Robotech is a space opera animated television series created by Carl Macek for Harmony Gold USA. It aired in broadcast syndication from March 4 to June 28, 1985, comprising 85 episodes. Set over a four-decade period, the series follows three alien invasions of Earth prompted by humanity's discovery of an extraterrestrial scientific advancement known as Robotechnology.
The series was developed by adapting three unrelated anime into a single story. The first part is based on Super Dimension Fortress Macross, the second is based on Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, and the third is based on Genesis Climber MOSPEADA. Each anime serves as the basis of the three Robotech wars depicted in the series.
Contents
Background
Robotech was one of the first anime televised in the United States that attempted to include most of the complexity and drama of its original Japanese source material. Produced by Harmony Gold USA in association with Tatsunoko, Robotech is a story adapted with edited content and revised dialogue from the animation of three different mecha anime series: The Super Dimension Fortress Macross from 1982, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross from 1984, and Genesis Climber Mospeada from 1983. Harmony Gold's cited reasoning for combining these unrelated series was its decision to market Macross for US-American weekday syndication television, which required a minimum of 65 episodes at the time (thirteen weeks at five episodes per week). Macross and the two other series each had fewer episodes than required since they originally aired in Japan as a weekly series.
Plot
In the year 1999, an alien battle fortress crash lands on an island in the South Pacific. Over the next ten years, mankind repairs and refits this fortress, using the advanced "robotechnology" found aboard her to create fighter planes that can transform into giant robots. As soon as the repaired fortress is ready for launch, the aliens to whom she belongs finally discover her location. Thus begins a series of wars that will devastate the planet Earth
Production history
Harmony Gold hired American writers to adapt the scripts of the three Japanese series. This complicated process was supervised by producer Carl Macek, a pioneer of the anime industry in the United States.
This combination resulted in a storyline that spans three generations as mankind must fight three destructive Robotech Wars in succession over a powerful energy source called "Protoculture":
The First Robotech War (The Macross Saga) concerns humanity's discovery of a crashed alien ship and subsequent battle against a race of giant warriors called the Zentraedi, who have been sent to retrieve the ship for reasons unknown. In the course of this chapter, Earth is nearly annihilated, the Zentraedi are defeated, and humans gain knowledge of the energy source called protoculture. Humanity also learns of the Robotech Masters whose galactic empire the Zentraedi protected and patrolled.
The Second Robotech War (The Masters) focuses on the arrival in Earth orbit of the Robotech Masters, who have come seeking what turns out to be the sole means in the universe of producing protoculture. Through a combination of mistrust and arrogance, their attempts at retrieving this meet with opposition from the humans and unleash a war that leaves the Masters defeated and Earth awash in the spores of a plant called the Flower of Life—the source of protoculture and a beacon to the mysterious Invid who scour the galaxy for its presence.
The Third Robotech War (The New Generation) begins with the arrival on Earth of the Invid, who are lured by the Flower of Life and rapidly conquer the planet. References in the previous two chapters explain to viewers that many of the heroes of the First Robotech War had left Earth to seek out the Robotech Masters on a preemptive mission, and it is this Robotech Expeditionary Force that sends missions back from across the galaxy to attempt a liberation of their homeworld. The storyline follows one group of freedom fighters as they work their way towards the final battle with the Invid.
Codename: Robotech
Codename: Robotech is a 73-minute animated pilot that preceded the series. It is set within the events of the First Robotech War. It was a greatly extended version of Gloval's Report, the fourteenth television episode that summarizes the beginning of the series. It was aired on some television stations before the broadcast of the series in 1985. It was included on DVD as an extra with the first volume of the Robotech Legacy Collection and the complete Protoculture Collection, from ADV Films. The disc includes the option of audio commentary by producer Carl Macek and was also released in Australia by Madman Entertainment.
Television broadcast
North American television debut
Robotech originally aired in 1985 in first-run syndication, meaning it was sold directly to local television stations without having been run on a network first—this was part of a trend in animation in the 1980s. Previously, local stations would rerun theatrical cartoons like Looney Tunes or shows that had previously aired on network TV on Saturday mornings. This changed after He-Man and the Masters of the Universe introduced a new economic model: shows sold directly for first-run to stations, driving and funded by sales of related toys. Though the original Robotech series did well in ratings, the attempt to cash in on toys may have doomed Robotech II: The Sentinels as the original series attracted older viewers, not necessarily the children targeted by the toy line. The failure of the Matchbox toy line is cited as a primary reason for the cancellation of the Sentinels series.
International broadcast
In Australia, Robotech was aired from April 12, 1986, to and throughout 1988 and 1995 by both the Ten and Seven Networks and various regional stations in different states (including RTQ7, AMV4 and GRV6). Ten cut the series at episode 52 (Love Song), while Seven broadcast all 85 episodes. In 2018, also in Australia, Network Ten multichannel Eleven started airing the Macross Saga.
In Italy, Robotech was originally aired in late 1986 on Rete 4; it was later syndicated on Italia 7.
In France, Robotech was originally broadcast by La Cinq during the summer of 1987; the show moved to TF1 in 1991.
The Philippine network GMA-7 aired the Masters and New Generation episodes in the late 1980s (as RPN-9 aired Macross in the early 1980s), as part of the late-afternoon weekday animation block (together with Captain Harlock).
The Hong Kong cable television channel Star Plus (now Star World) aired all 85 episodes, from May 1994 to January 1995, with changes in time-slots (May-early October 1994, 11:00 a.m. Sundays; October 1994-January 1995, 5:30 p.m. Weekdays). The series was broadcast in a number of European countries by the then Super Channel during the 1980s.
In the UK, Robotech aired on The Children's Channel in the mid to late 1980s, and it was transmitted on Prem1ere, the satellite movie channel, in the same period.
In Spain, all Robotech episodes were aired using the Latin American Dubbing, from August 1990 to April 1991, with changes in time slots, in Telecinco channel. The series was aired again in the same channel from October 1993 to May 1994. At that time only The Macross Saga and The Robotech Masters Saga were aired, leaving the third part of the show unaired.
In Russia on the TV channel 2x2 a dubbed version in Russian was shown in 1992. In the spring of 2012, there was a rerun on the TV channel 2x2 with a new dubbed version.
Subsequent airings
Robotech appeared on the Sci-Fi Channel in 1993, and on Cartoon Network's Toonami in 1998. Toonami aired only episodes 1 through 60, finishing the run at the end of the Robotech Masters story-line. Toonami reran 3 selected episodes of Robotech as part of the Giant Robot Week in 2003. Superstation KTEH, a PBS public television station in San Jose, California, as part of its Sunday Late-Prime (9pm-after 12) Sci-Fi programming line-up aired the "Macross" and "New Generation" storylines, as well as the Robotech II: The Sentinels feature. Robotech formerly aired daily on The Anime Network. As of January 7, 2007, the show also airs in Canada on Space and Retro. As of 2017, all three storyline sagas of Robotech are currently available for streaming on Netflix. Internet based Pluto TV, a Paramount Global subsidiary, began showing all three Robotech stories Summer of 2019 on the Anime All Day channel. They appeared in their original Japanese format as Macross, Southern Cross and Genesis Climber Mospeada.
Critical reception
The series has attained a significant cult-following over the years along with critical appraisal; in 2009, IGN ranked Robotech as the 34th greatest animated show of all time in their Top 100 list.
In 1996, Hyper magazine reviewed The Macross Saga, rating it 10 out of 10.
Home media
Family Home Entertainment (FHE) first attempted to release one episode per VHS tape, but only got through a handful of early episodes before abandoning this approach. In 1987, the company then heavily edited the 36-episode Macross Saga portion into six feature-length tapes, cutting out episode introductions and nudity in shower scenes, and ignoring the Southern Cross and New Generation series entirely. A third VHS run finally succeeded at releasing the entire series with two uncut episodes per tape, over a total of 42 volumes. The Macross Saga and The Masters were also released on Laserdisc in 1993 and 1994, respectively. Each Laserdisc contained four uncut episodes.
Palladium Books, past and current publishers of the Robotech role-playing game, was the first company to release Southern Cross, New Generation, and Robotech II: The Sentinels on VHS home video. These VHS videos were available via mail-order, as well as some direct-market game and hobby shops.
Streamline Pictures, founded by Macek after the end of Robotech, released Robotech II: The Sentinels on VHS and Laserdisc after the Palladium Books releases went out of print. In 1994, Streamline Pictures also released an incomplete series of "Perfect Collection" VHS videos. Each volume included two episodes of Robotech after their corresponding episodes of Macross, Southern Cross, or Mospeada, completely uncut but inaccurately subtitled. This series allowed English-speaking viewers to see many of the changes made.
GameTek Cinema released the first episode of Robotech on CD-ROM in 1994. This uncut episode was encoded in QuickTime 2.0 format at a video resolution of 320x226. The episode contained a marginally different arrangement of background music.
AnimEigo, a specialty anime company, released the original Japanese Super Dimension Fortress Macross TV series on DVD in 2001 with subtitles and unedited in its pre-Robotech form. The footage was extensively restored from the original film stock by Shin Kurokawa, making this the most pristine release of Super Dimension Fortress Macross outside Japan. The final DVD of the series also contains commentary by chief director Noburo Ishiguro.
ADV Films, an American distributor of anime, began releasing the entire series on DVD in 2001, typically with six episodes per disc. The first box sets of the series (dubbed the Robotech Legacy Collection) included extra discs with special features ranging from Robotech II: The Sentinels to pre-Robotech dubs of the first Macross and Mospeada episodes. Complete collection box-sets were also released, containing all the episodes of each of the three Robotech sagas, minus the extras discs.
Original series cast and crew
Since Robotech was a non-union project, many of the voice actors involved worked under pseudonyms to avoid trouble with their union. The voice-actor list printed in Robotech Art One lists the pseudonyms rather than the real names of most of the actors.
Continuing after the original series
Harmony Gold attempted to produce several follow ups to the original series, most notably Robotech II: The Sentinels. The project fell through due to problems with toy licensing and changes in the Japanese yen-US Dollar exchange rate, among other reasons. The Sentinels saga continued to be chronicled in the novelizations by Jack McKinney and comic book adaptations by the Waltrip brothers.
A poor screen-test at the Robotech: The Movie screening in Texas led to Cannon Films pulling the feature from release in 1986, getting a very limited home video release in Europe.
A disastrous reception by the fans to the Robotech 3000 trailer in 2000 prompted Harmony Gold to cancel the project before any more footage was completed. In addition, Netter Digital, the animation producers of the trailer, went bankrupt shortly afterward.
Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles was first announced at Anime Expo 2004 as the latest incarnation of the Robotech saga. Unlike previous attempts, the movie was a direct continuation of the original series' last episode. The first teaser trailer debuted one year later at Anime Expo 2005 for the 20th anniversary of Robotech. The 88-minute movie premiered at various film festivals in 2006 and a limited theatrical run in January 2007, but the DVD release was delayed until February 6, 2007, the film's reception was very mixed.
Robotech: Shadow Rising was a proposed sequel to the Shadow Chronicles that was originally intended to be released in 2009. Pre-production ceased after Harmony Gold could not reach an agreement with FUNimation Entertainment. The Shadow Rising trademark has been abandoned since 2010.
Warner Bros. and Material Pictures licensed the film rights to Robotech and were reportedly considering the production of a live-action adaptation. Tobey Maguire (Spider-Man and Seabiscuit) "is eyeing the lead role" and were to serve as the film's producer.
Robotech: Love Live Alive is a co-production between Harmony Gold and Tatsunoko Production, released in July 2013. It is based on the OVA Genesis Climber MOSPEADA: Love Live Alive, but also includes new material.