Robotech shake our world in the 1980s with its complicated characters and dumb mythology . But where ’s our Robotech movie ? Why ca n’t we see Rick Hunter and Lisa Hayes on the big screen ? Veteran Christian Bible editor in chief Jen Heddle take a passionate case for why we need more Robotech now .
Top image viaConcept Ships .
The 1980s are back — for better or worse . Movies like Footloose , 21 Jump Street , Transformers . New Voltron and Thundercats recreate series . rack at Forever 21 meet with article of clothing styles that did n’t look skilful the first time around . And as a bit of a t - shirt junkie , I ’m specially thankful for the retro ’ fourscore lie with that can be found on many , many t - shirts available for purchase online . I admit to sustain a particular impuissance for anything link up to Jem and the Holograms .
But one of my absolute favorite soda water culture touchstones from the 80s is n’t getting the representation it deserves , in style or fiction : Robotech . Tobey Maguire didoption the propertya while back , but there have n’t been any development from that twenty-five percent in years , so I ’m not holding my breath .
Are You Ready For Tobey Maguire ’s Robotech ?
If you ’re divest enough not to lie with what I ’m talking about , Robotech was a Japanese animated series that air weekday mornings ( at least in the New York area ) in the mid-1980s . It was composed of three serial publication that in the beginning air as completely different display in Japan , but which a company called Harmony Gold USA , led by Carl Macek , cobble together into one more or less co-ordinated series under the Robotech heading . Although all three serial relish popularity , the first series , “ The Macross Saga , ” or the First Robotech War ( known as “ The Super Dimension Fortress Macross ” in Japan ) was the most iconic and arguably the most dear . In my example , it was an obsession .
The Macross Saga kick back off in 2009 on Macross Island in the South Pacific , ten age after an alien spaceship crash - landed on Earth and was re - check by homo to take into place . Except would n’t you know it , the very morning of the ship ’s schedule launch , the aliens , called the Zentraedi , show up to take their ship back . Do n’t you hate it when that materialize ?
When the ship , the SDF-1 , fulfil its first hyperspace jump , not only is there a malfunction with the “ fold ” system of rules — alternatively of go forth near the moon , they skip closer to Pluto , meaning a year - tenacious trip back to Earth — but the entire island of Macross is folded along with the ship . Luckily , the SDF-1 is big enough that most of Macross City , along with its residents , can be transplant into the gut of the ship itself . ( Just … go with it . ) This conveniently gives the military case a civilian background to run against , and an important target to protect .
The tensions between the humans and the Zentraedi are not just martial , but cultural as well . The Zentraedi are clon with no concept of human emotion , and the males and female person are rigorously separated by gender . The humans ’ heavy weapons against these gargantuan aliens turn out to be euphony and erotic love ( or , more inexpertly , sex ) .
Robotech boasted a form of graphic symbol who were more complex , and adult , than one was used to visit on American cartoons in the 1980s . My preferred character , Lisa Hayes , is second - in - command on the flagship of the fleet , is superb at her line , has an awesome best champion … and completely recede all of her authority where the world she love , Rick Hunter , is bear on . It ’s the one area where she always second - shot herself . And I love her for it . Maybe I ’m speculate to be outraged that she is n’t a strong woman all the time — in other words , a imitation — but that flaw makes her an interesting and relatable character for me .
By the same token , the hero of the piece , Rick Hunter , can be a self - absorbed jerk at times — which is realistic , considering he ’s a cocky 19 - year old when the story opens , and is then catapulted into the middle of an interstellar warfare . Rick is a civilian trick pilot when he ’s swept up in the fold that ship all of Macross , and due to his vanish skills finds himself in gamy demand as a military pilot . of a sudden this untested , arrogant civilian is being look to , even by the military itself , as a savior of humanity — whether he need to be or not .
Lisa and Rick are surrounded by a wide-ranging put up cast , include a crusty but paternal Russian captain , an annoying Chinese adolescent pop sensation ( and her pacificist yet militant cousin ) , a humble ace pilot with gentle whisker and eyeglasses , the green - haired foreign pilot he marries , and a megalomaniacal alien baddie who chew the scenery at every spell .
These memorable character are painted against a backdrop of epic destruction and relentless warfare — war that actually has consequences , which was revolutionary for an invigorate serial in America at that clip . The emotional touchstone of the series come in the eighteenth instalment , when lead pilot film Roy Fokker , Rick ’s best friend , his “ full-grown brother , ” conk out as the solvent of a rough-and-tumble . In a world where GI Joe could fire a thousand bullet without ever show a dead consistency , Roy ’s death was shocking and resonant .
But my gushing about the graphic symbol should n’t take anything away from the story , which is a absurd amount of fun . Giant outlander , belligerent ships that transform into giant robots , epic infinite battle , the apocalyptic destruction of Earth , and aliens who are grossed out by kissing . Not to mention a beauty pageant , a kung fu movie , courtship via video secret plan shimmer , and a ternary of dispiritedly inept alien spy .
It all play out in serial style — 20 years before lose — over the course of just 36 episodes , furnish spectator a complete account with a bittersweet ending . That also intend it ’s not too much of a meter consignment on Netflix streaming .
If everything old is new again , then maybe it ’s metre to convey Robotech back out into the light where it belongs . And featured on some kitschy t - shirts already , please .
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