Review of Robotech: New Generation 1

Introduction

With this volume, we enter the final chapter of Robotech, the anime epic crafted by Carl Macek for US television. He took three unrelated series, Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross and Genesis Climber Mospeadia, and from them created the Robotech saga, editing them into one multigenerational story. With a new English soundtrack to match the new story, Robotech served as introduction to the world of anime for many a fan. There have been several releases of Robotech, especially in the US, but this Remastered version sees the image cleared up, the soundtrack given a DD 5.1 work over, and more interestingly, the restoration of those elements originally considered unsuitable for audience consumption. Of course, this being my introduction to Robotech, I can`t really compare and contrast.

This sixth volume contains the first half of the Robotech: The New Generation saga, the first 12 episodes in the final arc of the Robotech epic, re-edited and spliced together from Genesis Climber Mospeadia, presented here on two discs.

It`s been over twenty years since Rick Hunter left Earth, looking for the Robotech Masters, and the planet has become unrecognisable. Immediately following the defeat of the Robotech Masters on Earth by Dana Sterling and the forces of the Southern Cross, the blooming Protoculture attracted the attention of the Invid, and they invaded en masse. Earth was quickly subdued, its population enslaved and the Protoculture harvested. Rick Hunter, now an Admiral returned to find this state of affairs, and as the story begins, he has ordered a task force to take back the planet. Scott Bernard is a hotshot pilot who pulls escort duty, just after he proposes to his girlfriend Marlene. But the attack is a disaster. The Invid defence is formidable, and the fleet is annihilated. Scott manages to guide his Veritech fighter down to crash land on the planet, but he is alone on what to him is an alien world. Still, Scott is determined to complete the mission, find and destroy the Invid Reflex Point, and drive the alien invaders from Earth, and he`ll do it by himself if needs be.

It isn`t long before he finds allies though and organises a small rebellion against the invaders. Joining the brave Robotech warrior are, a brash young country boy turned resistance fighter named Rand, a diminutive girl named Annie who`s always on the lookout for a husband, a biker chick named Rook Bartley, a washed up engineer named Lunk, and a cross dressing rock star named Lancer. Together this motley band of warriors with their scavenged Robotech weaponry takes the fight to the alien Invid. But finding aid in this battered world, with the human survivors cowering under the alien yoke will be harder than they can imagine.

Video

This volume of Robotech is presented with a simple 4:3 regular aspect ratio. Once again, the work done to bring out the best in the image has been remarkably successful. The picture is bright and vibrant, with a minimum of print damage marring the image. The image quality does vary though, grain is prevalent at times, and the animation is determinedly old style, though certainly well accomplished. In general, the character designs and animation is much better than the Robotech Masters, and almost on a par with the Macross saga. The transfer quality is really quite good too. Tape artefacts are practically absent, as are any significant digital artefacts. That is with the exception of a few compression artefacts over frenetic and complex animation, but that is not much more significant than any other anime release today.

Audio

Just a single English track, but it has been given a DD 5.1 Surround polish. The dialogue is mostly clear and front focussed (although it occasionally gets a little muffled when there is a lot going on.) The surrounds are put to hefty use for the action sequences, with explosions, swooping fighter planes and bullets galore making themselves felt around the soundstage.

We`re some sixty-odd episodes in, and I find that I am quite tired of the show`s theme and incidental music. However, this generation of Robotech does allow for some new pop tunes, courtesy of the cross dressing rock star, and they are actually the best tunes yet in Robotech. Again the English dub is acceptable, although some of the dialogue is more than a little corny. Once again subtitles are absent.

Features

Just what they remove from a loaf of Allinson`s… Nowt!

However, I must mention the menus. Pop in the disc and a 3D landscape appears as viewed from a first person perspective atop a motorcycle. Then you`re off, speeding down a post-apocalyptic highway until you get to a security gate. A brief pause for identification and then you`re off again, zipping along until you pull up to the menu screen. Select Play All and you`re fine, but if you want to choose an episode, it entails another brief bike ride. Ok, it`s all just a matter of waiting 20 seconds for the menu to appear. There are far worse discs in this respect out there and the images are pretty enough, but it`s still 20 seconds I`ll never get back again.

Conclusion

After the tedium of the Robotech Masters saga, I approached this volume with a fair bit of dread. The New Generation, nothing to do with Star Trek by the way, goes a fair way to restoring my interest in Robotech, with a better-constructed story and characters that actually engaged my attention. It doesn`t quite hit the heights of the epic Macross saga as yet, but at no point during the four and half hours of episodes presented here, did I find myself nodding off. Once again, the show is elegantly shoehorned into the continuity, courtesy of plenty of narration providing off-screen links to the over-reaching story of Protoculture and alien invasions. Rick Hunter, now an Admiral makes an off-screen return courtesy of voiceover man, and provides a link to Macross.

In every respect, this show has the edge over The Robotech Masters. The story is developed well, and the characters are varied and interesting. Scott Bernard makes for a damaged hero, last survivor of an attack on the Invid, yet his understandable cynicism is balanced by the brash optimism of Rand, the young freedom fighter who he first joins up with. Add to that the independent biker chick, the washed up engineer, and the young girl looking for love and you have more variety in personality in just one episode of The New Generation than The Robotech Masters managed in its entire run. I haven`t even mentioned the cross-dressing rock star; a bizarre character whose presence in a world dominated by alien overseers is hard to explain. It all works very well though.

The over-arching story of the band of fighters working their way towards defeating the Invid is simplistic and underdeveloped, and most of the episodes work better as stand alone tales. Most of the episodes on this volume usually focus on the characters` pasts, and even work well as little morality tales. The main story does move forward, and it is much better than The Masters` repetitive blandness, even if it still isn`t a patch on Macross. What makes The New Generation stand out is the alien menace of the Invid. Previously, the alien invaders, the Zentraedi and the Masters were all essentially humanoid, easy to relate to and generally familiar. Here the Invid are genuinely alien, they wear giant mecha suits in battle, but in this volume their true forms remain hidden, and their motivations and intentions are developed in a more original way. The technology is also an improvement over previous volumes, with the Veritech fighters making a welcome return, and the introduction of motorcycles capable of transforming into battle suits, adding something new to the animation.

The characters in this final arc of Robotech are certainly an improvement, and the story while predictable, entertains as it unfolds. The New Generation looks to be winding up to an enjoyable conclusion to the Robotech saga, if not quite up to the promise of Macross. This volume is much easier to recommend, especially if you are looking for a dose of old school anime.