Robotech, as it was released and is known in the United States, was an anime series that was initially broadcast in 1985. Based upon three anime series from Japan, (and I'm using the pigeon series names) Macross, Southern Cross and Genesis, all under the Super Dimension Fortress series. As Sony has just recently acquired the rights to create a live-action theatrical, the thirty year wait may be over for fans of the series...however, understanding a bit of Hollywood production, the odds of completion probably still weigh at fifty/fifty. My feeling on a live action Robotech lay at fifty/fifty as well.
It is not that it lacks a story, or staying power, or interest - it is simply a difficult proposition: how do you drum up support for Robotech after so long an absence of new material? Audiences are there, surely, but is there an appreciation outside of the 80s? That's a stretch. I ask myself that question when my core group of friends and I go to a comic convention and you don't see too much Robotech represented. I ask myself Is it too niche?
The story of love and human triumph over alien-enforced annihilation is not new, but what made Robotech unique is that the love story was mature for a male-focused cartoon set where the Velma and Daphne were the hottest chicks to grace Saturday mornings. Robotech broke that mold, with smart female characters blowing our prepubescent minds from the word 'go'.
The story has humans adopting alien technology as their own and exploiting it when they could. But humans quickly find they were not the top conqueror of the galaxy - aliens attack, wanting their technology back. But humans find, just as quickly that music and love grossed out the alien horde, to their ultimate detriment. All of this against the back-drop of awe-inspiring animation of transforming ships, explosions, dying and kissing in a cartoon in 1985?
I would literally run home to get in front of the tube by 3pm (if I recollect correctly). There was no time shifting or cross-device watching kids...you saw it or you missed it. It would take several months to see an episode again. Kids actually had to talk to one another to walk through the stories. It was glorious!
The story has humans adopting alien technology as their own and exploiting it when they could. But humans quickly find they were not the top conqueror of the galaxy - aliens attack, wanting their technology back. But humans find, just as quickly that music and love grossed out the alien horde, to their ultimate detriment. All of this against the back-drop of awe-inspiring animation of transforming ships, explosions, dying and kissing in a cartoon in 1985?
I would literally run home to get in front of the tube by 3pm (if I recollect correctly). There was no time shifting or cross-device watching kids...you saw it or you missed it. It would take several months to see an episode again. Kids actually had to talk to one another to walk through the stories. It was glorious!
My hope is that the series carries with it the color, the innocence of first love, hold the line of a boy out of water, in a spaceship, fighting aliens in a transforming mecha. It MUST have a beautiful Lynn Minmei and Lisa Hayes. And, pointedly, Lynn must sing, SING! :S Really, she has to, if we are to conquer the uptight green aliens with their kinky hair.
This all reminds me of my real first foray into anime, which was the very early morning airings of Battle of the Planets. It didn't have the sweeping epic of Robotech, but the visual style and stories set in the excitement (and obvious neutrality) of space was equally awesome. Too bad the show aired in the wee hours of the morning (7am), then slowly got earlier and earlier, until out of existence. I used to sit at the Fullerton Boys and Girls club, in the television room with a bunch of rough looking dudes that let me watch it. It was a strange time back then. [On recollection, there was a point where the gruff dudes wondered why the hell they were watching it after a few weeks and decided it was time for early morning news. Damn you CBS.]
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