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| Front row seat: Jeanne and Lana stare at the enemy ship through a restaurant window. |
Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross - Prelude.
Original Air Date - Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross: May 20, 1984. Writer: Tomoko Kawasaki. Director: Mikio Suzuki.
Robotech - Prelude to Battle
Original Air Date - Robotech: May 1, 1985.
Story Editor: Steve Kramer. Supervising Director: Robert V. Barron.
PLOT - SOUTHERN CROSS
Jeanne's team has brought the Zor mothership down, but the battle is far from over. The aliens have repelled all attempts to break through their defenses. With the civilian population living in fear and the military leadership frustrated, Gen. Emerson comes up with a plan: create a single breach and send a small team in - not to destroy the ship, but to gather intelligence so that the humans will actually know who they're fighting against.
It's about one step removed from a suicide mission, something Jeanne and her squad realize as soon as they're issued the order. They spend the day before the attack focusing on the things they enjoy, determined not to have any regrets if they don't come back. But Jeanne has an additional ploy to protect the most vulnerable member of her squad, whether he likes it or not!
PLOT - ROBOTECH:
Dana's team has brought down the mothership of the Robotech Masters, but the invaders have repelled all attempts to break through their defenses. With the civilian population living in fear and the military leadership frustrated, Gen. Emerson comes up with a plan: create a single breach and send a small team in - not to destroy the ship, but to gather intelligence so that they'll know whether they're fighting humans, miniaturized Zentraedi, or something completely different.
It's about one step removed from a suicide mission, something Dana and her squad realize as soon as they're issued the order. And with Bowie making small but critical errors on the battlefield, Dana decides to get him out of harm's way before the attack begins!
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| The squad waits - with the enemy ship in the background. |
CHARACTERS:
This is a character-focused ensemble episode, something I think Southern Cross has badly needed. Up to this point, the members of Jeanne's squad have mostly been defined in broad strokes. This episode doesn't transform them into multilayered characters, but it at least lays the groundwork to make that possible.
A notable facet of Jeanne's evolving character is the way she interacts with each of her charges. She only interacts with Charles (her womanizing predecessor) when talking to the group. She needles Louis for staying up all night working with his gadgets, but nothing more. In both cases, she trusts them to do their jobs on the mission. When she needs to seriously talk to Andrzej, who has often disapproved of her, she approaches him quietly. She makes no long speeches, matching his contemplative mood with a quiet tone as she tells him that they need to trust each other for the mission to be a success... and she seems to gain a little genuine respect from him for that. Sadly, the Robotech version bungles the same moment via some clunky and entirely unnecessary extra dialogue.
The two series diverge in terms of Jeanne/Dana's approach to Bowie. In Southern Cross, it's clear that Jeanne is acting to protect him. Robotech at least partially recontextualizes this as protection of the mission, with repeated mentions of Bowie's errors leading up to this.
Advantage: Southern Cross.
NARRATION:
This Robotech episode is particularly heavy-handed in its narration, using the voice over to spell out things that are perfectly clear just by watching.
Late in the episode, Gen. Emerson intervenes to make sure that Bowie joins the mission. Southern Cross shows him learning about Bowie's status, then cuts to Bowie being allowed to rejoin Jeanne's squad. Robotech decides this is too subtle for the dumb little kiddies, so we get treated to the narrator telling us that Emerson made this happen.
Maybe he should specify that all the squad members ate breakfast and went to the bathroom before the mission, too? After all, this doesn't happen onscreen, so we should be reassured that our heroes aren't about to simultaneously starve and burst. Right?
Advantage: Southern Cross
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| Jeanne and Andrzej share a moment of understanding. |
CUTS AND ALTERATION:
New Opening: Southern Cross begins with Jeanne and her squad fruitlessly attacking the downed enemy ship. Robotech recycles a few shots from the previous episode, first of headquarters and then of the alien ship crashing, presumably afraid that viewers wouldn't recall what had happened in the previous episode. You know - the one that aired all of 24 hours earlier.
Angelo's Sexism. Both Southern Cross's Andrzej and Robotech's Angelo have shown doubts about Jeanne/Dana's leadership. In Andrzej's case, at least, this doesn't seem to be about Jeanne's sex. He just doesn't respond well to her cavalier attitude toward rules and orders. In the Robotech version of this episode, however, Angelo (the American counterpart for Andrzej) spouts off about how women aren't suited to combat. What sparks this? That Dana followed orders and withdrew from the opening attack - the attack that Angelo could see as well as anyone was completely ineffective.
Robotech Spells Out That Bowie Is Making Mistakes: In the opening scene, Bowie is almost killed when he fails to pay attention on the battlefield. In Southern Cross, Andrzej later asks Charles if he's noticed anything "off" about the young man. The same thing happens in Robotech - but here, Angelo spells out to Sean that Bowie has been making small but dangerous mistakes.
Peekaboo Nudity. Again: Jeanne takes a bath after the battle, flashing both butt and breasts while measuring her waistline. Most of this was cut from Robotech's broadcast version. Fear not, however: It's all back in the blu-ray!
Dana and Nova Have a Much Shorter Conversation than Jeanne and Lana: Following on from the waist-measuring, Southern Cross's Jeanne passes up Lana's offer of a sundae because she is trying to lose one more half centimeter. She also teases Lana, saying that she'll have an easier time escaping the next time she's on the wrong side of Security if the other woman gains weight. Robotech reduces the conversation to about thirty seconds, replacing their banter with generic musings by Dana about how much she wishes a man would sweep her off her feet.
"I'm Sorry, Rolf": After shutting down Emerson's attempts to avoid assigning the mission to Bowie's squad, Robotech's Anatole Leonard has an internal monologue apologizing to the general for putting Bowie in danger. Southern Cross's Claude Leon, being a one-dimensional bureaucrat, is completely unsympathetic. I really should give points to Robotech for attempting to add additional shading to the character... but the story itself can only let that go so far, and there's no getting around that he's still been drawn to look like Lex Luthor.
Dana Is Sterner to Bowie than Jeanne: In both versions, Jeanne/Dana sets up Bowie to be in the brig right before the mission. In Southern Cross, it's clear that Jeanne is trying to keep Bowie out of harm's way, something Lana and Andrzej both immediately pick up on. In Robotech, Dana's overall tone is much harsher, as if she's genuinely angry at him. Nova takes the entire scene to comprehend what Dana's doing, which is hardly surprising, since Dana is doing it so very badly. Angelo is never catches on - because unlike Southern Cross's Andrzej, Angelo is an imbecile.
Advantage: Southern Cross. By a lot.
INCIDENTAL MUSIC:
The music works fine for both versions, but I think Robotech gets the edge. It sticks to its quieter incidental tracks for the character-based scenes, with a slow instrumental version of We Will Win that is particularly effective. The only misstep comes at the end, when the Robotech theme kicks in very abruptly when the mission begins (you can practically hear the needle drop). That's a relatively minor issue, though, offset by the rest of the episode.
Advantage: Robotech.
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| Lana helps Bowie and gives him some encouragement. |
OVERALL ADVANTAGE - SOUTHERN CROSS:
Prelude is a character episode, propelled by interactions and dialogue... which does not play to Robotech's strengths. Not for the first time, the Robotech version suffers from poor dialogue, particularly in the scenes involving the "trap" Dana sets for Bowie. Jeanne's late episode interaction with Andrzej is vastly better written in Southern Cross than the same moment between Dana and Angelo in Robotech, and Angelo in general has been made out to be more antagonistic than the original show's Andrzej.
Add in Robotech's narrator intruding to spell out the obvious, and there's little question but that the Southern Cross episode is the better version.
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| Gen. Emerson faces ordering his son, Bowie, into danger. |
OTHER MUSINGS:
This is a "calm before the storm" episode, following the characters as they prepare for a mission from which some likely won't return. Southern Cross is quite effective as it checks in on each squad member and how they indulge themselves before the mission: Jeanne by eating a sundae, because calories won't matter if she dies tomorrow; Charles, attempting to get closer to his current girlfriend; Louis, spending the night getting a gizmo to work just right; Bowie, playing piano at a jazz club; and Andrzej, just quietly sipping Scotch while staring out the window at the downed enemy ship.
An indication of why Southern Cross isn't as strong a series as Macross is that this is Episode 6 - a good quarter of the way through the series - and only now does it feel like we're getting to know these characters. I can imagine a version of this episode in which we already felt attached and knew them as more than "rules guy" and "tech guy" and "womanizer." Still, late is better than never, and this character focus is extremely welcome.
The Robotech version is noticeably weaker, thanks in large part to the series' ongoing struggle with clunky dialogue. The Jeanne/Andrzej moment in Southern Cross is wonderful, as Jeanne approaches him in the exact right way: silently, exchanging only the minimum of words required in quiet tones. Its Robotech counterpart is practically identical in content, but it comes across as jarring. Dana enters loudly, talks more, and bluntly spells out what only needs to be suggested. Jeanne earns at least a little of Andrzej's respect; Dana seems to merely demand the same from Angelo.
Overall Rating - Southern Cross: 8/10.
Overall Rating - Robotech: 6/10.
Previous Episode: Trouble City/Danger Zone
Next Episode: Labyrinth Opera House/The Trap
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