Love Live Alive.

Yellow Belmont gives an emotional performance in concert.

Original Release Date - Mospeada: Sept. 1985. Running Time: 49 minutes. Written by: Sukehiro Tomita. Directed by: Katsuhisa Yamada. Produced by: Akira Inoue, Hiroshi Iwata, Kenji Yoshida.

Original Release Date - Robotech: July 23, 2013. Running Time: 89 minutes. Screenplay by: Gregory Snegoff. Story by: Carl Macek, Tommy Yune. Directed by: Gregory Snegoff. Produced by: Frank Agrama, Carl Macek, Tommy Yune.


PLOT - MOSPEADA:

The war with the Inbit is over, and Earth is again at peace. Yellow Belmont has continued his music career, now without the need to cross-dress to hide from the enemy, and he is playing to a massive crowd. In between sets, he gives an interview in which he recalls the comrades he fought with during the alien occupation. He continues recalling their adventures as he performs on stage, giving his all in an intensely emotional performance.


PLOT - ROBOTECH:

The war with the Invid is over, and Earth is again at peace. Lancer, aka "Yellow Dancer," has continued his music career, now without the need to cross-dress to hide from the enemy. Just before a concert in which he'll play to a massive crowd, he gives an interview recalling the fight against the alien occupation. He recaps events from his first meeting with Scott Bernard all the way to the final confrontation with the Invid Regess, while doing his best to hide a secret of his own...

Yellow, alone with his thoughts after the concert.

CHARACTERS:

Either version of Love Live Alive focuses on Yellow/Lancer. He is the only character to receive any substantial new footage, and the flashbacks to the war are indicated to be his memories - though this is a bit muddy, as both versions show events he wasn't present for.

Mospeada's Yellow was always a bit mercurial. In the interview segments in the original version, much of what he says is banter that seems designed to hide his inner thoughts as much as possible. He teases that he got used to dressing in women's clothes, only to then add that those clothes are too expensive now. This slips only when the interviewer notices the photographs he carries of Stig's team, referring to them as friends. He corrects her, firmly identifying them as "comrades."

Robotech's Lancer is more direct. Given that the Robotech version is a traditional compilation film, he pretty much has to be in order to provide a frame for the flashbacks. He still gets cagey, though, with the interviewer at one point observing that he seems to talk more about the others than about himself. He also affirms his focus as his music, with him declining an invitation to rejoin the military: "I feel I can make more of a difference to people as Yellow Dancer than as a soldier."

Advantage: None.

The Invid invasion of Earth.

NARRATION:

The Mosepada version is mostly a music video. It not only has no narration - outside of the brief interview scenes, it barely has any dialogue. The visuals and music are trusted to create the experience.

Robotech opens with narration that's similar in delivery style to that of the series. A couple of newly animated sequences recap the initial Invid invasion of Earth, including a quick shot of an exhausted Dana Sterling joining a mass evacuation of the planet. After that, the bulk of the running time is made up of scenes from "The New Generation," which are also framed by narration - in this case, in-world narration delivered by Lancer to the interviewer.

While both versions work fine, there's little question that Mospeada's presentation is the more dynamic of the two.

Advantage: Mospeada.

Yellow grants an interview while changing between sets.
In Robotech, the interview comes before the concert.

DIFFERENT FILMS WITH DIFFERENT GOALS:

The Mospeada and Robotech versions of Love Live Alive are reasonably similar from a narrative perspective: Yellow/Lancer gives both an interview and a concert while recalling the events of the war. However, they are scripted and edited to achieve entirely different goals.

Mospeada is a musical celebration of a series that had only ended the year before. Save for a few lines here and there, the flashbacks are a series of rapid visuals selected to accompany each song, with each song conveying a different mood: action-heavy with Midnight Rider and Clap!! Clap!! Clap!!, more emotional for Blue Rain or Heart Wave. The music is the throughline, not the story.

Robotech is, as ever, all about the story. This version is a traditional compilation, amounting to a 90-minute recap of "The New Generation." Lancer's interview is far more extensive here than in Mospeada... which becomes a problem, as Robotech has to expand the interview scenes by repeating the same shots over and over again. The musical element is all but eliminated, with only one concert sequence retained.

Yellow pauses for a drink in the ruins of a battlefield,
in a shot that's only seen in Mospeada.

CUTS AND ALTERATIONS:

I won't bother enumerating the differences in the flashbacks. However, of the new footage...

Mospeada's Opening Is Moved to the End: Mospeada opens with Yellow riding his motorcycle to the concert as the song, Mind Tree plays. The piece's slow and reflective tone matches well with a moment when he pauses in the ruins of a battlefield. Robotech moves the scene to the end, with Lancer pausing on his trip home. It works in either version: In Mospeada, it puts him in a mood to reminisce; in Robotech, he leaves the battlefield and his past to return to his new life. But I prefer Mospeada, because it sets the mood up-front.

Women and Children Removed: As Yellow reaches the venue, we see the people camped out, waiting for the performance. One shot features a woman applying suntan lotion to another woman's bare back, while another shows a family with children waiting. Both shots are removed from Robotech, with only the first, wide establishing shot retained.

The Invid Invasion: There is a small amount of new animation in Robotech. Most of it comes right at the start. We are shown the three mounds from Southern Cross - the ruins of the SDF-1, where the Invid Flower of Life was set free. Then the Invid arrive on Earth in a beam of light that descends like a storm.

Straight to the Interview: In Mospeada, the first interview scene comes more than 15 minutes in, after Yellow has performed his first set. Robotech moves straight from its opening to the interview.

Lancer Gets Shot Down: As the interview begins, it's now Lancer's turn to narrate the beginning of the war. New footage shows Dana Sterling evacuating just before the first attempt to reclaim Earth. Col. Jonathan Wolfe is briefly featured, and then we see Lancer's squad getting ambushed by the Invid, with Lancer shot down. This moves directly to footage from The Secret Route, with him being rescued by Carla and hiding from the enemy by dressing as a woman.

Yellow Performs Throughout Mospeada: The original version moves continually back and forth between the flashbacks and Yellow's concert, with interview snippets shown during costume changes between sets. The vast majority of his recollections are purely visual, as he recalls the past while singing.

Lancer Only Sings One Song: There is just a single scene of Lancer performing in Robotech, and it's made up shots taken from all of Mospeada's concert bits. This results in a giant visual continuity gaffe, as Lancer apparently runs through three outfits while singing one song, an abbreviated version of We Will Win.

Scott Invites Lancer to Join His Next Mission: Both versions culminate in a reunion between Yellow/Lancer and his old friends. Mospeada keeps this entirely wordless, with the song, Heart Wave, playing over shots of them gathered together. Robotech eliminates the song. We hear bits of casual conversation, but the scene's focus becomes Scott telling Lancer about his next mission and extending an invitation to join it.

Jim and Mint vs. Lunk and Annie: Yellow leaves the reunion as his friends sleep, smiling at each of the couples: Stig and Aisha, Ray and Houquet, and Jim and Mint. The most "couple-y" shots of Jim and Mint are removed, de-emphasizing the age-inappropriate pairing for Lunk and Annie.

Lancer Doesn't Litter: In Mospeada's opening, Yellow opens a can and drinks while in the ruined battlefield, then tosses the empty can away when he's finished. The sequence has been moved to Robotech's ending - but Harmony Gold apparently didn't want to be accused of encouraging littering, as those specific shots have been removed.

New Animation in the Final Scene: Both versions end with the same scene, basically showing the same ending for Yellow/Lancer. However, Robotech needs to really spell it out with dialogue, and so a tiny amount of additional animation closes out the film. The new shots are slipped into the existing scene - Note that I don't say "seamlessly," as the visual difference between the old and new footage is glaring.

Next Episode: After the end credits, Robotech's announcer teases the "next episode" - The Shadow Chronicles, which was released almost seven years before Robotech's Love Live Alive.

Advantage: Mospeada.

Yellow prepares to make his entrance.

MUSIC:

The 1985 Japanese original is framed entirely around its music. Its soundtrack is outstanding, a mix of new songs and songs from the series. It can legitimately be enjoyed as a concert video, a showcase for the work of the While Rock Band in particular.

Robotech only features one new song, which plays over its end credits... and that may be a mercy, as the new song is worse than any of the ones it re-uses from the series. All other musical cues are just Robotech's standard incidental music - though the opening titles music, an arrangement of old Robotech music, is a vast improvement over the opening titles score for The Shadow Chronicles.

Advantage: Mospeada.


OVERALL ADVANTAGE - MOSPEADA:

The Mospeada OVA is a far more striking work. Not only is it an effective button for Genesis Climber Mospeada, it's also a dynamic viewing experience. The post-series context frames sequences of well-judged, thematically grouped visuals, each of which is backed by excellent music.

The Robotech version is an adequate compilation film - but it's also more ordinary and, at 89 minutes, feels just a little too long for what it is.

Yellow rides through the ruins left by the war.

A LITTLE TOO CHANGED:

To date, Love Live Alive is Robotech's final entry. There's a certain symmetry to this: The first release was Codename: Robotech, a compilation of the first third of "The Macross Saga"; and its last is this, a compilation of "The New Generation." It's also appropriate that this final entry is an Americanized version of a Japanese OVA, effectively returning the series to its roots.

The Robotech version is a radically different entity than the original. Changing it to a straightforward retelling of "The New Generation" makes sense. Mospeada's Love Live Alive released the year after the series ended, so it was reasonable to expect viewers to remember it. The Robotech version released in 2013: 28 years after "The New Generation" was broadcast.

Even acknowledging that, however, I think Robotech makes a mistake by all but removing the musical aspect. The more traditional compilation approach would still work if Lancer were to perform sets throughout. The film could even include some of the visual montages from Mospeada, with the interview segments framing a more traditional narrative.

This sort of hybrid approach might have allowed Robotech to channel at least some of the mood of the original. But with the music so de-emphasized, the uniqueness and atmosphere is lost, leaving the Americanized Love Live Alive to play as little more than an overlong clip show.

Yellow reunites with his old friends.

CONTINUITY CONFUSION:

Robotech's Love Live Alive is passable as a compilation film, but there are a few questionable choices. I have no idea why this movie includes Ghost Town, the episode with the old soldiers, in its recap; it's a fine standalone episode, but it's hardly a core part of the story. Meanwhile, despite devoting precious minutes to this sideline, the film doesn't make time for Ariel's protests to Sera and the Regess - even though it includes the scene in which Sera recalls Ariel's words and acts upon them.

Love Live Alive was released on home video, packaged with a re-release of The Shadow Chronicles. That might lead you to expect that the compilation film would try to smooth away a few of the continuity issues between "The New Generation" and The Shadow Chronicles. It doesn't. Just inserting a clip of the Ariel/Regess scene from the 2006 movie into the recap of Symphony of Light would have lightly massaged the discontinuities - but even something that obvious wasn't done, and all continuity mismatches are retained.

The post-credits "Next Time" blurb makes the timeline even more confusing than it was already. It seems obvious that the frame for Love Live Alive is set some time after The Shadow Chronicles, the first half of which directly overlaps with the events of the final episode. Also: Scott and Ariel are shown as a proper couple here, something that only became true in The Shadow Chronicles; enough time has passed since the series for Lancer to move on in his own life; and there has been enough time to plan and promote a concert with multiple back-up musicians and technical tricks that plays to a huge crowd. Not to mention that Lunk has grown a full beard.

Despite all of the above, the end teaser explicitly posits this as a lead-in to The Shadow Chronicles - something that makes zero sense!


OVERALL:

Both versions of Love Live Alive are perfectly pleasant to watch on their own terms. The continuity of the "official" placement for Robotech makes my head hurt... but if I just decide that the frame story occurs after The Shadow Chronicles (because it pretty much has to), then it's a serviceable enough epilogue to Robotech's "New Generation."

Still, at 89 minutes, the Robotech version overstays its welcome - and beyond that, the Mospeada OVA is a vastly more satisfying overall experience.


Overall Rating - Mospeada: 8/10.

Overall Rating - Robotech: 5/10.

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Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles.

Ariel warns Scott Bernard about a new threat to humanity.

Original Release Date: Aug. 25, 2006. Running Time: 88 minutes. Screenplay by: Ford Riley, Frank Agrama. Story by: Thomas J. Bateman, Steve Yun, Tommy Yune. Directed by: Tommy Yune, Dong-wook Lee. Produced by: Jason Netter.


THE PLOT:

It is the final day of the Invid occupation of Earth. Even as Scott Bernard and his resistance group join the final assault against Reflex Point, the forces of the Robotech Expeditionary Force engage the enemy in orbit. Failure is not an option: If they cannot drive the Invid from the Earth, they have orders to use the new Neutron-S missiles, which will devastate the planet.

As the battle rages, Capt. Vince Grant takes his ship to locate the missing SDF-3 and Admiral Rick Hunter. He finds Rick, his ship badly damaged by a singularity that was formed from the test firing of the Neutron S missiles. This weapon, prepared in cooperation with a friendly alien species, is actually a trap meant to destroy them.

The sudden arrival of this new enemy prevents Vince from rescuing the SDF-3, but he is able to fold out to warn the fleet. He arrives to discover that the war is over: The Invid Regess abandoned Earth even as it appeared her forces were winning. She also destroyed the Neutron-S missiles as she left, rendering Vince's warning seemingly irrelevant.

But this is more a pause in the action than a victory. The Invid took most of the Earth's protoculture. Without the SDF-3, humanity will run out of the power source in a little over a year. Meanwhile, the new enemy closes in, single-minded in its goal to wipe out every trace of protoculture and any species who uses it!

Young pilot Marcus Rush angrily confronts Scott.

CHARACTERS:

Much like The Sentinels, this movie mixes veterans of all the previous Robotech "generations." Rick, seen only on a viewscreen, has safely aged out of even remotely resembling Super Dimension Fortress Macross's Hikaru; Louis, Dana Sterling's tech guy from "The Masters," is now Vince's science officer and tech guy, while Skull Squadron leader Maia Sterling is Dana's younger sister; Vince and android Janice, both of whom were introduced in The Sentinels; and Scott, Ariel, and the Invid Regess from "The New Generation."

I think this film does a better job than The Sentinels in integrating the returning characters with the new characters. There's a direct connection between Scott and young pilot Marcus Rush, who was his late fiancée's brother. Marcus fills roughly the same role as The Sentinels' Jack Baker, but he's a little less bland. I quite liked Marcus's interactions with Scott; Marcus, angry about the death of his sister, brags about the Invid he's killed, and his attitude resembles Scott near the start of "The New Generation," before his feelings for Ariel made him more conflicted.

None of the characters has much depth - but then, The Shadow Chronicles never tries to be character-centric. This is an action film, and the cast is there to serve the plot and set pieces. They work well enough on that basis, though; and unlike in The Sentinels or Robotech: The Movie, all the characters actually seem to be part of the same story.

Maia Sterling, leader of Skull Squadron, and Marcus's crush.

PROBLEMS: ART STYLE AND CONTINUITY:

The opening credits create an immediate bad impression. After a few bars of Ulpio Minucci's original theme, it quickly devolves into generic "space music" that sounds as if it was taken from an off-brand Stargate knockoff, while we move past CGI planets that look drawn from a PS1 game.

There's a clash of art styles throughout the film. Character animation is a bit basic, with at least one point at which voice-over dialogue covers offscreen actions, but I was able to adjust to it quickly enough. The space scenes, however, use obvious CGI that results in an overly-polished "video game cutscene" look, and the two styles do not mesh well visually.

An even bigger problem is some poor continuity with the original series. The Shadow Chronicles overlaps significantly with the events of Symphony of Light, Robotech's series finale. In concept, this could work well. I might have enjoyed seeing the old events presented from a different viewpoint and with additional context.

However, this movie chooses to contradict Symphony of Light. Scott's team no longer negotiates with the Regess; Ariel talks to her alone. Also, Scott fully trusts Ariel, with absolutely no tension existing between them; yes, "New Generation" toned down the overt hostility of Mospeada's Stig, but the tension still existed. Here, it isn't present at all, even though showing that in Scott's early scenes would have made the parallels between Scott and Marcus stronger (or indeed extant, for those viewing the movie without having seen the series).

There's no actual reason for these contradictions. The end of "The New Generation" shows Scott jettisoning the message from his late fiancée, symbolically letting the past and his anger go, which would fit his warmer attitude toward Ariel here, and the Ariel of "The New Generation" would still warn Scott about the imminent threat. The conflicts appear to exist solely for the sake of making changes, and it doesn't help that those changes are uniformly worse and less interesting than the original scenes.

Even more bizarre is that the obvious audience would be old fans. And science fiction and anime fans are known for forgiving continuity issues in much the way that liquid magma is known for its cooling properties...

Louis assists a wounded Vince Grant.

OTHER MUSINGS:

...And despite all these issues, along with a hefty helping of Robotech's trademark clunky dialogue, I still enjoyed The Shadow Chronicles.

It's nowhere near as good as the series. Still, of the attempts to continue the Robotech story, I would rate this one as the best. Admittedly, "best animated Robotech continuation" is a dubious title, given that the competition consists of Robotech: The Movie (a mess) and The Sentinels (enjoyable, but kind of bland). Still, for what it's worth, it gets my vote.

The Shadow Chronicles is an action movie. The first half is dominated by battle scenes, while the final twenty minutes amounts to one big set piece, with Vince and his crew using what they know about the new enemy to find a way to effectively resist. In between is a roughly 20 minute stretch with some character scenes and expositional material, but even this interval is very much structured to funnel the characters back into the plot as efficiently as possible.

As a rule, I prefer character material to "blowing stuff up real good." In this case, though, I think the action focus is a good choice. The characters have just enough spark to hold my interest for a short action story, but they would need some serious additional development to keep me interested for a weekly series of any length.

The writing has some of the same problems as The Sentinels, with relatively flat characters and dialogue that rarely rises above the level of "functional." That movie suffered from it, as the scenes surrounding the launch of the SDF-3 were... well, mostly boring. The Shadow Chronicles avoids that problem by keeping its plot moving and keeping the 'splosions coming.

It's Robotech as if made by Michael Bay: weak characters, weaker attempts at broad comedy, and villains who appear motivated by Being Evil (TM). But the set pieces keep coming, and even with the artificiality of the space-set action scenes, it's enough to keep me reasonably engaged even if my brain can't help but kick against it a bit.

The Children of the Shadow plot to destroy humanity. Because they're evil.

OVERALL:

I enjoyed The Shadow Chronicles... probably more than I should have, given its many issues. Most of the problems I had with The Sentinels apply here, with extra bad continuity and character animation that clashes with that of the space battles. Still, judged as an action film, it works reasonably well. The new enemy is suitably formidable, which creates a bit of tension, and all of the characters do enough to justify their screentime.

Unfortunately, like The Sentinels before it, it ends at just about the point that the story seems to be kicking into gear. The creative team intended to follow this with a sequel, which has been teased to fans on various occasions. That sequel has persistently not materialized, in part to avoid stepping on the toes of the live action movie that was in development (which also never materialized, and that was probably just as well).

Now Robotech keeps sputtering out attempts at continuations every decade or so, and The Shadow Chronicles doesn't even represent the final release under its banner - so nothing's impossible. Still, I would be extremely surprised if any animated continuation of this story ever actually got released.

I was entertained enough that I might have given this a "7." But the lack of a proper ending, combined with the annoying conflicts with pre-existing continuity, knock that down to...


Overall Rating: 6/10.

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Robotech: The Sentinels.

The wedding of Rick Hunter and Lisa Hayes, who have
received a copyright-safe makeover between seasons.

Also Released as: Robotech II - The Sentinels.

Original Release Date: September, 1988. Running Time: 75 minutes (original version)/69 minutes (remastered). Written and Directed by: Carl Macek. Produced by: Ahmed Agrama, Hiroshi Ōnogi.


THE PLOT:

It has been nine years since the destruction of the SDF-1 at the hands of rebel Zentraedi Khyron. Now the SDF-3, under the command of Rick Hunter, prepares to embark on the mission devised by the late Admiral Gloval: to lead the Robotech Expeditionary Force to Tirol, the home planet of the Robotech Masters.

Though this is viewed as a diplomatic mission, it includes a strong military force - one which General Anatole Leonard fears leaves the defense of Earth badly compromised (thus representing the one time in the entire saga that Anatole Leonard is ultimately proved right about something). Rick is also troubled, plagued by doubts and worries about the upcoming journey even as he prepares for his long-delayed wedding to Lisa Hayes.

Meanwhile, Tirol is already being invaded by an alien force. The Invid Regent has come in search of the Flower of Life, which was stolen by the Robotech Masters. The Masters have abandoned their home planet, leaving only helpless civilians behind. Tirolian scientist Cabell and his assistant/bodyguard, Rem, begin probing the Invid for weaknesses - but it's clear to Cabell that it's already too late to save the populace from the devastating attack!

Bree'tai warmly greets Lisa and Miriya.

CHARACTERS:

My single biggest gripe with The Sentinels is that I find the characters completely uninteresting. The returning regulars can just about skate by on "TV reunion movie" goodwill; most of them are only onscreen long enough for the brief pleasure of saying, "Oh, there's Miriya! And that's a young Dana and Bowie! And Anatole Leonard's actually right about something, but he's still a pompous idiot!"

The characters created specifically for The Sentinels don't have that advantage, and they are all established in tropey broadstrokes. Hotshot pilot Jack Baker has plenty of talent but a tendency to ignore orders - oh, and his establishing scene is lifted, some lines almost verbatim, from Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. Test pilot Karen Penn's scientist father is upset that she isn't following in his footstep. Jack and Karen meet exactly once, for a period that could be tallied in seconds, but they are already coded as a future couple. And why not? Their personalities are matching shades of beige.

Cabell and Rem come across a bit better, mainly because they're defined through action rather than having characters stand around reciting their character briefs. They still don't amount to much more than "wise old scientist" and "young fighter," but I'll admit to finding their scenes more interesting than those on the SFD-3.

In fairness, this "movie" only represents what would have been the first three episodes of a full season arc. Had the series been completed, any or all of them might easily have gained depth - particularly if some stronger scripts were waiting in the wings.

Nice kitty... Cabell has a close encounter with an Invid Hellcat.

BACKGROUND:

The Sentinels movie cobbles together the three fully animated episodes of what would have been Robotech's second season. Unlike the previous season, this was an original story boasting original animation, something that was affordable thanks to an association with toy company Matchbox and a dollar/yen exchange rate that made employing Japanese animators extremely affordable.

Then everything went wrong.

A brief article on Cancelled SciFi details some of the issues. Toy sales were middling, leading Matchbox to pull out. At roughly the same time, the dollar/yen exchange rate shifted from 220 yen per dollar to 160 yen, greatly raising the price of the animation.

The loss of its toy company partner and the increase in the animation cost were simply too much for Harmony Gold to afford. With only three episodes in the can, the company pulled the plug, with the episodes edited into a movie for a 1988 VHS release.


VERSIONS:

The 1988 version of The Sentinels featured flashbacks using footage from Super Dimension Fortress Macross. Harmony Gold no longer had rights by the time it made its way to disc, so the flashbacks were excised. Though there are a couple of points where it's clear that a dialogue exchange was meant to go into a flashback, this mostly isn't a loss. I do miss one moment, however, an effective visual beat during the wedding when Rick sees images of their fallen comrades.

The only other notable difference is a very slight extension to the ending, with a title card added to act as a lead-in to the then-upcoming Shadow Chronicles.

T. R. Edwards resents Rick Hunter, a thread
that would likely have become interesting.

OTHER MUSINGS:

Despite being incomplete, Robotech: The Sentinels works reasonably well on a story level. Characters are introduced and various plot threads are planted.

Though Rick's mission doesn't intersect with the Invid Regent's invasion of Tirol yet, it's evident that a confrontation will soon occur. One of Rick's officers, T. R. Edwards, is established as resenting him, and it's obvious that he will cause trouble down the line (from his character name and status as "untrustworthy officer," I'm guessing he was originally intended to be B. D. Andrews from the movie, before Cannon imposed a new ending). On Tirol, Cabell and Rem study the Invid for weaknesses, which I'm sure would have led to new developments as well.

In this way, the movie repeats something I noticed about the series: the priority is on plot, not characterization. Earlier in this review, I wrote that any of the bland and tropey characters here might have become interesting later. This is true... but it's also true that by the end of Space Fold - Episode Three of Macross - I was invested in Hikaru/Rick, Misa/Lisa, Roy, Global/Gloval, and Minmay/Minmei. The same simply isn't true of the characters here. I had to look up most of the new characters simply to remember their names!

Character art is noticeably different than in Macross. Rick and Max have grown about a foot taller and even wider than that in the shoulders, Bree'tai wears a full face helmet that makes him look less like an alien than a Viking, and every character's hair has changed. Given that the Southern Cross characters look the same, with even child Dana and Bowie drawn to resemble their Southern Cross versions, it's evident that this was done to dodge copyright issues. Too bad that the new character models are so much less expressive than the originals.

Animation is uneven, and there's a visible split by location. The scenes on the SDF-3 feel choppy and static, with only an action piece involving a failed test flight and some bits of the wedding showing any sense of style. The scenes on Tirol are altogether more dynamic. Even allowing that the Tirol scenes are more action-heavy, I came away with the distinct impression that the animators were more interested in the Tirol plot than the SDF-3 scenes.

Rick and Lisa prepare to leave Earth.

OVERALL:

Given the criticisms above, I should stress that I enjoyed The Sentinels. It's a far more watchable Robotech continuation than the theatrical movie, and there are elements that could have made for an interesting story. Beyond that, it's fun to see all three "generations" interacting in the same film.

That said, when it ends, I'm not particularly fussed that the story is incomplete. Had Macross ended with Space Fold, I would have been genuinely upset. As much as I would have liked The Sentinels to have finished its run... I'm just not left feeling that anything special was lost.

It's an OK film to watch. But my feelings are largely summed up by those two letters: "OK."


Overall Rating: 5/10.

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Some Thoughts on Robotech: The New Generation.

The series' regulars, as seen in the titles of Genesis Climber
Mospeada (Robotech flips this image for reasons unknown).

The third Robotech arc, "The New Generation," tends to land in the middle of fan rankings: better than "The Masters," not as good as "The Macross Saga." Personally, I think... that's actually about right. It takes just shy of a third of the series for it to find itself. Once it does, however, it improves immediately and keeps on improving until the end.

Closely adapted from source series, Genesis Climber Mospeada, this was the series that was least changed for Robotech. Because of this, I'm going to refer to Mospeada and its character names as the default, save for when I am specifically mentioning the Robotech version.


A WEAK FIRST ACT:

Mospeada doesn't get off to the best start. The first three episodes do their job of establishing the premise and introducing the core ensemble. Once that's done, the series delivers a steady diet of standalones that could mostly be shown in any order.

The goal of this phase of the series is clearly to build up the characters. Stig meets his childhood hero; Jim goes in search of the father of a dead war buddy; Houquet returns to her childhood home. All three of the aforementioned episodes - and two of the three series-establishing ones - boast the '80s stock plot that I've dubbed "The Evil Town Episode," with the regulars visiting isolated towns that are either under the control of a malicious figure or that hide dark secrets.

It's a stock plot for a reason. It's a reliable way to build tension, and some of these episodes are good ones. The problem is the repetition. Even The A-Team and Knight Rider didn't repeat this setup five times in nine episodes! By the time it was Jim's turn to be shunned in an insular little town, I started wondering if the group shouldn't just forget about the Inbit and declare war on their true enemy: small towns.

Around the series' one-third mark, I started to wonder why this repetitive series was considered to be better than Southern Cross. For all of its faults, the adventures of Jeanne and her squad at least had energy, a quality that seemed sorely lacking here.

Then, in Episode 10, the series found itself in a big way...

The mysterious Aisha (Marlene in Robotech)
joins the group just in time for an Inbit attack.

ENTER MARLENE - AND SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT:

Requiem of the Battlefield, the series' tenth episode, brings Mospeada to life. More prosaically titled Enter Marlene in Robotech, it is by any name the first "great" episode of this arc. It's expertly paced, and it manages to work in terms of story, characterization, and theme.

The episode sees Stig fall into a depression after he discovers the force of soldiers he meant to join has been wiped out. Jim and Yellow leave him to sulk and go to work cannibalizing the battlefield, upgrading the group's abilities with several new mechs, which helps to make the group's later victories more plausible. Most notably, Houquet and Ray discover Aisha in the nearby town wiped out by the Inbit. This amnesiac girl reminds Stig of his late fiancée, Marlene, who was killed by the Inbit... so Robotech, which has always tended to be more on the nose than its origin series, renames her as Marlene to make sure no viewer can miss the connection.

Aisha's introduction creates new dynamics among the group: Houquet and Yellow are protective of her, she becomes a friend to Mint, and the mutual attraction between her and Stig helps to humanize the previously stoic soldier. There's also a bit of added tension; we know right away that she's an Inbit in human form, but the group doesn't know this and neither does she.

Episode 11 goes right back to the "Evil Town" format, as the group seeks passage through a mountain range that is home to an Inbit fortress. Even here, though, there seems to be a sense of direction and energy that wasn't there before. Instead of the episode-specific conflict existing in isolation, it's actually followed up in Episode 12, in which the characters must find a way past the fortress to continue their journey. This begins creating the sense of the episodes building toward something, which thankfully continues from this point on.

It helps that this marks the point at which the series stops relying on small towns with secrets. There are still plenty of trope-filled plots, but Episode 11 stands as the series' final "Evil Town" episode (though Robotech arguably reformats Episode 21, Hired Gun, into one).

The introduction of Aisha helps to humanize Stig.

CHARACTERS:

Mospeada initially has a problem with its lead. Stig is a mostly stoic protagonist, and he's particularly closed off in the early episodes. The writers seem to struggle with making such a person, who is inclined to neither chat nor joke, as the lead. As a result, early scripts show preference to the more outgoing Ray, with him taking either the lead or primary supporting role in most of the early episodes.

There are two episodes in which I specifically felt that Ray was favored at the expense of other characters. Ray takes the primary supporting role in the Jim-centric Fallen Hero's Ragtime, which revolves around the fate of a fellow soldier's father. I felt this role should have instead gone to Yellow; not only was he underused at that point in the series, as a former soldier, he might have had a more interesting reaction than Ray.

A handful of episodes later, Sandstorm Playback sees an unconscious Ray have an episode-long dream that is influenced by Aisha. Given that Aisha was already being paired with Stig at this point, I felt this should have been a Stig-centric installment. This might have strengthened the bond between Stig and Aisha, while the dream adventure might have pushed Stig to start confronting both his anger and his hostility toward civilians, both of which are shown in the episode's opening scene. But no - Ray's easier to write for, so the episode goes to Ray.

Thankfully, this tendency evens out in later episodes. Stig thaws as he bonds with Aisha, and I suspect the writers had fewer problems writing for this less reserved version of the character. At this point, he actually emerges as the lead, rather than just being identified as such. The full ensemble is generally better balanced after this. Jim gets good character moments in The Ballad of Breaking Up and Trap Reggae; Yellow, underused in the series' first half, receives increasing focus in his interactions with humanoid Inbit Sorji; and even comedy sidekick Mint gets a handful of decent moments.

Arpeggio of Murder: The only Mospeada episode
that was significantly rewritten for Robotech.

THE LEAST CHANGED ROBOTECH SERIES:

Here's where I'd usually talk about the ways in which Robotech changed the characters... except this time, the American show really didn't much change them.

"The Macross Saga" sanitized Roy and performed all-out character assassination on Minmei; "The Masters" eliminated the already weak character arc that Southern Cross had created for Jeanne, in which she went from treating the war like a game to realizing that there were real consequences worth taking seriously... by pretty much presenting Dana Sterling as taking the conflict seriously from the very start. Even more aggravating was the way "The Masters" reduced Jeanne's well-written second-in-command, Andrzej, into generic meathead Angelo.

"The New Generation" maintains the characters as originally presented. Robotech moderately tones down Mint's obsession with matrimony, and Scott has more of a tendency to make '80s action movie quips than Stig, but the characters are basically the same in the American series as in the Japanese original.

This applies on a story level, as well. Genesis Climber Mospeada is easily the least changed of the three series, with most of its alterations being a question of matching the general Robotech continuity. The only individual episode that was substantially rewritten was Hired Gun, likely because Mospeada's Arpeggio of Murder tried to make sympathetic a guest character who was murdering dozens of men for entirely selfish reasons. Hired Gun rewrites this as revenge - which, while not admirable, at least makes his victims culpable for their own fates. Outside of this one episode, the remaining chapters are close matches in content, if not always in quality.

Lt. Commander Jonathan betrays his men...
but he feels really bad about it.

A LITTLE TOO MUCH SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL:

The case of Arpeggio of Murder/Hired Gun does draw attention to one of Mospeada's more bizarre tendencies. This is a series that, in three separate episodes, asks us to sympathize with characters who are guilty of terrible things: Jonathan's Elegy's Lt. Commander Jonathan, Lullaby of Distant Hope's Dogarbo; and Arpeggio of Murder's Rainy Boy.

Jonathan's Elegy is the least objectionable example, because Lt. Commander Jonathan actually has an argument for his actions. Giving the most dangerous soldiers to the Inbit allowed the rest of the population of the town to survive - and any doubt that his deal protected the town is dispelled by the fate for the town that the episode's closing shots heavily imply. Even so, Jonathan remains a man who sold out soldiers who trusted him, and yet the regulars end up memorializing him with a respect that's denied to any of his victims.

Arpeggio of Murder is worse - so much so that it became the one episode that Robotech significantly changed. In the original, Rainy Boy murders soldiers because the Inbit have promised to make his body whole if he manages to eliminate 100 of his fellow troops. What happened to Rainy is horrific, and his desire to be whole again is understandable - but his mass murder of innocents nullifies any chance of me sympathizing with him. Robotech changes his motives to vengeance, with his victims being the comrades who abandoned him. This makes it less repellent when he's framed as a tragic figure. Even so, I found it laughable when the regulars labeled him as a "hero." He's still a murderer in this version - He just has a better motive.

The most egregious example comes in an otherwise very good episode, Lullaby of Distant Hope. This episode's town is located at the base of a mountain that's home to an Inbit base. Little surprise, then, that people and families want to get past the mountain to settle someplace safer, a desire that wealthy and unscrupulous Dogarbo preys upon. He takes people's life savings in exchange for maps of a safe route. The maps are fake, and he's actually sending his victims straight into the hands of the Inbit.

At least Lt. Commander Jonathan and Rainy end up paying for their crimes, losing their lives while saving the series' heroes. Dogarbo also saves the series' heroes, at the cost of... some nifty unmanned fighters that he uses to fool the Inbit into thinking they killed their targets. The loss of those fighters is his only punishment. His crimes are not exposed, and he continues to subsist on the giant hoard of cash he's fleeced from desperate people that he sent off to die. He even gets to marry the woman he loves. I can't be alone in thinking: What the ****?

A single example could be put down to spotty writing. Three times indicates that the series thinks these monsters in human form deserve forgiveness, even heroes' burials, even as their victims remain unheralded. I was able to overlook it to enjoy the series itself - but it's fair to say that I was not on board with this aspect.

The Inbit attack civilians in New York Bebop.

OVERALL:

Though I thought it had a weak start, I ended up enjoying Genesis Climber Mospeada. I liked the characters (for the most part; I never really warmed to Mint), and I think the show found a good balance of character material and action as it went along.

Unsurprisingly, I found myself generally preferring Mospeada over its Robotech version. The characterization seemed just a little bit sharper, the music was usually better integrated with the action, and I almost always prefer an unnarrated drama to a narrated one. Still, the viewing experience in total was largely the same between the two series.

"The Macross Saga" remains the strongest of the three Robotech arcs, simply because Superdimension Fortress Macross is a better show than the other two source series. Still, Mospeada is an enjoyable mix of '80s action tropes with some decent character writing, and it gets better as it goes. Of the three series, Macross is the only one that I'm likely to revisit, but I'm glad to have taken the time to watch them.


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3-25. Symphony of Light.

The Inbit decide the future of Earth - if it gets to have one!

Original Air Date - Genesis Climber Mospeada: Mar. 25, 1984. Writer: Sukehiro Tomita. Director: Tatsuya Kasahara.

Original Air Date - Robotech: June 28, 1985.
Story Editor: Steve Kramer. Supervising Director: Robert V. Barron.


PLOT - MOSPEADA:

The Third Earth Liberation Force has arrived - just in time to destroy the fragile chance at peace with the Inbit. While Stig battles Batra and Yellow continues to try to reason with the Inbit leader, the aliens commit their forces to battle, determined to wipe out the attacking humans just as they did with the two previous fleets.

But this attempt to reclaim Earth is different from the previous two. The fleet has been equipped with electrically charged particle missiles, to be used as a last resort if the fight goes badly. These missiles will ensure the destruction of the Inbit - but at the cost of Earth itself!


PLOT - ROBOTECH:

Though Admiral Rick Hunter is missing, his fleet has arrived - just in time to destroy the fragile chance at peace with the Invid. While Scott battles Prince Corg and Lancer tries to reason with the Invid Regess, the aliens commit their forces to battle, determined to wipe out the human attackers.

But this attempt to reclaim Earth is different from the previous one. The fleet has been equipped with neutron missiles, to be used as a last resort if the fight goes badly. These missiles will ensure the destruction of the enemy - but at the cost of Earth itself!

Aisha tends to an injured Stig.

CHARACTERS:

The last two relationships that were left unresolved by Dark Finale get their moments here. Yellow assists Sorji, and their interactions indicate at least the potential for a future relationship. Stig has too much anger against the Inbit, though. Even when Aisha tends to his injuries after his first, unsuccessful fight with Batra, Stig rebuffs her: "I can only hate the Inbit."

The episode does a good job of balancing the ensemble, with each set of characters getting some follow-up in a well-scripted epilogue. Jim/Lunk is more or less just "present," but all the others receive at least one moment - and given that Jim's character arc was pretty well resolved in the previous episode, I can't fault this one for focusing elsewhere.

Advantage: None.


NARRATION:

Because Robotech is desperate to try to stitch everything together in its finale, the opening narration takes pains to squeeze in Rick Hunter's name. After that, the rest of the narration largely covers transitions, save for an ending bit that's unnecessary but is also unobjectionable.

Advantage: None.

The Inbit leader directs the battle. Robotech's Invid
Regess refuses to leave because of protoculture.

CUTS AND ALTERATION:

Gen. Reinhart Believes in a "Scorched Earth Policy": In both versions, the commander of the human forces is prepared to launch a devastating attack, one that will destroy the Inbit but take the Earth along with them. In Mospeada, he's clearly reluctant to employ this, reassuring his First Officer that it will be a last resort. Robotech's Gen. Reinhart is more willing to pull this trigger, all but boasting his belief that death would be preferable to being ruled by the Invid - something that I suspect most of the people we've seen in the show's various towns would argue against.

The Regess Declares that the Invid Will Never Leave: Yellow spends much of the episode trying to persuade the Inbit leader that, whatever the result, this battle is too destructive to continue. Robotech's Invid Regess is more defiant than her Mospeada counterpart, and not without reason: In Robotech's context, Earth is the last remaining source of protoculture, which the Invid rely on.

"Action Movie" Quips as Scott Fights Corg: When Stig battles Batra, he doesn't quip, reserving all of his focus for finding a way to defeat this formidable enemy. In Robotech, both Scott and Prince Corg exchange barbs throughout the fight, with Scott tossing off an '80s action movie style one-liner when he wins.

Rand Points Out that Humans Have an Instinct for War: After Stig rejects Aisha, Ray and Houquet confront him. Houquet says that she suspects his late fiancée would probably be happy that he found love again, and Ray insists that both sides are to blame for the fighting. This is similar in both versions, but Robotech's Rand takes it further, pointing out humanity's instinct for war. "There were wars before we even heard of the Invid, or the Robotech Masters, or the Zentraedi. You might have lost your girl fighting other humans!" It's a bit heavy-handed in both versions, but I think I slightly prefer the Robotech scene.

The Influence of the Masters: In Mospeada, the Inbit leader decides to stop fighting and leave Earth because no matter who wins, "the hatred will create a new hatred. The fighting will be passed from children to grandchildren." Robotech changes this realization to continuity points, with the Regess complaining that the influence of the Robotech Masters remains too strong on Earth... which doesn't seem to actually have anything to do with the current conflict, but I guess the writers really wanted to throw in a reference to the series' second arc.

The Regess Uses Protoculture: In both versions, the Inbit leave Earth by transforming into a noncorporeal form, sending a message to the humans and humanoid Inbit as they go. Mospeada doesn't explain how this is done, while Robotech makes clear that the Regess is using all of the Invids' remaining protoculture to do this.

Scott Is Leaving to Find Admiral Hunter: Stig is returning to Mars because, as he observes, Earth truly isn't his home. Scott has a more specific reason for leaving, wanting to find the missing Admiral Hunter.

Aisha Reveals that Other Inbit Are on Earth: In an internal monologue, Aisha reveals to the audience that other humanoid Inbit are staying on Earth to live among the humans. Robotech removes this revelation, leaving its viewers with the impression that Marlene and Sera are the only humanoid Invid remaining.

Scott Vows to Return to Earth: Stig flies off in silence, backed by Yellow's performance of Lonely Soldier Boy. He thinks of each of his companions in turn, with Aisha being the last one he thinks of before the final shot, implying that he might return for her. In Robotech, Scott vows to return once his mission is done, making that indication more explicit.

Advantage: None. A few changes are slight improvements; a few are slightly for the worse; and they largely balance out.


INCIDENTAL MUSIC:

Mospeada makes excellent use of its score, notably when it chooses lower-key music over the later battle scenes as a counterpart. Robotech goes "full bombast" during its fight scenes. The tracks are well applied, and it does work, but it's a lot less interesting. I also prefer Mospeada's final music choice, a version of series theme song Lonely Soldier Boy, over Robotech's ending song.

Advantage: Mospeada.

The show's heroes witness the end of the war.

OVERALL ADVANTAGE - ROBOTECH:

I've taken a couple swipes at Robotech's attempts to namedrop bits of the previous arcs to attempt to tie everything together. Even so, I think those efforts lead to me preferring the Robotech finale to the Mospeada one. As with the mentions of the Invid throughout the "Masters" arc, it adds an extra layer, from the Invid's resentment of the Robotech Masters to Scott's decision to go off in search of Admiral Hunter (which I assume would have eventually tied into Season Two's story had production not fallen apart). It just helps to make the scope feel larger.


OTHER MUSINGS:

Symphony of Light is a solid episode, and it's a much better finale than Southern Cross's rushed and jumbled Genesis. If I feel slightly disappointed, it's only in comparison to the previous installment, which was so good that it actually surprised me when it ended so soon. This episode is fine, addressing all the plot points that it needs to address and giving all the characters something to do, but it doesn't land quite as strongly as I'd like.

I love some of the ideas, particularly that the Inbit arrived on Earth and found it "filthy," and that they restored the land that the humans had ruined (this is less the humans' fault in Robotech, given that the planet had suffered two devastating wars in rather short order). I also think it's appropriate to the series that the conflict is ultimately resolved through persuasion. The actual battle is poised to wreak destruction for both sides, and it's Yellow's appeal for reason that results in a better solution.

I like all of this on paper, but I can't help but feel that the rhythms of the story seem off. The first half, which focuses mainly on Stig's battle with Batra, works well... but between it and the epilogue, too little time is given to Yellow talking to the Inbit leader, which makes her choice seem a little too easily reached. I think it might have been better to have trimmed the Batra fight so that Stig only faces him once, which would have freed a few extra minutes for Yellow and the Inbit to properly debate.

The ending is quite good. The Inbit withdrawal is beautifully animated, and the character-focused epilogue makes sure that every thread gets just enough follow-up. The final shot is particularly well-judged, showing Stig at least starting to move past some of his major personal issues.

It's a good final installment on its own terms - but after Dark Finale, I was hoping for a great episode, and it falls short of that mark.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

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