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| Roy and Claudia make plans that, inevitably, get interrupted. |
Original Air Date - Macross: Feb. 20, 1983.
Written by: Hiroyuki Hoshiyama. Directed by: Noboru Ishiguro, Fumihiko Takayama.
Robotech: Farewell Big Brother
Original Air Date - Robotech: Mar. 27, 1985.
Story Editor: Steve Kramer. Supervising Director: Robert V. Barron.
PLOT - MACROSS:
Hikaru is making a good recovery, but the hospital insists on keeping him for observation because of his head wound. He receives a visit from Misa, who feels guilty about giving the order that resulted in his injury... but he hears nothing from Minmay, who isn't even aware of his crash. Roy takes it on himself to ask her to visit Hikaru, much to her cousin's annoyance.
On the Zentradi fleet, Kamujin responds to ace pilot Milia's jibes about his recent defeat by telling her that the Macross has an ace of its own. Unable to ignore a challenge, Milia launches an attack, determined to flush out this pilot - leading her into a one-on-one duel with Max!
PLOT - ROBOTECH:
Rick is making a good recovery, but the hospital insists on keeping him for observation because of his head wound. He receives a visit from Lisa, who feels guilty about giving the order that resulted in his injury... but he hears nothing from Minmei, who isn't even aware of his crash. Roy takes it on himself to ask her to visit Rick, much to her cousin's annoyance.
On the Zentraedi fleet, Khyron responds to ace pilot Miriya's jibes about his recent defeat by telling her that "there is one aboard that alien ship whom (she) cannot best." Unable to ignore a challenge, Miriya launches an attack, determined to flush out this pilot - leading her into a one-on-one duel with Max!
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| A guilt-stricken Misa visits Hikaru. |
CHARACTERS:
We get a couple of good scenes spotlighting the Roy/Claudia relationship, which is explicitly paralleled with the not-quite relationship between Hikaru and Misa. Robotech makes the parallel even more blatant, with Claudia outright telling Lisa that she and Roy got their start in much the same way as Lisa and Rick.
As was indicated by his nightmare in the last episode, Hikaru is questioning his abilities in the wake of the crash. He refuses to allow Misa to blame herself, telling her that if he was a better pilot, then he would not have been shot down. He's also frustrated by his eternal holding pattern with Minmay, and he is downright aggressive in turning off the radio when it plays one of her songs. However, when Minmay does finally visit and he learns just how exhausted she is (the Macross episode has her admit to getting only two hours of sleep per night), he responds with genuine compassion.
The competitive streak between Milia and Kamujin, and the entirely one-sided competition between her and Max, is also well done. I remember just enough about the show that I know where it's going, but I'm still enjoying watching it unfold.
Advantage: None.
NARRATION:
Macross features no narration. We're dropped into the action and left to follow it with no interruptions outside the mid-episode Act break, with even the ending allowed to play with no commentary. This keeps the viewer with the characters, to very strong effect in the final moments.
Robotech features its standard narration. It's not overly intrusive for the bulk of the episode. Unfortunately, those ending moments? The narrator talks right over them.
Advantage: Macross.
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| Zentradi ace Milia finds a worthy rival. |
CUTS AND ALTERATIONS:
Claudia's Pineapple Salad: In Macross, Claudia has just learned how to make a pineapple salad. While on a date with Roy, she offers to serve it to him for dinner. In Robotech, it appears to be a standby dish of hers, with Roy asking her to make her "famous pineapple salad" when he next comes over.
Kyle Is Even More Unlikable than Kaifun: When Roy drops by the set of Minmay's film, Kaifun overhears him telling her about Hikaru's injury. Complete ass that he is, he can't help but sneer that it's Hikaru's fault for insisting on fighting. In Robotech, Kyle doesn't hear most of the conversation. Instead, he reacts with possessive jealousy to Roy's mere presence. Because it wasn't enough for the character to be unlikable; he has to be creepy too!
Khyron Gets a Better Line than Kamujin: Kamujin's challenge to Milia is a straightforward statement that the human ship has a legitimate ace. Robotech's Khyron goes further, telling Miriya that there is a human pilot that she cannot best. It's basically the same information in both versions, but the Robotech line is a lot more memorable.
Max's Reaction to the Duel: Max's duel with Milia is the episode's major action sequence. In both versions, he is winning and in active pursuit of the enemy pilot when he's ordered to return to the ship. In Macross, that's the end of the scene, with the episode cutting to Milia swearing to even the score. In Robotech, Max clearly shares in her sense of competition; when Lisa tells him that he's won, he looks wistfully up at the retreating Miriya and replies, "Not decisively." It's a tiny adjustment, but an effective one.
Advantage: Robotech. By a hair.
INCIDENTAL MUSIC:
Both episodes use their scores well, but Robotech edges this one out by simply having better music for the end action sequence.
Advantage: Robotech.
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| Roy convinces Minmay to visit Hikaru. Naturally, Kaifun is annoyed. |
OVERALL ADVANTAGE: NONE:
Very little was changed between versions. I prefer the Khyron/Miriya exchange in Robotech over the Kamujin/Milia one in Macross, and I prefer Max's sense of competitiveness during the Robotech duel... but I prefer the Roy/Minmay scene in Macross, not to mention that Macross's ending is more effective thanks to the absence of the usual narrator.
I also think the Macross episode has by far the better title. Pineapple Salad sounds like an episode that will be basically light-hearted fluff. Then the ending comes, upending the context.
OTHER MUSINGS:
"I'm looking forward to some pineapple salad!"
"Captain, what is 'pineapple salad' code for?"
-Misa and Capt. Global are confused by Roy's non-sequitur.
This is an excellent episode in either version. Not much ultimately changes with regard to the Macross's overall situation... but for the main characters, everything is changed. It is entirely fair to say that this will be a noticeably different series moving forward.
The episode checks in with all of the major human characters. Hikaru is out of the action, of course, but the script takes care to keep focus on him. The show opens and closes on him, and it returns to him often enough to show how much he's wrestling with being sidelined and with his new doubts about his piloting skills; I hope the latter continues to be followed up and isn't simply discarded the next time he's in the cockpit.
Roy and Claudia receive the most visible focus. Despite early episodes (in Macross at least) indicating that Roy has a reputation as a scoundrel, their relationship appears to be a healthy one. She trusts him implicitly, tracking down Minmay for him so that he can arrange for her to visit Hikaru. For Roy's part, his first thought after the mission is to go to Claudia. Since circumstances have left the flight deck empty, he ends up leaving without waiting for any check-in procedures.
Though those are the focal characters, time is made to check in with others. Misa's friendship with Claudia and her attraction to Hikaru are both touched on. The three Zentradi spies get an amusing moment involving the young female bridge officers and a stolen Minmay doll. Speaking of Minmay, her overwhelming schedule and clear exhaustion make her more sympathetic here than she's been in a long time.
All the strands are balanced with care. Despite the many threads touched on, no character is lost in the shuffle. In a mere 25 minutes, this episode check in with all these characters, furthers several of their dynamics, and does this without ever feeling rushed. If that were all that could be said, that would be enough for me to be impressed by this episode.
Then comes the ending. I remember viewing this after school in the mid 1980s, and I was stunned. What happens here... It just wasn't something that was seen in an afternoon cartoon at that time. With regard to the original series, it's notable that this comes at the exact midpoint. Macross has changed its status quo a couple of times. Originally, most episodes fell into a comfortable pattern of the Zentradi chasing the human ship through space and the humans escaping at the end. Then the action shifted to Earth, but Kung Fu Dandy and this episode both seemed to be more or less replicating the same structure.
Pineapple Salad ends with a genuine shakeup that signals that the show isn't going to be "safe" anymore. The final moments provide at least three different memorable images, to make sure it stays in your head for a bit after watching: a hospital bed, a toy airplane, and the titular pineapple salad.
Overall Rating: 10/10.
Previous Episode: Phantasm
Next Episode: Burst Point/Bursting Point
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