it to Robotech's continuity. When he screened it for Cannon execs, he was told that there were "too many girls and not enough robots and guns," with Menahem Golan declaring that this was "not a Cannon movie."

Macek responded by throwing in almost thirty minutes of Southern Cross footage and reframing the main plot as a conspiracy set in motion by the Robotech Masters. Deep cuts were made to make room, jettisoning most of the character-focused material, and scenes were shifted around to relate what was left to the Southern Cross scenes.

Macek hated the end result, but it please Golan; per Macek, the Cannon co-owner looked at the newly mangled motion picture and declared: "That's a Cannon movie." Which then proceeded to barely get released in a couple of theaters in Texas and (somewhat strangely) in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

The bizarre thing? Megazone 23 has plenty of action. But I suppose Cannon just couldn't help being Cannon...

A newly-animated ending sees Mark battling, with
plenty of guns and robots. "Now, that's a Cannon movie!"

CUTS AND ALTERATIONS:

Because of the production nightmare, Robotech: The Movie is radically different from Megazone 23. You can actually watch Robotech and remain unspoiled for Megazone's major reveal and many of its plot points.

This makes attempting to itemize individual differences into a fool's errand - such a list would be longer than the review itself. So instead of doing that, I'm going to group the general categories of changes.

Scene Restructuring: Scenes are shifted around, partially to tie the main story together with the Southern Cross footage, and partially to change the emphasis. Megazone 23 opens with Shogo meeting Yui, establishing their relationship as of equal importance to the science fiction/conspiracy plot. Robotech opens with an extended action prologue that sets up the conspiracy plot. Even when Mark is finally introduced, it's not meeting Becky - It's receiving the motorcycle and fleeing from the armed gunmen.

Col. Andrews Is More Prominent than B. D.: B. D., the primary antagonist of Megazone, only becomes prominent in the story at the midpoint, after Shogo meets him. Robotech makes Col. Andrews important right away. Scenes of him plotting, which occur relatively late in Megazone, are moved up to the first third. The magic of voice over also makes him a major player in the Southern Cross prologue. All of this makes his part seem much bigger - in fact, for the first half hour, he's a larger presence than the movie's actual hero!

Relationship Story Is Cut Back - A Lot: Mark's relationship with Becky is only introduced after the conspiracy story is set in motion. She is already his girlfriend, which allows for the removal of all those pesky scenes in which the two leads get to know each other. Almost all of the relationship scenes are pushed together into a single ten-minute block, and most of these are rewritten so that the dialogue is less about them as characters than about the plot. This makes Becky, the female lead, into a peripheral character to such an extent that viewers unfamiliar with the original might wonder why she's even present.

The Big Reveal: Megazone 23's most memorable scene is the mid-film reveal, which Shogo stumbles across by chance while scouting locations with Tomomi for her movie. In Robotech, Mark is led to this secret when he's contacted by Eve. Kelly (Robotech's version of Tomomi) is not present. Oh, and since a major plot turn would apparently not be suitably exciting on its own, Robotech moves a bunch of the action from Megazone's climax into this set piece so that stuff can blow up real good.

The Slimy Producer Tries to Rape Becky: It made emotional sense for Shogo's character when he blamed Yui for her encounter with the producer, as she fully intended to sleep with the man for a role. Robotech alters the scene so that Becky is blameless: Slimy Producer Guy breaks into her room and assaults her, with her fighting him until Mark comes to the rescue. The problem? Mark still somehow blames her, which mainly leaves him looking like a Grade A ass!

The Ending: Megazone animation studio The Idol Company was commissioned to create a new, closed ending (the footage of which subsequently appeared in some Megazone releases). Mark battles Col. Andrews while rescuing characters from an airfield ambush. This is all extremely cheesy, particularly the final shots, and it doesn't make much sense... but it's also kind of fun to watch, as long as you remember to completely turn your brain off.

Rolf Emerson and Anatole Leonard struggle with an alien attack.
The viewers struggle with them being in the wrong movie.

TWO SOURCES THAT DON'T FIT TOGETHER:

The single biggest problem with Robotech: The Movie is the Southern Cross footage. The script makes a decent stab at tying the scenes from the two sources together. However, this very effort makes the Megazone scenes of secondary importance to the story. Because the Megazone scenes are rewritten to be purely reactive to the Southern Cross ones, it's the thread with Mark and Becky that ends up feeling like a subplot. 

It's purely in the Southern Cross scenes that the movie: establishes its plot; motivates the Earth government to grant the fake Col. Andrews access to the computer; sets the stakes, with the Masters declaring their intent to destroy the Earth; and even sees the larger threat of the Masters repelled. By the time Mark has his final confrontation with Andrews, the colonel has already been exposed as an enemy agent and the Masters have already been defeated.

Then there are the visual transitions from one source to the other. Discussions of this movie regularly touch on the quality of the film stock, with Megazone 23 utilizing 35mm while Southern Cross was on more budget-friendly 16mm. More jarring to me, however, was the switch between completely different art styles. Megazone's characters have more individuality in their proportions and a wider and subtler range of expressions, and the Megazone scenes are more colorful and dynamic than those from Southern Cross. If you were to downscale Megazone's footage to match Southern Cross's, the stark difference in the basic look of the two titles would still make it impossible to seamlessly cut them together.

I can think of no more damning indictment of the impact of the Southern Cross footage on this film than its own official home video version. By the time the complete Robotech DVD set was released, Harmony Gold had lost the rights to Megazone, so they created a 29-minute edit using only the Southern Cross footage… and it’s arguably less incoherent than the full length movie is! (credit to Gubaba on Bluesky for pointing out that this edit was done by the studio, and not by Macek himself)

The Robotech Masters plot the destruction of the planet Earth.

OTHER MUSINGS:

Robotech: The Movie is a mess.

Sequences don't lead into each other. Instead, each bit is an entity in itself. When Mark investigates a TV station, for instance, the scene kicks off with an internal monologue so that he can tell us why he's doing this. He meets Col. Andrews because EVE leads him there, with very little leading up to that. Even the new ending starts with Mark being led to the site of the final battle. You can split each bit into its own 10-minute short film (give or take), and each individual sequence would make just as much sense as within the larger movie.

The reshuffling of scenes creates continuity errors. A scene of Becky dancing has her footage re-looped, presumably to fit the music, with the same three shots shown multiple times, which I started to find quite funny after a few seconds. Kelly reviews footage for her movie, having recorded the MODAT transforming into a robot form... a couple of scenes before Mark discovers that the bike has that ability!

Finally, this movie doesn't even fit within the larger Robotech continuity. It is set between The Macross Saga and The Masters, with supporting roles for Supreme Commander Anatole Leonard (still an idiot) and Rolf Emerson. The humans directly battle The Masters at multiple points, and by the film's end are relatively easily defeating them in battle.

Now recall The Masters arc. For the first quarter of that arc: the humans have no idea who these aliens are; the battles are almost laughably one-sided, with the humans barely able to land a shot on the enemy; and they know so little about The Masters that they have to send Dana Sterling's squad into a downed ship to gather intel.

In short, the events of the movie have little internal consistency - and even less consistency with the actual series.

Like I said: a mess.

Mark basks in the aftermath of his victory.

OVERALL:

The one backhanded compliment I can pay to Robotech: The Movie is that I found it passably diverting. It has so little to do with Megazone 23 that I quickly stopped even thinking about the source film, let alone being annoyed at its mangling. This enabled me to enjoy the pretty pictures and action scenes on their own merits.

Much of the voice acting is decent, particularly in the Megazone scenes; the Robotech score is reasonably well fitted to the action; and it all goes by painlessly. Turn your brain off - I mean, all the way off - and there are worse ways to burn off 85 minutes.

So in the end, I'd agree with Menaheim Golan. To its core, it can absolutely be said of Roboech: The Movie:

"Now, that's a Cannon movie."


Overall Rating - Robotech: 3/10.

Alternate Version: Megazone 23

Previous Movie: Codename - Robotech
Next Movie: Robotech - The Sentinels

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Megazone 23.

Shogo and his friend Tomomi discover a shocking secret.

Also Released As: Megazone 23, Part 1. Basis for: Robotech: The Movie.

Original Release Date: March 9, 1985. Running Time: 81 minutes. Written by: Hiroyuki Hoshiyama. Directed by: Noboru Ishiguro. Produced by: Toru Miura.


THE PLOT:

Shogo Yahagi is a directionless young man. He works at McDonald's and spends his time zipping around Tokyo on his motorcycle. One day, he meets aspiring actress Yui Takanaka, and they strike up a relationship - much to the amusement of Yui's roommates, would-be filmmaker Tomomi and singer Mai.

Then Shogo's friend, Shinji, shows him the experimental motorcycle he is scheduled to test drive. The bike is a government prototype, and it's like nothing Shogo has seen before. But he's barely taken a glance at it before a trio of mysterious men appear, determined to take it back. Shogo gets away with the machine, but Shinji is killed.

Shogo soon discovers the motorcycle's capabilities. It has systems that can listen in on conversations through walls, as well as weapons systems and even the ability to transform into an armored robot form (of course). He resolves to find his friend's killers and avenge him.

That trail leads to a shocking discovery, one that upends everything he thought he knew...


FOREWORD - SEPARATE REVIEWS:

In addition to being a noteworthy anime title on its own merits, Megazone 23 formed the basis for 1986's Robotech: The Movie. My initial intent was to follow the same pattern of my episodic reviews: a single write-up, looking at the changes made between versions and their impact on the end product.

Then I actually watched both films and realized that this simply would not work.

Robotech's television episodes tended to be substantially the same stories as those seen in their parent series. They were Americanized, and often sanitized and simplified, but even the most changed episodes remained recognizable. Megazone 23 and Robotech: The Movie, however, are entirely different films that just happen to share a lot of the same footage.

As a result, I'm separating these into two individual reviews, with the Robotech one to follow next week. This will make it easier for me to organize my thoughts, and it should make both reviews more focused and readable.

Shogo with his love interest, Yui.

CHARACTERS:

Shogo is directionless in the way of many young men, though he seems happy enough in his life. He works at McDonald's. He spends his free time running around on his motorcycle, going out with his friends and picking up girls, and... that's really about it. He's hardly the right person to take on some multilayered conspiracy, and he seems to recognize this.

Yui and her roommates are more focused on their careers. Yui is introduced rushing to an audition and fretting about being late. This takes on a toxic quality midway through, when she comes very close to sleeping with a producer in exchange for a leading role. Tomomi is the most driven and the most independent of them, making a movie entirely on spec and filtering out anything that might interfere with her work. The final roommate, Mei, gets the least to do, and she might as well be wearing a tag that reads, "Don't Open Until Part 2."

One element that I liked quite a bit: Shogo's discovery genuinely impacts him, and he spends most of the rest of the movie grappling with what it means and what (if anything) he should do. This can be frustrating, as Shogo fails to act while events reach, then pass, a crisis point. When he finally does something, his actions are impulsive and foolish. In short, he behaves like a young man of his age and station, rather than like an action hero.

Yui and her roommates, Tomomi and Mei.

BACKGROUND:

Megazone 23 was released as an Original Video Animation (OVA), but that wasn't the intent. It was initially pitched as a television series, Omega City 23, but it failed to find backing. In the end, director Noboru Ishiguro and his studio, Artland, in collaboration with Artmic Co., released it as an OVA... and were probably as surprised as anyone when it ended up becoming an enormous success, sometimes credited with starting an "OVA Boom."

The story would be concluded in another OVA the following year: Megazone 23, Part 2, which was also a hit. I will not be covering Part 2 in this review series. I think it's an adequate finale, but I don't think it matches the quality of the first film; and unlike Part 1, it has no connection to Robotech. Part 3, released in 1989, is an entirely new story that's set centuries later. I haven't seen it, and reviews were noticeably more mixed for it than for the original films.

Three gunmen sent to recover the motorcycle. Suits,
sunglasses, and even a cigarette - so you know they're evil.

THOUGHTS:

I already knew Megazone 23's big twist before watching. It's pretty hard to avoid, as even the mention of other films inspired by this one will give the game away. If you somehow don't know the twist, please watch the film before reading any discussions of it. The reveal is extremely well executed, and I suspect would have terrific impact for anyone watching unspoiled.

The twist is far from the only reason to watch. This is a genuinely well-constructed story. The script spends a lot of time focusing on Shogo, Yui, and their friends, giving a good sense of their daily lives. The first half is mostly light in tone: plenty of humor, a visual style that emphasizes energy and vivid colors. Shogo is pursued by the men who killed his friend... but he doesn't seem all that concerned about these chases, mainly celebrating when he discovers that his motorcycle can transform into a robot.

The lightness of the first half makes the later tonal shift all the more effective. Shogo spends most of the back half of the story processing his discovery. The pace becomes slower, matching his grim mood. The story is now carried not by the likable young people, but rather by the villains, who proceed all but unchallenged until the very end. A particularly effective moment shows how society is changing via a music video. Pop star Eve sings a militaristic song on public monitors, the visuals behind her pure war propaganda.

The moment recalls one of the major themes of Super Dimension Fortress Macross, about the power of popular culture. There, it was a positive, Lynn Minmay's songs creating a bridge between societies to make peace a possibility. Here, that same power is used to entice Tokyo youth into enlisting for military service without understanding what they're enlisting for. It's worth noting that director Noboru Ishiguro, whose studio was the major force behind Megazone 23, was also heavily involved in the production of Macross.

B. D., the villain, shares information with Shogo.

OVERALL:

I have one real nitpick: The story peters out a bit near the end. The final scenes seem to be principally concerned with setting the stage for Part 2, and it leaves this film ending on a weak note.

Outside of that, this is not only an influential anime title - it's a legitimately good science fiction movie. I won't say more, because I don't want to reveal any of the film's secrets. Suffice it to say that this remains well worth watching.


Overall Rating: 8/10.

Alternate Version: Robotech - The Movie

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