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| Jeanne falls for a lounge singer who has something other than romance on his mind... |
Original Air Date - Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross: June 17, 1984. Writer: Tadashi Terada. Director: Fumio Tashiro.
Original Air Date - Robotech: May 6, 1985.
Story Editor: Steve Kramer. Supervising Director: Robert V. Barron.
PLOT - SOUTHERN CROSS
With no apparent way to destroy the downed Zor mothership, the stalemate between the aliens and Gloire's military remains unbroken - a situation that has the civilian government running out of patience. Supreme Commander Claude Leon pushes for an all out attack on the alien ship, even though his experts have yet to finalize their analysis to identify potential weak spots.
Meanwhile, Jeanne accompanies Bowie to a bar where he's scheduled to play piano. She becomes instantly smitten by the singer, George Sullivan, and she eagerly agrees to a date with him the following day. But when she impulsively darts back in to say good night, she discovers that he is actually military, and that he's using her to find data to use against the Zor!
PLOT - ROBOTECH:
With no apparent way to destroy the Robotech Masters' downed ship, the stalemate between the aliens and Earth's military remains unbroken - a situation that has the civilian government running out of patience. Supreme Commander Anatole Leonard pushes for an all out attack on the alien ship, even though his experts have yet to finalize their analysis to identify potential weak spots.
Meanwhile, Dana accompanies Bowie to a bar where he's scheduled to play piano. She becomes instantly smitten by the singer, George Sullivan, and she eagerly agrees to a date with him the following day. But when she impulsively darts back in to say good night, she discovers that he is actually Global Military Police, and that he's using her to find data to use against the Robotech Masters!
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| Claude Leon is pressured to act. |
CHARACTERS:
Jeanne is appalled when Supreme Commander Claude Leon orders the destruction of the dead prisoner's body. She wonders why Gen. Emerson allows this. Emerson tells her that he's bound by Claude's decision, but he doesn't seem happy with it. In Robotech, he actually says as much.
Claude is also shown talking to his own superior, who berates him for his inaction - showing that just as Claude has been pressuring Emerson, he is himself under pressure. It doesn't make him sympathetic, but it does at least give him some motivation, as opposed to him merely being a one-note "Pompous Bureaucrat."
Advantage: Southern Cross.
NARRATION:
Though Robotech adds narration, as per usual, it's refreshingly restrained and doesn't interfere with the flow of the episode. The narration-free Southern Cross still wins this category, but at least the Robotech narrator didn't annoy me this time.
Advantage: Southern Cross
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| The Zor leaders study one of their human prisoners. |
CUTS AND ALTERATION:
The Robotech Masters Fret About Protoculture and the Invid: The first scene of the Zor in Southern Cross emphasizes their arrogance, with them clearly believing themselves superior to the humans, as they prep a subject to become a "biohuman." Though the visuals are unchanged, the dialogue has been completely rewritten for Robotech. Instead of their human subject being the latest of many made into slave soldiers, the Robotech Masters are studying him to see if he is Zentraedi or if he understands protoculture. Seeing that he knows nothing about protoculture, the Masters are reassured that they have a path to recovering the holy plot device before the Invid arrive.
The Masters Intend to Plant Zor Prime Among the Humans: In the same scene, the Robotech Masters discuss sending "Zor Prime" out among the humans as a spy. This is actually a change for the better. In Southern Cross, this still ends up happening at the end of the episode, but with no groundwork laid. This addition means that it no longer comes out of nowhere.
Robotech's George Sings a Minmei Song: In Southern Cross, George sings a song, Stardust, after the title of the episode - which Gubaga Blog has informed me on Twitter was the debut recording of veteran anime singer Hironubu Kageyama. Robotech's George sings It's You, a Minmei song. The singer here is much better than the Robotech Minmei singer, and the song benefits as a result - but the performance in Southern Cross is easily the better of the two.
Jeanne Is Evasive with Her Squad; Dana Is Not: After learning that George is analyzing weaknesses in the enemy hull, Jeanne tells her squad... nothing. She just says that she won't be joining them for the attack and leaves Andrzej in charge. Dana lets them know that she has a source who might be able to help find a weakness, which makes it more believable that her squad so calmly accepts her absence.
The Pilots's Reactions During the Battle: Southern Cross follows up on the previous episode, with both Charles and Jeanne hating to shoot at enemy pilots that they know are actually captured humans. This has been removed from Robotech.
Advantage: Robotech. Multiple changes are for the better this time, with no significant ones that are for the worse.
INCIDENTAL MUSIC:
Southern Cross benefits from a song that's not only better, but that's also more strongly linked to the overall story. The music in the club is generally more convincing for that setting than the recycled Robotech score. Also, and as ever, Robotech cannot allow silence, meaning that a key part of the ending works better in Southern Cross. There's a point in the final battle that sees no less than three different music cues in a matter of seconds, including a snippet of the Robotech theme. Sometimes less is more, but the Robotech producers don't seem to agree with me on that.
Advantage: Southern Cross.
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| Jeanne is swept away as she listens to George sing. |
OVERALL ADVANTAGE - ROBOTECH:
Despite some of Robotech's patented clunky dialogue, particularly near the end, I think most of the changes made from the original are for the better. The aliens' planting of a spy in the humans' midst is presented as a fully developed plan rather than as a last-minute impulse, while Dana's honesty with her squad makes their willingness to go along with her more plausible.
OTHER MUSINGS:
Another good episode, and at this point I'm starting to wonder about Southern Cross's poor reputation. Sure, it's not up to Macross's standard... but saying that another '80s anime isn't up to the level of Macross is like complaining that another 1990s science fiction show isn't up to Babylon 5. So far, I've found Southern Cross to be a reliably entertaining series with a few interesting (if underdeveloped) ideas.
Within the larger story, Stardust's main role is to break the standoff surrounding the downed enemy ship and to plant the alien spy in the humans' midst. However, the standalone story with Jeanne and George works well, keeping engaging what might easily have been a purely transitional piece.
In the end, it's a solidly enjoyable entry in a show that's currently proving to be a lot better than I had been led to expect.
Overall Rating: 7/10.
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