Robotech the 1986 anime film

December 24 2020

Robotech: the film, also called Robotech: The Untold Story, is a 1986 American-Japanese sci-fi animated film based on the TV series Robotech and on the Robotech franchise, by Harmony Gold USA. The film was made by combining filming of the Japanese direct-to-video film Megazone 23 Part I and the animated television series Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, and had only a loose connection with the Robotech television show.

History

In the year 1999, the alien spaceship SDF-1 crashed to Earth, followed ten years later by the alien Zentraedi, who sought to reclaim the ship for their rulers, the Robotech Masters. The first Robotech War broke out on the ship, ending in the victory of humanity, at the expense of SDF-1 itself. Now, in 2027, the Robotech Masters themselves arrive in Earth's Solar System, with the goal of recovering the ship's still-functioning mother computer, which is being studied at Earth's Robotech Research Center in Japan. The Masters launch a covert attack on a small human settlement, killing Colonel BD Andrews of the Southern Cross Army and secretly replacing him with a clone. Following a disastrous attack by the ASC on the flagship of the Masters, the Andrews clone proposes to the military to take over the use of the mother computer to formulate a defense against the Masters. When his proposal is approved, he secretly starts transmitting the contents of the computer database to the Masters, after which they plan to destroy the Earth.

Suspicious of the army's decision to hide the Masters' existence from the population, Private Todd Harris steals the "MODAT 5" - a mobile terminal remotely connected to his mother's computer in the form of a motorcycle - and asks his friend Mark for help. Landry, telling him to contact "Eve". Troops under the command of Andrews' clone approach the pair and Todd dies in an escape attempt before he can fully explain everything to Mark. Mark manages to escape with the MODAT 5, but unaware of its true meaning, he ends up using it simply as a support in an amateur film shot by Kelly, a friend of his girlfriend, aspiring dancer Becky Michaels.

Seeing a music video of popular idol Eve, Mark assumes she was the person Todd wanted to contact and calls her talk show to talk to her about MODAT. The call is tracked by Andrews' men, leading to a freeway chase during which the bike automatically reconfigures itself into humanoid mecha form to repel Mark's assailants. Mark sneaks into the TV studio from which Eve's show is broadcast and discovers that the singer is not a real person at all, but a holographic projection. Eve explains that she is the artificial intelligence of the SDF-1 computer and informs Mark of the Masters' plan. Eve takes Mark to the Robotech Research Center, where Mark engages and defeats "Andrews" in a mecha battle, but accidentally lets the existence of Kelly's MODAT footage slip away. Running away, Mark tries to warn Becky,

ASC forces under the command of Rolf Emerson organizes another attack on the fleet of Masters and fails again thanks to Andrews using the mother computer to provide them with incorrect data and control their movements. When a concerned technician reports Andrews' suspicious actions to Professor Embry, head of the IT Department, he is ordered to shut down the computer. Andrews organizes a coup and takes control of the Japanese government, ordering the reactivation of the computer and the resumption of transmission of its database. In the chaos of the coup, Kelly is killed by Andrews' men and her MODAT movie is stolen. Realizing the threat posed by Andrews, Embry prepares to leave for Alaska Base, location of a secondary terminal that will allow him to take control of the computer, but is delayed by waiting for his daughter Stacy, Kelly's roommate, to join. to him.

The flagship of the Masters descends to Earth and delivers an ultimatum to the ASC, but in doing so they reveal the connection between the computer and their ship. By using the link to locate a weak spot in the Masters' defenses, the ASC is able to paralyze their flagship and, when it crashes, the rest of the fleet retreats. At the same time, Mark, seeking revenge, attacks the research facility to track down Andrews. Defeated and left for dead by Andrews, who sets out to intercept Embry, Mark is contacted via the destroyed MODAT by Eve, who orders him to commandeer a space fighter prototype that takes him to the airport just in time to rescue Embry and Stacy from. Andrews attack. Transforming the space fighter into robot mode, Mark has one final battle with Andrews which ends with him killing the clone and reuniting triumphantly with Becky.

Production

According to interviews with director / producer / co-writer Carl Macek, the project was originally intended to be more of a direct dub of Megazone 23 with dialogue and musical changes to reflect the Robotech universe. As originally conceived, it would have been set to coincide with the events of the first part of the television series Robotech (while the SDF-1 was in the process of returning to Earth from Pluto) with the protagonist Mark Landry, a relative of the TV main character of the series. Rick Hunter, discovering the government's cover-up of the fate of SDF-1 and Landry fighting to make the information known.

However, at the time, Tatsunoko Productions was involved in promoting their own Macross film, Do You Remember Love, and insisted that Macek use no elements of the Macross story, so as to avoid possible confusion.

Also, distributor Cannon Films felt there were "too many girls and not enough robots and guns" and didn't like the Megazone ending either.

Thus, Macek rewrote the story to take place in the time frame between the first and second seasons of the television series, cutting out segments of Southern Crossmovies in it, and commissioned animation studio The Idol Company to animate a new one. final (which was later included on Megazone 23, Part II laserdisc). The new version involved the kidnapping of Robotech Masters and the replication of veteran officer BD Andrews to steal the SDF-1's memory core.

Since Megazone 23 (an OVA) and Southern Cross (a TV series) were shot on different media, 35mm and 16mm respectively, the visual inconsistency was very noticeable on the big screen.

BD Andrews' character, named “BD Edwards” in the original cut, was originally slated to continue to appear in the sequel animated television series, Robotech II: The Sentinels, which was in planning at the time.

However, this became impossible when the film was re-edited and the story's timeline changed, as Edwards' presence in the new version would conflict with his role in The Sentinels. To this end, the character of the film was changed to "BD Andrews" and the character of Sentinels became "TR Edwards". Similarly, Eva was also supposed to appear in The Sentinels, but for the same reason of continuity,

Technical data

Regia Noboru Ishiguro, Carl Macek
Film script Ardwight Chamberlain
History Carl Macek
Produced by Ahmed Agrama, Toru Miura
Photography Yoshizaki Kenichi
Music Ulpio Minucci, Arlon Ober
Production Harmony Gold USA, Tatsunoko, The Idol Company
Distributed by The Cannon Group
Exit date July 25 1986
Duration 82 minutes
Villages United States, Japan
Language English
Budget $ 8 million