Sunday, July 3, 2011

Macross Weekend



For no reason whatsoever other than extreme nerdiness and nostalgia (and because I need a break from Jess Franco), I'm watching The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, which became the first season of my beloved childhood favorite: Robotech, all weekend long. That's 36 episodes and the theatrical film. In its Japanese form, the show is just as watchable and a lot less confusing. Elements of the plot that Harmony Gold, the production company that brought Robotech to North America, either wouldn't or couldn't show/explain are suddenly clear as a bell. Like, just what the fuck is "protoculture" anyway?

When season 3 of Robotech aired, some controversy in the Schmidt household came along and ruined everything. The one time my mom watched the show with me just happened to be the one time where a character died on screen. Well, she freaked out right then and there and forbid me from ever watching Robotech again. While I won't be watching the second seasons and third seasons of Robotech (which were actually two different anime series with similar mecha designs), I did find the exact scene that led to the embargo on Japanese robots in my house. Here it is:

(Make sure your kids aren't in the room!)

5 comments:

  1. Best show ever! Used to rush home from school to watch it. Bought all the paperback tie-ins and anything Robotech I could get my hands on. What sort of DVD set are you watching? I have one I've yet to open, just wondering?

    BTW-That's one hell of a great way to spend a weekend!

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  2. @Prof - I too read those paperback tie-ins! I noticed that the Macross box set was out of print so I just downloaded the fan-subbed version.

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  3. @Prof - It went very well. We got through all 36 episodes and the Macross movie (which I slept through). I learned something important though. There are a lot of filler episodes after the big climactic battle. The show kind of comes to a complete stop around episode 27 or so and then winds back up again for the end. That was a little disappointing. But still amazing and a fun time. Glad I finally saw the source material for the first season of Robotech.

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  4. I remember some of that. There was a lot of talk about rebuilding and what not, some character stuff and then bam! All out battle.

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