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Robotech 35th anniversary


SpaceChampion

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I know there are plenty of Robotech fans on this board so I figured many might enjoy this 35th anniversary reunion

Part 2:

 

Edit:  That's largely garbage to listen to with everyone talking over everyone else....

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18 minutes ago, Werthead said:

Over 36 years now, as Robotech premiered in March 1985. Macross itself started airing three years earlier, though.

Yes. the video is a year old.  Suspiciously it was shot in March before the social distancing started, so my working theory is protoculture caused the pandemic.

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I really need to actually watch the original Macross rather than the Robotech version at some point. I've gone on to watch Macross 0, Macross Delta and absolutely loved Macross Frontier but I've never gone back to the original with the proper plot. I went to at one point and really struggled with the dated animation after I'd watched Frontier.

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I need to re-watch some of any of it.  It's been a good, long while since I watched some of the original Macross stuff...but I'm still a fan boy of the Robotech Universe that we got in the 80s here in the States. 

Though I admit, I struggle to reread the novelizations now...particularly the Sentinels stuff...though I was happy to be able to find all five of those books for my collection a couple years ago...

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6 hours ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

I need to re-watch some of any of it.  It's been a good, long while since I watched some of the original Macross stuff...but I'm still a fan boy of the Robotech Universe that we got in the 80s here in the States. 

Though I admit, I struggle to reread the novelizations now...particularly the Sentinels stuff...though I was happy to be able to find all five of those books for my collection a couple years ago...

The novels are okay but suffer from being insanely rushed (Daley and Luceno had to write 4,000 pages in two years!) and, in the case of The Sentinels, less than half as long as they should have been, so vast swathes of the plot take place off-page. The Zentraedi Rebellion, the longest of the books and I believe the one given the most amount of writing time, is easily the best book of the lot.

They are very good at smoothing out the inconsistencies in the story though and I must admit after reading them (I read them long before watching the series), the animated series didn't really hold up. I was surprised that key characters in the books like Dr. Lang and Zand are barely in the shows.

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Yeah. I get it with the rushed nature of the novels, but that doesn't make them any less difficult to read sometimes...

That being said, I do appreciate them for what they do for the in-universe story.  As you say, seeing Lang and the others get more "screen time" through them is such a boon.

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The rights history of Robotech is completely insane.

It does continue to cause problems though. If, as is likely, Netflix proposed an animated remake of the series a la Voltron, would they follow the Robotech story or the Macross one? Anime purists would throw a shitfit if they did the former, but audiences outside Japan don't give a flying shit about Macross and the name has no brand value to them: every time Macross has been released in its original format it's bombed hard, whilst Robotech repackages and re-releases are generally successful. Of course, attempts to continue the Robotech story have also faltered due to low sales.

Perhaps the best approach is a bit like the recent comics, follow the basic story beats of both but also bringing in new ideas. The central premise - an alien spacecraft crashlands on Earth and is rebuilt by humanity - is incredibly strong, to the point I'm surprised it hasn't been used elsewhere. 

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Big West and Harmony Gold has agreed to distribute both globally.  Also, the forever in development live-action movie of Robotech, should it ever get going, can be distributed in Japan without Big West trying to block it.

Quote

https://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarder/2021/04/09/the-decades-long-rights-battle-over-macross-and-robotech-has-finally-been-resolved/

“Tokyo based BIGWEST CO.,LTD. and Los Angeles based Harmony Gold U.S.A. announced an agreement regarding the worldwide rights for the legendary Macross and Robotech franchises. This expansive agreement signed by both companies on March 1, 2021, ends two decades of disagreements and will allow Bigwest and Harmony Gold to chart a new path that will unlock the great potential of both the Macross and Robotech franchises worldwide. The landmark agreement immediately permits worldwide distribution of most of the Macross films and television sequels worldwide, and also confirms that Bigwest will not oppose the Japanese release of an anticipated upcoming live-action Robotech film. The agreement also recognizes Harmony Gold’s longstanding exclusive license with Tatsunoko for the use of the 41 Macross characters and mecha in the Robotech television series and related merchandise throughout the world excluding Japan. Moving forward, both parties will cooperate on distribution regarding future Macross and Robotech projects for the benefit of both franchises.”

 

I've been watching the New Generation episodes lately, since as a kid I kept missing that portion of the sage somehow, and it's annoying and funny that half the dialogue are the characters reacting "huh?!" to each other.  I guess Carl Macek was in the rush to get those scripts out back in the day.  There are several scenes where they just say "huh" to each other 3 or 4 times.  :bang:

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12 hours ago, SpaceChampion said:

I've been watching the New Generation episodes lately, since as a kid I kept missing that portion of the sage somehow, and it's annoying and funny that half the dialogue are the characters reacting "huh?!" to each other.  I guess Carl Macek was in the rush to get those scripts out back in the day.  There are several scenes where they just say "huh" to each other 3 or 4 times.  :bang:

They were in a rush to get the whole thing done.

The complete production schedule of Robotech, from Harmony Gold first proposing the project to it being on the air, was about five months. Which is completely and totally bananas. 85 episodes to be written, recorded, edited, re-timed and actually on screens in five months. With Macross it wasn't too bad because everyone had seen it already and they knew the story quite well, but for Mospeada and Southern Cross (which had only just arrived in the office) they barely had time to watch it and work out what to do with it. In fact, Macek said fuck it and put the two other series on silent and ran through them just looking for images and visuals he could use, and they barely looked at the (badly) translated Japanese scripts, though they did salvage some of the names.

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