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| Jeanne comes face-to-face with Seifriet, the enemy pilot who's caused her so much trouble. |
Original Air Date - Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross: July 1, 1984. Writer: Jinzô Toriumi. Director: Yasuo Hasegawa.
Original Air Date - Robotech: May 8, 1985.
Story Editor: Steve Kramer. Supervising Director: Robert V. Barron.
PLOT - SOUTHERN CROSS
Gen. Emerson orders that Seifriet, the captured Bioroid pilot, be moved to a military hospital and placed under Lana's direct supervision. As she questions Seifriet, he is able to remember that he was a second lieutenant on Aluce Base when the Zor attacked - but he can't recall anything that happened in between the attack and being found by Lana.
Charles notices the tight security in the hospital when he visits Marie. He finds out that "the red Bioroid" is being kept on the top floor and informs the squad. Jeanne declares that she has to see this prisoner with her own eyes - and for a change, Andrzej is in firm agreement in wanting answers from him.
They hatch a plan to infiltrate the hospital. But when Jeanne comes face to face with Seifriet, the prisoner is able to remember one thing - leading to a particularly upsetting revelation...
PLOT - ROBOTECH:
Gen. Emerson orders that the captured Bioroid pilot be moved to a military hospital and placed under Nova's direct supervision. When she questions the prisoner, he is unable to remember anything beyond vague impressions of being in a battle. He tries to remember more, but the pain is too intense for him to bear.
Visiting Marie in the hospital, Sean finds out that the captured pilot is being kept on the top floor. Dana declares that she has to see this prisoner and get some answers from him. Angelo disagrees with her, as usual, but he goes along with her plan anyway.
They infiltrate the hospital easily enough. But when Dana comes face to face with her former enemy, she is surprised by just how human he seems...
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| Lana tries to help Seifriet regain his memory. |
CHARACTERS:
Jeanne is increasingly tormented by nightmares. She feels guilty about Marie's injury, which occurred in the same battle as George's death. When she confronts Seifriet, all her guilt consolidates into a single source: the deaths of people under her command. Andrzej wants answers, but I think Jeanne's goal may actually be to confront and kill Seifriet. Even as Andrzej and her squad celebrate a successful operation, she remains shaken.
All of this is simplified in Robotech. There's no sense that Dana might be pursuing vigilante justice, and there's relatively little sense of any great mass of internalized guilt. As a result, her confrontation with Zor is less charged - which isn't helped by the changed context robbing the scene of its big reveal.
Advantage: Southern Cross.
NARRATION:
Southern Cross opens with a quick recap of the situation given at the very start. The opening Robotech narration covers the same general ground, but I think it's better written. And while Robotech does feature a small amount of in-episode narration, it's not intrusive. As a result, for a rare change, I'm giving this category to the American version.
Advantage: Robotech.
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| The Zor leaders discuss their hopes for the spy they've planted. In Robotech, the Masters have different goals. |
CUTS AND ALTERATION:
The Reason for the Spy: The episode opens with the alien leaders talking about the spy they've planted among the humans. Southern Cross's Zor race hopes for insight into human psychology and specific intelligence that will let them defeat the humans without harming Gloire's environment. The Robotech Masters are just waiting for their Zor clone to pinpoint the location of the protoculture. Also, while Southern Cross's Seifriet is a human who was brainwashed, Robotech's Zor is not, with the Masters even remarking on how stupid the humans are to believe that he might be.
Bowie's Remarks About Musica: Both versions see Bowie talking about the girl he met on the alien ship. In Southern Cross, he says to Jeanne that he can sense that she's not a bad person, which makes him believe that there are those among the Zor who could be reasoned with. Robotech bizarrely changes this to him speculating that, because he's sure that she's not a bad person, she therefore "isn't one of them." Because apparently all of the aliens must, by definition, be evil.
The Prisoner's Recollections: Southern Cross's Seifriet specifically recalls being a soldier assigned to Aluce Base. When Lana presses him for more information, he experiences a painful, nightmarish vision. Robotech can't have this be in silence, so the Zor clone narrates the entire vision before vowing to not try to to remember if the pain will just stop. I actually like that last part of the Robotech scene, but the unnarrated Southern Cross version is otherwise the more effective one.
Andrzej Supports Jeanne's Plan; Angelo Argues Against It: When Jeanne declares that she wants to see the Bioroid pilot, Andrzej agrees that he would also like some answers. Robotech's Angelo says the exact opposite, stating that they should keep their noses out of it. I have no idea why this change was made, save that Andrzej is a three-dimensional character while Angelo is more or less "the Frank Burns" of the show.
Dana Is Much Less Angry than Jeanne: Jeanne is bristling with anger during the confrontation with Seifriet. Dana doesn't show nearly as much emotion when she confronts the Zor clone, even when she blames him for the deaths of men under her command. In Robotech, she sounds downright friendly when he remembers Musica, encouraging him to remember more. Oh, and the half-alien Dana drops the following line: "You aliens are all alike! Um... unless the writers are trying to imply some hitherto-unseen self-hatred, I'm wondering if they just plain forgot about her origins.
The Ending: Southern Cross ends with Seifriet remembering something that shakes Jeanne to her core. Robotech's changed context doesn't allow for the same revelation, which blunts the effectiveness of the ending. It also makes it a bit of a head-scratcher why Dana is so shaken at the end of the episode.
Advantage: Southern Cross.
INCIDENTAL MUSIC:
Both scores are well applied, with no moments that are noticeably more effective in either version.
Advantage: None.
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| Jeanne, in a rare contemplative mood. |
OVERALL ADVANTAGE - SOUTHERN CROSS:
Robotech is hobbled by having to remove the big reveal. As a result, Southern Cross is able to hit harder. The Robotech episode is still good, but the episode's biggest punch has been taken away from it.
OTHER MUSINGS:
Déjà Vu is neatly divided into two halves. The first half is dominated by the ongoing arc: the plans of the Zor, Gen. Emerson's hopes to gain vital information from Seifriet, and Lana's attempts to help Seifriet to remember his past. These elements get more screen time in the first half than Jeanne and the 15th squadron do, though a couple of scenes do show her mounting feelings of guilt and frustration.
The second half transforms into a caper flick, with the 15th infiltrating the hospital. This is achieved a little too easily, playing out like something from a midseason A-Team episode, but it's still rather fun - though Jeanne's nurse's outfit looks less like a real nurse's uniform than like something picked out an adult specialty shop.
Just when the episode seems to be settling in as light entertainment, the confrontation between Jeanne and Seifriet sees the tone shift again. Their scene is emotional, with Jeanne left even more shaken than she's been throughout the episode. The contrast between the heavier emotional material and the lightheartedness of the big set piece is effective... though I can't say that the ending revelation was particularly hard to see coming.
As mentioned, Robotech's ending is defanged by having to remove the major revelation. Even so, relatively few changes were made to the rest of the episode, and the overall structure and the clash of tones still works - just not quite as well as in the original version.
Overall Rating - Southern Cross: 8/10.
Overall Rating - Robotech: 7/10.
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