mae@aplvax.UUCP (Mary Anne Espenshade) (10/10/85)
Continuing the current discussion of animation: > from John Johnston > P.S. Have you heard that Harmony Gold is vying for the rights to > adapt 'My Youth In Aracdia' and a select number of episodes > from the series 'Queen Millenia' ? . . . > The series would be sold to stations as part > of Robotech's contract, so Harmony Gold hopes to have a different > episode of one of the five series on every weekday for a full year !!! I would hope the details of this are wrong but the way animation is treated in this country it might not be. "My Youth in Arcadia" is a 2 1/2 hour movie, very somber, depressing and violent (Ever wonder why Harlock wears an eye patch? I won't include a spoiler unless someone asks). I would love to see a good translation of it done, I've seen it subtitled, but it certainly doesn't belong tacked onto the Robotech combination. If you mean one of the Harlock tv series, either Space Pirate Captain Harlock or SSX, they are set in the same universe as Queen Millenia, but many hundred years later and don't belong as one story line any more than Macross, Southern Cross and Mospeada do. And why only 'select' episodes from Queen Millenia? It isn't that long a series and it is very definately a serial, it won't make sense if they leave pieces out unless they are completely rewriting the story. > from Scott J. Berry > I'm unfamiliar with the three "stories" of Robotech, other than > noting there are three different comic adaptations. Can someone > explain the different storylines/focii of the three? I think what > I'm seeing here is just the Macross saga. Robotech is based on a combination of three shows- Macross (36 episodes), Southern Cross (25? episodes) and Mospeada (25 episodes). They get mixed up a little around the edges but they follow the original stories somewhat. You will be able to tell when the episodes move from Macross to Southern Cross, it becomes a generation later and has all new characters. The same thing happens when Mospeada starts. The American version gives the whole thing one basic storyline - the Robotech war, with three different sets of aliens coming to Earth because the Earth has something called protoculture. Unfortunately, they don't use the term the same way two episodes in a row, so things get confusing. The term "protoculture" really was used in Macross. In Robotech they picked the word to mean whatever they need a word for - it is a power source, it grows on farms and can be mutated by a flower, it comes in canisters to power motercycles, it is the silliest concept in the show, etc. In the original version of Macross, the Zentradi use the term "proto-culture" to refer to the society on Earth, which they don't fully understand, as just the beginnings of what can be called a culture. It actually makes some sense in this context. What's even more warpped about this whole situation is that Macross had two sequels - Orguss and Southern Cross, Mospeada is an unrelated show by the same production company, so why did they make Robotech out of Macross, then Southern Cross, leaving out Orguss, and then add Mospeada? Well, it could be worse - it could have been butchered by Sandy Frank. Mary Anne Espenshade ...!{allegra, seismo}!umcp-cs!aplvax!mae