Bruce Von Stiers
The mighty Robotech series lives on in a DVD collection. Actually there is a series of collections. I just finished watching The Robotech Legacy Collection 2. It contains two DVD’s with episodes from the show and a third DVD disc with extra things from the animated series. This collection comes from ADV Films.
Volume 3 has six episodes on it. The title of Volume 3 is Homecoming. The titles of the episodes are Blue Wind, Gloval’s Report, Homecoming, Phantasm and Farewell, Big Brother. Each episode is approximately 24 minutes long.
Harmony Gold produced the show.
In Blue Wind three members of a Zentraedi force have snuck aboard the SDFf1. They are in disguise, trying to find out more things and disrupt the Earthlings from getting back home. The science team finds out that the Zentraedi are using biotechniques to enhance their bodies. The main characters in this episode are Lt. Commander Lisa Hayes, 2nd Lt. Rick Hunter, Max Sterling, Ben Dixon and Min Minmei (Miss Macross), Hunter’s sometime girlfriend and entertainer/ singer.
The four heroes are given thank you celebration by the people on SDF1. This includes a song from Minmei. Then Lisa goes back to work as a ship’s officer.
The Zentraedis are following SDF 1 at a safe distance. They haven’t been given any orders to destroy it yet. One of the Zentraedi leaders, Kyron, decides to attack anyway and the SDF1 has to transform and go on the offense. He is prevented from moving forward with the attack by his own people.
As the SDF1 tries to get back into Earth’s orbit, they have trouble with the controls. They barely make splashdown in the ocean.
Episode 2 is called Gloval’s Report .The captain of the SDF1 gives his report on what happened to the ship. The alien force attacks Earth. They are found to be humanlike in looks but several times the physical size of a normal Earthling.
The attack ended up putting several elements into space. The captain got everything linked together with the SDF1. Then he sent the fighters out once again. The captain ends up having the SDF1 go through a modular transformation.
Rick and Lisa lead a mission and end up getting captured by the Zentraedi. The Supreme leader of the Zentraedi questions the group. He wants to know how they became “Micronians” and how they procreate, what the Zentraedis call protoculture.
Episode 3 is Homecoming. The captain and Lisa Hayes have to go to the Supreme Headquarters to try to get the leaders to agree to a truce. Rick Hunter is assigned to fly Minmei to Japan to visit her family. Minmei takes Rick to meet her parents
Lisa and the Captain give the report. The commanders make them think that the threat is not real. Minmei’s family wants her to stay and take over the restaurant.
Episode 4 is called Battlecry. Minmei’s cousin Kyle comes to the SDF1 and Macross City. His parents operate a restaurant in Macross City. Lisa Hayes sees Kyle and he reminds her of her lost fiancé Karl.
While at Kyle’s family restaurant, the group watches an announcement on the news. Nobody will be allowed to leave Macross City and SDF1 to go back to their homes on Earth. This causes people in the restaurant to challenge Rick and several other military officers who are there, including Lisa Hayes
Azonina, the leader of the aliens, is informed that squad leader Khyron has disobeyed orders and is launching an attack on SDF1. The Earth forces attack the alien vessel as it enters the atmosphere, but to no avail. It isn’t harmed by conventional weapons.
The battle ensues and then the SDF1 force has a trick or two up their sleeves. Only thing is that Rick Hunter’s plane gets in the way and he gets shot down. Is he going to be okay? Is it Lisa’s fault? How will she deal with it?
Phantasm is the title for episode 5. Rick Hunter is in the hospital, under observation after bailing out of his plane during an attack by the Zentraedis. Rick is having delusions and flashbacks about his escapades as a pilot, his relationship with Minmei and his somewhat muddled attraction towards Lisa Hayes.
Rick’s delusions continue as he falsely remembers recent events and his quest for Minmei’s love.
The last episode on the disc is Farewell, Big Brother. Lisa visits Rick in the hospital. Then when she goes back to the ship’s bridge, she and Claudia discuss her possible love for Rick. The Zentraedi interact with some of the humans.
There is now another attack from the Zentraedi’s The SDF1’s forces now has to launch a counter attack. One of the Earth pilot’s seems to be the primary target. In the mean time, Minmei comes to visit Rick Hunter in the hospital.
Ray and Claudia have a dinner after the attack, and then he collapses and dies.
Volume 4 is titled Battlefront. There are also six episodes in this volume. They are Bursting Point, Paradise Lost, A New Dawn, Battle Hymn, Reckless and Showdown.
In Episode 1, Bursting Point, The civilian population of the SDF1 wants to go home. The government of Earth won’t let them. A communication between Captain Gloval and ground forces are heard by the various governmental bodies. The North American Ontario Quadrant lets the SDF1 know that they can disembark the civilians there. In the meantime, Minmei has collapsed, apparently from exhaustion.
The Zentraedi flight leader Miriya wants to become a Micronian spy. Rick Hunter gets the plane that his friend Roy Fokker had been flying before his death.
Just as the SDF1 is about to enter the Ontario Quadrant, it is attacked by Zentraedi forces. Something happens and now the SDF1 isn’t allowed to disembark the civilians.
Paradise Lost is the second episode of Volume 4. In this episode the Zentraedi leader sends Breetai back to lead their forces against the Earthlings. The SDF1 is ordered to leave the Earth. It also has to keep the civilians on the ship. A lot of things begin to happen, including Gloval’s announcement to the people on SDF1 about not being able to go home again.
A New Dawn is the next episode. Minmei invites Rick Hunter to the premiere of her new movie. The Zentraedi spy Miriya is now on SDF1 and trying to find the pilot who shot her down. SDF1 is under an attack order and begins transformation mode. In the meantime Rick has walked out of Minmei’s movie after seeing her kiss Kyle on screen. He bumps into Lisa Hayes. They leave together and have to try to get back to the base when the transformation begins. Rick and Lisa are trapped during the transformation. They have an intense conversation where they both discover that they are attracted to each other even though they are in love with other people.
Battle Hymn had the Zentraedi forces readying for battle. While inside their ship, the three spies that had brought back memorabilia are enthralling their colleagues with a singing Minmei doll. Rick and the rest of the fighters go out to do battle with the Zentraedi forces. Minmei is doing a concert and tries to continue it as the battle rages on.
In the fifth episode, Reckless, some of the invading force defect and want to become Micronians. The group seek asylum from the captain and crew of SDF1. The captain has the genetic structures of the Zentraedi defectors. It seems that they share the same genetic structures as humans. The captain grants the defectors political asylum. Lisa wants to go down to Earth and convince the leaders to start ending the war.
The last episode on Volume 4 is Showdown. Lisa goes down to the Earth to work on the leaders to work towards a peaceful settlement. Lisa calls Rick and lets him know she is leaving. Rick has to go up and help get her through the enemy lines.
Rick lets Lisa know that he will miss her if she doesn’t come back to SDF1. Lisa gets to the Earth and meets her father. Rick takes some R & R at an arcade. Max ends up playing an arcade battle game against the spy Miriya.
All of the episodes have a preview of the next one coming up. They have inserts in the middle of each episode where the commercial breaks would have been.
Even though I have labeled the episodes 1 through 6 on each volume, they are actually episodes 19 through 24 of the series on Volume 3 and episodes 25 through 30 on Volume 4.
This collection comes with a bonus DVD disc. This one is titled Elements of Technology II. It has the Galaxy of Stars, which is a film clip of the Robotech movie opening and the fanfare surrounding it. There are also toy commercials for the various dolls and fighter equipment based on the show. The toys were from Matchbox. The dolls include Rick Hunter, Minmei and Lisa Hayes.
The bonus disc also had character bios for the major characters in the show. There is a section for International film clips. These clips are in Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian and English. Added in is some Animation Model Sheets, which is line art for the show. Macross Comic covers, comic book covers for the series, are included. The last piece on the bonus disc is Point of View. This is an interview and discussion with one of the show’s creators.
This was more of a show synopsis that a review. I felt that for once, that I’d give some specific details about a collection. With so many episodes included in this collection, it was hard to determine what to condense down from my notes. So, I decided to give you information about each episode without providing blow by blow accounts of what was going on.
I will say that the story line is pretty fluid. Rick Hunter doesn’t seem to know what, or who, he wants. The women in his life can’t make up their minds either. The Zentraedi are some really nasty customers, but are the Earthlings going to prevail in the end?
The animation was really good and the vocalizations were synced pretty well. The commercials on the bonus disc were kind of a hoot. It never ceases to amaze me how toys are marketed. The Point of View interview was pretty interesting.
You can find this collection at stores with anime titles. You can also order from ADV Films. Their web site is www.advfilms.com.