In the mid-eighties, most pre-teen boys were being fed a
cartoon diet consisting of
Transformers,
GI Joe and
He-Man. If these cartoons
weren't that filling, we could all agree that they tasted great. Those were
heady days let me tell you. Back when each cartoon had its own line of
action figures. I'm still not sure if the cartoons were marketing the toys, or
the toys were marketing the cartoons, but who really cared? Not me. I had Optimus Prime and my Castle Greyskull action set to play with. And then
one afternoon, from the friendly shores of Japan, the land of sumo & sushi,
karaoke & kamikaze, came Robotech.
The Story Thus Far...
In late 1999, a giant alien space ship crashes into a small
island in the South Pacific. It is empty of life-forms but contains a
fascinating alien technology called Robo-technology, which in time becomes
assimilated into the weaponry of Earth's military. And those pesky humans will
need it, because unbeknownst to them, in ten years a race of giant 40 foot aliens
are gonna arrive and want their errant space ship (which you've probably guessed
by now, is actually a Super Dimension Fortress) back. And so it begins...
From the outset Robotech was different. For one it's action
figures were kinda lame. It's
theme song was out of classical music. It's vehicles
didn't transform into wise-cracking robots, but into giant 40ft. machines
piloted by actual people. And that was the key difference. Robotech was about
the people. Not cardboard stereotypes of people like in GI Joe. But people who
had emotions, had relationships, fell in and out of love, bled, got hurt, and
(gasp) even die. There was actual drama here. It was like an animated soap opera
as each episode picked the story up from the previous one. Finally, a cartoon
that was filling AND tasted great.
The first Robotech series was called the Macross Saga and it depicts the struggle between the gutsy,
plucky humans of Earth armed with weapons they do not quite understand, and the
alien 40 foot tall Zentraedi, who's sole mission is to recover the Super
Dimension Fortress (which if you've been paying attention was the giant space
ship which crash landed on Earth 10 years earlier). Now, Robotech is much more than a
typical man vs. alien story. The personal lives of the characters often take
center stage. Some episodes the alien menace is pushed to the background as the
life and loves of the characters are examined. Foremost amongst these personal
plotlines, is the love triangle between career focused military officer Lisa
Hayes, hotshot fly-boy Rick Hunter (the hero of the story) and the glamorous and
naive entertainer Lynn Minmei. Now to a young 10 year-old viewing
this stuff, I thought it was all Shakespearian level romance. In reality
it may have been closer to an episode of the Love Boat, but to my young fragile
mind it was classic tear-jerking stuff.
Robotech as we know it in North America was divided into
three separate series. The Macross Saga, The Robotech Masters and The New
Generation. Each series took place one generation after the previous one, so
each series had completely new heroes and villains, loosely connected by an
over-arching storyline. There was a reason for this. In Japan the three series
were three totally different cartoons, (Super Dimension Fortress Macross,
Southern Cross, and Mospeada respectively) which had absolutely no connection
to the others at all. As these three series had only about 28 episodes each, the
decision was made to bundle them up as one series, in order to have more than the 65
episodes required for syndication. Since most Japanimation is so similar
in style, each series looks like it belongs to each other. Now to add to the
confusion, back in Japan, Super Dimension Fortress Macross became wildly
popular. There was a second series creatively named, Macross 2, and even a few
Macross movies made. But for Robotech purposes, these Macross sequels do not
exist and have no bearing on the Robotech universe.
The Robotech Masters picks up the story 15 years later after
the grim ending of the Macross Saga. The Earth is still trying to recover from
that struggle and most of society is still in tatters. However the military has
regrouped, and tries to instill what order it can. That's when the Robotech Masters show up. We learn that the
40ft. tall Zentraedi from the Macross Saga were merely the hired
henchmen of the Robotech Masters. And that the Super Dimension Fortress
originally belonged to these Robotech Masters. These folks are kinda upset over the
events of the Macross Saga, and they're not the sort of folk you want to upset.
This series follows the adventures of new military grads and their
battles against the Robotech Masters. While this series is entertaining in no
way does it reach the dramatic heights of the Macross Saga.
To my utter delight, the entire Robotech saga is now
available on DVD. To my utter horror, it will cost me hundreds of dollars to get
all 85 episodes. There's six episodes a DVD, each DVD costs about $40
American...you do the math...I'm serious you do the math, I can't do math in my
head.
The saga concludes with The New Generation. These events take
place a few years after the really tragic and depressing events of the Robotech
Masters series. The earth is once more in ruins, and under total control of the
Invid. Who are the Invid you ask? It's a long story. The short version is that
the Invid are ancient enemies to the Robotech Masters. So wherever the
Robotech Masters are, the Invid will show up, just out of spite. Due to the vast
distances of space, it took them awhile to get to Earth. I won't bore you with
the long version. It is quite involved and has to do with proto-culture (don't
ask), the Flower of Life (don't ask), and the alien who originally sent
that Super Dimension Fortress to Earth in the first place. Anyway this series is
about a ragtag bunch of freedom fighters trying in vain to end the Invid regime.
Now here in Halifax, we only got to see the first five episodes of The New
Generation. Those five episodes completed the 65 needed for syndication, so I guess
no one bothered with the other twenty episodes. However, the entire series was
novelized by Jack McKinney, so by reading the books I was able to find out what
finally happened...I don't want to spoil things for you....but the good guys
finally win! Huzzah!
