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| Jeanne's introduction - in the brig, of course. Robotech moves this scene to later. |
Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross: Prisoner
Original Air Date: Apr. 15, 1984. Writer: Jinzô Toriumi. Director: Yasuo Hasegawa.
Robotech: False Start
Original Air Date: Apr. 24, 1985.
Story Editor: Steve Kramer. Supervising Director: Robert V. Barron.
PLOT - SOUTHERN CROSS
It is a dark time for the members of the 15th Squadron of Southern Cross's Alpha Tactics Armored Corps. The squad commander, Charles, has been confined after making advances on a general's wife. The second-in-command, Jeanne, is just being released from solitary confinement after the latest in a succession of reckless stunts. The colony world of Gloire is currently under yellow alert - but as Jeanne takes command, she orders a drill that's really an excuse to goof off.
Meanwhile, a mysterious alien ship appears in Gloire's orbit. Gen. Rolf Emerson orders his men to wait until they know the aliens' intentions. But a trigger-happy soldier opens fire, starting a battle with the unknown aliens.
It's a situation that calls for all soldiers to join the fight. But even as the announcement is being made, Jeanne finds herself being returned to the brig for what's likely to be a much longer stay. This leaves her squadron leaderless during the crisis - something she isn't willing to allow!
PLOT - ROBOTECH:
After squad leader Sean Phillips is put in the brig for unwanted advances on a female superior officer, command of the 15th Squadron of the Alpha Tactical Armored Corps falls to Dana Sterling, daughter of the famed Max and Miriya Sterling.
This apple has fallen far from the tree. Dana is headstrong and reckless. Her first order is to organize a drill that's really an excuse to goof off. Since this occurs during a yellow alert in the wake of the alien attack on the Earth's lunar base, Dana is taken to the brig for several days, leaving her squad leaderless.
During Dana's imprisonment, the Robotech Masters advance on Earth. Gen. Rolf Emerson orders his men to wait until they know the aliens' intentions. But a trigger-happy soldier opens fire, starting a battle with the unknown aliens.
It's a situation that calls for all soldiers to join the battle. An officer who considers Dana to be "a disgrace" decides to assign her to a high target area - which leaves her on the front line as the aliens begin their attack!
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| Jeanne is arrested a second time. It's not promising for this series that I'm on the MPs' side here. |
CHARACTERS:
In either version of the episode, Jeanne/Dana makes a rather poor first impression. I think we're supposed to find her reckless disregard of rules to be charming, but all I see is a selfish brat who's happy to endanger other people and property for her own momentary satisfaction. In absolute fairness, Hikaru/Rick was pretty obnoxious in the first Macross episode - but he paid for that with a succession of embarrassments across the early installments. By contrast, Jeanne ends this first episode by getting promoted! Ah, well. I just hope that the character grows and matures the same way Hikaru did across his series. At the moment, I'm inclined to agree with the officer who labels her "a disgrace."
Advantage: None.
NARRATION:
Southern Cross features a small amount of narration ahead of the titles, quickly establishing that its setting is a colony world and that the main characters are members of the military force defending it. After that, the episode plays out with no narration until the "next time" teaser.
Robotech includes the usual narration throughout the episode. In this case, however, it's needed. The new context of being "the second generation" of an ongoing saga requires additional exposition to create links to Macross that weren't originally there (despite Southern Cross sharing the "Superdimension" banner with Macross, there is no direct continuity between them).
It falls to the narration to establish that the characters are not only on Earth, but they are also guarding a city that's close by the wreckage of the SDF-1. Since the aliens are not actually shown in this episode, narration specifically identify them as the Robotech Masters.
I can't really ding the show for necessities created by its multi-generational narrative in this instance, and the narration is otherwise not intrusive. As a result, I'm calling this one a draw.
Advantage: None
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| The squad gets into a brawl. Robotech's Dana tries to stop it. Southern Cross's Jeanne is an enthusiastic participant. |
CUTS AND ALTERATION:
Jeanne Is Introduced in Solitary; Dana Is Not: Southern Cross introduces Jeanne in confinement for previous dangerous stunts. Not that she seems terribly concerned about this, as she's introduced checking her face in a mirror. She is let out as the squad commander, Charles, is being locked up, with the two basically swapping places.
Robotech retains the scene, but it's moved to the midpoint, with Dana's confinement now a consequence for her actions during the first half. I understand the reasoning: The twin arrests seems like a repetitive beat, and this way Dana's actions don't go entirely unpunished the way Jeanne's do in the original. Still, Southern Cross's scene makes for an excellent visual introduction to the character, showing her careless nature and lack of respect for consequences before she so much as speaks. Also, moving this to mid-episode requires the Robotech version to insert a pause of days during the alien arrival, which undercuts the tension.
Rank Confusion: Jeanne is a sergeant in this episode, and she receives a promotion at the end as a result of her actions during the battle. Dana is a lieutenant from the start... except for a moment in mid-episode that sees her referred to as a sergeant. I'm not sure why the change, but it creates a minor but entirely avoidable inconsistency.
The Brawl: Southern Cross's Jeanne is an enthusiastic participant in the brawl with Marie's squad, literally jumping around gleefully after one of her attacks connects. In Robotech, Dana keeps crying out for the others to stop fighting. This is probably an attempt to correct for the character being so irresponsible, but it actually undercuts her as a leader when her cries are ignored by her men and Marie's alike. In addition, the Robotech lines don't match the animation. If Dana is so desperate for them to stop, surely she shouldn't be dancing around with a grin on her face.
Jeanne Breaks Out to Join the Fight; Dana Is Assigned: Jeanne is being booked into the brig (again) when the battle starts. Hearing the announcement, she apologizes to her superiors before knocking them back and running to collect her squad. That is why she expects punishment at the end of the episode. In Robotech, Dana is assigned to her position under the theory that action "might do her some good" - which makes it confusing when she expects punishment, as all she did was follow orders - and rather well, at that.
Peakaboo Nudity: In Southern Cross, Jeanne ends the episode by taking a shower, allowing her to show off her cartoon assets for the benefit of the male viewership. Robotech cuts around the fanservice, showing only head and shoulders before cutting straight to her flashbacks of the battle.
Advantage: Southern Cross.
INCIDENTAL MUSIC:
Southern Cross makes use of a pop soundtrack during the first half, which fits well with scenes of Jeanne and her squad's reckless idiocy. The battle music is much weaker, though, feeling mostly generic.
Playing the end battle scene from the two shows side-by-side makes clear how much of a difference music makes to a set piece. It's the same scene visually, but it feels more dynamic in Robotech because the battle music creates tension more effectively.
I'll acknowledge that Robotech's incidentals are less effective in the lighthearted first half. But its music is so much stronger in the second half that it easily wins this category.
Advantage: Robotech
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| The aliens attack. The music makes this more dynamic in Robotech. |
OVERALL ADVANTAGE - SOUTHERN CROSS:
This mainly comes down to three issues. The first is the introduction of Jeanne/Dana. Southern Cross's visual introduction of her in solitary gives an impression of who she is in the opening seconds. In Robotech, Dana is introduced taking over the squad. As a result, it takes several minutes to gain as much of a sense of her as a character.
The second issue is narrative consistency. Robotech's changes introduce minor but noticeable incongruities, such as Dana's variable rank and the way her dialogue in the brawl scene fails to match up with her animations.
Finally, the battle scene cobbled together for Dana's Story undercuts the impact of the humans firing the first shots. In Southern Cross, a moment of panic starts a war that might have been avoided; in Robotech, the war has already started, and the end of this episode is the second battle.
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| Gen. Emerson looks out on Gloire, reflecting on the war to come. |
OTHER MUSINGS:
My biggest worry about Southern Cross is that, as of this point, I dislike its heroine. Jeanne is going to need to grow as a character quite a lot, because at this point she's borderline insufferable.
That aside, Prisoner is a decent opener. The first half introduces the setting and characters, doing so mostly through action and visuals. The second half initiates the conflict, and it does so in such a way that the humans (well, that one idiot officer) might well be to blame for all that follows.
Robotech re-edits the episode to a far greater degree than was usually the case in Macross, in part because it has to establish a semi-reconstructed Earth setting that is quite different from the original show's colony world. By necessity, a lot of this is done through narration, but there are also several references in dialogue: A disapproving officer talks about Dana being a disgrace to Max and Miriya's name, for instance, and the general references the humans' defeat of the Zentraedi. It's clear that the writers are doing all they can to keep this feeling like part of the same series, even though the characters and art style are different.
At this point, this is the most different that a Robotech episode has been from its source material, and I'll be interested to see if that level of divergence continues.
Overall Rating: 7/10.
Previous Episode: Dana's Story
Next Episode: Makeup/Southern Cross
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