Robotech

Robotech is a franchise of science fiction toys, television series, movies, books, and comics. One of the distinctive features of this universe is the use of transformable robots in battles.

The plot line on which the story is based is protoculture, which translates into scientific advances obtained by humanity from the remains of a crashed alien ship in the South Pacific. This knowledge will result in a series of wars against different extraterrestrial races.

The fictional universe of Robotech, created by Carl Macek, initially consisted of a single 85-episode animated series created and adapted from three unrelated Japanese animated series. including: Super Dimensional Fortress Macross, Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross, and Genesis Climber Mospeada. Later, over the years, it was expanded with movies, novels, comics, and video games.

Dummy frame

The fictional universe Robotech tells the fate of the human species, from the end of the XX century to the middle of the century XXI.

After a large alien ship crashes in the South Pacific, the United Earth Government is formed, fearing a full-scale alien invasion. Unfortunately humanity will face a series of wars (called Robotech wars) against various extraterrestrial races.

After the first of these wars (2009-2011, carried out against the extraterrestrial race of the Zentraedi), the Earth is almost annihilated. To prevent this from happening again, in the year 2022 the United Earth Government creates the Robotech Expeditionary Force (REF), to travel to the home planet of the creators of the race. Zentraedi, the Robotech Masters.

Unfortunately, while this expeditionary force is not around to protect planet Earth, it will be invaded again during the second and third Robotech Wars. Around the year 2044 the planet is recovered by the human race.

After the Invid were no longer a threat, the war would focus on the Haydonites (Fourth Robotech War).

Technology

Toy representing a varitech.

This is one of the most striking aspects of Robotech, because within the technological advances that humanity has achieved, the use of robotics stands out notoriously. This field of science benefits greatly from the alien technology found in the wreckage of the huge spacecraft that crashed in the South Pacific.

• La protoculture a powerful bioenergy, superior to nuclear energy, capable of feeding complete civilizations, and which is synthesized from the flower of the Invid life. The term comes from the original series Super Dimension Fortress Macross, where instead it was used to name an ancient, advanced and powerful alien empire already missing that dominated the galaxy.

• Them varitech (Variable Technical)They are military vehicles that can be converted into combat robot. Combat robots that do not have the capacity to transform are called Destroids. The varitech of the Saga Macross were originally created by Shoji Kawamori and the Destroids by Kazutaka Miyatake, both Nue Studio; those of the Second Generation (II Generation)Southern Cross) by Estudio Ammonite and those of the Third Generation (Mospeada) by Shinji Aramaki Studio Artmic.

• Them Space travel. In Robotech you can see huge spacecraft of combat (such as the SDF class), with capacity to make hyperspace jumps, allowing you to travel huge distances in a short time.

• La micronization, technique that allows to carry a human size to the alien giants Zentraedi.

• La cloning performed by the Amos Robotech, very advanced to human parameters.

• La shadow technology, Cannons Synchro and missiles Neutron-S. Knowledge that was given to humans by the Haydonites.

Criticism

Robotech's 1985 series was one of the biggest western animation hits of the 1980s and allowed viewers to become interested in other Japanese-produced series in the mecha genre. ^{[citation required]}

Already in the following decade, with greater access to the internet, controversy began when several followers noticed the mixed nature of Robotech, being the result of three different Japanese series. Thanks to this, several viewers of the saga wanted to know more about the original series (especially Super Dimensional Fortress Macross), separating fans into two different currents, Robotech purists and Macross purists.

Likewise, the name of the series itself originally comes from a line of model kits and toys launched by the American brand Revell in the 1980s. Given the ignorance of multiple Japanese series that in their country of origin generated merchandise such as action figures and models to assemble, Revell creates the brand "Robotech" to launch to the US market, building models, action figures and toys from the Fang of the Sun Dougram, Orguss, Zoids and Macross. The distribution rights at that time were also shared by the importing company TCI which introduced strategy board games based on Japanese series to the US market.

When Harmony Gold obtained the distribution rights to the Macross series and the Robotech brand, they were led to think that they also owned the rights to other series distributed by TCI. This gave rise to legal conflicts such as the one that happened with the company FASA Corporation which, for years, published designs for its game Battletech based on series such as Dougram, Crusher Joe and Macross. Harmony Gold owned the US distribution rights to the intellectual material of Macross, Southern Cross and Mospeada but not to other series, leading to a legal battle that lasted more than 10 years and in which it was agreed that FASA would not return. to publish the images of designs based not only on Macross but also from other series. However, despite the fact that the designs were withdrawn, Harmony Gold has not stopped promoting lawsuits against those who, in its opinion, copy the designs of these series. The last case being the lawsuit against Piranha Games, a software company that worked on the video game Mechwarrior 5 for Xbox 360 and which was sued and forced to stop its development because in the introductory scene it appeared a design remotely similar to Robotech's Destroid Excalibur -also known as Tomahawk in Macross- that appeared in the first generation, the macross saga.

Timeline

This is the official chronological line of Robotech, according to Harmony Gold.

Differences between Macross and Robotech

While Super Dimensional Fortress Macross is an anime series that first aired in Japan on October 3, 1982, Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross was broadcast in 1984 and Genesis Climber Mospeada in 1983, the creation of Robotech is the result of the merger of the previous series, becoming a kind of & #34;series collage", and which was broadcast in the United States during 1985, therefore it is and has been the cause of controversy for followers of the Carl Macek series as well such as the macross franchise, among which are:

• Super Dimensional Fortress MacrossIt's the base of Robotech and the one that starts the story. In 1999 an alien ship crashed into the Earth, which at that time was convulsed by a great war. After rebuilding it, more ships arrive at the Earth orbit looking for the ship (rebaptized as Macross) that possessed the secrets of Protoculture, which in this case was not a source of energy from an alien plant but an ancient alien culture, creator of humanity and its enemies in this series, the giants and fighters Zentraedi (whose original name in the Japanese series are the Zentran and the original names).

• The concept given to the source of energy that Robotech is called "Protoculture" is not a source of power (according to MacrossIn his final episodes, we hardly talk about what the "Protoculture" and they refer to that an unknown race, of which it is quoted that they could be the creators of Zentraedi and most probably also humans; to maintain a little consistency, the term was changed drastically, and given to a source of power discovered centuries ago by a scientist of an unknown planet. That’s where terms such as “The Flower of Life” are also joined, so that the third saga (Mosped) can be added to the previous two.

• The series Macross ends in the chapter with the suicide attack by Quamzin Kravshera (known in the series Robotech as “Khyron”), and the continuations he has had (Plus, 7 and Frontier) don’t talk much – almost anything in truth – about the Hikaru Ichijo fleet (known in Robotech as Rick Hunter), except in the OVA titled Super Dimensional Fortress Macross: Flash Back 2012, where you see the takeoff of the Megaroad 02 (which is being in the series simply Robotech the destroyed ship SDF-2 Megalord, the spacecraft that was to be commanded by Admiral Lisa Hayes, who in Japan in the original Macross series is called Misa Hayase. In Robotech, it is mentioned that the fate of Rick Hunter is his future as Admiral Hunter; of this idea is where I share the idea of unifying the three series that form Robotech, which together with his wife Lisa Hayes part in the SDF-3 spacecraft. Pionera towards the land of the masters of the Robotecnia, in search of a peace attempt with that alien race, while in the series Macross, its destiny is uncertain, since its mission is the colonization of another planet and the ship it pilots is called Megarodo (Megaroad) 01 which is the substitute name for SDF-2. In the events of the Robotech series, it is not seen again after mysterious incidents in space, until the film Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles, where for rights reasons they changed their appearance in a 100%, as well as shown in the final scenes of the film, Admiral Hunter and his crew disappear into a black hole and therefore one of the protagonists of "The New Generation", Scott Bernard is seen in a mission in which he starts to search the admiral.

• Super Dimensional Fortress Macross for its part, in its Japanese version has produced 2 films related to the original series (Super Dimensional Fortress Macross: Do you remember love?and Super Dimensional Fortress Macross: Flash Back 2012), four sequels (Macross plus (OVA Series), animes sequel Macross 7 (Including 3 OVAS and a movie), Macross Frontier (other sequel anime) and the new release in 2016, Macross Delta (new anime in emission), each with at least 1 film recounting the respective story), plus a prequel OVA (Macross Zero) and an alternative universe, in addition to a lot of games.

Robotech, for his part, had the emission of the 85 episodes, the adaptation of his films: Codename: Robotech (film that served as a television pilot), Robotech: The film (1986), which is an adaptation of the Japanese OVA Megazone 23and recesses of the series Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross, encourage that it has no relationship as already said with Macrossexcept the producer, and Robotech: The Shadow Chroniclesthe sequel, raised at the end of the series. As for the OVAS, the failed series was adapted in film format Robotech II: The Sentinels that ended up becoming an OVA for various problems in its premiere, and Robotech: Love Live Alive, which turned out to be the version of the final events of the series from the point of view of Yellow Dancer (known as Lancer) since an interview that summarizes the third season. In addition, a failed film that had to be canceled due to lack of creativity in the style of animation and the lack of support of the public that was disappointed in the face of the original series.

While the second and third series forms the final arc Robotech rethinks the structure of the continuity of the series Macross and that makes them differentiate as franchises between themselves, one of the main features that this season had and (which is something that is really almost indifferent) is that the race that strikes planet Earth after the end of the second Robotech War is that the villains of the anime Genesis Climber MOSPEADA, the Inbit, was changed by the name Invid, and that the fuel of the different mechas was called Protoculture instead of HBT that was the original name, being a derivative of hydrogen. Almost everything else remains unchanged, except the obvious americanization of the names of the characters.

• Another major dispute between Robotech and Macross, perhaps due to a character of the second season of Robotech, was nothing less than that caused by the character of Dana Sterling, which in the North American series is of the two daughters of Max Sterling and Miriya Parino. According to the official story of Macross 7, the iconic couple had a total of 7 daughters, who appeared together with their father in the Macross 7 series, where they travel in the Spaceship of the Class New Macrossbaptized as Macross 7, an essential member of the 37th expedition of the colonial fleet, which travels on the mission of colonization in deep space, being the protagonist of the Mylene series, the least of the seven girls. In continuity Robotech, whose name is Dana Sterling's, (here the daughter of Max and Miriya in this continuity) is different from the anime of Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross where it is called Jeanne Francaix and its history does not occur on Earth, but on the distant planet Gloire; its enemies are not the “Masters of Robotecnia”, but a race known as “Los Zor”, former inhabitants of the planet Gloire. Another difference is that at the end of the Southern Cross series, the release of plant seeds ensures food for all the inhabitants of the planet and does not generate an invasion as happens in Robotech.

Among other differences that have been found throughout the transmission of the series "Macross" and "Robotech", have been:

• The alteration of the original names of the characters, already mentioned.
• The alteration of all original music (Reba West, who composed the music of the Robotech series), while Mari Iijima and Kentaro Haneda composed the music of the original series.
• Another concept that differentiates the saga is that in the Macross series war is not venerated, it shows as it is: raw, horrible, sad. The protagonists are not bizarre heroes, they are just human beings trying to survive and understand themselves within the conflict, fear being the origin of their episodes of heroism.

In the end, the only thing that unites Robotech with Macross is the first part of the story tied to the Zentraedi invasion, by extending a term and mentioning over and over references to characters from the previous series sagas in a way to keep the continuity, forming three totally unconnected series, except perhaps for the fact that the mechas had 3 modes of transformation.

Content of the work

Codename: Robotech (film)

Codename: Robotech is an animated pilot film that preceded the original 1985 television series. It is set within the events of the First Robotech War. It runs for 73 minutes, and was a greatly expanded version of The Gloval's Report, the fourteenth television episode that recaps the beginning of the series. It was broadcast by some television stations before the series aired in March 1985.

Codename: Robotech was included on DVD as an extra with the first volume of the Legacy Collection Robotech and the complete collection of Protoculture, from ADV Films. The disc includes the option of audio commentary by producer Carl Macek and was also released in Australia by Madman Entertainment.

Others

Music

Originally, being three different series, Harmony Gold tried to give Robotech more cohesion by having the same soundtrack. This is how the work of different composers, such as Ulpio Minucci and Arlon Ober, was combined.

Initially, these Japanese series had very different orchestrations: Macross had an epic and romantic style, Southern Cross had a more violent orchestration, while Mospeada had a contemporary sound. Because of this, Minucci and Orber had to create several new themes for various situations and settings in the series. It is worth noting the work that had to be done for the character Lynn Minmei, whose voice was dubbed by the American Reba West, because that character was a great singing artist; the same happened with the songs performed by the character Yellow Dancer from the saga "The New Generation". Both the voice of the latter, as well as the composition of the songs that these artists interpreted in the series, were in charge of the American composer and interpreter Michael Bradley, who to this day records his albums and travels the world with music. of the.

Video Games