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| The Zor city takes casualties during the battle. |
Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross: Catastrophe.
Original Air Date - Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross: Sept. 23, 1984. Writer: Jinzou Toriumi. Director: Mikio Suzuki.
Robotech: The Invid Connection.
Original Air Date - Robotech: May 23, 1985.
Story Editor: Steve Kramer. Supervising Director: Robert V. Barron.
PLOT - SOUTHERN CROSS
The final battle has begun, with Gen. Emerson leading the assault against the Zor. He's attempting to hold out until Supreme Commander Claude Leon begins his pincer attack from Gloire - but Claude has yet to launch his assault, an inaction that may well spell disaster.
Meanwhile, in the Zor ruins, Seifriet persuades Lana not to arrest Musica, pointing out the way the Zor flowers react to her presence. He tells Lana that this chamber is the key to everything. Before they can actually do anything, however, an enemy ship descends, intending to claim the flowers to restore the Zor fleet's bio-energy.
Seifriet warns off the ship by threatening the flowers. He then demands to speak with Zor leader Dess, to negotiate an end to the conflict. But Jeanne fears that Seifriet actually intends to get revenge on his former tormenters!
PLOT - ROBOTECH:
The final battle has begun, with Gen. Emerson leading the assault against the Robotech Masters. He's attempting to hold out until Supreme Commander Anatole Leonard begins his pincer attack from Earth - but Leonard has yet to launch his assault, an inaction that may well spell disaster.
Meanwhile, the 15th Squadron stands in the ruins of the SDF-1, in the midst of the protoculture factory sought first by the Zentraedi and now by the Masters... but it's too late, with the protoculture now infested with the Invid Flower of Life and expelling spores that will attract that deadly enemy.
Having regained his memories, Zor persuades Nova not to arrest Musica, whose absence from the enemy fleet will drive the enemy slowly but surely into disarray. Before they can actually do anything, however, an enemy ship descends to try to claim the protoculture, Invid flowers or no.
Zor is able to warn the ship off. He demands to speak with the Robotech Masters to negotiate an end to the conflict. But Dana fears that he actually intends to get revenge on his former tormenters!
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| The 15th Squadron braces itself for conflict with aliens and humans alike. |
CHARACTERS:
Seifriet knows full well that Jeanne tends to be led by her emotions. He tries to play on this when he says that all of his actions were to help Musica. But he forgets that Jeanne is also intuitive. She sees right through him, all too accurately predicting that his true goal is vengeance. She has empathy for his emotional turmoil, but her responsibility is to look after Musica and her squad.
In the "B" plot, Claude Leon informs Emerson about Bowie going AWOL with an alien prisoner. Emerson's response is more soldier than father - that Bowie will need to face punishment and take responsibility. Even Claude seems surprised; the way the scene plays out, it seems as if he meant to mitigate consequences.
The Emerson/Bowie material would work a lot better if the two characters had more interaction prior to this (that's true of their relationship across the entire series, actually), but it just about works in Southern Cross. Robotech's bizarre decision to make Emerson into Bowie's godfather rather than his father mutes much of the emotion. When Robotech's Bowie calls out to Emerson, "My friend!" - Well, I'll just say it's unintentionally a bit comical.
I'm still wondering why this change was made. My immediate instinct is that someone got nervous about a white father with a black son... except that "The Macross Saga" already featured one interracial romance between Roy and Claudia; "The Masters" features another between Bowie and Musica that is also inter-species. Why would an interracial father-and-son be a dealbreaker? And if that wasn't the reason, then what was? The only result of this change has been to generally weaken a thread that was already frayed due to the lack of screen time the two characters shared!
Ah, well.
Advantage: Southern Cross.
NARRATION:
Another clumsy recap for Southern Cross, though at this point I'm wondering if some of the problem stems from translation. There is a definite senseof the not-quite-there "jumble" that can come from an overly literal translation.
Robotech actually does pretty well by its voice over. The recap actually benefits from the addition of the Invid subplot, and the narration is reasonably restrained across the rest of the episode.
Advantage: Robotech.
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| Gen. Emerson negotiates. Southern Cross's Zor are more convincing as negotiators than the Robotech Masters. |
CUTS AND ALTERATION:
Zor Gives a Different Reason for Musica's Importance: Southern Cross's Seifriet gets a wavering Lana to give up on arresting Musica when he points out that the Zor flowers react to her proximity. Since Lana can observe this herself, it's reasonable for her to believe him. Robotech's Zor tells Nova that Musica's playing keeps the clones under the Masters' control, a control that will slip in Musica's absence. This isn't something Nova can verify, and it wouldn't change the advantages to arresting and questioning her. This doesn't make a nonsense out of Nova dropping the arrest, as she's already wavering, but it does weaken that decision to only the emotional appeals.
Emerson and the Supreme Commander: When Claude Leon informs Emerson that Bowie has gone AWOL, he seems to be trying to extend an olive branch, all but offering to mitigate the consequences. He's genuinely surprised when Emerson says that Bowie should face punishment. In Robotech, Emerson immediately protests that Bowie must have been brainwashed, and Anatole Leonard doesn't show the slightest sign of sympathy.
The Ultimatum: The Zor contact Claude to give him a deadline to abandon Gloire, their homeworld, in 48 hours. The substance of the scene is the same in Robotech, but the context is very different: Since the planet is Earth in Robotech, it's now a threat to destroy humanity's home world rather than an ultimatum to abandon the aliens' own home planet.
The Masters Are Less Cordial to Emerson than the Zor: The Zor try to convince Gen. Emerson that they wish to negotiate for a peaceful settlement. The Masters in Robotech do the same - but they drop the act very quickly, sneering about how "stupid" the humans are. Oh, and somehow Emerson and Marie are aware of the Invid, even though they were already off planet by the time any of the humans heard that name.
Zor's Ending Words: At the end of Southern Cross, Seifriet separates from the 15th Squadron in order to chase after the Zor leaders, specifically Dess, vowing to destroy them. Robotech changes Zor Prime's final words, with him now declaring that the Robotech Masters will obey him. This significantly muddles the nature of his personal agenda.
Advantage: Southern Cross.
INCIDENTAL MUSIC:
I don't have much to say here. Both shows apply their incidentals perfectly adequately, and no musical moments really stand out to me.
Advantage: None.
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| Civilians desperately evacuate the city as the battle draws near. |
OVERALL ADVANTAGE - SOUTHERN CROSS:
The difference in this case is slight. Southern Cross ends up benefiting from better characterizations for Jeanne and Seifriet, and for a slightly better (well, less weak) Emerson/Bowie strand.
OTHER MUSINGS:
The momentum from the previous episode continues. This episode features big action sequences and major plot turns. Even the Plot Armor of the named characters starts to falter, as we get the first major character death just in time to raise the stakes for the finale.
This is principally a plot-based episode. The characterizations still work - but except for Jeanne, Seifriet, and Emerson, the rest only get moments around the edges. The characters are serving the plot this time, whereas the previous two episodes had much of the plot arising from the characters acting according to their natures.
Another good episode, in any case. Fingers crossed that the finale manages to land!
Overall Rating: 8/10.
Previous Episode: Nightmare/Final Nightmare
Next Episode: Genesis/Catastrophe
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