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| Stig and Aisha enjoy an idyllic day out in an abandoned city. |
Genesis Climber Mospeada: Forte of the Glacier City.
Original Air Date - Genesis Climber Mospeada: Feb. 12, 1984. Writer: Satoshi Namiki. Director: Yusaku Saotome.
Robotech: Frostbite.
Original Air Date - Robotech: June 20, 1985.
Story Editor: Steve Kramer. Supervising Director: Robert V. Barron.
PLOT - MOSPEADA:
The team is making its way through another set of icy mountains when they discover a city buried under the ice. Stig wants to just keep moving, while Ray wants to raid it for supplies. The argument is rendered moot when the ice gives way, with the Legioss falling onto the top of a building, damaging one of the legs.
While Jim and Yellow make repairs, the rest of the group explores. They stock up on supplies, but also goof off and enjoy themselves, sampling pleasures that they haven't known under the Inbit: chocolate, canned meat, soda, and even a video game. Stig disapproves at first. Then, after catching sight of a wedding dress in a store window, he softens, deciding to enjoy the city in Aisha's company.
It's an idyllic day and a much-needed break. But it's not destined to last, as Inbit forces led by the humanoid male, Batra, locate their position and move in to attack...
PLOT - ROBOTECH:
The team is making its way through the ice-covered Rocky Mountains when they discover a city buried under the ice. Scott wants to just keep moving, while Rand wants to raid it for supplies. The argument is rendered moot when the ice gives way, with the Alpha fighter falling onto the top of a building, damaging the landing gear.
While Lunk and Lancer make repairs, the rest of the group explores. They stock up on supplies, but also goof off and enjoy themselves, sampling pleasures such as soda, food, music, and video games. Scott disapproves at first. Then, after catching sight of a wedding dress in a store window, he softens, deciding to enjoy the city in Marlene's company.
It's an idyllic day and a much-needed break. But it's not destined to last, as Invid forces led by Prince Corg locate their position and move in to attack...
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| A shop window's wedding dress reminds Stig of his late fiancée. |
CHARACTERS:
Stig's day out with Aisha allows the show to present a different side of the normally stoic soldier. He blushes when she tries on a dress, and he's amusingly awkward in zipping up her back. In Robotech, actor Gregory Snegoff delivers an amusing "voice break," a nice touch. Stig also keeps envisioning his late fiancée, Marlene, in Aisha's place, which feels more than a little unhealthy... particularly in Robotech, where he's gone so far as to name her as Marlene. Before he slides too far in the direction of James Stewart in Vertigo, though, he asks Aisha about love and is disappointed when she doesn't seem to understand the concept - though for her part, she smiles warmly while thinking about it.
Ray, Mint, and - with a little coaxing - Houquet have fun sampling canned delicacies. Mint also grabs a wedding dress for herself, something which ends up playing a role in the climax. Only Jim and Yellow keep working - Jim because he's the one with the skills to repair the damaged Legioss, and Yellow presumably because Jim needs an extra pair of hands and he's less carried away by the city than the others are.
Robotech wisely doesn't change the basic character beats, meaning that all of this material works about equally well in both versions.
Advantage: None.
NARRATION:
Robotech's opening narration specifically places this in the Rocky Mountains. The narrator specifies that the mechs are being pulled in a caravan rather than flying is to evade the Invid's protoculture detection, which is a nice added detail. I'm less fond of a later insertion, when the narrator tells us exactly what Marlene is thinking as she walks through a toy shop. I prefer Mopeada's version, with Aisha silently staring at the toys and the audience left to interpret her reactions.
Advantage: Mospeada.
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| Aisha and Mint enjoy some chocolate. Robotech changes a lot of the dialogue in this scene. |
CUTS AND ALTERATION:
The Alpha's Landing Gear Is Broken: A minor difference that makes no difference. Mospeada's Legioss has one of its legs broken when it crashes through the ice to the town below. In Robotech, the Alpha instead has its landing gear broken.
The City's Generator Will Last Forever: In Mospeada, Jim is impressed when he finds the city's generator and remarks that it has enough power stored to keep running for another ten years. That apparently wasn't impressive enough for Robotech, with Scott remarking that the generator will last for 100 thousand years, which takes what was already remarkable and makes it... well, impossible. Oh, and the city is identified as Denver.
Annie Obsesses About Peppermint: There are minor dialogue changes throughout the scene with Ray, Mint, and Aisha in the grocery store. Mint introduces Aisha to chocolate, then is thrilled when she finds a bag of soft marshmallows, while Ray remarks on how sweet a can of soda tastes, observing that he forgot that any food could taste this sweet. In Robotech, Annie is obsessive about peppermint, with her specifically biting into peppermint chocolate, and with the marshmallows changed to peppermints. Ray's musing about how sweet the soda tastes has been changed to Rand generically wondering if he's in heaven. I prefer the original dialogue, though none of these changes really harm anything.
Added Dialogue and Quips During the Battle: Scott remarks that he was expecting Korg; Lunk and Annie ride into the battle on Lunk's jeep, with Annie calling out that they'll save him; and a few other one-liners are thrown in. It's nothing that either adds to or takes away from the scene - It's just an example of Robotech's bizarre need for constant dialogue, even in action scenes that don't require it.
Advantage: None. Changes are tiny and don't particularly alter the viewing experience.
INCIDENTAL MUSIC:
Robotech uses an instrumental version of It's You during the scene in which Scott takes Marlene to a shoe store and a dress shop. The music nicely suits the scene's mood, and for a moment I thought Robotech might win this category because of this bit.
Then, after the Act break, my ears were assaulted by a recording of Minmei's This Is My Time to Be a Star. You know, the hackneyed ditty that Robotech's "Macross Saga" played roughly a hundred times across its 36 episodes? I suppose there is a certain twisted logic to it: Much like the cockroach, of course that particular song would be the one to survive the apocalypse...
Outside of that, both versions use their scores well. But I feel duty-bound to penalize Robotech for bringing back that song.
Advantage: Mospeada.
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| Aisha is at the mercy of the Inbit, Batra. |
OVERALL ADVANTAGE - NONE:
...which genuinely surprises me, given that character pieces don't tend to play to Robotech's strengths. This time, the Robotech writers wisely change very little of the original version. Additionally, the series' signature clunky dialogue is mostly absent, with most of the conversations remaining pretty well written. As a result, the viewing experience is all but identical - a good thing, since this is a good episode.
OTHER MUSINGS:
This is an enjoyable character piece. There are several amusing moments and also significant developments in the evolving relationship between Stig and Aisha. It's also just plain pleasant to see the regulars relaxing and enjoying themselves.
The Inbit are brought in at just the right point. They enter late enough for the bulk of the show to be given over to character development, arriving at the point that the group's enjoyment seems to be winding down. The final action scene is creative, with the regulars using the city itself and the ice above to their advantage.
It ends with a potentially important plot element, as at least one of the regulars begins actively speculating about Aisha's origins - and given how close we are to the end, it's probably time for the show to start exploring that, as leaving it for the finale would likely overload the ending.
Overall Rating: 8/10.
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