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| Macross City - a metropolis build around the immobile shell of the Macross. |
Super Dimension Fortress Macross: My Album
Original Air Date - Macross: May 1, 1983.
Written by: Hiroyuki Hoshiyama. Directed by: Noboru Ishiguro, Fumihiko Takayama.
Robotech: Reconstruction Blues
Original Air Date - Robotech: Apr. 10, 1985.
Story Editor: Steve Kramer. Supervising Director: Robert V. Barron.
PLOT - MACROSS:
It has been two years since the decisive battle against Boldazaa's forces, and the surviving humans are struggling to rebuild. Macross City, which sprang up around the now-immobile shell of the Macross, is a thriving metropolis, but the only other communities are small towns struggling to establish a foothold.
Hikaru, now a captain, flies regular patrols searching for other survivors, even though he knows this is a futile effort. On this day, he makes a small deviation when he spots a field of flowers that has sprouted outside the reclamation zone. He makes another detour when he learns that Minmay is singing in Granite City, a tiny community not far from his patrol area.
He has picked a bad day to neglect his duties. Some of the Zentradi have been growing restless, not adjusting well to the change from warriors to people expected to build things. A few of them have stolen weapons and battlepods, and are about to go on a rampage...
PLOT - ROBOTECH:
It has been two years since the decisive battle against Lord Dolza's forces, and the surviving humans are struggling to rebuild. The city that has sprung up around the now-immobile shell of the SDF-1 is a thriving metropolis, but the only other communities are small towns struggling to establish a foothold.
Rick Hunter, now a commander, flies regular patrols searching for signs of trouble. On this day, he makes a small deviation when he spots a field of flowers that has sprouted outside the reclamation zone. He makes another detour when he learns that Minmei is singing in Granite City, a tiny community not far from his patrol area.
He has picked a bad day to neglect his duties. The Zentraedi were bred for war, and some of them have adjusted poorly to peace. In the city of New Portland, a few of the aliens have stolen weapons and battlepods, and are about to go on a rampage...
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| Minmay seems to have had just about enough of Kaifun. |
CHARACTERS:
Hikaru backslides considerably from the previous episode. That episode portrayed him letting Minmay go and moving forward. This episode sees him sleeping under a Minmay poster, with an album of photos of her at his bedside. He even deviates from his mission to take in her latest concert, lingering to spy on her and Kaifun. It's not really out of character; but after the last couple of episodes, it is disappointing.
The two year interval has made Kaifun into even more of a jerk than he was already. At Minmay's concert, he blames the military for their current situation urging the city to refuse the supplies the military provides - which, if the city leaders agree, would almost certainly result in deaths when needed food or medicine just isn't there. Oh, and he's become a drunk who's borderline abusive to Minmay.
At least she seems to finally recognize his shortcomings. When he drunkenly complains about them being paid in a box of supplies (which the community can't really spare), she gives him a much-deserved chewing out for his behavior and threatens to leave him behind. Robotech takes it even further, with Minmei flatly (and accurately) telling Kyle that the military is the only reason why he's even alive. All of which makes this the second episode in a row in which I actually find myself liking her.
Advantage: None.
NARRATION:
As usual, Robotech has more narration than Macross. Most of it's reasonably restrained, though... until the end, when the Robotech narrator goes over-the-top while extolling the heroism of the main characters, particularly Rick - whose behavior in this episode falls pretty far short of heroic.
Advantage: Macross.
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| Misa discovers Hikaru's album, filled with photos of Minmay. Robotech makes sure to tell us exactly how she feels about that. |
CUTS AND ALTERATIONS:
Hikaru Stands Silently in a Field of Flowers; Rick Monologues: The episode opens with Hikaru, on patrol, coming across an unlikely sight: a field of flowers. He takes in the sight, recalling when as a young boy he chased after Roy's airplane on just such a field. Robotech, ever afraid of silence, puts an extended inner monologue over all of this. There are actually a few nice lines in there, notably Rick's observation about "a reminder of war... in a field of wildflowers" - but I prefer Macross's approach of letting us actually absorb the visuals for ourselves.
Lisa's Inner Monologue: Macross's Misa is first seen on her day off, tidying up Rick's home before stumbling across a photo album filled with pictures of Minmay. Robotech again fills the entire scene with Lisa's thoughts, which actually blunts the effectiveness of her reaction.
Roy: Hikaru imagines Roy berating him for moping, with Hikaru's vision of Roy bragging that he joined the military to attract women. Robotech transforms this into a flashback of when Rick joined the military, with Roy talking to him about duty and about how flying is no longer for fun. Both are appropriate to their respective series' characterization of Roy... though Robotech's version feels like something out of a John Wayne movie.
Conversation on the Bridge: In Macross, Kim asks Shammy why only Vanessa was promoted and not them, a question Shammy answers by rattling on about how much smarter and better looking she considers herself to be, with Kim giving a resigned sigh - perhaps realizing that, of the three of them, Vanessa has been the only one to actually focus on her job while on duty. In Robotech, the conversation is rewritten to be entirely about Lisa's relationship with Rick, because it's apparently unthinkable for the supporting characters to have concerns unrelated to the main cast.
The Conversation with the Admiral: When Hikaru talks to Global in Macross, it's clear they have both been worried about the Zentradi reverting to their warlike tendencies. Hikaru agrees with transferring the Zentradi under his command to inside duties. Which raises issues itself - discriminating against the aliens will hardly make them less likely to rebel - but, at least in the short term, might avoid catastrophe if there is a rebellion. In Robotech, Gloval's side of the conversation is similar, but Rick contributes nothing, simply stating that he will support the admiral's orders.
Advantage: Macross
INCIDENTAL MUSIC:
Macross uses its incidental music to strong effect. This is particularly true when Hikaru stands in the field of flowers, with an instrumental of Minmay's music both accentuating the emotion and subtly linking this moment with Hikaru's decision to divert to her concert.
I think Robotech actually misuses some of its music, specifically the heroic music that kicks in when Rick (finally) arrives at the site of the Zentraedi uprising. Lisa may be motivated by jealousy, but she's still 100% right to call his detour to Granite City a dereliction of duty. He doesn't deserve "big hero" music.
Advantage: Macross.
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| Hikaru discovers a field of flowers amidst the destruction. |
OVERALL ADVANTAGE: MACROSS:
Macross continues to trust its audience to follow along and to absorb the visuals and emotional context, while Robotech continues to fill every silence by telling the viewers what they should think and feel. The excessive internal monologues in the Robotech version of this episode, combined with some inappropriate and intrusive use of background music, makes it the weaker version - though it still offers several good moments, including Minmei being more pointed in telling off Kyle than Macross's Minmay is with Kaifun.
OTHER MUSINGS:
It wouldn't be entirely accurate to label this a transitional episode. This is more a "new pilot," establishing the status quo for Macross's final arc: Humanity rebuilding, with trouble brewing among the Zentradi. There's even a callback to the series' start. Boobytrap established that a city had built up around the Macross while humanity studied and eventually rebuilt it. Now, humanity's first new metropolis has built up around the Macross again.
The bulk of this episode establishes the character relationships as they stand two years on. Just as some Zentradi cannot give up on war, Hikaru cannot make himself move on from Minmay despite his own resolution to do so. In Robotech, Lisa outright observes that Rick "doesn't seem like (he's) trying very hard" to move on from her. Meanwhile, Minmay is growing dissatisfied with her life with Kaifun (and we can probably guess what will happen next). While I won't pretend to be looking forward to eight more episodes of this triangle, all of this feels entirely convincing for these characters.
Even the action climax fits more into "establishing a new normal" than anything. For all its sound and fury, this is really the sci-fi/action equivalent of an angry man getting drunk and smashing windows to vent frustration. Its significance lies not in the incident, but in what it represents - a backlash against a new life that isn't living up to the Zentradi's expectations.
In a way, it's a parallel to what happened to the Zentradi fleet when the soldiers were exposed to human culture. Then, The Zentradi were hobbled by chaos, with their troops not wanting to destroy the source of the music and entertainment they'd fallen in love with. Now it's the humans' turn, with reconstruction hobbled as the Zentradi discover that life is going to be filled not by constant music and kissing beautiful women, but by hard work.
These are all smart and convincing developments. Winning a war is one thing; maintaining a peace, quite another. All of these new developments make sense, and this episode does a fine job of establishing the default situation for the show's final arc.
Overall Rating: 7/10.
Previous Episode: Love Drifts Away/Force of Arms
Next Episode: Lonely Song/The Robotech Masters
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