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| Civilians, frustrated at not being allowed to return home, take it out on Hikaru. |
Macross: Kung Fu Dandy
Original Air Date - Macross: Jan. 30, 1983.
Written by: Hiroshi Ônogi. Directed by: Noboru Ishiguro, Ryô Yasumura.
Robotech: Battle Cry
Original Air Date - Robotech: Mar. 25, 1985.
Story Editor: Steve Kramer. Supervising Director: Robert V. Barron.
PLOT - MACROSS:
Hikaru escorts Minmay and her cousin, Lynn Kaifun, back to the Macross - and to Kaifun's parents, who are overjoyed to have him back. Misa is startled by his resemblance to her late fiancé, while all the young women from the command crew find him irresistibly attractive... at least, until he makes his views on the military known.
Meanwhile, Kamujin launches an unauthorized attack on the Macross. As ever, he has the figleaf of a technicality: He's been ordered not to attack Earth, but those orders say nothing about the Macross itself. The crew scrambles to respond, but Misa finds herself atypically distracted after her encounter with Kaifun...
PLOT - ROBOTECH:
Rick escorts Minmei and her cousin, Lynn Kyle, back to the SDF-1 - and to Kyle's parents, who are overjoyed to have him back. Lisa is startled by his resemblance to her late fiancé, while all the young women from the command crew find him irresistibly attractive... at least, until he makes his views on the military known.
Meanwhile, Khyron launches an unauthorized attack on the Macross, not caring that he's violating orders. The crew scrambles to respond, but Lisa finds herself atypically distracted after her encounter with Kyle...
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| Kaifun returns to his parents. Who are on the ship, meaning that he'll be sticking around. Unfortunately. |
CHARACTERS:
Minmay's response to a moment of tension between the military customers and Kaifun is to turn on the TV so that everyone can watch her while she's also standing in front of them. In any case, it backfires, as the broadcast is interrupted by an announcement that the civilians will have to remain on the ship. When Kaifun reiterates his disdain for the military, she then backs him up - even though she's the one who pushed Hikaru to join up in the first place! In either version, I'm mystified that Hikaru/Rick hasn't completely gotten over his crush by this point.
As usual, there are visible differences in the characterizations of Macross's Kamujin vs. Robotech's Khyron. While both seek personal glory and revel in battle, Kamujin stops short of outright insubordination, preferring to exploit gaps in his orders. Robotech's Khyron is more blatant, to the point where I have difficulty believing that two different commanding officers have failed to relieve him of duty. Khyron is slightly more fun as an over-the-top baddie, mind you, but Kamujin's characterization feels both more believable (in context) and more appropriate to the overall series.
Advantage: Macross.
NARRATION:
Both versions have minimal narration, with Robotech featuring one extra moment to smooth over a transition by establishing that Khyron has taken off without authorization. Usually, I'd mark down the extra narration, but this is brief and it very likely helped some viewers with the sudden cut to characters who hadn't been seen in a few episodes.
Advantage: None.
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| Kamujin's forces attack! |
CUTS AND ALTERATIONS:
Azonia's Subordinate: When the show cuts to the alien fleet, Commander Azonia's subordinate bridge officer is clearly drawn as female. Indeed, the subordinate would have to be, as both series have firmly established that in Zentradi culture, the sexes do not intermingle. However, Robotech dubs the (again, very obviously female) subordinate with a deep male voice, to unintended comedy effect.
Reactions to Earth's Decision: The Macross bridge crew is angrier about the Earth government's decision to hold the civilians on the ship than the Robotech crew, who seem to skip straight from "How outrageous!" to "Let's eat!" When the shipwide announcement is made, the angry Macross civilians briefly debate holding Hikaru, Misa, and their group hostage; Robotech replaces this with less directly threatening dialogue.
The Captain's Musings: In Macross, as the Zentradi attack, Capt. Global reflects that the enemy "won't kill us but won't let us live." Robotech inexplicably changes this very good line to some generic pondering about how ineffective the Earth missiles are against the enemy.
Criticized vs. Commended: The most noteworthy alteration comes at the end. In Macross, after the battle ends, Global addresses Misa's distraction by telling her to take some time off to get her head straight before returning to duty. In Robotech, Capt. Gloval appears not to have noticed Lisa's distraction, instead commending her for doing a good job even as she stands at her station sobbing. Both versions work, though the context far better supports what's seen in Macross.
Advantage: Macross.
INCIDENTAL MUSIC:
I would guess the episode turnaround was narrowing for the US production team by this point, because there are multiple points where you can hear audio cuts in the music - be it a sudden jump to a different part of the score or the obvious repeat of a few notes. It's not just detectable, it's practically unmissable, and it's extremely jarring.
Advantage: Macross.
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| Defending the ship from attack again - only this time on Earth! |
OVERALL ADVANTAGE: MACROSS:
The two versions are very similar, so the difference in quality is fairly small. That said, pretty much every difference favors Macross. The strong emotions and sense of threat from the civilians has been sanitized by Robotech to little more than angry grumbling. Kamujin's care to stop just short of insubordination is both more interesting and more convincing than Khyron's blatant disregard of orders. Finally, the audible music splices in Robotech take me out of the episode, if only for a moment. It's very much the same episode either way - but in all areas, Macross is the better version of it.
OTHER MUSINGS:
I already can't stand Kalfun/Kyle, but he does at least know not to snit about his hatred of the military to the military customers at his parents' restaurant. He's not the one to raise his anti-military feelings in the episode; the mayor does. Once it's out in the open, though, he doesn't hesitate to act like a brat to Hikaru, Misa, and the others.
The action scene at the end is quite good, with some strong visual moments, notably the Zentradi ships descending on the Macross, framed so that the Zentradi ship is dominant and powerful, with the Macross seen very small at the bottom of the frame. Also, Kamujin and Milia are being heavily paralleled. Both are arrogant in their abilities, and both are willing to overlook orders that clash with their personal impulses. This seems likely to build into something in future episodes.
It ends on an effective cliffhanger. That said, it is undercut by the "Next Time" blurb, which looks distressingly as if we're about to embark on another clipshow...
Overall Rating: 7/10.
Previous Episode: China Town/Homecoming
Next Episode: Phantasm
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