Let’s talk about Robotech!

As I will review Shadow Chronicles shortly, I will discuss a few topics on Robotech.

Where to start? To give creditability to my review, perhaps some back story on my past with Robotech…

1985. An early spring day. It was Friday. KCOP, Channel 13 in Los Angeles premiered a 90-minute long episode of Robotech. I recall KCOP had a tendency for placing animated specials on Friday afternoons as if it were a treat for school kids to start their weekend. I remember they did this from time to time and especially would do this again the next year with Voltron: The Fleet of Doom special. The premiere was advertised for about a week before the airdate amongst episodes of Flintstones, Thundercats and Voltron, so I had an opportunity to see a sample and was well prepared to watch it that fateful Friday.

At the time, I was a Japanimation fan (although I would not know this until after Robotech. I mean I was a huge fan of Battle of the Planets, Tranzor Z and Voltron. Yet I didn’t know these were products of Japan. I was only a child back then, 12 to be exact, and was naïve about the production of many of my favorite cartoons and animated shows). This Robotech episode would be dubbed “the pilot” or in my words a very extended version of Gloval’s Report and I would be reminded a few years later that it was actually titled Codename: Robotech. It would be lost to me until the DVD box set release of Robotech. I will admit when I watched this episode I was hooked. I thought the visuals were breathtaking and designs of the mecha were right up my alley. Yet, I didn’t know what the freak this show was about. Honestly, I found the pacing very confusing and rushed. Thinking this was only a special, I wasn’t too happy with the end product. But…while watching the "pilot" show, advertisements for its daily incarnation, motivated me to give the show a second chance.

Thus, my interest in Robotech was born. Let’s say, from that first Monday through another 85 straight week days, I was addicted to Robotech. I would race home after school to watch it. (later, I would manage to tape all 85 episodes via the VCR—I still have these tapes to this day and many still have commercials. Someday I hope to rip them and get them on the good ol’ puter.) If memory serves, it was on around 4 p.m. (this would be mountain time—see my bio) This was now my new Star Wars (I will expand my past with Star Wars in a future post). To make a long history short, I searched out everything Robotech. I found the novels (which I enjoyed greatly and don’t understand the controversy—perhaps I will write about that soon), I played the role-playing game by Palladium, I bought the Robotech art books (at this point I started to understand the concept of Japanimation), I bought every issue of the Comico comics, I bought the VHS tapes and I would subscribe to Protoculture Addicts. I was a fan in the purest. I found that many of my school mates loved Robotech too and thus we had our little club of fans.

Although the show was riddled with inconsistencies and minor goofs, we didn’t think much of them and joked about it often. That is why I loved the novels so much as it tried to fix those issues. As time passed, Robotech faded in the background. I think it dominated much of my life from 1985 until 1992-ish. I was one of those kids who wouldn’t let it die even when my other friends did and mocked me for liking it still (at this time I was entering my freshman year in college). I did move my interests back to Star Wars in 1993 (a story in itself for another time).

Today, I own both the remastered and the original release of Robotech on DVD, to which, I prefer the original as it reminds me of how it was back in 1985. I currently have all 85 episodes and Shawdow Chronicles on my iPod. I’m not a new or passing Robotech fan, thus I think my comments and insight of both Robotech and Shadow Chronicles should be well supported…